#and i really think it does an amazing job at pointing out how much jacks mind begins to meld into the werewolf’s mind

[anotherbummer]

I absolutely love jack’s narration because he just does not take everything seriously

[happiest-hotch]

Mother's Day

Summary: Jack has a very important, surprise gift to give you on a special holiday for your inaugural celebrations together

Paring: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader (Fluff)

WC: 1.4k

Whenever he can, Aaron leaves work early to get Jack. Thankfully, with Strauss's return, he's not still stuck doing two jobs, so he finishes his work in time to get Jack from school. You also love when he has days like that because it means he'll cook something delicious and homemade, maybe even dessert if Jack has anything to say about it.

Jack gets into the car like any other day, but what he says isn't the typical comment about his day or request for an afternoon activity. "Did you know it's Mother's Day this weekend?" Jack asks.

Aaron's heart clenches in his chest. Mother's Days, birthdays, Christmases, and the anniversary of Haley's death are all especially hard days for Jack, and Aaron tries his best to support his son. "Do you want to talk about mom?" He asks softly as he drives. Since Jack doesn't remember a lot of it, Aaron fills in the blanks and answers the questions.

"No, I might want to talk to her tonight, but I want to get a present," Jack explains.

Aaron frowns a little but accepts it. "We can do that. What do you want to get her?"

Jack's thinking face looks like his dad's, something you were the first to point out to Aaron. "I don't know." He admits. "You always get roses for Y/n so maybe I can get her flowers?"

That really throws Aaron, and it rapidly occurs to him that he and Jack aren't talking about the same person. "You want to get a present for Y/n?" He clarifies.

Jack shifts uncomfortably in his car seat, clearly nervous at his father's reaction. "I'm sorry. Is that wrong?"

Aaron can't shake his head fast enough. "No. No, of course not, buddy." He assures his son, reaching back with one hand to touch the boy's foot for extra reassurance. "I think she'd really like that. What made you think you want to get something for her?" He tries to ask it in a non-judgemental, casual tone.

"Well, in class, we were all talking about what we love about our moms, and a lot of the things that my friends were talking about are things that Y/n does for me." He explains, and Aaron feels his heart clench in the best way that time while he bites down a wide smile. "Mom is still my mom, and I'm not forgetting how she used to do those things for me, but Y/n is there for me too."

Aaron notices what he's emphasizing, and he's immensely proud of Jack for being able to express those feelings, understanding that appreciating his mom and recognizing your role in his life aren't mutually exclusive.

Then he's thinking about you as he absorbs the confession. And how lucky he is to have you. You have been a constant source of support and love, a beacon of hope and stability in the wake of their family tragedy, never anything but good to them. He feels so much joy and a tiny bit of sadness. He knows Haley would have loved you and appreciated how much you care for Jack, but he wishes she was there to see it.

He's choked up as he goes to speak. "Jack, that's very sweet of you, and I think, no, I know, Y/n feels the same way about you. She thinks you're the most amazing kid ever."

Jack smiles softly. "She does? Really?"

Aaron can't nod fast enough. "Yes, she always tells me how great she thinks you are."

"So we can get her a gift for her?" Jack confirms, looking hopeful.

"Absolutely." Aaron agrees, taking a right turn to the mall rather than a left to their home. "Whatever you want."

~

It's been such a long week of work and Saturday mornings are Jack's soccer games, so as soon as your Saturday movie night is over, you're fast asleep next to Aaron.

Like usual, he stirs beside you first on Sunday morning, but when you go to get up with him, he softly whispers for you to go back to sleep and that's very easy to do.

When you next wake up, the sun is creeping through the blinds at a different angle, signaling that you slept in for longer than you usually would.

There's a soft knock at the bedroom door before you can properly wake up and get out of bed, and you softly call out for who you expect to be Jack to come in.

You're right in your guess that it's Jack, who quickly jumps up onto the bed with you, followed by his father who has a breakfast tray with a big vase of flowers on it accompanying a delicious-looking plate of French toast.

"Wow, you've both been busy this morning." You mumble sleepily as you sit up to hug Jack who's jumping into your arms.

"Happy Mother's Day!" He cheers joyfully, and you're taken off guard by the greeting, completely shocked.

Your eyes dart to Aaron's to make sure you heard Jack correctly, and his wide smile confirms you have. He's looking between you both with so much love and tenderness, his heart so full it feels like it's bursting.

Your eyes fill with tears as you realize the enormity of what he's just said. "Thank you, Jack." You squeeze him even tighter in a hug, not wanting him to slip away from this perfect moment.

He pulls back and smiles at you before turning back to his dad. "Can we give it to her?" He asks.

"Sure, bud." Aaron agrees, setting the tray down over the top of your legs. He sits near the foot of the bed while Jack snuggles into your side.

Jack reaches forward to pick up the little box next to the breakfast. "Here." He hands it to you. "Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for caring so much about me."

You kiss his forehead, holding him tighter to his side as you gladly accept his thoughtful and unexpected gift. "You're very welcome. I love you, Jackers."

Whatever he has for you has to be jewelry from the small, flat shape of the box and the designer jewelry stamp. You open it up, and your heart melts more, if it were possible. What's inside is a gorgeous gold bracelet with a flat, circular charm, engraved with the letter J.

Jack touches it as your finger does. "It's a J for Jack."

You nod so you don't start crying too much. You're so overwhelmed by gratitude and happiness that you can't help but let one tear slip out.

"Thank you." You finally get the words out. "It's perfect and I love it so much. I'm going to wear it every day, so you're always with me."

Jack's grinning a proud grin, clearly proud of himself for picking it out. Aaron had told him how much you would love it, but seeing it confirms it for him. "I think it'll look beautiful on you." He tells you adorably.

You chuckle a little. "You're a sweet talker just like your dad, you know?"

Aaron laughs next to you, but Jack's confused at what your compliment means, and his attention is drawn elsewhere. "Daddy and I made French toast for me as well. Oh, and I got you flowers."

It's a gorgeous bunch of flowers, beautiful colors, and lovely smells. "Thank you so much. Both of you." You repeat to them, making sure they're feeling the reciprocated love you're feeling.

"You're welcome," Jack says politely.

Aaron leans over to kiss your forehead. "I love you." He whispers.

You whisper it back before looking back at your breakfast plate. "There's a lot of French toast here, so I might need some help eating it." You say suspiciously, looking between Jack and Aaron.

Jack's eyes light up like he's been waiting for you to offer him some of it, and you can't blame him, it looks and smells like restaurant quality and you know breakfast foods are Aaron's strong suit cooking-wise.

"I am kind of hungry." Jack agrees, smirking at you softly.

"Eat up then, bud." You say, offering him the first spoonful. "We've got lots of fun stuff to do today."

[knyontop]

I already requested something similar to somebody else but whatever- Could i have some creeps (maybe include Ben, Sally, Toby and Ej) with a new preteen proxy?? And the kid is obviously always tired/sleepy and somewhat depressed. Reader is also just really shy and nervous around people (ESPECIALLY PEOPLE OLDER THAN HER BECAUSE SHE OVERTHINKS AND DOESNT WANT TO MAKE A BAD IMPRESSION). And because of all this theyre really timid dont have any friends and just observes instead? (Whenever theyre alone they talk to themselves but nobody hopefully knows that <3) Theyre really intrested in others but theyre just scared and a loser. (also likes to keep things to themselves so hardly ever opens up) They only talk when being asked a question but when reader didnt understand them clearly they dont ask the other to repeat themselves but just stand like stupid literally the definition of awkward. Very isolant, overfriendly, nervous, silent and obedient. Will listen to you because they want to do a good impression. Oh youre hungry and want food? The kid will bring some snacks if you ask. (Theyre just a lonely scared kid who is trying to do their job correctly and fit in) sorry for yapping :c

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AWH DW ITS OKAY YOU CAN SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT AND MAKE IT PARAGRAPHS!!

Creepypasta x Child!reader

Ft: Ben drowned, Jeff the killer, sally willaims, eyeless jack, ticci toby, and our amazing, beautiful, handsome, reader.

Ben:

・as soon as he meets you he knows your an easy target for shit.

・he likes to fuck with your mind a lot.

・he sometimes feels bad about it because of how vulnerable you are, he has sadistic instincts and protective instincts about you.

・The more Ben hangs around you he starts to town down his mind games.

・he is practically your shadow.

・Ben also likes to teach you how to play games!

・Hes also starting to feel bad when he says thing like “What makes you think I care about you? Your so silly.” Because he sees how upset you get he then apologizes with a “Kid I didn’t mean it you dummy.” (Dw he means dummmy lovingly)

・he likes to think of you as his side kick.

・”Y/N, dont worry ‘bout jeff he dont mean it.”

EJ:

・when he first saw you, he knew you would be a tough case.

・sometimes he likes to spook you just a little bit.

・hes very curious about you even though your like an open book, he wants to know more about you.

・he feels bad for you because your a child, but he wont ever admit it.

・Jack sometimes lets you help him with small tasks.

・he has fatherly instincts towards you.. but also has thoughts about eating you because your like a helpless little lamb and hes the wolf. He likes his victims vulnerable.

・He does not understand his feelings about you see he pushes them to the back of his mind.

・”You want to help me? But your a child..”

・he looks down of you because hes older then you. It’s immature but he can’t control it.

toby:

・he sees himself in you and he doesn’t like thinking about the past so he tries to stay away from you.

・but it also makes him protective over you like everyone else.

・so he doesn’t hang around you, but, he protects you like his life.

・when he actually has moments where he hangs around you he starts to like you.

・like your the only person besides sally who treats him like a human.

・but that doesn’t mean he wont bully you a bit!

・Its more like teasing but like sometimes he takes it to far sometimes.

・his dark humor scares you.

・very clingy when he gets to know you.

・he asks to have sleepovers with you! (He watches you sleep)

・he takes up every opportunity to go on a mission with you.

・hes like obsessed with you at this point. (Platonically)

・he sees you as “his” Defenseless little sibling!

・”H-Hey there Y-Y-Y/N! Want to- to- go on a mission with m-me?” (He will force you if you say no)

Sally:

・Sally loves you so much!

・theres someone here age, and another girl!

・theres barely any girls!! ☹️

・loves hanging out with you and having tea partys and just everything!

・shes a sweetie<33

・she understands your anxiety around people who are older.

・she has that to.

・Sally even lets you babysit Mr. Charlie! (She will be mad at you for a bit if you hurt/lose him)

・just call her and shes there!!

・”Hey N/N!! Want to babysit Mr. Charlie?”

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NERVOUS ABOUT THIS AT FIRST BUT I LOVE IT!!

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

SO I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS IM SORRY IF IRS REALLY RANDOM BUT IF ITS OK COULD I REQUEST TICCI TOBY,MASKY,HOODIE,EJ WITH A TEEN!READER like Darwin from the amazing world of gumball

Darwin is such a silly guy omg <33

Thank you so much for requesting!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby

Honestly he's just glad you aren't as scary as some of the other children in the manor

Most, if not all of the children that live in the manor are there because there was quite literally no other choice for them

They come from such bad homes with such bad caretakers, it's not shocking that most of them have learned to protect themselves by any means necessary

So while Toby understands, holy shit do they scare him <//3

So seeing a kid that is allowed to still just be a kid makes him happy

He finds you quite fun to be around

He loves hearing you get excited with the things you're passionate about

And he loves how silly you can be!

You are one of the easiest kids to talk to, so he uses you for intel on the other children for things such as gifts for the holidays

He's also thankful that you are so truthful and don't like breaking the rules

It really helps lower the stress levels in the house

Masky

You're a good kid

That's about the extent of his opinion on you

He likes that you're a goody two-shoes, because it makes his job as the "secondary dad" of the manor waaay easier

First dad being slender

"Alright, which one of you spilled water on the carpet" tim asks, eying the two children sitting in front of him

"Im sorry! It was me, i didn't mean it, i swear it was i mistake!" You blurt out fearfully, hoping to not get in trouble

"Woah, relax kid, it's just water. We can clean it up easily"

He's also glad that you're one less kid he'll have to worry about sneaking out, running away, or getting in general trouble

Other than that, you guys don't really have a relationship

You might talk from time to time, and he'll be there for fatherly support and comfort

But that's about it

Hoodie

He's not exactly the greatest with kids

He doesn't dislike them, but he isn't really a kid guy

He can handle teens though, and with you being such an easy kid to handle, you manage to make his good list

If he sees you around, he'll wave, he'll get you things that remind him of you, and he's generally just more tolerant of you

Like if any of the other kids asked him to make them breakfast, he'd probably be like "oooh i actually juuuust started cleaning up sorry"

But if you or sally asked him to he'd be like "omg of course, you little angels 🥰"

Like tim, you won't really have a relationship outside of him just being more tolerant of you

He's considered the cooler uncle, and sometimes a big brother amongst the kids so he won't be able to provide the fatherly comfort that Tim does

But he CAN provide some brotherly shoulder pats or cool uncle McDonald's

And maybe, just maaaaaybe a hug every now and then

Eyeless Jack

Ej finds children quite bothersome

They get in the way of his work, they are noisy and they are messy

Three things he will not tolerate

But he was very pleasantly surprised with you

He doesn't mind teenagers as much, as they are much less noisy and messy than younger children, but he does have his issues with teenagers as well

But while you are sitting on his medical bed, waiting for a bandaid for your cut arm, you are actually very pleasent to be around

You came in in a bit of a panic, fearing your arm might be permanently damaged, but you were able to calm down as Ej took the time to explain that you were ok, as well as walking you through everything he was doing

You were very nice and quiet, and quite polite actually

You are a good kid in Ej's books

When he sees you around the manor, he makes a point to show at least some sort of sign of polite recognition to you, instead of just walking past with a blank expression

Whether it be a small smile, a nod, or a wave, just something to let you know that he thinks you are ok

Espcially with how anxious you seem to get, he knows that it will likely help you to know he doesn't hate you

[lightning-and-sparks]

So for the dancers power levels, does that come into play later with an intra-group conflict or with them and an outside force? I really loved the scene where Brezziana, Sara, and Mihaly talked about Jack’s power because of how it brought out their different sides and started that thread of a conflict between them and power. Is the order of it Wander>Mihaly>Brezziana>Sara>Jack? Is that something that subconsciously rules the governs the group? You’ve done such an amazing job of fleshing everyone out and making them seem like friends, but ones who may have their bonds fracture under the situation. Also just wanted to say you did such an incredible job on all of Thorns, between its length and subplot management, well written and meaningful OCs, and worldbuilding, but my favorite part is how you’ve handled the Dancers as a whole, especially from Jack’s perspective!

Oh, now this is a good one! So early on, it already was a very different idea to give Jack some kind of power. I think when I first saw the Locked Out of Heaven map my first thought was that it was him holding up the mirrors and when they changed to show Night Swan it was his own mental struggle taking over. On terms of power dynamics, you nailed it. I knew I wanted to have Jack and Wander on opposite ends of the spectrum. As prideful as Jack and NS were/are, Jack’s low ability for magic (after being a descendant of Night Swan) is seen as embarrassing and is something that upsets him.

The whole story has been about him being undermined and overwhelmed by the people close to him. When he hears them discussing how he isn’t strong enough to defeat them and he’s basically at their mercy it reveals the dynamic of him being below them more clearly. Jack’s hesitance to pursue Wander subconsciously comes back to that. He knows if things go wrong between them, it will be him cut off from the group, if you go back to that hierarchy you mentioned before, Wander is the only thing keeping them intertwined because he can bridge the gap between planets.

I think what makes Thorns convincing is how messy and flawed characters and situations seem. No one there is perfect and are prone to failure. Unconsciously, although they detest that fact, they have some fear of Jack. Compared to Wander who stayed for a period of time afterwards (events of majesty) he no longer has that weary. His race does come back into play because it’s an Eternyx centered story. Eternians are not common outside their domain so that adds to his suspicion.

It was challenging to balance so many characters at once but I think I did okay. It gave me a lot of eyes and ears to work with so it was helpful. I thought having parts where they’re scattered or paired off worked well to show their personal connections. Jack is seen with them all one-on-one at some point. I held off on Brezz and his encounter because I had cold feet on how the reaction to Brezz’s friendship came about. She’s a very selfless character so I wanted to see her take something for herself just for it to come back to her actual carrying, if that makes sense?

I think as a group it’s difficult to take very individual characters and have them work effectively together. I don’t think all of them would have done some of the things Jack had done (that’s why he chooses to leave them out of certain events) he’s also struggling to regain himself and wants his image to come out unscathed. He doesn’t tell them about certain encounters with Roland in order to protect his pride and hide his shame. Although he doesn’t act like it, he cares a whole lot what they think of him. I mean, he’s always held under high scrutiny so he sees friendship as the same concept.

Thank you so much! I really wish I could explain all the thought and trial and failure that went into Thorns. It took a lot of energy and time to hold each strand of a story together and expand and fill plot holes to fix narrative problems in the beginning. There are a lot of gags and stupid shit that I put in there, namely Brezz’s Crocs because I thought it was funny and I rep an obnoxious pair of yellow Crocs that I get some awesome hate over 💪 these questions are awesome and I’d love to field more! I have a whole lot to say.

[analog-cottage-gore]

OKAY ANALYSIS TIME. LOOK UNDER CUT.

Basically it seems to be an ad for watchful eye toys, but also not, like most other "ads" we see in wtdw.

So the video starts with a new character already, this guy:

Keep them in mind, we'll circle back to them later.

Thet say that "It's been far to long since we last spoke", before quickly diverting to a new character who immediately just flings themselves in our face:

Their name is Morris, they're a court jester vampire bat, and right after they say hello, there's a random beeping noise. This happens at other seemingly random points through out the video. We then learn more about other products that watchful eye toys makes.

The jack in the box is called the "Itty Bitty Jester Bot/Box" (I couldn't tell which), the bat is a "Mystery Cove Bat Friend", and the tambourine is a "Twinkle Light Tambourine". Not much is known about these currently.

They then go on to talk about Twimblo's, showing this ad. Now, this was shown in ep 13, but I wanted to bring up the "phone number" (does anyone know if this is a code or just random symbols because idk codes), but also not only do these go for $500 (before tax), they still put up a "buy one get one free", presumably to get more souls.

Then we get this little scene, showing Morris talking to Oddity, which first of all, why is he here, second, Morris is surprised that Oddity can talk?

Is talking like, and Oddity thing and not just a Twimblo thing? Is Oddity possessed? What is that about?

Also Oddity doesn't even know why he's here, or where he even is, someone help the poor guy-

They then get to the real purpose of the video.

Dreamworld is making a new animatronic.

what.

Apparently, the viewers get to comment features they might like the animatronic to have, and Watchful Eye will go through the top ten most liked and create a new animatronic??? Okay, cool, that's interesting, we'll talk about this later.

After that, they do an outro to the video, officially clarifying that yes, that's Oddity, and Morris asks if the camera stopped rolling, and if this means they can "Finally go-", before getting abruptly cut off.

There's then static, we get this image;

And then we see announcer guy again

They say their the project manager at the facility, before saying "But, you don't recognize me? What if I just..." It then cuts to this all to familiar screen;

We of course here training tape person saying their basic introduction, implying that announcer and training tape (who sound almost nothing alike) are on in the same. And then finally, we're left with this;

And a long stretch of blackness.

So, first off, announcer is pretty obviously Litho. Project manager for watchful eye, implies he voices the training tapes, which I always assumed were voiced by Litho possessing Sara, and shows a image that is clearly implied to be Litho quickly after. Plus, something I noticed is that Sara has pink eyes for most of the plot, aka when she's being possessed, but looking at when she's not obviously possessed, like for example her in highschool;

Her eyes are brown. So it appears that a sign of Litho's possession is pink eyes. And who else has pink eyes? Announcer guy.

Next, touching on Morris. My theory is that Morris is Rainbott, due to similar color palettes, and the fact that we never really learned what Winnie did to Rain. Now, the question is, what is Morris? It's never stated they're an animatronic, so what are they? Could it be similar to poppy playtime toys? Are they actually just an animatronic? Who knows.

Finally, the whole Amazing Automations thing. Why are they doing this? Why do they need a new animatronic?

I think I have an idea. I think they're planning to kill someone, and need a place to keep the soul. But who?

My top guess is Wiatt, due to how much trouble he's caused, and how odd it is that Litho let him stay around and keep his job. My next bet is Celio, but due to them just getting there, it's unlikely. Maybe Oliver as well?

And one last note that probably doesn't mean anything but it's interesting.

The eyes look vaguely similar.

This has been my wtdw Ted Talk. I hope you enjoyed.

[church-of-lilith]

Honestly what does give me a little comfort in kind of a messed up way is the fact that us sapphics aren't exactly alone-they pretty much screwed over EVERY minority lmao: Nate's storyline wasn't really explored and mostly centered around his relationship with Jade, Keeley could have had a whole fish out of water storyline like Ted about winning over her coworkers but instead the focused on her relationship drama, completely wasted Edwin and Shandy's potential for cheap laughs, gave a half assed attempt at writing Sam's storyline only to call him literally getting hate crimed a "big whoop" and never address it again, never actually giving Dani a storyline, like the list goes on and on XD its honestly kind of impressive how they managed to lowkey tear down their entire legacy Omg if you can edit your reddit post you should also mention how the only other sapphic character on the entire show is that creepy dog breeder..

This is so true. It feels like they dropped the ball for every single minority character and the longer you think about it the worse it gets.

Let’s talk Nate for a second because his whole storyline really baffles me. They had him coaching at Westham, and then they had him quit (or was he fired?) from Westham OFF SCREEN? And then suddenly an episode later he’s back as the assistant kitman for Richmond? I’ll never understand why these writers were so dead set on him coming back to Richmond, all so he could just fade into the background. And while I do believe the whole kit man decision was a temporary one, and that going forward they made him a coach again, I don’t like the implication that he worked through his issues this whole season to just end up back where he was. There’s no reason Nate couldn’t have gone off and gotten another coaching job at another team! He’s still the Wonder Kid, clearly has mad skills and credibility, you can’t tell me there isn’t a team who would have wanted him! I understand he had to return to Richmond briefly to have closure and make his apologies, but then he could’ve gone off to coach elsewhere and continued to spread the Lasso Way and change the lives of other people! We didn’t need him at Richmond when basically all the work has already been done. I wish they would’ve given me any indication that he’d really been impacted by this whole arc he went through & then gone off to be the change he wanted to see in the world.

Keeley’s whole storyline being about Jack & the business was such a waste of Juno Temple’s amazing acting, and an underutilization of the fan favorite character we know and love. Most everything about her seemed so off this season? And as you pointed out, she really didn’t even become Miss Independent until the very end when Rebecca took over financing and she was able to make decisions about her own business finally. I would’ve much rather they had Rebecca funding it from the start (or at least earlier in the season) so we could have seen her adventures and misadventures through running her own company that didn’t have anything to do with her messy, exploitative relationship with Jack.

The way I feel about them trying to tackle racism with Sam’s storyline is the same way I feel about them trying to tackle homophobia with Colin’s. If you’re gonna half ass it, don’t do it at all. And they certainly didn’t put half the amount of time and effort they needed to into thinking up how to properly handle Sam’s storyline. We went through the whole hate crime that was never addressed again. And then we had this big problem with Edwin in the final episodes where he was like “I’m going to destroy your entire life and you’ll never make money with the restaurant and you’ll never play for the National team.” And then that was just NEVER addressed again?? Not even a throwaway line about Rebecca taking care of it or something?? He was suddenly playing on the Team and the only explanation we were given from Brendan during the AMA was that it was due to ‘national outcry’ like give me a break. Not to mention we never saw Simi again and so we never got to see if she and Sam ended up together. We were sort of just left to infer that everything worked out for Sam, and that just doesn’t work for me.

Poor Dani Rojas was doomed to be nothing more than a joke from the very start. He deserved more, but at the same time I’m almost glad they didn’t give him more because the storylines this season were awful.

So yeah, feels like all of the minorities on the show lost. I don’t know how the writers managed to do this in so little time, but you’re right it is really impressive.

[cityoftheangelllls]

Soooooo the Mario movie was awesome! Definitely the best movie-going experience I've had since Spiderman No Way Home! Illumination really outdid themselves and I think that this has to be the best movie they've done, even more so than the first two Despicable Me movies and Sing! And I can tell they and Nintendo put so much effort into this and making it a giant fan to Mario fans everywhere, from the kids to those who have been there from the beginning. It wasn't perfect (I mean, what movie is, and is there really such a thing as perfection?) but it was still a lot of fun!!!!

Below is what I loved about the movie and what I felt could have been better! Just a heads-up, there ARE spoilers. Even though it has pretty much the typical storyline of most Mario games and is therefore somewhat predictable, I don't want those who haven't seen it yet to miss out on being blown away as I was about it.

*********************************************************************

The Ups:

MARIO. HE IS THE BIGGEST SWEETHEART. HE LOVES HIS BROTHER SO SO MUCH. HE WOULD FETCH A STAR FROM SPACE FOR HIS BROTHER IF HE COULD. I WOULD DIE FOR HIM AND THE LOVE HE HAS FOR HIS BABY BRO. And from the beginning, he's so determined and motivated and never gives up! And it's his brother that motivates him to do most of what he does! I also liked the little details they added to his character that we never got to see before, such as the fact that he initially hates mushrooms.

Peach was amazing! At first I thought that they girlbossed her a bit too much to the point where she was a carbon copy of Daisy, but now I see her as a kind, maternal, and feminine young woman who fights when she needs to and is just doing her job protecting her kingdom. I hate how people are bashing her characterization here, like, have they forgotten how she was in the DIC cartoons, the 1986 anime, and SUPER PRINCESS PEACH? I also like her backstory and she's so cute as a baby! Also, since I HC that she and Daisy are super close, maybe she learned a thing or two from her!

Toad was so silly and chaotic, and he stole every scene he was in!

Luigi was precious and Charlie Day was perfect for his voice, as I predicted! I can tell that he was totally channeling Tony Rosato at times. I loved so many of his moments on screen, especially when he protects his brother during the final battle!

Jack Black KILLED IT as Bowser! He made him a villain who's hilarious but intimidating and ferocious at the same time and not many people can pull that off effectively!

Donkey Kong was a bit annoying and Illumination-y but they did a good job with him here. Also HE DID THE SETH ROGEN LAUGH TWICE FACK YES

The voice cast in general was fantastic! Charlie Day, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Jack Black were literal perfection in particular, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong was lit, and Keegan Michael Key was great for Toad, as I predicted! He's a very versatile comedian and voice actor, after all! Also, Chris Pratt's Mario has grown on me in a good way. Although I vastly prefer Charles Martinet, as well as Lou Albano (who has my favorite Mario voice ever), Chris really didn't do that bad of a job! He DID TOO put effort into voicing him, and his "Wahoo!"s and cries of delight and triumph were on point! The only voice that I still feel like I have to get used to is Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach. She's a talented actress but I don't think she entirely suited Peach's soft, feminine, and maternal nature, but that's just me.

Mario and Luigi's parents are so precious! In fact, their whole family is so cute and hilarious! They remind me of my own proudly Italian (mostly) family. And Charles Martinet voicing their dad was the icing on the cake! I'm just so glad we finally got to see their family in general.

I also like how the boys' situation of still living with their parents, (presumably) not pursuing college and working blue-collar jobs while in their 20s-30s wasn't portrayed in a negative way. It's a great way of telling audiences that it's okay if you haven't gone off on your own yet in adulthood or attended college, that life isn't a sequence of steps that everyone has to follow exactly and at the same time, and that patience, hard work, and a positive attitude will lead you to great opportunities in life when you least expect them, like with what happened to the bros.

THE BROS' REUNION HUG OH MY GOD!!!!!! THE FOREHEAD TOUCH AND MARIO LIFTING LUIGI OFF THE GROUND DURING THEIR SECOND EMBRACE, I ALMOST CHOKED ON MY ICEE AND BECAME A SOBBING MESS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE THEATER MY GOD

And then them teaming up together to defeat Bowser and his forces, AS IT SHOULD BE.

I mean seriously this movie was a slap to the face of everyone who thought Mario hates his brother

Mario and Luigi getting their own little house in the Mushroom Kingdom! AND COFFEE CUPS THAT MATCH THEIR HATS!!!!

Mario and Peach's relationship thus far! I love how close they are by the end of the movie, even though they haven't developed a romance yet, and how Mario was telling her all about Brooklyn and how he'll get her a pet turtle once he gets to take her there. D'awwwwwww.

Peach completing the trainer course ALL WHILE WEARING A FULL LENGTH BALL GOWN AND HEELS. AND her admitting that she didn't master doing it until she had tried multiple, multiple times was such a great addition to character, proof that while she may be more of a girlboss here she still has more character development than Rey in the Star Wars sequels.

Peach telling Luigi that he's brave was so sweet :3 Even though they didn't really have a proper meeting scene like I hoped, I'm glad they got to at least interact a little.

Although I wish they would have used the wedding dress from Odyssey or even Paper Mario, Peach's wedding dress here is so pretty!

Donkey Kong becoming an ally of Mario and them helping each other get to the Mushroom Kingdom was super nice, although I do feel their friendship could have been built on a little more and that DK should have apologized to Mario for insulting his brother.

THE MUSIC!!!!! Brian Tyler NAILED the orchestrations of all those iconic themes! I especially got so happy when I heard the SNES Rainbow Road theme, the DK rap, and Toad's House from SMB3! I can only imagine how Koji Kondo, the man who composed so many of these melodies for chiptune almost 40 years ago and is STILL composing music for the games, is feeling now that they have these epic, sweeping orchestral renditions.

They outdid themselves with the animation and visuals as well! ESPECIALLY the visuals. They're so colorful and whimsical and just scenery p0rn all around, from the Mushroom Kingdom giving off major Alice in Wonderland vibes and Bowser's incredible floating lava castle to the Jungle Kingdom and the rainbow road! And I can't think of a single character (re)design that I didn't like! They all look so good!

The slo mo bits were SO funny. Especially "MMMMMAAAAAAAAMMMAAAAA MMMMIIIIIIIAAAAAA!" and "PPPPPRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNCCCCEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!"

Bringing back such an obscure and relatively forgotten character as Foreman Spike was awesome!

Every time that Diddy Kong was onscreen was so funny!

ALL THE EASTER EGGS, GOOD GOLLY. From the references to the SUPER SHOW OF ALL THINGS to the guy who's supposed to resemble Jumpman (Mario's first incarnation) at the beginning!

That one bit where Mario is sitting in his room playing a video game also felt really reminiscent of the beginning of The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach (1986). If Nintendo was going for that I'm so glad they acknowledged such an obscure piece of Mario media!

The Downs:

Goddammit, you SERIOUSLY had to include minions in the Illumination logo.

It honestly felt a bit rushed in places and I wish more scenes could have had more time devoted to them. Some characters, ESPECIALLY Luigi, didn't really get as much screen time as I felt they needed, and that kind of sucked.

I was really hoping for Bowser to have a hard rock-style villain song, as that really suits his aesthetic and Jack Black could totally have done it! I mean he was in School of Rock for crying out loud and he's proven afterwards that he can really belt out classic rock tunes! Despite that, I'm glad he got to at least sing in the movie, and his song dedicated to Peach was hilarious.

I'm bummed that the movie wasn't really a musical as I had heard around the net so many times; only two characters sang (Bowser and Toad, even though the latter's wasn't really an actual song) and there were a bunch of pop/rock hits from the past few decades sandwiched in. They were still good songs that I like though, such as Thunderstruck, Take on Me, and Holding Out for a Hero (although I wish it could have been the original Bonnie Tyler version). I was ESPECIALLY pumped to hear Mr. Blue Sky!! But still, a lack of songs sung by characters bummed me out.

I don't like how some lines were changed (such as Bowser's "NOW WHO'S GONNA STOP ME?!?!") or cut entirely (e.g. Mario's "I'm not afraid! I'll do anything for my brother!") I'm especially bitter about the latter, since hearing that line in the final trailer made me super emotional and cutting it meant less devotion to how much Mario loves and misses his brother.

It was kind of a wasted opportunity to not see Mario and Luigi's family (and the rest of Brooklyn for that matter) bewildered over their sons bringing back a princess in a wedding gown, a little mushroom man, and an ape wearing a necktie. I bet their dad would have been wondering what someone put in his coffee, and their mom would have taken one look at Peach and been all like, "OMG IS ONE OF MY SONS GETTING MARRIED ALREADY??" It just would have been nice for them to interact a little.

The blue star/Luma was honestly so annoying and gave me an unsettling identity crisis, I just thought that was not fitting for a family friendly movie. Also, why was he/she in Bowser's dungeon in the first place?

As Donkey Kong should have apologized to Mario for fighting with him, Spike should have apologized to Mario and Luigi for doubting them. It didn't really make sense for him to just abruptly cheering for them.

Part of me kind of wishes it had taken place in the 1980s. It kind of makes sense, given that the Mario and Luigi characters formally debuted in 1983 and this is an origin story for how they came to be.

But despite all this, there were way more ups than downs, and the "downs" are just little nitpicks from me that don't take away from the movie being one hell of a ride. It was fantastic, and definitely one of the best animated movies I've seen in a while. 9/10 from me!!.

Some of my several VERY high hopes for the sequel:

YOSHI CUTENESS!!!

Also, if I have to predict a voice actor for Yoshi, it would have to be either Frank Welker or Kazumi Totaka reprising his role.

Luigi getting more screen time and also getting to share in his bro's adventures! Dude deserves way better!

Mario having second thoughts about Luigi accompanying him in dangerous situations because he's terrified of losing him again, and Luigi reminding him that "nothing will harm them as long as they're together"

PLEASE just more brotherly love!

Mario and Peach developing a romance and vowing to protect each other!

At least one callback to the "Mama Luigi" episode of the Super Mario World cartoon series. I mean, it would only seem right now that Yoshi is joining the gang, right?

Heck, I bet it's going to be chock full of references to the Super Mario World game, the Yoshi's Island games, and the Super Mario World cartoon.

DAISY AND/OR ROSALINA PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Bowser's backstory (and possibly redemption)! It's clear to me that he's just a big softie that needs love and friendship in his life. And, since he's really their friend who likes to engage in role play just for fun according to word of mouth, I wonder how they will incorporate that into the Mario Cinematic Universe.

Some evidence that Mario and Luigi alternating between their lives in Brooklyn (probably just so that they can spend time with their family) and the Mushroom Kingdom

"I HOPE SHE MADE LOTSA SPAGHETTI!"

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, People, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 23: One Shall Fall

Please reblog or comment on this with your thoughts! I really want to know what your opinion of the episode was!

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

Some of the notes for One Shall Fall was formed from an incredible fanfic I’ve read (I’ll link it at the bottom! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING IT IF YOU LOVE BEE.) so if you think I‘ve gone insane, and a little off track, you're probably right.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:03 - does ‘One Shall Fall’ really started with ‘and it was written in the covenant of Primus’? It’s very jarring.

00:11 - perpetual: never ending or changing.

Culminate: reach a climax or point of highest development. [or: reach or be at the meridian.]

00:27 - why is this shot so pretty?

00:38 - The angle of the shot makes Optimus look like a child trying to hid behind a blanket.

00:42 - they were in sync.

00:54 - so why not mention it a little earlier?

01:13 - *throws to Optimus fans* FEAST!

01:34 - My dude has perfect timing.

01:43 - Knockout has a growth mindset.

01:57 - he must constantly be seeing the future then, huh?

~intro~

03:03 - It’s funny to see that every other post give so much more context and whoever uploaded this was just like ‘location, date and time, literally anything else? Nah.. who needs that!’ + Bee can’t even hide when in a alt form.

03:12 - amazing how he can see that far and from that angle.

03:25 - wow! It changed the text and everything!

03:26 - HE’S SO CUTE IMMA DIE

03:31 - he looks so insecure ;0;

03:37 - Best interaction to ever exist.

03:40 - as was established by the statement ‘Prime’s don’t party’.

03:44 - foreshadowing.

03:49 - the way he specifically looks at Arcee like she’s made that claim before.

03:53 - Foreshadowing. + Optimus shaking his hips slightly while Ratchet talks about him is highly amusing.

04:09 - a little bicth. Got it.

04:11 - Yes. That’s true. No one said he was. Ratchet said Optimus used to be like Jack.

04:16 - My captions said ‘Meg’ instead of MECH

04:25 - Soundwave, the sneaky lil’ con.

04:38 - Not the captions saying ‘Cap’ instead of ‘Cat’

04:30 - No need for the description. They all know what Soundwave looks like.

04:36 - Raf looks like their child.

04:40 - what is the purpose of the ‘Top Secret’ part?

04:51 - Knockout bowing and Soundwave, in the same shot? It must be Christmas.

04:55 - ‘What Soundwave said—‘ that’s just cruel wording.

05:11 - she is so short

05:15 - this short was brought to you by ✨fade transition✨

05:16 - Collecting all the scenery shots.

05:35 - Damn, Prime getting tense.

06:05 - the shot makes them look like they’re throwing lightsabers.

07:09 - ain’t Megatron lucky that was Bee.

07:12 - how does he have such bad aim?

07:24 - let us be clear.. that is horrifying.

07:42 - that looked cool

07:53 - Someone was a theatre kid.

08:00 - folly: lack of good sense

08:02 - Fruition: the realization or fulfilment of a plan or project. + A stressed Optimus as a walking Thesaurus.

08:13 - I think Megatron needs to reevaluate who is true enemy is. Optimus or Bumblebee? Because I think, at this moment, he’s got more reason to want Bee dead than Optimus.

08:21 - O0O

08:23 - She’s calling out to get a response from him, but it also looks like she’s just stating who it is.

08:32 - Megatron admits he was trying to kill Bee but failed. How the frag do you fail like that then try to seem so smug? Although ‘and’ implies that he did inflict harm onto Bumblebee. Honestly, wouldn’t even be surprised if this episode was secretly going to have plot B involve Bumblebee actually having gotten hurt, but it was scrapped.

08:35 - that rattling sound was a very good choice.

08:37 - WHY NOT THOUGH?? What is the harm in letting Bee try to kill Megatron? + that’s the way a dog acts when you’re trying to stop them from barking.

08:44 - Bee was still fighting against Bulkhead, how could he not have gotten free? Granted, there isn’t much experience to go off with how strong Bee is when he’s angry, but it would be a safe assumption that Bulkhead’s weak grip on Bee’s shoulder’s would’ve been ineffective in restraining him.

08:47 - Doesn’t Optimus say if someone’s been hurt?

08:57 - no, why did they give Bumblebee the same personality as my dogs? He forgot to be angry for a second, before turning around

08:59 - Arcee looks like a mother.

09:00 - As Arcee pushes Bee to turn around, you can see that he’s eyes go back to normal and he’s looking all innocent.

09:01 - but then he quickly arches his eyes rows. His angry, but he’s not gonna murder anyone.

09:02 - then she puts her hand on his back and right before they fade out, he’s leaning forward, most likely to check Raf. (It happens too quickly for any screenshots)

09:39 - why would Bee have come up from beside Arcee?

09:41 - ‘into’ implies that it’s in a seperate room.

09:46 - How did they do that so quickly?

10:08 - Oh cheez… Ratchet, you needed that-

10:09 - as soon as Ratchet started freaking out is when Bee expressed being upset.

10:10 - to note is that Bee curled up his hand, which is what Optimus does whenever he’s not totally calm.

10:17 - Was about to point out that Ratchet just called Raf weak, until I realised that it’s what Megatron was doing. Megatron deemed Bumblebee the weakest of the autobots, which is why he attacked him, but wasn’t bothered by Bee not having suffered because he still harmed someone weaker therefore still fulfilling the prophecy.

10:46 - heavily animated Megatron.

10:55 - his eyes do be purple… and lined up correctly.

11:20 - they’ve become aware.

11:27 - I’m embarrassed to say I thought that was a transformer at first.

11:35 - I mean.. maybe??

11:39 - How would June intend to stabilise him if she doesn’t know the severity of it.

11:56 - this would be a more effective speak if we haven’t seen her act super recklessly in honour of Tailgate and Cliff.

12:01 - AIN’T THAT RICH! + Seriously though, whatever he had said was probably a threat and he punched a wall, expressing emotions when they become overwhelming is a way to manage emotions and keep them in check. It was better he yell and do repairable damage than suppress it and let it build up over time until it becomes too overwhelming and he hurts someone.

12:37 - Ya know, Ratchet could’ve used that free time to check on Bee. May have given him a hint to work out what they could do to help Raf, or, at least, have kept both of them occupied for a bit.

12:39 - damn.. not the Cybertronian Pride.

12:46 - because he didn’t actually need to. As much as they’re taking care of the children, outside of surface level health (like getting cuts/scratches), the health of the children is not the bots’ responsibilities.

12:48 - Optimus said two lines and totally obliterated Arcee’s trash calming down speech.

12:51 - Ratchet acting all calm while Bee’s at the back having a breakdown so intense that he needs to squat.

13:07 - one of the best deliveries ever.

13:13 - For all purposes Optimus could be talking about literally any other thing Megatron has chosen to do. However, I chose to believe that he’s specifically talking about going after Bumblebee./hj

13:22 - Thesaurus Prime.

13:34 - woo!

13:54 - His willing to spare those willing to be spared.

14:03 - I think there’s a volcano.

14:05 - heh, it farted

14:10 - translation: I dreamt about that!

14:46 - the way he said ‘Soundwave’ more relaxed and twinge of boredom is hilarious.

15:11 - How does she not understand that he is saying the doctors cannot help him?!

15:15 - …………..

If that's true, then why wouldn't he have suspected that it wasn't energon when Bee was showing no signs of being affected by an energon blast.

15:23 - I refuse to believe that Bee wouldn’t have been affected by the dark Energon too. There is no way that Megatron would have a type of energon and use it to fight the Autobots if it does not hurt them. Megatron would have had no reason to believe that Bumblebee was hurt if he knew that dark Energon had no effect on bots. The plot hole that is Bee not being affected by the energon could’ve been avoided had Bee pulled over, let Raf out, then Megatron attack, completely missing Bee, but hitting Raf.

15:49 - GOT ‘EMMM

15:52 -it’s the intro

16:17 -that’s a metaphor for Optimus fighting Megatron.

16:18 - that looks so dumb.

16:50 - Megatron’s trying to get into Optimus’s head.

16:56 - wise words, Prime. + If I had a dollar for every time a bot didn’t fall victim to the decepticon trick, I’d have two dollars. It’s not a lot and shockingly so.

17:04 - Because Optimus isn’t exactly winning, Raf is dying.

17:07 - Mmm but like how isn’t Bee’s energon tainted? Don’t they have energon to spare?

17:08 - He looked worried until he looked at Ratchet. Bee’s emotional restraint comes from Ratchet in this episode.

17:55 - I’M GONNA CRY, THAT’S THE CUTEST SOUND.

19:33 -that’s what ya gotta leave your monologue for after the stab.

19:41 - she’s moving so much.

19:43 - Bee’s oblivious to the conversation and I love that.

19:46 - Ratchet’s heavily animated too.

20:05 - he broke the sword, tf dude??

20:07 - Didn’t even realise that he stabbed Optimus with apart of the sword.

21:20 - the prophecy shot!

———————

So that was One Shall Fall.

It’s a good episode, don’t get me wrong, but that plot hole in the B plot is annoying and makes no sense. If normal energon hurts a bot, dark energon would too. As I said, they should’ve had Raf already out of the car, then Megatron misses Bumblebee, but hits Raf. Instead he hit Bumblebee directly. No way could the energon have gone directly to Raf and not have effected Bee. (This is the fox I mentioned: Not The Only One by Princess Loveless)

As for the A plot, it certainly carries the episode and is a lot more action packed. Towards the end it became more seperate to the B plot, but contrasts a fair bit, so they feel like two different episodes, rather than just the one with a distinct A and B plot.

Honestly I dunno if I’d watch it in a select binge. In a general binge? Absolutely!

[ecargmura]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review: Very Fun!

(Warning, this review contains spoilers for the movie)

My introverted ass does not leave the house most of the time. However, there are times where I do like to hang out with my friends. Today was one such day. On the midst of cold rainy weather, I mustered up the courage to leave my house and go to the movie theater to see The Super Mario Bros movie. I was watching it with my friend SpaceBrosMiles. As I was waiting for him, I coincidentally saw my friend from high school and college whom I haven’t seen in 6-7 years! I was surprised I still recognized him. He was also watching the film with his friends, one of them being my brother’s friend. It was nice talking to him. Anyways, once Miles and I finally met up and went inside the theater, the movie started playing after multitudes of trailers and a quick bathroom break from me.

How was the movie? I really liked it! It went by fast, but it left a lasting impression on me. The movie is an original story of how the Mario brothers became known to the Mushroom Kingdom. It all started with them in Brooklyn trying to make it big as plumbers, but they struggle to find jobs. They put out a rather tacky commercial and they did manage to get one job after it aired, which turned into a bust when the owners’ dog Francis tried to attack the brothers because Luigi broke its bone. However, the fight between them and the dog eventually lead to an unknown flooding in Brooklyn. While the brothers try to be heroes, they fail to stop the flood and accidentally find the iconic green warp pipe that causes the brothers to be transported to another world but they get separated with Luigi going to Bowser’s Castle and Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom. The rest of the movie is just Mario trying to find a way to rescue his brother with the help of Toad and Peach.

The overall movie was enjoyable. I really liked the various Mario game references. I think a few I can name are Mario Maker, Mario Kart, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario 64, Mario Galaxy and Jumpman. I named a lot. Wow. Does this mean I’m a hardcore gamer? Anyways, there isn’t much I can say about the overall movie because it’s super fun. The humor is on point. The dialogue is very family-friendly. Various OSTs were remixes of classic Mario songs that I recognize. However, the best song was the remix of the DK Rap. THE DK RAP IS IN THE MOVIE! DK! DONKEY KONG! I’m sorry, the DK rap was so fun to listen to when I was a kid. I’m glad they kept the iconic song (though, they did not credit the creator Grant Kirkhope).

The flow of the movie was fast-paced but it was consistent. I think it flew by so quickly for a one hour and forty-five minute movie. One moment they are in the Mushroom Kingdom, and they are in the Jungle Kingdom five minutes later. It’s really hard to look away because you will be confused if you do so.

The voice acting was really good! I think they all suited the characters! The best performance was Jack Black as Bowser. I mean, it’s Jack Black! What more can I say? I was confused when he started playing the piano, but Jack Black’s song was amazing to listen to. An honorable mention goes to Lumalee. He was very creepy with his nihilistic speeches about death and that made him stand out; he’s an absolute menance.I think the weakest performance was a tie between Cranky Kong and Mario, but it doesn’t mean they were bad. They were far from bad, in fact. It’s just that everyone else were too good that they got overshadowed.

My only gripe is the lack of Luigi screen time during the middle of the movie. The movie is called The Super Mario Bros. It’s not the Super Mario movie. It’s the Mario brothers that are the stars, not Mario on his lonesome. It would’ve been great to see Luigi trying to struggle out of his cage or have some screen time worrying about his current situation. All we see of Luigi is that he gets captured, thrown into a cage and then gets released about three-fourths way into the movie, just before the climax.  The final portion where the Mario bros take on Bowser was great and made me wonder where Luigi managed to get that courage to protect Mario from the fire.

Overall, this is a very good movie if you just want to have fun watching. It’s a perfect blend of tropes and aspects any Mario fan or any gamer would know and love. I know that not everyone will agree with me, but I believe this is like a love letter to the fans that have bee there for so long. I believe it’s an 8.5/10 movie. The .5 was the fact I saw a friend in the theaters. Will I recommend this movie? Definitely.

[alismodworld]

Alright well I might as well give my thoughts on the movie

SPOILERS TURN BACK WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!

Okay we clear? Cool. So, The Super Mario Bros movie. It was good but I honestly had no doubt it wasn't gonna be good after seeing the trailers and the promos. Of course as with everyone else my only point of fear was Chris Pratt's voice, but while I was watching the movie I realized its actually okay. It never annoyed me and it even fits Mario somehow (yeah I said it come at me). Now that I'm thinking about it, if Charles Martinet was casted it really wouldn't have worked. Whenever we see Mario in the game he's always happy and bouncy, rarely ever serious or emotional so having a voice like that probably wouldn't have made the more serious parts of the movie work at all and at best I would've laughed at how ridiculous it was and at worst I would've been sinking far back into my chair. No disrespect to the guy at all, he does a phenomenal job in the games, but I just don't think he'd work too well in the movie. He does get a nod to in the movie which is great!

The movie is gorgeously animated and I love how the characters translated perfectly on the big screen. The backgrounds were spectacular. And the way the incorporate the elements of the games into the movie to create this world is *chefs kiss*. Everything makes sense and it's not too on the nose, it's believable.

It's a very simple movie, nothing too crazy and if you have very basic knowledge of the Mario franchise you'll get what's going on like how I did. All the characters acted perfectly to how I expected them to and nobody really annoyed me. My only problem is with Cranky Kong's voice. Sorry, but Fred Armisen's voice just doesn't match up with Cranky's appearance.

Jack Black absolutely killed it with Bowser. He was the perfect amount of comedy and intimidation. AND THE PEACHES SONG THREW ME SO OFF GUARD I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BUT JUST SIT AND STARE!!

Also, PEACH! Oh my god I loved Peach in this movie!! I was scared and honestly expecting her to be too much of a "strong female character" rather than a strong character who happens to be female and she's definitely the latter. She's kind, she's helpful, she's patient, she cares deeply about her subjects, kingdom and everyone in general and she can kick serious ass too. I'm gonna be honest, in my years of playing Mario on and off I never really cared for Peach, IM SORRY TO SAY, I WAS DUMB KID! But watching her in this movie, I absolutely love her!!! AND SHE GOT LORE ON TOP OF THAT?!??

Also usually I hate the whole male character and female character get shoehorned together and end up falling in love trope, but here? PERFECT!! I also never really cared for Mareach but, I'm a changed woman and I never wanted two characters to get together so bad. I absolutely loved their chemistry as it was so organic. Of course they don't which I'm fine with but, maybe potential in the sequel?

All the action sequences were done great in my opinion and actually exceeded my expectations in some cases as I was genuinely expecting nothing but slapstick but we got a healthy amount of slapstick and serious action.

The final battle and climax was amazingly done!! Ugh that hug Mario and Luigi shared was amazing!!!

Okay now for what I didn't like

I wish we had more Luigi scenes. I understand that he's the one who's kidnapped and is basically the whole reason the movie happens but we got only a few scenes with him either running away or being trapped or integrated. I would've loved maybe a scene with him trying to be brave and find a way out or rally others to help each other escape which could've added to his character. Like it's called The Super Mario BROS movie...

Also Toad is just...there. I get he's the comic relief but he really doesn't do much other than tag along. The most I remember him doing was showing Mario to the kingdom, that's it. Idk maybe do something more to flesh out his character, why is he so eager to help Mario and Peach? Why is he an adventurer? What are his goals? Stuff like that.

Also no chain chomps...worst movie, 0/10, D-tier/j

I heard people were talking about the pacing which yeah it's a little fast but it's not too quick in my opinion. I think if they let certain scenes play out longer it would've benefited the movie.

But over all it's a really good movie. Not ground breaking but really good, happy, healthy fun. And I'm quite impressed considering it came from Illumination.

Here's to hoping this movie will pave the way to a Zelda movie!!

[mocacheezy]

Finished watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie, (there's a good quality version on soap2day.to) so here are my thoughts:

🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄

Good stuff:

The animation is super fun!

It's very colorful, but not in the way that it will make your eyes burn

Music I love the remixes of different songs from the games (especially the super star one at the end). There are also quite a few songs that are older and meme-y and they were so cool to hear!

I enjoyed the characterization of pretty much all characters

No Forced Romance I absolutely fucking ADORE that there was no on-screen forced chemistry when it came to Peach. Yea, Bowser is madly in love with her (or the concept of marriage, jury is still out on this one), but Peach? Nah. She has a bit of a rosey tint to her eyes when she first sees Mario, and Mario also likes her, but the movie doesn't force it past this. There's no "Saving the other", or "Victory kiss" or the like. They are traveling together to save the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi, not to find a romantic partner. DK also pokes fun at Mario for a bit, and Toad also banters about it, but Peach doesn't confirm or deny anything, and Mario just says he's being friendly... Like, I genuinely think these two have a 'good friends that might become more' kind of relationship in this movie. And I love it, and I adore that we didn't have an animated kiss of any kind. It was so refreshing, and I was pleasantly surprised there wasn't any hand holding in that field of flowers.

The brotherly affection between Mario and Luigi

It was so good to see. It was wonderful to see them both excited, both of them supporting each other, and the reunion had me feel such joy. This is the kind of sibling love I sometimes wish I was capable of experiencing with my siblings. AND THERE WAS NO FIGHTING AND HURTFUL WORDS OR ACCUSATIONS HURLED AT EACH OTHER!!! This, this is so rare in the movies or shows I've seen before. It does make sense, siblings do stuff that annoys the other, but these two really stick together and care for eachother and rely on eachother.

Luigi not being just a scared incompetent guy He was terrified in that forest, got kidnapped, and when faced with a terrifying turtle looking creature that was very ready to start torturing him, he STILL denied knowing Mario for as long as he could. His line about "not knowing every guy with a mustache" made me smile a bit because it's TRUE, it's a GOOD POINT and EXCUSE, even if it didn't work. And he doesn't give up, he doesn't break down and think how hopeless everything is. Hell, he sees things and remembers Mario and how he always comes to his aid. I was also ecstatic that he ALSO BEATS UP BOWSER WITH MARIO. This movie isn't Super Mario, it's Super Mario Brothers!!!

Bowser. Jack Black did an amazing job. The animators and script writers have my undying gratitude. Bowser is now permanently on my Blorbo List. I will now stop talking or this post will be all about Bowser appreciation and gushing over the character and animation.

THE CREEPY ELEMENTS I had a Mario game for my Nintendo DS, and I could never play it because the water level with the eel scared me too much. I was terrified then, and seeing the eel now had me freeze up. A big NOPE. And not just that either, the skeleton Koopa, the masked lil guys, the creepy parts were very creepy. I adore it. And the bats looked adorable :> Meh stuff:

I didn't really like Toad at the start. I found him pretty darn annoying even. But his bravery as a sharp contrast to everyone abandoning their Princess is admirable, and he did grow on me as the movie progressed.

Seems that every situation requires an exclamation of "mamma mia". Now both folks on the internet and folks I've met irl do use it, and say they use it quite often, but there are also other phrases that could be used. Every mother in Brooklyn has hiccups at this point. And yes, I know it makes sense because this is one of the catchphrases Mario has. But still, I personally found it a bit meh/repetitive. I am not Italian tho, so my opinion on the matter can be discarded.

... honestly, there weren't many things I didn't enjoy about this movie, it was a nice one!

I give it a 10/10 + a golden star because THEY GAVE BOWSER A MINI PIANO!!!!

I also now have at least a few story ideas, because listen... I need that Koopa Wizard pinning after Bowser, I need this in my life-

In conclusion, 10/10, it's a nice time.

[enniewritesathing]

ask game: ✈️💯🐷💜🍸😊 (I picked one from each category, choose whichever OCs you'd like)

hello! 👋

✈️ AIRPLANE — does your oc like traveling, or do they consider themselves a more homey person?

I'll do this for Brian since I've got John answered.

He loves to travel and especially when he's told "hey, we're gonna go to [x]". Doesn't like to do the packing (that's John's job) but he's down to go anywhere. Anything but the train though... the views are amazing but the space is not friendly to someone over 6 feet tall, lol.

💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

John: He's left-handed, afraid of spiders, and he's shy! (He comes off as polite so ofc no one's caught that. Been like that since he was a kid and it's just one of his quirks.)

Brian: Likes to garden (he would keep bees in the backyard, but between John and the cat... lol), may have accidentally ate one too many brownie in college ("i'm not feeling anything" then an hour later, "Johnny, have you seen the moon?"), and the fact that his middle name is Antonio. He's embarrassed by this so when he has to use his initials, he never says what the A stands for.

🐷 PIG FACE — what is your oc's favorite animal?

John: Cats, but specfically the black-footed cat. How can this creature be so cute but so deadly? Cats are fascinating in the sense that yeah, they're predators and all of that, but they're incredibly baby. Something something duality.

Brian: Secretary bird, but only because of the fact that he's like "oh, that's me :)" honey, that's a birdsona

💜 PURPLE HEART — what is your oc's ancestry/genetic background?

John: He is half white (from dad) and half Filipino (from mom). Dad's side of the family, he's not too sure about where specifically, but mom's side, he is an descendant of a very obscure royalty (in Bare Knuckle, he had 'met' his ancestor, the first one to have it...it's uh, a whole ass thing.) and where he has his eye color from. As far as he knows, he is either the 4th or 5th person to have it. It's not werewolf related; that happens later. The weirdest 'tradition' that comes from that side of the family is that at least one of them knows a martial art; doesn't matter who.

Brian: He's some flavor of European, but he doesn't know the specifics other than they were almost always royal adjacent with upkeeping the king's or what-have-you hunting lodges and at some point, became favorable to the point of being granted high statues, power, and the privileges that comes along with it as well as the wealth. To this day, as far as he knows, that's still the case with them catering to the wealthy. Brian comes from old money but since getting disowned, he doesn't give a shit about it. (As a side note, when someone raises their eyebrows at his current last name, they ask if he's related. "I was, then I wasn't :)")

🍸 COCKTAIL GLASS — what is your oc's favorite alcoholic drink, if they can drink?

John: He hardly drinks (mix of personal reasons and taste issue), but he likes anything that's heavy on fruits. Really likes mimosas.

Brian: He used to drink the hard stuff (whiskey and the like), but he only breaks that out (Jack Daniels, aka JD) when he really has a bad day (too much of it though, he's a little mean). Otherwise, he sticks to wines and 'light' cocktails.

😊 SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES — what are your oc's career/general life desires? what do they want to get the most out of life?

John: He's in a good spot career wise. I decided I was gonna rework this story, but in the future, he's gonna be gunning to be a Muay Thai world champion (again). Will he succeed? Maybe, maybe not. He has a lot more years ahead of him and he wants to see what more he can accomplish.

Brian: Right now, he's thinking about getting some certifications in other fields as a nurse... something a little less stressful than ER. (there are only two types of shifts -- too quiet (not normal, shit will go down in 2 minutes, and whatever 'normal' is.) As long as he gets to help people in some form or fashion, he's good. Like John, he wants to see what he'll accomplish, but he will not stress himself out like he did when was younger.

[cryptometaphor]

Me: I've given it some thought. While Sarah isn't here, I was gonna refer to myself as a serial-killer socialist because it's fucking based

ACP cuck: It's not. Also this is recorded dumbass lol

Me: Noone gonna sit through three hours for a gotcha

ACP cuck: YOU wouldn't ya narcissist lol

Me: ANYWAY... Green-Leninism.

ACP cuck: (sighs)

Me: It sounds way nicer while still admitting that ok, there's gonna be moral disagreements that...

ACP cuck: You can't help yourself can you? Are you that worried Sarah would be abhorred by you that you gotta hide behind...

Me: Well see, it's a stated fact the cia knew the green party was a front for the Soviet Union.

ACP cuck: I don't care!

Sarah: I don't care either.

Me: Eek lol

Sarah: Babe you are the biggest most selfish asshole in the world. You think I don't know that already? lol

Me: I mean not too...

Sarah: Not to me exactly. You know Stalin believed in socialism in one country to advance communism realistically. It was admittedly a third position stance and to this day fascists clutch their pearls at it to justify themselves. You are a liberal. So you take it a step further "socialism in one person" which is of course, you. What benefits you? And you move onto "what benefits Sarah?" And if we're really lucky, "what benefits my friends and family?" I don't hate you for it. You've been hurt a lot, you've been betrayed a lot, taken advantage of a lot, you didn't have the same foundation I did and had to learn to lookout for yourself, same way I had to learn to lookout for other people. But I could never think you're a bad person and leave you. I would never, EVER do that to you. I love you. You deserve to be loved. I know you love me intensely. So much so, you'll ignore your entire upbringing and experiences. You're scared, but you try for me. I notice.

Me: So in a way, you get it. Like it's in your own rational self interest too

Sarah: Well no shit I get it lol. Like I never argued selfishness is irrational, it's just not sustainable. Societies emerge with or without us. Better we have a functioning one than a dysfunctional one.

Me: I've got a lot of job experience being in leader positions hon and I can tell you the more people in a room, the more miserable it is. Sartre pointed that out too: hell is other people.

Sarah: You're a great leader. You win second or third place in anything you do. You're a fucking Chad.

ACP cuck: Trying to butter him up too...

Sarah: Fuck you I don't need to butter up this man lol. He's strong enough to where he could live without me. I couldn't without him. I need him. At the end of the day, I'm the one whose selfish. But I accept it and improve my conditions. That's dialectical materialism. Not just be a nihilist about it. Jim takes the reactionary approach because he has no faith in other people. He's never had a reason too. But he puts his faith in me and makes me feel like the most special girl in the world. I mean I'm am little offended by him thinking he can't just be bold and blunt about how he feels sometimes, but he genuinely believes I'm the one meant for him "I don't wanna screw this up" and sees me as integral to his happiness and purpose. I see that. He doesn't even have to fucking say it. Just the way he looks at me. No girl in here knows how that feels. You cannot begin to imagine how it feels when a man just looks at you and you can feel the love. Jim is amazing.

Me: I'm only amazing because...

Sarah: Because you have me? Don't lie to me bitch. I will literally jack you off until you cry lol

Me: LOL I don't think that's how biology works babe...

Sarah: Oh it does. First time you like it, second time you still like it, third time you're like ok that's enough, by the fourth time you're saying stop, fifth time you're actually physically fighting with me to stop, oh no I ain't stopping boy. Not ever.

ACP cuck: Damn, you as psycho as he is.

Sarah: (posts the "you're God damn right" meme)

Sarah: Jim never had a chance to care about himself, I never had a chance to care about other people. That's why we complete each other. I've always had help and sympathy, it'll make you bitter and feel worthless, Jim's never had help, it'll fill you with contempt. But together, there's just genuine love.

Me: Baby you keep talking like that and imma marry you over and over again until you the one crying lol

Sarah: Do it pussy, ya won't lol. Propose to me at the bus stop, the grocery store, Target, flea market, wherever, anywhere anytime. I'm gonna say yes every single time.

ACP cuck: It's like seeing two people at the insane Asylum.

Other Sara of ACP: Joker and Harley Quinn except not toxic lol

[theviruseye]

Selfish Stories Rock- A Selfish Reading of “Kids at War”

Depending on who’s asked, an author who writes themselves into their stories is either egotistical and self important, or a mega genius with high emotional intelligence. To be honest, I think it’s a little bit of both. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, not at all. And one might be thinking, “dude, is that really what you took from that entire lecture?” And maybe they might have a point. Charles Hatfield, author of “Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby” and various other works does an amazing job of explaining the connections of Jack Kirby’s comics with the various things surrounding his life. Overall, the main thing that could be taken away from the lecture is that comics, at least the state that they are in today, would not exist without war. Propaganda, pain, escapism, boyhood; it's not even a debate that Kirby, maybe the most influential person in comic history, made his comics to reflect on his feelings of nostalgia for his discomforting childhood. As Hatfield puts it, “We share our books to our children, continuing to be children, even when they're adults. An unorthodox way of teaching kids to grow up” (Hatfeild). Kirby made stories such as The Newsboy Legion, Boy Commandos, Boy Explorers, Boy’s Ranch just to name a few. While they can be seen as stories written for little boys, and they most certainly are, I feel like there’s more to it. These stories are clearly love letters from

Jack Kirby to his boy self. They are a romanticization of his rough street kid childhood. He’s crafted an aesthetic around his memories of being a rambunctious and ratty boy. These types of comics are what he probably would've wanted to read as a child, but there was nothing like that around at the time for his childhood self to open up and get lost in its pages. They are completely self indulgent, and I love every aspect of that unrestrained story telling. Their wacky and often violent elements are so incredibly boyish and obscene at times. I personally can relate to this type of self indulgence that he put out in his art. At age eleven, I decided that I would become a comic artist. I didn’t care how long it would take, or how much work I would need to put in. All I knew was that I wanted to... no had to be a storyteller. Now that I’m older and my art skills are more developed, I think I can say that eleven year old kid me would be incredibly proud of my current art skills and comic planning drafts. Similarly to Kirby, the type of art and stories that I want to make aren’t really for anyone else but my adolescent self. Like I said before, Kirby was likely making those comics somewhat to be marketed to children, but he also put most of himself into his stories for his own happiness. There’s something so fulfilling about reading a story where the ragtag team of punk kids beat the big bad with the power of friendship and pummeling them into the ground. Because deep down, everyone has that little boy in them who wants to leave the real world for a bit an fantasize about a place where they’re the big dogs.

- Isabella Valenzuela, The Unveiled Egos

[ayahachitwister]

5 and 13 for the ask game?

5. what inspires you to write?

To be honest? Just a pure, deep seated passion and a desire to make people happy through my writing.

When I was a kid, my sister and I would play with beanie babies. We made a whole world and story out of it… and we talked about writing it. Before I knew it, it was my dream to be the youngest published writer.

…Needless to say, that didn’t happen. And probably a good thing, ‘cause… my first few stories were rough. DX’

I started really writing with fanfiction when I was in high school. Started with Sonic, then switched mostly to the Tales series. And I knew back then that my writing needed work. My scenes were tiny little blips with just a bunch of dialogue. But I wanted to be better.

So with every story I published, I practiced. I challenged myself to get better and improve on the things I lacked. Nothing really motivated me to do so except that fire inside of me that wanted to share my stories with the world.

I still want that, more than anything. I want to write stories people will fall in love with, that’ll stick with them long after reading it… I want to make a positive impact with my stories.

I guess in a way, TWEWY also inspires me, ‘cause I dream of writing a story as wonderful and impactful as those games are.

But either way, as long as my stories make people happy, then that’s all that matters to me in the end~ 💕

13. who are your favorite writers?

…and darn, this is the question I was kinda dreading. 😅😅

As someone who also writes original stories, there’s a significant number of writers who think you have to read to be a good writer. And I don’t doubt that it helps… but I struggle to sit down and make time for reading a lot of the time. I’d just rather be writing.

Growing up, my favorite author was Tamora Pierce. But I haven’t really read a book like that in forever… and last one I read of hers, I just couldn’t get into the same way.

All that said, I do very much value the stories you can find in other mediums, from games to anime to movies. I’ve spent countless hours analyzing them with my friends, and that’s been my way to study what plot points work or don’t work and why.

Though, that also makes it hard to define my favorite writers… But if we were to look at manga, then I have three, along with reasons why~

Hiromu Arakawa: I absolutely love the world building of Fullmetal Alchemist. And I love how she built the plot into the whole country. It’s truly a wonderful, mysterious plot the characters have to figure out together, and Hiromu Arakawa does a beautiful job of building up to it while following a few different groups of characters.

Jun Mochizuki: While I haven’t been able to keep up with The Case Study of Vanitas due to the… uncomfortable bloodsucking scenes (sorry I’m ace, so those scenes just don’t work for me), Jun Mochizuki still has a place on this list due to the amazing writing of Pandora Hearts alone. The twists and turns the plot goes through are so captivating, and I strive to have a reveal as eye-opening as the whole Jack thing. If you haven’t read Pandora Hearts, read it. And if that manga’s anything to go by, then prepare for some huge revelations to come in The Case Study of Vanitas.

AidaIro: I only recently found Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, but it’s also an amazing work with lots of mystery. On top of that, I lovvveee the way they write the characters and comedic beats—they’re all so quirky and perfect, yet they’re allowed to get serious when the story calls for it. They somehow manage to bring together every little thing I love in writing in a way I can only hope to accomplish one day 💕

And… if you look at those examples, they all encompass one of the major things I said on the themes stuff before—mysterious, complex plots that change the status quo time and again. Combine that with amazing characters and a little lighthearted humor alongside the serious adventure, and you’ve just spelled out the perfect writing style for me 💕