#Art Theater dB

[almalex24]

i got hyperfixated on dragon ball and it turns out my favorite character is the guy with black spiky hair and glasses and is a total dork. i am not happy about this happening twice

[generositygullet]

A letter to Akira Toriyama

Dear Akira Toriyama,

I first interacted with dragonball when I was in 6th grade or so, when I started playing dragon ball fusions for the 3ds since the trailer looked cool. Kind of a weird start right? But I was getting really into anime at the time, and wanted to check out one of the most popular ones. I had NO idea who the characters were, and had NO clue what the story was about. But for some reason against all the odds, as soon as I saw the title screen boot up with that soaring music I was hooked. The game was super fun, no doubt about it. But what REALLY kept me going when playing it, was the world of dragon ball itself.

Again I had no clue who any of these people were. But seeing these characters interact with each other, seeing these different setpieces made, seeing all of these powers and personalities, it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It channeled the raw kid desire in me to see two buff dudes duking it out, and god I adored every bit of it.

I didn't dig any deeper than that initially, and like all my other hyperfixations it died down. But again in 7th grade I started playing fighterz, and I was hooked again. But this time I dug deeper in preparation for the release of the new GT dlc, and so the first dragon ball media I actually watched? Was GT. Which is hilarious in hindsight, but I still adored every second of it.

In 8th grade things were not going so well for me, I was losing friends due to being an asshole, and I had to change myself to be worthy of the people around me. I was pretty depressed, and everything seemed sad and hopeless (I know it's pretty dramatic for a literal like 13 year old but bear with me lmao). It's around that time when I decided to watch Dragon Ball Super. And again, I was hooked. I binged it so fast, all 130 something episodes. I could talk big about the characters and everything, but honestly it was just so plain cool. It made me feel excited and happy, it made me feel like everything was ok. And those positive feelings made that much of a difference in me.

From that point on I always was interested in Dragon Ball. my first and only hyperfixation to never really go away. I read the OG dragonball, and started REALLY noticing your artistic talent. From the way you drew Goku moving across the battlefield and the poses he struck. To the illustrations of the action and the punches thrown. It was all so dynamic and energetic. When I was reading it I was always engaged, excited to see the next panel. I wanted to channel the same energy in my own art somehow, to encapsulate the same excitement you instilled in me with your drawings.

I FINALLY got around to watching and reading Z a little later. And of course I loved it. I knew all the basic plot beats, and had a 3 in one Goku vs Vegeta volume collection that I would reread constantly. But seeing them play it is so different. I also started to admire your character design more and more. Trying to draw them in my free time, and getting a bit sad when I couldn't capture the same magic you could.

All of this, of course, was older material though. This was all before my time, I was never there to experience it when it initially happened. Not for super, not for the OG DB, and not for Z. I adored it all, but I always knew what was going to happen.

I remember the reaction on my face when the news of DBS Superhero dropped. I was so so SO excited. More than you could ever imagine. Something new, something I could see with my own eyes, and something about Piccolo and Gohan??? It was amazing. And seeing it in theaters a few years later? God I was on the edge of my seat the entire film. I even started reading the DBS manga, I think it's amazing so far.

When I heard that you were gone yesterday night, I was crushed.

I’m a junior now. And after a long time of thinking about it, being anxious, afraid, and scared of the future. I think I want to be an artist or filmmaker. I want to bring the same energy you did to the world. I'm still trying to figure out my artstyle, and how I want to draw. I’m not great at it, but no matter what, I want to keep going. Because I want to bring a character to life, like you brought Son Goku to life and so many others as well. I want to inspire so many others like you inspired me. With your messages, you brought me happiness. You told me that simplicity was ok with Son Goku. You told me that we need to fight for what we love with Son Gohan. You told me that we should aim to be better than our predecessors with Piccolo Junior. You told me that we shouldn't let our pride consume us with Vegeta. You’ve shown me and the entire world so so much. And I hope you were proud of it. I’m

I said the world of Dragon Ball earlier, but really, it was your world Akira Toriyama. And your world changed mine forever in the best way. Thank you, for letting me dream again.

[duhragonball]

Your recent NaNo post made me wonder: what would Luffa think of pro wrestling?

Always grateful for Luffa questions on this blog. Thank you kindly.

So there was this episode of Dragon Ball Super where they made a Great Saiyaman vs. Mr. Satan movie, and Goku fell asleep in the theater because he was bored. According to the script, he preferred being in fights over watching them in a movie.

[Above: One sleepy, sleepy grandpa.]

This has always annoyed me, because Goku's always loved watching other people fight. Every time there's a tournament he's fascinated by the action. I think the only time he passed on viewing a match was Pikkon vs. Torbie, because Goku already knew Pikkon would win easily. Maybe staged, fictional battles aren't Goku's style, but he got a kick out of the ZTV re-enactment of the Cell Games.

In Goku's defense, I will acknowledge that he and I are about the same age, and naps are pretty awesome, but I've never fallen asleep in a theater, and I've seen some stinkers in my time. You'd think Goku would enjoy watching Gohan and Mr. Satan horse around on the the big screen, especially when he can get free popcorn refills and make out with his hot wife during the boring parts.

What I'm getting at is that I've always felt like the Saiyans' love of fighting must be deeply ingrained in their culture, to the point where they enjoy combat on many levels. It becomes part of their art, their storytelling, their courtship, and so on. In that context, professional wrestling looks a lot like a night at the opera to a Saiyan. Maybe Goku can't appreciate that, but Luffa can.

"Aw, but it's all fake--"

"THE PUNCHES THAT DON'T CONNECT TELL A STORY OF THE VIOLENCE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN, YOU UNCULTURED BOOB!"

I suppose that is the main difference between these two goofy goobers. Goku's a simple man who enjoys fighting for the elemental beauty of it, but Luffa's a sucker for a good story. She needs the storytelling, the drama, the intrigue, to give all of it meaning. Without it, they're all just a bunch of glowy jocks punching each other for no reason. There has to be all this emotional weight behind it all, a sense of glory and pride and destiny. Otherwise, what's the point?

And perhaps Goku could find himself appreciating that sort of thing as well, but he isn't usually conscious of it. There was that episode of DBS where he recreated all the moves from his match with Grandpa Gohan, decades after the fact. That re-enactment wasn't real, but Goku still did it just because he enjoyed the story of it so much. Same thing.

There's also the fact that Luffa has had to spend a lot of her time learning to hold back. She appreciates sparring with people much, much weaker than herself, because it's still a kind of combat, even if it's just practice for the real thing. So I think if you sat her down and showed her Earthling style professional wrestling, she'd appreciate the theatrical skill of performers simulating a fight without actually fighting. They're using their bodies to tell the story of a battle, but without the battle. For her, that's sublime.

[kyurilin]

So back in October I posted some of my old DBZ art for the first time, and now here it is March and Akira Toriyama has passed away.

So I'm back with more and a story about the adventure it took my brother to get me into DBZ in the first place and why it now holds a special place in my heart.

Back when we were growing up, we weren't allowed to watch anime. It was one of the weird rules my dad set that to this day still has no explanation. At some point in middle school or early high school my brother got introduced to DBZ Abridged, and spent a few years trying to get me into it (and failing). I knew very little about DBZ but just enough that when I attempted to watch Dragonball Evolution I knew it was fucked up (also it was boring WITHOUT knowing everything).

But we'd play video games together, and after years of playing Super Smash Bros together, my brother knew the one surefire way to get me invested in SOMETHING DBZ.

And that was DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2.

The first five characters I chose from that roster to fight him as ended up being my favorites (hint: most of the art that's colored in this post is a character I picked in 2010 to play).

From there he got me interested enough to buy low priced DBZ VHS movies from Amazon (the Bardock special was $1.01 with 99¢ shipping in 2010, btw) and watch them. And then threw a Pokemon reference in Abridged he got me into watching that.

For the longest time, I was hooked on the random pieces of DBZ I could absorb, which meant watching the ever growing collection of movies we had, each new episode release of Abridged, and occasionally even watching bits and pieces of DBZ Kai. I even started collecting the manga for both DBZ and OG Dragon Ball. I didn't get around to watching the actual DBZ series until 2018 (my first watched anime series is actually FMA: Brotherhood because of this).

But it was something I shared with my brother and we had so much fun playing Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3 with each other. We've always played fighting games with random options in such a way that every first few matches we would just hit the random character button and play out whatever happened from there before finally playing as the characters we cared about. We would spend hours, especially with Budokai Tenkaichi 3, making our own tournament brackets and then playing them through. Each match would be fought by us, 1v1, and if one of the two characters was one we were good at, that person would get to play them. For matches that neither of us had a character to play, we'd flip a coin. We'd come up with our own silly rules for these tournaments and it was a blast. Once my brother almost won an entire thing as Kid Chi-Chi because he was really fucking good as her and even Omega Shenron's health advantage couldn't stop her. My brother could beat the shit out of Broly as Videl because she was so tiny it was hard to see her next to Broly.

I still don't watch a lot of anime, but DBZ is one of the four I do hold closest to my heart. And it's for a lot of reasons, like laughing with my brother as we decided to turn on The Lion Sleeps Tonight as background music for DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2 instead of the game's music (starting a tradition where wheneber we play fighting games we use our own playlist of music for it instead). It's for reasons like watching Abridged with my brother whenever the new episodes would drop, and being there for the Livestream premiere of Episode 60 after finishing all of DBZ only weeks earlier. It's for reasons like seeing Dragon Ball Super: Broly in theaters twice, and being so hyped to see not only Broly on the big screen, but Bardock who's been my favorite since day one. It's for reasons like the collection of photos I have of my brother doing Ginyu Force poses on a beach in 2010, for us pretending to give Goku energy during the series' final Spirit Bomb, for being so excited to see Android 17 back in DB Super. It's one of the things that I never thought we'd care about, but that I've cared about enough from the beginning that I made all this art in 2010, during our yearly beach trip, after only being a fan for a few months (the coloring came years later though).

And yes. There is a collection of poorly written DBZ fanfics buried both on my external hard drive and box of physical stories, but they're buried forever. There is a DBZ and a Dragon Ball fanfic by me on ff.net however so if anyone wants to see if they can figure out my 11/12 year old account, this blog has enough context clues somewhere to figure it out (maybe the DBZ one will get cross posted to AO3 and backdated someday who knows).

If it werent for Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball, my brother and I would have had one less thing to bond over, and honestly? Wouldn't trade it for the world.

[zeevoidlight]

i was thinking... (DB and Pathologic going Meta) ("...write the time", my grandpa used to say every time I'd say I was thinking, lol)... I saw a shirt in walmart the other day and it had a picture of Vegeta from Kai. Pretty normal stuff but I've always thought that the Kai art, well of course is modernized to make it more digestible for new audiences that feel the original Z series looks too old, but I've always felt that the characters look older in age in this style.

And yeah, I guess if you compare the two styles (the old one and the new) they look very different to one another. Generally Kai makes them... chubbier? wider? idk, they look like they more robust somehow, and their necks are a bit wider like when they get older in Z (or they appear that way to me), the eyes are a bit smaller and rectangular, they have more detail, the hair looks more geometrical... (I personally prefer the older style, looks more hand drawn)

CHARACTERS AS ACTORS

I've always had this strange feeling that characters have different versions of themselves because I always lived with dubbed material (series, cartoons, movies, songs, many imported from either the US or Japan). Sometimes the mouth wouldn't match what they were saying and the illusion breaks a bit but you get it, or the voice actors would change from one chapter to the other in series or movies. You just get used to it and understand that for a couple of minutes you pretend the characters are "real" to enter this world they are in and enjoy the story they have to tell. Like in the theater where, yeah there's a scenery and you have to use your imagination a bit to pretend the Sun is there in the background even if it's a painted cardboard Sun and there's no walls but there's a chair and some props so just pretend for a second it's a house. It's a similar feeling. Sometimes the actors change and, yeah is not Popeye from the cartoon, is a person that kinda looks like him pretending to be him, and maybe in the next show is going to be a different actor, or the same one but older years later still doing the same roll. The Voice actors don't look like the characters but in a way it's them. etc. (I took this one from facebook, credits to the author whomever they might be. This are the Latin VAs)

Even the characters themselves I think them sometimes existing separate from their own creators. Like when something makes no sense with them or they "get out of character", or simply when they are put into certain situations, is because they are literally being told what to do and how to act, where to be by the author, writer, or the director in turn, they dictate how they have to be "outside of their own control" sometimes. It's different interpretations according to who is writing them and sometimes separate from who the characters actually are in this separate plane of existence where there must exist a real version of themselves (see the Plato's allegory of the cave). Like puppet masters, or "God" playing with someone's destiny, a Game Master in a roleplaying game.

Where am I going with this and DB? I'm just here rambling with no point yet.

Well seeing Kai's art (which is closer to Super) it makes me imagine DB characters as actors themselves that have gotten older now but is as if they were called to re-shoot Z again and since they are "older" interpreting they are their younger selves is like in the theater. The voice actors sound older as well so it's kinda funny XD (Vegeta at the start of the Saiyan Saga vs his look in the Majin Buu Saga below)

If you've never played or seen the game series Pathologic (uhh... spoilers) but is exactly the same, and in the game is even part of the premise. The characters (and actors) of the first game are both real and fictional (they were made in the likeness of some people), and the second game is the retelling of the story of the first one but with some changes and a bit different according to the director and writer that didn't wanted to just do a remake and tell a slightly different story with the same premise. But the actors themselves have gotten older, and the characters, even if they are now their own in a way, separate from the people they were base on, were made older as well, even when being fictional they shouldn't be constrained by time or design because you could just remake them however you want and that's it. But no, they actually aged them but they interpret their same younger self from the first game. Some characters even "changed actors", and you are left to wonder if the previous one just didn't wanted to make the roll or for whatever reason they couldn't make it (even if they are completely fictional! XD).

First image is Daniil Dankovsky in the first game (and next to it is the game model), he's supposed to be 28. Second image is the same character too but is like "he was called to do the same roll" but years later. Nowhere does it say that but the game uses the theme of The Theater to make you understand that the whole game is all a play and you are engaging with it playing pretend for a while while playing the game. And you even start the game in a theater with the characters playing their role before you choose a character to "play". Is never explicit with the theme so that's why it is a spoiler, you are supposed to discover it as you play the game.

It's a very nice illusion, and very fun.

I also recently saw the Dragon Ball: Mystic Adventure movie (I never really saw the movies when younger), and to my surprise it was EXACTLY this same concept. The characters were just actors interpreting sometimes a different role in a sort of play to just tell a different story and have some fun for a couple of minutes. And I was just so happy! because it is exactly how I see the characters many times. With the whole "multiple universes", multiple timelines, the movies being their own things altogether, I do see them that way sometimes when you lift the curtain a bit. And I wished there were more movies with the DB characters like that. Where they are actors interpreting a different role just for the fun of it.

Idk, I'm pretty sure many people would absolutely hate the idea because they are very set on how the characters should be always, and I'm pretty sure many people absolutely hate that movie (or the movies in general just like how they skip the filler and anything that is not purely in the manga by word of God) because it makes no sense or because it's irrelevant, it has no canon meaning or it gives nothing that can be used to say anything important about the characters or whatever. But it's FUN.

I like that I thought Ran Ran was the princess or something, and I don't know if it was intended to be understood as it being a doll all along, or if it was a doll prop that was supposed to represent the lost princess, lol

I actually liked that movie. Very creative. And it catered into my own fantasy of the characters as actors. That do have their own story, which is the story we are told in the series, but at the same time is somehow like that Daffy Duck short where he is fighting against the cartoonist XD. Like the way Toriyama used to sometimes include 4th wall jokes in the manga, or self references, self acknowledgement that it was all play pretend (that it was a manga), self appearances, or even the characters themselves in the series when they start asking the logic of what happens and can't find an answer to it. Like how Vegeta cannot fathom how Goku is better and somehow always ahead of him despite how much he actually trains (even more than Goku as he himself says), is like a divine bad joke by how Toriyama gives Goku the most insane plot armor but there's not way for them to know that. Or how Goku himself is somewhat conscious of the problem that he is somehow the one that ends up saving everyone and is annoyed by this fact at the same time on how "destiny" makes him always be the savior of the planet (lol), like he cannot do anything about it. Is just fun for me to integrate a meta narrative when it fits.

that's all. Just some dumb thoughts.

[aaryan-mwa-blogs]

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[kakioproject]

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垣尾優×国内ダンス留学＠神戸７期生『たん、たん、魂』

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日時：2021年10月22日（金）19:30 / 10月23日（土）14:00、18:00開演

会場：ArtTheater dB KOBE

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[sami01]

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[cynthiaandsamus]

Thoughts on DBS: Super Heroes

I liked it, probably put it on par with Resurrection F, which I liked more than most people so that’s not bad. It feels like a joke movie in a weird way, like there’s serious bits but at the same time nothing’s taken super seriously except the final action bits.

I actually ended up seeing the subbed version on accident, I don’t mind either way but I think the one I had set up was the sub so I may have missed a few minor details while trying to read the dialogue and see the action. The art style was a bit distracting but it looked pretty good all things considered, I noticed the fights were using a lot of wrestling/grappling moves, I don’t know if those are easier with the new style or if someone in development was just a big fan but dramatic wrestling moves combined with the Super Hero themes of the villains kind of made the whole thing seem kind of melodramatic and silly which like I said it’s clearly what it was going for so it’s not bad just noteworthy. The movie seems to be aware of how contrived it is since Piccolo himself wants to put on a show for Gohan to get him to get serious and help fight these new Androids, him getting Pan to act the part of a damsel was kind of cute but after Broly this is the second time we’ve manipulated a situation to purposely milk out a transformation and I feel like the characters may be getting too meta about how their narrative works XD.

I like Dr. Hedo and his silly superhero gimmick and how he’s basically “I want to be a good guy but I’m way too lazy to do research on how sketchy this guy hiring me to build death warriors is” like it’s kind of a funny way to not make him an idiot or a scumbag, just a well-intentioned guy that’s not necessarily picky enough about where he gets his paycheck. I also REALLY like the idea that the bad guys think Bulma is this Mafia Don head of an alien organization and they think she’s the final boss in all this because of all the weird shit that seems centered around Capsule Corporation, it’s nice to see how the world thinks of all the shit the Z-Fighters do in general. Gamma #1 is kind of bland and straight-laced because all the focus goes to Gamma #2 since he’s the one that gets character development and a full fight, like #1 gets a little skrimish with Gohan and that’s all he does the whole movie except feel sad when #2 dies. Still I like that #1 gets to survive and be part of the world and maybe his brother’s death will develop his character for stuff in the future (also they call them both Androids which is to say they’re probably Cyborgs like 17 and 18 but are they human or what? They look completely mechanical even with mettalic sounds when they’re hit or do some hitting so maybe they ARE actually Androids after all these years? I mean #2 does melt away into ash which doesn’t seem like something an organic would do) Also Hedo and Magenta’s little mini-fight showing off their normal-level cyborg enhancements was pretty funny.

The Goku/Vegeta Interlude is kind of out of place to fill up time but it’s nice to flesh out what they’re up to while all this is going on and development since the Broly movie, almost feels like they thought they couldn’t get away with a DBS movie without Goku and Vegeta in it for at least a couple minutes. Still Beerus being a Cheelai simp is pretty cute (my god that’s a weird love triangle, a thief chick, her oblivious space puppy himbo and the ultimate god of destruction) and really honestly who doesn’t love Cheelai, and seeing Broly’s group come to hang with Beerus is neat but makes me wonder why they dumped them on that random planet at the end of Broly if they were just gonna bring them straight to Beerus anyway. Also Bulma’s butt is good, think I heard a small cheer in the theater when we got to the scene with her sticking it out. Speaking of which I kind of like the idea of Bulma gathering all the dragonballs as soon as they become active and wishing for random bullshit to keep them inert as much as possible to keep people from wishing for Frieza to be revived or giant space trees or young namekian emperors or some shit, like it’s treated as a joke but it’s actually pretty smart to make sure the villains aren’t grabbing them up all the time, though if Super ever does decided to adapt the Dark Dragons arc you can bet Bulma is behind like 90% of the negative energy the dragon balls accumulate which I think would be funny, like have one of the Dark Dragons just be the epitome of all of Bulma’s bullshit superficial wishes and basically be Superpowered Evil Bulma.

Hulkbuster Piccolo is a cool transformation and all but it fucking comes out of nowhere, like Piccolo asks Shenron to untap his power and the dragon’s like “Oh new transformation? Sure!” and Piccolo just kinda unlocks it out of nowhere, feel like a lot of DBS doesn’t really have a handle on how to make a transformation engaging and just tosses them out as plot developments. We also get Teen Goten and Trunks but they specifically avoid showing us real Gotenks despite teasing it twice and we get Fat Gotenks who for some reason still acts and looks like a twelve year old.

Gohan’s Beast Transformation was at least kind of led up to but probably could’ve been dwelt on a little more like have Gohan thinking about how Piccolo kept telling him to be ready for danger and he wasn’t and that guilt triggers the Beast, like milk the emotion a little more than him just seeing Piccolo get beat up pretty bad and replaying his Super Saiyan 2 transformation with a new coat of paint. Cell Max looked really freaking cool like Semi-Perfect Cell always looked like an awkward middle stage pokemon but they really did make him an awesome beastly looking thing and the sheer size of him made for a cool Kaiju battle with Piccolo. When they mentioned his weakness was in his head I kind of groaned because it’s another of those ‘we made the bad guy too strong so here’s a video game weakspot’ deals that crops up every now and then but I really don’t mind it too much here because Cell Max seems to lack the intelligence to use regeneration when his arm was ripped off and Gohan blew his whole head off so he probably would’ve been done anyway. Gohan using the Special Beam Cannon was ridiculously hype like think that’s the first time since Raditz that technique’s actually killed anyone and it was really cool to see it in such a large scale.

Like it’s such a weird feeling that this movie knows it’s running with the B-Team but tries to keep the stakes interesting regardless and for the most part through a combination of decent comedy and character development I’d say it succeeds, they try to pull the “Even if Goku and Vegeta were here we might’ve lost” which is probably bullshit but it’s cool to see them giving a shot to some neglected characters, this’d be like if they made a Naruto Movie where Rock Lee opens the Ninth Chakra Gate and becomes a demon and honestly I’d have loved that. Also the post-credits scene has Vegeta finally beat Goku in their sparring match which is a nice little fanservice bit, like I don’t think it counts because they didn’t use transformations or anything but it’s nice for him to get that bit of closure after all this time.

Anyway yeah, probably my 3rd-4th favorite movie I think?

[kerloaz]

Marcel Achard.

[bespokeredmayne]

Dressing young Eddie

Thanks to Constructing Costume Histories (@cocoshistories on Twitter) for this captivating set of corseted images from theater costumer Jenny Tiramani.

They’re from the period when Tiramani costumed Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.

Eddie was chosen to appear as Viola with Mark Rylance in a 400th anniversary production of Twelfth Night in 2002, while still an art history student at Cambridge University, harboring hopes of acting.

Here’s Eddie’s description of the experience of being corseted for the production + how it helped him get into character:

“The costumes created for the three female characters by the Master of Clothing and properties, Jenny Tiramani, helped the actors with the idea of holding a feminine posture. Eddie Redmayne found his corset really useful in making him ‘feel’ more feminine. He explains that “the corset creates a balletic upright structure. You feel tall and you feel graceful. You’re aware that you look more curvaceous. It gives you a sense of formality. I’ve worn the corset from the beginning of rehearsals and I’ve never tried without it since. It forces you to move in a certain manner”. The corset helped Eddie to maintain a visible and psychological sense of femininity when Viola disguises herself as a man. By wearing the corset the whole way through the show, even while he was dressed as Cesario, Eddie was able to retain a feminine posture.“

Read more on the production from the archives of the Globe Theatre here: https://archive.shakespearesglobe.com/calmview/GetMultimedia.ashx?db=Catalog&type=default&fname=e8%5C80b3a3-1507-4bf3-bac0-e4971f4768a6.pdf

[aion-rsa]

Upcoming Marvel Movies Release Dates: MCU Phase 4 Schedule, Cast, and Story Details

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A bold new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2021 on Disney+ with the wildly successful WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but Marvel Studios certainly hasn’t been resting on its laurels in terms of upcoming cinematic blockbusters. Not only does it have Black Widow (finally) ready for theatrical release, but we’ve also got Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all in various stages of production, there are also TV series on the way for the likes of Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and more!

Well, if you’ve been a little confused by Marvel’s shifting dates and streaming priorities, never fear! We’ve got a comprehensive release calendar for you here detailing all the forthcoming MCU projects, so you’ll always be able to find the latest updates when you need them.

Let’s take a look at everything Marvel has in store over the next few years…

Loki

Release Date: June 9, 2021

Tom Hiddleston will reprise his most famous role, as Loki finds himself on a heist through time and space “as he steps out of his brother’s shadow” after the events of Avengers: Endgame! Oh, and based on this trailer, there’s all kinds of time-travelling weirdness awaiting, including the return of Heimdall, some other Asgardian hijinks, DB Cooper (yes!), Owen Wilson playing an obscure character based on a beloved Marvel Comics writer, and…Loki possibly running for President!

Tom Hiddleston stars, of course, and the cast also includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant. Michael Waldron is head writer and Kate Herron is directing.

Black Widow 

Release Date: In theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access Friday, July 9, 2021

The Black Widow movie was heading for a May 1, 2020 release before the pandemic, but Disney and Marvel decided to delay it until the industry’s infrastructure was back to some semblance of normal. They seemed absolutely committed to keeping Natasha on a theatrical release rather than sending her to Disney+, but eventually semi-caved in March as it was confirmed that Black Widow would hit both streaming and theaters simultaneously in July.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.”

Cate Shortland directed the film, and Scarlett Johansson stars, with Florence Pugh and David Harbour alongside her. One of the movie’s villains is Taskmaster, and we wrote a little bit more about him right here.

Natasha Romanoff will get a prequel movie of sorts here, as we catch up with Widow right around the events of Captain America: Civil War. Will the plot affect her character’s ultimate fate in Endgame? Do not count on it.

What If…?

Release Date: Summer 2021

The beloved comic book series that tells tales of how things might have turned out differently in the Marvel Universe is becoming an animated series on Disney+!

Here’s the official synopsis:

“What If…? flips the script on the MCU, reimagining famous events from the films in unexpected ways…Marvel Studios’ first animated series focuses on different heroes from the MCU, featuring a voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their roles.”

We know that at least a couple of these roles include Chadwick Boseman’s final performance as T’Challa as well as the return of Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter!

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Release Date: September 3, 2021

Simu Liu has been cast as the titular Shang-Chi and Tony Leung as The Mandarin (hey, that name sounds familiar! But this time, we’re getting the real Mandarin on screen). Destin Daniel Cretton is directing from a script by Dave Callaham. Given its “Ten Rings” title, Shang-Chi should be steeped in Marvel lore, going all the way back to the first Iron Man film!

Hopefully this will be Marvel’s most action-packed movie yet. The trailer sure makes us think so.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Release Date: September 17, 2021

Andy Serkis (Mowgli) steps behind the camera for Venom 2, which now boasts the catchy title of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The first film, buoyed by a terrific showing at the Chinese box office, made an absolute ton of money, despite being released to mostly scathing reviews.

Venom: Let There be Carnage will follow up Sony’s 2018 Spider-Man-less spinoff film, but will likely be more connected to the MCU this time around, thanks to a renewed deal between the company and its Marvel Studios partners. Tom Hardy will return as Eddie Brock, of course, and as you can probably guess from that title, he’ll be facing off against Woody Harrelson’s villain, Cletus Kasady aka Carnage!

We wrote about all the cool Marvel stuff happening in the above trailer right here.

The Eternals 

Release Date: Nov. 5, 2021

Acclaimed Nomadland helmer (and Oscar winner!) Chloe Zhao is directing Marvel’s Eternals from a script by Matthew and Ryan Firpo. Marvel described the film as an “epic story, spanning thousands of years” that features “a group of immortal heroes forced out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s oldest enemy, The Deviants.”

The cast features Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, the Black Knight. We meet all these characters in the trailer, which we wrote more about here.

This one was another victim of the release date shuffle, but we’ll finally get to see Jack Kirby‘s wildest creations soon enough!

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Release Date: Dec. 17, 2021

The next Spider-Man movie looks like a big one! Spider-Man: No Way Home will once again take place in the MCU since Marvel and Sony solved their differences, good sense prevailed, and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will remain a vital part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This one, well…this might be a live action Spider-Verse movie from the sound of it. Jamie Foxx will reprise his role as Electro from the maligned Amazing Spider-Man films and Alfred Molina will return from the Raimi era as Doctor Octopus.

Wait. Are they trying to make this a multiversal Sinister Six movie? Because…we could be down for that.

Hawkeye

Release Date: Late 2021

Jeremy Renner returns as Clint Barton to train his replacement as Hawkeye, Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop! Apparently based on the brilliant run of comics by Matt Fraction and David Aja, Hawkeye will also prominently feature Lucky the Pizza Dog, one of the great canines in Marvel Comics history.

The cast also includes Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop, Fra Fee as Kazimerz Kazimierczak, Tony Dalton as Jack “Swordsman” Duquesne, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Alaqua Cox as Maya “Echo” Lopez, and Zahn McClarnon as Willie Lincoln. We wrote more about all these new characters here.

Ms. Marvel

Release Date: Late 2021

Ms. Marvel is finally coming to live action! Here’s the official synopsis for the series…

“Ms. Marvel introduces Kamala Khan—a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. “A great student, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. But Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school—that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right?”

The cast includes Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha. Episodes are directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

This is going to be a big one, folks, because Kamala is going to be a significant player in Captain Marvel 2. How significant? The title of the movie is now The Marvels!

Morbius

Release Date: January 21, 2022

Spider-Man spinoff Morbius is Sony’s next big Marvel wild card, and it’ll officially be the first spinoff to properly connect to the MCU (even if Marvel Studios still isn’t officially acknowledging it in their own promotional materials the way they are with Spider-Man: No Way Home). Here’s the official synopsis for the film…

“Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed and transforms this healer into a hunter.”

Safe House‘s Daniel Espinosa directs from a script by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway. Jared Leto stars as the vampiric title character, and the cast also includes Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson.

Read more about the character of Michael Morbius here.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Release Date: March 25, 2022

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness looks like it will open up the storytelling possibilities in the MCU like never before. And that’s just based on the name alone. Scott Derrickson was scheduled to direct, but bowed out because of “creative differences” with Marvel. But the good news is that Marvel found a suitable replacement in none other than Sam Raimi, who of course has plenty of superhero experience thanks to his Spider-Man trilogy in the early 2000s!

This one has loads of connections to the wider MCU. Elizabeth Olsen will be here as Wanda Maximoff post-WandaVision, and the film will also connect to Spider-Man: No Way Home and its own multiversal ambitions. There are also a few rumors doing the rounds that Jericho Drumm aka Brother Voodoo could be introduced in this sequel. We’ll keep an eye on that and update this if there’s any substance to them.

Thor: Love and Thunder

Release Date: May 6, 2022

Taika Waititi, who gave us the delightful Thor: Ragnarok, will return to write and direct. Chris Hemsworth will be back. Natalie Portman is your new Thor (yes, you read that right, Jane Foster will wield the hammer…just as she did in the comics!). Christian Bale has also joined the cast as the terrifying Gorr the God Butcher. Not only that, this movie will finally put Olympians in the MCU with Russell Crowe as Zeus. Can Hercules be far behind?

Oh, and did we mention that the Guardians of the Galaxy will be along for the ride, too?

Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever 

Release Date: July 8, 2022

Black Panther 2 is now called Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Marvel has made it official that after the tragic, untimely death of Chadwick Boseman they have no intention of recasting the role of T’Challa, which is absolutely the right move.

Ryan Coogler will return as director, but there are no other details currently available. Interestingly, Coogler is also bringing a Wakanda TV series to Disney+ at some point in the future, too, and something tells us this Wakanda-centric title for the sequel is a sign of things to come.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Sequel

Release Date: October 7, 2022

Is it technically an MCU movie? Nope. But with all the legal weirdness going on between Marvel and Sony, and this franchise’s very multiversal concept, who’s really to say that it ISN’T an MCU movie either, right? In any case, the sequel to the best Spider-Man movie of all time is coming in 2022 with Avatar: The Last Airbender mastermind Joaquim Dos Santos directing and David Callaham writing.

There’s also an “untitled Marvel movie” still technically scheduled for this date but…that is almost certainly not gonna happen now. Expect whatever that project was to move to one of these below dates or to some other currently unspecified date on the calendar.

Captain Marvel 2: The Marvels

Release Date: November 11, 2022

WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell has been tapped to write the screenplay for Captain Marvel 2, which now boasts the title of The Marvels. You know what else is really cool? Candyman‘s Nia DaCosta will direct!

We have no idea where we’ll find Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the sequel to her hugely successful first standalone MCU entry. Will she be fighting to loosen her former Kree pals’ iron grip on a pre-Avengers galaxy? Or will the follow up film see her fighting for justice in the present?

In any case, we know that she’ll be facing off with Zawe Ashton as a currently-unnamed antagonist, and WandaVision‘s Monica Lambeau (Teyonah Parris) will also return in her superpowered state after the events of that game-changing show. Considering that Monica was once known as “Captain Marvel” in the comics, that title of The Marvels becomes more appropriate. And even MORE appropriate when you realize that Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, will also be making her big screen debut.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Release date: Feb. 17, 2023

Peyton Reed will return to direct the third installment of the Ant-Man saga, making him the first director in MCU history to complete a trilogy…perhaps the most unlikely trilogy in Marvel’s entire arsenal. Paul Rudd will return as Scott Lang, and you can certainly expect Evangeline Lilly to return as The Wasp and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The villain of the film? That will be Kang the Conqueror, who will be played by Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors. The inclusion of Kang opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities for the MCU, and may even tease the arrival of the Fantastic Four down the line! We wrote more about those possibilities right here.

We’re also going to need fast confirmation on Michael Pena’s return as Luis, though. Luis is key…

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 

Release date: May 5, 2023

After a tumultuous period which saw James Gunn fired and then rehired as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director, he will finally return to complete his spacefaring trilogy for the studio. However, Gunn can’t even begin filming Guardians 3 until he finishes production on The Suicide Squad for DC, as well as an HBO Max Peacemaker prequel. Once those projects are finished, he’s free to return to the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame left the team in an interesting place. We broke down some of the story possibilities right here.

And then there are still some dates that Marvel has announced that they have yet to match projects to. Those dates are…

July 28, 2023

Oct 7, 2023

Nov. 10, 2023

Some of those dates could very well be good fits for the following films…

Fantastic Four

The MCU Fantastic Four movie is finally happening! Marvel seems to be hinting that Fantastic Four will be their next priority after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. So is it possible that we’ll see it on July 28, 2023? That sure would be a great piece of summer blockbuster real estate to launch what might be the most important piece of the MCU going forward!

Marvel’s first family will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a film directed by Jon Watts, who did such a wonderful job with the first two MCU Spider-Man movies. That’s all the information that’s out there at the moment, but as soon as we have more, we’ll update this. It also appears that WandaVision started to set up the Fantastic Four, so stay tuned. We have our own theories on why Marvel went with the Fantastic Four before the X-Men, but that’s another story.

Blade

In 2019, Marvel announced that they will be rebooting the Blade franchise with Mahershala Ali playing the titular daywalker. Ali’s True Detective co-star – and former Blade villain – Stephen Dorff is excited to see what he can do with the character, and so are we.

Could Marvel decide to drop this in that Oct. 7, 2023 release date? Considering that’s the Halloween season and Blade is, y’know, a vampire hunter, they’d have to be foolish not to, right?

Captain America 4

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman is co-writing a currently-untitled Captain America 4 with another FWS alum, Dalan Musson. Those are pretty much all the details that are currently available on this one at this time, but at least we know that Anthony Mackie will return as Sam Wilson in that incredibly badass Captain America costume they gave him for that show. We wrote some more about the potential story possibilities for this one right here.

There’s no date or director for this one yet, so even 2023 seems like it might be a longshot.

Deadpool 3

Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin will be the writing team tasked with bringing the Merc with a Mouth to the MCU. What a Deadpool 3 could look like in the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe is, of course, anybody’s guess, but if anyone can crack wise about the follies of this kind of corporate synergy, it’s Ryan Reynolds.

And then there’s the lingering TV stuff, at least two of which will arrive in 2022, with the balance likely to arrive in 2023…

She-Hulk

Tatiana Maslany will play Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who ends up with her cousin Bruce’s gamma-irradiated blood. Hilarity certainly ensues. Kevin Feige has promised that since this will be a courtroom show, you never know who else from the MCU could show up.

It’s possible we’ll get She-Hulk on Disney+ in 2022, but nothing is confirmed at this stage.

Moon Knight

Oscar Isaac will play Marc Spector, a disturbed fortune hunter who also happens to be the avenging avatar of an Egyptian moon god. Oscar Isaac is already training hard for the role, and the series is now officially in production, so we wouldn’t be surprised if we see this one on Disney+ in 2022.

Ironheart

The first of two series that will explore the legacy of Iron Man and Tony Stark in the MCU, Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a teenager at M.I.T. who creates her own suit of armor to right the wrongs of the world.

Armor Wars

Don Cheadle will reprise his role as Rhodey and will have the solo spotlight in the War Machine armor in a series that deals with a nightmare scenario for the MCU: what if Tony Stark’s Iron Man technology fell into the wrong hands and was getting duplicated by villains? Based on a classic comics run, Armor Wars promises big action and lots of obscure bad guys. We can’t wait.

Secret Invasion

Samuel L. Jackson will return as Nick Fury alongside Ben Mendelsohn as Talos for a series about the shape-shifting Skrull infiltration of Earth. Kingsley Ben-Adir is apparently playing the villain of the series. Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, and Killian Scott also star.

On directing duties are Thomas Bezucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) while Mr. Robot vet Kyle Bradstreet is the head writer.

Secret Invasion could be the biggest thing to happen to the MCU since Endgame.

Wakanda

Very few details are available on this one at the moment, but Ryan Coogler will develop at least one Wakanda-set TV series for Disney+. Could this have anything to do with that Wakanda Forever title for Black Panther 2? We wrote more about some of the implications of this here.

We’ll keep updating this with new information as it becomes available!

The post Upcoming Marvel Movies Release Dates: MCU Phase 4 Schedule, Cast, and Story Details appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2JEy7L3

[mcscapsule333]

Covid-19 Trends on TikTok by Danielle Fields

Although social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, have majorly grown in popularity in recent years during the digital age, the covid-19 pandemic brought TikTok, a video-sharing platform in the vein of Vine and Musical.ly, to the limelight. One of the main effects the pandemic has had on life during 2020 and 2021 is that millions of people around the world had to comply with quarantine and social distancing procedures, meaning there was limited face to face contact and communication. TikTok, being a social media platform with a large focus on the creation and sharing of personal videos, therefore had a boom in popularity during this time. In addition to the platform itself becoming an instant hit with social media users, many different types of videos having to do with coping with the pandemic became viral. Some of these include videos in which outdoor locations are shown with pretty music being played in the background(https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYrJe8/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYWuQk/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYokym/), videos in which the only text shown are positive, reinforcing statements promising the viewer that they are okay and things will be better (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYqtAy/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYtWaF/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYpHyA/), and videos focusing on both the humorous/serious and relatable aspects of the effects the pandemic has had on people’s professional and personal lives (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYK5XM/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSYVh8Q/, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeS2PsgF/). With each of these categories in mind, it is clear that TikTok’s trending videos within the past year have approached the topic of the covid-19 pandemic in ways involving escapism, positivity, and emotional validation.

Despite having so many elements related to coping with the pandemic packed in these viral videos, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Videos on TikTok are a minute long at the most, and the first couple seconds of a video must be compelling enough to catch the attention of the audience in order for them to stay and watch it in its entirety. For a TikTok video to be compelling, its content usually has to be open enough for the typical social media user to instantly relate to it. As Scott McCloud writes, “when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face … you see it as the face of another. But when you enter the world of the cartoon … you see yourself”. McCloud argues this about photorealistic faces versus smiley face drawings, though the same goes for the way in which TikTok videos become hits: the less specific and more generalized, the more your audience will emphasize and relate with you. For each of the viral video categories listed above, each of them include content which is widely accessible and relatable to a large number of people dealing with the pandemic, so it would make sense that they have become popular in this respect. Building upon this foundation of immediate relatability in TikTok videos is the inclusion of an easily accessible comment section in which the audience may read and respond to others’ reactions to the video’s content. Danny Kaplan describes this as a “staged display between two or more actors in front of a third party” or, in other words “public intimacy”. It is not simply just the TikTok video content which creates a viral hit, but the way in which people interact with each other in relation to it. So, “while audience members may choose to remain passive lurkers as in a standard theater setting, the dynamics of public intimacy encourage some of them to react” (Kaplan). Put differently, when the audience is exposed to friendly discussion about a video they enjoy, they may feel more driven to voice their own thoughts about it with others, therefore giving more of their attention and energy to it and driving up its value, making it a contender to become viral. It is in this way that trending videos on TikTok, especially those relating to coping with the covid-19 pandemic, have become viral.

With this in mind, it is clear that although the pandemic has largely kept people apart physically, we are definitely not isolated online. When people come together on social media to share their thoughts and experiences and to listen and respond to others’, they are practicing online sociability, something very much needed for a TikTok video to trend. Ralph Schroeder describes this in greater detail, writing that “in social media, unless mutual attention is paid, there is no bond or shared emotional mood, which is a prerequisite for both off- and online sociability … social media must be regarded as authentic, as personal, in order to count as part of socializing.” This may be the reason so many people have turned towards TikTok during the pandemic: “we participate because it makes ourselves and our lives visible to others” and because “our identities are interconnected with the way our voices are valued” (Carah and Louw). Hence, trending and viral TikTok videos related to coping with the covid-19 pandemic gain their popular status because they allow TikTok users to express themselves and find emotional validation through online sociability from doing so.

Carah, Nicholas, and Eric Louw. Media & Society: Production, Content & Participation. Sage, 2015. 

Kaplan, Danny. “Public Intimacy in Social Media: The Mass Audience as a Third Party.” Media, Culture & Society, Feb. 2021, doi:10.1177/0163443721991087.

McCloud, Scott. “Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art.” Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Perennial, 1993. 

Schroeder, Ralph. “The Globalization of On-Screen Sociability: Social Media and Tethered Togetherness.” International Journal of Communication (19328036), vol. 10, Jan. 2016, pp. 5626–5643. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cms&AN=127361853&site=ehost-live.

[kai-keda]

Thoughts on DBS: Broly after seeing it in theaters, taking a break from Dragon Ball all together for a long while there and then returning:

Yeah I watched Return of Cooler and Wrath of the Dragon with my sister before we watched DBS: Broly all in the same night back to back to back and I can successfully say the hype train for DBS: Broly for me is FINALLY done because I was FINALLY able to point out things I didn’t like.

Especially after coming right out of watching those two movies from Z that same night as well as watching a few episodes of the original Dragon Ball series with her a few nights prior, Goku seemed so very out of character. I was actually getting upset at him and was reminded of why I left the DB fandom in the first place.

(I’m really really sorry but I can’t put a read more here cause mobile on iOS is STUPID and I didn’t expect to throw up so many opinions and words ahhhh I’ll tag it with ‘long post’ though so I hope that’s okay)

Dragon Ball Super Goku is not in character. And the movie version highlights this weird luke-warm attempt, for me. Like the writers were trying but what they ended up coming out with was a weird watered down version of the IDEA of who Goku is supposed to represent in the modern understandings of his character rather than any actual attempt to get his character consistent with everything that came before BoG.

It was as if the writers involved (including Toriyama) just took each other’s word for it as far as who Goku is. So we come out with this “child-like wonder that never grows up.” character instead of the mature result of a completed coming-of-age story.

And yeah sorry everyone but after watching and geeking out at the animation in the previously mentioned Z movies (especially the storyboarding and camera movements for Wrath of the Dragon) just an hour or so prior to watching the fight with Broly, I have to say that said fight in the latest movie was all about trying to be as flashy and fancy as possible (including this weird but admittedly ballsy attempt to go with a Broly POV akin to an FPS for a short period of time) without actually putting any care in the world to making it easy to follow and understand as an audience member.

The art style is nice, but nothing in the animation really stood out to me as especially impressive without flashy effects being involved.

In fact, there were quite a few scenes where I felt like they overdid it on the amount frames it took to get from pose A to pose B and I just. didn’t. like. it.

And look, hot take, the scene where Goku’s trying to convince Vegeta to fuse with him - when I first saw it in theaters I was sure that I agreed with everyone that the animator involved could do no wrong and that the art style shift was necessary to the animation style.

But the reality is - it just wasn’t. As far as the movement was concerned, none of the characters in that particular scene did any movement that was especially exciting to me or even that different from the rest of the film. It was all pretty basic to Dragon Ball Super: Broly to me. They just were off-model. I’m sorry.

I know this community worships the ground that animator works on but I just didn’t see anything especially exciting. My sister can attest to this - while we were watching Return of Cooler and Wrath of the Dragon I was geeking out. With the former, it was the use of anticipation and settling while with the later it was the storyboarding. Like when Vegeta fights Hirudegarn there’s a sequence where the camera stays on Vegeta as he moves around the beast before it eventually zooms in on him and ahhhhhhhhhhh it’s so nice just thinking about it.

That sequence that I’m referencing is the kind of storyboarding style that I whole-heartedly believe Toei was trying to go for the ENTIRE fight in DBS:B but it was just too much too fast. I’m not saying it was impossible to follow but anyone who says the other previously mentioned films had fights with storyboarding on par or even worse than the fight in question either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is straight up lying.

And I’m gonna say it - I’m gonna say it - STOP ZOOMING IN ON EYES AND MOUTHS SO DAMN MUCH HOLY SHIT IT JUST KEPT HAPPENING CAN YOU LITERALLY DO ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR STORYBOARD?!?! Things like that are supposed to be a novelty used either to make the audience member uncomfortable or laugh depending on the overall tone of the scene but when you do it over and over and over and over again it loses the rarity that gives it that effect and it just becomes annoying.

I tried keeping my mouth shut over it the first couple times but by the fifth or sixth time it happened I just - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it ticked me off, man. Like - ticked off the animation part of my mind the way Goku’s character writing ticked off the analysis part of my mind.

It was annoying af.

Okay but back to the writing.

I loved everything that came before the time jump to “modern day” (for lack of a better phrase coming to mind) despite what others might say.

I’ve heard, understand and respect all the criticisms of Minus and even the added parts with little Broly and Paragus, but I just can’t bring myself to be bothered by those things. I don’t necessarily disagree with the more widely accepted complaints but that doesn’t mean I agree with them, either.

I see both sides of this so I guess you could say I’m neutral? But at the same token I do REALLY enjoy it all so I can’t bring myself to think of myself as entirely neutral on the subject, either.

Vegeta and Raditz being as tiny as they were made sense but also kinda weirded me out though, not entirely sure why.

Anyways, I think that’s pretty much all I wanted to say.

Feel free to send me asks and stuff about my thoughts on this. I’m not letting myself get angry over it anymore.

I just enjoy sharing my thoughts on these types of things and apprently Dragon Ball is the only series to REALLY inspire this deep kind of analysis while everything else I’ve attempted to write up in this style just kind falls flat.

Not entirely sure why that is but maybe that’s a set of musings for another day.

I’m Kairi Yajuu and I can’t speak or read Japanese.

[anniekoh]

dance and disability in public space

In 1996 Bill Shannon moved to New York City and immersed himself in the art, dance, and skate cultures of Brooklyn and Manhattan while expanding his performance work to multimedia video installations, group choreography and the theater arts. Due to a bone deformity that causes pain when bearing weight on the leg, he uses specialty rocker-bottom crutches in his dance and skateboarding performances. (Source: Foundation for Contemporary Arts)

CRUTCH MASTER (2004) 

Bill Shannon , better known by his B-boy moniker “Crutchmaster”, has a career that defies all categories. Renowned in the underground club-dance scene Bill Shannon has invented a unique and vibrant dance technique. He considers himself a performance artist rather than a dancer and defines his work as rooted in street culture but informed by the fine arts. Crutchmaster’s mix stems from philosophy as well as physical necessity as he lives with a degenerative hip condition. He has developed a version or skateboarding and hip-hop that incorporates his crutches literally.

A video by Nicolas Jenkins. Camera–Valerie Barnes, Bill Shannon, Matt Timms, DB Griffith, Wild Child, and Patrick Figuera.

Disability, Public Space Performance and Spectatorship: Unconscious Performers Bree Hadley (2013)

89: According to Shannon, when he goes about his day-to-day life in public spaces and places, he is all too often burdened by what he calls the ‘Weight of Empathy’ of strangers and passers-by. The term ‘Weight of Empathy’, one of the terms in the lexicon he has created to describe, define and provide handles to help address the phenomena he experiences, is designed to give as practical as possible a name or designation to a phenomenon that is a pervasive part of the disability experience. To clarify what ‘Weight of Empathy’ means, Shannon gives the experience of being on a crowded subway train one afternoon as an example. Initially, he says, there were no seats, so he sat on his skateboard, which signalled his disability, and prompted a man and his wife to free up a seat. For a variety of reasons, Shannon did not want to take the seat – partly because of the pain and effort to transfer from the skateboard to the seat, partly because he was comfortable on the skateboard, and partly because of other factors, including, for instance, his experience that it is often those in most need of seats who give them up first, because they understand what a seat means. In this apocryphal situation, as so often in Shannon’s life, though, this led to an awkward scene in which strangers press him to take up their well-meant offer of aid: 

they both stared at me along with seemingly the whole car full of people as in disbelief that I was still refusing their kind empathy. The seat remained a gaping empty [space] as time began to crawl and all eyes were on me. I was expected to fall into line, graciously stand and take the seat... The WEIGHT OF EMPATHY at this moment was crushing me. [...] they are staring at me as if there is something the matter with me for not reciprocating. 

In perhaps the best known work of this series, a set of public space interventions and performative lectures Shannon calls Regarding the Fall, Shannon performs his ‘realtime Performative Sociological Anthropology’, investigating and analysing the ‘Weight of Empathy’ phenomenon via performance, performative lectures and the distinctive lexicon he has developed to unpack the engagements taking place in public space encounters with people with disabilities. Shannon makes a move to pick up a bottle off the pavement to see how passers-by will respond to him doing this on his crutches. He later combines footage of the passers-by’s responses, anecdotes, and his own views on the ‘Weight of Empathy’ into a performative lecture for a secondary group of spectators. In these lectures, Shannon says, he ‘treats the subject matter of events within the street performances on video as a form of verifiable proof to his invented lexicon that defines phenomenology apparent within the videos’ (Shannon, 2009e). In other words, his public space interventions become a sort of fieldwork...