#I have so many bw/red room theories

[tashaclint]

The fact that the taskmaster was only technically taught to imitate the other avengers (aka Natasha’s friends and family (the people she’d least want to hurt, the people who know intimately how she fights)) means that the red rooms main target has always been Natasha. Losing Natasha as the black widow crippled the red room so much, Natasha was the worst possible threat against them that their last defense was engineered specifically to take her down

[alloftheblackwidowfeelings]

Almost every reviewer on YouTube wasn’t satisfied with this movie IMO they said it was just Marvel combined some elements from other marvel movies so they could throw fans a BW movie so we could stfu, it didn’t do justice to the the character ,what do you think, is it really that bad.

To be honest, I've been working on this one for a while but I keep writing and deleting my response. Because all the things I want to say sound gatekeeper-y, in one of several ways.

I think you can be a Nat fan and not read the comics. I think you can be a Nat fan and never talk about her. I don't think you need to know everything about canon and be an "expert" to be a fan. I'm not interested in a locked-gate version of fandom. I don't think this movie should just be for die-hard Nat fans. And I don't think that all Nat fans will like this movie, for a variety of reasons.

Despite all of that, a lot of the comic book/movie expert reviews I've seen feel, to me, like they were evaluating a movie that isn't the one this movie was ever trying to be, and missing some of what the movie explicitly says it is because that doesn't fit what they want from it.

A bit more spoilery and a lot longer under the cut. I am so sorry I'm like this.

This movie felt tailor-made for me. Not because I loved every answer they gave, but because the questions they asked are ones I've been waiting to hear since 2012, when I first saw Avengers and then immediately went back to see the rest of phase 1. I think people disliking the answers is a legitimate opinion, and I'm looking forward to detangling that with people. What surprised me in reviews was not reviewers disliking the answers, which is legit, but not even seeming to realize the questions had been asked.

Most prominently, what felt like the huge thematic arc of the movie to me has been nonexistent in so many reviews that I've started to feel like I made it up, even though I took notes of exact quotes so I could reference them. The movie isn't a Nat origin story, and it's not about her as a cool edgy villain, so not seeing either of those didn't bother me. It's a movie about Natasha's trauma and how that manifests, and how her attempts to break free of it have harmed others in the past, and how she can move forward from that. We never get the key that unlocks the history of Natasha's past, so if you approach this as a puzzle box, it's going to fail.

THIS INDENTED PARAGRAPH IS THE CLOSEST I GET TO DIRECT PLOT POINTS, FEEL FREE TO SKIP

Specifically most of the reviews seem to view Nat's motivating guilt as over how she escaped the Red Room, particularly one casualty she deemed an acceptable sacrifice. But as I interpreted it, Nat's guilt in this movie came from a much closer place: the other Widows were all she'd had, and Nat being able to escape the Red Room made the Red Room hold on to the other Widows that much tighter. She thought she'd taken it down, but she was wrong. So her freedom, essentially, came at their expense. Natasha working to take down the Red Room this time is personal both to avenge her own trauma and to make up for her guilt in the Red Room still existing and creating more trauma for her peers. Without this context (and to be clear, I have gone back over the quotes several times to see if I'm misinterpreting and I really don't think I am), the idea that all of her guilt is over what she did to a single person makes more sense, but it also makes the movie a lot less interesting. If Natasha is justified in blaming Alexei and Melina for condemning her back to the Red Room, how could the other Widows not blame Nat? To me the entire story swings from that, and by not acknowledging Nat's (inadvertent but still very real) responsibility for continuing the cycle, the movie would feel hollow.

PLOT POINTS OVER.

Many critics they seem to feel like the potential this movie introduced was wasted because Nat's dead, so what's the point. First of all, the point is she's Nat and we care. It's not like we went in to Iron Man expecting that we'd have a decade of a franchise; we cared in the moment, and this movie is asking for the same thing. It delivers for over two hours of NOT murdering Natasha, which is more than I can say for Endgame.

To be clear, BW does set up other things for the MCU, and it's but if you're only watching it for what it's going to tell you about the future of the MCU (and I get it, because that's how I'm watching Loki, and it's a very different type of watching than I did for FATWS), this probably IS going to be a disappointment, because this isn't a big crossover event movie; I mean, none of Sam's "Big Three" show up at all. But again, that's about the movie someone wanted it to be, not the movie this was aiming to be.

Is this like a lot of other Marvel movies? Kinda. It's definitely taking a lot from Civil War for its set-up. Its arc felt like a close mirror of to Winter Soldier to me, to the extent that I'm planning to rewatch that on Thursday so I can see how much that's just me projecting my fave onto it. The third act is very Marvel-third-act-y, as adapted to Nat's character; the adapting to Nat's character are the parts I like and the rest is kind of what I consider the MCU price of admission.

I also kind of hate that it feels like the last few movies- Black Panther, Captain Marvel, now this and some rumblings about Shang-Chi- have all been kind of dismissed with "it's just the Marvel formula." It is, but that doesn't change the fact that different protagonists make it different. Dr Strange is pretty much just "Iron Man 1 with cool magic" and people didn't mind, but "how does this formula change when the protagonist is fundamentally different than the archetype to this point?" is apparently not different enough. I get Marvel fatigue, I really do, but for me it's tempered by how, in this case, Nat doesn't have the moral clarity Steve or Thor or even Tony or Scott has. No one in this movie lets her forget that she's a trained killer who little kids look up to.

Again: there are parts of this movie that don't work. I also don't ever ever EVER want to seem like I'm saying that if someone didn't like this movie they're not a real Nat fan or they're wrong. I know there are reasons to not love this movie, and I'm sure I'll figure out more the more I watch- it may not make me not love it, but it will at least complicate it for me, and i think we all know I live for that shit. Moreover, I intimately know how much it sucks when something you've been enthusiastic about and anticipating for ages doesn't pay off and everyone else seems to like it- it's isolating and upsetting and you just sit there wondering why no one else understands, and that's bullshit and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. People who don't like this movie are valid!

But if someone has a history of seeing Nat as just background, or considering her as a T&A deliver system more than as a character, or caring about hot women with guns but not care about the trauma that turned them into that, or saying they like movies about women but just not THIS woman for every comic book movie about a woman not there for them to ogle, or claiming to be experts in all things comics while doubling down on their theory that Yelena wouldn't appear because she was in Agent Carter (YES THAT HAPPENED, MORE THAN ONCE, THE NORTH. FUCKING. REMEMBERS. AND WISHES THEY KNEW WHERE THEY SAVED THOSE SCREENSHOTS), I don't need to weight their reviews heavier than the adrenaline rush I felt watching this movie.

So in answer to your question, I don't think the movie was really "that bad." I think this movie delivers in very specific ways, which definitely are not the flashy ones or the "every Marvel movie builds to the next great EVENT" ones or the male power fantasy ones, and if those ways aren't the ways you care about, it's going to be a disappointment. Even if those AREN'T the ones you care about, it could be a disappointment for any number of reasons, some of which I noticed during the movie and some of which I'm sure I'll be surprised to read about Friday morning.

But it wasn't one to me. For whatever it's worth, despite the movie's flaws, I loved it, I haven't stopped thinking about it in five days, I can't wait to see it again, and I hope that whether other people do or don't like it, they want to roll around in it as much as I do to pick out every single shred of canon worth overanalyzing.

If this is all we ever get for Natasha- and it is a CRIME if this is all we ever get for Natasha but that doesn't mean it's not so- I am grateful that this is what we got.

[redvanillabee]

MCU Phase 4: S.W.O.R.D and the Collapse of the Multiverse

I’ve been seeing a lot of theories about Phase 4 floating around, and with the finale of Agents of SHIELD, I reckon I’d collate all the theories here, as well as add in a few of my own theories, and get a feel of what Phase 4 might hold for us.

WARNING: contains slight Agents of SHIELD S7 spoilers.

1. Leaving Endgame: unresolved issues

The infinity Saga (Phases 1-3) ended with Avengers: Endgame. Regardless of how you feel about the narrative, the film wraps up the story based around Thanos’ encroachment on earth. So that should leave no loose threads, right? No world-bending problems left to resolve?

WRONG.

Avengers: Endgame actually left a lot of paradoxes and loopholes. There are objects remove and added into different points of time, characters killing their past selves, etc.

These problems with their Time Heist can’t just be left there, unattended. These paradoxes also can’t be brushed aside simply with a “new timeline” theory. As we learnt in Agents of SHIELD Seasons 5&7, while time can indeed be changed, there will still be paradoxes, which will result in anything from confusion to deaths and destruction.

Are the Marvel execs that stupid? That they would painstakingly explain the logistics of time travel to the audience in the film, then blatantly break all their own rules? Even mass-market films aren’t that stupid. Especially not ones by a studio that is known for planting Easter eggs and somehow planned a whole 10-year, 22-film franchise.

Rather, I believe this is a pantomime moment. Remember, the Thanos storyline--the Infinity Saga--may be over, but the MCU is far from it. I believe they are leaving behind these gaping holes in the spacetime continuum, luring the audience to point at the screen and shout out the inconsistencies, to name the problems themselves. So let us peel back the story, and identify those time-travel and inter-dimensional problems ourselves.

2. Far From Home is our primer for Phase 4

Here’s the funny thing: Far From Home is classified as the last film of Phase 3, with Black Widow as the first film of Phase 4. But narratively, it seems odd to class FFH as part of Phase 3, stringing it with the rest of the infinity Saga. Apart from the plot thread with Tony Stark, what does FFH have to do with the main premise of the Infinity Saga?

This awkward position of FFH might make sense if we view it not just as part of Phase 3, but as that transition instalment between Phases 3 and 4. On the one hand, FFH continues its legacy from the Infinity Saga, by physically having Peter inherit something from Stark, arguably the lead star of the Infinity Saga. At the same time, FFH melds that with a whole new element that will bring us forward: the idea of dealing with threats from not just different points in time, but different realities altogether. Even though Mysterio isn’t really from another dimension, Pandora’s Box is now open. This idea has officially been introduced into the MCU, and as we will find out later, there are heavy suggestions of the MCU going in the direction of inter-dimensional threats.

FFH also bridges the past by reintroducing to us the idea of an overarching organisation governing or monitoring the actions of the superheroes. As mentioned above, MCU superheroes have been freelance superheroes since Apr 2014, with the fall of SHIELD in Winter Soldier. However, with FFH, we see a return of... well, some kind of SHIELD, with the intervention of Fury and Hill. Granted, this is not really SHIELD. Fury and Hill, as we find out in FFH, are impersonated by Skrulls. Regardless, an authoritative organisation has been reestablished in the MCU. The return of ““SHIELD”“ also gives FFH the feel of Iron Man 2/ The Avengers (2012), harkening back to the early days of the Infinity Saga, which I would say is rather appropriate for opening a whole new arc. And, as I will explore below, we might be seeing more of SHIELD in MCU’s future.

(Incidentally, is Peter Parker supposed to know that, for what it’s worth, Nick Fury is supposed to be “dead”?)

FFH is not the first time MCU has played with alternate dimensions, of course. The Ancient One has introduced the idea of borrowing powers from alternate dimensions going as far back as Doctor Strange (2016). But during that film, they have left it at a tease. However, it seems that we might finally be meeting alternate versions of our known reality.

3. Black Widow: Taskmaster is a little too familiar

While we still haven’t seen the Black Widow standalone (damn you coronavirus),  based on what we know from trailers, BW will likely follow FFH’s angle of bridging elements of the past (e.g. a secret organisation with Fury at the helm) while introducing elements from the future (alternate dimensions), But this time, Mama Spider is going to kick it up a notch.

Firstly, it seems that BW might be introducing a nemesis to the SHIELD-equivalent in Phase 4. In the Infinity Saga, the main villain--at least when SHIELD was a thing--was HYDRA. With the fall of SHIELD, the last of the HYDRA bases are also wiped out of the MCU at the start of Age of Ultron.

(If you go with Agents of SHIELD, Thanos is very very vaguely connected to HYDRA, what with him being known to/ part of(?) the Confederacy, who are working with HYDRA).

So what will be the main villain in Phase 4? BW trailers focus very heavily on reconnecting with the past, which reminds me of how FFH calls back to Fury being in charge of the big picture. But in BW, it seems that a reconnection is also made with shady characters. There is a lot of discussion about Natasha’s Red Room past, of other Black Widow graduates. There are grey areas, and the focus on reconnecting to the Red Room reminds me of the “the other Winter Soldiers” arc from CACW, as well as the Dottie Underwood arc in Agent Carter season 1. Will the Red Room be our new HYDRA? Or... are they just a smokescreen?

Because there’s the Taskmaster, and they are very strange indeed. We know nothing about the Taskmaster--their motives, their affiliations, their goals--but they already strikes an eerie chord with the audience. They seem to be an amalgamation of so many notable heroes in the MCU. Why would a villain just... happen to be a combination of so many MCU heroes? Or could the Taskmaster be paving the way to how the Madness of Multiverse “may reportedly feature alternate-reality versions of known MCU characters”?

First Mysterio, and now the Taskmaster. The threat in Phase 4 is gaining steam, and is gearing up to be a force that can only be defeated if the superheroes are once again brought together. The Avengers was initially designed by SHIELD, but were brought together by Loki’s invasion (and Coulson’s death). But where are they now? Who will take up the mantle of the fallen? Who will be there to unite the forces needed? 

4. SHIELD, TVA, and SWORD

For those who only watch the films of the MCU (like myself until recently), SHIELD has not been a legal organisation since April 2014, and has been completely out of the picture in the MCU since April 2015. However, the organisation has actually been hard at work behind the scenes since.

The actual events in Agents of SHIELD, being so separated from the MCU, are not strictly relevant to the discussion and prediction of Phase 4. What we need to know is that: following a series of events that turned them legitimate, then illegitimate, then legitimate again, SHIELD should be a legitimate organisation again by the time of FFH.

(Side note:

There is some debate as to whether Agents of SHIELD is still taking place in the same timeline as the MCU. I personally like to think yes, AOS is still taking place in the same timeline as the MCU. Some have argued that the Snappening never happened in AOS, and when Daisy stopped Talbot from destroying Earth at the end of Season 5, that launched AOS into a branching timeline. However, I would argue that they are in the same timeline because Daisy stopped Talbot. Based on the words of the alien Confederacy, it does not seem that the Snappening and Talbot are two inter-dependent events. If Talbot had cracked the Earth in half, it wouldn’t matter what the outcome of Infinity War was, because, well, there’d be no Earth. There’d be no Endgame. So in my opinion, Agents of SHIELD, as it closes in 2020, is in the same timeline as the MCU, at which point the Avengers would have been moping about losing half of Earth’s population. As for the fact that none of the AOS team got dusted... the OG6 Avengers also didn’t get dusted, and the AOS team was small. I think we can let that slide.)

(Besides, if timelines really are going to be fucked up, as we will see below, then it really doesn’t matter if AOS and the Infinity Saga are in the same timeline. They can just cross over into each others’.)

But SHIELD’s reach, after all, is limited. Even Fury did not have a handle on Carol Danvers as she spent 23 years (1995-2018) just roaming the Universe as a space vigilante. With the jurisdiction of the MCU heroes now extending beyond time, space, and dimensions, we will need authorities in space. Maybe some kind of... ambassadors from earth.

In the Agents of SHIELD series finale, Marvel threw us a bone. As the team part ways after their final mission together, Daisy, Sousa (yes that Sousa from that Agent Carter), and Kora take to space, as some kind of SHIELD representative. The showrunners teased the audience by having Sousa describe their little unit as the “Astro Ambassadors”, but the audience immediately know what to ask for: SWORD. SWORD, according the MCU Wikia, stands for Sentient World Observation and Response Department, and is a “subdivision of SHIELD”. In fact, I believe we will be seeing more of SWORD in Phase 4. And with the release of the latest WandaVision trailer, we know that SWORD with Monica Rambeau as one of its agents is definitely going to be a thing.

Even if, EVEN IF, SHIELD and SWORD aren’t going to be a thing in Phase 4, we still have another authority that will be very interested in all these alternate dimension business going on around Earthlings. In what little we know of the Loki standalone TV show, it seems the Time Variance Authority will be part of it. Time, space, dimensions, these will all be threatened in Phase 4.

5. Steve Rogers and Corrupted Timeline Theory

By this point, if we are keeping score, we know space and time in the MCU is fucked up. Timelines are messed up, left in paradoxes, and people are just travelling everywhere and anywhere they fancy. Loki. Natasha. Astro Ambassadors.

And then there’s Steve Rogers.

Since the end of Endgame, a theory has been gaining steam that the actual Steve Rogers is stuck in the Quantum Realm, and whoever/whatever Old Steve is, it is a corrupted version of him. Please click through and take a look at the brief post about how Steve may be trapped in the time stream. It is an excellent analysis on how Steve could be a central indicator to all these time/space/dimensional tomfoolery.

6. What to expect

Here’s what I think is going to happen:

Following the primer that is Far From Home, Black Widow will continue to push the idea of interdimensional threats a notch further. Things that should be resolved, things from the past, are coming back to haunt us. Things start to get uncanny. The Taskmaster’s powers are too familiar. It’s all a little eerie.

Meanwhile in Marvel TV land, things go from “still earthly” to downright insane. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in all likelihood, will be the most earth-based of the Marvel TV shows, kind of like how the Cap trilogy is the most earth-based, with the least amount of sci-fi invention compared with the Iron Man trilogy and Thor saga. However, since Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are the two people closest to Steve, one literally inheriting his mantle, it might be in this show that we see more signs of reality being corrupted through iterations of Steve.

WandaVision is a result of both anomaly!Steve, as well as the many timeline problems left in Endgame. In WandaVision, Wanda and Vision find themselves flung through so many alternate realities. The anomalies in spacetime catches the attention of the authorities, in this case, Monica Rambeau and SWORD. We officially have our overarching authority for Phase 4.

The madness in time and space goes even further when Loki, now armed with the Space Stone and somehow looking like his Thor 1 (2011) self again, just... Loki-s it all up. Making jumps. Causing chaos through human history. General Loki shenanigans. The disturbance that this causes alerts an authority higher than SWORD: the Time Variance Authority.

This is also an excellent time to reintegrate the Marvel TV Universe back into the MCU, after having them split off from the MCU in 2013 and 2015. There is a very special cameo in Endgame, an Easter egg reserved only for those who have watched the Marvel TV spin-offs. “James D’Arcy’s cameo as Edwin Jarvis in Avengers: Endgame marks the first time a Marvel Cinematic Universe character introduced in a television production has crossed over into the films.“ Of course, there is no promise that just because they have brought Jarvis from Agent Carter over to Endgame, that they will bring others into the MCU in a similar fashion. But with Marvel Studios/Disney+ branching officially into making their own TV shows (instead of collaborating with ABC/Netflix), we can expect more crossings between the TV shows and the films. With the door now open with Edwin Jarvis, characters from AOS can rather easily be integrated into Phase 4 shows. And, if Daniel Sousa, a character that was last seen in 2016, can somehow be brought forward in a miraculous time escapade, there is no reason why other Agent Carter elements can’t be.

Time, space, dimension, reality, are now all fucked up beyond recognition. The hints of alternate reality characters? They are now coming in full-swing. There will be “alternate-reality versions of known MCU characters“. Marvel’s What If? cartoon ties into this as basically some kind of MCU fever dream: what if skinny Steve had an Iron Man suit? What if Peggy Carter was Captain America? It’s all out of the window by this point.

Captain Marvel 2, being likely set between earth and space, can easily fit into this whole development. Arguably, same for Thor: Love and Thunder. The events in space can rather easily tie into all these inter-dimensional madness. (And if Marvel Studios stop being a coward, they will let Carol Danvers date Dr. Thor).

Fun fact: SWORD was apparently mentioned as early as a deleted scene from Thor (2011).

With the world on the brink of universal collapse, we finally enter Doctor Strange: Madness of Multiverse. In the first Doctor Strange film, we’ve only seen one alternate dimension: Dark Dimension (Dormammu). In the Madness of Multiverse? Get ready for the Actinaria Dimension. The Grass Jelly Dimension. The Flowering Incense Dimension. The Mandelibus Dimension. Btw I’m not making these dimensions up. They are all introduced in the Marvel Studios Visual Dictionary.

Endgame may have ended Thanos’ arc, but it is only the beginning for a whole new chapter of the MCU. Years ago... probably around the time of CACW, I read a meta that discussed how Marvel might be taking the MCU in the direction of a “collapse of the multiverse”. That was predicted to happen in Infinity War/Endgame. While the Universe did not implode in Endgame, the world also doesn’t... necessarily settle into peace at the end of Endgame. To borrow what a friend of mine said,

Aren’t the other timelines just as doomed as the OG timeline where the Thanos snapped ... and the stones [are] gone in the end?

Like if we assume that they came up with the same idea for every other fucked timeline, then we would just end up with even more alternate timelines, and even more fucked timelines

and it becomes endless

Is this why it’s called Infinity War lmao

As we learnt in Agents of SHIELD Season 7, if a timeline is mucked up, actions must be taken to help it settle, if not restore it to its original form, otherwise there will be grim consequences. Between the milieu of timelines created by the Avengers and the Agents of SHIELD, I think Doctor Strange has his work cut out for him in Madness of Multiverse.

Madness indeed.

-----

Further Reading

‘I’m a storyteller, I know when I am in one’ — John Watson, Series Four, and Authorial Intent 

Pantomime moments of the storyteller leaving gaping holes for the audience to point out are very common. In this piece, I explore how that technique is used in BBC Sherlock’s Season Four. While it looked like the showrunners are breaking all storytelling rules, they are doing it for a very sound reason.

Don’t Mourn — Avengers: Infinity War and the Five-Act Structure

Aka that time I wrote 7k words on the narrative structure of the Infinity Saga that is somehow still gaining clicks and reads on Medium.

[ircnwrought]

Natasha headcanons → Budapest (spoilers for bw under the cut)

One of the things that struck me as a bit off to Nat’s characterization in the movie is the fact that she used Antonia as collateral damage in her Budapest assassination attempt of Dreykov. It didn’t sit well with me that she would kill (or in this case, attempt to kill) a literal child in her defection to the US.

The main reason she wanted to defect was the guilt she felt in following orders and killing so many people (“I have red in my ledger. I need to wipe it out,” “I have a very particular skill set. I didn’t care who I used it for or on,” “I never let myself be alone long enough to think about it,” “you still think you’re the only monster on the team,” etc)

Also before I move on, I want to point on that in my canon that last quote does not refer to Nat’s sterilization (damn Whedon for that because wtf), but rather her guilt for all the things she’s done.

To me, “I needed out” is not a good enough reason for Nat to bring a 5 story building down on a little girl. I get that some could see it as an added layer of complexity to her character that in order to do good, she had to do one last act of bad. I just don’t see my Nat at least attempting that in that point of her redemption arc. She’s tired, she’s got a lot of guilt for all the things she’s done, she wants to atone. She most assuredly would try to take out Dreykov, but she wouldn’t bring Antonia down with her father.

In both of my verses (616 and MCU):  I follow a 616 interpretation of the Red Room where only 28 widows were enhanced with super soldier serum, including Nat. All widows following Nat’s “graduation class” were part of the Red Academy (like Yelena) and did not receive serum enhancement, only physical training. There were attempts later with the Red Academy (physically trained assassins) and the clone program to recreate the success of the original Widow Operation, but none were as successful. Nat defected after Clint disregarded orders to kill her in Budapest. After indicating her desire to defect, SHIELD wanted her to prove her loyalty and she offered to kill the head of the Red Room. Clint and Nat did level a building, have a shootout with Hungarian security forces, and hid for ten days before fleeing the country. Nat did not use children as collateral damage.  After defecting in Budapest, Nat and the other former widows became the target of assassination attempts. Eventually, Nat discovered a conspiracy theory by the North Group on behalf of the company Gynacon, which purchased tech from the Red Room’s predecessor and wanted all previous users dead. Nat killed the Gynacon CEO Ian McMasters and Red Room’s Vassily Illyich Ulyanov to protect the other widows.

In my MCU verse: Nat’s mark in Budapest was Dreykov. While she was unsuccessful in her attempt, she did join Yelena years later to bring down the Red Room once and for all. Instead of continuing the program with chemical modifications to the widows, Dreykov merely meant to reactivate the other 27 original widows. 

In my main (616) verse:  Nat’s mark in Budapest was the Headmistress. Again, she was unsuccessful in her attempt and had to destroy the Headmistress’ “next gen” widow program, the Dark Room Academy.

TL;DR: My Nat defected in Budapest after trying to kill Dreykov (MCU) or Headmistress (616) for SHIELD (without using Antonia with Dreykov or Anya with Headmistress as collateral). Nat is one of 28 genetically enhanced widows and the program ended with her. Dreykov made Antonia the Taskmaster himself and Headmistress influenced Anya to become Recluse. Both without Nat’s intervention.

[the-worlds-tiniest-bowtie]

Brandon Coleman's Boy Witch

I had the pleasure of experiencing Brandon as Boy Witch for the first time last week and I haven't shut up about it since! I decided to make a post detailing all the things i love about him because his take on BW is so different than anyone I've seen before.

this is completely self indulgent and kind of just a diary entry/recap. i'm not posting this on my main blog on the off chance Brandon somehow finds it.

-

warning: this contains spoiler heavy material for BW's entire loop. i will be comparing the differences between Brandon and other performers (Nate, David, Austin, Jason, etc) so some of their character choices/audience interactions will be detailed here.

-

let me start by saying Brandon's Porter is my all time favorite. he played Porter in my 2nd show ever and was the first actor/character i followed for a full loop. I've had his 1:1 at least 4 times, maybe 5. the last time he picked me was one of the most special moments I have ever experienced in a show.. I don't remember who was playing Boy Witch but it was probably David or Nate because those are the only 2 i would follow from the ballroom.

after BW pushed Porter down, i had every intention of following BW. there were 3 or 4 people standing right where Porter usually picks, and i wasn't angling to get the 1:1 at all. when BW left, i followed him for about 5 steps and then turned around to watch Porter pick his 1:1. when i looked down at Brandon, he was already staring at me. I've never seen Porter pick someone BEHIND him for a 1:1, and i don't know if Brandon recognized me, but i gave it a second to see if he would realize it was me and choose someone else instead. Nope. i didn't move until he slowly reached his hand out and that's when i turned around and walked back to him. i may never know what possessed him to pick in such an unusual way and it still makes my heart skip a beat when i think about that moment.

something i really enjoyed about Brandon's BW is that many of the character traits he exhibits are clearly inspired by Porter. on the other hand, some aspects of his character are the opposite of how he plays Porter. Boy Witch is flirty, saucy, minx-y, and while Brandon is all of those things, he's missing one thing the other boys have: he's not mean. he's the first boy witch I've seen that doesn't give off a "i'm leading you on but i really don't give a shit about you" vibe. where most boys are sinister, Brandon is fun. i have never seen a BW smile so much - and not the usual knowing smirk, like, he was BEAMING. youthful, carefree, excited!

I first saw Brandon in the ballroom, dancing with Malcolm. it took a few minutes for him to look at me (was i desperately trying to make eye contact because we talked at the halloween party and i was super pumped about FINALLY seeing his Boy Witch? maybe.) and when he did, he went from being stoic and serious to getting visibly excited and grinning SO BIG i almost died. (Brandon, if you're reading this, let's be friends seriously how are we not friends already?) little did i know, this was going to be dark foreshadowing for the rest of the night.

like i said, he was having the time of his life.. until he wasn't. my second sign that Brandon's BW was going to be unlike any other was during the luggage dance. I've been pushed up against the wall by Boy Witch more times than i can count. I think Nate holds the record. but this is the first time BW has walked towards me, made me step back almost against the wall, then suddenly twirled around me and put his own back against the wall. IM SORRY WHAT? it took a second for my brain to catch up and realize he was inviting me to participate in role reversal. I can and will play Boy Witch at any given moment, so i took another step and pinned him against the wall for a split second. we made eye contact and it threw me off to see Brandon being sultry instead of the scared Porter expression I'm used to seeing. LITTLE DID I KNOW.

the phone booth dance was another confusing emotional rollercoaster- that was the first time I've seen an actor I associate with Porter playing Boy Witch and i was suddenly brought back to my first time watching that dance; not knowing whose side to be on. i betrayed Porter and followed BW to High Street, where he actually spat into his hand, which is somehow not the grossest thing I've seen BW do. (re: David making himself throw up in the shower takes the cake) BW led me to the Speakeasy where i found NATE AS SPEAKS and i swear i nearly fainted. Brandon tried to attack me, of course, Nate stopped him and i had yet another trippy moment of watching my favorite Boy Witch actor shove my favorite Porter actor into a box.

nothing too exciting happened between then and the rave. Brandon kept looking at me while wearing the ram head and thanks for the attention Brandon but i HATED IT. i hate that stupid head. i followed BW to the shower where he broke my heart for the first time that evening. i love to see what different actors do in the shower. it's such a simple scene in theory but such an opportunity for each actor to make it their own. i watched David gag himself until he threw up, then scrub his face and body for a solid 2 minutes, I've seen Nate spit out an entire mouthful of blood, etc etc. Brandon did possibly the most heartwrenching of them all, which was curl up against the wall and hide his face in his arms. he didn't move for a long time, and when he did, he started gently shaking and sniffling. crying. this lasted for another minute before he looked up and surveyed the room.

i was purposefully not standing directly in front of the crowd; i was right next to the sink but there was another person slightly in front of me. i know Brandon's history of picking me when I'm trying NOT to be picked. i saw him look at me but i wasn't going to be a pushy audience member, so i held still while the person in front of me grabbed the towel. (if you're reading this, you already know how it ends and I'm sorry!) he dried off and looked at them, then motioned for his shirt. he got the box out, dug around, pulled his pants out, and handed them to.. me. i knew it was coming but it still made me so happy i almost cried. not to flex but I'm an expert at unraveling BW's suspenders so i untangled them in mere seconds. i stepped back after that, fully intending to give that person their shot, but i knew all along he was going to walk out with me. sure enough, he stood up, didn't look at anyone, and slipped his hand in mine as he walked out the door. side note: Brandon, if you're reading this, i love that you squeeze my hand like 3 times when you pick me for things. thank you.

we made it to the 1st floor where he scared the shit out of me when i got to the bottom of the stairs, then gave me a very sensual kiss on the cheek and ran off to the banquet. at this point, i left him to follow Speakeasy and didn't catch back up until the end of the witches' lobby dance with Macbeth. he picked someone else to sing to and this time, i did position myself conveniently to get chosen for the phone booth 1:1. sorry, fellow audience members. you gotta learn when to hold'em and when to fold'em! the phone booth is one i rarely get, so i felt justified. I glared at BW and tried to look apologetic at Porter- who walked away while BW was still using my finger to wipe his face. POWER MOVE. I SEE YOU JOHN WILLIAM WATKINS.

Boy Witch bewitched me with his eyes and then shrouded us in the darkness of the curtain. when we were safely hidden away from the world- holy shit, you guys. his face changed. suddenly, i was looking at Porter. the first time i saw him as Porter, i described Brandon as an older, more masculine version of Credence from Fantastic Beasts. i texted a friend that he had the energy of someone nervous and abused, and that same fearful energy came through in those moments in the phone booth. depending on how you interpret the story, BW is a scared and abused boy. he looked at me with those sad Porter eyes and i was filled with the strangest deja vu as he took off my mask. he whispered a secret in my ear and we had a fun out of character moment where Brandon tried to put my mask on and the curtain started to fall, so he panicked and tried to hand my mask to me, but i didnt notice in time, so he had to try and put my mask on again but we were running out of time because the curtain was still falling and he SOMEHOW got it on but omg it was stressful. Brandon, if you're still reading, that was adorable and I'm glad i got to share that moment of panic with you. also i love you.

i left BW soon after that but caught back up with him at the end of the show, where Brandon graciously walked me out. y'all, if you're lucky enough to get a walkout, the best part of the entire show might just be the moment you and the actor smile knowingly at each other before breaking into a run, down the lobby hallway and through the red curtains.

Brandon's charm doesn't stop when the show ends, though. i sent him a kiss emoji (or 12) as soon as i left the building and he immediately sent back a message where he APOLOGIZED FOR SOME TINY MISTAKE I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER. Brandon, i hope you read this so you know how FURIOUS i am that you would ever apologize for the performance you put on. don't you DARE say sorry for being a completely new and different version of my favorite character. you're my #1 Porter and now my #2 Boy Witch. (sorry, Nate Carter owns this ass.) also, you're just the most lovable person. we have so much in common that it's actually a crime you have yet to follow me back on instagram. also, happy late birthday, this is your present from me.

IN CONCLUSION: if you haven't been to a Sunday early show in the past 5 weeks, it's time for you to buy your ticket. go see that boy in action.

fin.

[medea10]

My Review of Zombieland Saga

[indigobxbe]

Answer me all 200 of those asks me boi

200: My crush’s name is: jake :)199: I was born in: michigan198: I am really: dumb197: My cellphone company is: virgin mobile196: My eye color is: poo brown195: My shoe size is: 7.5194: My ring size is: no ideA193: My height is: 5'5 now192: I am allergic to: gay shit191: My 1st car was: lol190: My 1st job was: i was like a busboy but girl then i was a hostess lmao yikes189: Last book you read: tkam188: My bed is: full of trash187: My pet: is a dog186: My best friend: doesnt know it185: My favorite shampoo is: really good184: Xbox or ps3: xbox?183: Piggy banks are: cute182: In my pockets: i have no pockets181: On my calendar: this month on the eight i have a thing says when my last nail broke :"(( i am thAt hoe(tm)180: Marriage is: gay179: Spongebob can: stop with the memes178: My mom: is short177: The last three songs I bought were? LOL176: Last YouTube video watched: moana film theory thing175: How many cousins do you have? like 7?? i dont know all of the ones in mexico so its probably more174: Do you have any siblings? 6173: Are your parents divorced? yea lol172: Are you taller than your mom? yES171: Do you play an instrument? clarinetty170: What did you do yesterday? went to the park &dyed eggs[ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: not really lol168: Luck: no167: Fate: hhhhhyeah??166: Yourself:n o165: Aliens: yes164: Heaven: no163: Hell: nno162: God: no161: Horoscopes: no but i still read mine160: Soul mates: hhhhlogically no159: Ghosts: unsure158: Gay Marriage: oh not at all 157: War: idkdude156: Orbs: whathefuckisanorb155: Magic: not really[ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs153: Drunk or High: drunk152: Phone or Online: phone lol151: Red heads or Black haired: black150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes149: Hot or cold: hot148: Summer or winter: summer147: Autumn or Spring: spring146: Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla145: Night or Day: night144: Oranges or Apples: apples143: Curly or Straight hair: i think curly hair is so prettydsklnffn142: McDonalds or Burger King: bk141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: milk chocolate140: Mac or PC: no preference139: Flip flops or high heals: neither?138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: fuckidk137: Coke or Pepsi: pepsi136: Hillary or Obama: obama135: Burried or cremated: cremated and then buried :)134: Singing or Dancing: both?why not133: Coach or Chanel: i d ont really care132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who131: Small town or Big city: big city pls130: Wal-Mart or Target: target129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: idk who the first is but i hate adam sandler128: Manicure or Pedicure: manicure, ,feet r gross127: East Coast or West Coast: east126: Your Birthday or Christmas: christmas125: Chocolate or Flowers: flowers124: Disney or Six Flags: disney123: Yankees or Red Sox: ewsports[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: its unnecessary most of the time lol121: George Bush: who120: Gay Marriage: hehgay119: The presidential election: heck trump my dude118: Abortion: sometimes u need that ykno117: MySpace: yeet116: Reality TV: guilty pleasure115: Parents: they try? questionably?114: Back stabbers:can heck off113: Ebay: useful112: Facebook: i h a te it111: Work:i want a job :(110: My Neighbors: white trash109: Gas Prices: idkdude108: Designer Clothes: why spend $300 when u can spend $20107: College: i want to go 106: Sports: succ105: My family:succs104: The future: scary[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: i think last night102: Last time you ate: few hours ago101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: today100: Cried in front of someone: tuesday lmao sry mrs jarrad99: Went to a movie theater: like a monht ago98: Took a vacation: like four years ago97: Swam in a pool: last year96: Changed a diaper: two(??) years ago95: Got my nails done: few months ago94: Went to a wedding: like a year ago93: Broke a bone: never have92: Got a peircing: last april91: Broke the law: thursday90: Texted: currently[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: myself dfkkjdn88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my sister87: The last movie I saw: doctor strange86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: 4/2085: The thing im not looking forward to: facing consequences 84: People call me: bel , bella , belly , isabel ew83: The most difficult thing to do is:wake up every morning 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: false81: My zodiac sign is: capricorn80: The first person i talked to today was: my mom79: First time you had a crush: like third grade shdifjno78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: no one?77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: no idea 76: Right now I am talking to: friends75: What are you going to do when you grow up: suffer74: I have/will get a job: eventually 73: Tomorrow: i go to school72: Today: i suffer 71: Next Summer: hopefully wont be horrible70: Next Weekend: get to hang out w chill brother?69: I have these pets: 3 dog68: The worst sound in the world: me talking67: The person that makes me cry the most is: myself kwjqd66: People that make you happy: anyone that pays attention to me ojpwefo65: Last time I cried: tuesday64: My friends are: gay63: My computer is: suffering62: My School: is fucking gross61: My Car: doesnt exist60: I lose all respect for people who: are condescending 59: The movie I cried at was: perksofbeingawallflower lol58: Your hair color is: brown57: TV shows you watch: the office , voltron , stranger things , bobs burgers 56: Favorite web site: tumbler (dot)com55: Your dream vacation:farfar away54: The worst pain I was ever in was: in my head lol53: How do you like your steak cooked:i cant eat it lol52: My room is: dirty51: My favorite celebrity is: brian sella counts?50: Where would you like to be: a better place49: Do you want children: meh not really?48: Ever been in love: ye 47: Who’s your best friend: probably teara lol46: More guy friends or girl friends: girl45: One thing that makes you feel great is: personal lol44: One person that you wish you could see right now: hotass43: Do you have a 5 year plan: i dont even have a plan 4 tomorrow42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no41: Have you pre-named your children: 40: Last person I got mad at: my brother39: I would like to move to: penn?38: I wish I was a professional: anything tbh[ My Favorites ]37: Candy: starbursts36: Vehicle: idkdude35: President: obama34: State visited: prbly texas bc we went thru it to mexico & we saw a big ol light up ferris wheel33: Cellphone provider: i dont know dude 32: Athlete: lol31: Actor: dwaynetherockjohnson30: Actress: ?whoknows29: Singer: does joji count?28: Band: car seat headrest atm27: Clothing store: heck if i knew 26: Grocery store: ?25: TV show: the office24: Movie: moana23: Website: already answered this?22: Animal: me21: Theme park: C E Dar point20: Holiday: halloween19: Sport to watch: soccer actually18: Sport to play: none lol17: Magazine: no16: Book: no15: Day of the week: saturdays14: Beach: idk dude any on lake michigan is lit13: Concert attended: havent been to any :"(12: Thing to cook: idk dude11: Food: french Fry10: Restaurant: whoknnows9: Radio station: i dont /really/ like any ive heard8: Yankee candle scent: idkdude7: Perfume: b&bw tahitian island dream? smthn like that 6: Flower: i actually like regular red roses tbh5: Color: purple4: Talk show host: hhidk 3: Comedian: me2: Dog breed: call me a weaboo but i love the shibe1: Did you answer all these truthfully? no loli am so sorry to anyone who has this on their dash omgty for the ask mommy :)