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prince-toffee · 3 years ago

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I don’t care if the character is good. I care if the character is interesting. I don’t know where the morality police came from, I don’t know why people try to justify actions of villains, I don’t know why all characters need to be good. I don’t care if they’re justified, or right. ‘Do I care when they’re on screen?’ is the right question. The character can be a pure saint, but what does it matter if they’re pure good if they’re boring to watch? I love villains, love, love, love villains, but if a villain is just... boring, then what the hell is the point of even showing them on screen?!

For me spop is a prime example of this. I’m sorry, I really am, but I don’t care about... anything in that show, except for Hordak, Entrapta, and maybe Shadow Weaver. The Princesses do nothing for me. This one’s the sassy one, this one’s the hippie one, this one’s the blue one, again. I don’t care. I’m sorry. We learn nothing about them! We have no flashbacks, no lore, nothing! Show me Mermista’s father. The Whispering Woods are apparently sentient, can Perfuma talk to it? Show me how Frosta’s parents died, and give her a consistent personality. In her bio it says Netossa doesn’t have a kingdom, why? Show us Spinerella’s kingdom. Show me Entrapta’s backstory, her parents, her childhood, explore her kingdom! I’m interested, show me more! Show me The First Ones, they’re evil or something right? That was the plot twist, right? I think? Why weren’t we shown a satisfying and fulfilling climax where Adora kicks their asses? Show me George’s past battling against the Horde. Angella is immortal according to her bio, maybe. Show me that!

This show is bone dry! No meat! This show somehow manages to be empty and slow and drag while also going at break neck speeds. The only character I can’t complain about, who is my favourite Princess is Glimmer. Glimmer is great, I love Glimmer. Not s1-3 Glimmer, s4 Glimmer. Compromised Glimmer. For three seasons Glimmer was just another Princess, Adora’s best friend. But after Angella dies, then it gets fascinating. Glimmer has the responsibilities of Queen thrust apon her, and all those lines spoken in season 3 are paid off, Glimmer slowly becomes her mother even though she doesn’t want to be, she doesn’t want to be a coward, she wants to be at the frontlines helping her friends. And that pressure forces her to consult Shadow Weaver and go down a darker path. Her rise to power paralleling Catra that season, and then her descent catalysed by desire for power paralleling Shadow Weaver who forges the same relationship with her as with Micah, it’s all great. Glimmer wants to, is responsible for, protecting her kingdom, the whole world and as the Horde grows in power she feels the need to use increasingly more drastic measures to protect everyone.

Glimmer isn’t at her best in this season, but she is the most interesting at this point. And then in s5 she likes Bow I guess. The Mara Razz stuff is also pretty interesting, but that was in s4 and by that point I was just turning off my brain. I kinda feel like s4 was a filler season.

And then, when I’m given so little, we get to Hordak. And he, I cannot stress this enough how much this means to me even though it is the bare minimum, he has a flashback, an artistic, stylised flashback! With a thematic colour palette. With a tease that will be paid off, of our endgame bad guy. A flashback that tells us about the character’s backstory, about the lore of the universe, about themes that are relevant to the whole meaning behind the character and to the conversation he and Entrapta are having in that moment. We see the world from his perspective, we don’t agree with him, but we understand him. And guess what? That scene wasn’t even originally meant to be apart of the episode! Because of course it wasn’t! Because spop is the definition of white bread!

Fuck! Shadow Weaver does it even better! She has an entire episode dedicated to her, and it’s all a flashback, it’s amazing, we see her younger, we see what makes her go down a darker path, we see a meaningful relationship between her and Micah, we see LORE, LORE, LORE, I LOVE LORE, it’s lore that makes no sense timeline-wise, and complicates everything even more without expanding or explaining anything, and not paying it off later, but at least it’s something. I love Shadow Weaver, from her design, which is perfection to her voice which is gorgeous to her actions and writing which is marvellous. I love this irredeemable pure evil disney stepmother because she’s interesting, she’s fascinating! She steals every scene she’s in! Shadow Weaver is the best character in this entire show. I can’t stress how amazing Weaver is, and we all slept on her. I swear she’s like the only competent character in this entire show. She’s refreshing.

And to show you that I’m not just an edgy loser that hates heroes because they’re dumb and villains rock, I’ll say this. Not even Horde Prime is as interesting as those two. He’s this universe conquering monster that is pure evil and that is right up my alley, I should love him.... but I don’t. He sucks. He’s nothing. I feel nothing. I’m not intrigued, not interested, not captured. You know why? Because he’s a reskinned Princess. He’s not important, he doesn’t matter, he’s a cardboard cut out. He alludes to somethings that may or may not have happened in the past, we never see any of it. He’s like a weird Catradora shipper for some reason? He’s this super powerful monster that destroyed planets, he conquered half the universe, he brainwashes half our main cast, and the planet, and yet... I feel nothing... because deep down you know... that this is the last season and the hero will win and there will be no lasting ramifications, and if there will be we won’t see it. Oh no he couldn’t trace them because the ship blah blah blah. Fuck you. Sucks. The heroes are untouchable, he’s not scary, he’s incompetent, oh so you can just mind control people? and you didn’t do that right away, why? He’s stupid. And yeah Hordak is stupid too, but Hordak has a backstory and a love interest and thematic meaning, unexplored, but it’s there. Prime has nothing. I don’t know who or what he is. He’s an after thought. And what contributes to me not giving a fuck is the fact that s5 as a whole is terrible and it rots my brain, and I turned off my brain as I skimmed that season, I blacked out.

Anyway back to Hordak and Weaver. It’s strange when we get to them, because Hordak, in particular, is so unimportant and is so separated from the rest of the show, it feels like he’s in a completely different show from the rest of the cast. Even Weaver is important, she’s directly connected to Adora and more importantly Catra. Hordak? Sure his actions matter to the plot, his backstory and his lore matter to the plot, but he himself doesn’t matter. Sure the portal is the catalyst for the s3 finale and it calls Prime, the clone trauma is important to Catra’s arc in s5, but Hordak the person, is unimportant, Hordak the individual doesn’t matter. He’s less then a side character. He’s so disconnected from the entire show. He feels like he’s in a completely different show. Which strangely enough was welcoming for me. It felt like I could just like Hordak and Entrapta in that small corner of the fanon over there, away from all the drama. Hordak, from his design to his personality to his existing backstory, was so different and stood out from amongst the crowd.

At first it was wow this guy looks cool I’ll proceed to theorise what he’s about, and then when we actually got a story behind him at first I was disappointed, but I quickly began digging into the potential of it and you couldn’t stop me. An exiled and shunned clone with a genetic disease who wishes to prove himself to an uncaring god, his mental state is so fascinating to pick apart, don’t tell this isn’t the most interesting thing in this show... I don’t know what the conclusion of this cluster fuck is.

i hate wrong hordak

#salted toffee #this went off the rails quick

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sr-023 · 4 years ago

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On Inspiration, Intentions and ... Stuff

Valorant is a universe without a whole lot of established canon lore. We have some solid information, some environmental storytelling and more than a few things floating around from datamining (much of it potentially outdated) but ultimately we’re left with a lot of speculation, wild guessing and just generally applying headcanons to fill the gaps. For some people that makes for a good foundation to write from – it’s very liberating when you’ve got so much freedom – but I’ve never been the best at working that way. I like my facts, my continuity nods and the sense that what I’m doing isn’t straying too far from canon.

I’m trying to do things at least a little bit differently here.

---

Viper is my favourite character in Valorant. Always has been.

It might sound a little odd, but one of the big inspirations behind my personal take on the character is actually her official spotify playlist. Some of these playlists are a bit on the nose or feel a bit off the mark to me – Breach’s is way too obvious while Raze’s feels weirdly chill – but Viper’s in particular really stands out to me. I’m not holding any delusions that these playlists were carefully curated by someone on the lore team to sneakily convey narrative beats and such, but like … when you look a little closer it’s hard to not question why some of these tracks were chosen.

Take Rina Sawayama’s Dynasty for example. It’s a track that the artist has explicitly stated is about “intergenerational pain,” messy family relationships and her own personal struggles. I’m not trying to argue that such has to be transferred one-to-one onto Viper, but at the same time I’m really struggling to see what would lead someone to choose that track in particular if they weren’t interested in the primary message behind it.

Similarly I don’t understand why you’d pick a song like Phoebe Bridgers’ Killer (let alone two tracks from her) if she wasn’t saying something that felt relevant to the character. To me it’s basically impossible to listen to something like that and not come away thinking it was chosen for a reason. It absolutely doesn’t play to Viper’s obvious surface personality, and at the end of the day it’s all about the pain that comes with harbouring those controlling and toxic feelings towards others. It feels too deliberate to be an accident.

So yeah…

My original plan had been to write one standalone fic for each track in that playlist, more attempting to play to the general themes and use them as inspiration than in the vein of the classic songfic. Indeed I wasn’t even planning on announcing that inspiration at all.

Feeling the Big Decay is my take on Allie X’s June Gloom, and to that end is meant to play into those themes of isolation, feeling trapped, and having to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else enjoying themselves and living out a life you can’t have. To me that fits very well because I regard Viper as a character who likes her privacy and naturally stands apart from the sunnier members of Valorant, but also I think of her as someone who deliberately chooses to maintain that distance because her own agenda doesn’t mix well with that of the group as a whole.

Before Reyna was introduced Viper was the only character who felt even vaguely villainous in nature, and when I go through her dialogue I can’t help but think of her as someone who chose her current path in response to both personal loss and an external push – whether justified or not. I’m not looking to give her some kind of redemption arc or anything like that. She’s someone driven by spite who has no qualms about hurting others … and in my particular headcanon that comes with the obvious problem that an organisation like Valorant doesn’t exactly want someone like that on their side. They’re not here to be a vehicle for someone’s revenge fantasy or war crimes world tour.

So my take on what happened in Venice is partially (indirectly) Viper’s fault. She put her own priorities ahead of the team’s and it had major consequences.

Feeling the Big Decay is meant to be about the lingering aftermath of that – the fragile normalcy, lack of real closure, and the question of whether Viper can really fit in with a group like this. She absolutely can do the job – the fic takes place after she’s led a team through a high-stakes mission – but she not only has her own issues with the other agents of Valorant and the way that they operate but also just how she feels about trying to fly straight and by the book. Viper has sadistic tendencies and is pursuing the gratification of a very personal revenge, so there’s the question of whether forcing herself to conform with Brimstone’s playbook is actually killing off any enthusiasm she has for doing all of this. Is she willing to stomach an unfulfilling existence if it’s what potentially lets her get closer to everyone else (and maybe find a different kind of fulfillment)?

That’s what I really need help sorting out. Dialogue isn’t something I consider one of my strong suits, and the exchange between Viper and Brimstone that covers talking around Venice, him chewing her out for her hypocrisy (as she’s more than a little guilty of everything she complains about in the other agents) and how we get from there to to my current epilogue plans is still pretty up in the air. I’ll probably go into more on it tomorrow.

Sorry this has ended up as a lot of words. It’s just how I express myself when I do this sort of thing.

#I really can't thank those who've followed or got in touch with me enough #Talking about this sort of thing can be difficult

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freeza-emperor-of-the-universe · 6 years ago

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Dragonball Super: Broly thoughts

So on a bloody hot day to put it lightly- 46 degrees- almost 115 in US fahrenheight I finally got to see it. English dub rather then my preferred original Japanese subbed but I won tickets so seeing it for free and on a day like this in an airconditioned cinema was perfect.

Light spoilers below.

The Good

*The backstory.

Perhaps the best part of the movie we got so much lore and backstory on the Saiyans, it was fantastic. I used to think the Saiyans were basically just primitive and barbaric beings (I found it odd they had a monarchy). .But this movie depicts them as being a pretty advanced race and that not all of them are fighters. Looks like some work in technology, others as butchers etc. I really hope we get more looks into this in the future.

I really enjoyed the Dragonball Minus material, I used to be one who preferred the TV Bardock special but now I prefer this. Bardock feels like a more developed character here then in the TV special, specifically his interactions with other Saiyans and Gi-ne.

This movie also made me want more on Vegeta’s past. What happened to his mother? What happened to King Vegeta when Freeza destroyed planet Vegeta? Was he already dead prior or what?

I really enjoyed seeing kid Freeza but I wanted more. Just how did Freeza’s race come across the Saiyans. It appears it was Cold but how? More on that would be cool and more on the relationship between Freeza and Vegeta after Vegeta’s destruction up until the Saiyan arc would be amazing.

*Broly

Unlike the DBZ movies Broly here has more of a character compared to say DBZ Movie #08 where his personality in base form was non-existent and then a rampaging and cruel monster in his Legendary Super Saiyan form.

Broly here is akin to Goku at the beginning of Dragonball. He doesn’t know how to socialise, lacks manners, his father tells him what to do yet he is still is a friendly if naive guy. In one of my favourite scenes Broly tells Cheelai and Lemo how his only friend was this giant monster. It’s a really touching scene. The only real thing he has in common with DBZ Broly is when he gets angry, he loses control.

I think the movie opens up to Broly being a regular character in the future of Dragonball, he has of opportunities to learn and grow and I’m really looking forward to seeing that and what they do with him in the future.

Even Paragus felt more developed in this movie. Unlike DBZ Movie #08, you can tell he really loves his son yet he still wants to use him as an instrument for his revenge, sadly.

*Freeza

I am a big Freeza fan, he’s my favourite villain of the show and I think DBS Broly did a good job with him. From seeing him as a kid, to his interactions with his minions, Paragus and Goku in the present, they’re just so much fun. His wish has been a source of controversy, but I actually didn’t mind it and it paralleled with Bulma nicely. This movie also has me excited for his future and personally I do think they should introduce another member of his race. PM if you want spoilers regarding this. Also, his minion Berryblue seemed really interesting to me. We’ve never seen Freeza with a female minion before if I remember right and his relationship with her seemed particularly intriguing. She is seen in the opening flashback with him as a child as well as in the present. Headcanon she was his nanny! Hope we get more of her in the future.

*Cheelai and Lemo

I thought these two were a lot of fun and their dynamic with Broly was great. Hope to see more of them in the future.

*The backgrounds

The backdrops for the movie were just gorgeous, from Planet Vegeta, to especially Planet Vampa. They gave the movie an appropriate level of atmosphere.

*The future

I think this movie sets up a lot for the future of the series. Freeza’s future ambitions and Broly’s character for example. I’m REALLY excited so see what Toriyama and Toei come up with next.

The Bad

Nothing was really bad in the movie overall but...

*The fights

Honestly, I found the fights with Broly to be boring and uninspired. Apart from the animation budget clearly going the most to these parts and vastly better than anything the TV series cinematography, these just felt nothing special. Just your generic run of the mill Dragonball fights. I mean it was cool to finally see Vegeta as a Super Saiyan God in animated form though.

*The character designs/animation

I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the characters looked in this film say compared to Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. They felt much more detailed in those films compared to here, where they looked more... not sure how to put it... cartoony here. Some characters looked fine- Freeza, Broly, Paragus, Cheelai and Lemo while Goku, Vegeta and Beerus etc looked off to me. There was some derpy looking animation at times. Thankfully in the fight scenes the characters looked much better and as mentioned this is where likely the majority of the budget went

*Power scaling

A big problem with modern Dragonball nowadays IMO is that Goku and Vegeta have God-level strength, and it’s hard for them to have villains who should be convincingly at this level or even stronger for them to face. I can JUST buy Freeza training for four months and catching up to their levels because he was incredibly powerful to begin with, I but Broly was harder to believe. It’s like the Artificial Humans/Androids... A human scientist is somehow able to make machines and add robotic devices to humans and make them stronger than Freeza.

Like Broly is not even a Super Saiyan yet he is able to fight Goku in this Pseudo-Oozaru/Great Ape HumanState when Goku is Super Saiyan Blue. As a Super Saiyan, even though he is outclassed, he is still able to put up a fight of sorts against SSJ Blue Gogeta. It just really sucked me out of the experience.

Again beings from other universes being stronger or at Goku and Vegeta’s level, I find acceptable. Villains from the ancient past like Boo/Buu and Moro, I can buy. But this just didn’t work for me.

*The music

The music isn’t bad but it didn’t really stand out too much. I did smile when Cha-La Head-Cha Head played when child Goku arrived on Earth. I also liked Freeza’s theme, however but I wish in the opening flashback it was used more shall we say epically to really capture the intensity of Freeza and Cold landing and the Saiyans mistrust of them. Broly’s theme wasn’t bad and I will say the music playing when Freeza destroyed Planet Vegeta in combination with the scene itself did give me goosebumps. I was disappointed that Blizzard wasn’t used in the actual movie and left to the end credits as well.

The what the?

*The Editing

Wasn’t the biggest fan of the editing- mostly in the beginning backstory parts. It cut too quickly into new scenes- especially cutting from Broly and Paragus on Vampa to suddenly three years later with Bardock. I felt that could have been done better.

*What the?

Three major moments had me scratching my head. Vegeta is fighting Broly and then Goku abruptly steps in and Vegeta just disappears for a good amount of time. We don’t even see him complain about Goku jumping in out of the blue or anything. Then when Goku is getting beat up and is talking to Piccolo telephatically, Vegeta still doesn’t step in nor do we see his reactions. After the Boo/Buu arc this just felt strange.

Cheelai and Lemo don’t know what the Dragonballs are... yet then later on they suddenly do. I get that they presumably forced Kikono to tell them but how or why would they just think to do that was really jarring. I mean yeah I know Cheelai says in one part along the lines of ‘I WISH we could do some/thing’ but still. It just came up out or nowhere.

Finally Cheelai takes forever to make her wish. I get that they needed a climatic moment but it takes Cheelai minutes to make her wish to save Broly, even after knowing all she has to do is simply tell Shenlong/Shenron her wish.

Overall

Dragonball Super: Broly is an entertaining Dragonball movie with some great characters, plotting and solid animation. It’s let down by the uninspired fighting scenes that are your run of the mill generic Dragonball fights and some bizarre what the moments but sets up some interesting threads for the future of the franchise.

7/10

#dragonball super broly #dragon ball super broly #spoilerish

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mc-slowwalker · 3 years ago

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I have a prime sub but it’s to karl… who never streams :’((( I miss karl he should stream more. I have literally never been gifted a sub and a friend of mine has been gifted so many like, george, ranboo you name it. 3 hours after I started typing this I got gifted a punz sub lets gooo. gonna be watching his mcc ad and we’ll see about the ads

so true I 100% agree. cheating is always morally correct. “academic integrity” like okay uni whatever you say it’s literally has no weight if you’re studying to pass an exam instead of actually learning. we should be studying to learn not pass an exam. yeah exactly!! knowledge shouldn’t cost this much.

lmaooo trueee and also moood. (about the antisocial/awkward stuff I feel like to didnt make sense just like that what I was referring to with the next sentence starting with “like”) like I feel bad about feeling toxic about the twitter updates account thing because like I’ve been a person from the twitter updates account but like I’m not toxic for no reason afterwards. yeah it’s 100% so frustrating!! like a while ago I remember seeing “oh I’m not sending dts on dream’s behalf I’m sending them on mine” like huh???? do you not see the problem with that??? ughhh I get you tho I was annoyed with the kaceytron stream as well. I didn’t watch it tho like I watched a bit and was like fuck this then left. yeah I also hate it when he goes on streams of people who actively talk shit about him like :/// lowkey I feel like I’m just a bit too defensive of him sometimes because of all the unnecessary shit he gets from so so many people but at least I recognise that ig. I swear tho, his twitter stans get him in wayy more shit than he does. like that one account that counted the days made me so mad. but yeah it is kind of the same stuff. like I try not to cause I know it’s the same but like when I do it, it feels justified and not just being shitty for no reason but take away all that and it is really the same. like not to be a gatekeeper buuuuut. I’m very good at ignoring it all tho

that’s really cool but also spanish as a requirement in uni (/college idk)??? never heard of that. oh dang that’s cool I’ve always wanted to know more languages. language and the way people use it and like communication in general has always been so interesting to me. I want to say something about like my strong use of “like” now cause I’m noticing it. yeah exactly, the way people communicate online is so interesting!

tubbo should start war with foolish about the beets. that would be funny I think. and amazing lore. cause like not all lore has to be all high production. like I love hugh production lore, I love funny, silly lore, I love “semi” lore I’d enjoy it all. just log onto the smp and like idk do literally anything I will count it as lore. everything that has ever happened on the smp is canon to me. tubbo could literally just like nuke someone and start a whole new storyline. he should nuke the prison. I would say nuke foolish’s summer home over the beets but I’d be too sad about that and it’s a bit of an overreaction. there is much potential and I love tubbos character. also ranboo?? he just said that enderwalk was c!ranboo with all his memories and just like dipped and went to the uk. I do get that they’re all very busy tho and it can be difficult to find the time and all that I haven’t watched much of the bear smp but it looks cool and I may get into it at some point. I feel like I just don’t have any time these days tho

he didn’t drop off the face of the earth!! he did a 5 hour long merch vc. I am australian 😔✌️so I was asleep for half of it but it was nice just listening to it when I woke up. sapanp singing was my favourite bit. like I listened to some of those songs afterwards cause I liked them but it just wasn’t the same😔😔

I feel bad for replying so late tho so sorry about that I just felt very not social all day but I do like that with anon I can kinda just come and go and it’s chill

Yooooo congrats on the gifted punz sub! Yeah I seem to have bad luck with gifted subs, random chance I’ve only gotten sapnap, the fundy gifted was a gift from a friend

The best knowledge is free anyways. Also uni/college always tries to guilt you like who are you the catholic church fuck off. Bruh I’m paying for your services you should be treating me good I’m basically a glorified customer

Bro you where a twitter updates account?? Props to you I am at all times in the worst position to know stuff. Unless I am actively live blogging I have 0 what’s going on. I’m always years late to new informations like I’ll check my phone and realize that I missed a whole lore stream. Also on twitter you can’t even send dts right??? Like here you can actually say the words death die & kill but on twitter you have to censor yourself. “Die” funny, a little threatening but ultimately can be ignored. “d13” hilarious not at all threatening?? Wait this makes it seme like I am cool with death threats I’m not but I’ve gotten a fair share and seen other people get them and they’re always funny to me. Telling someone to die isn’t funny but being told to die is very funny if that clarifies anything. I thinknI watched a lot of the kaceytron stream (however I watched it through a dream fan streaming the stream so she didn’t get any views/money) and the whole thing was extremely upsetting. I can be defensive of him too, not so much for him but more for me. I know he can probably handle most of it but how dare people insult stuff I like. It’s less defending his honor and more how dare people disrespect me through disrespecting things I like. Plus if it ever is too much for dream I know his friends will come in clutch. Bbh saying stuff is the indicator tm that what people are saying about dream is bullshit

Does college means something different to the rest of the world? In the us it’s almost interchangeable with uni except universities can give you a doctorate while college can only get you your undergrad. It’s less that spanish is required and more that we’re required to take two years of a language and I just chose spanish. I’ve met so many people who either only speak spanish or have spanish as their first language that knowing the amount that I do has actually come in handy. Dont think about the like thing too much trust me. It’s a really good comma and indicator that you’re speaking casually but the more you notice it the more upsetting it becomes

I think the beets could be a great plot point because beets suck and I hate them!! I really do like silly lore but I hate the effect it has on the fandom. I haven’t forgiven people for writing off the l’sandburg lore. In the words of the wisest man I ever knew “everything I do on the dream smp is canon to some extent”. Accept that silly lore is canon folks!! That’s what makes the dream smp so much fun! Also high production lore can be super lame guys please this is roleplay in minecraft chill

Wait about tubbo’s lore did we ever find out who stole the one nuke? I don’t watch a lot of ranboo’s stuff but I’m very happy that enderwalk ranboo is besties with c!dream theory is coming along nicely. Uno au my beloved. No about the bear smp stuff I’d also like to get into ballsmp, more of hermit craft, and 3rd life but I’m busy too? Like college hasn’t even started and I’m already sweating. Speaking of other smps do you remember that smp that karl and quackity were invited to but never logged on? Ahoddj that was hysterical. Never gonna watch it, just think it’s funny that they were invited and decided you know what nah

The 5 hour long merch podcast my beloved!!! I had two favorite parts (other than sapnap singing) the first was when he said the alright and we all complained enough that he decided to keep streaming and the second was the final alright where he said bye and then dipped with 0 hesitation while sap & george were still in the call sjsjdk

Again no worries I’ll always be here to answer no rush for anything I’m simply vibing at all times

#ask #anon #long post

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years ago

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Flatline - Doctor Who blog (Clara Who)

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

Yesterday @upslapmeal sent me a very nice message saying that I was going to love this episode. Thanks @upslapmeal :D

So did I love Flatline? Well... there are bits of it I loved. There are other bits I didn’t. And I’m sure you can all hazard a guess as to which bits are which.

My eyes lit up when Jamie Mathieson’s name cropped up. He’s the guy who wrote the pretty damn good Mummy On The Orient Express. (Two episodes in a row? Now you’re just spoiling us). Something I’ve been complaining about a lot this series is the lack of original ideas and the constant back-referencing, and it’s great to see Mathieson take the show into uncharted waters this time around. The idea of 2D aliens from a 2D universe is a genius one and it lends itself to some very creative imagery. The cold open of the man screaming inside the wall was chilling, as was the bit where that policewoman gets sucked and flattened into the floor, but I think the bit that ultimately wins the creepiest scene ever award is when that community support worker gets sucked into the wall unbeknownst to the others, and when Clara looks at him from an angle, we see that he’s been flattened and stretched across several objects and ledges. That actually sent shivers down my spine.

I also really liked the shrinking TARDIS. Admittedly this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a shrinking TARDIS in Doctor Who, but it’s never really been done like this before and I love it. It’s a good way of keeping the Doctor out of the action and it does raise the stakes ever so slightly. I think my favourite bit was when the Doctor used his fingers to move the TARDIS out of the path of an upcoming train. Doesn’t really make sense because its been stated numerous times in the past that the TARDIS is indestructible, but it’s still cute.

Oh and let’s quickly talk about the Doctor. Even though this Doctor is much darker and less sure of himself than previous incarnations, it’s nice to see the character’s trademark optimism is still very much intact. Right up until the end, he’s prepared to give the 2D aliens the benefit of the doubt, assuming (or rather hoping) that this is all one giant misunderstanding. That maybe the aliens don’t realise they’re actually killing people and are just trying to research and understand us. That’s always been one of the central characteristics of the Doctor. He can’t help but think the best of everyone until proven wrong. And when the Doctor gives his final dramatic speech to the aliens before banishing them back to their own dimension, not only is there the usual rage and authority you often get in these speeches, but there’s also just a hint of disappointment in there too. He was eager to converse and get to know these aliens, and he’s genuinely saddened by their malicious intentions.

I must confess he’s not the only one who’s disappointed. As much as I love the concept of 2D aliens, they’re pretty weak as villains. I wish they really were just misunderstood explorers that were trying to make sense of this new 3D universe they had discovered because that’s a lot more interesting than what we ended up getting. When they started reading the numbers off of those people’s overalls as a way of identifying targets, I started to sigh, and when they started making 3D zombies, i just let out a massive groan. They’re just yet another monster that needs to be defeated. What’s worse is that their plan and motives are left unclear, which I’m presuming is an attempt to inject some ambiguity and mystery into them, but it actually just makes them really flat (sorry) baddies and they very quickly just descend into repetitive killing machines.

The characters too aren’t very good. Rigsy is probably the best of the bunch. Joivan Wade gives a decent performance and the character seems like a nice enough person, but like with most of the characters in Mummy On The Orient Express, he’s not very interesting or compelling. That old guy got on my fucking nerves. He’s just a moaning, grumpy caricature with absolutely nothing to counterbalance it whatsoever. It even gets to a stage where he callously dismisses the dead, saying they were scum. And don’t get me started on that stupid scene where he tries to wrestle the miniature TARDIS out of Clara’s bag for no reason other than as a contrivance to split the Doctor and Clara up. It’s just sloppy writing. Beyond that, the other characters are really little more than nameless redshirts. Who cares?

And then there’s Clara.

Obviously I don’t have a problem with assertive companions and I don’t necessarily have a problem with the whole role reversal thing. What I do have a problem with is Clara’s personal brand of smugness as well as the arrogance of Moffat trying to insert his own shitty creations into vital parts of Doctor Who lore. We’ve had numerous instances where we see Clara trying to out-Doctor the Doctor, such as in The Day Of The Doctor and Listen, so to have an episode where Clara literally takes on the role of the Doctor felt to me like being forced to drink a cup of cold vomit.

I mean you could do something interesting with that idea. Have Clara realise the massive weight that’s constantly on the Doctor’s shoulders as she has to take on the responsibility and make the decisions he has to make, but that’s not what this episode is about at all. They try to suggest that at the end, but I’m not convinced. The episode is more about trying to convince us how cool and impressive Clara is, which I’m just not buying. I’ve mentioned before in Asylum Of The Daleks how she’s like the physical manifestation of that feeling you get when someone scrapes their nails over a chalkboard, and it’s the same here. Clara is just so smug and so obnoxious. You never believe an actual person would behave the way she behaves, and there are several scenes where her attitude really starts to grate. One example is when Rigsy plans to sacrifice himself by ramming the 2D aliens with a train (which is stupid in and of itself because, hello, they’re 2D. Somehow I don’t think a train is going to hurt them) and then Clara starts to mock him for his decision, saying how she’ll always remember how he died to save her hairband. You know you could have just led with the hairband thing Clara. No need to be such a prick about it.

And then there’s the scene when the Doctor and Clara discuss what to do next, and Clara suggests lying to the survivors and give them false hope because ‘that’s what the Doctor would do.’

I’m getting so sick to death of the whole ‘the Doctor lies’ crap because it’s not even remotely true. The Doctor doesn’t lie to people to give them false hope. In fact he doesn’t lie to people at all. He’s genuine when he says he’ll protect someone, which is what makes it heartbreaking when he occasionally fails. I do wish they’d cut this shit out. But worse than that is when Clara suggests the idea, it’s almost as though she’s condemning the Doctor for lying and doesn’t approve of what she’s about to do, which caused me to let out a hollow laugh. It’s a bit rich criticising the Doctor for his supposed dishonesty Clara when you yourself have been lying to both him and your boyfriend. Not because you’re trying to protect them, but because you’re too selfish and spineless to admit that you overreacted at the end of Kill The Moon (that’s the explanation I’m going with because I still don’t understand why she’s lying to either of them in the first place).

Her whole attitude just fucking stinks. Even at the end, she’s more concerned with getting the Doctor to admit she did good whereas any normal person in her shoes would probably be more disappointed and slightly ashamed that they didn’t manage to save everyone. Remind me, why am I supposed to like Clara again? I’ve had nettle rashes that were more tolerable than her.

It’s such a shame because the central idea is really good and very original. It’s just the stuff orbiting around it that drag it down. Nevertheless, I would like to see Jamie Mathieson come back and write some more Doctor Who in the future. Please tell me he does.

#flatline #jamie mathieson #doctor who #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #clara oswald #jenna coleman #steven moffat #bbc #review #spoilers

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thebigmick284 · 6 years ago

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Dragonball Super: Broly thoughts

Light spoilers below.

The Good

*The backstory.

This movie also made me want more on Vegeta’s past. What happened to his mother? What happened to King Vegeta when Freeza destroyed planet Vegeta? Was he already dead prior or what?

*Broly

Even Paragus felt more developed in this movie. Unlike DBZ Movie #08, you can tell he really loves his son yet he still wants to use him as an instrument for his revenge, sadly.

*Freeza

*Cheelai and Lemo

I thought these two were a lot of fun and their dynamic with Broly was great. Hope to see more of them in the future.

*The backgrounds

The backdrops for the movie were just gorgeous, from Planet Vegeta, to especially Planet Vampa. They gave the movie an appropriate level of atmosphere.

*The future

I think this movie sets up a lot for the future of the series. Freeza’s future ambitions and Broly’s character for example. I’m REALLY excited so see what Toriyama and Toei come up with next.

The Bad

Nothing was really bad in the movie overall but…

*The fights

*The character designs/animation

I wasn’t the biggest fan of how the characters looked in this film say compared to Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. They felt much more detailed in those films compared to here, where they looked more… not sure how to put it… cartoony here. Some characters looked fine- Freeza, Broly, Paragus, Cheelai and Lemo while Goku, Vegeta and Beerus etc looked off to me. There was some derpy looking animation at times. Thankfully in the fight scenes the characters looked much better and as mentioned this is where likely the majority of the budget went

*Power scaling

A big problem with modern Dragonball nowadays IMO is that Goku and Vegeta have God-level strength, and it’s hard for them to have villains who should be convincingly at this level or even stronger for them to face. I can JUST buy Freeza training for four months and catching up to their levels because he was incredibly powerful to begin with, I but Broly was harder to believe. It’s like the Artificial Humans/Androids… A human scientist is somehow able to make machines and add robotic devices to humans and make them stronger than Freeza.

*The music

The what the?

*The Editing

*What the?

Cheelai and Lemo don’t know what the Dragonballs are… yet then later on they suddenly do. I get that they presumably forced Kikono to tell them but how or why would they just think to do that was really jarring. I mean yeah I know Cheelai says in one part along the lines of ‘I WISH we could do some/thing’ but still. It just came up out or nowhere.

Overall

7/10

#dragon ball super broly #dragonball super broly #spoilerish

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return-of-the-trinidude · 8 years ago

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rules: answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions (or dont)

tagged by: @quiteawfulpretty

1. coke or pepsi: Coke. Always

2. disney or dreamworks: They both are pretty good.

3. coffee or tea: Either one, but with a preference for coffee.

4. books or movies: Definitely books.

5. windows or mac: Windows. I like gaming

6. dc or marvel: Marvel wrt to the cinematic universe. DC everywhere else. (Never thought I’d back DC anywhere!)

7. x-box or playstation: Playstation. I like RPGs

8. dragon age or mass effect: MASS EFFECT IS THE BEST VIDEO GAME SERIES IN EXISTENCE!!! Dragon Age is really good too, but MASS EFFECT!!!!

9. night owl or early riser: night owl

10. cards or chess: Cards. I haven’t played chess in ages and I honestly suck at it.

11. chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate.

12. vans or converse: Converse

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: Google tells me that these are Inquisition characters, and I’m still on Dragon Age 2.

14. fluff or angst: A nice balance

15. beach or forest: Lush green forests.

16. dogs or cats: I love ‘em both.

17. clear skies or rain: lovely rain.

18. cooking or eating out: It varies.

19. spicy food or mild food: Lots of pepper!

20. halloween/samhain or solstice/yule/christmas: We don’t really do halloween in Trinidad, so Christmas.

21. would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: a little too cold. I had a horrible experience of being trapped in a house that was too hot and I vowed that I would never complain about being cold again.

22. if you could have a superpower, what would it be: Telekinesis. I’d abuse it.

23. animation or live action: Both in different scenarios

24. paragon or renegade: Paragon (this is mass effect too, isn’t it. What bioware nerd made these asks lol)

25. baths or showers: Showers.

26. team cap or team ironman: Steve Rogers is my role model.

27. fantasy or sci-fi: I love them both with all I have,

28. do you have three or four favourite quotes, if so what are they:

People aren't confused by the Gospel, the're confused by us. Jesus is the only way to God, but we are not the only way to Jesus. This world doesn't need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination or my translation of the Bible.They just need Jesus. We can be passionate about what we believe, but can't strap ourselves to the Gospel, because we're slowing it down. Jesus is going to save the world, but maybe, the best thing we can do, is just get out of the way - From "What This World Needs" by Casting Crowns

"Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief—what is faith—if you don’t continue in it after failure?...Anyone can believe in someone, or something, that always succeeds, Mistress. But failure... ah, now, that is hard to believe in, certainly and truly. Difficult enough to have value, I think.” - Sazed to Vin, from Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well - my mom

30. harry potter or percy jackson: Harry for story, Percy for lore

31. when you feel accomplished: When I finish a work or class assignment

32. star wars or star trek: Both

33. paperback books or hardback books?: Hardbacks, because I carry my books everywhere and I need them to be sturdy

34. handwriting or typing?: handwriting. My thoughts flow easier

35. favorite film?: Interstellar or Inception.

36. Favorite Place in the world?: My bed!

37. CDs or vinyl?: Vinyls look cooler, but I don’t actually use either

38: song lyric that’s important to you?:

The sun will rise and we will try again

39: whats your favorite form of self care?: Lying in bed and reading

40. Who is someone you idolize? I try not idolize people. They always let you down, through no other fault than the fact they are human.

41. music or podcasts: music

42: manga or anime: Anime. I used to read a lot of manga when I was younger though

43. fanart or fanfic: fanfic. I can’t draw to save my life.

44. cream soda or root beer: Cream soda and milk!!!

45. Favourite comfort food: KFC

46. Fruity or chocolatey candy/sweets: Fruity candy

47. Netflix go-to when you can’t decide what to watch: Don’t got Netflix

48. Favorite female protagonist - Vin from Mistborn

tagging @bry-hears-music @manonfireforchrist @mohawk-yeshua @astralbattles and really anyone else who wants to do this because I don’t want to be annoying.

#ask stuff #quiteawfulpretty #I should make a tag for you

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