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gothicprep · 1 year ago

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so, apparently marvel is in disarray. ahead of the marvels coming out this weekend, variety dropped a bomb on the studio's somewhat dire state of affairs, as the franchise has hit its first real rough patch since the release of iron man 15 years ago. among the issues: jonathan majors, whose domestic violence arrest continues to hang over marvel's plans to make his character the thanos-like heavy for the next sequence of movies, the weak box office projections for the marvels (which some have said is tracking lower than recent bombs like the flash), the unending flood of hashtag content on disney plus which is overwhelming audiences who are finding it harder to keep up with the interlocking stories that have served marvel so well over the years, shoddy visual effects, spiraling budgets such as the reported $25mil an episode for she-hulk, a show that looked terrible because of the shoddy effects work aforementioned, behind the scenes chaos as kevin feige works to slash budgets and kill projects that aren't coming together. one movie at risk is the forthcoming blade reboot with mahershala ali, which has gone through rewrite after rewrite including reportedly one draft in which blade was the fourth lead in, quote, "a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons".

that last line has provided a lot of laughs for people like jay gothicprep, and critics who insist that marvel's efforts to diversify the lineup have led to much of this disaster, indicative of disney's overall failure with things like indiana jones and the dial of destiny or animated projects like strange world or lightyear. while this is potentially true (i guess, it's possible) it doesn't seem true because this certainly wasn't the case when black panther and captain marvel were both cracking the billion dollar mark a few years ago. rather it just seems, more simply, that marvel has run its course. marvel was hit by a double-whammy of endings. the thanos storyline that'd dominated the first ten or so years of the project came to an end. at the same time, the pandemic began and disney plus started flooding the zone with content, creating a natural break point for audiences that had no desire to watch hours of tv to understand 1.5 plot points in whatever the next movie that's coming out is.

this preamble is getting kind of long, and i have a lot more to say, so i'm going to continue to thought dump about this under a cut.

first of all, i'm still laughing like a week later at the women led life lessons description. no one has disputed that it happened. that description is the funniest thing i've ever read in a trade industry report possibly ever. what in the hell, my friends. did a writer even talk to a producer about what blade was? it's a movie about a guy with a sword who kills vampires! it's pretty straighforward! that sounds like something i want to see! there were three of them already, and two of them were pretty good!

anyway, i think you can take that incredibly ridiculous description of a draft that maybe wasn't the main draft – this movie has been through tons of writers and directors – and see some of the real problems with marvel's creative direction, which is that they've stopped making movies that highlight the core concepts of their characters. there are other problems as well, but when's the last time they put out a movie that was like, "iron man. he's a guy in a metal suit and he fights a bad guy." or "spider man. it's a guy in a spider suit with spider powers. he's got girlfriend problems and he fights crime around manhattan and maybe there's dr octopus." they don't do that. their recent stretch of movies have all been these impenetrable multiverse stuff with ties to tv series that you haven't seen and maybe won't ever see. there was a whole 25 minute section in black panther 2 that was setting up armor wars and ironheart. and like. who needs that sequence, which was boring and looked like total garbage? and now armor wars is being redeveloped lol. they've just departed from a lot of the core concepts that powered their earlier films.

they have some other problems. they've leaned into a slate of characters that is not all that well-known or inherently super popular, even for marvel being able to deliver on making billion dollar films out of guardians of the galaxy and such. maybe with the exception of spider man, which they don't get a full cut from because sony owns the actual movie rights. then there's the fact that the streaming series, by all accounts, aren't great but you *feel* like you need to have seen them. they're all real big problems. marvel needs to go back to making movies that are named after a character who's a superhero with a clear concept. guy with spider powers fights crime in his neighborhood. even though those movies got kind of repetitive, they did well enough because they didn't stray too far from the character concept.

i think, too, as a viewer, when you have a studio churning out so much stuff that's not good, you get the impression that the superhero industry feels entitled to your time and entitled to your money while not delivering.

this summer also represents an interesting counterpoint to what's happened with marvel and dc. the sheer amount of stuff that you devote every waking minute to keeping track of the damn things got exhausting and made movies stop feeling like events. this summer we've had barbenheimer and the eras tour, and those have been both big events and felt exciting. barbie was a chance to be campy, oppenheimer was a chance to see something serious and cinematic, the eras tour was exciting for fans of taylor swift who couldn't afford to spend $3k on taylor swift. and they felt this way because they were all unlike anything you'd seen at the movies in recent years. they had a high standard of quality, and going, it genuinely felt like people were there because they wanted to be, not because they were being force marched by a cultural behemoth to be there. you can't summon that same kind of energy for a marvel movie when it both feels obligatory and you expect it to be bad.

it also feels like there's a certain contempt for the audience where it concerns quality problems. i mean, i don't think that this is the intention. marvel isn't saying "we can deliver this stuff that's garbage and people will see it anyway". but one of the things i thought was the most damning about that variety story was the fact that, on some of the marvel tv shows, the final effects were inserted after the shows were released. so if you watched the show on opening night, you probably didn't see the final effects work. the arrogance involved in that is insane. it speaks to a total vanished pride in putting out a good product.

even some of marvel's better regarded films were heavily edited and heavily worked on right until the end, in part because kevin feige would come in and fix things, so stuff would have to get reworked. that's why effects deadlines were super tight and people were always crunching at the very end of this. there was that incredible quote from sam raimi from a couple months before the second doctor strange came out where he was like, "i think it's done but i'm not sure. marvel, they work on their movies until the very end." the director didn't even know if his own movie was locked or not because he clearly wasn't the one making the decisions about what the final print would look like.

that can work if you're making two movies a year and have a supervisor that comes in during the process and says, "i need you to redo this, in this way". but when you stretch that out to three movies a year, plus god knows how many episodes of television, there's no way to do that and make it a high quality product.

an instructive lesson comes from the book "disneywar", which chronicles michael eisner's time at disney. and one of the things in this book was the development and deployment of "who wants to be a millionaire" in america. bob iger is head of abc at this time. the guys making this show do it for a week. audiences love it. it's putting up huge numbers. everybody is excited. it's crushing it in the ratings. and the people who made it wanted to keep doing special week or two week long engagements that people would show up for. and iger was like, "no. i want this every week, three times a week, forever." and audiences got burnt out on it quickly, because it was something that only really worked as a special that ran for a week and disappeared for a few months. that's what the disney plus strategy feels like with marvel.

#i love watching movies with my friends

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insanityclause · 7 months ago

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The first season of “Loki” was the most popular of all the Marvel series to premiere on Disney+, and for good reason: The imaginative world of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and the core relationships established within it — most notably the warm and hilarious partnership between Tom Hiddleston‘s title character and TVA functionary Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) — yielded one of the liveliest and most involving Marvel screen stories since the original “Iron Man.” But as impressive as Season 1 was, it was only a warm-up for the more ambitious, suspenseful, and poignant Season 2, in which Loki finally fulfills a destiny set up for him 13 years ago in the movie “Thor” — though in a way that neither he nor the audience could possibly have predicted.

The trajectory of Loki’s character from “Thor” to “Loki” Season 2 is about as complex a character arc as one can imagine, ranging from pure evil to selfless heroism and every gradation in between. For actor Tom Hiddleston, that’s both the pleasure and the challenge of playing the character. “It always feels different,” Hiddleston told IndieWire. “I get to play every note on the emotional scale.” Just as Hiddleston was able to expand upon and deepen his characterization, production designer Kasra Farahani used the opportunities provided by Season 2 to show additional aspects of the TVA and create worlds in which the characters would face their most difficult emotional, physical, and mental tests — tests which he helped shape as not only production designer but writer and director on Season 2.

The primary directorial voice on Season 2 was that of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, filmmakers who have worked together for over a decade, primarily in the world of indie features. For the second season of “Loki,” they applied their character-driven sensibility to the largest-scale project they had ever tackled and found a sweet spot between spectacle and humanity that culminates in the season’s deeply moving final episode. By carefully planning their visual style ahead of time, they were free to focus on the actors and emotional content of each scene on set, resulting in a season that’s as entertaining and powerful as anything currently on television, comic book, or otherwise.

In the videos below, watch how Hiddleston, Farahani, Benson, and Moorhead crafted the most emotionally complex entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date.

The Acting of ‘Loki’

When Tom Hiddleston first played Loki 13 years ago in “Thor,” he couldn’t possibly have known how much the breadth and depth of the character would encompass over multiple movies and a TV series. In Season 2 of “Loki,” Hiddleston was called upon to find new dimensions in Loki that brought both the actor and the character full circle. “One of the first things Loki says in ‘The Avengers’ is ‘I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose,'” Hiddleston said. “It’s a line that’s full of arrogance and entitlement and hubris. In the first episode of Season 2, Mobius tells a story, and the conclusion is that sometimes, purpose is more burden than glory. Loki realizes he has to make a sacrifice, which is to give his life to protect the lives of others and to sit on a kind of throne. It calls back to a line from the first ‘Thor,’ when Odin addresses Thor and Loki and says, ‘Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but you were both born to be kings.’ Fifteen years later, Loki’s walking up to a kind of throne, but it comes in a shape he would never have recognized and almost a shape he dare not step into because he’s giving his life for others, but he’s consigning himself to solitude.”

The opportunity to play a character who begins as a pure villain and becomes a self-sacrificing hero has proven to be one of the great gifts of Hiddleston’s career. “The constant reward of playing this character is that the character itself contains the whole range of emotions,” Hiddleston said. “He has been playful, mischievous, transgressive, disruptive, spontaneous, unpredictable, mercurial. He’s been full of charm and wit but also had moments of great pain and solitude and loneliness and emotional turmoil and doubt and terror. I get to play all the chords and the keys on the piano; I get to play the light keys, and I get to play the heavy keys in the lower octaves. And I think that’s what’s been so great, so challenging and rewarding and fulfilling: that it never feels like the same gig.”

In the video above, watch how Hiddleston approaches the emotional journey of Loki and works with collaborators across departments to create the character.

The Production Design of ‘Loki’

Hiddleston and other actors on “Loki” have praised production designer Kasra Farahani for creating environments that facilitate their best work. His intricately detailed, often 360-degree sets produce an immersive experience for the audience as well. “I design in a way to give directors and cinematographers a lot of options in terms of getting a shot that’s very memorable,” Farahani told IndieWire. Season 2 of “Loki” has given us some of Farahani’s most elaborate and vivid sets yet, from a recreation of the 1893 World’s Fair to a “temporal core control room” inspired by Cold War architectural designs. Many of the sets grow out of Farahani’s attempt to present a relatable world that exists — at least initially — in a world with lower stakes than a typical Marvel story. “There’s an uncanny reflection of parts of the world the audience lives in, in terms of the bureaucracy,” Farahani told IndieWire, adding that for him, the show’s strength “lies in its particular cocktail of humor and character drama and weirdness.”

Keeping that tonal balance at the forefront is part of Farahani’s all-encompassing perspective. Season 2 of “Loki” provided new opportunities in this regard, as Farahani came on staff as a writer and also directed the “1893” episode. Being in the writers room allowed Farahani to contribute to the show’s world-building from the ground up and maximize his resources as a product designer. “I was able to flex a lot of muscle in terms of proposing the new direction these characters might go in, but also run it against my production design mind and feed that back into the writing process,” Farahani said. “It was as efficient as I’ve ever had the opportunity to be, because you’re getting out in front of some of the pitfalls that you get in writing, which is sometimes writing things that are too big and expensive for the amount of time you’re going to spend in them.” Directing on his own sets provided an additional pleasure and felt like a natural extension of his work. “I design every set the way I would hope it would be designed if I were directing it.”

In the video above, Farahani explains his approach to designing Loki’s sets and talks about directing the ambitious “1893” episode.

The Direction of ‘Loki’

Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead first worked in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on “Moon Knight,” and it was during additional photography on that series that they first learned of the possibility of working on “Loki” Season 2 from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “The thing that made us pretty excited about it was that he said, ‘We don’t really have any reason to do it if we’re not going to do it completely differently,'” Moorhead told IndieWire. Given that freedom, Benson and Moorhead set about creating a visual style that departed from the first season’s more classical, tripod and dolly-oriented approach. “We did a lot of hand-held,” Benson said. “Low angles, wide angles, and close-up right on the eyeline.” The filmmakers had extensive conversations with cinematographer Isaac Bauman about the guiding principles for the visual style, which he then turned into a 700-page reference guide for everyone on set; that rigorous planning ended up giving Benson and Moorhead maximum flexibility when it came time to shoot.

“We decided to be extraordinarily rigid with our presentation so that we could be much more fluid with the story and the performances,” Moorhead said. “Because we knew exactly what we were going to do walking into any situation with the cinematography, that actually took a lot of the pressure off. We weren’t just figuring those kind of things out on the day, so what we could do is make discoveries in the blocking and the performances.” Moorhead added that the document created for the show also served as a North Star for other directors and helped everyone find a tone that was slightly different from Season 1. “There’s a pervasive sense of doom and dread through the show, and one of the things that results is a phrase that we use a lot, which is just turn down the volume. [That means] quieter performances where it seems people might often be yelling at each other — they end up whispering intensely. These emotions that would normally be heightened [created] a much quieter baseline so that whenever we had to go big, it felt even bigger.”

Watch the video above to hear Benson and Moorhead describe their approach to directing and how “Loki” fits into their overall filmography.

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wenclairfamily · 1 month ago

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Travel Blog: ADDAMS FAMILY FEST!

Westfield, New Jersey is where Addams Family creator: Charles Addams lived for the first 27 years of his life, and his close ties to this town are celebrated every October with: Addams Fest. While the festival itself is more of an all ages Halloween party (you will seriously find more people dressed as Disney princesses here than Addams Family characters), the town itself still celebrates the Addams Family and Charles Addams' work all around town.

Every October, all around Westfield you will see TONS of Addams Family art on many of the shops in town. While some the art just features the characters as you know them, some artists got a lot more creative with the task. The local arcade gets my vote for best art in town.

However, the ultimate artistic highlight for me during my trip was seeing some of Charles Addams' art that was in the local gallery in town. While some of the art on display was some of his famous published art, other pieces on display included never before released art of his that had been found. Even though most of the art in the gallery did not feature the famous Addams Family, it still contained Charles Addams' creepy and kooky sense of humor.

However, the crown jewel of the gallery was "Dudley": the original and lost member of the Addams Family. In reality, he is the oldest surviving drawing ever done by Charles Addams, and was actually drawn on a barn wall in town (young Charles Addams is known to have broken into peoples' homes during his youth). The wall he essentially drew graffiti on, ironically is a museum piece now. *I'll do another post about this gallery and Dudley another time.

Other fun sights to see in town that are Addams Family related in the month of October are Charles Addams' childhood home (appropriately decorated with some Addams Family style decorations), a model of the Addams Family home that sits inside the town lake, and the old cemetery in town that young Charles Addams apparently spent a great deal of time hanging out at (which can be visited year round).

However, the majority of the organized activities in town for Addams Fest are more-so Halloween activities for all ages (with most daytime activities designed for very young children). If you're looking for some Addams Family Convention, this isn't that. This event is catered more to families with children looking for a fun Halloween party (so you may feel a little out of place if you're a single adult). However there are still lots of fun things to do in Westfield in October for adults. The outdoor music show I saw during the festival was fun (with young local energetic rock bands). Also, I found it nice and relaxing to walk up and down Elm Street (the street Charles Addams grew up on), and look at the old homes on the street. Also... there's video games to play in town...

The local arcade has tons of fun video games (both arcade and console), including (amongst many other things): Addams Family pinball! I spent a collective six hours here over the weekend. I enjoyed sampling new video games, and re-visiting some old favorites.

However the ultimate non-Addams Family related event in town during my trip was at the local Acting Out theater, which did a fun original live show featuring many witches from film and TV over the years. The entire show was reminiscent of those old TV variety shows from the 1970's, with Glinda and Elphaba (from the Wizard of Oz) being the hosts. Despite the show being seemingly catered for children, I still got plenty of good laughs from the comedy and pop culture meta-humor in the show (such as when Elphaba goes all fan girl when mentioning Elsa from Frozen). Talent scouts for Broadway and Hollywood should definitely put all the ladies from this show on their radar.

Other fun things I did over the weekend also included trying the Addams Family themed food at Burger King (a promotion not just confined to New Jersey), and watching the famous 1970's Addams Family/ Scooby Doo crossover on television this weekend (the timing of the re-airing was simply a happy coincidence).

If you are considering going to Addams Fest, be aware that most of the planned events are more-so just straight forward Halloween themed activities aimed at children (and not necessarily confined to the Addams Family in terms of themes). Also, the town is not some big city, and you will very likely see most of the sights you came to see in just under a day. However, if you are a hardcore Addams Family fan that wants to walk on the same ground Charles Addams walked on, see some of the sights that likely inspired him, see some fun Addams Family fan art in town, and also see some of Charles Addams' original work... Addams Fest in Westfield, New Jersey in the month of October is a must thing to do.

#wednesday #wednesday addams #addams family #addams fest #addams family fest #westfield #charles addams #westfield new jersey #travel blog #traveling #travel

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mermaidsirennikita · 2 years ago

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So You'd Like to Fuck a Villain: Romance Novel Recommendations

Have you gotten caught up in a villain ship? Are you, perhaps, what might be called a villainfucker?

The issue with stanning for villains and wanting them to have romantic love and happiness and possibly group sex, is that they often don't. At least, not onscreen. Some of the most popular romantic ships, obviously, have been villain ships--Reylo spawned a wave of romance novelists (though, I might add, many do not actually write villain-centric romance novels, which is fine), Darklina powered no small part of Shadow and Bone's publishing success... and let's be real, the success of the soon-to-be-ill-fated-from-what-I'm-hearing TV show. On a darker level, Interview with the Vampire took off in no small part because people love the tainted love that is Louis and Lestat, where maybe? They're both villains? (Definitely more Lestat, but you know.)

You know what the great thing about a romance novel is? The villain has to get a happy ending. They just must. It's a rule. If a villain is a lead, the HEA is guaranteed (rhymes), or it's not a romance novel.

So, for Cupid's birthday, I'm recommending some of my favorite villainfucking romance novels. I just think that we deserve it.

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Wicked Villains by Katee Robert.

As you might guess, this series is in fact about villains getting their happy ending, full stop. And it does so by adapting Disney villain ships and placing them in a contemporary setting full of organized crime, sex clubs, and deals gone wrong. It is fun, it is campy, and it is very, very sexy. Check the trigger warnings (which Robert typically lists for each book on her website)--some of these do feature heavy BDSM and CNC.

The diversity of the pairings is so appreciated--while my favorite thus far is the first, Desperate Measures (Jafar/Jasmine with a mob wife "you killed my father" spin, for those curious) you get several triads (Hades/Hercules/Meg, Beast/Gaston/Belle, Ursula/Ariel/Eric, to name a few) and the ever-coveted sapphic Maleficent/Aurora moment. I don't think there's a straight person in this collection of characters. Contemporary romance can be a hard sell for me, especially in terms of villainy... But these are just a ride.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas.

Obviously, if you haven't read Devil in Winter yet, you need to read Devil in Winter. It's a classic--not just of historical romance, but romance in general. Though, pro-tip: I would recommend reading the preceding It Happened One Autumn first, as that's where the villainy takes place. Devil in Winter is about a recovering villain--a rake who did a very, very bad thing (kidnapping his best friend's lady love) simply because he did not want to get a job. I mean.....

Sebastian St. Vincent is a soft touch villain, and not just because he's super good at touching. You know he's going to roll over and beg for it with his seemingly-gentle, secretly-iron-willed heroine; but it's watching him get there that's so fun. His bark is worse than his bite, but he does deliver quite a bark (and quite a bite). If you like 'em snarky and slutty, read this book.

Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt.

If you like a blond villain who seems better at lounging about than doing manual labor, Valentine Napier takes what St. Vincent was doing to another level of insanity. St. Vincent is sane; Valentine is not, and he's a lot less fun about his kidnappings. Fortunately, his heroine (dispatched to spy on and steal from him) does not take any shit.

This is a book for those who like them loony, because I really don't think Valentine reforms in the least. He just falls in love, all while running around naked in bedazzled, open robes and brandishing a knife. At least he's good in bed and keeps giant, nude portraits of himself in his own house. Keep in mind that this book does delve into some pretty massive childhood trauma, including all kinds of abuse.

Villain I'd Like to F...

This anthology of novellas delves into five stories of historical romance villainy, by five great authors. I'm going to list each novella and its author, as these collections typically disband after a period of time, allowing the authors to sell the novellas individually (though you often can find the collections in online libraries like Libby). In the brackets!

[ Lady Viper and the Bastard by Eva Leigh.

Do you enjoy Dangerous Liaisons? Try this delightfully sexy Georgian-era novella about a widowed vamp and an illegitimate libertine, teaming up to break apart two young lovers (for a price). Except what happens when these two assholes start to catch feelings? Notable in that these characters are in their forties, know themselves, and do engage in some fun role-playing.

Seven Sinful Nights by Nicola Davidson.

Our young-but-ready widowed heroine is toiling in the service of her dickish in-laws... Until the owner of the local gambling hell (who isn't above murder and torture, and does enjoy dominating a bit) shows up demanding payment for her brother-in-law's debts. Those who love an innocent heroine lured by the darkness will love this one, a she very much goes willingly to her "doom" of being his mistress for a week, and loves every minute of it. It's sexy, it's sweet, she also loves a torture moment, there's some exhibitionism.

The Gangster's Prize by Joanna Shupe.

A Gilded Age gangster is thrown off balance by the young woman who comes to him demanding help in finding her missing father. But wait... who's in his dungeon as we speak? Could it be? Her dad? Joanna doesn't pull her punches here, and it's delightfully wacky. Watching our hapless villain hero be like "uhh, what screams from the dungeon" while our heroine looks for her father... who he has captive.. is hilarious.

The Bootlegger's Bounty by Adriana Herrera.

Did someone say sort-of pirates? Our heroine is a nightclub singer, and she books passage to New York with a dangerous rum runner. There's a lot of sex in this one, and--delightfully--a triad, as there happens to be a young gentleman who catches the eye of both our singer and our rum runner...

The Conquering of Tate the Pious by Sierra Simone.

Hedonistic nuns? A Norman invader (in more ways than one) who turns out to be a lady conqueror? As in, a conqueror who is a lady and conquers ladies? I think yes. Our proud abbess Tate is ready to stand up to the Wolf, but what happens when the Wolf is very sexy and cruel in the best possible way? ]

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe.

If there's one thing Joanna Shupe loves, it's a hero (or a villain turned hero) who hates your dad. This book opens with our casino-owning hero beating the shit out of someone, and when he meets the headstrong spoiled rich girl who wants to open a casino for ladies and needs mentorship... He takes her up on it. All while planning to take down her father (as revenge!!!).

While Clay isn't a super hardcore bad guy, he is pretty violent and pretty diabolical. What makes this book is, of course, his dynamic with Florence, and her defiance of norms that quickly has him completely besotted. This book has a very good grovel, and it should. Does anyone deserve Florence?

... and after reading this one, you can mosey over to Shupe's next book, The Devil of Downtown, in which a bad, bad gangster gets his ass emotionally kicked by Florence's goody goody angelic sister.

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin.

This is another one that benefits from reading its previous book, Butterfly Swords, first. In that novel we're introduced to the treacherous warlord our heroine is fleeing--Li Tao. Lin doesn't shy away from his intimidation factor: he even gets into a sword fight (that turns into an outright brawl, lmao) with the hero. In this novel, Li Tao gets full focus, kidnapping a former emperor's concubine to get information out of her.

What follows is a match of wits that gradually gives way to two manipulative, emotionally closed off people falling madly in love with each other while being unable to say it. Li Tao is a cold, seemingly-unfeeling villain-as-hero, and he really pushes how far he's willing to go to reach his end goals in this book. Also, there's a sex deal. If that matters to you.

Daring and The Duke by Sarah MacLean.

Again, one that does in fact benefit from reading the two preceding books, Wicked and The Wallflower and Brazen and The Beast (fortunately, they're both good!). Ewan, our titular duke, is the villain of both--and he is completely batshit insane in his pursuit of his childhood sweetheart, Grace. Who, for reasons relating to villainy, wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

This is a book-long grovel the way Sarah MacLean does it best--with abject shame and humiliation. Ewan is put through the ringer: and he should be, because he did a really bad thing! And was legitimately a nutjob of a villain! But that's what makes it so, so good.

PARANORMAL/FANTASY ROMANCE

The Four Horsemen by Laura Thalassa.

This series has the rather bold take of "what if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Fucked". Starting with Pestilence, bleeding into War and Famine, and ending with Death, this series is a bit bonkers. But it doesn't let up on the extent of the villainous heroes' determination to lay waste to the world. There is a lot of gore. There is a lot of moral ambiguity.

But it's also legitimately funny. Pestilence discovers the joys of a bathtub. Death receives his first blowjob and is like "I don't know, maybe the apocalypse is bad". It's campy, and it's fun, and it leans the fuck in to the concept. I would recommend reading these in order, as the love stories stand alone but the overall arc leads to a big finish (and there are lots of finishes in between, if you know what I'm say--)

The Tenebris Trilogy by Kathryn Ann Kingsley.

If you're interested in the occult and some Lovecraftian vibes set in a pseudo-1920s world, this is it. Our heroine is on the search for her brother, and who is to assist but his stuffy-hot professor who happens to be a cult leader and has perhaps merged his body with that of a Cthulu monster?

What's interesting about this series (which cannot be read as standalones, and must be read in order) is that our hero is legitimately loony tunes, and our heroine is into it. She falls in love with him and his monsters, and that does... extend to the physical. (Tentacles, everyone! Shadow tentacles! Think Venom.) I will add that there's a lovely secondary romance with a trans heroine (with a hero that's not a villain) and it is excellent, but at one point an antagonist is transphobic towards her. An attempted off-page forced detransition occurs. The main heroine is totally supportive of the secondary heroine and stops it, but read with caution.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole.

This rare villainess/hero romance sees a sorceress heroine take a deposed demon king captive to coerce him into impregnating her so that she can bear his heir (all for villainous purposes, of course). Yes. So this book is heavy on the dubcon--lots of edging, lots of people chained to beds--but to be frank? He is into it. We have a stern, morally upright hero being driven to the brink by the baddest of bad girls, and it's great.

This book is a bit controversial because of the content, and I do recommend checking out my IAD Cheat Sheet before reading for a full list of triggers/details about the world of Immortals After Dark. But it reads fairly well on its own, and I personally adore it. The sex is hot, the romance is angsty, he gets back at her in every possible way, and it's so fun to see a villainess take center stage and bring out the dark side of such a noble hero.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole.

Here, we focus on an immortal valkyrie heroine who's had centuries of near-misses with her would-be Berserker love--every time she kisses him, he remembers his past lives with her and promptly dies in increasingly gruesome ways. He's always be good and loving to her... which is why she's so shocked when he returns to her, this time in the form of an immortal-hating torturer who's taken her captive.

This one is dark--yes, he does torture her (not that badly, but there are other scenes of torture at the hands of different villains which are... bad). But if you can hang in there, I think you'll find a very compelling romance with a legitimately troubled, intense hero and a woman he can't get out of his head. There's also a very, very good bathtub scene that turns into "let me blindfold you so you can't see my hideous scars".

Lothaire by Kresley Cole.

The villain romance to end all villain romances (best read after Dreams, so you get the one-two punch of a pair of very different villainous heroes). What happens when you mix a 3,000-year-old megalomaniacal vampire with a 24-year-old whip-smart human woman he believes houses the soul of the goddess he's supposed to wed? A fucking ride, and possibly my favorite romance ever, that's what.

Lothaire goes HARD. It goes hard on the villainy (this is a story of a villain falling in love, not a villain finding redemption), it goes hard on the sex (with possibly one of the most infamous sex scenes in romance, and I love every word of it), and it goes hard on the angst. As much as Lothaire fucks with Ellie's head and is determined to deny his love for her, she's determined to one-up on him and will never, ever break. I think this book is always best summed up in a scene early on where he kisses her, bites her lip, and draws back, smugly expecting horror--only to find her grinning through the blood and pulling him in for another kiss. Tell me that isn't villain romance perfection.

Sworn to the Shadow God by Ruby Dixon.

Not so much a super hard villain romance as it is a "falling in love with Death himself" book, this wacky romance finds our gamer girl heroine falling through a portal to another land and... yes, sworn as the mortal companion of the God of Death as he attempts to complete a trial set before him by the father god. It is funny, it is sexy, it's adventurous, and it is for the Reylos.

You think I'm joking. No. He is very clearly modeled after Kylo Ren, and he sweeps around in dark cloaks and emo smashes about being the God of the Death, and it is glorious. He's less bad than he is detached and uncaring, but, you know... Death. By the end of the book, though? He cares very much about one particular person.

Look, man. Check your triggers always, especially with romance novels about villains. These won't work for everyone. But I imagine... if you like a villain... some of these are for you.

#romance novel blogging #book recs #books #anyway happy fuckin v day

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itsrainingaga1n · 4 months ago

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Real Deadpool vs Ryan Reynold’s Self-Insert: Wade Wilson Has A Soul That Has Been Buried in Corporate Greed

I was a nerdy little girl (adult man now wow isn’t that how the cookie crumbles) that loved Deadpool. I read pirated copies of the comics online, I watched gameplay of the PS3 game and managed to play a demo of it when my Dad stopped playing GTA, I was there when the first shitty grainy teaser trailer for the movie dropped on Youtube.

I loved Wade Wilson because he was a character with complexity. I loved him because he was Queer, because he was traumatized, because he made truly morally grey decisions because he thought they would better the lives of those around him. I was growing up in a weird time where I needed an antihero who was all of these things. I needed a character who showed me it was okay to be fucked up and fragmented. I was familiar with humor being used to cover up metaphorical holes in walls due to my Dad being a comedian, I knew what it was like to be a snarky asshole but still care, past all of the brain damage and homicidal tendencies.

Sadly, Ryan Reynolds has made himself Deadpool. He has taken the soul of Wade Wilson and twisted it into a fucked up balloon animal to clown around with and toss to an audience of thirty year old -Joe Rogan loving-IPA swigging-white men-who pine after exes who have long moved on.

He has given the charred husk of what was Wade Wilson into the altar of Disney/Marvel/MCU and pretends it’s ironic. In the words of the Unabomber, you can’t eat your cake and have it too, Ryan. You can’t mock Disney while pocketing their cash, you can’t make cancel culture and woke jokes while pretending to be gay (even though you’ve made Deadpool’s entire character revolve around a woman who pegs him).

I’m not going to say I didn’t laugh at the new movie, I did. It did its job at being amusing and colorful and violent. It did not do its job, nor has Ryan Reynolds ever done his job, at making movie Deadpool have a soul.

Ryan, you loved Deadpool so much you skinned him and now you parade around his corpse. Please take it off. It stinks.

#deadpool #deadpool and wolverine #ryan reynolds #movieblr #movie review #deadpool review #deadpool spoilers

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bobbybutterfly · 6 months ago

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SO @32girassoisdevangogh! REMEMBER WHEN YOU TOLD ME YOU WANTED MY DESIGNS TO BE MARKETABLE PLUSHIES?!

Well. These are not exactly plushies but…

Tada! I can’t believe I actually managed to “finish” them in time. We’re leaving for England on Monday so it was a race to have them somewhat finished. I made Bamsaegi first. Originally the plan was to make these “dolls” completely out of cotton, loads of glue, some pipe cleaners and sting. It did not go as planned. First up instead of cotton I ended up buying wool because I figured it’s close enough.

It was just SOOO MESSY and wouldn’t keep its shape no matter what. My mom saw it wasn’t working and asked me why I didn’t get proper cotton from the drug store. I only went looking in arts and crafts because I thought what they would have in the drug store would be pressed into round shapes. You know. Those things you use to remove your make up. The next day mom took me to the drug store and turns out they had exactly what I wanted.

Finally. I could get properly started. Except no! It was a horrible material to work with! The cotton constantly kept sticking to my paintbrush I used to apply the glue. Additionally the cotton kept picking up all kinds of dirt. At times turning black. Would not recommend. I don’t know how the YouTuber I watched made it look so easy.

I was at the end of my patience. If I want to make 3D stuff I would have to go and use DUN DUN DUN polymer clay. Or regular clay. JUST NO. I hate the feeling of clay stuck to my hands. Autism? What are you doing here?! I had to figure something else out. I didn’t feel like learning to sow. So. This thing with cotton and glue reminds me of something else. Papier Mache!

I actually used to think that this cotton mess would be better. I thought that papier mache takes an enormous amount of paper. Probably because the one time I did it prior to this project was in art school as a kid with a neurotic teacher. So. Where was I going to find the paper I would need?

There’s this saying in Slovakia that we’re one hundred years behind monkeys (joke about evolution meaning we’re behind the rest of the world). I didn’t even need to leave the house to get what I needed. The mail box was full to brim with catalogs. Plus there were recently the EU elections. Which meant a large news paper looking thing with all the parties written out on it. Perfect!

So that’s how Bamsaegi came to be. I first made a skeleton out of pipe cleaners. Covered that with crumpled paper. I found it kind of ironic that I’m making a character from a communist propaganda cartoon out of a bunch of advertisements. Additionally papier mache would be something you couldn’t do in North Korea. From the book I read paper there is rare and kept a close eye on. For obvious reasons of course. If I would ever have a serious gallery exhibition of these dolls/sculptures I think I would expand on that.

As you can see I ended up covering him in cotton. I wanted the texture and also it smoothed out the bumps. This was before I learned that if you want it smooth you got to cover it in a bunch of small pieces of paper. I first covered the base with glue. Then took a thin bunch of cotton. To smooth it out and to make it stick better I would run the paint brush across it in the direction of the fibbers. Lastly I painted it with watered down acrylic colours after it dried. I was surprised at how painting it went so smooth. Very satisfying.

I decided to first do a more show accurate character. I thought the stylised proportions would be easier. Obviously he’s not perfect. With the colours and the off proportions he’s looking very retro. Like the 70s and 80s communist era toys I saw in an antique shop. I like to think that if they made official toys back then they would look like this.

Onto Geumseagi. He started off as a Disney Prince Eric from Little Mermaid doll by Mattel. So the size of your average Ken. I sadly don’t have the original doll photo. He cost 14 euros (technically 13,99). I thought I would cut him out of the papier mache and use him as base for other dolls. He’s still buried in Geumseagi today. I didn’t want to risk cutting him out of there. And I like the added weight. Those stupid boots were a terror so I don’t think I would want to deal with them when making a new project.

So the head. Originally I wanted to mould it out of clay. But once I realized that I wouldn’t be cutting him off the doll I decided to use the original one. The clay one would be too heavy and hard to keep on the neck. As you can see I chopped off his nose, chin and let’s say gave him a rather brutal hair cut. Knowing what I know now I would have cut off even more of the hair. From my drawings I know big foreheads on squirrels do not look good.

And there we have it. Geumseagi in my style. In 3D. There are 2 tiny spots on the legs where the original doll pokes throught. The pants were rushed not gonna lie. I like that it’s a bit wrinkly. It reminds me of my paintings with the different thicknesses of paint. Making something 3D that looks like my paintings is something I wanted to achieve for a while. I’m glad I don’t have to learn how to use Blender. Unfortunately it does mean I can’t use the dry brush technique because it emphasises those crevices. For shading I then have to go manually where I want it. Like under the chin and around the pockets.

I’m excited to see what ya’ll will think. Sad that I discovered this just when I’m leaving. Grandma probably won’t want ripped up news paper and glue all over her kitchen.

PS. I’m adding his tail when I return. Too much work.

#It was a lot of fun using a new technique #I’m proud of myself #but I have to stop procrastinating on my main project #sucks that they never made official toys #at least it’s motivating to make your own #furry art #my art #fanart #squirrel and hedgehog #papier mache

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samskaterguy · 1 year ago

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I love Ever After High more than I could probably ever say, but I’ll try in honor of its 10th anniversary.

I discovered Ever After High when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, so I was very young, and I LOVED Disney Princess movies (kind of ironic given the history, huh?) and so I discovered the Brothers Grimm fairytales, and I adored those too. I find a series from a YouTuber I don’t remember the name of (7 Super girls? Or something?) And I think the video was “What’s your favorite show?” And the girl in the video explains what Ever After High is and that sounds AWESOME to a little kid like me. It was a high school for the children of the Brothers Grimm characters?????? AMAZING! Obviously not much was aid about the more,,grizzly details of the stories as this was a child’s doll line as well.

I started watching, and I instantly fell in love with Raven Queen when I saw what her whole deal was, also I really liked her style, as I was a little emo kid, and Raven striving to be herself in a world that didn’t accept that, that she had to just follow the rules that actively worked against her. That struck a little cord with me, and I wouldn’t realize it until many years later, but, spoiler! I’m trans. Raven is a character that, in general, means so much to me. I full person and soul mean this when I say she is my favorite fictional character of all time. Raven Queen meant so much to me, and others as well.

Ashlynn and Hunter because I ate, slept and BREATHED True Hearts Day as a kid, to see these two people that loved each other, so deeply and true that they were willing to sacrifice their stories for one another despite the danger. Society told the two of them their love was wrong, Ashlynn’s best friend even told her she thought it was wrong, and that crushed Ashlynn. She even broke up with Hunter over her fears about their stories, but also so everyone would just. Stop. The whole reason they even told ANYONE was because Duchess had threatened to essentially out them when they weren’t ready.

Then, after all of that pain, and trail and tribulation they got up, well Ashlynn did, she got up and she told the whole world that she loves Hunter, and doesn’t care what anyone, or their destines have to think. If she can’t love Hunter and be a royal? Then call her Ashlynn Ella the rebel!

Then as the years went on, I got older, and Dragon Games aired. I saw Darling Charming, a character I didn’t really care about too much until I got older, and I saw her give “CPR” to Apple White, a character I hated, and ALSO grew to love as I got older.

My personal feelings to these character didn’t matter, though. I saw these girls KISS on screen. I saw two same gender people give TRUE. LOVES. KISS. to one another for the first time ever. It wasn’t just an m/f couple with some VERY gay subtext. Seeing that kiss was more magical than anything in the show. That one moment between two characters that I grew up watching, as if to say it was okay..I won’t lie when I tell you I maybe cried that night after I finished watching it. It made me feel so happy, so seen. Safe.

As I got older, I saw these characters in different lights, and I saw more depth to them than I ever did before. Characters I hated as a kid suddenly made more sense, this horrible system of destiny looked so much more daunting and scary than it ever did before. I hated Apple as a kid, and that’s an understatement. Sorry Apple fans, I love her now, and that’s because as I aged I saw more depth in her than I did when I was younger.

Apple was also a victim of destiny, just in a different way than say Raven, or Briar. She had such high expectations put on her from her mother, her father, the WHOLE SOCIETY THEY ARE STRUCTURED AROUND. Apple also faced a traumatic experience as a kid that also just reinforced this line of thinking. She had her entire life planned, if she liked that or not, and she couldn’t escape it. Apple was faced with harsh reality so suddenly at what was supposed to be the biggest, most important day of her entire life. All of that particular planning to be the perfect princess, her entire life’s purpose for as far as she knew, was over. Torn away in an instant with the rip of a page. It would make sense that Apple would take so long to come around to the idea of choosing your own destiny, or that CHOOSING can also mean living your destined story, but maybe with some tweaks.

Apple’s whole arc in Dragon Games and Way Too Wonderland is just so good. I love her so much.

ALSO Raven never even wanted to start a whole movement or anything, she just wanted to not be like her mother, she just didn’t want to be evil. She was just 15, like literally everyone else in the show. All she wanted was to exist as herself, and it was a battle to get close to that goal.

I realized as I aged, and in general became a tad more jaded towards the world that oppressive systems don’t really help anyone. A lot of kids at Ever After High, royal or rebel, is screwed over with the destiny system in some way. It made me think about our own society in ways I haven’t before, but that’s a talk for another day.

Also, as a kid I only had access to YouTube and maybe Netflix, so I didn’t read any of the books until literally about two years ago when I could get my hands on them, so I literally just have NEW information to sift through, and grow with a world that I’ve had for so long with me already.

I think there’s so much more i can say about family issues, and family non-issues, and about culture, or the way there are rebels who want their destiny, but still side with the rebels because they think everyone should have a free choice, or how Cedar and Cerise feel just a tad trans to me, or THE WONDERLANDIANS AND RED AND BADWOLF, but that’s more general fandom posting or a bit too personal, so I’ll just leave it here.

In conclusion, Ever After High, it’s been a beautiful, spellbinding 10 years and I’m so thankful for the fans, the people that made the series/dolls/books/etc, and that I wish all of these characters, and people a Happily Ever After in their own ways.

#eah #ever after high #raven queen #apple white #ashlynn ella #hunter huntsman #huntlynn #darling charming #dappling #cedar wood #cerise hood #10 years of ever after high #ever after high 10 years #way too wonderland #dragon games

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demonicornauthor · 10 months ago

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Enjoy this sneak peak at my next Riku/Sora oneshot, "Return From the Brink"! I hope to have the full version out soon!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Disney Town was always so lively and bright, filled with laughter, chatter, and various exclamations of glee. When they were hosting a party, that was heightened exponentially– especially a birthday party which was exactly the occasion today. Their dear Kairi was turning seventeen, and you could definitely tell she was the birthday girl based on her state of dress. Kairi’s short red hair had purple orchids woven through in vine-like patterns that matched her dark purple tank top with lilac fabric ruffles on the sleeves and over the chest that had all sorts of sparkles. The redhead was wearing white jeans with black boots to go along with it, and over everything she was wearing a sash that stated her position as birthday girl, a tiara, and all sorts of buttons and pins of the birthday variety that Xion and Naminé had enjoyed placing all over her between giggles. Riku had watched in amusement while they had all finished getting ready in one of the living areas of Disney Castle. Now, though, they were all gathered outside having fun. They were in between scheduled activities, allowing everyone to do what they wished. Terra, Aqua, Mickey, Minnie, and Isa were playing some kind of card game while observing everyone else. Donald and Goofy were working with Huey, Dewey, and Louie to make the tallest possible ice cream cone. Yen Sid and Merlin were running tests on the fireworks show they had prepared for later in the evening to ensure there wouldn’t be any hiccups. Kairi was enjoying a friendly dance-off with Lea– Kairi was being backed by Ventus and Naminé while Lea was backed by Roxas and Xion. Xion had originally seemed intent on backing Kairi, but she couldn’t switch her loyalties from one of her first best friends like that. Lea, Roxas, and Xion were inseparable as a trio, after all, especially now that they could all completely accept the fact that they had their own hearts and emotions. It had been an entertaining journey to watch Roxas, Xion, and Naminé figure out what it was like to have their own hearts, even if it had led to a few embarrassing moments of needing to explain societal norms. The sex talk had been uncomfortable for all involved, and no one let Lea forget that he was the one to make the innuendo that started it all. They had grown into themselves, though, and the three were flourishing. Everyone was.

Well, almost everyone.

Riku was sitting alone against the wall of a nearby building in the shade, silently watching everyone else enjoy themselves. He really did want to join in on the fun– he wanted to be able to truly smile with them– but he just couldn’t. All of these bright colors, the laughter, the joy… It all reminded him so much of Sora. Sora who was somewhere unknown, most likely by himself, and far out of Riku’s reach. His dear, sweet, sunshine Sora had been gone for a year and a half, and Riku hadn’t been able to relax much since he disappeared. He still made routine checks once a month to each world they knew of to ask the residents they knew if anyone had any leads on Sora, but it was always answered in the negative. Many of them had said that he was most likely gone permanently and had tried to convince Riku to focus on other things. He knew that they meant well, but he vehemently refused. Even the idea of giving up on Sora made his skin crawl. The only other ones who seemed as certain as him that Sora was even still alive were those who had literally lived in his heart at one point. Even so, it seemed that Kairi, Naminé, Ventus, and Xion were beginning to suspect they had been wrong. Roxas was the only one Riku could talk to without being told to stop looking and just to give up. Roxas had been a lifeline for Riku ever since Sora’s disappearance, and wasn’t that ironic? The person Riku had worked so hard to destroy and return to Sora now was one of the few things keeping the silveret sane.

.........

“... Riku?” came a shaky, disbelieving whisper.

Riku jumped up and whipped around, his aquamarine blown wide as they met confused and fearful sapphire. Riku couldn’t believe his eyes. He reached his hands up to scrub at his eyes before looking again to see that the boy was still there.

#soriku #kingdom hearts #fanfiction #ao3

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kaythefloppa · 2 months ago

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With The Lion Guard's 10th anniversary happening in November of next year, I think the best way they can celebrate it, and also the easiest way they can celebrate it (as in, not a fourth season, sequel series, books, or new movies), would be reruns.

When The Lion Guard was coming to a conclusion, it's viewing figures on television took a hard dip, partly due to Disney's poor distribution of the episodes. Because of this, reruns (at least here in America) did not last that long. Only from November 3rd to December 30th, 2019, and then the show was gone for good. They couldn't keep the completed show on the air during the winter holidays when kids had 2 weeks off from school and were at home likely doing nothing but watching TV. Which is - not a good sign.

Up until recently, I would've assumed that Disney would've done nothing for the show given these unflattering results. But seeing the Disney Jr. musical short, as well as people online posting merch of the show in spite of half a decade passing since the show ended, gets me thinking of some significant way Disney would acknowledge the series.

Anyways, back to the topic of reruns. The one thing that would redeem this show's unsatisfying send-off would be reruns, perhaps in the form of a marathon, to celebrate the decade anniversary of the show. Something similar happened this year when The Lion King was re-released in theaters for it's 30th anniversary (most likely to compensate for Mufasa: The Lion King, getting delayed 6 months due to the strikes).

Disney, even Disney Jr has done reruns of cancelled/completed shows, either regularly or as special occassions. Sofia the First and Tangled got reruns on World Princess Week: Jessie still gets reruns on Disney Channel, ironically increasing in quantity ever since it's spin-off Bunk'd ended. Phineas and Ferb got endless reruns on Disney Channel and Disney XD, even before the announcement of the revival. And not to mention many holiday specials/movies/crossovers such as Good Luck Charlie. And just recently, Wizards of Waverly Place got a marathon of reruns in light of next month's reboot series, Beyond.

So it would be very thematically appropriate for The Lion Guard to get this type of treatment. Reruns, from the pilot episode, all the way to the finale, marathoning all day on Disney Junior. It would give the show the mainstream fanfare and recognition, from its target demo audience, that it was robbed of when it died. Not only would it introduce kids of today's generation to The Lion King franchise, but it would potentially bring back viewers who were in the show's target demographic when it aired - who would now be adults themselves.

And it would come full circle too since The Lion Guard was pitched, created, and announced as a tribute to The Lion King's 20th anniversary itself, so to have a decade-related anniversary like this would be sweet in theory.

Do I think Disney will actually do this? No. This is all hypothetical. Logically speaking the furthest thing they'll do is probably upload some Lion Guard full episodes onto the YouTube channel, post a few Tik-Toks, make a few "happy anniversary" tweets and leave it at that. But it's a do-able/possible-ish idea for a way they can give tribute to the show's decennial. I will not hold my breath on that idea, or be surprised if they do viritually little to nothing for the anniversary (I'd actually be surprised if they did anything more than the abovementioned logical factors such as happy anniversary posts and tweets).

#the lion guard #the lion king #kion #fuli #bunga #beshte #ono #tlk #tlg #disney junior #disney jr.#I think this is the best way Disney can give mainstream limelight back to The Lion Guard #Bc like a fourth season would be virtually impossible with several people on the crew leaving Disney whilst the rest moved on #a sequel series would be impossble for the same reason especially with Mufasa: The Lion King taking up the limelight as TLK's showstopper #A new comic series or books maybe but given how awful the Disney Villains: Scar comic was I wouldn't hold my breath #plus the book-based properties of TLG were essentially canned eyars ago #And again I don't think any big TLG related content would happen to avoid competition with Mufasa: The Lion King -#The best we'd see is just some more fluff like with the music video or new merch #But I think a rerun marathon as a decennial tribute for old and new fans of the show would be the most likely option and the best objectivl

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timeagainreviews · 1 year ago

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From Page to Screen: The Star Beast

Growing up can feel like a lifelong process. I’m an adult, but I’m obsessed with a time-travelling alien show. Part of you will always feel like a kid, but another part knows the past is the past. While I may fantasise about revisiting my past like the Doctor, I admit it wouldn’t feel the same. I’ve changed. The ‘80s could never feel like the present. Every hairdo dated. Every new record in the shop window is a relic. Childhood always stays with you, but as an ever further memory. Understand then the implication that when my household of 30-40-somethings finished watching “The Star Beast,” we were like children.

In my “The Eve of the 60th,” article, I talked about how I don’t have a childhood nostalgia for Doctor Who. But sometimes, the things we love inspire a childlike enthusiasm within us. Somehow, Russell T Davies managed to retcon my past. In this timestream, Natalie has childhood nostalgia for Doctor Who. Using the TARDIS, RTD has managed to time travel back to our hearts. There’s something warm and fuzzy (and I don’t just mean the Meep) in my chest and I’d like to talk about it.

There are some Doctor Who reviewers who seem to think it’s impossible to talk about the Doctor Who episodes they enjoyed. But if we learned anything from the Jedi, it’s that walking the path of the light side is harder. Snarky shittiness is fun to partake in because it’s easy and immediately gratifying. But I’m not here for shittiness. I’m here for the love. It feels so good to say “I loved The Star Beast,” but it doesn’t mean I don’t have notes. I started out writing about the Chibnall era from a place of enthusiasm. I can’t help what happened after the fact.

My enthusiasm at the beginning of the Chibnall era isn’t a bad place to start this review. Because after “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” I still possessed said enthusiasm. Seeing Jodie Whittaker as the first woman Doctor was a joyous experience. And seeing David Tennant in the TARDIS again was just as joyful. It’s a fabulous feeling, but I was burned the last time I felt this way. I further temper my expectations because, as I said, I do have notes.

When you spend a large portion of your time either watching, listening, reading, writing, or thinking about Doctor Who, you forget that to some, it’s just a TV show. It’s one of the many they try and watch but miss the odd episode. So while I may roll my eyes at the goofy PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of Saturday’s episode, I have to remind myself that not everyone has been obsessed with Donna Noble for years. Some people might need a little reminder. Fine. While the casuals and newbies are getting caught up on the Nobles, I’ll be over in the corner frothing.

Previously I mentioned that I was withholding judgement for Murry Gold’s new intro music until I heard the full mix. Now that I’ve heard it I can say I liked it much better. It’s far more bombastic with proper engineering. The intro sequence itself was colourful but safe. I enjoyed watching the TARDIS skim the perimeters of the time vortex like a surfer catching a wave. It’s ironic that Dan Slott admitted to writing The Silver Surfer to be like Doctor Who, as it was the Silver Surfer I thought of during this sequence. People have been musing that the Disney influence may have Doctor Who going down the path of the MCU, but this one is pure coincidence. The intro is stunning and fits this exciting new era perfectly.

It’s not as though “The Star Beast,” were an adaptation of a Marvel comic published in 1980. Oh it was? Oh right. Well they got us on this one! Surely they wouldn’t copy the MCU further by hiring the directors of Loki. Oh they have? Oh right. Well at least they didn’t do a Marvel Studios type of production logo that shows different characters across the franchise to play before every new show. Oh they did? Well damn, I guess they are going Marvel. It makes sense when you consider that many people said Loki was doing Doctor Who better than Doctor Who was doing Doctor Who. And on top of that, “The Star Beast,” is a fantastic comic in its own right. I would say Russell T Davies is a mad genius for mining gems from the extended Whoniverse, but he’s done it before with “Human Nature.” My only regret is that this somewhat undoes the continuity of the comics. The nerd in me can’t help but acknowledge the fact that the same comic recently canonically destroyed the Thirteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, and put the Fourteenth Doctor on course to Skaro where we saw him briefly in the Children in Need special. Timestreams.

“The Time Beast,” has now gone the way of “Shada.” Both stories take place across multiple Doctors and multiple forms of media. Not only is there an audio adaptation of Shada featuring Paul McGann, there’s also an audio adaptation of The Star Beast starring Tom Baker. Add the upcoming Target novelisation and you’ll soon have both stories in book form. It’s the fandom’s new “The Doctor’s Daughter was played by the Doctor’s daughter who then went on to marry the Doctor who played her father in the episode ‘The Doctor’s Daughter.’” Get ready to hear that ad nausea. All of this is to say I love when Doctor Who acknowledges its other media and this one was well played.

This adaptation of the Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons comic is a loose one. While the Meep and Wrarth Warriors look fantastic, some minor liberties have been taken with the story. Yet it’s hard not to admire how Russell T Davies has woven the Noble family and a narrative about gender identity in such a way that it feels seamless. Themes of duality and stereotyping are heavy throughout this episode. Speaking of gender identity, I totally called it with Rose’s choice of name. I said I hoped they would use the trans experience of choosing ones own name to tell a wibbly wobbly timey wimey story, and they did. But this also brings me to my biggest sticking point in the entire episode. I’ve seen a lot of people online using the word “clunky,” and that’s exactly what I would call it. Having Rose choose her name from a latent human/Time Lord meta-crisis going on inside her was great. However, having it be a factor in her gender identity left me a bit cold. It may have worked better if it had been implied that Rose was non-binary at some point before.

Ultimately, it feels like a cis male trying to write an empowering trans narrative and missing the mark a bit. It’s like your uncle using the wrong language to awkwardly say “I support you.” It’s in no way problematic, but it could have done with being passed through a few different trans people’s hands before going into production. Donna’s line "Anyone has a go, I will be there and I will descend,” is the Doctor Who equivalent of David Lynch telling transphobes to “fix their hearts of die,” and I want it on a pin. As a trans woman, I do appreciate the trans representation, but it didn’t quite stick the landing. Moving forward, my personal preference would be to just let trans characters exist. We don’t need you to constantly point out our differences. On the other hand, we did get what seems like very positive disability representation. My disabled Whovian friends all seem to agree that having Shirley Anne Bingham with her rocket chair and a wheelchair-accessible TARDIS made them feel seen. One out of two ain’t so bad, Russell.

It’s funny to me that it took the Doctor becoming a man again to even start asking questions about gender. Chris Chibnall felt as though he was afraid of bringing up the Doctor’s new gender. It felt very “I don’t see colour, I just see people,” like mentioning the Doctor’s gender would have been the real sexism. I can think of three moments where the Doctor’s gender comes up in the Chibnall era- when the Doctor called herself daddy, when Captain Jack thought Graham was the Doctor, and when the Sontarans thought the Doctor was a companion. It wasn’t until Juno Dawson, a trans woman, wrote “The Good Doctor,” did we get a great conversation about the Doctor’s non-binary nature. I guess “The Star Beast,” was right, trans people are fucking magic.

Seeing David Tennant in his new threads with a sonic screwdriver that draws shields in the air was very cool. He and Catherine Tate haven’t missed a step, and of course, they haven’t, they’ve been playing the same characters on Big Finish for years. But people still felt the need to point it out, so here’s me doing it too. That’s quality. Their meeting again played out almost exactly as I predicted it would in my article “The Future of Doctor Who.” The Doctor is going to see Donna behind some packages, freak out when he realises it’s her, but come running like a puppy dog at the name “Rose.” Only in this instance, the Doctor is torn away from this intriguing discovery by what appears to be an alien craft crashlanding in London. Donna, of course, remained oblivious, as per the terms and conditions of the the Doctor’s neural block he placed on her 14 years ago.

This “new” Doctor prefers to play things close to his chest at first. He avoids Donna and UNIT alike. He still doesn’t know why he has this face again, or why out of all the people in time and space, the TARDIS decided to put that face in front of Donna Noble. If there is a reason, he’s not going to assume what it is, or who might be responsible. I loved watching the Doctor question Shaun about Donna. The fact that the Doctor still remembers the name Nerys after hundreds of years made me laugh out loud. It’s nice to see the Doctor being Doctory. He’s skulking around. He’s getting clues. He’s not making assumptions. Already he’s learned that the rocket hadn’t crashed. Something is not as it seems, and the Doctor intends to find out what.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town we meet Fudge who tells Rose about the alien space pod that landed near their houses. Fudge is one of the few characters who kept his name from the comic. They don’t even call the Meep "Beep" anymore (sort of.) As in the comics, Fudge is an excitable boy interested in science and space. He also plays a major part in helping the episode feel like classic Davies era stuff. One thing we often missed from both the Moffat and Chibnall era was the human cost of alien invasion. Watching Fudge’s reaction to the streets of London turning molten was a nice reminder that the danger was real. Seeing the BBC news correspondant being thrown into the back of a UNIT van made me happier than you might expect. I was reminded of Trinity Wells giving us news briefs. I missed the clever ways in which Davies made the world feel involved in his stories while also getting a bit of exposition out of it. It was at that moment that I realised RTD and Doctor Who were officially back.

While going back to the house to grab her phone, Rose meets the Meep hiding amongst her bins. Right away she feels kinship to the Meep who she sees as a misanthrope hiding from oppressors. Of course, she gives the Meep sanctuary. Even though the E.T. moment of Donna discovering the Meep among Rose’s “gonks,” had been played over and over throughout the trailer, it still made me laugh. Catherine Tate has great comedic timing, and watching Rose attempt to draw her attention away was charming. Everyone but Shaun seems hellbent on hiding aliens from Donna, especially Sylvia. I found Sylvia’s transition into a sort of June Whitfield à la Ab Fab entertaining. She’s just let herself in making enormous sausage rolls and tuna curry.

The Doctor says things like “I absolutely love her,” now. Even Sylvia feels warmer toward Donna. Her insistence that the Meep doesn’t exist, even as its holding onto Donna’s leg doesn’t come from her old streak of meanness, but rather from a place of protection. She’s horrified by the prospect of Donna seeing an alien and it burning up her mind. She’s carried the facade this long. This falls into line with the character growth she began experiencing toward the end of the original RTD run and I am happy she didn’t regress.

Most of the Donna Noble story remains in tact and accounted for. Shaun? Still her husband. The lottery winnings? Gave it away. Nerys? Still a snake in the grass, despite the accident. The only one missing is Wilf who the Doctor fears is dead. Honestly, who can blame him though? The only times people say “He’s no longer with us,” are usually when someone has either left their job or died. I guess it’s a nice fakeout for people who didn’t see behind-the-scenes photos from some guy on Twitter. We are given hints that we’ll see him at some point, probably in “The Giggle.” I liked the implication that UNIT has put him up in some comfortable digs. It’s nice to imagine that Wilf and Benton are probably playing chess in a posh retirement home somewhere.

UNIT is back in a major way, and it appears to have some new players. I feel like we’ll see more of Major Singh and Colonel Chan. It would be nice to get some recurring UNIT soldiers again. I feel like they missed a chance with Ross Jenkins in “The Poison Sky.” Kate Stewart is set to return, but replacing Osgood is Shirley Anne Bingham. I loved Osgood, but after seeing Shirley take those soldiers out with darts hidden in her chair I thought “Oh no, I think I fancy her.” She’s got a mischievous air about her that makes her feel a bit cheeky. It will be a lot of fun to see what Ruth Madeley brings to the table. I hope they don’t shunt her off as quickly as the rest of them.

After a daring escape through the lofts of several people’s homes, the Doctor and the Noble-Temples escort the Meep to safety. But after witnessing the Wrarth Warriors’ tendency toward non-lethal force, the Doctor begins to piece together who might have taken over the minds of Colonel Chan and his men. The Doctor decides it’s time for the Meep to plead its case in the court of a parking garage. After gathering two Wrarth Warriors as witnesses, the Doctor dons a barrister’s wig and invokes Shadow Proclamation Protocols 15, P and 6. And dammit wasn’t it good to hear David Tennant invoke the Shadow Proclamation again? Blissful, even.

One thing I particularly liked about the barrister’s wig is that it calls back to the Fourth Doctor in one of my favourite stories- “The Stones of Blood.” Not only was it good to see the Fourth Doctor referenced in what was originally a Fourth Doctor story, but it also mirrors the circumstances of the original trial quite well. In both cases, an evil villain is posing as a harmless innocent and it’s on the Doctor to prove it. Like the black sun of the comics, a Psychedelic sun turned Meepkind into hideously evil monsters. Their once gentle natures now give way to sadism and conquest. The last remaining Meep, the worst of them all, stands before us today. If you had read the comic book like I did, you would have known this to be true, but up until the reveal, my wife would have died for the Meep. She was mostly alone in this as everyone else saw the Meep’s “I will either die or turn evil,” t-shirt quite early on. Interestingly, some people were actually drawn in by the Meep’s lies.

Casting off its ruse, the Meep’s face contorts as it produces a laser gun from its marsupial pouch. I absolutely love the transition from Puss In Boots to Dr Evil’s cat. The marriage of CGI and practical effects had me wondering how they managed the change. I imagine they had two separate sculpts for the head. One cutesy floof and one twisted grin. I know it’s difficult work, but I love an old fashioned person in a costume. It was cool to get a glimpse into the performance with the Cicely Fay interview on Doctor Who Unleashed. As a person interested in practical effects, this was right up my alley. It’s nice to see that no matter how big Doctor Who gets, they’ll still use a performer in a suit.

The Meep takes the Doctor and company back to its ship to keep them as an in-flight meal. But before the Meep can get them all on the ship, UNIT intercepts leaving only the Doctor and Donna onboard. It’s up to them to stop the Meep before the ship’s dagger drive takes out 9 million Londoners upon lift-off. Evoking the MCU once again, the Doctor deprograms Donna like she’s the Winter Soldier or Black Widow calming the Hulk. The code awakens the Doctor Donna which causes her to exhaust artron energy. We get another classic David Tennant yells at God moment as yet another member of the Noble family is separated by glass. But just as things begin to feel hopeless we learn that not only is Donna not dead, but Rose is also part human and part Time Lord. Using her brief taste of Time Lord consciousness, Rose fully disables the Meep’s ship and the molten cracks from the dagger drive powering up disappear. This was so cheesy and I adored it. Classic RTD right there.

A recurring argument I see in favour of Chris Chibnall is to point out how people often complain about things the Thirteenth Doctor does that other Doctors also did. According to this theory, every Doctor has their own “giving a brown man up to the Nazis,” moment. You know, kind of like when the Eleventh Doctor murdered Solomon by teleporting a bomb onto his ship as he was escaping. He could have teleported the bomb anywhere but chose murder. Who was it that wrote “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,” again? Chris Chibnall? Oh. We do get a bit of that here with the Fourteenth Doctor ejecting the Meep from its ship. But the Meep was refusing to know when it was beaten. It’s the Sycorax all over again- no second chances. It’s dumb to call the Doctor a pacifist, but is it better that the Twelfth Doctor pushed the Half-Faced Man in “Deep Breath,” or that he talked him into jumping? These are some pretty heavy concepts, but no, the Nazi thing was still worse.

I was glad to see the human/Time Lord meta-crisis taken care of in this first story. It’s nice that Donna is out of the woods and able to have some final adventures with the Doctor before she bows out again. It would have been kind of distracting for them to have to keep worrying about her mind burning every time someone said the word Doctor. It also allows us to fully enjoy the TARDIS reveal. Watching David Tennant run through the slick new interior like a little boy was euphoric. It was cute to get confirmation that even the Doctor has a moment of discovery whenever there is a new console. You always assume the Doctor just knows how to pilot any configuration of TARDIS controls, but even he sometimes has to ask “What’s that?” The TARDIS redesign was well worth the wait. Such a gorgeous set. It’s easily my second favourite TARDIS interior after the Eighth Doctor’s. The changing colour of the round things will offer so many different moods. White for normal function, red for the cloister bell, and purple for the disco party. The Doctor should get some roller skates now. Maybe if they visit the ‘70s at some point. I pray there’s a mirror ball.

Along with a possible mirror ball, the new TARDIS console comes decked with a coffee machine. If you’ll recall “The Doctor’s Wife,” the TARDIS doesn’t always take the Doctor where he wants to go, but always takes him where he needs to be. This means that the TARDIS dropped the Doctor off next to Donna, redecorated knowing about Donna’s tendency toward spilling coffee on computers, and offers her a cup of coffee. That’s some 3-D chess there, old girl. But wherever it is she was so keen to take them in “The Wild Blue Yonder,” she seems as equally keen to escape. From some of the stills I've seen, I wonder if it isn't some sort of evil TARDIS they've found themselves inside.

Judging by Davies' past penchant for planting the seeds of future stories across multiple seasons, it may be a while before we meet the Meep's cryptic boss. Will this boss have anything to do with the woman in Dubai who is gaga over Rose's gonks? Was that just a red herring? Perhaps this boss is actually the Toymaker and I'm overthinking it. But why would he be interested in two-hearted creatures? Is he searching for two-hearted species to track down the Doctor for some revenge? I have so many questions! As wonderful as it is to be curious about Doctor Who again, we'll still have to wait until next week. But the longer wait is over. Doctor Who is back, and isn’t that exciting?

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daresplaining · 1 year ago

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Your thoughts on She-Hulk ep 8?

I loved pretty much everything!

Yes, so, I was finally able to watch the rest of She-Hulk (I lost access to Disney+ partway through, so it took some finagling) and I do have thoughts! First, as I've mentioned previously, I loved the show overall; I thought it stayed very true to the spirit of the She-Hulk runs I have read (though to be clear, I'm not a Shulkie completist), was really funny (the knockoff "Avongers" merch in that one episode got me. I was on the floor), delivered some sharp commentary on the rampant misogyny in fan spaces and towards media with female leads (often drawing from actual online responses to the show by Comicsgate-types, which was genius), and poked fun at superhero tropes in a way that felt-- again-- true to the character and also mostly in a spirit of love, which is very important. I wanted to start with this because one of the things that kind of drove me nuts while the show was airing was seeing people prioritize the various cameos over the actual fact that freaking Jen Walters, She-Hulk herself, had a TV show, and I loved that she actually broke the fourth wall to call people out on this at one point.

(I'm glad this screenshot now exists in the world, and I'm worried that I might have to pull it out again when Echo's show airs. But hopefully not...)

But the cameos were fun, and felt correct for a show dealing with superhero law and tropes-- you do need a whole bunch of superheroes and villains around for that sort of thing, and I like that they went for an eclectic mix of big names and more obscure characters. Anyone who follows my Iron Fist blog might have seen me freaking out about the surprise appearance of El Aguila, one of my favorite side characters from Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1 (more freaking out will be forthcoming; I'm going to write a post about him when I have two seconds to spare). His MCU counterpart was kind of a parody version of the character, but that was true for many of the D-listers in the show, and I'd never expected to get El Aguila in anything, so I was still pretty dang thrilled. He even had his mutant powers! Amazing! We got MCU El Aguila before, like, MCU Scott Summers.

He also appeared alongside Man-Bull, who is a wonderfully weird Daredevil villain who I also never expected to see adapted. The decision to use El Aguila rather than the more obvious Matador was a little surprising (though I didn't mind at all), but a friend told me that she thought she had heard that they weren't allowed to use the Matador...which is intriguing... Hopefully it's because he's going to be the Big Bad in Daredevil season 4. One thing I was fairly disappointed by was the fact that we didn't get an appearance from Trish Walker, whose modern-day comics counterpart Patsy Walker/Hellcat is very close friends with Jen. However, considering MCU Trish's current situation, I can see why they made that choice. Tonally, this wasn't the right place to continue her story. Fingers crossed, though, for future interactions. Someone needs to get her out of prison!

But anyway, on to the main focus of this post-- this guy:

They definitely made this Leap-Frog hype-up ad as a joke, because hahaha, who gets excited about Leap-Frog, right? Joke's on them: I get excited about Leap-Frog. I was losing my tiny Silver-Age-Daredevil-fan mind that entire night, even knowing that it would be a while before I'd actually be able to watch the episode. Do you know how amazing it is that we got Leap-Frog in this thing? Leap-Frog in a largely comics-accurate costume? Leap-Frog who was allowed to be Silver Age goofy? Leap-Frog with a CATCHPHRASE? (I'm largely allergic to MCU things being imported into the comics-- if I have to open a Daredevil issue and read "the Devil's of Hell's Kitchen" with my own two eyes ever again, it's going to be my supervillain origin), but if 616 Leap-Frog were to start saying "ribbit and rip it", it wouldn't bother me. In all honesty, I didn't think he quite lived up to the hype. He was essentially a different character, and wasn't tremendously Leap-Frog-y when you got right down to it. But seeing him bouncing around in that green rubber costume still filled me with joy, and gave me hope that this might open the door for other such characters. Other fun, wacky, classic Silver Age villains who are long (emphasis on long) overdue an MCU debut. Stilt-Man. I'm talking about Stilt-Man.

In any case, I hope that anyone who might not have checked out She-Hulk yet will give it a try. It's a fun ride.

Psyche. Okay, yes, I'm also going to talk about Daredevil.

To be brief: I really, really liked this cameo. My interest in MCU Daredevil pretty much died in 2018 with the Big Cancellation, and as many bolts of lightning as I shoot through it (or...Hand ninja I sacrifice for it? I guess that's more on-theme), I haven't managed to revive it yet. It was fun while it lasted, but it's not a version of the character that really appeals to me much in isolation, and at the end of the day, I'm a Daredevil fan because I like the comics.

I also have the same issues with Charlie Cox playing Matt Murdock that I think a lot of people have, though that's not something I really feel I need to go into in this post. On the most superficial and shallow level possible (sorry), he just doesn't look like Matt to me, which is something I was able to overcome in the Netflix shows because when you're watching something for thirteen hours straight, eventually your brain adapts. But getting this brief cameo after having not seen him for four years, it was extra jarring, and it actually threw me out of the story a few times. He walked into the courtroom in that one scene and said he was Matt Murdock, and I'm afraid my immediate reaction was, "Pfff, what? No, you're not." (Also...his American accent has not really improved, which was just something I'd assumed he would have been working on.)

But my longstanding quibbles about casting aside (and to be clear, I love that people like the asker above like him in the role! I think for many people who got into DD through the MCU, he is their Matt Murdock, and I fully respect that), this is the live action Daredevil content that I've been waiting for ever since it became clear that the Netflix show was wedded to its dark, tortured version of the character and would not be touching on many of the other attributes that make Matt interesting to me. If this had come out at least five years ago, I would have gone completely bonkers over it-- and even now, I had a thoroughly great time watching this cameo. I had hoped, but I'd never, ever imagined that we'd actually get the yellow suit--especially after the Netflix show picked the practical-but-boring Man Without Fear/"Trial of the Incredible Hulk" outfit as his origin costume. And you know what? It looked pretty good.

For a "grounded" live action take, I think they did a decent job of translating the feel of the yellow costume while being shackled to a certain expected MCU DD aesthetic as established by the Netflix show's version of the red suit. I particularly liked that...that...

No, I'm sorry. I can't do this. Let me just...

Okay, THERE we go.

As I was saying, I thought they did a solid job referencing this most classic of DD costumes, and I would love to see him wear it in more than just this cameo.

And with the yellow suit came-- my god-- the quippy, swashbuckly Matt I have been longing for. The fight with Leapfrog was fun! The banter with Jen was great! I don't know what else to say! Swashbuckly Matt = Happy Daresplaining. What a relief to finally see that side of his personality make an appearance in this universe, and from an in-character perspective, to see him finally finding that confidence and joy in his adventuring. I hope that the Daredevil show (if it ever actually happens at this rate...) pulls from this; that we didn't just get a lighthearted Matt because She-Hulk was a comedy show.

And the romance was a surprise, but I didn't mind it. It was handled with humor, and it's not a relationship that exists in the comics so it was a fun new concept to play around with. Plus, both 616 Jen and Matt are characters with pretty hefty love lives, so it fits. And even more to the point, as the third asker above mentions, it took a baffling 40 YEARS for Marvel's two most prominent superhero lawyers to even interact, finally facing off for the first time in Soule's She-Hulk run, so I cherish every new scene they have together in any medium because they're great together. I was a little--"worried" is too strong a word, but maybe "cautious"--about how this would be handled from Matt's end, since he's really not a one-night-stand kind of guy. He falls in love easily and dates a lot, but it's dating. He gets attached to people. He clings. But this ended up seeming like maybe not a one-night-stand after all. The last episode seemed to imply that they were still together, so...is this going to be a thing? Are MCU Jen and Matt a couple now? Anyway, it was fun to have a bit of the soap opera-flavored drama of 616 Matt's love life filter into the MCU, because it really didn't come up much in the Netflix show.

In any case, to make a long and much-delayed post short, while MCU Daredevil will have to work very hard to re-earn my interest, I did enjoy this, and loved She-Hulk. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a show that's an all-around good time.

#Long post #Disney+ She-Hulk #Asks #ID in alt text

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lover-of-mine · 7 months ago

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Your last post is funny bc just TODAY I watched that season finally. I’m literally 2 episodes into season 5 right now. As someone who just watched that for the first time (and hadn’t noticed it WAS the season finally when I started watching it) I was losing my goddamn MIND watching those episodes. Just constantly 😯😯😯. I began watching 911 when I started seeing posts circulating about Buck being bi. At the time I had no idea who he was other than the occasional gif set but it made me intrigued and I have been HOOKED. Literally trying to get through as many episodes as possible so I can watch the episodes live. Questions for you (since I have no one else to talk to about the show); when did you start watching? Have you had any predictions while watching the show that didn’t/ did come true? Like for me when I watched season 1 and Abby went to the fire department for the first time I SWORE up and down that her and Bobby were meant to be endgame (was clearly wrong lol). But also after Chris got stuck in the Tsunami I called it that something would happy to Harry later on (just a feeling that no one was safe lol, not even the kids). I’m just so curious to see what the fandom theories have been over time lol since I missed out on it!

Yeah, no, watching suspicion/survivors for the first time is WILD. Like, imma be honest and bit oversharing, I watched the show for the first time in a depressive episode, so I watched everything up to 5x10 in like, 6 days according to the posts I made on Tumblr about it, so I didn't realize theorize about anything, I was just hitting next episode like my life depended on it. But I didn't know anything about the show, like, at all, I had just watched 911 lone star in a weekend because it was on the tv and there were only like, 20 episodes of it out it at the time and a network in my country was just showing all of them on a loop, and I opened the Disney app fully intending to rewatch grey's anatomy, and 911 was the first show on my recommended to you list, and I had liked lone star enough, and was like sure why not. And I legit couldn't stop watching. All of this happened the week before 5x11 aired on the us, so 5x11 was the first episode I watched like "live" (the first episode I actually watched live was 5x16) but I watched it in the same week, I think I finished on a Tuesday? And the episode aired on Monday. I can't really give you any theories I have witnessed so far because they would be spoilers tho, but if you wanna come back once you catch up we can talk about some of the madness that goes around here. But I had the same thing happen to me, I didn't realize it was the season finale, and I didn't know anything about the show, so I had no idea what was happening, and I thought I had learned my lesson with the tsunami arc, because I watched 3x01 at like 3 am fully saying this is the last episode I will watch and then I'm gonna go to bed, and then the tsunami hit, and I was like well fuck and then Chris fell in the water and next thing I know is 5 am and Eddie is making me cry at the end there. But I saw the 13 and didn't realize the season only had 14 episodes and then everything kept happening. I seriously cannot imagine what it was like to be forced to wait a week between those 2 episodes it was SO CRAZY. When Eddie got shot I legit froze. Watching that for the first time not knowing it's coming is SOMETHING. I do remember thinking that they were gonna kill Shannon but I didn't expect to be right, I also remember clocking that Jason was Doug pretty fast. Something funny tho, I remember posting that meme that's like "I've had blank for 1 day and a half but if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in this room and myself" with Buck and I waited until I had been watching for a day and a half, that means I posted it while watching the season 2 finale. I hit post and the truck blew up and I legit went like ????????? and that is still the most ironic thing that ever happened to me while posting about 911 kspskspkspakapkapa (here's the post, I actually came back to edit the tags because I was in shock lol) and I laugh every time I remember that lol but I'm glad you're enjoying the show, you can come back to talk to me about it any time!;

#i feel very luck to not know whats coming never in this show #i mean #we did know a few things with promos and stuff but like #i never had any major spoiler going into any episode for the first time and i love that #anon 😌#i really need a tag for asks #911

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generalluxun · 1 year ago

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You know what’s extremely ironic about Astruc's comments about Miraculous Ladybug being for kids?

Let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time; a man was working on a project for which he was very passionate about, a project that involved a skill that had been perfected for many years by him, his team and many other teams of artists. But he was met with many problems.

This project had cost him a lot of money and unless it was a succes with the people, the man would lose everything he had worked for, as he had feared it would happen eventually if he didn't try to make his idea a reality.

Nobody really expected him to succeed and thought he was just drawing his end ever nearer. A "folly" is what they called it.

Eventually he ran out of money and the only way to get the money needed to even complete his folly was by asking a loan from the bank. Easier said than done, because as nobody believed in him, they would not expect him to pay the loan back.

Undeterred; and despite the fact that if he failed to be a success he would lose his home, he decided to bring some of the paintings, drawings and concepts his team had created, to show the bank's board of directors what they were hoping to do.

One of the directors proclaimed that in the future no one would remember the name of anyone in the room except for the name of the man who indeed got his loan and then completed his project.

The man was Walt Disney, and what he showed was a half-finished Snow White.

That's right, Walt Disney had to charm a group of adults with his first movie before he could charm anyone else with it. And if he hadn't succeeded, then animated movies would have probably not become a thing while animation itself faded into obscurity.

And that's not the end of it either, it's established in the movie that Snow White will be saved in the end like anyone who had heard the fairy tale knew already. And despite that, you know what the people at the premiere of Snow White did back in 1937?

They cried their hearts out during the funeral.

Fully grown adults who had heard of Walt's Folly as it was called and were skeptical of watching such a long "cartoon" were moved to the same tears as the seven dwarfs.

Say what you will about the man himself, but you gotta give Walt Disney this: he knew that if adults weren't moved by his work then entertaining kids would be the least of his worries.

I've head this tale before, and I get your point.

I think the 'It's for Kids' runs deeper than this for ML though, specifically. It's used disingenuously to shop for praise *and* deflect critique.

It's Schrodinger's show. If it gets criticized for bad messaging through oversimplification then 'It's a kids show! what do you expect!'

If it feels it's doing well then 'Look at what they're doing in a kids show!'

We've been told by the creator that kids 'get it' in places where adults have concerns. Conversely we've been told 'Kids won't understand' in other places.

Now, you can make a silly shallow kids show and *that's fine* we have silly shallow adult shows. Kids shouldn't be left out.

You can also make a kids show that punches above it's age range, pushing kids to think and learn. *I personally love these shows* they were doing (modified)Shakespeare on Sesame Street when I was growing up. Disney's Gargoyles is RIFE with all sorts of literary references.

What you can't do is swerve between lanes as suits your desires at any given moment. As a creator you need to establish a framework by which your media can be approached. As the creator you have a very wide latitude in how to build that framework, but it does need to remain consistent.

I should clarify- This doesn't mean the more serious kids shows can't be silly and funny, nor that the shallow shows can't dip their toes into more complex topics, but *how these things are approached* needs to remain consistant.

Example: Dearest Family: We're throwing in an addiction reference, that's pretty intense. We're going to give it to our magical fairy stand-in so it is one step removed, and we're mixing in the serious and laughs along the way. It's not until the end where it falls down. the addiction is solved with.... a pep talk. ML loves pep talks, it's 80's cartoon style to the core. Pep talks work for a *lot* of problems. Just stopping to think matters.

Pep talks don't work for addiction. However, you can imagine they don't want to keep this as a running theme with relapses and struggles. It's a one-off lesson. So what you need to do is make it clear that the one-off solution is *also* magical in nature. Have Plagg cataclysm one of those Galette's making it nasty and gross, so Tikki eats it and YUCK! now she doesn't want Galette ever again. Boom, you've 'solved' it through magic so the one-episode-solution for a complex problem flows more cleanly.

I think the inability to learn/accept critique is the biggest problem in the writing room. There are good things in ML, and *every* show makes mistakes of some kind or another. Someone in the writing room just seems completely unwilling to engage in reflection, or if they do they simply will not admit it.

It's weird.

I'm not someone who 'hates the show' I want it to succeed and prosper, and I want it to have good messaging. S5 Miraculous was paralleling Chloé's descent. you are just watching bad choice after bad choice, hoping there will be a course correction.

At least we still have the movie, and maybe S6 will be a new direction. S5 did feel like a glut of 'We need to finish tis before the end of this season' developments.

#miraculous ladybug #ask #ml writing #writing critique

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