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hopey-thinks · 1 month ago

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Loyal to the nightmare of my choice- An analysis of Riven from Winx Club

I’m at a point in my life (not long before I turn 18) where it’s natural that I’d start yearning to revisit my childhood and look back on the things that made me happy as a kid. And recently, my feed has been showing me memes I forgot about from Winx Club, a show I was captivated by when I was younger, and it got me thinking. What better way is there to honor my childhood than rewatching some of the media I loved when I was a kid that I forgot about? While I initially started doing it for fun, to my surprise I started to realize about 7 episodes into the first season that there was a good amount of substance in it despite it being targeted towards a younger audience, particularly in the way that some of the characters’ backgrounds and fears motivate their behaviors. The following episodes only proved that further, and one character stood out to me in particular throughout the run time, that being Riven.

In today’s analysis we’ll be focusing on how insecurity, sense of self, and standards around masculinity combine into his character and motivate his actions throughout the first half of season one. I’ll also discuss how Musa and Darcy impact his development and the subtext that may indicate that he’s queer coded (in the sense that this part of his arc is representative of the experience of a lot of young queer men). I’ll note that I’ll be referring to Sky and Brandon as the Prince and the Blond guy so there isn’t confusion about who I’m referring to since their names apparently switch later on for some reason.

Already by the end of the fourth episode, Riven has a decent amount of characterization. He’s abrasive, sharp-tongued, and cocky, often instigating turmoil and arguments between the specialists (particularly the blond guy) with his snarky comments and arrogance. Right off the bat we see he’s competitive and prefers to handle situations on his own, having a difficult time acknowledging his faults and blaming others for his failure when they try to work with him.

His apparent ego coupled with his stubborn independence and frustration with the idea of relying on others shows that his need to prove his strength is likely masking something deeper, that being an intense discomfort with vulnerability. Yet when the other specialists say they’ll kick him off the team if he refuses to cooperate with the Winx in the fourth episode, he chooses to stay with them anyways despite his pride, revealing that he does indeed desire human connection and isn’t as confident in his own abilities as he lets on.

What’s interesting is how his aggression, which is typically associated with masculinity, is contrasted with how he actually chooses to express himself (mainly through fashion, occasional dialogue, and mannerisms) in ways that would be considered feminine at the time the show was released. Wearing a crop top and saying things like “sweetie” to your bro are just some examples of things he does that were stereotypically feminine in 2004. This juxtaposition of his different attributes calls into question how his need to prove himself and inability to be vulnerable may not just be related to insecurity with his abilities, but also with his identity as a man.

Because he’s unsure of how he fits into male gender roles, he overcompensates and tries to bury his lack of confidence in himself by attempting to be hypermasculine in other aspects. And of course, the consequence of this response is how it’s damaging to his relationships. In trying to mask his insecurity, he isn’t being true to himself and therefore struggles to have deeper, genuine connections.

His characterization is reinforced in multiple ways during the 7th episode, the episode that sort of lays the groundwork for the major conflict he encounters in the next two episodes and their unfortunate resolution by the 10th. He charges in alone to fight the Minotaur thingy and insults the blond guy when he says they should work together, again offended by the idea that he isn’t strong enough to defeat it alone. He speaks lowly of the women he’s at the party with and sets himself above them, dismissing Musa as “better than some of the others” there (if you think that might imply misogyny I want you to hold that thought). But most importantly, when he’s found by Darcy and the others she states that he has extremely strong negative energy. His perspective on masculinity is immature and unhealthy (I predict that it’s primarily been shaped by trauma from past experiences) for not just the people he’s surrounded by (which we’ll get deeper into shortly), but also his own psyche and self worth. As is the case for many teenage boys, it’s not surprising that this attitude is emotionally taxing and even physically exhausting for him to maintain.

This leads up to what I think is one of the most interesting scenes in the show yet as far as gender criticism goes. Riven, the blond guy, the prince, Stella and Bloom are all in the city for the magix equivalent of Mother’s Day. After Riven reveals that he and the other two are going to be participating in a race being held for the holiday, the prince teases him for not having anyone to cheer for him, insinuating that he can’t find a girl that’s into him.

And he immediately becomes defensive at this comment, feeling his masculinity has been attacked/questioned since social structures put pressure on men to attract women as accessories to and proof of their masculinity. Because of this, he tries to affirm his manliness to himself and his friends through performative masculinity. He claims he can have any woman he wants and tries to make a bet with his friends where if he wins the race, he can pick any of the winx to go out with at the ball. And he picks Bloom.

This in and of itself is a VERY problematic assumption on so many levels. It not only is completely disrespectful to the blond guy who very obviously has feelings for Bloom, but it’s even more disrespectful to Bloom and the other winx who he’s treating as possessions, not even considering if they’re not into him. (Remember how I brought up misogyny earlier?)

Thankfully, Bloom doesn’t take any shit from him. She calls him out on his deplorable behavior and reminds him that it’s her choice to decide who she wants to go out with, stating that regardless of the outcome of the race she doesn’t want anything to do with him. But he completely ignores this sentiment and takes the disrespect a step further by grabbing her chin and getting in her personal space, insisting that she’s just hiding her feelings for him.

This violation is inherently degrading not just because she didn’t consent, but also because in doing so he shows he took none of what she said seriously. He acts as if his ego gives him the authority to decide what’s good for her regardless of how she feels about it, demonstrating a patronizing form of misogyny. Bloom rightfully decides that she’s had enough with his bullshit and slaps his hand away from her. She teaches him a lesson by using a spell to pour water over his head and tells him he needs to treat others with more respect.

Now, the thing that the series does wrong with this is how it portrays Bloom as having “gone too far” once Riven is rightly embarrassed by the turn of events and ashamed of his behavior. She feels the need to apologize when she wasn’t in the wrong whatsoever, which is admittedly a very bad lesson to teach young girls. At least Stella interjects and comments that he had it coming, but the fact the show treats Bloom like she needs to make up for embarrassing him when he absolutely deserved it is problematic and frustrating.

He storms off and Darcy sees him, commenting that she likes his attitude and finds him physically attractive. The trix take note of this along with the bad state he’s in, deciding to use it to help them achieve their goal. And regardless of how I feel about it Bloom decides she wants to make it up to him, which they use to execute their plan. The trix take advantage of this by sending an imposter of Timmy to give her a helmet they can control to make him mess up the race to give to Riven before the race begins. Bloom ends up giving it to him but quickly realizes she made a mistake, but when she steps into the race to try and stop the witches she sadly falls hook line and sinker into their trap. They set it up to look like Bloom was the one who messed with his helmet while she interfered in the race, and Riven is left in a very vulnerable position emotionally.

It’s deeper than him just being mad at Bloom in that moment because he thinks she made him lose. It’s a build up of the entire day. He feels like he was emasculated by his friends after part of his deep seated insecurity was named out loud and additionally is embarrassed by his failure in the race and to charm Bloom, reinforcing that insecurity. There’s only one thing on his mind right now, and that’s finding validation from someone. This makes him incredibly susceptible to Darcy’s manipulation.

She tricks him into thinking she saved him and goes to comfort him after the race, giving him what he craves in that moment that he feels his friends aren’t able to provide. He doesn’t believe Bloom and is frustrated that his friends aren’t immediately taking his side. And in what is a surprisingly real moment, he’s blinded by his ego and chooses to ditch the people who actually care about him, feeling betrayed.

Musa and Darcy are also foils to each other, and Darcy herself is actually a pretty good example of how women can perpetuate the patriarchy if they believe they can become more powerful in some way by embracing it. While she does like Riven, her crush on him is only motivated by surface level attraction and not love, and ultimately is using him as just another way to get what she wants. The first thing she notes when she sees him in public isn’t anything about his actual personhood or a desire to get to know him better like Musa, but how essentially… she finds his attitude and body sexy. Darcy offers the shallow affirmation he wants on an egotistical level while Musa offers him a genuine acceptance for who he is despite his flaws, which is what he actually needs. And what’s sad about his choice is that Darcy is only feeding his ego to make him reliant on her affirmation because that’s what she needs to do to keep him under her thumb, whereas Musa and the others would’ve helped him find an actual stable sense of self worth. The kind that comes from within.

What’s even more depressing is that he throws that opportunity away completely in his shortsightedness. After Musa sees him with Darcy in the restaurant and the other trix get a gang of girls to literally jump her, she finds him while trying to escape and begs him for help. To which he smirks and says “why should I?” And I’m here to tell you why you fucking should Riven. That girl is someone who genuinely respects, admires, and cares about you beyond just what you can do for her, and she has been NOTHING but kind to you. She’s coming to you in a time of desperation, and regardless of how you feel about her friends, standing up for her is the right thing to do even if it could cause you to lose what you want out of Darcy. But he turns a blind eye to this reality, and not just because he wants the present gratification he gets from Darcy.

Despite it being what he needs to do if he ever wants to grow, he feels like he could never allow himself to let his walls down because that would require him to be vulnerable with someone and expose his low self confidence. And so he abandons his friends, Musa, everyone that was genuinely supporting him, which will inevitably become self destructive.

Riven is also a fascinating character in how his motivations and internal conflict are extremely similar to the experiences of a lot of young queer men both past and present, and I think that there’s a good possibility that this was intentional. While I don’t like to throw around the term “queer-coded” I think there’s a decent amount of evidence to support looking at his character through this lens.

Being feminine as a man is stereotypically associated with queerness, and as I explained before a lot of the ways he chooses to present himself would’ve been considered feminine or unusual for a man at the very least at the time. Villains were frequently queer coded in the 90s and 2000s (that was the only socially acceptable way to have a queer character in your story), and while he isn’t a villain (even if he functions more as an antagonist later in the season, there’s a difference) he serves a more antagonistic role in the story. He’s often the shit starter for many conflicts and is also just mean to the other characters.

As for his experiences, trying to push people away and engage in performative masculinity to cover up fear and insecurity around your identity and how your community would feel about it is rather common among young queer men. The pressure to conform to oppressive social systems like patriarchy is destructive to many of the people it’s supposed to empower as well as the victims, and I was pleasantly surprised to see this portrayed in an older show targeted at younger audiences, even if it wasn’t perfect. It’s something I’d like to see covered in more in stories because media is a powerful socializing agent that influences how we view ourselves and our place in the world from a very young age.

I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to see how Riven’s decisions affect him in the future and how his perception may change because of that.

I may make a follow up meta to this at a later point in his arc if enough people are interested, so let me know if you enjoyed this! Thank you for your time <3.

#winx riven #musa x riven #winx club #media analysis #childhood nostalgia #winx musa #gender criticism #character analysis #meta #social commentary #sociology #winx meta

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heliads · 1 year ago

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Hey again! Got another idea 👀👀 But could I request a Clove Kentwell x past victor reader (won very young) who lives in the capitol? Reader is good friends with Enobaria and Brutus and decides to check in with the tributes/mentors of that years game to see what's up and to give some tips and tricks. Immediately she hit's it off with the other careers other then Clove (who likes her but has no idea how to go about it), they accidently meet on the balcony and start to warm up with each other (R gives Clove a token since she didn't get one). Later on R watches the games with the mentors and not so secretly cheers on Clove (defo get's her sponsor packages). Clove wins and they reunite, with clove making the first move after realizing her feelings during the game. Thank you, and I hope this isn't too long!

'lessons worth learning' - clove kentwell

masterlist

The Hunger Games is always your least favorite time to return to the Capitol. As if any of the other opportunities are good, though; you can be trotted around like a prize pony, gawked at as a Mentor, or called up out of the blue to reminisce on the good old days when you won your Games and were lucky enough to have the lovely experience of murdering children who had done no wrong other than the simple misfortune of having their name pulled from a bowl.

The Games are worse, though. You stand on a balcony, knuckles tight like bone around the railing. Below you, two dozen children ripe for the slaughter mill around, testing weapons and receiving instruction from their mentors. You’re here for mentorship duties yourself, having won your Games a couple of years back and thus entitling you to spend the rest of your life watching other tributes attempt to do the same or die trying.

Some would call it a blessing. Sometimes, though, you envy the dead back in your Games. Their lives, although ended early, are theirs, and theirs alone. They won’t have to live forever as a poster child of the Capitol, an example of what District can amount to if they just try. That isn’t to say that you wish you had died in the Games– you are a fighter, always have been, and you’d rather bleed a thousand times than give up– but you do wish that you could have won without having to be a puppet for all the Games afterwards.

All the Victors know the feeling. You ache like a dog on a leash, all of you, having trained all your lives to win the Games if you were Careers or at least dreaded them your entire childhood, but upon doing the one task set before you, every pretense of independence was ripped away. What was once a prize mastiff or foxhound is now a muzzled lapdog, dolled up every season of the Games before being shut up in the Districts once the fun is over.

The first year of your Victorhood, you could hardly handle it. Everything was switched around. The jokes weren’t funny, and what was worth laughing at could cost your head. The food was too much and the clothes were too little. It was like living in a backwards world, one where one false step would bring destruction to you and your family.

Thankfully, you had your other Victors to help you. Enobaria and Brutus, also from your home district of Two, walked you through the gilded trials of a successful Victor, and in turn, you mentor the next sets of tributes to be sent your way. You won your Games young, surprisingly young, so Brutus and Enobaria tend to be the ones selected for primary Mentorship.

Turns out most tributes prefer to be taught by actual adults, thinking them more experienced and a better shot at their own survival. That’s fine by you, by all accounts; the more time out of the limelight, the better. You’re still required to show up to the Capitol, being the youngest Victor in quite a while means you’ll never fully be released from the Capitol’s fascination, but you can be a quiet darling in the shadows any time you like. If there’s one thing the years have taught you, it’s that it is far, far better to be the dusty doll left behind in the toy chest than the one out on display.

This time around, however, Brutus and Enobaria called you up to give the tributes some advice. District Two hasn’t won a round of the Games since– well, since you, and that was more than a couple of years ago. Since you’re the most recent Two victor, you’ll have valuable insights to provide. Supposedly.

Thus, you find yourself leaning against this balcony, watching the tributes prepare themselves to die. There’s a good amount of competition amongst the Reaped ones this year, it’ll be a tough fight. You don’t envy anyone down there for the task they’ll have to face. Both the tributes from One look formidable, plus a good crop of others from a smattering of districts. Of course, your fellow tributes from Two look strong too, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

Then again, the girl from Two this year, a certain Clove Kentwell, does seem to be impressing everyone in her path. She’s about your age, and you probably would have seen her around Two more often were it not for the fact that you’re more fond of suppressing memories in the Victor’s Village than training for the Games you’ll never have to enter again. She seems clever, which is a good thing. Clever girls can get themselves out of deadly loopholes. You can speak to that through past experience.

She’s watching you now, actually. It’s no surprise. Clove has been keeping her eyes on you since the moment she was Reaped. At this point, the quiet weight of her gaze on your shoulders has grown comfortable, more like a woolen cloak than a knife in your back. It’s not a hostile gaze either, this, just painstakingly present. Clove doesn’t mind it if you catch her looking. She’s not the type to glance away first. Good. Anything to keep weakness off her shoulders.

Clove’s fingers tap absentmindedly on her legs, then she seems to make a decision and walks up to talk to you. Your eyes flash to the Peacekeepers stationed at the exits, but they don’t flinch. Still, you have no doubt that they’re watching. It’s fine if the tributes want to talk to the Mentors, but you can’t give them any weapons, nor any advantage at all other than a few good pieces of advice. There’s only so far advice will go anyway, but you might as well offer up what you have. At least then you won’t leave this round of the Games as you do every other: wondering if what you’d done was enough, and then trying to scrub another set of two young names out of your brain for another year in a row.

Clove reaches the top of the balcony and folds her arms across her chest, eyeing you down like you’re another tribute. It’s a mistake that’s been made before, actually. You’re awfully young for a Mentor, but then again, you were awfully young for a Victor as well.

“So, you’re supposed to be helping me win these things?” She asks daringly.

You nod. “You and your fellow tribute.”

Clove knows this, of course. She’s testing the waters, searching for some kind of reaction. You’re not sure what she wants, but she’ll probably convince herself of it soon enough anyway. Better not to get involved. Better not to get attached. You know how this ends, don’t you? You know better than to enjoy someone’s company if you know they’re going to die.

“You won a few years ago, didn’t you? You were the young one they couldn’t stop talking about?�� Clove asks.

You force a smile. It’s as cold and disinterested as you can make it. “That’s me. Although I would have assumed your plan for winning the Games wouldn’t involve rattling off exciting facts about mine.”

“Isn’t it your job to share details about your Games so you can give me a strategy to win mine?” Clove snips at you. She’s fiery. Like you, when you dare to let your spark grow out of the stifling embrace of the Capitol.

“No two Games are the same,” you shoot back. “It’s a better use of your time and mine to consider the current situation instead of mulling over the past. The only things you should think about right now are the present and the immediate future. The next few weeks are your entire life. The past can rot with the rest of the tributes who died because they failed to plan properly.”

Clove whistles. “Charming. Did Brutus and Enobaria bring you here because of your knack for motivational speeches?”

Your grin is bitter. “That, and they knew I wouldn’t coddle you. These are the Hunger Games, Clove. Realism is all you have.”

“Because the Hunger Games are all that will matter in my life?” Clove asks, tone acidic. “Funny, I didn’t think the youngest Victor would have agreed with that.”

“I don’t,” you answer her. “It’s because you’re going to win the Games, and then you’re going to go home, and none of it will have mattered at all.”

Clove pulls a face, disbelieving. “Of course. Winning the Hunger Games won’t mean a single thing in Two. That makes perfect sense.”

“It won’t matter,” you insist, “Sure, it will, for a couple of days. Then you’ll be in Victor’s Village with the rest of District Two’s idols and you’ll blend right in. For months afterwards, you will be flush with victory, knowing you’ve done this spectacular thing, and no one will even care. It’ll be all you can think about, and no one will know. This is the Hunger Games, Clove Kentwell. They matter to you because you’re in them, but once everyone else knows their name won’t be pulled, it’s nothing to them.”

Clove’s eyes have gone quiet. “They’ll have to remember, though. Every year, when they make us do the Victory Tour or go back to the Capitol.”

“Sure, sure,” you say listlessly. “You’ll be one of the Victors. But they’ll forget what year you won, or what you did to deserve it. After a while, they won’t be able to remember if you were the sibling of a Victor, or the lover, or a friend. What do you think happened to me, huh? When you came in here, you didn’t even know my name, and I won just a couple of years ago. Face it, Clove. It all ends after this.”

Clove is silent for a while, and when she speaks again, her voice is quiet and wooden. “So how do I fight that? How do I be someone they’ll remember?”

You chuckle bitterly. “You can’t.”

Clove’s face flashes with irritation. “Then why are you here, huh? I thought Mentors were supposed to help us. Is your job just to depress us and then leave? Whose side are you really on?”

She’s started moving towards you with every word, inching forward threateningly. You don’t back down or move a muscle, and when you’re both eye to eye, barely a few inches apart, close enough to see how her chest rises and falls with the brunt of her anger, you bite out at last, “Yours.”

“I don’t believe you,” Clove hisses back.

You smirk. It’s not a nice thing to see. The Capitol has stripped the warmth from your emotions, leaving only blank ghosts of what were once shiny, vivid expressions. “You don’t have to. Look around you. You are in the Capitol. Look at how everyone here looks at you.”

You put your hand on Clove’s cheekbone, forcing her to turn around. You can see it in her expression as she gets what you’re saying, how her eyes harden even more, how she shifts back away from everyone else and towards you again. This, after all, is what it means to be a tribute. The Capitol citizens eye you like a piece of meat, the other competitors stare you down like a hawk who’s caught onto its prey. There are no friendly faces here, just territorial or greedy or both.

“So you’re the better option,” Clove murmurs.

“That’s one way of putting it,” you admit. “I know how it feels to be out there. Alone, despite your Mentors.”

“And you wanted to make sure I felt that, too?” Clove asks, somewhat bemused.

You shake your head. “I wanted you to feel the opposite.”

Clove considers this, then looks back at you again. The hostility is gone from her eyes, replaced with curiosity. “I think I do,” she says.

“Good,” you tell her. “Now we can work together on how to make you win this.”

After that, Clove is focused, her simmering rage honed to a knifepoint’s sharpness. She finds precise techniques to master and practices them over and over again until she’s sure of herself. Those skills that she’s unfamiliar with, she gains a bare capability. She doesn’t need to be good at everything, just not bad at anything. It’s far harder than it sounds, but Clove is all too willing a pupil.

Enobaria finds you later that night. She’s mulling over a drink, and you’re watching the recordings of the tributes’ daily trainings over again so you can spot any weaknesses or potential allies. “The girl seems to be taking to your lessons,” she notes. Her sharpened teeth flash in the low light of the room.

You keep your eyes on the screen ahead of you. “Clove is a proper Career. She makes our district proud. She’s had a lifetime of lessons, and not just mine.”

“Clove?” Enobaria asks, eyebrow arched as she calls out the first name basis. “Getting along quite nicely, aren’t you?”

You elect not to comment, instead focusing on the image of Clove’s form on the recording as she practices with her knives. Enobaria shakes her head, chuckling softly in a manner not too far removed from a jackal when it sights its prey. “I thought you knew better than to get attached to tributes, Y/N. You know Mentors should never fixate on those that will likely end up dead.”

“Of course,” you answer her. “And when you were mentoring me, you never did anything of the sort, right?”

With that comment, you finally look up at her, grinning slightly. Enobaria barks out a laugh, knowing full well that she’d seen you as a sister while you were training. “Get some rest,” she tells you at last. “Your Clove needs you to be functional.”

Your Clove. You can’t deny that you like the ring of it. Enobaria is right to warn you to keep your emotional guard up, though. Soon enough, the week of training is up, and then the tributes are receiving their last words of advice from their Mentors before being sent to the Arena.

You meet with Clove one final time, relating the last bits of information, though the last thing you say to her isn’t practical guidance but a raw, naked hope that she will survive. She promises you she’ll win. You’ve heard many such promises, but for the first time, you believe it.

Then she’s gone, and you are alone with only the other Mentors and Victors to guide you. There’s not a moment to waste, though. Clove has hardly vanished from your sight before you’re racing back up to the viewing stations, where you fling yourself wholeheartedly into the masterful game of winning over sponsors. If Clove has to be out there, fighting for her life, you’ll make sure she’s doing so with the best weapons, medicine, and food that you can bring her.

It’s a terrible thing, sending a friend to die. Worse still when Clove was the first tribute you let through your walls in a very long time. You spent a while winning her over with your experience as a tribute, but Clove won you over too. You watch her as much as you dare, your brave girl, cheering whenever she survives a tricky situation and engulfed in fear whenever she’s in trouble.

At the end of a couple of the longest weeks of your life, though, Clove emerges victorious, the final cannon blast signaling the end of her trials. You swear that you were more stressed during the showdown of the last two tributes than during your own Games, although surely that would be impossible. Clove is brought back from the Arena and immediately checked into the medical wing to handle several injuries from the final fight.

Once visitors are allowed, though, you’re the first one through that door. Clove is in your arms at once. Her eyes are bright upon seeing you, but there’s a shadow that wasn’t there before. She’s a Victor now. It’s not all grand and glorious celebrations. Once the euphoria of still being alive wears off, Clove will have to walk the longer and harder path, the one that doesn’t let you go after a matter of weeks. The memories of this torment will stick with her forever, and the nightmares don’t ease up just because you get older.

Clove will have you, though. Always. You promise her this now, and have just enough time to see the rush of relief in her expression before you’re separated again. Clove will have to be made over by her team so she can be crowned Victor in front of the Capitol. They’ll make her talk about the kills and the narrow escapes, but then she can leave, and so can you.

You watch her from the audience during the interview, then meet her backstage afterwards. She pulls you into a dark corridor behind the grand mess of stylists and Capitol citizens. There are many annexes and mouse holes in the mansions of the Capitol, small places to be alone if you only know where to look.

“You were stunning,” you tell her honestly.

“It’s over now,” she says dazedly. “Isn’t it?”

“It is,” you confirm. “You’ll go home. You’ll recover. They’ll drag a few more appearances out of you, but it’s over. You won.”

“I don’t know how to handle this part,” she confesses. “I don’t know how to be a Victor. Will you show me?”

“Of course,” you whisper. “You’ll be perfect at it, just like you were in the Games. You earned that crown, Clove. Be happy. As happy as you can.”

Clove’s eyes shine, rivaling the low glow of the Victor’s crown nestled in her dark curls. Out of some impulse, she reaches up and plucks the gold circlet from her temples before placing it on your head instead. Her hand lingers near your face, dropping slowly from your forehead to your cheek, where her fingers remain, soft against your skin. These are the hands that are responsible for twenty-three dead tributes, and your mouth is the one who taught her how to do it. Still, when it is just the two of you in the quiet dark, you would swear that you and Clove have only ever done good things; pure, too, like falling in love with a girl who grew up loving you, like finding someone to guide through death itself and ensuring that she would walk out the other side.

“I remember that from your Games,” she says dazedly. “You looked good with the crown.”

You laugh quietly. “If that’s all you remembered about my Games, I would be happy.”

Clove’s eyes are dark and large. Falling into them is easy, you don’t think you could escape if you tried. What a sweet way to drown. “If this is all I remember about mine, I would be happy, too.”

You take her hands in the dark. “I’ll help you forget if you help me.”

“Together,” Clove says. “Promise it.”

“Together,” you swear. “Always.” There is no such thing as always, not in the Capitol. Not in this hopeless city, not in this starving country. For a moment, though, for two girls away from the prying eyes of the world, it exists as a bond between the two of them, drawing them inexplicably and permanently together. It’s an oath of blood and gold, a crown that soothes and cuts to the core. Nothing is good here, not in Panem, but you will have Clove, and you will have her always.

requested by @beepboopnel-deactivated20240128, i hope you enjoy!

hunger games tag list: @w1shes43, @ilovexavierthrope

all tags list: @wordsarelife

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noperopesaredope · 6 months ago

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SvtFoE Rhombulus Rewrite (Pt. 6)

Hey, it’s been a while since you saw my face-

All jokes aside, sorry for being gone for so long. In my defense, I was in college, then I had seasonal depression which made it hard to do much of anything creative-wise. This is admittedly one of my favorite fan projects, so I always feel bad about not updating it. But I have managed to get back into it again (finally) and wanted to release one of the easier parts to do. (@bawfulio @sagesilentfire tagging you since you guys have been following this AU since the beginning and have been waiting the longest for an update)

Anyways, Monsters and Mewmans, Crystals and Chimeras, welcome back to my Rhombulus Rewrite! Check out this post if you have no clue what the heck I’m talking about or you want to read the previous parts. As I said in Part 4, this part will be one of the two possible ends I have to this AU. Ya’ll can choose which one you prefer. This one is called the “Closest to Canon Ending” and is also sad. It will not focus on the problems with the ending as a whole and shall instead be more about fixing Rhombulus’ part. I’ll admit, though I prefer the second ending as a finale, I’m pretty proud of this one as well, as it has some stuff I’m pretty proud of writing wise. I did make myself sad though, so there’s that.

Closest to Canon Ending (AKA Ending 1):

- This ending is kinda if I switched Rhombulus and Hekapoo’s parts, but Rhombulus had a more proper and fitting redemption. Also, it might make some character choices make more sense.

- So, the first big changes happen in “Ready, Aim, Fire”. We overhear Rhombulus arguing with Hekapoo and Omni about how to handle the Mina situation, saying that even though they may not like it, they need to protect Eclipsa and her family since it’s the right thing to do and they can’t let Mina take over.

- This is when Hekapoo reveals that they have been backing Mina the whole time, which horrifies Rhombulus. He says that he is disappointed in them, and will go out to support Eclipsa and co, even if he has to fight Hekapoo and Omni. He then runs outside.

- We don’t see what happened to Rhombulus until “The Right Way,” where he jumps into the battle as things are looking dire. We get some pretty cool action stuff from him, which should be fun.

- He even helps out various monsters, using his crystals to protect them. It brings his arc full circle, showing him go from someone who fights monsters to someone who protects them like he would protect any other innocent civilian. It’s a good moment for him.

- But unfortunately, Rhombulus gets seriously hurt by the Solarian Blade multiple times, and since he and the rest of the MHC are basically monsters, the blades actually work on them. I think it’ll be the most shocking (and plot convenient) if Rhombulus loses his tails, as they are his main weapons and method of self defense.

- He’ll manage to play it off like he is fine, but will need help soon. Maybe he’ll convince them that he probably won’t die. He might not even realize the blades work so well on him, especially since his magic is making him more asymptomatic. He’s good at hiding how bad he is doing, mainly because he is still able to walk and run and other stuff. But he can’t fight and needs to sit down a lot, so he won’t be able to do much during the Moon reveal.

- Instead of that horrible first kiss scene between Star and Marco, I have decided to give them a platonic love scene in a way, since I want the ending to not seem too random but still keep things platonic.

- Star is clearly upset and overwhelmed by everything, even though she might not be able to express it properly. She eventually tensely says that she’s going to do [insert helpful yet distracting task], and Marco offers to help her. She agrees, and while they’re working, Marco says that he knows something is bothering her, and she can talk about it if she wants.

- Star confesses that she’s been feeling extremely alone and scared lately. Multiple of her friends are severely hurt and could easily die, and she can’t do anything about it. She fought so hard and is trying to stay strong, and even despite all that, she feels like she’s failed at keeping people safe.

- Marco says that she is the reason less people have been hurt, and that everyone chose to fight and stand up against Mina, knowing the risk they would be in. It’s not her fault this happened. He then assures her that no matter what, they will always be best friends, and he’ll be there for her no matter what.

- Pretend we’ve also had a lot more great friendship moments between them this season, so that the show clearly shows their dynamic as important to the plot.

- Anyways, back to everything else. This rewrite is called the Rhombulus Rewrite after all.

- “Pizza Party” will be renamed “Where the Blame Lies,” and instead of the MHC having a pizza party, we will see Hekapoo and Omni arguing over whether or not they made the right choice, and if they should go after Rhombulus. It’s a very short, tense scene, where Hekapoo believes that Rhombulus is wrong, but they should still go look for him to talk, and Omni believes that Rhombulus is “too far gone.”

- They decide to split up, with Hekapoo choosing to go after Rhombulus, and Omni choosing to do his own thing.

- Meanwhile, Rhombulus ends up fleeing with Star and co, pretending that he is fine, until he ends up collapsing while they are running. Mina declares Rhombulus a traitor, and attacks him, causing yet another major blow to his body, where many of the other scars have already spread far.

- As Eclipsa and Marco help him up and try to support him, Mina declares her plan to wipe out all monsters and monster-supporters. The group tries to escape, but are soon surrounded. Mina goes in for the kill, but a portal opens up under Star, Marco, Eclipsa, Moon, and Rhombulus, whisking them away. They find themselves in the middle of a forest, saved by Hekapoo.

- This is where “Tavern at the End of the Multiverse” starts. Hekapoo is horrified at Rhombulus’ condition, and after picking him up, she says that she knows a place where all of them can hide. And so she takes them to the Tavern at the End of the Multiverse. This space is also a bit of a safe zone for all different types of people, and has some private rooms if needed.

- Hekapoo takes Rhombulus into one of them to see if she can help him somehow. Star argues with Moon, but they are interrupted by Hekapoo, who says that she needs them to come over to where Rhombulus is. He’s in terrible condition, with the wounds having fully spread all over him.

- It’s a really sad scene, especially when he begins telling Hekapoo that he can see Lekmet, and they are going to be reunited soon. Hekapoo is extremely distraught and basically in denial, while Rhombulus is basically accepting what is happening.

- He tells Hekapoo not to worry too much about it, and that their time is close to ending anyways, he just wishes he could have seen everyone win. He tells Star to do better than those who came before her, and that she will be able to fix the world. Then, my boy dies.

- While I still don’t like the whole “destroy all magic” plotline, I thought that something like this would be cool in helping explain the rationale for a few characters. In Star’s case, this is a bit of a breaking point for her. This is where she begins to have her “I hate magic” moment, because she just lost a close friend due to the damage magic can cause when in the wrong hands.

- And Hekapoo being chill with Star destroying magic makes a lot more sense. She too just lost someone important to her, basically her favorite sibling, and is in a more apathetic state. Hekapoo is mad and sees that the MHC has fallen down a bad path that has slowly destroyed them. Her attitude is less chill and carefree and more angry and resentful.

For Ending 1, I don’t really have any other changes, because all I really wanted to do for this ending is the scene where Rhombulus dies, so that’s the end of that. I think Ending 2 will be a much better ending as a whole, but I thought of Ending 1 first, and kind of liked aspects of it. It’s very bittersweet, and I wanted to make a version that stays faithful to the OG.

However, the OG is also terrible, so I decided to make another version anyways, especially since I wanted a version where Rhombulus can live. Stay tuned for Ending 2, which will hopefully be coming soon! Or at least, a special post before that giving extra context for Ending 2 (spoilers, I reworked Mina a bit).

Thanks for all your support, and I hope you like what I have in store, since I’ve been working on Ending 2 for a while now. Hopefully this will keep you company in the meantime.

#nr rhombulus rewrite #rhombulus rewrite #star vs #star vs the forces of evil #star vs the forces of evil season 4 #svtfoe #svtfoe season 4 #rewrite #canon rewrite #fix it fic #au #my au #rhombulus #svtfoe star #svtfoe mina #svtfoe hekapoo #svtfoe finale

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its-cartooncrazy · 8 months ago

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Okay i finished my dunmeshi reread where I was trying to predict which chapters will go into which episodes for season 2 (assuming 24 episodes)

I made some questionable splits towards the end tbh but I ended up with 24 without pushing too hard so. I guess I'll write down my thoughts here mostly so when season 2 comes I can compare them

So I'm gonna add my screenshots from my notes page so I'll explain that the yellow numbers was me guessing from chapter titles and my poor memory, and the pink is from my reread and focusing on content.

I started by looking at season 1 and how they split stuff up. Every episode was two chapters, save for a few that either didn't need full episodes, or were a lot of action which takes up more space in comics. (I don't know where exactly the dragon chapters split, but the 7 dragon chapters + good medicine were 3 episodes, so that makes 2 episodes of 3 chapters there.) They also preferred to keep 2 part chapters in one episode, but also didn't shy away from doing it either.

Theres only enough chapters left for 22.5 episodes at a rate of 2 chapters per episode, so we actually never have to group three chapters into a single episode again!

That being said...

On Floor One features would be a banger season opener. It features a couple of fight scenes, so it shouldn't be too long. I wouldn't want to split it into two episodes anyway because for a season opener, I wouldn't want to be away from the main cast for too long.

(It also, oddly enough, cuts back to our cast and gives them little name badges, which is a joke about the changelings, but also its very fitting to reintroduce our characters in their first appearance in season 2)

Bicorn / Stewed Head go together very easily, as do Succubus 1 + 2

Jumping ahead a little, roasted walking mushroom and 6 days would fit together nicely, especially with the Winged Lion taking place during the Succubus chapters, but. I don't wanna squeeze that in with them...

I think if trigger do their thing, 6 days could be an episode all on its own (and it could be one of the best episodes, too) And hey, if they need more content then there's a couple of monster tidbits extras that take place here that they could add!

Confit was the problem child. I wanted Rabbit and Curry to get their own episodes, but I also wanted 6 days to stay alone, which left confit alone. It features a fair bit of important stuff: reaching thistles house, cleaning up, finding the book (and opening it I think), and eating the phoenix, so I wouldn't feel right cramming it with something else.

So I ignored it for the time being, to see if Rabbit and Curry could be split in half.

Confit would lead well into rabbit 1, with them arriving at the house and having a meal, and then rabbit 1 takes place shortly after the meal. Rabbit 1 ends with laios getting got by a rabbit. That seems like a pretty fun cliffhanger to be honest. Rabbit 2 ends with them comforting marcille, and then curry 1 cuts away to several scenes viewed through the eyes of the mage, ending with them showing up at the house. And then...

Grouping curry 2 and thistle 1 together is kinda evil actually. Sibling flashback scene, that fight, and then thistle backstory?? Yikes. I love it actually. So yeah I'll go with that.

Thistle 2 and 3 feature the dragon fight (placing the teaser at a predicted episode 9) and then thistle 4 and 5 include the chat with laios, the lion eating thistles desires, and then the wrap up meal. I'm pretty satisfied with that if a little disappointed we don't end an episode with laios in the plant

Bavarois and whatchamacallit are both the canaries' interrogation so thats easy, ending with a cliffhanger of sorts where the lion is fully released by marcille.

Lord of the Dungeon 1 and 2 are both pretty full chapters. It continues the fight with the canaries, which unfortunately features a lot of talking still, and then the aftermath with our group waking up to a room of unconscious canaries and spider guts like that one community gif.

Dungeon 1 is actually a shorter chapter. Putting these two together would possibly make for a kinda sparse episode. So, we have a full episode and an empty episode. Can we borrow a scene from lord of the dungeon to even it out? No! Because almost all of Lord of the Dungeon 2 is kabrus epic fumble, which isn't a scene that can be cut up neatly. Let's set those aside for a bit and see if the solution comes from the next few.

We have three single chapters before our next grouping, which doesn't split nicely into 2s like I want it to. Unfortunately, none of these are particularly short, and we're past the point in the series where we can skimp on the details. Parasites starts with a shortish scene with marcille and frozen falin, so I wondered about giving that to dungeon, if I could group the three together with slightly less content, but I think there's still probably too much content to get through with those three chapters even without that scene. (Not to mention, I don't think season one ever split any part of a chapter between episodes, so I'm reluctant)

Honestly, I thought for a long time about how to arrange these chapters and never came to a conclusion, so I just moved on for a bit, to see if answers were in the next section. (Spoiler alert: they were!)

Marcille 1 is kind of a misnomer (if I know what that word means) since it doesn't actually focus on marcille at all, and instead shows people around the world reacting to the dungeons opening. I don't feel as bad separating it from the rest of marcille in that case. (It's also a short chapter but local cuisine has a fair bit in it so I think that won't matter)

So to sum up the last section before we move fully into the marcilles, we have Lord of the Dungeon, Dungeon, Parasites/Food Chain and Local Cuisine/Marcille 1. Phew, that was a lot of effort just to end up splitting them into pairs of chapters. (Dungeon may still borrow from parasites, but that's up to them. Yknow, if they were still looking at how to split them up in this stage of production or whatever XD)

Marcille 4 ends with the group hug and, as sad as I am to not get a week to sit with that scene, it wouldn't work as well as an episode ending during the big finale battle segment, so pairing it with Winged Lion 1 (mostly chatting up on that tower, concluding with them getting gobbled up by the monster pile lion) works pretty well and gives a good cliffhanger.

Winged Lion 2 and 3 gives us Lion backstory, and then laios becoming dungeon master, ending with him plopping his head back on like its nothing. Lmao I can't wait to see what the outtro is for this episode.

Winged Lion 4 is short, actually, and with the action of Winged Lion 5, that episode might be a bit sparse. But, well. Iunno I figured it's fine? Look, I started to give up and make weird decisions around this point. Winged Lion 5 ends with everyone freezing and then laios picking up "laios".

Winged Lion 6 I gave its own episode. It doesn't have enough content for that, to be honest, but I gotta put some single chapter episodes in here somewhere and where better than laios eating laios and laios and laios and laios and then the winged Lions desire to eat desires. Idk I said I gave up, didn't I?

Starting here, I start to worry about momentum. How long can you keep people interested after the Big Bad has been defeated? Def-eat-ed lol

The Island I also gave its own episode, just 'cause, I guess. It features the action packed escape from the dungeon, everyone washing up safe and sound, and then searching for laios, ending with a nice hug. I didnt seem to take my own advice tbh, that ending doesn't really force you to keep watching. Hm.

Falin 1 and 2 gives us everyone pitching in to prepare to eat laios sister, and also mithrun 🥺, but much like the last episode, doesn't end on too captivating a note (although it is a very good scene, it just doesn't lead in to the next episode so much) so I guess I really didn't take my own advice much. I swear I took this into consideration while I was reading but I guess I gave up lol

Falin 3 is the izutsumi show, where she asks everyone what they're gonna do now (not cooking, I mean in life!!) and ive put this one by itself because there are plenty of scenes that could be expanded upon, and also izu deserves a whole episode to think about her character development because she is the best and I love her.

This also lets us group falin 4 and dungeon meshi for the season finale. Another reason I wanted falin 4 to go in this arrangement is that this is where laios becomes king, which really just screams "finale" for me. We also get falin waking up, and a sweet epilogue of laios' fantastic reign, plus him being good with kids <3

So uhhh. Yeah. That's how I would split up the chapters. Quick recap/summary to make it clear hopefully:

1: 53,54,55

2: 56,57

3: 58,59

4: 60,61

5: 62

6: 63,64

7: 65,66

8: 67,68

9: 69,70

10: 71,72

11: 73,74

12: 75,76

13: 77,78

14: 79,80

15: 81,82

16: 83,84

17: 85,86

18: 87,88

19: 89,90

20: 91

21: 92

22: 93,94

23: 95

24: 96,97

That was a lot of waffling to end up with mostly just two chapters per episode tbh. If you've made it all the way, I hope you don't consider your time wasted lol. Looking forward to seeing how trigger does it!

#it posted instead of saving drafts so hopefully adding tags later doesnt nerf the post or ill have to repost #dungeon meshi spoilers #delicious in dungeon spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #god idk just take it

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rubychan228 · 3 months ago

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I started this a long time ago, when there was talk of a reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess and both Xena and Hercules were available on Nexflix. That's no longer the case, though both shows are currently available on Prime, and I have a different reason for wanting to finish and post this.

Back then, with a reboot supposedly in the works, I had thought people may be interested in going back and watching the original series. While that seems like a good idea, if you just jump in with episode one of Xena, you will likely be substantially confused, as Xena is a spin-off. On top of that, you can't keep watching just Xena, as it's not 100% stand-alone.

A bit of history: The Xenaverse (as it's called) does not begin with Xena. It begins with "Hercules and the Amazon Women", a made for TV movie that first aired on April 25, 1994. This was followed by four more TV movies and then a spin-off television show, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which debuted on January 16, 1995.

Xena herself would first appear on March 13, 1995, as a villain in the Hercules episode "The Warrior Princess". On May 1st of that year she would return and get a redemption arc. She would then be written out of that series and into her own spinoff show, which would debut on September 4, 1995.

There was also a (non-canon) animated movie released on January 6, 1998, a pilot movie about Hercules's youth that aired on February 17, 1998, and a Young Hercules television series that debuted on September 12, 1998.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys stared Kevin Sorbo (yes, that guy) as Hercules and Michael Hurst as his sidekick Iolaus. Xena: Warrior Princess stars Lucy Lawless as the titular Xena and Renee O'Conner as her sidekick Gabrielle. In the Hercules flashback episodes and the Young Hercules TV movie Hercules is played by Ian Bohen and Iolaus by Dean O'Gorman, In the Young Hercules television show, Hercules was recast and now played by, and I am not kidding about this, Ryan Gosling.

But what's most relevant for this post is that, in addition to being spun off from Hercules, Xena and Hercules also crossed-over on occasion and also sometimes shared plots. And in very substantial ways. Like, characters would die on Xena and then show up alive several episodes later with no in-episode explanation, because the explanation was that they were resurrected in a Hercules episode. Hercules characters would also show up in Xena with little explanation because you were expect to already know them from Hercules.

At the time it wasn't a huge deal, as the shows aired back to back and crossovers were well advertised. Nowadays though, it's a bit more complicated. Which is what this post is, a guide for what episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys are to varying extents necessary to watch in order to follow what happens in Xena.

One final note is that, as you may have picked up by the fact that it's called the Xenaverse, despite Xena being a spin off, Xena was the most poplar of the shows. This has two major results, which adds a lot of episodes on to this list. One is that, in an effort to get Xena viewers to watch Hercules, one of Xena's major plots was suddenly shifted to Hercules, so if you want to see that story concluded, you need to watch several Hercules episodes.

And, in the end, Hercules would be abruptly canceled, leading to a massive coda for the Hercules series happening during Xena (in a way that's very tied-in to the the Xena events of the time). But there are a lot of beats through-out Hercules that build up to the Xena-based coda, though it's up to individual preference as to how many you think are necessary to watch.

As an example that at least some people might be able to follow: How much of the previous MCU do you need to watch to follow WandaVision? Wanda and Vision appear first in Age of Ultron. Their story is minorly expanded on in Civil War and the most important beat happens in Infinity War. Though, there is both a relevant Wanda scene and also the resolution of something huge from Infinity War in Endgame. But also, Wanda's backstory involves misbehavior by Stark Industries and her subsequent grudge against Tony Stark. Tony realizing his company was doing f-ed up things and trying to fix it is the plot of the first Iron Man movie, so should that be considered required? There's also several supporting characters that return from previous MCU projects; Darcy Lewis from almost all the Thor Movies, Jimmy Woo from the second Ant-Man movie, and Monica Rambeau from the Captain Marvel movie. On top of that, Vision's story (and Wanda's as well, tbh) is intimately tied to the Infinity Stones and their explanation comes from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. And then there are other Infinity Stone beats in the other movies, etc, etc, etc... An amount of the previous movies are probably required, but how much depends on your personal curiosity, your need for answers/completeness. Same with how much of the following MCU projects you need to watch for closure. Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, Agatha All Along, VisionQuest...........

For the purpose for this guide, I am giving the Hercules episodes on this list one of four designations:

Required – Pretty self-explanatory. The content directly relates to the plot of Xena in such a way that you will likely be confused if you try to watch Xena without watching this ep.

Recommended – You can watch Xena without watching this, but you'll understand things a lot better if you do watch it.

Coda – This is not related to Xena, but to a prior Required/Recommended episode. In the event you became, in some way, emotionally invested in the contents of the prior episodes, you may want to watch this too.

Tangential – Only very mildly related to anything, but it'll flesh things out a bit more, so if you're board or whatnot, you may still want to watch it.

Since this is all just suggestions, this is also a pretty expansive list, meaning I include a lot of things that merely flesh-out the world as tangential recs. I always explain that though.

So, here we go!

First Season of Hercules:

(1x01) The Wrong Path: The series premier of Hercules: The Legendary Journey is Recommended, as it sets up the world.

(1x02) Eye of the Beholder: This episode is Recommended, as it introduces the recurring character of Salmoneus (Robert Trebor).

(1x06) As Darkness Falls: This episode is Tangential, but it has Lucy Lawless not as Xena, but as a character called Lyla. It also sets up certain concepts like prejudice against centaurs and human/centaur relationships. There is also a Recommended follow up episode.

(1x07) Pride Comes Before a Brawl Really Extremely Tangential but introduces a character/relationship that is the first thread in the story that will become the Xena-based Hercules coda.

(1x09) The Warrior Princess: This is the first episode that Xena appears in, so it is Required. HOWEVER, in light of what we later see of Xena in her own series, the characterization shown here is not correct.

(1x12) The Gauntlet: This is Xena's redemption arc, it absolutely Required. (Best characterization too.) Also has Dean O'Gorman in one of the ten million supporting roles he did before being cast as young Iolaus.

(1x13) Unchained Heart: The continuation of the previous episode, but the characterization is wonky again. Still Required, though.

Second Season of Hercules:

(2x01) The King of Thieves: This episode is Recommended, as it introduces the recurring character of Autolycus (Bruce Campbell). Ideally, watch this before Xena 1x17 - The Royal Couple of Thieves.

(2x05) Outcast: This episode, the continuation of As Darkness Falls, is Recommended as it continues the story of Lyla and Deric (Peter Muller) and drastically expands on centaur prejudice. You should probably be familiar with that, ideally, before watching Xena 1x10 Hooves and Harlots and definitely before Xena 1x24 - Is There a Doctor in the House?.

(2x08) The Other Side: This episode is highly Recommended. It is the Xenaverse version of the story of Hades (Erik Thomson) and Persephone (Andrea Croton) and establishes the character of Hades, which will be relevant to Xena. It also introduces the recurring character of Falafel (Paul Norell). Watch it before Xena 1x9 - Death in Chains.

(2x11) Highway to Hades: It is Required that you watch this episode, after Death in Chains but before Xena 2x08 - Ten Little Warlords.

Third Season of Hercules:

(3x03) Love Takes a Holiday: This is Tangential as it establishes the consequences of Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) vacating her post, something that will involuntarily happen again in Xena (3x10).

(3x07) The Green-Eyed Monster: Introduces Cupid (Karl Urban) and tells the story of him and Psyche (Susan Ward). Establishes Cupid and the power of his arrows, something relevant in multiple Xena episodes, beginning with Xena 2x16 - For Him The Bell For this reason it's Recommended.

(3x12) Surprise: This is a highly Required episode, which must be watched after Xena 2x08 - Ten Little Warlords but before Xena 2x14 - A Necessary Evil.

(3x13-15) Encounter / When a Man Loves a Woman / Judgment Day: This three-part arc is borderline-Required. The second episode has a Joxer (Ted Raimi) cameo and the third has Xena and Gabrielle themselves cameo. This story also establishes the concept of "Hind's Blood", which will be relevant to the end of season three of Xena.

(3x19) The End of the Beginning: This episode is a Coda to the previous three parter, so watch it if you were in invested in that story. (It is also an Autolycus episode.)

(3x22) Atlantis: Very Tangential. This establishes an item that will reappear in a somewhat Recommended-ish fifth season episode.

Fourth Season of Hercules:

(4x05) Stranger in a Strange World: This episode is highly Recommended as it establishes a concept and a particular item that is critical to future required episodes. It also has somewhat of a Xena and Joxer cameo.

(4x06) Two Men and a Baby: Very mildly Recommended as it is a significant beat in the Hercules coda story.

(4x07) Prodigal Sister: This episode deals with a rogue tribe of Amazons, very different from the ones we're familiar with from Xena. It also includes a cameo from Xena character Ephiny (Danielle Cormack) and her son Xenan (Reece Rocewyk) as well another supporting role filled by Dean O'Gorman. It’s Tangental.

(4x13-14) Armageddon Now / Armageddon Now Part 2: REQUIRED! Watch after Xena 3x11 - Maternal Instincts but before Xena 3x21 – Sacrifice.

(4x21) Top God: This is Recommended as it sets up for the next episode. (Also, the beginning scene of Xena 3x14 - Forgiven is hilarious if you've seen the depiction of Apollo (Scott Michaelson) in this episode.)

(4x22) Reunions: This is Recommended as it's an important beat in the relationship between Hercules and Hera (Meg Foster), which will eventually become pivotal to an important season five episode of Xena.

Fifth Season of Hercules:

(5x01-02) Faith / Descent: After Xena season three, these episodes pick up the Dahak storyline. If you are interested in the conclusion of that story than this is Required.

(5x03) Resurrection: This continues the emotional fallout of the previous episodes and introduces a new character, Morrigan (Tamara Gorski), who will appear in many future episodes on this list. For this reason, it is Recommended.

(5x05) Render Unto Caesar: This is Recommended for the appearance of important Xena character Julius Caesar (Karl Urban).

(5x06-07) Norse By Norsevest / Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bridge: This introduces the world of Vikings and the Norse Gods, which return in season six of Xena (though there is NO relation between the depiction of Odin (Peter McCauley) seen here and the version of Odin (Alexander Petersons) seen in Xena), it also includes additional beats in the Dahak storyline, so I'm saying this is Required.

(5x08) Darkness Rising / (5x10-11) Let There Be Light / Redemption: (No, I don't know why there's an irrelevant filler episode in the middle of this.) These episodes finally conclude the Dahak storyline, and so they are Required, if you are invested in that story.

(5x12) Sky High: This episode features another cameo by the Xena character Ephiny (and the return of the item from Atlantis). Recommended if you're invested in her character.

(5x13) Stranger and Stranger: This is a Coda to both the Dahak storyline and the "Strange World" storyline. Does not feature a return cameo by Xena (due to schedule conflicts) but does feature a cameo by Nebula (Gina Torres).

(5x22) Revelations: This ties up one final loose end from the Dahak storyline as well as introduces the character of Michael (Charles Mesure) who will reappear in season five of Xena. It is borderline-Required (also serves as a finale Coda to the Dahak story).

Sixth Season of Hercules:

(6x08) Full Circle: Due to being cut short by cancellation, this is the final episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journey. It is also another important beat in the Hercules/Hera relationship. Recommended, if not Required and you should watch it before Xena 5x12 - God Fearing Child.

And that's it. Hopefully this was helpful!

#xena #my post

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celestial-specter · 1 year ago

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So I finally got around to watching the first three episodes of the final season, and I’ve got to say, I’m very intrigued by the addition of the three clone cadets! Most of my interest comes from their names- and since I haven’t seen anyone else discuss them yet, I thought I’d throw my own thoughts out there.

As we have seen in many star wars projects over the years, character names seem to be overwhelming literal, either revealing elements of their background, or foreshadowing their future (think how in Rebels, Kanan means ‘little wolf’, while his true name, Caleb, means ‘dog’, foreshadowing his link to the Loth wolves.)

Of course, we know that the clones either name themselves or have the name bestowed on them by their brothers (think of Echo getting his name). The trio of clones that we meet in Paths Unknown are named Deke, Stak, and Mox. There hasn’t been much information released regarding at what age clones typically receive their names, however in the Clone Wars episode Clone Cadets, we see Cutup take his name from a trainer who criticizes him for his attitude. As that episode focuses on Domino squad’s final training simulation before graduation, and that they all appear to be fully grown adult clones, it can be assumed that they are all around ten years old, the same age of most clones sent to war. Given that we see Cutup choose his name during this episode, and that Echo is struggling with his nickname and remembering Fives’ name, it suggests that Domino squad had only recently begun thinking about what name they would choose for themselves.

While we haven’t been given a definitive age for Deke, Stak and Mox they are all still clearly children. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t even have names by the time they were taken off Kamino, and had to create names for each other while trying to survive on the planet they were stranded on.

To begin with Mox, his is the name I could find the least amount of reference for. There seems to be three possible interpretations:

Mox is a type of fuel designed for use in nuclear reactors.

Mox is a shortened version of moxie, meaning ‘energy, courage, and determination.’

Mox is the Latin word for ‘soon.’

I’m not overly drawn to the first idea, but I can understand the second - as Mox is clearly the eldest and protective over his younger brothers, I can see him taking a name which shows that side of his personality. I also see Mox as a direct parallel of Hunter; both are the eldest brothers of their respective groups, and are both incredibly wary of outsiders due to their need to keep their brothers safe.

However, I much prefer the third choice. The idea that Mox’s name means ‘soon’ can have both good and bad implications. For starters, Mox is clearly the most emotionally conflicted throughout the episode, unsure of his place on the mission, and of his place once they leave the planet. Hunter assures him that he has time to consider being something other than a soldier, and Mox offers his hand to Hunter. This action could be foreshadowing that soon, Hunter himself will be able to retire from this lifestyle, by finding Omega and Crosshair. Alternatively, Mox’s name meaning soon could be a very bad omen for the batch, as it could foreshadow the clone cadets being used as leverage against them (I’m thinking this could come into play when the empire attacks Pabu if the cadets are there).

Moving on, the word Deke was originally coined by Hemingway as a shortened form of the word decoy. We do not see him act as a decoy in any way during this episode, so I believe it is solely to foreshadow future events. Considering the many parallels drawn between Deke and Tech during this episode (e.g. Stak dubbing Deke ‘the smart one’ and Deke almost falling to his death in the base) his name meaning decoy only makes me more convinced that Tech is still around in some capacity (even if that capacity is just his body being used for cloning experiments).

Finally, Stak is most commonly considered to be an old version of the word stick, which makes sense when you consider the basic stick-based weapons that the cadets carry, and Wrecker’s first words to Stak and Deke when he meets them: ‘Blaster beats stick, kid!’ Knowing that the Star Wars writers love foreshadowing, this comment has me thinking things might not end so well for Stak. Interestingly, another link I found while researching this is that Stak is a common phrase in the Rogue Trooper series, in which a war is fought between facist Norts and democratic Southers (you can already see the obvious parallels to Star Wars here). In the series, in an attempt to win the war, the Southers create genetically engineered soldiers, but only one, known as Rogue, survives. Even more links involve one of the main stories of this series being titled ‘The Marauders’, and each one of the genetically engineered soldiers having a bio-chip in their body. While not a direct link, these coincidences do make me think there is a direct link between the two medias, it is possible that there is a fan of the Rogue Trooper series within the team behind The Bad Batch.

Either way, I’m very happy to finally be getting some explanation into what happened to the young clones who never saw the battlefield during the clone wars - though I am a little concerned that their worth being tied to their unexplored identity as soldiers could lead to them taking risks in further episodes in the hopes of proving themselves.

#star wars tbb #star wars analysis #star wars spoilers #star wars the bad batch #star wars #sw tbb #sw:tbb #sw #the bad batch season 3 #the bad batch theories #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch #tbb mox #tbb deke #tbb stak

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thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog · 1 year ago

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911 Spoilers Season 2: You’ve been warned. 😅

Episode 11-14

Episode 11

• This mostly an Athena and Maddie episode. Honestly one of my favorite episodes. So, much Drama and we sadly get to meet Doug. We technically don’t know he’s Doug, but early on we as a viewer know, the vibes are off.

• Buck is helping Maddie, teaching her self defense. Brother sister bonding time, we learn Buck is dating Ally, but she’s in NY. Maddie pokes fun at all of Buck’s Girlfriends leaving.

• During the Shark rescue, Buck and Eddie standing near each other. Buck is extremely excited about the shark being released back into the ocean. Bobbie and Eddie standing near each other happy admiring the scene.

• Maddie asks Chimney out on a real date. The 118 standing watching this happen from the second floor and proceeds to cheer/taunt Chimney as Maddie leaves. Eddie and Buck standing near each other. Eddie being extra silly.

Episode 12

• Chimney begins. Great episode! Timing wise is tragic, because of the cliffhanger in previous episode. Still amazing.

• No Buddie.

Episode 13

• Buck finds Chim stabbed on ground, realizes Maddie has gone missing.

• Eddie goes to the hospital, is there for Chimney.

• Buck is helping in the way Buck knows how to in trying to track down Maddie. Buck stealing crime scene evidence, Chim’s Phone, out of desperation in trying to find his sister.

• Buck getting caught stealing Chimney’s phone, Eddie criticizing Buck, but ultimately understanding why he did it.

• Eddie attempts to comfort Buck.

• Athena takes Buck with her to further investigate and find Maddie.

• Hen, Bobby, and Eddie stay at the hospital waiting for Chimney to wake up.

• Eddie meets Michael.

This is not a Buddie episode but seeing how everyone reacts to Maddie’s situation with Doug. This episode really show cases how the 118 is a family, and how close they all have become. The fact that even Christopher was at the hospital waiting for Chimney. Shannon was also there and was trying to comfort Eddie. It might be my own delusion but it seemed like Eddie would have preferred her not to be there.

Over all super emotional episode. Maddie is experiencing something so incredibly traumatizing and the people around her that care so deeply for her, are experiencing a trauma along side to her. In a way show casing the people that will always be there.

Episode 14

• Eddie and Buck being apart of Bobby’s presentation for Harry’s class.

• Buck and Eddie sitting next to each other on the Engine when having to patrol LA.

• Baby birth emergency where the mom experiences complications after giving birth. The moment when everyone thinks mom is dead, Eddie spechieally looks over at Buck.

• We get this iconic GIF Moment

• Buck falls off ladder truck trying to save kid, Eddie is on the ground watching Buck closely.

• Eddie scales the building to save the child. Buck is overly concerned over Eddie’s safety, but acknowledges that he would be yelled at if he attempted the same stunt.

• Eddie saves kid, but is trapped in the burning building. Low on oxygen. Buck is outside, freaking out, wanting to charge into the burning building.

I understand Buck is always willing to do the risky saves for just about anyone, and is always putting his life at risk. But this knowledge isn’t inherent, we don’t really understand Buck’s suicidal tendencies until season 4 honestly. We can make assumptions, but nothing is really concrete until we meet the parents. So if you’ve only watched up to season 2, you can safely assume Buck’s eagerness to get in there is tied to it being Eddie. But in all honesty, I know Buck would have the same eagerness if it was Hen or Bobby. This specific moment is simply just an analysis on who Buck is as a person.

• Buck runs towards Eddie and makes fun of Eddie’s spiderman stunt. Obviously was worried and now relieved, this is Buck’s attempt at masking those emotions with humor.

#buddie #911 abc #eddie diaz #evan buck buckely #buck x eddie #911 spoilers #bobby nash #chimney #hen wilson #maddie buckley #911 fandom #911 show #buddie 911 #911 rewatch

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alwida10 · 1 year ago

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Do you think there is astroturfing around disney properties?

When Ant-man 3 was release, everyone was shitting on the movie but praised Jonathan Majors's performance but after the conviction I keep seeing statements like 'his acting was clownish', 'he was the worst part of Loki' etc.

You know since the recent poll about Loki, as of now 57.3% has passed on him,even after release of season 2 which was trending for a while got me thinking . Like, what happened ? Wasn't it the most watched show?

I really hated what happened to him so much that seeing him makes me eyeroll. My favourite MCU character ruined since ragnorak.

If Tom says he didn't like the show, would the opinion on it change?

Omg, yes! And thank you so much for coming to my inbox!!

So, first of all, thank you for teaching me a new word. For everyone else who -like me- didn’t know the exact meaning of “astroturfing”:

But I think the whole situation is complex.

1) i absolutly think that Disney has a team that does use shady methods to make the public opinion appear better than it actually is. I think it was @iamnmbr3 who noticed that some 5 star reviews on major rating sites looked like they were bot-generated (but it was quite some time ago. I linked the article in my master post). Twitter (now X) has so many bots on it and the platform allows them to tilt polls massively. So, yeah, I agree. But. I don’t think that’s necessarily the biggest influence on the public opinion.

2) I assume this is the poll you refer to. It doesn’t distinguish between series Loki, TR Loki, and OG Loki which might have biased the outcome in a negative way. I know some hardcore og Loki fans who did not vote at all, because they LOVE og Loki, but cannot give series Loki a “smash”. Others voted “pass” because the pic is of TR Loki which is still a turn-off for some. I assume that some series Loki fans might vote “pass” because there are many that never liked Loki before the show.

3) there are different types of fans. The hardcore fans stay, but during the airing a lot of casual fans come rushing in, consume, and eventually leave. These people are often very enthusiastic, sometimes even aggressively positive. by now they will have wandered further, leaving only the hardcore fans behind (old and new ones).

4) a lot of people loved the SHOW but not LOKI. I see these types of fans mostly on Reddit. They like the time travel, or kang, or the side characters or just the mcu. Those as well won’t care for Loki or even vote on polls around here.

And then there is also this trend to attack people for liking stuff produced by people who are in any way problematic. Majors trial made all those people drop him like a hot potato. Perhaps some are now trying to “atone” for saying good things about Majors by roasting him? Perhaps the people who never liked him to begin with feel now it’s “safe” to publicly criticize him, since his supporters must fear being attacked for “supporting a domestic abuser”.

All in all, I deeply agree with you on the series being very bad for Loki (as in “destroying any chance for a satisfying conclusion to his arc, his feelings about the adoption, and the time with Thanos”) and I fear it might also be bad for both Tom and the MCU (as in “the public interest is going down and while the show WAS praised widely it still contributed to the downfall instead of generating or reviving interest”).

And yeah, I have a post on how successful the show was in preparation. 🙈 sorry for being so extremely slow with that one. I prefer focusing on writing fanfics, these days. 🙂 OG Loki is alive in our fics, dear anon. No one can take him away from us! 🫂

#mcu loki #tom hiddleston #loki series negativity #loki series critical

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ultraericthered · 10 months ago

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Assorted Dragon Ball Dub VA Thoughts

I do not like Ian James Corlett's take on Son Goku. Disrespectful as that may sound seeing as he was the original English VA for the character, I just think he brought the wrong energy, wrong tone, wrong inflections, and just wrong portrayal to the role. He made Goku sound like a mature, macho superhero, and that had a negative effect on how Peter Kelamis and Sean Schemmel had to perform the role when they took over for Ian. Everything uncharacteristic about Goku in the early dubs can be traced back to Ian's portrayal of him.

The big three English voices for Goku to me are Sean Schemmel, Peter Kelamis, and Kirby Morrow. Schemmel is easily the most iconic and recognizable, and he really made the role his own as he improved over the years, Kelamis' portrayal of Goku in the Pioneer dubs of the first three movies is as close to a dead ringer to Masako Nozawa in English (but from a male VA) as you could ask for, and I think the late Kirby Morrow, who took over from Kelamis in the Westwood dub, was the only VA for Goku from the Ocean Group to get the character down right in the show itself, doing less of the cheesy hero shtick. All of them work really well for Adult Goku.

For Kid Goku, however? Sorry, but I can hear literally no one else but Stephanie Nadolny in that role. No one else even comes close. Her rough voice and delivery of her performance was just pitch perfect.

Bulma's best dub VA is still Tiffany Volmer, who never gave a poor, half-assed performance in the role except for her debut outing in Season 3 (which was just cringe). Monica Rial comes in as a close second but the trouble with her is that when she needs to get comically frantic and really emote, she sounds very immediately recognizable as a Monica Rial performance, whereas Volmer always sounded more unique. Three other Bulma VAs that go overlooked are Lalaina Lindjberg, Maggie Blue O'Hara, and Wendee Lee. Lalaina's Bulma is underappreciated, as it was very fitting and well acted. Maggie's Bulma sounds the most "real" out of all the Bulma voices, but in that movie dub she sort of underperformed compared to how she could've (think Lime) and she should not have been brought back in the Westwood dub. And with Wendee Lee, I just find it funny that she technically was the first to do Bulma in English for the lost Harmony Gold dub and then reprised the role many, many years later in the short lived Bang Zoom dub of Dragon Ball Super.

Gohan's a complicated case for me, since unlike Kid Goku, I was never big on how Stephanie Nadolny voiced Kid Gohan - she undersold everything during the Season 3 dub and then was too try-hard in the redub and every reprisal. I greatly preferred Saffron Henderson and Colleen Clinkenbeard's more natural takes. However, Nadolny absolutely killed it as young Teen Gohan in the Cell Saga, to the point where every other VA to perform the role during those events just will not sound right. As for older Gohan, while I love the way Kyle Hebert does him, Chris Hackney in the Bang Zoom Super dub was almost just as good. Brad Swaile in the Westwood dub and even Lex Lang in the US release of Final Bout showed potential too.

I always liked Terry Klassen's Krillin in a semi-ironic way. Like, he had a naturally fitting voice for the character but often overacted like crazy and made him hard to take seriously. Sonny Strait, like most, started off a weak replacement in Season 3, but nowadays? He IS Krillin. He breathes so much life and likability into the character and for years I'd believed Sony would never have a role that could match or surpass it...until a certain yellow octopus teacher came along. While I also like how Mike Thiessen and Brian Beacock approached the role, they fail to stand out when stacked against Sony's take. Also, major props to Laurie Steele as Kid Krillin - her voice for him sounds exactly like a kid who'd grow up into Sonny Strait's Krillin.

Scott McNeil and Chris Sabat are both hailed as the best VAs for Piccolo by many, and I'd say that's right....but Sabat himself has gone on record to say that he believes his Piccolo is utterly dwarfed by Scott's even now, so I'm sort of inclined to believe him. Solid as Sabat's Piccolo has become, there's just this gruff, gravelly, badass quality to Scott's Piccolo that just cannot be matched. Aside from them, Dan Woren and Ray Chase were fitting VA picks for Piccolo (though Woren was sadly misdirected given where he featured in), and you just gotta have a soft spot for Paul Bandey as Big Green!

Chris Sabat was, however, the best voice for Demon King Piccolo in the Dragon Ball dub, which helped make his Piccolo Jr. better.

Vegeta....is a toughie. Chris Sabat was horrid as the character in Season 3, showed improvement in Season 4, came into his own in Season 5 onward but also sounded awful in the redub and phoned it in for a lot of his subsequent outings, and then ever since dubbing Kai, he's been excellent enough to secure his place as the definitive English voice of Vegeta. Like, his Kai and post-Kai performances are objectively the best Vegeta has ever sounded in Western dubs, he just embodies the role so much. ...And yet, whenever I think back to or revisit the first two DBZ sagas, it is exceedingly difficult for me to get Brian Drummond's Vegeta out of my head. The nostalgia is a large part of that, but on its own merits, Brian's Vegeta was just so deliciously sinister sounding and oozing with underlining arrogance and spiteful fury that made Vegeta seem so intimidating. This is the guy who made "OVER NINE THOUSAAAND!" and "MY WRAAATH!" so unforgettable! He did fine, if not a touch weaker, in the Westwood dub as well, though by the Buu Saga I definitely prefer Sabat's take. The only other English VA to come close to these two would be Kaiji Tang in Bang Zoom's Super dub, but even that's mainly due to him strongly channeling Sabat into his Archer-esque vocal portrayal.

Linda Young's Freeza remains iconic for many, and I will say that I can't pass any blame on her for having been in the role and any missteps she might've committed in it, as she was cast to be a soundalike replacement for the late (and sadly miscast) Pauline Newstone. I will also say that in her first five years voicing the part, from 1999 to 2004, her Freeza sounded pretty great and she was skillful at voicing the character as it had been translated. In Season 3 she'd been the highlight and its sole shining instance of competent voice acting, giving Freeza different, fitting voices for all his forms and nailing the character's sadistic evilness in spite of the scripts feeding her some truly horrendous dialogue. However, by 2005 and the redubbing of the Namek/Freeza sagas, Linda had, for whatever reason, decided to start voicing Freeza in this "tranny granny" voice, like a high pitched, chainsmoking old diva with obnoxious line reads and screams like Rita Repulsa, and the voice directors just...let her do that. And this was especially harmful for Freeza in his final form, as the voice acting did not match the character as depicted in any way whatsoever. Her being recast for Kai was a not pre-planned thing, but I was and still am so relieved it happened. It's what had to be done and indeed what should have been done a long time back.

The late, great Christopher Ayres is bar none the best dub VA for Freeza. He redefined how the character would sound like in English, delivering a take on him faithful to Ryusei Nakao's original portrayal while also making enough distinctions to stand on its own. While Ayres is still greatly missed in general and his passing was a huge loss for the industry, it wasn't a huge loss for the role of Freeza since Daman Mills is freakishly beyond brilliant at recapturing that voice and doing similar performances to carry on that legacy, so we are so fortunate to have him. Beyond them, the only other offical dub voice for Freeza to even begin to match up would be Derek Stephen Prince doing his Vexen voice for the character in Bang Zoom's Super dub.

Cell's an interesting case where all dub VAs to do Imperfect Cell sound alike and all suit him well, but for Semi-Perfect Cell, Travis Willingham surpassed Dameon Clarke in how he performed the voice prior to Clarke's reprisals starting with Kai, where he improved the Semi-Perfect Cell voice to stack up to how Travis did it. And Perfect Cell? Dameon Clarke stands alone there, unmatched. He is perfect!

Both Josh Martin and Scott McNeil give portrayals of Mr. Buu that work for his character. The same can't be said of Corby Proctor's strange Jar Jar-Gollum hybrid voice, and Spike Spencer trying way too hard yet failing to come off as convincing.

Justin Cook's initial outing as Super Buu was...off. He just sounded way too scary and ominous for a character who's supposed to be not just demonic, but savage, brutish, and petulant. Brian Dobson in the Westwood dub actually played the part better. But in practically every reprisal, especially by Kai, Justin proved able to easily match that.

Am I the only one who has a hard time stomaching Eric Vale as Future Trunks these days? From his first shot at the role all the way to the Kai dub, he absolutely nailed the character and endeared him to so many fans with his emotional performances, but afterwards he started making the voice way too gruff and snarly and it's made Trunks harder and harder to take seriously. I don't think he's no longer capable of doing Trunks as good as he used to since other roles like Yuki Sohma suggest that he still could, so I don't know what he's going for anymore. Sean Chiplock sadly never got the chance to go into more Trunks material since Bang Zoom's Super dub lasted those first two sagas, but I think he'd sound a lot better in the role.

Master Roshi had a great VA for him for Funimation's initial dub of Dragon Ball in Michael Donovan, and it's weird that he was never brought back for DBZ. Out of the other Ocean Group VAs to voice him, I only really liked Don Brown in The World's Strongest - Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis, and Terry Klassen never sounded right and were never convincing. Mike McFarland IS Master Roshi in English: he did a good job crafting the character's voice and playing the part from the start, and by the second, full dub of Dragon Ball and going onward he's just nailed it, sounding more and more natural in the role the more he himself ages. He gives the character so much charm, humor, and stern seriousness when needed that it almost, almost, makes his dated old pervert shtick easy to overlook! The only other good Roshi voice is Kirk Thornton is the Bang Zoom Super dub, but even he can't quite hold a candle to McFarland's iconic take.

Chi Chi has mostly had fine VAs whose portrayls of her have worked for what the character calls for. Of particular note are Carol Anne Day, Lisa Ann Bailey, Lara Sadiq, Nicole Oliver, and Cynthia Cranz.

I only really like Dave "Squatch" Ward and Dave Petit as the Ox King. Kyle Hebert's not awful or anything, but his Ox King never sounded natural. Best you can say is that it's better than Mark Britten's take.

Likewise I only really like Elan Ross Gibson and Linda Young as Fortuneteller Baba (who had some male VAs voicing her a lot for whatever reason?), and only Brian Drummond and Mike McFarland for Yajirobe, though with a bias towards Drummond in the latter role since he got it down earlier and his delivery was more memorable. And I will remain forever insistent that Yajirobe is a Chris Sabat role he never got. Sabat's Kuwabara voice seems meant for the part!

It seems to be an unpopular opinion but I preferred Ward Perry to Dale Wilson as Kami Sama. And Dale was very good as Kami, mind you, but Ward Perry just has a natural gravitas in his voice and carries an aged god-like quality that makes his Kami voice my favorite. Third place goes to Chris Sabat, as it should be a natural choice to have Kami and Piccolo share a VA, but it took until the dub of Kai for Sabat to get it down. Beforehand, his Kami was too wheezy and like a younger man doing a weak impression of an old man.

I prefer Chris Casan to Chris Sabat as Mr. Popo, but prefer Alvin Sanders to them both. Sanders is the only VA to give that odd looking caricature any dignity, and him actually being black helped as well.

I will freely admit that Don Brown remains the definitive King Kai voice in my mind, as he most effectively balanced silly clownishness with an aged wisdom and dignity to him. Dean Galloway in the Blue Water GT dub and Michael McConnohie in the Bang Zoom Super dub are also excellent, with the latter sounding the most like the OG Japanese voice for Kai. Sean Schemmel....I've gotten used to his King Kai and he performs the part more competently nowadays when compared to how he started, but I still think the voice he goes for is just not what the character called for. It sounds too stupid, everyone has made fun of it. I mean, on literally day one of that early Captain Ginyu: Double Cross VHS release back in 1999, the friend who lent it to me had to warn me that this stupid voice was coming! That out of all the poor replacement Funimation voices, it had to be singled out as being particularly awful! So it's bizarre Sean's still kept with it.

Ward Perry and Chris Rager are the only good King Yamma voices.

Young Andrew Francis was the best and most natural voice for Young Dende, but Maxey Whitehead is definitely the next best thing. While Laura Bailey's Dende was well acted, the voice she used couldn't really disguise the fact that Dende's being voiced by a girl, unlike her Kid Trunks. The less said about Ceyli Juliann Delgadillo, the better. As for older Dende, only Justin Cook does it great.

Only Bill Jenkins got Grand Elder Guru down right. Robert O Smith's creepy Alfred Hitchcock voice didn't fit the large elderly Namekian and didn't even sound weary enough. Chris Sabat sounded more weary in Season 3 but was clearly a fake old man voice that didn't require much from him, and he sounded a lot worse in reprisals.

Chris Rager is Hercule Satan. It's the role that literally launched his career as a voice acting and he's never missed a beat in reprisals of the character. Jamieson Price in the Bang Zoom Super dub fits him very well too, even if he's naturally easily eclipsed by Rager. While I could get what Don Brown was going for with his take, I just don't like the performance - we all know the Ocean VA who should voice Mr. Satan is Trevor Devall, but that Kai dub they did was never released so we'll never know if he ended up doing it or not. And Dave Petit as Mr. Satan is such a massive letdown. You'd expect the dub VA for Master Asia to easily nail Mr. Satan, and yet he gave us THAT???

Kara Edwards is definitively Videl. She did great as her voice since she started voicing the role and has only gotten better by Kai. Monica Stori in the Westwood dub isn't bad per say, but I feel Myriam Sirois would've been the more obvious and better casting choice there. Erika Harlacher was spot on casting for the character but was sadly hampered by Super's lackluster Videl-in-name-only material.

I could never quite buy Laura Bailey's Erasa, as she sounded like a sweet Girl Next Door trying too hard to sound like a ditzy diva. Kelly Sheridan pulled off her voice more naturally in the Westwood dub, but Alexis Tipton in the Kai dub is easily the best of the bunch.

Bradford Jackson is the definitive Oolong voice, and it shouldn't even be close, yet Bryan Massey, Richard Newman, and surprisingly even Ray Chase give surprisingly close enough to match his portrayal. The only real opinion I can give is that as much as I enjoy Massey in the role, I think that after Jackson left the second time, they should've given the role to Jeremy Schwartz, who's an even closer soundalike.

Once he finally shook off the absurd Harvey Fierstein impression that Paul Dobson originated, Chris Sabat has played the best Korin. Roger Rhodes, Paul Bandey, and Theodore Lehmann also have very fitting voices for the old cat and they work in their own ways. Ted Cole is by far the most baffling to me, as he opted to play Korin like Garfield even though he was coming off of Dobson's Fierstein voice, creating a huge whiplash in what's meant to be the same character.

Speaking of Ted Cole, though, his Yamcha is still my personal favorite voice for the character. Sabat's Yamcha is fitting too, but can also grate on you after a while and it's more than a bit awkward to have Yamcha and Vegeta voiced by the same person. The other best sounding Yamcha would be Grant George in the Bang Zoom dub.

For whatever reason, Tienshinhan has barely recieved a good dub voice. John Burgmeier stands out as easily the best of the bunch, though Brendan Hunter and (yet again) Ray Chase are good as well.

Chuck Huber is the definitive Emperor Pilaf and I will accept no substitutes. Not even Don Brown, Dean Galloway, or Tom Fahn.

Kent Williams is easily the best Tao Pai Pai, but Doug McKeag in the Blue Water dub did a fittingly menacing yet campy take on him as well. Scott McNeil in the Westwood dub of DBZ is also entertaining to listen to, but giving an oriential dressed character with an oriental sounding name a Russian accent was...questionable.

While the older dub for Mystical Adventure is pretty cringe on the whole, it featured easily the most fitting vocal performance for Master Shen the Crane Hermit from the late, great Robert Axelrod. The only VA who comes even close to comparing would be Clark Robertson in the Blue Water dub. Chuck Huber comes in third place here, I never much liked his Shen, especially compared to his Pilaf.

Jason Gray Standford and Justin Cook have both given us equally perfect vocal portrayals of Raditz. Likewise, Michael Dobson and Phil Parsons are both solid as Nappa, though here I'd say the latter gets a definite edge over the former since he plays the role straight as the cruel, brutish and imposing Saiyan commando Nappa is meant to be, whereas Dobson delivered a lot of his lines in too juvenille a way.

Dodoria's voices in the Funimation dubs all work for him, but John Swasey is especially well cast as he effortlessly bridged the divide between the higher, raspy take by Paul Dobson and the deeper, throatier take by Chris Forbis into one pitch perfect voice.

J. Michael Tatum is the only VA for Zarbon who was just flawless in his approach and performances, so it sucks that he parted with the role once Mira became his main DB role to voice. Paul Dobson also did a kickass job, giving Zarbon a more masculine characterization than I think would be expected of him, though the Australian accent was certainly a choice. Chris Sabat has been all over the place here - he did a spot on Paul Dobson impression in Season 3 but then settled into a more refined, vaguely British sounding voice until suddenly he began doing his flamboyant, campy Ayame Sohma shtick for Zarbon and it sounded awful and ill-fitting. Now that he's got the role again he's notably improved once more, retaining the Ayame voice but changing up the delivery so that we buy Zarbon is actually taking shit seriously and so we're able to take him seriously.

The ideal lineup for the Ginyu Force would be Brice Armstrong as Ginyu, Vic Mignogna as Burter, Chris Sabat as Jeice, David Kaye as Recoome, and Terry Klassen as Guldo, as those were all the best fits for those characters. For Ginyu I also love Richard Newman, Richard Epcar, and R. Bruce Elliot's versions - Dale Kelly is the only one who flat out sucked, as he was horrendously misdirected and sounded like a generic big dumb goon or an evil Popeye the Sailor Man. Don Brown was a good establishing voice for Burter, and while Vic can no longer voice him for obvious reasons, I'm glad Sabat is doing better in channeling him rather than Mark Britten, who was the worst Burter. While I like Scott McNeil and Ernesto Jason Liebrecht's Jeices in their series' better than Sabat's, Sabat as Space Australia Jeice in all the video games has been the most entertaining. Obviously David Kaye's original Recoome can never quite be measured up to, but as of the Kai dub Chris Sabat finally found his footing with the role rather than doing a bad attempt at Kaye, a weird Schwarzenegger voice, or a painfully unfunny blithering retard stereotype voice like before. And while Bill Townsley did alright as Guldo, I think Greg Ayres really refined and perfected the whiney froggy voice he was going for.

Jason Douglas is the only VA to get King Cold down pat. Bradford Jackson's approach was a bit too literal-minded in sounding like a posh, faygala king and then transitioning 100% into a threatening thug when swinging the sword at Trunks. Michael Dobson just sounded like a generic evil brute. Douglas gets down the king quality, the cold quality, and the subtle menace all in a fairly deep voice that's just deep enough and aged enough to perfectly suit the character.

On the Androids...obviously Todd Haberkorn was best suited for 19 seeing as the competition was a high pitched racist stereotype voice speaking in monotone and Cathy Weseluck trying way too hard to sound like a big dumb fatso. Both Kent Williams and Brian Dobson were stellar as 20/Dr. Gero, but the former became especially suitable for the role with each reprisal of it he's done. It's no contest with 16, as even before his improvement for Kai and beyond, Jeremy Inman's voice fit better than Scott McNeil's overly done giant voice. And while Chuck Huber and Meredith McCoy are the most iconic and perfectly suited for 17 and 18, I think all the VAs to for the characters did good enough jobs, including Colleen Clinkenbeard's 18 in Kai.

Duncan Brannan did the best Babidi, it's not even remotely close.

Beerus and Whis are simply owned by Jason Douglas and Ian Sinclair, though I don't think John DeMita and Doug Erholtz in the Bang Zoom dub were awful, they just could've been directed better.

Champa, meanwhile, is a case where the short-lived Bang Zoom dub actually managed to outdo Funimation. Kirk Thornton fits Champa's appearance and personality better than Ernesto Jason Liebrecht, and it's not even close, though Caitlin Glass and Tamara Ryan do come close to each other as Vados: their voices and tone are both perfect.

James Marsters as Zamasu is just...if anything sells Zamasu as one of the all-time greats of villainy in Dragon Ball, that casting does.

I slightly prefer Don Brown as Garlic Jr. (his monologue upon gaining immortality really clinches it for me), but Chuck Huber also put in a tremendous effort to bring life to the role so that he seems a bit more than just a throwaway filler villain. Should he ever resurface, I think Bill Townsley ought to have a crack at voicing him, as his Babidi voice was closer to Huber's Garlic than to Duncan Brannan's Babidi.

Dr. Wheelo has three VAs and rather curiously falls into the exact same situation as the three VAs for Andross of Star Fox - one of them (R. Bruce Elliot) fits a big scary villain but doesn't carry much of an old scientist quality to him, while another (Douglas Rand) sounds like a mad scientist but carries virtually no menace in his acting. And then there's the one, Ward Perry, who gets it down juuuust right.

Turles is another great Ward Perry villain role, though more so in the uncut Pioneer release dub than the TV dub where he put on what sounded like a forced impression of Brian Drummond's Vegeta. Chris Patton didn't really carry the same quality to his take on Turles in the redub, but in the games to feature Turles afterwards, especially by Xenoverse 2, he's become just as definitive a Turles voice as Ward.

Jonny Yong Bosch as Broly > Vic Mignogna as Broly, come at me, but I'm right. Also, Paul Bandey was actually the significantly better (and more entertaining) fit for Paragus in the Big Green dub of Movie 8, but the more aged Dameon Clarke fit Super's Paragus far better.

This doesn't seem the common opinion, but for the GT version of Pan I think Caitlynne Medrek of the Blue Water dub > Elise Baughman of the Funimation dub. She sounds closer to the character's age and doesn't deliver most of her lines like she's half-yawning all the time. Similarly, Carol Anne Day > Amber Cotton as Valese in that show. You just can't go wrong with Carol Anne Day!

Bura, meanwhile, is a case of when the English VAs get better and better. Parisa Fakhri had a decent voice but was a notably wooden voice actress who never really committed to selling her characters. Leda Davies in the Blue Water dub had more energy and I'd argue she fit Bura better than she ever fit Bulma. Brina Palencia took over from Parisa for a cameo in Budokai Tenkaichi 2, delivering a similar voice saying more competently acted lines. Lauren Landa, who's been Bulla ever since the end of Kai, is easily the best Bura voice, as she gets down the right voice, right energy, and right line reads.

Lastly, let's talk about the Dragon himself. Don Brown, Chris Sabat, and Dave Petit are all top tier voices for Shenron, all making him sound believable as a mighty, magical wish-granting dragon diety. Sabat has become easily the most iconic out of them and he does wonderfully....but my personal favorite remains Don Brown. Partly because of that growl he has that's very Tiger Head Cave from Aladdin sounding and befitting a dragon, but also partly because it's Don Brown. Look at his resume, particularly as DB characters like many mentioned on here, and would you ever guess that was him?

#Dragon Ball #Dragon Ball Z #Dragon Ball GT #Dragon Ball Super #anime #voice acting #opinion

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oscarupsets · 10 months ago

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Hello, 1960s! New decade, new vibes.

Widely acclaimed Best Picture winner The Apartment left me upset-less for this year. While critics are lukewarm about the other nominees, one source did hint towards another fan-favorite: Psycho.

I will not hide it, I LOVE The Apartment. I think it's the humor that gets to me. There's also something Jack Lemmon brings to his characters that is just SO good. He's quirky, he's funny, I just can't explain it. Caught between Lemmon and past-Upset star Fred MacMurray, Shirley MacLaine delivers an equally endearing performance.

Released 20 years after his Best Picture winner Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is one of his many later films that missed out a Best Picture nomination.

In 1960, Psycho was groundbreaking in terms of violence and sex in film. The violence in question is some stabbing that doesn't actually produce wounds, while the sex is two unmarried people sharing a bed. Not knocking it, just interesting how far we've come from 1960.

The production also felt groundbreaking for the time, especially the camera angles. They were all over the place and super fun, especially the really low shots and the birds-eye-like staircase shots.

Alfred Hitchcock implemented strict standards during the showings of Psycho. People were not allowed to be admitted into the theater once the film had begun, and even pay-per-view equivalent televisions would not allow viewers to start a showing after the start time.

The Apartment was the most nominated and awarded film of the night at the 33rd Academy Awards. And while the actors missed out on wins at the Oscars, they were thankfully recognized previously at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. Psycho's one major award for the season came from the Golden Globes for Janet Leigh.

Psycho was not named as a Top 10 Film by the National Board of Review in 1960, but has been recognized alongside The Apartment in many other, more recent lists.

Unofficial Review: I enjoyed both very much, but I still prefer The Apartment. This should not, however, dismiss the impact Psycho had on film!

#oscars #academy awards #33rd academy awards #the apartment #the apartment 1960 #psycho #psycho 1960 #1960s #film #1960s film #oscarupsets

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simplylove101 · 10 months ago

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FANFIC TAGGING GAME

I got tagged by my lovely bestie @backtothestart02. Thanks for thinking of me, hun. <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? - 11 (and at least 4 on ff.net, though I had a few I deleted as well, including my longest story on there out of embarrassment lol)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

168, 530 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

On Ao3, it was strictly Gertchase from Runaways (Marvel) but I've also written for Gossip Girl & Harry Potter as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Most of them are my earlier stuff but there's one that was more recent that people seemed to like my take on a scene. 1. A Place Isn't Home - it's my baby, my first dip into writing fic in YEARS & for a ship that I'd only just gotten into. I put a lot prep & care into it beforehand so I'll always be proud of it considering it's centered around one trope - sharing a bed. lol 2. Lost Moments - doesn't surprise me now since there were lots of missed opportunities for good Gertchase content in S2 so I just had to do a missing moments fic for them 3. Over & Over Again - inspired by the Runaways promo team releasing the first few minutes of S3 before the season dropped & gave me the opportunity to write in Chase's pov which I love since it's easy for me. 4. Maybe I'm Falling - based on the teased bed talk with Gertchase before S2 dropped (which is still a cute scene) but I kinda prefer my version lol And 5. It's Your Call - my two different takes on Gertchase's S2 kiss scene written right after the trailer had been released. And guess what? Neither one was at all like what we got. lmao

5. Do you respond to comments?

Most of the time. Considering kudos are usually the only way I know if people are liking a fic by me, getting any comments on one is kinda a big deal to me cuz I love getting them. lmao

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Angstiest ending... Well, even when I write angst, there's generally some kinda hope since I like to write angst with a purpose even if it cuts hard. But since you were my home but now i'm (so) lost is about Future Chase reflecting on Gert's death & deciding to save her, I guess that's the automatic answer. But also, Lost Moments technically since it ends with Gert deciding to get over Chase after his betrayal (I was proud of that chapter tbh)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ummm, basically the majority of them are happy like I said. lol Maybe I'm Falling is the purest tho since the whole thing is fluffy. hell was the journey but it brought me heaven was pretty cute too imo.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not on Ao3 since like I said, I hardly get comments as it is. But on ff.net... Trust me, I got some flames. It wasn't pretty. lol

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Before I wrote love doesn't know what distance is, the answer would have been a hard no. Mostly because I would always chicken out before I even got started. lol Somehow I convinced myself to get it a proper try on that fic and I didn't hate it??? Do I think I'm the best at it? Still no. But I'm not as scared now. It's pretty basic but at least I did it. lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not with my Gertchase fics cuz I suck at that kinda thing but during my Harry Potter days I used to experiment with AU ideas that never went too far before I deleted them. I remember I was gonna use a Real World (yes, the reality show lol) concept for a Harry/Ginny fic that never made it passed Chap 1. lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh, this is so hard these days because younger me would always say Chuck/Blair and they are still up there.... I think Cole/Cassie from 12 Monkeys might be my most epic ship tho, despite me never having written for them before (I wouldn't know where to start tbh) And my heart will always belong to Ron/Hermione too. I love Gertchase but at the end of the day they might actually be more of a top 10 ship for me, I just am able to be inspired to write for them.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The ultimate WIP for Gertchase for me is a post-canon fic that initially was gonna be just a simple proposal but then I wanted to include other stuff like Gert getting pregnant, etc. so it could be a mini fic. But I've just never written it because of lost inspiration (the real life drama of the cast did kinda taint the show a bit at one point but also, the fandom's pretty dead too) That said, never say never. Maybe one day I'll do it. There's scenes I had written for it that I still have somewhere so it's possible. We'll see. lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. lol I know it is because that's how I start writing my fics. I tend to write scenes out like a script first because it's how I'm able to start visualizing the rest of it. Rarely does a fic of mine not start with a quote or at least a train thought by a character. I also like to think that when I do write angst I'm not afraid to go for the jugular so to speak because it's meant to hurt BUT I do always want it to have a purpose and move the story along. Also, apparently when I'm really feeling a chapter I'm not afraid to have a big word count. I can't help it. lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The actual writing process. lol It doesn't always come naturally to me. I don't usually write anything all in one go unless I'm truly feeling it. Also, descriptive stuff. There's a reason why dialogue is my strength. It's writing around all that I struggle with a lot.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Um, it's intimidating. lol I did consider doing it a few times because Gert is fluent in Spanish & she was supposed to tutor Chase for it so I always thought it would be fun to tease that in a fic or two but never did. I don't want to get the translation wrong.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. Because I was obsessed with Ron/Hermione. And yet if you looked at my old ff.net account you'd assume it was Harry/Ginny because I deleted all my RHr related fics. lol

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Omg, the hardest question. lol Most of them are all my bbs for different reasons. I do think my mini The College Woes trilogy is some of my strongest work to date tho because all of that is pure me going for it since it's all post-canon. I did research and had fun with the process.

Anyway, I don't really have anyone to tag myself because I don't know who follows me and wants to answer these questions but hey, if you write fic and see this, consider yourself tagged! Also, even tho I haven't written in a while & might never again in the foreseeable future, if you like Gertchase, my A03 account is When_the_Day_Met_Night21 :)

#i enjoyed this #fanfiction #fic tagging game

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