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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years ago

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IOTA Reviews: Rocketear

The Rocketeer is a 1991 Disney movie set in 1930's America where a test pilot gets a jetpack and uses it to fight Nazis and— Wait, what? “Rocketear”? Oh, damn it!

Let's get into the eleventh (chronologically the seventeenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Rocketear.

We start off with Carapace and Cat Noir struggling to hold back some T-Rexes brought back to life by a scientist Jurassic Park style. Seriously, they reference the movie in the same scene.

Why wasn't this the plot of the episode again?

After managing to tame the dinosaurs with a whistle of all things, Ladybug notices something's wrong with Nino after he gives the Turtle Miraculous back to her. Apparently, he's wondering why Rena Rouge (who he knows is Alya) wasn't recruited with him today. Ladybug tells him that he was the only help she needed today. In reality, it's because Alya has adjusted to her new role of supporting Ladybug behind the scenes in her new form, Rena Furtive.

And I'm not a fan of the new form. I get the camo, but it doesn't really help her blend in when her suit is bright blue. I think it's based off the arctic fox, but that animal is able to camouflage itself because it's fur matches the snowy environment. I'm sure a bright blue jumpsuit won't stand out when she tries to blend in at all. Also, the fact that Alya can just change her hero form gives even less excuses as to why Ladybug's new form is only when she uses her Lucky Charm.

Alya is struggling to keep this a secret from Nino because they don't have a lot of secrets in their relationship. Marinette says she can kind of get it because she had to keep her identity a secret from her friend and has to keep keeping her identity a secret from everyone else. Basically, she's telling Alya to suck it up because this is what being a superhero is.

So the next time she sees Nino, Alya tells him she's no longer Rena Rouge, but not about Rena Furtive, which troubles her. The very next scene shows Alya showing Marinette pictures she took of her new costume and asking her which version looks better.

You could always try reviewing Akuma fights. I heard there's one blog that does it when they're not criticizing the famous director Thomas Astruc on social media.

Yeah, in case you can't tell, Alya was only able to rent her brain for a few episodes because she really doesn't seem as understanding about being a superhero as she was in earlier episodes. In episodes like “Optigami” and “Sentibubbler”, we saw Alya use more strategy and show discretion as Rena Rouge, seemingly taking her job more seriously, but then this episode just had to go and piss it all away. I also love how the first time the animators made Alya's skin the same when she's transformed is in a single frame for a joke.

Alya thankfully deletes the picture, but Nino overhears her talking about struggling to find more content for the Ladyblog, and decides to go to the movies with her to help take her mind off things. Nino, in turn, proceeds to give the same reaction to the in-universe Ladybug movie that Astruc gives to the PV.

Apparently, that movie's already getting a sequel and it has a teaser. So was the sequel animated at the same time as the original like Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III?

Nino gets pissed the next movie in the Ladybug Cinematic Universe will feature Rena Rouge and not Carapace... even though Rena Rouge debuted first. The teaser then shows Rena Rouge falling for Cat Noir (yet another creative liberty taken by the writers or something Astruc's self-insert threw in himself), and takes it like it's the real thing. Dude, the first movie said Ladybug was afraid of cats, and the director yelled at the person it was based on for judging it. He clearly has a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality.

Alya leaves Nino early so she can go on patrol, but Nino sees Cat Noir heading out as well. He then watches a video on the Ladyblog where Alya praises Cat Noir which is totally not Astruc projecting or anything.

I don't know what your definition of a prince is, Alya, and I honestly don't want to know.

So Nino takes this as evidence that Alya is in love with Cat Noir and decides to tell Adrien, who naturally laughs him off. And just before you think we have an episode where Adrien plays the straight man, Adrien decides to visit Alya because he's afraid he accidentally charmed Alya.

Yes, because Cat Noir is so charming, girls are just fighting over him, aren't they?

We then cut to a black and white film noir monologue by Nino (dressed like a detective with a fake mustache), who decides to spy on Alya. When Cat Noir asks Alya if she is attracted to him, she naturally laughs him off, though Cat Noir is thankfully a good sport about it, even giving her a hug to apologize. Unfortunately, Nino took this the wrong way.

The next day at school, Nino takes Adrien into his “office” (it's really an excuse to reuse the boiler room setpiece), and shows him the picture of the hug. Adrien says that Alya would never fall for Cat Noir because she's always dedicated to finding out the truth and telling her boyfriend everything. What's Nino's retort?

Okay, several problems with this bit. First of all, why would Nino even tell Adrien any of this? What would it accomplish? Why not say all this to Alya while confronting her about her alleged unfaithfulness? Second, Ladybug didn't give Nino and Alya their Miraculous at the same time until it was an absolute emergency. She outright said in “Hero's Day” that she didn't have time to recruit Nino and Alya separately.

Ladybug: I'm sorry for what I'm about to do. I know I'm revealing your secret identities but I don't have time to find a good excuse to give them to you separately. Rena Rouge and Carapace, I need you both!

Nino and Alya kept their identities secret from each other until then, with Alya even keeping the fact she knew who Carapace was a secret as well. Nino didn't find out because “they don't hide anything from each other” (which I plan to talk about later).

Other than that, I actually liked Adrien in this scene. It was really investing to see him try to justify the whole secret identities rule while Nino blatantly said there was an exception. This is the kind of stuff I wanted to see when it came to Adrien doubting Ladybug, not him destroying things in his anger.

While Nino rants about how Cat Noir “stole” Alya from him, Shadowmoth sends an Akuma his way, turning him into Rocketear.

And the design he has is just boring. It's just a blue jumpsuit with some black spots that look like teardrops, a teardrop-shaped head and a visor. I think the reason this season's been relying more on past Akumas and using more Sentimonsters is because DQ is terrible at character designs. I mean, compare this suit with Aigraon from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (his Power Rangers counterpart is Wrench from Dino Charge).

The design does so much more with the teardrop motif, giving him a perpetually miserable face with tear lines going all over his body. Add that to a more diverse color scheme, and you have a much more visually stunning design. And this was created in real life, not rendered on a computer. I'm not sure if this is a budget thing or a laziness thing, but if it's the former, you really need to do better, animators.

The powers are meh, giving Nino the ability to fling explosive tears at enemies. It's a clever idea, and it makes sense he gets a power that parallels Cat Noir's, but I think maybe it would have been more interesting if he couldn't control the tears at all. Like, imagine if he was constantly crying like Blue Diamond, and with every tear he shed, Rocketeer could send it at whoever he felt was causing him misery, mainly Cat Noir, all while serving as a metaphor for people who blame others for their own personal issues. Better yet, make him look like the detective outfit Nino wore for the second act. It would have made him more unpredictable instead of making his tears generic projectile weapons.

Marinette and Alya see the fight and transform into Ladybug and Rena Furtive respectively, the former summoning her Lucky Charm, a projector. Is it just me, or has this been happening with Ladybug a lot recently?

Back to Rocketear, we get a good moment where Cat Noir intentionally lets the Akuma hit him so he can get a chance to resolve things diplomatically. See, this is a moment where Cat Noir's self-sacrificing nature feels heroic and not selfish like when he does it without Ladybug's permission to spite her. Unfortunately, it doesn't really go anywhere as Ladybug shows up and plays the recording Nino took (Alya found his phone earlier), while Rena Furtive uses her Mirage to give the audio to what actually happened that night.

Rena transforms back into Alya and embraces Rocketear, who apologizes to her for his behavior. And then he just... rejects Shadowmoth's power while looking like it wasn't that much effort.

At least when Chloe and Alya did it, we saw them struggling for a little longer. I guess maybe it's because Nino is motivated by his love for Alya, but I think it should have been fleshed out more. So Ladybug purifies the Akuma, gives Nino a Magical Charm, and Cat Noir is still unsure about his feelings for Ladybug at the moment, though they still pound it.

Back in his room, Adrien ponders why Alya and Nino get to know their identities while he and Ladybug can't, but Plagg points out it's because she's the Guardian. It's brief, but I do like seeing Adrien start to doubt Ladybug's judgment, and it looks like it'll foreshadow future episodes. This is a problem I've had since “Hero's Day”, and I'm glad the writers are finally acknowledging this double standard. I just hope they don't end up blaming Marinette for whatever happens later on.

Marinette, of course, apologizes for what happened between Alya and Nino, and I have to say... yeah, no. It's obviously Nino's fault here.

Nino really pushed personal boundaries in this episode, much like Marinette's friends in “Gang of Secrets”. Yes, honesty is a valuable trait, but sometimes, people have secrets they want to keep to themselves. Nino's idea of “not hiding anything from each other” is somewhat controlling, like he's demanding Alya tell him everything whether she wants to or not. The fact that he immediately assumed Alya was cheating on him without giving her freedom to make her own choices doesn't make him look good. Let's be honest, a more realistic outcome would be Alya choosing to break things off with Nino or at least lecture him about how she can do what she wants and keep the secrets she wants. But instead...

And that's how the episode ends.

Okay, Marinette just said she trusted Alya to make the right decision, but I highly doubt she meant this. Marinette strictly said Alya had to keep Rena Furtive a secret, and now she's telling Nino this despite the risk? The whole reason Marinette and Luka broke up was because Marinette had to keep her secrets from Luka, but now it's okay for Alya to be completely honest? How is this not a double standard?

This episode was just dull, and there’s not even much I can really say about it.. There were a handful of standout moments, and the stuff with Adrien was somewhat compelling, but Nino's behavior was just insufferable and dragged the episode down. The Akuma fight was weak, only lasting about four minutes at most, and while the Lucky Charm was more creative this time, the plot was just frustrating. It's really one of the weaker episodes this season.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the better Rocketeer.

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thegoodomensdumpster · 5 years ago

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I WATCHED GOOD OMENS IN FRENCH SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

and it wasn’t that bad. Here are my thoughts, barely edited as I wrote most of them while watching the show.

EP 1

OK i like god’s voice so far

possibilité d’embarras gastrique is a good formulation, I wonder if it’s the same in the book ( I think I kinda need to read it in french now...)

aghghdhgs « primo-délinquants »

of course subtitles don’t match the audio for a variety of technical reasons but when you get things that have very different underlying meanings i find it… not good This one about Crowley being evil / a demon : subtitles : « c’est ton travail » - « it’s your job » audio : « c’est dans ta nature » - « it’s in your nature » i mean dang

crowley sounds like a little shit asking az about his sword

« T’AS FAIT QUOUA » - he just loses his shit (kinda giving me some le coeur a ses raisons vibe)

ok crowley sounds very nerdy when he tries to explain that he took down the phone network, i think i actually like this voice acting

ligur sounds… very suave (im a little ill at ease)

crowley getting called mon chou by satan freddie mercury is a thumb up from me

i see the part where aziraphale speaks japanese wasn’t dubbed over and we can still hear michael sheen. it’s a bit disturbing considering french aziraphale has a higher pitched voice (and he sounds soooo much more anxious than sheen, give this angel a xanax )

“sandwich bœuf cresson” ( beef and cress sandwich ) deirdre really who makes this kind of sandwiches

im being reminded that the chattering nuns prepared little cut outs for their explanation about the antichrist switch… such dedication to useless crafts (it made me laugh on my first viewing and it’s still funny to imagine that some of them either ordered or built these things themselves just so they could make this two minutes long presentation for the most important act of their satanic nun careers)

retire-toi vil démon infernal, créature des abysses XD i swear az doesn’t sound even remotely convinced when he is saying the « get thee behind me foul fiend » line in french, it’s just too over the top for credibility, it sounds like it’s straight out of some super intense dnd session

they still can’t say bouillabaisse (which, like, weird because french, but still valid). nice touch is crowley couldn’t say soupe de poisson (fish stew) either and said poupe de soisson (sish ftew)

warlock mah boy how can you be a teenager and not like dinosaurs

c’est un dinosaure un nullosaure plutôt - apply burn heal

La façon dont warlock s’est exclamé « C’EST NUL » m’a fait penser au nain de naheulbeuk

the english version has nothing on french speaking aziraphale for the second hand embarrassement during the magic tour. it’s over 9000 i literally hid my head in my jumper when he was presenting harry the bunny. Horrible experience, 0/20, would not recommend

EP 2

oooh agnes has a lovely voice !

why is young newton having such a quality dub for the three sentences he has to say

dick turpin’s name is jesse james (tbf dick turpin is not known AT ALL in france, i discovered him reading good omens)

shadwell is pure chaos (as expected). No particular accent for him though, the chaotic energy was probably enough. Would have made me laugh if he had like, a chti or a marseilles accent.

aziraphale is so fucking stressed out by crowley’s driving i thought he was gonna explode

« tu es un gentil garçon » => « you’re a nice boy » said az to crowley DANG THAT’S SO INFANTILIZING AZIRAPHALE YOU’RE TALKING TO A DEMON FROM HELL NOT TO PINOCCHIO

ARGH FIRST MON ANGE OF THE SERIES i’m hit straight in the heart

anathema’s mom doesn’t have a spanish / latino accent at all when talking in spanish…. why...

dog being called toutou is definitely adorable (it’s basically « doggy » but way cuter imo)

tickety-boo has become ça gaze. that’s valid. it’s corny but i still use it unironically from time to time so ... i stan

EP 3

« je répands la fomentation » « i’m here spreading foment » « quoi tu fais des crêpes au froment ?????? » « what you’re making crêpes with wheat ??? » love the fact that we shoehorned in one more ref to crêpes

az called crowley mon cher camarade, unintentionnal communist propaganda ftw

« pas de repos pour les… bah, pour les bons » « no rest for the… good » – az was so deflated about the ineptitude he realized he was saying, he felt zero percent commited to his sentence

i was wondering how they would play aziraphale not being able to speak french in the bastille and they opted to have him stutter a bit and say to his executionner « excuse me i’m anxious » XD

« vous êtes le 999e aristo à mourir par mes soins. Mais vous êtes le premier en costume beige » « you’re the 999th aristocrat I’m going to kill, but the first one in beige attire » yeah i guess now that az isn’t english anymore his most noticeable feature is his cream aesthetic

« c’est au cas où ça tournerait en eau de boudin » « j’ADORE le boudin » => « in case it all goes pear shape » - the literal translation featuring food in french is « turning into black sausage water ». I don’t know what pear shaped inspires to english native speakers but the mere mention of boudin always make me giggle, it’s such a funny word and such a funny food

OH !!! no terrence rampa for the tv series, we’ve got anthony J. rampa. Rip terrence petit démon parti trop tôt :’(

« tu roules trop vite pour moi rampa » SERIOUSLY i know we can still infer « rouler » (here as in driving, but literally rolling) as a metaphor for their relationship but you could have said TU VAS TROP VITE that would have been so much better argh

has anathema got an emergency stock of potteries to break in case of emotionnal crisis ?

« Rampa, un démon très futé, il m’oblige à redoubler d’effort » « crowley, a very clever demon, he forces me to make double the amount of effort » oh so admitting you’re making an effort there aziraphale ? :))))))

dang i really want to know how shadwell said that major milk bottle died because not only did he die in combat but aziraphale’s reaction is a bit intense, it must have been quite a tale (this could be a crack fic prompt : «The Epic Tale of the Death Of Major Witchfinder Milk Bottle, by Sargent Witchfinder Shadwell» )

des sorcières et des phénomènes sorciéreux x)

CROWLEY CALLED AZIRAPHALE DUCON ?????? EXCUSE ME ????? #NotMyCrowley #CrowleyWouldNeverDoThat #CancelAnthonyJRampa2K20 => ducon would be an insult, the gathering of du and con, con being a very nasty but common swear word, and associating it with du- makes it extremely patronizing. it’s like « absolute pathetic digraceful moron +++ ». thanks i hate it *frowny face *

EP 4

l’apocalypse c’est pour aujourd’hui juste après le goûter : it could be translated as « apocalypse is scheduled for today right after tea time » except that « goûter » is not quite tea time but rather the little sugary snack kids take when they come back from school and that most adults drop out of (i haven’t and i’m sure az hasn’t either). thanks aziraphale for having exclusively food related notion of the time because tbh same

ligur has no right to be this sexy between ariyon bakare and his french voice actor that’s just not allowed

radio crowley’s voice vs french ligur’s voice, who has the sexiest voice : FIGHT

(jk french agnes nutter’s voice is by far the sexiest)

gender neutral doesn’t ‘quite’ exist in french but pollution has been assigned a female voice actress and masculine pronouns (i’m saying it doesn’t quite exist because officially we have no gender neutral, but it’s a serious wip among lgbt+ circles to the point where it’s started being used in a few medias)

hastur « en attendant qu’un plombier vienne » / « while waiting for a plumber to come » does hell have a special plumber unit or do demons have to call on human plumbers for their pipes damages ? Dang hastur having to call a human plumber for hell’s plumbery is another damn good writing prompt for a crack fic

Michael is called Michel in the subtitles but Michael in the audio *shrug emoji*

EP 5

to get a wiggle on has become « il faut qu’on se remue les fesses », literally « we need to shake our butts » like, yes, se remuer les fesses is a common expression to say « we need to act in order to get things done » but it really casts the image of people shaking their booty to some music and obviously crowley thinks the same Weirdly enough I have almost nothing to say for that episode. Sorry. But we’ve discovered most voice actors and actresses so far and no bit of dialogue really struck me as worth discussing or pointing fingers to mock it.

EP 6

« on va BROUTER quelques derrières » - « we’re gonna lick some butts » OK THIS IS UNQUESTIONNABLY FAR SUPERIOR IN FRENCH THAN IN ENGLISH you thought LICKING butts was good ??? you really thought that ???? AZIRAPHALE HERE SUGGESTS TO GRAZE BUTTS. TO NIBBLE THEM. TO EAT THEM. TO. MUNCH. ON. THOSE. BUTTS!!!! not just licking, guys. This is as serious step beyond licking. (oh yeah he should have said « botter » instead of brouter btw, which is really just kicking, fyi)

« moi je crois en la paix, pétasse ! » wow, language, pepper (fyi i think « pétasse » is far far worse than « bitch » even if it means roughly the same, pétasse is almost never used while bitch is rather common, so it’s a swear word +++)

Dagon sounds like she’s got a nasty cold. #GetDagonIbuprofen2K20

I can confirm that Crowley offers Aziraphale to not just stay at his place, but to move in with him. « tu peux t’installer chez moi si tu veux ». omg they were roommates.

Bad translation strikes again : i don’t know why, but the french dub doesn’t have the « tickety-boo » / « ça gaze » being referenced as Rampa / Aziraphale is being knocked down, which is… a real mistep. It was narratively significant and I’m quite mad the translators missed it.

The Jesse James explanation from Newt has become very nonsensical, instead of the neat and to the point pun « wherever I go I hold up trafic » we’re getting a circonvoluted « because it’s a crime to mechanic’s diligence ». I’m not judging that one too hard, I have no idea how to make it better, and that’s probably how it was translated in the book as well thirty years ago, but it definitely doesn’t have the same impact. On the other hand, it definitely IS a very bad joke that doesn’t even deserve a chuckle, so Anathema’s embarassement really matches the audience’s (aka mine).

OVERALL :

I wasn’t convinced by Crowley… I mean, Rampa’s voice at first, but as the nerdiness showed up it really grew on me. I still think that french dubs have often problems with some voice inflexions every here and there, and for instance in Rampa’s case it was when he was annoyed or frustrated ( at the Globe when complaining about horses and Shakespeare’s plays that aren’t comedies, and also when discussing Azirphale’s magic tricks, it’s like… there is a step between having the right amount of grumpy complaining and overdoing it that is overlooked. It’s overacted, it should have been a bit quieter imo. I don’t mean to criticize voice actors too hard either but as an audience watching french dubs this is a very recurring problem and it always feels off to me. It’s actually one of the main reasons I avoid french dubs whenever possible.)

I have a hard time judging Aziraphale’s voice dub because it clashes so much with both the idea I had formed with it when I read the book and Sheen’s delivery that I just… kinda filtered it. It was too high pitched for me, and too anxious (though for this last point I must admit it could be funny at times, but I’m not fond of this character portrayal). The rest of the cast was rather good, nothing to complain about. There wasn’t anything stellar either, but everything that needed to be conveyed was and it was professionnal. It was also very homogeneous, no voice really struck me as being way too bad or way too good compared to the others, so it was really consistant.

So I don’t have much to complain about overall despite a few wonky translations here and there, BUT there is one thing I felt very robbed of : Crowley calling Aziraphale « mon ange » happens only once, when giving a lift to Anathema, and I’m almost certain they translated it that way because otherwise the joke about Anathama mistaking them for a couple wouldn’t work. So, they were forced to make it that way. The rest of the time Crowley calls Aziraphale « l’angelot », and despite being literally translated by « little angel », it feels sarcastic more than anything else ( the « L’ » in front of « angelot » is part of the reason why, it creates some distance, the other reason being that this word in itself has a very corny vibe and people being affectionnate to each other wouldn’t use it as a term of endearment). So, that’s a shame.

I like the English dub much much MUCH better than the French, but the french wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. The voice actors and actresses were quite good, the dialogues mostly faithful and endearing despite a few really missed steps. It really had its moments. Props to brouter des derrières, that one was fantastic.

#good omens #french #french omens #tv omens #my stuff #meta #review #long post #text post #i hope you found this entertaining :)

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chaoticriderlessb · 4 years ago

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Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

Review time! I actually meant to write this up, yesterday...but then, I forgot, and by the time I remembered, again, I had already closed down the laptop for the night ^^;. So now, here I am xD.

Anyway, so yesterday, I finally sat down and watched “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous”, for the first time. I never bothered to watch it, before, because it just looked so incredibly cheesy, kiddie, and cringey (honestly, I think a lot of people thought this, at first). But, after the pilot episode, I was surprised at how good it was! In my opinion, it was well-written, the voice-acting was really good (then again, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t recall disliking any voice-acting in all my years of watching anime and cartoons and playing video-games), and I even liked the animation. The animation for the dinosaurs looked really well done! I loved that Steven Spielburg is involved as one of the producers, and that the same sound fx’s for the dinosaurs in the movies was also used in this show!

Yeah, I had very low expectations with this show before actually sitting down and watching it ^^;.

As I watched more of the season, I found myself getting totally hooked! The suspense was real, and I liked that the show went into a more realistic route like the movies did. I mean, it’s “Jurassic Park/World”, what do you expect xD? I read, somewhere, that I guess Steven Spielburg was trying to persuade the creators to go down the intense and horror road with this show. I think it kinda worked! I mean, I grew up with the “Jurassic Park” movies, and enjoyed the “Jurassic World” movies, so some things were a little predictable to me (there are just some rules you gotta follow when it comes to dinosaurs, ok? xD). But even with these little predictions, the show always managed to catch me by surprise.

SPOILER ALERT!!! I really loved that the show took place during the first Jurassic World movie. It was funny because when I first saw the I-Rex, I was like “I thought that thing was dead, man!” lol! So I was surprised to see him, again (or her, I don’t remember which), and to realize that the show does take place during the first “Jurassic World” movie. Even the Raptor Squad showed up! Once.... But they still showed up xD!

In case you haven’t noticed, already, I’m a giant nerd.

I also loved how many times the show seemed to throw back to the previous movies. I mean, SPOILER ALERT!!! I never expected to see that velociraptor resonating chamber, at all! I mean, it only showed up, once, but it was still very cool to see! The show had some elements of other movies done by Spielburg, as well. I only recognized a few of them...I never saw a lot of Spielburg’s stuff partly because of disinterest. Some of them were just a definite “no” in my book.

Anyway.... I’m usually one to enjoy music (OSTs) from movies, tv shows, and video-games. I’m gonna be honest, though. For “Camp Cretaceous”, I did not really pay attention to the music. I was focused more on the dialogue and what was happening with the characters. Even when I watched the show a 2nd time (yes, I went back and rewatched it because it was that enjoyable), I still didn’t pay attention to the music. Probably because it’s the kind of music that just doesn’t snatch my attention like a lot of other OSTs do. Oh well.

I liked that the main antagonist was the Carnotaurus! I was expecting Rexy, or yes, even a Spinosaurus, or even a Baryonyx to show up, but neither of them ever did. And the Carno being the main antagonist reminded me of Disney’s “Dinosaur”...I liked that movie, growing up! So the Carno was a nice change. Gives the raptors and the t-rex a break xD. I guess the I-Rex was a main antagonist, as well, but I feel the Carno showed up more often than he did.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this first season, and I cannot wait for season 2...which is happening a lot sooner than I expected, which makes me slightly skeptical because a date for a second season, that soon, makes me feel like the show is being rushed. And when a show or movie is rushed, things tend to not run so smoothly and brings more disappointment to viewers than enjoyment. But, we’ll see! Hopefully, the 2nd season will be just as good as the 1st! I...would not really say this is entirely a kids show...I’m only saying that because, considering it’s “Jurassic Park/World”, things happen that I personally don’t feel like a child should be seeing. At least, not alone. Then again, I feel like “family-friendly” isn’t exactly the right word to describe “Camp Cretaceous”...and honestly, I’m too dumb to think of a right word for it. I don’t know, I suck at describing anything. For all I know, maybe it is family-friendly, and I just don’t feel like it is. Whatevs.

As to who my favorite characters are...I mean, I like all of them! I feel like I relate just a little bit more to Yasmina, though. Like her, I have trust issues, and quite enjoy being in my shell...but I also enjoy hanging out with my friends, so I’ve got that going for me xD. And like her, I draw stuff. Maybe not as often, and I’m nowhere near as talented, but every once in a while, I will pick up a pencil and start drawing.

I relate a little bit to Darius because like him, I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to dinosaurs. I’m not as nerdy as he is...I mean, there’s only a certain amount of dinosaurs that I can remember the names of and what they look like. Maybe if I had dedicated my whole childhood to dinosaurs, I might be exactly as dino-nerdy as Darius is, lol! I think my love for dinosaurs started with the first movie (I can thank my dad for this one!), and the t-rex immediately became my favorite. Mainly because it just looks and sounds cool, and is terrifying. The velociraptor became my 2nd favorite (although, over the past few years, the two have switched ranks in my book).

So, basically, both Yasmina and Darius are my favorite characters.

Also, I just want to say before I end this review: I don’t really ship anybody with anybody in this show. I never saw it (and don’t want to), but the whole romance thing is like the anime, “Attack on Titan”. There is just no time for romance when you are just trying to survive on an island full of dinosaurs...a lot of them being carnivores. And, these are just kids that we are talking about, here. Well, they’re really teenagers, but still slightly young enough to be considered as kids. Another problem I have with shipping these characters is that...if they do get rescued and get off the island alive and in one piece...what are the chances that they’ll ever see each other, again? That’s one of the things they even pointed out in the show.

That’s another thing I like about “Camp Cretaceous”. The kids bring up a ton of good points that I feel like a lot of characters in shows or movies don’t think about when it comes to survival and things like that.

I mean, if you guys want to ship the characters with each other, that’s fine. It’s just me, personally, that I feel like the CC characters shouldn’t be shipped with each other. I also will just never understand why literally everything fictional has to have romance in it in some way. I’m gonna be completely honest with you, I feel like romance has become just a little bit overdone. But only because I see it in every show or movie that I watch. Maybe that’s just also me not being into the whole romance genre.

Anyway, if I were to give “Camp Cretaceous” a rating, I’d give it a fair 9/10. I’m really glad I decided to just sit down and watch this show. It really just blew my mind! I’m curious to see what season 2 will bring.

And that is my review on “Camp Cretaceous”! I hope you all have a nice day, and have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays or whatever you celebrate!

Later!

#Mika squawks #Life of Mika #review #tv show review #dinosaurs #jurassic park #jurassic world #camp cretaceous #im bad at explaining things #sorry!#i tried

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fizzingwizard · 4 years ago

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Tumblr sucks so I had to post this twice but you should still read it because I had a lot of fun writing it xD Yamato is so easy to tease omg

Today’s Digimon Adventure: 2020 episode is entitled, “Time To Bring Back Visual Kei Bands,” because that’s pretty much where WereGarurumon belongs. I know what you’re thinking, he’s a wolf man in jeans with a kind of grungy rock n roll cowboy theme, how is that visual kei?

My friend, it’s all about the NAILS.

Those perfectly manicured, PINK freaking nails.

Tto start I’ll say this episode lowers the tension significantly compared to previous ones. That’s to be expected, and doesn’t mean it’s boring. It does a lot - it lets us confirm some things about Yamato, and a couple things about Sora and Jou in relation to him as well. It is otherwise a carbon copy of episode 8 in terms of story arc. More below as usual

So this ep is Yamato/Sora/Jou main inside a Taichi/Koushirou/Mimi sandwich.

We are starting to see more of Mimi Herself, complaining and whining about the unfairness of it all. Taichi appears to have scaled this wall by himself and Mimi’s like “YOU HAVE TOO MUCH ENERGY, YOU’LL PUT THE ENERGIZER BUNNY OUT OF A JOB, DO YOU WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HOMELESS BUNNIES?? HE HAS TO PROVIDE FOR HIS FAMILY”

Adding salt to the wound, Koushirou then zips up the wall like this..

zip!

The good thing about Mimi is, though she’s emotional, it’s easy to lift her spirits. She’s very in the moment. And fortunate that she has a partner who is both very patient and useful in these circumstances.

wheeeeee

Meanwhile the slightly-less-energetic group has put their heads together and decided to fly first class to their destination. I would ask where they got the basket but I’m sure I’d get the same answer as Taichi’s raft from episode 4 and Jou’s pergola from episode 7: these kids are extremely good at woodcraft and speedy

(or maybe Sora just had a giant basket in her bag, which we all understand by now is really a Bag of Holding)

While airborne they are Attacked!!! by SandYanmamon and not one but two tornadoes.

Jou: Wonderful!

(for a hot second there I mistook this for Birdramon’s line and was like “??? birdramon’s unusually sarcastic today” but of course it’s the king of morbid humor kido jou)

These Kyaromon appear out of nowhere to show off their dramatic eyeliner. Work it baby

Just when you think SandYanmamon and TWO FREAKING TORNADOES are enough, turns out there’s another threat lurking below the sand for the sole purpose of reminding us yet again “Pokemon this is not!”

SandYanmamon: Aaaaaaahhh nooooooooo i had so much living left to doooo heeeelp mommyyyyyyyyy

NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILD YOU MONSTER!!!

Cool-headed Yamato figures out that the new monster is able to track their movements under the sand. He sends the others away while he stays behind to hold off the bad guy.

The Kyaromon lead them to a cave where they meet...

ewww uuggghh noooo I hate them aaaahh make it stoppp

and also Neemon! and I’m just going to assume this is a parallel universe version of Frontier’s Neemon because it tickles me to think this is what he actually sounds and acts like and is just riding Bokumon out of pure spite

also Bearmon’s cap says “Bears.” Not bear, bears plural. I believe he’s an outcast former member of the Gummy Bears.

The Labramon look like Rainbow Brite rejects

Pictured above: First lovers’ tiff!

Neemon doesn’t know about the holy Digimon and tells the kids he is leading his group of perfectly helpless Digimon across the monster-infested desert because of the dark forces taking over everywhere. They will seek asylum with Leomon! We got our first mention of Leomon! Quick, cast your bets, how long till he dies? My guess is sooner rather than later because this seems like the kind of show that likes to kill your darlings.

Sora takes one look at this pathetic group and goes “We must go with them to protect them!” conveniently forgetting that she just got her ass kicked, but hey it’s the thought that counts

Yamato is quick to disagree.

Yamato: Did you forget that I stayed behind while you RAN AWAY? When you say let’s protect them, you mean I’M gonna be protecting them, right? RIGHT? That’s what you mean RIGHT??

(he thinks, but doesn’t say. that wouldn’t be Cool)

Yamato doesn’t want to lose sight of their mission, which is to fix things in their home world. He’s already at his limit hanging out with other human children who don’t know what they’re doing, he doesn’t want to be slowed down by freaking Bearmon. Wishy-washy Jou is like “Eh, either way sounds like death and torment to me, so...”

The interesting thing to me here is that no one’s upset. A bit surprised, I think, but Sora just stands her ground, Jou wibbles but eventually gets pumped up enough by Gomamon to decide to help her. They don’t even try much to stop Yamato from leaving which I think is what surprised me the most. I would have expected at least a vibe more like “We shouldn’t split up!” or something. If Taichi were there, maybe we’d have seen more conflict... but I’m really not sure. So far, conflict among the kids has been very low key. Even last week, the first time we saw Taichi and Yamato butt heads, to the other kids it was shocking but to a 99 Adventurer like me it was barely a kerfluffle xP

Well, anyway, the result is Sora and Jou stay with Neemon, and Yamato goes off on his own, and there is surprisingly little bad blood about any of this. They are all just getting to know each other though, so maybe that loyalty’s not quite expected yet.

Same as episode 8, Gabumon hints that there’s more to Yamato’s behavior than he lets on. He’s not just coldly abandoning his friends... except that he totally is >_> (As an adult, I don’t exactly think Yamato is wrong. I’d be more likely to agree with him than the others probably xP But these are children in a show for children, so Protecting Others and Following Your Feelings get a boost over cool rationale.)

Gabumon says Yamato should open up to the other kids. YEAH RIGHT. Yamato says “You’re all I need.” AWWWWWWWWW this wont backfire on them in a way that will wrench out my heart and tear it to a million pieces in forty episodes or so, no way

Ikkakumon becomes a Sand Boat while Birdramon covers the sky. At first I was like “hey! not a bad plan!” If they can help Neemon’s group get across the desert faster, it will be a big help even if they can’t take them further.

Of course, first they have to deal with the SandYanmamon.

Ikkakumon: Why does everyone go straight for the horn!?!

Oh, and also the two tornadoes.

Sora, standing on Birdramon’s leg: don’t look down don’t look down don’t look down

And now Sora’s on fire! That is it, I’m headcanoning it that the kids are basically invulnerable as long as they are touching their partners. THERE’S JUST NO EXPLAINING THIS

The flaming elementary school child does well until her partner is snared by the same monster from before, who turns out to be Scorpiomon. But this ain’t your momma’s Scorpimon from 99 Adventure, who was really Anomalocarimon but that was too hard to expect kids to say. This is the real Scorpiomon who is much scarier.

All of a sudden, from above!

ACTION LINES!!!

Yamato and Garurumon, both physically incapable of doing anything normally when there is a cooler, more awesome method available, drop into the battle from the air and start burning shit up.

They stand, bodies licked by blue flame, piercing eyes bright with the fever of battle, the sound of swooning fan girls echoing into the night

Garurumon does his best but Scorpiomon is a level higher so, duh, he doesn’t stand much of a chance. WHAT WILL OUR HERO DO.

Well, first, same as in episode 8, he flashes back to each of his newfound friends, gaining strength from their memory. Yamato is so sentimental it Hurts

Then his mind flashes to someone else...

... his favorite bobble head doll. No wait, that’s his round-headed baby brother, Charlie Brown.

he is infused with the power of Friendship!!!!!!!

Garurumon: What... is this feeling... so passionate... so... powerful... FFFRIENDSHIPPPPPP IS MAGIC

He then evolves into a brony into a furry in the coolest freakiest way he knows how.

WereGarurumon is basically everything the creators thought little boys like besides dinosaurs (because Taichi’s got that one covered) thrown together to make the ultimate little boy dream action figure: wolves, leather, hardware, piercings, brass knuckles, belts, skulls, scars, dog tags, and fuchsia stiletto nails

Ikkakumon: Sugoi... so shiny... oooh... blinding me...

WereGarurumon kicks Scorpiomon’s ass, it’s a cool battle scenes complete with kicks so fast his foot appears detached from his body. He then gives Yamato thumbs up.

Yamato: With nails like those the brass knuckles are kind of overkill...

Yamato dodges apologizing for going off on his own like that by saying he only came back because it’d be useful to him to have the others around as a decoy. Jou’s like FRIGGING DECOYS AGAIN??

But his dedication to remaining cool and aloof falters and he ends up telling them he’s just extra pressured to get their mission handled because he has a little brother, Takeru, living in Tokyo who is probably very scared stuck in the blackout. Sora and Jou are like “Oh, that makes sense, that’s why you’re so high strung.” They don’t point out the obvious, which is that they also have families affected by the blackout... >_>

Jou passionately thanks Yamato for being so forthcoming so early in the season and looks forward to telling Yamato about himself in the future.

The others: “But we already know all about you.”

Jou: “But HE doesn’t!”

xD look forward to it, Yamato...

It’s episode 11 and Yamato can already smile like this... I had to cap it.

Yamato: Ahh, I’m finally getting used to wearing this purple shirt. Still can’t get quite suppress the urge to cut off the sleeves though...

The other slice of bread completes our sandwich when we shoot back briefly to Taichi/Koushirou/Mimi’s group.

Taichi gets annoyed with Koushirou for the first time because of how much time Koushirou spends taking pictures of everything. Koushirou is that kid on the museum field trip who holds up the entire class reading every last word on the exhibit plaques while everyone else groans ‘cmon dude I wanna get to the dinosaurs before we go extinct too!!’

fyi I, Fizzing Wizard, was and am that slow ass kid

Mimi’s even more impatient than Taichi and in her boredom she starts touching things, because she’s never seen The Mummy.

IT’S A TRAP!!!

lol

Next ep’s trailer includes:

Andromon!!!

And Lillymon!!!

Oprah voice: You get a Perfect level and you get a Perfect level and you get a Perfect level and you get-

Yeah so, clearly everyone’s gonna get to Perfect level much quicker than in 99 Adventure, which again, it’s good they’re mixing things up. The question is, what’s next? My guess is down the line everyone will get Ultimate levels and of course, at some point we’ll see Omegamon. I wonder if there will be other Jogress possibilities? Just because it’s hard to believe evolution will stop being important, but if they’re going through both Adult and Perfect so fast it doesn’t leave much left for the rest of the season...

I give this ep a 5.5/10 for being basically a remix of episode 8, and I’m looking forward to getting new stuff for Yamato eventually. Next week’s looking to be Mimi-centric if Lillymon’s any indication, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for a few Taishiro moments anyway.

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure reboot #digimon psi #psi spoilers #digimon #fizz watches digimon 2020

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sairenharia · 5 years ago

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Sentimonster Theory

My own thoughts on this theory brought up by the episode Ladybug. Spoilers ahead.

1. Validity Of The Idea.

First off, Ladybug introduces this idea of a sentient Sentimonster. Not something brought up before, albeit we’ve only seen a few Sentimonsters so far. We know very little about the Peacock Miraculous ourselves, but just what we’ve been shown and told. Such as we know it’s broken, though not necessarily how.

But Ladybug said her Sentimonster was her own being. Since the series is from her perspective and the Sentimonster agreed to act with her, we can take this as a truth to a certain extent. Which is honestly all sorts of messed up. In particular because we are introduced to this concept only a minute or two before this sentient girl is then erased from existence.

If this was a generally dark show with dark concepts in the vein of Rick and Morty, then maybe this could be a one off. But it’s NOT. This is a generally light hearted show that glossed over a girl just got grant freedom and then died and barely played with that idea. Really Ladybug should have been a two parter and that Amok should have been a hot potato so we could explore Sentibug’s mental state and ability to choose.

But wasted potential aside, a light hearted show does NOT bring up something that grim dark and NOT have a payoff. Which means one of two things.

There will be a sentient Amok arriving and they will be a thing for a while, possibly Felix, possibly someone else, and there will be some kind of witch hunt or stab in the heart.

Or there is already a Sentimonster present within the show and the pay off will be finding that out. No one makes a Chekov’s gun like that and not use it.

2. The Candidates.

Who could be a Sentimonster? Obviously only those close to the Agrestes. The Agrestes themselves, Nathalie, Gorilla being the obvious ones.

I’m disinclined to believe it’s Emilie because they say she disappeared. Not ‘gone’ which is what’s usually said when shows don’t want to say ‘dead,’ but disappear. Gone implies they know what happened. Disappear means they don’t. So I really think it’s her body in the basement. And the reason she’s in a coma is because she’s the one who made the Sentimonster.

Gorilla is the next one I find hard to believe if only because the Agreste’s are rich enough to just buy a man like that. He’s dedicated to his job, he’s a beast of a man, but he hasn’t done anything to warrant his worth in being put into a magic coma when money would do. And while a likeable guy on his own, we haven’t had enough focus on him to warrant the emotional payoff a sentient Sentimonster warrants. And personally, it puts a bad taste in my mouth making the mute person the secret inhuman being.

Gabriel certainly has the crazed focus that would be assumed of a Sentimonster. They are made with a purpose in mind, and if something unfortunate happened to the real Gabriel, then it makes sense Emilie would make him even at the cost of herself. But Gabriel would also be made by Emilie, and if she’s even half the saint Adrien paints her as, then it seems far more likely Emilie would be focused on him being back for her AND Adrien. Even if he struggled with the emotional, I doubt something like Riposte or Gorizilla would have happened with a Sentimonster Gabriel. Plus that would just be needlessly painful for Adrien because not only does he learn the man he thought was his father was the villain he’s been fighting for months, his dad is also probably dead. It’s like kicking a dog when he’s down.

Nathalie seems pretty likely if Emilie knew something was going to happen to her. Her job is to take care of Gabriel and Adrien and Nathalie does genuinely show care for both. She’s helped Adrien get what he wants, she will do anything Gabriel asks of her. For someone who seems to a not particularly passionate person, she loves two extremely socially inept people fiercely. If there was a guardian to be left behind by Emilie, Nathalie fits that criteria. The biggest question for this idea is the idea of an Amok being able to use the Peacock Miraculous itself. That seems like it shouldn’t work, but there’s nothing that says it can’t either. But even the Butterfly Miraculous has to be removed before it’s user can be Akumatized.

Then there’s Adrien. And oh boy, does a lot of things start lining up when looked at it like this.

3. The Narrative.

The thing about stories is things don’t have to be strictly in universe to reveal a truth of the story. That’s the fun of being an audience. We know Gabriel is Papillon because we’re the audience, so we see things the people in the story can’t. And the thing about Miraculous Ladybug as a narrative is there’s supposed to be a happy ending.

This is a show meant for kids. And while kids can handle dark things, Miraculous Ladybug is again, not that kind of show. The longer things go on, the less chance it seems like Adrien can have a happy ending, especially with the way they handle things between him and his father.

Adrien is getting closer to his father, but Gabriel is just diving further and further into his villainy. He keeps hurting people, he’s caused Adrien in particular some horrifying things from the times he’s died, to his three months as Aspik, to having him attack the love of his life. That sort of thing wears on a person and from Adrien actions in Gamer 2.0 and Partycrasher, both of which are after Viperion, Chat is certainly suffering from those three months. Finding out Gabriel did that to him is going to hit and it’s going to hit hard.

In particular for a point everyone has been talking about since we figured out it was Gabriel: he’s terrorized Paris to save his wife, while he treated his son like dirt. Gabriel is a man who seems intent to do anything and everything he can for love, much like Adrien does, but he also treats Adrien terribly. Their home situation is toxic at best, and abusive at worst.

Finding out the truth is going to break Adrien. More than that, with all Gabriel has done, and has treated his son, its hard to see how any end of this could allow enough room for Adrien to forgive Gabriel enough to be happy himself.

Unless, of course, the circumstances aren’t what they seem.

4. The Evidence.

Most evidence comes from what we, the audience, see, as well as some presumed things of Sentimonsters.

A. Cataclysm.

In Miraculer, Adrien gets hit with Cataclysm. Much to everyone’s surprised, he doesn’t turn to dust from something that’s turned harder things then flesh and blood to dust. We’ve seen it destroy indestructible items like the Bee Miraculous. We know Plagg killed the dinosaurs.

The first assumption is Adrien survived because he’s the Black Cat User, so he’s got some resistance to his own attack, or perhaps it’s because Miraculer was using the ability and thus it was a weaker version of it.

But here’s the thing. There’s that narrative thing again. Adrien got hurt. He got hurt real bad. We rarely see these kids hurt thanks to their supersuits, and here Adrien is, getting hit with his own death touch. This is something that, one it’s own, should have been an episode. This could have been great character development, they could have talked about the dangers of their job, or show a lot of Ladynoir, or how stubbornly stupid Chat is to fight like that.

But this wasn’t an episode about it. This was an episode about Chloe being Queen Bee, and meeting Mayura, and a five superhero team up, and a power stealer. All those things are episode worthy, so having Chat injured is odd. Especially since it wasn’t necessary where it was.

Miraculer had already established her threat levels, Ladybug had left to give the other Miraculous. She only finds out Chat is hurt when she’s handing off the Bee to him. If it was a matter of getting Chat to disengage, there’s many ways where Miraculer could have tossed him away as many Akuma have done. There is no reason to go that extreme. He certainly doesn’t need to be hurt for Mayura to have still grabbed the Bee like that, and struggling against two opponents is reasonable. There is no real narrative reason for him to be that hurt. The only point it MIGHT make sense is it meant Chloe really did have to go after Mayura herself.

But then it’d have made more sense to have him hurt on the rooftop. It would make the fight seem more high stakes because we don’t know how long it’d take, it makes everyone afraid, it’s dramatic! So why have him suffer half an episode like that?

Because the episode was overly full. It was to distract from what happened. There would be questions of why Chat is lasting this long, is this how it always is with people, or just him? Instead there’s the distraction of the new villainess, Ladybug needs to get the MIraculous, she needs to tell Chloe she can’t be Queen Bee. She has no time to wonder about Catacalysm, and Adrien doesn’t like dwelling on the unpleasant.

But we the audience see it. Adrien can take a Catacalysm and he can last a long time under the effects. And only one other thing has.

Reflekdoll, the Sentimonster Lady Noire used the power on. A thing made of pure magic. It was messed up, but it still functioned. It freaked out because it had no controller, but what if it could control itself? It may have done better, instead been dealing with it’s slowly breaking down body instead of wildly attacking everything.

Much like Adrien.

B. Adrien And Taking Charge.

Here’s the thing about Adrien taking charge: He’s terrible at it. We see it in Mister Bug, we see it in Viperion, we it in in Evillustrator. Adrien does not do well in that position. He gets too easily flustered and gets stuck in a tunnel vision or too emotional.

He’s great at second in charge! When he knows generally what he’s supposed to be doing, he’s great. He knows to protect, to teach, to comfort. He’s shown to be clever, a point actually made in Reflekta when he helps despite not having powers. Which makes it stand out even more when he struggles to do so in Reflekdoll. The difference being he’s no longer support, he’s the one whose supposed to be ‘in charge.’

He struggles as Mister Bug.

He uses Second Chance for Three Months because he can’t calm down, step back, and calmly watch things go down so he can gather information.

And all the way back in Season One, he has Marinette take away the stylus because he can focus on protecting her, but he couldn’t think of a good way to get the pen away, and he misses an obvious way out of the box.

We know Adrien is smart. We know he’s clever enough to keep up with Ladybug’s plans when she needs him to do something. But the moment he’s in charge, it’s like something in his brain just shorts out.

C. Adrien And Memories.

So something that has bugged me for ages is the fact he was not allowed out of the house until he got to go to school. He’s been locked up his whole life. Which made sense when I thought his mother disappeared years ago and his father became overprotective as a result. Then we learn his mother hasn’t even been gone a year by the time Christmas rolls around.

That changed a lot in regards to Emilie.

In Jackady, Chat’s outburst reminded Gabriel of Emilie. Which implies she was a woman who was at least somewhat of a spitfire. Someone Adrien saw as kind and who wanted him to be good. The person Adrien thinks about right before he almost destroyed the Christmas Tree and he stopped. Kind and willing to fight.

And still agreed to isolate Adrien.

And before she disappeared, Gabriel was supposedly less severe as he is now. Now this could be evidence that Gabriel is the Sentimonster, but with both Gabriel being at least a little more caring and a woman Adrien sees so highly, it’s weird they both agreed to raise him in basic isolation.

Not that I’m saying Emilie is anywhere near Gabriel’s level in canon, but Adrien is definitely looking at things with rose colored glasses. It’s not okay to raise a kid isolated from their peers like that. Especially a ray of sunshine like Adrien whose desperate for friends.

But at the Agreste parents very best, they were overprotective as hell.

We know Adrien is starting to realize his father is being unfair and overly harsh, we’ve seen him run away because of it, and he’s terrified of being locked up. He still sees Emilie as this saintly way though.

It may be because she made him. Of course he’d see her this way because she wouldn’t think there was anything wrong in wanting to protect him or she wouldn’t have gone to that extreme.

D. Adrien’s Demeanor.

Adrien is obedient. He’s a good boy who listens, and does as he’s told. Again, Adrien does not like to take charge. He rarely starts confrontation for his own sake, but he’s willing to step in for others. More so as Chat than Adrien, and Adrien is certainly more sneaky and subdue about it.

A Sentimonster is a being made to obey someone else. It’s not a giant leap to assume a sentient would still be highly inclined to obey, and more likely to stand up for others than themselves.

Then there’s Adrien’s more obsessive nature. Because let’s be fair. He’s obsessed with Ladybug. Most of the time it’s charming flirts of the safe nature, but he’s had times he’s let it distract him from the job, or made him sulk and pout. He can usually snap out of it to focus on the job, but it’s weird how he can go from one day handling his rejection with grace to the next handling it absolutely terribly. Like maybe he wants to accept it, but it’s hard to do so for a being whose usually focused on one person.

After all, Sentimonsters are protectors. Getting a little obsessed with who they’re made for makes sense.

E. Adrien’s rebellion.

It’s an interesting to note how Adrien rebels. He does things his father wouldn’t approve of, but usually goes the route of ‘what he doesn’t know won’t hurt me.’ If Adrien is told he can’t, he’ll go ‘but Chat wasn’t told he can’t.’ It’s rare we see Adrien disobey an actual direct order from Gabriel.

The only time that comes to mind as direct disobedience instead of just never asked or a technical loop hole was when he ran to school. You know. Right after he got Plagg and experienced chaos energy for the first time.

And yet, for the things Adrien deems truly important, he does try to bargain with his father. Like seeing his mother’s movie, or going to Marinette’s party, because these are important things to Adrien, and he wants his father to approve.

Oddly, when Adrien actually pleads and breaks the rules and shows how important a thing is to him, his father seems inclined to give it to him. Which I’ll get more into later.

F. Plagg, The Peacock Miraculous Was Right There, How Did You Miss It????

Listen, Plagg is a little gremlin who cares a lot more for people than he likes to show and it still seems weird he wouldn’t recognize a piece of jewelry he’s been in contact with for centuries when he could recognize the BOOK.

But that’s the thing, Plagg is a little gremlin who cares a lot. Who cares a lot about Adrien. Who, you know, he regularly fuses with and gives superpowers. There’s a good chance if Adrien is a Sentimonster, Plagg knows, and now he’s like ‘SHIT’ about the whole thing.

It’s likely Fu getting the Peacock Miraculous would spell the end of Adrien, so Plagg is hoping for an Alternate Solution to come up before he outs where the Peacock Miraculous is. He’s like millions of years old, he can be patient for a few years until he sees something, and the humans can take a little chaos in their life. Adrien’s HIS.

G. SYMBOLIC FORESHADOWING.

Gosh, copycat sure was a sculptor ‘in love’ with someone he couldn’t reach.

There sure is a lot of False Adriens and False Chats in the season where Mayura is a player between the wax statue of Adrien, Chat, and Adrien playing Chat’s Voice in the Ladybug Movie, and Lila pretended to be Chat and Adrien for a while in Chameleon.

Chat keeps being turned into a meat puppet by Gabriel an awful lot.

Reflekdoll got Catacalsymed by another Chat.

Miraculer sure was about Chloe’s friend trying to become another person for her love, while her other friend was living through something we never thought should be livable by a human.

Chat did think the Sentibug was a real person and choose her first.

Ladybug said Sentibug was too perfect to be human. While Gabriel and Marinette both call Adrien perfect. And Lila, and I think Chloe. Basically a lot of people call the boy perfect.

Thomas has a tendency to make tweets about ‘in universe’ views on the characters, thus when he said Chloe was a terrible person who would never have a MIraculous. And he sure calls Adrien perfect a lot himself.

H. Allergies.

Allergies are the immune system’s hypersensitive reaction to something. Worried about something being a threat even if it isn’t. And Adrien is allergic to feathers. A thing he may be made out of.

Maybe Sentimonsters don’t play well with feathers, maybe another feather can mess with theirs, I don’t know, but I find it very interesting one of his parents had a feather based superpower and he’s allergic to them and it feels like that should mean SOMETHING.

I. The Promise.

Gabriel talks to Emilie about a promise. A wish. A way to reverse a mistake. He never says he’ll bring her back or fix her, which is the obvious thing. He’s cryptic which means whatever he WANTS, it’s not as simple as saving her. He says it the way he does because we the audience aren’t meant to know yet.

5. The Wild Mass Guessing.

Because the rest was super coherent.

Two other points: A pure theory on Party Crashers. Gabriel is shocked at joy in his house, which could just be him realizing how many people were there, or an even more disturbing thought that he never expects joy from Adrien. OR it could be Gabriel can’t sense Adrien at all because he’s a Sentimonster, and neither Nathalie nor the Gorila are big on the joy spectrum;.

As for Chat Blanc, it could be Chat Blanc will be a seperate Sentimonster (and MORE foreshadowing????), or it’s because Plagg is also involved. Plagg is definitely a full entity, after all, and that may be enough to allow for an Akumatization.

BUT here is how I see things going down.

Adrien Agreste died, somehow or someway, probably preventable, and it was with his parents so it didn’t become news.

Emilie, unwilling to lose her son, decides to use the peacock. She may have sculpted something like Mayura did Ladybug and he’s got an Amok hidden around somewhere. Maybe Emilie used his body which is grim and also necromancy. It could be a lot of things.

But the Peacock is NOT the Miraculous of Creation. A Sentimonster is a temporary creation, a guardian, it’s not meant to be a longterm sentient being. Having a Sentimonster capable of some intelligent thought is understandable, because better guardian then, but it’s NOT meant to be a person.

Emilie pushes and this is what breaks the Peacock Miraculous. And this puts her into a coma because now she has to support Adrien’s existence with her own emotions and it’s too much of a burden for her to bear and remain conscious.

And Adrien the Sentimonster is born.

At first, he doesn’t have a lot in the way of emotions. This works out because now he’s supposed to be mourning his now disappeared mother and being blank is pretty understandable. He has the memories from his mother, maybe his father, he knows generally how he’s supposed to be, but he’s still figuring it out. Meanwhile he thinks it’s the depression because he doesn’t know he’s not real.

And Gabriel?

Gabriel lost his son, then his wife, and now he has This Thing in his home. Who thinks he’s his son and his wife almost lost her life for it and he has to. Deal with that. So he goes complete hardass because if he has to deal with it, then it would represent the Gabriel brand well. He models, he learns, he becomes the poster boy of a perfect son.

Adrien doesn’t understand why he’s being treated so coldly and he chalks it up to his father also being in pain at losing his mother. It makes sense.

Then Chloe demands to see Adrien and, well, telling Chloe no doesn’t work for long. And when Gabriel is ignoring Adrien, and Nathalie knows and is just being a professional, and the Gorilla is going about business as normal, Chloe just sees her depressed friend, and at some point there’s discussion of his wanting to go to school, to make friends, because Adrien is REAL. He’s a Sentimonster, but he’s REAL because that’s what Emilie wanted.

And real people crave love and affection eventually.

So Chloe gets him into school. And Adrien goes and passes his test with Fu. Because Adrien was always a kind and caring boy and a Sentimonster helps.

He’d forbidden.

And he meets Plagg and he’s magic and that feels right in the world.

And suddenly he’s not just Adrien. He’s Chat Noir. He has a purpose. He has people he can PROTECT and he is so eager to do so. He has powers he expects no hard limit to. He has a partner he has to work with.

He comes alive. There’s just been a pit of loss and need and yearning and suddenly he has that and more and moreover, he has a little bit of chaos on his side. Chaos that takes this order he’s been given.

And says no.

And Nathalie knows she has to tell Gabriel.

And he’s so, so very surprised. Because Adrien should not have been able to say no. And he thinks maybe, just maybe, Emilie did leave him a son after all.

So Gabriel let’s Adrien go to school.

Adrien’s birthday comes. Gabriel would always buy his son a gift. He can’t bear the thought of getting him a new fountain pen, a useful tool, a professional tool, because he’s still not sure he’s invested, so he puts the responsibility on Nathalie for the first time.

Jackady happens, Gabriel almost died, and all he could think about as he stepped away from the ledge was he almost left Adrien alone. And for the first time he hugs this boy who might be his son.

He destroys his office because it’s easy to pretend to be mad about this boy he might love and he hates he may make him lose his wife and perhaps his firstreal son. And yet the concern once he’s purified isn’t near the act he wishes it was.

Riposte becomes a test. Could he put the boy in danger. And he finds he hates himself more by the end of it then any other time.

Christmas, he decides to show a little care, maybe embrace this, and he’s terrified when he’s gone. Not enough to forget his wife and other child when an opportunity arises, but he finds himself wanting to make him happy when his friends show up.

Adrien starts asking for things. He pleads to hang out with his friends. He make arguments. He WANTS. He wants because he wants to be there for his friends, he makes a hand made gift because someone is important to him. These are not the actions of an obedient beast. Because that’s the thing, when Adrien begs, Gabriel gives in. And when Adrien wants to know more about Emilie, see her in other things, it shows someone whose view of her isn’t only her own self view.

He’s terrified when he thinks he might be Chat Noir. He has to be sure, he has to know NOW because he seems so very real and whether or not he is, he finds himself loving this Adrien and he doesn’t want him to be Chat Noir, and yet he does when he fall because the thought of him dying-

He even ponders giving up his wife for this boy. After he put him in danger. After he almost fell apart into glitter. He can’t bear to lose him too, he’s sure of it.

Adrien is growing. He’s learning to love others. He’s learning friendships. As Chat Noir, with chaos and purpose in his hands, he acts with abandon. He has love, he can protect, everything is clear.

But when Ladybug suffers and he’s unable to help, he just because more desperate and determined to save her next time. Even if it takes well over twenty thousand times and three months because that is his PURPOSE, so next time, he throws himself off the stage, and he won’t listen to Fu.

As Adrien, things are still confusing. Adrien wants to defend, but he also wants to be good for Gabriel, and making a scene is bad. Still, he sees Lila hurt people he loves, he cares about, so he decides to that being underhanded. If sincere earnestness doesn’t work like it does with Chloe, then he’ll make sure Lila knows if she won’t be his friend, then he’ll find a way to make her regret being his enemy. It’s not as direct as he likes, but he must be good for Gabriel to.

Gabriel is becoming more desperate by the day. He must save Emilie. He must save their son. And maybe this boy is their son? Maybe Adrien’s soul was there because they were so similar. He doesn’t know, all he knows is he needs the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous and once he has though, he can make everything RIGHT.

And there is the thing about happy endings.

As canon stands, Adrien is unlikely to get a happy ending. Because as the series progresses, he BONDS with his father. They seem to be getting closer, healing this rift that had been between them. If Adrien is to get out of this, he should be recognizing his unfair treatment, pulling away, getting farther to see how bad the situation is. Not getting closer. The closer he gets to Gabriel, the more it’ll hurt because how does he make peace with that? This man terrorized the city of Paris for his wife, while he barely gave his son the time of day.

And that’s if Gabriel doesn’t die using the Miraculous to save Emilie. Then Adrien will lose his father to get back his mother after his father didn’t even give him good memories to leave off of.

But the story changes if Adrien is a Sentimonster.

Because Adrien’s existence is draining Emilie. She can’t wake up while he exists. And Gabriel is a man who loves so fiercely and doesn’t want to love this boy, but DOES because how can he not? So like his son, so like his mother. So it becomes even more important to win, so Adrien will never know what his existence has cost Emilie, to make sure Adrien’s existence is never threatened by the loss of the Peacock.

Everything will hurt, but it’s not a man who choose a nearly lost wife while completely forsaking his son.

It’s a man whose nearly lost both and trying to save both.

And maybe, just maybe, the cost of stabilizing Adrien’s existence will be a cost he can bear instead of asking someone else to die.

#ml spoilers #sentimonster theory #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancoeur #the gorilla #emilie agreste #miraculous ladybug

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monkey-network · 5 years ago

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Good Stuff's Best of 2019

WARNING: Just wanted to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy. (Best of 2017) (Best of 2018)

Dedicated to Russi Taylor, John Witherspoon, Rip Torn, Tartar Sauce, Caroll Spinney, Peter Matthews, and the many of KyoAni lost in the arson incident. You all did wonderful; rest in peace.

Welp, I figured the last year of this decade would be the most chaotic one by far, then again everything peak after 2012. As for now, I am counting down the best cartoons/animations/comics I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order other than #1. Same rules apply: No sneak previews of future projects, no repeats, and this time anything goes.

Runner Ups: Superman Smashes the Klan, Marvel’s Aero, Infinity Train, Enter the Florpus, Amphibia, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Helluva Boss, Meta Runner, Lego Movie 2, Forky Asks a Question

Anyways, Badda boom bang whiz, let’s do this shizz...

10. Super Mario Bros GT

Nostalgia can be quite a mystery, especially one that can come out of nowhere. Super Mario Bros Z kicked so much ass as a kid that now, it still frustrates me to this that it got a cease & desist from Nintendo, even the reboot from the same person couldn’t last long. But the gods have offered a slight miracle in the form of this new spiritual successor that has heart and soul put into every pixelated frame. There is much to celebrate with Youtube animation, where many say it’s dying due to the algorithm and all of the site’s corporate bullshit, but it’s stuff like this which helps me understand why we should celebrate. Against all odds, channels like Smasher Block willfully put their works out their for the people and continues to because on top of getting a little dough, it’s what they want to do.

9. DC SUPER HERO GIRLS (2019)

Awwwwww yeah, this is She-Ra and the Princesses of Power done right. Diverse female squad, each given a quality screen time to truly shine (Beecher especially) on their which makes the episodes where they’re all together feel earned and joyous to watch. Certainly reminds me of Friendship is Magic, which is coincidental since they were created by the same woman. I’d like to think this and MLP G4 were the answers to Faust’s cancelled project Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls where multiple personalities collide to one extraordinary superhero team of girls capable great feats that are lifted from their insecurities or drawbacks. And on top of this being a fun series to kick back to all around, it’s a comforting, somewhat aspiring thought to consider.

8. JOKER

I am somebody that rarely goes to the theaters to watch a film; you have to hook my tight just for me to even think of buying a ticket, no less plan to. But honestly, Joker was worth the hype, the ticket, and the fact that it wasn’t the incel uprising that buttfuck normies tried to make it out as. It’s lower on the list because in thought, there definitely could’ve been some tweaks to the dialogue and a couple scenes that I felt didn’t work in the long run. But really, this movie to me worked because of the escalation that leads to a cathartic climax and ending that left me in actual tears. I don’t give a shit if it “doesn’t fit”, having Frank Sinatra sing the film's credits put me in shambles. Joaquin Phoenix was phenomenal as Arthur, and this movie felt authentic in its many details. This is definitely up there with my favorite comic book films of all time. Good thing, too, Spider-Man was taking up most of that shelf.

7. TUCA & BERTIE

This series being what I can’t help but say is a spin-off to Bojack Horseman, a show I respect, was enough to pull me into watching it. But it being like Bojack where it’s tight-roping between a bouncy comedy and a grounded drama was what kept me around for more. It is a damn shame this was cancelled after one season (while 13 Reasons Why gets FOUR seasons like what the fuck), because while this did feel enough like a complete series, I was certainly interested for more because I really enjoyed it all. I have my issue with a couple choices in the show, but I am sure this series would’ve addressed them later down the line. I can see why some women would find this personally endearing, it felt like the personal stories of actual people, and it deserved better. Either way, I enjoyed this series and I recommend it just as much as Bojack.

6. PRIMAL

Genndy Tartakovsky is that kind of cartoon creator where you feel he’ll go beyond if you give him the right amount of space. He’s not a perfectionist like John “Dirty Diddler” Kricfalusi, but with things like Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack, he certainly has proven to have the range in animation where you know how he plays. Primal showcasing his noted skill in dialogue-less storytelling and dynamic action scenes, able to convey everything clear with its ruthless yet careful protagonist and his dinosaur friend, all on top of the most luscious backgrounds. This is a series that definitely feels like Genndy’s taken what he’s used from his previous works and putting it together for a brutal yet passionate look at the prehistoric life. He truly brought us an adult series to enjoy and to look forward to more in the coming year.

5. SPINEL

Bet you didn’t expect a character to be on this list, eh? Spinel is the best thing to come out of Steven Universe in general; makes me wish she was in a better movie. The crew certainly did their darndest to make her not only an enjoyable and connectable character through and through, but a very versatile character that the fandom could take in any which way. Call it corny, but Spinel perfectly represents SU as a whole: a lovable goof that can certainly mean business but deep down is deserved of a hug because of what she’s gone through. Wish she had a more satisfying resolution in her respective debut, but really it’s the balance between those three elements mentioned that makes Spinel almost eternally wonderful.

4. MOB PSYCHO 100 II

As someone that doesn’t like reading, I’m a firm believer that the best animations or visual medias elevate the writing to a memorable degree; the visuals hook to the point where you want to think about what you saw and how it was conveyed. Mob Psycho 100, for two seasons now, does this in spades where Studio Bones throw them bones in animating one of the most dynamic animes of the modern era, providing the writing and characters a proper chance to flex its muscles. The characters are especially what makes this and MP100 as a whole work so well, the story being about a boy learning to be more sociable as well as emotionally stronger all while helping others understand maturity and empathy. For more on this, I recommend Hiding in Public’s video(s) on Mob. But with the animation, Bones was able to provide a sense of impact and immersion to the moments that matter, not making it an overstimulating mess, and putting some respect on ONE’s webcomic art style.

3. KLAUS

Hands down, this is a great Christmas movie. Take away the animation and you have a charming, wanna say ground and authentic, story about the makings of Santa Claus. With memorable and likable characters, a nice escalation in terms of the plot, and moments that are/can be so satisfying, they can bring you to tears. A couple overdone tropes in the road that doesn’t make this the most perfected story, but those sincerely minor compared to everything else that makes this story the best. Now. Add in the animation, and you have a gold, nay a platinum animated story of the year where the visuals definitely enhance the story to a degree where they’re undoubtedly inseparable. The visuals alone is enough to check this movie out and it’s eye-opening when you learn of how it’s all done. Klaus is a film that did it’s job and then some, and I hope this will be well remembered as a classic holiday film for it deserves that status.

2. BEASTARS

I’ll be fair, I’m mostly referring to the manga and not the anime but since the anime premiered this fall, it counts. Because be it the anime or the series overall, Beastars has such well intricate world building all while offering a little something for everyone (violence, romance, slice of life). The story is well paced and even when we aren’t focusing on the main characters momentarily, Itagaki is surprisingly able to make every supporting/side character we come across memorable in their own way; like I said before, the city is much a character in this story. Oh yeah, and the mangaka is the daughter of Keisuke “Grappler Baki” Itagaki, that in itself is a treasuring bit of trivia for this. Everything about Beastars is enticing and Studio Orange certainly helped in giving this series more of a following.

1. GREEN EGGS & HAM

Well, well, well. Guess Netflix is three for three in terms of bringing its best foot forward among its few steps back each year. The best term to describe this series is surprising. Surprising that this is a Dr. Seuss story that got expanded a 13 episode series, that has fleshed out characters, fun hijinks, an easy story, lovely emotional, more quieter moments... on top of being 2D hand drawn animated. I mean, what else is there to say? Green Eggs and Ham is to Dr. Seuss what Seven was for Final Fantasy, what Friendship is Magic was for MLP, what watermelon was before a nice menthol cigarette. This definitely took the top spot because to me, it was able to bring many good elements from the previous entries and knot it all together into a well kept bow that I never knew I wanted until now. I’m genuinely glad this show got to exist the way it is and I am hoping, praying, that the second season keeps that momentum up.

That leads us to the actual number one which is

1. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUT-

Total Dramarama is now the two time World Heavyweight Champion, babey. Will 2020 give us a quality contender? Will the streak last another year?

Stay tuned, and always seek out the Good Stuff.

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nossbean · 5 years ago

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Top 7 comfort movies

I’m roughly 12 years late to the party but I was tagged by @ajoblotofjunk and @ilikeblue ! Thanks so much!

So confession up front - when looking for comfort stuff I actually tend towards TV! So here’s a mix of comfort media XD Also, like, in which I ramble only semi-coherently about things I love. 😅

1. Singin’ in the Rain

I... have no deep reasons for loving this. I just - I love Cosmo Brown. I love tap dancing. I love the earnestness of this whole flick and the OT3-ness that is just, like, everywhere in this damn movie. The songs are catchy, the dancing is impressive as all get out, it’s a lot of fun. The dorky scenes about enunciation - even if I could do without the sexist overtones to Lena’s storyline. I used to work in TV, so the stuff about where to put the mics was RELATABLE (if... not exactly the same ofc). The cast is attractive. There is 1 space mom (Debbie Reynolds) and 1 space aunt (Cyd Charisse) in it, which tickles me xD

Let’s see, I’ve given random headcanons on Singin’ before, but let’s go with this one. When watching it the first time in my twenties and “Make ‘em Laugh” came on, my pal said with such deep earnest and pained joy, “Cosmo is doing all this just to make Don laugh,” and I think about that every time I watch that sequence.

THE LOVE. it’s eVERYWHERE.

2. Parks and Recreation

Look, I can totally see how Parks & Rec isn’t for everyone. But to me, it’s a half-hour long televisual hug of people doing their best to love each other and make the world better, with helpings of political commentary and utterly absurd comedy. It definitely doesn’t come without caveats and is already dated in some ways, but in a weird way, I appreciate that Schur & Goor have grown in their politics that missteps taken in P&R aren’t repeated in and are often actually rectified in B99 & The Good Place. I deeply, deeply love the relationship between Ben and Leslie, and how hard Leslie loves: people, Pawnee, politics, public service. The families-of-choice vibes are strong in this one and there are few things I am more of a suck for than families-of-choice. I could ramble endlessly on this one, so I’ll cut myself off there.

Anyhoops, I have very many feelings about P&R and if you’ve been wondering whether to watch it but holding back for whatever reason, please DEFINITELY message me and I will share with you my many thoughts on why you should watch, where there might be squicks, and why you should actually start with season 2, episode 21 (yes, even the completionists amongst you).

Bonus gif:

3. Jurassic Park

... I love dinosaurs, and I love Dr Ellie Satler. She is amazing and if there was a gif of her with the triceratops I would have chosen that one. Between her general personality/competency, her unabashed feminism and her face, she remains the best 🥰Also I appreciate that Lex also got to save the day, in a way v specific to her skillset and that the film didn’t dismiss her despite being v scared and way outside her comfort zone in the outdoorsy survival parts of the film.

I also have fond memories of going to see it for my sixth birthday and going to the bathroom when the T-rex eats Gennaro, so not totally understanding why all my pals were terrified when I got back. Ofc I then had fears that a t-rex would stomp and crush our home, but *handwaves* I grew out of that fear. And grew a new one.

4. Avatar: the Last Airbender

Ho-hum. Where to start with Avatar. Lmao, in the context of Game of Thrones (to which it has been ofc compared lately) just having a long-form television show which delivers on the vast majority of its themes and premises is a relief and satisfying. But, I liked Avatar long before I was back in the GOT-verse so. It’s a compelling narrative, carefully constructed and mindful of the stories and values it’s putting out into the world. And those stories, values and themes aren’t light. It tackles war, genocide, familial abuse, revenge, and redemption alongside things like building family, accepting differences, forgiveness, and honesty. That said, it balances those things with children-being-children, and moments of grace and humour. Each character is well-drawn, their personalities and choices respected, and the idea that character-drives-plot is masterfully demonstrated. Hey look - we’ve got some families-of-choice vibes here too!

I think I’ve previously rambled in the tags of a post about Katara specifically. But as someone who has, ah, an appreciation for anger and an awareness that women + anger = bad, societally speaking, Katara was a breath of fresh air. She is as compassionate as she is angry, and while there are philosophical differences between characters when it comes to her acting on her anger, the anger itself is never questioned or denigrated, by other characters or by the narrative itself. Her anger is never used as a tool to invalidate her other characteristics, or the reverse (her compassion, her nurturing side, etc, are never used to invalidate her anger), and she means a lot to me.

Also idk what this is but it came up when I searched Avatar and if I have to see it and be slightly confused and embarrassed then so do you:

5. Pacific Rim

lmao I rambled so much about the past few I’m tempted to just say: I JUST LOVE IT OK. Which is true, but. A bit more. Pacific Rim is like two hours of hope. I think I have in my queue a post that describes the relationship between Mako and Raleigh as two hurt & hardened warriors who nonetheless find softness with each other, and that is 100% true. But that ignores how in many ways, the same is true for Stacker and Mako, and even Stacker and Raleigh to degrees. Stacker’s adoption of Mako is very important. A black man with an East London accent being the most vital person in the movement to save the world is important. The multi-national, scrappy and semi-guerilla response to a weird af global threat, and the related deep humanity in facing the end of the world and hoping against hope that there’s a chance, also deeply resonant.

It’s also stunning: Guillermo del Toro and his colour schemes, y’all. The fight scenes are so GOOD and INTERESTING and just so blatantly done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and loved every minute of it. The idea of the drift and of drift compatibility is lovely: that philosophical belief in the interconnectedness of people. The (somewhat blink-and-you-miss-it) background class commentary (del Toro, icu) 👏.

And, ofc, as with many on this list: the centering of Mako, the dedication to playing out the full emotional arc, of her having complex emotions which are respected and acknowledged by other characters and the narrative... yes please thank you.

6. Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Women being competent and supported is deeply comforting. I’ve particularly found myself rewatching MFMM as the world is on fire. Just - watching Phryne build her family (families of choice!) and her community, get her men, and win the day through cleverness and determination is heartening.

7. The Holiday

I love Kate Winslet’s arc in this. But honestly I think much of my love for this centres on the fact that I saw it when v much longing to move to the UK and it is the most charming/romantic portrayal of Britain and that appealed to 20 y-o K who was so desperate to go. That said, the arc between Iris & Arthur (eg the gif below) makes me cry every time, so there’s that.

As mentioned, I’m v late to this game so I don’t know who’s been tagged! If you haven’t done it yet, please consider yourself tagged & let me know when you’ve done it! (Yes, I definitely do mean you!)

#movie meme #play with me tag #i ran out of steam a bit at the end there oops #gunna add the #long post #tag to this coz i rambled a lot #asjkjklagsa

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xfandomwritingsx · 6 years ago

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Unseen Glances - S3.E1.

gif source unknown

Description: Little snapshots throughout the seasons of yours and Becker’s relationship spanning from the first meeting to the last episode.

Warnings/Labels: Fluff, Lazy Writing, Slow Burn, Annoyingly Not Blurting Out Feelings, Becker Being Becker, Adorableness

Approx. Word Count: 3,000

A/N: So I’ve had this idea for a reader character that fits into the main story line and episodes with Becker as a love interest. I don’t have the time, motivation, or dedication anymore to write it out in full like it probably deserves. HOWEVER! I really wanted to get some of this stuff to you and the easiest way to do it is in little snapshots. Some taking place during episodes, some taking place in between. There will be a little more telling than showing than I like but it is what it is. I hope you enjoy it because there will be more to come!

P.S. Gifs of Becker are scarce, so don’t expect great ones. And I might skip them sometimes if I really can’t find one.

Your name: submit What is this?

The first time you see him he’s walking with Lester through the arc, getting the grand tour. You’re in the main room, reading a couple of papers and catching up on some research when they walk in. You notice them and watch as he looks around the room, calculate but curious.

You had heard people talk about updated security and new protocols, but you hadn’t seen anything to back it up until now. By the looks of him, Lester had apparently hired more military men for backup. Lovely.

“You’ll be dealing with a highly strung and temperamental team of rank amateurs who just happen to be brilliant at what they do,” Lester tells him. You perk your head up and tilt your lips into a small smile when you hear him.

“Well that’s not very nice now, is it?” you pipe up, putting the papers down. “You know you love us.” The sight eye roll Lester does gives you a small bit of satisfaction.

“That’s Y/N, part of the reckless band of fools I just mentioned,” he barely acknowledges you before continuing on with his conversation. “Your job is to stop them from getting themselves killed.” The soldier looks at you and you flash him a smile that was meant to be charming, but combined with Lester’s words probably looked a little more troublemaker-like. “No matter what they say no matter what excuses they use, you and your men stick to them like glue.” You’re about to make another sarcastic comment when he continues. “We can’t afford another Stephen Hart, is that clear?” Lester’s voice lowers just a hair and whatever smartass thing you were going to say dies in your throat and you look back down at your papers. Stephen had been the first real loss on the team, and it still stung everyone a little.

“Crystal clear, sir,” the soldier responds evenly. Lester takes just a moment to recompose himself, less than a second really.

“Good Luck,” he says fleetingly. He walks past the soldier going to leave, but turns around after a moment of thought. “Oh, by the way, Professor Cutter won’t like you and he will go out of his way to make your job as difficult as possible.” You have to smile a little at that as the soldier raises his eyebrows slightly surprised. At least he was nice enough to warn the poor guy. “Try not to take it personally.”

You watch the new addition to the team as he scans the room, taking it all in. You wonder if he knows what he’s gotten himself into and how long he’ll last. A lot of people tend to come and go in this field. They think it’s all fun and dinosaurs until they face one and then suddenly they can’t take it.

“He’s not lying,” you say to him, getting his attention. “Cutter doesn’t take too kindly to the hired help unless he hires them.” His stance never wavers from his military attention stand and a part of you really just wants to push him off balance. He looks way too formal.

“Well my job isn’t to be well liked,” he answers easily. There’s a hint of dry humor hidden behind his serious tone. You like it.

“Then you should fit right in.” You hop off your seat, taking your papers with you. You walk by him, his eyes following you. You smack your papers playfully against his chest as you go. He glances down briefly surprised by your gesture. “Welcome to the team,” you call back at him before exiting the room.

You hadn’t expected much interaction with him. Most of the security just faded into the background, but all throughout the museum and the chase through the city, he surprises you. He takes initiative past just standing around with a gun. He actively asks questions about the creature. He takes charge, but doesn’t get in the way. It’s refreshing. And beyond all that, he actually has a personality.

You had seen him watch Connor break the Sun Cage and listen to Sarah’s story about the curse with an amused look hidden under the laid back and cocky stance. He’d even popped in and added a, “Bad luck” for good measure which made you chuckle. His eyes find you, and smirks along with you when Connor knocks the vase down.

Shortly after that, you find yourself in his passenger seat on the way to meet up with Cutter and Abby. They had wanted you to stay in the museum to start with, but now that you knew what it was and that it was out in the general population, you want to be out there.

He drives quickly, but not irrationally. You suppose with a job description of “keep people alive” it wouldn’t make much sense to get into a wreck. You pick your kit up from the floor where you had stuffed it when you climbed in. Putting it on your lap, you flip open the white lid and do a quick inventory of your supplies, moving to reorganize it to make the items you’re most likely to need easily accessible.

“What is that?” he questions, taking his gaze from the road briefly to watch you.

“It’s my travel kit,” you tell him, still moving your things around. “I’m the resident field medic. Or the closest thing we have to one at least.” You pick up a packet of gauze for him to see. “You wouldn’t want me performing surgery, but I can patch you up pretty good.” He tilts his head, seemingly satisfied with the answer and turns his attention back to the road. “You got thrown right into the fire, didn’t you?” you joke, trying to make some light conversation with him. “Creature incursion on your first day, lucky you.”

“They promised an eventful job. I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get a taste of it from day one.” His voice is even and slightly dry, but the humor is unmistakable.

“Why do I have a feeling I’m going to be patching you up a lot?” You smile lightly at him while closing up your kit. His eyes don’t waver from the road as he smoothly weaves between two cars in your way.

“Why do I have a feeling you’re going to be one I have to pull out of danger’s path a lot?” he counters, a playfulness replacing the irritation the words might have implied.

“Sometimes first impressions are wrong,” you muse, biting your lip to stop the smile. You want to at least pretend he was wrong.

“And sometimes they’re spot on,” he admits, looking over at you once more. You can’t bite back the smile this time and let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, sometimes,” you agree. “How far away are we?”

“Almost there.”

“I’m not bowing,” he says sternly, as if the idea is completely absurd. You suppose it might sound that way to the new folks, but if you were being honest, this wasn’t the weirdest thing you’d done in this line of work. You all start to lower yourself down and you notice that Becker is still standing tall besides you, gun pointed at the limping Pristichampsus.

“Like hell you’re not,” you whisper a little harsher than you intend. Reaching up, you hook your fingers into the waistband of his pants and give him a firm yank. Not expecting it, he gives a small umph noise and while his knees don’t buckle, his torso loses a bit of its steadiness. “Get your ass down here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The sarcasm in his voice coats over either a displeasure or a surprise. You don’t really care which at the moment because it’s getting him to bend his legs and crouch down next to you, gun still held ready to fire if need be. You notice his feet inch forward just enough so that he puts himself out in front of the line. Your hand is no longer in his waistband, but is still resting just above his hip, partly because you’re too afraid to move and startle the animal and partly to help you keep your balance as you crouch on your toes.

The crocodile-like creature creeps forward and watches you all carefully. You can feel everyone in line tense up and lean back just slightly, as if that one extra inch would have saved them should it attack. Everyone except Becker that is. You can feel him tense under your hand, but he is unwavering, finger ready to pull the trigger.

Thankfully he doesn’t have to as the animal slinks back through the anomaly. Everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief before Connor yells out and falls from the boxes onto his back. You have to let out a breathy laugh, one of those laughs that comes when your body isn’t entirely sure of the right reaction, and pat Becker on the back.

As everyone stands, he turns to you and raises his eyebrows with a plain, straight face. You’re not entirely sure if he’s expecting an apology or an explanation for your actions.

“What?” you shrug. “It worked, didn’t it?” The smallest smile tints his lips before he directs his attention elsewhere.

“Let’s get this site secure!”

As you pass the coed locker room on your way home for the day, you notice Becker sitting on the bench with his back towards you, still donning his full uniform and just starting to untie his boots.

“You seem to know what you’re doing,” you say casually as you pop your head in. He looks back at you over his shoulder, eyebrows raised. If you’ve learned anything today, it’s that the soldier seems to communicate most in the subtlest of facial expressions.

“Well that is my job,” he answers, his voice smooth. He swivels himself around to straddle the bench so he can see you. You cross your arms and lean on the doorframe of the room. His shoulders relax a bit. “I’m not here to cause you trouble.” It was no secret that no one on the team had an issue with him personally, but were overall weary of someone who’s job was to follow their every move. It posed the potential for a lot of problems and red tape none of you wanted. “I’m just here to make sure you’re safe.”

You study him for a moment and he allows you to. He sits there, spine straight and face neutral, but intrigued. He’s military to a tee. He’s all straight lines and clean shaven, well-groomed hair you just want to run your hands through if for no other reason than to mess it up and see what he’d do about it. His build, his muscle, the way he keeps his gun nearby; everything says serious and straightforward. Yet there’s something soft about him somehow. His voice is kind and warming, practically charming. There’s honesty blatantly carved into his eyes. You nod your head slowly.

“I believe you,” you tell him truthfully. His head bows just slightly in appreciation. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to listen to you.” His lips cock up in a small smirk and he blinks away from you. “I trust Cutter with my life. I trust him to do the right thing and make sure the world doesn’t go to hell. So it doesn’t matter that I think your intentions are good or that you’re honorable or attractive.” You ignore the way he raises a single eyebrow at you when you say that. It wasn’t the point of the conversation. “If Cutter tells me to do something, I’m going to do it. Whether you like it or not.”

“I got that impression,” he says, obviously referring back to the bowing incident. “And I honestly wouldn’t expect anything different,” he admits, giving you a look of slight admiration. You’re a little relieved he’s not angry at you for it. “You all have a true loyalty to him. It’s something a lot of people don’t have nowadays.” He pauses for just a moment before adding, “I’m still going to do my job too.” You smile lightly.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else, Captain.” You push yourself off the door frame and stretch yourself out a little. “See you tomorrow, Becker.”

“Yes, ma’am.” You turn to leave, not noticing the way he watches you and doorway after you’re gone.

#Captain Becker #captain becker imagine #Hilary Becker #primeval #primeval imagine

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years ago

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DuckTales 2017 - “The Ballad of Duke Baloney!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Colleen Evanson

Storyboarded by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Mike Morris, Sam King

Directed by: Jason Zurek

Not full of balogna.

Here’s an interesting way to start this "ballad": begin with a scene from the season finale that didn't really have a conclusion. I just saw as a good way to include a beloved villain in a montage filled with cameos from previous episodes. There was clearly more to this story, but it wasn't important compared to the whole "sorceress just took over the entire town" plot.

In particular, Glomgold’s shadow ends up throwing him into the ocean. As he shouts “curse you, me”, he ends up nearly drowning, only to be saved by some fishers.

Specifically, he wakes up to find himself caught in a net. Glomgold reacts as well as one would expect, telling these fishermen to get their hands off of him. Turns out, that's not the right word to say.

Lady: Whoa, fisherperson?

The "gag" with her is that she wants everything to be more socially conscious, though I'm not sure if this is supposed to be one. Their names, from left to right, are Fisher and Mann, something Fisher point out almost immediately to defend this stranger's wrong word. Glomgold isn't having it, and asks them if they knows who he is. They don't, as they're simple fisherpeople. He tries to exclaim in a dramatic way, until he realizes...

...even he doesn’t know. Yes, this episode starts with that cliche where someone loses all of his memories after a bump in the head, or a bunch of water going through it in this case. However, they use this as an excuse.

After the theme song, we cut to a report showing what exactly happened between Glomgold’s disappearance and now. A new CEO just barged into Glomgold’s absence, as she literally pushes away his silhouette to reveal herself. Her name is Zan Owlson. I swear, I misheard it as Van Owlsing, and that still made sense. Glomgold is practically a vampire compared to her.

Even the newsreporter decides to tell the viewers that this new CEO is not insane. We get a small bio of her past: she was the top of her class, and she ran a charity called Change for Chicks! No, Johnny Bravo, she means literal chicks. Unlike her predecessor, she cuts a lot of funding dedicated to revenge and sharks. Even moreso unlike her predecessor, she is completely open to make deals with long-time rival company McDuck Enterprises, as we see her shake hands with its CEO.

In other words, she’s exactly the opposite of Glomgold in every way, as enhanced by the news cutting to a Simpsons-esque file photo gag of him eating shrimp in an unflattering manner at a charity auction. Maybe the one from The Golden Lagoon from Agony Plains?

It’s also shown by the old Glomgold logo being replaced by a treasure chest filled with a bunch of people. She doesn’t even include herself in this, definitely not something Glomgold would do.

Zan Owlson: At Glomgold Industries, our community is the greatest treasure of all.

She even makes an outright reference to the Glomgold motto that Glomgold just made up to get those henchmen he hired to like him in Woo-oo. What happened to those guys?

We cut from the newsreport, which we barely get back to, to a fisherperson's wharf, where Louie and Webby are planning on going fishing. While it’s a day in the limelight episode for Glomgold, that doesn’t mean we don’t get to see the nephews and honorary niece.

Webby is all about hunting fish in a more barbaric way with a stick, while Louie just wants to fish with a fishing rod. Louie is more of the straight man here, though they seem to swap back and forth between scenes depending on one's viewpoint. They do realize that they forgot one thing that would help them immensely, and there happens to be someone with a South African accent.

While his beard was dyed by several unfortunate squid ink-related accidents and his accent has changed, it’s clearly the duck that attempted to kill them and their uncle several times over. They react very similarly to Bart and Lisa Simpson reacting to Sideshow Bob, but this bearded guy has no idea who this Glomgold guy is.

He rechristened himself “Duke Baloney”, just like the humble sandwich meat, in his words. This does not go well with Louie, who already makes the obvious quip about his name. Webby has to take him aside to talk about this.

Webby and Louie get into their conflict, though for Webby, it's a little less defined and more just "she doesn't agree with Louie's idea". Louie thinks this is all just an act, and he even says he should know because it takes a con artist to know one. Webby, on the other hand, thinks that he really is suffering from this and needs to go back to his old self. Either that, or maybe this is Glomgold turning into a good person like a reverse werewolf, her reasoning changes throughout the episode.

They do humor the idea that maybe this guy is just a different person altogether, but then he gets caught in his own rope trap.

Duke Baloney: Curse you, rope!

Louie & Webby: It’s him.

This is a slight hint that this will probably not be permanent. That would be an odd way to write off a huge arch-nemesis!

Glomgold invites them over to what I now realize is the closest TV-Y7-FV equivalent to a bar, offering them a bucket of fish heads, to Louie's disapproval. I’m sure real ducks eat a lot worse than that.

Webby tries to show off a Missing poster with Glomgold on it that also seems to function as a wanted poster due to tax evasion! Oh, how unrealistic, everyone knows rich people always get away with that. Unfortunately, all this gets is scorn from Baloney’s fellow crewmates for even suggesting he’s related to that tyrant. This is a "bully-free zone" according to that one fisherperson, after all. That's pretty much it for the socially conscious aspect of her character.

Even Louie joins in on this chants along with everyone else. Sure, he was totally against the guy, but the boy just wants his free Pep! However, Webby notices the money happens to have a very fancy money clip. They decide to stay back to investigate this from afar.

A general theme that pops up in this episode is that Duke Baloney may have amnesia, but his inner Glomgold continues to show more and more. This especially comes in once we see a McDuck Enterprise company get involved. While this doesn't entirely revive his memory, he does get a sudden dislike for "that boat."

This is especially shown with disagreements with his fellow crewmembers. The crewmembers are okay with being #2, However, considering #1 is owned the richest duck in the world, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to fight a battle they can't win. Duke Baloney, on the other hand, doesn't see that as impossible.

One clever bit is that he does the cliche “look at me, I’m a pretty lady and not a trap” gag, and realizes he could get more fish if he did something for the ladies, too. He never does realize that, if this plan did work, he would get some really messy fish guts. All in all, aside from the dynamite, he just seems like this misunderstood guy who’s down on his luck.

At least, that's what Webby thinks. Louie accuses her of being naive about this, as that’s what she assumed when she was a humble deliveryman and a humble pastry chef. Yeah, Louie, you invited him to a party, if I remember correctly.

While looking at Baloney trying to convince his fellow co-fisherpeople to do a plan that is oddly similar to that Scottish guy. Webby & Louie, continuing to spy on this kind fellow to confirm their different suspicions. Louie says that he's going to be thrown in a pit full of sharks with bombs strapped on to them. Webby says that's ridiculous...

...and we immediately cut to Duke Baloney's plan to get fish, which just happened to get to the part involving sharks with bombs strapped onto them. They don't have womp womp music, they're not that blatant most of the time.

This whole scene is funny, though; it's just like that scene from The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks where Glomgold details his plan with similar drawing. Speaking of plots that weren't resolved in the episode that could use a continuation...that one. Louie and Webby still can't see what any of this could prove, so Webby has an idea that Louie is not a big fan of: record investigation!

Granted, Louie getting hit in the face probably didn't help in any way. I like how the next scene shows Louie walking into Webby’s investigation room. See, anything can have a consequence, even slight gags like that one.

She gets out her board, with a drawing of the moneyclip, a picture of Glomgold, and a picture of Duke Baloney, and...nothing else. She couldn't find anything. Not only is there no record of Duke Baloney, there’s no record of Flintheart Glomgold before he came to America.

In order to find more information and possibly either reveal Glomgold's evil plan or bring Glomgold back to normal, they decide to do a plan involving a certain rich duck. If one can ask why would they want to bring Glomgold back to his former self to terrorize the McDucks, just wait.

Meanwhile, in Duke Baloney’s dreams, we see a bizarre sequence full of odd imagery. Some of it is obviously referencing what will happen in the future, some of which possibly not even in this episode. One of the big ones that isn’t addressed again is that shot on the bottom left. Everyone knows Glomgold is evil, but…is there a more spiritual reason we don’t know about?

That’s not the only unanswered question, either. The shortest description I could say is that he constantly gets a message from what looks like his younger self that the boiler room is out, who slowly turns into Zan Owlson. No connection is made to how Glomgold would be familiar enough with the new CEO to have her appear in his dreams, since all of this happened after he got amnesia.

While most of this dream sequence's symbolism is subtle, there is one line that just whacks you right in the head.

Duke Baloney: This GOLD! It’s GLOOMING onto me!

Yeah, that’s pretty forced. It's at the end of the dream sequence, they may have felt that they needed something blatant at the end to make him wake up.

He wakes up, and his final reaction to all of this? To essentially tell himself to "never mind all that." Hey, it’s not like those dreams mean anything, anyway!

While Duke Baloney is getting welcomed into the family of fisherpeople and telling himself that nothing can possibly ruin this day, in comes Scrooge McDuck. He was invited by Webby and Louie the to talk it out to see what's really going on.

We don't get to hear their conversations, and neither do Louie and Webby, so Webby tries to read their lips. Of course, she does it in a way that makes it seem like she was right all along, even making them say "oh, that Webby was correct all along, huh? I wish I was his housekeeper's granddaughter!" However, while she may be able to read lips, the next move shocks both her and Louie. They look like they're going to fight...

...and then they hug it out. After all the time of Webby seemingly succeeding at everything she does throughout Season 1, it’s a little refreshing to see her actually be wrong for a change. Nobody’s perfect...I learned that with the last episode. Scrooge tells them he's far happier this way, and they should just let him be Duke Baloney.

Webby and Louie accept this, and decide to go back to their initial plan of fishing. However, a storm is brewing.

Duke Baloney, who somehow has that missing/wanted poster, decides that even if he was this Glomgold fellow, he wants his life at the sea. He throws the paper, but it hits him right in the face, symbolically proving that any kind of face turn with him is ultimately futile.

The storm starts happening, and Baloney sees Webby and Louie in trouble. Being the hero that he is now, he tries to. However, he gets hit by, and ends up nearly drowning in the same way he did in the beginning of the episode.

We get another scene from Baloney’s subconscious, but this time we get an outright memory rather than symbolism. In particular: this one is right from one of Baloney’s repressed memories. I decided that outright spoiling it wouldn’t add anything to the review, but the best hint I could give is that I really do mean Baloney’s repressed memories. That shot from the dream I had on the top right is a pretty good hint of foreshadowing this, too.

I will say this: the first thing I did after watching this episode was look up whether or not any of this had any basis in the original comics. The simple answer is not really. While Scrooge first meets Glomgold in South Africa, Glomgold was already grown-up and clearly evil from day one. This flashback adds another dimension to that entirely.

There is one important-to-the-plot takeaway from this, a literal one, I might add, but I’ll talk about it later.

Everyone’s cheering him on to save the kids, and it appears that maybe, just maybe...no, of course not. What did you think was going to happen? No, he made his decision. He says it in such an epic way, that I decided to make this a GIF. A really small GIF to fit Tumblr's restrictions, but I had to keep that animation as smooth as it was.

Duke, er, Flintheart Glomgold: (in his usual Scottish accent) Because I'm Flintheart Glomgold...and I always will be! Ha ha ha ha ha!

I know I implied that I didn't want to spoil, but this scene is just so amazing. It's a lot smoother, they needed to animate it on the ones. It's an impressive sight seeing him laugh with all that lightning behind him.

I did give him a little bit of a That seems to work in his favor, as he happened to have his a spare grey beard in this pocket this whole time. It makes more sense when you watch the episode, trust me.

We somehow fade to him being surrounded by his crewmembers and their friends under very calm weather. This is the one scene transition that doesn't really add up to me. Was the storm in his head the whole time? These former crewmembers only accuse Glomgold of stealing from children rather than attempted murder, which seems to go with that theory.

One thing's for sure: Duke Baloney has left the building, and now it’s Glomgold’s time forever. He starts a Glomgold chant that even he expects no one will join in, as he dives into the water.

This chant continues with him going into his formerly owned organization, where Scrooge was talking with Zan Owlson about how using nickels would save more money than dimes.

Scrooge and Glomgold making a big deal, mostly due to Glomgold still having an all-important money clip, referenced. Yeah, Scrooge treats it like it’s this big deal, suggesting there’s something more to it than just gold. Honestly, considering the Number One Dime twist in The Shadow war, it could be anything at this point.

Also, I am so glad they apparently didn’t decide to push the reset button to prevent any potential plots with Van Owlson, since she barely did anything in this episode other than show her apparent benevolence. Quite a few plot points to this new story arc...at least, I hope it’s a new story arc. I have no reason to believe it’s not.

Oh yeah, and no Dewey in the episode for the first time ever. Not even a mention. How weird!

How does it stack up?

Despite only having an A plot, it is indeed an A plot this time. I can’t wait to see what happens next with this future plot this time. There's some very interesting twists to the classic Glomgold character, and I’d say it could pay off in the future. No bologna here, that’s for sure.

Next, America may not be getting their cartoon, but they will be getting their DuckTales 2017 appearance!

← The Depths of Cousin Fethry! 🦆 The Town Where Everyone Was Nice! →

#fpb dt 2017 #ducktales 2017 #fpb reviews #ducktales #disney

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me-uglypretty · 2 years ago

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okay so hear me out now, input runaway anon broke their word and binge watched the last five episodes of season 1… aka another long one, sorry

(IT GOT SO FUCKING GOOD THAT THE SUSPENSE WAS KILLING ME, I HAD THE TIME TO WATCH THEM ALL SO I DID AND I’M SO GLAD I DID CAUSE SO MUCH WENT DOWN)

since i binge watched them all here are a collection of my thoughts of the last half of the season:

((i definitely don’t do a thing where i have a file in my notes app dedicated to all of my silly little thoughts when i watch anything, no not at all))

• first and foremost, karolina and nico getting ready for the gala *screams* then gert getting the hint between the two?! it’s like a triple love triangle cause there’s alex-nico-karolina, nico-karolina-chase, karolina-chase-gert (also, i like to think that gert’s definitely not straight but is totally into chase) ((but also the way everyone’s so accepting of everything is so nice it’s making me cry tears of happiness, like ah yes fuck heteronormativity! oh if such things were like this irl *big sigh as i stare off into the distance))

• not all the family secrets coming out though, so many affairs man, like there’s this thing called communication? y’all should really try it sometime

• the parent drama is really off the charts, i’m so speechless, there’s the dean’s and jonah situation which i feel is just getting started, but the whole stein and minoru affair is whack OOP SPOKE TO SOON IT’S MORE WHACK i’m guessing that the serum that jonah gave victor wore off which made him a jerk again to chase BUT THEN JANET JUST SHOT HIM?! IN FRONT OF HER SON?!?! i get the whole child comes first and victor was totally out of line, but wow i am truly speechless

[now a brief intermission about deanoru] can we also talk about how raspy karolina’s voice is and how deep nico’s is cause wow, i’m a different type of speechless now *heart eyes* [back to our regularly scheduled inputs]

• but i also really love molly’s relationship with nico and karolina too, and how in general both nico and karolina genuinely care for everyone in the group, they are literally people i’d want as my friends

• ANOTHER BUT, it was so sad when alex revealed everything to nico and she admitted how she’s felt/been feeling, like this whole little arc between them is such a good little side plot

okay i’m dead ass laughing, i only have one input from episode 8 and it’s “not molly not knowing what a vhs tape is, i’m dead” i’m guessing i was really into that episode since there’s not a lot of inputs lol

and episode 9 had some of the best lines:

• “i always saw you” chase to gert OMFG HES SO SMOOTH WTH

• nico: “i’m gonna go look.”

alex: “want some company?”

nico: “sure.”

nico: “karolina, you wanna come?”

karolina: *nods* mhmm

THEN THEY GO AND KAROLINA KISS NICO AND HSKSLDHKSJXK THEY KISSED IM SCREAMING WHY ARE THEY SO CUTE AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LAST EPISODE WOOOOOOO

• i fuck’n knew jonah d-worded amy, and to know that leslie knew and was also apart of the molly’s parents too? UGH but i love how the parents are like reforming their own group because they love their kids above all else (((except for frank, fuck him for right now, that was a plot twist i wasn’t expecting but also am not slightly surprised about he just seems like the type of guy who’d do that)))

• OLD LACE APPRECIATION ugh i just really love dinosaurs and i can’t wait to see what’s to come

• BUT I AM ALSO SO MAD THAT SOMEONE (jonah?) FRAMED THE KIDS FOR DESTINY’S DWORD AND ARE MAKING IT SEEM LIKE THEY KIDNAPPED MOLLY TOO ARGHARGHARGHARGH

and last but not least, the last thing i’d like to note is nonetheless DEANORU

• THAT LAST KISS THAT NICO INITIATES HAS ME MELTING WITH SO MUCH YEARNING AND LIKE NICO’S LITTLE HEAD NOD FOR KAROLINA TO FOLLOW HER EEEEEEHHHHHH OMFG AND I ALMOST FORGOT BUT HOW NICO IS THE BIG SPOON GSKALDNSKJDKSJSLSLSJ

i’d really like to thank you for suggesting this show and your time in interacting with me, i really truly do appreciate <3

~ input runaway anon

THE WAY GERT WAS LIKE UHHHH SOMETHING LGBT JUST HAPPENED. And yes! I LOVE HOW EVERYTHING FELT SO NORMAL??? I love the no coming out story but oh you like her?? Ok anyway-

BUT THE PART WHERE THEY ASSUMED THEIR MOTHERS WERE HAVING AFFAIR LIKE I GASPED AND WENT MAKE IT HAPPEN YOU COWARDS (and the actors are so cool too, they’re amazing with the whole thing). Victor is a shit father and deserved what he got. JANET DID NOTHING WRONG!!!

I like to think that Karolina and Nico are the parents, messy but protective and better than their own parents.

AND THAT SCENE. I would be so embarrassed if someone I liked just straight up ask someone else to follow them like I didn’t ask them first??? BESTIE I WOULD CRY. (But also ha! karma bitch)

Seriously, I learned to not trust any one of the parents cause wtf ya’ll always hiding something and doing something really fucked up. BUT THAT FINAL EPISODE!! ((But is that enough???? HMMM????)) (((and they framed their own kids tho like wtf)))

DEANORU OWNS A PART OF MY HEART. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SOMETHING AS SOFT AS THEM BEFORE THE SHOW LIKE THAT WAS THE BEST. It’s everything we deserve. Plus when they kiss and it’s all gay glowing???? GIVE ME THAT.

OLD LACE MUST BE PROTECTED. I LOVE OLD LACE. THAT'S MY BABY.

Input runaway anon, this is all so wholesome and I appreciate you watching the show then screaming about it with me. It is needed and I love every one of it!! ALSO DID YOU GET REST???HOW DID YOU WATCH EVERYTHING LIKE SLEEP??? PLEASE GET ENOUGH REST and I can't wait for the next season inputs!!! It's gonna be heart hurting and gay.

#me-uglypretty answers #input runaway anon

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caseymalone · 7 years ago

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Top 10 Games 2017

Here are my top 10 games for 2017! Minor spoilers for a few of them, but nothing major. You’ve been warned!

10. Resident Evil 7: BioHazard

There have been 27 Resident Evil games, including remakes, remasters, 3DS releases but excluding pachinko machines and Tiger Electronics handhelds. Of those near thirty games, Resident Evil 7 brings the total I’ve enjoyed to… two. I guess this is my way of saying that between being a huge scaredy cat and irked by the stuffy, smothering control scheme of the originals, there’s no nostalgia weighing me down whenever Capcom reinvents Resident Evil, first with Resident Evil 4, now again with 7.

But where Resident Evil 4 took the fantasy of being a special agent in a world full of monsters further than ever before, Resident Evil 7 drops it completely. In it, I’m a wimp, a nerd with a camera at the whims of this family of maniacs, trapped on their grounds by a drive to find my wife, who is changing into… something. Capcom smothers me with a pervasive sense of helplessness playing RE7, forcing me into a desperate scramble to escape the unstoppable Daddy (side note: “The Unstoppable Daddy” was my nickname in college). Filling me with absolute dread when the disgusting creature Marguerite becomes clambers through holes and onto walls. And forcing me to freeze up and take a deep breath at the sinking realization that my next goal is all the way across the grounds.with god knows what between me and it. Even the change to a first-person view means your helpless doesn’t stop at your ability to fight - you don’t even know what’s around you. Resident Evil 7 left me terrified and anxious throughout, which is saying something since played it on Easy.

9. Gorogoa

It’s now an annual event that, despite a perception that Adventure Games are dead, someone releases a labor of love whose beauty and finesse showcase the best the genre has to offer. Gorogoa asks you to interact in the simplest terms - zoom in and out, or drag and drop. What makes Gorogoa special is that when I do those things, it feels like I’ve changed fundamental ways that I think. My perspective on the world has shifted about ten degrees to the left and all the rules are new. That combined with hand-drawn visuals, stark sound design and desolate narrative made Gorogoa a brief yet crucial experience for anyone looking to see games as more than loot-box dispensers.

8. Star Wars: Force Arena

Oops, speaking of Loot Boxes. Well, card packs? Is there a difference? Where have we come down on this? The conversation around gaming in 2017 has been dominated by a debate about the ethics of selling random pulls at cards, skins, characters, horses, buggies, whatever, and I’m going to level with all of you - my perspective is skewed. I make mobile free-to-play games, which use this mechanic, and I’ve been playing collectible card games since the Revised core set for Magic: The Gathering came out in 1994. So one way to look at my opinion is that I don’t have a problem with this way of selling people games, and a much less charitable one is that I’m fully indoctrinated. Either way, being able to get emotionally side-step this entire debate has lent me the clarity of mind to tell you all that Star Wars: Force Arena is good as hell.

Force Arena is the real-time, head-to-head gameplay of Clash Royale, but with direct control of a Hero, MOBA-style, then Star Wars’ed all the way up. Every system is implemented in a smartly and cleanly, facilitating my ability to get into the game and getting out of my so I can let people know my Han Solo deck is not to be flexed with. The whole thing is catnip for Ol’ Maloney over here, and I am straight rolling.

7. Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Legends of the Alliance

Is spaghetti a sandwich? Is Chewbacca a dog? Is Matt Kessler a mongoose? Is Legends of the Alliance, an app for Star Wars: Imperial Assault, a video game with physical components or a board game with a digital accessory? The line between board games and video games is get blurrier, as outstanding digital components have begun to take the place of cumbersome bookkeeping, or allow designers to add elements that would be impossible to achieve otherwise. Or, in the case of Legends of the Alliance, replacing the Imperial Player entirely.

Traditionally played as a team of rebels against a monolithic Imperial player, Legends of the Alliance turns Imperial Assault into a fully cooperative experience, running the campaign as a virtual dungeon master, setting up your next level and directing Imperial enemies to attack your heroes. But more than simply emulating a now missing player, Legends of the Alliance takes this chance to add something to the experience.

Without the app you bounce from one XCOM-esque tactical mission to the next, but now… now you go on non-combat missions. You make friends in the world. You feel a real sense of betrayal when you learn not all the Rebels are working for the greater good, and you deal with the emotional aftermath with other characters when the Empire manages to grind you under their heel. These things weren’t in the box of plastic and cards I bought years back - they were exclusively part of Legends of the Alliance, and creating new memories and experience while justifying asking you to bring your laptop to your tabletop.

6. Horizon Zero Dawn

There’s a vital sincerity to Horizon Zero Dawn. After borrowing mechanics liberally from Far Cry/Assassin’s Creed, adding giant robot dinosaurs, and then putting the voice actress behind Borderlands 2’s (in my opinion, brutally irritating) Tiny Tina front and center, it would have been so easy for Guerrilla Games to smarmy one-liner their way through this post-post-apocalypse adventure. Instead they cast that all aside to carefully bring you into a world without even a hint of irony.

At the center of the game is Ashly Burch’s Aloy, full of wounded confidence and strength tinged with kindness, a performance so natural yet thoughtful that Aloy stands above any other character in games this year. That sincerity doesn’t make Horizon a serious or grim affair - there’s jokes, and boy howdy is there a lot of flirting - but it serves to draw the player into the world, rather than establish a safe ironic distance from which both the player and the game can remain “cool.” Every choice shows that Guerrilla Games truly wants me to care about Aloy and the world of Horizon. It turns out I do.

5. HQ

For me, 2017 was a year of shared gaming experiences. I’ll get to the other two big ones below, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this nightmare of a Black Mirror episode, this scheduled dose of Quiz Daddy Scott Rogowski, this twice daily car crash with a cash payout, HQ.

For months at 3 PM, I’d jump into Discord with my friends and join in the collective hypnosis of a new game of HQ. We were beyond captivated. We had a million questions - who is Scott? Why does he vamp with the intensity of someone hosting at gunpoint? Where is he broadcasting this from? And when he’s not there, where the hell is Scott? Who is this rando who claims to be ‘Scott’s Boy’? How does the player count keep growing, and how does this thing make money? It was a mystery wrapped in tech startup poppiness and a screaming man in a suit, and we wanted to know everything about it.

Like any mystery, as we’ve learned more about Scott and HQ, our interest has waned and my friends have fallen off the Trivia Train. But for months, once a day we’d simultaneously drop everything and delve into it. Something nothing else in games or television has gotten us to do for years. Also, uh...

…

I’m playing a game called HQ Trivia. You should play too. Use my code “caseymalone” to sign up.

4. Super Mario Odyssey

In late October 2017, was there anything I needed more than some unabashed joy? A full-on celebration of bright colors, silly characters and bizarre hats? Super Mario Odyssey would be an incredible game at any time in history, but the timing of its release felt like more than just a game; it felt like a balm. A warm weighted blanket sewn from my old t-shirts, taking nostalgia and making it into something new, something calling me to come back and crawl under it all day, every day. A game that rewarded me for just being in the world, asking me to challenge myself at your own pace, issuing pats on the head and individually wrapped chocolates as a reward for just wandering around and doing my thing. 2017 was a year where Nintendo was dedicated to challenging what people expect from them with their hardware, their mobile ports, and another of their major franchises. When it came to Mario, though, Nintendo clearly just wanted to make people happy. And I’m so, so grateful for that.

3. Destiny 2 & 2. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

Destiny and Battlegrounds seem like pretty starkly different experiences, but what I got out of them in 2017 was the same - time with some of my best friends. Friends who live in Los Angeles, New York, New Jersey, England, San Francisco; people I never get to see, people I don’t even get to talk to that often. But those friendships got actually stronger this year through these games.

That wouldn’t be possible if the underlying games weren’t outstanding - Destiny 2’s shooting feels incredible, and its endless list of chores made sure there was always a mission for me to suck friends into, or a goal for me to help them out with. There aren’t (currently) many Strikes for us to go on, but honestly that helped - when you know all the beats, a zen-like state takes over and you can enjoy the lock-on and kickback of hand cannons without worry. All the while catching up, making goofs, or ranting about the state of the world without the game getting in the way.

Destiny 2’s not perfect - a lot of the changes made from Destiny to Destiny 2 to make it smoother and more welcoming turned solo play into a dull shade of its predecessor. But as a part of a Strike Team, Destiny 2 hums with efficiency, getting out of my way and letting me and my friends have fun.

And it would be second to none this year if wasn’t for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Battlegrounds is insane, it’s a fun-time mess-around machine paired with an intensely hardcore military shooter, a game that’s thirty minutes of a goofy chatroom capped off with two minutes of a game-ending firefight. Except for when that fire-fight lasts for twenty minutes and it’s the most intense experience of my life. I’ve had as much fun losing PUBG as I’ve had winning (the few times I’ve managed to snag a chicken dinner), and I’ve had even more fun when I die and get to stay in voice-chat to cheer on the rest of my squad, spectating through to the end.

While I don’t get much out of watching strangers stream on Twitch, I’ve been lucky that enough of my friends stream this game, for a while on an almost daily basis, that I had just as much fun watching them as actually playing it. I laughed so hard when friends would get motorcycles trapped in a tree, cheered when they’d have from-behind victories, and feel heartbreak when the squad’s last hope would get shotgunned from behind after escaping tough spot after tough spot. Somehow all these feelings were just as strong as when I was behind the controls myself. There’s magic in this game, which boggles the mind, because with its bugs and frankly generic style, it could not possibly look less magical.

I cannot fucking believe I’m typing this but it turns out the real game of the year was the friends I made along the way.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Just kidding, game of the year is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I always have less to say when I get to the top item on my list because what could I possibly say about Breath of the Wild that hasn’t been covered already? Nintendo stripped so much out of the Zelda series that honestly when I started playing it, I felt uncomfortable and exposed - what do you mean my weapons break? Wait, I don’t have to buy bombs, I just HAVE them? When are the DUNGEONS going to show up, what are these shines? I don’t like this at all. But as I bristled against those, I was slowly filling with wonder. Every canyon I walked out of, every corner I turned, every hole I climbed out of revealed a field with towns and caverns, or small forests full of unknown treasures and monsters.

Lots of games do open worlds, but where Skyrim feels like I could get lost in it, the Hyrule of Breath of the Wild feels like I am conquering it. In Skyrim I feel like I’m exploring the map - in Breath of the Wild, I’m making it.

I remember so clearly, late at night, climbing to the top of a bridge that crosses Lake Hylia. I don’t know why I was there, or what I thought might be at the top of the tower, but Nintendo put it there, so maybe. Maybe there was something. I climbed to the top and there wasn’t anything for me to take, but as I looked over towards the horizon, Hyrule stretched on forever. I felt overwhelmed with the possibility of disappointment - that I would feel the need to climb it all, that there wouldn’t be a thing for me at the top of most of those towers, under those rocks. And as I thought about that the music changed. From the water of the lake emerged Farosh, the lightning dragon, soaring, completely oblivious to me. He was beautiful, powerful, made me forget about any of my goals or collectibles and forced me to take in his majesty. Forced me to realize there were no rupees or arrows up there because this moment was my reward. And that there would be moments like this all throughout Hyrule. I just needed to go looking for them.

Near Misses: Injustice 2, Everybody’s Golf, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years ago

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A Town Called Mercy - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Toby Whithouse writing a Western episode? Now this should be exciting!

...

Pity it isn’t.

Okay, that’s not entirely fair. It’s not a bad premise and the first half of A Town Called Mercy is actually pretty good for the most part. A cyborg gunslinger is threatening the nearby town of Mercy, refusing to let anyone out unless they hand over an alien doctor called Kahler-Jex. It’s a great setup and there’s a lot to love. Mercy itself looks incredible. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Westerns, and this captures the best of the genre. The mysterious stranger that walks into town, the dark antihero out for revenge, but has a kind heart underneath, the morbid undertaker, the noble sheriff trying to keep the peace, it’s all there. Not even Matt Smith’s childish goofiness could ruin it for me. I also love the Gunslinger. He’s a sympathetic character and the makeup design is brilliant. One of the best ‘monster’ designs I’ve ever seen in this show. Ben Browder was good as the sheriff Isaac and I did initially like the character of Jex, played by Adrian Scarborough (Look @furrychimp, it’s Mr. Jolly from Psychoville! XD).

Then comes the moral dilemma, which starts off so promisingly. Turns out Jex, the nice, cuddly alien doctor who gave Mercy electricity and heating and a cure for cholera, is actually a war criminal. The man responsible for performing brutal experiments on his own people in order to win a war, and the Gunslinger is in fact one of his victims out for revenge. Awkward.

There’s a lot of potential there, isn’t there? Much more interesting and complex than the Daleks wanting to take over the Earth for the ten billionth time. Unfortunately this is all undermined by Whithouse apparently not trusting the audience to understand this dilemma for themselves. A lot of this episode seems to consist of Jex blatantly spelling out for us in black and white either things we already know or things we could have worked out for ourselves.

“It would be so much simpler if I was just one thing, wouldn't it? The mad scientist who made that killing machine, or the physician who's dedicated his life to serving this town. The fact that I'm both bewilders you."

Yeah. Thanks for that. Perhaps you should go on Mastermind. Name: Kahler-Jex. Specialist Subject: The Fucking Obvious.

Sitting the audience down like we’re fucking idiots and explaining all the moral quandaries to us just lessens the impact of it. It’s annoying. For instance, it’s possible to draw comparisons between Jex’s actions and the Doctor’s in the Time War. It’s a nice subtle thing that makes the Doctor’s behaviour that much more impactful and the conflict much more interesting. Or at least it could have been if Jex didn’t draw attention to it with his clunky and cliched ‘looking at you is like looking into a mirror’ line. How about crediting the audience with some intelligence?

So the Doctor gets pissed off and chucks Jex over the line before pointing a gun at him. And like with Solomon’s death in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, people for some reason have a problem with this. Okay, time out for a minute. Have any of you lot ever actually watched Doctor Who before? I don’t know where you’ve got this idea that the Doctor is a gun fearing pacifist from, but it’s grade A bollocks. The Doctor has done violent things before. The Doctor has even used a gun before. Okay, he only resorts to those actions if there’s no other choice and will always try to find a peaceful solution if he can, but he’s never been above getting his hands dirty. For some strange reason, over time people have taken this from a man who only resorts to violence when he has no other choice to a man who NEVER resorts to violence EVER.

The thing is it’s one thing for the fans to hold this blatantly incorrect opinion that the Doctor is a pacifist, but it’s another thing entirely when the writers start buying into that bullshit too. First there’s Amy who asks “since when did killing someone become an option?”, which is just a profoundly odd thing to ask. What, did the millions of Cybermen that the Doctor killed in A Good Man Goes To War in order to find her not count? What about all the Silence who died in Day Of The Moon? What about Solomon in the previous episode? That’s quite a selective memory you’ve got there Amy. And then later on during the mandatory lynch mob scene, we get the Doctor dropping the clunker that ‘violence doesn’t end violence’, which is just beyond moronic. Look, no sane minded person wants to resort to violence. Nobody wants to go to war or fight people deep down. Of course we should always try to find a peaceful solution and diplomacy is great when it works, but sometimes that’s just not an option. We sometimes have to resort to violence in order to defend ourselves or for the greater good. It’s not ideal, but that’s the reality of life. I’m not saying the Doctor needs to be a violent antihero or anything. What I am saying is that both the writers and the fans need to stop over simplifying the Doctor’s character and the conflicts he encounters to such an idiotic degree.

So back to what I was saying, the Doctor points a gun at Jex, which I have no problem with by the way and neither should you (besides the Doctor reels it back in when he says he genuinely doesn’t know if he could pull the trigger, so it’s still very much in character thank you very much), and Amy starts to scold him for his behaviour. On the surface this seems to be a powerful character moment for Amy, but if you look closely it actually doesn’t work at all. See the Doctor raises a very good point, saying he wants to honour the victims first and that he agonises over the people who have died because of his mercy. This is something the show rarely touches on. The Doctor often moralises over whether it’s right to kill villains like the Daleks or the Master and usually shows mercy, which is all very well, but he never takes into account the number of people who die as a result of his merciful actions. I think this is the first time in the show’s history that the Doctor has ever acknowledged this. That his mercy toward enemies like the Daleks have led to some truly horrific consequences. At a glance it looks like Amy’s talk about how they need to be better than Jex addresses this, but it actually doesn’t because that’s not an answer to the point the Doctor has raised. She basically just reiterates the Doctor’s usual position. That doing good now lets you off of any negative consequences later on. This isn’t an answer to the dilemma, but the problem is the Doctor treats it as though it is. What’s the point of raising big questions if you’re just going to gloss over them?

It’s at this point the entire episode starts to fall apart. The minute Jex is revealed to be a war criminal, he suddenly morphs into this pantomime villain constantly trying to goad the Doctor only to then revert back to his nice, cuddly self at the end when it’s time for him to make his honourable sacrifice. This isn’t a morally grey character. This is more like dissociative identity disorder. Even the Gunslinger’s character starts to become a shambles. The rules surrounding his morality don’t make the slightest bit of sense. He creates a line around the town and orders them to hand Jex over to him so no innocent lives will be lost, but there’s a moment where Jex is is standing right in front of the Gunslinger inside the line. Why doesn’t the Gunslinger just shoot him? The only thing stopping him is a line of his own making. Then later he makes a mockery of the whole ‘no innocent lives’ rule by marching right into town and threatening to kill everyone unless they hand Jex over, which begs the question why he didn’t just do that in the first place.

And what’s the Doctor’s plan? Get everyone to put on face paint and run around to distract the Gunslinger while Jex escapes. Fuck me, it’s just as well the Gunslinger did show mercy in the end with the townsfolk, otherwise the Doctor would have been responsible for more deaths thanks to his own mercy (oh the irony). Also, face paint? I thought the Gunslinger was tracking Jex via his clothes. Now it’s facial markings? In fact, doesn’t the Gunslinger already know what Jex looks like? Why not just search for him specifically? He had no problem picking the Doctor out using his advanced targeting, facial recognition software thing. Why not do the same with Jex? It’s all just daft.

I’m really annoyed by this. Everything started off so well. All the ingredients were there for an intelligent, morally complex episode as well as a great tribute to the Western genre, but it’s all ultimately ruined by some truly sloppy writing on Whithouse’s part. Damn it!

#a town called mercy #toby whithouse #doctor who #eleventh doctor #matt smith #amy pond #karen gillan #rory williams #arthur darvill #steven moffat #bbc #review #spoilers

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glapplebloom · 7 years ago

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Power Rangers VS VoltronPart 6 of 7 for this final week of the year!

My original plan for Part 6 was to highlight other shows that were inspired by Death Battle. But many of them were taken offline for some reason. That lead the list to be stack with questionable choices that I feel would be unfair to compare them to the ones on top. So I decided to scrap the idea. Sorry. I got something else planned though

Anyway, that means this one gets moved up and I have to say it is one of my favorite seasons. Lots of fun matches and researching opportunities.

#10 - Sephiroth Vs Vergil

This was an awesome way to end the season. Final Fantasy finally gets a win, showing how much would change if you didn’t control the character, showing off just how much potential Sephiroth really has, all the research that went into this fight and the swordsmanship and techniques displayed was all amazing to see. The only reason this fight is as low as it is ultimately because I didn’t get into Vergil as much as the others were.

#9 - Power Rangers VS Voltron

If Godzilla Vs Gamera was the Superman/Goku of Giant Monster Battles, this was that for Giant Robots. Grew up watching both, wishing to have said Giant robots to battle each other against. So to help with the research for this is like living my childhood dream. This is also their most expensive Death Battle to date (I believe) and I say it is worth the price. Its through this match I found out Justice League crossed over with the Power Rangers. So overall, this was a fun match to do and see.

#8 - Natsu VS Ace

I figured this was going to be similar to Zoro Vs Lucy. I was going to skip it because they both had a lot of stuff to get through. But one thing got me into researching this match over others: “Ace scales”. I’m not a fan of scaling but I know when it should be used. But while looking at how other topics debated on the subject, it seems less like scaling and more like seven degrees of bacon. So I decided to throw in my researching hat into this and look into their Manga.

I was shocked by how little Ace has. Thinking he was Luffy’s brother (which he wasn’t really), I thought he would have a lot of stuff like the rest of Luffy’s crew. Heck, he did joined up with them in the anime for a while. But to my surprise, only a handful of pages. In comparison, Natsu had a LOT of screen time to the point I wonder what all this “Fairy Tail is overflowing with Fan Service” coming from. Is it overflowing with violent fan service?

But in the end, Natsu was decided the winner. This is high up for how tough it was to decide who’ll win as well as how well it all came together. Especially with the animation feeling like a sequel to Zoro Vs Lucy. Seems like its in the same location. If a third One Piece Vs Fairy Tail happens, I expect both fighters to be chased out of the town.

#7 - Metal Sonic VS Zero

There is a reason why there are multiple researchers. Not to research multiple things at once (even though we could) but to also have multiple viewpoints in one fight. When I researched it, Zero didn’t seem like he was able to win. Another thought otherwise. When we presented our arguments, mine held very little water in comparison and the winner was decided. I personally blame it on Sega for not using Metal often or well.

But despite that, the episode was great. The research portion was fun and I loved the animation. The speed it was going to points where I wonder if there was 3D Animation in it, to all the custom sprite work into this fight. Thanks to Jerky, I got my hands on that Metal Madness sprite at the end. It is massive.

#6 - Shredder VS Silver Samurai

Talk about a mind blower. I came into this match thinking Silver Samurai got this. So I researched the comics, found his bizarre original costume, and more evidence against his faster than light particles being a real thing. But then I looked into the Nick TMNT cartoon. I was shocked. While I did watch it, I eventually stopped when they went to space and forgot details like his faster than eyesight slashes.

And then seeing his Super Shredder. Whoa! And he killed Splinter... Twice! It might as well has been just the Nick Shredder Vs Silver Samurai. But the others looked into those and found more stuff from the comics and the original cartoon. You know what’s scarier than finding out about all this? Finding out not only did he survive the Joker Gas, but he overcame it through sheer hatred.

And the fight, wow! Using DCat’s Shredder was a great choice. And all the other custom spriting work used was amazing. And that ending was brutal!

#5 - Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake

This is as high as it is for me because of the research. Between the two of them, I only played one game demo. But after researching, I totally get why these two are popular. Nathan is a great character and was fun to follow from beginning to end. I hope his movie does him justice. But with Lara, wow! I think she can give Batman a run for his money.

Classic Lara and her cutting the wire of an elevator to ride it up, one handed, to reach the roof. Legends Lara and wielding the Hammer of Thor. Survivor Lara and the, no other words to describe it, Hell she went through. She fought demons, aliens, dinosaurs and deities. And the only negative I can find of her is that she was in Angel of Darkness, which that studio deserved to be shut down after making it.

The episode was great. It explained both characters the best it did and the fight was fun. But like I said, this is as high as it is mostly because of the researching I did for this. I believe this is the most fun I had doing research.

#4- Naruto VS Ichigo

Personally, I only looked into the Manga for Ichigo. But even after that with my limited knowledge of Naruto I saw it as a win for the #1 Knuckle Headed Ninja. Ichigo doesn’t grow as well as Naruto does. He constantly loses his powers and his biggest wins aren’t just his own doing. It was all conclusive to me that Ninjas beat Samurais in this fight.

But the episode did a great job explaining everything between the two and why Naruto was a shoe in to win. Not to mention the fantastic animation to go with it. And the long explanation was the icing on the cake, as this specific Death Battle needed that extra time dedicated to explain the results.

#3 - Scrooge McDuck VS Shovel Knight

I looked into... EVERY! SINGLE! ENGLISH RELEASED! SCROOGE COMIC! And also everything with Shovel Knight. And Scrooge would have won even without those guns or the Omnisolve. He has a laser gun that can pierce titanium. He has a time travel watch so he can go into the future or the past. He frikkin tore down those steam pipes with his bare hands. Scrooge is a scary old man.

And the fight was a glorious tribute to 8-Bit. The music selection, the custom sprite work involved, the action and that ending. It had to have been against Shovel Knight to get this level of tribute.

#2 - Smokey Bear VS McGruff the Crime Dog

I live for fights like these. Obscure characters to most, a wacky premise, and all animated like a cartoon. The moment I heard this match was going to be done this was my most anticipated Death Battle to wait for. And it lived up to it all. It would have been my #1 if it wasn’t for one fight...

#1 - Balrog VS TJ Combo

To me, this is the perfect Death Battle. From the Analysis portion including custom images and video to the fight itself. The theme of it being a boxing match, the choreography to make it seem like a boxing movie, and especially the music choice for this fight. I saw a preview of the fight and was immediately hooked to this song. And seeing the full version, it blew what I was imagining. This is a Death Battle I would recommend anyone to see first.

And that’s my top 10 of the seasons. Tomorrow, let’s talk about the other fights not mentioned.

#other

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hmhteen · 7 years ago

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HMH Teen Teaser: MEET CUTE!

January can be cold and brutal, but we’ve got the perfect antidote to winter publishing right after New Year’s...MEET CUTE, an anthology of romances by incredible YA authors like Nicola Yoon, Ibi Zoboi, Meredith Russo, Jennifer Armentrout, and so many more.

Today we have a fun teaser for you from New York Times Bestseller Julie Murphy’s story! It’s adorable: two girls meet while competing on a reality TV show to win the heart of their favorite celebrities...but they wind up falling for one another instead. Scroll down to read more!

SOMETHING REAL by Julie Murphy

I would like to say that the first words I said to Dylan were some- thing to the effect of how thrilled I was to meet him or how much his work has meant to me, but instead it was more of a word salad: “Much tall you are.”

I’ve been sitting by the craft services table for an hour and a half now, contemplating each and every single one of those words. It’s been a constant stream of crew members grazing past as they each tell me we should be back to filming any minute now.

It’d be a lie if I didn’t admit that I was just slightly disappointed to find that after his initial hello, Dylan has been squirreled away in a super-fancy trailer with a security guard stationed outside the door. Some silly part of me thought that maybe I’d get to hang out with Dylan during downtime and we’d develop a rapport. Maybe we’d have inside jokes. I shake my head, and roll my eyes at my own naïveté.

“Hey!” says Martha as she plops down next to me. “You found the food. Good place to set up camp.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pro-food, like, all the way, but my nerves have got me way too anxious to even gnaw on celery sticks.”

“Oh my God,” she says, leaning in toward me, her hand resting on my thigh for a moment. “Me too.”

I smile at her gratefully. I’m so glad she’s not the version of my competition that existed in my head. I didn’t know what I expected from my competitor. Cattiness? Bitingly rude? But Martha is just good. And I think that maybe she deserves this more than I do.

“I’m sorry about your sister,” I tell her.

She half smiles. “Me too.” After a moment, she adds, “She would die all over again if she knew I was here doing this.”

I cough, not sure what exactly to say. “That was a bad joke, huh?” asks Martha.

I let out a short laugh. “Well, it wasn’t exactly a good one.”

She shrugs. “Me and Marisa always had a vicious sense of humor. I think she’d approve.”

Something inside me unlocks. Something I didn’t even know was locked away to begin with. I have this wonderful and scary and heart-stopping feeling that I could tell Martha my most hideous thoughts and my most ridiculous hopes and she’d just sit here like she is right now, unfazed. And that’s sort of a wonderful thing if you think about it.

“All right, ladies,” says Jill as she power walks toward us. “We’ve got you all set up for the challenge portion of the show. So let’s head over there and Daria will freshen you up.”

“Cool,” says Martha. “What’s the challenge?”

Dread settles in the pit of my stomach. This is the part I’ve been most anxious about. There’s always one challenge. Sometimes it’s a race or an obstacle course or trivia or some type of competition, but whatever it is, it always ends poorly, with at least one of the contes- tants being humiliated.

“No can do,” says Jill. “We like for the on-camera reaction to be as authentic as possible.”

She walks off, and then turns, beckoning for us to follow her. “Yeah,” Martha says under her breath, “because the first thing I think of when I think of A Date Come True is authentic.”

I hiss out a knowing sigh that surprises me. And then it doesn’t. I don’t even know if I should be here anymore. I’ve barely even seen Dylan anyway. I take a deep breath, trying my best to shake off the negativity.

A few minutes later, we find ourselves standing in a studio with white curtains concealing the walls around us. And Dylan is there, too.

Daria flutters around touching up our makeup before dedicating her attention to Dylan.

“Nate,” says Jill, bringing over a man in a perfectly tailored tux. “This is Martha and June, our competitors for this episode.”

Nate doesn’t really need introductions, though. He’s the host and face of A Date Come True. There’s something comforting about the way his makeup settles into the creases around his eyes. Not everything is as it appears on TV. That’s for sure.

Nate’s smile dazzles as he winks at the two of us, reminding us that he’s a pro charmer. “You nervous?” he asks. “Don’t be nervous.” He holds up his hands for us to see. “You’re in very good hands, I swear.”

After he walks off, Martha and I turn to each other, and in uni- son say, “Gross.”

We break out in a fit of giggles, but we’re cut short by Jill. “Let’s do this thing. We only want to do one take here, so bring your A-game, people!”

Nate takes his position between Dylan and Martha and me as Jill counts down to action. “Okay, we’re back,” he says.

I feel my whole body straighten as I realize I’m on camera again. Nate turns to Dylan, his voice as smooth as a radio host’s. “Now, Dylan, you’ve thought long and hard about our challenge this week, haven’t you?”

“Oh, yeah. Totally,” says Dylan. “I guess you could say I cooked up something really cool.”

“Let’s drop the curtains, shall we?” asks Nate.

All around us the tall white curtains whoosh to the ground and Martha and I find ourselves in a state-of-the-art double kitchen with brand-new stainless-steel appliances. Over one side hangs a sign that reads #TeamJune and the other side has a sign bearing #TeamMartha.

My anxiety washes away for a moment as I realize that — Oh my God! — this is a cooking challenge! I can cook. I can really freaking cook. I’ve got this shit in the bag.

Then I look to Martha, her eyes huge and full of terror. My stomach twists into a knot as I’m reminded that my success is her failure. It’s not that I feel bad for her or think she should win by default on account of her sister. There’s just this nagging feeling inside of me that wishes we’d met in real life.

But this isn’t real life. “Martha,” says Dylan. “June.”

My name! He said my name! Some animalistic instinct in my brain switches on and I turn into a monster fangirl with blurred vision for anything that isn’t Dylan. And hey, don’t forget about the freaking cameras, I remind myself.

“I’m a total foodie these days,” continues Dylan. “But back when I was just a little kid, my favorite meal was dinosaur-shaped nuggets with ketchup. So I’ve decided to ask you ladies to blend my foodie love with my old-school fave and make me some panko-crusted dino nuggets with ketchup made from scratch. You’ve each been given the same ingredients, and there may or may not be a few red herrings in there.”

Nate laughs. “A woman’s place is in the kitchen, am I right?” Dylan snickers quietly.

I nearly gag. Martha and I exchange a look. More like misogyny, am I right?

“Right,” says Nate, “so you’ll each have five minutes of Wi-Fi time sponsored by Tunez Headphones, and then you’ll each have one hour to re-create Dylan’s childhood dish. Aaaaaand your five minutes starts now!”

“Cut!” shouts Jill. “I should force you to do a retake for that sexist bullshit you pulled, Nate, but we’ll just cut it in post.”

Nate shrugs and walks off to his dressing room. “You can’t get rid of me, Jillybean!”

I realize that I have a quick moment to say something to Dylan besides how tall he is. I take a step toward him. “Hi,” I say. “Your, um, music means so much to me.” When I say it out loud like that, it sounds so much more generic than how it actually feels.

He turns to me, sliding his sunglasses on. “I would hope so.” He laughs to himself. “I mean, that’s why you’re here, right?”

I force out a dry chuckle, but I can’t ignore the disappointment settling in my chest. “Yeah. Totally.”

“Oh, but thanks,” he adds just as he’s swarmed by people armed with cell phones and itineraries.

As he’s quickly whisked away, crew members buzz around us like bees, changing the lighting for our contest. My throat goes dry, and my stomach feels suddenly heavy. It’s that same feeling I get when I’m driving somewhere and I know — I just know — I’ve taken a wrong turn or missed my exit no matter what my GPS says.

“Okay, girls,” says Jill as she hands us each an apron and ridic- ulous chef hat, both emblazoned with the show logo. “It’s just like they said. You get an hour to cook and five minutes on the Internet with these bad boys.” She hands over two tablets, provided by spon- sors too, I’m sure. “We’ll start rolling in a bit, and we won’t interfere, really, unless there’s an emergency. Oh, and uh, no talking to each other during this or trading secrets or something.” She smiles. “Not that you’d want to, right?”

We both nod.

After she walks away, Martha looks to me and says, “Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” It comes out like one of my brother’s long burps that he does on command.

I laugh. “It’s just a dumb challenge,” I tell her. “Dylan doesn’t really care if you can cook.” Or maybe he just doesn’t care in general.

She shakes her head. “You don’t get it. I really, really can’t cook. And not to be a total pain in the ass, but I’m a vegetarian, too. Just the sight of raw meat makes me want to puke.” The color begins to slowly drain from her face.

I take a step closer. “Listen,” I whisper, my lips nearly brushing against her hair, “I know we’re not supposed to be helping each other, but just, like, do what I do.”

For a brief moment, she squeezes my hand. “I don’t know how much that will help, but thank you. I really appreciate it.”

As we’re carefully positioned with our tablets and notebooks in our own personal kitchens, facing opposite each other, cameras hover around us. I search for things like baking instructions and tips for breading and ketchup recipes. I’m not sure what Martha is searching for, but she looks downright manic.

As our time ends, our tablets are taken away and we’re left with our notes, our ingredients, and our intuition.

I decide to bake instead of deep-fry — mainly because I think it might be easier for Martha to follow along. I start in on the chicken, pounding it into submission. I search my supplies and come up with a few different shapes of dinosaur cookie-cutters. I push through the chicken, using my weight. It’s not easy, but it works.

As I mix my bread crumbs and beat my eggs, I glance over to Martha, whose once beautiful velvet dress is covered in flour, despite her apron. She mumbles a stream of curse words, and I try to offer an encouraging smile, but she’s lost in her frustration. I feel awful for her, but the camera guys seem to be really into her cooking- nightmare meltdown.

I don’t think that cooking is specifically for women, but in my house, my mom was always the one in the kitchen. It was her happy place, and she let me share that with her. But unfortunately, the kitchen was her one and only happy place in our house, so when she split when I was in seventh grade, her kitchen became mine.

Nothing about being on camera makes me comfortable, but being in a kitchen can almost make me forget that millions of peo- ple will be watching me from the comfort of their homes in a few weeks’ time.

As our hour fades into minutes, I put the finishing touches on my ketchup, including a sprig of parsley.

“Time!” Jill shouts.

Martha and I wait in silence for a few minutes as Dylan is sum- moned from his trailer. We both look and feel like messes.

Nate and Dylan stand between Martha and me in front of a table with our presented entrées. Mine is a pile of dinosaur nuggets—some more misshapen than others — alongside what I hope is not-totally- disgusting ketchup made from scratch. And Martha’s dish is fury personified. On her plate is one uncooked chicken breast covered in ketchup with a giant chopping knife sticking out of it.

I sigh. There’s no competition. One is edible and the other is decidedly . . . not.

We quickly regroup, and Daria swings through to lightly powder our faces, but she takes no pains to hide the mess we’ve made of our hair and clothes.

“Well,” says Nate as the cameras begin to roll again, “I guess we won’t be doing a blind taste test this time.”

I look to Martha and can practically hear her gulp.

“Uh, yeah,” says Dylan as he chuckles nervously. “Looks like some kind of horror movie over there.”

Martha shrinks back a little. I guess there’s a chance she could still win, but it doesn’t look good.

“June, let’s give your dish a go,” says Nate.

I nod and hold my plate for the two of them, and they each swipe a nugget through ketchup before chomping down.

“Hey, this is pretty great!” Dylan says, his mouth still full.

“My wife’s gonna kill me if those bread crumbs have gluten in them,” says Nate. “But it was worth it!”

I roll my eyes.

“Cut!” shouts Jill. “Let’s get the girls all cleaned up and ready for the rose gazebo.”

Daria waves for us to follow her back to the makeup trailer, and once again Dylan is ushered away by a crowd of assistants and man- agers.

I practically jog to catch up to Martha. “Hey, are you okay?” I ask.

She shakes her head, but says, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“It’s just a dumb TV show,” I tell her as we come to a stop at the trailer, the door swinging shut behind Daria.

Martha turns to face me, and I can see that she’s pressing her lips shut in some attempt to hold back tears. She shakes her headagain before finally bursting, tears streaming down her flour-coated cheeks. “I just thought that if I came on this show, and won some dumb date with this ridiculous singer who I don’t even really like . . . I just thought it would give me some kind of closure.” She uses the tips of her fingers to press under her eyes, like she’s trying to push the tears back in.

I reach for her sticky hands and hold them tightly in mine. “That’s not silly or dumb or whatever,” I say. “I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to lose a sibling. Shit. I don’t even like my brother and I’d still be a wreck.”

We stand there for a moment, hand in hand. We’re just two people who were randomly driven together in the most ludicrous of ways by some reality TV show that I can now say, without a doubt, is more fake than it is real. But standing here with her. This is real. There’s just something about her that makes me feel like we could really be something to each other in real life. For reasons I don’t know how to explain, Martha makes every nerve in my body light up like a Christmas tree. It’s like when Joey Scheck kissed me after eighth-grade graduation and for the first time ever I felt like my life was a movie and I was finally the star.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with this ceremony, but I hope that there was a reason for all of this,” I finally say. “And maybe it’s not something you’ll understand anytime soon.”

She looks up and squeezes my fingers tight before giving me a floppy shrug. “Or maybe I will.”

The door swings open and we startle apart, like we’ve been caught doing something much more than holding hands. “Ladies! I can’t do my job without your faces!” says Daria.

***

We look much more glamorous than we feel. In the makeup trailer, we gave ourselves glorified sponge baths in an attempt to rid our- selves of sweat and kitchen smells before Daria performed transfor- mations on each of us.

My waves have been refreshed and lay perfectly over my shoul- ders. Wardrobe has put me in a royal-blue chiffon dress that sweeps the floor. And Martha is downright stunning in a lacy burgundy dress with a trumpet skirt.

After a few hours of waiting to be beckoned, we’re driven on a golf cart to one of the far-off lots behind the studio. The set looks like a small town square with a gazebo, and the whole place is drip- ping with twinkly lights. I recognize it as the usual backdrop for the rose ceremony. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me that this was a set and not some tiny little town center outside of Los Ange- les, but it’s just as fake as the rest of the show. Still, it’s hard not to get swept up in the beauty of it — if you can manage to ignore Jill’s shouting and all the grunting camera operators.

Nate is in his signature tux and Dylan wears his same holey jeans, but with the added touch of a slim-cut, flat, black button-down shirt.

I think I’m going to win. How can they even pick Martha after the kitchen fiasco? But do I even want to win anymore? It’s hard to imagine my “date” with Dylan doing anything more than ruining the version of him that lives in my head. The version of him whose voice cradled me, letting me know that even in my darkest hour, I was not alone. Already, there’s this sense of mourning settling inside me that I can’t quite explain except to say that maybe the version of Dylan I’d built up in my head never existed at all. It’s nearly impos- sible for me to even recall the edge-of-my-seat excitement I felt this morning at the prospect of this moment.

Nate and Dylan wait for us on the steps of the gazebo, where a propmaster stands with one yellow rose.

Dylan wipes his brow as we take our places. “These lights are killer, huh?”

I squint up at them, but they don’t seem so bad to me. Not any different from the interview lights at least.

Nate pats his forehead to avoid messing up his makeup. “Yeah, they must be testing out something new.”

Dylan cringes a little and calls out, “Lissa, we gonna wrap on this soon? I’m not feeling so hot.”

“Yeah, babe,” someone answers from behind the sea of crew and cameras. “One and done. We’re out.”

Dylan nods as Nate lets out a loud burp.

I reach for Martha’s hand one last time, and her fingers inter- twine with mine. “Almost over,” I whisper.

She winks. “Maybe it wasn’t such a bust after all.”

Jill counts down, and our hands drift apart as we await our com- pletely unreal reality-TV-show fate.

“Ladies, our time together has come to an end, and in just a moment one of you will move on to a very romantic one-on-one date with Dylan.” Nate gestures to Dylan.

Dylan steps forward, the rose in his hand, and says, “I’ve had so much fun getting to know you both.”

Getting to know us? Our paths barely even crossed.

“And I want you to know,” he continues, “that I didn’t make this decision lightly. June, I’m so impressed by your dedication to not only me, but to my fans. Mega fans like you are what keep me going. And you slayed the kitchen challenge this afternoon. And, Martha, I feel like, whoa, for you and your family. It means so much to me that the last thing your sister heard was my voice. It’s so, like, meta.” My skin crawls at the thought of that information feeding his ego. He holds his stomach for a minute before adding, “But after what happened during the kitchen challenge today, it’s hard for me to tell if your—” He burps into his fist. “Excuse me.” And then again. “ — if your heart is in it. Oh fuck. I feel like shit. I think I’m gonna — ”

And then I swear to God, everything that happens next occurs in slow motion. Dylan projectile vomits in my and Martha’s exact direction. The only thing that saves me is Martha pulling me out of the path of puke.

“No, man, don’t do that,” says Nate. “You’re just gonna make me . . .” And then Nate is puking, too.

Crew members and posse members crowd both Nate and Dylan, and Martha and I are pushed back even farther, reminding us both how very unimportant we actually are.

“Those gross-ass chicken nuggets!” Dylan moans. “It’s food poisoning. That bitch poisoned me!”

I turn to Martha, my eyes wide.

Her hand flies up, the back of her palm pressed to my forehead. “How are you? Are you feeling all right?”

I shake my head. “I was too nervous to eat all day.” She laughs. “Me too.”

I clap a hand over my mouth, stumbling back. “Oh my God. I poisoned Dylan. The Dylan.”

She waves off that notion. “Psh. He’ll live. They’re probably pumping him with fluids and gold as we speak.”

We both take a minute to glance around. No one is looking for us or checking on us. It’s almost . . . a relief.

Martha takes my hand. “Let’s blow this puke show!” She pulls me with her to a golf cart with the keys in the ignition.

She slides in behind the wheel and I take my seat next to her as co-captain. “I gotta get out of this dress,” I tell her.

“Me too. I feel like a total stranger.”

As the sun sinks down behind the horizon she speeds off toward the makeup trailer where we left our street clothes.

We both take turns changing inside the trailer, and when we’re done, it’s like a makeover reveal on a TV show except this time, it’s more of an un-makeover, where we just reveal ourselves. Our regu- lar, normal, everyday selves.

I stand beneath the dusky sky in my leggings and gold flats in my favorite dress — the bright yellow one covered in all kinds of food from, hot dogs and hamburgers to sundaes and doughnuts.

Martha slinks down the steps toward me in the same stompy boots she wore earlier today and a short body-hugging violet knit skirt with a black T-shirt that says Do no harm, but take no sht. She’s the type of person who if you don’t want to kiss her, you probably want to be her. And I think I definitely want one of those things.

“There you are,” I say, my words coming out breathier than I expected.

“Here I am,” she says.

***

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