#I'm sure plenty think of micah as a big bad but

[pinkysberg]

As someone who played rdr2 first then went into rdr1 blind, I’m kind of disappointed agent milton didn’t have as much as a presence as ross does in the first game.

that one confrontation between milton and dutch at the end of chapter three is so interesting to me. I think there was a missed opportunity of showing the viewers how similar both dutch and milton are

i think the reason for this is because milton's really only one piece of the antagonistic puzzle. milton and the pinkertons, in conjunction with cornwall, as well as dutch and the other minor antagonists like, micah (yes i think he's classed as minor in the grand scheme of things) the grays and braithwaites, angelo bronte, alberto fussar, and whoever else im not listing, all kind of make up this like thematic tapestry of white sumpremacy, capitalism and corporate greed, american colonialism, etc.

rdr1 does this too a little with ross and the bureau, dutch, bill, and the mexican government but it's of course, a much more contained narrative by comparison. ross is very much a present force bur i think rdr2 kind of steps into the realm of interpersonal drama to a degree where rdr1 couldn't bc it's largely john on his own.

[condemnhim]

(mutant mayhem spoilers)

OHMIGOSH so i saw mutant mayhem two days ago, on its official opening here in the US

it was really really good and i loved it so much and ugh i could rant about it for ages. so here's a nearly 2000 word rant about it. sorry for any spelling and grammar errors

(more under the cut)

so first of all, lemme talk about the characters real quick. my favorite character continues to be donnie but all of them were really likeable in this one, and the dynamic the turtles had is amazing.

mm!leo was a very very good version of leo, staying relatively close to older versions of leo but having some of the more fun traits that leo has had recently in tmnt media (for example, he was willing to do some things with his brothers, even if they went against splinter. even if he felt bad about it.) he was funny and cool, really bringing it all together. nicolas cantu (that how you spell his name? idk) did a great job as his voice as well, he pretty much perfectly illustrated all the emotions he needed to for leo throughout the whole movie. the only thing i didn't like about leo was the fact that he had a crush on april, but that's mostly a me thing because i've never been a fan of the turtle x april ships, they're just uncomfortable for me. they played it off pretty well though.

mm!mikey was really enjoyable for a character who is generally a little bit hit-or-miss for his moments. it was really a hit for all of the times he was on screen or talked which i'm very glad about. i a little wish that the movie focused even more on mikey, but maybe the series/sequel will. he was funny and not nearly as gross as some previous iterations were (ahem 2012) and it was just a really fun time with him. he was pretty much the best parts of all of my favorite versions of mikey all put in one. shamon brown jr also did an amazing job with him!!!!! he's a really good voice actor and he was pretty much perfect for mikey. and yeah, one thing i think they could've done better is just giving him more screen time and focus i think?

mm!raph was really great. you could tell that he was definitely raph but he wasn't super aggressive or hard to talk to. he was funny and there were plenty of moments that made me laugh with him. even though the movie didn't go terribly far into all the characters, you could tell that he definitely has a soft spot for his brothers and for splinter as well. seeing him as a turtle tot was amazing as well by the way, he looked like a cinderblock. and yeah, you bet i gotta bring up brady noon, who was amazing for raph. (really, casting all teenagers for the teenage mutant ninja turtles was a great casting choice on all levels.) even though he was this kinda aggressive guy, you can tell that he has dreams and he has people he cares about. it was really great to see for raph.

and of course i gotta talk about my favorite little guy. mm!donnie was SOO GOOd and like my favorite from the whole movie, he was really fussing great. his design is so good just because they really incorporated the tech stuff into his design, and the stickers on his bō were a nice touch. one thing i wish they would've shown more of is stuff that donnie made himself, y'know? donnie's original tech is usually kinda pushed to the front in tmnt which is great, i love seeing donnie tech. but the main thing donnie did in this movie is fight with his regular bō and use his phone and drive a car or something? i hope we get to see his tech in the future. also, micah abbey did such an amazing job at him@!!1 i mean i really enjoyed how he had a higher voice which is NORMAL for teenage boys, like people's voices change at different rates. he sounded great!! i am sad we didn't get to see more scooter action with him though

april i sure have thoughts about. i mean the thoughts are all positive. she was such a good april and an amazing addition to the cast. first of all, i am strong supporter in her design. sure am a big fan of the non-white aprils. a lot of fans didn't like her design for whatever reason?? some of them didn't like that she's not white and others had issues with her body shape, which is stupid. she's a teenage human, there's no reason to give her the "perfect" adult woman's body (in their eyes anyway) when she's meant to just kinda be this a little average but nonetheless badass ally to the turtles. her personality was great, she felt like a real teenager. her arc of getting (mostly) over her camera sensitivity was really nice, and i appreciate that she wasn't totally over it by the end. ayo edebiri was a really great cast for her as well. (also, i'm glad that even though she agreed to go to prom with leo, it seems like she still sees him purely platonically. i will NOT stand for another 2012 donnie and april situation.)

anyway, splinter, amiright? it's interesting how they went with the route that he was originally a rat. he was a really good character and one of my favorite versions of splinter now. he really was just trying to be a good father to these turtles in this weird little family situation, and i can't blame him for being so overprotective of them when he was made to be a monster in times square by mrbeast. jackie chan was a great choice to play him. (i don't support what jackie chan did to his daughter though btw.) the fact that he learned martial arts through old tapes, new movies and fussing youtube (a video of a channel i watch was in it by the way????) is amazing.

okay now all the other characters were really cool too. all the mutants that baxter stockman created were really interesting and it's great how they brought back so many existing characters while adding new ones. bebop and rocksteady were actually funny which i don't really expect from bebop and rocksteady most of the time to be honest. superfly was actually really scary for being this kids movie villain, which i guess isn't very surprising for tmnt. he got away with kinda a surprising amount of swearing for it though, a whole lot of instances of "damn" and stuff. mondo gecko was very fun and i was actually a bit scared when mikey found his tail. cynthia utrom didn't play as big a part in this movie as i expected her to but she will definitely be a bigger part in the future, especially considering that she's obviously meant to be an utrom. (and oh my god that end scene??? but i'll get into that later) i sure was a big fan of superfly's family turning on him for the benefit of humanity (and the chance of living with the turtles and splinter.) the voice cast was great for all the side characters. i think it's really cool that the main cast (as in the turtles and april) were all voiced by younger, less well-known actors while the side cast and villains were all played by the much better-known actors.

anyway onto the art, IT WAS AMAZING AAAAHHH as an artist this was on fussing spider-verse levels of art and animation. it looked like teenagers helped design it, which is what they were going for. the movement looked great and SOO natural, aahh!! the fight choreo was amazing too, there was that one scene where they were trying to find info about superfly was so well put together. there really were a few stand-out moments but all of it was so good. i love it when the ninja turtles actually use their weapons as they should be, which has happened in the past but it was so clear that they did their research here. also i'm glad that jeff rowe and seth rogen said that they ensured that the animators weren't being mistreated or overworked.

anywho, the music amiright? the soundtrack being based on NYC-based rap and hip hop was a really great choice. that one song that goes "can i kick it, yes you can" was a great choice for the main title-y thing of that movie. it hit all the places it needed to.

some other notes i wanna bring up:

the stakes were real my guys. at multiple points, i felt such genuine fear for these fictional mutant turtles in my heart i thought i would have a stroke or something. for example, when cynthia just kept shocking them??? are they not aware of the damage that like father like son did to ninja turtles fans???? also when superfly just had them in his hands and you could HEAR their shells crunching a little bit. UGH that hurt me fr. it felt so so real and it was so so good.

the fact that the cardboard cutouts that splinter acquired were chris hemsworth, chris pine and chris pratt lmao

are any of the characters autistic? i was thinking about this and to be honest i think yes, some of them probably are autistic. but it's not as clear as it is in rise, especially with donnie, y'know?

about the pop culture references and memes that they used didn't actually feel dated or cringe to me. i've heard others complaining about that but it didn't bother me much, it felt how teenagers actually talk. (i'm a teenager btw, i'm pretty used to how we talk.)

making leo have a crush on a girl after rise!leo lmao

but speaking of leo having a crush on april, there is more i wanna say. so i do not ship them, i've never shipped any of the turtles with april. it just don't sit right with me. but i think they still have the opportunity to play it off with elegance and grace, by having april straight up refuse him when he's honest with her about how he feels. hoping that will happen at some point. i've been asked to dances and stuff by friends, i hope that's why april said yes to him asking her to prom at the end. i will find seth rogen if they put leo and april together in the end. (for legal reasons this is a joke.) but yeah.

and the end scene???? oh god what do you guys gonna think shredder's gonna be like in mm???? because as much as i like the pretty goofy side of shredder that we've seen in the past (like '87 shredder was so silly compared to 2012 or god forbid rise shredder), i would love to see a really just horrifying version of shredder that they would actually maybe kill off in the end? and then there's another sequel where leo has to grapple with his own conflicted feelings about killing shredder or something. that would be so real lmao

i'm really looking forward to the future of mutant mayhem, even though i still want more rise!! and also we must keep showing support for the wga/sag-aftra strike, even though it's gonna delay production on the next parts of the series.

it was a great movie though and a great use of one hour and thirty nine minutes.

[ofallthingsnasty]

Hey Nasty hope you're recovering from your dentist scare lol ( Same honestly, my dentist is always telling me to relax and calm down before they do the x rays because I freeze up😭)

But your red dead reblog(Arthur is so fine in that gif🥵) has me thinking about the"through the briar" aftermath again😫 Specifically after Micah kicks the bucket(Rest in Pieces Jerk lmao) With John bumping into the reader a few weeks after he killed Micah and seeing what a bad situation she's in. I can just imagine it goes something like:

Reader your still here? What happened to y- *sees the gaggle of blonde haired, blue eyed children running around behind her and the oldest son looks a lot like a certain someone he blasted a while ago* Ahhhhh shiiiiit💀💀

Honestly I think even John would feel pretty sorry for her and want to help at least a little, cause lets be real, reader and her kids are probably all half-starved and wearing nothing but rags. And also maybe for the fact that John probably noticed how much Arthur cared about the reader before the relationship fell apart, and feel some type of obligation to help her out of respect for Arthur's memory idk

But either way I am still choosing to believe John finds reader and gives her 3 gold bars to start over🥲

Hi!! That's so sweet of you, thanks! It's such a paradox when I go in for my own appointments because on one hand, that typical dentist office smell is so comforting to me because I like what I do, on the other I always have the cost of everything in the back of my head 😂 I guess I'm just scared of getting a big, fat bill fhdjshefdj Right?? His bad fucking stomp in that gif has me squirming in my chair lol 😳 I could stare at gifs of him all day

I think even John would feel pretty sorry for her

Oh my god, absolutely. If he sees you with three little mouths to feed, a shadow of the woman you once were - that is definitely going to sting, especially when he does the math and realizes that at least the oldest kid is Micah's brat. I mean, John grew up with that gang, with Arthur, Hosea and Dutch - and the way you've gone from full-cheeked and fat, with a timid demeanor and a sweet laugh, to haggard, dirty and utterly exhausted is just another reminder of how things have turned to shit. You're the living, breathing proof of how his life came crashing right down. He probably doesn't recognize you at first but when he does, he'll make sure that you at least have enough for dinner that night, flustered at the way you smile at him despite everything that has happened. (Because you're still so sweet to him just like years ago - and it's a great injustice that you aren't married to an honest, just as kind, man.)

Honestly I think even John would (...) want to help at least a little, cause lets be real, reader and her kids are probably all half-starved and wearing nothing but rags. And also maybe for the fact that John probably noticed how much Arthur cared about the reader before the relationship fell apart, and feel some type of obligation to help her out of respect for Arthur's memory idk But either way I am still choosing to believe John finds reader and gives her 3 gold bars to start over🥲

I think so, too. John is a little hard-hearded, not the smartest and plenty selfish, sure - but he also has a good heart. He won't save you and the kids by moving you into Beecher's Hope on his dime (he has his own shit going on, haha) but you can't tell me he wouldn't find a way to help you start a new life somewhere else. You've never been the closest friends but even he can see what Micah did to you and how rancid it all is. He'd find a way. Hell, maybe Charles is kind enough to take you up to Canada to find a place for you and your kids (maybe a new husband, too, after passing you off as an American widow - no one knows you up there and with marriage being less about love and more about convenience maybe there is an older bachelor who can support you and the kids and doesn't mind them all that much. Not a pretty fate, still, but everything is better than Micah.)

Reader your still here? What happened to y- Ahhhhh shiiiiit

fhjhsd I had to laugh so hard at that because I can HEAR him saying that, exactly like this, too. The way he'd need a solid minute to realize what's going on only to swear immediately afterwards bahaha

[queenxxxsupreme]

Hello!! I'm kinda embarrassed but could you do an uno reverse with the chubby Arthur fanfic but its with a chubby reader instead?? (your choice to make Arthur also chubby or not) Thank you!!

A/N: Don’t be embarassed (I spelled that wrong but autocorrect won’t work right now and I’m too dumb to know how to spell it off the top of my head lol) I absolutely love to write for Arthur! I feel like he doesn’t get enough attention anymore. Thank you for the ask!! I hope you like this! The ending got a little messy and not great cause I didn’t know how to end it but I hope you like it!

Warnings: mentions of poor body image and Micah being a fucking douche, but there’s fluff! Arthur makes things better

***

“Y/N!” Mary-Beth called your name. 

You turned your head to look at her. Karen and Tilly stood with her by the wagon. John was hitching up a couple horses to the wagon with Lenny’s help.

“Hi, ladies.” You greeted them as you approached the tent. 

“We’re gonna go into town. You wanna come with us?” 

“What are you plannin’ on doing in town?” 

“Oh you know, just the usual.” Mary-Beth answered with a little wave of her hand. “Seein’ what the folk around here are like.”

“And maybe robbin’ them.” Tilly giggled. 

“But we aren’t gettin’ into too much trouble.” Karen added. “John won’t let us, will you John?”

“I hope not.” He sighed, buckling a strap on the horse. 

“So what do you say, Y/N?” Tilly asked you.

Arthur watched from across camp as you declined the ladies’ offer to join them on their trip into town. His eyes stayed on you while you watched them leave in the back of the wagon John and Lenny were driving. 

You began to pick at your nails, the furrow between your brows becoming more prominent. The picking at your nails was a bad habit of yours, one you only did when something was clouding your mind. 

“Are ya even listening to me, Arthur?” Uncle asked him.

Arthur took the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it into the fire as he stood up. You were going to your tent so that’s were he planned on going. 

“Stopped listenin’ a while ago, Uncle. Thought you would’ve noticed.”

Uncle began to complain about Arthur’s inattentiveness but the outlaw was already leaving the table, making his way across camp to check on you.

Arthur ducked inside the tent he shared with you, taking his hat off. 

“Hey, pumpkin.” He greeted you.

You turned to face him, offering him a little smile. 

“Hi, Arthur.”

“What’re you up to?” He asked. Maybe you were too busy to go into town. 

“Gonna go read out by the cliffside for a bit.” You picked up your book from the end table. “Do you want to come with me? Or are you busy?”

“I’m never too busy for you, pumpkin.” He flashed you a little smile as you moved towards him. He was expecting you to stop, even if only for a moment, to give him a kiss on the cheek or to brush your hand along his chest like you always did when you passed him by. But you simply walked by him without even looking at him.

Something was definitely wrong. This confirmed his worries. 

“How was meetin’ up with Mary?”

“Went about as pleasant as you’d think. Wanted me to get her brother back from that religious group, the Chelonia.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“Depends on your definition of fun.” Arthur muttered.

You were thankful that no one was down by the edge of the cliff. You wanted to have some peace and quiet away from everyone. 

You decided to sit beneath a tree, placing your book in your lap. Arthur grunted rather dramatically as he got down next to you.

“M’too old for this kinda shit.” He sat facing you. One of his legs was loosely crossed while the other was spread to cross over yours, though he didn’t put any weight on your legs. 

“You don’t gotta follow me around, you know.” You giggled softly.

“I know. Just like spendin’ time with ya.” He took his hat off and put it in the grass beside him. “I, uh, I heard the girls were askin’ you to go to town with them.”

You nodded your head, opening the book in your lap so that you didn’t have to look at him. 

“Why didn’t you go? Thought you were tellin’ me just last night you had some errands to run in town.”

“I can do them another time, Arthur. It wasn’t anything important.”

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say next.

“Mary-Beth sounded a little eager to have you go with them, don’t you think?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“She was just bein’ friendly though, wasn’t she? She’s a good kid.”

“Arthur, what are you getting at?” You looked up from your book, meeting his gaze.

“I don’t know.” He sighed heavily. He ran a hand over his face. “I-I saw that look on your face when you were watchin’ them go, pumpkin. You looked upset about somethin.’” He paused to gauge your reaction. “Did something happen with one of the girls?”

“No, Arthur.” You dropped your attention back to the book.

“Karen’s not bad unless you get her drunk.” Arthur thought out loud. “And Tilly’s a nice girl, least from what I’ve seen. Mary-Beth too. Abigail can be.... something else. Did she do something?”

“Arthur, please.” You closed the book firmly. “Just stop.”

“Pumpkin, I’m just concerned is all.” Arthur reached over to place his hand on yours. “I don’t like that look I saw on your face. It don’t belong there.”

“The girls didn’t do anything to me, Arthur.” You murmured quietly, feeling a scratchy sensation begin in the back of your throat. “It’s all okay, I promise.”

“You say that, but I don’t see it in your eyes.” He shook his head. Cerulean blue eyes gazed at you with such a softness that you could’ve melted right there, but the torment you felt in your chest and in your head were too much. It pushed that softness he was able to make you feel away and brought in a dark feeling. 

“It doesn’t matter, Arthur.” You stood up, brushing off your skirt, and began to move back towards camp.

However you didn’t get very far. Arthur’s hand found your arm, bringing you to a stop. 

You turned your head to look away from him, taking a steady deep breath through your nose in an attempt to make the tears go away. If you could calm yourself down, they would go away. 

Arthur’s hand slid down from your bicep to your hand and his thumb began to trace small circles on the back of your hand. You turned your hand over so that you could lace your fingers together. 

“You don’t gotta tell me, pumpkin, but I just hate to see you so upset and so quiet about it.” He stepped closer and leaned down to kiss the top of your head. 

“I just…. I can’t stand some of these people, Arthur.” You tilted your head down, unable to look up at him. You focused your eyes on his boots. “Just can’t fucking stand them. They’re just….” You couldn’t find the words to accurately describe what you wanted to say. 

“Who was it?” Arthur had a very short list of who would put you on the verge of tears. Possibilities and scenarios began to race through his mind. 

“Micah just…. He was just being a bastard.” Your voice cracked. “He said you were going into town to see Mary Linton. I knew that’s where you had been earlier today. But he just…. He started saying that you were going to…. That you and her…. Because she’s-she’s thin and pretty and I’m as big as one of the pigs Pearson butchers.”

“He what?” Arthur had to pull his hand away from you as to not cause you any harm. His fingers automatically curled into tight fists and he felt the need to seek out Micah Bell to cause him serious damage. 

His eyes left yours and he tilted his head up to search the camp behind you. Micah was sitting at a table with Bill, sharpening his knife. 

“It doesn’t matter, Arthur.” You sniffled, looking down at the buttons on his shirt. “He wasn’t wrong. No use in sugar coatin’ it.”

Arthur stared at you for a few moments, his brain still trying to process the anger he felt. Then he took a breath and ran a hand over his face. 

“Micah Bell is a miserable son of a bitch, Y/N. He ain’t right about nothin’. Not a damn thing.”

“But Arthur, I don’t-I don’t look like other girls, like Mary or like Karen.” You whispered, tears trailing down your cheeks. You crossed your arms over yourself, suddenly feel extremely self-conscious. “I-I didn’t go into town with them because every time we go into town, people stare at me.”

“Pumpkin, they stare at me too. They’re just a bunch of judgemental pricks.”

“That’s different, Arthur.” You shook your head. It was sweet of him to try to make you feel better, but they stared at him for different reasons than they stared at you. “It’s-It’s just not the same. You.... You’re a normal size. You just come across as intimidatin’ and sometimes folk don’t know how to take that. But me.... They see me and all they see is a pig in a dress.”

“Don’t you say that, Y/N.” He reached up to cup your face, calloused thumbs brushing away your tears. “You don’t look nothin’ like a pig.”

“Mary, she’s just…. She’s so different from me, Arthur.”

“Course she is, pumpkin.” Arthur leaned forward to kiss your forehead, then he placed his hands on your hips and pulled you in for a proper hug. His slipped around you, providing you with a sense of protection. “I don’t see nothin’ wrong with that. And I definitely don’t see nothin’ wrong with you. You’re absolutely gorgeous in my eyes, pumpkin. Wouldn’t change a damn thing about you.”

“But Arthur, I look like a cow.”

“Stop comparin’ yourself to farm animals, Y/N.” He kissed the side of your head. “It’s breakin’ my heart.”

You frowned, leaning your head against his shoulder. Arthur pressed his lips against your head. 

“I know you’ve never had the best thoughts about yourself.” He murmured into your hair. “But I got plenty of good thoughts about you for the both of us. I’ll make sure to share them with you until you start thinkin’ about yourself differently. I need you to know that it don’t matter that you’re different from Mary or Karen or anyone else. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. It’s who you are.”

“Thank you, Arthur.” You sniffled. “You’re too sweet to me.”

“Only ‘cause I love ya, pumpkin.” 

***

Hosea caught sight of Arthur as the burly outlaw made his way across camp, a dark look in his eyes.

“Arthur-,”

“Not now, Hosea.” Arthur waved him off. His eyes were set on Micah who wasn’t even looking at him. His back was to Arthur. He sat at a table with Dutch talking about something Arthur didn’t care to listen to. 

Arthur grabbed the back of Micah’s chair and tipped it back, knocking Micah out of his seat and on to the ground. In the same heartbeat, Arthur drew the revolver from his hip and cocked the hammer with his thumb. 

He put his foot on Micah’s shoulder and aimed the gun at Micah’s chest, glaring down at the man. 

“Whoa, cowpoke!”

“Arthur!” Dutch shouted. “Put that gun away!”

Arthur ignored Dutch. The anger bubbling and festering in his veins made him focus solely on Micah.

“It’d be in your best interests to leave Miss Y/L/N alone.” He spoke lowly.

“I was just havin’ a conversation with her while you were out with your old fling-,”

“What I do ain’t none of your goddamned business.” Arthur cut him off. “If I find out you’ve said anything out of line to Y/N again, Micah Bell, I’ll be puttin’ a hole through your goddamn chest.”

Micah said nothing, locking his jaw as he glared up at Arthur. Arthur lowered his gun and then removed his foot from Micah’s shoulder. 

Hosea watched as Arthur moved towards his tent, holstering his weapon. 

“You’re a funny guy, Arthur Morgan!” Micah stood up, angrily brushing off his clothes. 

“And you’re a dumb bastard.” Hosea muttered, shaking his head as he walked away. “Surprised it’s taken this long.”

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