#also can you tell im a prequels fan

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

@your-local-ruebit-hole-detective ok i’m sorry but. i will answer your question.

age of calamity advertises itself as a prequel but in reality it’s a fix-it au with slight differences and writing that’s pretty bad but i have grown to appreciate it for how insane it goes sometimes.

the actual plot is that as a child zelda used to have a little egg-like guardian robot that she was forced to leave behind as she grew up due to her father’s pressure etc, and when the calamity happened this little robot saw it and traveled back in time with the goal to prevent this and protect zelda, creating a branching off timeline. there’s also an extra villain who is this prophet (???? this games writing isn’t good enough for me to tell you what his deal is exactly) who worships ganon and for most of the game works with the yiga to bring him back, except he’s more insane than them and works directly with malice and also sucks at his job because when he finally gets to ganon he unceremoniously dies and everybody’s like “yeah we have no idea what this guys deal was”.

the one significant change that doesnt have to do anything with time travel shenanigans is the fact that link doesn’t find the master sword as a child, but instead gets appointed zelda’s bodyguard for his genuine skill and then finds the master sword during one of the in game missions. despite this, revali still hates him, and often times when justifying this revali cites reasons that are literal complete opposites of how his grudge was characterised in botw, cementing revali’s characterisation as just a cunt for no reason. it’s great.

the significant time travel related change is that when all the champions go into their divine beasts and fight the blights a portal opens and the new champions (teba, sidon, riju, yunobo) get teleported in and help defeat the blights. zelda also doesn’t get her power by protecting link from a bunch of guardians, the scene still hits the same beats of link fighting things off so zelda can run away except in this game how it happens is that the insane prophet shows up and literally summons all the blights against link which makes the scene ten times more insane.

throughout the game the yiga show up regularly, often times with master kohga himself showing up and being the overall goofy guy he is, except he also has a hunk of a body guard who’s name i genuinely can’t recall. multiple times in the game kohga gets defeated and said hunk of a body guard throws him over his shoulder says “it’s not over yet” and walks off carrying kohga like a sac of potatoes.

in the original game, when shit starts hitting the fan the yiga stop showing up as enemies and at some point in the story kohga shows up without said hunk of a body guard, says “the prophet is insane and the calamity actually isn’t a good thing as we’ve discovered”, highly implies that the reason for his change of heart is because said prophet killed his hunk of a body guard (who literally. doesn’t show up again for the rest of the game mind you. he legit died), and is like “yeah the yiga will help you. after this whole thing is over we’ll go back to being bitches to you but rn let’s just kill this ganon guy and then walk our separate ways”. the fact that the calamity being a bad thing throws the yiga’s whole ideology and purpose into question is never addressed.

the dlc makes the death scene explicit, also making it a parallel to zelink by, again, making the bodyguard fight all the fucking blights so that kohga can escape. the scene literally opens with the body guard limping as they try to escape. it’s so much a parallel to zelink it’s insane. im afraid do not know what the hell they were cooking.

some other choice moments from this game that go insanely hard for no reason:

1. the first portion of the game is dedicated to zelda recruiting all the champions, and when it comes to recruiting revali he for some reason assumes it’s an attack, and sends all the rito soldiers to fight the intruders off. the rito do not question fighting some random hylians one of whom is literally zelda. the mission ends with a boss fight of link vs revali, which only ends without them killing each other because zelda runs in and goes “stop???? the fuck ????”

2. the entire game has cute bonding moments with the botw champions meeting their idols and getting to spend time with them. that is, except for sidon, who spends the game saving his older sister in a parallel universe which he has to leave by the end of the game, meaning every scene involving him has him on the brink of eleven hundred simultaneous mental breakdowns. the dlc adds a scene where the little sidon who is native to said parallel universe gets to interact with botw sidon, and botw sidon tells him that he’s going to grow up big and strong and will protect his sister, and the entire time he tries really hard to not acknowledge the fact that they are the same person, and that mipha is his sister too, presumably because nobody wanted to animate sidon ugly crying. in that scene you can literally see his soul die in his eyes it’s great

3. the dlc features tulin, god knows why. i don’t know how he got there or what he’s doing. he’s just there.

4. you can make noble pursuits in the game and drink them before missions for a buff. pre-gaming defeating the calamity is a thing, i cannot stress how much it is a thing in this game.

5. there are two separate animated cutscenes where link eats rocks on screen. only one of them involves the gorons, the other is a scene where link is being discussed and as the characters talk about how great he is in battle the camera pans to him eating rocks, seemingly on a dare from the other soldiers, who all surround him and are immensely excited by the fact that he is actually eating rocks.

6. the dlc features a scene where zelda gets to cook. link is horrified the entire time. she does not belong in the kitchen. she belongs anywhere outside the kitchen. the dlc also gives her the master cycle as a weapon. she commits vehicular manslaughter

7. the king gets a redemption arc, where he apologises to zelda only after she unlocks her power. the reason he realized he was wrong was because a sheikah relic that he confiscated from zelda turned out to be an ancient shield and it saved his life from a guardian blast. his apology is literal dog shit and right after it the game forces you to play as him for a mission. it almost made me rage quit.

8. thunder blight has an attack where it just swings its hair at you

9. when you finally fight calamity ganon he doesn’t have the form of the spider ganon from botw or even the boar, he is instead a buff guy made out of malice. literally just the shape of a buff non descript guy made out of malice. his boss fight is endless and the entire time you’re just beating the shit out of a non descript buff guy shape with a stick.

10. there’s a cute little side mission called something like “girls beauty contest” (in reality they all beat the shit out of each other for the title), where you’re only allowed to select female characters. that is, female characters AND gorons. think of that what you will

[blythsholland]

No More Secrets!

Pairing: Tom Blyth x Actress!reader

Warnings: None.

Summary: You join the cast of TBOSAS, sparks fly between you and Tom, and fans are quick to notice some things.

AN: For the sake of this social media au, let’s pretend spiderman: no way home was being filmed as well!

part 2

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

thehungergames posted a photo

liked by youruser, variety, tomblyth, zendaya and others.

thehungergames Rising Star @ youruser has joined the cast for the upcoming Hunger Games prequel: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, lead by Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler. Character details still unknown. (📸 Getty)

View all 2,345K comments

youruser I’m so happy and excited to join such wonderful cast! 🤍🤍🤍

tomblyth Welcome to the hunger games! 🐍🕊️

↪️ youruser Can’t wait to work with you! 🫶🏻

↪️ user The hands heart emoji… oh I ship it already!

rachelzegler Fans aren’t ready! 👀

userfan If I have to guess, I’d say she’s playing someone from the academy. Maybe even have a relationship with Coryo.

comment liked by youruser

↪️ youruser You just have to wait and see!🤫

user1 AHHHH IM SO HAPPY. I just know she’s going to be amazing in this!

youruser posted a photo

Liked by tomblyth, tomholland2013, jacobbatalon, zendaya and others.

youruser That’s a wrap on No Way Home! 🎬 Grateful for this amazing opportunity! Catch me in the FoS crew!!! Iykyk 🕸️🕷️

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zendaya I’m going to miss youuuu 🥺

↪️ youruser I’m gonna miss you too :(

jacobbatalon FoS crew let’s goooooo!! 🤙🏽

tomholland2013 now why would you post that pic of me giving the finger 😂

↪️ youruser your beautiful girlfriend told me to post and I follow orders!

↪️ zendaya you bet I did! sorry love @ tomholland2013 😂🩷

userfan1 FoS?!?!? What does that mean???

user @ userfan1 It means friends of spiderman. If you saw FFH they mention this towards the end!

blythloverrrr This is like the 4th consecutive post Tom has liked of youruser 👀

↪️ youruserfans1 right 👀 apparently he also liked one or two edits of her not too long ago.

↪️ blythloverrrr that’s interesting ✍🏼

youruserupdates_

liked by user1, blythloverrrr, userfan22, and others.

youruserupdates_ @ youruser posted on her story this morning on her way to Berlin . And surprise, a fan spotted Tom Blyth picking her up at the airport. The two of them shared a hug that looked very cozy. 👀

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blythloverrrr that’s a cozy hug indeed. ✍🏼

userfan2 relax guys, they’re just friends!

user1 @ userfan2 who’s saying they aren’t?

youruserfans okay but can we acknowledge the fact that he went to pick her up? that’s so sweet!

user23 I ship them idc!!!

user3 him liking almost all her posts, liking some of her edits and now he’s picking her up??? Something is happening idk. 🫢

blythfan can a guy and girl be just friends? let them be!

youruser posted a photo

liked by tomblyth, tomholland2013, zendaya, rachelzegler and others.

tagged: tomholland2013, zendaya, rachelzegler, tomblyth

youruser Life lately 🤍

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tomholland2013 gonna tell Sony to make that pic of me the official poster for nwh 😂

↪️ youruser you’re so unserious 😭

hunterschafer I’m going to meet you as soon as I get on set next week!

↪️ youruser YES PLEASE! 🥹

rachelzegler 🩷🩷🩷 that pic tho, tom can’t never be serious.

lionsgate Coriolanus snow, part time model!

user1 that pic of Tom belongs on an art museum!

blythloverrrr okay but the last pic??? Is everyone seeing this??? 👁️

user123 IS THAT TOM ON THE LAST PIC?? THE HAND HOLD??? THE ROSE???

user Yeah they’re definitely dating, I have no proof but I also have no doubts 👀

tomblyth 🤍🤍🤍

comment liked by youruser

↪️ youruser 🥰

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

part 2? 👀

If you want to be tagged let me know!!

[padawanlost]

just saw a text post about how leia killing a slave master when anakin was a slave himself is cool but i find it interesting how ppl can find rational things to point out for stuff like that but when its anakin disliking a sandy planet like its ridiculous thing for him to say? but made so much sense cause you know... he's been enslaved there with his mom as a kid. idk i guess im still bitter of hayden/anakins treatment of his character

I get it but I believe the key here is to understand this weird moment we are a living right now (suddenly the prequels are cool and *everyone* had always loved them) by separating the old negative crap we were used to, from the genuine takes coming from the new found love the prequels are getting.

What I’m trying to say is the people who are excited by the prequels, who are discovering the value of the movies for the first time or just rediscovering it after so long, are not necessarily the same people who trashed the movies and made fun of Anakin’s “sand issues” or Hayden’s performance. So, to me at least, there’re two different issues here:

1 – for the longest time PT fans and Anakin fans had to deal with unfair amount of criticism, hate, mockery and even attacks. These behaviors came from part of the fandom and the media because for the longest time hating on the prequels made you cool and a “real star wars fan”.

2 – we have a bunch of new fans (literal new fans but also old fans who didn’t like or didn’t want to be seen liking the prequels) who are now vocal about the PT-Era, who want to talk about it, to engage, to discuss and, you know, just share their appreciation for the movies.

I try not to mix the two, especially in this particular case. From my own experience with this fandom, the people who trashed Anakin for not liking sand didn’t understand his character enough to get the impact slavery had on the Skywalker family.

I’ve talked about the “sand issue” here before:

But, to sum it up, the meaning behind the “I hate sand” is pretty obvious once you look beyond “Anakin is whiny/The prequels suck/George Lucas ruined my life”.

“When I was in Level Three, we used to come here for school retreat,” she said. She pointed out across the way, to another island. “See that island? We used to swim there every day. I love the water.” “I do, too. I guess it comes from growing up on a desert planet.” He was staring at her again, his eyes soaking in her beauty. He could tell that Padmé sensed his stare, but she pointedly continued to look out over the water. “We used to lie on the sand and let the sun dry us … and try to guess the names of the birds singing.” “I don’t like the sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating. And it gets everywhere.” Padmé turned to look back at him “Not here,” Anakin went on. “It’s like that on Tatooine—everything’s like that on Tatooine. But here, everything’s soft, and smooth.” As he finished, hardly even aware of the motion, he reached out and stroked Padmé’s arm. [R.A. Salvatore. Attack of the Clones]

It’s about childhood trauma, privilege and systemic injustice and inequality. The sand physically represents everything Anakin loathes about his home planet, specially when compared to Padmé’s own childhood and home planet:

“This is Anakin. Anakin, this is Ryoo and Pooja!” The blush on the pair as they shyly said hello brought a burst of laughter from Padmé and a smile to Anakin’s face, though he was equally ill at ease as the two children. The girls’ shyness lasted only as long as it took for them to notice the little droid rolling behind Anakin, trying to catch up. “Artoo!” they shouted in unison. Breaking away from Padmé, they rushed to the droid, leaping upon him, hugging him cheek to dome. And R2-D2 seemed equally thrilled, beeping and whistling as happily as Anakin had ever heard. Anakin couldn’t help but be touched by the scene, a view of innocence that he had never known. Well, not never, he had to admit. There were times when Shmi had found some way to produce such moments of joy amid the drudgery that was life as a slave on Tatooine. In their own way, in that dusty, dirty, hot, and smelly place, Anakin and his mother had carved out a few instants of innocent beauty. Here, though, such moments seemed so much more the norm than the memorable exception. [R.A. Salvatore. Attack of the Clones]

[Ahsoka] was hyperalert again, all her instincts firing. One of these millennia she’d make a pretty good Jedi, probably. Provided he could smooth the rough edges off her. “Yes, Master,” she said. “You can trust me.” He frowned down at her. Was I ever this young? Was this how I used to look to Obi-Wan? He doubted it. Slaves lost their innocence while they were still in the cradle. [Karen Miller. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Wild Space]

Of course, because it became a meme used to “expose” George Lucas inability to write, direct or even understand what Star Wars is all about (eyeroll), that’s what most casual viewer think about when someone says “I hate sand”. But, on a more hopeful note, I do believe we’re doing good work claiming it back, by talking about it and even making memes about it in a way that’s not offensive to the characters, actors or fans. There are healthy, fun ways to laugh at Star wars  without diminishing the experiences and feelings of others.

Anakin represents so much different things to so many different fans it’s impossible to put everything in one single answer, but I hope you know I do understand exactly how you feel. I’m also very protective of Anakin, flaws and all. And it does annoy me to see people dismiss him and Hayden’s work in ways that can be very…cruel. But, Prequel/Anakin’s fans are awesome and now we’ve reclaimed the prequels proper place in history as peak star wars, we are unstoppable!! So let them come!

They just can’t accept how incredible Anakin’s story is, and that’s their loss.  

“Anakin had always hated sand. It was one of the many things about his Padawan that Obi-Wan understood better now that Anakin was dead. That was the horror of losing someone: Understanding came too late.” [Obi-wan Kenobi in Jude Watson’s The Last One Standing]

[froglover7789]

Why don't the prequels work as Vader's backstory? It's literally about how anyone no matter how good or well intentioned has the propensity for evil if they let themselves make bad decisions.

Narratively I think it's beautiful and tragic that way.

i think the prequels r actually about how corruption and manipulation and desperation and fear can ruin a person---not just bad decisions :3c and the prequels r consistent with some of the messaging of the originals in that way but that doesnt necessarily mean they serve as a good backstory

heres a handful of reasons why i dont think anakins back story really works with vader:

the originals imply that anakin and uncle owen are blood brothers or at least grew up together. owen sees anakin in luke and this is something that would only really be possible if owen knew anakin well as a teenager. this is also the reason why owen doesnt tell luke about the jedi; he thinks that luke will, like his father, run off to become some sort of war hero and die in the process bc thats what he thinks happened to anakin (some ppl think that owen suspects anakin became vader but i think this is a stretch). the prequels establish that they dont know eachother and didnt grow up together. owen doesnt know anakin outside of what he mightve seen in war/ republic propaganda and thats not very indicative of character. this also raises questions about why obiwan gave luke to owen/ why they took him in in the first place. it makes more sense for anakin and owen to have been very close bc then obiwan wouldve heard of owen and would genuinely trust him to raise his best friends son and owen wouldve cared enough about luke to raise him as his own

what we're led to believe in the originals is that anakin was a powerful jedi who lost sight of what he was fighting for. we're led to believe that he was torn, that the war corrupted him, that war isnt the answer. this works bc the originals r meant to be symbolic of the vietnam war (where the empire would be america) and so this idea of the consequences of war and the importance of peace is a huge part of the originals message. while this is somewhat supported by the prequels its undermined by the fact that anakins fall is mostly bc of YEARS of grooming starting from when he was a kid. this wasnt a normal, good man who lost sight of what was right and crumpled under the weight of a war. this was a man who was the most special of them all and fell bc he had space hitler literally whispering in his ear since before he knew he was a person. thats not the same thing at all! and that steals the implication that vader could have been any soldier, any general and makes his story all messy

side note- leia has vague memories of her mother which means padme shouldntve died in childbirth and should probably have died/ left the twins when they were at least a year or two old. this would also give more reason as to why the lars have luke call them aunt and uncle rather than mom or dad. i think what probably shouldve happened is that padme got pregnant right before anakin was shipped out at some point so he didnt know he had kids before "dying" and she ended up getting involvef in the rebellion/ fearing for her kids safety and had to get rid of em. literally anything else than what happened in canon lol like wtf is dying of heartbreak get OUT

my final thought i can think of rn is that having hitlers right hand man be a slave is just kinda a strange backstory? like i cant be the only one who doesnt like that. idk. doesnt feel right :/

obv most this stuff is just preference and obv you can argue against most of it. the prequels Do technically work but theyre not great backstory. im also not a fan of how the jedi order and all that mess was established. like you can only be one if youre raised one since diapers but luke literally didnt know what the force was until he was 19 but he ended up being one of the most powerful jedi ever??? yeah. makes perfect sense. :////

i do agree that the prequels r tragic and beautiful in their own right. i think the story they tell is good in some ways and bad in others ans one of the ways they r bad is how they tie in with the originals lol

hope this answers your question :3c or at least helps you see where im coming from :33

[pinyeti]

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

Loving how i can see the budget increase GOOD GOD THE CGI IS CRAAZY

Ohno padme's clone is gone

HELLO??? ANAKIN??? HES PRETTY NOW ofc he has the rat tail 

Obi wan flop era uggo

Why does he give me young president snow vibes

OHMYGOD IVE SEEN THIS SCENE BEFORE ON THE INTERNET WHERE PADMES LIKE FIND WHOS TRYING TO KILL ME AND OBIWANS LIKE NO AND ANIKINS LIKE YES OFC ANYTHING FOR YOU SENATOR

Ok beginning of rebel anakin

Please tell me he doesnt go to the dark side for love

THE WORLD BUILDING IS CRAAAZZYYY THE SCReENS AARE SO CRISP IM SO IN AWE OHMYGOD

SNAKES IN HER BED SNAKES IN HER BED

OBIWAN JUST ZIPLINED WITH NO ZIPLINE ATTABOIY

How does the past look so much better than the future

I cant believe this is 2002 IT LOOKS SO MODERN

tHE HUMOUR THE CLARITY THE ACTION EVERYTHING IS SO FRESH 

Ok anakin is crazy

DID HE JUST DRIVE INTO ELECTRICITY?? ANAKIN OBIWAN IS OLD FUCK YOU DISRESPECTFUL RAT TAIL HAVER

do you think you’re shelock holmes anakiN??? STOP JUMPING OUT OF MOVING VEHICLES ONTO ONCOMING SKY TRAFFIC ANAKIN

Idiot lost his lightsaber

“You’re the closest thing i have to a father” FUCKIN BITCH

Okay sorry about gay allegationing obiwan and vader when I DIDNT KNOW HE BASICALLY RAISED HIM 

Bro anakins hair is something else

IS THE CHANCELLOR OLD GUY EVIL IS HE??? IS HE THE EMPEROR TO BE

Padme IS THEIR MOMMM

Bro yoda hates all the jedis hes so sassy for what “too sure of themselves they are, even the older ones” *pointedly stares at obiwan*

NOWAY PADME LEFT IT TO JARJAR IS SHE CRAZY

Ok anakin your job is to protect her not use her as a vent journal

ANAKIN CAT NOIR

I just know hes kicking his feet at the assignment

IS R2 THE CHAPERONE CDJBDEK

Bro anakin is cheeeeesssiiiinnggg HES SUCHHHA SIMPP IM GETTING SECOND HAND EMBARASSMENT ;))) one might even say ‘)))) we jedis are encouroegd to love eheh ;)))

IS obiwan walking into a huge ARMY trade deal KNOWING NOTHING and IMPROVING HIS WAS THROUGH

Oh STORM TROOPERS ARE CLONESSS

OH MY GOD THIS MEME

“SOUNDS AWFUL LOT LIKE A DICTATORSHIP TO ME”

“WELL IF IT WORKS” THIS IS WHERE ITS FROM

anakin : ugh i am so angry i serial killed ugh

padme: dw to serial kill is to human

(????ok enabler)

Ohmygodddd NOOO WHY WOULD SHE DO THIS IM SO SICK OF JARJAR

WAIT YODA USED STORM TROOPERS FIRST???? WHA HOW DID THEY END UP WITH THE EMPEROR THEN was it anakin

Ok not the biggest yoda fan

Wowww how convenient obiwan discovers an army ready for use right when theyre being threatened

Everytime they say dooku i laugh

Anakin is a stupid man child - RUNNING INTO PROBLEMS WITH GLOWSTICKS AND HOPING IT DIES PT39382992 - guess it runs in the family

OHMYGOD ANAKIN DOUBLE HAND LIGHTSABERING LIGHTBASAVERING

HAHA HE GOT HIS HAND CUT OFF LIKE HE CUT OFF LUKES he just wanted him and luke to share something :( he just wanted to teach luke :( its okay i forgive you for cutting lukes hand darthy

YODA IS SOSOSO COOOL

WHO IS THE EMPEROR HELLO?

(5/9)

(ALSO DW GUYS IM NOT FOLLOWING ANY STARWARS MUTUALS TILL IM DONE WITH PREQUELS SO ILL DO A SERIES OF HELOOOOS SOON)

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[velvetwyrme]

ouuaauauagaha i just got home and i was so sad the whole way back :-(( I can't articulate what i feel but dee (??) and pax DDD: their friendship :'(( i love whatever they have it's so GRHRHHHGHH the animations and visuals are sooo pleasing to the eye and so good auauaga the choreography of the fight scenes are so ?!??!!$(#((#($? also sooooo foul for that sentinel keychain omg id get one if i could lololol

im so happy i watched tfone i loved every single second of it (my faves r bee and dee auauuaah) i rlly wanna know where to go after this movie what do you recommend reading/watching after?? :00

YAAY IM GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT!! And yeah!!!! TF One is inherently kind of a tragedy since it's a prequel... Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron's dynamic before the war hurts me so 😭😭 my little HEART...

Omg yes the fight choreography 💖💖 I especially loved how they included their transformations into the fighting scenes (even more so because some of the specific transformations were ones they had trouble with at the beginning, and now they've learned how to use them and I thought that was pretty neat! is it obvious I've seen thsi movie 3 times now rhdkfbdkfbk)

And thank you ;]] I aim to be extremely ill about characters always. Sentinel. Oh, Sentinel...

Bee and Dee my beloveds!!! 🤝 I was surprised that I liked Bee as much as I did in this- he's the comedic relief but I LOVE HIM SO MUCH...

and. OH GOD. WHAT A QUESTION.

I've stuck the rest of this post under the cut because if you've been following me for any amount of time you know how wordy I can get 😔

==========

So. you have multiple options because Transformers has a truly ridiculous amount of TV series and some really REALLY good comics.

Transformers Skybound (Comics)

I can only really vouch for the ones I've watched/read, but here are my general suggestions for where to look next! There's also a tl;dr at the end in case you looked at this and just went "oh god"

Additional note: mmmmost of these series have their own idea of what pre-war Cybertron (and subsequently, Megatron and Optimus' origins) looked like, so if you're expecting a continuation of the story from TF One uhhhhh apologies u_u

First off: the current ongoing comic series!

If you want more action, more violence, and also so much more sadness, definitely go for this one. It's gutpunch after gutpunch after gutpunch. Since it IS ongoing however, only time will tell what how the storyline/s will turn out ^^" I think it's pretty good so far though!

However, if you're also intending to eventually look for fanmade content, this series has less of a dedicated fanbase, especially when compared to...

It's easy to get into, but it's also relatively short (especially in comparison to the other suggestions) since it's up to... Issue 13 at the moment? That's still a decent chunk to sink your teeth into!

Transformers (2005) // IDW1 (Comics)

The IDW comic run of Transformers :]!! It's REALLY REALLY GOOD. It ran from 2005-2018, so it's also really, really long.

It can be a bit confusing in terms of order, but luckily there are several reading guides - ONE MORE which I would have loved to have known about when I started reading LMAO IDW1 tends to jump from story to story, which can get a bit confusing, but also it does so in such a way that ties plots together in really fun ways.

Some people will tell you that you can start off with the More Than Meets The Eye (MTMTE) series which is... probably true! It's a fan favorite series, and rightfully so. Also, I think the characterisation of Megatron in MTMTE is really interesting!

I tried starting at MTMTE and just went "HEY. This is set after the war though! I want to know about the war and all that stuff!" and so I ended up reading literally Everything else that comes before it. Which is a lot. I smashed through most of the 420+ total issues in under 2 months because I'm insatiable though.

Transformers Prime // TFP (Animated Series)

Another recommendation I saw for testing the waters (taken directly from a reddit post I saw while locating the guides) is to try reading Last Stand of the Wreckers and the sequel, Sins of the Wreckers, or Megatron Origins and Spotlight: Megatron to kind of get a feel for the sort of thing you're getting into.

My personal suggestion would be to follow this reading guide if you decide to read the comics! Mostly because the person who made it included notes, and as evidenced, I love notes. Theirs are thankfully much shorter than mine.

Another fan favorite! It's an animated series that takes things in a more gritty direction, but I think it does it really well! Maybe. I haven't... actually watched it, which is funny because it's technically what got me to finally check out Transformers.

You might have seen me reblogging a certain Pointy Black, Purple and Faceless guy sometimes. He's from this series.

Transformers Animated // TFA (Animated Series)

And lastly...

TFA is a standalone series (as in it has minimal ties to the lore/continuity of other series) which is the main reason why I'm recommending it. The secondary reasons are because it's really fun and it's the series I grew up watching lol. I'm biased!! I like it a lot!! I would probably suggest one of the other options on this list to start off with, but I really like TFA... ;u;

.......... Fanfiction.

This, in my opinion, is The Best Way to get familiarised with characters.* ...I'm serious about that, and only slightly less serious about this being a suggestion of where to look next lol.

*Well, this plus TFWiki, which is genuinely the coolest wiki of all time. There are jokes and silly jabs while still being incredibly informative!! I love it!!!!

Other options that I can't personally vouch for, but have heard good things about:

Anyway, this is ACTUALLY how I got into Transformers. I kept reading TF fanfic and furiously googling characters appearances because I like giant robots, then I fell in love with Soundwave from TFP, and then I caved and read IDW1 as my proper introduction to Transformers lol. I think it's fun to do it that way, but I know it's not for everyone lol.

Earthspark is one of the newer animated series, and apparently it's pretty good! The second season less so (...?), but it seems to have been a pretty good jumping on point for a lot of people.

TL;DR: suggestions, in no particular order:

Cyberverse is another animated series, and it's pretty cute! I watched the first season and some of the second. Apparently it gets better in the later seasons- more plot heavy and interesting ^^!

If you're so inclined there's also always the Original G1 cartoon, which is fun! If you like cartoons from the 80s, just jump in idk. I've watched some, I think it's neat.

There is also the Transformers (2019) or IDW2 comics which was a reboot done by the the same publishers who did the 2005 series (thus IDW1/2) with a different and much more... streamlined story to follow. I haven't read that yet, but I've heard it's good! It got cut short because they lost the licensing though :(

==========

Comics:

Transformers (Skybound)

Transformers (IDW 2005)

Transformers (IDW 2019)

Animated Series:

Transformers Prime

Transformers Animated

Transformers Earthspark

Transformers Cyberverse

Misc.:

Fanfiction...? (I'm making a fic reclist anyway so I thought I might as well include this as an option lol)

Good luck! Enjoy! Tell me what you decide on, if you so desire!!!

Would you believe me if I said this is me specifically holding back from talking about each series? Because this is me holding back from going wild and talking abt each series.

I was going to make a flowchart, but then decided that would take too long. And then I wrote this out and took too long.

[rottingraisins]

Please make the list of tales if you can I always need more things to read on the wiki and it's so hard to find them

Ok ok. Clefdraki insane homosexual moments comp. Putting it under the cut cause this might get hefty, I’ve thought about those shitty old guys way too much over the past year here we go

So 1st of all this is of course set in resurrection bc its me, but also bc kondraki is a really fun character to play around with in that context; he’s not around anymore, he got shot by gears in 2006, his termination marks a drastic shift in foundation doctrine so he kind of becomes a stand-in for the “olden days”, the ones that are dredged back up in light of the A-9 project. He hangs over the foundation in his own way, this mythic figure whos death is wrapped in all kinds of intrigue, this horrible precedent as to what happens to those who go rogue. He haunts that narrative so hard, Light directly compares him to a ghost at one point. I think he should get to haunt his old rival too.

Also, the choice of Adams being the one Clef is telling this to isn’t incidental; Her and Clef compromise Tav-666, the kill switch for if Alpha-9 goes rogue, i.e. there is a very real chance that they are the ones who’ll have to put down Iris at some point, so Clef isn’t a fan of how much sympathy Adams is extending her here, for her own sake but also bc hes a shitty asshole who loves being right.

Resurrection in itself is aimed at being a sequel/thematic continuation of the “main” storyline of the SCP wiki written ca. 2008-2010; this is what constitutes all of the flashback scenes; in order they are The king is dead, The liars confession (technically a newer tale but still very in the vein of the other ones), Termination order, Incident 239-b and The king is dead again. I don’t have much to say abt these, they all focus on Clef and Kondrakis relationship in one way or another already, I just kind of took them and put them in an order that was dramatically satisfying and made them. Marginally gayer cheers.

(Also wasn't sure where to put this as it's more alluded to rather than referenced directly but resurrections weird little prequel tale Yesterday has its part to play here too)

I have a tendency to clefdrakipost very sappily on here at times but my fav take on them forever is that it began and ended in like 2006 when clef had these Big Feelings about his coworker that he had no idea how to deal with and that were wholly at odds with his self perception. And then after the kondraki termination he proceeds to spends the rest of his life trying rlly hard not to think about them while continuing to very brazenly suck as a person. Thumbs up!

also tldr bc i like to think im funny:

[sunlightfeeling]

so..... how did you get into smap, anyway? (i would like to hear the origin story)

hiii anon! i would love to tell this story!!

first the elevator pitch version:

like a lot of more recent fans (i.e. post-JE launch), i was a victim (affectionate) of the RGG to SMAP pipeline

…bit of a boring story, and honestly isn’t a real indication of how I got to have this brain (affectionate, i love having five old men stewing in my brain all hours of the day 👍😬)

sooo im going to tell the story of how the pipeline hit me so hard 😄

the real origin goes back to 2021…

(im gonna make a cut for this story because this is gonna be long long - i promise this isn’t an exaggeration)

so back in 2021, i had an xbox one and game pass (side note: game pass is so worth it, actually fantastic)

and I found a series that I had never heard of…Yakuza

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hX9EomZwntU

sorry

anyway

downloaded Yakuza 0 and started it up

really dug the vibes, story, music, legitimately everything

then I reached Majima’s first chapter and ooooh the opening got me good

not too long after getting to this chapter, I was graciously gifted a ps5

and one of the first things i did was…

…impulsively buy every Yakuza release on ps4

…and the Judgments as soon as I realized they were under RGG’s umbrella

…after only playing like probably less than 10 hours of a prequel

(disclaimer: i do not mean to romanticize/minimize impulse purchasing; I’m more trying to give an accurate image of how deeply invested I got in a series that essentially sent me on my path; i was/am very fortunate and cognizant of how lucky i am to be able to cover/shield myself from consequences of my actions - so to speak lol)

probably six-ish months and 2 hiatuses later, I reached Y6

and i dont know if it was because the game was the last Kiryu game (at the time) and I was getting all emotional, or if it was because the likeness to Kuroda was pretty…

<stares at pictures of Y6 Kiryu way too long>

…preeeetty 🫠

i started developing (what knowing what i know now call) a hyperfixation on not just Y6 but also Kuroda Takaya lol

basically listened to his music whenever I could/on repeat; Y6 was the only thing I wanted to spend my free time playing; etc etc etc

(for reasons, this fixation actually led me to consider my possible neurodivergence; I wonder why 🤔..🥲)

finish Y6 and become baseline-which-isnt-really-baseline normal about Yakuza when I play LAD7

but then….

“Alex, stop hyperlinking sound effects”

(affectionate)

yeahhh it’s Judgey Time

okay so ive mentioned in tags somewhere but i actually didnt have high hopes for Judgment

at all

the cover just didn’t do anything for me at all…

…and i thought the protagonist was ugly 💀

(im actually genuinely serious, this isn’t me “not like the other girls”ing; i vividly recall looking at the cover when it was about time for me to start playing it and whining to my then-bf that I wasn’t sure I was gonna like it cuz the guy looks really weird 🤣)

but i booted it up and right when Yagami shows off his badge in the prologue

girl

giiiiiirl

I didn’t realize at the time but the seed had been planted and baby that beanstalk grew

Halloween 2022 (and I only know this date for a fact because I memorialized it texting then-bf about it) is the day I decided to look up who this guy really was

I can’t recall what made me finally look him up, whether lurking on the Yakuza subreddit or just something in the game, I dunno

i shared it once but I’ll share it anytime i can…

^^ this was my first Kimura photo

the first one I actually paid more than just a passing glance at anyway……

…i finished judgment in like two/three weeks [and not in a rushed playthrough by any means - getting all the cats, doing all the side cases/romance, etc.] (have a text trail of me going into the finale and date stamp is p exactly two weeks from Halloween 🥲)

started lost judgment immediately because i have texts days after this bitching about dropping money on the dlc before even starting it lol (again: not recommending/romanticizing; just giving perspective on how active my brain was about RGG/Kimura already)

now this…..this is where my timeline gets fuzzy

because i cant really remember how fast i beat lj before starting his dramas

or if maybe i started them before even finishing the game

skipping ahead to January 2023 and I’ve definitely wrapped lj by this point

and have watched a fair amount of kimura dramas (i genuinely cant give a number tho 😭)

around this point, ive determined that im fairly confident in being audhd

and i personally would have described kimura as a combined special interest-hyperfixation at this point (because the intensity would ebb and flow in a way)

started collecting things, starting with his albums and his live recordings (and eventually a lot lot more [I’ll get back to scanning consistently eventually I promise lol])

the defining moment to when I finally crossed from Kimura to SMAP…

…was actually watching Go with the Flow

I had heard bits of SMAP, but, as many unfortunately discover, accessibility to their music is…..well it’s just not there lol

I even got YouTube Music because I found playlists of SMAP performances and could just listen to them while I was working or driving

not that I could really hear them all that well since they were all live performances w screaming or muffled audio/crunchy audio/remixes/etc etc etc

(except for pams seigi shoutout to pams seigi [sorry goro 😔; also i linked that specific one for the tags but please look in the reblogs for a diff version of seigi that they did because it’s ridiculously good])

On Go with the Flow, Kimura performs “Style” which made me go on basically a witch-hunt to find the song since it wasn’t an album track and I didn’t know SMAP’s discography

Eventually found out it was SMAP (Kimura solo on s.m.a.p specifically) and decided that I actually really needed to listen to SMAP

aaaaaand I did ☺️

and then I found Jes yeah no I definitely didn’t

and…that is my SMAP origin story

[jyndor]

My guess is that “this is a first for me” now refers to the fact that Cassian’s never been in prison while awaiting execution. He’s been sent to prison for crimes not punishable by death (not that prison wasn’t its own death sentence, at least on Narkina 5) but he’s never been locked in a cell knowing he could get a blaster bolt between the eyes within hours of being locked up. The Partisans were almost certainly planning to execute him, Chirrut and Baze; they just had to clear it with Saw first. As a secondary qualifier, it could also refer to the type of prison; it’s probably the smallest cell he’s ever been in, and it’s in a cave instead of an incarceration facility.

lol okay so i really went in on this as is my mo, not because anything you said is wrong or whatever lol it's your opinion. but it's sparked Discourse in my head rip

i feel like since the show aired i just haven't been explaining myself clearly with this but i'll try: i don't care what headcanon someone uses to handwave a thing that doesn't track 100%. i do it when something just doesn't track to ME or when i feel like telling canon to fuck off lol askdhasjdh but people will use their headcanon explanations to tell folks canon is still consistent. it's NOT lol it's a retconnnnnn

this is why i don't like retcons generally speaking. it just isn't that hard to stick to what canon already says, and while this one isn't really important at all (like it's a comment cassian makes offhandedly and can easily be handwaved like this) i think writers should try to avoid retcons (not always, sometimes things should be retconned because they're trash? but usually yeah retcons are meh). and then when you've got like a relatively small fandom like rogue one's that has been going along with what we all thought was canon until the show aired, it's extremely aggravating to be told that oh actually what we thought was true (even though until a few months ago it was) is not true anymore and aren't we crazy for not seeing that??? not that you have said any of that btw im not talking about you lol.

like i shouldn't have to qualify things to make them make sense with the main piece of media - which rogue one is. andor is a prequel to rogue one. rogue one is not a sequel to andor. andor has the responsibility to track with rogue one because it's supplementary material for rogue one. plus rogue one came out first. i shouldn't have to do mental gymnastics to make little moments in rogue one still make sense. and luckily i can divorce andor from rogue one pretty well and handwave shit and come up with my interpretations like yours and other fans' but we shouldn't HAVE to. it isn't a high bar to meet to be consistent.

when i analyze media, i always start with an out-of-universe (doylist) approach. i look for preconceived notions that might have influenced the writing, i look for motivations and at the history of the writers, etc. and then i can more easily take an in-universe (watsonian) approach. it's just hard for me to ignore inconsistencies, writer biases, real world context etc. probably because i have ocd and i am very literal. that's a personal problem lmfao.

so i can't even get there with things like this because it's obvious to me that tony gilroy, who did not write the film, wanted to tell a great story. he wanted to write what he wanted to write and wasn't super concerned with it lining up 100% with the film in a literal way. and he did. i mean all gripes aside andor is a fabulous show. easily the best thing i've seen all year. but i've still got my gripes lmfao.

in this case i think it's understandable that he'd do that because it actually doesn't make a whole lot of sense that cassian wouldn't have gotten caught by someone at some point. it is more reasonable that he would have. and for someone like the cassian in the show who is certainly anti-imperial, has politics despite what other people in the show say, but is not necessarily radicalized, yeah it makes sense that being sent to prison based on some bullshit xenophobic profiling would radicalize him. that is me doing some in-universe analysis btw.

but let's not kid ourselves. it doesn't fit with that line. before the show aired, not a single viewer thought he was lying or on some obi-wan bullshit with the "certain point of view" thing at that moment. yes, he's a liar. yes, he's a spy.

chirrut, who knows cassian is a captain not because cassian tells him he is but because of the force lol (this is why cassian gives him a weird look like 'how the fuck do you know that???'), takes him at his word and then says 'there is more than one sort of prison' meaning that just because cassian hasn't been literally locked up, it doesn't mean he doesn't have things that hold him back or imprison him metaphorically. that's the whole point of that moment - and lol it's actually kind of a more insulting retcon than I initially thought because chirrut reads cassian extremely well throughout the film with the force. but apparently he doesn't because he takes cassian at his word on jedha.

when cassian is about to go assassinate galen and he's avoiding jyn's eyes and being all shady lol, the camera keeps panning to chirrut looking away from the rest of the group but with a very disgusted expression on his face. he tells jyn that 'the force moves darkly around a creature that is about to kill' when she is like ??? the fuck do you mean by does cassian look like a killer?????

my point is that chirrut has a very good understanding of cassian's vibes in the force. chirrut takes him at his word on jedha but he is visibly disgusted by cassian on eadu. cassian actually being in prison before jedha changes chirrut's connection to the force for me. hmm now i'm mad LOL.

we were not intended to think cassian was lying on jedha. we were however intended to catch how shifty cassian was being on eadu - not making eye contact with jyn in a very overt way, not making a whole lot of sense to anyone, chirrut's callout, baze's deliberate use of "he has the face of a friend" but not that he IS a friend (although he is <333) because again. spy. mask. lying. that's what baze and chirrut call out on eadu, and what makes jyn realize that she fell for cassian's deception. it's really important that chirrut's connection to the force is credible because otherwise lol okay he's just some guy who fights well. he's not that - he's a guardian of the whills and his connection to the force is undeniable if not defined.

cassian's lying on eadu until he has his moment of truth. it's a different feel than his interactions with everyone else on jedha (although when he's talking to jyn about meeting tivik's sister he deliberately doesn't make eye contact).

cassian makes eye contact when he's being honest - the hangar scene, the eadu fight with jyn (which... lol im not even going there right now), definitely on scarif a number of times and most notably in the elevator. when he's lying, he gets avoidant.

that's a deliberate choice by the writers, director and diego ofc. in 2015/2016.

cut to 2020/2021 or whatever and tony gilroy, who did an immense amount of work on rogue one with the reshoots (allegedly mostly in the 3rd act of the film although that first scene with cassian is all him lol - also side note why couldn't he have cut the bor gullet smdh) to the point that he got a screenwriter's credit because of SWG(? the union idk) rules (totally fair of course, but i think a lot of people don't know that he didn't literally write the film or create cassian lol), is writing the best story he can and isn't really worrying about how much it tracks with minutiae from the film or like idk what pablo hidalgo wrote in guidebooks lol (pretty sure that's where the fest thing came from as well as him being 26 and jyn being 22? but also i mean im not sure if that hadn't been decided by the writers of the film).

i mean you'd have to ask him but im sure he'd say as much - that he wanted to tell a great story and as long as it was mostly consistent or could be considered consistent with who cassian will be in rogue one, it's easily handwaved or explained. and yeah that's true for most people but unfortunately for me i'm neurodivergent as hell with a hyperfixation on this dumb film and plus i have severe ocd so i notice discrepancies. and they annoy me.

i wanna be clear: i don't think this is the most egregious retcon of the show. not at all. but i'd like people to acknowledge that it is a retcon and that no, gareth edwards and chris weitz and gary whitta did not intend for cassian to be like "well actually what i meant is that technically, i have been imprisoned but i wasn't sentenced to death" or whatever reason we may now individually use to make it make sense. and i don't see a problem with doing that - i literally make headcanon all the time because canon ends in a way im sad about LOL. but this is headcanon. because canon doesn't track with itself.

also just a note: personally i think it's pretty clear cassian knows that narkina COULD be a death sentence. cassian understands narkina is dangerous as hell from the moment he steps his bare foot onto that metal floor. they fry people. he's smart, to me he knows it's a potential death sentence. but that's just my interpretation of the show.

i think the best way to handwave this retcon is to say cassian hasn't been imprisoned by rebels before or by alleged allies. or maybe in service of the rebellion.

*and cassian recognizes chirrut's force-ishness immediately, which is why he asks if he's a jedi. (it's why im like lol everyone just shut up about cassian not knowing what jedi are, i don't need an explanation for how he learns about them. i don't need them to make a big thing of whether or not cassian knows what jedi are because of course he does, jedi are in fact extremely well known in the galaxy and this is an area where im like tony gilroy stay on your lane XD)

[watchingbehindtheeyes]

Im extremely hyper fixated on Nova/Ido but there's barely any fanfics or fan arts, They need to drop the sequel to revive the fandom again 😔

Nova/Ido ? In 2024??? (What I mean is, I didn't see that since 2019 huh)

Well, I don't ship them; by that I mean, I like to think about them interacting, it's just that it doesn't feel right to call it a ship in my head.

Tho I'm sure that in my drafts I store motifs that people who ships them would find interesting?

Counting drawings on tumblr where movie Nova and Ido are interacting I only recall... 3. That's not much for 5 years indeed. In general, in this fandom, there is a problem to find fan arts where characters interact.

(I guess you'll take anything with them at this point heh xD')

If it helps, I can DM you my old sketch where I drew them both? (and trying to capture their height difference)

Also, in the movie they never interact BUT in the official prequel book for the movie by Pat Cadigan, an interaction occurs between them tho I don't want to spoiler. It's short but serves as the climax of the story if I remember right. Also, at the beginning of the book, after learning about his family has to exile from Zalem, Ido demands Nova to visit them at home and tell them that in person. Ofc Nova refuses. He only allows Ido to build a pod so they won't die from the fall.

Considering the manga, Ido's connection to Alita, and the interest Nova expressed to have in Ido in the prequel book, either direct or indirect meeting between them in the sequel(s) seems inevitable.

[darksouls2yuri]

ur making me want to get into halo but I don’t know anything about halo. tell me why I should get into halo

‼️OK DISCLAIMER I WROTE A LOT‼️

ive technically been into halo since i was a little kid. my first experience with it was my older cousins playing halo 2 multiplayer and handing me a controller to terrorize me (they did this with black ops 2 also). that jumpstarted me being captivated by halo. i was really into how the spartans looked i was like. woaaah these dudes are awesome. which is a no brainer bc i also thought clone troopers were awesome as a little kid too (they still are. i love star wars prequels and i really like halo a lot).

anyway. i really think the expanded canon of halo is interesting! theres a lot of stuff to pick through and a lottttt of lore. theres like over 30 books for these games. im only like a chapter into the first one (which its really good so far. im really into fall of reach). the gameplay isnt really anything to write home about to me, but im not a huge fan of shooters in general. i like the COD campaign stories, hate watching the missions. same for Halo. i loveeee the arbiter sections in Halo 2 though. his HUD is purple and you can go stealth mode :)

the story for the original 3 games is really good! and reach and odst are also very good. theyre all solid games. really good dialogue, master chief is short and blunt, cortana is a kind of funny/witty nag, johnson is so so funny. AND MIRANDA. REALLY AWESOME I LIKE HER A LOT. i love 343 guilty spark hes also very funny, a little blue cuck ball type beast. and i love the arbiter hes awesome. verbose and honorful i love him. the graveminds dialogue in 2&3 is just like aaaaaah its so awesome really clever and powerful stuff. the games themselves are also super beautiful, the art direction and sound design are so so good and really make the games come together beautifully.

i think a good place to start would just be to look up a longplay of halo, or maybe an overview video/series of the story. obviously i havent played the games first hand, my beautiful wife is doing all the playing because i dont think i would be able to do that myself.

anyway i really like halo and i love master chief and the arbiter. i want to put master chief in my pocket and let him take a nap while i go to panera bread with thel 'vadam.

[malt-rants-and-stuff]

Hey malt um i see u posting about an anime on my dash and im getting into a lot of different anime to fill the homeless gay dog void um. Do you wanna tell me about your anime maybe?

OH DO I? finn my dear friend you dont even know what you're getting into here. reaching into the depths of my true form: main fandom brainrot.

okay given that im sasamiya posting rn im going to Assume you mean them but i was also posting about dunmeshi earlier so if you wanna hear about that too just let me know but AH. There is so much to sayyyy

Okay going to try and break it down to the basics here but sasamiya (or as its actual title, Sasaki to Miyano) is basically my mcu. my sasamiya-verse. there are two manga series currently ongoing in this universe but the world is in my hands and there are so many other fandom made one's i'll get into in a bit. But For Now.

Sasaki to Miyano's basic premise is- as copied from mdex because it really is worded best there- "It all started like a typical old-school boys’ love plotline—bad-boy senior meets adorably awkward underclassman, one of them falls in love, and so on and so forth. But although Miyano is a self-proclaimed boys’ love expert, he hasn’t quite realized…he’s in one himself. Which means it’s up to Sasaki to make sure their story has a happily ever after…!"

That's it. fun and simple and sweet gay love story set-up we love to see it. Except that it can never be so simple. Because the author, harusono shou, does this crazy thing called being a really good writer who creates beautifully alive characters for me to shake like maracas in my brain.

Like, you think it's simple. Miyano is a loveable bl fan who hasn't put much thought into his sexuality, Sasaki is the guy he successfully gets into his hyperfixation and they grow from that shared interest into an adorable relationship. But Then they hit you with the Miyano body insecurities and youre like hey, wait a minute. And then they caually show Sasaki displaying every single symptom of undiagnosed depression in his childhood and you have to stop and go hey... And then they have to have Hanzawa mother fucking Masato (lovingly said. absolute beloved character.) and you quickly realize that this isnt just some sweet romance story. it's a sweet romance story with the most quietly complicated character writing one only dreams of <- im biased and obsessed. may not be true to life but [shrugs] there is no one doing it like harusono and her thousands of words of character analysis that she has written about her own characters. i love her fr.

Im trying not to spoil things here really but it is genuinely such a lovely and interesting story, the light novels are literally my entire life, occasional side character Shirahama Kyouji is genuinely my favorite character and he probably has a total of 8 scenes in the translated manga so far. he was my blog theme for like 2 weeks straight earlier this year i am insufferable about him and everything he both is and isnt.

And that isn't even getting into Hirakagi. the agonies. Hirano to Kagiura, the technically prequel spin-off manga about sasaki's best friend and the gay shenanigans he gets up to with his roommate. they make me sob and also make me sick its great. could not reccomend it more even if you never read sasamiya or vice versa just one of them is such a great read.

The biggest appeal for me though is definately the fandom though. like i have been in So Many Fandoms as you can tell from the absolute chaos that is my blog, but ive probably only experienced this sort of fandom experience once before in my whole entire life. im so entrenched. the thing about being a, while popular, still very much a bl series that doesnt get much in terms of fan or official content, is that eventually something has to give. usually that means that the fandom is either dead or rarely gets talked about, which you would think to be true i you just looked at the main tags, but ive never been in a fandom that breathes to much... life?? into itself??? dont know how to word it. we make it work around here basically.

like after years of gaps between chapters we all collectively just went "okay how about we just do it ourselves" and essentially made the fandom into goncharov before there was ever a goncharov yk. like the actual story is really good and well done and then we all just went and made it our own to keep ourselves sane, and it worked!! we call it hanzawa to tashro!!! it is in our minds and also technically in the text. its so amazing here i cant even explain it well enough. my friends @/dirtbra1n @/aranarumei @/kagiuraakira and @/sunnnfish and so many others (we're all easy to find we stalk each other's blogs to talk about all of this) make awesome posts about it. #riverposting or #hanzawa to tashiro are good places to look if youre interested. i also talk about them A Lot over here to you can look through what I have too though a lot of it has like specific aus like #dating sim au and stuff tagged on mine, so the others are better bets for general meta posting fun. Just. Its so fun here. also if youve ever liked jeweler richard then shameless plug bc my dear friend kiri wrote the anomalous agate which is a beautiful and fun crossover with hanzawa to tashiro and tcfojr which is so so good if you're interested.

Just, there is a lot and this definately didn't cover it all. i want to explain riverposting but that takes Time and Context and also was explained before by sunnnfish on their blog im pretty sure (and they do amazing art over on @/sunnfish with 2 n's) if you ever feel like checking this all out. i love this place a lot.

[stikblog]

What do you think of Off the Grid Nightmare? And what do you think stikbot needs to have a full return?

"What do you think of Off the Grid Nightmare?"

ehhhhh i have mixed feelings about it. i've talked about it in the discord a bit, and i still stand by what i said for the most part about the foreshadowing (or lack thereof cough cough) and pacing being kind of not good.

(long rant ahead!)

this point has been done to death by basically everyone in the stikbot fandom, but i'll say it again: the original off the grid was so popular because it was aimed at a much older audience. it took itself seriously for the most part, even if it was kind of corny sometimes, and the story was thought out and interesting! being created by moonshine animations also helped, i'm sure. nightmare doesn't have the same vibe because i do believe it was heavily sanitized to appeal to that sweet sweet "7 and under" demographic.

im not gonna lie the story is weaksauce. i love that the nightmare realm is being explored, but it almost feels like the new series isn't doing it justice, y'know? its as if they're trying to cram so much into just 22 minutes of animation that the entire thing loses so so much quality. and its honestly not really interesting, either. sanitation strikes again, making the dialogue and characters feel like happy meal toys compared to the og. the stakes are nonexistent because EVERYONE knows that nothing bad is ever going to happen to striker, and the new monsters don't feel like a threat. they feel like a joke! i get the vibe that the story was still on the first draft in the meeting room and the team just said "fuck it, that's what we're going with."

im personally biased against the new VA's because im an og fan 4 life, but i do think they're alright ngl. the animation is noticeably choppier, but im not going to really drag that point out. i never expected it to be as good as the og, so i don't really care, but it'd feel wrong to not at least mention. im mostly just pissed that they massacred my boys like this through the lackluster plot and writing. nightmare had the chance to be soso good and they fucked it up!!! rahh!!!!

"And what do you think stikbot needs to have a full return?"

hard to say. if i could go back in time and somehow rewrite otg:n, i would have turned it into an epilogue story set years into the future, with a new cast and plot, with a changed world that is obviously still the stikbot universe and story we all know and love. (or. y'know. ACTUALLY CREATE THE GREAT STIKBOT WAR PREQUEL YOU PROMISED US AND THEN NEVER DELIVERED ON. @/STIKBOTCENTRAL. ahem. that is a rant for another day.)

as much as i want to, obviously i can't go back and right the wrongs of the past, so what now? i think stikbot needs another series aimed at an older audience. they're obviously trying to milk OTG for all it's worth, and that grittier vibe was what made it a success. but i do think it's time we officially retire OTG. it was fun, but we need something fresh and new! with literally everything else on the stikbot central channel being baby proof tho, i don't really see that happening unless they really change up the writers room over at stikbot central headquarters. moonshine carried the entire series fr and we need someone else like him who actually knows how to write a good kids show @ zing like. right now. its dire.

sorry for such a long rant lol, as you can tell im very passionate about this. feel free to slide into my inbox again; im always excited to answer questions!

[zydrvs]

hate for the sequels??

i personally really don’t understand all the hate the star wars sequels receive. the most i’ve been told is that it has a boring storyline and theoretically wouldn’t work in the star wars universe.

but are we forgetting that it’s star wars? it’s literally science fiction anything can happen.

also, if we want to get into the technical parts of the universe, the amount of different planets that the characters visit might imply that there are different laws and things that can happen on the planet.

i personally think that the plot of the sequels is really good, it’s got a badass villain and a badass hero, who end up having one of the most incredible interpretations of an enemies to lovers arc i personally have ever seen. so it’s not ‘lazy writing’.

and people are often saying that rey is like a remake of luke skywalker. to me it’s genuinely like people pick at every little thing that they can to diss the sequels, so what if reys in a slightly similar situation to luke? i personally think it helps for later on in tlj when they’re on the island together, they can understand each other a lot easier.

and to be honest, i’m not a massive fan of the prequels, i don’t really have reasons they’re just not my cup of tea. so i’m not trying to tell people to love the sequels, you don’t have to, im just asking that people don’t disrespect those who do like the sequels, because it’s really not hard to just not like something and shut up about it.

[feartheoldblog]

ok here goes i guess. full disclaimer ghost is the only band i have a shirt of so uh yeah i think their music is ok. also your post reminded me they have a new ep i havent listened to yet so ive been playing that all day.

the chronology is kind of split up by album so ill go by that

Opus Eponymous (good fucking metal album):

So ghost started out as a concept band of over-the-top tongue-in-cheek anonymous satan worshippers. That has since changed for a couple reasons I'll get into. Anonymity was a big thing for the first few albums, every song was credited as written by a "nameless ghoul" and they all wore masks and the frontman wore corpse paint and i think some facial prosthetics so you couldnt tell who anyone was. Of course some people had guesses (and they turned out to be right lmao). The frontman was called Papa Emeritus and he wore like evil satan antipope clothes and shit. There's also this whole "Clergy" thing which is like the satanic church ghost represents - they're also a band in lore, and their goal is to gain converts by getting fans through the music.

Infestissumam (my favorite album):

Papa Emeritus 1 was an old man and one day he died. I think. Or he retired or something. So to release the new album, we got Papa Emeritus 2, who was Papa 1's younger brother (still like in his 40s or 50s or so). It was still obviously the same guy behind the makeup but who cares its lore baby. I think they actually summoned satan? There's a reading of the first two albums as concepts of a group doing evil magic devil summoning and then a world where the antichrist is actually walking around doing stuff. Anyway I don't remember Papa 2 doing much.

Meliora (their best album but not my favorite. ):

Papa 2 got taken out behind the shed or something i wasnt really into the lore at this point. Being into Ghost and being into the lore is two very different things, you really gotta be paying attention to be in on the lore. Papa Emeritus 3 debuts with this album, which also marks the band's beginning of their shift towards a more poppy sound (the is Ghost metal? debate has been waged for years by the worst metal fans in the world [on both sides] and all i have to say is if you need music to fall into a definition of your preferred genre in order to like it you don't like music, you like putting things in boxes and sounding smart). Papa 3 was the youngest brother, and he was big into the limelight and rockstar image in a way his more serious older brothers were not. This was also a height of their popularity anecdotally (i swear i heard square hammer on the radio once). Papa 3 was a slut, he was absolutely the one to fuck with socks on. Which is funny, cause I had never heard that bit about him fucking with socks on but I do know a guy in real life who fucked with socks on. Crazy.

Prequelle (came out right before covid lmao their weakest album though imo):

Papa 3 was abducted by goons right at the end of their big tour. oh no what happened? They started putting out "Message from the Clergy" videos on their youtube (might still be there) which introduced our boy Cardinal Copia (not a member of the family) who was a mousy little clergyman, and Papa 0 who was like the head of the church (and a few nuns i forget their names). Also in one of those videos all 3 former Papas were killed (they were alive? huh). Prequelle is also where the lawsuit happened which, uh, was a big fucking mess to put it lightly. Band members of the previous three albums were arguing with the frontman about pay (which was an issue cause like i said before, all the songs were credited to an anonymous ghoul), and like limb bizkit says its all about the he said she said bullshit. anyway they had to break the anonymity to go to court, so people learned that the frontman was actually Tobias Forge (formerly of Subvision). This was the prevailing theory by the way not the hugest surprise. I'm not going to get into details of the trial (cause i forget really) but im sure you can find it on the fuckin sweden legal database or whatever. Anyway, the band did kind of break up over this - some of the original longtime members left and Forge continued with the name Ghost and a rotating group of musicians.

Impera (impera is good but when i listened to it i was also having kind of a major depressive episode so that may have affected my opinion):

This is where I largely fell out of the Ghost lore loop. I hear Copia got promoted to Papa 4 which is good for him, nice kid. He's in like his 40s too i think.

They're kinda like the Four Kings cause a new one comes in when the old one dies and if you don't do enough damage there's actually 5 of them. and their music sucks

THE FOUR KINGS REF 😭😭😭

ghost WISH they could have a cultural impact as profound as dark souls 1’s four kings battle and boss theme

thank you for the proper run down i was fighting for my life trying to piece everything together from the shreds i could find (i refuse to watch a 40 minute youtube video sorry i’m stubborn). it literally reminded me of when i first played bb and was like ‘what the fuck happened’, went researching and ended up even more confused.

also you’re so real for your comment on forcing music into really specific categories. why can’t people just enjoy something without arguing over stupid shit like that………… rock? metal? nah, they’re just cringe. embrace it and be free.

question to leave bc i’m a souls bro

who would win in a fight: copia or patches dark soul?????

discuss