#and then i decide to like. try and watch the sequel. for worldbuilding and rewrite purposes (everyone must make a wir sequel rewrite)

[fisherindustries]

im soooo DOOOOOMMMMMEEEEEEEDDDD

[the-things-ive-seen]

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

Percy Jackson: Sinking the Franchise

When I watched the movie for the first Percy Jackson movie, I thought it was good, a nice adventure film at the time. I was in first grade then, but by second grade the book for Percy Jackson and the Olympians was required reading. This was when I realized that the book was ten times better than the movie. (Even now, I'd say the book has a leg up on the TV show!) More importantly, I realized that book adaptation movies could completely rewrite a story with their own half-baked ideas in a desperate attempt to save time and appeal to audiences. Hence the second failure in the franchise.

Before that, I should mention how I was a huge fan of the second book by Rick Riordan, Sea of Monsters. I loved reading it so much, that I got a physical copy and have read it back to back multiple times. I originally didn't understand why, it just felt good to read and it still makes me laugh. But I realize now that the Ocean Journey narratives are just really good when they're well done. The growth everyone goes through as they travel, the adventures happening both on and between islands, the legends and battles. It's an incredible test of creativity, one that succeeded.

...Then Sea of Monsters came out in theaters.

Apparently, the thing about taking a test of creativity, worldbuilding, and pacing, is that you can still fail that test. Quite horribly, it seems. Sea of Monsters was a gut punch for me, as well as for anyone who thought this series would be revived with even a small amount of credibility regained. 20th Century Fox found a way to kill an extremely popular IP, and it would only be revived later by Disney of all companies.

Okay Spoilers, but I need to get into it. Here's why Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters feels like I'm the one trapped in an ocean of mediocrity.

Let's start with the ending climax because the beginning sure as sh!t doesn't leave much to be desired. It also gives me an opportunity to explain why they chose... that as a finale. See, after the long journey of being chased by bad guys only to be caught by bad guys for no explainable reason, The bad guys get the thing, a MacGuffin if you will, and go through with their evil plan of reviving Tautarus. Percy's blade starts glowing for no reason and he stabs Tautarus, banning him forever. But he actually isn't banished forever because sequel- baiting.

It's sad that I actually managed to explain that as succinctly as possible, skipping over the bare minimum of detail, like Grover wearing a dress. If you read the books, or you can probably guess what's wrong here, Tautarus isn't actually supposed to revive in the story, nor is Percy's blade meant to be the random magical item that kills him. The prophecy mentioning any of this refers to a different book.

Why movie does it is because it's trying to pull a Percy Jackson. That's the official term for it. It pulls a Percy Jackson, using future book content to tease or even supplant plot points in an attempt to stir interest or raise stakes. You know you've hit a new low in reading comprehension when you grab the main bad guy for the end of a series and place him in the middle of your plot. Because it sounded like a good idea.

Speaking of plot, there are a few more details I skipped over when describing the plot of the movie. Percy lives in a magical campground for special children protected by a tree. That tree is dying, so they send this previously unmentioned character, Clarise, to find the golden MacGuffin that Grover found but can't deliver due to incompetency. Percy, jealous, decides to go on the life-threatening journey himself with his girlfriend. He gets captured by the main bad guy but escapes with cool plot devices given to him by a god; ex machinas, I believe they're called. 2 minutes later, they catch up to Clarise who was a day ahead of them and has a submarine that was given to her by her Daddy (way too late to ask questions). After traveling through a monster's stomach, they reach Journey's End island, with the golden Macguffin, Grover, and another roadblock? After that pointless roadblock, all the villains teleport to the island to initiate the climax (I guess Luke can actually teleport though?). They fight, good guys win, and they go home and use the MacGuffin, which leads to a new character being unlocked. Some sequel-baiting before the movie unceremoniously ends.

Also, there's this Cyclops boy named Tyson. What a wacky character that guy is.

Yeah... I really hate this movie. It isn't fair to judge by what it does and doesn't have, but the movie lacks so much of... anything, that when you read the books it is genuinely insulting how much they could've squeezed in and ultimately didn't. Entire plot points skipped, characters that we never met, monsters that we're never fought; worst of all, a plot so simple I could've written the entire thing on the back of a napkin. Sea of Monsters decided an Ocean Journey was too much effort, but a one-note sea adventure fit perfectly in the budget. It hurts more when you're in a biased position, but I still at least like the first movie. It felt like an incomplete introduction to the Americanized Olympians, but it was a glimpse at what could've been. This movie is an open view of what wasn't and will never be. Percy Jackson by 20th Century will never be deep, adventurous, hilarious, or well-financed. It will always be shallow, simple to follow, barely chuckle-worthy, and one cut corner after another.

I'm glad this will be the last time I talk about this film in any capacity. It's one legend that should stay forgotten.

[textsfromthefifthbasement]

Returning the favour!

1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 25, 26, 30, 34, 37, 38, 41, 42, 45, 46 !

💗

(1) What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work?

Probably Unspoken Secrets. It's my most popular fic, it's got fluff, it's got angst, and it's got a sequel.

(3) What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I don't feel like I have a trope or detail that's super characteristic 😅

(5) What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

I'm just going to talk about my first Dark Week fic from 2021, The Child. I had actually written something like it back when I was 18 and had first read the book, but you know, 2 computers and a hard drive failure later it got lost. I managed to rewrite the fic and majorly improve it for the event.

(6) What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself?

I think the one fic I did the most worldbuilding for was All the Things Yet to Come. When writing it, I had planned on incorporating the Ratcatcher from the novel into it with the idea that ratcatchers were now very important members of society, but that never happened.

(9) How do you find new fic to read?

I usually check the new fics on AO3 every day and add the ones that interest me to my To Read list.

(10) How do you decide what to write?

I usually decide that through vibes 😂

(12) Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I think I'd rather not answer questions on things I dislike in fanfic, but usually the things I dislike aren't things to do with tropes.

(13) Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

See above

(25) What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

I usually don't do research for fics. Probably the most research I've done was to play Plague, Inc., while trying to figure out the disease in All the Things Yet to Come, and watching some of Jammidodger's videos on Youtube when writing my latest Trans Erik oneshot and thinking of expanding it into a longfic.

(26) Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

No dialogue! I actually think I've done one of those before.

(30) Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

Yes, but I published it on anon for A Reason.

(34) What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

I usually base things Madeleine says or does after things my mother has said to me before.

(37) Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

Hellfire. It's an E/C oneshot inspired but Eddie/Chrissy from Stranger Things minus major character death. I'm actually planning on writing a sequel soon.

(38) Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

Probably In Your Skin and Blood and Bone because in my opinion, it was a hot mess that I was unhappy with but ran out of time to edit before I needed to publish it for fluff week. I think it did have a lot of appeal because it's an alternate LND beginning type fic.

(41) Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

Honestly, @wheel-of-fish's Unsung and Out of the Woods.

(42) Have you ever received a comment that particularly stood out to you for whatever reason?

Not on AO3 but I still to this day giggle over @coatandtails reblogging Leave the Past Behind with the tag "moisten the maestro."

(45) What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

Chapter length and dialogue. Conversely, I feel like I regressed in being able to portray characters' inner angst.

(46) Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

Computer! And I do feel like I'm more relaxed when writing in my bedroom.

[capsgirl19]

wait I wanna hear about the gay subtext and wasted potential of teen beach 2

Okay, strap in because I don’t do elevator pitches. Major spoilers for Teen Beach Movies 1&2. And a readmore because this is LONG!

SO. Idk if this is a common observation, but it seemed fairly obvious to me that Lela fell hard in love with Mack over the course of the first movie. She felt trapped by gender roles, obligated to pursue a relationship with a boy over and over again, never even considering that there might be something more until this girl unlike anyone she’s ever met crashes into her life saying that she can do anything men can do, that she doesn’t have to fit into a little box. I legit thought the scene in her bedroom might be her confessing to being gay, though I knew it wouldn’t be. And like... the necklace exchange? The extended hug at the end? Not to mention in the second one, she’s desperate to escape her own universe so she can be with Mack again, desperate to live in a world where she’s allowed to be her true self. The fact that Brady turns into a garbage fire in that one doesn’t help my opinions on the canon pairings, either. By all rights, Lela’s story in the second movie ought to be a tragedy. She escapes a world defined by rigid expectations that she be in a relationship with a man to get back to the girl who changed her life. And she makes it! And she’s happy! And then it turns out everyone she loves will die if she doesn’t go back to her own life. She makes this tremendous sacrifice to save her entire universe, and honestly a sad gay story is cliche, but imo better than doing what they actually did with that ending.

As a little aside, can we talk about the unbelievable amount of lip service in these movies that the second one undermines with its entire plot? In the first movie Brady was kinda dumb, but a seemingly good boyfriend. Mack was so about Girl Power that she was trying to bring third wave feminism to the early sixties. In the second one Brady is sulky, jealous for no reason, dumps his girlfriend because HIS TRASH ASS fucking forgot they had plans, and never even has to apologize for it. On the contrary, Mack apologizes to HIM! When she never did anything to so much as suggest she’d find his interests stupid! I digress, sorry, it pissed me off to no end.

That finished, let’s get into the meta. While I don’t think the writers realized it, they wrote a super interesting multiverse. We’ve got the prime universe, the one Mack and Brady are from, which is the one all the others spawn from. My theory is that literally anyone can create a universe by writing about one. The intricacy of the created universe is based on how much worldbuilding goes into it, and the better thought-out the universe, the stronger the fabric of reality surrounding it will be, and the harder it’ll be to change from its intended path. This isn’t a new concept, but there’s an interesting level of equity in the fact that secondary universes can rewrite the entire timeline of the primary one if they change enough. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Wet Side Story is a sleepy little universe, not much thought put into how it runs at all. The characters sing and dance their way through the same summer over and over again in a contented daze, like the lotus eaters of the Odyssey. And then along come Mack and Brady, to stretch at the delicate chiffon of this simple place. The characters closest to them begin to stir from their trances, and there’s no way to go back. No way to unknow. Only an endless summer, a stretching eternity of pretending, and Lela can’t stand it. With barely a few months between, she’s pulling that fabric in the opposite direction trying to get back to the girl who captured her mind and her heart, currently in a failing relationship. And then she has to go back. She doesn’t want to. Mack seems to wish she could stay, if only for Lela’s own sake. She and Tanner return to their own universe, but not before Mack tells her that she can control her own destiny and shape her universe to her whims. Lela takes this to heart, becoming the solo star of the film. It’s too much. The thin fabric separating her universe from the primary one tears as she severely alters its timeline, allowing her to throw Mack a leather jacket matching her own through a movie screen, and shoot her a sly wink as she dances along to the movie. This is the end of Teen Beach 2, and oh boy, do I have sequel ideas.

Here’s the setup: so. Lela goes home. Whoever wrote the movie she’s in has long since abandoned caring for the universe they never bothered to build a world for, and their grip is weak. It’s easy to wrest the pen from that loose hand, to bend her world around her until it suits her desires, and she writes a great story. But it still feels empty. Lela is the queen of the beach, but her friends still seem their happiest playing their new roles, over and over again. She ascends to godhood, taking the reins of her own universe, but it’s lonely at the top and she’s as high as a person can go. She is peerless. She has nothing but time to ponder the nature of everything, and to yearn for the only equal she ever had.

The final film doesn’t open with her, though, and this one’s a fuckin’ doozy. Think Infinity War (the comic, not the movie, and maybe a little bit of Marvel’s Illuminati plotline too) meets a lesbian pulp novel. It opens with Mack, a few years later, now in college studying oceanography. Things keep sort of... glitching out. The camera pans past a character or scene from Lela, Queen of the Beach, or maybe even Wet Side Story, but when Mack looks back at it it’s always normal again. She decides she’s being silly, and it’s just been awhile since she watched her favorite movie, so that night she makes some time and puts it on. Lela herself steps out of the screen after one of her numbers and restores Mack’s memories of the timeline that got dead-ended by Lela’s alteration of her own universe. Mack is thrilled to see her after so long, and they hug, Mack explaining what she’s been doing in the time they’ve been apart. For Lela, it’s only been a year, and she never aged to begin with. Lela tells Mack how she took her advice, she changed her movie, but things were still so unbearably lonely. She tells her that whoever created their multiverse is cruel, that they had no regard for the people within, but that it’s alright. Lela knows how to handle indifferent creators, after all. She’s going to merge it all into one universe, no hierarchies, that she personally will oversee. She’s come to ask Mack to rule at her side.

Mack is afraid of her power and afraid of her ideas. She tries to talk Lela out of it, but to no avail. Lela is deeply sad that Mack doesn’t see things her way, but out of love for the other girl and a genuine belief that she’s too powerful to be stopped, once again forging her own destiny, she folds the necklace into Mack’s palm and returns to her own universe to continue her work.

Mack and Brady went their separate ways after high school, not on bad terms, but because a long-distance relationship didn’t seem realistic. This is the first time they’ve spoken since she left for college, but Brady is her only hope for someone who might understand. She manages to jog his memory, and they have to work together to try and prevent Lela from remaking all of creation. There are posters throughout which serve as markers of how close she is to achieving her goals, shifting gradually closer to their final form: Lela in iconic pink jacket leaning against the side of a motorcycle on a black-sand beach, a galactic sky behind her. The title reads, “LELA: QUEEN OF THE MULTIVERSE.” This is also the working title of the third movie.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s all I got! How does it end? I don’t know! Probably Lela doesn’t merge the multiverse into one place, because that’s never a great plan. Maybe she just gets to live in Mack’s universe and go to college and find a girlfriend and have a good life? And her movie’s about Tanner and Bucky now (bc holy god there’s not as much of a story there but Tanner is fucking gay as hell), but it has the same story as the original? That might be good. Could also be called “Mack and Brady Save the Multiverse” idk.

[cielrouge]

I was lucky enough to attend the Pacific Rim: Uprising NYCC panel at Madison Square Garden (and sat in the first row ayyy~~) and took a bunch of notes lol. The panel included the director Steven S. DeKnight, and a few members of the main cast including John Boyega, Cailee Spaeny, Scott Eastwood, and Burn Gorman. Here's my recap:

General Worldbuilding Tidbits

Pacific Rim: Uprising is set 10 years in the future after the last film. DeKnight said that they wanted to show a “new generation of Jaeger pilots who have known nothing but chaos.”

Previous characters slated to return, as seen by the trailer, include Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), and Dr. Newt Geiszler (Charlie Day).

The new main "trio" seems to consists of the main lead, Jake Pentecost, and the late son of Stacker Pentecost (John Boyega), Jake's best friend and Jaeger pilot Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood), and tech-savvy Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny). 

10 years later, the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC) has come together to work as an international fighting force, with all of humanity working together - i.e. Jaegers are no longer coded by specific country, like the Russian Jaegers, Australian Jaegers, etc. 

This also allowed the opportunity to build Jaegers from the ground up, since they were all previously destroyed in the first film. It was jokingly claimed, "we cancelled the apocalypse and then un-cancelled it to make this movie."

DeKnight discussed how  Del Toro originally set the table with Pacific Rim as a "fantastic visual feast," so the goal with the sequel was to honor the original, but also expand the universe at the same time. 

John Boyega claimed that they weren't trying to "rewrite what Guillermo Del Toro did, but rather to build upon and expand this universe, and where the humans are at now."

Boyega also talked about how he came onto work behind-the-scenes creatively on the film as a producer. He described Pacific Rim as one of the only franchises he's come across where the fans are hopeful and "sacred science fiction ground." 

Going in, Boyega felt like he had the same creative passion as DeKnight. When they met in LA for the first time, they went over the specific Jaegers and basically what Boyega wanted to see after Pacific Rim. He claimed that "I believe this is everything you want Pacific Rim to be." 

One of the goals of Pacific Rim: Uprising is to explain exactly what happened 10 years after the first film, but not necessarily be a complete detachment to the origin story. It was highlighted that there are a lot of young teenage characters in the cast and hopefully that'll be something that new viewers can relate to. 

According to DeKnight, one of the overarching themes of Pacific Rim is: "It doesn't matter who your parents are, the color of your skin, your religion, or sexual orientation, you can make a difference and be a hero. It's the human inside the Jaegers that makes you super." 

Pacific Rim: Uprising was filmed both in Australia and China. The cast pretty much agreed that as a director, DeKnight runs a "relaxed" and "creative" set - it was a tough schedule, but the actors all felt that they could still have creative input.

New Jaegers

DeKnight called them all "badass," with Gipysy Avenger leading the charge.

Gipsy Avenger: Has a lot of upgrades, including a Gravity Sling which allows the Jaeger to reach out and grab buildings, cars, etc. and hurl them directly at the Kaiju.

Bracer Phoenix: This is the brute force Jaeger. One of its special abilities, above many, is the fact that it's a three-pilot machine. Therefore, the third pilot can drop into the chamber and operate a pair of massive guns called the Vortex Cannon.

Saber Athena: This is the most advanced Jaeger in the fleet that uses Plasma swords. Also described as a "little experimental,"  and "incredibly swift."

Titan Redeemer: Has a special weapon called the "ball of death," which is attached to the end of his arm. According to DeKnight, this was "pretty damn cool." 

Guardian Bravo: Is another brute force Jaeger that has a special weapon called the "graphine arc whip." 

Scrapper: Described as a "little guy," that's been slapped together. Since in the future, there are a lot of people pilfering and stealing PPCD technology to make their own Jaegers. 

During the Q&A, an audience member asked if all the new Jeagers run on analog. DeKnight claimed one Jaeger is built on sticks (lmao), but the general idea is that no EM-powered Kaijus will be able to take down the Jaegers in this film.

Jake Pentecost (John Boyega)

Boyega stated that he "loved the first movie and one of the reasons was Idris Elba." So, he understood the big shoes that he had to fill. Boyega claimed he understood this responsibility, but  "we [the cast] all worked as a unit, and Jake Pentecost doesn't exist without the other characters. This is also a great ensemble piece."

When the moderator asked if Jake is trying to live up to Sacker's legacy, Boyega jokingly claimed: "Hell no!" He went to explain that "the greatest heroes don't accept legendary status. It takes a tussle and a turn and for Jake's position. Where we find Jake in the beginning of the film is in very different circumstances from his Dad."

Boyega described Jake as a "stealer, a hustler, and lives in half a mansion. He's really a guy that doesn't want to live up to the Pentecost name."

Jake is bought back into the PPCD in a very unique way through his connection to Cailee Spaeny's character Amara. So, Jake is bought into this adventure and decides that he's gotta "step up," after realizing that the "Pentecost name still means something to people." 

During the Q&A, an audience member asked Boyega what's the most rewarding part of being a sci-fi icon. He claimed that he doesn't feel like one, but working on both Pacific: Rim Uprising has been exciting, since it's allowed him to jump into various elements of sci-fi that he loved growing up.

Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood)

Eastwood described him as a Jaeger pilot who's one of the best out there. Yet, he's still "the tip of the spear," and really nothing without his best friend Jake.

Jake and Nate still have issues in this movie to work out from the past, so Eastwood felt that coming back around and dealing with a lost time with these characters was something cool to explore as an actor. 

Eastwood also emphasized that while yes, there is plenty of action in the film, it "has a great story first and foremost."

Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny)

This was Spaeny's first film that she was ever cast for. So, she was definitely intimidated and a bit terrified, but knew that fans were so supportive of the first film. 

Spaeny didn't actually watch Pacific Rim until she got the audition for the sequel, and really took it upon herself to dive into the universe in order to understand and respect the original film.  

In terms of Spaeny's film experience, there was also diving into tons of stunts and action and lots of skills that she to catch onto , since she was participating in a whole world that's already been created. 

But Spaeny felt that both DeKnight and the cast were very supportive and helpful, whenever she had questions, so it was really easy for her to dive into Cailee's character. She also bonded with DeKnight since this was the first feature-length, theatrical film that he ever directed. 

Spaeny described Amara as very "independent," and super "badass." She's also a tech-savvy person. 

For Amara's backstory, her entire family was killed in the first wave of Kaiju attacks. So, Amara really "takes it upon herself to dive into Jaeger tech and make sure that when Kaiju do come back, she'll be ready to fight and protect herself." 

While Amara's past is very different from Jake's, Spaeny claimed that both of them still see a lot of things in similar ways.  

Dr. Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman)

Gorman said he was very excited to be back in the sequel, which felt like "being back in the playground.” He also joked, "I've been lucky enough with this face that God gave me to play a few jerks on screen," when an audience member briefly highlighted his past roles on Torchwood, Revenge, Game of Thrones, and The Dark Knight Rises. 

Gottlieb still has problems with personal hygiene. Gorman claimed, "let's just say that he hasn't changed his socks since the last film." 

In comparison to Charlie Day's character (Dr. Newt Geiszler) who has moved onto the private sector, Gottlieb chose to stay behind with the PPCD and arguably their most important scientist at the highest level at this point. So, Gorman joked that Gottlieb now, in effect, has a "really great budget," to work with now. 

However, DeKnight makes it clear that where we find Gottlieb is: "as a man still very much affected in what happened in the previous film in terms of his drift and communication with the Kaiju.

There was a brief Q&A and the last question really stuck out to me, where an audience member asked each cast member to sum up their Pacific: Rim Uprising experience in one word:

John Boyega: Unity

Cailee Spaeny: Life-Changing

Scott Eastwood: International

Steve S. DeKnight: Mind-blowing