#am I slightly influenced by the puss in boots movie?

[iiguess]

OOC. Oh, the temptation to give my P5 thief girl sickles--

[adarkrainbow]

Neverafter notes (1)

I am re-doing my Dimension 20: Neverafter notes. However I will go in a slightly different direction – since not many people are interested in these posts, and I do them mostly for me anyway, I’ll go with a… drier listing style I guess? Here my notes covering the three first episodes – aka the first arc of the season – aka the entirety of what we have with the first version of the Neverafter multiverse. Episode 1, The Time of Shadows. Episode 2, Mirror, Mirror. Episode 3, No Place for a Prince or Princess.

THE CHILDREN OF DESTINY:

Rosamund du Prix is Sleeping Beauty. More precisely she is a take on Disney’s Aurora – between her backstory involving three good fairies and a wicked one (the good fairies being recognizable by their colors, the third being dressed in blue) and the character herself being played like your “typical Disney princess cliché” (and twisted around – the whole thing of animal handling and survival in the wood being a D&D Ranger, or how her gifts of beauty and grace are about maintaining good-looks despite living in the wild and having agility bonus). There’s however some brothers Grimm points thrown into it all – such as the focus on “briars” and how the thorns killed all the princes that tried to reach

Gerard of Greenleigh is The Frog Prince (aka the popular culture take on the brothers Grimm fairytale “The Frog King”). Frog humanoid= D&D Hobgoblin.

Pib is Puss in Boots. From the French fairytale of Charles Perrault. Talking cat scoundrel = D&D’s Tabaxi Rogue. By episode 3, Alphonse (the mule from the original fairytale) turns out to be an actual talking animal too and to still be around the Neverafter.

Pinocchio is… well Pinocchio. Talking puppet = D&D’s Warforged. Is a Warlock, with his broken nose as his wizard’s staff and the Stepmother as his patron.

Timothy “Mother” Goose. Mother Goose. Famous figure-of-speech/title expression thanks to Perrault, but only became its own character in England, where she became the British “mascot” for nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Even got a nursery rhyme of her own, “Old Mother Goose and her son Jack”, of which Timothy as a character derives from. The Jack from this nursery rhyme is also the Jack of the game which is ALSO the “Jack be nimble” rhyme. Timothy’s husband, Henry Hubbard, is also from the nursery rhyme world – “Old Mother Hubbard”. Storyteller witch and caretaker = D&D’s Bard.

Ylfa Snorgelsson. Is Little Red Riding Hood: the Perrault version (since there was no Huntsman or Woodsman to save her, and she was “eaten” in the end – more here bitten and turned into a werewolf), but with touches and dashes of the Grimm version (the axe evoking the Woodsman, the whole thing about “not straying from the path”). Turning Little Red Riding Hood into a werewolf story has been made very popular thanks to the first influential work of fiction who did it: Angela Carter’s Gothic collection “The Bloody Chamber” which contains three short stories interweaving werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood (The Werewolf, The Company of Wolves, Wolf-Alice). These three tales were mixed in the cult classic movie “The Company of Wolves”, which added to Carter’s plotlines an exploration of the symbolic puberty of a young girl – something that is also explored in how Ylfa’s lycantrophy is treated. Werewolf Little Red still a popular take (the 2011 movie).

SOURCES OF INFLUENCE FOR THIS SEASON:

Into the Woods. Definitively. They make it very obvious. The giants being one of the main threats crushing everything ; the way the briars talked to Rosamund about keeping her safe (the Witch’s “Stay with me”), how Brennan and the gang repeat “Into the woods” in episode 2.

The Book of Lost Things – very possible. The Time of Shadows works so much like how there’s this cyclical corruption of the fairytale world in this novel. And both are about a magical quest to restore the land centered around a magical book supposedly containing all of the answers…

Fables. Maybe? I have never seen anywhere else the idea of “The de-transformed prince slowly turns back to his cursed form as the love of the princess wanes” (Gerard and Elodie, Beast and Beauty). Also the use of “living archetypes” within a collective fairytale world – something that Fables also became very famous for. Plus the Snow Queen being shown as an antagonist and an invading force.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pan Labyrinth. Maybe? The moment of “let’s all touch the book” in episode 2, especially when some drawings started appearing out of blood, reminded me of the magic book of this movie. Plus, it is a classic of “dark fairytale” movies, or “fairytale horror” if you prefer.

Terry Pratchett’s Witches Abroad. Almost certain, if not definitively. The entire sequence of Rosamund meeting the traumatized mice and talking to them reuses almost word for word the ideas that Pratchett brought in his novel about animals in fairytales being driven mad at being forced at acting humans. The entire thing of the Fairy Godmother and her transformed minions seems pulled out straight of the “fairytale horror” of this novel and of Genua’s fairy godmother tyrannical rule.

Shrek. Probably? After all it is the most famous piece of American media to deal with fairytales outside of the Disney movies… At least it is frequently referenced by the players.

FAIRYTALE CLICHES PLAYED AROUND WITH:

# “Happily ever after”. What happens once the fairytale ending is reach. The case of Elodie and Gerard is an especially fascinating case of exploring the metaphysical and human consequences of this idea. Elodie can’t stand the feeling that her life is supposed to end after her marriage, Gerard’s belief in happily ever after makes him passive and delusional, and the logical consequences of such a strange case of “meet-and-match” lead to the lovers with incompatible desires and personalities to fall apart. Logical consequences also evoked with Stephan, Pib’s owner, an illiterate miller son will have a hard time passing off as royal nobility.

# Magical things happening to royals naturally.

# “Do not stray from the path”. Pretty much unique to Ylfa’s fairytale, but still heavily discussed and played around (The important thing is that we stray together ; is it still straying from the path if a magical one opened in the woods).

# Bandlebridge is tricked by the old rule of “You must grant every demand of the magical being to get your reward”.

# Not a fairytale trope, but I love how the idea of “fireside stories” is reinvented with this magical silvery log that wards off the camp from “goblins and boggarts” as long as someone tells a story as it burns. Is it a real D&D item?

# The “dark forest” motif. Of course there is the “Black Wood” of Grimmweir… Though it is said to be but one of the several “primeval forests” filled with dangers on this continent. Averted with Rosamund’s ranger talents which turn a deadly travel into a pleasant stroll by episode 2.

# Some characters not having names in fairytales (The Stepmother lost her name, nobody can remember it).

# Emily asking to specify if it is “mother blood, stepmother blood, godmother blood, grandmother blood” is a good joke on how fairytale trolls and giants can somehow smell very specific types of blood “Smells like Christian blood”, “Smells like an Englishman’s blood”.

"Once upon a time". The answer to the total party kill that Ylfa gets from the Big Bad Wolf - "the end of the story" embodied revealing to her the "wicked beings" are all motivated by preventing the "turning of the pages" - and thus that the book isn't here to "restore" the world by returning into the past. It isn't about clinging to what once was, it is about moving forward and telling new tales - not returning to the happy ending as the Fairies obsess over but rather move forard to a new "Once upon a time..."

KINGDOMS AND HOW THEY FELL

# Rêverie. Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom (fitting name). Fell due to the Sleeping Beauty curse, as the briars overtook everything – because a thorny wilderness.

# Greenleigh. The Frog Prince’s kingdom. Fell due to a war as the Snow Queen’s armies invaded.

# Snowhold. The Snow Queen’s kingdom. Invaded Greenleigh for unknown reasons.

# Marienne. Puss in Boots’ kingdom. Fell to giants that crushed everything. It is unclear why, but given later episodes evoke the Ogre of Carabas as the giants’ little brother, it might be revenge. Also contains Amanti, Pinocchio and Gepetto’s village – so Marienne seems also to be the main country of Pinocchio’s adventures.

# The Lullaby Lands. As the name indicates, the place of all nursery rhymes. Not a kingdom as it has no central government and is more of a collection of autonomous communities – which already is a sign that it does not “fit” into the “Grimmweir” continent and was added to this fairytale world where everything is a kingdom. Pottingham is the village of Mother Goose and Ylfa – making it also the village of “Little Red Riding Hood”. Hasn’t much fell, but has known all sorts of horrifying manifestations (the Gander, the Wolf) ending in death (turned to skeleton, house and family blown away) plus recurring bad weather and persistent rain causing flooding.

# Jubilee = realm of Old King Cole. Fell to a war, though the details are unspecified. Given Jubilee was right next to Greenleigh it might have been the same war launched by the Snow Queen.

# Shoeberg = the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe. A “festering boil” and one of the last thriving places in the Neverafter.

# Tapestry. Snow-White’s kingdom. Fell for unknown reason. See the Magic Mirror entry.

# Elegy. Cinderella’s realm. Also fell for unknown reasons – though we do know Cinderella’s hometown and the area around it “fell” due to the insanity and the spells of the undead Fairy Godmother. One of the symptoms of this kingdom falling is that the “courts of the sun and the moon” seem in disarray or conflict, leading to a very bizarre sky which is not in day nor night, and where the sun shines in a purple starry twilight (might be an Alice Through the Looking Glass reference – The Walrus and the Carpenter). Had a “burgeoning” middle-class of merchants, traders, artisans and craftsmen to which Cinderella’s father belonged, and the hunt of the prince with the shoe became the hot-gossip of neighboring royals (such as Gerard).

FAIRIES TALK

# So we have five confirmed fairies in this version of the Neverafter, plus a possible sixth one, and an ambiguous seventh. Rosamund had three good fairy godmothers – given the third one has a blue dress, and she asks about the undead fairy’s dress-color to identify her, we can assume going by the Disney code these fairies were the Red Fairy, Green Fairy and Blue Fairy. Plus the Wicked Fairy, dressed in black – who also was the Wicked Fairy involved in Pinocchio’s return-to-being-a-puppet as she came to just… kill all the fathers of Amanti I guess? She is clearly meant to be the archetypal “wicked fairy” (plus Disney’s Maleficent).

# The Fairy Godmother of Cinderella is stated to not be the same as the fairies of Rosamund’s story. Purple gown. Driven mad as Cinderella’s shard caused her to be stuck in a state “neither alive nor dead”, constantly bleeding out both blood and magic. Started turning every item she could meet into half-servants (and even before she was said to have gone on a spree of forcing people to fall in love and having animals turned into humans). Kept repeating Cinderella’s storyline to various degrees (help them win the “Mayfair queen”). The same way Rosamund’s fairies are a take on Disney’s fairies in “Sleeping Beauty”, this fairy is very clearly Disney’s Cinderella godmother (she even says her magical line) ; interestingly her having a crown on the head seems to be a nod to the enchantress/fairy of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, especially since the description of her minions (such as a bouncing armoire) are very clearly reminiscent of the sentient furniture in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Episode 3 confirms that she was the fairy who turned Gerard into a frog when he was a little boy to make him “learn manners” as she thought he was “rude” – again reinforces my theory that she has “Disney’s enchantress from Beauty and the Beast” vibes.

# The Sugarplum Fairy was possibly the sixth fairy of this world. When Herr Drosselmeyer turned into text, there were references to “sugarplums” and “a fairy”. If he had stayed longer perhaps we would have met her.

# The ambiguous seventh is the Fairy with Turquoise Hair. She is present and involved in Pinocchio’s backstory, as I write this I can’t recall if she is meant to be the same as the “Blue Fairy”. If not this makes her the sixth or seventh fairy of this world.

# Fairy blood smells like cinnamon, spice, sparks and ambers.

# The Fairy Godmother’s comment that “Magic was never yours, it is ours”: fairy monopole on magic?

MORE CULTURAL REFERENCES

# The Gander is the inversion of the traditional Mother Goose imagery + a twisted take on the “Goose Laying Golden Eggs” motif + a reinvention of the trope of the genie granting you three wishes, but in a horrifying and/or deadly way. Literal embodiment of the Time of Shadows as we will later learn, and not just one spirit among it (as such parallels The Crooked Man from The Book of Lost Things – also an evil wish-granter). Tumblr user lostsometime evoked how the Gander using the verb “wander” while taunting Timothy might be a reference to “Goosey Goosey Gander”.

# It will later be confirmed but we know here (especially from how Ylfa gains the power to blow away with her breath people and houses) that the Wolf is both the one from Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs (British fairytale, Joseph Jacobs).

# The town of Shoeberg and the family who runs it, led by a 107 matriarch, is from the nursery rhyme “There was an old woman who lived in a shoe”.

# What was the Chandling Caravan/Company named after? The Rub-a-Dub-Dub/Three Men in a Tub nursery rhyme, because “chandler” is candle-making… Or maybe the old British children song “Tommy kept a chandler’s shop”? Or maybe none of this and I’m reading too much. The leader of the Caravan is of course from “The Little Red Hen” story (American “fable”, from Mary Mapes Dodge).

# Old King Cole = the nursery rhyme of the same name.

# Herr Drosselmeyer (“magician, clockmaker and godfather”) and the characters surrounding him are, of course, from “The Nutcracker” ballet. The Nutcracker himself is evoked in various ways as someone Drosselmeyer pursues: at first he is presented as a “clockwork man” and one of the magical creations of Drosselmeyer that got away and run off on its own ; later he is revealed to be Drosselmeyer’s godson: “driven to rash behavior by grief” he is now working on a revenge that worries Drosselmeyer. As he dissolves into text, there are mentions of the Sugarplum Fairy and the Mice King, “or King of Rats with seven heads”. Is the alternation “Mice King/King of Rats” important? If this season is indeed inspired by Pratchett’s fairytale twists, then it might have leaned into something akin to “The Amazing Maurice”, where the myth of the “rat-king” was mixed with the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Maybe the same here? Herr Drosselmeyer also seems to have been more than just a Nutcracker character… Everybody pointed out that him driving around in a teapot pulled by a giant rabbit, and having a magic mirror in his collection, gave off strong Alice vibes (plus there is a clock with a cat symbol on it that stops time… Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter?). I also thought about how it was insisted that he turned into an owl upon touching the book, and his comment that he was not a “kind man” before – given he seems to come from a world of fairytale ballet (and has strong link to birds, he captures the ostrich) maybe Von Rothbart from The Swan Lake? The character of Drosselmeyer and the Swan Lake plot had already been mixed in another fairytale-deconstruction work: the Princess Tutu anime. Also there is an insistence upon “winter time” in his “dissolving text”: maybe Snow Queen ties?

# The Magic Mirror was first suspected to be the one used by the Snow Queen – due to the low temperature around it, Zach even asked if it was snowing near the mirror. However it is revealed to be the mirror of the evil queen from Snow-White, answering questions if asked the rhyme (“Mirror, mirror, leaning against a wall”). Very likely created by the dwarves of the kingdom, since Tapestry is known outside of its fine crafting to be a place of magical items created through “spell-craft” and “enchantments” by dwarves. Also interestingly, the Mirror seems to encourage people to ambition (“do you want to be the wisest, richest, fairest in the land?”) and wants to be returned to “her”. Given it asked Pinocchio, it seems the Mirror wants to return to the “evil queen” (absorbed/covered by the Stepmother).

# Cinderella. Her story went wrong when she returned to investigate what her Stepmother did to her step-sisters and what happened to her. Fairy Godmother tried to force her to return to the castle and her prince and ignore all that. She stabbed her with a broken heel of her glass slipper, turned glass spear ; now is a warrior dressed in a “crystalline glass armor” and part of the “Sisters”. Her backstory is basically Disney’s plotline (the Fairy Godmother even uses the Disney Godmother magical line) but with elements of the Grimm version added (the sisters cutting off toe and heel).

# The Stepmother started out as Cinderella’s stepmother before… becoming all wrong. As we will learn later she became the “Stepmother” archetype, but so far all we know is that she used to be Cinderella’s human stepmother, did some foul magic by devouring her daughters (ogress motif), and then became this otherworldly spirit serving as Pinocchio’s stepmother. Plus, has ties (yet unknown) to Snow-White’s witch-queen of a stepmom. (silhouette in the door to check), and of course when Pinocchio uses her magic she manifests as a puppet-master using him as a puppet to enact her revenge against Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother (episode 3).

OTHER NOTES

# The list of threats for the Time of Shadows is given as “giants, witches, wizards, and creatures of the sea”. We meet all of them except for the wizards. Maybe it was something up Herr Drosselmeyer’s plotline?

# Time of Shadows is a cosmic/metaphorical storm AND a literal set of storms that cause bad weather everything (the pouring rains causing flooding in Pottingham is described by episode 1). Got huge King Lear vibes from this – especially since King Lear is THE fairytale-play of Shakespeare.

# The book is clearly about restoring the Neverafter into its peaceful, happy, “regular” state from before the Time of Shadows, however it is shown to work differently for the different types of stories it is confronted with. The book “activates” itself by nursery rhyme-characters (creates sounds as Old King Cole speaks, makes Timothy tingle upon hearing about the Old Woman who lived in a shoe) and ultimately absorbs them ; with fairy tales-characters it seems to mostly show them *where* their story got broken (Rosamund sees her flickering prince, as her prince did not come ; Pinocchio sees the island of toys which is a big part of the adventure ; Ylfa sees the wolf in the wood which is also the point of her story switching). With nursery rhyme characters it just restores them back to their original state and sends them back to a nursery rhyme world (makes sense as we learn later how the nursery rhyme universe was forced into the Neverafter) ; but it needs in the fairytale side of things an “early part of the world that was broken off” in the shape of specific items that it “hungers” for. All items reflecting famous stories, and tied to the Princesses, but warped in the Time of Shadows. Two are confirmed: Cinderella’s glass slipper, turned into a broken shard of glass then glass spear ; and Elodie’s golden ball, turned into golden mace in the times of war.

# Greenleigh has “wise women” in charge of medicine, tonic and other products of the sort. Grimm fairytale nod.

# Here “Carabas” was the title of the ogre-lord before Pib can in and made Stephan a Marquis.

# Gerard and Rosamund’s families are closely related: just a joke, but they are still cousins “three different times”.

# Trollsons are a thing in this world, a name for descendants of trolls (pun on “son”, as the Nordic suffix).

# Lord Bandlebridge’s comment, while a classist statement, confirms that witches, fairies and ogres have an habit of disguising themselves as beggars.

# We never get to know who the “young teenage girl” of the caravans was.

# We’ll see if the whole witch system in the Neverafter is clarified. Because we have your usual, random, human witch living in their tiny corner of the world and performing humble magic (Timothy Goose), and we know that later there are big, evil, powerful witches of multiversal scope. So… I’ll keep this for later episodes.

# Has Drosselmeyer’s giant rabbit’s name any signification? Eidelgrin? Probably not…

[thealmightyemprex]

RAnking the Shrek/Puss In Boots Movies

With the recent release of Puss in Boots the Last Wish , I was inspired to revisit a franchise I hadnt revisited in a long time.So I watched all SIX Shrek/Puss In Boots movies

For those who dont know this franchise the basic premise is this is a fairy tale world that makes fun of ,subverts and plays with fairy tale tropes .For the first four films we follow an ogre named Shrek who falls in love with a princess ,and in the last two we follow one of Shreks sidekicks ,the dashing outlaw Puss In Boots

Based on a childrens book Shrek! by William Steig (Which I have read ,and I think might have been an influence on me as a creative) the film franchise became reallly big....And then it went kinda dormant.It has a weird legacy ,where it changed animation forever ,some of it not in good ways , and it was memed to hell . So I went into this project curious what my thoughts were gonna be , I had seen all the films save for the fourth one,watched the first two ALOT in my childhood ,but I hadnt thought about the series in forever ,till this new Puss In Boots came out

Well I watched all the series in order,and here is my ranking from worst to best

Minor Spoilers going forward cause I am talking about these stories out of order

Number 6 :Shrek the Third (2007)

Shrek goes on a quest to find the next heir to the throne of Far Far Away while coming to terms with the fact he is about to be a father ,meanwhile the kingdom is being taken over by an army of villains lead by Prince Charming

Yeah this might be the least surprising ranking on the list,this movie is bad ,The film has like a million ideas it wants to do and it doesnt do them well. I hate the new characters it introduce and I just cringe at multiple scenes (I say the death and funaeral of the king is the worst scene in the entire franchise ).I feel kind of bad putting it so low,as I dislike the film above it slightly more.....But the more about the Third the more I realize how BAD it is

5.Shrek Forever AFter(2010)

Shrek frustrated with the changes in his life makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to spend one carefree day being a terrifying ogre in exchange for a day from when he was a baby,.,,,Unfortunately he gave up the day he was born ,and must find a way to break the curse before he vanishes at sunrise

Tedious and dull.Look I know this movie has its fans but I am not one of them , I kind of really dislike this film and its cause I dislike Its Wonderful Life pastiches . I dont know if I laughted once while watching .I dont care about these new ogre characters we meet and I dont really care about these alternate takes on the main characters.I also admit ,I had gotten really sick of Shreks woe as me shtick cause he grumbles about his damn swamp every movie . I kept flip flopping over whether to place this or three at the bottom,cause I think,personally I dislike this more then three .That said....Its better made then three ,there more of a plot ,we have a clear goal,Rumplestiltskin is kinda fun ,the climax is good and I think Mike Meyers gives a really great performance as Shrek .I kept flip flopping over whether to place this or three at the bottom,and truth is three is worse ,I can see general audiences not having the hang ups I have .This movie isnt bad ,I just personally dont like it

4.Puss In Boots (2011)

Puss teams up with his old friend Humpty Dumpty and professional thief Kitty Softpaws to steal magic beans Puss and Humpty has been after since childhood

This one is OK . I think it gives Puss much more character then he got in the previous Shrek films ,Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayak give very solid performances as Puss and Kitty rspectfully ,it had moments I found really hilarious and as its a whole its a fun action adventure story. My big problems are the last act where bifg threat is a giant goose is underwhelming and.....Look I am just gonna say it Humpty Dumptys design freaks me the hell out ,hes very unsettling to look at.Dont like his character or performance much either .Its not a bad film but its just a fun action romp and not much more

3.Shrek (2001)

Shrek,joined by Donkey , reluctantly goes on a quest to save Princess Fiona in order to get a bunch of fairy tale creatures off his land

The first Shrek ,though it has aged in the 22 years since its release (God I feel old ) ,is a special film that I think is very good .I dont even consider it a family film,theres a lot of stuff that goes over kids heads in this .To me this both a buddy comedy / rom com first ,fantasy animated movie second .The main romance and moral are great ,I love the pop song soundtrack ,the voice cast consisting of Mike Meyers ,Eddie Murphy,Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow are great , theres some memorable lines ,and I like that the film is both salty and sweet ,sweet with the relationships Shrek has with Fiona and Donkey ,but salty with the satire agaianst Disney and vulgar/mean humor ,which works in this film cause its has a point .Now I do think the film can be too mean,specially with all the short jokes pointed at the villain , theres an annoying third act misunderstanding , not all the jokes land and I'm sorry the animation has aged like milk,the human characters especially look ugly .Overall though ,Shrek has become a classic,and I think it deserves to be called that

2.Shrek 2 (2004)

Shrek and Fiona arrive in Far Far Away to meet Fionas parents ,not knowing that their marriage has interferred with a bargain King Harold made with the Fairy Godmother to set Fiona up with PRince Charming

Shrek 2 is a legit great movie and possibly one of the best animated comedies I have ever seen ,like I cant stress enough how friggin funny this movie is .The returning cast are all great,and we get some great new peformances by Antonio Bandera,Jennifer Saunders ,John Cleese ,Rupert Everett and Julie Andrews.Animation has held up well ,the villain is amazing,this film introduces Puss who is a ton of fun here ,the pop songs are again great.....And the film has one of the best scene in any morie:The Holding Out For A Hero scene ,the movie is worth watching just for that scene .Overall I think it just does what a sequel is supposed to do ,in that it builds on the first film,and I think surpasses it

And now we get to my favorite film in the Shrek film.And I must ask.....WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FEARLESS HEROOOOO-

1.Puss In Boots the Last Wish

Puss is on his last life ,and sets out on a journey to find the wishing star,however he is not the only one after it so the race is on

This is a very recent film.....And I have already watched it three times.....This might not only be my favorite film in the Shrek series,,,,,This might be my favorite Dream Works movie .....I kind of love this movie.What can I say ,I love movies about diffrent characters questing for a goal ,I love action and the action is fantastic ,and I adore good villains and we have two great villains here plus a group of very entertaining anti villains .What I really love is that it actually explores its characters ,and Puss and Kitty are given a bit of depth here .Its also the most gorgeous Shrek movie going for a more stylized look ,this might be one of my favorite animate films ever and it is definately my favorite of the Shrek/Puss In Boots series

What are your thoughts?Lets discuss this series

@autistic-prince-cinderella @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @the-blue-fairie @goodanswerfoxmonster @angelixgutz @ariel-seagull-wings @marquisedemasque @amalthea9 @filmcityworld1

[opinated-user]

Considering Spiderverse has a lot of in common with Puss in Boots 2, including the critical acclaim among animation fans, I am not surprised that LO has, and probably always has been having negative emotions about this franchise. I am convinced that the only reason she kept quiet about it until now is because the kind of audience she panders to would *not* react kindly to it(and for good reason), but now she has a "righteous" excuse to shit on the film's artistic merit(when no animator who worked on the movie ever said that they would prefer the animation to be worse, they just wanted more time, money and better management/directing).

Slightly unrelated but, I find it funny how she dissed The Last Wish for being "too anime" and defended Turning Red when uh, Turning Red is literally inspired by Studio Ghibli and in general wayy more blatantly anime inspired than The Last Wish ever could be.

I mention it because Spiderverse has Peni Parker who is just Shinji Ikari but Spiderman which *surely* does not influence how LO feels about the movie whatsoever, no siree!

the difference is that Turning Red was lambasted by a bunch of right wingers and conservatives on social media, so it was easy for LO to be on the side of that movie. The Last Wish is mostly universally praised so she doesn't have the same motivation to defend it from anything. LO doesn't have principles or moral. she's just a contrarian.

[dancingwithdylan21]

Thirsty - College AU

Summary: The reader tries to convince Stiles to go out drinking and they both get more than they bargained for.

Pairing: Stiles x Reader 

Word Count: 1,739

~

“Come on, Stilessss.” You whine dramatically, latching on to his firm bicep as if that will influence your life long best friend.

“Y/N, I can’t!” He huffs snatching his arm back.

“Dude...what kind of college kid are you?!”

“The kind that’s failing metaphysics class.” He groans. “If I don’t get at least a B on the test tomorrow then I’m screwed."

"Meta what?” You say confused.

“Exactly!” Stiles throws his hands up in the air. “Some stupid philosophy bullshit.”

“What…why? You’re a criminology major.”

“I forgot which day we had to sign up for classes. By the time I remembered, there was nothing good left. So I got stuck with a shitty three hour class every Friday.”

“Oh, Stiles. I don’t know how you get through life.” You tease him, only getting a dirty glare in response.

“You know I can’t sit still for that long, Y/N.” Stiles complains, dragging his hand through his dishelved brown hair.

“There’s this annoying girl who wears a ton of dark eye makeup. She looks like a fucking raccoon! And she legit follows me around. I sit in a different spot each class and she always fucking sits near me!”

“Well, it’s hard to resist all this charm.” You gesture towards him and move to settle down onto a futon, you know Stiles isn’t done rambling. Once he gets frustrated about something - forget it. He needs to rant.

“Hooking up with her would be a risky move.” Stiles spits out. “There’s no fucking way any sane guy would touch her without at least two condoms on."

"This is why we’re best friends, Stiles. Because you’re such a people person.” You snicker loudly.

“Oh, shut it.” He barely mumbles.

Talk about opposites attract. You’re the upbeat, easy going chick who’s always smiling. Stiles’ the grumpy, impatient dude with a heart of gold. But for some reason the dynamic works, you both definitely balance each other out.

“I have to start getting ready. I’ll be at The Emerald if you change your mind, ok?”

“What the hell is The Emerald?” Stiles scrunches up his handsome face.

“I already told you about it, man.” You roll your eyes. “It’s a new club. Everything is emerald green and silver. It’s a cool looking place!”

“Sounds…interesting.” Stiles raises an eyebrow.

“Whatever, buddy.” You laugh as you start walking out of his dorm room.

“Y/N, wait!” He jumps up in a panic. “How are you getting home because I know you’ll be too drunk to drive…”

“Lydia’s boyfriend is driving us. I’ll just find a ride with them or über if I have to.” You shrug in his direction.

“An uber?” Stiles feels almost offended. “No. If you need a ride, I’ll come get you.”

“No, Stiles! You need to study and rest up for tomorrow. Plus I’m going to my parents house and not coming back until Monday.”

“Um, were you gonna tell me that? Or just disappear for three days and see if I notice?” He snaps without thinking.

“You’re so needy, Stilinski.”

“Am not!”

“Are you sure you’re not hiding a vagina under those sweatpants?” You smirk while he plops back down at his desk.

“Oh honey, you couldn’t handle what’s under these sweatpants.”

“Really.” You deadpan taking a step closer.

“Really.” Stiles challenges leaning back in his computer chair with a smug smile.

“Oh well, I’ve gotta see this then. Drop em.”

“…What?”

“Show off your glorious cock, Stiles. Don’t be shy.” It makes your friend slightly blush and you can’t hold back a giggle.

“I don’t have time for this nonsense, Y/N. Stop distracting me with your dirty mind.” He pretends to be annoyed.

“Whatever you say, you big stud.” You crack up. Stiles rolls his eyes but he has a huge smile on his face. He crumbles up a piece of paper and throws it at you, hitting you right on the forehead.

“Score!” Stiles exclaims throwing up his arms.

“You’re twenty going on twelve, kiddo.” You shake your head at him.

“I’m freaking adorable.” Stiles sticks his tongue out at you. “What time should I pick you up?”

“Stiles..”

“No, Y/N. I’ve made up my mind.”

“But…”

“I know your parents live like 30 minutes away. It’s fine. My test isn’t until noon tomorrow. If your parents don’t mind, I can crash there and then leave early in the morning.”

Sigh. You know you’re not gonna win this.

“Fine. But if you fail the test, don’t you dare blame me! And my parents will be away this weekend so you can obviously stay over.”

“Sounds like a plan, sweetheart.” Stiles grabs a can of Pepsi from his mini fridge.

“Make sure you eat something too.”

“Yes, mom.” He says with a crooked smile.

“Shit.” You mutter at the clock. “I need to get ready. Have fun studying.”

“Yeah, I will.” Stiles pouts while he watches you leave his dorm room.

You’ve only been gone for thirty minutes and Stiles already feels left out. He wills himself to focus but he keeps wondering if you’ve left yet. Hearing a light knock, his head snaps up to see you peeking in through the half open door.

“Hey you.” Not waiting for him to answer, you stroll on in and it makes Stiles’ heart practically stop.

You look amazing. He’s so distracted that he doesn’t hear you talking to him. His mind wanders as he pictures you dancing at the club. You’ll be looking sexy as hell under those green lights and Stiles is pissed that he’s gonna miss it.

“Hello?” You snap your fingers in front of him. He shakes his thoughts away and gives you a sheepish smile.

“Here. Eat this, you weirdo.” You hand over a medium pepperoni pizza from his favorite pizza joint that’s near the campus. Thank god they deliver.

“Woah, Y/N.” Stiles grins wide pulling you in for a tight hug. “You’re the fucking best!"

Your phone starts vibrating and you see a text from Jeff flash on the screen. He’s one of those on again, off again guys who literally drives you fucking mad. It’s like he thrives on playing games and messing with your head.

"Who’s that?” Stiles asks even though he has an idea based on your reaction.

“Jeff. He said he’ll be stopping by tonight to say hi.”

Stiles’ jaw immediately tightens and he definitely wants to go with you now. He hates Jeff. The bastard is no good for you and he is always breaking your heart. Then Stiles’ the lucky one who has to pick up the pieces.

“How about you skip the club? We can eat pizza and watch a movie.” Your best friend suggests with his brown eyes boring into you.

“You have your test, dude! What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? Nothing’s wrong with me. Jeff’s just a piece of shit.” Stiles growls unable to control it. With a roll of your eyes, you ignore him and start reading a text from Lydia. You glance up and notice that he’s eyeing you with a weird look on his face.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Stiles shrugs with an attitude as he continues watching you.

“What? Tell me!” You cast your eyes down. "Does my outfit look bad?“

”…Don’t you have a longer skirt that you can wear? And a top that isn’t so tight.“ Stiles wonders staring at you.

"Seriously?” You scoff as he continues looking you up and down with a puss on his face.

“I know it’s on the slutty side but whatever. Hopefully I’ll get hit on by a hot guy cause I’m horny.” You finally answer grabbing a piece of pizza.

“Uh…”

“And then you won’t have to waste your time picking me up.” You add completely oblivious that Stiles is internally freaking out. He mutters under his breathe but you’re unable to make it out.

“What’d you say?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He spits out at you, now shooting daggers at his laptop.

“Stop pmsing, Stilinski. It’s unbecoming.” You snort at him. Stiles spins around on his computer chair, studying you with his arms crossed.

“Stop being grumpy. I bought you pizza.” Instead of replying, your best friend races over to his closet and then begins searching for something on his iPhone.

“What’s happening here? Should I be concerned?” You ask sarcastically.

“I’m googling to see if the stupid emerald place has a dress code.” Stiles answers over his shoulder so he misses it when your mouth drops open.

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski! Sit your ass back down and fucking study!” You demand with your hands on your hips.

“Oh, yeah. You’re real intimidating, Y/N.” He laughs. “Your hot pink top makes you extra scary.”

Before you get a chance to respond, Stiles rips off his shirt and starts changing in front of you. Damn it. You become distracted by his hotness but snap yourself out of it and stalk over to him and shove him in the chest.

“You were fine until I mentioned Jeff. I already told you I’m done with him for good. So relax, ok?” You try to get through to the stubborn man but he just starts whistling.

“I’m almost ready.”

“Stick with the original plan. You’re not going.” You state firmly watching him fix his messy hair.

“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.” Stiles lazily shrugs.

“Did you just quote The Notebook?!” You gasp. “Who the fuck are you?"

Stiles chuckles and walks back to his closet to get his boots,"I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He deadpans.

“That doesn’t even have anything to do with this.” You roll your eyes.

“Yes it does. It means if you’re going then I’m going.”

“No. It means…that he’ll do whatever she’s doing because it’s what she wants…or something.” You add now confused.

“You just proved that I’m right. Like always.” Stiles flashes a cocky smile.

“This isn’t what I want! I want you to go back to being Responsible Stiles. He was just here. Like friggin thirty minutes ago!”

“Responsible Stiles has left the building.” He wiggles his eyebrows at you.

“You can’t take your test hungover, dear.”

“I’ll only have a couple of beers since I’ll be driving. Besides someone needs to be the voice of reason when Jeffrey fucking shows up.”

“Whatever.” You groan knowing that he won’t change his mind.

“Let’s get this shit show on the road!” Stiles announces, slapping your ass on the way out of his dorm.

~

Masterlist