#I was actually hyped about this movie when it was first announced

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

So, here are my long thoughts on The Last Voyage of the Demeter because I'm jetlagged and trying to keep myself awake.

I'm going to organize it from my biggest issues to my smallest nitpicks. Because I am aware that some of the things that bother me are nitpicks. Also this movie is old enough that I don't think spoilers are out of line.

Anyway, here are my thoughts:

I don't think I can fairly judge the movie as an adaptation of Dracula. This would be a short review if that was my standard, because it is a bad adaptation. There's a laundry list of reasons why, and I'll get back to one of them because I think it is indicative of how this movie fumbled the story. It takes a very loose approach to the book, and that wouldn't be entirely fair to fixate on. But I will point out where I think the book executed a theme or tone element more effectively.

I fully went into the movie ready to judge it on its own merits as a self-contained horror story. That's why I was surprised that I disliked it so much, because it doesn't hold up as a piece of horror media. I think the core issue is that the screenplay fundamentally was thinking of itself as a movie about people fighting a monster.

In that respect, it does away with something that makes the Captain's log such an effective part of the original book: The mystery.

The original section is an exercise in dramatic irony. You, as the reader, have already seen the thing making the crew vanish, because you read Jonathan's diary and know what is in the boxes (even if you were reading it for the first time and didn't have the cultural osmosis of knowing who Dracula). You know why they are in danger. The captain doesn't. He spends most of the log trying to figure out what is going on and if it is misfortune or something really on board with them. He only sees Dracula at the very end of the log, when there is little he can do except tie himself to the wheel.

The book answers the question of "why don't they make port or throw the boxes overboard?" with saying that the captain doesn't know for sure if it is actually something malicious related to the cargo. The Romanian first mate has to slowly come to the realization that he does know, because he's resisting believing in superstition. Only when the knife passes through Dracula without harming him does he panic because it's undeniable that he's facing a folklore monster.

That build up is entirely absent from The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Anna just tells them within the first half hour of the movie (she's also a very inconsistent character, but I'll get back to that), and within days the crew has literally seen Dracula multiple times. People aren't mysteriously vanishing; they've been killed pretty clearly and there are survivors with bite marks. The deck is littered with body parts at points. It makes the voiceovers about "some doom" being on the ship seem comical, because the captain has seen with his own eyes what is going on.

The only reason given for why they can't make port to deal with the issue is that they're too far away, I guess? Which is also not the case for a ship sailing that route. This isn't an open sea voyage.

While the pacing of a movie and the pacing of a show are different, The Terror did this so much better. You don't get to see the Tuunbaq clearly until quite late in the series. People just vanish or get mauled by...something. That sense of mystery is just gone in The Last Voyage. And it is disappointing because that was a huge opportunity to nail the tone.

If I had to come up with the key elements of what the Demeter section is, it would be: A Horror Story about a ship with a tragic ending.

They didn't nail the horror, but what about the other two?

There's also a puzzling lack of understanding of the dynamics on a ship throughout the movie. One glaring example is that the First Mate and Clemens make the decision to sink the ship without even asking the captain first. I know this is the merchant navy and not the navy, but that is still a galling lack of discipline. The captain is in charge and his duty is to the whole ship and the crew.

The original captain's log makes use of this. Dracula more or less kills his way up the chain of command because he's a sadist. He's forcing the commanding officers to feel more desperation as they fail in their duty to protect their crew.

The Last Voyage makes the captain a very minor character, which at least to me reveals a misunderstanding of how hierarchy works in a ship. While I don't think including new characters is necessarily bad, Clemens and Anna make most of the important decisions, and neither of them particularly have standing with the crew. It undercuts the idea of responsibility and letting people come to harm under your care (which carries through later to Lucy and Mina).

I'll return to other ways the ship setting feels incorrect later, because those are closer to nitpicks.

So, third element: is it a tragedy? Does everyone on board die by the end?

The opening scene may make you think so. But no, actually they don't. Clemens escapes and ends the movie vowing to hunt down Dracula. For one, this is where it is a bad Dracula adaptation because that simply cannot happen and maintain the plot of Dracula. Unless he was rather dense when he read about the Bloofer Lady in the paper and decided that wasn't related. But additionally, the tone of the ending radically changes. It isn't a tragedy where the last act of a brave man is to stay at the wheel, because he isn't the lone survivor left to be battered to death by either the storm or Dracula anymore. In fact most of the crew is still there for the multiple people vs Dracula fight.

This is where the tone really failed for me: the story has a winner, a hero, someone who can make it out alive. And it's the new character. That just did not sit well with me when the original is such a poignant tragedy.

The First Mate, who is the character most primed to come to a realization, hardly has an arc in The Last Voyage.

The insistence that they can fight and maybe even win also makes both Clemens and Anna incredibly inconsistent characters. She especially suffers from this, because she should in theory have the knowledge of how to repel a vampire (the villagers certainly have some idea in the book), but then she says things like "do you think I have the faintest idea how to kill him?" and in the next breath is urging the crew to kill him before he reaches London. She also says Dracula is going to London because "there is no one left in my home country to feed on" but her backstory is that she's on the ship as a deal so Drac can have a snack. So, clearly, he can get people to feed on if he wants.

Clemens is the "too smart and rational" character. But he also never thinks maybe they should expose the boxes to sunlight even after seeing people combust in sunlight after turning. It's all terribly inconsistent.

The decision to not write the story as a tragedy ends up cascading, and that's the root of the issue. They can't win and kill the monster without completely changing the story of the novel, so they are only competent to a point. It makes it a worse horror movie, even disregarding it as an adaptation.

Now for the nitpicks, including quite a few about boats that probably only I noticed:

The aesthetics are all over the place in terms of period. Clemens spends a large part of the movie (which is set in the 1890s) running around in a lace up pirate shirt. No one on this ship owns a period appropriate boat cloak. None of their shirts have remotely the right collars, giving the sense that nautical fashion was sort of vaguely consulted over the long 18th to 19th century-ish.

Please look at this and tell me that it is even remotely late 19th century:

Here's Olek from 1899 for comparison (note the correct high collar and undershirt):

The dialogue suffers from this too. More than one person uses the word "heathen" which just feels wildly out of place in something that is supposed to have rationality and superstition as the key touchpoints (at least if it wants to be like Dracula). It sounds weird coming from a time period 20 years before World War 1. Sailors especially were more likely to be vaguely Christian but mostly superstitious, not zealots using terms like "heathen."

Additional aesthetic nitpick: The ship looks way too old for the period. That is an early to mid 19th century ship sailing in the 1890s without any retrofitting. There's a throwaway line about the captain not wanting a fancy new steamship, but that doesn't account for how antique the captain's quarters are or the lack of metal on the hull. Again, the nautical aesthetics are all skewing too early. If this ship was still a Russian ship like the original, an older sailing vessel might have said something about the lag in Russian shipbuilding, it works less with an English merchant ship.

There's some functional issues about understanding sailing: The ship is way too spacious inside. Really tall men are standing up straight and walking around the hold with no trouble. That may seem like a small point, but imagine what actually exploiting the claustrophobic feeling below decks could have done for the ambiance.

The ship is definitely undercrewed given the number of masts they are showing. That many men would really struggle to reef all of the sails in a timely manner (which would matter in a storm). The writers put a crew of a small fishing vessel on a ship that is much larger and requires more hands. And it is puzzling because more people would mean: more kills and disappearances as well as giving a progression of being unable to raise and lower the sails and also keep someone at the wheel. Which, I will note, the original log does.

My first red flag about this movie was having seemingly no Slavic characters on a ship that was Russian in the original. But now that I've seen it, I'm even more annoyed that the one Russian character exists to: call a woman a slur, call a black man a slur (a rather British one imo), and then immediately be murdered on screen. Can't have nuance in how we portray Slavic people in Western media, huh?

I also get the sense that the screenwriter didn't know the difference between Romanian and Romani, because the first mate is vaguely hinted to be Romani (the kid mentions "Wojchek taught me some words in Romani") and has a Western Slavic first name, not a Romanian one. When in the book he is explicitly Romanian.

Rapid fire ways the movie gets the book wrong on a nitpicky level: Dracula doesn't get more human looking as he nears London, a vampire who prides himself on being aristocratic isn't going to drink from pigs or rats, the vampires in the book can go in sunlight but are weaker, religious artifacts are way more powerful deterrents in the book, and Clemens is way too casual about transfusions. It makes Van Helsing doing it seem less like an act of desperation. Anna gets Mina's ability to sense Dracula without putting in the effort to reverse engineer the connection.

Someone please tell me that Nosferatu is better. This was honestly very frustrating.

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic x ...DC Comics?!

We have our reveal of what our new Sonic comic crossover will be, and it's... not what I expected! We're getting a five-issue comic series mashing up Sonic with the DC Comics universe written by Ian Flynn, plus a slew of merch to go with it.

To be honest, I don't know how to feel about this? I don't feel the hype.

Okay, for one, cards on the table: I have more attachment to Marvel's cast of characters than DC's. Sue me. But it's not like I don't also like DC's heroes! I grew up watching the Batman movies and the Justice League cartoons and Adam West's Batman and whatnot. I loved Teen Titans so much as a kid that I was Robin one year for Halloween. DC's cool! People have been comparing Sonic to the Flash for years! So... why does this collab make me feel nothing?

Well, for one, it might be that I would prefer a series like this to be about Sonic and friends meeting the Justice League, as opposed to them being the Justice League. To me, personally, that just seems a little more interesting. Seeing how those characters play off of each other. People have been asking "who would win in a race, Sonic or the Flash?" for years, so that was kinda the thing I was latching onto as the impetus for this crossover. And yes, in the interview they tease the possibility of the actual characters meeting, but they're marketing it primarily via these mashup characters with Sonic and co. cosplaying as the Justice League, so I have to assume that's the main focus of the story.

But I'm also just sitting here like... why DC? Why is this the highest priority crossover to do with Sonic? It seems so arbitrary. Just mashing two random popular franchises together. It doesn't feel like something that resonates so heavily with Sonic that we just NEED this crossover to exist. The DC universe isn't something that has much of a thematic connection with Sonic. Like, you look at the TMNT x Naruto crossover, and THAT feels inspired. That's something you never would've thought would happen, but the second it's announced it seems so obvious, and the sick cover art sells the idea that it's gonna be something fun. (Hell, speaking of TMNT, that feels like a crossover that would've made way more sense to me. No, the single panel of the Archie comics they appeared in doesn't count.)

When the Sonic X DC thing is announced with a series of stock vectors of the Sonic cast cosplaying as the Justice League and the news that there will be a ton of merch for this, well. It just makes it seem like this is first and foremost a collab designed to generate new Funko Pops.

I don't know. I'm sure that whatever the actual story looks like, Ian will do his damnedest to make the comic fun. It'll probably be pretty decent. He's the perfect writer for this assignment. It's just not the crossover I would've requested. Maybe I'm just being a hater here. I know a lot of people are excited, with speculation about what other Sonic characters could take the roles of DC characters. Maybe showing something from the actual comic would've been a better sell. But, well, that's how I feel about it based on the announcement!

[lobstercat64]

OH MY GOD OK SONIC MOVIE 3 WAS SO GOOD!!! (Spoilers)

ok so the things I liked and was so happy to see

1 “Leave and Learn” that was so cool I got it on the first notes no joke

2 Shadow got the gun AND the bike and that part was so badass!

3 The “who does your highlights?” I’ll draw this, expect fanart any day now ;P

4 There was Sonadow I SAW IT I SWEAR!

5 There was so many SA2 references like holy crap! The “Talk about low budget flight” and the whole ark announcement was like 1 to 1 with the actual game!

6 HE PISSED ON THE MOON YOU IDIOTS!

7 “Gotta go fast”

8 Shadow’s Super form was so pretty! He looked like pink gold, like a K-pop star lol XD

9 All the action was so epic and cool!

10 The movie all in all was very visually pleasing and the plot was great

11 Metal looked sooooo good!

12 We saw Amy! And she was so cute like omg!!!

Anyway this is all for now, might add stuff later

Update: Oh yeah! I showed my friend the eggman fun dub meme and he was so exited about the moon part and when we saw it we were so hyped like I’m so glad I have them!

He also pointed out that there was a Sonic meme on the screen of the building right before the power of the city went down after Sonic and Shadow fought lol

[oldhalloweentape]

🪨Venture (OW II) x (gn) reader ⛏️

(First Kiss Edition!)

(Not my picture!)

(I thought this song was perfect for this, I remember watching this in the movie theaters way back when, loved it and still do. The first time I saw a representation of some of my culture on that scale, such an underrated movie.)

- In any situation you guys are in, working together or having two different jobs? I don’t think it’d be a surprise when I say the first kiss happens very early into the relationship and they’re the one to initiate it.

- No coaxing or dancing around the subject, you’re getting kissed like three days into the relationship tops.

- If you guys work for Overwatch together, and y’all won a particularly rough mission after going back and forth with the enemy, emotions are high as the celebration of the triumph proceeds.

- It happens so suddenly, like you’re next to Venture, happy as a clam after putting your all into your fighting. Then, out of nowhere, you’re getting grabbed and pulled into a sudden and passionate kiss that leaves you stunned and flushed, silent as a church mouse when they pull away.

- You know that one scene in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ Where Roger kisses Detective Valiant as if his life depended on it? It’s along the lines of something like that.

- You probably said something like, “I could kiss you right now!” After they saved you from getting pulverized and in their mind they went “Bet”.

- Trust me, they’re also kind of surprised that they actually did it—

- Time freezes for a moment as y’all kissed cause the team to go silent before an uproar from the particularly positive teammates— Causing even more cheering, especially if you have someone like Reinhardt on the team, he’d hype you guys up so much.

- That or if you guys are archeologists or simply have different jobs from one another it’s more private and Sloane can try to convince you that it was on purpose. But in Overwatch? Fuck no lol.

- The whole roster was like 80% sure you guys were a thing, but that went up 1000% when Sloane kissed you as if they needed it to breathe.

- Spreads like wildfire and by the end of the day everyone knows you guys are a couple, and a rather cute one on top of that.

- At least you guys don’t have to tell everyone that you’re a thing now.

- It makes Venture a little sad. They were planning something big to announce it cause they felt like it needed to be as special as they think your guys’s relationship is. They were biting back the urge to brag about it for 72 hours (the longest time they’ve ever kept something like that to themselves besides their feelings before you guys were a thing), all for naught.

- Reassure them it isn't a big deal and that if they look at it from a different perspective, the first kiss was a great way of doing it.

- They’ll spring back up when you say that, saying something like “Oh I planned to do it like that anyways!”

- You know, like a liar.

- Besides that little hiccup, it was a great first kiss, they wouldn't have it any other way.

- As one might expect, everyone has different views on the matter, with the positive ones that are like “Aweee look at them go!” And think it’s cute: (Ana, D.Va, Junkrat; a mix between neutral but more positive nonetheless, Kiriko, Lucio, Lifeweaver, Illari, Mei, Mercy, Reinhardt, Sigma; same as Junkrat)

- Neutral, like, “Oh, cool, congrats Ig”: (Brigitte; a bit more positive but still neutral, Baptiste, Bastion, Cassidy, Echo, Genji, Hanzo, Junker Queen, Orisa, Symmetra, Torbjorn, Solider 76, Roadhog, Sombra, Sojourn, Winston, Zarya, and Zenyatta: same as Brigitte but a bit more happy)

- Then the negative, the “I don’t need to know about about that you keep that to yourself”: (Ashe, Doomfist, Moira; sassy about it, Mauga; He’s like an annoying older brother that is constantly trying to embarrass their younger sibling— That sibling rivalry between him and Venture is wildddd, Reaper, Ramattra; a bit more neutral, Wrecking Ball; Blunt and mean about it too lmao, Widowmaker; graduated with her master’s degree in the art of being a hater).

(FINALLY! On the last scheduled headcanon post! Yippeee! Hopefully I’ll now be able to get some requests from y’all now that I’m done with this last one!)

[zerobaseonefics]

ZB1 : falling asleep on them ㅡ hyung line version

ZB1!hyung line x gn!reader

genre : fluff

warnings : maybe some suggestives sentences for hao's part??? one bed trope for hao's. mention of quitting school to become a stripper in hanbin's... yeah that's pretty much it

note : I'VE NEVER WROTE FOR JIWOONG BEFORE CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????? i'm anxious i hope i did it right 🫡 if you guys liked the hyung line version i might do it for the rest of the members... peace 👅‼️

• Jiwoong

"and... cut! good job guys, we're all getting a break. come back in 15 minutes!"

after the announcement of the producer, it seems like everyone on the set started breathing again. it was your debut movie. you used to act before, mostly in web dramas, but this was your first role ever in such a big project and the movie was already very anticipated by the public. your co-star, jiwoong, was used to those long days of just filming, but you were absolutly not. you, and the whole production crew as well, was now filming for 12 hours, and acting for so long was actually more tiring than it seems to be.

the scene you were filming before the break was outdoors, at night, in a park that the production crew privatized so no one could disturb the filming. the night temperature started to bite the tip of your fingers and made you shiver. you were sitting alone on a bench when jiwoong came to you with a smile. he went to take your coat from the staff, and also thought of taking a blanket for you. without a word, he helped you wearing your coat before wrapping the blanket around your shoulders. you smiled back to him.

you guys were working together on this movie for months now, and you were confortable enough to let your head rest on his shoulder when he sat next to you.

"thank you for the blanket" you mumbled.

"you looked like you were about to turn into an ice cube'' he joked. he couldn't help but keep a smile on his face when you softly laughed to his remark, a sweet melody to his ears. little by little, a calming silence fell over the two of you. jiwoong lips were still curved upwards to the feeling of you curled up to him, and he couldn't help but look to your face after a few minutes. your eyes were closed and your breathing was calmer than it was previously. when he realized you fell asleep on him, a pinkish color appeared on his cheeks, and no one could tell if it was because of you or because of the cold.

gently, his hand went to take yours as he tried not to wake you up.

this moment, caught on camera by the staff who was filming the behind the scene, quickly made you and jiwoong the talk of town and brought more hype to the upcoming movie...

• Zhang hao

"well, i'm gonna have to warn you, i naturally cuddle things when i sleep. if it ever happens, don't think i have a crush on you or anything. okay? it's my nature, it's just how i work, so please-"

"oh my god, hao could you please just shut up!"

you shoved your face under your pillow to let him know he was pissing you off. hao sighed.

"i'm simply warning you..."

"okay and i'm also warning you, if you ever cuddle me i'll probably strangle you. that's my nature, it's just how i work." you said, using his own words.

"that's some weird and agressive way of working but okay..."

for as long as you could remember, hao and you were rivals. don't ask me in what field you guys are competing, because at this point, y'all are turning everything into a competition. and this is literally how you ended up that night, in the same bed.

you both took music as your major in college, and a school trip was organized for the best students. when you arrived to the hotel, the teachers simply gave you the keys to the room that were reserved for you, and let you choose the ones you wanted. they warned you that there was one that have to be shared, but zhang hao and you were not listening at this point. why? you wanted the third room, but he wanted it as well. it started a fight between you two, while the rest of your classmates simply chose the room they wanted. that's how you ended up having to share a room with him. with one bed.

now, you were both lying down on the back, looking at the ceiling. an awkward silence settled in the room, as you were too tensed to sleep properly. zhang hao, on the other half, didn't care. he decided to lay comfortably to sleep.

"are you not going to sleep?" he asked.

"i don't trust you enough to close my eyes."

"don't worry about it, i'm not doing anything without your consent."

"..."

"n-not that i'm willing to do anything with you even if you wanted to! i don't have a crush on you or anything..."

"you probably said you don't have a crush on me five times this evening, that's suspicious.."

"shut up."

surpringly, you listened to him and didn't fight back. the silence came back again, and zhang hao's were closed as he started to doze off. surprisingly, you called his name, and he could sense that you hesitated before doing so. he simply hummed, letting you know he was listening to you.

"don't you think the room is cold?" you said in a small voice he was not used to hear.

"do you?" he asked back, thinking the temperature of the room was good enough.

"yeah..."

he looked at you, inspecting your face despite the darkness in the room. you didn't seem to be lying. hao frowned his eyebrows.

"are you really cold?"

"why would i lie about being cold?? look" you put your hand on his neck, making him jump back.

"take your icy hands off me??" he said, offended.

"see?? i'm cold!"

an idea crossed zhang hao's mind. he coughed to clear his voice, not looking at you.

"well, people usually say my body is warm..."

"and...?"

"if you're really cold, i can let you use my body... okay, no, this sounds really weird, what i wanted to say was-"

"i get it! don't freak out like this."

once again, zhang hao sighed. but this time, you did it with him. with hesitation, you went closer to him. your arm held his waist as he was laying on his back, and you rested your head on his chest. he didn't even realize that he stopped breathing when your body became so close to his own. zhang hao doesn't have a crush on you. but there was no other way he could explain the feeling he felt in his chest when you snuggled up to him after you fell asleep on his chest.

• Hanbin

"maybe i should quit school and become a stripper..."

"i wouldn't shame you for that to be honest."

your best friend, hanbin, put down your order on the table. you immediatly took a sip from the drink, a sigh of relief leaving your lips.

"if it wasn't for your coffee, i think i would've die studying."

"i'm glad if it helps."

hanbin looked around. today, his mother's cafe was emptier than usual. you were the only customer here, actually. he took the occasion and sat next to you.

"maybe you should take a break now? you've been working on this for hours now. drink this at least, and go back to studying after."

"you're right. plus, it sucks that you're here but i don't get to hang out with you."

hanbin shyly smiled at the last sentence. you were totally oblivious to the heart eyes your friend was sending to you, focused on drinking your coffee. stray strands of hair were falling before your eyes and hanbin couldn't help but find you cute.

"should i tie your hair for you?"

"i wish, but i didn't take hair ties with me..."

hanbin simply showed you his wrist, with a hair tie around. he always carry one with him in case you needed it. "you're amazing", you said as you turned back to let him tie your hair. gently, he made sure to tie every strands that were disturbing you, and made sure he could see your pretty face properly.

"all done" he grinned. you locked your arm with him, snuggling closer to him and letting your head on his shoulder.

"thank you. for everything."

"i know you would have done the same for me", hanbin mumbled, a bit shy despite being used to this kind of the skinship. with his free hand, he took yours to his lips, placing a soft kiss on it. "is it okay if we stay like this for a bit? since there is no customers..."

"hm, don't worry. i'm focused on you anyways."

you whispered another 'thank you' to your friend, not aware of the racing heart you caused inside his chest. the sight of you slowly falling asleep on you was so endearing, that when a new customer finally came in, he simply apologized to them and said they were closed.

[tabbywaslost]

Maybe killermare fluff headcanons?

Of course!!

1.

Killer sometimes uses Nightmare's tentacles as monkey bars or as slides when he is bored.

2.

Whenever Nightmare reads a book, Killer sits besides him trying to catch up to him reading because Nightmare can read REAL fast and Killer hates books but loves Nightmare.

3.

They are always sitting besides each other in all gatherings and everything. If the place is crowded, they will not leave each other's side no matter what happens.

4.

MY OWN MULTIVERSE!

They became a couple after The Fallen Star Sanses era. During that era, everyone helped each other out but Killer was different from everyone else when it came to Nightmare. Since Nightmare turned back into his passive form, he was powerless but Killer sorta became his personal guard and literally didn't leave Nightmare in any way possible and even got severely injured and almost killed while protecting Nightmare but he didn't stop. And Nightmare just realized that that man would actually do anything for him no matter what. He realized that Killer would even sacrifice himself for him. And also, Killer was able to get away with constantly flirting with Nightmare without having to run away before he gets a good verbal punishment because Nightmare had stopped physically punishing them by then.

5.

Their wedding was somewhat themed. It had references to their fav movies and fav books, and they requested that everybody wear silver or grey colors to their wedding because Killer was gonna wear black and Nightmare was gonna wear white. The best man at Killer's side was Color and the best man and Nightmare's side was Dream. Dream took the microphone for a long time though and started going on and on about his fun memories as a kid with Nightmare, how he wishes them happiness, and a lot, lot more. He was talking for nearly 2 hours until Cross pulled him aside. He continued talking to all the guests after the ceremony and nobody really complained, they were all happy to see him so hyped up at his brother's wedding.

6.

Nightmare took a sewing course from Error and made Killer a new jacket. Killer absolutely treasures that jacket more than he treasures his own life and only wears it on special occasions, absolutely REFUSING to wear it on missions because it could be harmed.

7.

When they first got together, Nightmare decided to keep it secret due to him not knowing how to tell the others yet. Some figured it out and some were in denial upon figuring out but nonetheless, everybody knew so there was no need to announce it and so they didn't announce it and just kept it as is.

8.

Since Nightmare has no prior relationship experience and is somewhat clueless on what to do when it comes to a relationship so Killer takes lead and does most of the relationship stuff. Nightmare sometimes takes inspiration from some of the characters in the books he reads and says some insanely affectionate stuff but gets INSANELY flustered upon hearing and "I love you" from Killer. Nightmare showers Killer with all sorts of gifts too.

9.

Nightmare and Killer have a small game that they play where they get an empty journal that's about 60-80 pages and they pick out characters names and places, then Nightmare writes on the first page and Killer writes on the next without knowing what Nightmare has written. The only information Nightmare gives him is what characters are in the previous page and where they are and Killer has to go off of that and write page 2, then it's Nightmare's turn for page 3, etc. And when they finish it, they sit down and read the absolute monstrosity that they wrote and laugh their heads off because the characters can be fighting to death in one page and kissing in the next.

10.

On nights where one of them can't sleep, he'll wake up the other and they'll just have long conversations about everything. Good memories, bad memories, conspiracy theories, gossip, etc.

I'm so sorry this is late, I was very busy and burnt out. My apologies!!

[paintbrushnebula]

I think now that Tangled the Series has been over for the better part of four years now, what makes me sad the most is that there were enough pieces left behind by the film to construct a compelling narrative for a strong continuation of Rapunzel and Eugene's story that wouldn't have required all this "bigger and more epic" stuff that the series made up in order to be interesting. 

And you can have big epic magical stuff, that's fine! I LOVE epic large-scale stories! But there's a difference between expanding your world by further developing its elements and themes, and just scaling up the adventure tenfold to be “bigger and better”—which is what I feel that the series did in the end. 

It’s funny, because I was already a fan of Tangled when I was little. I still remember being 7 years old sitting in that theater with my sister, actually breathless and in shock when Eugene drew his last breath. I had never seen a kids movie where a lead character dies.

(and I know that sounds absurd because there were Disney films before where a lead character dies and comes back XD look I was 7 and my parents weren’t people who knew many pop culture American movies at the time so I didn’t watch much that wasn’t Disney Channel or VHS films that my Grandma owned. To this day I’m still kind of trying to catch up on film culture XD)

Sorry to get off track but what I’m trying to say is, I was there when the series was announced and they revealed that promo art back in 2016, I saw the 30 second promo trailer, I watched “Wind in my Hair” when it was released on Youtube in February 2017 the morning before school and I was hyped for the rest of the day, and I remember watching Before Ever After’s premiere with my sister and was FLOORED that it was good??!! Like actually was gonna have a serialized overarching story and everything! God I’ll never forget Eugene’s verse where he pulls out that ring. I’ll never forget Rapunzel’s face when he gives her his proposal speech (before it went downhill that is), and I’ll always forget the last 25 minutes that take place  after Rapunzel’s hair grows back because its low-key pretty heckin boring! 

What hyped me was the relationship stuff, Rapunzel’s PTSD, the parent drama, everything that those first 30 minutes had that made me THINK we were in for an emotional story about Rapunzel’s life after the tower, I thought we’d get to see in detail how she’s gonna to grapple with her trauma, her new life, her new responsibilities, her new relationships, all that. And some of the series was that, a very small “some.” Not enough by any means for me lol

Because like, wouldn’t that have been a more interesting story to tell than the one we got? Ultimately Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure doesn’t feel like a continuation of Rapunzel’s story, it’s more like a Brand New Adventure that happens star Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert. I know that sounds weird and I might not be making much sense here but, did the story of a girl who stops a plague of darkness and fights a transdimensional demon blueberry ghost girl and has to reconcile with her “step-sister” HAVE to be about Rapunzel? Also like, just. NOTICE how that summation of the story of the series DOESNT involve Eugene in some way. You know. The hecking CO-LEAD of the film this series is based on. 

And like, there was so much story to be told with Rapunzel and Eugene WITHOUT the blueberry Disney Junior-giving ghost girl, the poorly written heavily contrived step-sister conflict, AND the big plague of darkness nonsense. Rapunzel and Eugene are two VERY tragic individuals. DO SOMETHING WITH THEM, IOUHWO4Y2IBBU3FN3FI

I’ll admit that I was more attached to the series than I was to the movie while it was airing, and even for like 2 years after it was over. I was younger and more immature and the big stakes and fresh new characters and magical adventures captivated me more than the focused drama of the movie. But now that I’m older, I realize that I resonate more with Rapunzel in the movie. NOT in any concerning “do you need help?” Kind of ways, just that I find myself thinking the way she thought, since I’m now around the age she was in the movie. The way I think about my future, my self esteem etc. I relate to how she feels inexperienced and fresh in the world despite being a young adult, because she hasn’t done any of those “big things” yet. And you wonder “how am I gonna do those big things? When do they happen? Will I know what to do when they happen?” I get it, Rapunzel, I really do. 

The series is kinda an afterthought to me now I guess. I still appreciate that it exists and I’m so happy it happened. In the beginning, it didn’t feel real when it was happening. Like a dream honestly. And like, Tangled the Series is literally 80% the reason I wanted to write fiction, so I’ll always be grateful for it. 

But holy kriff is the movie so much better heeheeeeeeeeee

[deke-rivers-1957]

Harum Scarum Review

The second Gene Nelson and Sam Katzman picture starring Elvis Presley. Inspired by Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik and filmed on the original Cecile B. DeMille's set of The King of Kings, Elvis had hope of finally getting a movie that allowed him to be more of an action hero. Given that Peter O'Toole's 1962 film, Lawrence of Arabia was a massive success for Columbia Pictures, MGM likely wanted to capitalize on that success by using a guaranteed money maker in Elvis.

Unfortunately, the hype Elvis had regarding the possibility of being a Rudolph Valentino figure was quickly squashed. He received the script and realized that his character wouldn't live up to the expectations he originally had. It's a pretty known story that even the Colonel thought the script was so weird, he thought it should include a talking camel. This of course is in reference to the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movie, Road to Morocco. Ironically enough, the reference I make to Zanzibar in my announcement post was another movie that the duo made. With Kissin Cousins being described as the begin of Elvis' decline, this movie is typically described as being Elvis' rock bottom. Is it really as bad as people say, or is it over hated due to outdated elements? Let's find out.

"Harem Holiday" while it sounds great, is very confusing in the context of this movie. Why is this movie called Harum Scarum when it's called Harem Holiday elsewhere and even has a song with that name? I get that it's a term meaning someone acting reckless and without care, but it doesn't relate to the movie at all. Both titles completely gloss over the very important detail of how Johnny ended up in the position he will end up in.

We immediately open to a movie within a movie as Johnny Tyrone stars in an Arabian film where he saves a woman by killing a jaguar with his bare hands. He even sings to her "My Desert Serenade" while he has the weirdest sideburns I have ever seen. And then the movie just ends to a roaring applause in front of what's an unusually white crowd.

Apparently this is being screened in front of Arabian dignitaries as a diplomacy mission by the US State Department. Why is this specific actor's movie being chosen for this mission when just by what we're shown, would be the equivalent of going into the Soviet Union and screen a movie of Elvis fighting a polar bear in Siberia? Only 2 minutes in and I already have a lot of questions on why this is the set up. He sings "Go East Young Man" and again why is this the song that you're choosing to perform in front of dignitaries you're supposed to schmooze? Again it'd be the equivalent of going into the Soviet Union and singing a song about drinking vodka with Josef Stalin. It's just so stereotypical that if this was a real diplomatic mission, it would be an absolute disaster. Dignitaries that you're trying to establish a relationship with, wouldn't see this as honoring their culture. If anything, what this movie should be about, is Johnny being kidnapped because they found his performance insulting.

Johnny Tyrone in this picture above summarizes Elvis' acting throughout the entire movie. Sir, you are meeting actual royalty and this is how you act? I can understand wanting to make a good impression but for goodness sake crack a smile. Or at the very least show humility by bowing before the prince. For someone who's supposed to be an actor/stuntman that was given a golden opportunity to act as a diplomat of American culture on this mission, Johnny looks like if it wasn't for Aishah, he literally couldn't care less to be there. Even when the prince invites Johnny to the king's palace (making him the first American to ever do so) Johnny looks bored out of his skull.

After traveling with the prince to Lunarkand, Johnny stops at a camp. Johnny goes to flirt with Aishah and we get a Red West appearance as on of the attackers. I know Star Trek didn't come out yet, but what is up with these costumes? These men look like an alien race trying to disguise themselves as human. Also this is the worst depiction of drugging someone I have ever seen. It's obvious that Aishah drugged his drink, but what drug could possibly work that fast? Whatever plot they want to commit would be executed a lot faster if they simply used a little too much of the Brand X drug if it's truly that effective. Drinking something is the slowest method you could possibly use to drug someone. It doesn't go directly to the brain like inhaling a substance.

The prince is obviously behind this and any twist that comes from it, is gone. My reason why it's so obvious: the prince would be completely incompetent if he traveled without any type of security for himself. So the fact that these men were able to enter his camp with absolutely no resistance indicates that this was planned to happen. If this was truly just a plot by Aishah, he would've been a victim as well to get the King's attention or attempt to implicate Johnny for the crime so Lunarkand would go to war agains the US. But that didn't happen. The prince is conveniently resting in his tent while Johnny is kidnapped.

I have never laughed so hard at an Elvis movie as I did when Johnny starts singing "Mirage". You have Johnny who was just kidnapped waking up in a strange place and what does he do? He literally starts singing to the slave women thinking this is just a dream. How in the world are we supposed to take anything that happens in this movie seriously? Johnny is being held captive in a Middle Eastern country and nobody will even know about it until after a week when Johnny doesn't return from his vacation. But no we need to have a gag about how Johnny's horny for slave women.

Even when he's facing Sinan, the leader of assassins who wants him to kill the King of Lunarkand, he still doesn't seem to care. All he does is make a snarky remark about how stupid it is to believe he can actually kill a jaguar with his barehands. Even if it was actually true, that just makes him all the more boring. Why should I care about Johnny Tyrone, if he's shown to be physically invincible and doesn't even seem all that scared about the amount of danger he's in? That isn't relatable. It's especially worse when you get the racist stereotype that poor Arabians are thieves in the form of Zacha offering to help Johnny escape for 10,000 American dollars. He explains how this country is so isolated that there's airport. How would Zacha even know what an airport was if Lunarkand's been isolated for 2000 years? And how does he speak fluent English if Johnny's the first American to even be on palace grounds? I just don't get how this world is set up.

Johnny escapes and runs into Princess Shalimar who for literally no reason says she's a slave girl. This would absolutely never happen and if anything makes me even more suspicious of the prince. Shalimar is a princess so she should have guards everywhere. Johnny would've been immediately captured just by being near her. Shalimar wasn't there during Johnny's movie screening so she has no reason to believe that he isn't going to be a danger to her. Johnny being hot isn't enough of a reason to trust him.

It also makes Johnny's plight even more frustrating to watch. For someone who's supposed to be on the run he sure takes his sweet time escaping. He doesn't take his safety seriously as he stops by the lake and sings "Kismet" to a woman he literally just met. It's a good song but it the movie literally stops when Johnny is supposed to be running away. When he tells Shalimar about Sinan and she runs away, it becomes all the more dumb that he wasted that much time. The guards are right on their heels and only get lucky in their escape.

So Johnny decides to follow Zacha until they find some dancing girls in Bar Esalaam that are part of Zacha's Den of Thieves. The stereotypes don't get better as you have an element out of the 1920s in the form a little person playing the mute fool named Baba. We've seen Billy Barty before in Roustabout and it's nice to have him do more than just one gag. I just wish they could've treated Baba as a real person, given how progressive it was to even have little people (especially since Billy Barty was the founder of the non-profit organization, Little People of America). Heck you know things are bad when you have me praise this movie for having a token black person be on screen in a movie that's meant to be in the Middle East. Are there pale skinned people in the Middle East? Absolutely. I don't mind that the royal family and their servants have pale skin. My beef is that a movie meant to be in the Middle East shouldn't have only one noticeably black person. Especially when you consider that Lunarkand celebrates Ramadan, a holiday celebrated by Muslims, who are typically darker skinned.

"Shake That Tambourine" I guess is good but why on earth are we stopping everything just for this? All we're doing is pro-porting the stereotype that all poor Arabians are thieves. What exactly is this accomplishing when Johnny needs to escape and he's going to pay Zacha $10,000? Nothing. If anything Baba getting caught stealing only brings attention to them. The guards chase Johnny in what's the most ridiculous display of physics I've ever seen in a fight. Johnny might be an actor/stuntman, but that doesn't mean he's capable of taking on a group of soldiers. The fact that this is being treated like one of his movies destroys any possible conflict. Why should I be worried about him getting caught when I know he's just going to beat them up and get away? What's worse is that you have two orphan children throwing rocks at the guards and it knocks them out. These children are about 10 years old at the oldest. Even if they're using a slingshot of sort, I just don't see them as being strong enough to make it at all effective.

"Hey Little Girl" has the worst context I've ever seen. Johnny is singing this song while a barely 10 year old girl dances like a stereotypical adult dancing girl. This isn't me taking the song out of context when the girl literally says she dreams about growing up to be a beautiful slave woman. Not to mention that there's literally a lyric that goes "Hey little girl, I'd like to take you home. Come on, come on, come on I want you for my very own." and another that goes "I want you swing it to the left, and shake it to the right. Hey little girl, you know you're lookin' fine". This is not at all appropriate for a girl this young to be shown doing that.

If you were listening to this song as just the soundtrack version, then it's just fine. It's a different sound that breaks up the monotony of his other songs. But when you watch it in context, it just doesn't match the actual intent Johnny has of wanting to adopt this girl. I of course don't blame Elvis because he didn't choose to have this be included. I don't think he realized that, her even doing this would be inappropriate since the movie itself has associated those moves to an adult woman in a more sexual nature. Movie scenes aren't always filmed in the order the audience sees them in, so I can understand why Elvis wouldn't have made the connection the audience would make. Regardless, there were better ways to have Johnny bond with the children he plans on adopting than this.

Aishah arrives at the Den of Thieves because Zacha is still working for Sinan. Knowing Johnny isn't a complete villain, she intends on holding the slave women and children hostage so Johnny has no reason to chicken out. In what is a very jarring display of seriousness, Sinan's men arrives at the den too with a bunch of weapons. They fully intend to kill these orphans if Johnny doesn't do it. The plot to kill the King is on as the plan is to kill him during the final celebration of Ramadan.

Princess Shalimar meanwhile laments that Johnny doesn't know she's a princess. That was entirely her fault so I don't feel bad for her. I get that she probably only said she was a slave girl to keep herself safe, but once she kissed Johnny, she never told him the truth. She's so down bad for Johnny, that she hallucinates seeing his reflection in her pool. I actually don't mind this break in reality since we're obviously supposed to understand this is just her imagination. "Golden Coins" is probably the only song with a Middle Eastern sound that doesn't feel completely stereotypical. If anything it gives us an insight that Shalimar wants Johnny to worship her by giving her many gifts. Very appropriate given how she's a princess.

So Johnny goes to the palace with the flimsiest disguise I have ever seen and I severely question what Sinan's plan is. Why on earth would you have Johnny try to kill the King when he's surrounded by everyone? If Johnny is trying to warn the king why would he take his knife out before explaining the situation? Having the knife in your hand is obviously going to lead to a "shoot first, ask questions later" reaction. Why is Sinan using Aishah to hold hostages knowing good and well that Johnny would never be killed? Johnny is an American who has people knowing that he'll only be gone a week. If he never returns from Lunarkand, the State Department is going to know he was killed. This was meant to be a diplomatic mission built into his vacation so even if the prince succeeds in killing the King, having Johnny be killed would only lead to war.

This is probably the most amount of emotion Johnny shows in the entire movie. He felt betrayed that Shalimar lied to him about being a princess. He's additionally upset that he let everyone down by failing. "So Close, Yet So Far (From Paradise)" is the most relatable song in this movie. At this point in watching, I looked at the run time and saw that I was barely at the hour mark. This movie felt so long that I had to pause and walk away for a minute to contemplate how a movie could be so complicated plot wise, yet also give you nothing. After coming back to finish this movie, Baba manages to set them all free. I take back what I said earlier as in a way, he did have a genuine character moment by getting past the guards to save his friends as opposed to running away to save himself. Johnny decides to try to reason with the King knowing he would have diplomatic immunity anyway.

Sure enough, things are smoothed over once Johnny explains himself. I guess the King only believes him because Shalimar vouched for his honor. In her heart of hearts, she never believed he could do such a thing. I mean she technically shouldn't anyway since again, Johnny killing the King as the first American to step foot on this land would be an act of war. Johnny isn't that stupid to risk that. Johnny comes up with a plan to keep the King safe, and expose Sinan. Meanwhile, we get actual whippings and the potential murder of women and children at the Den of Thieves. The true mastermind is of course revealed as the prince. However, what I didn't expect is for Sinan to betray the prince so he can take the throne himself. Granted there's the very big issue of Princess Shalimar being the heir to the throne, but I appreciate the attempt to be unpredictable. Sinan does after all, plan on keeping the prince alive so the people don't grow suspicious.

Johnny of course, exposes Sinan and saves the hostages in what's a pretty clever way. Using the slave women's bells as a means of misdirecting Sinan's men is a great way to get to Sinan and make him vulnerable. After a complicated plot involving the King fighting his brother that ends with Sinan getting shot full of holes by a machine gun somehow. The King defeats his brother with Aishah's hands being binded and promises Shalimar's hand in marriage to Johnny despite knowing him for only less than a week. The King doesn't even have his brother executed and instead has him banished. Because I guess blood is thicker than water and having your brother knowingly commit an act of treason without coercion on his part isn't as bad as Johnny only pretending to try to kill you. Aishah was part of the conspiracy too so unless she goes with the prince as banishment she would absolutely be executed for her treason. But no, we just jump right over that as if the King's possible assassination doesn't even matter.

We get one final performance and what I think is a Joe cameo with Johnny's new act in a reprise of "Harem Holiday". It's nice that Johnny fulfilled his promise to adopt the slave children, but what did you expect? Johnny isn't a complete villain to just let orphan children remain in slavery. There's just no reason to even worry about them, when there's no sense of complex morals in this movie. I have no idea why Johnny would even want to call it a holiday either. Sure he was on vacation and got a bride out of this, but getting kidnapped and being asked to assassinate a monarch should be traumatizing. I get that this is an Elvis movie and we need to have an Elvis movie, but really? This is the best way you could think of ending it?

It just raises several questions on how the movie ends. Why is Johnny performing in Vegas during what's supposed to be his honeymoon? Why did Johnny even decide to go back to the US at all when he's married to a LITERAL PRINCESS? If this country is so isolated that it doesn't even have an airport, how did Shalimar and her father even get into the country without a passport? This isn't a diplomatic mission and Shalimar wouldn't automatically be a US citizen just because she married Johnny. I'm just so baffled on how the movie emphasizes Lunarkand's monarchy and isolation only to completely erase that when Johnny marrying Shalimar would be a huge deal. The unfortunate reality is that nothing in this movie that's supposed to be taken seriously is taken seriously. And when you have that happen, all you have left to do is sit there and care about as much as Johnny does about everything: very little.

This movie at times was painful to sit through. I have seen The Sheik and Son of the Sheik before watching this movie. Those were made about 40 years prior to this one and were both silent. I enjoyed those movies a lot more. Things didn't age well but at least they had cohesive stories, and actors that express real emotion. When Rudolph Valentino is angry, he can be explosive, or silently seething without hearing a word. Elvis in this movie is just flat the entire time. This is probably one of the only times where Elvis has visibly given up without having had a concussion only a couple weeks prior to filming. When the movie is supposed to be dramatic, he's just so blasé I lose all investment. If Johnny can't even care about the trouble he faced, why should I?

I have no idea how to rate this. It looks nice visually and most of the songs if listened to out of context actually sound decent. Everything else ranges from mid to bad to (in the case of "Hey Little Girl") cringe inducing. IMDB has a current rating of 4.6 which sounds about right. Since it's not even 50% good, I'm giving this a 4/10. I wouldn't recommend watching this since if you like songs, just listen to the soundtrack. If you're looking for movies in an Arabian setting, do not watch this. Just watch Rudolph Valentino's movies on YouTube since that was what Elvis specifically expected. And when you take those stories for what it was, you'll see why they were used as a source of inspiration and just how unfortunate it was that this didn't measure up.

AN: Happy Holidays everyone. I hope you have a better time than I did. If you want to be tagged in future reviews, please leave a note here: https://www.tumblr.com/deke-rivers-1957/743326835519176704/ecu-movie-taglist?source=share

Tagging: @searchingforgravity, @mercsandmonsters, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @50sexyshadesfashionista, @atleastpleasetelephone,

@iloveelvis2, @arianatheangel-girl, @eapep, @vintagepresley, @peaceloveelvis,

@arrolyn1114, @smokeymountainboy, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis, @littlejoecartwright1842,

and @xanatenshi.

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

The absurdity and stupidity of all shitflix cancelations lies in one simple question: How many of those canceled shows have you actually heard of before they got canceled?

- Warrior Nun - never heard of it until the moment I started seeing its fans spamming every shitflix post. And that was its second season. It had two seasons, for fucks sake, and most of us have never heard of it. You wanna know whose fault that is? Let me give you a hint. No, it's not the viewing numbers.

- First Kill (or whatever its name is) - Never heard of it until, once again, I saw people complaining about the cancelation under shitflix posts. Once again, guess whose fault that is.

- Santa Clarita Diet - Never heard of it. Didn't even know it was canceled until it made it to the list of pissed of people counting how many of them they axed. Whose fault is that?

- Inside Job - Yeah, never heard of it until it got canceled. Also, canceled after they renewed it. Shitflix: guess we changed our minds.

- Archive 81 - Heard of it when the cancelation was announced.

- The OA - Remember just hearing about it through the fog, even though it came out years ago.

- Sense 8 - know about it only thanks to fans' videos and fanart. I don't remember shitflix ever mentioning it.

- Lockwood & Co - I know about it thanks to fans spamming posts asking for renewal news.

And the list goes on with, I assume, shows I have never heard of.

I've never seen any of these shows, but my open wound is 1899 that I believe got treated the dirtiest of them all.

I have heard of it two years before the premiere, thanks to a 50 seconds long teaser that got me patiently waiting for years because it was my cup of tea. It came from the people who proved themselves before by creating a critically acclaimed show that you can find on a top 10 list of greatest shows of all time. Those people have spent years developing a new filming technique for shitflix. What a way to say thank you.

8 out of 10 people around me have seen 1899. Those people haven't even seen GoT or LotR for fucks sake, the most famous show and movie ever, but they have seen 1899. But not because shitflix promoted it, but because people did.

There was zero promotion, zero cast interviews, zero mentions after the release. It was still watched and talked about by so many people. It has more viewing hours than their hit shows running for 3+ seasons put together. It's a show you can't just binge and forget, you have to actually turn your fucking brain on. It was released in the most busy time of the year, during the damn World Cup and winter holidays. It was still number one for weeks. It was given less than 30 days. They decided to cancel it before it even premiered. They deleted the trailer with 10+ million views from YT.

The same goes with other shows. I have seen zero cast interviews, zero promotion or mentions by their own platform and they still have loyal fan bases that didn't stop talking about them.

But then you have dogshit shows like the Night agent that is getting hyped by shtflix every single fucking day. Fake numbers, pumped up to get people to watch a generic, a hundred times seen before, piece of crap. It got more hype than fucking GoT, and yet I know zero people who have actually watched it. Yep, there is no one I know, in real life or online, that has actually watched this show. So you figure it out.

People who have watched the shows I've mentioned probably have the statistics for them, and have probably seen the viewing hours being blamed for it, which was bullshit.

The latest nail in the coffin was Lockwood & Co. They kept fans waiting for months, and then they announced the cancelation during Eurovision so that fans wouldn't be able to go viral about it because everyone talked about fucking Eurovision.

Shitflix has canceled 26 sci-fi/fantasy shows in the last 3 years. 26! Do you all remember when we couldn't even name 26 shows of all genres put together, let alone watch them?

What all these shows had in common is that they were original and more or less unique and creative, not something you can find at least 6 copies of in either streaming or network TV.

It's like they created all these shows just so they can cancel them, because they are doing their best to actually burn every trace they ever existed.

Shitflix is killing creativity in every form, but in the end, that will be their undoing.

[divineerdrick]

Games Workshop's NOVA Open Preview - Should Have Been an Email and Now I'm Worried

If you've followed me for a while you might know that I started this blog following over from another blog nearly entirely dedicated to 40K. It was last summer, 10th Edition was coming out, there were almost daily teasers and releases, and I wanted to see if I could make any meaningful commentary on it. Then I heard that Tumblr wasn't as much of a hellhole as it had become after Verizon bought them. I had been following some Tumblr Homestuck blogs and decided it was time to give the site another chance.

Side note: It is an improvement, but not much of one.

While I stopped blogging daily about 40K, I did still cover a lot of their reveal shows. I loved 40K reveal shows! I loved the commentator banter, I loved the community interaction, I loved seeing all the new things coming, and they were useful for planning out purchases.

In case you didn't know, 40K is expensive. Having advanced notice helps.

But this year, 40K changed the reveal shows. Instead of a live stream on Twitch with community interaction, the shows were changed to pretty bland prerecorded videos that are nothing but marketing hype. In almost all cases it's better to just wait on the WarCom articles than to watch the reveals now. They aren't as long-winded, you get better images of the miniatures, and it's easier to skip to what you're actually interested in. From following people who attend these live, it's even worse. You're crammed in a room with other convention attendees, just to watch movie without any meaningful interaction.

This just really sucks! I really liked the old shows. As much as hype is a weapon corporations use against us, it's fun to get hyped for something! And when you can interact directly with people from a company like this, you feel like there's a chance to get questions answered and concerns voiced. This even happened during a few of the old reveals.

But this one is just beyond the pale! After revealing some cool new Chaos Dwarfs for Blood Bowl and the new Stormcast models that will be coming out, they moved to the other systems showcased in the preview articles.

And we got nothing.

While they presented what they claimed were roadmaps, there's basically nothing to them. Each roadmap uses more text talking about what's already been released than what's going to be released. The only concrete confirmed releases are as follows:

Warhammer 40,000: Guard, Aeldari, and Imperial Knights are coming out in 2025.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: We're getting a Death announcement SoonTM, new Spearheads for Orruks and Gitz, and supposedly something for all factions in 2025.

Warhammer The Old World: Empire and High Elves are slated for 2025.

Warhammer The Horus Heresy: Tanks! We're getting tanks, plural, in 2025! So that's at least two, possibly more, new tanks coming for the game!

Are you hyped yet?

Now, the chronologically attuned among you will notice that it is, in fact, still August. That's four whole months left of 2024. Now we have a new release and edition of Kill Team coming. We also have some previewed models that haven't been formally released yet. But even assuming that Death announcement happens before the end of the year, that's not a lot. In fact, the 40K road map specifically says, "With such a lot happening in 2024, it's time to take a breath, watch the balance, and enjoy the World Championship of Warhammer. Blood Angels end the year." While Blood Angels have not officially had their release yet, that release is imminent. That means there will be nothing 40K for 3 month.

I repeat, this road map says there are no unannounced new 40K releases in the lead up to Christmas.

So what's going on?

Let's talk about a potentially good explanation first. Games Workshop, like so many companies, saw amazing growth during the pandemic. But like all of those companies, that growth appears to have leveled off. Yeah, there are spikes in profits around new releases, especially 10th Edition, but nothing close to what they saw in 2020 or 2021. At the same time, they've been releasing new games, editions, and miniatures faster than ever before. But if they aren't bringing new customers in with these new releases, well existing customers are unlikely to want to spend even more money than they already are. And that's before we get to the blanket price increases that occurred over the last two years!

If the profits GW is seeing from new releases aren't in line with the production costs, GW might be reevaluating their release schedule. This is good new and bad news. The good news is that fans who enjoy multiple GW games and factions, like me, will have more time between releases we care about. More time to assemble, paint, and most importantly, save money. The bad news is that means some games might get left by the wayside. There are already worries that Warcry is dead. And that sucks because, in my opinion, Warcry is a better game than Kill Team.

But even if GW is going to be slowing down releases, I still can't imagine not having a faction release for their biggest game for Christmas.

So I have fears.

The most simple, and possible fear, is GW is starting to dial back on communication. This would be in line with the changes to many of their information formats, such as Warhammer Previews. This is bad. For almost a decade now, GW has been on that knife edge of being a largely neutral corporate entity. They're big enough and successful enough that they can do cool things that smaller businesses can't, all while treating their employees pretty well. But they're also big enough that their executives and investors are very obviously meddling.

And no, I'm not talking about female Custodes! That was a great decision that fits the lore and makes for a great way to expand the miniature line and community.

I'm talking about things like Warhammer+ and the negative focus it brought to fan content. I'm talking about the continued insistence on mandatory physical rule books in an age of digital media. And, of course, I'm talking about price increases and reduced model counts for already expensive products.

Up to this point, I personally felt the good and the bad have been balanced. But we've seen this kind of GW before. Before the old CEO was kicked out and Kevin Roundtree took over, GW was a silent and imposing edifice. Interactions with fans had dwindled to near nothing, and were often hostile. In many cases, kits and books were actually more expensive then than they are now, some even without inflation! It was during that time that I initially left Warhammer and didn't come back until the release of 8th Edition.

But I'm worried about something potentially worse too.

Even if GW is backsliding into old habits, and hostile investors and executives are having more sway, that still wouldn't explain not having 40K releases for Christmas! Even if we say, "Well maybe there's something going on that's delaying the release," that doesn't explain similar blank slates for their other games.

This much empty calendar in a lead up to Christmas screams reorganization. And since I don't see GW declaring Chapter 11 anytime soon, that leaves an unsettling possibility.

Buyout.

Amazon seems to have taken a keen interest in this relatively small British corporation. In addition to the planned Amazon Prime series and the short in the upcoming Next Level, there are rumors that Amazon is talking about a movie. But supposedly the Amazon Prime series stalled out in talks about the shows creative direction.

We all know what Amazon tends to do when they see a potential for profit but have a business partner they don't want to work with.

I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill here, but that should tell you how troubled I am by this Warhammer Preview. It really bothers me. I've honestly never seen anything like it since they started pushing Warhammer Community. And it really has me worried.

[thatbigbisexual29]

Big Brother Hobie (Across The Spiderverse)

*hypes self up* Ok! My first fic I’m actually posting on this account! I made this a day after I saw the movie and fell head over heels for these two! Mainly Hobie, but Pavitr is such a gem and I couldn’t not write for him! I hope whoever comes across this enjoys it! And thanks to @gladdygirl18 who helped me out with actually posting this :)

Hobie was the big brother. Everyone can agree on that. Although he was a punk anarchist, he secretly cared for all his friends. Even Miles, who was a new face to the party, he felt extra protective of. But the people he was especially fond of were Pavitr, Gewn, and Peter B. Parker. He let Gwen crash at his place because she couldn’t go back to her own universe, so he took care of her. Plus, they loved to hit and scream their emotions into whatever song they jammed to. Pavitr wanted to be in on the punk rock fun, but he only knew how to play the Sarangi. He was very talented and skilled, but the Sarangi wasn’t the instrument for punk bands. They still let him come to their jam sessions! (Although he did try to hold a therapy session for the two once they were done.)

And just like Gwen, Pavitr liked to crash with Hobie on occasion. Hobie was more than welcome to let anyone stay at his London apartment, as long as they didn’t leave too much of a mess. Who was he kidding though? With all his Spider-Maning he could barely keep tabs on it. Until, the blessed, godsent Pavitr dropped by while he was out and cleaned the whole place for him. Hobie almost shed a tear. And Peter? Honestly, Hobie loved taking care of Mayday. And he loved her name. Peter would never admit it, but he talked about baby names with Hobie one night and that was the result. And he’s just a great babysitter too.

So, collectively, their little spider gang unofficially announced him as the ‘big brother.’ Hobie didn’t mind. It actually made him feel all nice inside. Not that we would tell anyone. Gotta keep that tough bravado, eh? But there were moments with his friends he could be soft. Most recent one was with Pavitr when he portaled in, still in his Spider-Man gear.

“What’s this, then? Just got done running the jig?” Hobie nodded to him as he sat on his couch, legs propped up on his coffee table with a remote in hand. He shut off the tv as Pav groaned and flopped onto the couch, chest in Hobie’s lap. Hobie huffed a chuckle, pulling off his friend’s mask and tossing it to the side. “Rough one, was it?”

Pavitr sighed and nodded, face hidden by a couch cushion. Feeling sympathy for the younger man, Hobie patted his back.

“I’s jus’ watchin’ the telly, want me to turn it back on? Background noise an all,” Hobie suggested, but Pav just shook his head.

“How have you been, Hobie? Everything ok in your universe?” Pavitr asked, turning his head to look at his friend. How the hell is this kid such a sweetheart? Hobie wondered as he reached down and ruffled his perfect hair.

“S’all cuppa ‘ere, nofin I can’t handle. Still coals and coke, but what else is new? S’going ons wit you? Got some pain in your noddy’s?” Hobie nearly barked out a laugh at the offended look Pav gave him. Scratch that, he did laugh.

“Excuse me?” he asked. Hobie chuckled into his fist.

“Do your shoulder’s hurt?” he simplified. Pavitr pushed up onto his hands and once he rotated his shoulders, he groaned and fell right back onto Hobie’s lap.

“Problem found. ‘Ere, lemme getcha.” Hobie sat up and cracked his knuckles, getting into position.

“Oh, Hobie, you don’t have to-” Pav started.

“Ah, hush. I owe you one. Now let your brova ‘Obie take care ‘ya.”

And with that, Hobie got to work, he kneaded his thumbs into Pavitr’s shoulders, smirking with satisfaction at the relieved moan that left Pav’s chest. They sat in silence as Hobie worked out all the knots in Pav’s back, going from his shoulders all the way down his spine. The only responses he got were satisfied grunts, groans, sighs, and hums from Pavitr as he melted into Hobie’s lap. The kid was really stiff. He must’ve been overworkin’ himself, Hobie thought, s’not good. I should tell him to calm it down. Before he could get a word out, he heard a small squeak come from Pavitr’s mouth. He looked over to see Pav with both hands covering his lips with his eyes shut.

“Oi, was funny? You havin’ a bubble at me? I ain’t hurtin’ you, am I?” Hobie asked as he leaned up to get a better view of Pav’s face. He didn’t look like he was in pain. When he peaked his eyes open to look at the older man, they had a happy twinkle to them.

“N-No no! I’m- fihihine! But, your hahands…” Pav looked towards his back. Hobie followed his gaze and realized both of his hands were placed around his sides. A mischievous grin crossed Hobie’s face as his eyes flicked back to Pavitr’s face. Pav looked back at him with an adorable expression that just said “I can’t stop you, but I’m gonna try to look cute so you think about not doing it.” Hobie smirked and pinched the back of Pav’s neck, causing him to squeal and arch his neck back.

“Y’know, s’rude to laugh at your friends, Pav,” Hobie purred close to his friend’s ear. Pavitr let out a string of high pitched giggles and grabbed handfuls of the couch cushions beneath him.

“H-Hobieheehee! Wait wait wait! Lehehet’s talk! Dohohon’t- eek!” Pav snickered then squeaked as the older male skittered his long fingers directly up his spine.

“Nah, don’t fink I will. You need some good, ol’ fashioned, relaxation, mate. And I know exactly how to get you relaxed! So jus let big brova ‘Obie… getcha!” Hobie quickly grabbed Pavitr’s sides and squeezed, drinking in his girlish shriek. He laughed and wiggled his fingers into the slightly pudgy flesh. Pavitr thrashed in his lap but ultimately didn’t move from his spot. Just awkwardly pushed himself up before falling back down and beating the arm of the sofa senseless.

“Hohohohohohohohohohohohobieeeeeeeee! It tihihihihihihickles! It tihihihihihckles so bahahahahahahaaaaaad!” Pav whined through his laughs, alternating which side he scrunched up so he looked like a belly dancer. Hobie let out a loud ‘hah!’ when he saw this.

“Oh yeah, show off ya moves, Pav! Should I get a beat goin’? Unce, unce, unce, unce!” With every beat from his mouth, Hobie would do rhythmic squeezes on Pav’s sides. One, two, one one, two, one, two two. This drove the younger man up the wall (hee hee spiderman joke). Pavitr did his best to fight back. This included weak slapping on Hobie’s hands and futile attempts to crawl away. Hobie simply pulled him closer and tickled his ribs and armpits at the same time, switching between the two.

“AAAAAHAhahahahahaha! Hobieheeheeheeheeheeheehee! Pleheheheehehease!” Pavitr begged. Hobie smirked and scratched his rib bones, earning another girly shriek.

“Please wha, Pav? Please… keep ticklin’ ya? I can do that! Or is it please… tickle somewhere else? How about… here!” In a swift motion, Hobie moved his hands from his upper body to the back of his quads, making claws and digging into the flesh. Pavitr screamed and his thrashing renewed.

“Oh, has I found a tickle spot? Right under your buttocks, yea? Mate, that’s kinda embarrassin’. I ain’t one t’judge though. It's hilarious how much you’re tryin’ ta fight me, kiddo. Was it people say when they tickle kids? Oh, roight. Tic-kle tic-kle tic-kle~” Hobie grinned like the Cheshire cat as Pavitr lost his mind. Finally, Pavitr rolled off of Hobie’s lap and crashed to the ground, reflexively thwipping both of Hobie’s hands together.

“O-Ohohokay that's enohohough! I’m relahahaxed! No mohohohore plehehehehease!” Pavitr giggled out, lying flat on his back and sighing once the tickling was finally over. Hobie laughed and fished his pocket knife from his jacket, slicing the webbing from his hands. He tossed the knife on his coffee table and leaned over Pavitr without moving from his couch.

“You alright, yea?” he asked. With a few giggly breaths, Pav nodded. “Good. If I had killed ya, Gwendie would have killed me. ‘N ah don wan that. But seriously, mate, gotta go easy on the Spider-Man work, you feel me? ‘S why you’re so tense. If you keep dat up, y’won’t be able to move. You get what I’m sayin’, yeah? You’ve got an honest jam tart, an das good, just don’t be over usin’ it,” Hobie instructed. He could tell Pav was listening, which was good, but the younger man did cock his eyebrow at the last sentence.

“But… I don’t have a jam tart…?” he said with confusion, looking around to see if he had accidentally brought something jelly filled from his dimension. Hobie snickered then laughed, holding his stomach.

“You are way too funny, man. Go take a shower, you smell.”

“Not as bad as you…” Pavitr mumbled, immediately bolting for Hobie’s bathroom.

“Oi, the nerve of ya! Get back here, ya hooligan bastard!” Hobie was up in a flash, thwipping Pavitr to the floor.

Needless to say, Pavitr got another good taste of what having an older brother is like. And Hobie got to mess around with a best friend. He could get used to being the big brother every now and again.

[tobiasdrake]

I've been loving your Digimon Adventure recap series! I've actually never seen Digimon or really interacted with it much before, so I've been learning about it/vicariously watching the show through your recaps. Now I've started playing this fangame, Digital Tamers 2, that I'm hooked on! I just evolved my MachGaogamon to a MetalGarurumon, and now am starting to raise a Tsumemon (now a Keramon) - I guess they're the antagonist of one of the movies? Question-wise, I have 2: -When you were first watching as a kid, did you ever notice any of the inconsistencies or errors the dub made? Not the translation differences, of course, but the times where even within the show it didn't make sense, or they didn't include some important piece of information. -What Digimon series and/or movies have you seen (besides original Adventure) and what would you say is the best of them? I know there was some kind of reboot-type series in Adventure:, right? Was that good?

Ah, yes. We'll see them pop up when we get to Our War Game, a movie that takes place after the first Adventure series concludes.

*google google*

...I should check out this game.

Anyways, on to the questions.

1 - I don't remember very well, but I do recall being thrown off by certain things. There were a lot of minor "Huh?" moments but we couldn't exactly pause and think about a show back in the day so I'd often just wind up moving on to the next hype moment.

I didn't understand the plot very well but I didn't really know that I didn't understand the plot very well.

Since we're in the area of it, one thing that sticks out in recent memory is that I always found Puppetmon to be a boring villain and didn't understand why so many episodes were spent on him. My least favorite episode of the series was the one where he kidnaps T.K. to a house and then they just... run around and do nothing.

Which I now understand to be the result of everything they did in that house being impermissible on Fox Kids. Now, I am super enjoying Pinocchimon's arc.

(I also found T.K. himself to be a boring character in the first show back in the day, which I now understand to be the result of the dub overemphasizing his Kid Sidekick-ness and underemphasizing his strength, conviction, and personal growth.)

2 - I've actually never left the Adventure series before. ^_^;; Of the Digimon shows and movies, I have seen original Adventure, Adventure: Our War Game, Adventure 02, Adventure Tri, and Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna.

I got really hooked on this particular cast of characters, so as a kid when they announced that Tamers was going to be a whole new continuity with a whole new cast unrelated to the Adventure series, I took that as my jumping off point. Then I only ever came back when they announced new material for the Adventure cast.

I've heard a lot of good things about Tamers, though, and I'm looking forward to finally seeing it.

[lfghughes]

Since you’re on an uncle/dad wave right now (at least from what I’ve seen lol) can you do an uncle Trevor with toddler Hischier piece?

a/n: the uncle/dad wave is very much alive still. hope you like it!

The hockey world was a lot smaller than people thought. Everyone somehow knew someone else or had played with someone else even if it was short lived. That’s pretty much how you and Nico got to know Trevor over the years. Even though he played on the opposite coast he had plenty of friends on the New Jersey team and after hanging out with him a few times over the years he had become close to the two of you.

Trevor had been there for all the big parts of your relationship and you could still remember the day that both you and Nico called him to tell him you were going to have a baby. He immediately accepted the role as an uncle and even though he wouldn’t be physically able to be around all the time he still played a pretty active role. You would get random gifts sent for the baby and once you did have your daughter he would call on a regular.

Now at 3 years old your toddler absolutely loved her uncle Trevor and so when he walked through the front door of your place to surprise his favorite niece there was a lot of excitement from her. “Hey man, I’m glad you could make it.” Nico smiled at his friend. The plan was Trevor was visiting for the week and you both decided he could just stay in the extra bedroom you guys had.

The only downside had been that his first night here you and Nico already had a Devils fundraiser event you had to go to but Trevor quickly said he didn’t mind and that actually it was perfect for the two of you because now you didn’t have to find a sitter for your toddler. “Trevor, listen to me this is serious. Absolutely no cookies or candy after seven.” You warned him and he gave you a thumbs up but you could tell he wasn’t taking it seriously. “I swear to you that I will make you stay up all night with her if you get her hyped up on sugar.” A threat you at least hoped he would listen to.

Trevors P.O.V

Babysitting was definitely one of your strong points and maybe that was because you typically just let them do whatever. Your niece was no exception. If she decided to do a tea party with her stuffed animals that’s what you would do. Paint your nails? Easy enough. “Okay, how about we watch a movie now?” You asked in hopes of maybe calming her down. She nodded her head as she went to grab her blanket and started towards the couch. “Tangled please.” She asked as she climbed up on the couch.

That was easy convincing, see you were great at this whole babysitting thing. “Uncle Trev, can I please have candy?” Her big eyes looked at you and the her voice was too cute for you to deny. “Do not tell your mom.” You warned as you grabbed some gummy bears for her. Between the two of you that bag did not last long and there was no way you’d hide the evidence.

Readers P.O.V

Finally you and Nico were heading home. It was close to nine and now that you had become parents that was late for you. “I’m making a bet right now that they are both still awake.” Nico said with an amused laugh and you knew he was more than likely right. As you both walked in there was your toddler still very much awake, dancing to the music of whatever movie they had put on. Trevor was on the couch, looking exhausted and you knew she had given him a run for his money.

“You gave her candy didn’t you?” You asked, crossing your arms in front of your chest. “A bags worth of gummy bears.” He admitted and you let out a sigh. “Well good luck for the rest of the night, we are going to bed.” Nico announced giving him a quick wave. “Wait guys, come on!”

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Late Night with the Devil

Horror has been clawing its way back into the limelight recently and frankly I couldn’t be happier. Between all the films where filmmakers have used the genre as a vehicle to deliver social commentary or explore deeper themes like the works of Jordan Peele and Ari Aster, the PG-13 horror films that give younger viewers an entry point like M3gan and the FNAF movie, and stylish horror dripping in symbolism like The Lighthouse and Mandy, horror fans are eating pretty good! We even got a good Lovecraft adaptation, starring Nicolas Cage no less! Sure, there’s still the cash grab legacy sequels and the hot garbage horror fans have come to expect, but it seems filmmakers are treating the genre as grounds to experiment again so that, even if the results aren’t perfect, we’re getting a constant stream of innovative creativity.

And Late Night with the Devil looked like it might be one of the best films in this new wave of innovative horror. The concept—the film being a found footage “lost episode” of a late night comedy show—is really unique, and it gives a lead role to David Dastmalchian, who has shown incredible acting chops playing weirdo supporting roles. Positive reactions to the initial announcement and the first looks really built this up to be the next big horror smash!

…And then came the controversy. It was revealed that AI generated images were used to create certain pictures in the movie (specifically the intermission cards), and as this came to light in the thick of arguments over the subject of AI, this killed a fair bit of hype and caused many to state they’d boycott the film. Using such lazy methods as opposed to, you know, hiring an actual fucking artist isn’t what you do to endear yourself to audiences. Still, the ethics of AI usage aside, I still wanted to give this film a chance, and thankfully the movie turned out to be every bit as fun, refreshing, and innovative as I’d hoped!

Until it isn’t.

For most of the film’s runtime, it delivers exactly what you could have hoped for. We get fantastic setup framing the film as sort of a documentary, with a Michael Ironside-narrated introduction giving us pertinent backstory before diving in to the actual episode. The presentation is fantastic; from the grainy VHS look of the actual show to the black and white backstage footage, they did a great job of capturing the look and feel of a show from that era, with everything making sense as something that would be filmed for the show. It keeps this up for most of the runtime.

But just as the film is about to bring home the gold, it does a mass hypnosis sequence where we see the illusion of worms bursting out of a guy… but this clip is played back almost immediately, without the illusion. While the worm effect is great practical gore, it is the first sign that they’re willing to betray the conceit of the film for spectacle. And it only gets worse from here, as this leads right into a big finale with all sorts of overtly supernatural elements as well as video footage of another person’s hallucination.

And while the supernatural horror stuff has some cool moments, including a couple of gnarly kills and some solid black comedy, it really sort of deflates the film. The setup they went with really only works if you keep the supernatural elements ambiguous. The initial demonic possession scene is where the cracks start to show, but there’s still at least a little wiggle room there, but when we have someone split their head open and levitate while blatantly using magic it is really impossible to ignore. It’s even worse because the effects in the finale are really not as good as the filmmakers think they are, meaning they essentially sacrificed the believability of the movie for pointless spectacle that it didn’t even need! Up until this point the movie was up there with the found footage heavy hitters in terms of realism and commitment, sitting alongside the likes of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. But it decided it was better to try and have it both ways, to be some spectacular supernatural extravaganza on top of the found footage realism, and it falls on its face flatter than your create lost episode creepypasta as a result. If only there were hyperrealistic blood to be seen.

Maybe it’s just me, but I hate when a film that builds such great atmosphere with subtle, ambiguous horror decides to go whole hog on the spectacle. It’s my biggest problem with Hereditary—Ari Aster had created such a fantastic, unsettling, oppressive tone for the film steeped in the ambiguity of the events, and then the final act has spontaneous combustion and levitating corpses. But, crucially, Aster pulls everything back for the final scene, leaving on an ambiguous yet deeply disturbing note. It’s why I wouldn’t hesitate to call Hereditary a great film. But I can’t do the same here. Sure, it tries to pull things back at the very end, but by its very nature it fails to do so. You’ve already betrayed the basic premise of your film for your Hollywood ghost movie tricks, you can’t win us back now. You were at the head of the race, about to bring home the gold, and you tripped at the finish line.

I know I’ve been super harsh on the movie, but that’s because I do love it. It’s a really good movie for the most part! Dastmalchian in particular is absolutely fantastic, showcasing great range as his character Jack Delroy alternates between the corny comedic charisma needed of a late night host and the sleazy, desperate hunger for fame you’d expect from a 70s TV personality, all while never coming off as a truly bad guy. It really showcases Dastmalchian’s leading man potential, and whatever else I wouldn’t hesitate to call this a career highlight. I genuinely hope this opens more doors for him because he is genuinely and consistently great throughout, even when other aspects dip in quality.

And aside from the obnoxious and intrusive AI images (which are mercifully few and far between), it spends a good 80% of the film being stylishly immersive and engaging. This is a genuinely good movie, and I do recommend watching it! I just unfortunately have to throw in the caveat that it trips over itself at the end and doesn’t quite achieve the greatness we were all hoping it would.

[mooncaps]

I do enjoy being pandered to with nostalgic imagery, but it also would've been neat to get something brand new.

What an absolute delight to see Hotaru happy after all these years of grim duty and tragedy.

More nostalgia.

Okay, I think I ship this. Unless they're supposed to be siblings, but they seem extra cuddly. I feel like I rarely know in this franchise when the cousins are actually lesbians and when the devoted and emotionally intimate men really are brothers even in the original. The 90's dub left lasting doubt in me.

This affected me a bit.

This also stirred something in me, which caught me by surprise.

And this affected me a lot.

If I'm being honest, I don't think my deepest heart is truly awake enough to fully appreciate this, but I definitely enjoyed it.

I'm probably gonna need repeat viewings, supplemental materials, and meta analysis to fully understand all of the details. The time travel seems to be a confusing mix of Back to the Future rules and Trunks rules.

I'm thankful that the story was able to be finished at all, but I still would've preferred seasons over movies. There's something to be said for that time spent between episodes, dangling on a cliffhanger, hyping and theorizing about what's to come, as well as for the time spent falling in love with the character and transformation music as it repeats each week.

Yasuharu Takanashi has definitely left a lasting impression on me. I caught half an episode of Boruto that my mom and step-dad were watching and immediately both recognized his style and enjoyed the score. And I definitely loved his work in Cosmos, even though I'm realizing that having time to sit with the music between episodes and hear certain themes repeat lets me savor the flavor even more.

Then there's also the time to let story beats breathe and the time to let characters make more of an impression.

It's been about ten years of hoping to see the missing Animamates fully realized, and most of them got the approximate screen time of a 90's monster-of-the-week (or less.) And I'm assuming their roles weren't very big in the manga (I can finally let myself read that now!) either, like how the Spectre Sisters had smaller roles in the Black Moon Arc than in the 90's counterpart, but I still feel like even they had a bit more presence than most of the Animamates got in this movie. Maybe it's more due to the time in between with the fandom making posts and art than the actual screen time, but either way I don't feel like I got enough of them.

At the end of the day we got what we got and I'm still grateful for it. When I first got on Tumblr in 2011, Crystal hadn't even been announced. As far as any of us knew, the 90's anime was all we would ever get and those manga-exclusive characters and scenes would forever stay in the manga. I remember the hype for this. I remember the bickering about this. I remember when we weren't even sure if the third and fourth arcs were going to happen at all, let alone the fifth. I remember the long and bumpy ride it's taken to finally get here. (Much as I've come to appreciate a little time between installments, ten years for five arcs is perhaps too far in the other direction.) This franchise had already given me a lot of memories and the last ten years with this reboot series have made even more.

I look forward to binge-rewatching the series as a whole, probably the English dub next time. It's gonna feel weird not having a new installment of this reboot to look forward to anymore. I'm really not sure how to process that fact right now.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Since the announcement that Dune part three is in development I've watched a couple of youtube videos and read some articles announcing the news, talking about potential release dates and just generally talking about what they want for the third installment and in the comment section of them there seems to be a lot of discussion around how true to the book the third film will be.

Some are saying that they think Villeneuve will stick closely to the book Dune Messiah, others are saying that he will throw the book out completely and just make up his own story for the third film. Some are saying that after the changes made in Dune Part Two, particularly with the changes to Chani's character arc, its now impossible for him to stay true to the book.

Now I haven't read the book so not only do I have very limited knowledge of the book, I also don't have any special attachment to it. So my following views on the subject are coming from that perspective and are based on the two films I've seen and some comments that were in these articles/comments section.

(So mild book spoilers here, you can learn this from reading the blurb of the book.) One thing I did learn is that the book the third film will be based on, Dune Messiah, is actually set 12 years after the end of Dune Part Two's events. We don't see the holy war, we only see the aftermath. Personally I found this news a little disappointing because I feel like they've been revving the audience up with this holy war for the last two movies and so I was really looking forward to seeing it, to seeing just how far Paul goes, whether he tries to hold back at all, whether he has moments of hesitation etc, I was just really hyped to see this war they kept going on about. That being said I do think that seeing the aftermath would still be interesting too.

I've also seen some people say that the book itself won't translate as well to film as the first book does, apparently it has a lot less action and is more political intrigue, as one article put it, its a lot of people sitting in a room and talking. Again haven't read the book so I don't know how accurate that is, but on a similar vein, I've seen a few people say that whilst the book is good its nowhere near the level that the first book is and so they are worried the third film could be a let down for non-book readers.

So as I said above, lots of opinions going around, mostly from book readers because naturally they know a lot more about what is coming than us non-book readers. But it got me thinking how might Villeneuve approach the film and work around some of the concerns I've seen being discussed, the main ones seeming to be, there not being enough action/ it not translating well to screen and how they are going to deal with Chani, as it seems she plays a vital role in messiah and kind of needs to be at Paul's side in order to fulfil that role. So here are my theories and guesses at how Villeneuve might approach the last film. Again these are just my own speculations and opinions.

This first one could definitely be influenced by my own wishful thinking, but one way they could add a bit more action to the film is to spend say the first hour, for example, showing the holy war and using the time to explain how and why Chani returns to Paul, the birth of Alia maybe, etc and then have the time skip to 12 years later and cover the events of Messiah. These films usually have a long run time so if they keep the long run time for this film maybe they'll be able to cover both events. I do believe that the messiah book is considerably shorter than the Dune book, but then the Dune book was split into two films so I am not entirely sure on how well it would work. I guess it would depend on how well it is written.

Another possibility is what some have suggested and that they just throw the book out pretty much completely. The argument here being that Herbert wrote Messiah because when his first book came out the audience didn't get his intended message that Paul wasn't the hero, so he wrote Messiah to really hit home his message that this was a story about the dangers of false prophets and not a hero's journey type story. However Villeneuve has already achieved this message in Dune part two, which could give him some leeway to take the story in a new direction and add his own spin on it. It could also be an opportunity to make the story more appealing to modern audiences, the books were written in the 60's so political and world views were a little different than today. I do think that might be part of the reason why they changed Chani's character, the loyal concubine who follows along with the false saviour's crusade might not have been all that appealing to a more modern audience. The flip side of that though is that abandoning the book completely might not be a popular decision amongst the book readers. So you could end up alienating one side of the audience in favour of making the story your own and trying to appeal more to the general audience.

The third way could be to stick as closely to the books as you can given the changes made in part two. Villeneuve could just start the film with a narration from one of the characters like he did with Chani in part one and Irulan in part two, maybe this time they could have a narration from Paul himself explaining what happened in the war and how and why Chani came back to him etc, setting the scene so to speak. Then from then out just follow whatever happens in the books. Personally I don't know how satisfying I would find this but it would at least follow the same pattern as the other two films if it opens with a narration.

One other thought I had was they could keep the time-skip for the film but have a miniseries that is set during the holy war, I know they are already doing a miniseries covering the bene gesserit so maybe they can also do one showing the war to fill in the gaps. However I think this would be highly unlikely as I don't think they'd have the time to film both a mini series and an actual film. But you never know maybe we'll get really really lucky.

Out of all the possible options, I personally think the first one would be the best option. It would be the best of both worlds, the book readers will still get to see the book adapted, but spending some time at the beginning of the film showing the war could add that needed action and make it more exciting for those who haven't read the book and who might otherwise be disappointed.

But I am curious to know what others think. If you haven't read the book how do you feel about there being such a large time-skip? Do you care if they skip over the war? Or if you are a book reader are you hoping they'll stay close to the book or do you share the same opinion as some of the other comments I saw saying it won't translate well to film? How important do you think the change to Chani's character is and do you agree with those saying it has messed things up going forward? I am very curious to know. All of this being said I am still very excited that they are making a third film and I trust that no matter what direction he chooses to go Villeneuve will deliver another amazing piece of media for us.