#I was sus of him the whole set but its actually funnier if he's just an innocent detective character who just ends up in these situations

[balis77]

Shoutout to Magic for taking "Watson equivalent who was a former assassin of some kind" and ascending it to "Watson equivalent who is still an active assassin, not even on the side, like being a detective's assistant is their side job"

Proft: "He's covered his tracks well. He's definitely our culprit, but with all the physical evidence destroyed we'll never be able to prove it to the courts." Etrata: "...So like, does that mean I'm fine to... you know..." Proft: *sighs* "...Just please tell me you're being paid by someone else to do it." Etrata: "Oh they gave me the contract like halfway through the investigation. I was just waiting to see if we could get him in custody first."

[nikrei]

July Comics Round Up

Trying something new where I actually record this as I read and not all at once at the end of the month.

Hawk & Dove (14-28) (1990-1991)

V v good!! I love Dove she's my baby girl, and by the end of it Hawk was even starting to grow in me like a fungus. Also, thank gawd they stuck to their guns and never did a romance between Hawk and Dove, I really liked their love interests. (Also Babs shows up!!! Love love love) this finished up this run, it was pretty short. 100% recommended reading, especially if you are interested in the lords of chaos/order dynamics.

Doctor Fate (14-31) (1990-1991)

One thing I can say about DeMatteis's run is that despite all the weird "xtianity is the true religion" overtones, the insistence that the center of the universe, the greatest power behind everything, is pure unending joyful compassionate LOVE really gets to me. Could do without the overwhelming unsubtle proselytizing tho. Messner-Loebs follow-up is sooooo good tho holy shit, love love love the social commentary going on.

Starman (20-37) (1990-1991)

Will is such a good boy but he can be so dumb sometimes. Watching him learn and grow is very fun! This run strikes a good balance of drama humor and sincerity.

Doom Patrol (30-44) (1990-1991)

Excellent storytelling, and i got to meet Danny the Street!! Morrisons run is practically crossing itself over with the magnus archives they fit so well together. A little out of step with the rest of dc's mythology but that's sort of the point of it <3

Hellblazer (27-45) (1990-1991)

Most of 1990 I was thinking that John is really not doing a lot of magic stuff, just getting into wierd situations then 91 hit and bam, lung cancer soul selling arc! It was exciting to read after seeing it mentioned in so many places.

Swamp Thing (91-109) (1990-1991)

Okay Wheeler has me feeling all sorts of ways. Obviously his whole deal with planetary afterlifes has me going insane, but also he is so so wierd about christianity like his whole set up of the eden situation with angels that consult god, its all so awkward with established Swamp Thing mythos. Also, the Grey has been introduced and posites that fungus and decay are extraterrestrial life imposed on earth and I sort of hate it. Back in Moore's run, towards the beginning, all discussion of decay was as a part of ecosystems which is true! Having decay be an imposed malicious force is sooooooo dumb I hate it. Wheeler can tell a story but all his subject matter is sus as hell.

The Demon (1-16) (1990-1991)

Does not further my blood/etrigan agenda as much as I would like, but it is pretty fun. Also Klarion and Lobo showed up which was exciting

Batman (443-469) (1990-1991)

It's timbo's time to shine! They really are shilling hard for this kid, but I love him so its okay.

Detective Comics (612-637) (1990-1991)

Frustrating that Jason's name is anathema until tim shows up and then it's all victim blame-y bullshit to make tim look better.

Robin (1-5) (1991)

This is one of the first dc comics I read! So it was very exciting to come back to it with a better understanding of everything going on, especially more Shiva background. Also, new version of Ace the bathound showed up!

Legends of the Dark Knight (1-20) (1989-1991)

Some good stories but I am so tired of the clumsy mystic noble savage trope that these authors love to pull when they involve indigenous folk. Also, the more stories that happen that take up months the funnier i think it is that all of these have to be happening in the first the years of Bruce's career because Dick isn't there yet.

New Titans (65-80) (1990-1991)

Jumped back into the town just in time for my last favorite arc, Wildebeest Jericho, doing my precious baby boy wrong on every possible level. Good slade content yeah, but at what cost? And it gets all mucked up with the Armageddon 2001 event in a way that is just messy storytelling.

The Flash (34-54) (1990-1991)

Wally is my dumb little guy and he is living and learning and trying his best. I'm so glad that he has a full pit crew for his high powered racehorse disposition. Also he got a dog named mercury! So far this run has been a good mix of funny and sincere, action and drama. Deffo recommend.

Suicide Squad (37-57) (1990-1991)

Amanda Waller is really peak boss in these issues. She's softened up in some ways and gotten sharper in others. Very fun to see the squad do the freelance thing. And also BABS IS HERE!! (Oops I mean 'amy') I love her ahhhh

Captain Atom (37-57) (1990-1991)

Finished this one up, all in all it's a good run. Nathan is an interesting hero and there's a lot of themes about truth vs lies and the shitty nature of the us military, but also there are some very funny silly moments. Recommended!

Animal Man (23-40) (1990-1991)

Holy shit Morrison's run was so gooood, 4th wall breaking meta level shit I'm very into it. A very wierd follow-up after that, but it involved Animal Man positing multiverse theory that spit in the face of ordained dc canon (but aligns with my thoughts on the subject hell yeah) But yeah, Buddy is going thru the wars in this.

Green Arrow (29-50) (1990-1991)

They are really leaning into this whole "Ollie kills people now" thing. Also, Dinah continues to be a footnote in service to Ollie's story and I hope she leaves him soon. They aren't bad stories but I think Grell leans too hard into the 'Dark and Gritty.'

The Question (34-36) (1990)/Question Quarterly (1-5) (1990-1992)

If I had realized there were only three issues left on the og I would have just finished it up last time! Proud of Vic for leaving Hub City, truly the worst city in America. Conversely, also proud of Myra for staying and trying to fix things. As far as quarterly goes, I can't believe what they did to Jackie holy hell. Honestly, as far as the whole series goes, the downward spiral of Hub City is so extreme that it really is just a reflection of how everything is getting more uneccessarily dark and gritty on a meta level.

Action Comics (252-285) (1959-1962)

And I am officially back in the silver age!! I started 'Tec/Batman when Batgirl showed up so I figured I'd start Action/Superman when Supergirl showed up! Tbh silver age doesn't really do it for me, so I am skimming these just a bit sometimes, but it really is fun to see just how wacky things could get back then! Also, Clark is wayyy too mean to Kara!! She's always crying wanting to be adopted and have a loving family and he's like! Too bad! Be my secret weapon! Also, these comics have such a messed up idea of adoption and kids having to prove that they're worthy of being loved and the adults shopping around. Is that just what things were like?? Anyway in 285 she's revealed to the world! She has a loving family with the Danvers! It's everything I wanted!!

Superman (130-150) (1959-1962)

Started this at a point to be contemporary with AC. Silver age Clark is certainly a guy, I'm collecting panels of him eating weird things. Also, 60s Lois is the gal of all time absolutely. I sorta can't wait until socials mores move away from "women must want to be married, immediately." Also this current continuity has the Kent's having died before Clark moved to Metropolis, which is sorta wild.

Adventure Comics (247-280) (1958-1961)

The Superboy stuff is honestly really silly when you think of all this shit happening while Clark is a very narrow age range, but also they keep referring to things that happened in previous comics as happening a few years ago in universe. Time isn't real baybee! Anyway I started here because it was the first issue with the Legion! I didn't realize that I was getting Green Arrow and Aquaman backups until I started so that was a fun bonus, especially getting to read Garth's first appearance! Honestly I love that in this time period Arthur is sorta just a homeless loser who has nothing to do with Atlantis but is calling himself the king of the sea anyway.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (40-58) (1959-1962)

Jimmy is the sokka of the group sorry I don't make the rules I just say the cursed truth.

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1-28) (1958-1961)

This comic truly is gaslight gaslight girlboss. Aka 66% is Clark gaslighting Lois about superman and the other 34% is Lois being a v 50s/60s girlboss, I love her so much, but oh my gawd this time period goes hard on MARRIAGE. I will be honest the gender essentialism in this does get very annoying. Its in all of the comics but is most focused in this one because it's about Human-Woman Lois Lane.

World's Finest Comics (100-123) (1959-1962)

For the most part I'm not that into these because there's not much actual character interaction, its all just new fight with a new gimmick. This is especially obvious in the Green Arrow backups where they only have 6 pages and it's all to showcase the newest arrow. Didn't read any of the Tommy Tomorrow backups sorry my dude i do not know u i do not care.

Green Lantern (1-10) (1960-1962) + Showcase (22-24) (1959)

This is a lot of fun! I think I like silver age comics like GL and Flash better than batman or superman because they are new characters with no status quo to uphold. Hal can do a lot with his ring, like transmuting matter, that I'm pretty sure can't be done these days, which will be neat to watch develop.

Justice League of America (1-8) (1960-1962) + Brave and the Bold (28-30) (1960)

Fine!! I caved!! I let my terrible completionist nature get the better of me and I'm gonna read the first 75 of these that I skipped last time. Its sorta wild tho, because reading the solos of this time period you'd think that nobody is sharing the same world except superman and batman, and aquaman sometimes, but then there they are on the justice league! (No seriously, superman has been to at least two separate "mysterious Amazon islands" that have nothing to do with paradise island. And he's never made mention of knowing an amazon.)

So my recording as I go experiment has worked, which is honestly a really good thing because I would be really hard pressed to review the stuff from before my time jump right now, oops.

[hotpinkrathian]

The Dinner

(Kyalin) Cannon to The Box series.

Tenzin took a seat, sitting Rohan on his lap, bouncing his soon to be toddler.

"Oh, Bataar isn't he the cutest thing?" Suyin said fawning over the little.

"He's adorable." Bataar replied. "Any signs of bending yet?" Bataar asked.

"Well, I can't be totally sure, but I think we have another airbender on our hands!" Suyin cheered, drawing attention to herself.

"I would do anything for another one." She said, causing her husband's eyes to widen in fear.

"No. Please.""oh come on, one more honey." Bataar scoffed, moving to sit with his sons. Su frowned returning her gaze back to Rohan. She was caught off guard when her sister took a seat beside her.

"Lin! You made it!" She smiled, Lin nodded, setting down a place full of food Kya sat next to her and Suyin reached over to shake her hand.

"Its been too long, Kya."

"Much, there's so much to catch you up on, Su." The waterbender said, looking to Lin who ignored her. It wasn't long before Mako and Bolin stumbled into the room, heaving and leaning on each other.

"Hey! Take it outside!" Pema shouted, nearly spilling a tray of beverages.

"Sorry its just- Korra?" Mako asked.

"Shes outside with Asami, they'll be in as soon as Korra gets a whiff of this fish." Tonraq said, eyeing up the dish.

"Can't wait." They pushed past the crowd and Su rolled her eyes.

"Remind me so much of the twins." She remarked and Lin snorted.

"Worse." Her older sister said and Suyin laughed.

"Lin, I'm going to the kitchen to get a drink, want something?" Kya asked.

"Hmm? Something strong." Kya looked at her doubtfully and Suyin glanced toward Tenzin, who seemed to pick up on the energy.

"Come with me." Kya said, pulling her arm.

"Alright, fine. I'll be right back Su." Lin said being dragged away by Kya. Su looked to Tenzinsho put Rohan in his uncle's lap.

"Did you-" they said in unison.

"Sorry, you go." Tenzin said.

"That was weird, right?" Su asked, looking at her sister and Kya from the table. The two were leaned against the counter, Kya pouring a waterbenders portion of wine, engaged in conversation.

"They arrived together." Tenzin said and Su pursed her lips.

"Do you think Kya's living with her?" Su asked.

"Its possible. She's been staying in the city for a while now, I assumed she had her own place or an ex's to crash, maybe she's been staying with Lin." The two woman came back, returning to their seat.

"Sorry," Lin laughed as she sat down. Su looked to Tenzin again.

Is she laughing?

I think so?

"So, Kya, where have you been staying?" Su asked, flattening her robe. Kya took a long sip of her wine, finishing nearly a third of it before answering.

"With Lin. She's um... been letting me stay with her. Just to be closer to the hospital and all."

"Thats very kind of you Lin," Tenzin said, "I didn't know you were so fond of the homeless." Kya flung a spoonful of mashed potatoes off her spoon at her brother who blew it against the wall.

"Ha. Ha." Tenzin smiled, proud of himself.

"Beifong!" Su and Lin looked at the use of their last name, to see Korra, Asami, Mako and Bolin standing at the door. Lin rolled her eyes and Kya patted her on the shoulder, smiling.

"Yes?" Lin asked, standing up and spreading her arms.

"You... you lied to me!" Korra argued. Su looked between the two of them. It didn't seem hostile but.. playful wasn't in Lin's nature. At least she didn't think so.

"Actually I just didn't tell you the truth. Besides, you didn't ask me."

"You told them before us?"

"No, I gave you guys the key to our apartment, and I even gave you the box. You just didn't look in it." Korra's eyes met Asami's a look of realization dawning on them.

"Why... why did you-"

"Wanted to know what you thought. And maybe rub it in a bit." Korra furrowed her brows and Lin smirked. Su looked back to Tenzin when Kya wrapped an arm around Lin's.

Oh my god. She mouthed as the bald airbenders face lit up a bright red.

"Were you in on this?" Asami asked.

"Oh yeah, this whole operation was my idea." Kya replied. "I just thought it'd be funnier coming from Lin. And as always, I was right."

"You're not always right-" Lin began, she was shut down with a look from the waterbender.

"Does someone care to explain whats going on here?" Bumi asked, bouncing Rohan. "I'm getting the sense I don't have all the details."

"Beifong and Kya are getting married!" Korra said and the unanimous gasp in the room was followed by silence.

"Suprise." Lin said, a grin on her face.

"Kya, whats the meaning of this?" Tenzin asked.

"Tenzin, its pretty straightforward..." his sister replied. Su was too busy looking at Lin, and then to Kya, who now at a second glance did have a new betrothal necklace. One that had Lin's impeccable bending skills all over it.

"Lin are you... oh my god!" Su cheered, jumping up to hug her sister. "You're getting married?" Lin stood stiff in her sisters grip, patting Su on the back until she was released.

"Yeah, I mean I thought that was obvious." Su ignored her passive aggression, smiling at Kya who winked at her older brother across the room.

"Kya you... how?" Kya laughed, placing a hand on Su's shoulder.

"It just happened. These last what, fourteen, fifteen years, have been the-"

"FIFTEEN YEARS?" everyone shouted and Lin plugged her ears.

"Ow. Spirits you don't have to be so loud."

"You've been together for fifteen years?" Pema asked, finally setting down the beverage tray.

"Yeah. Honestly, I don't know how no one picked up on it." Kya said, "except Bumi."

"How'd Bumi know?" Kai asked.

"Thats... not for young ears to hear." Kya replied, causing the two of them to blush. Su sat down, her head rushing with thoughts. Her sister had been seeing someone for fifteen years and she had no idea. Some sister she was. She wasn't sure how she felt about the secrecy, but she shoved whatever feelings those were aside and focused on how happy she was for her sister.

___________________________________________

Kya flopped onto the sofa next to her fiance, the effects of the wine fading and leaving her feeling tired.

"That was a lot." She said to Lin, who was already half asleep next to her.

"Agreed, way to much."

"But it feels good, doesn't it?" Lin opened her eyes, looking at the beautiful girl beside her.

"It feels amazing, Kya." Kya kissed her her lips tasted like wine, she didn't mind totally, but she preffered the authentic Lin.

"Lin, I can't wait to marry you." She whispered.

"I can't wait either."

"We should do it. Tomorrow?" Lin looked to her.

"What?"

"Lets go to city hall, and get someone to do it."

"You don't want a big wedding? What about your mom?" Kya sighed, leaning back.

"Mom will understand. Besides, after today I realized that I just want it to be the two of us. Like its always been." Lin leaned over, kissing her.

"Okay, but we're not getting married in city hall. I have a plan."

"How could you possibly have a plan?" Lin shrugged, flexing a hand out in front of her.

"I wanted to make sure we had our bases covered." Kys chuckled, kissing her again."

"Thats why I love you, Lin Beifong." She said before nuzzling herself into Lin's shoulder, the two of them falling asleep on the sofa.

Thought it was done? Hehehehehe

"The spirit world?" Kya asked, staring into the beam.

"Yup. Korra recommended it once she got back. I figured we'd honeymoon, but this is better." Kya smiled, and the two stepped into the beam. On the other side was a green field, flowers stretched across for miles, and in the middle, a cottage. Spirits gathered around a table, sipping tea.

"They're here!" The spirits called and Kya looked to Lin, whos face revealed nothing. The door of the cottage swung open and an old man, carrying a tea pot and a saucer smiled at them.

"You're early!" He said over the spirit chatter.

"I'm punctual." Lin replied as the two walked up to him.

"Iroh?" Kya asked, tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

"Its been a long time, Kya," he said, "the last time I saw you... you were this high." He put his hand next to his waist.

"Lin did you-"

"Korra mentioned he was here, during harmonic convergence. I had to see for myself."

"And she couldn't stop coming to see her uncle!" Iroh added, pouring two more cups.  Kya looked at her wife to be, who smiled in a way that made her look ethereal. Lin had a connection to this place, different then Jinora's or Tenzin's, but a connection. The one time Kya had been here, it had been whole fully unpleasant. She was starting to think her opinion of it was going to change.

"Well, are we going to stand here all day or is there going to be a wedding?" Iroh asked.

It didn't take them long to get ready, the spirits put a veil of light around them, decorating Kya's hair with flowers and giving Lin a panda lily to give once their vows were done.

"Su's going to loose her mind." Kya said aftwrward, when they sat on the grass.

"She got married without me." Lin argued.

"Fair enough." Kya laid in the grass and Lin joined her.

"I could stay here forever," the waterbender said.

"Me too," Lin replied, holding Kya's hand in hers.  "Me too."

Thanks for all the love on this miniseries everyone!!! I really enjoyed it! Anyway, this is the finale, however I will have a bonus short in an upcoming chapter on Watty with strictly Bumi's reaction. As always, thanks for reading!

[drawbauchery]

So, overall thoughts on HTTYD-3?

novel-length thoughts under the cut with spoilers for the book series as well! and i can’t believe i have to say this but if anyone tags this as “httyd critical” or something equally stupid i will end you

things that were BLEH

toothless left hiccup way too easily. you cannot convince me that this dragon would up and leave that boy for any reason and intend to never come back. it happened so quickly that it looked like he chose a dragon he just met over his best friend, like he lost interest in hiccup now that there’s another night fury, or something close to a night fury. obviously that’s not all there is to it, and the scene was still good, but…….the pacing…….

the fact that he left hiccup at all is going way against the book’s ending, which they did nicely in all other ways. (it was their plan from the beginning to mirror the book ending, hence the comparisons!!) “toothless will never leave me” is a line book!hiccup says with confidence, backed up by the fact that while the other dragons are in fact going into hiding, toothless keeps coming back to him. he stays away longer and longer each time he goes, but they both know they won’t be separated forever. but in the movie it’s just…i don’t want to think about the fact that toothless can stay away from hiccup for ten years.

the light fury. just. the light fury. even before the second movie came out the last thing i wanted was a Girl ™ night fury to conveniently show up and get with toothless but WELL. there are so many old fanfics out there of toothless meeting a white night fury with eyelashes and having babies and ugghhh

i didn’t trust her?? throughout the entire movie??? they said she was bait, and i thought, ok, she’s meg from hercules. she’s gonna act seductive but then she’s gonna change her tune later, right? but the whole time i was expecting her to turn on them or something. we never learn about her or what she was trying to do, really. so it was jarring for me that ultimately toothless did choose her (and the hidden world) over hiccup. 

she was fine by the end when she saved hiccup and made a goofy face. and her design/animation is beautiful. but she could’ve been funnier and less….shady

toothless taking too long to recognize hiccup in the epilogue. i guess some people interpreted that as him forgetting about hiccup, but i!!! can’t consider that without getting depressed. i personally think he should’ve hopped onto the boat and tackled hiccup without a second thought. actually, i think he should’ve done what he did in the book and fucking visit once in a while why did you just leave your boy like that toothless what’s wrong with you in this movie 

(a lot of these gripes come from the fact that hiccup and toothless’ friendship is one of the most important things ever to me and them being apart for any reason at all is just not something i can handle asldkfn)

the fact that snotlout and eret didn’t end up together. we know the real reason snotlout’s crushes never work out

hicCUP’S HOUSE BURNING ;-; poor house.

the fact that my favorite scene in gift of the night fury, when toothless destroys his new tail because he only wants to fly with hiccup, is going to be almost tainted knowing that he’ll eventually use a new tail to leave and NEVER COME BACK fuck

you expect me to believe cloudjumper would ever leave valka? foolish.

0/10 no dagur

things that WEREN’T bleh

like everything else

the pacing sans at the separation scene was SO MUCH BETTER than the second movie. it really felt more like the first one. there could’ve been a few more quiet or slow scenes, but i liked seeing hiccup act more dorky and nervous and working on the tail. and his insecurities being addressed was nice.

HICCUP SWORDFIGHTING YESSSS

they actually added tears to hiccup’s face this time. remember when he looked up after sobbing over his dead father and his face was just. dry

tuffnut and ruffnut having bigger roles! and i shipped tuffcup back in the day so it was a nice surprise to see them sharing scenes alksdnf

and..ruffnut and fishlegs? is that canon??? pls? 

the flashbacks. lord help me. all i ever wanted was to see a flashback of kid hiccup and they decided to give me two and murder me in the process

i’m like 9999999999% sure that hiccup’s stuffed animal was the one he reunited with in the show

stoick was so fuckin gentle and affectionate with his tiny son and i can imagine him just holding hiccup 24/7 and kissing his head and doting on him and promising to protect him forever and. and. hhh

toothless’ chicken dance

toothless’ bear hugs

ASTRID’S HAIR

fishlegs and the gronkle baby i want a spinoff 

actually give me a spinoff of ALL the babies. i turned into a waterfall when the hiccstrid kids showed up they were the cutest things ever and so were toothless’ babies (if only funko didn’t spoil those) 

hiccup and astrid eye fucking each other while setting off an explosion, while the score mirrored the moment in the first movie when astrid epically walks away from an explosion. love on the battlefield indeed

“what are you gonna do about it?” “probably something stupid.”

“get rid of the limp!” “i hAV e a p RO S theT IC Le G”

“who died and made you chief?!”

“oh, NOW you can draw”

the hidden world blew me away like jesus christmas take me there

hiccup’s wedding suit made him look like a prince!

gobber being fatherly. he always was like an uncle, and it’s nice to know he’s kind of stepping in and looking after hiccup more closely, as if to reassure stoick that hiccup’s doing fine.

hiccup being CHIEFLY and all his friends up in front with him during the meeting!

dat villain tho. any villain that sneaks into the hero’s house and nonchalantly makes tea automatically wins in my book

the fact that grimmel is what hiccup could’ve been. that was a nice subtle comparison there.

me internally moaning and groaning at how it looked like astrid was gonna be captured by one of grimmel’s dragons in the escape scene but instead she swung around and kicked its face. that’s my GIRL

hiccup’s face

hiccup’s voice

hiccup’s outfits 

hiccup

and for all my griping, the fact that toothless and hiccup find each other in the end is the most important thing. this movie made up for..almost all the heartbreak i went through after i saw the second one. at least i left the theater crying happy tears instead of shocked and horrified ones :DDDDD

ALSO WTF END CREDITS THAT WAS SO UNFAIR I’M SUING DREAMWORKS I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THAT

[popblank]

Thoughts/notes after seeing Frozen on Broadway, including performance details:

This is the first time I have been to the St. James, and it resembles other Broadway theaters I have been to in that its lobby area is relatively small  and consequently trying to move around anywhere just before the show, during intermission, and just after the show is kind of unpleasant. (Better than the Neil Simon Theatre, though.)  But other than that it seems quite nice.

I was sitting pretty close to the stage, just off-center house left.  It was expensive (considerably more than I usually spend for tickets) but I don’t regret it in this instance.  

Pluses: being very close to the action; being able to see the actors’ expressions and costume/set details; physical effects were much more impressive.  

Minuses: from that distance and angle, the projections didn’t look nearly as good as they would have from a different place in the audience.  I was about eye-level with the stage if I sat up straight, so l couldn’t see any of the floor projections.  Being so close also meant that I had a limited field of view, so in order to see what some other actor was doing or to see a scene as a whole, I’d have to constantly scan the stage. If I was focusing on something in the foreground it was easy to miss something happening in the background.  It’s probably a good thing that this wasn’t my first viewing.

At the Buell Theatre I sat in the back half of the orchestra (row Y, roughly center), and the projections and ice effects looked comparatively great. This may work out well for when the show tours in larger theaters.

Audience in general: clearly excited to see the show, but maybe not quite as excited as in Denver (where it seemed like a constant low-level hum).

Only saw a few audience members in princess dresses this time, though that could have been because children are short and the lobby was wall-to-wall people.

A kid a few seats away from me brought her Elsa doll with her to watch, which was cute.

“A Little Bit of You”

Young Elsa and Young Anna appear to have dolls of each other in the bedtime scene; looked like the ones they sell in the lobby. (Not missing an opportunity with the merchandise tie-ins.)  Text of the tag attached to the dolls:

Sir Jorgenbjorgen from Olaf’s Frozen Adventure gets pulled out of a toy box during the Olaf-building scene, though not used as part of the construction. Young Anna grabs him at some point and puts him back in the box, then he shows up again with bedhead-adult Anna.

“Hidden Folk” - hadn’t remembered it before, but this scene is where (Young) Elsa first sings the “Monster” theme

“For the First Time in Forever” 

Particularly effective from near the stage.  

It is pretty neat to be close enough to feel the rush of air from the dancing. When people started running around in this song and the coronation songs, all of the swirling skirts blew leftover “snow” from “A Little Bit of You” into the front row.  

Sven was very impressive from my seat angle.

“Queen Anointed”/”Dangerous to Dream” -

Still my favorite sequence of the show.

Caissie Levy’s expression as Elsa visibly softens as soon as Anna runs into the scene.

Elsa's first "Hi!" to Anna is high-pitched and a little too loud, which amused me.

The Duke of Weselton didn’t suggest marriage (as in Denver), but it was fun to watch Elsa try to maintain her Diplomatic Queen Face through their conversation while Anna doesn’t hide her feelings at all.  In general it was entertaining to watch Patti Murin in the background of any scene in which she wasn’t the focus.

I think this is the only time in the show where Elsa relaxes enough to be funny.  

“What Do You Know About Love?”

Improved by being up close, was actually more effective when I couldn’t see the stage.  

“In Summer” - This was a very pro-Olaf audience.  I think he was the only one who got entrance applause.

“Let It Go” 

Better this time, when I wasn’t expecting crazy effects.

The expression of ice in the musical is a bit different than in the movie, in this song in particular.  Where in the movie it becomes all solid planes and facets and architecturally imposing monoliths, here it's all about details and light (e.g. the crystalline curtains, the dress).

I like Caissie Levy’s version better than Idina Menzel’s movie version, particularly the first verse and chorus.

“Hygge” - Still kind of WTF but funnier up close.  One of the ensemble (I want to say Jeremy Davis based on the Playbill pics) made eye contact with a woman in the front row and managed to crack up several people in the vicinity with his expression.

“For the First Time In Forever” (reprise)

The ejection from the ice palace looks better than I remember - it seemed to be more Elsa-focused rather than on Kristoff/Olaf/Anna, though it may have been that I only looked at her because of where I was sitting. It does seem like it would be easier to show someone wielding magic through lighting/projection effects, vs. showing people thrown off a cliff.  The projection behind her resembled both snowstorm and static, which seemed appropriate for the character’s state of mind.

“Fixer Upper” - no marriage pronouncement as in Denver

“Kristoff Lullaby” 

In Denver this was a private/contemplative moment, on Broadway this was Kristoff having a sudden revelation in the middle of the action while time slows around him.  The setup resembled the scene in the Legend of Korra S3 finale post-Zaheer fight, with Pabbie as Su Beifong, Anna as Korra, Kristoff as Asami.  I think it worked better this way, because the Denver version both slowed things down and was more intimate than the state of the character relationship would have warranted.

Bad audience behavior: during this song I heard and saw two people (adults!) in the front row talking to each other. They were probably a few feet from Jelani Alladin; if I could hear them, he probably could too.  What was so important that they couldn’t wait until a scene change to say it?  

“Monster”

The pants are a fine idea, but I feel like the boots deserve more attention.

Caissie Levy hit the line “before I fade to white” really well.  No crazy riffs or anything, but it stood out to me.

When Elsa asks her parents what to do (”Father, you know what’s best for me” etc.), she kneels in a pose resembling prayer - looking upward, hands out in supplication. More on that later.

“Colder by the Minute”  

An example where sitting up close might not be as good.  The freezing scene worked better when I couldn’t see the individual actors (or their involuntary motions when “frozen”) so clearly.  From that particular angle I couldn’t really see Hans striking, either.

When Hans draws his sword, Elsa glances back at the sound, then turns back to face the audience; the impression I got was that she clearly knew what he was about to do.  Then she repeats the pose from “Monster” where she addresses her parents, while silently mouthing words.  I didn’t catch what she was saying but I assume it’s the same as in “Monster.”  Except in that case, what happens immediately afterward is that she resolves to fix the problems she’s caused, while in this case it’s Anna throwing herself in front of a sword and turning to ice.  So if Elsa thinks the result of her prayer for guidance/help is her sister’s death... well ouch.

“Finale”

When Kristoff asks Anna if he can kiss her, Elsa's eyebrow goes up as if to say, "well this is interesting.” Very different from her first encounter with Hans.

If I remember correctly (it’s been almost a year so I could be wrong), the order of events in the finale is slightly different, i.e. the kiss is before the quick “Let It Go” reprise. 

While exiting, I overheard a comment (paraphrased): “the kids in the audience were well-behaved; it was the adults that were the problem.” 

At least I didn’t hear any cell phones during the show.

Cast was excellent.  IMO they sounded as good as or better than on the recording.

Finally, a punny ad in the Playbill that made me laugh: