#I adore the Ark as a villain he/she/they are great (what even does the Ark identify as does anyone know)

[firebirdsdaughter]

To be honest…

… The more I think about Zero-One ending the more I’m… Kinda nervous.

I’ve gotten way more asks (which I am still colossally behind on bc hi, lady of the court of executive dysfunction) and just… Interaction w/ other people via this series. I mean, I’m naturally not any kind of big blog, but it kinda tickles my cockles when I get anons asking me what I think about things in the series, and I really go over the moon getting comments and questions about my writing and stuff. It’s been… Really fun. ^^;

So I’m kinda nervous.

I mean, despite the… Choices that were made that I disagree w/, this series is def going to go down as one of my faves. Despite everything, bc it, esp Horobi and Fuwa as characters, and by extension, Jin, Raiden, and Naki, too, have really done something important for me. This show has joined the ranks of Boukenger and Ryusoulger as something that got me through a really rough time in my life, even if I’m spitting fire about it half the time. It’s def going down as the one I’ve bought the most merch for (Sting Scorpion and Shooting Wolf, along w/ multiple keychains, the plushies, and the bracelet, all of it mbjr and Horobi and Fuwa related XD).

I’m rambling bc it’s really hot here still (it just finally went below ninety Fahrenheit), but… It’s weird. I’m kinda scared there’s gonna be nothing to talk about anymore. ^^’

[thealmightyemprex]

Februlinium:Superman II The Richard Donnor Cut

o oIn this 2006 film Superman (Christopher Reeve ) is torn between his love for Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) and his duty as three Kryptonian criminals (Terrance Stamp,Sarah Douglass ,and Jack O Halloren ) wreck havock

OK backstory ,Richard Donnor shot Superman the Movie and Superman II Simultaniously ,only to finish the first film and be fired from the second and replaced by Richard Lester ,who reshot a bunch of footage and finished the film.In 2006 ,Donnor re edited the film into his original vision .Now while the plot and cast are the same,there are enough stylistic and story diffrences it is its own movie

Now I like Lesters Superman II,and having finally seen the Donnor version I can say I like Donnors as well .Neither version is perfect,but I feel like if you combined the best elements of both version you could get a GREAT Superman movie .Several elements are consistant across both versions :Christopher Reeve is the definitive Superman for a reason and delivers an incredible performance here ,Margot Kidder is a very solid Lois (Though I have problems I will get too) ,Sarah Doglass and Jack O Halloren are great as the henchpeople to General Zod ,and I will admit I have a huge soft spot for Gene Hackmans comedic take on Lex Luthor .There are some great set pieces ,especially the big fight between Superman and the criminals in Metropolis

Now to praise Donnor specifically,the film looks prettier due to using more of the late Geoffrey Unsworth cinematography, the effects are really good (I dont know if they did any modern tinkering but it looks good ) and John Williams does the whole score .As for positive changes to the story we have a much better opening with Lois realizing Clark is Superman ,which gives us more of the Daily Planet gang with Jimmy(Marc Mclure) and Perry White (Jackie Cooper).We also have the return of Marlon Brando as Jor El ,who was cut from the Lester version for pay reasons,who actually gets a good scene with Christopher Reeve ,and it fixes a major plot hole in the film.The main villain General Zod is also much diffrent in this version .....And I feel mixed about that .I want to clarify ,I ADORE Terrance Stamp as l General Zod in both versions but each directo emphasises something diffrent about him .In Lesters version Zod has a sense of humor to him ,with the emphasis being on how pompous and haughty he is .Donnors Zod is INTIMIDATING ,the emphasis is on the fact he is a cold callous killer ,with a scene of him and his gang gleefully killing people in the white house to even murdering a child (Though I honestly think the child murder scene might have been too dark ).I like both Zods ,though I do miss some of his more comical line reads

As for what I didnt like ,in both versions Lois finds out Clark Kent is Superman,and I think the Lester version does it more naturally by him burning his hand ......In Donnors version she friggin shoots him,and honestly Lois comes across unhinged in this cut .Something in both versions I dont like is that Clark makes a huge decision,and he barely has time to dwell on it .Also Donnors ending is terrible,but thats OK,cause Lesters ending is awful as well ,though Donnors is worse cause it feel like a cheat .....Also Luthors assistant Miss Tesshmacher is flushed down a toilet .....Thats just dumb

OVerall this was a fun curiosity ,and just supported my feelings that Superman II is a solid movie

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @lord-antihero @filmcityworld1 @marquisedemasque @princesssarisa @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

[khaoscontrol]

oh my man you have no idea how much lore i’ve got. you fool, you’ve given me the excuse to infodump about everything!

(sorry this got super long so i’m making a separate post, also it’s 2am so i’m not gonna format this correctly or do literally anything to it)

i’ll start by explaining the timeline, i find it easiest to categorize it by the different versions of maria that exist in the au.

for starters, we have regular old canon maria. her deal is basically the same as in canon up until her death. i really just wanted a “maria lives” au but with a twist. so basically the lore is professor gerald didn’t have a lot of confidence in finding a cure for maria via project shadow so he came up with a plan b which involved creating a machine that could upload someone’s mind onto a computer (mainly because that’s just a sci-fi trope i always liked). of course this was more of a last resort kinda deal, but when g.u.n. raided the ark they didn’t exactly have a lot of options. maria was still shot like in canon and she did physically “die” but gerald managed to upload her consciousness before she actually died. unfortunately the project was still very experimental and maria wasn’t actually able to respond to any of their tests to see if it worked, leading gerald to believe it had failed. thus allowing the plot of sa2 to still happen.

so the next maria in the timeline is cyber maria. this is just the version of maria that’s living in a computer on the ark... ...for 50 years.... ........alone. unlike shadow, she was completely conscious for this entire time which meant an awful lot of time alone with her thoughts. her memories weren’t totally together at the beginning and it takes her an awfully long time to put everything together but once she finally does she’s not quite the same and her personality shifts quite a bit. she still holds the same love for humanity and her family, but she IS tired of being nice, she DOES want to go apeshit! her main beef is with g.u.n. for literally killing her and everything else they did. she’s honestly quite pissed (rightfully so) but she can’t really do anything about it so she honestly just spends 50 years worrying about her family. she doesn’t know if shadow or her grandfather survived after everything that happened and at this point she has no idea how long it’s been.

50 years pass and the events of sa2 take place exactly as they do in canon (can’t fix perfection babey!) and although she’s on the ark, maria has no way of knowing that any of it’s happening. so it’s not actually until a little while after the events of shadow the hedgehog(2005) that anything actually happens maria wise. so the scene is eggman is looking into his grandfather’s research to see if he can get any ideas that would help him beat sonic and co when he comes across the files about the whole plan b project (lmao sorry i don’t actually have a good name for what he might’ve called it). he get’s real curious about it and decides to head back up to the ark and check it out. one thing leads to another and he manages to have a conversation with maria and she’s just thrilled to know that the outside world still exists, she also makes fun of him because “lmfao what kind of name is eggman?” after all she’s still mentally a teenager. eggman mentions that he’s quite skilled in making robots and could build a body for her back on earth and maria is all for ALL of that.

which leads us into metal maria. as soon as she has an actual physical body again eggman explains to her how long it’s been, who he actually is (literally her younger cousin lmao) and a bit of what’s been going on in the worlds, he lets it slip that he may have blown up the moon a little bit and gets thoroughly scolded on that. he also mentions that him and shadow may sorta kinda be enemies and shadow maybe is working for organization that killed her, which every bit of that makes her pissed. she decides to join forces with eggman so that he can help her take down g.u.n. since he’s not exactly on their good side. she also agrees to help deal with sonic on occasion but she doesn’t do much because “what how old is he? like 15 or something? nah dude become mortal enemies with an adult like a normal person.” despite everything, the protective older sister instinct is still strong within her and she’s super against picking fights with kids (especially ones that are friends rivals with her bro) on the subject of shadows friends, she does not like rouge, omega she doesn’t mind as much but still doesn’t like that much. she meets rouge a while before she’s actually reunited with shadow and they don’t exactly have a good first impression. maria assumes that rouge convinced shadow to join g.u.n. “because why else would he do something that stupid, he’s dumb but he can’t be that dumb?” and rouge just doesn’t buy maria’s backstory and assumes eggman only made her to mess with shadow. also rouge is lowkey jealous of maria because she’s got that v good and strong sisterly bond with shadow and DAMNIT she want’s that! so the two of them are basically enemies for a while until maria finally manages to reunite with shadow and he’s honestly just really fed up with them constantly fighting and arguing so their relationship dies down to less of enemies and more of a petty rivalry. also at some point during all that maria decides that metal sonic is also her brother now and there’s nothing he can do about it (spoilers: he actually really enjoys her affection but tries not to show it)

over time maria and metal become kinda a neutral party between sonic and eggman. and honestly with maria’s constant lecturing, eggman kinda tones it down on the world domination deal and becomes more of a dr. doofenshmirtz type villain because it’s funnier that way. (sorry i ONLY make an au if it’s wholesome) he kinda only keeps up the villain gig for the press and because it’s kinda his brand at this point.

which leads us into neo metal maria, 10 years in the future maria takes over the eggman empire. it’s 110% for show. she puts on this big facade of being a villain with megamind level dramatics but she never does anything other than screw over g.u.n., which team dark has long since stopped working with at this point, finally. seriously that sucked what the heck where you thinking sega? whatever i fixed it for them ;)

in the future of this au (which i don’t focus on a whole lot because i like drawing them as a bunch of kids just screwing around, god i’m so smart sega could never) since eggman isn’t a problem everyone’s whole deal is just dealing with other threats and also just a lot of adventuring. every once and a while some old god will try and destroy the world again as per usual and maria will actually step in to help. because of this and the fact that she’s not actually violent, maria is actually quite adored by the public. which is literally her goal, she’s not a villain she’s an entertainer!

and there’s a whole lot more to this au because i actually focus on pretty much every character and how this all plays out for them. i have a different take on how some games played out with her being there (mainly 06 and forces because they’re not great even tho i love them, but her being there made them funny) but yeah i’ve put a LOT of thought into this au and it means a whole lot to me. this is literally just a summary of eveything that happens. over time i’ll expand on this more.

but hot diggity shit, it’s 2am. so i’m just gonna wrap this up with some sketches of the gal!

[yellowfoot-06]

Why you should read Cucumber Quest

      So it is currently 2 am in the morning and I decided to write an essay. I may put this in draft form and continue if I get too tired. This will probably be less me trying to convince you to read it and more me gushing about Cucumber Quest. This is also just me distracting myself from what is happening with it right now.  There will be no pictures but just me referencing pages of it because I am on the computer so it is hard for me to put in pictures compared to Mobile. More under the cut if you care for this and link if I was somehow able to convince you to read this underrated comic.

https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Main Details

      This section is just a simple overview of the comic and I will elaborate more in the Character/Story section. The comic is about a little flat planet called Dreamside. The pancake planet is inhabited by bunny people and like, some pigs in one country/kingdom. An alien named Queen Cordelia has taken over the Donut kingdom and is trying to collect the Disaster stones to summon the Nightmare Knight, an ancient evil that used to destroy Dreamside 500,000 years ago (And the Dreamsiders somehow haven’t technologically advance in half a million years using the theming of two characters) Anyways, now it is up to Cucumber and his sister, Almond, along with two other characters to help defeat her and save dreamside! You should probably read Cucumber Quest and come back after reading the prologue and Chapter 0 (Also the beginning of chapter 1 for good measure) because there is some suspense there that is hard to not spoil when talking about the story and characters.

Art Work

        Anyways, here is an entire section about the artwork and designs alone because of how beautiful it is. The artwork is probably all you need to know before reading the comic. Page 804 is probably a good non-spoilery example of the artwork. You can also see the gradual improvement in the artwork if you compare the artwork from prologue to (currently the latest chapter) chapter 5. It makes sense to see the artwork progress because it is 9 years old (since I’m writing this) and it is still going on. In the printed version (which only goes to chapter 3 for now) You might notice that the artist/author, Gigi D.G., Redrew some of the pages. The printed version also has some exclusive stuff in it if you want.                                                                                                                         

        The character designs are another plus. Now they are very visually pleasing because of the colours used for them. They all have nice and soft colour schemes. Most of the characters also all are the same species say for the antagonists and some other characters. This kinda separates the villains from the protagonists (The antagonists also have different speech bubbles and some of them have this thing where the style slightly changes when they come on screen with the protagonists). The setting kinda makes everyone's designs unique yet fitting (There is literally a character that is just a giant black circle and she somehow fits). On the side note of unique character designs, even when the color schemes _and _outfits change on the characters change, you can still see that it is them based on the designs and personalities. Pages 346 and 349 are good examples of this yet slightly spoilery. Other good examples are basically the entirety of chapter 5.

Characters/ Story

       I mashed both the characters and story section into one because the characters are the ones moving the story along and it is kinda hard talking about one without talking about the other. Anyways, let’s talk about the protagonists, Almond, Cucumber, Sir Carrot, and Nautilus. You can also put the antagonists in the protagonists territory because of how well written they are.                           

       Cucumber is a great main protagonist because of his ideals. His character is slightly cliche, you know, the nerd preteen (At least I think he is that age range) has to now save the world and he doesn’t want to do it. Now there is no real “Oh, I don’t think he can do it” in there but he does have an idea of pacifying the antagonists and everyone thinks that is a silly Idea except for Nautilus. Now, Gigi puts a twist on the second part by making him slightly possessive of this idea. So much in fact that he kinda ignores the people around him. He tries to pacify the Nightmare Knight in chapter 3, it was working until Almond comes along and ruins it. Now, the Nightmare Knight scares them with a near-death experience. They talk about it now shook, and Cucumber now sees Almond crying and realizes that she was just trying to protect him. From the outside view, it seems like the antagonists are awful monsters, so it looks like Cucumber is needlessly endangering himself when the better answer would be to stab them all to death. I just love this twist and how he becomes more insensitive to others when trying to sympathetic to the antagonists. The end of chapter 5 is also a good part of Cucumber’s ark when he believes in an assumption and starting less to believe in his own cause.                                      

              Almond also has a great story ark in this comic. In the beginning, she is cocky and believes that saving the world is just gonna be a nice adventure like in the tv shows she watches. She is actually the main reason they are on the adventure, to begin with. Her stubbornness and cockiness starts to dilate the further she is on this adventure and when she sees the real danger that is happening. In chapter 4 this is brought up by Cucumber. She still has some of her beginning ark in her but now it seems like it is a mask that she puts on.        

           The other two protagonists are Princess Nautilus and Sir Carrot. Sir Carrot came into the story before Nautilus so I’ll talk about him first. Sir Carrot is just a simple knight that wanted to help two bakers out. He is not really interesting compared to the others. At the beginning of the story he was scared by everything but you can really see a reason begin to form in chapter 3 and onwards. He has a really interesting dynamic with the Nightmare Knight and with some other characters. The final protagonist in the group, and my personal favorite, is Princess Nautilus! She is probably the funniest and most comedic out of the three. Her comedic shenanigans make me laugh a whole lot. There are only two characters that make me happier when I see them. She hardly changes in the story, the only real changes that happen is that her comedy starts to dwindle as the story progressed. A big part of her ark is a little eel named Liquus. They have such a cute dynamic together that started to dwindle more after chapter 3.                                                                                               

       Now, time for the most interesting characters, the antagonists. The first villains we see are Queen Cordelia and Peridot (pronounced Peridoh). They have a nice and cute familial connection. Cordelia is stubborn and confident. She is a cat from an alien planet that came to conquer Dreamside with the help of the Nightmare Knight. When Cordelia summoned the Nightmare Knight, her confidence starts to break as she sees his power. She seems to be a powerful conqueror with confidence in her actions, so seeing her in fear is a slight surprise as summoning the Nightmare Knight in the first place was her idea. When she interacts with Peridot, she is calm and motherly, another thing that separates her from her average personality. The Nightmare Knight is also very intriguing because he is basically stuck in a place he can’t escape from as both sides are antagonizing him and he has this cycle but it can’t keep going on forever and with fears of what happened before and-                                             

         Great, now that we got all the other characters off the plate (except for the side characters) now we can talk about the best characters (in my opinion) the Disaster Masters! This is where the gushing really begins! They are the most interesting when you think about the logistics of each character and the cycle they have been. I can’t talk about every character since there are 8 and this section is already extremely lengthy. So I am speeding through each of these. Splashmaster: adorable but not really interesting. Ya Boi: great and the first example to show that everything is not completely what it seems. Mutemaster: probably the most forgettable and gets over shined by Ya Boi. Rosemaster: Oh ho ho! This is where the story starts to turn darker and she is a really good character, her chapter might be one of the best. Thebestmaster: Name says it all, he is the best and if you say otherwise I will personally stab you through the screen. Quakemaster: Same as Splashmaster, except replace adorable with menacing. Mistmaster: Terrifying and even more so if you think about what happened to him. Glitchmaster: You know about the circle I talked about earlier? Yeah, that's her. She is a lot more spooky with context.                            

         Woohoo! This is (hopefully) the last paragraph of the section! The side characters are where the comedy mainly lays on. These characters are very wide-ranged. You have characters such as psychopathic 10-year-old, realistic Rabbit, and a bunch of crabs. These characters are normally comedic and a great part of the story. Some characters are more important like Cosmo, the psychopathic 10-year-old. Other characters are just jerks jokes like Cucumber’s father. Even though some aren’t important, all of them are likable/enjoyable.

Final

     Finally! If you read the entirety of this, then uhh, you read it! Here is a link to  a Youtube video that is a lot shorter and more concise than this essay, and the link to the comic again: 

Video: https://youtu.be/4uiO9ZKj2HE

Comic: https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball 033

So this is another filler episode leading into the Red Ribbon Army Saga.  For those of you keeping score, the anime ran out of manga early into episode 29, and we’ve been on the filler train ever since.   Episode 29 was pretty bad, 30-32 were really fun, and this episode is kind of pointless. 

We’ll get the title out of the way first, because it only refers to a scene at Kame House that has nothing to do with anything else.   See, after the World Tournament, Goku went off to search for the Dragon Balls again, and Krillin didn’t know what to do, so he’s been training at Master Roshi’s place until he figures out his next move.   So after he gets done doing 999 pushups with two turtles and Roshi on his back, they head inside and share a big ice cream sundae with Launch.   They start talking about the Dragon Balls, and Roshi relates a tale he once heard about where the Dragon Balls came from.  Hence the title “Legend of the Dragon.”

According to the legend Roshi heard, there used to only be one Dragon Ball, back in the long-ago days when “everyone was honest”.   The gods gave the Dragon Ball to the people of the world for their benefit, and they put it in a temple.   I’m not sure what they wished for if everything was so idyllic and peaceful, but since there was only one ball in a public place, it was easy to make wishes. 

However, people started to become corrupt, and wars broke out, and the wicked began to use the Dragon Ball for evil purposes, so the gods punished them by dividing the Dragon Ball into seven, and scattering them across the world.   This way, it would be much harder to gather the Dragon Balls and use them for selfish wishes.   You’d think it’d be much simpler to just give the Dragon the power to decide which wishes are worthy of being granted or denied, but whatever. 

Nevertheless, there were still people who managed to gather the Dragon Balls and used them for selfish gain.   This guy pictured above wished for an abacus, I guess.   I really like this screencap, and I totally believe this dude is an evil man, but I have no idea what this picture is trying to tell me.   I’m pretty sure those guys on the bottom are his slaves, since the last shot showed them building a pyramid-looking thing, but what’s the deal with the abacus? 

It reminds me a lot of this comic book version of the Bible I got once.   It didn’t cover the entire thing, but there was a cool scene depicting how wicked everybody was right before Noah’s Ark and the Flood.   There was this one guy with a knife in one hand, and he was holding up a cask of what I assumed was wine in the other, standing triumphantly like he was proud of how he’d killed someone to get his drink on. 

There’s also this guy, and I have no idea what his deal is, since Roshi’s narration kind of petered out around here.  Bulma told Goku once that someone once used the Dragon Balls to become a great king, so maybe this guy is supposed to be that person?   I much prefer Lanipator’s head canon that King Furry’s ancestor made that wish, and his dynasty has ruled the Earth ever since.  But King Furry hasn’t been introduced yet, so I guess Toei went with a more Prince Valiant-style character.   Or maybe he’s a villain?  Beats me. 

I think the broader purpose of this tale is to point out that the Red Ribbon Army’s hunt for the Dragon Balls is nothing new.    Armies and tyrants have been trying to use that power throughout history, and the Red Ribbon is just the latest iteration of that. 

The main story here is that Goku survived the battle between Colonel Silver and Emperor Pilaf, and he wakes up in a mountain forest where he befriends a bunch of monkeys.    While he takes a nap, the monkeys discover a Dragon Ball, and... Why does that monkey have bosoms?   What the hell is that about?

I didn’t want to make a big deal about this, but there was a bird a few episodes back that looked like she had bosoms to, but they weren’t quite as obvious so I let it slide.   I was clearly mistaken, and someone at Toei likes drawng animals with big ol’ boobies.  Well, you do you, but it seems kind of odd to do that and not give the animals a more humanoid appearance.   Like a fish-woman, I can see someone wanting to draw that.   A plain old fish with boobs mounted to its body doesn’t make sense to me.  

This monkey’s pretty awesome.   Look at him.   They’re all gathering around to give Goku food because he saved Boob Monkey and her baby from a panther, and he’s like “Yeah, good hustle.   I brought you a pear, but no big deal.”

Later, Colonel Silver’s forces show up to start searching for the Dragon Ball there, and when SIlver finds out the monkeys have it, he orders his men to torch the forest so he can capture the monkeys and find the Ball.  I feel like there should be an easier way to go about this.   Who put the li’l bandages on the monkey prisoners?   If I worked for the Red Ribbon Army, I’d want to have that job.   These guys are adorable.  

Goku confronts Colonel SIlver, but before they can fight over the Dragon Ball, Boob Monkey grabs it and tries to make a break for it, but SIlver shoots the branch she was reaching for, and she nearly falls down a canyon.   Goku saves her and her baby (again), but the Dragon Ball ends up in the stream below.   Silver withdraws his forces, since all he’s after is the Dragon Ball, and it’ll be miles away by the time his men can get down there. 

And that’s pretty much it.   There was a really lengthy opening of Colonel Silver’s morning workout, and another lengthy scene of Commander Red congratulating Silver for capturing Pilaf’s Dragon Ball in the last episode.   So they weren’t even trying to hide that they were padding this episode out.    There were a lot of cute monkey scenes just for the sake of doing cute monkey scenes, and that isn’t exactly bad, but I’m glad we’re finally moving on with the story.

I guess I should leave you with the insert song that played during Roshi’s story. 

[beautiful-rebellious-sunflower]

welp, season five starts in like three days so it’s time to get drunk and stress-watch some more season two :):):)

The 100 Season 2 Episode 6 Fog Of War AKA How Long Until Finn Dies Again?

I honestly forgot Jaha saying ‘so we meet again’ that feels like the only time that has ever happened in this show and it’s so...? weird??

I still get pretty emotional every time I see Arkadia tbh

oh season two Murphy, you just light up every single scene you are in and I adore you

lmao I forgot Major Byrne creeping on Clarke and the delinquents talking in the background, I love how weirdly loyal she is to Chancellor Griffin? She’s properly like Abby’s personal bulldog for a lot of season two and I love it

the little villain trio of Dante, Cage and Doctor Tsing is brilliant btw

also Dante saying ‘If I give the order to harvest those kids, I won’t deserve to see the outside again’ is a really nice parallel to Abby talking about making sure the human race deserves to survive in episode 1

Jaha saying ‘How many times on the Ark did we go two days without water’ is also VERY VERY interesting to me, a person who craves every single scrap of Ark worldbuilding we’re tossed

tbh if I was stuck in a cell for two days with Thelonius Jaha for company, I’d probably almost break my foot off trying to escape too

LEXA

when I was watching this with my dad he figured out that Lexa was the Commander first thing and it was so annoying

underrated moment: Abby being peeved because Raven gave Clarke the binoculars first ^^

honestly I find both Abby and Clarke equally irritating for most of this episode - that’s not to say that I don’t still adore them both and understand where they’re both coming from, but they both handle working with each other kinda badly? Abby comes across as condescending and stubborn, and Clarke is constantly trying to undermine her authority in a very unreasonable and childish way

and yet they still clearly love each other so much?? Their relationship as family members who love each other compared to their relationship as leaders of separate factions makes for such an interesting personal conflict

I mean, in theory this Finn character arc is interesting and well done but it doesn’t have much rewatch value? 

HELL YEAH REBEL MAYA

the Grounder cages randomly hanging from the ceiling in Mount Weather still make me laugh tbh, like...are they there just for the aesthetic?? What is even the point of them?

S2 Jasper ‘I Won’t Leave The Others Behind’ Jordan owns my heart

I do kind of love Raven giving Abby leadership choice advice based on what she thinks Clarke would do and then??? Abby actually goes along with it?? SUCH an underrated mother/daughter relationship moment

this is honestly a really nice little relationship based episode actually? Lots of great two-hander scenes that really help illuminate the characters and the relationships between them...Clarke and Finn in the bunker...Marcus and Jaha in the cell...Raven and Abby in the tent...Bellamy and Octavia in the underground garage...it doesn’t have a lot of plot but it really draws a tight focus on the characters

‘There’s only one way out of this...you have to kill me.’ OH MARCUS

I still have to stifle a scream every time I watch Marcus cut his own wrist

I could watch Lexa kick Jaha’s ass on repeat all day though

it takes reaper!Lincoln a looooong time to go down after being zapped by a shockbaton

the juxtaposition between the action! outside the mountain and the creeping dread inside the mountain is what really makes the first half of season two so compelling - that along with the sweet parallels between Dante/Cage and Abby/Clarke as parent/child teams vying for leadership control of their people fuck season two was so good

BY THE WAY SPEAKING OF UNDERRATED MOMENTS this episode ends with Abby fully following Clarke’s lead, prioritising Clarke’s goals and beliefs, and compromising her own desire to find more of her own people in order to save Clarke’s friends...a fact which a lot of Abby critics seem to conveniently forget tbh. Season two has a lot of Abby/Clarke conflict, but it almost always ends with Abby stepping aside, showing unwavering faith in her daughter and allowing her to have her own way, even though it costs her a lot personally

it’s time for SURPRISE BITCH I BET YOU THOUGHT YOU’D SEEN THE LAST OF ME ROUND 2 starring Thelonius Jaha

I honestly can’t decide if Kane’s face when he saw Jaha for the first time on the ground or Abby’s face when she does is funnier

[becksxoxo]

Have I got a slight temperature and the woe is me blues? Yes. So I'm gonna add more of my feelings to this post, because the shared brain isn't here to disagree with me! Suck on that @cassandrafey. I don't really mean that I just feel poorly and aggressive.

Join me now if you will as I blubber my way through the platonic stucky relationship that I spend too much of my time thinking about. Also there is some classical music coming from somewhere in the village. It's very loud and you should also know its very dark and very rainy. I shall begin...

The start is always a shock to me (and I have seen this film ALOT) and I panic when it's not 1940s Brooklyn. It also makes me think, he's been in the ice for 70ish years. Was he asleep? Did he dream? Was he sort of dead? How long did it take him to get in either sleep or stasis? How long was he conscious of being alone? Are you crying yet?

When we cut to Shmidt hunting down the tesseract there is no way when he says 'whilst others dig for trinkets in the desert,' he isn't talking about Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones is in the MCU, it's canon, I'll fight you. Also its always nice to see our Filch, he's from York you know? Local boy.

Contrary to the other half of the shared brain, I do think Steve is brave, I think its hard to stand up for what you believe in sometimes, even though he makes a hobby of it. I do think it was thoughtless to not spend as much time as possible with your best friend before he leaves, possibly forever, but I wonder if there was also a fear there of saying goodbye. Their fight does show how they know how to push each others buttons, and if that's not friendship I don't know what is.

It still baffles me how they shrunk Chris down to be a small young man, it doesn't look quite right, but I'm still amazed they can do it to make it look as normal as it does. I reckon Steve does bite off more than he can chew, cause troubles, but for the right reasons, no matter how annoying that is.

I read the First Avenger tie in graphic novel, that is set before the film, and it does explain the experiments and Shmidt's little deformity a lot clearer than when I watched the film for the first time.

I have to separate the actress and the character when it comes to Agent Carter. I love Peggy. You may have noticed my feelings on how Marvel treat some of their female characters, and I appreciate that she knows her mind, she is capable, she does have a human side and she twats the man in the face perfectly. She's also everything I wish I could be, so I sort of have a massive crush on her too. I love her jealousness and her harp shooting, and how she dressed up just to tell Steve she'd see him in the morning. This all being said I don't agree with the Steve/Peggy Endgame ending, I hate it with my very being, but that is not a discussion for now.

I love peach schnapps. It's so comforting, it's nice to drink like you did as a teenager sometimes, when you can't tell if you're off your tits on the alcohol or the sugar.

Good becomes great, bad becomes worse...you must promise me one thing, that you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.

There was been some questionably weak, and boring villains in some of the Marvel films. We've just done Iron Man 3, and the motivation and fear that makes you hate or love a villain just wasn't there. The Nazis and Hydra are the exact opposite. They're evil and strong, and do not fear the destruction of everything. I did a lot with war propaganda films during my degree, and they really capture the same essence of good and evil in this film. Perhaps that's why I find comfort in it, it's something I've seen a million times before.

Steve flirting really pleases me, it's painful but adorable. What's also adorable is the sneaky boob touch Peggy gets in as soon as he has finished cooking. And who could blame her...

I know that that man is Richard Armitage, but is it always a surprise to me when I see him, foaming on the floor? You bet your arse it is.

I'd like you all to know, irl, the rain is bucketing it down. Ive got the windows open as I keep getting too warm, but the rain is coming in sideways. I hope my spite pumpkins are fairing alright.

I still do not understand why they didn't use Steve at first. I know that america funded the war, and it may well have gone quite differently without that money, but I still don't understand the decision. The exact thing that Steve didn't want to do. In a fanfic that ruminates around by brain and notebooks, the Howling Commandos gave definitely learnt the dance and song and will drunkenly embarrass Steve with it.

It makes me sink inside myself thinking of Steve trying to entertain the troops, especially in Italy. They had not had a good time of it.

The full sequence of Steve stealing a helmet, and sneaking into the Hydra facility, the chaos and the reunion is one of my favourites of the whole MCU. The awkwardness of fonduing, the sneaking, the little witty quips of the introduction of the Commandos, Bucky and Steve reunited and taking on the world, the explosions, and glorious return. All my favourite things. And done just so that they managed to keep the sickening jingoism out of it.

We know now that this was when Bucky got super soldiered. And we know that it makes good men great and bad men worse, so that does it make Bucky? The obvious answer is hella sexy obvs, but what beyond that? And I presume he also didn't tell anyone, but then would he have know himself what had happened? We can see snippets of Bucky's sadness throughout the film, he's separate and that charming grin from the boy who visited the World of Tomorrow fair before he left is gone. This of course may have nothing to do with the super serum, war is hell after all, and no one will have come back the same.

Beyond all this I love their friendship. Again I'll take a moment to grumble about the ending being a smack in the face to everything this film and onwards build. Steve risked everything to find his friend and unite them. He's goes on to do this again in the next two Cap films. He knows the meaning of til the end of the line, and perhaps I'm projecting my own things on to it (and maybe that's what film is really for) but you don't put a time limit on those sort of feelings. But again this is a garbled mess for another film (that I'm totes looking forward to, can't you tell...)

I think you that I appreciate their friendship because its not something you see much of between the Avengers as they develop. For the most part they're colleagues, people from work, and especially in this current rewatch it really hits home how much this stops them, the trust is not there, and without that what is there?

Go, get out of here!

No, not without you!

I still think it's a damned shame there isn't a Howling Commandos TV show, but it wouldn't have been right without the original cast, and I guess big shows were not on the cards at that point. I never watched Agent Carter, so perhaps I was part of the problem. I am looking forward to a little glimpse of what could have been in What If, even if it's not exactly what I wanted.

The irl rain has just got so bad the Internet died and I lost half of this. Damn you weather gods!

Flame throwers give me the wigs. I remember watching a ww1 documentary on trench warfare, and the use of flamethrowers and it was haunting. I know the film is fictional but it still unsettles me.

We get our first taste of the Space Stone, and if I knew then what I know now I'd have been furious. You should have left it in the ocean. I fucking hate the infinity stones, they ruin everything!

@cassandrafey Steve does a Tony at this point. He sacrifices himself to take the bomb away. I'm just saying...

I'm doing a little cry. Ooooooh. 😶

I can't imagine what it is like to loose your best friend, and I don't want to (other than you get all the stuff you've popped a sticker on whilst hanging out in their house for many years... a little in joke) but I imagine it changes you. Steve went into the ice thinking Bucky was dead, that they'd both made it to the end of the line. I imagine being woken up again sort of felt like cheating, and how could you ever be truly happy again with out your person?

I honestly enjoy almost everything about this film. I think the acting is great, the characters are engaging, the timings are right, and I will never not have a little cry at the end.

Captain America: The First Avenger

A joint review...

Here are the things we agree on:

The inaugural showing of the Bucky Boot™️ showcased within second of him being on screen. Right up that man's arse. Love to see it. No wonder he got them thighs.

A touch of Tucci improves any movie. A single proud gaze from that man would power Stark Tower on good clean energy for decades to come. @cassandrafey was devoed when he died.

After the failure of the flying car, we felt that Steve would have been more apprehensive when Howard Stark rocks up to super soldier him.

It was a great pity that Steve didn't come out of that bridal shop window with either an entire gown or at the very least wrapped in a veil. A damned pity.

How long has Schmitt been in possession of a mountain side lair? We appreciate a good evil lair and would like to know how long it's construction took. For personal reasons.

We love a cheerful war montage, to music. There were many fine sequences to consider.

We enjoyed Bucky's decision to lower his neckline after his near death experience. Much appreciation.

Peggy Carter shooting at Steve, hell hath no fury...

In AU land, where they won the war and didn't freeze/get winter soldiered, Bucky would def have got a projector out most weekends and made Steve do his little dance.

Favourite Quotes:

"I'm not gonna kiss you." Colonel Chester Phillips

"You're keeping the outfit, right?" Sergeant James Bucky Barnes

Where we disagreed:

Everything else...

love cass & becks xoxo

[actual-bill-potts]

Some Post-Ep Thoughts on "Smile"

[jillmckenzie1]

Girl Kills World

Everyone who’s into movies has a thing. A thing that is endlessly fascinating and that can be refracted through a thousand different lenses. One friend of mine has a deep and abiding love of schlocky horror movies. Loves ‘em, can’t get enough of ‘em. They’re his happy place, and whenever he’s having a tough day, a small scotch and a viewing of Motel Hell will perk him right up.

My thing is comedians playing villains. However, let me be clear. If a comedian or comedic actor is playing a comedic villain, that doesn’t scratch the itch. Instead, when a funnyman plays a real nasty piece of work, my movie sense starts tingling. James Belushi, a guy not exactly known for having a wide range, is highly entertaining as a murderous redneck in Retroactive. Michael Keaton, who made his bones as a skilled comic actor, did excellent work as a conniving tenant from Hell in Pacific Heights and as a vicious convict in Desperate Measures.

For me, the apex of this can only be Robin Williams. A look at his filmography shows many, many roles where he played a benevolent motormouth. That’s true, yet despite having won an Academy Award, I don’t think Williams has ever been properly appreciated as either a skilled dramatic actor or as an effective villain. In Insomnia, he does subtle work as a fledgling serial killer bedeviling Al Pacino. His performance in One Hour Photo as an obsessive photo technician is simultaneously creepy and tragic.

Williams casts a long shadow as a comedian, a philanthropist, a dramatist, and a scary as hell bad guy. He gave others the courage to light their cinematic image on fire, and I rejoice when I see actors take a crack at this sort of thing. Genial funnyman and FOS* Kevin James has stepped up to the plate to play a villainous creep in Becky, and while it doesn’t always work, I admire his taking a chance.

Thirteen is a tough age for anyone. For Becky (Lulu Wilson), it’s even tougher than normal. She’s getting bullied at school. She has a habit of shoplifting. Her mother has been dead for over a year. Her father Jeff (Joel McHale) has been dating, and as you can imagine, Becky isn’t super thrilled by that. The one aspect of stability in her life is her two dogs, the sweet Dora and the protective Diego. Everything else seems to be in a state of flux.

Jeff loves Becky and wants to do right by her, but he thinks it’s time for the family to move forward. After pulling her out of school early, he drives her to the family’s lake house. His girlfriend Kayla (Amanda Brugel) is waiting for them, along with her young son, Ty (Isaiah Rockcliffe). During dinner, the truth comes out — Jeff has asked Kayla to marry him.

To put it lightly, this news does not go over well with Becky. She storms out of the house and, followed by Diego, she sequesters herself in a secluded clubhouse. As temper tantrums go, her timing couldn’t be better. That’s because she’s not home to be introduced to Dominick (Kevin James). He tells Jeff and Kayla his dog has gone missing. He’s lying.

It turns out that Dominick is both a neo-Nazi and an escaped convict, which is not an ideal combination. He’s joined by the conflicted Apex (Robert Maillet), the mouthy Cole (Ryan McDonald), and the personality-free Hammond (James McDougall). They’re looking for a key hidden somewhere on the property. They’re willing to get very rough. The only one who can stop them is an extremely resourceful and extremely angry girl.

Much like the title character, Becky is short, inventive, and incredibly mean. Directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion are laser-focused on delivering a home invasion thriller that features jaw-dropping gore.** It kind of works. The upside to the film is that there are some inventive and wildly violent set pieces. Once we’re settled in at the lake house, the pacing is quick and efficient. If you’re in the market for a movie in which a tween absolutely annihilates a bunch of white supremacists, you’ll find that here. The bad news is that Milott and Murnion don’t do a great job of establishing the geography of the house and the surrounding property. How big is the house itself? Where is the treehouse in relation to the patio and Becky’s treehouse? There are multiple scenes of people hauling ass through the woods, yet I never had any idea where characters were in relation to each other.

The screenplay, by Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye, and Nick Morris, additionally has its ups and downs. At times it feels a little like an edgelord version of Home Alone, and the characterization of Becky herself is a little iffy. I get that she’s going through a difficult time, but when she cuts through the neo-Nazis like Junior Jason Vorhees and we’re told it’s due to her anger, it seems like the script is saying that Becky is ultimately a psychopath. Is she? Was she always this way and this just gave her a chance to blossom? Having said that, a lesser screenplay would have wasted precious real estate in showing us in exacting detail what Dominick’s precious key is actually for. The Skyes and Morris know that it doesn’t really matter whether the key unlocks a vault or the Ark of the Covenant, only that it’s important to Dominick. I liked that.

By and large, the cast is pretty good. As Becky, Lulu Wilson doesn’t have a ton to work with, but she sells the seething anger of her character. Wilson has these wide, expressive eyes, and she’s able to shift them from curiosity to fear to rage. It’s an impressive performance from such a young actor. Overall, I liked Kevin James as Dominick. He knows that to be an effective villain, stillness and quiet can be more effective than ranting. When his character is behaving in a normal and reasonable way, James comes off as creepy. We’re told that, over time, his character has taken a number of people under his wing. However, Dominick never quite feels like he has the cult leader charisma of a Charles Manson. In the end, he’s just a guy with a bunch of Nazi tattoos.

To me, the real standout performance is an understated one, and it’s by Robert Maillet as the henchman Apex. Early on, his character commits an appalling act. We can see the guilt from that weighing on him, and we can see his fear that he’s in over his head and unable to prevent another atrocity from taking place. Maillet is a big guy, and he uses his size and body language in an interesting way. He almost seems to shrink from the clearly smaller Dominick, and he never makes eye contact for long with the hostages in the house. I appreciated the nuance that he brought to what could have been a thankless role.

It never would have occurred to me to make a tweenage Die Hard where the heavy is the guy from The King of Queens, and be expected to take it all seriously. At the end of the day, Becky is a pretty good revenge thriller, and I’m pleased that everyone involved was committed to bringing this little film to bloodthirsty life.

    *Friend of Sandler

**Fair warning, if you like eye trauma, you’ll adore this movie.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/girl-kills-world/

[rate-out-of-10]

MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA REVIEW

Since the Mass Effect series is one of my all-time favorite game series, I almost have to get my thoughts out on Andromeda. This game is a bit of a departure from the original series, taking us to the galaxy of (you guessed it) Andromeda. We leave the Milky Way in search for a new home amongst new stars and planets. Mass Effect: Andromeda is a loaded game, filled with content, so I will do my best to stick to all the pertinent information.

SPOILERS AHEAD. This review is based off my experiences with the game on the Xbox One.

We say goodbye to all of our adventures in the Milky Way, to Shepard, to our companions, to the fight with the Reapers, all of it; we meet our new human character, named Ryder, and whole new array of companions and crew mates, and other people/aliens. I will say that after the likes of Shepard and the Normandy crew, Andromeda does an admirable job with the follow up, but they just aren’t quite up to standard. And while I grew to adore some, most of the characters tend to fall flat. Drack, a krogan, grew on me very quickly the more I played with him, and I did fall into the Peebee trap, that cute ass asari, she’s just so infectious. Others like Cora and Vetra felt a little streamlined. I didn’t not like them, in fact I can say that by the end I did indeed like them, but there was a good while where I didn’t feel a good connection with them. But there is one companion that I did not enjoy at all: Liam Kosta. He was annoying, flat, boring to every degree, and I did not enjoy playing with him alongside of me at all. He delivers some of the most horrendous lines in the entire game. Our last companion, Jaal, is of the new species we find in Andromeda, an angara, and he felt cool in some places, and others a bit off (but only at first). Of course, by the end I felt for him and especially on his loyalty mission I really liked him. I was really hoping to get my twin, Sarah Ryder as a companion at some point. But of course, instead of killing her at the beginning, they chose the next worse thing: put her into a coma for most of the game. While you get to play as Sarah for a small section, which was short but sweet, and she helps you at the very end, I hope to see her as a companion in some future DLC. Andromeda features a wide array of new characters, and misses the mark with a few key ones. Our main villain, The Archon, of the new kett species, was a complete generic trope. The guy that believes he’s on some holy quest, he’s saving people, when in fact he’s just a psychopath hell-bent on killing everything that isn’t him. I was supremely disappointed in the lack of a boss-battle with him, as well. Where was it? The final section was just some drawn out wave combat as I disable some terminals, and then he dies. An absolute disappointment, especially when there are some pretty exciting bosses in the game, such as the Architects. Now, the game excels in certain categories, such as the loyalty missions for each character. I felt as though I really got to know my squad mates, and I helped them through whatever it was they were dealing with (except Liam’s. I did not enjoy him at all, I cannot express that enough). But the game tends to drop the ball in its essential story-telling. The main quest line had its ups and downs, but all together felt a little shallow. I was mostly interested in locating the other lost arks, and how they fit into the main story was very exciting and interesting, however the struggle with the kett and their exaltation, however horrifying it was, didn’t have too much pull on me. I was excited to craft new relationships and explore and do some amazing things, and I definitely did, I just wish that the main story had some stake in those feelings. In the original trilogy, I’d be torn between what to do, because I was so involved with all of it, but here I had almost no issue shelving the main quest in favor of my loyalty missions, or exploring the viable planets. I had no problem not playing the main story, until I had to, and I think that’s a problem. The main storyline isn’t strictly speaking bad, in fact it gets to be very cool towards the end with a lot of promise and spectacular moments, but it isn’t as enthralling all around as I would’ve hoped. And with the main story focusing on the evils of this new species, the kett, I was surprised that we only meet one other intelligent species native to Andromeda, the angara. Most of the other alien life is primitive and hostile. What made the likes of the Milky Way great was that humanity stumbled upon a huge galactic community of various species from the Milky Way, but in Andromeda there’s only two, and they’ve just been warring with each other for a hundred years, since before we got there? I wish we could’ve seen more, perhaps allied ourselves with another one, it could have raised the stakes a bit higher in the main story. As interesting as the angara were, this was a bit of a let-down.

Mass Effect: Andromeda makes a huge departure from the combat we’re used to playing in the series and offers a more versatile way to play. The combat itself, with your jump and dash abilities, feels so smooth. A major tune-up for the series, this was a great step in the right direction. Also, the class profiles, and access to every skill, was awesome. I very much enjoyed this new system. I didn’t feel bogged down or restricted, I could legitimately craft my Ryder in any way I wanted, and equip him with the abilities and skills necessary per scenario. It added a nicer piece of strategy to the game, and that’s always welcome. The game also looks as phenomenal as it feels in many places. Many environments are breathtaking; whether it’s the lush forest on Havarl, or the snowy mountains on Voeld, or the remains of the destroyed planet H-047c, or the springs of Kadara. I loved exploring each one and bringing up their viabilities to 100%. I felt so accomplished after activating the monoliths upon solving an alien Sudoku puzzle, activating the terraforming vaults, and settling outposts. And it wasn’t a high-maintenance thing at all, and I really appreciate that. Some games with aspects such as these sometimes go over board and make it a chore, but it’s fast and satisfying here. The galaxy map exploration has some cool things to offer as well, and some not so much. Its visuals are gorgeous, I will say, I very much like the point of view being the tip of the Tempest as you fly through the galaxy, but it isn’t so rewarding. Most planets you visit don’t offer anything other than a quick paragraph of info about the planet and some meaningless lore, others some XP and research points, and then the occasional salvage and loot. But exploring every system to 100% isn’t as rewarding as I wanted it to be. It’s not a necessity either, so that’s good because it is very much a skippable, tedious part of the game. The game’s research and crafting system is simple and cool to use as well, although I wish the OS was simple too. It can be a bit encumber-some and a real task to navigate, but you can get some really great gear out of taking the time to explore and find the elements and materials you need (or just purchase them). But trust me, you’ll get tired of the scanner real quick. Now, some other technical aspects were sore. The facial animations (of course), while I didn’t have any major glitches or problems during my 60 hour playthrough (thank god), they were still stiff and plain. However, it’s not something I take away from the game too much, plus future updates are fixing the issues. The voice acting is where I get most annoyed. Some characters just sound uncomfortable and some are lame. There were many deliveries that were cheesy or awkward, some were just painful to hear, even a few from my Ryder made me go, “oh my god stop.” One thing that players will notice as a departure from the original trilogy is the absence of Renegade/Paragon, it was swapped out with (I think?) a more dynamic approach to your Ryder character. Now in conversations, you choose between responses that fall under four categories: Emotional, Casual, Logical, and Professional. It was an interesting change from what we knew, however it doesn’t change the game or how I play all too much, it seems. You can read a nice psych profile written by the Tempest’s doctor, Lexi, based on your choices, but that’s about it. One thing that kept me coming back to the original trilogy was choosing different Renegade/Paragon options, it felt like they changed your relationships with other characters, it seemed like it would make a difference, but this new dialogue/action set up doesn’t have that same effect. There weren’t many major choices in the game that felt heavy either, none that drastically changed how the story would play out. Of course on my next playthrough I’ll be choosing the opposites of what I chose this first time, but if they don’t change my experience enough, I don’t see much reason to keep coming back to the game. I’ll wind up going back to the trilogy first before Andromeda, if that’s the case. Andromeda doesn’t have as high of a re-playability value as the trilogy.

One thing I didn’t touch on was the multiplayer, and that’s because it’s essentially recycled from Mass Effect 3. Wave-based, horde combat scenarios mixed with a few objectives, and then extraction. The combat in Andromdeda is great enough to where it’s fun to be in, but not for too long because I despise the leveling system. I don’t like the pre-set character abilities. I feel as though they could’ve kept it simple: let us choose what race we want, apply the skills we want to those races, and with each race they have a special ability that makes them unique. Almost like a create-a-class system from the Call of Duty games, but with your different characters/races. It should be progression based with the gear as well, not this loot box system with in-game currency that’s plaguing video games now. Acquiring better armor and weapons should be organic and correlative to how much I’m playing and how well I’m doing, not how much money I’m willing to spend. It takes the immersion right out of the game. It’s lazy. And that’s all I’m going to say on multiplayer. My final rating for Mass Effect: Andromeda is:

7.75/10. Not exactly what I was waiting for, but I’m glad I have it.

Andromeda has a ton to offer and for all intents and purposes, it’s a really good game, but there are quite a few shortcomings that hold it back from true greatness, especially as a follow up to one of the greatest game series’ to have ever come out. It excels with its planet exploration, its visuals, its combat, its loyalty missions, and dynamic class system. However the lackluster main story, which leaves many questions left unanswered, and a generic villain, copy & paste lazy multiplayer, some trivial voice acting, and its small scale choice system leads the game astray. I definitely think it’s worth getting for fans of the series, as well as those who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy games, and open-world exploration games. But the real greatness of the Mass Effect universe still lies within its original trilogy (for now anyway).