#and i'm very critical of live action adaptations

[graunblida]

not me about to make lexa's pirate verse into a one piece au

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

[taragreenfield]

I've decided to be an anti-Darklina today. Antis, don't get excited, we are not going to talk about your favourite imaginary "grooming."

Darklina is a toxic ship, but not in the way most people think.

If they actually did get together, realistically I think it would be a horror show, and mostly for Aleksander. He is not perfect. He lived for so long, and his life wasn't easy, so of course it shaped him in a certain way. He's emotionally stunted; he struggles with trust and expressing his feelings and needs. The centuries of fighting and suffering taught him to be ruthless, to focus on a bigger picture and neglect individual feelings, his own or someone else's. But he tries. He tries to make her comfortable in the Little Palace so she could adapt to her new life as a Grisha. He does try to reason with Alina and sometimes indulges her with her demands even if she has no leverage. He tries to make her understand what he's doing and why it's important. He sits with her when she feels alone because her "healthy, wholesome" Mal goes out drinking and gambling again, even though she doesn't show Aleksander any kindness or sympathy. She tries to kill him, and he still offers her to rule together.

Alina, on the other hand, doesn't see him as a human from the get-go, and it never changes. She tells him that she heard he was born without a soul. After he saves her life, she recoils from his power (even though hers is not less deadly and destructive). She assumes he's going to torture her when he just asks her how her training is going. She briefly questions whether she hurt his feelings but immediately dismisses this idea. He's old and powerful; of course he has no feelings! She's hellbent on painting everything he does and says in the most ominous light, like when he says his men don't lie to him, and she immediately assumes it's because his men are deadly afraid of him. After Baghra tells her Aleksander is "evil", she immediately believes her (because it reaffirms her pre-existent bias). Later on, when she hears from a person who hasn't even met Aleksander in person(like Tolya, Tamar, or rogue Grisha) how horrible he is, she never questions it - it must be true. When she's presented with an opposing opinion, like Ivan's who believes that Aleksander is going to bring about positive change, she immediately dismisses it. There is a moment when Ivan, Aleksander and Alina are in the same room, and Ivan looks uncomfortable. Alina's conclusion? It's because Aleksander's own men start seeing what a monster he is! There is not a single thought in her head that Ivan considers Alina a deserter and traitor, and his discomfort is very likely caused by herself. At some point, Alina notices that Aleksander looks "human," which is very telling, as it implies that she doesn't see him as a human; he just resembles one sometimes. She once mentions looking in his eyes and seeing emptiness. And that's just such a shallow and cruel thing to say. The man who endured centuries of persecution, wars, violence, dehumanization, pain, and loneliness? The man who strived to build a safe haven for his people and never gave up on them? I'm sure his soul isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but empty? Maybe it's not him who is hollow; maybe it's her who is blind?

She immediately assumes her moral superiority over him, and I can't even fathom why. Because she's young? Because she hasn't killed as many people (yet)? Because light shines through her ass? She never actually proves that she's indeed more righteous than him, not by her acts of kindness, not by morally sound decisions. Most of her actions are selfish, immature, and sometimes cruel in their casual indifference. She can't even bring herself to empathize with anyone who is not firmly on her side. Her self-absorbedness and entitlement, together with her ignorance about politics, economics, societal issues, warfare, and anti-Grisha prejudice, make her look like a spoiled, mentally challenged toddler trying to criticize a nuclear physicist on his doctoral thesis.

At the core, I believe Aleksander is actually a better person than she could ever be. Aleksander was 13 when his friend tried to kill him to claim his bones as an amplifier. By that point, he had already experienced Grisha persecution, bigotry, life in constant fear, and isolation. Yet it didn't break him, didn't make him bitter and egotistical (like his mother was). It inspired him to create a safe haven for Grisha. He isn't even hateful to the girl who tried to kill him - he understood she was desperate to help her family. Alina discovers her powers when she is 17-18; she's taken to the palace, where she doesn't need to think about how to find shelter and food and save herself from the Druskelle. She has mentors to help her unlock her powers and the whole community of people like her. Yet she keeps feeling sorry for herself, stays indifferent to her people's plight, and is mostly worried if her toxic childhood bestie receives her letters. When Aleksander receives a boon from the king, he doesn't leave Ravka, doesn't build a mansion for himself, and doesn't start living like a rich, whimsical hermit. He builds the little palace that accepts Grisha from all around the world. Alina, after the Fold destruction, takes Nikolai's emerald and fucks off to her orphanage under a false name, leaving the country in ruins and Grisha persecuted worse than before. Which one of them is a selfish coward?

Alina doesn't see Aleksander as human; he is a grotesque monster, an eldritch horror, devoid of any feelings or emotions, a corruptive force threatening to "taint" her if she associates with him. She never shows him any empathy, never tries to understand where he comes from (I'm not saying she should agree with and endorse everything he does, just trying to understand), and never criticizes him in a constructive way, only passing judgment and calling him names. She is ashamed of her physical attraction to him, as it puts a stain on her saintly reputation. She doesn't see him as a man who was shaped by life in fear, constant persecution, dehumanization, struggle, and the broken system he wants to change; she sees him as a power-hungry demon who one day spawned from hell and started wreaking havoc just because he can. The only time she shows him a semblance of empathy is when he dies in her arms(and she stabbed him, mind you). Who doesn't want a partner who can only love you after they kill you?

So if they ever got together, I can bet she would weaponize her "goodness", making him feel like she is doing him a favor by giving him time of her day, like he doesn't deserve her. She would immediately jump to the worst conclusions about him, neglect his feelings, ignore his pain, and only judge him for every misstep. She would stay emotionally distant, unable to show him real affection and understanding. She would become one of those partners who withhold their attention and affection like a carrot on a stick and demand their partner always be "good" if they want to get any. Worse than that, she would make her shame and discomfort obvious, treating her entanglement with him as some sort of moral decay. She might not be physically abusive or particularly controlling, but the emotional abuse she would unleash on him will be infinitely more soul-crushing, mentally devastating, and dehumanizing than any physical blows can get. Especially for a man who's been struggling with emotional starvation and crippling loneliness for centuries. She will destroy everything that is still there to destroy and won't even notice.

[theotherwesley]

I'm going to posit something that may sound a little weird at first: but I think the same kind of dissatisfaction that leads people into questionable or dangerous reactionary movements, is the same dissatisfaction that leads people to start witch hunts and dog piling on social media, is the same dissatisfaction that gets people into new age, vibes-based "health" and "cleansing your toxins" lifestyles, is the same dissatisfaction that leads people into an Marie Antoinette-style obsession with cottagecore and the nostalgia for an imaginary bucolic lifestyle that never really existed. It's estrangement from results, particularly direct results.

This is essentially just the Theory of Alienation, but the connective tissue between cult-of-action-to-cottagecore hit me in a particular way that made me want to dig into the specifics in terms of internet phenomena.

Just about every aspect of the computer-bound/computer-dependent lifestyle is geared towards separating people from process from product. We don't see the results, we don't see the mechanisms, we don't see the other people involved. So the prospect of working outdoors to plant something nourishing and be able to see and enjoy the results is intoxicating (especially if you don't rely on doing it for a living). So is the idea that you can just pick up a weapon and make something happen. So is the idea that you can punish people for real or much more often perceived crimes directly without waiting on due process. So is the idea that you don't have to throw yourself on the mercy of a doctor who trivializes and ignores your symptoms to the tune of hundreds or thousands of dollars. Hell, the obsession with generative AI being pedaled as a "solution" to the apparent "gatekeeping" of "talent" (or time/labor/compensation) is stemming from the same thing. There are plenty of examples but the roots connect. Returning to the theory of alienation for a second-- is not an accident that we have been separated from each other and from our labor, it is unimaginably profitable for the ones selling us things and keeping us beholden to them for scraps and pennies our entire lives. It is killing us. It has been killing us. Some people exponentially more than others. You know this, you're living in it.

I don't have a plan for the Revolution or whatever but I am pretty convinced that it is critically, vitally important that we Make Real Things, with our hands and brains and with other people-- real art, food, friends, crafts, tools, stories, clothes, fun; help with something, do things for people, grow something, fix something, learn something. Get a result you can see that's YOURS and GOOD and not a product of consumerism or fear. --Are there obstacles to all these things? Oh baby, are there ever! That's the point! That's the problem!! <-THE PROBLEM. This isn't a judgement!! We are all fucking struggling!!!

Making real things is essential not in a woo-woo way but in a practice so you can improve way. So many people are convinced they can't make things simply because they haven't made things before. Start somewhere, anywhere, and you can build the confidence to in yourself that you can do more. It will help you adapt and strengthen yourself in a world that is trying very hard to keep you powerless and isolated. Again -> The point. People end up seeking things that make them FEEL like they've made an instant change in the world, or feel like they're escaping the rat race, or anything that feels like regaining power over their lives.

But if you don't also control where that feeling comes from, you are open to being manipulated by all manner of opportunistic and predatory forces. If you create something tangible/observable within your own means (and this does NOT preclude collaboration), you made something of value and that value remains with you, to do with as you wish.

That's empowerment. It can be practiced and nurtured, in fact it MUST be.

[iasmelaion]

Murderbot TV Show 1x01-1x02

A preface to my Murderbot TV show thoughts: I'm going into this adaptation in good faith and with the cheerful acceptance that it's basically a very high budget AU fic. I'm not going into it expecting to be mad and disappointed, and the casting of Alexander Skarsgard as Murderbot hasn't entirely poisoned the well for me, even if I'd have preferred a different actor.

So all in all, I enjoyed the first two episodes! Spoilers below:

The more comedic tone of the show so far is a (mostly) fun and interesting adaptation choice IMO. This more comedic tone is, I suspect, a big stumbling block for a lot of book lovers, because while the books certainly have comedic elements, I'd say they lean more towards the scifi action end of things. And I admit, I myself was somewhat concerned about the show being described as something of a workplace comedy. However, as anyone who's ever read any of my fic knows, I am dedicated to lolz. Also, I don't think comedy precludes the show addressing the more serious themes of the books. (And I frankly think some more critical viewers are forgetting how some of those themes got more page time later on in the series, particularly when it comes to Murderbot and its trauma.)

My main concern with a more comedic tone was that the show wouldn't take Murderbot itself and its horrifying situation seriously. Thankfully, it does. Even amidst the comedy, the first two episodes do not shy away from being clear that Murderbot is effectively enslaved and that it's treated as a piece of smart equipment, while everything about its internal monologue and visible reactions are screaming that it is a person.

Relatedly, I really liked the strong undercurrent of discomfort and body horror around everything to do with Murderbot's body and lived experience. There are moments that are genuinely uncomfortable to watch, and which aren't played for laughs other than in the anxious wtf kind of laughter way.

Skarsgard is great as Murderbot! lol truly he is exceptional at absolutely radiating discomfort and anxiety and stress. He doesn't do it in quite the way my mental image of Murderbot does, but it's very close.

Unlike many others, I'm not wholly opposed to casting someone that looks like Skarsgard as Murderbot. Is it different from the books? Yes. Is it a valid and interesting in its own right adaptation choice? Also yes. I think there's something to be said for the subversion of someone with Skarsgard's physicality playing Murderbot, in the sense that the expectation with a character like this is a Schwarzenegger type robotic muscle man. You get that with Skarsgard, and then it's immediately undercut by Murderbot's wildly anxious energy and internal monologue. (also, frankly, even setting aside practical concerns re star power etc., I'm not going to fault a creative team for deciding to sidestep the thorny issues of having a NB POC portray an enslaved construct whose personhood is regularly violated. There's a real tightrope there between valuable representation and harmful/problematic tropes that a TV show might not have the ability to walk with the appropriate amount of nuance.)

My nitpick re Murderbot's character design: I really imagined it with more robot parts. We see Murderbot naked in the show, and while it's much appreciated that it's basically Ken doll down there, I generally envisioned that it had a mixture of organic and visibly robotic parts. Still, whatever, I'm not that fussed. I figure it's more practical and budget friendly to not have to deal with that level of makeup and CGI for nearly every scene.

There's a lot to chew on, thematically, when it comes to Murderbot's character: its relationship to gender & sexuality, its presentation as neurodivergent, its bodily autonomy and the lack thereof, humanity vs personhood and how those two things don't have to be the same thing, and just plain good old-fashioned bildungsroman. The show so far seems to be focusing on how very not neurotypical Murderbot is, and somewhat on the bodily autonomy stuff. Perfectly reasonable adaptation choices!

Genuinely baffled by the people I've seen already wildly offended and dooming about the pronoun usage for Murderbot in the show. In show, Murderbot itself has not yet expressed or even been able to express a preference. It, frankly, has more pressing shit going on. Also, benign misgendering happens IRL! Give the show some time to explore the tensions between assuming he/him pronouns for Murderbot and using it/its instead, because there are tensions there and it is meant to be an uncomfortable thing to think about. Also, the books took their time with that too!

While I am overall delighted by the PresAux crew and their portrayals by their individual actors, I'm a little :/ about how they're presented overall. This is where the comedic tone feels a bit off because on the one hand, I get it, workplace comedy vibes. But on the other hand, the aim of the jokes is sometimes too close to hippie punching. I'm reserving judgment and giving the show some time on that front though. It's a notable lacuna thus far that the show hasn't actually explained what PresAux are even doing on the planet yet.

Love the set design and production design, and the costuming for the PresAux crew!

The clear affection between the PresAux crew is also delightful. They're all so sweetly and hilariously supportive of Gurathin!

Why is Bharadwaj hoarding soap. I MUST know.

RISE AND FALL OF SANCTUARY MOON!! :DDDDD "what if murderbot's taste in tv is bad, actually" is the kind of hilarious adaptation choice that I'm 1000% here for.

Med Center Argala shoutout!!! lol love that this extremely niche SGA fic in-joke lives on and is now canonized in a big budget tv show :DDDD

[kaardbord]

Fantasy High Webtoon - Pros, Cons, Personal Thoughts

Get ready for an absurd amount of text.

I went ahead and paid for all of the episodes of the Webtoon currently available, so please proceed with caution if you've just read the free episodes. (If you've seen FHFY, though, there's really no new content for you to worry about being spoiled on.) As always, it's my opinion, you are feel to disagree with me because I am but a human with a much-too strong attachment to the characters of this actual play.

You'll notice there's a lot more cons than pros: This doesn't mean I dislike the comic, I just find it easier to verbalize criticisms than compliments when it comes to adaptations of things I love. I want the things I love to do well, and that comes with me sort of being a bit of a pedantic nerd, so of course, feel free to call me out and/or disagree in the comments.

TL;DR: It's a fine Webtoon, for me. It doesn't quite do what the original does for me, and that's fine. I disagree with pacing, characterization, and some design choices, but ultimately, it's a good Webtoon and I would recommend it to most anyone.

Pros:

- It's a funny webcomic. The jokes land (for the most part), the original jokes feel right at home in the world of Spyre (for the most part), and none of it feels too forced at any point.

- The dialogue is good! As in, it doesn't feel like I'm reading robots talking to each other. It's natural, it flows, I like it.

- Character designs I like wholeheartedly: Riz, Adaine, Fig, Aguefort, HELIO.

- I love the little details, like Hargis in the background of the theater kids. It's fun, I like it.

- Aguefort's writing as a whole. He's fantastic, it feels like bits you'd see Brennan do in the show, I love it. Fantastic job with Aguefort.

- The world feels natural. It doesn't turn and wink at the camera and go "isn't this crazy???" It trusts it's absurdity and it trusts the audience to roll with it.

- A lot of the art is adorable! I am a sucker for just adorable, lovely art of the characters I love and I'm very glad this Webtoon is chock-full of it.

- I adore Bill Seacaster's characterization. He's perfect and I love him and he can do no wrong, I don't see a way to ever ruin this character and I'm glad he's as energetic on the page as on the screen.

Cons (some will be nitpicky, I will own that):

- I dislike the characterization and dialogue choices, primarily with Riz. He feels like a different character, and there's a lot of little stuff that makes him feel off. Acknowledging he's an introvert, actively spying on Penelope and Sam rather than being intuitive and not just HAPPENING to have the right gadget, it's little stuff that makes him feel real rather than just 'the detective of the season."

- I don't like the Live, Laugh, Loot mug. I don't like the "Are you my dad?" joke, it loses it's humor not knowing who Gorgug is and having him explain why he said what he said makes it less funny.

- I won't say it's too Riz-centric because they've branched out starting on the very last episode, but I will say the Corn Cuties fight lost a lot of what it was due to the audience not knowing who the characters are. I cannot imagine the deaths of Gorgug and Kristen being as shocking and stomach-dropping when you barely know who they are. With this, the decision to push episode 1 activities to AFTER the Corn Cuties actively hinders the battle, and it's just an unnecessary change. You don't need to race to the action, you need you let your characters breathe.

- The pacing is very fast. I understand adaptations need to trim some fat, it happens, but what the Webtoon cuts is important to the characters. Cutting the character's moments with their families already makes it feel like we're losing a bit of heart in this adaptation, but I also won't say it doesn't have heart at all, because we're only eight episodes in.

- I dislike the character designs for Dayne Blade, Ragh Barkrock, and Gorgug Thistlespring. I don't really like the artstyle but I won't hold that as a con of the Webtoon. I will hold Dayne's design as a con of it, though.

- Local Webtoon artist doesn't know how an active fencer would use a rapier.

- I dislike the change to make Penny the latest girl kidnapped. It's small, yes, but I think it's important to Riz's character that he only really cares about the missing girls because it was someone he cared about, that's why he's so focused on this mystery, and they make it clear he's been deep in the mystery long before she went missing. I don't like that---again, it's the little things with characterization.

- They cell phone-ified the crystals. It's annoying to me.

- Nobody jumps on tables on the Corn Cuties fight, and this leads to a big problem I have with the fight in general---there's not personality to it. Fabian is good at fighting, that makes him more insufferable. Riz single-handedly solves the problem and connects all the dots, it makes the other Bad Kids seem useless. And Riz not running to find help is, again, another punch to characterization. Adaine not killing Doreen, but keeping Doreen's speech to her, lessens the impact. Fig not connecting with Doreen but still taking her fishnet BOTH is a punch to her characterization and lessens the impact.

- And, lastly, on that Fabian point: he is, so far, unlikable. Saving the first serving of him being punched down til episode 8 was, in my opinion, a bad call. In the first two episodes alone, Fabian doesn't make it onto the Owlbears, he's shot down by Goldenhoard twice, he makes a fool of himself through the entire Corn Cuties battle, and he's got Lou Wilson's natural charisma to back him up. None of this happens to Webtoons Fabian. I won't hold not having Lou's charisma against it, of course, but everything else I will. Saving the Corn Cuties battle for a few episodes down the road might've been the better option here.

All in all, it's fine. Its good so far, I'll keep reading, I just fear it won't be able to really flesh out the Bad Kids, continue characterization them, and sort of suck a bit of personality out of Fantasy High. But, I don't expect that to happen, and I certainly don't want it to happen. Just a fear.

[likeabxrdinflight]

I want to talk more about the way the characters have been adapted for the live action adaptation, because character writing is the thing I care about the most and as a psychologist it's probably the aspect of any story that I'm most invested in. I can get around pretty much any plot contrivance or weird maguffin or even shitty pacing if the characters of a story are engaging enough. This is my bread and butter, so to speak.

And I want to start with Iroh, because I think he is by far the best adapted character from the original. But I suspect I think this for different reasons than other people might, because the beloved Saint Iroh from the animated show this man is not.

See the thing with animated Iroh is that he's just...a bit too perfect. We know he's been complicit in the war in the past. We know he laid siege to Ba Sing Se, we know he had a complicated past. But we never really see it, we only barely hear about it, and more often than not there are other aspects of Iroh's past that serve to further deify him. He was a general in the war, but then he goes on to protect the last dragons and learn the true meaning of firebending. He led a 600-day siege and lost his son but he came out of that experience Enlightened, having journeyed to and from the spirit world. He joins up with the White Lotus (at some point) and becomes the wise old sage we know and love.

Except most of that is revealed in later seasons and is inconsistent with his actions alongside Zuko in season one. Season one animated Iroh is kind of a passive character, largely existing for comic relief and as a support to Zuko. But there's very little to suggest he's disloyal to the Fire Nation or their cause. He says it himself- "I'm no traitor, Zhao!" Now you can certainly interpret that line in several different ways, but I suppose that's the point- there's a lot left up to interpretation with animated Iroh. We get a sense of who he is in relation to Zuko, but his own development largely happens off-screen. And because to Zuko he's a wise, caring uncle and mentor, that's largely how we, the audience, see Iroh. We love him because Zuko loves him. And that's fine for what it is, and clearly it was effective- Uncle Iroh is almost universally beloved. But it does leave a lot of questions about him up in the air.

Live action Iroh is a very different character. This Iroh is a deeply broken man who was been profoundly impacted by the war and what he has lost because of it. I do not get the sense that the loss of Lu Ten has led to any spiritual enlightenment for this Iroh- there's no indication that he can see spirits, for example, or that he has ever traveled to the spirit world himself (he does still oppose the killing the moon thing, though.)

Right out the gate, we get the sense that this Iroh has lost faith in what the Fire Nation is trying to achieve with the war. He explains to Aang fairly early on what the Fire Nation's goal and perspective is, and can rattle off this dogma quite easily. But when questioned by Aang if these beliefs are also his beliefs, he dodges them rather un-deftly. So you know immediately that this Iroh doesn't really support the war. Later you see him somewhat bluntly telling Zuko that the throne may not be all it's cracked up to be, and he's fairly openly critical of Ozai in other moments. So you know from the jump that Iroh's not really on Team Fire Nation.

And yet this is also not a truly repentant man. When he is captured in Omashu, Iroh gets another brief scene with Aang while they are both imprisoned there (this is before Aang meets with Bumi). And in this scene, Aang tries to convince Iroh to help Zuko stop being The Bad Guy. And Iroh defends Zuko to Aang and stresses the point that it is not Zuko who owes him any great debt, but he who owes Zuko. Later, when he is confronted (and hit several times) by an Earth Kingdom soldier who lost his brother during the siege, Iroh does not apologize. He does not flinch at the man's accusations, nor does he deny them. He defends himself, albeit weakly, by stating he was a soldier, and it was a war. He has the audacity to accuse this soldier (somewhat obliquely) of having been made dishonorable by the effects of war. It's kinda messed up, honestly.

But then this man accuses Iroh of knowing nothing of loss. He leaves the shot, and we saw Iroh's face just crumble, and the scene cuts directly to Lu Ten's funeral, where Zuko chooses to sit with his uncle and support him through what must have been the darkest moment of his life. Back in the present, it is only later, after Zuko has come to rescue Iroh, that he speaks more honestly to the Earth Kingdom soldier- he shows mercy and states that they've all "seen enough death."

So what we have here is an Iroh who is deeply disenchanted by the war and does not support it or the goals of the Fire Nation, but who has continued to stand alongside Zuko and support him in his goals. We have a man who doesn't necessarily regret his actions as a soldier in the war but who very much does regret what those actions have cost. We see a man who is profoundly impacted by loss and grief and has become emotionally reliant on his nephew as a source of support. Not that he's parentifying Zuko or anything, he's very much not, but he is rather obviously channeling all the love he once felt for his son into Zuko instead. Zuko is his lifeline, he needs Zuko and you get the sense that without him, Iroh would truly fall apart. I mean the man is on the verge of tears more often than not when Zuko is in even the slightest bit of danger in a way that animated Iroh was not.

This is what I think is different here. Animated Iroh seemed to turn against the war because it was morally wrong, it had thrown the world out of balance, and imperialism is bad. Live action Iroh seems against the war because it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the cost, or the death, or the grief. He couldn't see that until he lost Lu Ten, but now he sees it everywhere. I get the sense that this Iroh just wants it all to stop, and I'm not sure he cares how that happens.

The White Lotus is definitely hinted at, but I suspect that was his motivation for joining it. It's not about restoring balance to the world for this Iroh. It's about restoring peace, so that he won't have to lose Zuko like he lost Lu Ten. So that the death and destruction stops. So he can just live a quiet life and put the past behind him.

It's a different take. And it's not that he doesn't still have a lot of wisdom to him, that he's not still a gentle, caring person. But he's a much sadder person, and he's lost that sense of "enlightenment" that his animated counterpart had. There's a selfishness you can read into to this version of his character that's much more apparent than the animated version.

I think a lot of people are gonna hate this, because it's a darker take on a much loved character. But I love it. This Iroh is human, this Iroh is flawed, and this Iroh has a lot more growing left to do. And that's awesome. If we get to actually see more of a character arc for him too, if we get to see him also growing and changing alongside Zuko? Please. It's not like he needs a total redemption arc, per se, but if in his journey with Zuko throughout the Earth Kingdom we can see Iroh gain some of his fortitude back, we can see when he decides he needs to push Zuko down a certain path, to take a side in the war, to see that it's not just the death and destruction that makes it wrong? God there's so much potential with that.

Now, maybe this isn't what will happen with seasons two and three. Maybe they'll back track and try to make him more similar to the animated version. I don't know. But for now? Live action Iroh is fantastic, and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is giving a hell of a performance. He's warm and tender when he needs to be, fierce when he has to, and just profoundly sad throughout it all. And I love him so much more for that.

I'll be controversial here and say it. So far, live action Iroh is a better character than animated Iroh.

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on the live-action adaptation of The Murderbot Diaries, Episodes 1: FreeCommerce and 2: Eye Contact:

I enjoyed them well enough. I have criticisms but I'm gonna keep watching. It was funny and entertaining. If you haven't read the books and are at all interested in the series based on the show, I would highly recommend reading them (also the first novella, which the show is based on, is super cheap, and as it's a novella, short). They are much better and funnier. Spoilers below for the books and show

From the get-go: after the first teaser was released, I reread All Systems Red in one sitting, and a good chunk of Artificial Condition. Yes, the story is being massively changed, kind of like they disassembled a puzzle, reassembled the pieces in ways that mostly fit but aren't intended, and then painted over a lot of it so it largely looks right, while the paint is dripping. The core plot is there, particularly at least the major plot beats. Although two cast members have been removed and one added (the latter of which will presumably be in a future episode), and a number of character relationships have been modified as a result, the cast is generally the same. So it's not like "this is entirely different" but rewrites have occurred, which changes a lot, even if, at its heart, it is still very much the same narrative. Anyone who is insisting they haven't changed much or it's basically the story, is not being honest and/or has not reread the books in a while. That's not to say all the changes are bad because they are changes, but the changes exist. A lot of how that works out in the end is subjective.

I like the opening animation. I think it's a cute. I have a soft spot for animated toy openings.

It's a choice but also makes sense to make things more chronological, starting with Murderbot disabling its governor module, while also demonstrating just how much humans abuse it and why it would want to do that. I still think the human hitting it and bouncing off of it is very funny. And I like the armor design. A lot of changes were made to better explain things to an audience that works better for live-action television than books. That's fine as a concept. Again, how it ends up working out for an audience is largely subjective.

The problem with me talking about this show is that I never was able to track who was who among the human cast while reading, except for Mensah lol I care most about Murderbot, ART, and Mensah, so that was kind of it on my list. Humans were just Other. Thus, remembering who is who while learning who is who on the show is EXCITING! But I shall do my best.

I'm not the happiest with describing PreservationAux as "hippies". That's not a term I could find in the books anywhere, so this seems to be a show thing. From a writing angle to a new audience angle, I get why someone might have used it, but it makes no sense for Murderbot to use it (hypothetically it might know what a hippie is, but as a narrative framing reference, it's so far beyond the concept of hippies that it seems weird to use it as a descriptor) and the general narrative step away from treating Murderbot's company as Massive Capitalism Evil Metaphor combined with "Murderbot's new clients are hippies" is not really something I'm into. They might just be slow-building it, and it's not like they weren't upfront with "what's happening with Murderbot is a form of slavery" and also "what's happening with Murderbot is generally horrifying and this is a person they could just murder for parts as desired", but... I don't know. There's a vibe to it I'm not thrilled about, and "hippie" combined with the painting and the singing and the dancing and whatnot is just... hmm. The show seems more focused on how weird PreservationAux is rather than Capitalism Evil, and I'm less trusting of that shift, given, you know, Apple.

The contract scene was very weird in the sense that they were trying to very awkwardly infodump during a contract negotiation and as a result it was perhaps one of the oddest contract negotiations I've seen, even incorporating the science fiction elements. But it's fine for what it is, I suppose.

Volescu has seemingly been removed from the story, at least for this season. In the initial rescue sequence, Arada takes his place. Overse was also for some reason deleted from the story. I would be less averse to shrinking the cast for simplicity if I didn't know, from the trailer, that they're going to add another human worker somewhere, presumably from DeltFall. As someone who's still having trouble recalling who's who - though writing this and watching the show are helping me stick names to faces - shrinking the cast is again not necessarily an issue. But it's a different story.

I was truly not expecting Clark Gregg looking like he just walked off a production of The Wizard of Oz. I know his bit is in the first trailer, but for some reason, I guess because I was distracted by everything else, I didn't process that it was him lol He was funny for all he was not in there long. The Sanctuary Moon bits were, as expected, great. Also loved John Cho, as expected. Great stuff.

I'm still not a fan of how Murderbot is carrying Bharadwaj wrong. It specifically carries her in a bridal carry in the book to keep her alive (or at least that sounds like that's how it's carrying her), and there's a lot we learn about its competence for doing that. Carrying her like a potato sack so her organs and fluids fall everywhere as she bounces on its shoulder indicates a carelessness that just isn't there. Murderbot can be careless, but not like this.

Ratthi's hot. Just gonna say.

Not into how the team is so excited to sexually harass Murderbot from the get-go. From the trailer I'm guessing this is going to be Ratthi's growth from fuckboi to respectful (well slightly less of a fuckboi I guess), but um... Hmm. Also again, maybe part of the whole "hippie" thing? Yes, PreservationAux is proudly queer and full of polyamorous folks who are happy to fuck, but also... hmm.

I really like Mensah. She's great, as always (with caveats, which are largely narrative choices). I also like Bharadwaj. And poor Pin-Lee, trying to support their wife (probably one of the funnier moments in the show was when she sees Arada jump Ratthi and is like "uh, I have to get involved in this somehow" and it's so relatable when writing orgies). Honestly, the whole cast is really great. We were all worried it wouldn't stay queer, given the state of live-action television these days. Yes, it's very queer. That's lovely.

I'm not the biggest fan of focusing on MurderKen. There sure were a lot of shots of that. I get that it's Skarsgard, they're basically obligated to show his nude body at least once cause Hollywood Sexyman, but... mm.

I think it's funny they made me hate Gurathin for largely different reasons than the books make you hate Gurathin lol Like yes, he's a paranoid asshole and a massive dick to Murderbot. In this... he's also extremely weird and asks incredibly bizarre questions (because he's being used to infodump) and Murderbot is... a bit warier than it probably should be of him based on what it knows. Maybe people think he's just Gurathin being Gurathin but he felt weird in a way entirely different from how he is at least in All Systems Red. It still reads as him. Just... different. Maybe if I really shipped Murderbot and Gurathin I'd have enjoyed it more, I don't know. I'm happy for those shippers, though!

I did enjoy the end bit in Episode 2 where Gurathin talks to Mensah. That was nice. The show demonstrates that he's a dick but he truly does care about his companions.

(This section added after the release of Episode 3) It actually still bothers me how much they changed the trip to check out the invisible/modified map parts. This bugged me when the episode aired, in part because of how much Murderbot was divorced from the plot, but there's other things that just speak to greater issues that are present in Episode 3. In All Systems Red, Mensah, Arada, Pin-Lee, Murderbot, and Ratthi all go on the trip together. So far as I can tell, Gurathin, Overse, Volescu, and Bharadwaj stay behind. By this point the humans are aware that there may be sabotage involved in the faulty maps. Murderbot keeps an eye on them as they move around, physically standing nearby and using cameras to observe the different parts of the scene. Murderbot is also far more proactive about being involved in things, noting that it's going beyond its programming to do that, in part because of what it did to its governor module. This was changed to a scene where, for no apparent reason, after being attacked, they go to an unknown location without their security unit, with only two crewmembers (intercut with the incredibly stupid interrogation). There are moments in this sequence that work. It also generally makes very little sense, and makes everyone involved seem extremely incompetent.

(Back to original thoughts) There were a lot of moments that had me genuinely laughing, like Mensah dropping the f-bomb, Mensah and Bharadawaj's chats (especially the one where they're getting prideful about their scientific specializations, very realistic), Gurathin trying to turn a chair that's not on wheels in a way that's not silly, etc. That kept me in a positive mood that still isn't fully pushed aside by the incredibly bad interrogation.

From a visual perspective, I also really liked the "Murderbot turns its head to face Gurathin" moment. It was a little awkward (as Murderbot always is), but it was also fun.

I was however generally more frustrated with how the story made Murderbot seem less competent than it is. Not just the carrying Bharadwaj, but also its detachment from the issue with the maps (it's supposed to be more involved in that), and its not pointing out as much how dangerous the company is. In the book, it's clear Murderbot knows more than the crew, but is keeping quiet out of self-preservation, but because those thoughts aren't being shown somehow, it looks more like Murderbot is following the humans' lead, even if Murderbot is clearly more aware of at least some threats, namely leaving the hub without a SecUnit and how dangerous SecUnits are.

The story is a lot more focused on the humans, and that's understandable and honestly expected, but frustrating. I care a lot more about Murderbot (and the criticism of capitalism), not the human dynamics, no matter how much I understand someone jumping Ratthi's bones.

I hope we get more of Murderbot's obsession with drones and how cool they are. We saw the one, which was nice, but that wasn't even one of Murderbot's drones.

I also appreciated we got its insistence on viewing scenes through cameras rather than its eyes. Murderbot is awkward and has anxiety, and although they don't explain why (that it's part of the unintended side effects of Murderbot's design), I enjoyed seeing how it was all executed on-screen, by and large. Murderbot sitting down in the chair was good.

Also yes, while we've argued over this ever since the announcement was made, I do think it is still a missed opportunity - at best - that the main character is played by a cis white man rather than a queer person of color, particularly someone who's non-binary or agender. I think Skarsgard does fine in the role, like I imagined he might. But they could have done a lot more with it. There's a moment where Gurathin looks at Murderbot and says like, "I just look at you and think there's something wrong" and my thought was "yeah, it's that "white men are dangerous" vibe".

Looking forward to Episode 3!

If you haven't read the books, again, consider checking them out! Kobo sells DRM-free copies, too.

Other thoughts:

Episodes 1-2 (You are here), Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5

[peechglaze]

I think its very funny that s1 had so many criticisms about joel being “too soft” and “not killing enough people” and now in s2 people are saying the same thing about ellie 💀 father and daughter fr. no but seriously its also driving me crazy that people say they’re making ellie incompetent. joel got into situations in s1 that he would not have survived if ellie was not there (being choked in kansas city, being stabbed at university). was joel also “incompetent”? ellie is a 19 year old girl shes not some trained super soldier. okay maybe dina has to help her out at times. but she ALSO helps dina. they help each other survive! just like how joel and ellie helped each other survive! why does ellie get so little grace for this I’ll never understand. also, ellie is extremely stealthy and small and uses these things to her advantage (sneak up on guy at radio station, crawl into small spaces). this version of ellie it simply would not work for her to be dropping bodies left and right and thats Okay. doesn’t mean shes not angry about joel’s death, just means she knows she can’t go 1 v 6 soldiers on her own.

Very nicely said, anon!!!

I think a lot of this boils down to something I've been meaning to talk about, and probably will again when we wrap up s2-- which is the differences between video games and TV shows.

We all know and have heard the differences between storytelling in games vs shows/movies, but I think we also need to take into account the medium in general.

Ellie dropping bodies all the time in the games is a video game mechanic. It is part of the experience of playing the games. It's not even entirely necessary, because there's plenty of playthroughs that rely on stealth alone. Hell, sometimes I just fucking book it and run through levels because I don't have the resources or the patience to kill every single enemy (looking directly at you, Hillcrest!!!). This is part of the reason why people feel like the plot is moving too fast, because they're not adding in all of the waves of enemies you have to go through as you get from plot point to plot point.

Ellie Williams canonically kills seven people and one dog (plus a handful of infected). Spoilers for the second game, but Jordan isn't even in the show, Brittany is also presumably not in the show considering she was meant to be in the Hospital sequence, and the rest we haven't even run into yet.

So far Ellie is entirely on track for people she actually kills. She's killed even more than that, random soldiers and infected.

But this argument can go the other way too, right? Because Joel only canonically kills one soldier, Jerry, and Marlene in the Hospital at the end of Part I-- yet in the show they have him kill 18 soldiers and one doctor. So what's stopping them from doing the same for Ellie?

I think that just boils down to catering to the TV viewer, which is an unfortunate side effect to getting these adaptations. It's why, even though I love getting them, I will never be upset at a game being just a game.

It's a lot more difficult for TV viewers to suspend their belief when watching a live-action series, especially in a world where the only difference to the one we live in is the addition of zombies.

It's why they changed the spores to tendrils, because in a real world situation, spores would not stop at a train tunnel opening. A wooden door would not be enough to stop them seeping through. They would stick to your clothes, your skin. Spores, realistically, would be a nightmare to keep contained like they are (somewhat) in the games. But we understand that when we come across them, that this is a level. This is just added difficulty to the area we are in. People are already raising their eyebrows about the spores just from the end of last weeks episode. It's inevitable.

I'm not trying to call TV viewers stupid, there's just no 🤷 video games, amiright? 🤷 excuses when it comes to watching a TV show.

Anyways, Ellie is perfectly capable in the show, and she's proven in episode 5 that she can hold her own. She makes it all the way into the Hospital by herself. Like you said, she uses her skills and size to sneak around, because there is no way that a TV viewer is going to see a 19 year old who has never been formally trained, take on an entire hospital of soldiers and find that realistic in any way.

She's on a suicide mission and is being reckless, but that doesn't mean that she wants to be killed by a random WLF grunt before she can even get to Abby.

Should they have done it anyways? Made her kill all of those soldiers? Maybe. But I think they're showing Ellie's anger and ruthlessness in other ways that make up for that fact, and are sometimes much more effective for the story they've been telling so far.

I also don't think Dina is outshining Ellie by the way, or is more 'competent' than her at all. Dina and Ellie excel in different areas which they've made very clear, but I think we're just not used to seeing Dina have her own agency. We're used to Dina following us around as we play as Ellie. We're used to taking the lead, having Dina cover us and stay on Shimmer as we run around. Now that it's a show, they can't just stick Dina in a corner while Ellie does everything.

[natlacentral]

Avatar: Netflix Will Make Live-Action Toph More 'Feminine' (Exclusive)

Miya Cech's Toph being older won't be the only change that Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender will make with the character.

Netflix's live-action adaptation had mixed reactions from fans and critics regarding its changes to the animated series, specifically with some characters. For example, the live-action series portrayed Katara as more timid and insecure than her animated counterpart.

Toph's new actress, Miya Cech, recently revealed some changes to her character, like the earthbending prodigy being "a little bit older" due to her casting. However, this newest change with Toph might not go over well with many fans.

In an interview with The Direct on the red carpet for Marshmellow, a sci-fi horror film about campfire stories coming to life, Miya Cech was asked how her portrayal of Toph in Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender would differ from the animated series.

Cech reaffirmed changes like Toph being "a little older," but she also confirmed that the Earthbender will be "slightly more feminine" in the live-action series:

"My version of Toph is going to be a little older and slightly more feminine. I feel like I wanted to work into a very humanizing space for her because, you know, she was a cartoon."

Cech also mentioned how she had met with Toph's original voice actor, Michaela Jill Murphy, and how both of them have "a very similar take in terms of process"with the character:

"I have met Makayla who plays the voice of Toph, and I feel like we have both a very similar take in terms of process."

Toph grappling with her femininity isn't a completely foreign concept, as the original animated series briefly touched on it.

It sounds sacrilegious to refer to Toph as "feminine," but Cech did strain that her version will only be "slightly" more feminine. While the animated series portrayed her as your typical tomboy, it did touch on her feminine side a few times.

The most blatant example was in Season 2, Episode 15, "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," where she and Katara go on "a girls day out" at a spa. Despite her apprehension, Toph ended up having a great time with Katara, admitting, "I'm not usually into that stuff, but I actually feel...girly," with the two caked in makeup. 

It even showed how Toph grappled with her appearance and how it connected to her blindness, ending in a touching moment with Katara, who reaffirmed Toph's best qualities while also affirming to the young Earthbender that she was "really pretty," which Toph appreciated.

Another aspect of the character in the live-action series that could be explored more is her knowledge of high society as the child of a wealthy and respected family. While Toph acted nothing of the sort in the animated series, it was because she "learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it."

No matter the changes, executive producer Jabbar Raisani teased fans that Toph's debut and change to the gang's dynamic would be faithful to the animated series. It just depends on how much the live-action series will crank up Toph's limited feminine qualities from the cartoon and how it will delve into them.

[twig-tea]

I haven't been posting about it week to week but I have been keeping up with My Love Mix-up (the Thai adaptation) and I'm still sitting with how badly this latest episode (ep7) is sitting with me. I just have to purge this so I can move on. Criticism of the adaptation below [including spoilers through to the end of episode 7 and very vague spoilers for the source material].

I wish these show writers would not try to shoehorn an adapted work into the bubble, because this line they are trying to walk is disturbing. By having an older gay character tell Atom that he shouldn't characterize his relationship as different, it's suggesting that societal norms and social expectations are not real, but are something Atom invented. His fear is treated as a joke and an overreaction, something to overcome, and everything I've heard from Thai people in the real world tell me that is very much not the case. This is such a different message from the original manga and Japanese live action, which were both about having the strength to defend your relationship in front of obstacles and trust the people in your lives who have earned it. There's a huge difference between learning not to live in fear even though there are realistic things to be concerned about, and learning your fear was misguided/not based in reality after all so you can just let it go. Queer kids should not be taught to not trust their instincts about who to trust with their truths.

This is the same mistake GMMTV made with the changes they made to 23.5, and it tells me their writers fundamentally don't understand internalized homophobia. You don't develop internalized homophobia in a homophobia-free bubble--kids are not born with it, it has to be learned. We are taught to hate ourselves by parents, by media, by teachers, by strangers...to set a show in a world where that is not a reality, and then to have characters have those fears anyway, is insulting and dismissive of where those fears come from and how they are based on realistic fears about potential outcomes. Gay kids do lose their families and have their lives blown up over the people they love--that is not a joke or an overdramatic statement.

I am really upset by this. It feels like these shows are saying queer people are foolish and delusional for being afraid. I've had people in real life tell me that my concerns were overdramatic before, and I've also seen people badly hurt because they didn't take the threat of homophobia seriously enough. I just...it's not that I worry this will be a model for anyone's behaviour. But this adaptation took a story about characters I could relate to, and changed them so that the show instead instead is invalidating my experience. It feels dehumanizing. In trying to be an escapist piece of media, this show instead became painful for me to watch. I sincerely hope I'm an outlier and other queer folks watching this didn't feel it in the same way, because I don't want other people to be feeling how I'm feeling right now.

I'll be walking away from this one.

@bengiyo I think you mentioned feeling similarly disturbed by this approach in your stray thoughts, so I'm tagging you in case you wanted to add on.

[im-getting-help]

The way people reacted to Saltburn reminded me of a tiktok trend or "challenge" in which you had to watch the opening scene of Nocturnal Animals (2016).

(I'm not going to spoil the movie, go watch it is beautiful.)

It reminded me because the movie is so interesting and enthralling but it was played for jokes. No one was watching the movie, they felt "disgusted and uncomfortable" even though they didn't even tried to watch it.

The commentary of Saltburn was so similar, it really upset me. It was like people were saying "yeah, we watched it this time, it's still too gross".

Nocturnal Animals explores the tense relationship between the protagonists in a very gruesome and violent way. Those choices are not made for shock value, they tell a story. The same way Saltburn showed desire and obsession and in my opinion the perfect representation of unchecked limerence with the bathtub and cemetery scenes.

I have no doubt that in a few years they will be a new tiktok (or new platform) challenge that dares you to record your reaction of the cemetary scene with no context. And it makes me so sad.

It makes me sad not only because of the unappreciation of such amazing movies, but because I feel we are teaching teenagers to not have media literacy. I honestly feel like we're allowing people to just watch movies like they're cocomelon. And I think is dangerous for cinema.

Martin Scorcese shared in a few interviews how he feel that the popular movies are not really cinema, that they fail to convey real emotion and they don't take risks. I think he's right, he makes a direct reference to the MCU but to me he's describing at least 70% of the movies that comes out in a year.

Everything is simple, easy to understand, overly explained. A cast full of well known actors and a beautiful score, or a passable one, and you have a movie. You don't need a new story to tell, not really, you can just reuse an old one. Make a retelling, a remake, a live-action adaptation, a secuel or a prequel with lots of CGI. You got a movie, congrats.

To me the new movies are always disappointing, they're a way to kill time but never a moment to appreciate art.

And this is why the criticism of Saltburn frustrates and saddens me so much. Cause is not a perfect movie (well, to me it is), but is so SO much more than what we're served on a daily basis. It's rich and complex and beautiful to watch. The score is fun and playful and at times heartbreaking and breathtaking. The actors are just incredibly talented and well directed. The clothing and makeup is just a wonder to watch, going from the cringe of 2006 teenage fashion to the opulent gowns and suits. So much of this movie is a pleasure to observe, to discover.

It breaks my heart to think that the future of cinema is... white noise, filler, the equivalent to eating a sandwich instead of cooking a meal cause you're too tired to do more. So much so that when you're presented with a home cooked meal you're unable to enjoy the taste, too accustomed to simplicity.

[maximumqueer]

In lieu of the second season of OPLA starting production, I want to talk about my mixed feelings on the first season of it.

Because I got into the anime and manga through the live action. So I will always like it at least a little bit for introducing me to honestly my favorite piece of media ever. But now that I'm caught up with the anime and manga, and know the characters and story better, I find myself having more criticisms of it.

The overall narrative is rushed in a way that leads to important character moments being glossed over. Syrup Village in OPLA is a good example. Usopp does a lot less in the live action, most of his big emotional beats cut for what I can only assume were time constraints. Reducing Gin's role to a one time appearance, and the Don Krieg Pirates to a cameo also feels like a product of the limited runtime, and cheapens Sanji's reasoning joining the crew, as we never get that moment where Luffy witnesses him feeding a starving man, and decides then that Sanji will be is cook. Replacing it instead with Luffy seeing him fight and tasting his food. Which in my opinion kinda misses the point of why Luffy wanted him to join. And that was because of Sanji's kindness, which is not nearly as present in the live action.

OPLA also removes a lot of side characters from the islands the main cast visit, making the world feel smaller, and the stakes lower. Like, the reason I personally cared so much about Luffy and Co. helping out places like Orange Town, Syrup village, Cocoyashi Village, is the people that live there who we get to know (in the anime and manga). I feel far more invested actually knowing the names of several of the people and the village, and knowing that their lives will be better after the big bad is taken down. It's not just a fight for the sake of having a fight, but a fight to help out a group of people who need it.

These characters also end up trying to free themselves from the big bad. Them playing an active roll, and not just being used as hostages (like they were in the live action) is just so quintessential to One Piece in my opinion. Having characters native to the island already willing to stand up to the force controlling them, and Luffy's involvement being to aid them, and not just swoop in a save a group of passive bystanders who were simply waiting for a hero to save them, is subversive for shonen (hell just fantasy in general) and having the live action remove that just feels wrong, as characters having freedom and agency is a big overarching theme in One Piece that has been there since day one.

Then there is the characterization. Zoro is probably the most egregious change. Zoro (bur especially pre-ts Zoro) was far goofier than his live action counterpart. And I do think that that level of goofiness is essential to him as a character. Like, I cannot picture OPLA Zoro attempting to cut off his feet, fail, and then decide to strike a cool pose while he is slowly turning into a wax statue. I cannot picture that version of the character beefing with a bird while lost, when said bird is LITERALLY a compass. OPLA Zoro just feels like your stereotypical stoic cool guy, when he is very much not. He is a bit of a loser (affectionate) and to see him be treated like he isn't feels off. Nami and Sanji are closer to their anime/manga counterparts, but are still different.

OPLA Sanji is not pathetic enough. To use an analogy, OLPA Sanji would take off his coat to place it over a puddle so a pretty woman didn't have to get her shoes and feet wet. Anime/manga Sanji would hurl his body onto the ground, and have the woman use his back to prevent getting her shoes and feet wet. They said this change was to dial down the more pervy parts of his character, which is fair. But that aspect of his character only really starts up in a bad way in Thriller Bark. The part of the series that adapted was when Sanji was pretty much only presented as a hopeless romantic who worships the ground all women walk on and would do anything a woman asked of him.

Nami is similar to Zoro, in that she is just to serious. They both lack the whimsy their anime/manga counterparts have. And she just feels a bit more one dimensional in the live action because of it.

As for Luffy. Him referring to himself as a "good pirate" just feels all sorts of wrong. He has never shied away from that label, and never has had any issue with being lumped in with "bad" pirates in the anime/manga. He never was angry about being framed for crimes, but I get the feeling that OPLA Luffy would be more likely to be angry about that, because he is a "good" pirate. This Luffy doesn't feel like he would go on a rant about not wanting to be viewed as a hero. They also made him nicer overall, and this sounds like a weird thing to complain about, but Luffy not holding his tongue and just telling people how he feels about them, positive or negative, is what makes him as a character work. Is what separates him from a typical run of the mill shonen protag. Him being a kind, but not nice and overall blunt in conversation is pretty integral to his character, and I can't help but feel that the writers and directors of the live action were afraid of keeping this character trait because it could make him unlikeable. (despite that fact that he as been #1 in literally every One Piece popularity poll)

And obviously this is not a critique on the actors, I think they did a phenomenal job portraying their respective characters. This is more about how the writers/directors/producers decided to adapt and change the characters.

I kind of suspected that when I watched the anime (a more one to one adaptation of the manga) as well as read the manga (the source material) that I would end up having more issues with the live action. I do still like it for what it is, and I'm planning on watching the second season when it comes out, I just wanted to share how my opinion on it changed after reading/watching and catching up with the anime and manga.

[jyeshindra]

ALL ABOUT VIRGO ASCENDANT

Hey y'all! We've got the next installment in the ascendant series (so close to the halfway point!) with Virgo!

Ahhh Virgo, the dutiful maiden of the zodiac. I actually find Virgo to be one of the most interesting zodiac signs (mostly because Mutable Mercury in Earth is a crazy combination), and the ascendant is no less interesting!

Again, the ascendant is how the world sees us. It rules our physical body, our life path, the zodiac rulers of each house in our chart, our outlook on life, and how our energy purely manifests.

Virgo's ruler, as I said, is the observant and mischevious Mercury. But Virgo is a bit different from it's counterpart Gemini. Where Gemini is bubbly, activated, and motivated to communicate, Virgo is more about analysis. Picking things apart and reassessing it for practicality, efficiency, and economy.

The risings are much like this. They see the world as a project that can always be improved. There's always something to fix, something to readjust, something to change. They're noticing all the little details and how each detail is working in the mechanical whole.

It's why you're so put together, Virgo. These risings tend to be well-manicured. They appear neat and well-groomed, usually preferring understated clothing. They can also be a bit self-preoccupied; they always need to look or present themselves a certain way. Perhaps the eyes are bit doe-like or their features are petite and dainty. Some may wear glasses or some other accessory to highlight their intelligence and reserved nature. Regardless, their eyes always have this special intensity...like they're studying you and sizing you up. I once had a Virgo Rising friend who said whenever she goes on a date she looks first at a man's shoes, then works her way up for her analysis. Very on brand for a Virgo Rising, lol.

Virgos can range in their presentation a bit. Some are more anxious, self-aware, and self-critical. Some are more observant and analytical, quiet and reserved. Others are more warm and service-oriented. But again, there's an emphasis on efficiency and service/work.

With a 4th House Sagittarius, these risings have a very Jupiterian-like home environment. There are many opportunities to learn, grow, and these natives may be blessed in many ways regarding their homes. However, with Sagittarius we usually find there is a message and a battle between man and spirit. Being mutable fire, Sagittarius wants to both investigate it's own actions and also disseminate information. Perhaps there was scrutiny in the Virgos home regarding their actions or a specific set of beliefs were established regarding what was acceptable or permissible in the home. In an unhealed manner, Sagittarius can be very stuck in its ways and attached to its ego. The home environment could be very rigid in this way...perhaps through religion, beliefs, faith, or education! School and learning may be very important to these individuals as it is something that could've been emphasized by the parents/home environment growing up.

In their private lives, Virgo Risings can indulge themselves in a variety of exciting behaviors. These types may like to drink, smoke, and vibe out in the privacy of their own homes. Or they love to learn and read about other cultures, far-away places, and interesting people. These natives have an innate curiosity about life that's been hammered into them!

Says a lot about the Virgo's discriminatory, cerebral nature and even their penchant for condescension/criticism.

Something else I'm now thinking about...perhaps Virgos need for control comes from a chaotic home environment. Mutable signs in general can hold space for turbulence both internally and externally. These are signs who most easily adapt. The home environment could've been filled with people/parental figures coming in and out. Family staying and leaving. Parental figures who were inconsistent or irrationally angry. Avoidant parents who did not know how to deal with conflict. Again, we can keep going and going and going with these Sagittarius themes.

I'll try not to make the other house breakdowns too wordy. For the 10th, the public image, life, and vocation of these natives is ruled by Gemini! Communication and connection is ultimately how these natives manifest service in their lives. Often Virgo Risings will become actors (Timothee Chalamet, Janelle Monae, Emma Watson). This is a good indicator for music or some other lyrical ability as well. Jay-Z himself is a Virgo Rising. Another funny way it could manifest is with the examples of Steve Jobs and Rachel Ray! One created a company that revolutionized communication forever, the other became a lively TV show personality. All very Gemini vocations. Something about the information you have to share or the way you communicate is key here, Virgo Rising. You have the potential to inspire and be seen for your articulation and your mind. Enrich the qualities of both and you shall see success. It is Mercury who awakens your authority in life.

As for the 7th house, Virgo Risings can tend to pick partners who need help or who need to be fixed or saved in some way. Or partners who are just bad for them/toxic. This is the more unhealthy side of Pisces, a sign who can be severely ungrounded and drain the energy from others. Pisces is also a bit of a helpless energy and so Virgo Risings can manifest partners who reflect this. Virgo may attract emotional people in general! People who seek to dump their worries and emotions onto the Virgo. It's a very Virgo thing unfortunately. Everyone wants you to be there mother! People may sense you can heal them in some way or emotionally fulfill them...and while that may be true...boundaries! You are not here to serve everyone, Virgo! You are here to understand yourself and to fall in love with your imperfections. A humility can be found in Virgo and Pisces can help you do this! The opposition here is that Virgo needs Piscean partners/people who inspire a dreaminess, a loftiness, and an ease in Virgo. You do not have to work all the time nor do you have to be so hard on yourself. Pisces can teach Virgo unconditional love and how to devote their energy to things that truly matter and will emotionally fulfill them. They will teach the Virgo to listen to how they feel and to truly evolve from their experiences. And Virgo, you need someone who is just as devotional as you!

Virgos have to investigate their own wounds and fears around authority and independence. There can be some guilt and wounding around leadership and being selfish (Aries 8H) that can take time to heal. There could also be wounding around being too self-focused! Virgo can be so caught up in controlling themselves and their own lives that they become vindictive and judgmental rather than open and receptive. It's about calculated risks with the 8H and acknowledging the areas of our growth so we may challenge those beliefs and unearth our power through change! Once you do, you will find a sense of peace and earthliness (Taurus 9H). Learning those Taurean themes will set you free and become your philosophy and foundation. Firm boundaries, stubbornness, holding your own. Learning to value oneself and one's abilities. Learning to hold space and be open to others as well. This is what you must learn so you may achieve your highest potential and communicate your truth! (Gemini 10th).

The esoteric ruler of Virgo is The Moon. Ultimately, Virgos learn to love without conditions, much like a mother loves their children. They focus on the immediacy of their needs rather than getting caught up in the details. Their lives become tapestries of healing and devotion rather than cold calculations. Information does not become the defense, instead it is distilled into medicinal wisdom that can benefit others. Virgo you are here to learn how to serve better.

That's all for this one folks! I had more to say here as a sidereal Pisces with a lottt of Virgo Rising friends. I tend to attract you all a LOT. Y'all bring so much rationality, care, and stability into my life and I appreciate it so deeply. I just want you Virgos to take care of yourselves and to open yourself up to new experiences! You can do it!

[arceespinkgun]

So I heard that Robert Kirkman will take over the Transformers Energon after issue 24. Very interesting. I know he wrote The Invincible series and I heard there are a lot of good parts (and the bad parts) about that comic. Honestly, I don't know what to feel about the news so far (I'm a bit concerned about writing for the female transformers though. The bad part of the comic I heard from the fans was the questionable writing choice of certain female characters)

Also, apperently Josh Cooley will direct Transformers live-action movie with Michael Bay being the producer... It seems like Hasbros and Paramount gonna toss the Transformers: One sequel into some ditch and leave it there indefinitely...

I'm going to copy-paste something I said on r/transformers:

I thought Earthspark and Cyberverse were both great, but the toylines weren't always great at supporting those series and the distribution of Earthspark was pretty bad. The Skybound comics running right now have been good… but I think this franchise just isn't well-suited for the economic situation a lot of consumers are in right now, and because of Skybound's comics' success I worry that Hasbro will attempt to hard-pivot even further into G1 nostalgia, which I think would only be mildly successful in the short term. I think it's just not clear to me who TF is targeted toward. Collectors with a lot of money to spare? Kids who don't? Both? I wouldn't mind a gap in media and toys for a while, to be honest, just so there's more time to produce something quality and wait for a more stable time.

I know Kirkman is extremely influential and successful, and also I've already liked seeing him do things like develop Beta/Zerta Trion as she's deserved for so many years (so I don't feel he'll neglect female characters). And of course, in terms of business decisions, all of this makes sense. I imagine Hasbro executives are thinking:

Critics and fans loved TF One and it got new people into the franchise. But it flopped in that it didn't make a profit. So let's take the director of TF One but then bring Michael Bay back in because under him the movies actually made money. And Kirkman's work is extremely popular and well-received and he's been a huge TF nerd for many years, so he's actually perfect for writing our comic series and his work can even be adapted into animation!

And maybe some of this stuff will be great, it's totally possible that will be the case. But while obviously I love G1, I love the G1 cartoon and comics because they feel weird when looking back on them now—I don't think those weird and surprising elements/qualities tend to show through now. That being said, I assume the comics, at least, will be pretty good and I might follow them casually. But I actually feel... kinda down when I think about all of this. And it's not just because I dread seeing yet more G.I. Joe getting spotlight in TF which I've hated every time it's been done, or because I didn't like Cooley's work on TF One, or because I don't like Bayverse, but because I loved Earthspark so much and it felt like such a great direction for the franchise, and that brief era feels over to me.

Of course I understand why we're not getting more things like Earthspark. The show and toys were distributed poorly, and the toys ranged from great to terrible, meaning they didn't have consistency. And most fans now largely hate the show, or simply haven't seen it. But Earthspark delivered everything I ever wanted in a TF show, so I loved it, and the way it was rolled out (pun not intended) and received makes me lose interest in other TF things. Like, Cyberworld will have Elita and Galvatron and Scorponok and potentially even Airachnid and Jazz in it—so many characters I enjoy so much and some of their designs look so cool!—but when I learn about it I feel nothing. I see it and feel cynical and it makes me think of any number of really bad game shows that are popular right now.

In the first arc of the Skybound series when Earthspark and the Go! Go! manga were all going simultaneously I felt a lot of optimism about the franchise, but now it's been like one year and I don't feel it anymore... I think the announcement of the new projects and the ways in which TF One vs. Earthspark were received killed it for me. I don't feel like I'm in the target demographic for this franchise.

[gege]

Hiii, how are you? I hope you are doing ok! <3 sending love and hugs. I wanted to ask you... i think i remember something about tgcf having live action adaptation. Was that real or was just a dream i had or something? If it's real do you know if we will have it or what happened to the project? Idk if my mind made that up! sorry and thanks :)

Hiii Anon!

No, it's not some mad collective fever dream we all had, they really did film it (6 months of shooting between July 2021 and January 2022). Native title is 吉星高照 (Ji Xing Gao Zhao) English title is Eternal Faith.

If we ever get to see it is another matter, i probably don't need to say the main reason is because it's a danmei adaptation - it'll have a harder time passing the censors than the average cdrama. Since the popularity of other dangais it seems the censors have become stricter in any case. Job one is always going to be passing the censors.

While checking chinese websites and articles I did find several sources of a rumour that the site security punched a girl who was visiting the set. I can't vouch for the reliability of this but anything that can potentially attract criticism can delay a cdrama release further. Other criticisms include the casting of the male leads, how cheap the set design and costuming look, and a cancelled actress who may have to remain uncredited.

So it will need to satisfy the censors in order to be relased, as well as satisfy the general public and tgcf fans to be worth releasing and I'm not sure if it can do it all. If all goes well and it does ever pass censorship, we won't get a release date in advance. I don't know if you've ever experienced waiting for a cdrama release but you will not get much warning when it airs. It will likey drop with a couple days warning in form of internet rumours, or just completely out of the blue.

HAVING SAID THAT - another rumour is that a full costume bl drama like the untamed will be released internationally in Sept 2024, bypassing a Chinese release. It's just a rumour but it does make this webpage very interesting! But please remember everything above and not get too excited just yet 😂.

I'm gonna share some set photos just because 😍

Zhai Xiaowen as Xie Lian

Zhang Linghe as Hua Cheng/San Lang/Crimson Rain Sought Flower

Chang Huasen as Shi Qingxuan/Wind Master & Tian Xuning as He Xuan/Ming Yi/Earth Master

Vin Zheng as Nan Feng & Li Fancheng as Fu Yao (+ bonus Wind Master)

Liu Lingzi as Xuan Ji

Liu Jinyan as Ling Wen & Wang Yueyi as Female Wind Master

Xiao Kaizhong as Feng Xin/Nan Yang & Cai Yao as Mu Qing/Xuan Zhen

Bian Tianyang as Qi Rong/Prince Xiao Jing/Green Ghost

Lu Yuxiao as Yushi Hung/Rain Master. She played Shangguan Qian in My Journey to You, but as she was fairly unknown at the time of filming jxgz so there are no photos to be found of her as Rain Master 😩.

Anyway, let's all quietly try to will this into existence with physic powers etc.

Thanks for sending me an ask, have a lovely day anon!

(∩^o^)⊃━☆