#and i have my criticisms of she-hulk but overall it was good you guys just hate fun

[atjsgf]

when people try to criticize MCU post infinity saga and they list she-hulk as one of the bad ones i immediately discard everything they have to say tbh

[gothicprep]

so, apparently marvel is in disarray. ahead of the marvels coming out this weekend, variety dropped a bomb on the studio's somewhat dire state of affairs, as the franchise has hit its first real rough patch since the release of iron man 15 years ago. among the issues: jonathan majors, whose domestic violence arrest continues to hang over marvel's plans to make his character the thanos-like heavy for the next sequence of movies, the weak box office projections for the marvels (which some have said is tracking lower than recent bombs like the flash), the unending flood of hashtag content on disney plus which is overwhelming audiences who are finding it harder to keep up with the interlocking stories that have served marvel so well over the years, shoddy visual effects, spiraling budgets such as the reported $25mil an episode for she-hulk, a show that looked terrible because of the shoddy effects work aforementioned, behind the scenes chaos as kevin feige works to slash budgets and kill projects that aren't coming together. one movie at risk is the forthcoming blade reboot with mahershala ali, which has gone through rewrite after rewrite including reportedly one draft in which blade was the fourth lead in, quote, "a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons".

that last line has provided a lot of laughs for people like jay gothicprep, and critics who insist that marvel's efforts to diversify the lineup have led to much of this disaster, indicative of disney's overall failure with things like indiana jones and the dial of destiny or animated projects like strange world or lightyear. while this is potentially true (i guess, it's possible) it doesn't seem true because this certainly wasn't the case when black panther and captain marvel were both cracking the billion dollar mark a few years ago. rather it just seems, more simply, that marvel has run its course. marvel was hit by a double-whammy of endings. the thanos storyline that'd dominated the first ten or so years of the project came to an end. at the same time, the pandemic began and disney plus started flooding the zone with content, creating a natural break point for audiences that had no desire to watch hours of tv to understand 1.5 plot points in whatever the next movie that's coming out is.

this preamble is getting kind of long, and i have a lot more to say, so i'm going to continue to thought dump about this under a cut.

first of all, i'm still laughing like a week later at the women led life lessons description. no one has disputed that it happened. that description is the funniest thing i've ever read in a trade industry report possibly ever. what in the hell, my friends. did a writer even talk to a producer about what blade was? it's a movie about a guy with a sword who kills vampires! it's pretty straighforward! that sounds like something i want to see! there were three of them already, and two of them were pretty good!

anyway, i think you can take that incredibly ridiculous description of a draft that maybe wasn't the main draft – this movie has been through tons of writers and directors – and see some of the real problems with marvel's creative direction, which is that they've stopped making movies that highlight the core concepts of their characters. there are other problems as well, but when's the last time they put out a movie that was like, "iron man. he's a guy in a metal suit and he fights a bad guy." or "spider man. it's a guy in a spider suit with spider powers. he's got girlfriend problems and he fights crime around manhattan and maybe there's dr octopus." they don't do that. their recent stretch of movies have all been these impenetrable multiverse stuff with ties to tv series that you haven't seen and maybe won't ever see. there was a whole 25 minute section in black panther 2 that was setting up armor wars and ironheart. and like. who needs that sequence, which was boring and looked like total garbage? and now armor wars is being redeveloped lol. they've just departed from a lot of the core concepts that powered their earlier films.

they have some other problems. they've leaned into a slate of characters that is not all that well-known or inherently super popular, even for marvel being able to deliver on making billion dollar films out of guardians of the galaxy and such. maybe with the exception of spider man, which they don't get a full cut from because sony owns the actual movie rights. then there's the fact that the streaming series, by all accounts, aren't great but you *feel* like you need to have seen them. they're all real big problems. marvel needs to go back to making movies that are named after a character who's a superhero with a clear concept. guy with spider powers fights crime in his neighborhood. even though those movies got kind of repetitive, they did well enough because they didn't stray too far from the character concept.

i think, too, as a viewer, when you have a studio churning out so much stuff that's not good, you get the impression that the superhero industry feels entitled to your time and entitled to your money while not delivering.

this summer also represents an interesting counterpoint to what's happened with marvel and dc. the sheer amount of stuff that you devote every waking minute to keeping track of the damn things got exhausting and made movies stop feeling like events. this summer we've had barbenheimer and the eras tour, and those have been both big events and felt exciting. barbie was a chance to be campy, oppenheimer was a chance to see something serious and cinematic, the eras tour was exciting for fans of taylor swift who couldn't afford to spend $3k on taylor swift. and they felt this way because they were all unlike anything you'd seen at the movies in recent years. they had a high standard of quality, and going, it genuinely felt like people were there because they wanted to be, not because they were being force marched by a cultural behemoth to be there. you can't summon that same kind of energy for a marvel movie when it both feels obligatory and you expect it to be bad.

it also feels like there's a certain contempt for the audience where it concerns quality problems. i mean, i don't think that this is the intention. marvel isn't saying "we can deliver this stuff that's garbage and people will see it anyway". but one of the things i thought was the most damning about that variety story was the fact that, on some of the marvel tv shows, the final effects were inserted after the shows were released. so if you watched the show on opening night, you probably didn't see the final effects work. the arrogance involved in that is insane. it speaks to a total vanished pride in putting out a good product.

even some of marvel's better regarded films were heavily edited and heavily worked on right until the end, in part because kevin feige would come in and fix things, so stuff would have to get reworked. that's why effects deadlines were super tight and people were always crunching at the very end of this. there was that incredible quote from sam raimi from a couple months before the second doctor strange came out where he was like, "i think it's done but i'm not sure. marvel, they work on their movies until the very end." the director didn't even know if his own movie was locked or not because he clearly wasn't the one making the decisions about what the final print would look like.

that can work if you're making two movies a year and have a supervisor that comes in during the process and says, "i need you to redo this, in this way". but when you stretch that out to three movies a year, plus god knows how many episodes of television, there's no way to do that and make it a high quality product.

an instructive lesson comes from the book "disneywar", which chronicles michael eisner's time at disney. and one of the things in this book was the development and deployment of "who wants to be a millionaire" in america. bob iger is head of abc at this time. the guys making this show do it for a week. audiences love it. it's putting up huge numbers. everybody is excited. it's crushing it in the ratings. and the people who made it wanted to keep doing special week or two week long engagements that people would show up for. and iger was like, "no. i want this every week, three times a week, forever." and audiences got burnt out on it quickly, because it was something that only really worked as a special that ran for a week and disappeared for a few months. that's what the disney plus strategy feels like with marvel.

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 95

Ia must admit, I am enjoying Marisha taking up the slack from Sam for the plugs. Oh, a perfume ad spood? Coool ... and it's ASHLEY?!!! Sweet. I mean she does have the SEXY VOICE in the bunch, so ... wow ... really going all out there, ain'tcha Ash? XD

Why is Matt turning into the announcer from The Running Man? That's ... something ...

Saucy? Yes indeed ... LOL

Laura: "Speaking of Bells Hells ... we weren't ..." XD

Yeah ... Aeor ... this is gonna be ... INTERESTING ...

I know! Fucking ASTRID!!! Total shocker! And also we got our boy, too ...

Why is Astrid suddenly FRENCH, Matthew?

A FUGITIVE? How so? I thought Essek was doing alright these days ... Occultus Thalamus? Huh?

"Beautiful purple man"? Dorian knows what's up, definitely ...

His "PARTNER"? Oh Essek ... O.O I mean that's ADORABLE ...way to go, Caleb ... :3

Oh, so there was like a proper OFFICIAL Armistice? That's pretty cool ... I mean I'm not THAT good at keeping track, but still ...

Upgrade? Hmmm ... ah, now then, Astrid, careful there ... you don't wanna mess with THIS piece of business right now ...

Group Persuasion check? Interesting ... Taliesin rolls a 2, but Ashton's "tempted to just threaten physically" ... XD

Good point ... what DID happen in Zadash?

Awww ... KITTY!!! :3

A terrible flaming bird? You mean like a phoenix?

The Genesis Ward?

"Farts are funny" ... okay ... Astrid: "I will treasure it always." Yeah ...

Prudence? Awwwwwww ...

The Gale & the Raven is a bit trite? Hmmm ...

Oh here we go ... yeah, Tusk Love, no surprise there ...

Dorian: "Oh, there's a book that's called Just the Tip right here!" XD

A "picture porn"? FEARNE CALLOWAY!!! O.O

An Exandrian Kama Sutra? Fascinating ... yeah, OF COURSE she takes it ... LOL A Nat20? Yeah, no surprise there ...

So ... she thinks they're like ... A POLYCULE? Intriguing ... in a hilariously saucy way ... whoa, HOW MUCH?!!!

Yeah ... I wonder if Essek's having flashbacks right now ...

Yussa? Really?

Supples? Okay ... OH!!! YES!!! Is Pumat still in town? Go there! GO THERE!!!

The Pentamarket! Cool!

Taliesin wants a shopping episode ... and honestly that sounds like fun ... yes ...

Ashton wants a new jacket? Yes. Definitely. Oh, new wardrobe for EVERYBODY? Double yes. Good idea.

Marisha: "What? I WANT THAT!" XD

The Emerald Curtain ... sounds like it could work ...

Ah, the new clothing smell ...

"Musicians"? Really? Oh ... memorialise FCG? Yes ... cloaks? Definitely ... oh, yes, checking through the stock sounds good ... yes, do that.

"Keith"? Hmmm ... oh yes, they are high-maintenance clients indeed ...

Artsy-fartsy? Yeah ... a slender half-giant? WOOD CARVING?!!! Oh wow ... Chetney is DEFINITELY interested ...

Damid? Oh, I like this guy already. "An audience? It's been a bit." XD Yeah, I love this guy.

Just the dye ... yeah, Laudna's very hands-on ...

"HOT BOI" ... Marisha's fan is sending me ... XD

Matching corsets? Go Imodna! :3

Fur-lined leather coveralls for Chetney ... YEAH. Definitely. Oh ... leather BRIEFS?!!! Hmmm ... so he's expecting to full-on HULK IT, apparently ...

235 gold pieces overall ... Laura INSTANTLY reacts, much as expected ... "I'm just Imogen here, I don't know what things cost."

Yeah, they don't HAVE TO roleplay all of it ... LOL

Magic shop? Oh please ... PLEASE ...

FOOD!!! Yes, FOOD!!! God idea ...

Oooh, noodles, yay! Now I'm getting hungry ...

The Invulnerable Vagrant ... OH YEAH ... here we go ...

O.O This is gonna be so much fun ...

PUMAT SOL!!! PUMAT SOL!!! PUMAT SOL!!!

Oh I have missed that voice ... Matt just slips RIGHT BACK INTO IT like he never went away ... Robbie's reaction to gettting to see this first hand is PRICELESS ... I love it ...

Yeah, the clones ... Fearne: "What is happening?" I KNOW!!! XD Ashton: "This is what the inside of my head is like all the time right now."

Oh, so they're EXACTLY like the Ludinus clone they fought before ... crazy ... I love how they're incapable of being sent into an existential crisis regarding their autonomy and originality ... it's kind of cute ...

Ah! Potions! Here we go ... and other goodies! Cool ...

A harp? That sounds very Yasha ... is it a BONE harp?

Robe of the Midnight Rune? Interesting ... oh yes, that is DEFINITELY exactly what Imogen's been looking for. GET THAT!!! Whoa ... 9500 gold pieces? Are you KIDDING ME?!!!

3500 for the armour ... ALSO ridiculously expensive ...

The harp fires arrows. Ye gods ... BOOMY arrows, too ... oh, that is a SWEET item. The arrows do THUNDER DAMAGE!!! That is SO CHOICE. Oh wow ... that whole thing just keeps getting MORE AND MORE impressive ... 8000 gold pieces? Fuck ...

Healing potions, yesh ... and a SPEEDY potion? Wow ... a potion of INVULNERABILITY?!!! Double wow ...

Dorian gives Orym ALL OF HIS MONEY to buy the armour. OH MY GOD!!! That's just adorable ... he might as well just put a ring on it right now! Seriousl O.O

Oh yeah! Sell some of the Ruidian shit! Smart!

They must have souls, surely ... they way they are, they MUST HAVE ...

NO!!! Orym, don't sell you new sword!

How to blow Pumat Sol's mind - tell them you've been to the Moon! XD ... and now Imogen's talking into his head ... oh, appealing to the unity for the greater good? Persuasion check! Oh NICE ROLL, Laura!

The Bank of Chetney ... XD

These ARE very unique down here right now ... roll good for Persuasion, Marisha ... 23? Oh yes ...

Fearne will have 69 gold left ... OF COURSE she will ... XD

Chetney COULD do with a ranged attack, yes. That is the smark move, give HIM the harp ...

So robe to Imogen, the armour to Orym and the harp to Chetney. Plus the potions, that's a SWEET haul ...

Oh yes, that's right ... the moon not being in the sky WOULD have been proof to FCG that the world is ROUND ... awww ...

Holy fuck ... the world really is just GOING TO SHIT right now, clearly ...

Awwww ... seriously, Orym, he only did it because he LOVES YOU. You could totally tap that if you want to. Which we KNOW you do.

Ashton: "Do you know Stairway to the Astral Realm?"

Oh, so that's it for the night? Okay. And time for a break ...

Oh my gods that Beason advert was complete genius ...

The Lodge of the Eclipse. Oh, it's a jazz club? Cool ...

Rooms for the night? Good. Oh, Essek has WAYS, does he? Interesting ... wow, THAT is a very good deal indeed ...

Essek does squats, apparently ... XD

Come on, Esxsek, be FUN for once. Surely it's been a while since you've done this kind of thing ...

A BURLESQUE SHOW?!!! Really? O.O

A sexy buxom half-orc? Nice ... that's definitely my style ...

Laudna, chill! Dear fucking gods ...

Yoink! Ashton grabs some of Fearne's lacy stuff ... and she lets him ... :3

Yeah, Dorian and Chetney are clearly having a blast ...

Madame Feathered-Face? Oooooh ... a sexy dwarven fan-dance? Nice ... a feathery beard? Cool ... oh WOW that is AWESOME, she can FLY with it! O.O

Ashton is showing Essek his head ... oh, this should be interesting. He knows A LOT about this particularly kind of stuff, if I remember ... oh, NOW what the fuck is he doing? Seriously? This feels ... rash ...

Dunamis ... yeah, I thought so ... needless to say he is concerned but also DEEPLY impressed ...

Ashton does the rainbow sparkle thing ... Essek: "Now you're just showing off.

Chetney's heart is lost once again ... XD

Orym is checking out Otohan's sabre ... okay ...

Ah, the Luxon Beacons ... yeah ... oh, so it looks like Ludinus and co have one or more at their disposal, then ... great ...

Ashton: "When you jump out of a window, you try not to blame the quality of the glass ..." Oof ...

Oh wow ... so they could actually use their own dunamancy to MESS THE KEY UP?!!! Yes, that sounds REALLY good ...

Awwwwwwww ... Fearne gets him talking about Caleb ... :3

Awesome ... hover, boy, HOVER ...

Much floaty foolishness ensues ... XD

The story of how Ashton first found Letters ... awwww ... oh, I am NOT alright now ...

Arts and crafts is fun ...

What is Orym going to do with this thing? Oh ... he's TRAINING with it? Whoa ... oh, he's CLAIMING IT? That is ... INTENSE ...

The Wildmother? Oh ... man ...

Marisha: "The night before San Diego ComicCon ..." XD

Matt: "Tim Burton's Island of Misfit Toys ..."

Oh shit ... this is the first time Dorian's seen LIVING Pate ... "Oooooooh ... is it too late to back out of this now?" Yeah ... oh, he is THOROUGHLY disturbed ... I am NOT surpised ... this is a TRULY SURREAL scene ... in a truly CREEPY way ...

Awww .. alone time for Orym and Fearne ... and here's Dorian ... the original trio back together ... :3

Finally Fearne leaves them alone to catch up ... oh my gods ... is THIS what we've been waiting for for so long? O.O

Time for a much-earned rest, yeah ...

Laudna does NOT like Orym with Otohan's blade ... oh fuck ... not NOW ... FUCK OFF, Delilah!

Fuck ... she KNEW Ludinus? Great ...

Seriously Laudna, DO NOT listen to this evil bitch ... oh no ... I mean it, this is SO STUPID ...

Oh shit ... is Otohan's sword SENTIENT? Is this gonna be another Grog situation?

Yeah, Orym's ridiculously aware EVEN WHEN HE'S ASLEEP ...

Darkness? REALLY?!!! Oh my gods ...

No ... sriously, Laudna, DO NOT Wither the vines ... oh fuck, she's doing it ... Wither & Bloom ... oof ... and she has to be PRECISE doing it ... oh fuck ... O.O

Yeah, of course this wakes him up ... and he's in total darkness while he's QUITE CLEARLY being fucking ATTACKED ... oh yeah, he's IMMEDIATELY ready to fight regardless of the conditions ... NOW what?

A contested Dexterity roll? Oh fuck ...

Dear fucking gods this is going SO BAD SO QUICKLY ... and now everybody else is waking up too ... perfect ...

Mage Hand? Really? Okay ... this is ALL bad decisions at this point ... and now she has the fucking sword ...

Seriously Laudna, I'm saying it AGAIN, DO NOT trust this evil c£$%!

And now they can all see ... great ... oh this looks SO BAD ...

Fuck ... is this REALLY starting to turn into a genuine conscious fight between these two right now? Oh no ... she's going to FLEE?!!! This could get even worse so quickly ...

Well that's it then ... the sword is OUT of her grasp ... now what?

Just STOP!!! Right now, please just STOP before this gets so much worse ...

Both of them are making VERY GOOD POINTS right now and I don't like where either of them are going with this ...

Ashton is doing something SO FUCKING SMART right now and I'm here for it ...

Fearne can Identify the sword? Okay, yeah, totally do that, that's really smart ...

Imogen casts Detect Thoughts on Laudna ... there is a collective intake of breath around the table and I don't blame them ...

Whispers? Oh, here we go ...

Chetney's been asleep this whole time? Wow ...

Be VERY CAREFUL Fearne ... Ishta the Summit Blade ... of NOW we get the little card? Matthew fucking Mercer!

Wake up, Chet! We need you ...

"Geometry and stuff" XD ... I love how rudimentary Fearne's understanding of Chetney's abilities is ...

Grim Psychometry ... here we go ...

Oh this is some TRULY UGLY SHIT ... this blade is HORRIBLE ... oh fuck, Zephrah? No, I don't want this ... don't do this, Matt ... seriously this thing should not be used again ...

Chetney VOMITS. Of course he does ...

Wait ... nobody else knows about his deal with Morri ... did he just OUT his deal with Morri? SERIOUSLY Orym?

Can Dorian finally break this standoff?

Oh for fuck's sake ... now it's Laudna against Imogen ... this won't end well ...

Imogen: "Let it go." Laudna: "Why?" Imogen: "Because I don't think it's YOU that wants this."

She just LEAVES? What?

And now Fearne tries to stop her ... oh boy ... now Imogen's going out after her ...

Oh fuck ... Delilah? Seriously? Tell me she's now being full-on fucking TAKEN OVER right now ... Laudna's ABSORBING the knife ... bloody hell ... this is HORRIFYING ...

Fuck! It IS her! Not good! Not fucking good! A "Delilah CAGE"? Fuck ... great ... now it's BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER ... I hate this ... seriously, did they come up with this in advance? It feels like they did and I HATE IT ...

Holy ... I LOVE you and it made that all go away? CAN their love really be strong enough for this? Suddenly I'm SO WORRIED that it's not going to be enough ...

THAT'S where he ending it? Fuck ... oh this is SO MUCH right now ... that was INTENSE ...

I'm SO SCARED for them right now ...

[childofaura]

Watched S3 He-Man

HOOOOOOOOOOO.

So much! So much to talk about! There’s positives... and some minor negatives. But minor ones! Because this season mainly was awesome!

So positives first!

1. THE FIGHT SCENES. RADICAL. AMAZING. GREAT.

2. The story was great! They managed to pace everything perfectly in eight episodes!

3. ALAN OPPENHEIMER AS GRAYSKULL!!!!! WALLACE SHAWN AS ORKO!!!!

4. They saved Krass! And I like how she was still struggling between her emotions and continuing to be a bad guy, it really makes the confrontations agonizing.

5. Ork-0 used real magic! I’m very glad we got to see him again and he got some character growth. It had a real good life lesson for kids.

6. Ooooooooooh, the Hiss monster designs were sooooo good. The Basilisk was a smidge underwhelming but it was still awesome.

7. Actually EVERYTHING had great monster designs. Those weird mecha-horse things, Skeletor’s god forms, etc. Great stuff.

8. MY BOY DUNCAN GOT HIS TIME TO SHINE!!! Actually everyone equally got their time to shine, I’m so thankful to the writers that they treated everyone so equally respectful. But Duncan did such a good job, I’m so proud of this kid!

9. I don’t know if people will dislike it, but... I actually like that Adam restored Keldor to his human self. And it wasn’t for ham-fisted reasons and it wasn’t like he was forcing himself to see Keldor as family, he simply stated “It’s the right thing to do” because Adam doesn’t have it in him to kill.

10. Stratos and gang came back for a bit! I do kind of wish they could have played a bigger part but that’s ok. It’s hard juggling that many characters.

11. BABY TEELA WAS SO STINKIN’ CUTE!!!

12. The gang has come together as a family again :’D

13. Ok even though I don’t like Smith’s MotU... that cameo was hilarious, fight me.

14. OHOHOHO, HORDAK! EVELYN IS HORDAK’S DAUGHTER! Does this mean we get a Season 4?? >:3

Now... I do have some negatives, but honestly again these are minor nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. So they don’t really matter.

1. I... really don’t like how the show kept fluctuating Evelyn/Evil-lyn’s morality and gave her this semi-redemption arc. It was dumb and ham-fisted in the other MotU show and it was really painful here. Like... I LOVE Evelyn/Evil-Lyn. She’s so delightfully narcissistic and under-handed, but making her do good things and be more prone to helping really takes the “Evil” out of Evil-Lyn. Especially because it made no sense.

2. George Takei as Mer-Man, bleh... He was ok as an actor but could they have picked someone less... controversial? You want an Asian actor to play Mer-Man? Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa is right there, guys. At least his character died. But I’ll admit the character design was pretty rad.

3. Some weird animation errors? During the scene where they’re trying to lure more Hiss monsters into Snake Mountain, there’s a scene where Kronis doesn’t have his jaw brace but suddenly in the next cut he does? I dunno, there were a couple of weird character-model inconsistencies between all the seasons but again, it’s not a big deal.

4. WHAT HAPPENED TO JUSTINE? D: Seriously, poor girl just disappears off the face of the earth. She had kind of a cute partnership/friendship with Tri-Clops, it seemed, but then all of a sudden she’s just- poof! Gone.

5. I’ll 100% admit that this is less of an overall criticism and more of a personal issue but... I don’t really like how Kronis and Evelyn’s partnership seemed to have such an abrupt change in dynamic. In the first season, they were equals and they seemed to tolerate each other smoothly, even mutually getting along (Like ”Your runt hit me with a transport!” “When we find him, how’s about we both hit him with one?” “Hmhmmm... I���d like that”. Or all the “dear Kronis” parts?). But then suddenly with S2, and even more so in S3, they made Evil-lyn the “leader” while Kronis/Trap-Jaw suddenly gets delegated to hulking, idiot henchman. I miss when the two of them were working together, they had a fun dynamic.

6. Oh gosh, speaking of which, Kronis just lost the charm of his character from S1. He turned into an idiot and a wimp, and he is just... drastically different from his S1 incarnation. Remember that this guy is supposed to be smart as hell? Remember how he took on Cringer with his bare hands (granted Cringer didn’t have claws but assuming Cringer weighs as much as the largest tiger breed, so like.. Amur tigers, which are 600 pounds? HE THREW 600 POUNDS OF MUSCLE)? You’d think instead of being screaming, fleeing bait for the Hiss minions he would have been more... I dunno, controlled and intelligent about it? Either way, RIP S1 Kronis. You were way more of an appealing sinister badass.

7. Ok... Why hire Kevin Smith as Tri-Clops? Did they just feel bad for him or something? Seems like a really weird choice considering how shitty he’s been to He-Man fans.

But honestly, like I said before, those nitpicks are so minor it doesn’t even matter. This season was amazing, I was initially sad to see it was only eight episodes long but they did such a fantastic job with the writing and pacing that it felt long enough. I love this show so much and I only hope it does get greenlit for S4.

[daniyal-sur]

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness Review

welp, this is my first post on Tumblr and I thought it's quite fitting to post DS:MoM with how unique..... and strange (no pun intended) it was!

so for the other poor souls who are getting spoiled left and right by unaware tumblers and/or aware ones:

if you have seen it or don't plan to see it (you don't care about spoilers), then this post is for YOU!

uhm.... how our Wanda went from "I never meant for this to happen" to proceeds to decimate countless people without hesitation?

I mean, I remember the last scene of Wandavision and her using the Darkhold book but to me that was more like "shit, she is learning forbidden magic and it may allow her powers to increase and grow out of control" rather than losing her mind and creating mass destruction!

some said that Darkhold and it's potential was explained in Agents of Shield? so yeah, for those who have seen it might be less shocking to see her acting like this.

me? to be honest, I didn't expect it at all. No, NOT her going against Dr.strange, I meant the way she acted and talked. I don't remember WandaVision much but Agatha didn't seem.... out of control? maybe having been a Witch for a long time didn't impact her much unlike Wanda who was going through trauma and maybeee it allowed Darkhold to control her more than she could control the book?

overall, the first 30 minutes where we see her did take me out of the movie because of the way she talked and acted and this comes from someone who has seen trailer Easter eggs and breakdowns so I knew what kind of plot the movie was heading. maybe Raimi's and Waldron's styles effected her characterization? (I think it definitely did). because she IS powerful, we know that by the comics and the movies but the thing is, her getting mentally out of control, not listening to good reasons AT ALL tells me that there was a story that happened off-screen and it happened and us audience didn't get to see it (MCU pulled the same shit on professor Hulk) so excuse me for being shook when Wanda talks in the first 30 minutes.

I hope there is a director cut for DVD release because I think some of the sites said that the movie was supposed to be more than 2h and 30m??

I really liked the horror elements, the soundtrack kinda reminded me of those 90s/2000s teenage witch movies??

but again, to be honest, some camera shots and scene cuts kinda took me out of the movie, NOT in a bad way. it's really MCU's fault, I have to say, because 90% of MCU movies felt the same to me. the famous marvel formula that you hear often when it comes to criticizing its movies.

This movie??? it didn't feel a marvel/Disney movie to me that much, I felt like it was made by a different company and it's sooo funny because I watched Raimi's spider-man trilogy when I was a child (I didn't know who the guy even was until a year ago) and I didn't even see Evil Dead!!! (just some scenes here and there from YouTube) but to me, this is the most evil dead vibe in a non-evil dead movie that I have ever seen! XD

anyways, I rate it 7 out of 10 (sometimes it gets 6.5 out of 10) for its boldness, strangeness, for its nostalgia (even for movies I have never seen) and its use of horror and gore (which MCU desperately needs if they want to introduce Deadpool and Xmen).

I took 3 points out of it for the lack of "Wanda's path to this level of evil" plot that was taken from audience

for cutting the movie to 2h (I felt it, they tried their best to hold the plot together with the short time and the events that kept happening BUT the ending was kinda rushed)

and for the appearance of Illuminati (I didn't read ANY Illuminati comics but gods! they were useless! I know Wanda is goddamn powerful, even his son, Billy but come on! all six of them are not some minor superheroes and I'm not saying they shouldn't have died but they definitely should have lasted much longer, held more against her! so to me, it came off as if they were a bunch of over-confident jerks that not only lacked skills to do their jobs but also rise questions such as "how did Illuminati last this long???" and I'm really sorry if anyone was a fan of this group and was hyped up for their appearance :/

[k7l4d4]

Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 3 Part 3

And once again, I arrive with another piece of Midnight Striga!! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!!

With a sigh, Amity plopped herself down in her seat, her Abomination prepped and ready for deployment next to her. Panning her gaze across the classroom, her eyes zeroed in on an empty desk; Willow’s desk. ‘She probably choked and designed to take a zero.’ Amity mused, carefully ignoring the sinking feeling that always tugged at her chest whenever she was around, or thought of, Willow. A Blight had no use for thinking of ‘what if’s, when they could instead focus on their present and their future.

Any further musings were cut off as Willow hurriedly rushed into the room, her Abomination pot trudging along behind her. Amity almost snorted. Was she really going to present that shoddy thing? It was her funeral. Still, Amity was a bit perplexed at the sight of Willow’s beaming grin.

“Alright, are you all prepared for today’s inspection?” Their instructor announced imperiously, not even bothering to walk as his Abomination served as his vehicle; Amity had little respect for the man, but she gave him the diligence his position was due, both for how it impacted her future, and her observations of his skills at the art of Abominations himself. As their teacher scanned the displayed works, he called out criticisms at every turn, “Too many eyes, too many toes, toes in the WRONG places, bah! The only real Abominations in this classroom are you all!” His disdainful shout caused many of the students to wilt in their seats, all but Amity of course and, to her surprise, Willow, who leaned forward eagerly.

The teacher huffed, before giving a familiar ultimatum. “If the next Abomination I see disappoints me, it will mean extra homework for everyone, for a MONTH!”

Amity internally rolled her eyes, tuning out the myriad groans of her classmates. Still, there was no reason for them to suffer because of how strict their teacher was. With a wave, Amity rose to her feet. “Allow me to present next, professor!” With a graceful twirl, her Abomination, utterly without flaw or defect, rose gracefully from its confines.

He chuckled. “Oh no, Miss Blight, you know I always save the best for last!” While the stroke to her ego wasn’t unwelcome, it meant she would most likely have to endure him singling out someone as an example, just to make a point. How petty. “How about… Miss Park.” Of course. Amity leaned forward, morbidly invested in what she was certain was going to be a trainwreck.

Willow carefully hid at the despairing calls and groans of her classmates. They’d all get to finally see what she could really do, and she couldn’t wait for their reactions! “It would be my pleasure sir!” She said with a sunny grin, throwing all but the teacher, who cocked an eyebrow, and Amity, who was certain it was a bluff, for a loop. How could she be so calm?

“Okay, if you’re gonna do this, you’ve gotta keep that image of a plant in mind.”

“I don’t know, will this really work?”

In, and out. Willow slowly drew a circle, intently focusing on the image held within her heart. The class murmured around her as long, ropy vines of Abomination goop coiled out of her pot.

“I mean, you know how plants grow, right?”

“Of course I do! I just don’t get how that’ll help.”

“Well, you know about climbing plants, I assume.”

“Plants that scale a surface as they grow long vines across it? Yeah, but what does that have- Oh!”

“Now you’re getting it.”

Willow bit her lip, watching as the ropes slowly built upon themselves, clinging to one another, a torso slowly being sculpted from the mass of ooze before her. As the vines clung to each other and multiplied, the image of arms and legs took shape, the overall image having a solid, sculpted quality that even some of the finest Abominations lacked. As the tendrils wove tighter, the definition grew, to the point where it almost looked as if a skinless hulk of well-honed muscle stood before them. If they hadn’t seen it being built, everyone present could’ve sworn it had been carved from stone, it was so detailed. The teacher stood atop his Abomination, mouth agape, almost pitching forward as his eyes hungrily rove across the magnificent specimen before him. To think, Willow had the skill to create something so glorious!

As the classroom burst into roaring cheers at her display, Willow allowed a pleased grin to stretch across her face. Everyone celebrated; everyone, that is, except Amity. She couldn’t believe it. Moreover, she WOULDN’T believe it. There was no possible way Willow could’ve salvaged that… mess from before in time, much less make something like this in comparison to her previous efforts. Amity’s nail bit into the wood of her desk, her teeth grinding. She would DEFINITELY get to the bottom of this.

Pulling himself together, the teacher allowed a wide grin to crawl across his face. “Oh well done, Miss Park, well done! Who knew you had been hiding such talent?”

Willow sheepishly chuckled, feeling embarrassed. “I just got some good advice on how to move forward, and, well, I took it. It really helped me in how I approached this.” She gestured to her Abomination.

Amity silently growled to herself. ‘Advice. Yeah, right.’

“I must say, Miss Park, this Abomination you divized is simply marvelous!” The teacher exclaimed, attempting to clamber onto its arm. He was slightly surprised, however, when his legs sunk into the apparent Masterpiece’s arm. “Uh, Miss Park?”

Willow flushed, feeling sheepish. “Yeah, I haven’t perfected it yet, so it’s a little unstable right now. My apologies.”

The teacher waved it off. “Oh nonsense, while I admit that is a tad disappointing, you still have shown an incredible degree of improvement! In fact…” he gained a slightly mischievous grin. “In light of this development, I believe that I shall grant you the position of Top Student!”

“”What!?”” The twin shouts, both of surprise, one more of astonishment, the other of incredulity, rang through the classroom.

The teacher nodded. “Indeed.” With a twirl of his finger, the badge that embodied the title shifted from Amity’s uniform onto Willow’s, much to the former’s fury, and the latter’s embarrassment. “Ah, but don’t worry. This is temporary, just until the end of the day.” That statement mollified the two students, if only slightly. “Now then, I believe that it is time to release you all.”

And with that, the bell screamed, signalling all students to leave their classrooms. Willow was relieved, eager to meet back up with Luz and share the great news; her advice had worked even better than they had hoped! For another student, dread and anger burned in their heart. Amity had no idea how Willow had gotten access to that Abomination, but the fact that she was granted such a prestigious honor over it, one that Amity herself had worked to the bone to obtain? Amity was going to get answers, one way or another.

Boscha whistled to herself, casually strolling through the halls. The students she passed gave her a wide berth, even wider than usual. It seems rumors of her changed behavior had spread. Not that it bothered her. Not much bothered her at the moment really. If anything, she felt what could almost be considered relief, she mused to herself, oblivious to the vicious blow she sent to a passing Demon, sending them flying into the lockers, a thin line of blood dripping from their lips. A blank smile played across Boscha’s face, dull and lifeless. Just like she felt. What use was pride and social standing when you were weak? And she was. Weak.

She had made it abundantly clear. That power, that energy, the sheer visceral passion she had felt that night. She wanted to feel it again. Boscha’s free hand slipped into her pocket, mindlessly gripping the jewel she had found after that brawl between that Puppeteer freak and her.

Kill...Rip...Slaughter...Burn...Them...All…

Boscha snorted to herself as she gazed over the milling crowd. Acting as if they meant anything, as if anything in this trap meant anything. Her senses had sharpened after that night, to the point where she could feel the power flowing through each and every Witch and Demon she encountered. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of Demons; she had never really cared much about them before. But after that night, when she saw a taste of what they were capable of? The sheer weakness they carried around as they acted as if they were no different from Witches disgusted her on a visceral level.

Forcing her mind off of the dark train of thought, Boscha recalled what she felt when her heightened senses encountered Half-A-Witch; power. A wellspring of power was coiled in that body, but the feeling it gave, of roots burrowing and breaking through even the hardest of rock, of plants reaching from the lowest point to the heavens, of a world bursting with life, didn’t line up with what her senses gave her when it came to Abominations. In other words, she was mismatched. A pity. Still, that feeling from before, when her sense suddenly SCREAMED at her to turn and look… if only she could recall just what she had felt. In the back of her mind, she almost could say what she knew deep down was true; she was here.

“So, Miss Noceda, I believe you mentioned that you were interested in touring our grounds?” Hieronymus Bump, Principal of Hexside, and survivor of Eda Clawthorne’s reign of terror over the school during her younger years, mused as he overlooked the intriguing puzzle before him. A human, here on the Isles, something unheard of for generations! And, more than that, one who could use Magic, magic of a kind unlike any he had seen before.

“Indeed sir,” Luz respectfully replied. She was being genuine too. This guy just gave off those vibes to her, the feeling of someone who genuinely wanted to help, and was willing to put in the effort needed because of it. After she had demonstrated her magic earlier when she had ran into the man, and his subsequent attempt to apprehend her for trespassing, they had managed to reach an understanding. “It’s been a while since I finished my own official education, so seeing how Witches go about theirs is a treat.”

Bump blinked, wondering if he had heard that right. “I’m sorry, but did you say you had finished your Magical Education?” Was she some manner of prodigy?

Luz grinned, pleased at his reaction. “Yup. I am a fully accredited mage!” She flashed out the certificate her teacher had insisted she go in to get, oh so glad she had managed to hang onto it after all this time. As Bump marveled over her document, she continued. “While mages are trained differently than Witches seem to be,” she stated, looking over the numerous classrooms and varied subjects, “We are still trained to a standard where we can use our skills to maintain a financially stable lifestyle. And I, personally-”

“Are a qualified teacher, I believe you were going to say?” Bump interjected, bemused at the information the girl’s document had revealed. He internally chuckled at the girl’s visible deflation. Accredited teacher or not, she was still a youth of comparable age to some of his students. “Still, I must say, with your display earlier, and this here, I find myself a tad perplexed at your interest with our facilities.”

As the girl’s eyes sharpened, Bump’s internal alarm started ringing. “While coming here, I encountered one of your school’s students. Frankly, her talents were being wasted to an almost horrifying extent in her current classes.”

Bump raised an eyebrow, interested. “Oh?”

Luz nodded, solemn. “Yup. Her potential for Plant Magic was something I’ve never seen the like of before, and her power was on another level compared to the other kids her age I saw around town. The fact that she was doing Abominations, and utterly failing, was baffling to me.” She turned her gaze up to him. “Just how difficult is it to transfer to another Track here, sir?” She asked.

As Bump mulled over the information she had given him, he answered. “Not exceedingly. While it is irregular, students who show dissatisfaction with their current Track, and some measure of skill or talent in the Track they wish to transfer to, are allowed to switch. But, as I said, it is irregular.” He shrugged, feeling sad at his own statement. “I must ask, but is this student truly struggling so fiercely?”

“Her Abomination was literally just a head,” Luz bluntly stated. “And she was my age. She should’ve been much more skilled if she had even a slight level of talent for the Track.” Luz crossed her arms, sighing. “When I got an idea of what her core difficulties were, I gave her a mental trick to help her out. It should’ve given her enough of an edge to eek out a solid grade. But the trick has limits; it lets her get around some of her issues with making Abominations, but it won’t be able to take her very far, at most it gets her on level with the practical basics.”

“Hmm. That is worrying.” Bump pondered. “Tell you what, we shall meet with this student, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Luz smiled, glad it had gone well. “Why thank you, Principal Bump, sir.” The two shook hands.

[dreadwhoop]

Reviewing the All Elite Wrestling personnel (Part 2)

Part 0 - https://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/631091725056835584/reviewing-the-all-elite-wrestling-personnel-part Part 1 - https://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/631092482075148288/reviewing-the-all-elite-wrestling-personnel-part

Wrestlers to Release

Let's start with an easy one. Chuck Taylor is damaged goods. Is he the worst wrestler? No. Is he unmarketable? Yes. What's his standing? Currently one of the top tag-teams in the company and personally ranked 8th in the overall scoring. Are you kidding me?! This guy makes you change the channel - bush league dime-a-dozen goof with bad gear, bad promos, and abyssmal credibility. The worst is how badly he holds Trent? back from being a break-out star. Eliminate this idiot.

Another popular choice for removal - he may be kind backstage but I never want him on TV. Carnie Hick. People constantly compare him to better wrestlers and the fact he was self-trained makes sense why he's so horrendous at fundementals, ring psychology, and stardom as a whole. We already have a 'Superbad' boy! This guy needs to go to a real school to learn the holes he's got and take every criticism to heart to return as a unique talent. Until then? Get rid of this glorified fan.

I finally have a legit reason among opinions - liability. Imagine if he took Matt Hardy's bump. He's not concussed. He's dead. What's more to say? This isn't a case like Riho in the women's division - Marko Stunt looks like the average untrained and out-of-shape wrestling fan could kick his scrawny ass. If you can't believe he'd kick your ass how can you believe he could kick the ass of any professional? He makes Rey Mysterio look like Andre the Giant. Toxic to this company - he doesn't deserve a single victory and I can't believe people can defend him beyond sympathy. He's a moron and attitudes of a child, gimmick or not, which makes people change the channel. Heel booked as face and a charity case. Same as Janela - go train and if he comes back then return dignified and not as a lost cause. Please stop leaning into the child-like persona and validating every criticism levied against you. THE FLOSS! !!CRINGE ALERT!!

AEW needs to get rid of their gimmick low-tier wrestlers. This isn't DDT or Chikara. This is national TV. If you want to keep Michael Nakazawa then I'm sure you're also happy with wrestling never being popular or you being called an idiot for watching it. This is their attempt at having a Toru Yano - a genuinely amusing comedy act who gets unexpected wins. The best thing he can do for talent is by not being involved at all. Considering AEW got rid of Jimmy Havoc for his real-life sexual misconduct, how the BTE YouTube show distanced itself from Joey Ryan, and the whole Jake/Brandi segment, it's unwise to have a wrestler whose main schtick is to joke about sexual assault and weaponise it.

I changed my mind and rules just this once for this guy - this friend of Tony Khan won't be released but every time he's on TV it's like releasing a wet fart into my face. He sucks! I can't believe how incapable he is at conducting interviews or even stringing complete sentences together. Why else would he be taken off commentary? The more you see someone else do his job in the same company the more you realise he has no place in the company. Dasha is a Buenos Días.

What a total failure. He's the modern day Billy Gunn and Billy is in the same company still wrestling! I mean it - Shawn Spears is the guy with a Million Dollar Body and a Ten Cent Brain. His manager has given up on him after he couldn't find a tag-partner, called Dustin a wash-up and then lost to him, and looks so stupid when he's with MJF running circles around him. Shawn Spears is a loser. A big loser. He's the embodiment of mid-card hell and he's a walking mid-life crisis. The only thing I can see even saving his career in AEW right now is if he teamed with Adam Page against FTR because it would be unexpected and interesting and would play into the whole 'Teambreaker' clause.

Where to even begin. The biggest indictment to her is how she was niche and needed when the women's roster had so few talents. Now it's growing she's shrinking in usefulness and we know her character or wrestling won't evolve - it's going to stay as bland and cliche as her looks and attitude. I hate she represents a stereotype and not a role model. She got over her disease? Good for her. She acting like she's hood-life and all? Change the channel.  

If you glanced at the Dark Order and saw John Silver, Alan Angels, and Stu Grayson, you may mistake one for the other. The difference though is John Silver has degenerated his value as a performer by being the absolute butt of every joke. The whole point of the Dark Order was to make people better so being a little servant and whipping boy is better than what he had before? Why isn't Alex Reynolds doing this? Oh it's because it's garbage. Fecal matter in the form of a human. I want 'long' John Silver to be 'long gone' Silver.

QT Marshall. So I say this name with reverence and think "wow this guy is going to light the world on fire?". Let's picture the scene - he's the hand-me-down MJF/Shaun Spears, teams with Dustin to get some starpower, and adopted DDP's move because he has nothing original to show. His entire arc is being a goofball tragic loser who got hair plugs and hangs with Allie...Allie, who incredibly has a better record than him! It's just bad bad bad throughout. Diet-Arn Anderson. He's not in the shadows he's just in the shade.

This will need a bit more explanation. Moxley is, at best, hit-or-miss with his promos and very specialist in his matches. AEW's executives have put a lot on him to see this company's growth and yet it feels since he beat Jericho it's been the opposite. Now you could blame the lockdown for this but it's an excuse. The truth is Moxley is always best being a chaser to the title not the title holder. Do I think he should be AEW Champion? Eventually, but this is AEW's biggest issue - they book for short-term gains and not long-term gains. The losses will be creeping in if his loyalties are questioned. When he loses the AEW championship, and the lockdown is over, he's jumping back to NJPW or WWE. Why would he want to elevate talent? He's not there for AEW he's there for himself and tell me I'm wrong. Everything about him was booked wrong - he should of never beaten Jericho, continued to chase for the title, had to deal with Hager, Brodie Lee, and then when Brian Cage became FTW Champion, go after this to make it a more legit title. The fact Moxley thinks he's Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, HHH, Cena, Lesnar, and Roddy Piper all in one, is a complete embaressment to the legends. He tries too hard and it shows. His wife not joining AEW is a bad omen for his loyalties. Mox is Pox - a parasite of every proportion and we've seen his type before play to the ruination of companies.

[pendragonfics]

a strange fear gripped me (and i just couldn't ask)

- ̗̀  Bruce Banner Bingo 2019  ̖́-

Paring: Bruce Banner/Reader

Square filled: wedding day 

Tags: female reader, post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, Uncle Happy Hogan, Professor Hulk, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Post-Canon Fix-It

Summary: At the Stark house by the lake, Morgan organises an event for her toys, inviting you and Bruce Banner along.

Word Count: 2,419

Current Date: 2019-08-14

Work Text:

As per the invitation - handwritten, with the best penmanship that her gel pen could muster - you arrived at the back porch of Pepper’s house, wearing your nice outfit. You had been tempted to just turn up in normal clothes, but she’d have said over the phone in her most grown-up voice, that “weddings were for fancy clothes!”

The fanciest thing you had on hand was a black pair of slacks and a white top. You wondered if she minded if you were in the same colour as the bride, but then again, if she was being that strict, you’d be chastised for wearing pants. When you get to the house, Happy is sat on the front porch, in his usual suit. The only thing different is he’s wearing a handmade flower crown, the circlet slightly askew upon his balding head. He checks his phone, but as you near, he gives you a wry smile.

“Welcome to the wedding,” he says. His tone is dry as ever, but the fact that he’s playing along reminds you of all the years he humoured Tony with every finicky detail. “Invitation?”

You pass him the paper and notice he has another invitation beside his feet.

“Morgan roped in another person to play marriage with?” You ask.

Happy’s smile is wry. “That sounds about right.” He laughs. “But I’m under strict instruction not to disclose the guest list.”

You roll your eyes. “It seems like we’re equally wrapped around the kid’s finger.” You smile, noticing a trail of coloured in paper confetti. “I suppose that’s the way to the event?”

“Yep,” Happy pops the p. He gives you another smile and returns his gaze to the screen in his hands. “Enjoy.”

Stepping around him, you follow the litter of crayon on torn printer paper to mimic rose petals, to the rear of the house. You’d only been to the Stark house three times; when you came to check on Tony post-snap, and pre-Morgan, for her third birthday party, and … Tony’s funeral. If it weren’t for the fact that you’d promised to Pepper to be around more, for Morgan’s sake, you’d have a hard time being on the property.

Out the back has had a little girl makeover. It doesn’t matter that she’s the kid of a billionaire and the CEO of Stark Industries, there are sheets hanging from the rafters to mimic a tent, cushions sourced from the lounge room all over the garden path, and toys on the grass in a mock arrangement.

Hell, this almost looked like it was a proper wedding.

On the lawn was a pumpkin patch doll, one of those plastic robot dogs from the early 2000’s, a handful of Ken and Barbie dolls - it almost made you wonder which of the toys were getting hitched.

“Aunt __________!” Morgan cried out, running from inside the house. She almost tripped over the threshold, but incorporating her stumble into her step, you soon had a kid torpedoing into your torso for a tight hug.

“Hey, kiddo,” you muss her hair. “What’s crackalacking?”

“You’re so weird,” she chortles. “But you’re here now! We can make it happen!”

You peel off Pepper’s daughter from your form. “I hope I haven’t made you wait too long M. Traffic was horrendous.”

She laughs again. It’s nice to hear her laugh, even though it’s been less than a year since her dad passed away. “No, we haven’t waited long! But now you’re here we can have some fun!”

You watch as she runs as quickly as she came back into the house, and obscured by the security tint window, you stay where you stand, unsure what’s happening next. A beat passes, and you glance down to a Ken doll, naked except for a pair of pink board shorts. You’re sure you had the same doll as a kid yourself. But Morgan is quick in her movements, because not a minute later, you hear gentle protesting, and see...

Oh.

It had most certainly been a hot minute since you last saw Dr Bruce Banner.

Last time you saw him, it had been in Sokovia. The last time you were an actively serving Avenger. You’d broken it off with him because you knew what he and Tony were doing with the Ultron software was reckless, and after the fight against the bots, he flew off into the sun. You vaguely remember him when you materialised for the battle against Thanos, and he looked just like this.

“You’re looking a little green, doc,” you look over his body, unsure what you’re seeing. He was both Hulk...and Banner? To be honest, he looked like a DeviantArt fan nightmare, except there was a hint of sexiness that made you question your taste and life choices. “Morgan, what -,”

“Morgan, sweetie, why is _________ here?” Green Bruce said at the same time.

“For the wedding! And now you’re both here, don’t forget to have a good time.” She says, beaming.

You quietly take a perch on one of the three lawn chairs on the right. Bruce takes the other two.

As Morgan fussed over some dolls that had fallen over, you turn to Bruce, “Want to explain to me why you’re all spinach, no puff?” You whisper.

“I’m, er, - they call me Professor Hulk.” He replies. Even though he’s built like that, his voice is still hesitant. “My physical state is an equilibrium of all parts of my psyche.”

He sounds like Bruce, and smiles like Bruce, but...he doesn’t look like Bruce at all.

You scoff quietly. “I don’t know if you’re taking constructive criticism, but -,”

The music starts up. In her small hands, Morgan holds an Iron Man helmet, a mark you recognise from one of Tony’s earlier designs. From the open mouth, it plays a wedding march, and she approaches the both of you. It would look comical, but she held it like a motorcycle helmet, beside her overalls-clad side.

“Hey, stand up!” She stage-whispers, and you and Green - no - Professor Hulk follow her instruction. Ushering you both around, she places the helmet on a chair and picks up the cabbage patch doll from the ground.

It’s only when she starts reciting some words - familiar because you’ve been to a fair few ceremonies over the years - that you realise what’s happening.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to make Aunt _________ and Uncle Bruce get married-,”

Professor Hulk’s eyes are wide. “Woah, woah, Morgan -- you can’t marry people.” He says, hands raised as if to placate the eight-year-old before you. “I - we didn’t agree to be married.”

“But it’s a wedding!” Morgan reasons. “You’re here to married.”

“Do you have a license?” You ask, bewildered.

From the pocket of her overalls, she withdraws a printed A4 sheet. “Yeah!” She passes it to you. It’s from a kid’s website, printed in pink ink that reads, in Comic Sans font, Morgan Stark is a cool girl and a cooler marriage officiant! beside the coolgirlgames dot com smiley face logo. You show the sheet to Professor Hulk, and slowly, he wipes a hand over his face. “Don’t you like it?”

“It’s a - a cool license, but Morgan, _________ and I didn’t agree to be married.”

She looks almost like she’s about to cry.

You take the silence as an opportunity to speak up. Lowering yourself to your knees, you gather Morgan in for a hug, holding her close. “Uncle Bruce is right, sweetheart. I - we might have felt the same feelings that people who get married do — but that was a long time ago, and we both changed.”

Morgan sniffs, wiping at her eyes. “But Mommy said that true love lasts forever.”

“You wanted to get married?” Professor Hulk asks you, bewildered.

You glance over your shoulder, taking him in. He looks like Hulk’s nerdy cousin, and if it weren’t for the fact that Bruce’s eyes were looking out from that face, you wouldn’t be able to recognise him.

“I would have said yes if you asked,” you mumble. “… but you never did. And then there was the whole Ultron thing, and next thing I know you’re AWOL, and -,” you feel tears pricking at your eyes. You blink them away, determined not to cry. “But like I said. People change.”

The door opens again, and Pepper Potts steps out. She’s always been a strong woman, and even in her own home, she’s wearing an LBD and heels, her crisp strawberry blonde hair ironed to perfection. All of this you notice in a fraction of a second, because her façade is broken when she sees her daughter, crying in your arms.

“Oh my goodness Morgan, you-,” she takes the scene in, dismounting the porch toward her daughter. Pepper’s heels wobble on the path, and Morgan flies into her arms. “I thought this was for your toys, I said -,”

“But they love each other,” Morgan pleads, sniffing.

Pepper leads her daughter inside, perhaps to give her a stern talking-to. You wondered briefly if you had made the incident worse, but those thoughts were dashed as soon as you felt a hand upon your shoulder. Looking up, you take him in. At this angle, you feel as if you’re Morgan; Professor Hulk towers taller than the average adult, taller than the lofty Pepper Potts. Looking at him, you feel dwarfed, like a deer in the headlights. Bruce should know better than to be a fusion of Hulk around you; you had such a good relationship with the green guy, and you missed him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you plead, shrugging off his hand.

“You wanted to marry me?” Bruce’s voice crackles.

But you don’t answer him. It’s hard to, because your mind is racing, and your blood is running so fast that you can hear it in your ears, rushing around. You go to leave, but once again, Professor Hulk’s hand holds you back.

“Let me go.”

“_________-,”

“You don’t get to turn up and act like it’s okay to resume where we left off!” you raise your voice, wrenching your arm from his grip. But it’s tight, with all the strength that you remember the Hulk having. “You don’t get to just say that and act like you’re still in a relationship. Because I spent years searching for you. I did not stop. Do you know how fucking hard it was, feeling like a failure? And when I hung my boots up, you’re back on Earth, just to fight Thanos and muck around with your - your biology when that fails.”

If you were a cartoon, you’re sure that your ears would be smoking.

He lets go of your arm. You turn, pacing like a wild beast.

“I wasn’t sure how to say those things,” Professor Hulk whispers, “that you loved-,”

“I still love you, you idiot!” you yell.

You hear a silence fall across the lake house. From inside, where you’re sure that Pepper is trying to console her daughter, and Happy has perhaps moved out of earshot. The forest is silent, the wind dropping off. There’s no birdsong. There’s just the words that came from your mouth, echoing in both of your ears.

I still love you, you idiot!

You wipe a hand over your forehead, shocked that those words came out. Pinching at the bridge of your nose, you compose yourself, readying yourself to face Professor Hulk, and what he has to say to your outburst. But there’s a small part of yourself holding back. That can’t do it. Because that part is the lovestruck little person, the voice that made you search all of space and time and everything in between for the man you lost following Sokovia.

“_________,” he whispers.

“I - I’ve got to go,” you shake your head. But there isn’t a bone in your body that wants to move. You don’t move an inch, can’t move an inch, aren’t sure you ever will move an inch. “Bruce -,”

He gathers you in his arms.

It’s then you melt. You fold into his arms like a spool of cotton candy into a puddle, and he scoops you in, holding you tight. His smell is confusing, and yet, it’s the comfort of Hulk’s arms around you with Bruce’s temperament that feels like…home.

You look up; his neck craned toward yours, hesitant.

And almost like there hasn’t been any time lost between you both, you give in. Upon the balls of your feet, you reach up as far as you can, and, as soft as ever, your lips brush his cheek.

The strangest thing is, you don’t believe in miracles, or true love. That was just a story. You’d trained alongside Sam Wilson in the military, and with every gruelling day of work, there was no silver lining. Especially when Riley died. There was only the next day, and the day after that, and after the funeral, you filed for release from service.

It was a fluke that you were at Sam’s meeting the same day that the Captain America swung by. It happened to be a coincidence that you and Sam were able to help him, and Ms Romanov, with the HYDRA infestation within their government agency. It was chance that you and Sam were enlisted into the Avengers Initiative. It had been the best luck that you met Bruce Banner while training Upstate…and the worst luck that soon after, he disappeared into space.

And right now, before you, there was another sort of miracle, a moment that any other person in their life wouldn’t believe to be happening.

As Professor Hulk stood before you, there was a quirk, just like when you first encountered Hulk in his de-Hulking stage. You’re not sure how it happened, but with a ripple of skin, the shifting of his skeleton, and crackling of bone, Professor Hulk was getting smaller, less green, and more -

“I - What happened to me?” he says.

You can’t believe your eyes. Because just where Professor Hulk, a mix of both Bruce Banner and the gamma radiated creature within, was just standing, is now Bruce. Just Bruce. His clothes are too big, and his glasses too, and swimming in his clothes, he looks to you, unsure of what just happened.

“I’m sorry?” you supplement.

Morgan bursts out from the house, her once-teary face transformed into something of pure joy. “You’re Uncle Bruce again!” she cries out, jubilant. “It worked! It worked!”

You blink. “Oh, honey - Morgan, this was a coincidence, not -,”

“It was true love’s kiss!”

[fulltimereviewer]

Top 50 Best Transformers Fanfiction Stories 2020

Best Transformers Fanfiction Updates That You Must Read

Since Childhood, I am watching transformers and looking forward to becoming a transformer one day, Grew up by Reading Transformers Fanfiction Stories and was always amazed by the fictions that used to pop out from such inspiring Fanfiction Lovers. Also liking the Transformer Fanfiction Crossover a lot.

If I Start Giving my Opinions about Transformers Fanfiction Lemon and Transformers Crossover fanfiction, I don't think so that I won't end the topic of Transformers Fanfiction Stories even in 24 hours. Lukas Schimik Agreed ! Don't know why everybody hates it, I think it's still my number 1 TF movie! Optimus new look, Lockdown & Galvatron, KsI (bots), Dinobots, cast ( HATED this Sam & Mikeala ) and the TF/human conflict. Still love it. Miguel GC Gamer Age of Extinction is the only film that entertains that I don't skip any parts of the movie and I like all the characters in this film and the transformers designs are great, dino bots are Awsome. Vincent H well....bad taste is also bad taste at the end of the day. I know you younger kids think that everyone is supposed to have an opinion and everything is subjective blah blah blah but if you're a cinephile than the Transformers are objectively bad films. They are cynical cash grabs made to make money in China. Bay and the producers have said as much. I mean you can like whatever you want. If you wanna listen to Teletubbies soundtrack all day that's your right....but that does mean you have shitty taste. It's okay. Not everyone has good taste. urtpro 2 I'm not hating I'm genuinely curious. I certainly like it more than Last Knight but barely lol. I'm curious the reasons why AOE fans consider it one of the better Transformers movies. I will say it was nice to switch up the protagonist and all that since Sam Witwicky had worn out his welcome by the third film. And the actress who played Wahlberg's daughter was smoking hot, so that was a plus too. Oliver Parker I thought the premise of the world hating and hunting the Transformers(regardless of Faction), cuz of what happened in Chicago(in DOTM), was kool, MW was a refreshing Main Hero over Shia tbh, and Lockdown was Badass! Honestly kinda just laughed off the whole Romeo and Juliette law thing as being just a bad movie joke! I’m mean honestly I know there’s no such law, and as such it didn’t really bother me! Just rather thought it was somewhat silly! Yann Labeille Well Lockdown was a pretty good villain for once in the movies. However Galvatron went nowhere after this. Anthony That isn't true. I saw Bumblebee yesterday and I find it Like watching E.T., the movie is just on Charlie, not really much on Bee. The only g1 part is the first 5 minutes of the movie. Too much 80s references. Sometimes is even boring for me. It Was a cute movie but absolutely not my favourite. I still prefere the first one. Aron T-900 I'd rather get vibes from ET and Iron Giant instead of witnessing stupid humor, unnecessary hot shots, dogs humping each other, unrealistic explosions, parents acting like they belong in a cartoon, patriotism and confusing slo-mo action sequences. Cam Rich I preferred the first and third ones as they have so much more action in them making the films actually entertaining, when most of bumblebee is almost like a compilation of ‘cute’ little clips of bumblebee and that annoying girl taking up almost the entirety of the movie. Max Ramirez Personally prefer the 2007 movie because it's just overall more entertaining to me. Also, you can pretty much tell Bumblebee was a movie that was directed towards kids so 2007 wins for me So Sit back and enjoy reading my favorite transformers fanfiction lemon and Transformers fanfiction Crossovers Collection. That I have collected for you guys. I Hope You Guys liked our collection of the best transformers fanfiction stories and updates that we have presented above for all fanfiction lovers out here. Transformers Fanfiction Crossover Stories 2020(Updated) Transformers is America based  Franchise that was first seen in the 1980s globally. So the first five transformers Films was directed by Michael Bay. I really believe that this was the boost up for the Transformers Fanfiction Crossover stories that I really liked about among the whole and sole of the transformers fanfiction stories including the lemon version of the franchise. Minaya Rojas Tony: We have a Hulk! Optimus: We have a Grimlock! Porg King VII Bee is here what would Optimus want with that what would he take her hostage IT SOUNDS LIKE HE HAS BEEN BRAIN WASHED BY DESEPTAGONS Siidimus Prime! Except they transform their aliens they have Real blasters Different Voices blood Etc. arfhanisbest The interesting thing is that transformers would actually make for good marvel villains. dave tasca The original transformers comics were made by marvel and marvel had to do with the original transformers tv show so they really should try to get the rights back jovinprime Poop soc This would've been more awesome if gi joe, rom the spaceknight, M.A.S.K., micronauts and the other properties interfere with the whole marvel universe and the transformers both. That would be, not only a big, giant, massive crossover event, but a... gigantic, space-involving, multiversal collusion as well Darkknight329 yes megatron hack the armor with Soundwave and turn it off then they all just step on them but they will throw hulk to cybertron and leave him to the toxic oxygen Dr. Nobody Celz On they are robots what is a snap gonna do I know buckys arm was turned to dust but still they have weapons that can make thanos cheese agnas yes because they’re alive. They go to the allspark when they die, they are alive just like us, just made of metal. Bee is here Tony: We have thanos Optimus: We have your mom Tony:0_0 ok you win now give me my mom Hoping that you guys liked our collection of the topmost fanfics about the transformers fanfiction crossover flavors that we have published above this. 

Transformers Fanfiction Lemon Version 2020 Funny Part of the Franchise is that the transformer's movies, on one hand, was loved by the fans and on the other hand there were critics about the direction "Worst Director of all Time". Still, there are some dirty minded people who are always in search of the Transformers Fanfiction Lemon and some people also call it Transformers lemon Fanfiction. Night light I really want to be apart of one of micheal bays movie of transformers Flo Parsons see this is why I love transformers, because the actors ACTUALLY seem like they are having fun, and they are such fun films to watch obert Delgad Even though the movie sequels are not that great, but you have to give Michael Bay a lot of Credit for what he does. fake lol Bay is a genius I mean, I wouldn't be able to figure out the scale of you know the explosions Like the layout nig*a LOL, lol or as you typed if, Lol: an acronym for laugh(ing) out loud or lots of laughs, some say it is Lots of love, is a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to-face communication. Alex Bruh Bumblebee knows how to pick up ladies more than Sam 😂 lala I remember being a kid and having the biggest crush for Megan. Good lord she was so hot Michael ceasar Back than I thought Sam was looking at her belly and so was I saying "Hot belly I guess." hotman 280 Michael Bay while directing: Yeah Megan arch your back, perfect perfect. Get a good shot of her sweat glistening tanned bronze body. Yeah just like that. chief ada Yeah right. That engine is a big block. Fuel injected side draft 8 barrel carburetors. Hell even the headers are up and over side mount. And the damn engine is worth more then the car. As he only paid $4500.00 That damn engine alone cost $20,000.00! Leave the critics aside all I want to know is: How did you people find our transformers fanfiction lemon version? comment down below if you guys liked this collection on some of the best lemon flavors of transformers fanfiction stories. Transformers fanfiction Bumblebee Stories Updated The best part of the Transformers franchise is that bumblebee is the only character that got most of the positive reviews. This can be a reason that people Love Transformers Fanfiction Bumblebee Version a lot. No worries because we have provided some of the best Bumblebee fanfiction stories that you will enjoy reading. Master Yoda "Wasp", "Stinger" or "Hornet" would be appropriate Decepticon sounding names as "Bumble Bee" sounds too friendly. ron 1j2j barricade is a ford mustang and bee is a Chevrolet camero trust me they will not be friends pro gmer yes i do lol they killed ironhide and ratchet and jazz and sideswipe is already missing dnt know if hes alive but hes my favorite hari bhaskar I'm Bumblebee was a Decepticon he'd be dead like the other Decepticons, because boi they sure kill Decepticons like it's nothing. mighty raju Blackout had skills. Shockwave had skills. The Fallen had skills. Yet they all died like they're nothing. Why? Cause they're Decepticons lol. It's simple rlly, they kill off Decepticons like they're nothing that's just how it is lol. habob What about “what if sentinel prime didn’t betray the autobots” I think age of extinction and beyond wouldn’t have happened since sentinel basically destroyed N.E.S.T. And also Rachet and Ironhide wouldn’t have died so the Autobots would have had a great advantage, and then Sam would still be with the autobots since he disappears after DOTMBasically, I’m saying that the Transformers franchise would have dramatically changed if Sentinel didn’t betray the Autobots. ShyGuy 15 In the movies, technically Megatron is an anti-hero. The first movie makes an acception bc he was using the allspark for pure evil, also in Aoe no reason told us what he was trying to accomplish other than detonating the seed. So 2, 3, and 5, he has reasons to his doing Rotf: using the pyramid to kill the sun and repopulate cybertron. Dotm: rebuild cybertron. TLK: kill unicron using cybertron. This is all in my own mind, not sure if anyone else agrees with me Simon Tyson I forget what it was called, but there was a comic book series where Megatron was an Autobot. It basically swapped all the characters so that Optimus, Bumblebee, Iron Hide, etc. were bad guys. Megatron, Starscream, etc. were good guys Dank Starscream If Bayformer Megatron's history is similar to the IDW comics Megatron's history...then that would mean the Autobot government was not all that good, and would be directly responsible for why Megatron turned out the way he did. Because he was a slave to their functionalist system of control, and he would have remained a slave worker miner if he didn't rise up from the lifestyle forced on him and formed the Decepticon faction... Though it seems to me that if this were the case, Bayformers Megatron would still have become a gladiator before forming the Decepticons...and then eventually he found his way into more of the politics of Cybertron after one day meeting with Optimus Prime (Orion Pax at the time) and then they became brothers/friends. In that sense...it would be similar to how the history of the two were from the show TF Prime. They could still keep the part with the whole Optimus being a knight too, somehow... So in short...Megatron really did not start out as a bad guy at all, it was the way in which he reacted to everything that made him turn out a 'bad guy'. She-Venom What if Megatron is a good guy in the movies? Simple answer is right here becuse Optimus accepted become a Prime if he didnt accept Optimus and Megatron wouldnt fight each other and best brothers it was Optimus fault he started the war i think Megatron is a good guy Hoping that you guys liked our collection of the topmost fanfics about the transformers fanfiction crossover flavors that we have published above this. People Love Bumblebee! i love him/her because bumblebee is cool, let me know why do you love Bumblebee and more importantly why do you guys love Transformers fanfiction on Bumblebee. Transformers Fanfiction OC Version  Earning a total amount of $4.3 Billion, transformers became the 13th highest-grossing film series in the world. The Transformers Fanfiction Fans Should be happy to know that the Transformers franchise grossed a total of $1 Billion each from two superhit blockbuster movies. Comment Down the names of those movies if you know them. Jack R I think the first one was more epic just cause the fight scenes were cool and it was the first time we saw something like that. But the writing and characters were absolutely horrific. Bumblebee had much better writing and characters especially the character relationship between Bumblebee and the girl which is much better than the relationship between Sam and bumblebee. Dotm Shockwave Yeah I dont know how he put tlk over revenge and extinction. The last knight is incredibly boring and the only remaining aspect left to enjoy (the action) is incredibly dull in it compared to all the other films. There are no good fight scenes. Which is likely why it bombed so hard Ur mom Gai Ok imo the last knight is my fave AND I ONLY like TF5 is cuz bumblebee new form looks good as hell and Optimus prime vs bumblebee AND there is explosions. EVERYWHERE Boss  I definitely didn't think it was my favorite. It depends on what you are looking for in a movie. If you like character relationships and a girl and her problems trying to find her way, then you'll like it. If you like transformers actions and interactions, you may not like it as much. Even though the Bay movie didn't focus enough on the transformers, this one did even less The Burden of Bordem I'm a decepticon fan and none of the main decepticons were even given a name in the movie. They were just there to be bad. The Burden of Bordem For me I think this film would have worked much better if they just had Starscream as the main villain, and maybe Barricade hunting bumblebee and give them a more personal relation ship as enemies. But like I said, it end up being a movie about a girl and her relation ship with Bumblebee and enemies getting in their way. bandwon he main character is more fleshed out than the others, Bumblebee I guess is as well, but he can't talk so it isn't by much, the story is standard E.T./Iron Giant, the acting is fine, the directing is probably better than the others, the action is good when it happens, but there is far less than the others, and non of the action reached the peak of the Bay movies. and if it wasn't for the fact there were transformers in it I probably wouldn't have really liked it, but it's enough to get you invested and entertained imo. luke jack You really think anyone's gonna take you serious after you typed "Bumble" Haha the 2007 film and DotM were pretty decent films and satisfying in the end. lisa Speaking as a male, it always annoys me, as a child, that certain plot-line of every terribly written sci-fi (mainly Transformers): "main character is a dick=likable guy" "he has 'relatable' problems, that are only explored in the first 15 minutes of the film" "He start having an abusive/creepy relationship (because that's how well written romance works, right...), with the love interest (they barely explore her name)." "1+ hour action scenes" "world is gonna explode (not really)" "Main Character and Love Interest hook up". People always call me "a pussy", because i want equal rights, and then they go make a video about "how everything is now pandering to women, and everything is Woke"... By your perfect logic... most movies are "pandering to males, and straight people only" imo  not like super duper mad, but kinda upset. It was actually kinda funny. But dude, I love what you said about Man of Steel in your DC ranking video. I love that you love Man of Steel. Not many do, and it's seriously awesome! IMO I hope You Guys Like our Collection of the best Transformers fanfiction stories along with transformers fanfiction lemon and transformers fanfiction crossover collection. We know that people will like the Transformers Crossover fanfiction and transformers fanfiction bumblebee version stories.  If you like These Transformers Fanfiction Stories make sure you share this on various social media, and you can also give credits to our website. Thank You  Also, read  Star Wars fanfiction Updates 2020 Read the full article

[bigskydreaming]

Our changeling who's head/face are always obscured by colorful clouds. Even *he* doesn't know what he looks like anymore under there after the Change. When Violet tries using her mists on him, he just goes "ya done? Good, MY turn". He lives in a top floor apartment, from which he sends out billowing and shimmering good dreams at night.

Hmmm, trying to figure out how Head in the Clouds Changeling might fit into the natural (well, supernatural) ecosystem of Bordertown now. He’s somewhere between Alistair (gay white guy with a demon style Change who lives in the Seventh Circle and plays a critical role in the way the town’s overall magic works and fits together) and Noelle (bi black girl with a flight-capable Change and who lives in the Aerie and is one of Bordertown’s most famous residents and artists and basically invented her own form of art unique just to her, as only her magic makes it possible).

But yeah,I feel like….based off of your description of Head in the Clouds Changeling here. Not in terms of overlap, but in terms of like….I just feel like there’s some niche he’s just adjacent to, or right smack between those two, and I just haven’t figured out quite what’s ideal there yet.

Because like, okay, so Alistair the Dream Keeper, one of the chief residents of the Seventh Circle, is already a big part of why most Changeling residents of Bordertown never seem to have nightmares. He basically feeds off them. Most of the time, Alistair is a hulking behemoth with a grayish skin tone, curved, obsidian horns that naturally curve together and form a crown-like shape atop his head, and with a fiery red gemstone adorning the front of it and pulsing in time with his heartbeat. 

And his skin actually has a strange, almost quasi-translucent look to it, like its not so much skin as it is the surface of some deep, murky pond whose waters are all gray and overcast and dark..It ripples when he moves, and if you watch him long enough you’ll see dark shapes darting up and down the length of his body, across his arms, the back of his neck, etc…as though you’re catching distant glimpses of whatever creatures live deep down in the depths of those waters.

And essentially, Alistair’s magic works by making him a kind of magnet, almost, a supernatural lodestone that pull nightmares out of the sleeping minds of nearby Changelings and carries them in his direction, via some kind of nightmare spectral tide, that only he can really see or interact with. And by being able to see and interact with this nightmare tide, Alistair can basically….fish these nightmares out of it, and feed on them.  He absorbs them into himself, where they become part of his mass, cause him to grow, not unlike that aspect of Sky the Cloud Shaper’s magic….and then with these nightmares becoming the dark figures glimpsed in the depths of the reservoir of dreams his body basically doubles as.

However, the true nature - for better and worse - of Alistair’s magic is that it turns the nightmares that are washed up on his shore, from half-realized monstrosities of the id and the subconscious…..and without actual intent from him even, just a natural byproduct of his magic….the nightmare tide that carries bad dreams to him, like, fleshes them out, gives them physical substance by the time they get to him.

So when he fishes one of these nightmares out of the sky or atmosphere around him, where its swimming in this kind of magical tide that really only exists for him, at least right up until the second a nightmare gets drawn in close enough to him that its made physical reality….the act of fishing a nightmare out of the sky/nightmare tide is a physical act. He basically plucks it out of thin air and and pulls it into himself, absorbing it into his own body and the strange not-ocean that acts as the surface of his skin even as it contains limitless depths beneath said surface.

BUT….the second his magic turns a nightmare into something physical….it becomes potentially dangerous, as much to him as anything or anyone else around. Like, there are some nightmares he just flat out doesn’t want to feed off of or absorb, because he’s not sure what having a particular one inside him, be part of him, might do to him as a consequence or side effect, but he’s not always eager to find out, and thus avoids feeding off of specific nightmares he himself feels unsettled by, just from the sight of them or being in proximity to them.

Except the danger is, there’s no ‘return to sender’ function he can evoke with his magic, to send it back to whatever dreaming mind his magic pulled it from in the first place. Nor can he just make it immaterial again, remove its physical aspect, by doing anything other than taking it into himself, which he’s too afraid/anxious to do with some of these.

All of which means, his only real option with these nightmares that he doesn’t want to touch or feed on or have any part of them inside him….is to physically destroy them. Which he does by summoning one of the nightmares he has previously chosen to absorb into his own depths….and bringing it back out of him again, returning its own physical state, and then basically.pitting it against this other nightmare he wants gone, but not at the cost of letting it potentially affect or change him. Weaponizing one or more of the nightmares he’s fed upon, to destroy the nightmare he refuses to, because just the nearness of it is leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

And these clash of nightmares can get pretty gnarly, but since in even most worse case scenarios, Alistair still has more nightmares he can pull up out of his own depths to act as reinforcements or supplement his initial choice of warrior, if its not up to the task of destroying the nightmare he’s trying to rid the world of….its usually not a problem. 

Some nightmares out there are dark by any standards, with this all being part of why he doesn’t want them inside him even briefly…the fact that they’re so monstrous, so horrific, that even just getting rid of them requires he burn through most of the nightmares he has available to weaponize against it in the first place, when attempting to do just that.

But ultimately he is almost always able to destroy even the most twisted of nightmares-made-flesh that swim his way on the spectral tides of his own magic’s making….even if doing so costs him his entire stockpile of existing nightmare warriors….and leaves his own ‘reservoir’ dried up and shallow for the most part, with no dark creatures lurking deep in its depths. While at the same time, shrinking him down to a far less imposing or intimidating frame or stature than he usually possesses.

He can always ‘restock’ his supply by feeding on more new nightmares he is willing to eat and absorb….even if he sometimes simultaneously sulks about having to lose some of his most valuable and preferred (and in some instances, rare) nightmare archetypes,  as they fell in battle against the personal demons of some other Changeling’s fucked up subconscious.

Thus, whatever else he may be, such as melodrama prone, Alistair the Dream Keeper plays a unique and valuable role within the magical ecosystem of Bordertown. Thanks to him, the town’s residents enjoy a largely restful and healthy night’s rest one night after another…..rather than being mired in whatever dark dreams they would be haunted by were Alistair’s magic not available to physically draw their nightmares out and vanquish them magically. 

And the ‘reward’ his own magic reaps for him, in return for this valuable service he provides the town….is his ability to call forth whatever nightmare warriors he has stored within him, to use as his champions in whatever other conflicts he might find himself in.

(Of course, there are the really rare occasions where some new arrival’s dreams are so haunting and horrific, none of the nightmare warriors Alistair has available to him are able to put an end to that newest terror….and it takes other Changelings reinforcing him with their own magic to exorcise these particular beasts. But those are rare occasions indeed, when he finds himself totally outmatched on just his own).

And then on the completely opposite side of things, there’s Noelle and her niche in Bordertown. Noelle is a black girl whose primary place of residence is in one of the towers of the Aerie….and this also where she has her studio, and where she developed, honed and continues to master the unique art form that’s born entirely of her own magic….and that makes her one of Bordertown’s most famous artists in residence.

Appearance wise, Noelle is a black girl of medium height, in her late teens or early twenties….and with every part of her constantly lit or aglow with her own vibrant neon luminescence, one forever combining complementary hues of blue, indigo, violet and hot pink. Her hair is the latter: tight braids always brightly shining a dynamic, neon shade of hot pink. Her skin always appears to be bathed in a perpetual, moonlit glow that in turn, gives her an eternally soft and cool blue radiance of her own. 

And from her back spring two wings of pure incandescence, like two flat panes of solid, glowing light, both a deep and lush violet in hue…..wings that rapidly beat the air much like those of a hummingbird do, allowing her to remain practically stationary in flight, should she wish to - and should she find it helpful to remain in such a position while crafting one of her works of art. 

And all the while, other sources of light shining through and cascading over her wings of light, rippling off of the soft arctic glow of her figure and woven into the dynamic, neon intensity of her hair….it all casts a chiaroscuro crazy-quilt of dappled light and shadow about her, everywhere she goes….making her the permanent center-point in a constantly shifting light sculpture that’s illuminating and illusionary all at the same time.

And thanks to her magic, Noelle’s unique form of artistry allows her to paint with her own light and emotions. Literally. By tracing paths of light across any surface using just her own glowing fingers or hands, Noelle sketches designs that she at the same time imbues with specific emotions, or combinations of emotion. With these then being experienced exactly as she intended them to be felt, by anyone later touching a surface she poured her own radiance and emotions into.

By the time she’s done with a piece, Noelle’s art might be physically indistinguishable from its surroundings….but the emotional tapestries or symphonies that spring into a person’s mind, that can be felt singing deep within their very bones, just upon making the slightest touch to a surface that’s keyed to one of her emotional landscapes….in those respects, her art is an experience impossible to mistake for anything other than what it is: 

Unique masterpieces of vibrant, intense feelings that are all laid out and organized into coherent emotional journeys that are then undertaken by anyone whose heartstrings are seized in the grasp of one of her pieces.

There’s a small courtyard in the heart of the Rose’s Garden, that Noelle carefully shaped and molded into an emotional arrangement that even years later still bears the specific resonance she poured into every last nook and cranny of that cozy, intimate space…the name of this courtyard, this piece of hers, is “Refuge,” and any Changeling who goes to sit in it finds themselves swept up in the cascading surges and swellings of relief and comfort, surety and safety, that she crafted that small, light-swept corner of the garden to be an eternal reminder of.

There’s a soothingly bubbling fountain on the uppermost floor of the Aerie, that Noelle named Respite when she was done crafting it into a basin of sustaining restfulness, a fount whose waters from that point on always held within them a soft inner radiance and summoned to mind a hum of peaceful relaxation, for anyone who so much as trailed a hand through their ripples, let alone took a refreshing sip.

A terrace along the north side of one of the uppermost floors of the Aerie bears the name Solace, thanks to her….and thanks to her magic and her art, it bears a feeling of consolation, of shared loss and of an understanding of its magnitude, for anyone who steps out onto that terrace with nothing between their toes and the support of the terrace underneath their feet.

And Noelle’s latest project, undertaken in collaboration with her girlfriend Nadia, a Changeling possessing the look of a dryad and the magic of shaping trees, is a line of furniture called Contentment….a series of magically sculpted chairs that each bear a unique emotional signature, guaranteed to bequeath a blissful sensation of peace and oneness with one’s surroundings, to anyone that sits in one such chair. 

But never lacking for ambition or the desire to further press and hone her craft in new directions, each and every new project she undertakes, Noelle’s new signature line of furniture doesn’t bear just a single, over-arching feeling of Contentment to be shared by anyone who sits in any of the chairs, with no two any different from each other…. rather, each individual chair holds within it an entirely different kind of Contentment, unique and distinct to each one. One chair holds within it the satisfaction of a job well done, a passion project that has born exactly the fruits one hoped to see it yield some day. Another contains a breathless surge of knowing exactly what you hoped to find and feel upon reclining in it, and discovering your anticipated hopes had been met and exceeded upon sitting down. Another sweeps you up into the confident surefooted awareness that you were exactly where you were supposed to be, doing exactly as you were intended to be spending this time doing….nothing mattered beyond just the general state of existing you were more than gratified to make the focus of your entire being for now.

And so on and so on. 

Which brings us back to your head in the clouds Changeling and makes me think….what role or niche might he best serve here…..and now I’m thinking, what about something like a source of inspiration, a burst of epiphany? Someone whose very presence is a catalyst for the Eureka moments of everyone in his vicinity perhaps? Maybe he’s mostly mainstream in appearance other than the clouds or mists that seem to cling to him in just the right ways as to obscure his most revealing features, and with no apparent source for where the clouds or mists originate….and something about his magic acts as a lure, a will-o-wisp almost, perhaps tendrils of his clouds seek out the people I’m about to describe here and leave a trail of thread between them and him, that they can follow as long or far as needed to end up in the same area as him at just the right time for ‘the clouds to clear up’……

And with the people his clouds are drawn to, and that they draw to him in turn…..being those who are particularly lost or dazed, having trouble focusing or seeing a conclusion or detail that’s of pretty vital importance and is just right in front of them and has been for days, if not longer….with the ultimate point of his magic being that it gathers as many people in this state to or around him as possible, and then once the number of people, or the mass confusion felt by all present, like, once it hits the point of critical mass…..that’s when his magic makes for a ‘clearing of the clouds’ that cuts through both the crowd and their individual confusions like a bolt of divine inspiration…..and suddenly, everyone present is having a eureka moment, a mystical epiphany that flings them into action and movement and has them scribbling down things as fast as they can think of ways their recent revelation might apply here or tie into something else here?

Not sure, but something like that, potentially. I do know one thing that’s of relevance here, or at least I think, is the idea I had that for flight-capable and winged Changelings, the height you live at in the Aerie, how high up you are compared to others…..its based on wingspan, stuff like that….basically, how much you need that room to take flight or make the most of your magic. Like…..its not a status symbol, having a residence on one of the very top floors of one of the Aerie skyscrapers isn’t proof of you being anymore important than any other Changelings in the towers or elsewhere in Bordertown…..it simply means…you need the room. 

So at the very upper levels, you do have Changelings like Hideo Furukawa, sometimes called the Strange Angel - the guy who is half Brazilian, half Japanese, all ridiculously gorgeous and almost seven feet tall….and with vast wings that are actually three different overlaying pairs of wings, all of them seemingly formed of stained glass windows rather than feathers, resulting in Hideo showering the ground beneath his wings with an endless river of rainbows where the sun hits and bleeds through his wings, his wings sounding like a symphony of wind chimes every time he beats them against the air, and with him able to cut and rip holes directly into the fabric of space each time he unfurls his wings and slices through the sky with them, and potentially reality too….

Basically, point being, someone like Hideo is individually powerful and a huge social influence within Bordertown, given that he can fly through his rifts to anywhere pretty much instantly….and thus meaning that he’s one of the few Changelings with unfettered access to any of the other Faetowns, 24/7, who never needs to rely on a painting portal or the compliance of any of the paintings’ guardians, in order to travel from town to town…..but then compared to this particular Changeling…..it might seem strange for them to both be top-level dwellers, both living at some of the highest points of the Aerie, when Head in the Clouds Guy doesn’t even seem or feel flight-capable, and might actually be one of the few Changelings living in the Aerie who can’t fly at all…..

BUT at the same time, theoretically a case could still be made for WHY he’s living in that particular Fey ‘neighborhood,’ and why he has a top floor dwelling as well, despite a lack of wingspan period…..because if its as much about your magic needing more room to maneuver well, just as much as its about your wings needing the space…then Head in the Clouds Changeling makes a lot of sense there from that perspective, because imagine the clouds or mist just pouring off him in waves, seeking out everyone aligned with his particular magic or the need for it right now, that hit of clarity….you’d need him as high up as possible to get that cloud cover seeking out the right people to draw back to him, but otherwise causing as little disruption to Bordertown’s day to day movement and populations as possible…..because from up high, tendrils of clouds can go seeking individuals, but if all that cloud cover spreads out from the ground level…..everyone’s going to end up blinded by it and getting turned around in it, even people who weren’t originally or wouldn’t be having trouble with that otherwise either.

The same could be said for if his clouds were about delivering good dreams, but I’m undecided if that’s maybe too much overlap with Alistair even though its the direct opposite of his nightmare tide. But even though Alistair doesn’t influence dreams directly, or lead to good ones or contribute to anyone dreaming at all…his acting as a lodestone to draw out and suck up the bad dreams, actually banishing, destroying or exorcising the worst of the worst, that might still in essence, just…effectively produce a similar result to a mist, fog or cloud cover that spreads good dreams throughout the city.

[i-cant-believe-its-v]

Captain Marvel

Alright I'm probably gonna piss people off with this so let's get this outta the way.

I am not the smartest person, so I don't usually get most details.

I'm not a hardcore marvel fanatic. I'm a casual fan that's only really watched the movies.

I do believe women should get equal rights and responsibilities as men.

I understand that all this coming from me, a cis male, is very likely biased to some point. I'll try my best to avoid bias but it's an opinion, it's most likely gonna be biased to some bit.

Understanding that this is an opinion, I am very open to responses and I want to hear what people think, as long as it is civil and you respect my opinion and me as a person.

There are Endgame Spoilers, so scroll past if you haven't watched it yet.

Alright lets go.

In my opinion, Captain Marvel was very poorly written. Her standalone movie was purely about making her the focus of a "strong female character".

Yes, they got the toxic masculinity scene right, and she was justified in retaliating against the biker coming after her.

Yes, they showed how female figures are unfairly put down.

What I don't like is that there is no character development.

I'm gonna use other avengers as examples/parallels here.

From the very beginning, she is shown as having unfathomable amounts of power, cocky, and determined. Tony, Stephen, and Thor are also very much like this.

However, those other characters are put into very humbling moments, sometimes over several movies, sometimes in their own:

Tony gets shrapnel from his own bomb and he's forced to come to terms with the fact that he's only human. He stops being a weapons dealer and decides to do some good with his tech (Iron Man)

Stephen is a super cocky, critically acclaimed, award winning Neuro Surgeon. He even wants to pass up on saving a life to "keep his perfect record". An accident makes him lose his hands. Eventually he reaches the Ancient One, and he's extremely cocky, trying to figure out the science behind it, and calling her a scam artist, after which she promptly shows him how little he knows with that psychedelic sequence. After being humbled, he proceeds to learn as much as he can. He becomes somewhat cocky again, but then his character develops: he becomes more understanding, and even willing to do whatever it takes to save the Earth from Dormammu, even if it meant dying over and over and over and over.

Thor begins as an almighty God, rich with power and fame and charm. He swaggers on down to the frost Giants and fights them (foolishly, not considering other ramifications). Odin banished him to earth, stripping him of his powers. But in the end, he's grown as a character, sacrificing himself to try and save his friends. He becomes worthy of being Thor again.

Hell, even Loki. Would y'all have done so back when Thor first came out? No. He was the horrid villain, so manipulative and cunning. Double crossing his own family just to get power (Odin wasn't all that great of a father either but that's a different discussion). Yet here we are now. Loki is a hero. And he deserves to be called so because of everything the MCU has put him through, and how he turned out.

All the above are (yes, male) examples of well written characters

But there's also Wanda.

She's strong, extremely powerful, and an utter badass

But unlike Captian Marvel, she's empathetic. She's someone who the audience can relate to. She's lost her brother, her lover, and 5 years of her life.

She was able to fend off Thanos with ONE HAND in IW, WHILE HE HAD THE INFINITY GAUNTLET WITH 5 STONES

She single handedly made Thanos basically shit his pants in Endgame, where he was willing to sacrifice his own troops just to get Wanda off of him (he was able to easily punch away captain marvel).

Not only his Wanda a better "strong female character" overall, she's very arguably the strongest avenger, period.

She could have been written extremely well, even if it was just to make her the "standard strong female lead". Wanda had a solid background in the MCU, had emotional depth to her, and had a solid character arc.

Captain Marvel started strong, remained strong, went through some hijinks, solved some problems, reconnected with an old friend, made a new one, beat up a bunch of bad guys, and then left. When she came back, when asked how they lost to Thanos before, she simply says "you didn't have me".

Now, yes, captain marvel could have been written better. But snarky by itself is only a pleasant personality when being used for comedic purposes.

And yes, other snarky male MCU characters exist. And they were annoying. But that was not their only personality traits (unless they were written as a villain, like Ultron, or Loki in Phase 1).

Dr. Strange was insufferably cocky before being trained by the ancient one. Tony was insufferably cocky before getting blown up by one of his own bombs and being forces to craft a suit in a cave. Rocket is an asshole but underneath that it's shown that he does have compassion for his closest compatriots. Yondu undoes him in GotG 2 and he's emotionally there for Thor in IW and Endgame. Rhodey gives Tony a lot of sass but that's because that's how their friendship dynamic works. Tony is visibly heartbroken when Rhodes goes down.

All because they were all written well.

Captain Marvel (in the MCU) was not written well.

Her movie was good, in the sense that most action movies are good. But as a marvel movie, it left me wanting more character development from her.

Wanda was well written but she was squandered, being put aside as a supporting hero rather than a main hero.

And that is why I'm not quite fond of captain marvel.

Im hopeful for future movies (undoubtedly there will be sequels) to flesh her out better as a character, similar to what Taika Watiti did with Thor, Loki and Hulk in Ragnarok.

P.S. please don't confuse this with misogyny. I still think Brie Larson is a good actor, just fed bad lines.

P.P.S. The reason there are so many examples of male characters and not female characters is because that's all I could think of in the moment.

P.P.P.S. like I mentioned before, I am not a perfect person. Feel free to correct me, as long as it's civil. You can persuade me to change my opinion, but over civil discourse, not internet hate or shaming.

[douxreviews]

Cloak & Dagger - ‘Shadow Selves’ Review

"What if I just want to hurt people?"

Well, this one certain gives us a few things to unpack.

Cloak and Dagger catches up with some supporting characters, while bringing us up to speed on what Mayhem has been up to since last season's finale. Oh, and gives us a mediation on the essential nature of self, as you do.

The 'shadow self,' according to Jungian philosophy, are those parts of one's personality that you reject or choose to not know about. That's a horrific oversimplification, and I apologize to any psychology students who might be reading this. It's not really my field. I had to google just to confirm that much.

Most obviously this is a reference to Brigid and Mayhem, implying that Mayhem is that shadow self that Brigid has always had inside of her, neatly separated off into its own body. I believe there was a Star Trek episode where something similar happened to Kirk, but it was a little less... let's be polite and say 'nuanced,' than what we get here.

Actually, the Star Trek comparison is useful here, particularly when compared to the explanation that Mina gives us in this episode. Since I'm going to actually talk about it, I've felt obligated to look up what it was called, and it's 'The Enemy Within,' for anyone wondering who didn't already know. Additional apologies to Star Trek fans for the oversimplification I'm about to launch into. Fans of both Jung and original series Trek, please contact me directly and I'll send you an apology fruit basket or something.

In 'Enemy Within,' Kirk is split into 'good Kirk' and 'evil Kirk,' and the point is very much that even good people have bad stuff in them and it's a character study of who Kirk is as a complete character. That being the purpose of the experiment, one Kirk is very definitely 'good,' and the other definitely 'evil.' In 'Shadow Selves,' Mina describes the process that's been splitting her test mice into two, and therefore by proxy what's happened to Brigid, as resulting in one version of the self with no activity in the brain's rage center, and the other version having activity only in the rage center. Your basic Hulk scenario.

But neither of those descriptions fit what we actually see of Mayhem's character this week.

Mayhem isn't full of rage, particularly. She's task-oriented and happy to kill people she views as 'bad,' but that's not at all the same thing. If anything, Mayhem is a much better cop than Brigid. Sure, her first instinct is to track down and kill her other half, but she gets distracted almost immediately by wanting revenge on the guy she was already looking to get revenge on before the personality split, and then never shows an inclination to kill Brigid again, despite the half a dozen times this episode alone in which she could have done so.

Great job to the showrunners for the Mayhem backstory we get tonight, and the way it pulls a lot of the pieces of this season's plot together. Mayhem starts with wanting revenge on Connors, isn't able to find him, and then decides that since she wants to kill people anyway she should focus on finding bad people to kill, becoming Dexter with Day-glo fingernail polish. Plus, she's clearly capable of being thoughtful and kind, as shown in her comment about Ty being her friend. It was nice that Delgado gives her the advice that pushes her in the direction of punishing the guilty, by the way. Put a pin in Delgado, we'll circle back to him in a minute, but there's one last point about Mayhem that I want to touch on before we move on.

This show is one of the rare examples in which every single change they've made to the source material has made the show stronger. The exception, as I've said before, being not having Ty stutter, but that's more of a practical consideration, so we'll let that slide. In the comics, Mayhem is essentially what you'd get if Toxic Avenger and the Punisher made a beautiful love child, but having Mayhem and Brigid be two separate beings who share Brigid's memories and thought processes was a brilliant move and is really paying off for them. The way that Mayhem clearly wants Tandy to side with her and be her partner on the investigation is just one aspect of the overall impression that what Mayhem really wants is to prove that she's better than Brigid, and that's fascinating. I can't wait to see where this is going.

But Brigid isn't the only one whose darker side has come to the fore here, and now we get back to Formerly-Father Delgado. Wow, was I not prepared for how dark they went with Delgado. I questioned last season why they threw in such a randomly dark note as the reveal that Delgado had killed a kid while driving drunk, but now I think they were just preparing us for this next stage in his character development. I don't have a ton to say about drunk street preaching nihilist Delgado except that I'm impressed that they went there, and it was nicely handled how he factored into Mayhem's evolution from seeking vengeance to becoming an actually effective rescuer of human trafficking victims. That was not where I saw any of that going.

And last but not least, Ty and Tandy continue their promised power-up. Tandy's ball of light which lit up the whole warehouse was cool looking, but my inner fangirl nearly passed out with joy when Ty finally unveiled his full body of darkness effect and then we got to witness firsthand someone inside the dark realm of his cloak being tormented by visions. Now all I need to die happy is for Tandy to ride 'inside' him to crime scenes and leap out throwing light knives.

Bits and Pieces:

-- The debate between Ty and Tandy as to whether they should just step back and let Mayhem kill the human traffickers had valid points all around. Generally speaking, I'd put myself on team 'yes, please murder the human traffickers' but Ty's concerns about the victims being collateral damage was fair. That said, I did not feel bad when Mayhem ran that one over with a truck.

-- Mayhem climbed out of the lake 242 days earlier, so Evita's statement last week that it had been eight months was more or less on the nose.

-- The extremely mini story-arc of Dale, the skeezy desk clerk at the transient hotel, was a thing of beauty. From creeping on Mayhem, to backing away, to the obedient puddle he'd become by the time Brigid came to find the hotel was just perfection. This show really does understated very well.

-- Haven't we all wanted to beat up a refrigerator?

-- Oh Mina Hess, I'm so glad that you're OK. Mina has apparently now added microbiolical bio-chemistry and behavioral research fellow to her already impressive track list of Structural Engineer, Thermodynamics expert, plumber, renewable energy expert, and about twelve other unrelated specialties. At this point I think it's best to view Mina like Reed Richards, i.e. all purpose science-y person who knows all the science-y stuff when it's needed. Plus just maybe she'll encourage a few more girls to pursue STEM careers, and that's a good enough goal in its own right.

-- Today I learned that SRO stands for 'single room occupancy,' a type of hotel that in a less dignified age I would have referred to as a flophouse.

-- Tandy mentions in passing that she and Mina have kept in touch. I feel like we were cheated out of a few highly entertaining explanation scenes.

-- Special shout out to Emma Lahana for the physical work she's doing to differentiate Brigid and Mayhem. Mayhem moves in a very distinctive shoulder forward way, which is very different from how Brigid walks. It's a nice, subtle detail, and should be praised.

-- Apparently I was overcomplicating the kidnapped girl plot last week. They seem to just be human traffickers who panicked and let Mikayla go because Ty had suddenly appeared in their ambulance so they had to cover their tracks. I kind of appreciate the show letting me work that out for myself.

-- 'The Glitter Gutter' is a great name for a strip club.

Quotes:

Mina: "Don’t worry, these cosmetics were tested on humans."

Brigid: "She’s not me." Tandy: "She’s got your face and she’s got your badge."

Dale: "No one went in your room. I didn’t mean to make eye contact, I’m sorry."

Tandy: "What is this?" Brigid: "This is Mayhem."

Mayhem: "And in another lifetime, Ty was a friend. At least he was to me, I don’t know if he’d say the same."

Tandy: "Hey Ty, look. Ya got a deranged map twin."

Mayhem: "You don’t get to play the victim. (Slashes his throat) Well, now I suppose you can."

Fuchs: "Who’s up for Awkward reunion pancakes?"

Lots of good stuff here, with only a couple of awkward plot contrivances to really criticize. For example, it's a little hard to swallow that Brigid being pulled from the lake would make breaking citywide news under those circumstances. Still, if that's the show's biggest sin, my shadow self is happy.

Three and a half out of four shadow dimensions.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[fantasticescapism]

These are all my thoughts on Avengers: Endgame

It’s gonna be full of spoilers and I implore you to go watch the movie first before reading this or something. The movie is best experienced without being spoiled.

I have to admit, I have second thoughts in writing this because 1) most people haven’t seen it yet and 2) why would people care what I think. Then again, I’m writing this as a form of release for myself.

So, here we go. Again, READ ONLY IF YOU’VE SEEN THE MOVIE!!! Seriously!

I’ve only seen the movie once so there may be some things that I don’t remember verbatim but, oh well...

Tony and Nebula! I love it! I hoped the montage was longer though but it was okay. I especially love that part when Tony offered food to her but she pushed it back towards him so Tony could eat. Oh, my heart...

The first thing Tony said when he got back to Earth was “I lost the kid.” T^T Oh, Peter... Poor Iron Dad.

The part where Tony confronted Steve with an “I told you so”. YES! I love that! Tony needs to say it and Steve needs to hear it and accept it.

That first confrontation with Thanos... OMG! OMG! Carol my girl is badass!!! I love that!

The panic when Scott got back and looked for Cassie’s name on the list of the dusted, I felt that. Though I know she survived (I keep up with casting news), I still had anxiety. Oh and their reunion! YES! I teared up.

Carol Danvers in a pixie cut!!!!! That’s comic accurate ya’ll!!!!!!

There are a lot of funny parts in the movie. It’s not all doom and gloom. I really appreciate that. The whole movie is actually a roller coaster ride of emotions.

MORGAN STARK!!!!!!!! OMG!!! She’s so cute! And Iron Dad x 1000000% 

Oh and they live peacefully in a lake house and not in a high tech tower as expected of Starks, Tony just wants the simple life. Since I love Tony, I would’ve loved it if they stayed that way but, we all know, when given a chance to bring back Peter and still have his family, he’ll take it.

Thor playing Fortnite. I don’t play Fortnite but I’m a gamer so, I like that. A lot of people hated that Thor wasn’t as responsible as people expected; that he let himself go physically and let Valkyrie manage New Asgard instead of being a king. Guys, it’s called Survivor’s Guilt. He’s depressed. Thor lost everything and he blames himself for what happened. When I lost my brother, I spent most of my days playing the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Point is, it’s not hard to imagine him going through that phase, for me at least. Besides, there’s a Thor 4 rumor going on.

At the end, some people didn’t like that Thor “abandoned” the Asgardians and went with the Guardians to travel in space. I don’t think he abandoned them. I think he genuinely believes Valkyrie will do a better job than him. She’s been doing it for years anyway.

The whole time travel parts! OMG! Just the thought that the future characters were actually there dodging their past selves, it was awesome! There are a lot of hits and miss! Like I said, roller coaster of emotions, and I love the ride!

Nat!!! Oh, Nat!!! It was sad but then I’m glad she gets the limelight. Her and Clint, cause both of them were often forgotten and underestimated

THAT WHOLE FINAL BATTLE!!! WHEN ALL THE DUSTED CAME BACK AND THE REINFORCES CAME!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I CAN’T JUST, I CAN’T!!!

Valkyrie riding a winged horse!!!

Full-powered and angry Scarlet Witch!!!!

I'm a fan of Gundam (especially Gundam 00) so when Rescue and Iron Man teamed up? OMG!!!! I screamed!!!!!

And when Peter swung in! I think I screamed the most!!!

That Iron Dad and Spiderson reunion!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!! Peter’s like chatting away telling Tony what happened on his side and Tony’s like shut up and let me hug you.

When Carol Danvers destroyed Sanctuary II on her own!!! DAMN!!!

Peter used Instant Kill!!!!

Peter met Carol then all the female heroes formed up! AAAAHHHH!!!

This whole part is best seen in the movies with a lot of people.

On to that sad part.

FYI, I love Tony Stark. I guess I can call myself a Tony stan, idk. How does one qualify? Anyway, did I wish he didn’t use the infinity stones? Yes. When he stole the stones from Thanos and put those on his own gauntlet, I was like “TONY!!!! NOOOOO!!!!” BUT, was it necessary? HELL YES!!! Because if Thanos used those stones, the outcome will be worse than dusting half the universe! HE WILL DESTROY THE WHOLE UNIVERSE DOWN TO ITS ATOMS!!!

Strange was right. It was the only way.

Why didn’t just Tony pass the stones to someone else? He can’t. Time is of the essence. The more they let Thanos chase the stones around, the more dire their situation would be.

Some demanded: why can’t they just make it that Tony’s in a critical condition or gets a major injury but not dead? Hulk almost died when he used the stones and he has an advantage of Gamma radiation. Tony’s not a super-soldier. He’s not enhanced. He’s a normal human. Of course he can’t use the stones and live to tell the tale.

So, was I satisfied? Yes, I was. It was sad and I’m currently grieving but I think, the way they did Tony’s sacrifice and death was really good. I believe he didn’t do it solely for the sake of the universe. He did it for his friends, his family, for Peter, for Pepper and, most especially, for Morgan.

Oh and when Peter ran to Tony’s side and went, “Mr. Stark! We won! Mr. Stark... Mr. Stark... Tony...” then he cried. OMG!!! He finally called him by his name and Tony heard it!

Then Pepper comes in and gave this most resonating line that will stay with me forever... And with what she did, for me, Pepper is the strongest woman in the MCU. It’s far harder to let someone go, be left behind and be strong for the people around you that’s also grieving. Peter’s gonna grieve in FFH. T^T

Overall, it’s not a perfect movie but it is the movie that will stay with me for a very long time. So, to Marvel...

[thecartoonuniverse]

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power SPOILER-FREE Review

Check out the video version of the review HERE, or click the Read More to read the script for this video!

The 80s was a decade known for its immensely popular and very commercial action cartoons that dominated children's entertainment. Thundercats, TMNT, Transformers, Voltron and He-man are just a few examples that have stayed present in our minds even 30 years later and are still instantly recognizable to children and adults alike.  All of these shows were created with the intent of marketing toys to young boys, and all of these shows have had at least one reboot since the 80s.

EVERYONE knows those names... but another name you might only barely recognize, if you remember it at all, is SHE-RA. She-ra was an action cartoon for girls made to build off the success of the very male dominated show He-man. Whereas there are a long list of boy-oriented cartoons and many of them have been remade or rebooted in the last few decades, there are very few actions cartoons for girls from this period and very few cartoons for girls at all that have been rebooted. There's my little pony and powerpuff girls and... uhm... my little pony, my little pony, aaaaaand my little pony.  yeah....jk

But now it is time for She-ra to join the mighty ranks of 80s action cartoons getting a reboot and /I/ just so happen to have been given full access to the first season of the show so I could provide a review for all of you lovely people.

I’m Hailey and this is my spoiler-free review of the first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power!  

I will admit I don't have too much experience with the original She-Ra cartoon, but from the few episodes I watched for research on this video, it seemed pretty standard for its time. Like He-man, transformers, and Voltron, it was a long series of episodes with very limited motion, very little plot progression, and a formulaic approach to its story telling. Aside from the first few episodes, the final few episodes, and perhaps one or two in the middle, nothing serious ever really happened on these shows.  If I got anything wrong with that summary please forgive me, as I didn't have time to really watch all 95 episodes of the original series.

Like many of the reboots of these 80s cartoons, the story telling in 'princesess of power' focuses a lot more on overarching plots and character arcs that make things change from episode to episode and season to season.

Like the original series, the show is about Adora, an orphan girl who was being raised to be a member of 'the horde'.  Alongside a few friends, she trains to become a captain and eventually defeat the evil princesses!   Does this sound a little backwards? Weellllll that's because it is. You see Adora one day stumbles upon a magical sword that turns her into the magical warrior She-Ra, one of the princesses of power.  Through this transformation and the experiences following it she quickly realizes that shes been fighting on the wrong side all this time and begins to aid the princesses in their rebellion against the horde.

As far as I can tell, this is where the similarities between the two shows end, besides all the returning characters of course. What's great about a reboot like this is that it takes a very simple premise and turns it into an important character defining trait to push the plot forward instead of holding it in place like the original.  In the original She-Ra never seemed too conflicted about fighting the horde as they were very explicitly evil, while in this reboot she is very much aware that she is fighting her family, her roots, her old identity and where she comes from. This really parallels the journey a lot of us go through in realizing that our parents aren't always the great heroes we thought of them as kids. She now realizes that she was on the wrong side when she was training to fight for the horde, but that doesn't make fighting them exactly easy for her.

Adora's transformation into she-ra is amazing. Unlike shows such as Sailor Moon its more than just a costume change. The power makes her bigger and stronger and is a bit similar to the 2002 reboot of the series which saw a more typical looking teenage boy transforming in to the hulking figure of He-man. As She-Ra, she is a lot more confident and a lot more powerful, but this doesn't make her invincible. As She-Ra she is still very fallible, both as a fighter and as a character.

Almost every episode we find ourselves meeting a new princess. And even then, there are times where a whole bunch have to be dumped on us at once since there are just so many. The original show had a lot of princesses as well... like a LOT A LOT, so I suppose this makes sense.  

Don’t kill me for saying this guys, but there's a lot of diversity in these princesses, and they come in all shapes and sizes and colors. This was less common for human based characters back in the day because toy companies wanted to use the same mold over and over again but with different hair styles and colors to make mass production easier.  

But in this reboot, there's a princess for everyone... whether you are black or white or... purple..?

I definitely need to mention Glimmer, as she becomes one of She-Ra’s closest friends. I mostly found her interesting due to her powers and her family. I did however find her relationship with her mother a bit weird. Yes, fighting a lot is something mothers and daughters can do, but for some reason it came off more as an older sister fighting with her younger sister than the mother-daughter relationship it is supposed to be portraying.  

Then there is Glimmer’s best friend Bow, who as you might be able to tell is not a Princess. His interactions with Glimmer were some of the best in the show, and I definitely look forward to learning more about him.  

The princesses introductions and plots are sometimes interesting, however, I am happy to say that some of my favorite characters are actually a few of the villains. When Adora left the horde to fight against them her place was taken by Catra. She and Adora have a very interesting rivalry that stems from the fact that their boss, Shadow Weaver, always preferred Adora over Catra. Things turn into a game of cat and mouse, where Catra is constantly trying to prove her worth and bring Adora back to the Horde. We learn a lot about the relationship between these two, and I was surprised to see just how fleshed out it got since this is only the first season.  

This show is very good at taking your expectations of a character and completely turning them around. A large part of that comes from each of the characters being complex and not entirely evil, or in some cases not completely good. Morally grey areas are explored in the show, and sometimes the place a person ends up is solely because the character found it the more convenient place to be.  

Overall, this show is clearly trying to be much like other cartoons of today where it touches on very mature topics like colonization and genocide. It gives the show a sincerer and more mature feel to it that both old fans and new ones can appreciate I think, but despite these positive changes the show is still very far from perfect.  

To be honest, I was not always completely engaged with the show. Yes, the concepts and characters presented in each episode were interesting, but it was a show that took me a few days to finish. Whereas with a new season of Voltron I can finish in one watch. I’m sure a lot of this has to do with the fact that this is season 1 and I am just getting to know the characters, but this is definitely a show you might only want to watch a little at a time.  

The show did open with a two-parter which was great and full of action. But after that I felt the story slowed a bit as we were required to meet each main princess, most of which got a whole episode dedicated to their introduction.  

I enjoyed most of these episodes, especially Entrapta’s who is one of my favorites, but it only made me wish that we could follow them MORE instead of having to see a new princess every half hour.

Like a lot of animated reboots, these characters are a lot younger than their original counterparts. I’m sure this is to make the characters more relatable, allowing to them to focus on stories about growing up, which works really well with Adora realizing she was on the wrong side for much of her young life, but what is the problem with having adults as the main characters? Superhero shows do it all the time!  

Adults definitely have relationship issues, and they can still go from nobodies to something much greater. This was showcased in the original She-Ra show, and I just wish more shows would focus on this.

I suppose the desire to have that teenage angst in the show was just too much to resist. I’m looking at you Glimmer. I love you and your family’s history but get it together girl!  

The style of the show is something that has been heavily criticized by both new and returning viewers, but I find it quite charming, or at the very least a much better version of Marvel: Uprising. The backgrounds especially were very beautiful and the details they add to it really make you believe that the land of Etheria is a magical place.

The style did however clash with the tone at times. As I mentioned before, the show does delve into deep topics, not to mention there are some very intense battle scenes, and the art style sometimes just hindered that by making it seem too soft during gritty moments.

For those who are wondering where He-Man might be in all of this, I had the same question. The stories of those two were very intertwined in the 80s show, in fact heman and shera are TWINS, so for him to be completely absent is puzzling.  As far as I know the rights to He-man do not belong to dreamworks, so this show has been developed independently.    

While the show is not my absolute favorite I can clearly see that a lot of heart was placed into this reboot. It seems a lot less like a remake of the original story and more of a second draft of an idea that never really got the attention it deserved, which is something that can be said for a lot of reboots from the 80s, as opposed to the teen titans and ben 10 and power puff girls reboots that really just took already relatively serious ideas with highly praised storytelling and... destroyed them. utterly and entirely.

However if you truly are a fan of the original She-Ra in every single aspect of the series and are not comfortable with seeing it be different in this incarnation, then this show may not be for you.  

But if you have enjoyed many of the cartoons that have been released in the past decade, particularly the retellings of things like transformers or voltron, you will most likely enjoy this show, and will be looking forward to the second season, just as I am.  

This show is definitely not playing around, and there is no doubt it is an action show, and it is not afraid to show violence even if it is marketed towards girls. Despite being a netflix show it is intended to make most of its money through action figure and merch sales.  I am very curious to see how well it can market itself  through a streaming service.  Thankfully the action figures are pretty good, even better than voltrons so far, and other merch such as the shirts are looking pretty great too.

Only time will tell. She-Ra will be on Netflix on November 13th!

[otterskin8]

Thoughts on Endgame

Hey everyone else had an opinion, I thought I’d try having one too! 

Spoilers Follow

Honestly, sometimes it feels a little like everything is on fire whenever I stroll into the fandom and I’ve just got a dopey grin on my face as everyone runs around screaming. 

 I came out of the theatre having had a good time and pleased that certain things were tied off nicely for certain characters. I like the Russos fine but have wanted them to show more personal flair in their work. In this film, in particular, the second act, I thought they really did - there was a lovely, meandering quality to the film that allowed for a lot of humour and fun character beats. It was unexpected and felt like - well, Community (also nice to see those cameos, I loved that show). I really hope to see more of that quirky sense of pathos and fun in their future work. 

This ended up being more a celebration of what the MCU’s accomplished so far than necessarily a finale for all of that. It was, as I expected, mostly a goodbye to Cap and Tony. I like both characters (though I still have my frustrations with them as well), and I pretty much predicted this ending when I placed my bets in 2017 (Cap finally decides he doesn’t have to be a soldier forever and retires, as he deserves, and gets to be a man again, while Tony finally does get the family he wanted but loses it so he can be the new Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben in that franchise. We’ll see if my prediction of a JARVIS-Tony computer program comes true. Maybe Riri Williams breaks into his lab and he appears over her shoulder like Clippy. ‘I see you are trying to steal all my old schematics. Would you like some help with that?’ You heard it here first, folks.) Best of all, Nebz was even more front and centred than I hope possible. She carried the heart of the film and delivered. I loved her confusion, half-regret and grief at Thanos’ first death (such a great shot, her with his head in her arms) to her final victory over herself. I particularly appreciated the opening on her and Tony, where she gets a taste of what it’s like to actually have a caring dad. It makes Tony’s final killing of Thanos feel more right in the story - the flawed father figure who rose up and put children first above his own ambitions kills the one who always put his ambitions first. That cute triangle game Nebula and Tony played explained so much about both of them. So, so good.

I loved Professor Hulk. I wish we’d seen him come to be - he was robbed of that culmination - but I’ve never wanted to hug the guy more. I think he was a fascinating sign of the guilt Banner had. I really loved how the time jump allowed these massive changes in the characters, that they took some big risks to their recognizability. I found that very rewarding. 

The same goes for Thor. My gosh, I loved what they did. I’d bet money that Hemsworth pitched it too, this seems like an idea he’d have. Thor is, of course, my favourite Avenger. It is often painful to watch him sidelined in the Avengers films since the series’ original, more grounded flavour made him an odd player out, preferring to showcase Steve and Tony. He was the unloved member of the trilogy. The same could be said about this film, but honestly Thor is given everything I ever wanted him to deal with in this film. His trauma finally caught up with him and he can’t hide it anymore, and it’s wonderfully heartfelt and funny and sweet and subverts all those ‘paragon of manliness’ tenants Thor has represented throughout history. His strength in this film comes not from being told to ‘buck up’ by Rocket (I loved that his attempt to pep talk and slap Thor into readiness was a total failure), nor from his body, nor, even, from his own mind. Thor gets to run crying to his mum and that’s treated as the healthy and correct thing to do. A necessary thing, even. Frigga delivers the best line in the film (sorry Love You 3000, you get a solid second). 

“Everyone fails at who they’re supposed to be.” I think that hits everyone. It certainly did me. The expectations put on us all, by ourselves, our parents, the needs of our age - they are as crushing as a hammer on your chest. 

Thor is the MVP of this film aside from Nebula. He gets to show the most range, the lowest of the lows and funniest of highs, in the very same scene and often at the very same time. It’s tragicomedy at its finest, which is what I come to the MCU Thor for. The incredible vulnerability combined with excellent comedic timing made this a performance that stands out in the arc. I was also surprised to see this huge, large, film of the century took time to go back to a sadly maligned chapter in its saga - Thor: The Dark World (my problems with it are manifold but I am tired of hearing it called the ‘worst’. That is not true. I know you all forgot about it, but the Incredible Hulk is still technically in the MCU, and there are plenty of other weak chapters that don’t manage to push their characters’ stories forward at all.) Not only that, but it patched one of my main criticisms of that film - that Thor had no time with his mother and their relationship didn’t feel explored enough. And that Thor needed to cry more. I come for man tears, that was what Branagh promised me and frankly I was getting dehydrated of late. So thank you End Game, I am quenched for now. 

I’m sure this will come up in the big long thing I’m doing about the overall themes of the MCU (Dads and Legacy mostly), but this film managed to address some questions the MCU has posed in entry after entry. Thor’s journey has been shaped by his father, and his search for his father’s approval. Sometimes he was found lacking, and other times he realized he needed to abandon that approval to do the right thing, but always he was trapped in the legacy of that father - the mistakes that father had made, and what his father wanted him to become. This film suggests a wonderful alternative to Thor - that he is also his mother’s son, and her desire is for him to be himself first. Once he hears that, he’s able to call Mjölnir - a sign that he also has his father’s approval, after all. No, I do not mind that the hammer came back from the dead for a little fun - it had meaning and significance in its scenes. (Although I still don’t get what’s the big deal of Steve lifting it - it’s a bit a jerk of a hammer, have you seen the list of who else could pick that thing up? Hela, Odin, Thor. All morally gray people. ‘Worthy’ seems to be a matter of conviction, confidence, and desire to act. Not inherent goodness. Eh.) I love that Frigga, long shuffled to the back of the Thor franchise, is given such a key and beautiful moment in this monster film. I love that she gets to be mischevious, fun, hint a little more at her backstory (witches, eh?) and play psychiatrist to a son who really needs her. I always wanted more of these two, and was CONVINCED I’d never get it. I think I’ve died and gone to Valhalla. 

Are there a few lines I wish were cut? Yes, there are some unkind words I wish had been altered - they are unnecessarily cruel and reflect badly on the characters who say them (in particular WM - dude. C’mon.) Rocket’s fine, though - that’s who he is (and that behaviour is changing) and he is not rewarded for his crass treatment. It fails.  Further lessons for character development - trauma isn’t fixed with violence. Pay attention, Rabbit. There are also plenty of plot holes and weird questions. Why can the tesseract suddenly be used without a device? Doesn’t that mean Loki could’ve teleported everyone to safety in IW? Speaking of, why did Thor not try harder to communicate with Loki or steal him from another timeline? I feel like an explanation was called for. It also kinda sucks that IW ended with Thor avenging Heimdall (awesome dude, I love him a lot, but...really? That’s the death they directly reference in Thor’s big moment? I thought they’d use Heimdall there and have Loki be more at the forefront of Thor’s mind in this one, but he seems more banished from his thoughts than Thanos’ name). But eh, at the end of the day, this isn’t meant to be the ending for either Thor or his brother. That’s the best part. I get to ride this train for years to come, and hopefully many more good things are coming. (Although I’m getting bad juju from every announcement I hear about the Loki series so far, so here’s hoping I don’t look back at laugh bitterly at my past self’s optimism.) 

I do hope that when Thor’s story does eventually come to an end that it’s in his own franchise. I feel like ending Cap and Tony’s story here is big and fun and all, but the Thor films began very intimately (somehow THOR might be the smallest film Branagh ever directed) and I hope to see them end that way. And I hope that even with the Loki series doing its own thing and Thor off with the Guardians that the two will be allowed to come back together again for something meaty before the end.

This film did right by my faves, and while it’s unwieldy, lopsided and imperfect it manages to set up the fictional people I care about for interesting things. Here’s to another decade of watching these actors barely age.

P.S. I am genuinely concerned that Eternals is going to hook me. Hmm. I can only hope they don’t do the Arthurian Legends or Egyptian Mythology as well. I’ll be sunk. 

[daisypath]

Okay point of the matter. I remember when the she hulk trailer came out i saw a post on her criticizing an exchange of dialogue in it for context it's where she hulk says something like "well, we're lawyers so we have to do things by the book" and wong (the wizard guy. Yknow) responds "ah. The book of vishanti." And she hulk says "no the book of american laws."

The post im talking about described this line as unrealistic and an example of the lazy and overly quippy writing employed in marvel movies and a lot of hollywood blockbusters. I remember it said like "a real person wouldnt talk like this. A real person would recognize the very common expression 'by the book'. Wong (or rather the writers through wong) are being pretentipus or overly-self-referential in this line." (NOT a direct quote. I do not remeber it exactly.)

But there's a pretty damn big issue with that because. Wong is from Nepal. English is most likely not his first language. He clearly speaks with an accent, yknow like someone who grew up speaking another language. Someone who wouldn't necessarily know the expression "by the book".

Idioms are not translated easily. They are cultural and contextual. It is very easy for me to believe that someone who lives in nepal and whose mother tongue isn't english wouldn't know that expression. Its not ruining the versimilitude whatsoever.

And for it being an overly self referential line, i don't think that's the case. Im not super into marvel so when i first heard that line in the trailer and seeing this reaction to it, i assumed it must be some really deep cut. Something that people will be making "top ten details in this weeks she hulk you missed!!1" videos about. Something that Real Fans could pat themselves on the back for understanding. Not something that would be on this character's mind in the day to day. But then i consulted with my girlfriend (a marvel nerd, as i have said) on the subject.

The vishanti are apparently a front-and-centre, core part of the doctor strange lore. The book of vishanti specifically was a large part of the most recent doctor strange movie. It wouldn't be unreasonable for wong to think of the book of vishanti considering how important it is to his wizard lifestyle or how important it was in recent events

This has been a lot of talking about this. Whooops. I wouldnt usually post about this sort of thing at all. I dont really think any marvel stuff needs more defenders. I just think that people dont put as much thought as they maybe ought to into their criticisms of marvel stuff. Its in many ways an easy and popular target at the moment.

I dont think she hulk is that good overall. The most recent episode has been the first one i really enjoyed. The others have seemed so meandering i guess. (And i love slice of life stuff! I love episodic nonsense!) And the humour mostly hasnt been for me. The cgi is offputting. The gender politics are basic. Minority representation has been eh. minimal. There's lots of criticisms that can be legitimately and convincingly made. But that really really wasnt one of them