#and it's driving you to drink

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

[blatantprinterpropaganda]

bun (rightfully) gets so much credit for how anti-police he is, but this is an appreciation post for his pro-seatbelt platform

[marzipanandminutiae]

when you're reading history and it becomes socially acceptable for women to do something self-destructive (and in some cases harmful to those around them) that men had already been doing without stigma

[helixcraft]

the fish that keeps appearing all over my recommended only that he's out of jail and happy

[creaman]

—BECAUSE KUNG FU PANDA 4 KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?

To preface, I watched this movie and I'm genuinely tweaking right now so I had to write down a very brief (lie) criticism on this film — which you should boycott, by the way.

Starting with the things I liked, before briefing my primary points of criticism:

Po's Character Regression

Po and Zhen's Dynamic

The Chameleon

I'd also yap about Lord Shen and the death of the art style and the entire narrative and pacing and use of the staff of wisdom but my therapist says being such a hater is 'unhealthy' or something. My heart is full of hatred.

SPOILERS for the entirety KFP4 for the 2 people who care.

KFP4 undermines and ignores the previous three movies — Unwriting character developments, outright removing the Furious Five, straying from the character design philosophies and is completely inconsistent with the established lore.

Things I Liked About Kung Fu Panda 4

The Chameleon's character design

Visual gag in the Tavern where Po uses a recently thrown axe as a hat rack (made me laugh)

When Mr. Ping did this:

so cute! the little heart!

Po — Character Writing

Po, as established in the previous movies, is confident in his abilities and identity — he’s learnt inner peace, he’s matured as a character. However, in KFP4, his character has completely regressed. He’s immature again (such as KFP1, possibly worse) and says verbatim, “only knows kicking butt and taking names” — UNLEARNING inner peace and insisting that “…being the Dragon Warrior is all I know.”

It’s childish, and sort of Hotel Transylvania-esque.

Which isn’t helped by the comedy, the dialogue — a large chunk of which are jokes in the style of:

Master Shifu says something philosophical

Po quips off of it / doesn’t get it (i.e. Whoa!! beat I don’t know what that means.)

Oh, it’s great, yeah, very tolerable. Po’s shenanigans are normally reeled in by the presence of the Furious Five who are generally more serious in nature, creating a much needed balance in the dynamic — So without them, it’s just Po becoming increasingly obnoxious and insufferable with every consecutive quip throughout the screenplay.

Po and Zhen — Character Dynamics

[No more graphics sorry I'm too angry]

As if it wasn’t obvious that Zhen was going to be the next Dragon Warrior the second she was introduced.

Zhen, as a character, has no depth besides being a quippy thief. She quips, she steals. This character has no motives — it can be assumed that the writers intended on a ‘change of heart’ thing, but she isn’t established as evil, her working for the Chameleon is written as a (albeit poor) twist reveal.

By which point, her taking either side wouldn’t make sense, given that she has shown no loyalty or attachment to either Po nor the Chameleon.

The movie artificially strengthens their bond by having Zhen start opening up about her backstory out of nowhere for no reason but they have done nothing to grow closer to each other.

Small tangent, her backstory is exactly what you’d expect it to be with no subversions or even emotional weight. Woe is me I was so small and hungry I had to steal to survive. Glossed over in about a minute.

The majority of the dialogue between Zhen and Po is spoken exposition — explaining how powerful and badass the Chameleon is, explaining how ‘we have to go here to do that’ and ‘this place was cool until the Chameleon did such and such’, and the rest of their time together is spent engaging in filler chase sequences and fight scenes.

The Chameleon

Where do I even start…

This is where it becomes apparent that the movie relies heavily on telling rather than showing —

She is the weakest villain by far, not only in universe but as a written character; which is particularly disheartening because I genuinely adore her character design and feel as though a shapeshifting character has great potential.

The movie artificially inflates her power by insisting through exposition that this is the most capable antagonist thus far (lie).

The audience is TOLD by Zhen and various restaurant patrons that the Chameleon is a powerful shapeshifting sorceress and that she 'dominates the city' whilst the film does nothing to showcase this.

'Dominating the city' meaning letting her henchpeople run amock and bully the civilians just like Lord Shen's wolves in KFP2... uninspired.

I just realised they didn't even give her a NAME what the FUCK is going on

She describes HERSELF as ruthless, clever and unsentimental when comparing Zhen to herself.

She says HERSELF that she’s “Stronger than every opponent you’ve ever faced.”

Let’s see what vile reprehensible things she’s done, shall we?

Gently push someone down some stairs

Her first appearance is through Zhen’s exposition, as opposed to the dramatic and memorable entrances of the previous villains. Her motives or character aren’t established until the final third of the film. She doesn’t even FIGHT anybody until the final third of the film; and even then, her fight sequences are uninspired and she never really poses a real threat. (She goes down in two hits.)

That being said, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER GUYS WE CAN STILL GET HER OUTTA THERE I'M COMING FOR YOU CHAMELEON I'M GONNA DRAFT YOU A PROPER BACKSTORY AND MOTIVE AND YOU'RE GONNA BE THE MOST THREATENING VILLAIN THUS FAR

There's a scene after the climax of the film where all the kung fu masters and previous villains from the spirit realm bow to Po. I'm not going to provide my thoughts on this because I fear I may burst a blood vessel. Good day!

Closing Statements

To put it simply, Kung Fu Panda 4 was my Megamind 2.

The film rejects its predecessors in every way. It really feels as though they brought in somebody with no prior knowledge of the franchise to direct the movie.

It's a film that relies heavily on telling rather than showing — banking on the previous three movies to carry it through the box office.

It's just really disheartening to see studio execs turn one of the best franchises into a safe sequel cash grab and regress every character's development.

Nevertheless. I do adore the chameleon's character design so I might do my own take on her character.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no fairy godmother, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no kung fu panda 4.

[sysig]

Maybe something with Mousey being jealous of Hunter and Smoker for one reason or another? hehe

Day 7 - There might be a reason for that

Bonus:

[topimpabunny]

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙮𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨;

"Remember to buckle up, darling." (Will not start the car until she hears that click).

"Hm? No, you get the radio, I drive, that's how it works babe."

"I like this song." (If you're into musical theater, guess what, she is too).

"Did you use the bathroom before? Make sure to."

"If you're tired, you can sleep, doll, I know it's rather late."

"You want the AC on cooler? Blast? Or the heater?"

"Love, I'm not making you drive in the rain. That's dangerous! I'll pick you up. Stay inside. I have an umbrella, I'll walk over to you."

"You really like this artist, hm?"

"No no, it's endearing. I like them too." (Definitely plotting on getting you the vinyl for christmas).

Her hand is always on your thigh or holding your hand!! Caitlyn has been driving for years, so you KNOW she drives one-handed.

[bisexual-engineer-guy]

DRINK AND DRIVE

[kaliforniahigh]

the vibes I want my next fic to have 🍂

[yayswag]

these drawings are a little love letter to the (now 12 years old??!) julads fic “rerooted.” the first one is kyle looking beautiful from stan’s perspective and the second one is them recording a tape.

[qcomicsy]

Yeah I know he's killed people, but it's the reckless driving that gets to me.

[nellandvoid]

some silly sketches of silvia and stan from several points on their life! alliteration goes crazy

stan and silvia are divorced, but they are besties by the time the twins come to town and maybe there’s some unresolved feelings between them but who’s to say?

the two pics on the right are the first and latest time silvia helped stan with an injury, which was mainly just anatomy and expression practice

i’m falling in love with them more and more and they are burrowing further into my brain but i’m not complaining

feel free to ask questions about her please i wanna talk about her so bad!!!

[uncanny-tranny]

It actually does bother me that eating is treated like spending money - that you have an allotted allowance in the form of calories that you are supposed to budget.

"How are you spending your calories?" I'm spending them on experiences. I'm spending them on time with my community, my people, those who matter to me. I'm spending them on satiating a human need. I'm spending them on the feeling of being alive and not just living.

If there is one experience that I don't want to "pay" for, it's the basic human right of comfort, security, community, and care.

[navybrat817]

I earned this, lovelies.

[lulublack90]

Prompt 13 - Arrangement

Wolfstar, January 13, word count 555

Previous part First part

The sun soon dipped behind the trees and a cool breeze took its place. Remus saw Sirius shiver, and they left Remus’s tree, returning to the house where apparently the party was in full swing. Remus and Sirius slipped inside the house and went into the kitchen to get a drink each. 

Remus grabbed a can of coke and Sirius followed suit.

“You can have a drink if you want, Sirius, don’t feel like you can’t because of me,” Remus said over the loud music and louder guests. Sirius shook his head.

“I’m driving. I never drink and drive, it’s just not worth it,” Remus loved that Sirius had that mindset. He’d known too many people from his school get into accidents because they’d had one too many and got behind the wheel.

“REMUS!!!” A ball of auburn waves crashed into him.

“Hi, Marls,” he said, patting her on the top of her head fondly.

“Ooooo, and who is this handsome devil? We haven’t met, right?” Marlene looked between the two.

“Sirius,” Sirius said, thrusting out his hand for her to shake. “Remus’s boyfriend,” He added, as she took his hand with a slightly perplexed expression on her face, which changed to a jaw drop.

“Remus John Lupin, you have a boyfriend?! Since when?!” Marlene turned to look at him in faux outrage. 

“Er…”

“Since Tuesday,” Sirius answered, beaming from ear to ear.

“And when did you meet?” Marlene asked.

“Sunday evening,” Sirius replied again. “My parents were hosting a party and Remus was one of the servers. I cornered him in an alley on his way out, and he took me for the worst kebab I’ve ever had,” Marlene sported uncontrollably at Sirius’s description of their first sort of date.

“Oh gods Remus, you didn’t take him to the Blackpool illuminations, did you?” She finally managed to gasp out as she caught her breath.

“The Blackpool Illuminations?” Sirius asked, confused.

“It’s what Marls calls the kebab shop because of all the lights,” It was Sirius’s turn to snort and Remus didn’t think he’d ever heard a better sound. 

“So have they told you about their totally bonkers, adorable arrangement,” James boomed, suddenly appearing and flinging an arm over Remus's and Sirius’s shoulders. He’d clearly had a few drinks already and was pleasantly floppy.

“No,” Marlene leaned in, interested.

“Sirius invited himself to stay over and Remus just let him,”

“What?!”

“Yeah, and then he let him come back and sleep over every night. Marlene, Marlene,” James leaned in closer until his nose was touching the end of Marlene's, using Remus and Sirius to keep him from falling on her. “They cooked dinner for each other!”

“Oh, my ever-loving Gods!!!” Marlene squealed in excitement, nearly headbutting James as she jumped up and down.

“And Marlene, and you know what else? They haven’t even done anything yet,”

“Shut. Up.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“No, I’m Sirius,” Sirius butted in, stopping James’s story from going any further. Both James and Marlene burst into loud belly laughs at his terrible joke.

“Come on, let's escape while we can,” Remus murmured into Sirius’s ear, gently guiding him away from where James and Marlene were rolling around on the floor, while he snuck Sirius upstairs to the guest room that was basically his and had been since he was a teen.

Next part

[mmmairon]

Day 1 of Aprilluc [Bartender]

prompt list