#and the shots in the trailer are super zoomed in

[dorkustm]

also i stg if i see my peachy ass self in that proshot i'm gonna kick my own head

[mrs-gauche]

So, I *think* I've calmed down enough to form coherent sentences about this trailer now, after watching this about a gazillion times. 😂 There is just SO much in this and I still can't believe it's all real.. I feel like people have already dissected every single frame anyway, so here are just my poor two cents (that's a lie, it's an essay lol), I'm sure 90% of this has probably already been said lol, but I just had to write my thoughts down, so there you go. 🫠

But first, can I just ask you guys this.. Does anyone else feel SO friggin overwhelmed every time something huge like this drops? 😂😭 Like, I LOVE the collective excitement and freaking out over all this with the fandom together in real time, and maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm watching the trailer live and within like fifteen minutes there are already a bazillion notifications, messages, people have already made hundreds of theory posts, edits, fanart and shitposts, meanwhile I'm sitting here still looking at the FIRST FRAME and trying to process what I'm even looking at. lmaoo Like, it takes me SO long to take it fully in, calm down and look at ALL of it in detail, while I go radio silent for like two hours, making people think I just died watching the trailer, I guess. lmaooo So.. sorry if it takes me forever until I even go on here and look at everything you guys are posting. 💀 <3

Anyway, so first of all, I'd like to just generally say... Everything about this blew. me. away.

Look. After like 20 years of watching BioWare's entire animation catalogue of the same 25 movements in every cutscene, that it would make you jump every time a character but even slightly moved differently than everyone else, we're now getting a game that is SO INCREDIBLY CINEMATIC, SO SMOOTH, unlike any BioWare game before. A game where everyone just moves and expresses emotions like their own person, making everything a hundred times more immersive and impactful!!

Not only that but there's a BioWare game now with PHENOMENAL LOOKING HAIR and REALISTIC HAIR PHYSICS. Guys, do you understand this is HISTORY??? lmao We've been asking for this for YEARS and it's happening!! 😭

And the cinematography? THE CINEMATOGRAPHY?? Just looking at that very FIRST LOCATION SHOT alone. The camerawork, the composition, the fluidity of movement, the shift of focus, the lighting, the use of MoCap, the facial expressions... As someone who spent a *LOT* of time using the flycam to make cinematic gifsets of DAI, where - with all respect to the devs - 90% of the camerawork basically consisted of "zoom in/zoom out"... this. blew. my. fucking mind.

Like, they did it. They mastered the Frostbite engine on all fronts. And it truly hurts my heart seeing people compare this to Fortnite or whatever, when in my opinion this time they actually managed to find a perfect mix between stylized and realism, in favor of making the characters even more expressive and this coupled with the use of MoCap and the incredible cinematography will make these emotional scenes hit SO hard and.. ugh, I just love it so much. 🥹❤️❤️

With this being said, let's dive into it!

Okay, so I know this is super random, but it was literally the first thing I noticed about this trailer. lol Did you noticed that it said "BioWare" *before* "Electronic Arts" in the beginning, unlike that first... controversial reveal trailer, where it was the other way around? 😂 Not reading anything into this of course (or do I? lol), but.. Idk, I thought it was.. interesting. 👀

So we start off with the first of many amazing tracking shots, with the camera orbiting around Rook in this place devoid of color or life. The note at the bottom made me chuckle "Game engine footage with some costum camera angles", I was like "Oh, so they used the flycam to make this?". lol So some shots of these will look different in the final version (what kind of spoilers are they hiding?? 👀👀).

I do hope that next shot DOES end up in the game though, because holy SHIT, that FIRST wide shot already blew. me. away.

Look at the COMPOSITION of this.

Actually, you could probably take every single location/wide shot of this trailer and hang it on your wall. lol But seriously, the way this place just looks... dead. It makes me think of "void" rather than Fade.. like an ancient graveyard. The raw Fade looks generally creepy, but this is haunting even for that. There's no life, no color, no motion. It's all broken and crumbled. Almost like it reflects Solas' feelings. People are speculating if this place might change depending on Solas' state of mind.. This is the Fade after all, but Solas is here physically and this being the place that was supposed to be the new prison for the gods.. It's probably different from the rest of it.

We also see all seven statues of the pantheon from the ritual site again. Solas "I have the high ground", *literally* talking down to Rook, while standing on two separate cliffs (how did Rook even get there, I wonder? lol), like there is quite literally a rift between them (for now..!) and Solas is keeping a distance, as always. We still don't know how that connection between the two even works, I assume Rook can only contact him while asleep? But to think that this is the place where he is trapped now, where he is even more isolated than ever before, is making me so emotional. ;-;

I love how it's just black and white though. It gives the scene a destinct atmosphere that might be important, if this is where we get to see Solas doing a lot of introspection. In the art of filmmaking, the absence of color is often used to force the audience to focus on the contrast, textures, and tones present in the image, which can evoke a deep sense of emotion.

And speaking of emotions...

"You have no idea what you have done."

We had already heard that line before, but something about that booming, echoing effect they used on his voice sent a shiver down my spine!

"The blighted elven gods walk free. And all because you disrupted my ritual."

To me, he *sounds* much more frustrated here than he *looks* when saying that. lol He looks incredibly worried though, and just so tired. A moment ago, he was SO close to achieving his goal after hundreds of years of preparation and then he failed again... and now there is this completely clueless stranger who got him in this situation, but who he has to rely on now to stop these gods, when he's unable to trust anyone, and yet he can't even yell at them too much, because he *needs* them. He must be so exhausted.

And yes, it is kinda funny how they put "elven gods" in quotation marks. lol

Thank god he still has his freckles though. ❤️ We're actually seeing a lot more texture on his face here than in the gameplay showcase. And yes, not only did he get his eyebrows microbladed but apparently he's also sporting eyeliner and lipstick now. 😌✨✨ The only downside to the lack of colors here is that his super purple eyes are not poppin' anymore. lol

"You battle against gods. They will not rest until you are on your knees. Fearful. Cowering. Helpless in the face of such power."

I love how they play this line so early on in the trailer, that it makes you go "WAIT... IS THAT- NO WAY" and not until the end do we get the confirmation with the most amazing entrance ever.

We then get a shot of what I think has to be Treviso in flames and Ghilan'nain symbolically coiling her tentacles around a crow statue's head, as she's probably about to take over the city. 👀 *falls on my knees the second I meet her in the game* lol

Then there's the shot of this horrifying Blight.. lump.. growth thing that has completely devoured an elf (and several other bodies it seems) with a hair style that has everyone wondering if this could be Felassan! 🥺🥺🥺 As much as I would LOVE for Felassan to make an appearance.. I kinda hope this *isn't* him.. because good god, whatever happened to this persom here must be pretty traumatizing (are they even still alive?) and also, how do we get them out of there? lol Either way, seeing as there are Harding, Bellara and Neve accompanying Rook here, this might be earlier in the game (and this is them dicovering that the Blight is already spreading rapidly?) and yet it already shows us that this Blight is on a whole other level than anything we've seen before, and it's taking every living thing.

Then we see another snowy place (or might this be within the same area?) that's also in huge parts taken over by the Blight. You can also see a dead(?) dragon lying on the ground at the bottom right corner? 🥺

Then Elgar'nan literally pops up right next to Ghilan'nain, and btw, I love how I can't even tell where her body begins or where it ends in this shot. lmao What ARE you, Ghili?? 💀

It looks to me like maybe she was struck by a bolt/spear from a ballista or something? The Grey Wardens tried to take her out maybe? Looks like the power of Elgar'nan's mere presence blows the Wardens away then lol, like they're just insects to him.. and in the blast we can see a person that looks like Evka?? <3333 (please don't die here though 😭)

Then we're getting a first glimpse of a dragon that shows up multiple times in this trailer. Also, to me, it looks so much like the dragon from the Golden City vinyl cover, which has me like 👀👀👀👀

Next there are a few scenes from the prologue we've already seen in the gameplay showcase, but it's coupled with new lines from Varric, that have me super worried. :(

"Rook, you've got this. I've seen your work. You're clever, adaptable. And you don't know when to quit.

My first reaction to this was "Oh god no, that sounds so much like a "passing the torch" kind of dialogue to me" as in Varric either dies (PLEASE NO but it IS super suspicious how he's not seen or mentioned in any other scene so far) or retires his role as the leader of this group and hands it over to Rook. And he just sounds... weary. 🥺 I wonder what he means by "your work" though? Is he talking about things Rook has done before Varric recruited them? Or is it maybe later down the line, after Rook has already proven themselves to be a great leader? 🤔

Then we get another shot of that one dragon and our first look at Harding with the bruised face (whoever did this, come fight me!) and some poor person tangled in.. something, I'm not sure. lol

Then there's a super quick shot of the floating building in Minrathous, followed by Rook opening a gate Aragorn style, which leads me to believe that this is actually somethere IN that floating building maybe?

But the fact that Rook and everyone else seems to be wearing casual clothes in the following shots, plus the architecture in the background has me wondering if they might be at the Lighthouse actually? 👀

Especially because in the very next shot we see Rook, Bellara, Neve and Harding all in casual clothes again in front of a giant eluvian and I wonder if that's the mirror that we've read about in the Game Informer article. The special eluvian at the Lighthouse that can take you anywhere? :o

Speaking of the Game Informer article, it also told us that Rook, Harding and Neve went back to the ritual site after what happened in the beginning, which is probably what we're seeing here!

"You want allies to go after the elven gods. I've got places to look."

Well, good thing we have a clever detective on the team that apparently knows people who would willingly fight some gods. lol Notice how Harding's face is still injured in this scene. 👀 So I assume whatever happened to her must've happened at the ritual site? Btw, I love how the trailer makes it look like they're all in casual clothes and the second they're stepping through the eluvian, they're in full gear? 😂 (I'm sure those two scenes take place at different times though.) It's crazy how much different the Arlathan Forest looks now, without the cataclysmic storm and all. I love the lighting, the colors and the soft rain! :3

Then we get another gorgeous location shot to hang on the wall. <3 My guess here is definitely Anderfels, given the landscape and those "pillar ring" things we've seen before (I still have no idea what those are, the funniest guess is still griffon training flight path 😂 But something tells me those things will be important.).

"I'll be damned! A griffon!"

Davrin and Assan!! <33333 And the dialogue makes it sound like this might be the first time they meet each other?? 🥹🥹 Followed by a scene of Davrin taking care of business and what might be the return of children in DA?? 😭 Seeing that little girl made me so happy, because that was actually one of the few things on my wishlist for DA4, because I always felt like children make the world feel SO much more real and immersive and besides Kieran, children were completely absent in DAI.

Am I trippin or does it look like this child is smiling here, while running away from a horde of darkspawn?? 😶 Kids in the Anderfels are build different, I guess. lol

"In war, victory."

CHILLS!!

Then we see Assan again, who is pinning down a.. thing I can't identify. lol I'm very curious about all those cages in the background though.. 🤔

We then get one of the shots that made me freak out the most, because it's a flippin *underwater* shot of elven ruins??? 😱😱

We know it's elven because if you look very very closely, you can see a Halla statue in the distance, to the left side. I'm immediately reminded of the stories about Arlathan having sunken to the ocean floor! There's also still all that mention of Ghilan'nain's grey "goop" that smells like the ocean and another shot later on of a dragon (Elgar'nan?) emerging from the ocean! 👀👀👀

And aside from all that, it's just such a sick level design!! 😍 What do these ruins look like if you enter them in the game? How do we get there?? There's an eluvian in the middle of the ocean on the newest map that's included in the Collector's Edition! 👀👀 If that one flippin theory of mine actually turns out to be true and there are somehow two parts of Arlathan, one on the ocean floor and another in the center of the Fade/the Black City, I'll do a triple backflip. lmaoo

Then Lucanis jumps in with some incredibly smooth fighting moves against the Venatori... and PURPLE WINGS!! So we were right with our speculation about the reveal trailer! Why does he have them? Is it some connection to a pride demon that revived him? 😂 I don't know, but it looks SO cool!! And after showing off, we hear his first line "I'm ready" with that sweet sweet accent, which is just the cherry on top!! <333

What the heck is up with the sky in this one?? My first thought was the Lighthouse?? 😍😍 Because if you look closely, there are a few wolf head ornaments on the walls? 👀 And this could be in the Crossroads and just like a real Lighthouse, there's a light on the top..? 🥹

Then there's Bellara using some magical device, that looks super similar to the things that were next to the big eluvian in that other scene!

Which makes me think that this might be where we help Bellara find this artifact in order to get the eluvian at the Lighthouse to work properly (since it doesn't seem to work right without Solas, according to the Game Informer article).

"I've never seen this before. There's something kind of exciting about it!"

Not gonna lie, that line and that weird looking device gave me Peebee flashbacks from Andromeda, which I honestly wasn't the biggest fan of. 😂 But Ghil Dirthalen (member of the community council) responded to me a few weeks back on twitter and confirmed that Bellara is nothing like Peebee at all. lol So that's a relief. 😂 I'm really looking forward to learn more about her and every time I see her magical gauntlet, I'm reminded that we're *definitely* not in Ferelden anymore. lol

Anyway, we then get a few shots of the Deep Roads?? Kal-Sharok??? 👀👀 And of course, there's Harding's big reveal of her new magical powers! The animation on this looks sooo amazing!!

Like many suspect, the Titans' awakening might have something to do with this! I totally agree with what Ghil Dirthalen said on twitter recently and, rather than this being Harding having Solas' petrification powers, it's actually Solas who has the powers of the Titans/stone sense/whatever Sandal did to those ogres back then lol. (I need Sandal to return and be her "teacher" or something 🙏❤️) We know of Solas' orb, which was likely created by obtaining the heart of a Titan. And if the Titans are connected to the Forgotten Ones, Fen'Harel was once considered their ally in Dalish legends. 👀

Also, if you look closely, you can see that the moment her powers are triggered, we see the blue glowy effect all over her body, like glowy lyrium veins almost?

And that in turn could hint at something in connection to her blood? So that big injury we see on her (which is still visible in this scene btw!) was maybe the moment her blood came in contact with something that awakened these powers? (We need Valta back to explain! lol)

"What is happening to me?"

That delivery gave me chills again... She is frightened. Ali Hillis is so good. 🥺🥺🥺

Next up is the Grand Necropolis and people have already pointed out that the ceiling we see at that entrance hall or something looks like a GIANT rip cage?? 💀 (What kind of creature would be THIS big???)

First look of Emmrich in-game!!! And he's wearing a fancy new outfit!! And I paused at the perfect moment to catch Rook already falling in love with him, clearly. lmao

There are two characters next to the gate that could be anybody, really. Myrna from Tevinter Nights or Joanna from the short story "The Flame Eternal"? The guy on the right is actually giving me Executor vibes?? 👀👀👀

Then there's Giant Skeleton Monster (Manfred's mom?), and don't even ask me what this could possibly be. 😂 I just hope we don't have to fight THAT (we totally will 💀). I got flashbacks of the Human Reaper endboss in ME2. 😭😭

"Let the Fade draw close!"

There's something kinda... posh about the way he says this? 😂 Like, he's not really intimidated by Giant Skeleton Monster and it's just another Tuesday in the Grand Necropolis and Professor Volkarin is just doing his every day job. lol

Then there are two shots of what I think is somewhere in the Anderfels but snowy again, like that area in the beginning where Elgar'nan and Ghili showed up? And a destroyed watchtower that is occupied by the Wardens. Then we get a *third* and final shot of this beauty again.

"Draw the dragon out into the open. Then attack."

I assume that's Taash?? Sadly, that shot of her drawing her weapon is all we got from her in this trailer, but she looks awesome!! <333 We're gonna be Lord of Fortune buddies, even though we might disagree on the matter of dragon hunting lol (look, I don't want to *fight* dragons, I want to be *friends* with them 🫠😂❤️ I want to see them live their best lifes.. for the most part (I get to the Elgar'nan dragon and the blighted "twin dragons" in a second lol))

We see the docks of Minrathous for a split second and then a first glimpse at a romance scene between Rook and Neve? 👀 At the Lighthouse maybe?

"You and me Rook. Maybe that's what scares me."

What does she mean by that exactly? Does Neve have commitment issues? lol Or is this more like a "We're a dangerous match, Rook. We'll be too powerful of a couple. Like Bonnie and Clyde." kinda statement? 😂

And THEN... Well, then we get probably THE most badass looking introduction/entrance of any character in DA yet. lol And YES, I freaked out SO hard.

SHE'S BACK. Returning like the QUEEN that she is. 🙏 And of course, she has to come down a flight of "stairs" again. lol (And no, Claudia Black did not lie, she just wasn't contacted at the time. 😁) Gosh, that transformation is so SMOOTH. I could watch that forever, it's so darn beautiful. 😍 Again, the way this is done, cinematically.. just *chef's kiss*.

In retrospect, it seems almost like a given that she would be back because.. well, everything about the way DAI ended. lol Flemeth wanted her to inherit her "godhood", and she looks more than ever like her mother now. Remember the designer notes on that last scene in DAI.

Flemeth intends to let Solas have the power, so long as she can pass the essence of her godhood onto Morrigan, a gift Flemeth had always planned for her daughter yet one Morrigan misunderstood as hostile possession.

So, what exactly is she now? Did she receive whatever Flemeth sent through the eluvian at the end of DAI? Does she carry Mythal now?? If so, does Solas know (I NEED a conversation between those two technically "half-siblings", because Flemeth/Mythal is both their "Mother"? 😂)?? Remember when I said that this one dragon that appears multiple times here reminds me a lot of the dragon on the vinyl cover with the Golden City, which is very likely Mythal? So my very first thought was that the dragon is actually Morrigan?? lol Just throwing that out there.

It seems to me that she is with the Dalish/Veil Jumpers in the Arlathan Forest now? (Btw, if you look closely, you can see elven mosaics in COLOR in the background? :O)

"These are the times in which legends are born or slain."

That line goes so HARD aHhhh. Also, speaking of slain, that new outfit is slaying too. <33 Her return also means that the Well decision and potential consequences are back on the table, which will definitely keep me up at night again. 💀

That moment right there. She is everthing. ❤️❤️❤️ I wonder if we're gonna see Kieran again?? 🥺🥺

We then get the most impressive tracking shot and choreography of what I think is Teia and Viago fighting some Venatori?? <333333 Like, seriously, the way the camera is following his movements in this shot without a single cut, makes me think of something like flippin Games of Thrones' Battle of the Bastards. 😱 And those hair physics on Teia as she's swinging around?? Absolutely amazing.

Followed by Lucanis and.. is that Zara Renata (the character with the best name ever lol)?? Fighting over an ominous glowing staff. lol We know these two still had unfinished business with each other after the Wigmaker Job in TN.

Then we get our first in-game look of my man MANFRED (🎉🎉🎉🎉), proving yet again to be the most fashionable character in the whole game, using his pelvis effectively. lol I love him so much.

Then there's another terrifying shot of Giant Skeleton Monster, which almost looks like it's in command over the crowd of people here, like they're possessed or something? Uhg.. As if this thing wasn't scary enough. 💀

"Our gods are back. Our gods! How do we stand up against that?"

Again, CHILLLLS!! Chills all over. It's gonna be so interesting to hear what the Dalish, Bellara or Davrin think about all these revelations!

Then we see the Wardens again, confronting one of the super duper blighted "twin dragons" we see at the end (more on that later).

We see Neve using a barrier or something against a guy who wears the same armor as her, so maybe the Shadow Dragons are corrupted, too?

Then we see Rook dramatically tossing a sword on a table at Weisshaupt? And holy moly, Davrin in that new armor here looks FINE. 😍

Back in Treviso, we see a cool finishing move from Rook, obliterating a poor Venatori guy. That bow on Rook's back though (I need it)! :O

"I believe in all of us. So let's get it done."

That little pep talk from Rook certainly worked for me. lol Like, whatever it is we're doing here, I'm so pumped, let's gooooo!

Then we get literally a millisecond of a frame, where you can see Ghili lying on the floor.. with the lyrium dagger stuck IN HER CHEST??

EXCUSE ME?? They wouldn't just spoil her death like that, right?? lmao Also, that adds another billion questions about this damn flippin dagger and at this point the list of questions is getting so long that I've completely given up speculating. 😂💀 We see how Rook tries to retrieve(?) the dagger but the power it emanates pushes them back?? What the heeellll.

And then I died. No, really. lmaoo

What can I say.

I cried. I screamed. My soul left my body. It happened. We FINALLY saw him. The Dreaded Wolf, He Who Hunts Alone, Roamer of the Beyond, God of Rebellion. The one everyone's been talking about since flippin 2009. And by GOD, he lives up to his NAME.

He's dreadful, he's horrifying. He's a monster, a nightmare. He's perfect. And just like Solas, he's just a Little Guy and bald. 😭😭😭

...At least in comparison to this dragon!! Look at that friggin SIZE DIFFERENCE. Someone measured the size by comparing them to Rook, who we see for a split second before Fenny leaps in. So, make no mistake, Fen'Harel IS the size of a high dragon, like he was described in Tevinter Nights... It's just that this blighted dragon is HUMONGOUS. lol That dragon, let's call him Elgar'nan, because we all KNOW, right?? Who else could it POSSIBLY be?? He's got the horns, he's the dragon on the vinyl cover with the Blighted Black City, he's ENORMOUS!! I've been saying this forever. Fen'Harel vs Elgar'nan, Battle of Gods was all I ever wished to see and FUCK, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WISH CAME TRUE. 😭😭😭

And look WHERE they are fighting!! It's Minrathous, you can clearly see the floating building in the background!! Which means the Dread Wolf is OUT. He's no longer trapped, or in the Fade. Remember Sandal's prophecy "When he rises, everyone will see". And he HAS RISEN. lmao And look at the lighting!! It's the same dim, gloomy RED we've seen at the end of the reveal trailer with the eclipse. "AN ECLIPSE AS FEN'HAREL STIRRED". IT'S HAPPENING. Remember the 2020 teaser MURAL.

Is this the Black City or is it the floating building?? Either way, it's BLIGHTED. In the trailer, Minrathous has clearly been completely taken over by the Blight. "All the world will soon share the peace and comfort of my reign", that's what Elgar'nan said at the end of the 2023 teaser, and what better way to take over the world than to start with the biggest capital in Thedas, a nation which built their own empire over the ruins of Elvhenan, ruled by the most powerful mages!

And I am SO scared. You can see Elgar'nan snapping Fenny. The dragon is blighted, and maybe so is Fen'Harel. He's also clearly been through so much. "The Wolf chews his leg off to escape the trap.", is what Cole said in Trespasser. I don't think he always looked like that. In the murals and the 2022 cinematic, he has a lot more fur. And I can't help but think about the devs saying that Solas wasn't always bald either. lmao How are they connected.. are they one and the same.. are they bound to each other.. we still don't know. But I'm SO. F*CKING EXCITED. TO FIND OUT.

Those few seconds of this scene were breathtaking and whoever made this trailer knew exactly what they were doing, because the editing is so perfect as Fen'Harel charges at Elgar'nan in slow-motion and the music cuts out completely while that beautiful wolf howl can be heard and you can almost HEAR everyone's jaw dropping on the floor. lmao THAT's. how. you. do it. *standing ovation* *sobbing*

Okay. Breathe. Moving on. We gotta get to the end. lol

The very next shot is SO funny to me, because we literally just got to see Elgar'nan, the biggest flippin dragon we've ever seen in DA and it's followed by a shot in which Elgar'nan looks SO tiny next to Ghilan'nain. lmaooo

His ego doesn't allow to appear small though, I guess, so he f*cking levitates to top her in height. lmao These two ancient clowns are already killing me.

What's interesting though is that this is the exact same angle from which we left off in the gameplay showcase. And Solas is nowhere to be seen, so... did he literally just "poof" away right there into that Fade prison?? lmao

We get a quick montage of all the lovely monsters we will face. Like I mentioned, there's the Elgar'nan dragon taking a swim in the ocean, I guess? (I hope he drowns. lol) And a shot of what I think is Irelin (from TN and The Missing) doing.. something with some magical device. Someone fighting a magical "automaton" in the Arlathan Forest. lol Harding doing her THING again, acting like Toph from Avatar, literally bending the flippin earth, like a true Child of the Stone!!

And right before the end, there's one of my personal favorite shots, Rook basically bitch slapping a Pride demon into full K.O.?? lmao

The trailer ends with a final beautiful shot of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire. lol No, seriously. A SUPER blighted pair of angry dragons, seemingly at the same snowy place that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain popped up earlier in the trailer. 👀👀👀

So, they might have something to do with this? There was a dead dragon lying on the ground in an earlier shot, so maybe the elven gods revived them? If I see Blue and Red, I'm of course immediately reminded of lyrium.. whatever that means. Or, given that they seem to be attacking Grey Wardens in this place... maybe we are looking at an altered form of Archdemons?? Or something similar to Corypheus' dragon? 👀 There is an interesting theory floating around that Ghilan'nain might look like *that* because she somehow merged with her lover Andruil. As I mentioned in the beginning, Ghilan'nain seemed to have been struck by a spear or something.. and in this shot, you can see that the red dragon is pulling a spear out of its body! Sooo... maybe that actually IS her?? And she somehow transformed into two different blighted dragons, representing herself and Andruil??? The tinfoil hat is strong with this one. lol

ANYWAY. The release date is revealed to be 31st of October, making this the best Halloween of all time!! Not only is it perfect because of its origin, Samhain, the thinning of the Veil between the living and spirits.. But also because we all get a chance to dress up as Manfred, walk into the store, buy the game and then go Trick or Treat (but mostly trick) in the name of Fen'Harel, the Trickster God. 😂😂💜💜💜

And that's it!! Now we only have to wait two months before we can all lose our collective shi— NO WAIT, OF COURSE WE'RE NOT DONE YET.

WHAT THE HELL

IS THIS

EXCUSE ME, how do you throw this in there in the background at the very last second, HELLO??? A rocky object, split in half. HUH, WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THAT BEFORE.

Oh, you sneaky sneaky people. The mural depicting a Titan's death.... Remember the description of this place in DAI's files.

"A final eluvian is situated in a beautiful bolt-hole where Solas has painted murals. Fen'Harel was here and wanted to make sure nobody ever found what the other gods were doing. This place was the breaking point for him that turned him against the gods."

Whatever this is... I think it might be the very reason why all of this is even happening. The Evanuris mined the Titans' blood and "something else" before they collapsed and sealed the Deep Roads with stone and magic.

"Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast."

"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

I'll leave it at that. I'm so so so flippin excited. I want to thank all the devs involved, I'm so full of joy and can't wait to finally return back to Thedas in October. 🥹🥹🥹 (And if anyone wants to get me that "Rook's coffer" collectibles thing for my birthday two days after release, my address is— naah just kidding!! ..or AM I?? 👀😂😂)!! 💜💜💜💜💜

[strawberry-seal77]

yayyy wooo I made a thing!

Mostly just follows events from the main series (with my own silliness applied), but at the very very end there's a reference to a shot in one of the walpurgisnacht rising trailers. Do with that as you will

Aaand specially for tumblr, the image files + bits and bobs that didn't make it into the final thing!!!

I do definitely suggest looking through the three images, since there's a good few panels I didn't end up using :3

I wanted to have a shot referencing rebellion, but there wasn't enough time in the audio! sad!

This took a while to make (~10 hours drawing, ~3 hours editing), but it was super fun !!! After getting it like 90% done, I ended up shelving it for a week or two BUT I locked in and finished today!! If only the same could be said for my homework, eheh.

I didn't have much of an idea going in BUT the hourglass ended up being a fun theme !!! I'm glad I was able to tie it into the ending.

The part where homura and madoka are silhouetted is probably the most animated, but it was simple enough to do and I think pretty necessary to get the idea across.

ALSO look how cute they are!!!!! agrgrggfg

Compression probbably made the actual youtube video a bit blurry, but thats okayyy :33 we stay silly!!!

Given that I drew these real small, I think it all might be a bit too zoomed in for what I'd want to be actually animated, BUT that's not a problem for this project 'cause it's staying like this forever >:3c

ALSO for an explanation of the black panels, those are all to indicate a death! Pretty fun if I do say so myself! The first one is obvious, Madoka, the second one is for Mami, and the third one is shared between Kyoko and Sayaka! A candle underwater...

I'm not sure how easy it is to tell the kyoko + sayaka one even has water, but I think it's cool either way!

[the-interidiot]

MCSM REMAKE ANALYSIS

god I’m so UNWELLLLL ABOUT THIS‼️‼️‼️ /POS

I just wanna state beforehand the trailer looks AWESOME, I have some criticisms but I’m MOSTLY excited! I haven’t played the game in years though, so a lot of my info is pure memory and the power of hyperfixation . It MAY be inaccurate and if it is, I do genuinely want to be corrected!

[WARNING: LONG. I YAP A LOT BELOW CUT.]

Male!White Jessie is the poster child, which makes sense as he is the most recognizable. As much as I LOVE female Jessie sm, I definitely recognize M by first glance.

The animation looks MUCH nicer, though it’s not shown in this screenshot! It’s got a raised FPS from the original, and actually doesn’t have a ton of lighting errors anymore!

They’re adding newer blocks, which I like a lot - though it does lead to one of the first major criticisms I have. They need to TREAD CAREFUL with new stuff. The amethyst looks great, but I guarantee 90% of people are going to play/watch Block by Block for nostalgia, and an OVERLOAD of new stuff will take away from this.

PETRA!!!!! She looks COOL in this shot, and in general! The lighting is GREAT, and I appreciate her getting an action shot! The shadow is a little intense, but no complaints here.

Olivia and Eligard using redstone lights is a nice touch, and connects the characters well. :)

It also begs the question of if Olivia (in that screenshot) is pre-witherstorm or post-witherstorm, as she WAS always a Redstone engineer but she got a lot of her inspiration and materials from Redstone City.

THE CREW! This is a GREAT starting shot, though I will unfortunately tripe that I wish the shading was less heavy here. Lucas looks great, and I’m happy to see him! He was always one of my favorites. :)

Alex and Olivia having a conversation, while Jessie and Lucas just separately enjoy the situation. Lucas doesn’t look super pleased here, but he isn’t really happy for most of MC:SM, so…. (Free my boy, he needs therapy) /j

I can’t tell if Gabriel is going to die or not, unfortunately. This scene looks like just adoration for his hero, but it also reminds me of the choice to take Eligard or Magnus’s armor, which worries me. Gabriel dying doesn’t seem too likely though, as we see him in shots that take place presumably later.

I’m not sure, but I THINK the first place here is Mobcity! If it is, WOAH. It looks INSANE! (/POS) I loved Mobcity so much when I first played the game, and seeing it again made me giggle a little bit.

The second and third locations are clearly Redstone City (Redstonia? I don’t remember the name, sorry!) And Boomtown. I personally always chose Boomtown when I played, but I watched people play Redstone city! They both look nice, and the more terf-war style chaos of Boomtown looks nice - it almost looks like something Fallout reminiscent to me.

I have a FEW thoughts here. First - the obvious, I can’t tell what the drones are. I’m likely forgetting something story wise - but I can’t identity where they come from. BUT, the lights in the background look a lot like White Pumpkins mansion zoomed in, which excites me.

Except…. I don’t think those are from White Pumpkin.

THIS shot interested me the most of the whole trailer. Red arrows shooting in a snowy forest. This appears to be the same location as the previous shot, and initially I thought these arrows were from PAMA. But that doesn’t make sense, she’s in the desert.

These arrows look like ROMEO. Sure, it’s a possibility they’re the poison arrows from the Mansion, but they’re glowing too bright and in addition to the drones from the previous shot makes me think them to be The Admins.

So how is HE, HERE? And why was only one drone blue? (Also, keep in mind I DO know the difference between the drones and phantoms).

Speaking of PAMA. HOLY. JEBUS. /POS

This looks TERRIFYING. I love this shot because it’s nailing in a concept the original kind of failed at, that this robot is ENSLAVING EVERYONE. These people are drones - pawns to the perfect system. And some of the armor here is detailed, making me think some of them are named characters. I don’t remember if any named characters get taken over in the original, but probably.

The Temple! It FEELS big just with this shot, which amazes me. 10/10, no comments.

This is the one shot I took a while to identify. I first thought this was the Spleef area for some reason, then I thought it was the Mob Grinder due to the downward shot, but it seems to simply be the cart ride near the beginning of the game through the nether. (Which is a shame, because I would LOVE to see the mob grinder in the trailer!)

The Piglins concern me a little for the same reason as the amethyst, so I restate - PLEASE don’t rely on new stuff. This is justifiable, as Pigmen are gone, but just a quick warning.

I CANT tell who the person on the left is, but I have a few theories? This is a snow environment, so my brain thought is that it’s somebody from the White Pumpkin area. But it looks a lot like (from memory) Ivors ninja costume. I’m sure there’s an obvious answer one google search could tell me, but I’m dumb and don’t wanna google stuff.

It could also be an anti-PAMA person? I don’t remember that plot too well, but wasn’t there also a blue headset used to see through the red ones?

AND FINALLY. THE ONE. THE ONLY.

THE WITHERSTORMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

I have SO many good things to say, as well as a few criticisms, but they’re so small I’ll knock them out now. The roof doesn’t really look like it’s glass being shattered, it looks too thick. And the color contrast is a tad too high.

That’s it. The whole criticism. NOW, it’s so BIG. It feels consuming, like it’s not just eating its environment but also growing too fast for even the camera to catch up with. One of my hopes is that they don’t have as many full-body shots of the creature, because shots like THIS - where it’s so large you can’t even SEE THE END (no pun intended) amaze me. I love these shots.

Anyway this excites me very much and also gave me motivation to crawl my MC:MS oc’s from the grave and look at their dirty, cringy asses again. I might remake them TBH, those concepts were fire. 10 year old me COOKED.

[koboldfactory]

i have no clue why it was you, but i had a dream last night where i went to your blog and you were using ai to make fucked up looking trailers for imaginary splatoon dlc

the only things about the trailer i remember are that the player was walking around a dark canyon at night with super blown out saturated colors, and the terrain moved and melted around the player in this super nauseating, dreamlike way. and at the end of the trailer it zoomed out into a shot of a planet (cartoon 2d cutout style) with its perimeter covered in something like a city made of woodblocks

That’s so strange and silly lol. It combines two things I have basically zero interest in: AI, and Splatoon

[dumborangecat]

Fionna and Cake predictions!! !SPOILERS!

(these are heavily based on parts 1 & 2 of my analysis, and reference them frequently so they might not make sense without reading it) (they also may contradict eachother as i have multiple different ideas for what may happen)

Just realised i accidently became the very thing i hated, and called something an ‘analysis’ while most of it is just going over the plot, please take this as a token of apology

1. The vampire universe.

Based on the images we get and the order they come in for the trailer, my guess is that when Simon and the gang arrive in vamp world they get jumped by a group of vampires. Based on the fact we seem to see them in a different place later without any convinient new travel companions it’s likely they make it out without help.

I have 2 ideas for the canon that we see pointed at Simon Fionna and Cake (SFC since i’m too lazy to keep typing all that)

- The canon is manned by a vampire and shoots out either more vamps or maybe even marceline herself. The image we see of her zooming through the air she’s in a very ‘aerodynamic’ pose, with her arms right to her sides and knees entirely unbent, the same pose one would be in if they’d just been shot out of a canon, while the other vampires are very spread out, looking more like cats when they lunge at their prey. This would also explain Simons shock and concern compared to F&C’s more tame ‘oh there’s a canon now’ type look. It would be pretty shocking to see basically your daughter about to be shot out of a canon, directly towards you.

- The canon actually shoots out the garlic bombs we see go off later. This theory also means i’ts likely manned by (probably) Huntress wizard we see later (presumably) shooting at either SFC or the vampires. I think she likely does this because she’s never seen these people before and assumes their either vampires, or just some other threat. This still explains simons shock (sort of) as it’s not everyday you see a garlic bomb canon, and he’s smart enough to realise that probably means their mistaken for a vamp, while fionna and cake have never seen a garlic bomb before and would just be confused.

If if is marcilene coming out of there, that probably won’t go over well when she realises that it’s simon she’s being shot at. We don’t see her simon in the trailer or intro yet, but based on the fact that she’s likely evil here, it’s safe to assume he’s no longer around to teach her proper morals and such. Whether he died, left her, or something else happened, we don’t know yet. But based on which of these 3 happened she’ll have a very different reaction to see simon now. It’s also possible that the crown just made him crazy way earlier, meaning he didn’t have as much time to like, ensure she doesn’t go evil by teacher her stuff like ‘vandalism is bad’ n stuff. If that is true, i think her hearing that there’s a simon out there who isn’t corrupted by the crown but is activly trying to be would royally piss her off.

We only really get shots of (probably) the middle/start of the episode, so there isn’t many clues to the ending but i have a few ideas. (Hopefully) seeing marcy again and likely getting reminded of how the crown hurt her before, would at the very least begin planting the seeds of doubt in Simon’s mind about the crown and if he won’t give it up for himself, he’ll consider giving it up to avoid hurting his friends n family back in ooo. Overall i’m super excited for that episode and the more in-depth look into simon and marcy’s relationship it’ll hopefully give.

2. Weird desert world thing!

Starting off we know this is set post-vampire world because the entire time Fionna is wearing this new green jacket (that honestly reminds me of Magic-woman-betty’s jacket but could just be a coincidence) that she doesn’t have in vamp world.

We get quite a few less shots of this episode sadly, so there’s less to work with, but i do have some thoughts,

Every single image we have in this desert place only has either Fionna, Cake, or BMO. Absolutely no Simon. leading me to believe somethings happened either to him or all 3 of them causing them to be seperated. What? I’m not sure, it’s possible he was captured by the scarab which would by an interesting route to go and (if people are correct about her being scarab’s boss) coukd even lead into Golbetty apearing, or there could just be a mix up and someone in the workd kidnapped him or smth. Either way it looks like he’s MIA for now.

BMO seems to be super importsnt this episode, getting a sort of dramatic-ish reveal but more importantly she has Ice kings secret tapes, and seems to be playing them for F&C. F&C seeing the tapes would no doubt change their perception of both Simon and Ice king, hopefuloy having them realise just how horrible possesing the crown was, but also seeing how Ice king wasn’t actually a fun guy who wrote silly little books but someone who was incredibly sad and lonely. This new perception of the two would hopefully lead them into no longer wanting ice king to put on the crown, and instead trying to find a different way to save their world.

It could also show to fionna that magic and adventures aren’t as fun as they first seem, and maybe push her into accepting her ‘mundane’ and ‘boring’ world as a place she actually does love and enjoy and is okay living in.

3. Simon & Betty (flashback)

we only get 4 images of this and they paint a relatively small picture about what actually happens but they paint one nonetheless

Based of these 4 images, it looks as though Simon and Betty are on a date of sorts. Simon also runs to Betty before she catches the bus to the airport for her trip. The date could happen before or after she doesn’t board the bus, but i think it’s after, not only because it’s a dark photo but i just don’t see how it would fit (narrativly) if it happened first. Basically it seem to be a flashback to the day simon and betty first met, fairly simple.

While i can’t come up with any more then that for the flashback, i do think it’s either something we see right before golbetty, or even during golbetty. possibly like a ‘remeber when we first met, and blah blah blah’ type thing to try and get betty to remember being betty (if she doesn’t in her golb form)

That’s all i can think of, i would add a golb section because of all the forshadowing we get but the foreshadowing isn’t enough to tell me what actually happens with golb so i left that out.

I’ll either look really smart or really stupid once fhe next episodes come out and i can’t wait to find out which

[bugsbenefit]

okay actually considering what we might get today to get my mind on something different

1.) season 5 opening card? very possible but almost a bit anticlimactic now because they usually get revealed around the start of filming not the end. so yeah possible, but i could only see that in combination with something else bc as a stand alone i don't think anyone wants it or would even get hyped over

2.) episode titles? possible tbh. we're already past when we usually got those in the past. and we Do have the first episode title already as well (there's also been titles leaked a few months ago that could be real, so it'd be interesting if they'd confirm those or gave us different ones all together) i could see it

3.) some bts footage again, potentially a set tour? really possible imo, especially "safer" sets that are important and iconic but not a surprise like Mike's basement would be a pretty easy way to get content for them

4.) actual s5 footage? potentially. it's way too early for a real trailer but i could see it in the format of 1 minute of previous season's footage and then two shots from s5 or something like that

5.) there's also the possibility of them dropping plot centered clip teasers again like they did for s4. which was things like a montage from the Cali plot, or out of context flashes from what El sees in NINA etc. which would be really cool but I'm not really expecting yet because of how insanely secretive they've already been about s5 up until now. like, to the point we're 9 months into filming we've got 0 plot leaks and maybe a dozen glimpses of actors out in the wild. they're keeping that under lock and key. and based on that they might not want to tease specific plot lines yet because it would give too much of the s5 plot away

so 1-4 i could see happening, or at least some of them, not sure if they would do ALL of that lmao, they still need to keep some time slots free for arbitrary figurine marketing

5 i would want but am not keeping my hopes up for

but idk idk it could also be super lame. i think the only thing i'm actually hoping for is s5 footage. 9 months into filming is when all the other seasons started showing that so we're definitely at a point where we can start expecting something

not hoping for much but something small like one or two shots would be cool. would be really funny if they showed the s4 ending and then just played a second longer of the zoom in we didn't get in s4, i could see them be mean like that too lmfao. to be fair just continuing with that scene would be a pretty cool teaser at some point. i remember how that script ended, that scene is longer i'm dying on that hill (unintentional word play)

okay so anyway, watch ST day just be a ST themed bike class and 10 new ice cream flavours in "american" brand store. Neftlix's marketing of that show is so embarrassing i really don't need the reminder it's their biggest cash cow every time they market it

not expecting much and i can only be positively surprised lets go

[mango-ti]

I have a Belle brainrot so have me rambling about differences between trailers and final version of the move, from scenes shot differently, to literal slight lighting changes (part 2 baby)

Release -> Trailer :]

continuing in no particular order:

tears moved and maybe changed from 3d to drawn on. added some shadows and light

hands were more outlined

the scene of belle opening the door to U for the first time, in the trailer is spliced with the scene of opening the door when Beast's castle is attacked. When she first opens the door, we never actually see her hands as it cuts to her face

see? trailer just had the castle whited out. thumb is positioned slightly differently. a lot brighter too

they fucking forgot her body blush in the trailer??? this is the same frame as the snowflakes match up btw. hair has a few more details in the trailer, as well as her eyelashes being flatter. different hair shine. her right hair bow was fixed to be pointier

same scene but a few seconds later, you can see how her hair is positioned differently and the above things

idk why the trailer is so yellow tinted btw it's just like that

hair has a looot more details. this shot was used in marketing so maybe they wanted to glam it up to be prettier. hairshine was moved down

I'm not sure if the hair details are draw on, or done on the model itself. both are possible

forgot to turn off the captions sorry. bangs are now thinner in places, sleeve covers more of the hand, hairshine moved, the hairclip on the right was moved closer to her face

font on the English comment(?) was changed. messages got a more spread out and bigger

i fucking knew that U was modeled differently. i fucking knew it

U has a lot less modules which makes the sky more visible :]

shadows were fixed to look better. I think they mentioned they used a special texture they applied to her model to make the desired effect which is cool

shot of the phone from the beginning of the movie. font used is different and slimmer. UI is bigger. Comments are moved around to different places, no big "Who is she?" comment. Whatever that is in the top left corner was finished for the final

this shot of users commenting on Dragon, lot more comments added, they're also smaller. English comments were changed to Japanese. The art is a lot more zoomed in to focus on his eyes

now this shot is only in the youtube version of the trailers and it doesn't match any shot of the final movie, the closest being on the right

U looks modeled differently but just use your eyes for this one

The sky was given different clouds and the moon was slightly turned and put in front of the red equator line

ok last one! also only on the youtube trailer. Sea of sparkles instead of bokeh lights! super pretty! moon was moved down, and if you look closely, you can see that Belle's flowers were visible on the whale's side

there's actually a textless version of the image in high quality, it seem it was originally posted by Ludvig Forssell on Twitter, but the earliest I can find is here but in low quality.

[spineless-lobster]

I HAD ANOTHER CAPTAIN DREAM!!! (This one is kinda long so strap in) essentially I saw a preview of the captain’s flashback in s5, without seeing his death (this was SUPER vivid for some reason)

It opens with the captain walking through the button house gate like in the trailer. One of his former soldiers (idk it was just some guy) comes up to him and hugs him and he smiles and hugs him back.

Then there’s this weird shot where there’s panic in his eyes and the camera dramatically zooms out and pans over to someone in a stretcher being carried away in an ambulance (kinda foreshadowing his death)

The captain then says something (I don’t remember what) but the at the end of the sentence he says something about “my family”

He walks over to three women, it’s his mother and two sisters. His mother is like around 50-ish years old which makes no sense but whatever. She was fat with red hair and was wearing pearls and furs and smoking a cigarette. When he approached him the first thing she did was call him a disappointment. (which is fucked up he just won a war but whatever) So he’s immediately upset and it’s really heartbreaking actually. He reluctantly asks where his father is and his mother says that he couldn’t make it (thank god honestly). One sister (to the left of his mother) was just as mean and was dressed in a similar fashion to her mother, she began teasing and berating him for literally no reason it was fucked up. His second sister looked EXACTLY like Kitty and was suggested to be adopted into the family. (it’s revealed that’s why he’s so close to Kitty) She was actually NICE to him and he smiled fondly at her.

Then the captain leaves because his family keeps being dickheads. Then he stumbles across (drumroll) havers!!!!!!!! He greets him by saying “Hello, Will” (because I guess this is an informal event or whatever) and there’s this build up suggesting that havers with greet the captain using his name, but he just says “Hello” in response. They share a HUG(!!!!!!) and the captain describes how life at button house wasn’t the same after he left.

My dream then switched to something else but I remember trying to post about it on tumblr lol

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Daryl's Button and Beth's Knife

@galadrieljones

New little promo thing for DD. Thoughts?

@galadrieljones

@wdway

You know I totally want to read into this. First of all the foggy image I want to say could easily be anyone, but then the fog parts and we get a clearer look and know that it is Isabel. Maybe meaning a mysterious female figure is on the horizon.

Isabel is wearing a head covering, it could easily be mistaken for the hood of a cloak/poncho. Beth had a red cloak/poncho and her prison cell. The image that I'm really happy/excited about is that white button on Daryl's shirt. The shirt that has the highlighted button is reminiscent of the one that Daryl wear in Alone. There's no way of missing that button. And of course I'm relating that white button to Beth's heart necklace. Why would they want to emphasize a button?

@galadrieljones

I had the same exact thoughts. The fact that they shroud her in fog, and they do the same to Laurent, both times wearing hooded garments, reminded me of how they used to do similar stuff to Leah.

When I was wondering if Beth possibly could be Leah, a big part of that was because of how often they would shroud or obscure her face. When she takes off her mask and is wearing that fade scarf, and we see her for the first time with her blond ponytail, she looks so much like Beth my heart practically stopped.

Then, when Daryl is dragged off to Meridian, we see her face obscured through the burlap sack from his pov. We will later see her multiple times half-shrouded in darkness, and also from a distance so that all you can see is her small stature and her blond ponytail.

I thought, gee, if they wanted to go back and reshoot these shots with Emily Kinney to communicate Daryl’s psychosis, they 100% could, and it would have a massive effect. It’s around when I thought they might have changed Leah’s hair to run cover for Emily Kinney, should she be spotted filming. Everyone would just assume it’s Lynn Collins. I think something similar is going on here for sure.

@galadrieljones

Also I am also wondering why they are zooming in on Daryl’s clothes. I agree it does look a little like the light brown plaid he wears in Alone. That button we also noticed as looking like a necklace in the trailer. This is a little strange to me. I don’t really have a read on it yet.

@wdway

I definitely think that button being highlighted is for us TD'ers that are looking clues and hints. My mind went straight to the button on Beth's necklace.

@galadrieljones

Also I am also super excited. I keep thinking about it. Like it’s finally sinking in the finally we get a show that’s just totally about Daryl, and everything in it will pertain to DARYL. Not Rick, not Michonne. Just very excited.

@wdway

You expressed my feelings so well. It'll be Daryl's story and yes, there will be a bigger plot but it's going to lead to something... Laurent story will to a large degree will conclude by the end of s1, so what's the plot for s2, other than Carol and Daryl honeymooning I mean.

I think I read a while back that the actress that plays Isabella was seen on set maybe the first or second episode, but no mention after that. According to the carylers Carol will be seen in s1e6. We saw pictures of Norman and Melissa with Daryl holding a map. Why are they still in Paris? What is it that they're looking for now?

I also have taken note that in all the previews when they show all these beautiful landmarks and locations we still have not seen any hint of the Louvre Museum and we know we will see it this season. Many questions, many possibilities.

@galadrieljones

Oh, also for the record, omg I had not even thought of Beth’s necklace. How many times have I drawn Beth in Still/Alone, and yet I forgot about the little button! But it’s a really good theory, because why on earth are they showing us this button? It’s the one thing that stands out in the scene. The rest is all black. Just a black scarf, black jacket. These things are nondescript like blank canvases. I’m sorry I’m about to go on a minor rabbit hole right now. Please ignore me until you are free lol

Okay, so I went back to the trailer, to see the deal with the button in that one scene where he’s getting hauled off to jail or whatever, toward the end. But I just ended up rewatching the whole thing. Note that we don’t see it all the time. It is hidden at first. We only start to see it as the trailer wears on and his clothes become more disheveled. It seems to be attached to an undershirt, which only peaks out after he’s been roughed up. You can see it in the shot of him being hauled off, because he’s clearly been stripped of his jacket, bag, and weapons, which all cover him up and weigh him down.

This button thing made me think of a couple things. First, about trophies, emblems, talismans, whatever you want to call them. Daryl is a collector. Sort of like Beth, he uses his body to display important bits of inventory. Some of it seems for like, meta-analytical purposes. Like, it’s symbolic, for the audience. But it’s well-done, because it also seems to fit his character.

Not all characters are like this. It’s rare. Some characters will get one or two things, like Rick with the red machete, and many characters wear interesting necklaces. But for Daryl, it’s more than that. There are really conspicuous things, like the walker ears in Chupacabra. These are trophies, and they’re remarked upon in the dialogue of the show. But Glenn points out that it’s too conspicuous for Hershel, so Daryl stops with all that.

There’s other stuff that’s more subtle, though. The vest, with the angel wings, which change over time and fall apart, and are eventually repaired by Judith. The blue angel wing is particularly meaningful, and is like an emblem, of his family. The angel wings are a good example of a meta symbol. It means something to Daryl, but it also means something to us and in terms of his characterization in the story.

Daryl also carries Beth’s knife for a long time. He wears the red rag in his back pocket. He wears the bandana, too. He hangs the bandana in his back pocket. Daryl’s arrows also tell a story, by changing color. In his apartment, too, particularly in Diverged, we see that he has kept all sorts of things from his life, and that, though he is a simple man, he appreciates adornment.

Norman has reassured fans that Daryl still has Beth’s knife, too. It’s basically like he’s wearing around his whole life all at once, like a turtle carrying its home on its back.

It’s actually a really good, subtle mode of characterization for Daryl, who grew up very poor, with nothing. It makes sense he’d be a bit of a hoarder. Like a racoon, in a way. Collecting shiny things. But also, like I said, a turtle. He’s lost too much, and so he hangs on to whatever he has left, and he displays it in little ways.

This idea, of hanging onto little things has recently resurfaced with maggie in Dead City. Maggie’s inventory is very key in Dead City, in ways it hasn’t really been before. She’s got Glenn’s ring on her razor necklace. She’s got her little box of photographs and a sketch. The writers are reminding us about how we hang onto our past.

And with Maggie, she basically has weaponized every last inch of her inventory in a protective manner. She is also like a turtle, but her shell, we can think of as armor, not as much a home. She’s always protecting herself, to the detriment of her relationships and all those who love her.

Ginny also has her stuffed dinosaur. Negan is now covered in strange tattoos. The different ways that characters hang onto the people and lives they’ve lost is very interesting. It even calls back to Rick’s boots on the boat, the phone with the drawings of Judith and Michonne. It’s by discovering his old things that Michonne learns Rick might actually still be alive.

It’s also interesting because it’s so similar to Beth, who keeps repurposing her necklace throughout seasons 2-4. It breaks like multiple times and she keeps fixing it. And it also reminds me of her prison cell, which is adorned with a ton of stuff. She hoards, too, but for different reasons than Daryl.

Okay, now, Beth’s knife. I want to point out first that in the trailer, Daryl gives Laurent his knife, similar to how he gives Beth his knife in season 4. Only, with Beth, that moment is off-screen. So only those paying close attention will notice this. The knife he gives Laurent actually really looks distinctly like Carol’s, with the finger holes. But it’s not Carol’s knife. Carol’s knife is like a modern combat knife you’d see a soldier carrying. Daryl’s knife is much simpler and looks almost medieval.

At first, I was concerned because I did NOT want him to be carrying Carol’s knife lol. Of course, it’s not. I think they want us to think about this, too. The trading of knives comes back again and again.

Anyway, back to Beth’s knife, which we know that Daryl has, because Norman told us. How did Daryl get Beth’s knife? Well, Carol gave it to him. But how did Carol get Beth’s knife? That we don’t know. There is a bag of stuff that one of the cops is carrying when the trade goes down at Grady. I know it’s been speculated that maybe Beth’s stuff was in there.

I’m not sure it really matters right now. What matters is that Carol had the knife, which means they DID have Beth’s stuff, somehow, and Daryl loves stuff.

So I went back to Coda, as usual when things get weird. I specifically wanted to see whether Beth is wearing her necklace during the exchange. I couldn’t remember. She is NOT shown wearing the necklace, which means it is probably with the rest of her stuff, ie: the knife.

All of this is a preamble toward the thesis that this button could be Beth’s button, which Daryl repurposed and sewed to an undershirt, which he wears all the time. The button would be close to his heart. It would not be recognizable to anyone but him, and nobody would ask him about it, which is important, since he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. I wonder if they will do many little things like this as the series goes on, to remind us of Beth?

I’m not quite done lol. One more branch to this rabbit hole. This made me think about Davon. Like Coda, Davon seems to be an important keystone episode that we’re coming back to again and again.

In DD, we know that Daryl will be naked in a bathtub, stripped of all his emblems and all his stuff. Instead, all he has are physical scars, which he can’t escape or shed no matter what he does. It seems like he is uncomfortable in the bathtub, considering what we’ve heard about him grabbing Isabelle’s hand sharply. I think it’s probably at least in part because he’s been stripped of his stuff.

The only other time we’ve seen Daryl with his shirt off, other than when he is quickly changing, is in the episode “Open Your Eyes,” when he literally just takes off his shirt and hangs out with Dog on the couch. It feels like a random scene to just show of Norman’s chest lol.

But I think it means that, with Dog, Daryl can just be who he is without worrying about who he was. He doesn’t have to explain. Dog is, ofc, a Sirius symbol and a symbol of Beth, calling back to Alone.

Anyway, in Davon, Davon is stripped of his boots when they have to take his leg. When he wakes up, he freaks out, because his boots are missing, and they hold all he has left of his loved ones, his emblems. In the episode Davon, Davon seems to fall for a French woman named Nora.

They go through a lot of little Bethyl motions, like with the strawberry and the piano. This woman also has a son, who has gone missing, and who Davon rescues. In the end, however, the woman cannot see past her own teachings at this commune. She forsakes Davon and believes the lies told about him. This causes Davon to have a major coming-home moment, realizing that whatever they had, it wasn’t real.

I think that while Isabelle will not forsake Daryl, they are definitely trying to make the audience think that Daryl is going to have a love story with Isabelle. The bath, the soft, sweet conversations. She is gentle and delicate in ways that Leah was rough and harsh. We want these things for Daryl, so it would be easy to root for this, if you’re not shipping him with someone else.

This is, ofc, why the Carylers are super pissed lol. But in Davon, which is clearly some sort of blueprint for DD, with even the letter “D” being a parallel at work (Daryl/Davon), even if Davon is taken with the French woman for a while, she remains loyal to her “cult” in the end. Even after he saves her son, she won’t leave her family for him.

I don’t think that Daryl is going to have a romance with Isabelle, but we may think he’s going to for a time, even if only during the promo season. We might see Isabelle tain feelings for him, but ultimately, she won’t leave her convent, her sisters, or her Abbey.

That means that she is, ofc, not Daryl’s “happy ending.” I know we know this, but there’s nothing more fun that taking things apart and actually communicating what we know to be true with evidence from the show.

@wdway

I just wanted to send you the button shot from when the guys are carrying him away.

I obviously lightened it. What I also want to say is look at how his head is positioned this gives me major throwback feelings from episode Them of when it started to rain and he closes his eyes and tilts his head up to the sky.

The other thing I noticed when with the shot from Twitter is how the button is showing so prominently, he's also wearing a string tie around his neck which to me screams the black cord of Beth's necklace.

@galadrieljones

Love it. He’s definitely looking up to the light in this shot.

@wdway

Humm... I definitely see some similarities here. The top picture I'm sure you recognize from Alone. The third shot from DD spinoff trailer. The last is from Them.

30 Days Without An Accident.

The cloak/poncho in the background of Beth's prison cell.

I never thought how similar this would be until I saw these two shots.

Seriously, I mean Sirius(ly) am I delusional or what.

@galadrieljones

@wdway do you think it is HER button or that it’s just tptb asking us to look closely?

@wdway

I think it's a matter of symbolism that they want us to connect to Beth. I don't think it needs to be her actual button. I would love if he wore or had her actual heart necklace, but the button I think is a focus for people like us who will notice and geek out, but most of the audience will never even notice it. That's why I think it's just a little nod letting us know they want us to keep the faith.

@wdway

I just can't get over how her backpack straps are so reminiscent of Daryl's suspenders. And then they're both have on the neutral tannish shirt underneath. I've heard a rumor that there are people that have not watched Still and Alone a million times like we have and would never connected these things. That's hard for me to believe, haha.

@galadrieljones

Wait there are people who don’t watch Still and Alone like once a month…?

@twdmusicboxmystery:

*Gasp* No, I can't even imagine that. 😉

[babycharmander]

Gonna try to write out my thoughts on the Mario Movie. I'm at work as I'm writing the start of this and it's been a few hours since I've watched the film, but I'll try to remember what I can.

If you haven't seen my previous post and just want to know if you should see it or not, here's my opinion on that: If you're a Mario fan, absolutely go see it, but go in expecting a wild and fun love-letter to the games... and do not expect anything character-wise. Like, take any expectations you have for character moments and anything remotely emotional and turn it down to almost nothing. Also, stay for ALL of the credits.

(SPOILERS AHOY from this point onward!)

So, yeah, if you couldn't guess, I went into this with far too high expectations. Granted, I don't feel like they were all unreasonable ones...?

I just wanted to see the characters interacting. The humor was fun, the game references were fantastic, but whenever we did get a moment of characters just talking, it's breezed by as rapidly as possible to keep the plot moving. There's the tiniest of moments, but they never felt like enough.

Which isn't to say the characters are portrayed badly--they're not! They're fantastic! Rather than pulling the expected "these two siblings squabble and disagree and finally make amends in the end," Mario and Luigi are already great brothers to each other, and I liked that--it was refreshing! But I wanted to see more of their relationship, and... really, more of Luigi in general.

Peach was great, and she was GIVEN A BACKSTORY! I didn't expect that at all! It wasn't fully explained, but it's there! And it... doesn't really come up again. I mean, probably to set up for something in the inevitable sequel, but still! Also, she and Mario weren't swept up into an immediate romance! There's a brief moment when Mario is like "woah" when he first sees her, and throughout the film other characters like Donkey Kong and Bowser expect them to try to get together, but it doesn't happen! I liked that!

Bowser steals the show! DK, for as much as I hate Seth Rogan, was great, and his rivalry with Mario was fun!

BUT NONE OF THAT IS EXPLORED!!

They had so much to work with and they just... didn't.

Also, my fears were confirmed: Yoshi was entirely absent from the film. This was probably to focus on the other characters so they didn't have too many to juggle at a time, but... That one shot in the trailer? Where we see the herd of Yoshis? Yeah, that's it. That's the whole scene--that blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.

Except for the end credits sequence.

If you stay until the very end, you're treated to a zoom-in on the wreckage of Bowser's Keep, and within the wreckage, a Yoshi egg starts to hatch. The screen goes black, and you hear Yoshi saying his name.

This implies a sequel, which means we'll obviously see him in the next film, but this doesn't help my anxieties much. I wondered before how Yoshi, should he appear in the film, would be handled. The last thing I wanted was for him to just be a glorified steed or pet, and we... still have no answer. In fact, we now have more questions (and for me, more anxieties)--was Yoshi trapped in that egg, as in Super Mario World, or is he a baby?? Will he actually talk? Will he be sentient and an actual character, or a glorified pet?? Goodness knows.

I know from all of this it sounds like I hated the movie, but I didn't. I had a good time watching it. (...Well, mostly--on a very personal note, oh gosh, okay, it's Illumination--I should have expected the pop music. It's fine. It's not a big deal. But I was not read for the inclusion of a certain song that immediately blasted me with negative emotions. That was not a fun experience, but at least it was short.) I cheered over seeing Mario and Luigi swinging Bowser by his tail, at hearing part of the DK Rap, at seeing Diddy Kong and Pauline and the many other background cameos. I adored the soundtrack and will be looking for a way to buy it ASAP (...if it's available, but knowing Nintendo...) There was a lot to like!

I'm just... flabbergasted at how little was done with the characters. I hate that I'm saying this, but in terms of character development, this is one of the most shallow movies I've ever seen that wasn't completely garbage quality. It would be one thing if the rest of the movie sucked, if it was an obvious cash grab, but it... wasn't. There was so much care put into the world and animation and music, in the references to the games, even obscure ones! So much love went into this, and I just can't understand what happened to the story.

Even if the plot were the same, they could have done so much more with these characters. Why didn't they?

I had this really terrible thought, and I could be entirely wrong, but... I'm remembering that the movie was delayed for four months, and also that Miyamoto was heavily involved in the making of the film. I'm wondering if like... maybe there was more character-focused moments, but he had them cut? The movie really did feel very weirdly cut, jumping from scene to scene rapidly with no room to breathe--I really wonder if there were more character moments there that Miyamoto demanded to be cut from the film due to whatever weird logic he goes by these days. This is the guy who's been ripping the plot from the Mario RPGs for the past... long while, because...??? Goodness knows at this point.

I dunno. I'm going to be seeing the movie in theaters again, though--maybe if I go into it knowing what to expect, I'll feel less bad about it.

Thanks for listening to my rambling, and if you've seen the movie, go ahead and respond to any of my thoughts here. I'm just trying to work this out in my head.

[magicalrobodokiofficial]

Magical Robodoki if it was a Dreamworks Movie Trailer

(Typical peppy high school music plays, Aianna nervously walking through the halls)

Narrator!Aianna: "Yep. That's me. Aianna Flowers. Normal robotic cyborg freshman at Jackalope High."

Jock: "WEEB!"

Aianna: *keeps walking*

Jock: Yeah, that's right! Go tell your mama- oh wait, you don't even remember her!

(Aianna stops and gets angry)

That must be why you're such a womanchild-

(proceeds to get punched into the lockers, leaving a dent in them)

Aianna: *dusts hands* Put a sock in it, jockey.

(Title card: This spring...)

Narrator!Aianna: "Yeah, sure, I was in the news for basically having my entire childhood wiped from my memory,"

(Show scenes of Roboheart fighting evil dark monsters)

"-and yeah, I am secretly a magical warrior named Roboheart who defends the world from villain-possessed bystanders."

(Scene of Aianna walking through the halls)

"But whatever! This week, it's finally time for me to have the magical girl team I've always dreamed of! Finally, I won't be alone, I'll have true bonafide girlfriends by my side-"

(Sounds of Nate, Buzz, and Bob freaking out over wearing skirts, Aianna cringing)

Aianna: Please tell me they're just being hazed...

(dramatic heroic music swells, From the creators of Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken)

(Scene of Aianna talking to her team)

Aianna: So, a theater kid, a nerd, and a jock got chosen? And they're all boys. This...has got to be some mistake.

Buzz: You're telling me.

Kiruru: Nope!

(and How to Train Your Dragon)

(Scene of Aianna being sad in the darkened hallways)

Aianna: This isn't what I wanted...

(Scene of a monster attack, and the group fighting)

Roxanne Mirage, whispering into a students ear: "Embrace what you fear! Go on, my curse!"

(Back to darkened hallways, Bob giving a comforting hug)

Bob: I know. But it's what we needed.

(Discover your family,)

(Scene of the group in a futuristic training room)

Buzz: We finally get the chance to help other people feel less alone!

Bob: And we get cool powers out of the deal! (he runs in top speed) I've got super speed,

Nate: (snaps his fingers, turning into Aianna) Shapeshifting's pretty sick.

Buzz: (He picks up Aianna) Don't forget super strength!

Bob: Yeah! Aianna, you're so cool!

Aianna, surprised: ...Really?

(Discover your courage,)

(Scene of a confrontation between Roxanne and Aianna)

Roxanne: Look, as a popular girl, I know everyone's fears here.

(Scene of Nate trying to hide his blush in front of a guy)

"Being outed,

(Buzz attempting to hang with the cool kids, only to be pinned to a locker)

Being ostracized,

(Bob trying to hide his nerves while playing basketball)

Being judged for your failures,

(Aianna having a panic attack in the hallway)

Being alone."

(Back to the confrontation)

And I'm sure you're no different, Roboheart. (she attempts to pull Aianna closer to her, and Aianna's eyes begin to glow purple as the camera zooms in) Come on, show me what you fear....

(Discover your hero.)

(Scene of the gang fighting against a giant shadowy monster)

Narrator!Aianna, dramatically, pissed: "...I may be scared, but it doesn't matter. I'm not alone anymore. I've got a family now!"

(Scene of Roboclover grabbing Roboheart's hand as she falls off a cliff)

N!Aianna: "It may not be what I expected, not by a long shot,

(Scene of Robodiamond protecting Robojoker)

N!Aianna: But it's still family regardless!"

(Flashing stills of the gang fighting, then fade to black, then transition to the beginning of a transformation scene)

Aianna: Ready? Robocards,

The rest of the gang: ONLINE!

(Title Card: Magical Roboheart: High-School Heroes)

Group: (posing) We'll make your heart race!

(Cast list flashes, coming April 2024)

[horsyunicorn]

spoilers

I would like to thank the writers of mi7 for making Vanessa Kirby and Hayley Atwell's eyes the star of the train scene. incredible to see Vanessa Kirby acting as Hayley Atwell acting as Alanna. Also the acting performances, photography, music, fight scenes, pacing, are all top notch, really amazing.

The trailer btw is perfectly shot and leads you beautifully into the twists of the movie.

Only gripes I have are 1. Tom Cruise doing something weird with his face and/or make-up and direction telling him not to show emotion in the first half of the film (and him having weird hair with not enough product in it) and everyone else being allowed to age from their previous appearances (Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg especially but they actually look good unlike Tom Cruise) 2. the dialogue shots which were all Dutch angles super close up. It was quite bad in a regular cinema screen, I can't imagine how bad it would be for an extra large or even imax. The intensity of the drama was present due to the music and acting so there was no need to zoom up everyone's noses during exposition. 3. the music was beautiful and dark/cool/warm where it needed to be, but it could have benefited from a few quieter moments like MI6. Of course that movie was made to be reflective on the prev five movies, and add a sense of finality to it, but MI7 had almost no downtime (i am still thankful for what we did get) making it exhausting to watch and 4. WHAT THEY DID TO ILSA FAUST. I'm glad of what we did get since the prev films established Hunt needs a super spy for a lover otherwise they're unable to match threats against their life, but they should have just mortally wounded her instead of killing her off entirely. She's Ethan's soulmate and hñnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #124 (Year 3/Week 20):

Costa Brava, Lebanon, my 5th bittersweet Lebanese film, debut feature from a young female director. A family of five escaped the chaos of near-future, dysfunctional Beirut to a rural, isolated compound in the mountains. But after 8 years of building a loving nest for themselves, a landfill is being constructed next to their plot and their ideal world implodes. The city trash they tried to leave behind is following them here.

The wife is being played by Nadine Labaki, who directed the Oscar-nominated ‘Capernaum’, which I’m going to watch next. The two young girls are terrific too.

The trailer. 7/10.

🍿  

Another controversial first feature from a female director, Instinct by the Dutch Halina Reijn [who went after that to direct A24′s ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’]. An intense psychological thriller about prison therapist Carice van Houten becoming obsessed with an inmate, a violent serial rapist on the verge of being paroled.

Exploring female rape fantasies is a recipe for sensationalism and manipulation, when played out for example by male-gazing misogynists like Paul Verhoeven. But in Reijn hands this dark and ominous tale is (for the most par) told with nuance and ambiguity. A powerful 7/10.

The trailer.

🍿    

Massimo Troisi X2:

🍿 Re-watch: Englishman Michael Radford’s Italian classic Il Postino. A nostalgic and enchanting story of a simple postman and his friendship with Chilean poet Pablo Noruda on a small Mediterranean island in the 1950′s. Similar vibes as ‘Cinema Paradiso’, which came a few years earlier, and which also starred Philippe Noiret. A Massimo Troisi’s passion project, and infamous for him dying the very next day after principal photography ended. 10/10.  

🍿 Massimo Troisi was actually an acclaimed director, screenwriter and actor before playing ‘The Postman’. But his directorial debut comedy I'm Starting from Three (Ricomincio da tre), with himself as a shy, bumbling caricature of a young man, was nothing but funny. 1/10.

Both movies feature my favorite character actor Renato Scarpa, the memorable inspector from ‘Don’t look now’ (“Signor Baaxter!”).

🍿  

Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us, an infectious 2006 concert film, documenting his smashing “US” tour (37 US shows, 565,000 tickets sold, $77 million taken in), when he was 64...

The director of this documentary was absolutely terrible; He filled up the two hours with extremely fast zooms in and out, nervous camera movements, super-quick editing and too many sappy reaction shots of adoring fans in the audience (lots of parents and grandparents with children of all ages, though!). Also, too many celebrities ‘Talking Heads’ emoting how great McCartney is, which was off-putting. Still, the incredible performances of the band, the sensational, live-wire concerts, the enthusiastic music made it a tearful inspiration.

My best film experience of the week! 9/10.

On McCartney’s website, there's a list of 25 documentaries about him, which I will watch one by one, Inshallah.

🍿  

In the fine M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity documentary, he claimed that he was not an artist, but a mathematician. The film brings to life his  geometric-abstract visions. And while it touches on the relationship between him and Bach’s, it never mentions Gödel. Not crazy about the Stephen Fry narration. 8/10. (Photo Above).

🍿  

Documentary No. 3 of the week: Still, the new heartfelt Michael J. Fox bio-pix combines lots of re-enactments with footage from old movies, as well as some current heart-to-heart interviews about his Parkinson’s.

As a celebrity portrait, it wasn’t relevant to me at all, since I never saw any of his TV work, or even his movies. But the parts about his disability were powerful though.

🍿  

2 Russian classics that didn’t resonate with me:

🍿 First watch: Tarkovsky’s 3-hour-long experimental poem about memory, Solaris, his attempt to show that ‘Science-fiction films don’t have to be emotionally shallow’. It must have had a strong influence to the game ‘Myst’, being cultish, mysterious and atmospheric. But its slow-moving premise became so boring to me, that it took me 3 days to finish it. Comparing it to 2001 is unjustified. 2/10.

I planned on following it up with Steven Soderbergh’s later version, but then I hard-passed: Disliking science-fiction movies in general, and hating Hollywood remakes in particular is not a good incentive.  

🍿 The Cranes Are Flying, a Soviet World War 2 drama from 1957. As a political expression of the new era after Stalin’s death, it may have been be significant, but today it seems a simple propaganda piece, with some bold visuals. 2/10.

🍿

Mika Kaurismäki is Aki’s older brother and the one who got him interested in movie making. My first film by him, Helsinki Napoli All Night Long was disappointing though: An European-Noir inspired by hardcore American crime stories, and even the cameos of Eddie Constantine, Sam Fuller, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wender didn’t save it from being a poor parody. 1/10.

🍿 

You Can Live Forever, a shallow Canadian romance of two young girls, one of which is a Jehovah Witness, torn between her faith and her love. The other one looks like young Scarlett Johansson but can’t act like her. The flat queer coming-of-age against a fucked-up puritan background had no subtext. It felt auto-biographical, and it actually was. 2/10.

🍿 

Who done it?, My 4th (atrocious!) film by Basil Dearden. After 2 unsung masterpieces (’Victim’ and ‘All night long’), and another thought-provoking work (‘Sapphire), this was a terrible ‘Ouch’. A late Ealing Studios low-brow, un-funny ‘comedy’ and Benny Hill's film debut as a bumbling Inspector Clouseau-like fool. Very disappointing 1/10.

🍿  

“Put him in a straitjacket and give him an enema! Wait, give him an enema first, then put him in a straitjacket!”

Dracula, dead and loving it, the last film directed by Mel Brooks, an underrated (?) gothic parody. But he already did a much better Transylvanian castle spoof with ‘Young Frankenstein’, and this one just sucked. Leslie Nielsen sporting a Borat accent, and Brooks double-playing the Hungarian angle. The silliness of the occult, should be good for parodies, but not here. 1/10.

As a successful producer, Mel Brooks made ‘The elephant man’, ‘Frances’, ‘The fly’, others...

🍿 

2 British shorts by Sam Baron, both with the same Amit Shah:

🍿 Big ears, a little story about a gawky young man with large Obama-ears, who gets very bad news.

🍿 “Hi, I’m here for the orgy” - His earlier short was crisper (and funnier). The orgy, a 15-min. comedy about the same lonely, awkward man who goes to his first orgy. 6/10.

🍿 

I adored Jonathan Glazer’s three previous films (’Sexy Beast’, ‘Birth’, and ‘Under the skin’), so I’m eagerly waiting for what is supposedly a new disturbing masterpiece from him, ‘The zone of Interest’ (It was based on a novel by Martin Amis, who just died yesterday!).

Glazer used to have a YouTube channel with some of the many film-like commercials he had directed before branching into features. Here are a few of his standalone ads:

Stella Artois Ice Skating Priests, Last orders and Devil's Island (with Ron Perlman) *

Sony Bravia Paint *

Guinness’s Surfer and Swimblack and Dreamer *

Levi’s Kung Fu and Odyssey *

Wrangler’s Ride *

Barclay Bank’s Centaur (with Samuel L Jackson) *

Apple watch Flight *

More Here *

Unrelated: Christopher Walken Sky-dancing in Fatboy slim Weapon of choice, by Spike Jonze.

🍿  

Throw-back to the "Art project”:  

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[smashlawlai]

Here’s a Super Smash Bros. Lawl moveset for Spyro the Dragon from Spyro the Dragon series:

Reveal Trailer:

The trailer opens with Mario and Link in a treasure-filled cave, fighting over a shiny gem. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake, and both characters stop, looking around in confusion. The camera zooms in on a pile of gold as Spyro bursts out of it, snatching the gem in his mouth. He flies into the air, breathes fire, and lands with a cocky grin. The screen flashes: "Spyro Charges In!"

Moveset:

Spyro is a nimble fighter who uses his fire breath, horns, and gliding abilities to dominate the battlefield. His attacks are swift and focus on aggressive, close-quarters combat, with some mid-range fire-based moves.

Neutral B (Fire Breath):

Description: Spyro breathes a steady stream of fire directly in front of him, dealing damage over time to anyone caught in the flames. The longer the button is held, the further the fire extends, though it has a limited range.

Inspiration: This is based on Spyro’s signature fire-breathing ability from across the series.

Side B (Charging Horns):

Description: Spyro dashes forward at high speed with his horns lowered, ramming into enemies and dealing significant knockback. If the move is held, Spyro can charge for a longer distance, increasing the power and speed of the attack.

Inspiration: Taken from his iconic charging ability used to break through obstacles and attack enemies in the Spyro games.

Down B (Earth Pound):

Description: Spyro jumps up slightly and slams the ground with his body, creating a small shockwave around him. This attack can hit enemies on both sides and deals heavy damage to those close to the impact.

Inspiration: A reference to Spyro’s headbash move, which he uses to break through certain objects in the games.

Up B (Glide):

Description: Spyro jumps upward and enters a glide for a short time, allowing him to hover in the air and move in any direction. While gliding, Spyro can attack by breathing fire downward or charging forward.

Inspiration: Spyro’s ability to glide from high places in the games, allowing for versatile recovery options.

Final Smash (Superflame):

Description: Spyro powers up with the Superflame ability from Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and gains the ability to shoot massive, fiery projectiles across the stage. The Superflame projectiles deal heavy damage and knockback to any opponents they hit. Spyro can fire multiple shots during the Final Smash’s duration.

Inspiration: This is based on the Superflame power-up that Spyro receives in certain levels, which gives him unlimited firepower for a short time.

Taunts:

Up Taunt: Spyro spins in place and breathes a small puff of fire in the air, grinning confidently.

Side Taunt: Spyro stretches his wings and scratches at the ground with his claws, ready for action.

Down Taunt: Spyro lays down briefly and waves his tail in the air, mimicking one of his idle animations from the games.

Victory Poses:

1. Victory Pose 1: Spyro flies in a circle and lands on a large gem, proudly standing atop it as the camera zooms in on him.

2. Victory Pose 2: Sparx, Spyro’s dragonfly companion, flies around him as Spyro breathes fire into the air in celebration.

3. Victory Pose 3: Spyro charges at the camera, stops just before it, and lets out a victorious roar, shaking the screen slightly.

Defeat Pose:

Defeat Pose: Spyro sits on the ground, looking annoyed as Sparx buzzes around him, looking defeated.

[thefirstknife]

It's a really cool little frame, definitely something super important. My thought is that it might be the Veil. There was another frame in another trailer from a different angle:

It's deliberately zoomed in and cropped weirdly to tease us, but in this specific image, I felt like it looks like a heart. Like, anatomical heart. With veins and all. It's somewhat different now in the new image though, and doesn't look like a heart anymore. Unless there's multiple pieces and we're not looking at the same part of the object.

Important to note is the way everything is framed to show us this object. In the original trailer, what precedes this image is the Witness having a vision (? presumably) of our planets that leads to Neptune, implying that this mysterious object is what the Witness is looking for. Sequence of events in the launch trailer (under cut for length):

The Witness gets zoomed into some sort of light and then:

The planets are in a line and then they part. After this, we get the flash of the veiny object. Then the vision continues:

The planets keep parting aside until this shot which shows Neptune in the center and zooms in towards it.

This new trailed has a nearly identical setup, showing us planets, zooming in between them until reaching Neptune. When it settles on Neptune, it shows footage similar to the above + the new angle on the veiny object:

Whatever this is, it seems to be tied to this vision-like projection of the planets of the solar system which has a focus on Neptune. So my guess is that this is what the Witness is after. The Veil? The Pale Heart? Something entirely different? We'll find out tomorrow!

Since I'm already here, the new trailer's first part is interesting to me because:

This sequence very clearly zips from one planet to another. The problem is, the first planet closest to the camera seems to be Europa, given the Europan-unique red lines in the surface. But it seems somewhat out of place, because the rest of the planets are entirely in order of their proximity to the sun. Yellow planet on the right is Venus, then they show Earth and the Moon, then Mars, then Nessus and then Neptune. Why is Europa here? It should be after Mars.

I also though this might just be showing planets that we have in the directory, but then Venus makes no sense. Maybe I'm overthinking it too much and it's just supposed to look pretty, but nevertheless! It's an interesting setup for this specific part of the trailer. Also interesting that as the sequence starts and first starts displaying the planets, they get a simulation-like effect sweep over them:

This effect also sweeps over the Pyramid ships:

Interesting. If this isn't purely aesthetic, then it might be relevant somehow. Something to do with the Vex? Or the Witness' power to move worlds? Or it's just there to be pretty? Well, we have 24 hours without the game so we have to occupy our time somehow and I do it by overanalysing every frame of the trailer ahskjahskajhd

THATS A FUCKING BODY

like that has to be what that is right?? theres all those veins and stuff that lead to what looks to be the neck and the start of a head at the top. is there maybe an entity or something inside the traveler and thats what the witness sees?

or maybe thats what "the veil" is that that they mentioned in the vidoc!

from this trailer