#Fanservice from day 1 I see | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bangtanhoesthings · 2 months ago

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Long ask.

Forgive me, this will be all over the place.

I have noticed that over the past few years the hate for the boys has been escalating particularly for Jimin, Jungkook and Joonie.

For Joonie, among other things, because as a leader, if they break him, they might break BTS. (Gosh look at him😭. Has me my man, my man, my man-ning all over the place like a dog in heat, it's embarrassing and a little concerning). Sorry, I digressed but look at him 😭😭😭, y'all don't thirst over this man enough. Woof! 🫦

Anyways, moving on.

For Jungkook, among a plethora of other reasons, because of the unrivaled, unmitigated global success he has had and continues to have (am so proud of my funky lil popstar ✨).

He came, he saw, he conquered. Kicked ass and took names. Ate and left no crumbs. Had them by the neck. Pulled up and shut it down (Somebody stop me 😭)

The way some army attribute his success to the 🛴 guy boils my blood, and that rage is for another day.

This post is towards Jimin.

Jimin's hate is both from outside and inside the fandom ( am not talking about solos, toxic shippers, mantis and the like) but people who claim to be 0T7.

I know that Jimin has had haters for years but the shady tweets I saw during the FACE and MUSE era from so called "ARMY" said a lot. Am not here to debate who is or isn't ARMY. That's for another time.

My question is, why does Jimin's success seem to be a sore spot for some 0T7s? The one reason I have been able to come up with is that Jimin sort of messed up the hierarchy system.

Let me explain and see if I make sense. For a long time, when people thought of the maknae line, no matter the order in which they ranked Tae and Kookie, Jimin was always the third one. Too many posts relegating him to the role of cheerleader and not much else. I saw posts before solo works commenced dismissing the idea that Jimin would ever release an album but would instead fully support the others. Well, he not only released two solo albums, but was also a composer, lyricist among other things, so they can take their opinion and smoke it.

When the solo era started, people had different expectations for what every maknae members would achieve but no matter the expectations, those for Jimin were that he would be third. Bronze medalist if you will.

FACE was released, Like Crazy got to number 1 and I logged off twitter. We were in hell particularly when it went from 1 to 45 after Billboard deleted over 100k sales and changed the rules (thank you Travis Scott for freeing Jimin and finally taking that number 1 spot). The hate from outside was expected, it was when it came from within the fandom that it hurt.

Fast forward to MUSE and it got worse. Sprinkle in a dash of Are You Sure and we have

Here I have a list of things I have noticed

1. An increase in the number of people talking about how they hate PJMs and how they are making them turn against Jimin. Honey, if a solo can make you dislike one member, you aren't sh*t anyway.

2. Dislike for Jimin disguised as dislike for his solos. If you haven't seen it, consider yourself lucky.

3. How sometimes ARMY came in droves when a member didn't achieve something but Jimin did. For example Spotify US. When a new song failed to enter but Jimin's songs increased ( during both LC and Who era).

4. His long run on the hot 100 has really revealed people's true colours. It's not his fault. Blame the fandom for their clear bias.

5. The number of ARMY accounts on X low key calling AYS fanservice.

6. Discourse on Jimin's ability to sing. I don't argue with stupid people.

I could go on and on but what I am trying to say is that in a perfect world, it would be wonderful if all the members had the same support from ARMY. The discrepancy needs to be addressed (caused by a multitude of reasons) but making it a member's fault and not the fandom is asinine.

I used to be a 1D fan and my favourite member to date is the least favourite and successful, Louis Tomlinson but that doesn't mean I hate on Harry, Zayn or Niall for their success. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

What prompted this you may ask? I saw a post talking about Jimin being the company and fandom fave and having special support. Like huh?

All in all what I am trying to say is that Jimin really shook things up and some people resent him for it. That one post (article?) about Jimin bringing out either admiration or envy keeps getting proven right.

Keep supporting this angel for a long and happy life.

What do you think are some other reasons for the increase in the 0T6 agenda against Jimin?

#jiminie #jimin #bts #jm #taehyung #namjoon #kim namjoon #bts rm #jungkook #jhope #jin #jikook #yoongi #bts suga #minimoni #seokjin #hobi

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stardustizuku · 6 months ago

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So, Gushing Over Magical Girls Is The Best Thing To Happen to Magical Girls

Gushing Over Magical Girls get this bad rep. For all the wrong reasons. I’ve seen it be called an insult to Magical Girls, I’ve seen it be called “gooner bait” a term I absolutely despise but that’s a thing for another day. I’ve seen it insulted for everything and anything under the sun.

I first got acquainted with it when I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw someone complain about the PV. However, as an avid Magical Girl Fan, I wasn’t disgusted. I was intrigued.

I decided to read the manga, and oh god.

This is one of the best things I’ve read.

The story follows Utena, a shy girl that loves Magical Girls, tricked to become the evil general that will defeat the Magical Girl team “Tres Magia”.

And it’s a delight.

I binged all the episodes available to me in the manga, and had fun in each and every chapter.

The same, however, couldn’t be said by half the people who watched the anime. And I was extremely baffled. As a queer woman, this was the first time in my life, in which I had seen something so deliberately catered towards me. I saw tell-tale signs of someone who genuinely admires the genre, and is simply using it as an outlet for exploring deeper and more interesting topics that a SFW version of it would not be able to.

Yet, I turn around and I see people calling it the most horrendous stuff, and accusing everyone who likes it of being monsters or men.

Genuinely, I’ve had enough.

Gushing Over Magical Girl is not the Devil. In fact, I think it’s the best thing to come don’t even like Magical Girls AND IT SHOWS.

PART 1: “Magical girls are for little girls!”.

The first criticism you’ll see aimed at “Gushing over Magical girl” is the amount of sexually charged content it has. And it is true. It borders on straight up porn in many instances and it just gets wilder as you go on. By chapter 30, we’re way past PantyShots. Like, I’ve seen some of these girls’ vaginas, and I’m not joking.

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with it, but there’s people who might disagree.

“Magical Girls are for little girls” some people say “and you’re corrupting it!”

Which genuinely makes me laugh.

This is because this type of argument could only be done by someone with no real concept of Magical Girls aside from maybe Sailor Moon and Sakura Card Captor.

out of the Magical Girl genre in a WHILE (Ignoring Precure, because they just gave us a magical boy and that’s my win of the decade).

People are just, you know, stupid. And reactionary. Enough that they see a boob and lose their minds like a Karen at a Christmas Eve Mall.

My point is, I love this manga. And I’m willing to risk my reputation to defend it. Cause genuinely, half the people who are clutching their pearls over this show - Magical Girl Anime haven’t always been PG, or aimed at girls.

Cutie Honey is a great example. It’s one of the most famous Magical Girl Anime you will find - and it’s a shonen. With the protagonist, Honey, being constantly naked, groped, put in suggestive situations and have outfits that show her cleavage.

And it’s one of the most famous, most popular takes on Magical Girl there is. Yet, I never see any amount of outrage towards it. (Part of me wonders if it’s because the fan service is aimed at men, rather than involving yuri).

There’s also Lyrical Nanoha, one of the most popular serial franchises there is. It spans several seasons and spinoffs, and it’s beloved by many.

And it’s aimed at older men. Yes, it’s a Seinen.

In fact, its origins are far from PG. It’s actually a Spin-off of an erotic game named “Triangle Heart”. It was most definitely not created with little girls in mind, and themes it tackles reflect as much.

There’s Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya too, a spinoff of the Fate/Stay Night VN, very obviously aimed at older men, it’s a Seinen. It has a lot of fanservice and scenes where the characters are half naked.

Day Break Illusion is also a Shonen.

And as much as I adora Madoka - I’ve been stating for years now that it isn’t a show meant for little girls. You could argue it’s for everyone, regardless of gender, who’s a little older. But it most definitely wasn’t for little girls.

So, no. This was never an “only girls” club. Trying to paint it as such, is not only wrong but ignorant.

Magical Girl shows can be for anyone. Men, boys, girls, women and I find it infantilizing to consider it “only for little girls”.

No one says “super heroes are ONLY for little boys”

Well, some do. But they’re, you know, bigots. Who don’t want girls playing or adults o have fun.

So no, Gushing Over Magical Girls being a sexually charged anime in the Seinen category isn’t “corrupting the genre”. In fact, I would argue it’s doing exactly what the genre has done in the OVA shadows for a while.

Not to mention, many people have screamed from the rooftop how they want “more mature Magical Girl shows” referring to the success of Madoka. But as soon as an actually mature take on Magical Girls shows up, tackling issues of sexuality and love, you all don’t want it anymore.

(We all know why, though. Americans, and western culture in general, considers mature themes, only that which involves violence. Anything close to discussing issues of sex is no longer “mature” but “Pornographic” and deserving of being shoved into a corner. With all queer themes, gender studies, and any nuance that could be had regarding these issues).

And speaking of sexually charged, have you watched so called “wholesome” magical girls? They’re still very much sexy. Not in the “on the nose” ecchi way Seinen and Shonen are - but they still are.

You’ll find transformations were the girls are naked, zoom in to their breasts, you’ll have panty shots every now and then. Even themes of growing up, having crushes, and innuendos about sex. Inappropriate relationships, taboo romance, and the likes.

Sakura had Rita and a professor’s relationship (mutual in the manga), Sailor Moon had Chibiusa and Elliot’s romance, Sugar Sugar Rune even having an element for ‘lust’ and other different types of love, and let’s not forget Mermaid Melody which has several instances of the girls naked, in compromising positions with other men. And I’m pretty sure Tokyo Mew Mew likely opened a whole bunch of doors for girls to be into CNC.

This is, by the way, normal.

Completely so.

These stories often talk about the girlhood experience. And girls and teenage girls are interested in all of these things. They’re interested in sex, romance, their bodies growing up, their own sexuality and the likes. It’s no wonder same-sex relationships and romance get included, they’re part of what experiencing the world through the eyes of a young girl is like.

And subsequently, it stands to reason that as people who engaged with MG grow up - they find comfort in exploring their sexuality through Magical Girl themselves. There’s a reason why there’s a growing section of “Magical Girl” in your local hentai site.

“Men get off on corrupting this wholesome girl targeted genre” is actually TERF rhetoric sneaking through the mainstream. It ignores AFAB ppl and gender nonconforming people, who grew up with Magical Girls, simply using a medium that originally started their journey of sexual identity, to explore more “grown up” aspects of that same identity.

In particular, I’m a Cis AroAce Woman. I wrote a lot of Magical Girl NSFW when I first started writing NSFW Twitter threads. They’re bad and they’re cringey. But it was something I needed.

Magical Girls were a huge part of my childhood and early teens. When I was mentally in the space to want to engage with NSFW content: it was obvious I would turn to what first sparked excitement.

So this idea that “men are corrupting Magical Girls with their sick fantasies” is nothing more than TERF-lite propaganda. People, including women and men, have been doing this for ages; for a variety of reasons. And doing so, doesn’t rob children of their spaces - but the gentrification of the internet is a story of another day.

The other argument I have heard is that GOMG is a mockery of the genre. Which is even more laughable in my opinion.

PART 2: Parodies and why I hate Earth Defender’s Club.

Gushing Over Magical Girls loves Magical Girls. It’s a parody, in a way, but it knows very well what it parodies. It’s not surface level in the slightest. And it absolutely is not mean spirited about it.

A lot of the time, shows that reference and parody the Magical Girl genre, do so in ways that feel like they view it as a lesser genre. They take generic images of cute girls in frilly outfits, swap the colors around, and have them chant over-the-top spells. You’re meant to laugh, not only at how silly they look, but people who would love it. Especially if they’re grown ups.

I do not like “Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!” For this exact reason - even tho many people praise it to all heavens.

Because

1) It feels surface level in its commentary and depiction of Magical Girls and

2) More mocking towards the genre than paying homage or doing anything with it.

The continuous use of the word “Love” is a very obvious jab at Magical Girls using these words, which feels mean spirited just for the sake of it. Their outfits are almost exactly the same, save for the colors. And they all use the same sticks as weapon, with no thematic link for the shapes of the scepters. The mascot too (a wombat for god knows what reason), I think it’s meant to be a joke of some sort for how ridiculous some of the mascots for the girls get, which rubs me the wrong way.

In general, it feels shallow and mean spirited. But no one calls this an insult to Magical Girls. Because people who like it don't actually care about Magical Girls. They see cute boys doing silly things and love it. Which is kinda sad.

Now, Gushing Over Magical girls has sort of that same problem on the Tres Magias…But they’re not the protagonists. And even then, in later chapters, they get power ups that are different in design, and thematically linked.

The protagonist, and the ones we follow, are Utena and the girls. And they all have very distinct outfits, all with motifs that are tangentially thematically linked, and speak of each character’s personalities in interesting ways.

Utena in particular has THIS outfit. Which a lot of people don’t like, but I actually do.

It’s very obvious it’s taking inspo from other iconic Bad Girls in the genre. Namely, Utau, Kraehe and Devil Homura. All “Enemy characters” that have unhealthy obsessions with other characters. In particular, I think the wings and the feathers resemble Homura - THE character known to have a massive obsession with a Magical Girl (Madoka), to the point of insanity.

There’s also Magia Azure. Who’s a clear reference to the Mean Tsundere girl that is iconic to the genre. She’s also a Miko. Which is a callback to Sailor Mars, arguably THE girl who popularized this archetype.

I also love what they do with the mascots. Unlike Earth Defenders, where the mascot is you know, a mockery of the archetype of a mascot - useless, only there to give power ups, and obsessed with food - the mascots of GOMG is taking a book from Madoka.

It considers the mascots both all-too-powerful and yet limited in their reach. Which is exactly what the mascots have always been in Magical Girls. Beings so powerful they can give mythical powers to girls, yet helpless to do anything on their own. So, they use magical girls as a vehicle to achieve their goals. Most Magical girls try to paint this as a good thing, but newer genres shine light on how dangerous that can be too.

Madoka tackles it with Kyubey as the main initial mascot, only later to turn out to be the villain of the series.

And in a Post-Madoka world, trusting the mascots is just the slightest bit more difficult. That’s why, from the get go, GOMG portrays their mascots as morally corrupt. He’s not a good character, he’s malicious and doing more harm than good. But for the majority of the series, he’s painted more as a useless harmless evil than anything genuinely terrifying or worthy of concern. The attention is focused on other things.

But I love the way that it’s heavily implied that they’re not good. It’s a very interesting take on the mascot and it helps with the themes of the series. Which yes, by the way. Gushing Over Magical Girls has themes.

Which lead me to-

Part 3: Yeah, uhm, Gushing Over Magical Girl has themes.

There’s this idea that Sex is an inherently violent act. In which a man humiliates and sodomizes a woman, and therefore the woman is exploited in some way. And 10x worse is any act that involves BDSM. It’s violence; born out of hatred.

This is TERF rhetoric. I’m not joking. This line of thought leads directly to TERF ideas.

Many on the internet have pointed out as much, and BDSM members have gone to be very vocal about it. In particular, people on the role of the submissive (or the bottoms) are loudly trying to explain the contrary. How they like the act of sex, like the idea of being vulnerable, or being humiliated. There’s also plenty of LGBT+ stories that talk about it, both in western and eastern spaces. Just jump into the section of dom/sub verse at your local manga browsing website, and you’ll find something.

That said, the same is not as common for people who like to “dominate”.

I can only think of two pieces of media that argue that, whoever is the dominant or the sadist, is also a human being. That whatever they’re doing is done, not out of hatred for the submissive or an act of violence, but love.

One, is the husky and the white cat. In which Mo Ran, among other things, has to come to terms that his love isn’t “pure”. That he cannot love someone without the want to have sex, and to completely dominate that someone.

The second one is Gushing Over Magical Girls.

It’s very clear to me that Utena’s sadism isn’t a violent act. It’s an act born out of love. She genuinely loves the Magical Girls, and most girls for that matter, and whenever she is inflicting pain and fighting with them - what she wants is to ultimately help them in some way.

She wants them to “be the cutest version they can be” and wants them to shine brighter than ever.

There’s this one scene I love, around chapter 20, in which Baiser (Utena) is fighting Magia Azura. And due to Baiser going a bit too far, Azura ends up being Mind-broken. She crawls towards her, calls her “mistress” and begs to become her servant.

In any normal Hentai you’ll find, this is a good thing. This would be the ideal outcome. A character being turned into nothing but a sex slave for the enjoyment of the dominant.

Which is why I found it breathtaking when that didn’t happen.

Baiser is horrified by this. She does not want to break the girls, she wants them to be powerful. She wants them to win. With her, the evil one, being nothing more than a vehicle for them to be even stronger than before.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen dominant or sadist characters being presented both sexually, and in such a positive light. Much less a queer woman in the same position.

It doesn’t treat BDSM sex as a disgusting taboo act, but something born out of genuine love - and a want to see the other person be or feel better.

This is reinforced around chapter 25 where Leberblume and Loco Mùsica are fighting Baiser. For context, Loco Musica wanted to be an Idol, but had terrible singing. She uses her evil power to basically force everyone to listen to her sing (which is so reminiscent of Mermaid Melody btw). When they fight, Baiser wins, and is then set to use her new found power to “punish” Loco Musica.

Originally, Loco Musica points out how Baiser’s sadistic tendencies are “the same” as Lord Enorme, who we’ve seen uses sadism as a genuine form of punishment. Something to avoid. You behave well, because you don’t want to get hurt or humiliated by her.

However, when Baiser uses her own unique type of sadism on Loco Musica, something happens. Instead of causing her physical pain by beating her or using violence, she forces her to get naked and perform her idol song like that. This causes her to get extremely embarrassed. And in the process, she actually starts to sing really well.

This is important for two reasons

1) Baiser is actually taking into account who Musica is. It’s later revealed that Musica wanted a more frilly idol-like outfit but Lord Enorme shut it down, for the sake of a more ‘unified’ aesthetic. Baiser is not just throwing around the same treatment and punishment for all girls - what one might like, the other might hate.

2) At the end of the day, while she did the punishment, it was both embarrassing, but ultimately something that helped Musica and made her feel better.

And that’s really the key here, and why I love the series.

Sadism, sex and kinks in general are not tools of degeneracy. They’re treated as part of our experience.

Also, it’s just fun?

Part 4: Gushing Over Magical Girls is just extremely fun when you don’t have a dumb bitch yapping abt how unholy it is to see tiddies on a screen

Yeah, GOMG just has one of the most creative depictions of the most insane of kinks you’ll see - I could spent hour gushing over Nero Alice.

Seeing all these different kinks being depicted as powers and abilities that these characters have - and seeing how they interact with other people is just interesting.

The sex scenes are both hilarious and kinda sexy. Specially if you do like to see women all hot and bothered. Personally I’m not into girls (or anyone for that matter) but I have to admit the scenes were pretty hot. And there is no shame in admitting as much. No matter what the puritanical Christian on Twitter crying abt “god honoring lesbian sex” Will tell you.

I cannot begin to explain just how hype and relatable it was to see Magia Baiser defeat Lord Enorme with the power of straight up delusion, we STAN.

So, yeah.

It’s been a while since I last saw a Magical Girl Show so unashamed of being a Magical Girl Show. Unashamed of being weird, of praising the genre and just enjoying it.

My essay is titled, in part, as a joking reference to my much more popular series “MLB is the worst thing to happen to the magical girl series”. Which I still think is true.

And while, yeah, maybe GOMG isn’t the best thing to come out of the genre…I still think it’s good that it came out.

A lot of people say they want a more “mature” take on Magical Girls but - this proved to me that just isn’t the case.

Gushing over magical girls proves that the Magical Girl Genre Can Be so much more than what people think. More than glitter and sparkles, more than vapid action scenes, or what little girls want.

Much like any other genre, it can be raunchy, it can be messy, it can explore things outside of the status quo. But it can still deeply respect the source material, and the origins of it.

GOMG proves Magical Girls can be fun. Just. Straight up fun. Regardless of your age. They can serve and connect you to parts of yourself you didn’t realize you could connect to.

I hope it proves to more people that the genre can be so much more than “just for little girls” that parodies can be more than pointing and laughing, and that it can have themes beyond just, “friendship”.

Magical Girls can be so much more. You just, have to have an open mind about it.

#gushing over magical girls #2k magical girl essay #cute high earth defense club love #sailor moon #puella magi madoka magica #shugo chara #I will defend this show with my life it’s genuinely so much fun #yes I am willing to tank my reputation for it it’s so fucking funny 😭😭

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she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 5 months ago

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Wicked the movie thoughts - spoiler version

I went to see Wicked today! If you want to read a spoiler free edition of what I thought you can do that here but otherwise below the cut I am going to talk in a lot of detail about the show and share my thoughts - they're overwhelmingly positive!! I loved this movie, I love this musical, and I have a lot of thoughts to discuss, I'm welcoming conversations about things I say or about stuff I didn't say but that you want to talk about let's absolutely chat, and this is all the way through going to contain spoilers for the plot but also for specific details, scenes, acting, etc, of the new movie so be warned if you don't want to read that

First of all, the genuine love and care that was put into the show and that can be seen not only in the acting but in the set, the music, in every aspect the care and the adoration for the theatre production was so clear, it was so lovingly crafted from the word go. I also felt like not only Wicked the musical but also Oz, in the original Wizard of Oz novel, in the Wicked novel, in the world and in everything that Gregory Maguire brought to the world, and so on and so forth was being treated with such care and being genuinely revered whilst also balancing well enough that I didn't feel like I was only ever seeing rehashes of existing material or a carbon copy of the past

Even as I was watching and thinking this, and thinking how well they had captured the feeling of watching something on stage, I was still wondering how they were possibly going to execute the Emerald City and the One Short Day performance because it's so iconic and so distinct in the musical but genuinely I was so impressed with the success of that scene. It both captured the essence of One Short Day on stage and added something new to it without taking anything away from the original and they deserve so much praise for that. I'm going to talk a little bit about the nail salon scene later when I discuss propaganda in Wicked (this is gonna be a looooooong post y'all buckle up) but other than that for One Short Day I just need to address, because how could I not, IDINA MENZEL AND KRISTEN CHENOWORTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't know they were going to be there!!!!!!!!!! I was losing my goddamn mind you guys omg

I was genuinely astonished. Like I'd seen them doing press and stuff but I assumed that was just because their names are so synonymous with Wicked I didn't realise they were actually going to be there!!

I really enjoyed the small stage production about the Wise Ones and the Grimmerie it was brilliant in concept and execution for worldbuilding and lore but KRISTEN AND IDINA OMG wonderful oh my gosh. Now was it on the nose? Absolutely. But I don't think that it felt forced, I thought that if you didn't know who they were then even when Chenoworth was singing to Grande and Menzel was singing to Eviro then it still wouldn't have felt strange or out of place, but of course I'm looking at it through the lens of a fan receiving fan service so generally speaking even though I know it's fanservice I'm still going to enjoy it and it's possible that through another's eyes it would feel different. I thought it was brilliant though and nothing will take that away from me

I think it's fair to say that the pacing of Wicked is kind of messed up and I have heard concern that because of that the act 2 movie will struggle; pacing of act 2 does get messy, but I cannot fault them in any way for splitting it into two movies ok because this was spectacular and I would not want to cut a single thing from it so yeah that's kind of all my thoughts on that point; I think that even if act 2 is harder to bring to screen that it can still be done in a high quality and successful way and especially after watching part 1 today I absolutely trust that this production can do that

I'm gonna now hop right back to No-One Mourns the Wicked (the pacing of this post is gonna be worse than the pacing of wicked). I was slightly concerned that Ariana Grande's intense recognisable-ness was going to take something away from the show because it would be hard to see the character she was playing rather than just Ariana Grande singing, if that makes sense, but from as early as No-One Mourns the Wicked my concerns were alleviated. Glinda is not an easy character to play, in my opinion, and she's not an easy character to play because she acts incredibly melodramatic in everything she does whilst her genuine emotions are incredibly subtle. What I saw in both Grande and Erivo was how fantastic their micro-expressions are and how much they can tell the audience with one or two features, often the eyes, alone. In No-One Mourns the Wicked , Galinda genuinely believes and will presumably continue to believe for the rest of her life that Elphaba is dead. And throughout her performance of the song, I more than once found it visibly notable that Glinda was on the verge of tears. She was smiling, she was singing, she was moving gracefully with her typical accentuated and dramatic movements, but the pain in her eyes was remarkable. This was a woman who believed that the only person she had ever had a genuine emotional connection with was dead, a woman who had lost not only someone she had manufactured a relationship with (Fiyero) and convinced herself that she was happy with what she knew was a false pretence of love to receive from, but also the only person in the world who had ever shown her real love and was finally being confronted by the fullest extent of the choices she had made but having to keep everything light and cheerful because of those very choices. Did that make sense? I hope I'm not just spouting nonsense. One of the most emphasised moments of this for me was when this massive effigy of Elphaba and one of the munchkinland residents hands Glinda the torch to light it; there's this blink and you miss it moment where Glinda looks at the torch, at the effigy, then back to the man who held it out to her, who's watching her expectantly, before she turns and tosses it on with a sense of urgency. Not only is this alone powerful, but I also think it's powerful that she throws the torch instead of standing at the effigy and taking care to set it alight firstly because she may not be able to bring herself to do so but also in a way that may be reflective of their relationship and the story: Glinda does not outrightly attack or harm Elphaba but she makes the choices that she makes, she throws her torch and whatever burns will burn.

I also felt that she captured the comedic elements of Glinda fantastically, with one of my favourite moments being when she melodramatically collapses kneeling in front of the bed as though she is sobbing into the quilt but just sits there perfectly still and the camera just stares at her for a few moments before she peeks up over her shoulder to see if Elphie's looking. The difference we can see between these two sides of Glinda's character was very well executed and I think we also see something of her more vulnerable side in some of these comedic moments, because ultimately she does (I'm going to talk about this later) feel unloved because of how shallow all of her relationships are and even in melodramatic, foolish or naive moments like the throwing herself on the duvet cover she is actively seeking attention because she equates attention to love - she so desperately claws her way to attention and popularity because she feels unloved and she thinks that this is love, so when it doesn't give her the feeling she was searching for she becomes convinced that it was because she doesn't have enough of it yet and she needs more. I thought that she was incredibly well captured and presented from all angles with her very many layers being well laid out.

Again with the insane jumping around but let's just dive headfirst into a couple of little details that I noticed whilst I'm thinking about them - during the Wizard and I when Elphaba is imagining her success and her dream she runs through a cornfield!! As though she is running towards Fiyero!!! I loved it. Like it's so tiny, but I love it. Another tiny one - loved the silver shoes for Nessa as a hark to the original book wherein the magic slippers were silver, but then in Popular when Glinda is going through her wardrobe and pulling out all these different options she gives Elphaba a pair of ruby red slippers and then decides against them and throws them away again!! Loved it as a teeny little reference. I also really lovedddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd and this one is more meaningful to the story but when Elphie has her magic outburst at Shiz right at the start where she sends Nessa into the air and stuff gets thrown everywhere, there's a statue on the wall of the Wizard that gets smashed. When it smashes, it's briefly visible that beneath the statue the wall was originally painted with a mural of animal scholars!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVED this detail, I was BUZZING. Like you saw it long enough to see what it was, there were three animals with a bear in the middle and I think the bear was wearing maroon robes and they were all clearly scholars

My personal theories on this is that either they were highly valued intellectual alumni of Shiz or that they founded the school, however there mya be lore standing on them that I am unaware of I started reading the book a long time ago and never finished it (I really want to read it but I haven't got around to it yet. I read enough to know what happened to Dr Dillimond in the book but I don't remember a lot after that)

Speaking of Dr Dillimond, I'm not sure if I just missed a detail or something implicit but I wasn't sure that they gave any real explanation as to why the poppies didn't knock Fiyero out????

On Fiyero: Johnathon Bailey understands Fiyero so well and it was brilliant. His performance very much took in the different layers of the character and the split between what he presents to the world and the intensity of the emotions he hides. Fiyero experiences emotion so intensely and feels such an intense response to others' emotions as well, and I think that you could really tell that whilst not feeling like anything was being taken away from the charismatic charming persona that you knew he was putting on. One of my favourite moments between him and Elphaba in this was when she siad something along the lines of 'you aren't as shallow and self-loving as I thought' and he replies something along the lines of 'how dare you? I genuinely love myself and I am deeply shallow' and I love this not only because his humour is enjoyable and his defence mechanisms are interesting but also because she immediately breaks through and says no, you're unhappy.

I promised thoughts on Dancing Through Life so whilst we're on Fiyero -> I don't at all intend to say that Bailey isn't a good singer because he is, I just thought that to some degree his voice didn't stand out from the chorus' voices in the same way that Erivo's and Grande's do and so the song did necessarily have the same bite to it as some of the others did/ That isn't to say that it wasn't a fantastic scene, because it was, and I loved the choreography and I was obsessed with the spinning bookshelves and all of it, the bringing the beat of the song in through the movement of the books was brilliant, and again he is a good singer and I think that having the actor's own voice in the movie is almost always the right decision

Okay I am going to make a post on its own about this as well because this is really long and I am so deeply obsessed with this I want to give it a chance to get proper discussion but one of my favourite propaganda-related details of this movie was Elphaba's nails. Yes, you read that right. Her nails.

In all of the imagery and posters of the 'Wicked Witch of the West' she is very often leaning forwards with her hands strangely position in the foreground and then her face behind them so your focus is drawn very quickly to the hands. In these images, her nails are always presented as extravagantly long, sharp, and claw-like. So in a world where animals are discriminated against and being used as the common enemy long before Elphaba is used as that enemy it's so fascinating that the dehumanisation of Elphaba has emphasis on her hands appearing strange or 'unnatural' and it makes me think of the line in Something Bad 'It's enough to give pause to anyone with paws' because that's where the emphasis on this distinction lies with no-one but humans having limbs that resemble hands - having Elphaba presented effectively as though she has claws in a world where animals are discriminated against and actively silenced, especially since she advocated against that silencing. And something I really enjoyed after having noticed the long nails in the posters during No-One Mourns the Wicked is that throughout the movie Elphaba has unapologetically long, beautiful nails that in a truly wonderful subtle aspect of Erivo's acting we get the sense she cares about even though they are never discussed. When she and Glinda go to the Emerald City we see this montage of their day during One Short Day and one of the things they do is go to a nail salon and we see Elphaba excitedly showing off to Glinda her long pretty nails that she loves so much and that make her feel pretty. Again this is such a massive testament to Erivo's acting skills because there's no dialogue about it but we know that she is so excited and we know that this is one of very few times that Elphie has felt pretty, she loves her nails. And they get used so horrifyingly against her. The nail salon is such a brief, subtle moment but it's so very well executed. There's also an earlier scene where she's alone with Madame Morrible practicing magic and when she reaches out to make the hand movements the camera cuts to show the shadow of her hand and it creates this emphasis on the length of her nails and how because of the shape of her hand midway through the movement the image looks like a claw or like a very stereotypical evil witch hands sort of thing. I also think that this moment is particularly powerful bc she's alone with Morrible and everything that Elphie does under Morrible's instruction is perfectly natural but what is seen on Morrible's stationary on the desk below her is representative of the propaganda that Morrible will turn the actions that she forced Elphaba to do into.

Also more propaganda stuff I could talk about the use of the word 'witch' for all goddamn eternity so I'm not going to hark on about it now but I will say that a piece of media like this one cannot be created today without acknowledgemnt of the difference between the word 'wtich' and the word 'wizard' and how they are presented, and I think that this was really interestingly handled in the word 'witch' not being said in the prequel aspect of it until Morrible labels her 'this Wicked Witch'.

Okay I think this is going to be what I finish off with but if you know this account you know that I LOVE a parallel and I was obsessed with the parallel drawn between family dynamics in Elphie's relationship with Nessa and her father, and then with the family that she's looking for and briefly thinks she could find with Morrible, the wizard, and Glinda. Yeoh said in an interview that Morrible's betrayal is realising that the mother figure isn't who you thought she was. Madame Morrible becomes Elphaba's maternal figure, and to her living memory realistically her only maternal figure, from very early on and this maternal view of her that we have through Elphaba's eyes is very much existent by the time we reach Sentimental Man, wherein the idea of the Wizard being able to offer her some kind of paternal love, that she has never felt because her relationship with her father is so fraught, is brought forth. Sentimental Man was very well performed in my opinion, it was the right decision to keep it low and subtle and close because it created this very specific closeness between Elphie and the Wizard and we felt what she felt, which was the exact manipulation that the Wizard wanted her to feel. When Madame Morrible enters the scene we then have both of these parental-style figures present telling Elphaba how precious she is, how amazing she is, how much they believe in her - essentially all these different things that she has been denied her entire life. What I find particularly fascinating about this is that what gets created here is exactly Elphaba's existing family dynamic - because Glinda is there too. This is what Elphaba always wanted - a motherly figure, a fatherly figure, and a sisterly figure - but it still comes at the expense of the sister. Glinda is being actively diminished and put down whilst Elphaba is raised and complimented for the purpose of manipulation and to be used for their purposes rather than existing for herself, just as her father diminishes and hurts her whilst complimenting and idolising Nessa but also manipulating her & never allowing her to live her own life. There's a moment where they're all stood around the grimmerie to get the four of them in shot with Elphie looking over the book, Morrible encouragingly at her side, the Wizard watching on from behind, and Glinda leaning over Elphie's other side to try and squeeze herself into the picture and I think that this still alone captures the entire thing so very well.

In a way, this is why Glinda turned round - without Elphie there, she gets love. When Elphaba had parental figures over her and no Nessa present to be better than her, she felt loved; when Glinda has parental figures over her and no Elphaba present to be better than her, she feels loved. The fundamental difference between them in the moment of choice is arguably that Elphaba's love for others, primarily Nessa, will always be stronger than her need for love from others, whereas Glinda's need for love from others will always be stronger than her love for others, primarily Elphaba.

In this moment, Glinda's warped distinction between love and popularity, as I discussed it earlier, is finally put to direct test and even though she loves Elphie and is loved by her in a way that she has arguably never been loved (we saw just how shallow her relationship with her parents was upon the arrival at Shiz. It's as shallow as her friendships at Shiz and romance with Fiyero.) she chooses popularity because she has somehow convinced herself that superficial love from many is better than genuine love from few. Elphaba's love for Glinda is probably the most genuine affection she's experienced in her entire life - but it doesn't come from authority. Elphaba's love isn't coming from someone who can raise Glina up or give her advantages and ultimately she is always seeking the approval of authority, possibly because she felt like she never received it from the authority that was her parents when she was a child, and she finds that feeling in Morrible and the Wizard, and arguably in the power that Fiyero's family could give her as well.

Okay super quick additions that i just remembered:

I loved loved loved the addition of her falling from the palace and seeing young Elphaba in the reflection and once again so freaking much could be said about the strength of Erivo's acting here it was truly beautiful and I found it like genuinely nerve-wracking even though I knew she obvs had to make it and the song wasn't over yk but yeah it was fantastic

When Elphaba's running from the soldiers & the flying monkeys just after the monkeys have been told to attack her and Glinda is chasing after her. They go through a narrow corridor of the palace lined by windows, and the wall are made of green brick. The sunset beyond casts pink light through every window. Every window is pink, all the walls are green. Elphaba is running and Glinda is following, trying to tell her to come back to the Wizard. As they run the flying monkeys start smashing the windows, so for every pace that they take THE PINK SHATTERS AND ONLY THE GREEN IS LEFT BEHIND. They are running towards Defying Gravity and for every step closer to it they become the less intertwined the colours are. The pink shatters and the green is left behind. It was visual poetry.

Okay I hope that this insane rambling made sense, I was partially transcribing this from voicenotes I sent to my friends when I got back after the movie and they actually got more than this so apologies to them and thank you for indulging me, and thank you to anyone who has bothered to read this lol I hope it was interesting - overall, excellent movie and I loved it!! Already can't wait for part 2

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dawndelion-winery · 1 year ago

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I Met You Once, I Loved You Twice

Celebrity au! Their persona, and then their true self, it seems like you were meant to love them regardless

Ft. Childe, Furina, Kaveh, Scaramouche (Wanderer), Wriothesley

[Idol! Childe, Actress! Furina, Racer! Kaveh, Artist! Scaramouche, Athlete! Wriothesley]

Childe:

You knew him before the fame, before the glitz and glamour; when he was just Ajax

And as horribly sappy as it sounds, you've loved him since day 1

Falling in love with Ajax was like slipping on ice while you're hiking up a snowy mountain

You get a little too caught up in the scenery, a tad bit too comfortable being around him

And suddenly, you fail to notice the patch of ice and slip, tumbling down the cliffside, your affection for him snowballing into something greater

And so you support him through his dreams of becoming an idol, writing to him while he's a trainee, making care packages for him

Anything for your Ajax

And when he finally debuts...

Oh boy, all the fans calling themselves his partner? They could dream on

You called dibs on him before any of them even set eyes on him

Besides, how could they even fall for someone just from watching them perform?

That was answered for you the first time Ajax excitedly insisted you watch him in the MV

You're not exactly proud of your reactions to seeing him come up on screen, but he seemed happy enough about it

Falling in love with the idol Childe was like drowning

Holding your breath, choking and flailing

It's dizzying until you finally succumb, which doesn't take long at all

And once he's converted you into a fan?

He's such a little shit, whipping out the idol persona for a smidge of free fanservice just to get you flustered at the most random times

And he's back to your sweet old Ajax in seconds too, acting like nothing's amiss

Furina:

The world's greatest actress finds that the world is her stage

Ever perfect, ever entertaining, her splendour is unparalleled

It was impossible not to adore such craft, and you easily fell in love with her acting just as one would fall asleep, gently and blissfully without even realising

Immersing yourself in her works, you develop a sort of fanaticism, delving deeper to find her interviews

She's beautiful whether or not she's filming, you find

So much so that you can't help but wonder how much of it is true

And so when you do, by some trick of fate, meet her, you feel compelled to ask

It's a dark, foggy evening, and you're taking a brisk walk along the forest

Who would've thought you'd bump into her then?

And so you strike up conversation, eager to interact with your favourite actress

And when you broach the topic of her facade, you notice she gets a tad bit defensive

So you apologise and back off, meaning well, hoping to see her again

And you do: these late walks become a regular thing, and slowly, you start to know her for who she really was

It's almost like meeting her for the first time all over again, and it very well may have been if you don't count the act as meeting her

Falling for Furina, your friend, was like taking an ice bath

Frigidity seized you almost instantly, and yet, as you stayed longer, the more pleasant it felt, almost soothing in a sharp sort of way

Kaveh:

Not just anyone could race in what was known to be the pinnacle of motorsports

And Kaveh? He was brilliant, the light of Ksharewar, the face of the team

And frankly, a very charming face

Often regarded as one of the prettiest on the grid (if not the prettiest)

He's really raking in the viewers

Imagine people seeing *1* edit of him getting out his his car post race and suddenly they're invested in races

Ofc being a new fan, the gatekeeping you have to put up with is ridiculous

"I bet your favourite driver is Kaveh because he's handsome."

As if he's not one of the most talented to ever grace us with his presence?

He gets so involved with the car's engineering honestly he should just build the car himself too atp

He is speed on the track

And falling for the light of Ksharewar through the television screen is an adrenaline rush in and of itself

So bumping into him in real life was just breathtaking

You sincerely hoped you didn't come off as some crazed fanatic with the way you rambled on about how much you loved seeing the way he pushed the car to its limits and everything

Overall it was a great once in a lifetime experience and you planned to treasure it

Until it was just a once in a lifetime thing and you seemed to bump into him a fair bit ("Hey aren't you that fan that completely went off about the car that time?")

Once you'd started talking to him more frequently, the rush of meeting him started to fade into less of a frenzy, and more of a bubbling excitement

Falling in love with Kaveh was like taking a breath of fresh air and letting the chilly breeze fill your lungs, a crisp clarity creeping through your senses

But from the faint flush of pink on his cheeks, perhaps the opposite was the case on his end

Scaramouche(Wanderer):

You've heard of artists with depression, now what about artists with borderline personality disorder?

The first time you'd met him, you didn't even know it was him

You'd been at an art gallery admiring the works signed off by Kunikuzushi when a stranger stood beside you

"You've been staring at this sculpture for a pretty long time."

"I like it. I don't think I've ever felt such yearning embedded in stone."

The stranger didn't respond, but nodded in acknowledgement and continued to stand beside you

Falling for Kunikuzushi was like falling in love with shadows

It was no more than a feeling, a yearning, a desperation much like what he portrays in his works

Everything you knew about him seemed to drown in sorrow, loneliness, and self destruction, yet having never met him, you were sure this was only one small aspect of his being

Which left you ever curious

Curiouser still was that same stranger with the odd navy blue hair who always seemed to happen to bump into you at these exhibitions

Without fail, he'd prompt you to speak, as though digging for your thoughts on each piece

Not that it bothered you, the stranger felt familiar, and had become a welcome face

Warm was his presence and gentle was his gaze, yet a detached coldness kept you from him

He was beautiful, you noted, like moonlight, with all it melancholic splendour and grace, like the paintings and sculptures you loved so dearly

And so you found yourself falling for a beguiling stranger whose name you knew not

You loved him like the sea loves the shore, always reaching for him, but pulling back in uncertainty

"You're oddly silent today," he notes.

"I was thinking of how much this piece reminds me of us. It's weird, isn't it? How I'm seeing things, drawing links to some stranger."

"Not really. I made it like that for you. We don't have to be strangers."

Wriothesley:

Baseball player Wriothesley who has his fans swooning at his charming grin and chuckle

A real heart stopper (he could beat me with his bat)

Fans adore him regardless of whether they're simps (they are) because he's good at his job

The only people who hate him are fans of the opposing team

The way his arms flex with every swing, in this essay I will-

He's built like a tank and plays like one too

So obviously you'd expect him to be a pretty confident kind of guy

And he is

He's a charmer, a smooth talker, and painfully level headed

So why was this beefy cannon suddenly bashful over your incessant praise?

Just look at him, which of his fans haven't fallen completely smitten?

Falling for the star player was like stepping into a big city for the first time, and being wowed and blinded by the lights and massive skyscrapers

But Wriothesley was a soft person at heart

And oh so very vulnerable to affection

For every compliment you uttered, he'd readily deflect it, but when they just didn't end?

Boy was he at a loss

He did end up treating you to coffee, so that was nice

But he was very obviously avoiding your gaze which he deemed to raw for him to meet

Yet it is that exact raw adoration that he can't quite dismiss

He knows how superficial fawning can be, yet there's an undeniable gratification when it comes from you

So he keeps you at arm's length, letting you in ever so slightly, but never too close despite not pushing you away

Falling in love with Wriothesley was like planting a seed and nurturing it as it grows

The germination takes place out of sight, the results unnoticeable until it finally sprouts as a fragile sapling

Discouraging as it may be, with continued work, it does get easier

And when he's secure enough to trust you entirely...he promised to return all your efforts tenfold

Taglist: @ryuryuryuyurboat @yinyinggie @mx-kamisato @chaosinanutshell @haliyarobin @irethepotato @boundedbyfate @favonius-captain @aqui-soba @tiredsleep @sadlonelybagel @mastering-procrastinating

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dashi-inu · 5 days ago

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‧₊˚♪𝄞࿐₊˚⊹ soundwave from transformers ⋆｡₊˚♬ ﾟ.

i never thought in my life i would redesign a mecha of all beings, but my stupidity got me here ... not knowing when to quit. i drool over his canon design in prime (and all iterations for that matter) but i decided to alter it for 1. me to understand and 2. fanservice; i just really want to draw sexy things with a sexy character u /// u

transformers are very sexy play-doh's and i wanted to have fun making a headcanon-based iteration of soundwave so here's some story and details about my little music player 🎵

soundwave is a foreign transformer! not from cybertron, but from a distant land whose inhabitants value music and dance in their culture. unfortunately, his spark was stolen from birth from his native planet by a quintesson scientist who placed soundwave's spark in a preset protoform. (cyberverse's scientist character was SO obsessed with soundwave i thought was too hot and interesting to ignore)

soundwave's spark still took on its natural form it was intended from the start, but had a trait only seen in quintesson species, the tentacles.

soundwave came to life beside another, the triple changer named blitzwing under the same scientist. (tfa blitzwing had multiple faces that made him quintesson-coded to me and my sibling @crow-cello)

though blitzwing was made to protect the judge, the innocent mistake of soundwave being the first entity he sees with his very eyes made blitzwing feel beholden to protect this mechanical beauty. it was love at first sight, but this part of the story does not end in happily ever after.

soundwave is then rescued by his native species, from who he was stolen from, no longer belonging to the scientist, yet, separated from blitzwing. while heartbroken that they are kept apart, soundwave got in touch with his roots, being taught that love comes back to someone through song.

indulging in his birthright as a music player, soundwave did not suspect that he was a rarity across this universe. he was seen as an exotic treasure to higher beings, sentinel prime's high council in cybertronian. the idea of owning a music box of their own was too tantalizing to resist.

soundwave felt like a prisoner in his own life, being kidnapped but never belonging for too long. when he was stolen by cybertronian soldiers for their high council, soundwave endured their perversion, becoming their indulgence than his own being as he was what they wanted him to be, their little music player.

until one sacred day, he saw a certain gladiator in the arena and was saved by his words ... d-16 was an underdog fighter, prized by the high council for his victories and in the same leaf, despised for his active voice against oppression. soundwave would sneak out of the confines of his many masters to learn and experience life with d-16. when he promised soundwave for a better world for robots like them, soundwave gained the strength and courage to dismantle the ones who only saw him as a trophy.

without d-16, he wouldn't have gained his freedom. soundwave believed that all those days singing his lovesong brought d-16 to him. thereafter, soundwave vowed to be megatron's most loyal right-hand, indebted to only serve him. what he did not imagine was that megatron would save blitzwing too.

now for some quick facts:

soundwave is a music box! 🎶 his heart-shaped plate is where he keeps his Cassetticons. (his babies)

stands on his tip-toes to portray his dancer side~ 🩰 very swift, flowy, and agile in dance. moves gracefully in battle.

as a mecha character, soundwave is comfortable in his nudity. (save for intimate parts.) heart-shaped plate is see-through and his glowing wires are the equivalent of body art/tattoos ❤️ canonly wears the least amount of armor in prime and showcases the most mesh. i believe as a stylistic choice-

#my art #transformers #transformers prime #transformers soundwave #soundwave #i've .... done a lot of work here guys ... im very happy and relieved i got a piece of my mind out there :')#i know there is canon. but sometimes theres just too much going on with it or so much inconsistencies #that i needed to simplify (sexify) the story #i couldn't have done it without my bestie crowcello <3 #for lack of better words #they dribbled the ball all over the court past all the players and i just shot it in the hoop if im honest #sorry if this feel incomplete: soundwave comes as a set with blitzwing which is the character my buddy is working with. i worked with sound #tfp #tfp soundwave #maccadam

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littleredstilinski · 3 months ago

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Jackson Whittemore: A Character Analysis

I know that it's really popular to hate Jackson Whittemore, and for good reason. He's a bully. His primary victim also happens to be Stiles Stilinski, the golden boy of the Teen Wolf fandom. (And trust me, one day I will go into depth on my relationship with Stiles's character.) There aren't as many Jackson stans in the fandom compared to many others, and I believe he's not been given nearly as much justice as he deserves. I am going to analyze not only why Jackson Whittemore is my favorite character in Teen Wolf, but also why I believe he is one of the most well-written characters in Teen Wolf.

Jackson Whittemore has a deep inferiority complex that he has internalized due to his relationship with adoption. He feels a constant need to prove himself to his parents because he carries a strong fear of rejection and abandonment. He externalizes this in a few major ways: 1, his performance as a student and athlete, and 2, his interpersonal relationships. Jackson loved lacrosse, but that relationship quickly became toxic when he was met with any competition. And he loved Lydia, but the main driving factor in the relationship for him was her status as the Most popular girl in school. Jackson has pulled his fears and insecurities and turned them into a drive that makes him seek out excellence, praise, and above all, social dominance and superiority. He needed to be an excellent athlete, go to an excellent college, have an excellent wife, and raise excellent children. I know that many haters in the fandom consider Jackson's evolution of sexuality to be "fanservice," but for the reasons above, it would make perfect sense for him to repress his sexuality. It would throw a wrench into his ideal of the perfect, societally acceptable life.

When Jackson discovered werewolves, he encountered a level of power and control that was impossible for him to achieve through hard work and manipulation—the one thing he couldn't have. When he finally got the bite, he would have an edge over everyone and a dominance that would be impossible to upstage.

Which is why Jackson becoming a Kanima was the greatest slap in the face to ever happen. By transforming into the Kanima, he was forced into a state of submission that betrayed every aspect of the persona he had been building his entire life. He had zero control over his own mind or body. Everything he could ever want was handed to him on a silver platter by Derek Hale, and it turned into his worst nightmare.

The explanation in the show is that Jackson became a kanima because of his insecurities and emotional issues; however, I believe he became a kanima because of how he changed to bury those insecurities. Jackson became conniving, targeted, slippery, and eventually violent and reckless to achieve what he wanted. And, like a reptile, Jackson lived his life camouflaging himself as someone he wasn't. He acted like the bravest, strongest person in the room, even when he knew he wasn't—he was petrified of Derek Hale's presence and still approached him multiple times to demand power and answers.

Jackson was forced to his weakest point, where he had lost all sense of power and control because he had built an empire within himself completely on lies and intimidation. Hard work and skill were involved, but that was overshadowed by his bullying and attitude. Being forced to live from the opposite perspective, Jackson was forced to work twice as hard on himself to get to where he is. When we see him return in season 6 and in the movie, Jackson's confidence is no longer pretend, and it's evident in the way he carries himself and interacts with others. He has managed to earn success and power without fraudulence and has actually matured as a person because of his experience as a kanima, which never would have happened otherwise. Because of this journey, he was also able to reshape his worldview outside of small-town California, as well as his view of romantic relationships. Jackson actually made it out, and that's why he's one of my biggest inspirations as a character.

#littleredstilinski #jackson whittemore #teen wolf #teen wolf meta #lydia martin #colton haynes

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lovekillz · 2 months ago

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[AMA] SESSION #1

CATEGORIES: [HONESTY HOUR] [PLOT] a new page has gone live on the crimson seal, titled "I WORKED ON A CURSED MOVIE & LIVED TO TELL THE TALE: ASK ME ANYTHING - WEEK 1!" that evening, you are handed a tablet that is logged into your crimson seal account, awaiting submissions from fans. unlike most other technology, the tablet loads things considerably faster; you are able to access the internet and even the livestream to see all 48 concurrent feeds of the hotel, at least until you have to return it at the end of the day. a landing page for the AMA session has also gone live. It includes an automatically generated transcript of the tv show host daisy yang introducing the special event live from the courtyard, the livestream's comment section, and a link to the official cast & crew's activity feed.

OOC DETAILS

IC DURATION. 1 day; this AMA canonically takes place the day after the welcome dinner.

OOC DURATION. sunday, march 9 to the end of wednesday, march 12. questions/answers/interactions can only be posted during the active days of each AMA session. any leftover questions can be saved for the next AMA.

TAG TO USE. all answers should be tagged with #lvk:ama001.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE. leave a REPLY on this post by tagging the blog of your participating muse and stating their name + crimson seal username. make sure your askbox is open and anon is turned on.

welcome to our first "honesty hour"! styled as an in-character "ask me anything" session, these will recur several times, each one with a different focus. this week, the show is particularly focused on the topics of initial impressions, what everyone has been doing between the end of filming and the reunion, and how the "curse" has been affecting them. the cast & crew have been encouraged to be entertaining for the fans, and to even sprinkle in fanservice. if this involves some...embellishment, then the producers are willing to look the other way.

this will work much like regular honesty hours, but to simulate an AMA session, we will be using our muses' crimson seal usernames. muses can also interact/comment with other muses' answers in-character (signified by using their crimson seal usernames). for full details & premade questions, see below. for any other questions, reach out to the main!

[TRANSCRIPT]

HOST: am i live yet?

HOST: good evening, everyone. we'll give it another couple of minutes for everyone to get settled in.

HOST: (off screen) did you get them all connected to the site yet? god, the wifi is shit here.

HOST: (off screen) hey, you. make sure your team is on standby when questions start coming in, i don't want any of those creeps getting through. last thing we need is another lawsuit.

HOST: (off screen) we're good to go?

HOST: we're good to go! he-llo, killers, we interrupt your livestream viewing sessions with an exclusive opportunity: the cast & crew of "the mask of all hearts" will be joining us on THE CRIMSON SEAL for an AMA session! in a few minutes, you'll see an automated message with the links to the rules, submission instructions, and other important...

[ COMMENTS - SHOWING 26 of 1,000+ ... ]

@/cr1edw0lf: why are we looking at this joker lmaoooo

@/jinnie2000: SHOW US THE HOT MIC GUY

@/carrieapologist: is last light going to perform

@/whatamidoinglol11: so we can ask them anything?

@/meterr0r: @/carrieapologist girl they're about to disband we should really be waiting for NAMRA

@/throwaway2223: READ MY ARTICLE NOW. EXPOSE THEIR SECRETS. https://mask-of-lies.mindnote.web/entry/week-1-livestream-notes-so-far

[ SYSTEM: message by @/throwaway2223 removed by @/cs_admin. reason: unsafe link. ]

@/harangprotectionsquad: Where can i send questions

@/dollface_did_nothing_wrong: they need to put miss leeann on so she can spill the tea again!!! i only trust her!!!

@/leatherfacekisser: no. that journalist needs to do their job and finally release that article, or maybe someone can get the security guard to talk. i bet they saw some shit.

@/cinefreak: @/dollface_did_nothing_wrong ur so right, i bet she has dirt on sumin and wonshik

@/justxkae: guys do you see behind her

@/hyoggz: i hope we get updates from that one account who was posting set pics, it looked so SCARYY TT jinhae looks even scarier

@/justxkae: the statue

@/cr1edw0lf: yeah @/whatamidoinglol11 just read the rules

@/justxkae: wasnt that creepy lady statue there before??? where is it

@/darkness_the_way: did u guys hear things got so bad someone had to deal drugs to ppl to cope

@/throwaway2223: THEY HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SILENCE ME. https://mask-of-lies.mindnote.web/entry/they-are-after-me

[ SYSTEM: message by @/throwaway2223 removed by @/cs_admin. reason: potentially unsafe link. ]

[ SYSTEM: user @/throwaway2223 has been banned from the stream by @/cs_admin. all posts & comments made by the user have been permanently removed. ]

@/whatamidoinglol11: Thank you @/cr1edw0lf 😃

@/jmkz00: @/darkness_the_way yeah well they all got fucked by that movie. did you hear abt that one who just stopped talking completely

@/jmkz00: @/darkness_the_way or that one whose eyesight started going bad right after

@/xxkmin: this is a mess ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

@/billyloomisluver: @/jmkz00 no, some of them have been fucked for WAY longer. i heard that one knife freak is a serial killer and the fire extra was setting SET STUFF on fire

@/user39880617: i can see you. can you see me?

@/blazensword: i bet they're all lying for a publicity stunt like that one who said she got possessed lmaooo

@/xxkmin: livestream glitching half the time, cameras going down, audio being weird

@/xxkmin: i just want to watch my drama in peace

RULES

the following rules are in character, meaning that there is no actual ooc penalization for breaking them, and muses can and will sometimes be goaded into breaking them.

users should not divulge any private personal information, such as personal emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc or it will be [REMOVED].

users may not state misinformation about the broadcast, the film, or sanguine studios, such as giving a specific release date when one has not been officially announced.

users may not ask others to divulge private personal information.

users may not divulge any confidential information related to the trip such as: their invitation to the reunion, documents they received in preparation, the phone call they received from the director, and any geolocating information related to the hotel/jinhae's whereabouts.

please remember that all questions, answers, and other interactions are publicly visible to everyone online.

PREAPPROVED QUESTIONS

these are a list of questions that you can be sent in. you can either send them as "anonymous" or make up random usernames from would-be fans (see next section for how to format). because these have been preapproved, they cannot be marked for removal by any moderators, unless the muse's answer breaks one of the ic rules.

what made you want to be involved in the film?

what is your most memorable moment from working on the movie?

did you have a favorite person to work with during the movie?

did you have a least favorite person to work with during the movie?

have you kept in contact with anyone on the cast/crew since filming ended?

what's one lesson you learned from working on this movie?

what was your favorite part about working on this movie?

what was the hardest part about working on this movie?

do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue the same line of work as you?

if they asked you to work for another film in the love kills franchise, would you do it again?

do you think you'll stay in the film industry professionally?

do you have any inspirational figures or quotes?

how do you feel about the apparent dangers on set during your filming, and even the 2012 filming before you?

how do you approach your line of work?

what is something about you that no one else knows?

if you could say one thing to the average "love kills" fan, what would it be?

are the rumors about you true?

are you working on any other professional projects next?

do you believe in the curse of the mask?

if the film really is cursed, why do you think it is?

do you have any previous projects? what has been your favorite to work on?

do you think you'll go see the movie once it comes out?

is it scary staying in jinhae-gu?

what's your biggest fear?

how easy are you to scare?

were you a fan of horror before working on the film?

if there was a mask for you in real life, what would yours be/look like?

what's your favorite scary movie?

SUBMITTING CUSTOM QUESTIONS

you can also send your own custom questions/comments to any muse. among greenlit topics are anything publicly known about the muse, interactions that have taken place in public view during # lvk:event001, and potentially some baseless speculation/rumors surrounding the muse. try to send at least one thing to every muse, and have fun with it! if you're unsure whether you're allowed to ask about something, you can either check in with that muse or the main.

asks can be formatted as:

@/username_or_anonymous said: insert question/comment here

ex.

@/jiwonxharangxforever said: is it true that no one can remember anything from the movie???

@/redm4sque said: kana i'm so excited to see the makeup looks you did for the circus scenes!!! did you have a fav member to style?

@/p1cture2burn said: hi dabin :) out of the songs you made for the movie, do you have a favorite?

@/anonymous said: i know what you did last summer

please remember to use a slash after the @ so we don't accidentally tag existing blogs with those urls!

alternately, your muse is also allowed to send questions to other muses and comment on their answers as themselves. you can demonstrate this by using your muse's crimson seal username when sending the question/posting a comment. if you have a secondary muse on a sideblog, the username will help distinguish which muse is interacting.

these questions can be about anything about the muse, though they will probably be about public information, since that's all that most fans would know to ask about.

in the event that you receive a question your muse does not feel comfortable answering in character or breaks any of the in-character rules, please see the next section about "removing" questions.

MODERATING QUESTIONS

if your muse receives a question that they, in character, would not want to answer, you can demonstrate that they have removed a question by posting the ask with a [REMOVED].

it is also possible for a muse to remove a post despite initially answering it, though for the fun of showing everyone what their answer initially was, you can leave the original answer in place and append it with a [REMOVED] at the bottom. ic, we'll treat this as if their original answer can no longer be seen.

additionally, we will have in-character moderators:

an npc head moderator from the show's production team (@lovekillz)

the [LPR-02] PUBLICIST

the [LPR-04] SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER #1 (@enoiric)

the [LPR-05] SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER #2 (@kkotdaun)

moderators will have the ability to mark posts as [PENDING REVIEW] if they believe that the question violates one of the ic rules. in this case, the social media manager should reply to the post with [PENDING REVIEW] and tag the main (@/lovekillz), and the head moderator will follow up with a [REMOVED] or [APPROVED], signifying whether the question would have been allowed to remain publicly visible. because moderators can also receive questions, they can moderate questions/answers posted by each other as well.

it's important to note that if one of your posts is "moderated," that it is strictly in character and you yourself are not breaking any rules! we even encourage answers that could be marked for removal for drama. we want the simulation aspect to be part of the fun, and we encourage everyone to poke at each other's muses while reacting in-character to their own questions!

#lvk:ama001 #lvk:plot #dont miss the hidden lore drop :)

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overthinkthis · 3 months ago

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15 Day BL Challenge

Day 43: Let’s get delulu, which branded pairing should just get married already? (Note: this is all for fun and giggles, we’re not actually speculating on anyone’s sexuality or relationships.)

Okay. So. I have no skin in this game and I don't care, I don't really follow actors. This being said. Can we please get normal about BillyBabe?

I'm no expert, but from what I understand, for a long time (and even today in some forms) the ideal for pairings was to keep things ambiguous - act a little like they were dating to keep up the fantasies, but not actually come out. And I've seen a lot of praise on tumblr for pairings who are very clear and outspoken about acting being their job and that they are not actually dating. And a lot of people are (rightfully) calling for everyone to respect that and believe them. (Yes, even when YinWar tell some random kids that they're a couple. They told us that the couply parts are work for them, so that's what we're going with.)

But the other side of the coin is to also be normal about couples that actually are dating! Yes, don't assume anyone's sexuality, but that includes not assuming heterosexuality either. And at some point, calling everything we see a performance or 'fanservice gone too far' simply starts being disrespectful.

As long as people are vague or ambiguous - yeah, don't assume anything. But they're not vague or ambiguous or subtle at this point.

(source)

Now, tbh I don't even think Billy or Babe care all that much, they seem pretty chill around the topic. But that doesn't mean it's okay to insist that they are pretending to be in love for clout or money.

Thailand is still a conservative country where being out can have negative impacts on people's careers, so being that gay for each other on main is not without risk. (Yes, they're obviously fine at idol factory, but who knows what the future holds.)

What also bothers me is that we're still at a point where softness and romance between men immediately gets discredited as 'this has to be a performance for women'. Let men be loving and in love with each other without assuming an ulterior motive. Let young queer people watch this without telling them 'Ah, no, this has to be fake!' Let queer love exist without immediately doubting it or asking for receipts.

15 Day BL Challenge: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

#blchallenge2k24 #billybabe #billy patchanon #babe tanatat #the sign the series #sorry this ended up a bit of a rant #like i don't even ship them #i begrudgingly accept that they are dating and pray they won't break up in the middle of filming interminable or something #though i am also happy for them #and worried that they'll someday regret sharing this much #i contain multitudes #overthinking the bl challenge

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mimikoolover · 8 months ago

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some "controversial" thoughts on are you sure:

jungkook's ideal scenario is probably that jimin sides with him in situations but especially when he's right. jimin claimed he knew it was pink sausage but he still sided with tae and I think that is is what made jungkook snap at him. we've seen numerous times that jimin tries to get the rise out of jungkook, obviously in a joking way, which he wouldn't be doing if jungkook was snapping at him like that all the time. he also said he enjoys doing this (and being scolded by jungkook) which says it all about how bs people's 'concerns' are.

as a side note I also notice that tae in his role as the hyung 'polices' jungkook's behaviour a lot more than jimin ever does.

tbh I'm not a big fan of the times when vmin would speak about jungkook in front of his face like he isn't there about how he can beat their (well tae's) ass up or how much he's eating. I know it's all jokes between friends and stuff but at the end of the day I do not think jungkook deep down enjoys that because no one would. and jimin only does this when tae is there, so I think while the entire vminkook dynamic is quite sweet, from some reactions in the past such as jungkook's initial reaction to tae coming to Jeju and his reaction during his live on his bday when vmin turned up at this house together kinda tells me he's not always a big fan of vmin ganging up on him. no one talks about it but I find it interesting how jikook's dynamic changes when tae is there because of how jimin interacts with tae.

throughout the Jeju episodes we didn't get anything sentimental or anything about vminkook (that we were shown) which is realistic but as much as people hype vminkook up, between the three of them I didn't see anything 'special'. they're just 'normal' friends who bicker and get along fine and have a massive history to share and they will probably always love each other, be there for each other and have that bond but I do wonder if they never met in bts would the 3 of them be friends in the same way. I'm not that sure tbh. especially in terms of travelling together since jikook have their things they wanted to do (and let's be real, they don't totally enjoy the same things but they enjoy making plans that they know the other will enjoy) which tae may not have chosen to do himself. tae's 'workout' was also interesting. if I'm being cynical, just watching the episodes I got the feeling tae came along to get a free holiday and spend some time with jimin and some limited time with jungkook but he increasingly let jikook be which to be fair to tae I have to wonder was because they kept calling him guest kinda making it obvious him being there wasn't their first preference. but I did really like that no one played anything up for the fans/cameras and we truly got to see them without fanservice or having tasks like writing each other letters and whatnot.

overall I liked the Jeju episodes and I know jungkook said they were better because tae was there but I have to disagree on that if I'm completely honest (and I wonder how much he really thought that vs said it because he's a nice person who always thinks about others' feelings and it was a nice thing to say). the best parts were when only vmin or only jikook were interacting (we hardly had taekook interact alone apart from the very beginning) so tbh...maybe it will change when they are back but I can lowkey see why vminkook as a trio were not hanging out together the year before Jeju. and it wasn't totally awkward but tae's position as the guest, if they weren't in bts and had the history they have with each other (aka they were just 'normal' people with 'normal' friendships) would have been a little bit painful for everyone involved imo.

namjoon kept being brought up to jungkook fascinated me because we have 1. joon saying he loves jimin the most 2. tae asking why joon didn't come to Jeju (he had joon on his mind tbf) and jungkook essentially saying no one would be invited lol 3. jimin teasing jungkook by pretending to jokingly tell on jungkook to namjoon when jungkook said he enjoyed travelling with the maknae line. I love namjoon and jungkook's friendship a fair amount but the dynamic between them both loving jimin the most and jungkook "winning" will always be fascinating to me.

I feel like throughout the entire show there is an undercurrent of us knowing jikook have a strong bond, them knowing we know, they don't explicitly say it but they act like it's a fact that's been establish that they don't have to 'prove' because everyone should and does already know it. there is literally 0 fanservice in this show in terms of them playing up their friendship for the cameras so that fans have cute moments to watch (as idols tend to do sometimes). and they do stuff like cuddle and play around but you can tell it's what they want to do and not something they do so that fans have something cute to watch. I also liked that they said they're not gonna argue in the military and I can 100% believe that seeing how much on the same page they are on everything. I honestly wasn't expecting them to be so in sync so consistently but it was so obvious that they always know what the other is thinking. if they truly didn't get to see each other a massive amount it obviously did not affect their bond or how well they know each other/how much on the same page they are. I would guess even if they have disagreements they know how to deal with it without full blown arguments because of 1. how well they know each other 2. how important they are to each other so that they make a conscious effort to get along well.

jimin keeps bringing up to people (first we saw with joon now with tae) that he and jungkook are enlisting together which tells me how it's a big deal/something important for him and I feel like he enjoys letting people know about it and establishing their (jikook's) closeness with this even more. they may never say the reason why they enlisted as companions but they certainly act like we already know the reason as if it's obvious, which tbh, it is. the reason being is that they just wanted to be there for each other. I mean they did actually say that. for the fandom to truly take it in though I think they expect jikook to literally spell it out like they are telling 3 year olds why they shouldn't eat a crayon lol

#I woke up thinking about jikook and just wrote all my thoughts out #let me know if you read all this #because it's a lot and I don't expect anyone to do so lol

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cosmicstarlatte · 2 years ago

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Reality Show: Dateables (Obey Me!)

Diavolo and the others agreed to become a part of a new demon reality show that revolves around their lives.

»Characters: Dateables // ->[Click here for Part 1: Demon Bros]

»Tags: Shitpost/Humor, Bulleted Style, Solomon On His BS LMAO, Slight Mentions of MC

»Notes: Now I do, thanks for asking Anon!♡ // CM= Crew Member

Diavolo:

"Haha! Make sure you get my good side yeah!?"

He was ecstatic, this was the most exciting thing he's done in a while

His camera crew was nervous at first but then relaxed when they saw how easy-going the prince was

Then got nervous again when Barbatos threatened them to remind them who they're in the presence of

Filming him kept them on their toes, it was either going to be an easy normal day or a chaotic one

[Camera zooms in on Dia's photo album and zooms out to an excited Dia]

"Oh, oh! And this is me and Lucifer at the carnival! And this one is me and MC! And here's us all together!"

CM: "My lord may we ask how you feel about MC?"

[Camera pans to Dia reaching for a journal titled MC Fanfiction ]

"I'm glad you asked."

Barbatos shut that down real quick and made them cut that last part that day

[Camera cuts to Dia doing selfie POV and running from Barbatos and the crew] "-AND LUCIFER HAS THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS B-"

[Camera cuts momentarily, flashes of Lucifer and Dia struggling]

Naturally, the demons loved the prince even more after filming ended, it was nice to see another side of him

Barbatos:

"Delete that. Understood? 🙂"

Hated the entire show idea and tried to talk Diavolo out of it however he lost that battle

His camera crew was scared the entire time but filming him was easy for the most part

Viewers liked seeing the day to day things the butler did for the prince like preparing meals and organizing events

[Camera shakes as they trail behind Barbatos]

"You can't follow me into my room."

CM: "But the contract states-"

"🙂"

(nervous) CM: "Wow what's that!?" [Shakily zooms in on a clean empty corner]

[Distant camera keeps panning between Barbatos and a rat having a stand off just outside the castle grounds... it runs at him]

"TELL THE YOUNG MASTER IT WAS AN HONOR-"

CM: (Scares the rat in the opposite direction)

[Camera cuts to a disheveled Barb up in a tree]

"...Do you like pastries? Luxurious rare teas? How do you like to be rewarded?"

Simeon:

"Um...hello. I'm Simeon, an exchange student from the Celestial Realm."

Didn't mind being filmed but wasn't sure how to act so:

Main Character energy, he talked like he was on livestream, very show and tell; exactly what the show needed

His crew had a pleasant time with him and viewers loved the angel

[Camera zooms out and pans around his room, focusing on a sheep plushie]

"So this is where I live...and these are my things. I love to write in my spare time!"

[Camera pans to him looking out his window]

"You can see the House of Lamentation from this spot. Always seems to be on fire on Thursdays. Explosions are Saturdays. (BOOM) Ah, right on time. (sips tea)"

[Camera quickly zooms in on his shoulders and hips losing some focus] He's unaware of the fanservice he provides

CM: "Do angels ever get crushes, are they allowed? There's rumors with you and MC-"

"Um, well, you see, oh HEY LUKE! Sorry guys I promised I'd help him with baking!"

[Camera cuts to him pulling an annoyed Luke out the room]

CM to CM: "Can angels ever lie!? Is that allowed!?"

Luke:

"For the last time, I'm not a chihuahua!"

(whispering) CM to CM: "Heh, the rumors are true. He's got a little bark in him!"

Luke was nervous about filming but Simeon helped

His crew had a hard time with him; not that Luke was difficult but more so the crew had to watch what they say or how they act around the young angel

[Camera zooms in through the kitchen door and catches Luke dropping a whole bowl of batter]

They caught him saying his first bad word

Demons liked this 👍 Simeon did not 👎

CM: "That's too high, let me get that for you."

"I can do it myself, thanks!"

[Camera pans to Luke falling, scraping his knee and tearing up]

(sighing) CM: "Come here, I got a band-aid."

Solomon:

"Is this for a cooking show?"

Would not listen and made it a cooking show

His crew rolled with it anyway since it was easy to film him

"Welcome to Solo Cooking!"

Viewers were a little confused but continued watching

[Camera tries to focus on the fresh dish he made]

CM: "Oh that looks good can we try it?"

"By all means!"

His crew had to take a few days off from nearly dying so production moved slowly

One of the CMs ended up quitting and suing but Barb took care of it

[Camera catches Solo calling & inviting MC for dinner]

Out of good faith, one of the crew took his phone and chucked it

"...You could've just said you and the crew wanted an invitation? There's enough-"

His entire crew: (start running)

Viewers were a little disappointed, they thought they'd see more of the sorcerers life

There was one clip though

[Camera catches Solomon and the rarely seen Levi hanging out and laughing]

For some reason that clip became popular and was deemed precious

⬦You might also like: MC's Livestream

#OUTRAGEOUS WHAT DIA!? BOOBS? BOOTY? BODY? BODACIOUS BODY!? 🤨#Solomon: I finally made it 💯#Angel Smut/Kink tags shot up LMAO #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me shitpost #obey me crack #obey me humor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me luke #obey me solomon #obey me dateables #◇˖・ﾟ— › cosmic obey me . ⊹#✩ — the star: anon!#shitpostcifer

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aboutzatanna · 4 months ago

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Review: Zatanna: Bring Down The House #1-5

Overall, I would give this story a 3/10.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The main strength of the mini series is the incredible art by Javier Rodriguez. Under DC's 'Black Label' imprint, writers are free to reinterpret characters without the burdens of continuity and explore different takes on familiar character. The primary story of this mini however, as written by Mariko Tamaki , left a lot to be desired.

In this universe, a childhood incident involving her accidentally killing another kid with magic lead to Zatanna suppressing her power. Also in this universe, Zatara is not a good father, but a cold neglectful one who also seemingly perishes whilst trying to have Zatanna do real magic.

In this universe, Zatanna lives with her rabbits in a shabby condo, does magic shows for free (which raises questions on how she makes a living) and refuses to utter the word magic. Everything changes however, when Zatanna gets caught up in a war between the casters and the demons. Oh and there is also a talking bunny rabbit. Also, John Constantine is also in the series because of course he is.

The story starts off with an interesting premise but it never builds up on it. Okay, so Zatanna accidentally kills a kid with her magic. What about the other kids present there? Do they know what happened? If so why didn't they tell everyone? What about the kids parents? We see one panel with 'Missing' posters with that kids photos. Did Zatanna ever clear it up with their kids parents?

Then there is Zatara, unlike other versions, this Zatara is cold, distant and neglectful of Zatanna. He teaches her the magic that got the boy killed and nearly gets himself killed while trying to take Zatanna's powers for himself. It begs the question; since regular Zatanna became a stage magician because it was family business and because she loved her Dad, why would she pursue it in this universe if their relationship was not good? What does she get out of it? What makes it worthwhile for her? It also makes you wonder how other characters in this universe (aside from the Casters) perceived Zatara. Did they seem him as a hero without knowing of his dark side? Or did they find him off? We see a brief photo of Zatara's Golden Age nemesis, Tigress which makes you wonder what their relationship might have been like.

There is also the character of Miss Perkins who wants to hire Zatanna to perform at the Millenium Hotel Group. It leads you to wonder why, since this Zatanna has not been shown to be a particularly impressive stage magician. There is also a mention of the Justice League coming to knock on her door, which also makes you wonder, why? Because this Zatanna isn't one known for her feats of heroics. As far as she knew she only cast two spells in her life and they both went haywire, she didn't even known she was casting spells in her sleep until the rabbit told her and they were pretty benign ones. The League appears at the end again to offer her membership but you're left scratching your head again because the big showdown with her Dad happened in her head. So what exactly drew the League to this version of Zatanna?

John Constantine's presence in the story feels unnecessary as well. He didn't provide any exposition that couldn't have been provided by the Rabbit. Feels like he was there because every modern writer these days seems to think every Zatanna story has to have Constantine in it. If the story needed some fanservice then Zee could have hooked up with anyone. About the only positive I could give the scene is that when offered the choice of laying low and going into a fight with little to no control of her powers, Zatanna chooses to instead face her father head on. I like that part but I don't think John needed to be in the story for that to happen.

With the exception of that moment where she decides to confront her father and the actual confrontation itself, Zatanna spends the whole story getting knocked about like a leaf in the wind. A strucutre like that isn't a problem but the story never fills out the details or give us any deeper insight to her character.

Stuff happens because the writer things these beats need to happen in a Zatanna story and not because they make sense according to the plot. Zatanna finds out that her ex was sent to kill her, the same ex who left her one night with a birthday present and never called, the same ex that whisked her away to Paris to save her from a genocide and he only told her because he blurted it out incidentally and she decided to pry it out of him.

This Zatanna grew up afraid and guilty of using magic because it backfired and killed a child her own age as well as her own Dad. She spends her days bouncing from foster home to foster home and becomes a stage magician because......?????. None of it is made clear within the context of a story, she is a stage magician because the character is classically a stage magician. Why she even becomes one in this universe given the baggage she carries is a mystery.

Also, what about her mom? The series gives us the Palace of Casters, the Stranger and the Celestial as the place where Zatara hails from and became their greatest magician. I'm not opposed to giving Zatara a different backstory in an out of continuity title but Sindella already comes from a magical land and is sorcerer herself. Can't help but wonder if the story would have worked better if it had been about Sindella trying to guide her daughter and help her overcome her grief and make peace with her past.

Overall, the mini follows a formula that's become all too trite in recent years: there is a war on magic/magic is dying/some powerful being is devouring magic --> Zatanna's power is not working/not enough or she doesn't get whats happening --> Constantine appears to show how much more smarter and competent he is than Zatanna or any other magical --> they sleep together but it turns out he was lying to her or keeping secrets from her --> Zatanna is mad (usually) but eventually gets her mojo back and confronts the threat and beats it easily.

Rinse and repeat since the Nu 52 reboot in 2011. When Dini wrote the Zatanna ongoing in 2010, the main problem was not having villains that could match up to her power. Now the problem is writers not wanting her to be good at or competent character at all.

Coming back to full circle, the main highlight of the mini is the art by Javier Rodriguez; the sequence where Zatanna is running and a shadow is chasing her was eerie and well done. The dream like sequences of her speaking to her Dad were very well composed with some great colour choices. The action sequences from the theater to the Caster's palace to the one in Zatanna's mind felt appropriately cinematic. You can feel that something big was happening. The artwork was lush and the panel layouts were very creative. In my opinion, the best sequence was the climax with Zatanna confronting her Dad. The final panel with her blowing his dusty remains away was >chefs kiss< .

But ultimately the story itself needed to be better fleshed out.

This mini didn't quite meet my expectations. Lets hope the next one by Jamal Cambell is better.

#zatanna #zatanna zatara #zatanna bring down the house #reviews #john zatara #john giovanni zatara #javier rodriguez #mariko tamaki #john constantine #justice league

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