#I also really want to make a Michel dragon

[thebreadmantm]

Ok confession, I have not been up to date on the @hemi-demi oathbreaker fic bc I have been so busy but I read through it a few days ago and AHHHDJSVDJSHBS DRAGON GERRY AHHHH

I love him so much. I am not ok

His clothes aren’t as easy to take of as Jon’s but I pretty sure Hemi said they are worse at maintaining their glamor than other dragons. So idk maybe he’s fine

[emotionalsupport-ljh]

Halloween!Jihoon - Couples Costumes

HC - Woozi x Fem!Reader

Some couples costumes Jihoon would (probably) agree to do, and most of them are just cosplays.

Word Count: 425

.𖥔 ݁ ˖🕸️🕷.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚｡⋆୨🎃୧ ⋆ ˚｡⋆.𖥔 ݁ ˖🕸️🕷.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Geto and Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)  - He would be Geto and you would be a sexy fem!Gojo. If you refuse to be Gojo, he would have Soonyoung do it with him.

Buttercup and Wesley (Princess Bride) - He would like to look cool dressed in all black and would fucking kill the “As you wish” line. He would be suave and dote on his “princess” all night. 

Ed and Winry (Fullmetal Alchemist) - This would take some convincing, but this outfit is also mostly black, and it would mean he would get to see you in a little tanktop all night. The short jokes get old fast for him, but he feels cool for a least a while.

Sasuke and Sakura (Naruto) - His suggestion. He already has the outfit. He also has a spare Akatsuki robe if you wanted to go in that direction, but if he’s definitely dressing as Naruto characters with partners, he’s going to be Sasuke.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Movie) - Lazy costume, but insanely sexy. Suit for him and a sleek black dress for you as you recreate peak 2000s power couple Brangelina before all the mess. Fake guns would make you feel dangerous, but the orange tips are obvious. Would be playing super secret spy agent with each other all night and no one would know what the hell either of you are doing.

Zuko and Mai (Avatar: TLA) - The color scheme would make him feel really cool; black, red, and gold. It would be comfortable for him. The scar would be fun for you to draw on him carefully before you guys go out together. Would spend all night admiring his hot goth girlfriend.

Goku and Chichi (Dragon Ball Z) - He already has Goku’s gi, I promise. He didn’t write Super for nothing. He would be posing and pretending to do the Kamehameha all night. This one is embarrassing for you, but he’s the happiest he could ever be at a Halloween party. 

Peter Parker and M.J. (Spider-man) - Whether you are the Mary Jane or Michelle Jones girl, this is THE Marvel costume. It could be totally casual or he could where the full spandex suit. Knowing him, he would probably opt for the all black, tactical “Night Monkey” version from Far From Home. You would gladly kiss him upside down.

Loid and Yor (SpyxFamily) - He would lowkey look exactly like the Bad Clue Gose, so you would enjoy this outfit so much. The Yor look is sexy and deadly, and he can’t keep his hands off of you. Much like the classic Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you guys would pretend to be spies all night.

[anthurak]

Roseknightshipping in ARC-V Ideas (using heavy AU/rewrite elements)

Imagining Roseknightshipping in ARC-V is really fun and silly thanks to the existing AU setting causing an apparent lack of Yliaster and a definite lack of Yusei Fudo. Meaning that all we really have to go off of is Aki’s and Sherry’s shared Rose/Flower/Knight motif and potential for mutually fucked up backstories.

So for my now-rapidly-snowballing ARC-V AU/Rewrite, I’m having Aki and Sherry show up to the Friendship Cup in Neo Domino as basically the ultimate wildcards. Their backstory is that they were both in the same fucked-up Boarding School/Duel Academy that was run by this timelines version of the Arcadia Movement and basically went through a whole-ass Revolutionary Girl Utena plot together before finally hooking up, blowing up the academy, feeding Divine to Black Rose Dragon and riding off into the sunset together.

And now they’ve entered the Friendship cup together as the big mysterious wildcard duelists who nobody is quite sure where they stand. Like they’re clearly not working with Shinji or any of the other Commons, but definitely want to make a lot of trouble for the Topsiders. Maybe Aki is using a retooled version of her ‘Black Rose Witch’ masked-persona, with Sherry possibly using her own take on a secret identity.

Aki and Sherry here both use the fully-expanded ‘Rose Dragon’ and ‘Fleur’ archetypes, with Black Rose Dragon and Chevaliar de Fleur as their ace monsters. Along with using Ruddy Rose Dragon and Baronne de Fleur as super-aces.

(Alternatively, in a similar vein to how Jack uses an alternate version of Red Dragon Archfiend in ARC-V, Aki could use a similarly retrained version of BRD. Say, ‘Black Rose Revolution Dragon’, for obvious reasons XD)

They also have a shared ultimate-ace that they summon when dueling together that is basically Baronne riding Ruddy Rose. It also uses their own flashy gimmick take on Synchro Summoning similar to Accel Synchro or Double Tuning that I admittedly haven’t fully thought out yet. Thoughts so far is that it’s a ‘Hybrid Synchro’ method that uses two Synchro monsters that are both also tuners.

Either way, it’s definitely meant to be a VERY unsubtle metaphor for lesbian sex and both Aki and Sherry being switches XD

Ultimately it’s revealed that the Roseknight duo’s motivations are that Jean Michel Roget was the one behind this version of Arcadia, or at least co-opted/bankrolled them as part of his plan to take over Neo-Domino and betray Academia (somewhat paralleling how Arcadia in 5Ds was trying to oppose Yliaster), and Aki and Sherry are here to completely wreck his shit. Which they do in epic fashion during the climax of the Synchro arc (probably replacing Reiji’s/Declan’s duel with Roget in this version of events) before also feeding him to Ruddy Rose Dragon and mysteriously vanish into the night.

Notably, Sherry and Aki don’t really ‘join’ the heroes following the events of the Synchro arc. Mostly because I made them a just a bit too OP and having them stick around makes thing a bit too easy for the heroes. I mean Sherry runs Baronne for Ra’s sake!

Instead, in this version of events Aki and Sherry are meant to show up, be awesome/hot, kick ass, make every girl in sight start questioning her sexuality, leave and refuse to elaborate. And then make a triumphant reappearance in the final battle to help beat down Zarc.

Again, it is honestly kind of funny just how EASILY you can make a whole-ass Utena-AU with Sherry as Utena and Aki as Anthy:

Sherry LeBlanc is a new student at the prestigious/mysterious/overlydramatic ‘Arcadia Duel Academy’, gets into a duel with some seemingly random asshole, kicks his ass, and suddenly finds herself engaged to the mysterious ‘Rose Bride’; Aki Izayoi and just like that we’re off to the races. Just replace ‘sword duels’ with ‘Monster Duels’ (though Sherry can still do a bit of swordfighting, as a treat) and maybe have Sherry driven to be a Knight rather than a Prince, and we’re set XD

I mean if you think about it, Aki is kind of PERFECT as an equivalent to Anthy? Rose-themed, mysterious powers, super-traumatic past, manipulated by a total scumbag, the true ‘power’ at the center of the academy that everyone is fighting over, she even has a secret identity!

Heck, because we’re in the Synchro-verse, we can easily switch out RGU’s fixation on cars for 5D’s fixation on motorcycles! Maybe not with Sherry or Aki actually turning into a motorcycle, but maybe Black Rose Dragon can do that instead?

As for more specific/random character interactions, ideas and headcanons;

In the present of the show, Aki ends up playing a key role in Rin’s new arc/role/focus as the Synchro-protag and wielder/partner of Clear Wing Synchro Dragon (for a reminder, in this AU, Yugo got kidnapped by Yuri/Academia instead of Rin) as an older, more experienced rival/mentor figure. Essentially paralleling Jack’s role in Yuya’s arc.

Like Rin’s route in this version of the Friendship Cup at first has a very similar trajectory to what Yugo did, with Rin dueling Celina and pulling off a win via Clear Wing evolving into Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon much like what happened with Yugo. Only for Rin to then go up against Aki and get completely trounced, forcing her into some character development.

Specifically; Rin goes into her duel against Aki riding high off her previous victory, believing that Crystal Wing combined with Windwitch – Snow Bell is unbeatable. And in fairness, a Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon with effect-destruction protection IS pretty hard to deal with.

Only for Aki to slap down Mark of the Rose to take control of Crystal Wing. Which incidentally, is visualized through a rather homoerotic sequence of the spirit of Black Rose Dragon basically seducing Crystal Wing XD

And if that wasn’t bad enough, after blasting Rin with a direct attack that drops her lifepoints nearly to 0, Aki proceeds to get around having to give Crystal Wing back next turn by using CWSD as synchro-material to summon Ruddy Rose Dragon. Which to add more injury to injury, banishes Rin’s entire graveyard, including Crystal Wing, plus all the Windwitches that Rin was going to use for her burn strategy. Leaving Rin with quite literally NO way of dealing with the 3200 ATK Rose Dragon.

On her next turn, Rin tries to restart her burn combo using Windwitch – Winter Bell, which she also summons in defense to buy time. Only for Aki to use Thorn of Malice (which has been retooled to work with any Rose Dragon) to give Ruddy Rose Dragon piercing damage and finish Rin off.

Later, Rin as well as Celina end up running into both Aki and Sherry, leading to Aki giving Rin the character-development advice she needs. As well dropping cryptic, mysterious and juicy hints regarding her connection with Black Rose Dragon that parallel Rin’s developing bond with Clear/Crystal Wing, which actually parallels some additional advice Jack gives Yuya.

In this setting, it turns out that both Aki and Jack have variations of their Dragon Signer marks, but rather then representing them being chosen by the Crimson Dragon, they instead represent the bond each of them have with their respective dragon partner. Which is made even more interesting by the fact that Rin has had her own mark ever since she summoned Clear Wing for the first time, while Yuya has had a mark flickering on and off for some time now.

Basically, it’s all meant to imply that Black Rose Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend are similar to the four Dimension Dragons as powerful monster spirits in their own right, and hint as to what might come later for the characters.

Also, the whole meeting definitely starts with Rin and Celina accidentally walking in on Aki and Sherry making out and the OTHER half of the conversation comprises of Rin and Celina learning that girls can like girls. After the whole discussion, Rin has a whole HOST of new thoughts weighing on her; how to improve as a duelist, this strange bond she has with Clear Wing, and also girls might be hot now?

Meanwhile, all that Celina is thinking comprises of ‘Holy shit, girls are hot’, ‘How long have girls been hot?’, ‘Holy shit all the girls in my deck are hot’, ‘I want to make out with girls now’, ‘Can I smooch the girls in my deck?’, ‘Hey Rin do you wanna make out?’ and ‘Oh shit I said that out loud, didn’t I?’

Needless to say, things get a bit awkward XD

[cimikat]

Your art often has a narrative thread through it, (which I ADORE 🔥🔥🔥) , it's obvious that there's often an internal story happening within the single moment snapshot of your art ---the image of Sims!phoenixflare in a kiss that hints to what happened before this scene and what will come after; your ladyhawke art which is practically seething with untold story; your SS dragon and phoenix constellation myth art, etc. It's astonishing how your art is constantly evocative of that feeling that there's more to the story of the single image we are being shown---really kicks the imagination into gear and makes a viewer wonder what your figures are saying to each other and how they got here and where they're going later and how they moved into the position we see them before you took a photo of them to freeze them in time.

So---do you have a plot / story / AU idea that's been rattling around your head (any fandom or character or ship)? Say if you were to make a movie poster of this idea that you've got, what scene would you pick to tell that story in your mind (regardless of whether or not you ever draw or write the thing lol)?

Awww, thank you!! That is true, now that I really think on it, that more than anything I've always enjoyed art as a vehicle for telling stories. That at one point as a teenager I thought I would grow up to become an illustrator, and even if my career veered in another direction I guess just have never lost that.

So yes, to use one of the examples you pointed of, when I drew that LadyHawke AU I spent so much time thinking about how that whole story would go, though it has been a while and I never quite settled on all the story aspects. (Not sure how familiar you or others are with the 1985 movie, but to summarize, Matthew Broderick plays a young thief who escapes the dungeons in a castle ruled by an evil bishop, and is saved from the pursuing guards by a mysterious captain with a hawk played by Rutger Hauer. The captain wants the thief to help him sneak into the Bishop's castle so he can get inside to kill the man who cursed him to be forever separated from his lover. The captain disappears at night, and a beautiful woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) appears with a wolf. The thief resolves to help them after he learns how they have been cursed for years: one a hawk by day, the other a wolf by night, never allowed to see each other's human face except for a brief second when the sun rises/sets. They finally break the curse during a solar eclipse). So for my AU, didn't know if I'd want to adapt the thief character--if anyone I was thinking Kihel though would probably change it up--or whether just simplify it and have Dion and Joshua navigating the curse on their own. Because of COURSE Joshua would want to search every book and library for some clue that could break the curse, traveling between towns and cities. But of course he is only awake at night, and it is a little tricky to stay inconspicuous with a large dragon as your companion. Plus, in the film the lovers are only as intelligent as a regular wolf and hawk, they can't communicate in animal form. So I imagine Dion and Joshua always leaving little notes to each other in a cloak pocket or a saddlebag for the other to find. Letters about any promising leads in the investigation, dangers encountered on the road, instructions about where to head next, and loving words of reassurance that they'll hold each other again someday. But as the years pass, Dion despair and impatience grows, and secretly resolves to kill the Bishop who cursed them (and lets be real, the bishop character would probably either be Sylvestre and/or Anabella, but open to reworking that). But would doing so break the curse? Or leave them stuck forever? Insert various other characters and conflicts. Ah, but you also asked what scene would I illustrate?! The image I did draw already works great as poster, but if I were ever to go back to that story and do another? oh, good question... Joshua researching? The eclipse? (continue a running theme of celestial events lol). I have other ideas I want to work on first, but keeping those tucked away just in case.

Pre-Phoenixflare, the closest I think I ever came to plotting out a whole story was when I was really into Fire Emblem, specifically Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn. My favorite character was Elincia (who is still my tumblr icon image, haha), and I used to toy with exploring her whole backstory, her childhood growing up and such. But that was definitely 15 years ago now, and don't remember much of what I had imagined.

[amaltheas-garden]

What costumes did you like in s2? I thought only Rhaenyra’s really improved. Alicent was already very slay. Helaena got more dresses which is nice. The “dragon twins” are meh, like they’re recycling Dany’s outfits. I’m still side eyeing them for giving the male characters late outfits

Oh boy this is gonna be a long one...

First off my fave costumes this season were Alicent's embroidered thistle dress, Helaena's funeral dress, and Rhaenyra's gold dragon shoulders!!! Each one was embroidered by the iconic Michelle Carragher, who did most of the embroidery on GoT as well. Highly recommend checking out her instagram (as well as Claire Kitchener and Rie Winham) for up close shots of the embroidery. The show truly does not do their work justice!

Rhaenyra definitely improved the most this season, her s1 dresses were truly awful. They either looked frumpy, too basic, or just didn't fit right (the only exceptions being her off shoulder black and red dress, and final coronation dress... everything else was so blah). Alicent... I have mixed feelings on. She definitely looked more fashionable than Rhaenyra, but a lot of the dresses felt too modern or just had some weird details thrown on (the metallic side panels on her dinner dress come to mind). There was also very little continuity between outfits (ex: they styled Alicent's green robe-dress combo with the slit sleeves after young Rhaenyra's red and gold dress even though it takes place a good decade or so later and that silhouette should have seemed out of fashion by then). I also hated most of the fabric choices.

S2 succeeds because they established a clear-cut silhouette to model all the gowns off of, which makes it feel way more cohesive. There are three types of sleeves, all fitted to the elbow, then either flair out in a wide cuff, are cut as a circle, or open and fall straight down (+ some are just a regular long sleeve with a pointed cuff).

And there are two necklines: the round green/Andal cut, and the pointed black/Targaryen cut. The Targs also wear a kimono inspired wrap style compared to the more European medieval inspired Westerosi style. We see the dragon keepers wear it, suggesting it's from old Valyria, and Mysaria adopts it to signal her switch in loyalties to Rhaenyra. Cosplayers have nicknamed the pointed shoulders the "Targaryen dart". Helaena's dresses are interesting since they exist between the two styles, alluding to her status as a Targaryen while being on the green side/connecting her to Alicent. Rhaena also favors a more "Andal" silhouette to signify her as the black sheep of the family.

The dragon twins were kinda disappointing this season, and I understand the complaint about being too Dany inspired. Most of Baela's riding outfits were good, but the asymmetrical red cape-silver chain combo was a bit too on the nose. I loved Rhaena's travel coat, I just wish her dresses had more sparkle. They were too plain for a Targ princess imo.

The worst offender by far in terms of Dany copying was Rhaenyra's Harrenhal look. They weren't even trying to hide it.

Unfortunately, the male characters were still very basic 😔. For the record, I think the only men who come close to looking like wealthy aristocrats are Viserys I and Otto. Corlys is supposed to be the richest man alive, but dresses in such drab styles. No drama, no embellishment, muted colors :(((. Daemon gets a pass since he's just hanging out at Harrenhall and doesn't have to look like a proper King Consort. Aegon's outfits are more obviously embellished than Daemon's, but for the KING I still don't think it's enough. I hate that Aemond's looks are so basic; Ewan Mitchell's aura, eyepatch, and fabulous hair are doing all the heavy lifting. Would it kill them to do something non-leather?? Most of the male background characters looked better than the mains lol. I get that they want to reserve the pointed shoulders for the blacks, but Aegon's outfits still need something to add that grandiosity. I did loveeee Oscar Tully's fishscale armor probably the best men's look for the season. Jace also looked fine but that's more to do with his hair upgrade.

The layers, length, and extended shoulders give Vis a much more regal and imposing look, and I wish Aegon had gotten something similar. Most of my issues with him and Aemond could be solved by just making the costumes longer and adding some structure to the top portion of the silhouette.

This but make it floor length or add a cape or some pointy shoulders.

So close to perfection but the top needed that structure so the cape wouldn't be saggy and could actually give the ✨drama✨ it needed. Idc that Aegon isn't that into being king, he's still THE Alicent Hightower's son and would def be dressed to impress.

Loved this Daemon look. Lots of detail and the shoulders really do add so much 🤌

Only good Aemond look. He still should have had a non-dragon rider regal Prince look (WITHOUT LEATHER!!!).

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT GWAYNE!!!!!!

Hands DOWN thee best dressed!!!! Beautiful, majestic, i luv him so much 💚💚💚

I've run out of space for pictures so I'll just say the s2 costumes feel like they were designed with much more care in how they connect to each other while feeling like they belong in the setting. Everything looks way more cohesive on top of me just preferring the new designs.

[wingsoffirenames]

Welcome to the Wings of Fire Names account!

Don't know what to name your new OC? Need to name a minor character in your story? Wanna just browse for fun? Whether it's that or anything in-between and beyond, this blog is here to help.

"What is the purpose of this blog?"

I've been stockpiling names from all over for a long time, and wanted to reorganize my list when I realized that this is something that can help people, so this blog was made for the purpose of helping people find names for their WoF OCs, or anything else they might want them for. I have collected thousands as it is so hopefully there will be something here for everyone.

"Run me through how it'll work!"

First things first, I will run through all the names I already have. However afterwards, I will allow suggestions for new ones, and I'm always finding new ones myself, so there will hopefully be frequent additions!

Posts will be separated by first letter of the name and by tribe. I will also include hybrid names! Tribids and others my be a possibility in the future, but I am not doing them just yet. Alongside each name will be a small explanation for it! Each post will contain 50 names unless it's more efficient to include more or less for that post. Here's examples of how it will look:

Green (The color green.)

Aquamarine (A Jewel, and a shade of blue.)

Conure (A type of bird.)

That is how the lists will be structured! Also as a note, NightWing names will be separated into one word names as well as prefixes and suffixes that you can mix and match, better replicating their unique naming manner. After all the names from my initial collections are cleared, add-ons/updates (whatever you'd like to call or think of them as. Just new names I find, really.) will come whenever I feel like I have enough new names to in my eyes warrant one, and those posts won't be separated by letter except for in the tags, but will continue being separated by tribe. The letter separation is just to make clearing out the initial lists smoother because I have so many. Once I run out of names (since it's likely going to happen at some point even if I don't foresee it being particularly soon), I might be open to helping people with other aspects of their OCs such as personalities or appearances, but we'll have to see what happens whenever that point is reached.

Posts will be tagged with the general fandom tags, as well as with #[tribe] names (hybrids will be marked with each individual tribe then #[tribe/[tribe] names, twice for both positions), #[letter] names, then a variety of tags for themes. I will at some point make a masterlist for theme tags and any other tags that need it, so sorting will be as easy as possible, and these lists will be linked here when they're made. Any other posts will be marked as #not names. Questions regarding the blog are tagged #qna. That should be all, but I'll edit this if new tags are added.

Suggestions will be taken through the inbox, and will get posted individually unless I have an upcoming batch I can place them with. You can suggest as many names as you want per message. This should hopefully account for the entire structure and roadmap for this blog, but feel free to also send in any questions, comments, concerns, etc you have about anything! I'll post as frequently as I can, but note that it can take a while to clean up my lists fully and annotate them!

That should be all for now but if any new information comes up it will be added here.

"Tell me about the blog runner!"

I go by Michelle, use she/her, 20 years old. You can find my main account in the blog description. I love the silly little dragons a lot and like stated previously I enjoy collecting names and want to share them! I don't know if anyone else has done this before but either way I'm just doing this for fun. Surprised nobody took this URL yet! The blogs theme is Queen Moorhen literally just because I like her a lot lol. Feel free to ask if you have questions!

Have a good day!

[seriousfic]

This one was a big disappointment. It's advertised as an action-comedy paying tribute to kung-fu movies... two problems with that.

It's not funny. The comedy is very firmly in the "Unattractive Women Yammering" subgenre. Sample dialogue:

"Push the button!"

"I am pushing the button!"

"Did you push the button?"

"I'm pushing it!"

"You'd better push the button!"

"I did push it!"

[repeat x50, all screeching, because LOUD = FUNNY!]

They don't go all out with the fake swearing (I call it "Shitballs" swearing, for writing where characters even have to be quirky when cursing) and they don't do that, but you can tell they're thinking Shitballs.

2. There are barely any fight scenes and they're all done with exceedingly unimpressive choreography. It is very obvious that no one here is a martial artist, they're just character actors (usually old ones) doing stilted, simple moves, with slow-motion doing the heavy lifting of trying to make it look impressive. Your average episode of Alias easily clears all this 'action.' This is the age of John Wick and when your chief selling point is the fights, you really have to do better than this.

Also, I don't know if this is a female thing or a zoomer thing, but it's oddly a paean to immaturity?

There've always been these fratboy comedies, like Wedding Crashers or Shaun of the Dead, where the audience is meant to indulge vicariously in these manchild antics, but there's usually an underlying conservatism to those movies. They say all the debauchery is fun for a little while, but there's no future in it, it gets to be pathetic as you grow older without growing up, so have fun for a while, but move on eventually to more mature things like adult relationships and having kids.

And this is the exact opposite message, where the 'hero' Ria spends the entire movie being immature, hostile, toxic, paranoid... basically, Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding. Only she has the moral luck to be right about the guy marrying her sister (apropos of nothing), so the movie ends with her beating him up and running away with her sister to continue to be a total womanchild.

It's just weird to have a twenty-something actress playing a teenage girl who has this "eww, boys are gross!" ten-year-old girl attitude.

The whole thing is kinda like Scott Pilgrim, with this over-the-top world where people can legitimately get into kung-fu fights, but whereas that movie totally committed to the bit, this one weirdly half-asses it. One moment, the characters are doing wire-work, fighting each other in public, and this is treated as nothing out of the ordinary--then Ria will accuse the bad guys of something and everyone goes "what? are you crazy? This is the real world! Be serious!"

It just didn't match up for me, tone-wise.

Also, this is petty, but if our protagonist is a girlpower-crazy action movie nut who fans kung-fu movies, why is every movie we see her enjoy a male-centric movie like The Man With The Iron Fists or Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story? Shouldn't she be a fan of more obscure, but women-focused works like Sister Street Fighter or The Inspector Wears Skirts? Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock go completely unmentioned, even though you'd think they'd be a touchstone for an action movie fan with a focus on female performers.

Yeah, it's a little thing, but I think it's the big tell between someone who genuinely does love action movies and is making one herself as a labor of love versus someone who just wants to get the usual improv comedy made and is stapling on some action movie junk to get it sold to the Netflix algorithm.

[gokusclit]

HIIII MICHELLE last night we watched more Buu Saga!! I would have sent an ask to you last night but I got a migraine so bad I almost threw up so. Well. Lol

Anyway we watched Vegeta's sacrifice all the way to Goku leaving to go back to the afterlife. Vegeta's sacrifice is GREAT as usual really powerful stuff. Also when Vegeta was nearing the end I really like how he got his arm injured and there's that shot of blood dripping from his arm and onto the ground before it slides up to show his arm limply hanging at his side like Gohan in Cell Saga. No idea if that was intentional but I thought it was cool. And him hugging Trunks for the first time...sniffle...whatever. Idgaf <- gaf

GOTEN AND TRUNKS ARE SOOOO CUTE AND SILLY Though it always makes me laugh when they're like sobbing profusely about their respective dad and brother being dead and Goku is like STOP CRYING!!! LOCK THE FUCK IN!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE TOO IF YOU DON'T!!!!! Like okay my loud and commanding mama

OH the scene where Buu kills Babidi is always like. So brutal to me. In a really cool way I'm just like damn that's crazy. Deserved tho

Idk if this is a hot take but I was never a fan of the Z Sword stuff. It goes nowhere, it's p boring along the way, and also it introduces one of my least fave Dragon Ball characters I fucking hateeeee that old man supreme kai. He's just NOT FUNNY and he's ANNOYING to me. But we haven't seen him yet and maybe my mind will change with a rewatch? Doubtful tho

OHHH MY GOD AND GOTEN SHYLY TRYING TO ASK FOR A HUG BEFORE GOKU LEAVES LIKE WHAT IF WE ALL DIED. He's SO cute and Goku is so cute and god...poor Goten...imagine you finally get to see your dad who's been like some mystical legend told to you and then you don't even get to spend that much time with him. And then when you do it's being trained because you're the last hope the entire WORLD has. And also you're 7 years old. And also your older brother who basically WAS your father is now dead too. Whatever.

Anyway SOLID STUFF!!! I can't wait until we get to the Actual fusion. Also I hope ur day is going good! Smile! 💜💜💜💜

FUSHDHJSS HI HOLLY I GIGGLED SO BAD AT MY LOUD AND COMMANDING MAMA. It’s so true he rlly is so loud and commanding mama and the way goten is so shy abt wanting to give him a hug before he goes T_T somebody kill meeeee. Vegeta and trunks as well. The way trunks is so distracted by a hug from vegeta bc it’s not something he’s ever gotten…..nods and stares into the distance w tears streaming down my cheeks

LISTENNN THE Z SWORD THING. I think it could have been so cool but as u said yeah it just goes nowhere. Like please let gohan save the day what the heck but anyways sigh. That entire bit with goku and gohan with the kais is rlly cute tho i will say and goku giving gohan that hug :’) sniffle

SO EXCITED FOR U TO GET TO FUSIONNNN!!!! YIPPEEE I await your post vegito ask >:3333

[geode-crystal]

Writeblr Interview tag game!

Wooo thanks for the tag @tildeathiwillwrite this looks like fun!

Open tag for anybody else who wants to answer these :)

Short stories, novels, or poems?

Yes, yes, and yes lol.

I tend to write novel-length things purely because I just... keep going XD I usually get more ideas than a short story allows. I do need to work on keeping things to the point sometimes!

But I have written short stories and one-shots (mostly as responses to promts) and I am very technically a published poet, since a few of my poems were published in a collection thanks to a writing competition back in high school .

What genre do you prefer reading?

Fantasy, full stop. I also love books that play on fairy tales and folklore.

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

I usually like to have a general idea of where I'm going, and figure the rest out along the way. Sometimes I make full outlines when projects get Really Big.

What music do you listen to while writing?

I either put on one of my incredibly random playlists or go to youtube and look for "relaxing [insert video game here] music." Pokemon soundtracks are actually really nice to write to.

Favorite books/movies?

Soooo many lol.

I'm a big fan of Disney and Pixar movies (as one of my previous posts made pretty obvious lol), particularly the Disney renaissance. Adore The Princess Bride. Love Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Love Studio Ghibli movies, personal favorite being Castle in the Sky. Of course, we have the classic Muppet Treasure Island as well. And I love every version of Scott Pilgrim out there, the movie, Netflix anime, and graphic novels are all amazing.

And for books... oh my gods there are too many to list here, but shout outs to Catherynne M. Valente's Fairyland series, the Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones (as well as Howl's Moving Castle), Raybearer and Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko, and the Hero's Guide series by Christopher Healy. Percy Jackson, too.

A lot of my favorite whump moments come from the good old Deltora Quest series by Emily Rhodda and The Mage of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen.

Any current WIPs?

So many. Too many. I need to escape lol.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

I've based a few characters off of people I know before. Mostly my close friends. One of whom I write with a lot, so we've used each other as inspiration several times lol.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

No no no no no, not at all lolol. It's exactly the opposite. I have so much difficulty permanently killing off characters, to the point that my first novel-length project way back in my first year of high school ended with the villain getting polymorphed into a fish instead of dying. XD

I only do permadeath when it is absolutely necessary for the story. But... well, to quote The Return of Jafar: "You'd be surprised what you could live through."

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Don't usually drink or snack while writing.

Slow or fast writer?

Completely depends on the project, but I would say fairly slow. Especially compared to my writing buddy they're an absolute speed demon lol

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Depends on the fantasy world, really. Definitely some kind of musician and/or storyteller, like a troubador or something. Maybe some kind of minor nobility, with all the "fun" I've had with the burden of expectations. I would love to have some kind of magic, especially if it's music-based. So..... basically a bard!

I'd also be very likely to be something not fully human, be that an elf or fairy or mermaid... or even a changeling.

Most fav book cliche:

There's a long list! But I really like Found Family stuff, and any time magic comes with A Price.

Least favorite cliche:

Characters getting pointlessly killed off just for the sake of Extra Drama.

Favorite scene to write?

Hurt/comfort, both ends! I especially love anything with added Guilt for one or all parties!

Reason for writing?

To paraphrase Brian David Gilbert: stories come to me in my dreams like a prophet receiving visions from an angry god.

I write because I'm always coming up with different ideas. I write because I was basically designed to study and create stories. Even if I don't physically write anything down, I will always find a way to tell some kind of story, be it just piecing together ideas in my head or through singing Broadway-style songs or even just attempting to draw a character. I write because it's just what I do!

[bookoftheironfist]

hihi!!!

what do you think of an asian danny (comics) ? i know we have pei (whom i adore) but how do you think danny as a character would change? (personally i feel like danny would feel less isolated in kun lun, maybe only dimensional differences, but would face more racism back in america. i think white danny is a better concept, to be torn in half between your nature(america) vs nurture(kun lun) yknow)

<3

Hihi! Thank you for asking!

A few key points, just to start off:

I am not Asian myself, therefore I feel like my opinion on this topic doesn't really matter. (I also don't work for Marvel, so my opinion really doesn't matter.)

At the end of the day, this conversation comes down to the desire for more and better Asian representation across the Marvel Universe, which is obviously something we should all want.

Okay, now, on to the in-universe, Danny-specific stuff:

I would be perfectly happy with an Asian Danny, and I understand the arguments for making that change. I don't personally feel like it's a necessary change in this case, but I do get it, and I do think that the introduction of the Iron Fist legacy was very important; back when he was the first and only person to have defeated Shou-Lao, it was certainly much more uncomfortable that he was an outsider. (I will also point out that the feeling of being pulled in two directions--America and K'un-Lun--is something that he would still experience if he were Asian. Probably even moreso due, as you mentioned, to anti-Asian racism and anti-immigrant sentiments in the US.)

For me, the question is more about whether Danny should be of K'un-Lun descent specifically. Just making him Asian wouldn't make him not an outsider there, and that was the main cause of his alienation as a child. The thing that baffled me about Lin Lie being chosen as the next Iron Fist to presumably "fix" the "problem" of Danny's non-native status was that Lin isn't from K'un-Lun either. He's just as much of an outworlder as Danny, and at least Danny grew up in the city and had family there. (And obviously, that's not even touching on the fact that we already had Pei, who was born K'un-Lun.)

Tucos: "You dare aspire to join the ranks of the immortals of K'un-Lun--!?!" Danny: "I dare nothing, Tucos--I merely am. If I am Iron Fist, it is because the gods--thru Yu-Ti--will it so...and if I become an immortal--it is because they will that as well!" Merrin: "Is that so, outworlder--? How pleasant to see an Earther mortal adopt our ways so...fervently." Iron Fist vol. 1 #2 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Michele W., F. Chiarmonte, and Joe Rosen

Kheng: "Stupid orphan couldn't stop a bunch of dogs from turning his mother into breakfast...how were you ever going to face an immortal?" Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #3 by Kaare Kyle Andrews and Joe Caramagna

Yang Yi: "The next Iron Fist should have been one of us. Any of us--even Mei Min. It should have been me." Lin: "I--I didn't call Shou-Lao to me on purpose." Yang Yi: "That's even worse! You stole something that belongs to K'un-Lun and you don't even know its worth. The last Iron Fist was an outsider. So was the one before him. Special enough that the dragon chose them...or callous enough to rip its heart out without respect." Iron Fist vol. 6 #2 by Alyssa Wong, Michael Yg, Sean Chen, Victor Olazaba, and Jay David Ramos

If Danny had been Asian but not from K'un-Lun, the bullying might have focused less on his appearance (he gets called "Snow Pea" and "Snowflake" in Living Weapon), but he still would have been an outsider, an Earther mortal freak, and his bullies would still have been angry that he became the Iron Fist instead of them. If Danny had been of K'un-Lun descent...honestly, I still think he would have struggled to fit in, since he wasn't raised in the culture. Wendell as we know him didn't teach Danny anything about K'un-Lun, and unless we considered the idea of changing Wendell's personality or past experiences, I can imagine that would still be the case if he had blood ties to the city. It would still have been something Wendell spent most of Danny's life trying to put behind him, and Danny would still have been arriving massively traumatized, and even with the knowledge that his ancestors had been from K'un-Lun, I'm not sure how much that would have fixed for him, or for his peers' perception of him. This is a dimension that is extremely difficult to access, and thus a very insular society. They don't get a lot of outworlders, regardless of their race or ancestry.

For the record, it would be easy to give Danny blood ties to K'un-Lun without changing a single thing about his backstory, due to the simple fact that we have no idea where Wendell came from. He was just some random orphan Orson stumbled upon in the Himalayas. It would be very easy for a writer to do a story arc in which Danny found out that his father (possibly even unbeknownst to Wendell) was born in K'un-Lun. Rather than retconning Danny's backstory to make him aware of this from the beginning, I feel like it would be a more interesting approach to have Danny discover a blood connection later on, in the present day. I am always a big fan of explorations of Danny's relationship to K'un-Lun, and this would certainly present new territory in that regard.

Ultimately, though, I agree with you in that I don't feel like this change is needed, or even that it would change much about Danny's character or journey (which I suppose could be an argument either for or against). He would still be that same guy caught between two worlds and not fully at home in either. My personal feeling is that I would rather see characters like Colleen Wing, Pei, Sparrow, Miranda...heck, even Steel Serpent...given more of a spotlight. As I mentioned at the top, what's most important is having strong Asian representation throughout the Marvel Universe, and there are a ton of fantastic, under-used Asian characters within the Iron Fist sphere who I hate to see buried under ongoing debates about this one guy's ethnicity, especially when those debates too often seem to contain incorrect information from people who haven't actually read many of the comics.

Again, thanks for the question! Obviously, this is a very layered and sensitive topic, and having lived through the heated conversations surrounding the Netflix show, it's something that is always on my mind.

[lawonderlandwriter]

I was just thinking how absolutely annoying, unfair, and ridiculous it is that Sophie Turner, the annoying brat, got to keep that hideous disgusting throne while the set didn’t let Emilia keep any of her her wigs or anything really or let Kit keep Longclaw. The GOT set was clearly a biased and sometimes cruel one

Took me a moment to remember what Sophie's wrap gift was but yes, the direwolf throne in the North at the end, that was indeed her wrap gift. Kit also kept the statue of himself that wasn't used in the actual show but was used for one of the promo commercials - which was just the dumbest waste of money ever considering it meant nothing in the actual season.

On one hand, I do understand Kit wanting to keep the sword. If any one person should own it, it definitely should be him. But as someone who also lives in Hollywood, I feel like it's also something that should be kept in a museum - or sent around to different exhibits on the show so people can visit it, because it is so iconic. But instead of that ugly statue, they could have given Kit one of his costumes - there were so many variations on the show of relatively the same looks, they could have easily given him one of the versions of his Night's Watch costumes or one of the ones he wore as King in the North.

And Emilia has never talked about what her wrap gift has been or if she ever got one. We know they gave Rose Leslie Ygritte's bow as her wrap gift. Aiden Gillen was given one of Littlefinger's broaches. So yeah, the show could have easily given Emilia one of Dany's rings, the dragon sash, one of the egg props from the first season, any number of things.

Everyone who worked on that show was biased against Dany. Miguel Sapochnik, Michele Clapton, the show runners. The only person who ever gave Dany exactly what she was due and loved her the way her character deserved to be loved by someone making the show was Ramin Djawadi, and for that, he will always be a legend.

[selkiewife]

8, 17, 25 please and thank you

Thanks @owlsinathens my love!

8. You hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc.)

Oh my god I have so MANY! lol. This won't be all of them but I'm trying not to overthink these: A Song of Ice and Fire: More appreciation for the potential of Theon surviving and for Theon eventually gaining some FREEDOM in LIFE. More appreciation for the Theon Sea Reek symbolism (How the Sea Reek was a giant sea monster) More appreciation for Theon's prophetic dream (And how it parallels Jon's Dream.) More appreciation for Theon's connection to Euron and Bran. More appreciation for the symbolism of characters receiving a kind of weirwood stigmata (like when Dany eats the heart- bloody hands and mouth and then losing her hair to the flames, Catelyn Stark after saving bran, Theon- bloody mouth and hands, red leaf falling on his head, etc etc.) More appreciation for Tysha & Tyrion. More people tagging her as Tysha Lannister because FUCK YOU TYWIN. More appreciation for the Tysha is the Sailor's Wife theory. Tysha & Tyrion forever. More appreciation for the parallels between Theon & Jeyne and Tyrion & Tysha. More appreciation for Tyrion ships in general. More appreciation for Tyrion's dragon dreams that he STOPPED HAVING after his trauma and then the contrast with Daenerys beginning her dragon dreams as a response to her trauma. Daenerys x Tyrion as a ship. More appreciation for Mance's band (like literal band lol) of spearwives. Game of Thrones: The acting. I'm serious. I want there to be more analysis about it- I want to go into the tag and see paragraphs dissecting the minutia of Michelle Fairley's Red Wedding Performance, Alfie Allen as Theon performing Reek performing Theon, etc. Tyrion's trial. But also the actors that don't get as much appreciation for the early seasons- like Issac as Bran when Ser Rodrik was executed etc. Also more (or any lol) appreciation for the Reek foreshadowing in Theon's scenes in season 1 and 2. I'll do a gifset eventually about this. Appreciation and analysis of the 4 episodes GRRM wrote (I am actually going to do this myself soon and also make some gifsets of the scenes from these episodes.) More appreciation for the music and Ramin Djawadi. Not just the beauty of it, but the use of certain instruments for certain characters, the META of certain characters sharing a theme- like with Jon and Theon. Also, I would love it if there was a mass movement in the fandom- a petition or something for Ramin to write music to The Seasons of My Love. More appreciation for THE FIX IT FICS! More appreciation for the idea of Daenerys x Missandei x Greyworm as the show's three heads of the dragon. Got/Asoiaf: More appreciation for combining canons in fics, art, and other fan creations. More appreciation and understanding of gifmakers who take scenes from the show out of the show context to depict scenes from the books. Fire and Blood: The Sylvessie ship (Essie x Sylvenna Sand) Gaemoms forever. The conquerers as a TRUE threesome, with Visenya and Rhaenys in love with each other as well. (I would give anything if they portrayed it this way in the show adaptation.) HOTD: More appreciation for AEGON'S DREAM! I really love the exploration of the Targaryen Dreamers. Also more appreciation for Aemma Targaryen's birth scene. I can write more about this later but I loved the way they showed the horror that birth can be- especially when choice is taken away. Harlots: I hope people come to appreciate all of Harlots IN GENERAL. The whole thing. Watch Harlots, Love Harlots, Obsess about Harlots. Also, I would like more people to appreciation the ship Birchlace (Nancy Birch x Emily Lacey.) Seriously if you look at their interactions over the entirety of Harlots it makes SO. MUCH. SENSE. as subtext for a ship. I know it wasn't meant that way but. It is delicious. I really do still need to write this fic. Black Sails: More appreciation for Jack/Anne/Mark Read- and more appreciation of the transition of Charles Vane/Jack/Anne to Jack/Anne/Max to Jack/Mark/Anne.

17. The thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love.

asoiaf: Theon's Godswood scene. The old gods, they know me. They know my name. Shoot that scene directly into my veins. Carve that monologue onto my gravestone. Harlots: "I loved your ma, you silly cunt." the line heard around the Harlots fandom said by the iconic Nancy fucking Birch! Black Sails: A STORY IS TRUE A STORY IS UNTRUE. And all the other amazing writing that makes my brain unravel. Madi's multitudes, Silver's speech about having no story. Flint's there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it. I have CHILLS.

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

Concentrate on what YOU love and don't feel bad about it. I'm serious. I have problems with this as well and it's hard NOT to care about what people think because part of seeking out a fandom for something you love is finding community in your enjoyment of something. But believe me, you will find your niche of fellow fans if you just fearlessly enjoy what you enjoy. And personally, I wouldn't even give what you don't enjoy any time at all. And really try to cultivate not getting upset if other fans are enjoying a headcanon or ship you hate or a character in a way you disagree with. And cultivate putting more of what YOU enjoy out there instead. (This is all advice I give myself too everyday and I don't do this well so I'm not trying to be all wise about it. It is just what I am trying to do and when I succeed it really makes everything more enjoyable.)

[fereldanwench]

AO3 Meme

I was tagged by @sarahawke to share some links to some of my AO3 stories--Thank you! 💙 Rules: Give us the links to your wonderful words with the Most hits, Most kudos, Most comments, Most bookmarks, Most words, and Least words.

🥇 Most Hits: Scars (Requires AO3 account to read) (Dragon Age Inquisition; Cullen Rutherford x Unnamed F!Trevelyan)

This just has the most hits because it's my oldest fic, and I wrote it in early 2014, which at the time felt like just a few months until Inquisition would come out, so the hype was real. I remember being really inspired by one of the trailers and listening to the DAI theme on repeat and just having these scenes in my head that I needed to get down.

At the time, I was also pretty deep in my Cullen x Hawke ship, and I think I was also trying to figure out how I would compartmentalize that ship with an Inquisitor ship because they weren't going to exist in the same personal canon.

Anyway, I don't remember enough about it to say much more, and I'm not rereading it because I think it'll make me cringe, lmao. I can't believe I wrote that almost 10 years ago.

🥇 Most Kudos: Scars 🥈 Runner-up: Homecoming (Cyberpunk 2077; Goro Takemura x Valerie Powell)

Scars again takes it just by being on there the longest, but Homecoming is nearer and dearer to my heart, so I'm really happy to see that it's number two. (And not that far off from Scars, which I think is impressive given that it's so much newer.)

Homecoming was 1) an excuse to write smut from Goro's POV (third-person limited) and 2) a chance to explore some of Valerie's conditions after her revival from Mikoshi. I wanted it to be on the lighter, fluffier side so it's a little idealized and doesn't delve deep into the hardships they face as they start a new journey with Arasaka.

🥇 Most Comments: Sway (Dragon Age II; Sebastian Vael x Marian Hawke)

Another older work, but still to this day, one of my favorite things I've written. It was a one-shot based on a Tumblr prompt, and I just found my groove with it almost immediately. It was one of those pieces that I did not have to fight to get the words out at all.

Just some mutual pining and non-sexual physical intimacy between two people who want each other but know that can never be.

🥇 Most Bookmarks: Homecoming (Cyberpunk 2077; Goro Takemura x Valerie Powell)

See rambling above. 💙

🥇 Most Words: Homecoming 🥈 Runner-up: With Interest (Cyberpunk 2077; Viktor Vektor x Valerie Powell)

Did you know Valerie and Viktor had a thing before the Heist? Well, if I ever finish With Interest, you'll get to see why that didn't work out! I've had the next chapter, like, 80% finished for the past year, but this past year hasn't really been great for getting the words out. Something I'm hoping to change in the next few months.

🥇 Least Words: The Game (Dragon Age Inquisition; Cullen Rutherford x Michel de Chevin)

I actually forgot I had put this on AO3--Just a quick one-shot based on the prompt "Cullen/Michel - Political games at the Winter Palace."

Tagging @morganlefaye79, @theharlotofferelden, @dustymagpie, @commander-krios, and @ziskandra! 💙

[world-cinema-research]

Week 7 Blog Essay: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and the Comparison to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

(TWO FILM ESSAY)

By Jensen Boles

In the year of 1974, Tobe Hooper directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He was also known for directing films such as Eggshells (1969), Poltergeist (1982), as well as the sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).

Above is the original theatrical trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Tobe Hooper's casting choice for this film mainly consists of unknown actors consisting of Gunnar Hansen, Marylin Burns, Edwin Neal, Paul A. Partain and Jim Seidow. While these actors were unknown at the time, they did eventually gain some recognition from horror fans, thanks to this film. Gunnar Hansen who played Leatherface in the film, even stated in an interview "Yes. And in fact, once Chainsaw came out, I started getting asked to be in films."

The story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is set in the same year the film came out, being 1974. The story of this film follows five friends who head to rural Texas to visit the gravesite of one of their grandfathers which has been desecrated. While on their way they stumble upon a psychopathic hitchhiker and an abandoned house that's home to a chainsaw wielding, cannibalistic psycho, named Leatherface along with the rest of his family who are also psychopaths and cannibals who are also known for tormenting their victims.

The film was known for having a low production budget consisting of only $140,000 and having a cast of mainly unknown actors as mentioned above. However the film made $26,572,161 for the worldwide box office. The film was also known for being really controversial due to its excessive violence and disturbing content which got the film banned in the UK for 25 years. The film was also inspired by the real life serial killer known as Ed Gein.

Despite the film's low budget and controversy at the time, the film was still praised by fans as well as a few critics such as Roger Ebert who stated "It’s also without any apparent purpose, unless the creation of disgust and fright is a purpose. And yet in its own way, the movie is some kind of weird, off-the-wall achievement. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to make a movie like this, and yet it’s well-made, well-acted, and all too effective." Roger Ebert was stating that despite the unconventional elements along with the film's low budget and controversy, the film was still effective and enjoyable in the horror genre.

Moving onto my second film of the week, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was released in the year 2000 and has a totally different plot which is set in 19th century Qing Dynasty, China and involves a young Chinese warrior named Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) who steals a sword from a famous swordsman named Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat). Li Mu Bai was originally going to give his sword to a young female warrior, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) before it was stolen by Jen. Yu Shu-Lien, then gives chase to Jen and along the way, she encounters bitter loose ends, fervent passions, and an unconquerable desire for freedom.

Above is a still frame from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that consists of Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) about to battle Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi) in the most iconic scene from the movie.

In comparison to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had a larger production budget consisting of $15,000,000 and made $213,966,221 worldwide. The film has also won an Academy Award for best cinematography as well as a Saturn Award for best Action/Adventure film.

The film has also garnered praise by fans and critics alike. Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian said "In the old-fashioned entertainment that it delivers, and in its inspired combination of seriousness and playfulness, Crouching Tiger is already assuming the lineaments of a classic." I think Peter Bradshaw makes a good point because the film is still considered a classic to this day and the cinematography still holds up today as well.

All in all, both of these films are totally different from one another because of the different budgets, the different setting, and the different style of films. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had a lower budget and was set in Texas in the year of 1974, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon however, had a higher budget and was a period piece set in 19th century China. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was also a horror film which had gained some controversy over the years, while Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was based off of a Chinese novel and had won awards for best cinematography and for best action film. Even the actors for both films are considered different, while The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had unknown actors at the time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had a few well known actors, yet some of the actors weren’t known well amongst certain audiences.

[explosionshark]

So Bad Girls, real good, gets even better with Consequences (also cool more drowning in Consequences with Faith drowning Buffy this time), with Buffy's reaction to the coverrup and Faith spiralling and she really comes into her own as a mirror for both Angel and Buffy around about now, I love Angel as her murder sponsor I wish it lasted longer. I also love that the whole Slayers murder people sometimes it happens Watcher'sll generally just move past it. It's just great fallout and great mess. Her dynamic with the Mayor also great, perfect mixture of affection and veiled threat from him and her just wanting someone to tell her she's doing a great job, and it's also a good mirror for the Buffy Angel dynamic in parts I have written down for Choices a quote from the Mayor talking about Angel and Buffy "Keeping a blossoming young girl from the life she should have," which is also gonna happen to Faith since I know she's gonna end up in jail at some point as a result of siding with the mayor. Also like the gradual building her up to be his Dragon with him not sending her to kill Willow in Doppelgangland, her killing the demon who had the books in Enemies (sidenote I have written down great outfit for Faith this episode, and I just checked what she was wearing and yes that was a correct note(Double sidenote: I also did not see that the Angelus turn was a fake coming either)) but clearly not handling the blood on her hands well reminding her of the deputy mayor to casually killing with the bow and then chopping off the guy's hand in Choices and then even more casually killing that Geologist with a knife in Gradutation Day, its a good step by step it wasn't like immediate.

The big sewer break up in The Prom was worth all the mini break ups, I guess, Sarah Michelle Gellar is just so good at that crying she does and that line and delivery she gives in the scene with Willow afterwards "I think horrible is still coming. Right now is worse. Right now I'm just trying to keep from dying," was sooo good. Also I knew the Class Protector moment was coming but it was still nice to see.

Anyway I watched Graduation Day part 1 last night and I gotta say they did a great job this series with keeping Faith looking strong for the big fight with Buffy, they've thrown down a few times but gone out of their way to make sure there's not been a clean proper ending to one of them yet, unlike last series with Angelus who IIRC got slapped down pretty conclusively the episode he lost his soul and survived entirely on the merit of Buffy not wanting to kill him (which is a fair dynamic don't get me wrong and Angelus got a lot of good psychological play), and that combined with the dynamic of Buffy going hard for the kill in this fight and Faith loving it along with the actual fight itself, it's definitely my favourite of the show thus far, and then falling off the roof onto the truck just to spite Buffy so she's killed her nothing great stuff.

Also wasn't expecting Anya to become a regular, she's fun I like her, but also shout out to Willow for being the only core cast member capable of a relationship not with a demon vastly older than them or worse Wesley.

Also also since I watched Graduation Day Part 1, gonna watch Part 2 tonight and then I gotta figure out what the rotation I'm gonna go with for Angel I assume there's gonna be some crossover even though I don't remember anything that seemed particularly weird from back when I watched it all that time ago, though I do wonder if they cover the whole the sun got turned off for a few weeks, Satan himself walks the Earth and Angel lost his soul again, guess that's a job for Faith in jail to solo she's got it.

Really enjoyed the first have of Series 3 but I really really enjoy the second half

okay sorry this took forever to reply to! i'm just bad at answering asks sometimes!

anyway as always, love hear your thoughts, and very glad you enjoyed s3. i don't think the high school years of buffy are better than what comes after (some of my favorite episodes come in the later seasons!) but I do think 1 - 3 are really special in the way they're very tightly woven together. season 3 is about season 2 which is about season 1. there's still continuity and reverberating themes in the later seasons, but nothing AS direct and i honestly love the 1:1 moments.

now that you're caught up through s3 i'll leave you a few of my favorite fics to read:

moonshot by aliceinwonderbra - this is a two-shot canon-divergence AU starting at hearshot that focuses on what could have been different if faith had been present. if buffy had insight into faith's fractured mindset, could that change things? first chapter is the episode re-write and has some incredibly good character study. second chapter is the timeskip happy ending, very cute. and very smutty.

coexist by coraniaid - total s3 AU. canon divergence from season 2, beginning with the question of "what would have changed if angelus had killed giles instead of jenny calendar?" the answer is: A LOT. LIKE. SO MUCH. but also not everything. beautiful, intricately latticed stuff here, dude. major s3 events are changed, subverted or replaced in ways that are gonna have you like :0

to hold off the lightning by cinnamonfiglatte - canon divergence starting after finch is killed. this story explores what would have happened if buffy and co actually HAD been able to get through to faith and pull her out of her spiral. faith's arc is so richly and powerfully written that her lack of full-blown villain arc does nothing to lessen the depth of her journey and complexity. it fuckin owns. amazing slow burn romance here and the characterization is incredible.

[troofless]

just watched wicked! it was good and the actors were great, but then i went and relistened to the broadway songs and yeah idina and kristin kinda rock actually. (idina's 'BLONDE' on what is this feeling just hits better, and sometimes cynthia says stuff faster than the original song which gave me unhappy whiplash). (anyway more idina propaganda her work in frozen songs are so good ahhhhh).

insane tho. it was good but the original just sung better. the visual aspect of the movie was pretty good tho, though the lighting and colour choice (the school...) at some parts was kinda dull. the set pieces were great tho. they slapped hard with the backgrounds, and buildings and decorations and stuff. they also did really well on the costumes and colour choices of those, the pink on blonde (and long eyelashes) for ariana was great, and same for green on black for cynthia (dude ALL of elphaba's dresses slapped idk what those wicked npcs were about her goth black dress is a DREAM). the animal cg was kinda mid (bad) tho.

also as someone watching on chinese subs (i can read them but. yeah) the first part of the movie was a lot of mumbling and i couldn't really understand 'no one mourns the wicked' song well which made me feel really annoyed. the people in the opener part sucked with pronunciation except for ariana (and cynthia). but the opening part with the flying dragons and people running on the nicely partitioned and coloured fields was great.

the cut up portion of defying gravity made me sad bc was it really like that in the play? so many pauses in between lyrics to exposition elphaba becoming public enemy number one?

ariana, cynthia and michelle (she's so cool ahhhhh!!!! she played the 'obviously evil mentor manipulating bullied talented child but you hope she's good' child so good. also her accent is different from the rest of the cast haha) are really good. ariana really makes glinda sooooo detestable and act so self-absorbed in a 'good girl' act that she's convinced herself she's 'good' and 'martyr-like'. idk what about it but i love this trope so much (pink-palette green tea bitch, maybe gets character growth later on and becomes the yuri gf...?) but MAN do i hate glinda as a character. she's amazing. ariana's first scene where she has Feelings about elphaba's death really shone through with her acting too. like she clearly has Thoughts about it but everyone around her is like 'BE HAPPY THAT SHE IS DEAD YOU CANNOT SAY OTHERWISE' and she can't say otherwise.

i haven't actually watched the musical so i can't comment on the plot progression (absolutely uninterested in the prince romance plot). but its like. ok so far.

i do think the ending sequence where they chop up defying gravity sucks but oh well. also i feel like elphaba and glinda end up on a higher note than i think the original did, i seriously thought the 'i hope you're happy' throughout the song was sarcastic, but in the movie it felt like more of an amiable parting thing.

also the prince, if he's supposed to be acting out a dumb thoughtless guy didn't really show through at all until like. elphaba points it out when he helps save the cub. idk if its the director or the actor but he just felt kinda flirty and vain, not (wilful) thoughtlessness if that makes sense.

my favourite parts are at the train station when glinda is (you can't see it but she totally was, ariana killed the expressions) upset that the prince is ignoring her in favour for elphaba that she announces she's changing her name to get cheers from the audience and become the centre of attention. that is such classic 'AITA when at my sister's wedding i announce that i'm getting married/having a kid' vibes. like go my evil bitch queen. and the other is at the end of the movie when elphaba rises into the sky and her long ass cloak billows out as a dark silhouette against the lightening sky like oh yeah the director knows what i want. and the opening scene. wish it was more 'first person POV' when they fly with the dragons(?) up and down in the sky and up the waterfall, but whatever.

overall, good movie! would i watch it again? no. would i watch the sequel in theatre as well? maybe.... but it really made me want to watch the musical to compare.

(and the rl scandal of the boq actor leaving his wife? to be with ariana is a really fucking funny reflection of the movie)

also i watched a few good men a while back and it was really REALLY good, favourite actor in that movie goes to jessep/jack nicholson. guy killed it as the evil EVIL man. my only complaint is that the ending was too rushed like surely they could have made the confrontation and back and forth with jessep a little bit longer so the obvious bait that jessep falls into because of his foreshadowed hubris is a bit more satisfying (like he's so cautious but only slips bc of his arrogance) but whatever. good movie. Plus it has no shoehorned romance!