#also sooo many good shots this episode

[mortalscience]

ten caps per episode - Law and Order Criminal Intent - s02e13 - See Me

Suspect’s lawyer: It's unheard of. Arresting a doctor in the middle of a surgery?  Eames: Or as we call it, "during the commission of a crime."

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

june 2024 octa + 4koma manga updates

As a reminder, no Episode of Savanaclaw manga chapter this month ^^ And without further ado, some of the highlights (in my opinion) of the latest manga updates:

This month's cover page illustration features Yuuta and Grim marveling over a chess board (since at this point in the story they're camping out in Savanaclaw). If you look closely, each of the pieces on the chessboard represent the relevant TWST characters; there are two card soldiers (presumably one for Ace and one for Deuce), a wolf for Jack, a hyena for Ruggie, and a lion for Leona on the "white" side. On the opposing "black" side (fitting, since Azul will OB soon) are two eel pieces for the twins and one octopus piece for Azul.

We continue the adorable overly flattering Ace from last month's chapter! Sad to say that I, too, would be completely fooled by this act-- asbfalebqejdqo The older merguard is also very cute and enthusiastic. I love that the manga can give faceless NPCs and mobs actual eyes. It grants them a lot more personality and soul! We continue the adorable overly flattering Ace from last month's chapter! Sad to say that I, too, would be completely fooled by this act-- asbfalebqejdqo The older merguard is also very cute and enthusiastic. I love that the manga can give faceless NPCs and mobs actual eyes. It grants them a lot more personality and soul!

HECK YEAH, IT'S TWEELS tERRORISM TIME BBABY 🤡 Jade and Floyd got sooo many good shots this chapter????? Love that the second page above shows us just how long Floyd is + how the two genuinely delight in scaring our crew (RIP Ace, he looks so close to death's door when he seeks Jade and Floyd peeking at him).

These panels paint the picture of the chase and fight being very frantic for our crew, but really being a chill game to the Leech brothers. They definitely have the upper hand this whole time, and the art helps to convey that feeling!

(Side note: that face Deuce makes with the pinched mouth is also top tier 👌)

So this chapter is the one where Leona swipes the keys to Azul's vault and robs him of all the golden contracts. This results in many, MANY distressed, panicked, and/or desperate expressions from Azul... all of which are soooo delicious <3 There's a ton more than what I've included here (I picked some of my faves), I just couldn't include them all because of Tumblr post image limits.

THE SMUGZUL LAUGH?????? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ? HIS ANSWER TO THE OJOUSAMA LAUGH

Featuring: out-of-shape nerd (relatable) Azul fans fr feasting this update 🙏

RUGGIIIIIIE 🥰 He makes a lot of :3 faces that are just great!!

ANOTHER THING THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION WAS THE SHEER AMOUNT OF LEONA SMUG IN THIS CHAPTER I MEAN SEEING LEONA SMUG MAKES ME GRIT MY TEETH AND WANNA KNOCK HIM DOWN A PEG BUT WOW IS HE PRETTY LIKE THIS AUVYFB32T73RANfhbabfobiqrBI/.L;,'KJM;N GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I HAT EYOU KINHSCHPLAR I HATE YOU SO MUCH i'm gONA PUNCHHF YOU IN YOUR STUPID SLUTTY ,.,NAFCLAVICLE

anyway Anyway ANYWAY!!!!!! Azul is so close to snapping now, boys :)))) Soon... SOON, OB AZUL AND CHILD!OCTAVINELLE IN HIS FLASHBACK...

Now for 4koma news! This month features a comic about Epel playing Magift/Spelldrive and another comic about Jamil cooking curry.

My favorite segment from the Epel comic! Grim is peak cuteness here, love that he curls into himself to brace for impact, INCLUDING THE FRIGGIN TAIL.

HLBQVUFOQVIYFA; This part made me think of my Gordon Ramsay in Twisted Wonderland series, specifically the fish-themed installment with Jamil and Deuce; in it, Jamil plots on making a seafood dish to serve to Azul as revenge for the events of book 4. In the Jamil 4koma this month, Jamil sees Octavinelle and then considers making a seafood/fish curry with that smug-ass face in the bottom-most panel 💀 That's all for now! See you next month for more~

[lyricallyxo]

I know we're all disappointed about stranger things day so here are my thoughts about why it was like that:

The election (duh). Obviously they didn't know the outcome but I do think that even with the no promo on the 5th could be linked to how insensitive it might seem to be trying to take away from this great tragedy that some people are facing (even if for some of us we crave the distraction)

S5 might come out AFTER the next stranger things day. If this was the last one before the final season then they'd want to make it big with a lot of teasers and excitement to get people excited. Obviously s5 won't come out for a while so it wouldn't make sense to rile people up to only then have them wait ten months, you know? So maybe s5 is coming out after the next stranger things day so they're saving all their fun stuff

I also want everyone to remember that they aren't done filming yet. And that they have sooo many special effects in this show that take a while to create. We aren't getting a trailer or even a teaser--nothing from the show itself because they haven't finished it.

They can't fully edit episodes until they have an ending. They don't know yet what scenes to take out or what shots to focus on, they need the entire season filmed before they can see how to piece everything together.

So please be patient. This is not only entertainment but an art medium and if we really care about it being good, we need to give them the time and space to make it good

[fandomwe1rd0]

In defense of Morty

I mean...I did one of these for the drunk, abusive, old man...it's only fair if I do one for the sweet, good-natured grandson whom he traumatized.

Now, like the Rick one, I will not be defending Morty's actions despite the title. While I think Morty is A LOT more easy to defend than Rick, I will not be defending him, I seek to understand why he did what he did, and not to defend it. Cool? Cool.

Sooo let's choose 3 especially bad things he did. One of them is ask Rick to make a love potion for Jessica...that was...oof...yeahhh that was bad. 2nd is killing innocent people in purge planet that was...something. And last but not least, killing people while using the death crystal. This will be an interesting one folks!

Okkk let's start off with him asking Rick to make a love potion for Jessica, sweetie, I love you but this wasn't cool. Rick wasn't too far off when he called it a "roofie-juice serum" you're making someone do something they normally wouldn't do so you can uh...do...activities with them. Not cool sweetheart. But, this was done to show Morty's naivete. In season 1, he was all in all a pretty innocent and naive boy, I mean, he was TRAUMATIZED the first time he shot someone in season 1, now he's cool with shooting anyone. Season 1 was about breaking down that innocence, asking for a love potion is a pretty childish idea, since when you're a kid, you don't think too hard about consent or any of that, and think that if you give them a love potion, that's the equalivilent to consent, obviously now we know that's not true, but when you're a kid, it doesn't really sink in and, like it or not Morty is, wait for it, a kid. He also DEFINETILY does NOT have a healthy view on what love is, due to his parents being to only adults in his life besides Rick, and Rick has cynical views on love, and his parents argue all the time. He doesn't know what love is, and that would probably be the healthiest thing to "love" in his books. Is it healthy? No. But since he doesn't know what healthy love is, he would consider that healthy. He also acknowledges that he was partially to blame, while Rick takes none of the blame. Why are people so much harsher to Morty about this than they were to Rick? Rick is the adult. The smartest man in the universe. He should've been smart enough to refuse it, but he didn't. He never accepted his part of the blame, but Morty did. What Morty did wasn't right, but he doesn't know what healthy love is, which is a part of why he's obssessed with Jessica.

Okkk next up Purge Planet! Oh boy what an episode. So quick brief on what he did in this episode, he went to a planet that was purging. Morty at first was hesitant to participate in it, wanting to just go home and not watching the purge, at first he was pretty clearly on the side of good, but eventually gets into it and goes out of his way to kill people who were purging, but even some innocent people that were just trying to hide. He was clearly not in the right headspace, he was letting all the repressed rage he's been bottling up for who-knows-how-long. Now while death and destruction don't really matter in this universe, so it isn't that bad in the context of the show, I already started writing this soooo it's too late to turn back. Besides there's not that many outwardly bad things this kid did soooooooooo. Alright back on track, now, obviously not defending murder (unless it's the murder of mr. Jellybean or Planetina fuck them bitches) but let's take a look at the person who he spends most of his time with. You guys know who it is. Rick! Now Rick is a pretty violent person, he usually kills in self defense, but there was a handful of times where he didn't. Most famously Mr. Jellybean, we can all agree that he deserved it though. Now Morty hangs around Rick all the time, and Rick forces him to shoot people, the very first time was in the pilot, where he told Morty to cover for him and when Morty said no, Rick lied about the people chasing them being robots. There were mutiple times where he has been forced to shoot people. And Morty clearly holds a lot of resentment towards Rick, I mean it's clear as day, he even threatened to kill Rick in this very same episode, Rick forcing Morty to be violent, along with the repressed rage he has, is a lot on the little guy. So when he finally has a chance to let out that repressed rage, no matter how unethetical, he's going to do it. Is it right? Ha. No. But we are not here to defend him, we are here to understand his actions better. And it's worth mentioning that he felt horrible afterwards, Rick very rarely feels guilt for his actions, yet people give him a lot of flak, Morty feels guilt and is a literal child. He deserves more slack than people give him, his actions here were not right, but combinding the repressed rage, stress, and violence, this makes perfect sense.

Last up! The crystal episode, now the episode starts with Morty leaving Rick for dead. He attempted to shoot Rick in season 3, so this isn't all too surprising, besides, Rick does treat Morty pretty horribly on a day to day basis, so it makes sense that Morty would be done with it by now, I would've been done with Rick after season 1. Besides, that's not the real issue here, the real issue is how many innocent people he killed in the process. So another quick brief on this episode, Morty finds a crystal that tells you how you're gonna die. Despite Rick saying the crystals aren't useful, Morty uses one of them nonetheless, he sees that if he does things in a speific way, he will be able to die with Jessica, so he does exactly what he needs to do so he can die with Jessica. This is more proof on his obssession with Jessica, but we already covered it, so I will not elaborate on it. So, he kills people so he can die with her. I will do a quick kill count, he kills appromiately (This is an extermely rough estimate)

2 bullies. (One bully wasn't killed but was stuck to the wall)

Servely injured 2 policemen (They were still alive but permentently disfigured)

17 miltary people (Damn)

And that's about it. I'm fandomwe1rd0, and this has been the kill count, (heh, dead meat reference)

Ok so he kills a lot of people here, like a lot. But also, Morty just isnt happy in his life. Really Jessica is what makes him happiest, which might also be an explaination for his obssession with her, but that's a topic for another post, maybe, if people are interested. Now he sees a way he can be with her, and he'll do anything to chase that happiness, it's not right, it's not healthy, but he wants to be happy so bad that he'll do anything. He also takes responibility for his actions, which is something Rick doesn't do, so cut Morty some slack, ok?

Now all of the things I've mentioned are very, very bad. But I like seeing how we can understand these characters and see the reasons why they do what they do, they always have a reason for it, and that's a testamate to how great the show is and how human the characters are. Morty has done a lot of bad, but there are reasons behind them that show us the poor broken scared kid that Morty really is.

[kipperlillyforpresident]

So every summer I do a personal project of some kind. Because I need to have a work addiction to survive. And I think solidly with how much of a mess this last episode was, my personal project for this year is going to be just one giant fix it fic. I'm not even kidding. I'm not a very spiteful person. But with this episode and how much of a complete mess time quangle it was, I simply just, need something to survive off of about the rat grinders that isn't this mess.

Don't get me wrong! This episode had so many good parts. But 1. the last minute "Oh the rat grinders aren't actually completely evil. And removing their rage star fixes it all because sure yeah that's good writing right" 2. The fact that Lucy doesn't even mention KLCK 3. The weird, weird weird continuous virginity jokes. Kind of just. Huh. It felt like I was going through, at least five episodes worth of development within one episode and I think it's somehow both soured and made the season better for me. I'm like so deeply confused and also so deeply frustrated. I feel like I've been shot by a pirate.

Anyways uh, honestly I'm just going to start believing that, KLCK gets brought back later after they have the time and they have a really long and emotional discussion with Lucy about what SHE wants and whether or not she wants KLCK to be revived. Rotating a low polygon 3d model of Kipperlilly in my mind. I love you rageful girl

SOOO TRUE. if you do end up doing a TRG summer project i would LOVE to see it!!! UNQUANGLE THIS NONSENSE!!

But yeah, it's... well, I know I'm biased. I didn't expect an ending I'd like. But I was at least expecting an ending that was... competent...?

Like. As you said, the shatterstars being a complete mind control thing is such a hivemind. ALTHOUGH, all that being said, it also makes their brutal killing of Kipperlilly even fucking worse. Because we do know that she still HAD a shatterstar in her. Brennan specifically said that her shatterstar doesn't join the battle because of the way it was brought into her - meaning she does still HAVE one.

So she still WAS being fucking mind controlled. So according to this logic (which I do think is unsatisfying), her biggest crime was being 15 and asking to be made a part of a conspiracy to revive a god. Which isn't great. IT'S STILL NOT WORTH ETERNAL DAMNATION!!

The way Lucy was just a dead wife montage, even when she was alive... oh it's okay you killed my friends, they killed me to. It also contradicts with all of the rage star bullshit....? because it wasn't them who killed her. it was just a hivemind that took their bodies. i guess.

and the VIRGINITY JOKES. like...? i don't think of myself as a prude...? i do think that fantasy high has always been a bit weird about sex jokes, but it's usually been.. idk.. not so fucking rampant? if i wanted to be more erudite about this, i could absolutely make something about the fact that losing virginity is a status symbol for men and something that 'taints' you as a woman. but i don't know where i;d be going with that tbh.

anyway so true. i have one au where kipperlilly is sent to the seaside for her own mental health and one au where she's otome isekai'd. the house always wins for me.

[slashingdisneypasta]

I just watch Good Day For It... I have so many thoughts!!

With how it was set up, it felt like an indie film, or one of those shows with an hour+ runtime per episode. I had to double check the that this was a on-its-own movie. I don't mean that in a bad way at all! I kinda hoped it was so we could get more story and action XD but it was just- executed sooo well! By the halfway point, I was surprised that Emily hadn't been kidnapped and Luke had to go rescue her. The movie focused on them and their relationship and her getting the answers she needed. No unnecessary drama or action needed to keep us at the edge of our seats. I absolutely love how you can see what the characters are thinking through their emotions and expressions- especially Luke!!!! And I was so so so relieved when we got that happy ending of the family reunited. No prison or death for Luke, Emily and Sarah can get all their answers and hopefully they'll be one bug happy family again ^^

Hec and Rose? Do I need to say anything?? They are the BEST supporting cast ever. Hands down. I need Rose and Reba to hang out. I need more Hec and Rose banter. I need more of Hec not just flirting with Rose and genuinely caring for her. I. Need. Them.

And of course, I can't forget the thugs you- and now I- love. First of all; Norman is my favorite. He's just.... Hooooooo fuck. I need him. I need that man. So in control? So level headed yet dangerous at the same time??? Lord have mercy (it doesn't help at all that I'm 99% sure that this is the same guy who played Foxy. WHAT IS IT WITH THAT MAN AND HIS VOICE!?)

As we can see, this is yet another case of me falling in love with the sidekick/accomplice of the one you're in love(?) With. First buck and Harper, then Big Bad and Granny. Greasy and Psycho, Otis and Baby/Rufus. And now Norman and Wayne. What other team/duo are we going to fall for next? XD

Secondly, all these guys KILLED their roles. Oh my god, they really bring a whole new level to the movie when they're on screen. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a butter knife. They just.... Ohhh my god, I wish I watched this movie sooner so I could appreciate your writing of them more!

Thirdly... Ok the fact that Robert England's character was dealt with by smashing a plate on his head 🤣🤣🤣 I'm sorry, a plate smashing can do serious damage (especially to an old man *cough*) but- the other two got shot, but it's this toon of a man that's finished off with a dish. Please tell me I'm not the only one who found that funny XDDD

And finally.... ALL OF YOU GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT WAYNES EGG COMMENT, BUT NONE OF YA'LL TALKING ABOUT ANY OF LYLES LINES!?!? I don't like that egg comment either, it made my skin crawl too 😅 But believe me, I would take THAT any day over what Lyle said towards Emily, "You like 'em young, eh?"//"So she's legal, now?"//*keeps touching Emily*//I'll let my new girlfriend explain."//"Your sick kid turned into this?"//"Well, I already paid for it." 🤢🤢🤢 Emily my girl I am so sorry. Lyle, I am going to throw you OUTTA THAT WINDOW MYSELF! YOU AND YOUR BOYS CAN COME CATCH THESE HANDS-

All in all, I loved this movie!!! I'm definitely gonna watch it again. And I need to re-read your 'Good day for it' content now, too XD

I could not wait to answer this Sarah. So hi, I'm reporting from the trenches bus stop XD

I'm so jazzed you watched the movie and liked it!!! YES!! I'm absolutely hyperfixated at the moment XD

Right?? I thought it was gonna take forevor to get through it when I started it but the pace was actually really good?? Nothing in it seems like boring filler- and if it is slow, it's just building up tension! XD

I'm also bummed there isn't any more ): I guess though it's a good thing, cuz Norman-Dale-and-Wayne wouldn't be in it ):): (well... maybe Wayne. I HAVE THEORIES. yes they live in the bickerman twins au.)

Yesssss, it has a happy ending and I'm so happy for it XD Happy endings are so underrated 😅😆😄 Just let them be happy!!! Let there be some optimism that they'll get it together and fix everything and everything can be forgiven and everything will be good ^^ 💛💛💛

YES ROSE AND HEC!!! OH MY GOODNESS. THEY ARE THE KINDA PROTAG/SIDE CHARACTERS I LOVE. The well-meaning banter?? The old married couple vibes spliced with the hard-to-get/trying forevor combination??? WAHH!! They're so good XDD I love how Hec is flirty but he's not creepy or threatening. Rose can say no as many times as she likes and he'll make her laugh <3 And- when he came to be Rose's back up against Wayne and Dale??? AGH I was so nervous for them both but so happy to see him come XDD

And the fact that the Sheriff is basically their son??? XDDDD I just thought I'd chuck that in.

... I TOTALLY CALLED IT!! I KNEW YOUR FAVOURITE WAS GONNA BE NORMAN XDD (and yes, that's Richard Brake which means it is absolutely Foxy XD ) I need to make more gifs of that man for you XD He is so pretty <3 And yes- s o in control. That bit where he warns Hec and Rose and Luke that t h e y don't want any trouble?? JEEZ, MAN, BE CAREFUL OF MY DAMN OVARIES, WILL YA??

I was totally about to say 'actually, miraculously my favourite is not the robert englund character this time, i like dale', but i couldn't even think it XD I am s o into Dale for some reason, but 'Dale' kept on getting autocorrected to 'Wayne' when I was drafting this responce in my head XD I obviously love Wayne 🙄😅 (he's under jim and stuart though... but, still, above ink and buckman which is saying something), and YES! YOU'RE RIGHT!! THAT IS OUR PATTERN!! Haha 🤣🤣🤣 I love that XDDD Who is next on our raydar?? 🤔🤔🤔 XD Hmmm XD

'I wish I watched this movie sooner so I could appreciate your writing of them more!' oh there will be more. dont you worry. i have so much in my head; its like when I was into Mr Snake and I kept churning out ideas for him every night XD Wayne x Reader's, Dale x Reader's, N o r m a n x readers... 👀*pointed look at you* // *cough* also Poly!Wayne x Reader x Dale x Norman.

Omg... right??? XDD I've been thinking about Wayne getting the plate, too 🤣 Its too funny. Thats a bit I really wanna gif. When I first watched I honestly I kept thinking we were gonna get a post credits scene of him getting up and brushing the plate bits off himself, chuckling. I've been spoiled by Lake Placid XD

'AND FINALLY'-- I DUNNO ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE BUT I FOR ONE WAS NOT MENTIONING THAT B E C A U S E ITS SO MUCH WORSE 🤣😭🤣😭🤣 Oh my lordddd. At least Wayne's entertaining. Lyle is pure terror. I keep fantasising about him saying horrible things like that to me and one of the others sticking up for me~~ 💛💕^^💕💛 I m u s t admit though- god is that actor good. Oh my god. My skin was crawling and I wanted to punch him. That is g o o d shit. The twisted little creature writer in me is loving it; she wants more. Like with Otis. I'm thinking oh s h i t oh shit oh shit, this writer isn't pulling any punches. I kneel. I just think its s u c h an art, to make horrible disgusting characters and thats why I get SO PUMPED when someone compliments my ability to make my characters gross XD ITS JUST??? Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh XDDD I cant even. But yes- Lyle's lines.

They're terrible XD I WILL JOIN YOU. LETS KICK HIS ASS.

I'm soooooo glad you loved the movie!! It, and Titanic, are my current hyperfixation's so its a good thing you got on board- its gonna be all over your dash and notifs for a bit XD Do you wanna be tagged for Norman content? XD

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. friday we FINALLY kicked off ds9 season 4 with "way of the warrior" pts i & ii and oh my godddd:

firstly, i miss sisko''s hair. the beard looks GREAT it's a HUGE improvement but i miss his hair!! i also kinda miss kira's really butch cut. jadzia's hair is still touch and go...important ds9 topics

drilling changeling combat with odo is SO fun. but like also, such a dramatic turn from like, s1, when he pretends to be objects and doesn't want anyone to remember he can do this, because he wants to be able to spy on them. it's fun and funny etc but i could also write an essay about it. he's allowing his body, once a subject of scientific study that traumatized him, to be used again by his allies as a…if not subject of study again, exactly, a teaching tool. he's teaching them how to find and contain and maybe even hurt his people but at the same time HE IS USING HIMSELF TO DO IT he is ALSO TEACHING THEM HOW TO HURT HIM. yes, they're comically bad at it NOW, but they're just getting started, and it also illustrates how horrifically underprepared they are for his people to come and fuck with them at any time. i can't keep thinking about odo i'm going to make myself insane

spn has traumatized me bc i was half convinced yates was a changeling for most of this episode, since she was in and out so often. but he just gets to have a girlfriend!!! i think it's kind of a shame he never seemed to get any romantic chemistry with the rest of the cast…picard and janeway and kirk all get love interest from the main cast…but i still love watching him flirt and make eyes at this lady

THOLIAN MENTION!!!! my beloveds…someday i wanna see what they look like

julian and obrien doing…whatever it was with the peas. they scripted shot and greenlit this. he is suffering so bad without his wife

I KNEW THEY WOULD START JUST FUCKING CUTTING EACH OTHER EVENTUALLY. right across the palm, too. like speaking of being traumatiozed by spn. jesus.

what in the sweet lesbian fuck was going on with dax and kira in the holosuite…kira basically said no matyter how sexy this is it isn't any good if it isn't real and dax DIDN'T immediately fuck her? star trek's cowardice when it comes to gay people ESPECIALLY dax she's literally kissed women off screen. come on

ODO DRINKING HIMSELF!!! HELLO?

garak getting racially profiled and jumped in his little shop :(

and then we get to WORF……………tbh i was so worried about him changing the atmosphere and i really liked how the atmosphere was already. but the s4 atmosphere is already different in a great way. it was a serious episode w a serious plot yet i was giggling nonstop. and klingon stuff is SO dry on tng and so lively on ds9. idk why i was worried. i am very sad they prince zuko'd him again though

also, the wof/obrien tng reunion…….besties :')

ALSO lol when he ordered prune juice and quark laughed at him and worf gave him the look. this is the most i have liked quark in like an entire season i'm so afraid something bad will happen and ruin it

the dax/worf comes on a little strong ESPECIALLY when i am still sooo :( over no riker e worf e deanna content but they ARE fun to watch. dax seems like a natural choice too since curzon was buddies with so many klingons, i just wish she was SLIGHTLY less forward...this is his first episode...give it time to breathe. maybe odo/kira and bashir/garak has just got me stuck on slow burns for ds9

i do like worf's position here too…he's always stuck in the middle of klingon and starfleet bullshit. it sucks that he got racially profiled YET AGAIN but at least sisko was like "and you absolutely do NOT have to do this" instead of putting on the pressure like picard talking to a bajoran. also, him starting a bar fight on purpose was great

worf and odo conversation………..theyre gonna be so grumpy w each other and i cannot wait

i missed gowran. his eyes are so huge. i didn't always really care when he showed up in tng but somehow he and his enormous eyes have become really special to me. same genre of character as dukat i think

at first i thought sisko was dadding worf a little and maybe he was a TINY bit but i also think it's nice that he's just seeing himself in worf and trying to help him out. i liked all of their conversations a lot because sometimes people are weird about worf being klingon and sisko was actually totally normal and respectful about it. he would never be like worf kill yourself. never.

sisko was SO good in this ep i love when he bends the rules also. getting measured for a new suit and letting garak overhear shit on purpose is very clever but at the same time he's not even trying to be subtle. he knows the right thing to do isn't always following the rule book and he's not even pretending he can do both. unlike PICARD. i think he went bald to flex on picard actually like he does do it better love and light to sir patrick stewart

bashir advising his little guys in the infirmary…please he's so in charge. i also loved him and odo very earnestly wishing each other safety int eh upcoming attack. THEY'RE FRIENDS!!!!!

dukat and sisko were gay this whole episode. i think very seriously there should be a sisko/dukat movement just like there's a bashir/garak movement. i didn't think much of dukat first but i like him more every time i see him. he's just really funny and also gay

quark and garak talking about the cloying qualities of humanity over root beer ??? that was also gay. again, quark in this episode…a breath of fresh air. for once he's just being the fun kind of horrible. also when he wanted to defend his bar and rom stole his weapon lol "i will kill him" "with what?" i love odo sm

i love that kira pointed out the irony of her saving and GETTING STABBED for the cardassian government. times have CHANGED WORF LOOKS GREAT IN RED! he's not head of security anymore but i like that he gets a thinker's job…"worf is a big ugly dumb brute" jokes were OLD AND TIRED on tng!!!

anyway, s4 seems amazing so far. it's almost everything i already liked about ds9 but much more serious and funny at the same time. i will miss the post-war atmosphere since we're not mid-war again but i am really excited to see where it goes

TONIGHT: voy's "non sequitur" and "twisted."

[todorroki]

Love Sea ep 1 thoughts

a little ramble/unorganized post of thoughts on ep 1 of love sea. so i watched the first ep twice, since the first time i was partially live tweeting some of my reactions and missed a few things. i enjoyed it!! quite a bit too, mostly bc i love fortpeat and i'll gobble up absolutely anything they're in. as with mame stories, in order to enjoy them to the fullest, my brain is off, my fujin glasses are on.

first off: gorgeous shots, even more gorgeous setting. i Love bright colors, and this island is really giving just that. like... NATURE!! so much green from the trees and the underwater shots are so good as well. i'm gonna be a little sad when they return to the city. not sure what episode this will land on but my guess is around ep 4? if they keep the pacing as it is right now.

this was a solid first episode. we get introduced to the main cast, their jobs, and a bit of their personality. and the end of the episode gives a glimpse of tongrak's trauma and a preview of the looming problem that should come to light as the series progresses. i'm honestly Very curious how they're going to handle the main conflict, if they're going to take anything out or change it. i am open to what changes they May do since i've already seen a (in my opinion) good change they made for the last scene on the boat.

in the novel, tongrak actually slaps mut when he tries to wipe his tears. yes, full on bitch slap to the face. which, honestly, when i read that part, i looked up from my phone and was like "ok...but why....." so i'm glad they took it out. i'm not mad about having a slap scene in general, but it seemed like a weird reaction (to me), even with the knowledge of WHY rak behaves the way he does. no spoilers, but i had that ????? reaction more than once throughout the novel so hopefully they're able to better translate book scenes to screen. i'll keep my expectations measured regardless.

i'm also wondering if they're going to have conner show up since we have his voice. not gonna lie, i was 90% expecting them to have silence on the other side when talking to conner on the phone. sorry for not believing in u mame lol.. and speaking of PHONE CALLS, idk if i'm traumatized from LITA but i audibly Cheered when i heard proper phone call audio effects. can u tell my expectations for the audio direction were in the ground lmao. and i'm still holding my breath bc LITA had proper call audio in the first ep but dropped it later. praying for consistency over here.

putting my fears aside, PEAT'S STYLING IN THIS SERIES!!! he looks sooo good. and fort in that wetsuit ho my god... so many good visuals here. also i know i read the novel, but i was still completely unprepared for the tongrak attempted seduction scene... i knew it would happen but i wasn't ready to see it with my eyeballs!!! that was WAY more skin than i expected. earlier this week, peat was saying we'd get to see his thighs in ep 1. SIR, we saw much more than that!!! got me screaming at 10am. fortpeat are doing so well here. fort is in his element completely with mahasamut, and peat does vulnerability so so well. i'm excited to see them in more emotional scenes.

now for extra scattered thoughts below ↓

i'm just glad for the brighter setting to see peat's eyes in the light. BEAUTIFUL

2. love sand in the corner of mook's desk and test love on the floor! i enjoy the mame universe easter eggs.

3. the live laugh love-esque font made me laugh sorry

4. MMY WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THIS PHOTOSET IN PREMIUM HD

5. tongrak is stronger than me. if someone started reading my wip i'd shut my screen so fast

anyways i'm VERY excited to see more fortpeat in action. i wrote this post to keep track of my own thoughts, but if you found this and happened to read it, thank you for your time!!

[chippuyon]

How do you feel about episode 10?

Anon I hope you know I had no idea it was out yet and rushed to open it as soon as I saw this I AM IN SHAMBLES

Ok so as I was going through the op again remember this shot?

A metaphorical barrier between Kazuki and Rei and Miri, which makes a LOT more sense now that we know Misaki is taking Miri back. The act of holding the frame symbolizes kazurei's efforts to give Miri the happy life she has now, but they are outside the frame while Miri is inside. They can look in, Miri can't look out. They can't touch or interact with each other anymore.

On to the actual episode lmfao can we talk about how Misaki made herself look so cool and motherly in the kitchen when it turns out she was just microwaving a convenience store meal in the microwave I laughed so hard.

(Also Kazuki's line about there being nothing worse than somebody else messing around in your kitchen just solidified my ocd hc for him this man is sooo ocd adhd coded)

So this episode we learn that Misaki is about to die which, WOAH, was not expecting that. It adds a lot more gravity to the situation and is a believable motivation to take your daughter back. But, again, this does not mean she should be Miri's mother. Because once she grows up Miri will have to constantly be reminded of the fact that she was abandoned by her mom when she was 4. Kinda fucked up!

I do appreciate that Misaki is willing to spend the rest of her life dedicated to Miri, but, as Rei and Kazuki say, it's still just about her. She's only approaching Miri now because she's about to die and doesn't want any regrets before then. But Misaki is right too, their work is dangerous, and on top of that they're being actively targeted right now. The writers did a good job setting up the moral dilemma. The most important factor here though is Miri's happiness, which to her includes both her Papas and Mama so we'll see how that goes.

(That said, if Misaki does end up taking Miri back for good, isn't that cruel? To abandon your daughter, then take her back and properly care for her, while knowing you're just going to leave her alone again sooner rather than later.)

(Another interesting tidbit is Kazuki telling Misaki not to smoke. We know Rei has given up smoking, at least around Miri. Maybe a hint about who will be the best fit for Miri in the end?)

Then there's the family outing which was so adorable and chock full of references to past eps. Love this silent exchange between Kazuki and Rei what are you guys talking about up there let me into your heads...

AND THIS SHOT WITH THE CHRISTMAS WREATH ABOVE THEM GRAHHHH the final ep is gonna be during Christmas and parallel Kazuki catching Miri in ep 1 I just know it.

This dynamic where Kazuki is all too ready to give up on his happiness because he's already lost it before so many times versus Rei who doesn't want to accept it because *this* is his first happiness is juicy as hell and I'm gonna need all the fanartists and fic writers to step on it cause damn!!!

Kazuki putting his scarf around Miri like the cat :( sobbing ueueue need the cat and Miri to return to them later. And as if this ep wasn't painful enough they really had Kazuki closing it on THIS goddamn line

Like just shoot me in the head at this point it would hurt less.

[turtlesocksv2]

Dead Friend Forever Finale Liveblogging

Ahhhhhh it's here!

This show does way too many recaps. I get that it's twisty but like. come one. we don't need recaps at the start of every episode especially when some episodes themselves are recaps. less talking more murder!

the visuals remain insane. sooo good. that opening with TanNew putting ont he mask and smoking while everyone else is passed out? Art. the cinnamon topography of it all.

HE'S GOT A FUCKING FOG MACHINE OF HALLUCINOGENS. absolutely unhinged King.

love that Fluke's worst fear is people shit talking him and the cops.

Top is still fucking breathing? but why.

it's a little mean to send White to Bad Trip Island with everyone else :( babygirl had nothing to do with it :( like i still love you but

love that he's like, giving them weapons. to cause their own downfall and turn on each other.

the final opening credits :( i love them so much they're so good. :(

i hate Top but i cannot deny that the actor is clearly having an AMAZING time being Evil in hallucinations and shit. I too would be chewing all the scenery if given that chance. good for him. Barcode is also having a great time being Unhinged.

lmao at the Viewer Discretion Is Advised that they put IN THE SHOW. was the opening disclaimer not enough??????

OH SHIT. NO IT WAS NOT ENOUGH. i fucking GASPED.

ok so I was pretty sure that Fluke was the one that posted the video but I guess not! Instead he's just being roasted with hellfire about being a fence-sitting, selfish, weakling and that's good he deserves it. If your friends are dong awful shit and you don't stop them, that does not reflect well on you.

Ooooh, Top's hallucination is interesting. Seems like his biggest regret is helping drug Non and helping taking him to the mafia. Veeeeeeery Interesting that White is the one to give Top the drugged/poisoned water. Because Top sees White as the most innocent? because Top was secretly into Tee and doesn't like White? because he sees White as the most like Non?

Mark my words: SOMEONE is going over that fucking railing! i thought it episodes ago when Fluke was holding White hostage and I am still on that hill.

Aaaaaaaand there it is! i knew Chekov's Railing was going to pay off.

Oh no. oh noooo. Is Tee going to kill White. :( or at least stab him thinking he's hallucinating 'setting Non free' or something. Anyway, TeeNon is real.

Hmmm, White's greatest fear is Tee's jealousy and...not being able to wait for him? Does White think he won't be able to not sleep with other people if Tee's away at college? That he'll catch something or it will leave a visible clue or Tee will just be able to Tell and therefore leave him? because it's about Tee leaving him but he thinks he'll be the one to cause it.

Noooo White :( babygirl you weren't even supposed to be here. The power of love breaking through the hallucinogens enough for Tee to question what's happening :( Tragic. Heartbreaking :(

Jin's biggest regret/fear is the video, and being Seen in that way.

and Phi's biggest fear/regret is not being able to save Non and his last words to him. so he has to watch Non die/kill himself over and over again. love that Phi still sees Non with the bracelet.

The power of love strikes again, freeing Phi from the hallucination. and boyfriend comes out SWINGING. good for him! anyway, callign my shot now that TanNew's mask is going to break and he's gonna get a big ol dose of the hallucinogen and see Non. Oh, or not break. Way to go Phi! Send him to Bad Trip Island just like everyone else!

TanNew just wanted to be a good brother. but he knows he wasn't. Non's thanks starts breaking the hallucination and grief, because he knows he doesn't deserve it. and then to see Non hanging like their dad.... :( TanNew is so sad.

thinking that last one was Non's real ghost. what with the lighting and all.

Ohhhh, Time skip! let's see how everything shook out.

so PhiJin are still together. Ok. Phi does movies or something? And he at least keeps tabs on Tee, which makes sense. Phi is full of guilt. Tee is fucking shattered.

"No one can help him He needs to get through this himself" Phi!!!! at least get the poor boy some therapy!!!!

"maybe we never left the valley house" AHHHHHH. YES. MIC DROP. inject season 2 straight into my veins!!!!! if there's one thing Be On Cloud is gonna do, it's open endings that drive me absolutely feral! Amazing!

I made 9 predictions in this post and out of nine i got 4, maybe 4.5. I'm still satisfied. I hope for a season 2. Y'all i had such a good time with this show and shouting about theories and memes with you guys. Be On Cloud really pulled it off with this one.

[nelson-riddle-me-this]

COLUMBO THOUGHTS:

s1e2 "Death Lends A Hand"

Okay so kinda big deal bc I'd skipped this episode in my dedicated series watch I started last year! Not on purpose, but the way I was watching e1 & 2 of season 1 were lumped into one big video file and so I forgot it existed. So really delightful to return to early Columbo and with an episode that was new to me!!

SPOILERS BELOW (for this episode and the other 2 Culp appearances)

As far as performances from series favorite Robert Culp this might be my fave of his! Like he's always exceptionally good at being mean and stern and being annoyed with Columbo, but something about the intensity of this feels different.

With how methodical and premeditated Culp's other two murders are, this one being a 'crime of passion'/manslaughter surprised me. Also THE SLOW-MO GLASS BREAKING AND HER FALLING!!! Like it's visually so cool. And very novel. The overlay shot where we see what Culp does after killing her, but as two different reflections in his glasses on an unmoving face - is very cool. It goes on a bit long, but it's very cool and I expect would be especially novel for audiences in 1971.

The score is by 4-time early Columbo composer Gil Mellé. It's got the spooky quasi-aleatoric spacey murder music thing, and a definite jazz flavor. Both me and the jazzer friend I watched it with were a bit thrown by the sudden capital juh-Jazz that starts when Culp gets into his car after killing this poor woman. Not that *J*azz is inappropriate for that moment, but something about that specific cue undermined the shock and weight of the sequence before. Maybe that's what they wanted, but I doubt it. I hear the blu-ray set that's out has versions of these episodes without music. It'd be a fun project to rescore some of these and fix some of those things that bother me.

Loved the detail of Culp knowing the name of one of his P.I.'s kids - just the sort of detail that helps a story feel 'lived-in'. I was shocked by Columbo playing up the astrology and palm-reading stuff LOL. The show depicts that sort of thing from time to time, but I don't remember Columbo himself hyping it outside of this. Of course it's part of the act to lower their guard, to make them think he's a fool, and as an excuse to get what he's really after (in this case examining the killer's hand and ring).

Ray Milland is fun to see, though part of me thinks he's not quite right in the role. He's not especially sympathetic somehow, which is maybe why they brought him back as a killer in "The Greenhouse Jungle". Some really great comic moments - Columbo complimenting Culp as being a 'man of purpose and intent' and immediately walking into a _closet_ is HILARIOUS. Lots of fun moments too with him snuffing out the golf instructor our victim had an affair with. I also thought it was hilarious that the golf instructor kinda lamely admits that he's not even really good at golf, pulling in women is the only thing he's decent at. Which like wouldn't be so bad if we felt he was a thoroughly charming person. But like it reads less as 'local rich women can't get enough of this studly golf instructor' and 'well I'm not really interested in the golf anyway, and at least he's not my husband - so I guess it's exciting enough. I can tell my bookclub friends I slept with my golf instructor and then I'll be cool.'...

The 'gotchya' is effective and satisfying. The mechanics of it are a bit paint-by-numbers. But this was so early in the run, it probably wouldn't have seemed so if I'd watched it in order. Still, the 'trick the killer into searching for evidence and catch them in the act of that' is worn. But also there's only so many ways for this all to play out!

Good episode, good early Columbo. Also shoutout to the victim cuz how she confronts Culp at his beach house is SOOO SATISFYING!!

[madaras-tits]

Hello there! You've been tagged! You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, but if you'd like, list 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! Learn to know your mutuals and followers! 💖💖💖

omg hi! Thank you for the tag!!!

So the first thing I like is baking. I haven't been doing it a lot lately, but I really like baking, especially like decorating and shit (just not with fondant bc that's gross). Made a nice strawberry biscuit roll a few days back, 10/10 highly recommend.

Secondly I like reading. I'm currently rereading frankenstein and I'm having so much fun with it tbh. I also have a bunch of other books I'm currently reading, but if anyone here like thriller/horror I really recommend Sebastian Fitzek! He's German author whose works I've been really enjoying lately. If you need a starting point, I'm currently reading "Der Inasse" (no idea what the english title is, im sure y'all can find it), it's pretty neat so far.

Third thing is video games in general. I have many games that I have made amazing memories with, that I replay atleast once a year. I started playing Ghost of Tsushima recently, and it's pretty good so far, feels a lot like an assassins creed game. I'm also a big fan of animal crossing (new leaf ONLY), until dawn (choice based horror game), Final Fantasy, Persona 5, Farcry (3,4,5 specifically) and also a few call of duty games.

fourth I like sea creatures. I really fucking love sea creatures. I always have on day of the week booked for watching some random shit quality sea documentary, they're really interesting. Same goes for spiders, I really love spider. I've actually been taking care of this cute house spider in my room, like I'll just catch flies sometimes and give them to the little spidey.

fifth, I'm kinda running out of ideas here, but naruto tbh? I don't like the show as much as I when I was younger, but I do still watch it when i'm in a bad mood. It's like to a point where I know most of the episodes and can just start whereever, it doesn't require my attention for me to understand what's happening. It's definitely my main comfort shot (with Marble Hornets as a close second), and I also really enjoy buying bootleg naruto merch. Found this low quality shit naruto calender for 2024, I've already started noting appointments in there.

Once again, thank you sooo much for the ask and thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble! I love talking about random crap as y'all know :)

[jenyifer]

Dead Friend Forever Ep 6 initial reaction

I held my breath all episode it was so stressful I barely got any screen shots but I’m ready to talk about it!!

Photos review time

Por is such a fucking brat. Not surprised though. He can’t do anything on his own. I do feel bad for Fluke trying to be his friend probs a childhood friend problem. The live stream is also interesting how would Phee White and Tan not have heard of this movie? Seems like there was a scandal around it and then the movie didn’t air sooo….

Non 😭 of course he’s a good student wish he told the teacher about what was going on because man he is in some deep shit.

All the original ghosts had diff masks. Could also be plan was to completely cover up what had happened 3 years ago so one of the older kids Murdered uncle Dang cause he had seen Non before. The movie made me feel a little car sick.

Oh so Jin only finds Non attractive. He wants to smash and there are no other thoughts about it. Probs just wants to lose his cherry already.

We know his uncle does go to jail from the news paper article so is Non going to tell the police? He should? Idk how the legal system works there.

Tee is also in an impossible situation him and Por and Top should take down his uncle. But I get it Tee’s dad is sick and Tee is already in too deep.

I like the dad was trying to help. But poor Non having to deal with this.

I KNEW IT!!! Yes. Looks good. Good way to capitalize on kinnporsche hype. So Phee is going to kill Jin then. I wonder if we are going to see Tan and White. Idk how Tee could have kept his uncle a secret from White.

What would I do?

If I was Non I’d confess to the police and his parents.

The other ones idk I won’t want to keep doing this movie. Seems a little too much work and they have so many eyes on them.

[lightningfilledsaber]

i have a quastion. what is dungeon meshi like i’ve considered watching the anime since it looks amusing…. i trust you as an authority on this hence why i’m in your asks :3c

Dungeon Meshi is so good!!!

So Ryoko Kui (the author of the manga) is a super super great artist and writer in general, and her knowledge of intimate and expansive worldbuilding, including the cultures of different fantasy races is VERY apparent in dunmesh without being super in your face. It strikes a perfect balance between showing and implying and telling; giving you information when you need it but not holding your hand throughout the process. Ecology and biology of creatures and the places (mostly dungeons but yk) is SUPER important and expanded upon in the story. It scratches my Creature autism SOOO well. And all of the characters are VERY distinct and fun AND THE DESIGNS FUCK SOOO HARD. Dungeon Meshi has become one of my favorite series of all time, because it's so. so fucking profound. There are a LOT of funny moments and gags but there's an equal amount of genuinely serious and emotional moments. The character dynamics. GOD. Cannot recommend it enough.

Also. Dungeon Meshi is super fucking horny. LMAO. Not in a "fanservice-y" way (in fact, there is only ONE character that ever gets upskirt/panty shots and it is Senshi, the bearded dwarf man. He's my fave btw <3). But dunmeshi uses consumption (and to a lesser/technical extent cannibalism as well) as a... metaphor for love and obsession, and frequently eroticizes it. I hesitate to say metaphor because it's honestly VERY obvious lmao. Especially with how genuinely autistic Laios is about monsters and eating them. Then there's also transformation and change that's also VERY eroticized. A lot of the focus of Dungeon Meshi is desire. How people experience it, and just how far people will go for it. Which, again, is super eroticized a LOT. All done in a tasteful(? not sure if this is the right word but yk) way and not in a surface level "LOOK, SEX!!!!!!!!!" way. Not that there's anything inherently WRONG with being horny and not being like profound about it but I'm just trying to make a point lol

Now to specifically talk about the anime since that's what you mentioned wanting to watch (though I REALLY reccommend the manga, it is fucking GORGEOUS and there are so many hilarious panels that haven't been brought over to the anime, despite how well it's been doing with that so far. It just happens with turning a manga into an anime yk?)! It's doing a really good job so far!! The only issues I have are relatively nitpicky (I've gone into detail abt it if you wanna see here) and more of an issue with modern anime overall so! They're doing a really great job of translating over from the page to the screen and the voice acting work (both the original japanese and english dub) is really fucking good. And I don't typically like modern english dubs. The layout of the episodes is really nice so far too, centering around the "dish/es of the day" without feeling too constrictively like your typical "monster of the week" type episodes. It helps that Dungeon Meshi as a media itself strikes a really good balance between that and its storytelling. Though again. Laios is genuinely SO fucking autistic about monsters and eating them lmao and the series focuses on him/his party so! There's so much good in depth discussion about monsters, both their biology (especially in relation to their taste hehe) as well as their natures, and ecology!

I'm also really a fan of netflix releasing the episodes weekly instead of dropping them all at once. It's refreshing coming from netflix specifically considering their... track record.

But anyway yeah! TYSM Marty for coming to me about this and letting me go on an autistic talk about it!! I only apologize for not being more specific, but a lot of my dunmesh posting (reblogs anyway since I'm pretty sure the posts I've MADE about it have been relatively vague??) is already pretty spoilery and I'm a firm believer in a first watch/read being as spoiler free as possible!! It makes subsequent rewatches/rereads all the more fun to me personally <3 Though that's obviously up to you lol

[fishylife]

I watched this documentary series on the making of Creation of the Gods. These are just my reactions to it and not a synopsis.

Episode 1

It's cool seeing just how many people were involved in the making of this movie(s)

The writer Ran Jia'nan was saying that they had to cut out stuff from the story that might not have made sense (to a wider audience) or perhaps was not so relevant to the main plot, and the example she used was that when Ji Chang threw up the bits of Bo Yikao that he had eaten, those pieces became rabbits. After a long time of mulling it over they decided to cut that from the story.

The actors had to learn to ride horses, combat, archery.

Training montage!!!!!

Most of those chosen had not performed professionally so they needed to train in acting and performing too.

Their first lesson was in drums. Not sure how to put it into words, but basically the teacher said that drums are an instrument that can match our pulse, and that in battle, the rhythm at which we fight is the rhythm of our pulse. That's kind of hype, they look cool.

Second lesson was combat but they also had to work out a lot too.

Third lesson was horseback riding.

Rad that one of their trainers is like, a cowboy lol.

Not only did they train in horse riding, but horse riding while fighting.

Fourth lesson was culture/history class, including a classical Chinese education. Probably to give them a deeper appreciation and understanding of the characters and story.

Wuershan was more focused on whether the actors could relate to their characters.

Ji Fa's clothes look so good.

The scenes when Ji Fa was riding back home in the end of the first movie were filmed in Xinjiang. Those scenes were sooo good.

I appreciate that Wuershan wanted a very foxlike Daji and had Naran study fox behaviour. She watched fox videos but also went to the zoo to watch foxes :3

Speaking of Naran, I think she trained to be fluent in Mandarin for this movie which is so amazing :3

Daji's appearance right after she is possessed by the demon is so...wow. The long hair, the flowing robes. She didn't die in those clothes, but as the fox it's like, a little primitive. She's wearing very basic robes. She is not the original Daji, that's for sure.

The guys pumping in preparation for the dance scene :P

The dance performance was shot in one go! :3

They're literally rewatching and admiring their muscles here lol

Episode 2

The concept art is so cool. Wuershan emphasized the good vs evil battle so the one with the very clear yin-yang outline probably emphasized that the best.

The process by which they decided on the aesthetic for this movie series was interesting. Investiture of the Gods is based on a very ancient time, but the novel itself was written in the Ming Dynasty. Add to that the mythical elements that should in theory transcend time. What do you get? In the end, they went for a 70% 水陸畫 style (which is an artistic style and not a time period) and 30% 殷商 (which refers to the Yin and Shang dynasties), plus a bit of Song Dynasty 山水 art style (which I guess is referring to that style of landscape/nature art).

Wuershan really liked a mural that was in Yongle Gong and wanted the aesthetics of the movie to emulate that style.

Concept art for the outfits. According to Wuershan, in the Shang Dynasty, white was considered a regal colour.

Empress Jiang and her family were from the east, by the ocean, so that was why they wore blue.

The duke from the south was thought to have come from a hot place, so that was why he wore red robes.

The northerners wore gray, as their lands were thought to be kind of...vast and gray.

Then lastly the folks from the west, including Ji Chang, wore yellow, though here of course it looks more like a muted yellow, a brown. Anything too bright and it would remind people too much of an emperor.

So the team put effort into fleshing out the world, even though we only saw a bit of it (at least in the first movie). But it kind of shows how ambitious Wuershan is about making this an "epic" movie series, not in the sense that it's super great, but in the sense that this is a big world with a lot going on. Even though this movie wasn't even that long, I did feel that sense of magnitude, that there were a lot of things going on even if we were just focused on the top.

Bo Yikao <3

Hell yeah Yang Jian in front of the blue screen

It's interesting that Wuershan is so involved in every aspect of the movie. He was discussing clothing materials with Tim Yip. He is the director, but I think he's just really passionate about the world he's building and he wants it to be as immersive as possible.

Naran's interpretations of her outfits was interesting. When she was still the real Su Daji, she was dressed in furs, and it gave a feeling of being protected and loved by her family. When she was possess by the fox demon, she wore a very thin purple outfit. She wore it while in the dead of winter, and it would give people a feeling that something was off. Then she wore a bright red outfit when she was dancing and it represented ambition. In the last scene of the first movie when Daji revived Yin Shou, Daji wore another very thin dress, this time in pink. Naran felt that at that time, Daji sincerely cared for Yin Shou (whether it was "love" or not is another question), so she would have been sad at seeing him dead. And so Naran associated pink with sadness.

Kris Phillips was raving about Tim Yip's outfits for Yin Shou in this part :P

Oh this is cool I think they are sculpting Lei Zhenzi here.

And other monsters.

The concept artist Siji said that he appreciated that the concept artists were given enough time to develop and create the concept art.

I didn't even realize the fox demon had different forms. Siji was explaining that initially, the fox demon was more ghost-like, and only began to develop a form after eating enough people.

Hell yeah more monsters

So we move on to the set and Wuershan puts just as much detail into building the set, which is very understandable. If your set is lame then it doesn't matter how beautiful your costumes are tbh. They went so far as to discuss the patterns of the beams, and what kinds of visual motifs would be on them.

Tim Yip was explaining how some of the structures they came up with would never have existed in history. But they did it for the aesthetics lol.

For some of the fight scenes, they did the storyboard by animating it in 3d because it would be easier to work with. In the example shown, the camera was constantly rotating around the character so I imagine that it would have been difficult to explain the constant motion of the camera with a normal drawn storyboard.

We got to the animation of Lei Zhenzi. The animator did a 360 view of what he would look like, and then another view where he would be carrying Ji Chang on his back, which he pointed out probably would not work if the wings were also on his back.

It looks like the entire movie was created in that Previz 3d animation system. Which makes sense. There's a lot that goes into filming and you might as well get a feel for the scenes, so that you can see if they actually deliver the intended impact.

Wu Yibei who I think is a special effects producer was talking about Lei Zhenzi. Basically it was really important for them to get all of the details of Lei Zhenzi right because he was going to be an important character in the second and third movies, and would interact with actors, would have feelings, etc.

This is super cool, this seems to be concept art for how Lei Zhenzi would have grown, how his wings would have developed as he grew up from a baby to an adult.

I saw this from another video that interviewed a special effects advisor for the movie. Douglas Smith had mentioned that Wuershan didn't really want Lei Zhenzi to be like a bird or a bat, and in the end, they settled for more of a fish feeling to Lei Zhenzi. Wuershan says this too in this documentary series.

Other than the physics of Lei Zhenzi's flight, I thought it was neat that Wuershan and the animators were discussing how his lightning powers would look like.

Wuershan had called up Han Pengyi and asked him if he'd wanted to be China's Andy Serkis lol. Han Pengyi served as the motion capture actor for Lei Zhenzi.

Oh wow Wuershan and Han Pengyi actually met Serkis and got to ask him about motion capture acting :o

So apparently when they animated Lei Zhenzi they hadn't really animated him blinking so Douglas Smith and team were figuring out how they could make use of other skin around Lei Zhenzi's eyes to express certain emotions.

Episode 3

Wow the craftspeople are carving the parts of the set by hand.

Look at this!!! Even just the concept art is amazing.

Wuershan did a lot of studying on the Lord of the Rings and consulted people who worked on that which is cool.

There was a discussion where Wuershan was discussing how the Lord of the Rings used more practical effects (in this case having a bunch of extras actually fighting in a battle) whereas by the time the Hobbit came around, they didn't consider this option anymore.

They spent a lot of time explaining how they came to film Shen Gong Bao's scene in which his head came apart from his body.

This was super blurry so I'm not going to screencap it but Ji Chang's actor Li Xuejian said "兒子演得不錯" and Wuershan patted Yu Shi's head in a 'did you hear that?' kind of way Yu Shi was all like humble like "noooo i'm not" hehe.

Apparently it was Father's day so Yu Shi wished Wuershan and Wang Yu a Happy Father's day lol.

They were trying to shoot a shot of five of the warriors on horseback jumping over a hurdle, while the horses were blindfolded. I'm not sure why the horses were blindfolded tbh but it was difficult because of that and the fact that they wanted the horses to jump together. Looked awesome though. And they got fistbump from one of the trainers for getting it done in two takes.

Taking care of the horses after a hard day's work.

Yu Shi explained that when they first started learning to ride horses, they were paired with any horse. After they got the hang of it, they were paired with a specific horse so that they could build a good relationship, and the actors would have to care for that horse too.

Ji Fa's character especially had a special relationship with his horse because he was a gift from his family and a symbol of home. And we saw them filming the scene near the end of the first movie where his horse was trying to get him to wake up so that they could go home.

Archery was something that challenged Yu Shi a lot so he practised it a lot and watched videos of archers.

Check out this diagram lol. I think they were trying to explain the setting to Gordy Haab who worked on the music.

We saw Gordy checking out Chinese artifacts and listening to Chinese music. Yu Fei who was a music producer said that he had a good deal of interest in the culture.

It looks like they're having some musicians play outside at one of the sites? I'm not sure if they were actually playing though.

The male bass singers were very cool. Are they throat singing?

Looks like they're playing scenes from the movie on the screen

Me, an ex-oboist, doing the Dicaprio pointing meme to these oboists

Wuershan is a fan of Penderecki. I don't know this composer so I had to look him up.

Wuershan delivering flowers to the various cast members :3

What a fun series!!!! I have some other behind the scenes videos to watch relating to this movie so I am excited :3

[heckyeahponyscans]

G5 Make Your Mark, Chapter 4 Ep 4: Sunny Side Up

So I've been watching one episode a week (I highly recommend this, so much more satisfying than binging) and man, this episode gave me sooo much of what I crave!

In this episode Opaline goes out on her own to seek an immensely powerful crystal (the Dragonstone) while leaving Misty "grounded" for failing to capture Sparky. Meanwhile the pressure is on for Sunny and Hitch to produce a captivating cooking show despite the lack of communication between the hosts and interference from Pipp. This episode was well-balanced, aside from the cooking segments dragging a little at the end. But in general it had good momentum,. (Also the cooking show was HELLA long, but if it's meant to mimic a Twitch stream then it's not totally implausible.)

There's so much in this episode, and I guess I'll start chronologically. At the start of the episode Opaline is hamming it up (and "wasting the last of [her] magic showing off her cool plan") with Misty. Opaline has been rifling through Misty's personal belongings, like the toxic parent-figure that she is, and found the photo of Misty and the Mane 5, which Sparky gave to Misty in the previous episode.

(Incidentally in the last episode the photo didn't have the sparkle effect, but I get why . . . they wanted the audience to immediately understand that Misty was affected by seeing herself happy and surrounded with friends. With the sparkles, it might seem like she was feeling wowed or jealous of other ponies' cutie marks.)

From the photo, Opaline has deduced that the ponies' cutie marks are the source of "evolved magic" powering the Prisbeam. The cutie mark magic is actually something Misty noticed as far back as "Izzy Does It" (Ch. 2, Ep.1), but when she tried to tell Opaline about it she was shot down.

Anyway, now that it's "her own" idea, Opaline is on board. She states her plan to steal the ponies' cutie marks, and laughs maniacally. But instead of joining in Misty timidly suggests they not do that.

Opaline is annoyed, then angry when Misty confesses that she failed to capture Sparky. To motivate Misty, she reveals some of her backstory . . .

Which is that she GREW UP with Celestia and Luna in Skyros.

Celestia, Luna, and widdle baby Opaline are all shown to be alicorns at this young age. So they were probably naturally born like that, like Flurry Heart. Maybe Skyros was all alicorns?

Speaking of widdle baby Opaline, she tried to make friends with Celestia and Luna and was snubbed. "They thought they were so great 'cause they had the whole 'sun and moon' thing."

I'm curious if this was a misunderstanding or if Celestia and Luna actually were stuck up little kids . . . Regardless, from Opaline's perspective this is the truth and she's still bitter about it. It's literally her villain origin story.

As for widdle baby Opaline's abilities, she was "an alicorn of fire. Of power! Of strength! And because of that, I had to prove I was not to be underestimated."

I postulated that Skyros was an all-alicorn country, but what if it wasn't? What if it was just freak chance that three alicorns were born there? That would definitely explain why Opaline felt overshadowed. Like imagine Opaline lighting a campfire in a bid to impress other ponies while Luna casually tosses the moon around in the background.

(How vindicated do you think Opaline felt when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon? Do you think she sent Celestia a gloating sympathy card?)

Opaline also says she will "live up to her elemental duty", which is a very interesting way for the villain to view her powers. And again . . . this leaves me wondering if there were many fire alicorns or if she was the only one. And does that also imply the existence of earth, wind, and water alicorns? (Gimme gimme!)

Anyway, Opaline finishes up this story by reminding us that she's the villain; she uses magic to drag Misty (who's screaming in terror) back to her room and magically fasten her hooves to the floor.

So from here let's look at the plotlines one by one, starting with Opaline. Opaline heads out to parts unknown, disproving my previous theory that she can't physically leave her castle. However, she is very worn down and she doesn't even have the energy to fly. She also coughs a LOT in this episode . . . six separate times. Maybe she's getting sick?

Anyway, even on her own she has zinger after zinger.

"Why does every magical item have to be precariously perched on a hill with stuff in the way? Here's an idea: bury your magic things within hooves' reach!"

The magic item in question is the Dragonstone, "the most powerful crystal in all of Equestria." Previously inert, it has been reactivated by the return of magic. However, messing with it "has a high chance of wiping out all of the pony magic in Equestria forever."

Opaline is not worried by this outcome, presumably because she doesn't really consider herself to be a pony . . . more like a pony-shaped goddess. (In the "Unicorn Sleepover" episode Misty describes Opaline as "not a pony at all, but an alicorn queen.")

Rather than acquiring the Dragonstone, however, she accidentally knocks it into a crevice. She returns to the castle.

Subplot #2: The Cooking Show. Sunny and Hitch agree to do a cooking show, despite Hitch's stage fright, but Hitch's by-the-book attitude doesn't mesh well with Sunny's easy-breezy style. They lighten the mood with a food fight, and when Pipp sees the viewer engagement skyrocket, she interferes and tries to encourage more wacky shenanigans.

This doesn't fit Sunny's vision for the show and she speaks passionately about why she loves cooking, how it can be a way to exert control when you feel powerless, and about the importance of staying true to yourself instead of pleasing everyone else. She and Hitch finish their show, losing viewers but producing the show they want.

The final plot thread is Misty having a crisis of conscience.

She (unknowingly) uses unicorn magic to free herself from the floor and decides to go steal Sparky, thus proving her loyalty to Opaline. She draws her fake cutie mark on her flank and tries to head out. But alas, Opaline has magically sealed the door shut too.

So instead Misty watches Sunny's cooking show and is blown away by her speech. She realizes that she's been failing to steal Sparky because deep down she doesn't want to; she realizes the other ponies have been nothing but kind to her, while Opaline has been nothing but cruel. And she decides to leave. But before she can figure out how, Opaline returns.

Opaline hits Misty with the ol' "I'm only so hard on you because I care about you" line, and I can't tell if Misty falls for it or not. She tells Misty that tomorrow they will retrieve the Dragonstone . . . but as Misty leaves, Opaline notices the cutie mark Misty drew on her flank. Dun dun duuuun!

Ranodm thoughts:

Opaline always says to "our plan, our ticket to taking over", not "my plan." Clearly she doesn't see Misty as an equal, but I did think it was interesting, as most villains don't talk to their sidekicks in those terms.

Opaline's temperamental nature really hinders her. First she uses her last bit of magic to seal Misty in her room, then when her magic replenishes a bit she blasts through piles of rock at full force. As a result she is tapped out when the Dragonstone falls into a deep crevice.

Hitch mentions him and Sunny having food fights in Grandma Figgy's kitchen when they were kids, which makes me wonder if his Grandma raised him.

Sunny's speech about how cooking can help you when you're stuck or feeling powerless makes me think that it helped her after her dad's death.

I like how lying is treated with nuance in this show. Misty is correct to pretend that she was stuck to the floor for twelve hours . . . because she is living with someone who can, and tried to, stick her to the floor for twelve hours.

When Misty decides to leave Opaline, she packs her most treasured possessions: a game piece from "Dare the Mare" (as seen at "Traditional Unicorn Sleepover"), a craft paper unicorn horn (also from the sleepover), a feather (from Zipp?), her sunglasses from "Ali-Conned", and a cactus.