#Just watched the new monster high movie trailer

[your-dead-european-ancestor]

Ofc they have blue hair and pronouns

[kirin-cheepcheep]

Have you ever wanted to wanted to watch the entire of Monster High G1 and Ever After High in chronological order?

If so then I have good news!

I’ve have gone through the pain staking process of compiling them all in a YouTube playlist! I’ve also placed trailers for the movie/special in it as a means of informing you when to watch the corresponding movie/special. I’ve also made a chronological playlist for generation 2 of Monster High, for those who are interested and a standalone Ever After High playlist, for those not willing to go through 200 episodes of Monster High just to watch it in chronological order. No playlist for just standalone generation 1 of Monster High since it makes up the majority of the combined playlists and not wanting to watch Ever After High in your binge watch of Monster High is just a skill issue.

Also, I not perfect and I’m capable of making mistakes, so, if you feel like an episode placement isn’t in the right spot in the playlist let me know

And with that out of the way, you are now free to watch a 265 YouTube playlist!

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (February 25-March 2, 2024)

Brush of the God is finally out in the world, having premiered at the Osaka Asian Film Festival on March 2. Above is the most recent trailer, looking as impressive as ever. A more complete cast list is out too—Yumiko Shaku, Takumi Saitoh, Shiro Sano, and Shinji Higuchi are all in it. Haven't seen any reviews in English yet, but I suspect it's something special.

Lots of comic news this week, but I'm giving Godzilla: War for Humanity #4 its own section because it continues to be so stellar. In the penultimate issue, Godzilla finally comes face-to-face with Zoospora—with the odds now thoroughly stacked against him. Ends on a great cliffhanger, with emotional catharsis reached but a world-class kaiju still left to beat.

Every Monsterverse film has an obligatory graphic novel tie-in, and they've never felt more obligatory than Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted. Kong has the A-plot, taking on the Titan Hunter, a mech piloted by the owner of a construction company who (surprise!) lost his family in 2014. It's pretty amusing watching him get high on his own supply fighting second-rate Titans before an unarmed Kong dismantles him, but the character is just too generic. Godzilla's B-plot is just a protracted setup for the film. (I'm keeping my description vague because the identity of his Titan opponent hasn't been revealed in GxK's marketing yet.) I hope this is Brian Buccellato's last time writing Godzilla, as Fight or Flight and the first five issues of Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong weren't much better, but I probably shouldn't be optimistic. Zid's art is unsurprisingly the highlight, though he's sharing space with Dario Formisani and Drew Johnson. Some stunningly bad scaling and weird-looking Godzillas on those pages. Note that the comic is only (officially) available to backers of the hardcover edition on Kickstarter right now; the paperback edition comes out on March 26, a few days before Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

Titanic Creations has released a cover for their Gorgo Legacy graphic novel (amusingly Approved by the Monster Code Authority). It's written by Mac McClintock and Patrick McEvoy, with the latter also illustrating, and will be 60 pages long. Releases summer 2024, with plans for two more.

Volume 7 of Kaiju Girl Caramelise also released last week, and while I was hoping to share my thoughts on it, none of my local libraries have stocked it yet. So here's a simple reminder that it exists.

Netflix's Ultraman: Rising now has a poster and a June 14 release date. S.H. FigureArts and Movie Monster Series figures for the film have also been revealed.

Gameplay videos for Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers are starting to show up on YouTube, courtesy of early-access invites going out. Reminds me of that Avengers Alliance game I played for all of a week. And a new month means new Godzilla Battle Line characters; this time it's GMK King Ghidorah and a Biollante variant. They're also overhauling All-Star Battle Mode later this month, letting you chose 50 units to deploy against the CPU (so less underleveled four-stars and other chaff ruining your runs).

[inkbutterflyuniverse]

People should stop hating on something they haven't seen/didn't give a chance just because it's a reboot.

I wantee to make a post about shows that had a reboot and that were judged too soon, before people even watch it, for a long time, and what is happening with the Winx Reboot motivated me. Beware that it's a long post.

I think a good way to start this would be with Monster High.

Monster High was a show from the 2010s. It had a tv show in 2d and a bunch of movies in 3d. Monster High was popular all around the world, people really liked it, the characters were compelling, the storyline were nice and it's whole concept was based around dolls. (I know there's also books but they're so different that I won't talk about them)

In the middle of the 2010s (I would say 2015-2016) the selling of the dolls weren't as great so they stopped everything. In 2018 they tried launching Monster High Gen 2, with new designs and new dolls, but it didn't work.

In 2022, they launched a new show, that is Monster High Gen 3. It still was a story about a bunch of monsters at a school made for them, and the beloved characters were back.

So what was the problem you would ask? Well, the characters were the same but different. Their essence was still the same (Frankie being a Frankenstein creature, Clawdeen a werewolf, Draculaura a vampire, etc..), but their characterization and stories were differents, and so were the designs. So people started complaining about it online. (This Gen also had live action movies but I won't talk about it, as it's about the tv shows).

But in reality, the show was GOOD. People who were fans of the OG show liked it! The show had a storyline, a direction, it knew what it wanted to explore it, and it did it. There was a real plot about Clawdeen's mom that was talked through the episodes, and progress was made as the episodes were airing.

But some people still decided to hate it without watching it, and it's sad because the show deserves some love!

As for now, Gen 3 isn't renewed for a third season, mainly because it's Nickelodeon and Mattel wants to distance themselves from the company, partially because of the Quiet on Set documentary.

So of you haven't see that show, you should really watch it, because it's totally worth it!

But Monster High is not why I wanted to make a post, my main concern is the Winx Reboot.

Recently, a trailer dropped for a reboot that will come on Netflix in 2025. The Winx we know are still here, but some things changed as we saw in the trailers. It's not redoing the Winx in 3d, it's a new series that starts from the beginning.

And people are already hating it, saying that we don't need a reboot, that it's ugly, etc. Everyone can have their opinion, but personally I think a reboot is much needed.

If you ask people about the Winx, some will say "seasons 1 to 3 are good, after I didn't really watched/I didn't liked it" ; some will say "I liked the newest season but I can recognize the problems, I think it was good until season 5/6/7" ; and majority will agree that the designs of season 8 were too childish and that it kinda ruined the show.

The live action series was very different and will not be discussed.

So actually, a reboot can be a good thing, it can fix some problems that had the show (like the reason why Stella was on Earth with Knut. In the trailer of the reboot it's Stella and Flora who are here for Bloom, and I'm very interested in how they knew there was a fairy here!)

I see so many people HATING on the show even before it's out, and it's TIRING. I know it's common to hate on something, you don't want things you knew when you were a child to change, but it's just something else that will introduce another generation to it! And old fans will certainly enjoy rediscovering the Winx under a new light!

You are allowed to not like the designs, to not want to watch it, but hating it won't change anything. The show will still exist and some people will like it, so just ignore it, and stop being a part of the hate campaign I see everywhere!!

On the top of my head, I can think of other shows that had the same issues!

The Disney Channel movies ZOMBIES got a 3d series about them redoing their senior year thanks to alien magic. People are saying "it's ugly", "no one asked for this", "cancel this please", "it's because of show like this one that The Owl House was cancelled" (definitely NOT TRUE, it has nothing to do with it).

In the ZOMBIES Re-Reanimated Series, we can find the characters of the movie living new adventures at Seabrook, we can meet new characters, and enjoy new catchy songs! The actors from the movies are dubbing their animated characters, and those characters were designed based on the actors. Again, you can say that you don't like the style, but no need to hate it.

Also, I watched a few episodes, and it's great! It's two episodes of 11 minutes in one episode on Disney+.

I can also think of the LEGO Friends franchise. The original show had a reboot named "Girl on a Mission" and now it has a third show, with a new generation. The OG girls all appeared in the show once or two, and one is actually the mother of a girl from the new show.

And maybe it's a deep cut but do people remember Heidi? It also had a 3d reboot.

I personally didn't liked it, but I know that it allowed some children to discover her, and I'm happy about this! I don't go everywhere saying that it sucks and that they should give us the Heidi from our childhood back.

And I'm sure there are other shows in the same situation...

This post is a bit long, but I really wanted to express this, because it really bother me.

A reboot is, most of the time, not a bad thing. The idea behind it is usually to make a new generation discover this thing, and sometimes it turns great, sometimes not. But that's okay.

What I wanted to say is that anyone is allowed to not like something, but hating before seeing because it's a reboot from something you really like, is not okay.

People are working on it, and maybe some of those people are also fans of the show, and are grateful to be able to work on a reboot of that show.

So please, please, please reconsider hating like this online, on something you haven't seen. If you didn't liked it, that's okay, but in the case of the Winx Club it's not even out and all I see is people criticizing it. And when some are trying to be positive about it, they are criticized.

[bunkernine]

PLEASE speak abt the parents Beryl Tristan and Esperanza 🙏 🙏 🙏

Ok outside of firmly believing that those parents HAVE to be legacies (esperanza ESPECIALLY or at least she saw thru the mist) I'm just gonna blab about an AU that makes me laugh. The way I spent 30 mins writing this instead of my finals...

Quick run down: the three of them were friends, tristan and beryl as childhood friends actually, and then they accidentally kill a man (monster)

Beryl:

Grew up poor in a small town, "trailer trash", extremely critical alcoholic mother. Dad left when she was a kid. Had an older brother who left as soon as he could and never calls

Enjoyed watching movies and tv to imagine a better life she can live in

Nerdy as hell in school, wore the biggest glasses in the world. Had a huge crush on tristan for YEARS, especially when he got hot in high school, but liked him before too

Esperanza

Has the sight, can see thru the mist and it scares the shit out of her. Part of why Rosa thinks Leo is fucking devilspawn cuz Esperanza thought she was seeing demons. She moved around a lot growing up because of that fear, but also Hazel's curse

Kinda a rebellious punk, wildchild younger sibling. Her and Rosa are CONSTANTLY fighting

She moves into Tristan and Beryl's town in high school, after her mom died.

There's a satyr and demigod in her class. She doesnt think too much of it. Her teacher is weird....

Tristan

Kinda geeky, has 5 siblings but never talks about them too much. Was always a very sweet and quiet kid. Childhood friends with beryl, also poor too

Super into Ezperanza because she's different. Even when she's weird and mumbling about being chased she's still sooo cool compared to the town they're in.

Okay so now that they're in high school... I think this would be the early 80s 🙂 they essentially are together in a rag tag group, lost trio style, until they see a demigod getting attacked. Tristan hits the monster with his car. The 3 of them are HORRIFIED because they killed a man, but Esperanza keeps talking about monsters and explains it. The demigod's satyr is fucking young Hedge 💀 he's shit at his job so he just tells them about demigods and stuff.

Beryl is slowly ENAMORED by this. Starts drinking from this event but she is DELIGHTED by the idea of a new better world out there. Ezperanza feels like SHIT! She thinks this is all her fault and she's cursed. Tristan is going CRAZY, racked with grief. He is not doing well at ALL!!!!

Anyway they go to college with this in California together, mostly out of being closer but also fear of this secret (dead body) weighing on them. A few more monster and minor god encounters. Eventually, Hedge has to mist-wipe Tristan's memories because hes going crazy, which causes Hedge's issue with the Council of satyr elders or whatever. Idk its in the books lol. But this causes them all to separate and go their separate ways when Tristan can't remember the other two.

Beryl drops out of college, and gets scouted as she is waitressing. Has her big break, goes onto TV and gets famous. She begins to forget some of the little things about how much the demigod world is HORRIBLE. Once, she meets up with Esperanza and they stumble into a minor god, which makes her remember how much she wants to be in that world. She meets Zeus at a party :) and thinks he's charming and powerful, just different. It reminds her of the monster experience. She fucks that man obviously. Desire for something different to her shit life. She is CRAZY!!! 🩷

Esperanza goes to New Rome Uni because i luv that place idk if they allow mortals but she will!!!!! Because she goes to that fake school, no mortals really take her degree seriously which is why it was harder for her to get a job. Never taken seriously. She heads back to Texas eventually. She know he's Hepaestus when he approaches her at a library, doesn't like the idea of getting involved with that god stuff. Still falls in love. When her great grandfather falls ill (Sammy) she demands hepaestus to stay with her. He doesn't obviously, but he promises to come back, if not for her than for Leo. He has to. He doesn't.

Tristan doesn't go to college, he just works at like, fucking Hollister or Abercrombie because he's hot now. He meets Aphrodite a few times but she's busy and he doesnt give in. Eventually they meet at the beach surfing and she's like "I've been trying to get your attention for a while now"... She doesn't tell him she's a goddess but Tristan kinda has a familiar feeling. He's forgotten what it was but she just feels different. When piper grows up, aphrodite sends little gifts to "her favorite heartthrob" and he just gives it to Piper.

......

Anyway it was just putting little seeds together + being crazy. Beryl and Esperanza sometimes still talked. They met once when they were pregnant and talked about their kids playing together. Esperanza, seeing theu the mist, had an idea that Beryl was fucking a god, but its not like she has high standing either. Beryl and Tristan bumped into each other with their acting careers, but Tristan doesnt really remember Beryl the way he should. Esperanza and Tristan have some kind of twisted relationship I fear of will they, wont they with Beryls jealousy 🙄 such it is. Naturally the same with Beryl and Esperanza 🙏

[konggodzuko]

Look, it may be the fact that I had just watched possibly the best Godzilla movie of all time (Godzilla Minus One) and have been watching possibly the best installment of the Monsterverse (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) but when the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer dropped I felt...

Deeply unexcited. Apprehensive, even.

There's some weird shit going on with Egypt as we see a portal near the Great Pyramids and then some sort of weird Egyptian chamber w/ more pyramids and I really hope we don't find out some weird ancient-aliens BS went on with Egypt.

I honestly, truly think that the new Godzilla design is terrible. His proportions seem wacky & top heavy, the shape of the spines isn't doing it for me, and the pink is obnoxious. Yeah yeah, MireGoji had some purple on her spines, but it wasn't NEON PINK. Plus all the glowing stuff is way too much. His design was PERFECT in KOTM/GvK (well, nearly perfect, his head could've been a touch bigger) so I don't know why they would change him so much.

IDK, something about the trailer made me just think this is going to be stupid. Not in a fun way, but in an obnoxious, over-the-top Bay Transformers movie kinda way. Godzilla doing an extended, arms-pumping sprint next to Kong who has a robot arm made me feel annoyed rather than hyped.

It's just... up until GvK, the Monsterverse has largely played its concept seriously. Hell, Monarch is a VERY serious show, even with it's well-done humor. But GvK was like "wuh-oh, let's get WACKY!" and writing just flew out the window and it was ONLY an excuse for monster fights, and this looks to be even more of that. The director's even said they have several minute long sequences of JUST monster stuff and that sounds EXHAUSTING.

It's also not helpful that I've seen so, so many people who're excited for this movie acting like anyone who expresses the mildest dislike of this movie "hates fun" or "doesn't understand Godzilla" or whatever.

Look, I hope the movie's good. I hope I walk into that theater and end up loving it, but man, I just don't have high hopes. I thought GvK was a franchise lowpoint for the Monsterverse and the fact that they've doubled down on it does not fill me with hope.

[PS: ALSO, WHERE'S MOTHRA???? BRING HER BACK!!!!!!]

[cryptidsurveys]

Friday, October 4th, 2024.

Cattery? You're looking for the cattery? Sorry sir, no one here but us bats! ;D

Describe your most recent purchase: Various groceries and toiletries.

Did you enjoy the last movie you watched in theaters? I went to see Wild Robot with my mom on Wednesday. The trailer alone had me choking up during previous theater visits, so I knew I had to see it and I'm so glad I did. Out of all the movies we've gone to over the last year, that one has to be my favorite. Also, I've been thinking about how "children's movies" hit so much harder when you're an adult. Sure, as a child, I could understand the broad strokes of sadness, but now that I'm older and have lived something of a life, movies like that absolutely emotionally destroy me. Inside Out 2 had a big impact on me too, but that one was more like an intense therapy session.

If you make surveys, where’s the last place you saw a survey made by you on another person’s site? Sometimes I run across old surveys of mine while looking for something to take, but I don't stop to see how recently they were taken. Then there are surveys that make me think, "Hey, wait a minute. Did I make that, or--?" Some of the questions seem so familiar, like something I would ask, but then there are those few that make me doubtful. I took one just the other day that had me wondering, but I don't recall who I snagged it from.

Do you take the subway train often (if your city has one)? I've never taken a subway before. I guess the closest equivalent would be the trolly we took while visiting San Francisco.

What shoes did you wear today? Black and white slip-ons.

Does your sibling have a significant other? Last I knew, they do.

Have you ever cried at a real wedding? I think I might have cried a little at Steph and Shelly's wedding back in 2014.

How would you feel if a girl asked your boyfriend out for a drink? I'm not in a relationship. I'm also not a straight woman, so…I think a lot would depend on the context. Obviously, if there seemed to be a romantic/flirty connotation, then I wouldn't be comfortable with it.

Do you live in an apartment or a house? A house.

Do you use Skype? I've never used Skype.

What do your flip flops look like? N/a.

Any idea what you want for your next birthday? I don't really want anything gift-wise. I would love it if it was snowy, though.

Are there any gadgets of yours that need charging right now? There's nothing that needs charging, but the little thermometer on my desk needs new batteries.

What’s the name of your nearest grocery store? Big Lots has some groceries and I think Target has a small selection as well, but as for "real" grocery stores, Walmart and Vitamin Cottage are about equally close.

What do you use to remove makeup? I don't wear makeup.

Which awards show would you wanna go to the most (e.g Oscars, Grammys etc.)? None. That sort of thing doesn't interest me whatsoever.

Any idea what time you’ll be going to bed tonight? I'll most likely be in bed around 7:00pm, but I probably won't actually fall asleep until sometime closer to 8:00-9:00pm. Gotta continue working my way through a 6 1/2 hour Mythillogical Loch Ness Monster episode from The Histocrat.

Do you think George Clooney is hot? I'm kind of indifferent. I don't think he's ugly, though.

Have you ever participated in local magazine cover girl searches? No.

What colour is your keyboard? Black with white letters/etc.

Do you keep the plastic/paper/whatever bags after you buy stuff? We used to keep the plastic ones for kitty litter, but Walmart switched over to reusable bags some while ago, so we've just been using those instead (not for litter, lmao, but in general - just in case that wasn't clear).

Do you own any high waisted pants? No.

Do you know anyone who has two different coloured eyes? There was a kitty named Claire at the animal shelter who had two different colored eyes (one blue and one gold), but I've never met a person like that.

Do you wanna be a pirate or an elf? An elf. You'll never catch me sailing the high seas.

Have you ever purchased anything online? Yeah.

Gold or silver accessories? Gold.

Have you ever been called a skank/slut because of the way you dress? I don't think so.

Have you ever ridden an elephant? I might have when I was a baby. I have very vague memories of doing so, but I could be mistaken.

Are you a fan of acrylic nails? I was in the past. Or just longer nails in general. Now I work with my hands too much for them to be anything more than an annoyance/hindrance.

[doodlemsstuff]

While I’m at Monster High. Wanna give my opinions on G3(ik shocker) since it’s a bit controversial and mixed within the MH fandom.

Me personally, I don’t mind G3’s existence. I think G3 is way better than G2 from what I’ve seen and I like some of the character designs. Keyword some.

I like how it’s more inclusive. With Frankie being Nonbinary, Twila being autistic, and more plus sized characters being seen. I think it’s a good iteration for new fans to come across!! And if my brother, or kids I’m babysitting wanted to watch G3 I wouldn’t mind watching with them.

With that said. I do have some problems with the series. Maybe my opinion would change if I actually sat down and watched it. But I’m seriously not that interested in watching it. The trailer of the Live Action movie gave me a sour taste in my mouth and I didn’t want to see it. Though I’ve come across clips of the show on Insta and I’ve liked what I’ve saw! But just not interested.

But back to my criticisms. I don’t like most of the character designs. I either feel like the designs in this show are hit or miss, or were translated poorly to 3D. For example, Heath:

I seriously don’t like his design in 3D. He looks awful and he was one of the reasons why I was so disinterested in G3. But when I see his box art, he looks AMAZING! I love how he looks in his box art and it sucks so badly that his modeler(s) weren’t able to capture that. There are more monster high characters redesigns that i seriously don’t like

Another example is Iris. And no, it’s not bc of her being plus size. I seriously don’t care weather or not some characters change drastically or little. But her colors aren’t appealing to look at. I feel like if they added more pink like in Iris’s original design or played around with it more then I would like it. I see what they were trying to do but it just didn’t work for me.

Despite some of my gripes I have with G3’s character designs. They do update the characters in a way that I like.

I REALLY like Venus and Catty’s redesigns. Venus more bc it comes together so so so WELL. And her doll is especially gorgeous. I like the vibe they did with Catty, but I feel like her outfit needs to be tweaked. Maybe some more elements of her original dress should be added in more. Plus I just don’t rlly like her sleeves.

In conclusion, I like G3 and don’t mind it. Will I watch it? Nah. But I wouldn’t mind watching a clip every now and again and look at the dolls they’re producing. I like how inclusive the new generation is and how that inclusivity translated to the dolls. Key examples being Draculara and Catty. Being bigger dolls than the usual skinny dolls we are all used to.

I’m interested in seeing what G3 has to offer from a distance. I still have wayyyy more opinions on G3 that I didn’t bring up bc this post would be even LONGER. And my phone is bugging so badly bc of this.

[see-arcane]

Renfield (2023) Thoughts fresh from the theater

Spoilers and so on below

If I had to summarize the whole movie, it would be, “First fanfiction ever written by a middle schooler who just finished watching Dracula (1931), fell in love with its version of Renfield, and made a clumsy attempt at updating and rescuing him with an AU that gives him a massive century-long body count and a happy ending at the cost of giving only him and Dracula any real effort in character while leaving the rest of the cast to be filler.”

Which is to say, C+.

Count Cageula and Houltfield were fun and you could tell they were putting energy and joy into their roles. Everything else? Oof.

Oof.

The supporting cast’s only highlights were the support group’s members and the actress playing the mob boss Bellafrancesca—big bonus points to her for so easily selling a camp villain counterpart to Cageula; instant evil MILF4DILF chemistry in their one scene together, 11/10.

Meanwhile, the majority of the characters delivered their lines like high schoolers stumbling through their first play. Awkwafina was already wince-inducing for making her play Token Good Cop with Quincey’s name tagged on, but she acted this whole thing like she was counting down until payday. There’s one scene towards the climax where she’s tricking Cageula to get close for an attack, and her delivery has less character to it than an Alexa response.

But then, there wasn’t exactly a ton of great dialogue to work with. The few plum lines were reserved for Hoult and Cage. Everyone else got raisins.

Other practical nitpicks would be the very odd choice to go 100% on some great monster and gore prosthetics, but then revert back to early 2000s-grade CGI blood spurts. These victims were goddamn gushers. Oh, sorry, not victims—the cannon fodder baddies in the action sequences.

The victims got some good classic bloodshed! Thankfully, the only murdered innocents on screen were killed by Cageula. But, like the trailers hinted, Cageula wanted Houltfield to fetch him some innocents himself. An order we’re led to believe was some ‘new’ order that Houltfield couldn’t bring himself to follow, which would’ve been a great callback to Original Renfield who hit the brakes on obeying Dracula when it threatened Mina. And maybe this really was the first time Cageula made that an explicit order! We do get a scene where Houltfield drags in some villain corpses for Cageula to snack on with him assuming this will satisfy.

But Cageula spits the blood out, declaring it trash. He wants blood from good people.

Which, as certain reveals show, Houltfield should already know, considering he’s spent the better part of a century getting Cageula’s meals. The fact that Houltfield seems surprised at this demand for innocent victims is either him being disappointed that his plan to reduce his own secondhand villainy has been thwarted, or else it’s just a flub in the writing.

And this comes on top of a reveal that Houltfield apparently left his wife and baby daughter behind for ‘greed and power’ offered by Cageula. It’s acknowledged in-dialogue that this wasn’t Cageula’s will, just an opportunity that Houltfield went for.

(An addition that makes me a little gladder that they didn’t try to swap Jonathan Harker (or, to nod back to the 1931 version, ‘John’ Harker) for this spot. Because any version where he would leave behind Mina and their child for Dracula’s sake, no matter the interplay of manipulation or Faustian nonsense, would have been a nail too many in the coffin.)

All that said, it’s very much a mixed bag. So much so that I feel I should give the caveat that I may be being too harsh, as I am a sour little gremlin who’s spent the last year with their head in a vat of Dracula fixation juice. And it also deserves saying that there were good bits worth seeing, Houltfield was very endearing, and the gleefully evil Cageula was a laugh and a half. Watch the movie for that if nothing else. It could be there’s some gold there I missed by being too prickly.

One major silver lining? I am doubly looking forward to having Hoult portray Thomas Hutter in Robert Eggers’ upcoming Nosferatu remake. Thomas Hutter and Renfield ala 1931 are already 90% harvested Jonathan Harker parts, and this movie proves how well Hoult can play the ‘sweetheart manipulated into a bad situation’ character. I’ll take it as a good sign for that role if nothing else.

[chriscdcase95]

My thoughts on “Teen Wolf: The Movie”.

So I watched the new Teen Wolf movie. Ultimately. I'm giving it a six out of ten. While there was more I liked about the movie than disliked, I had quite a few  gripes.  

I didn't see it as horrendous as a lot of fans say it is, but there are a few valid critiques I've seen. Maybe I'm just easy to please.

I think some of the issues could have been fixed if there wasn't such a big time skip; like instead of fifteen years, five years. Maybe instead of raising a teenager, Derek would be raising a toddler. Though I don't think we'd get the same kind of story for Eli that way, especially for this generations teen wolf. 

Spoilers below.

1. So I got into Teen Wolf back in high school, and I remember being a die hard Scallison stan back then too. I'm not as big of a Scallison as I was back then, but I am glad to see them be endgame, if it wasn't for one small thing.

My main question is if Allison aged a bit after her resurrection ? Like is she still considered a teenager or is she considered a young adult now ? I feel like this is a nitpick, but some In-Universe clarification would be nice! Feels like something the writers overlooked.  

Then again, werewolves are slow to age in the show's lore, so I guess you can apply "Vampire Rules" to these kind of romances. Maybe I'm overthinking it. I mean the show used to tease Parrish and Lydia, in season four; back when she was a teenager, and he was in his 20's. As if over half the fandom wasn’t shipping Sterek.

Actually, while I was working on this post, I read that Allison was eighteen when she died, so that's...better I guess.

2. Speaking of Parrish, his and Malia's relationship...I'm okay with it, more so than Scott and Malia. I mean they didn't do much with either pairing. Maybe that's the Malira shipper in me talking.

With Scalia, it felt like they just slapped them together because Scott needed a love interest for the final season. You could make the argument that a lot has happened over fifteen years that we didn't see.

With Malia and Parish, it feels like there's a whole ass story we didn't see, but y'know, show, don't tell. 

3. While I'm on that, the movie leaves a lot open ended, that it felt like it was setting up a follow up. This is were most of my problems come from. I was thinking maybe it would tie into Wolf Pack, but I've been hearing that the show isn't meant to be a direct spinoff (or even the same universe) as Teen Wolf. 

One thing I'd like an explanation of is Eli's mother, which again feels like they're saving for a follow up. Speaking of Eli, he became an instant favorite of mine, and someone I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Also, the cursing and nudity in this movie, I'm not saying it's out of place, and far from being prudish. I like that they’re being more risqué, but I’m also glad they didn't go too overboard with it. Still,  “Darkness, you motherfucker” absolutely killed me!

Another gripe I had was that Kira didn't return. Like this is a story where kitsune are front and center, and one of the antagonists is a monster her mother helped bring into the world. 

You’re seriously telling me she’s not up for another round ?

We're introduced to a new Kitsune, Hikari, who I have nothing against, but it really feels like Kira could have (should have) filled her spot. Especially since Hikari didn't have a proper introduction for a new player. "Oh, Liam has a new girlfriend who's a kitsune ? Welcome to the team I guess."

4. The villains...here's where I have more of an issue. So the Nogitsune makes a comeback. Which is fine; I saw that coming as far back as the trailers. 

But the movie's other Big Bad is Adrian Harris, with no explanation for his survival. I mean sure, a slashed throat/strangulation is an injury you can survive, but the chances are often slim.

I could have easily bought this Big Bad Duumvirate, if there wasn't something that stuck out; Stiles wasn't there. 

I can accept that Stiles isn't part of the story. I can accept Stydia splitting up (albeit begrudgingly). But Stiles was the Nogitsune’s primary tormenting victim, and the one Harris had the most beef with. You telling me he wasn't on their radar ?!

You're telling me that even if Harris survived or came back, the first thing he wouldn't do was try to access the speed force and pull some Eobard Thawne buffoonery on Stiles ? 

Get out of town!

Anyways, the Nogitsune was a serviceable villain, but I feel like Harris could have been replaced with another past antagonist. Say Tamara Monroe, considering she was the series cliffhanger villain, and as of this movie her arc's unresolved. They probably wouldn't have been able to pull any kind of twist with her, but she at least would fit more. 

Hell, even Theo Raeken would have been more fitting; the guy such has a proud history of subverting whatever redeeming qualities thrown his way, I still have a hard time buying his “redemption” at the end of the series. Actually, it wasn't even a redemption, it was just the one genuine Pet the Dog moment the guy actually had.

Anyways, Harris probably would have been a better fit in a story that had Stiles in it.

5. Not gonna lie, Derek's death was something sorta I saw coming.

What I mean is, I certainly saw someone in the main cast was gonna die. That's like an unspoken rule in “Next Generation” sequels. But I thought it would be someone else. If not Derek, it would be one of the parents.

Who'd I'd probably have die instead would be Chris Argent. I mean if you're gonna bring back his daughter, you'd think one consequence would be that Chris would die in her place.

Derek's death, I'm more mixed on, but ultimately accept. I would have preferred if Chris was the one with the heroic sacrifice. I still think it would be a more fitting end than Derek’s.

I heard some complaints that Scott and Allison pretty much adopted Eli, but I didn't see it that way. When Scott and Eli interacted, I got more of an uncle/nephew vibe than any father/son thing. 

The way I see it, Eli just has a large support system following his father's death; a support system that just now includes Scott and Alison. And let's be honest, there's no way and hell Derek is gonna let Peter raise him.

I've been told this was intended to be the start of a trilogy, so if we get sequels, hopefully they'll fill us in on what we missed.

[golbrocklovely]

i'm gonna rant about this for two seconds just bc i saw a lot of stuff about it on twitter and don't really feel like bitching about it there lol

so the teen wolf movie… i knew from the get go this was gonna end up being shit the moment dylan wasn't gonna be in it sksks

but what i've heard about this movie (bc highkey i ain't gonna watch it sorry), it somehow is worse than imagined.

i used to love teen wolf. literally watched it as it was airing. used to have a blog dedicated to it, used to do live recaps on my personal tumblr. i loved that show. but i started to not care about it around season 4/5ish. basically, they introduced too many characters and i just didn't care about a single one of them. hilariously one of the characters i despise is now loved deeply (theo) so… go figure.

but what i don't understand is… why are any of you surprised that jeff davis did what jeff davis does best and fucked up teen wolf?

like this man was notoriously hated for years in the fandom after season 3 bc everything he did to the characters sucked ass. and then topping all of that off, the queerbaiting. that man originated it (not really, but you get my point) so why are you guys surprised that he basically did all of this again just a decade or more later??

of course this movie was a cash grab and not really meant to bring back the love or respect the fans' love for this story. it was just to make money and keep the property rights going.

personally, if i was going to make a teen wolf movie, this is what i would have done:

the overall theme of the movie - letting go of the past.

assuming you could get most of the cast to come back, this is how the movie would have went: after everyone graduated high school (at least the main cast like scott, lydia, stiles, malia, that group), they all immediately left BH. maybe even make it seem like it was a supernatural reason or something, like something pushed them away from BH but they didn't know it at the time. years later, scott is starting to see visions of allison again, like how this movie alluded to it in the trailers. have the others start to see it too. maybe they even see past monsters coming back and haunting them, which makes them all go back to BH. imagine it kinda like in "it" where all the adult versions of the kids didn't remember their old home town, but once they are told about it, they are drawn back. kinda sorta like that.

they get to BH and everything seems okay-ish. hell, maybe you can even make it where it's their 10 year hs anniversary or something just so you get to see all the familiar faces. all of sudden, old monsters that they have fought and killed before come back. bring out all the old hits, maybe some new ones - idk. then, have allison appear. but she's not how she used to be.

she's now void!allison.

each of the main characters has to go on their own journey and fight their own battles - past monsters they once faced they now have to deal with again. there is a bigger monster controlling all of the older monsters (maybe it's void!allison or maybe it's someone pretending that it's her) and if these monsters aren't defeated by the red moon (or some other bs werewolf lore shit that can be made up idk) these monsters will ACTUALLY come back and start killing all the citizens of BH bc in the current period they are only half as strong as they could be. and make it bc, as deaton had mentioned oh so many years ago, BH is a beacon for the supernatural. and something buried deep in BH is drawing this Main Monster to create and resurrect all of these old monsters.

and the whole point of the movie is showing that even tho they moved away from BH and continued living, none of them ever really moved on from what happened to them. you can have malia have to face off against her mother again. lydia maybe is back in eichen house or something. as for derek and scott, they are facing bigger issues.

scott - he has to get over losing his first love, allison. especially since in this state, she is trying to constantly kill him and his pack. he never truly got over her death, and so in the end… he has to kill her. bc realistically allison wouldn't want to be fighting him or trying to kill him or any of her friends. and more she is "alive" the less like her she is being. she is becoming more and more a monster, and scott knows that that isn't something she would want. maybe even have it where the Big Monster offers him the chance to have her be actually resurrected and not just used as a puppet if he relinquishes his powers to the Big Monster.

derek - he has to face his fears and forgive himself of his family's death (along with his first love's death as well). just a lot of forgiveness on his part, especially since now he has a kid. his kid shouldn't inherent the trauma that derek has had just bc he never truly got over it. have derek face off not only against past monsters, but maybe against himself. the Big Monster might try to persuade him to die and give up his powers bc he'll at least be with his family again. maybe derek finally realizes that he isn't alone in this world bc he has family living rn. and this makes him want to keep fighting.

and this would be a great time to note that if dylan didn't want to come back like he did irl, you can blame it on him being a human and not a supernatural being. or idk, come up with a bs reason like he's overseas taking care of the kids that he and lydia clearly and definitely had bc they are meant to be together.

they are just able to defeat their past demons, and they all band together and defeat the Big Monster in some way or another. all the other side characters that have existed can be included in each of the main casts' stories in one way or another. maybe have them be each other's tether or whatever. idk, i'm not working out all the kinks bc i ain't writing this.

in the end, they all live, maybe one of them can have a moment of almost dying - but they all make it out in the end. allison is still dead tho, bc she is meant to be dead. even tho it's heartbreaking, it's a part of life that scott can now finally accept and move on from. much like the rest of the characters and their past. they are finally healed.

see… wouldn't that have been better than whatever the fuck happened in the movie lol

[pnf-lover98]

Some thoughts on Good Omens season 2

Last night I finally finished watching the new Good Omens season, and now that I’m officially done screaming about it, I would like to take my time to share some thoughts on this much awaited season 2. Brace yourselves guys, this is going to be a long boi.

Thank you so much for this new adventure, @neil-gaiman, and for making come true my impossible dreams of having Beelzebub and Gabriel canonly together! 🙏

When I first read that there was going to be a season 2, my immediate first reaction was ‘oh no’. I’m generally not a fan of the word “sequel”, because you can never know if a ‘part 2’ is going to be the best thing ever, or if it’s going to be the death of what you used to consider a masterpiece. I love the first season to bits, and when I bought and read the book right after finishing watching, I found the original Good Omens to be just as amazing as its series version. There were scenes that I liked more the way they were written in the book, and some that felt better in the show, but book and series were both amazing in their own ways. And I surely didn’t want a sequel to potentially ruin all of those good memories. But when the first news started to come out about this GO2, I started to feel some hype.

After around 1 year spent in the fandom, and a total of 4 years spent loving the book/series, when I actually got to watch the new season I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the vast majority of the episodes. Because it looks exactly like the first season, with the costumes, and the sets and everything, but it feels nothing like it.

The first Good Omens did so much for me, also in terms of helping me fight my personal demons. You guys probably don’t know much about what I am like as a person, as I pretty much only share my art here on this blog. But in real life, I have a fairly awful high sensitivity to blood - and specifically if the blood is associated with scenes of violence or where a character is in pain. I have little to no barriers to defend myself from what I get thrown at in movies and media, as I have nearly no ability to put up walls between me and the characters I am looking at. If someone is in pain, then to some extent I’m in pain as well, and if I come across a particularly violent scene, it usually doesn’t take much for it to show up somewhere in my nightmares. Back when the trailer came out for the first season, it took me two months to finally decide to give in to the temptation and watch the show on Amazon Prime. Because this was a series with real actors (I usually trust cartoons more because it’s a safer space) that revolved around angels and demons, no less! And every time Crowley looked deep into the camera, my mind was taken back to Bipper’s snake eyes from Gravity Falls, and on how many nightmares and bad memories the GF fandom gave me when fans aggravated what Bill Cipher did in canon. Bill was such an evil demon, why would I have ever wanted to risk watching other demons in action? But when I did watch the episodes, I saw just how safe GO was. The worst thing that those demons, who called themselves to be so evil and so cruel, did was to set fire to a convent, show their sharp teeth or turn into slugs. There was no blood, no form of violence, no guts shown, no monsters that could make me feel uneasy. And after getting acquainted with Crowley as a character, his snake eyes eased the discomfort I felt towards Bipper’s. By the end of the series, I had no issue looking at him ‘eye to eye’, the bad memories replaced by new positive ones.

What I came to feel towards Good Omens was complete, whole-hearted trust. GO wasn’t going to hurt me, nor in the book nor in the show. So, the first and most important thing that hurt me (in a completely personal way) in this season was just how everything became drastically more bloodied. How gruesome Furfur’s video looked and sounded, how odd it was to have brain-eating zombies with clothes covered in blood of their victims, how terrifying the Resurrectionist guy was. I straight up skipped all of the part where the guy tells Aziraphale and Crowley about his job, because the single sentence “criminals’ bodies were no longer enough” sent a massive alarm ringing in my head, making my heart sink. I knew where things were heading to, because several months ago I came across the same kind of horrible topic in some sort of documentary - and the concept of what was said that day so many months ago hit me like a train, leaving me sat up in my bed at 5 am, concretely dreading the possibility to fall asleep again and have another bad dream. Judging how sharp of a moral U turn Aziraphale did on the whole ‘digging up bodies’ topic, stating that it 'relieves human suffering', I’m guessing that my decision to skip was the right choice. And all of that gruesome stuff, that to me couldn’t help but feel completely uncalled for (Did Crowley really need to tear away the mask of a demon who had a wounded/decomposing chin to find out that they were all demons, when he had a minotaur-looking guy right next to him?) completely destroyed that trust that the first season created in me.

But aside from this, the rest of the episodes didn’t really convince me also because I felt the pacing to be very uneven (episode four was 40 minutes of Aziraphale and Crowley’s shenanigans, with no mention of Gabriel and his yet to be solved mystery, and no screen time for Nina and Maggie either), and this unevenness often made the scenes boring to watch. Because as much as I like Azi and Crowley’s shenanigans, I would have much preferred to have them more evenly intertwined with their present situation, instead of having long chunks of the episode that make you forget about the rest of the characters and then a sixth episode so intensely filled with stuff. None of the new characters that were introduced really lit up a spark of interest in me. If you ask me who I would like to make fanarts or write stuff of, I would tell you none of them. Nor Shax, nor Muriel, nor Furfur nor the smallest appearances like the eyepatch demon. But I guess it’s going to take some time for me to see if I will really make no fanarts of anybody, because it took me a rough month after the first season before I took interest in Beelzebub’s character and started making fanarts of them.

Talking about my beloved Beelz, the one single character that I liked the most in S1 (and in the Tadfield Airbase scene in book Omens)... I didn’t like Shelley Conn in Lord Beelzebub’s role. I have nothing against her as a person, or as an actress, it’s just that this Beelz looked and moved and behaved nothing like the Beelz I spent 4 whole years liking and being familiar with. Even if she did grow on me a little bit in the last episode.

There were still amazing parts in every episode, it’s undeniable. David Tennant’s acting remains top tier - from his facial expressions, to his funky walk up in heaven. It was nice to have some of the original crew back (I was particularly delighted to have Dagon and Eric back, for example!), and it was a very fuzzy and nice feeling to have so much of what I used to see every day across the fandom represented in canon screentime. We saw Crowley making stars and being a high-ranking angel in his past (much like the ‘Crowley was Raphael’ theory that I’ve always liked), we saw Beelz turning into swarms of flies, we got the hall of Hell where the damned get assigned to the various brackets and it looked exactly like I envisioned it to be…

… And above all, I got an impossible dream come true. All through these past 4 years, I’ve been a major Ineffable Bureaucracy fan. What started out as a ‘Why not?’ turned into me writing over a dozen fanfiction, drawing several fanarts of them, coming up with several possible backstories that could lead them to be together eventually. A small ‘why not?’ turned into me having the time of my life for over a year, projecting onto those two impossible lovers all of my dreams of the perfect romance I never had in real life. But we were such a small fraction of the fandom - the most popular of the minor ships, according to someone in the fandom that made a pie chart based on the number of Ao3 fics and of fanarts for each ship, but still a rough 3 percent at best - and deep down I knew that there were no chances of us getting canon. I was disappointed by this thought, of course, but I eventually got to be fine with it; maybe the best part of our ship was that, not being canon, each fan could build an entirely different story for Gabriel and Beelz. Maybe the best part of our ship was this huge choir of harmonizing and dissonating voices.

I went into this season 2 with a completely relaxed mindset about this. “It’s lost or it’s found”, I told myself; if we’re getting something it’ll be a miracle, but if we won’t get anything it won’t be the end of the world. But having such an impossible ship to become canon so out of the blue, and with such a sweet series of clips…! I could see so much of the old fanarts in what we were shown; how many of us (me included) have had them hanging out in bars on Earth? And I still remember clearly how there was this one artist who drew one comic where Beelz had a fly coming out of their mouth like canon Beelz did! Seeing those flashbacks unfold brought me an unmeasurable sense of joy. The kind of squealing with skipping up and down, kind of joy no less. “If this is a dream, don’t wake me up!” I told my computer screen, as I kept my hand covering my huge grin in disbelief. And out of every possible backstory that could have led them to get together, what we were given was very close to what I would have personally chosen for them, and to what some of my favorite fanfictions chose for them.

In conclusion of this long rant… This Good Omens 2 was a big rollercoaster of emotions, for me - but I would dare say that it was like this for everyone who watched it. And you can be sure that, as soon as I’ll set a foot down from the rollercoaster’s cart and my head will stop spinning from the fear and the thrill and the overwhelming joy of the unexpected, I’ll start making new Good Omens content. Thank you to everyone who took their time to read everything.

[praphit]

Ant-Man 3: “B**ch Be**er have my M**ey!”

It sucks, you know?? When you have a high expectation for something and it turns out to be a dud: whether it's a movie or an album, a restaurant... 

a Super Bowl Halftime Show... With a Marvel movie, you're excited, others see it first, and the reactions are -

You're like "NO!"

BUT, you find the polar opposite reactions as well... although THOSE reactions are coming from kids, or people who were drunk/high while watching, or people who show up to the theater like this guy -

So, what are you supposed to believe? (Kids, Lesson Time: "Don't have expectations.")

I'm sure you've heard certain complaints about Ant-Man 3 already. I will say that most of those complaints are 100. Does that mean the movie is bad?

It starts off with the loveable Scott Lang, skipping and whistling down the street; not a care in the world, and feeling himself, cuz he has taken sole responsibility for saving the world ("End Game"). And why not?? - he's been a joke for a while, so take that victory lap, big boy.

Then, there's of course The QUANTUM REALM, which everyone keeps saying is so dangerous, and yet, in every Ant-Man movie, somebody goes there. This movie is no different and 

OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!

it happened again.

The problem is that this time they really shouldn't have gone back, cuz Janet (Michelle MuthaBleepin Pfeiffer)

 was stingy with the details of her 30 year trip to and back from The Quantum Realm. She failed to mention her Summer fling with the newest super villain KANG (J.Majors - 

known to the acting community as "The Shit").

Was it a Summer fling? They don't paint that picture, but... they were alone for a very long time, they saved each others lives, they were fixing things in a very sweaty manner; banging and grunting, and they were sharing intimate parts of their lives with each other, so... she also may have been banging some military alien, maybe this thirsty piece

, and definitely this guy.

But, I digress :)  (You go, gurl.)

She finds out that Kang is a monster 

(A time/dimension traveler, who has been around for ever and has the most advanced tech as a result.... oh, and he has an Alexander the Great mindset) , and abandons him there to go back to her family.  

She didn't mention any of that to her family! Way to go, Janet!

So, the mission is everyone get home and don't let Kang follow you.

Problem is they got split up.

OK, so this part I loved! 

We got to explore this new world, which is visually very cool. In fact, the CGI throughout most of this movie is satisfying (especially with 3D action). There are a few things that this movie does that are really interesting:

The whole evolution thing (it's a new world with all kinds of life in it, doing lively things).

They do something really cool with the language that different species speak.

There is some sort of "probability realm", which we see a lil bit of in the trailer - an interesting concept, that is unfortunately not explored enough.

The tech is dope! And everytime we see Kang! Whew! Jonathan Majors nails it! He's calm, collected, focused, and scary. The Ant-Man family may be playing around, but he aint, and I love it. Oh, and the ants! I frickin loved the ants!

Have I said enough good things about this? :) Are we clear? I'm a PMB (Proud Marvel Bitch), so it's not always easy for me to criticize them. It feels similar to Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime Show. I had to say a bunch of nice (and true) things first, before... you know... There's no way to criticize a pregnant woman without sounding like a jerk, especially if that pregnant woman is Rihanna. But...

I love Rihanna, btw.

OK.

Visually, stunning... but everything concerning the story is a hot mess. To save time on this rant I will simply boil the prob down to its root:

Too much going on:

It was a simple plot! Get yo asses home, and tell Kang to bleep off! MARVEL! why couldn't you have just kept it simple?!

There's all of the secrets with Janet; her secret lives (and ex's:), there's all of the family drama ( and the family lessons this movie attempts to teach us), there's all of the natives and their bullshit, there's M.O.D.O.K.... I really hated him; like everything about him. He's supposed to look weird, but... 

MARVEL, YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS.

They made him some moron from the first movie, and there's a whole thing with him being a dick. For a family movie, they use the word "dick" so much. There's no way that children walk away from this movie, and "dick"  doesn't become their new favorite word.

There is way too much going on with Kang. They explain it, but.... not very well. His story is explained way better in Loki season 1. One of the criticisms of the movie is that this whole film is just a set-up for Kang - which it is. I have no problem with that, but then do it properly. Give us more Kang (in story). We'll be getting all kinds of Kangs soon (time traveling is a dick). I feel like the uncovering of Kang's (and multiple Kangs) story is like helping a hoarder clean out their living room - you've been tossing junk out for hours and it still looks like a mess.

There are also some plot holes, which I won't say anything about, except this - Kang has all of this HI-Tech stuff, so why is he struggling so much with Ant-Man and The Wasp... AND the Cassie.

May I talk about The Wasp and The Cassie??!

In the trailer, all I saw was Kang kicking Ant-Man's ass up and down The Quantum Realm; practicing for "Creed III" He's also in a room where Kang is stomping the hell out of his skull, like Ant-Man owed him some money.

  Don't act like you forgot, Scott!

The whole time, I'm like - "WHERE IS THE WASP?! DOES SHE NOT SEE HER MAN GETTING BEAT UP?!" - her name is still in the title isn't it?! Pull your weight, lady!

Now, she's there, and saves him quite a bit, but my point is they didn't really promote her, because they know that she doesn't really matter. I'm sorry if that sounds mean, but it's true. After that second Ant-Man movie, her character just... idk... becomes forgettable.

She's just a tag-on to the franchise. Was she in The End Game battle? I think so... but I don't remember. Was she at the funeral in that movie? I don't remember. Any other Marvel important moments? Was she in any of the "What If" stuff? I think so, but I don't remember. Is she mentioned at all in any other Marvel movies or shows? I don't remember. Not only do I not remember, but it doesn't matter. We never got to know her that well. She doesn't need to be here. Someone that we care more about could have let Ant-Man get beat up, and then at the last second, save him.

The Cassie? - same thing. And enough with these younger characters who are super geniuses. We only need one, and we have Spider-Man. We all know that most kids are dumb (No offense. Not you kids who might read this... other kids. Your Uncle Rambling Praphit is rooting for you... stay in school). Cassie, whom we don't really know, shows up all ready to fight and hogging up some scene time from Ant-Man.

She was all like "Care about me, audience! I'm young! I'm smart! I'm a girl! And I'm just as good as my dad, Ant-Man, even though I've had no training. YAY! Follow me!"

I was like "Who is this clown? I don't know you. Your daddy cares about you, so I guess I will, but,,, speaking of your daddy, can we get back to him?? " These tag-ons just don't have any personality for themselves. There's no reason to be excited about them.

Tag-on after tag-on: Wasp, Cassie, Michael Douglas, Chidi from the Good Place... 

this chick (who seems cool). 

It's too much! I loved the world, and it's beautiful... the kids out there and or the people who saw this movie while high will love it, but can we stick to a character developement??!

Give me the ever delightful Paul Rudd, skipping and whistling through new world, cracking jokes. Give me Michellle Pfeiffer, action hero, blowing things up in this new world, and having Summer flings with aliens. Give me Kang, torturing and zapping his way through the miracle of life in this new world, while explaining just what the hell his problem is! But, pick one! Dammit, Marvel!

Grade?! I don't even know! I’m exhausted by my own rant. 

Much like The Wasp, it just doesn't matter. We'll say a generous C- Same reaction I had after watching that Super Bowl Halftime Show, I guess... I said afterwards... "Well, she's pregant. How bout that??"

("But, what did you think of her performance?")

"Um... pregnant. I love her though. Her catalog... whew! I kinda wish she did CHEERS tho... I guess she can't promote alcohol at a family event. The aggression of Bitch better have my money and the brutality of football is fine, but not alcohol... everybody knows that."

("But, her performance?") 

There's a show called "Fringe" Once upon a time, it was one of my favs. It was kinda like X-Files meets X-Men... kinda. But, then in later seasons they got into different dimensions and time travel and the show became hard to follow. You knew of one character, but then met a "variant" version, and then had to learn about them all over again.

Marvel is in danger of this. You've gotta be on your game to write stories on this type of level.

On your game like Steph Curry at practice when he shoots like 48 for 50 from half court. I feel like Marvel has been more like 5 for 50. Now, it's game time, and they're like "We're ready! Let's do this!" And I'm like, "We're so f**king  doomed." smh

I hope I'm wrong.

[mrbottomhat69]

So I started reading the novelization of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and I'm taking notes as I'm reading

. The novel starts with Timothy Cain, which isn't odd as a leading point from the end of the last movie/novelization as someone watching the security footage of the previous installment's end. The problem is that they unload his entire backstory in the first chapter.

. The novelization gave Rain the last name Melendez

. They incorporated the "side effects may occur" trailer for the movie into some of the exposition by having two of the side characters from the news crew watch it while the news is taking an ad break. I think that's pretty cool.

. I like how the novelization takes a bit of time introducing the reader to the normal people that are getting caught in the crossfires of a literal nightmare scenario caused by one corporation fucking up. The main villain of the Resident Evil franchise has always been some form of capitalism and the movies seem to lean into this more. This is what I feel makes the first scene of the first movie so compelling; seeing normal people going throughout their day before they're culled and brought back again as mindless beings, simultaneously victims and monsters. The problem with what the novelization is doing only comes with letting the introductions of the normal people go on and on.

. In one of the earlier chapters, it was mentioned offhandedly that the Umbrella Corporation "spent a lot of money on stupid shit" in reference to high-tech GPS and transmission equipment. I only bring this up because it adds credence to the theory that movie-verse Umbrella is trying to rule over the apocalyptic earth because they're trying to keep their power after going broke

. oh that's the n-word. that's the n-word with the hard-r spelling in the chapter L.J. is introduced in (inner monologue, but still)

.WAIT WAIT WAIT FUCK THE PREV POINT THE CHAPTER IMMEDIATELY AFTER IMPLIES THE EVENTS OF THE FIRST GAME IS CANON TO THE MOVIE-VERSE???!!!!DBRHEqwioqu4iwuwqiugasvglaRYJDTHNXFGSND EX-FUCKING-SCUSE ME DID TWO SECRET LABS AT TWO DIFFERENT ENDS OF THE SAME CITY GET OBLITERATED AND IF THAT ISN'T THE CASE WHAT THE FUCK WAS JILL DOING IN THE ARKLAY MOUNTAINS THAT MADE HER AWARE OF UMBRELLA'S UNETHICAL SHIT?????

.Chapter 12 features a scene where Alice goes to the restaurant where her and Lisa had their first date meeting outside of work to discuss corporate espionage and we get some exposition from the prev novelization

.Jill and Terri have unnecessary beef in the novelization

.Matt and Nemesis are treated as two halves of a whole, with Nemesis being the body and Matt being the closest thing the chapter gets to an inner monologue. I think this is an interesting concept and it's pulled off decently.

.Jill seems like a massive bitch in the novelization and this feels like a disservice to the movie

.The best chapter, by far, is the one where we catch up with Angela after the car crash and before Alice and the others find her. The action and fear it carries stuck with me and reminded me of the S.D. Perry novels

.Overall, my biggest criticism is it builds up the beginning well (or at least well enough) but breezes through everything else really quick.I think this just comes with having to turn an action movie into a book

Now that I finally finished the novelization, I think it's a solid 6/10. I think the movie is better between the two and the three S.D. Perry novels I listened to the audiobook version of feel generally better as literature. You can feel where the novelization flops, but when it shines it fucking shines. Would I read it again? probably.

[writingsbychlo]

https://www.tumblr.com/writingsbychlo/752218557366042624/im-not-active-in-the-dob-fandom-anymore-ill-be

Yesssss like I remember being so obsessed with him during quarantine and over the summer but by the time the fall semester of my freshman year of high school came around I, along with basically everyone else, just stopped caring 😭 I vividly recall watching the trailer for his Love and Monsters movie during homeroom and I was internally screaming and smiling behind my mask because… well, it was Dylan! And I hadn’t been in the fandom very long so this was the first time I would be present for the release of a new project of his. I was like “omgggg I need to watch this when it comes out” but I never did because by then I didn’t care about him anymore 💀

And as for why the mass-migration occurred honestly my theory is just that too much time had passed. I was only 8/9 in 2014 so I obviously wasn’t even in the fandom then but most people know that that was the peak of his career because it’s when the first maze runner movie came out and when season 3 of teen wolf aired (which was arguably the best season and also when he got rid of the buzz cut so everyone was swooning for him). It lasted until like 2018 when the death cure finally released and also the last season of teen wolf came out a year earlier. I think the loyal members of the fandom stayed for the next two years because they were still coming down from the high of teen wolf but during quarantine everyone came to the silent agreement that it was over because by then he hadn’t been in anything of note so he wasn’t giving us much to work with. He probably never will again either because the accident he got into while filming TDC scarred him and from now on I think he’s only comfortable doing indie projects. But yeah like if you go to any of the “main” DOB writers’ accounts from back then you’ll see a common theme among most of them which is that they all stopped posting stuff for him in 2020

omg honestly that is so valid, like so many of my interests changeover lockdown, it was a wild time. also, oh, bringing back the 2014 maze runner look to haunt me, girl how could you? I was also swooning then, goddamn 2014-2016 was HIS era fr. 🫠

[kitbitanimate]

I want to talk about this controversy a bit more in depth First for people who may not be able to tell: Lego Monkey Kid was first animated by the Australian studio Flying Bark Productions, which has been around since the 1960's and has a long history of successful local and international commercial work and tv shows. most notionally they worked on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel's What If..?, a short film I personally love: My Jumper It Roars, among other things.

The studio has had decades to perfect it's style of animation which includes high action sequences, bright color use, motion, and recognizably unique designs. The flow of their scenes is so precise it's down to a science. This studio was the one responsible for Season 1-4 of Lego Monke Kid development. They are particularly skilled in cell animation and blending 2D centered characters/assets into 3D environments.

All of that is on display I think best with the season 3 trailer:

Now that's not a completely fair comparison to the new studio WildBrain. which is a much younger studio by comparison (Founded back in 2016). But their portfolio is just as visually interesting on it's own. With shows like Carmen Sandiego, Blaze and the Monster Machines, and Ninjago. Their studio specializes in 3D animation, especially styles like Vector Animation, motion graphics, and Screencasting. All beautiful styles and unique in their own right. Most people don't tend to notice the uniqueness of these styles of art, since the graphics move smoothly (if not smoother) than 2D cell animation, but it's incredibly noticeable in the joints of a character's body and the jaw movements.

Now watch the Season 5 trailer, notice how the characters heads move, their limbs are more stiff, the movements of the jaws are more vertically aligned. The conversation between Mei and Red Son show this the most. The multi-headed bird monster also does this, and the look Sun Wukong gives to Macaque shows where the "body parts" are independent from each other.

Compare the Season 5 trailer to Azure Lion's introduction in the season 4 trailer (00:33-00:56)

Now I'm never one to disparage artwork. Both styles are fantastic and it's clear Wildbrain is trying to keep up with the work Flying Bark put in. But it's incredibly obvious the Lego Corporation is cutting corners where they can.

And that hurts a show's quality, audience, and customers. By downgrading the animation from it's original studio to a younger (and left be frank here Cheaper) Studio and crew; the company is hoping people will still be interested in their products, and the hype that was there before will keep on track. They are hoping for complacency, "it is what it is", and toxic positivity to carry their business through this budget cut.

Why should I care about a show and toy line when the people financing it are not willing to put their money into making it better, grander?

The animation was the key factor for me to watch the series, to start buying Lego's again. I've known Journey to the West from the early days of anime. But the AU of this internationally important novel is not enough to keep me as a regular viewer, when the company is willing to cut the most visually fun artwork down to paper cutouts.

My argument boils down to my gripe with AI: why should I watch something when it's clear the people green-lighting and Financing the show don't care about it? Why not delay season 5 until Flying Bark studio could commit to more seasons? Movies and Tv shows have been pushed back for more petty reasons that scheduling conflicts.

Lego Monkie Kid is a product.

I don’t intend to make any more posts of this style for some time, but I’d like to put this out here for everywhere:

(After this, I’ll go back to uploading my usual content. I’m sorry for deviating from that, but I really wanted to make a post or two about season five.)

Lego Monkie is a paid-for product. You can buy it through Amazon, watch it on the Lego Channel with ads, import the comics from China, etc.

You pay for it. It’s not something put into the world for free. It is a product that people consume with their time or money.

It’s not something made with only time and love.

Lego Monkie Kid is a paid-for product with thousands of dollars worth of tie-in merch.

It is not bad; and will never be bad, to criticize the products you consume. We do not have to blindly consume for the sake of animators, or for the sake of a show.

Do not tell people to ‘just be happy’. Do not tell people that ‘the animators are just trying to feed their families’. Do not tell people to ‘just get over it’. Do not tell people that they’re ‘being ungrateful’.

People are allowed to form opinions of changes, whether negative or positive- especially when it is a product they pay for.

People are going to have negative feelings and thoughts and emotions. You are not a knight or a soldier. You get nothing out of standing guard against even the slightest scrap of unhappiness.

Toxic positivity solves nothing in the long run. You can’t just complain people’s upsetness away. You can’t kiss disappointment like a wound and expect it to heal.

People are upset about a downgrade in quality in the product that they pay to consume.

And that’s okay.

Stop telling them it isn’t.