#anyway go watch nimona it fucking rules

[tapcap]

whoever used the Doom Door Sound* in Nimona is my best friend. just btw.

[geodetojoy]

Just finished watching The Sea Beast on Netflix and WOW

Im not gonna do a whole movie-review (future geode here.... i kinda did. a short-ish version, but still. oops) type thing but i wanna share some of my thoughts because that was incredible!!! Im also gonna try to not spoil too much, but spoiler warnings just in case!

It did kinda remind me of a few movies thrown together, namely Moana, How To Train Your Dragon, and Nimona, but at the same time it was completely unique from all three of those. The art style was beautiful, the lighting in some scenes was absolutely stunning, but for some reason I really didnt like the design of Red lmao. Idk something about it was just too.... plain? I guess? It just looked like your average fish with a more mammal-like head. And I wasnt a huge fan of the single color either. Idk it just felt kinda lacking in comparison to the other creatures shown. But thats about the only thing I didnt like about it

I guess the plot was a bit predictable, but it felt so real and it was built in such a way that the viewer was discovering major plot points along with the characters and even if I could guess what was going to happen next there was always an additional detail that had me in awe. And the overall moral was such an important thing to address and Im so glad it went the way it did. Truly an incredible example of the immorality of humanity and the greed and desire for control of those in power, and it was not at all what I was expecting going into it. I fully thought it was gonna be a thalassophobia horror movie, and while some scenes portrayed that incredibly well, I was pleasantly surprised by the actual path it followed.

AND I HAVENT EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE CHARACTERS YET AUGH. First of all, FOUND FAMILY MY BELOVED <3333333 we love the Ballister-type character development that Jacob went through, and his and Maisie's relationship really reminded me of Bal and Nimona. They are just so so precious. That scene at the end almost had me in tears bro i cant.

I also just loved the overall diversity in characters??? Like??? I couldn't find a single majority group out of everyone aside from the ruling family which were all white, able-bodied people (which is another major social issue to address, ily writers) and no two people looked the same, even the civilians that showed up for two frames. We love to see it.

And some of the details they wrote in! So many aspects that you wouldn't think twice about that just made it all the more realistic! Like the scene with Jacob with the medic where he starts walking around mid-getting stitches and the medic just has to follow him around? Incredible. Hilarious. So immersive. There were so many more examples, but thats just the main one that came to mind.

Anyway! Go give it a watch if you have Netflix! (or pirate it- pun intended-, Netflix fucking sucks)

[practically-an-x-man]

more thoughts about Wish:

Chris Pine has the best voice acting in this movie by far. Dude could be a legitimately scary villain if the animation wasn't so goofy

I'm telling you dude, the man is acting his ass off but the script and animation style are just ruining all the emotion he's giving

Alan Tudyk is also putting in the work but the script is not working in his favor

Evan Peters needs more lines. His character is legitimately interesting, a young guy who just gave up his wish and is now weirdly lethargic all the time, but they don't explore it enough

Speaking of the animation, it felt very inconsistent. With the King especially we'd get like... one cool moment (like him stopping the globes during his solo song) but then it's immediately cut by these goofy Nimona-as-Ballister type motions

The facial expressions are generally overblown, past the point of "animation stretching the rules" and into "this just looks goofy"

Like I said before, it feels like a patchwork of a dozen other, better Disney movies. My dad and I were watching this going "Tangled. Brave. Frozen. Peter Pan. Mulan."

The third act is like... Rise of the Guardians meets that one scene in Trolls where they sing True Colors

The music is just inconsistent. I think it mainly comes from the fact that they had a pop singer/songwriter do the music rather than a musical theatre composer, there aren't any consistent themes or leitmotifs and it leaves everything feeling very disjointed.

Some of the songs on their own are decently catchy but they just feel like they're trying way too hard

The dialogue is the same way. It serves a purpose but it doesn't quite feel natural or human. Some characters are worse than others and the VO work plays a role but the script itself is just awkward

I think they've just set up too many characters here. If they took two people out of Asha's friend group it would leave more room to develop the others. As it is, I don't remember their names and I have no idea what they want

Except for Asha since she's the main character and Simon because he's the only one who stands out from the rest (again, really interesting character! drastically underutilized!)

Feels like the talking animals are only a thing because it's a Disney movie. Valentino I understand, animal sidekicks are a classic, but the chickens and squirrels and mice are just too much

As a whole there's just... no substance in it. It feels like they've tried to make The Disney Movie and just started making it without even deciding on the themes or characters' journeys at all

It is a heaping pile of deus ex machinas. Every single problem in this movie is resolved in some cheeky little deus ex machina, solely for the sake of a stupid joke or a cheap reference to another Disney reference

If you're gonna copy Lin-Manuel Miranda's composition style anyway... just hire Lin-Manuel Miranda. At least he knows how rhyme schemes and leitmotifs work

This movie is so fucking trite it makes me legitimately angry

Good points I guess (because I refuse to dish on a movie without pointing out something decent about it):

Some of the songs are kinda catchy

There are a few powerful moments of animation, mostly with the King

There are little gold character moments here and there: the King's desperation for power, Simon's character as a whole, Asha's selflessness sparking the initial wish, etc.

Some of the voice acting is legitimately good!

The concept itself is interesting, a King who hoards wishes to make himself more powerful. It had the grounds to be a much better movie, it just didn't act on them very well

The diversity in this movie is genuinely good! We see various demographics of people - race, gender, physical build, disability, etc. - and there's not much "Disney same face syndrome" like we've gotten in other movies.

[ahungeringknife]

Nine People I'd Like to Get To Know Better

Rules: answer the questions and tag nine people you'd like to know better.

Tagged by @missionsparrow I just got done filling one of these out and the answers haven't changed so feel free to use these questions or my alternatives

Last song I listened to: Go to your main playlist, shuffle 3 times, what plays?

*slorps up that good Plastic Beach music*

Currently watching: Thing you keep mean to watch but keep putting off:

Nimona keeps showing up on my feed as a 'hey! Watch this' and I'm so stupid and forgetful and bad at watching things I keep forgetting D: I really wanna watch it tho. I'm just stupid as hell.

Spicy/savory/sweet: Soft/crispy/hard

I'm 100% a crispy fan. I'd die if I couldn't eat chips or things that are crispy. Just thinking about crispy shit makes me salivate I could eat chips as my only food and be 100% content

Relationship status: (I really don't like this question because 1. not your business and 2. as an ace person I don't really care if you're in a relationship??? Big weird allo question) Tell me about your friends (you can tag them or not):

My friends are all losers (affectionate). One's a self proclaimed idiot (she's not but we let her pretend). One's a ball of anxiety who I love dearly. One's very frustrating but I love him anyway. One will never fucking answer he god damn DMs (she knows who she is). And the last one if my girlfriend who's the most wonderful person in the whole world but we live apart atm. I just miss her so much.

Current obsession: Whatever is the current word or art doc open, what's its name:

generated title by scriv

tagging: @flowers-of-io @consifs @deadpool-scar-bro @words-after-midnight

[synthaphone]

3 distinct dream plotlines last night:

working as an employee/apprentice at an antique store that was also secretly a place where you could go to remove curses and enchantments from things- a lady came in who looked like the tall RE lady and she watched me and the owner of the shop disenchant some random stuff from a cardboard box- only thing i distinctly remember was a haunted where’s waldo plush doll

i was watching a new movie (the dream said it was the nimona movie but it. definitely wasnt) where the idea was that when the devil dies god decides that someone near where he died is gonna be the new devil and writes their name on a decree, and then suddenly everyone who sees that person irl is like ‘DAMN i hate this person i GOTTA kill them’ and once they die they become the next devil. anyway this girl got to be the devil for like 5 minutes before dying and then some random extremely meek kid who died choking while eating from a jar of pickles alone on a roof got to be the next devil, and the girl was like ‘FUCK this im going to kill this kid and become the devil again I WANNA BE THE DEVIL’. (yes people were dying twice and i cannot figure out how the rules really work now that im awake)

small children were being forced to mine gravel from a basement floor until the evil was defeated, and i was down there with some other adults trying to get them out. then i fell into the fucked up spider monster machine that was just DOWN there and got ripped apart and rebuilt as a fucked up spider monster, and i was screaming and then later on i was still a fucked up spider monster but we worked together to disable the machine and free the children, and so the evil WAS defeated

[izumisays]

Dear creator,

Thank you so much for reading this and signing up for this wonderful annual conspiracy!

I hope you have a lovely time, and that this letter can contribute to it. If any of the fandoms below pique your interest, I’m delighted already, and very interested to hear your thoughts on them. 

Fandoms: Nimona, In Other Lands, Captive Prince, Machineries of the Empire

As for reading preferences, I’m happy with a wide variety of tones and genres, from lighthearted shenanigans to dramatic casefics, and pretty much all ratings, but the core of all stories I love is always character interaction. How they play off each other and bring out their best/worst, how they would react to a divergence of events, how true would they stay to their selves in a different setting - these are the kind of questions I’m all chinhands for. POV games, a missing scene, a casefic, canon expansion, backstories and what-ifs are all fair game, so choose your weapon!

I would be very grateful if you could avoid a/b/o and similar kinktropes, played-straight soulmate fic, and character interpretation that runs contrary to their core values. If in doubt, please reach out to me on anon - the askbox is open!

NIMONA (any characters)

It is no mystery at all why I completely imprinted on this book. What is a mystery, however, is how I survived to this day and age without having loved Nimona for years - how did I even live unaware of its existence, up until an impulse purchase a month ago? WHAT A TRAVESTY.

Anyway, I massively adore Nimona to bits: a perfect fusion of story and pictures, chaotic evil Nimona (CHOMP!), Ballister of the big heart and stoic love for strays and SCIENCE, Ambrosius of awkward good instincts and poor decisions  - I just want to pinch everyone’s cheeks and hug them to my chest. For six hours. Approximately. It’s open for negotiation :’)

I’m requesting any characters because I’d be honestly delighted by seeing each one of them <3

A day in casa de Blackheart with Nimona and Ballister! Hatching evil schemes or having a pizza night - or both. BOTH IS GOOD. A flashback to Ballister and Ambrosius’s younger days (that christmas special *clutches heart*). A future with Nimona infiltrating Ballister’s lab and his & Ambrosius’s couch with popcorn and underhanded science! Nimona grumpily acquiescing to Goldenloin’s presence in Ballister’s life! Generally ANY AND ALL HIJINKS feat. heartwarmth and unapologetic monster girl love and fierce protectiveness of each other, much in the spirit of the lovely, lovely source material.

IN OTHER LANDS (Luke Sunborn)

Elliot is a spectacular narrator. Novel-shaped case in point: In Other Lands.

Having said that, what I really, really want to see is a story that makes Luke a narrator, or otherwise puts him at the center. I have it on good authority that he makes one fucking adorable narrator (novella-shaped case in point: Wings in the Morning), but why stop there, right?

Luke/Elliot, either post-canon or slightly amending canon, is always a delight. Luke crushing on Elliot for years in a resigned, semi-unaware (or aware!) manner - he gives Elliot Dale’s name only as a distraction, to get Elliot off his back, and watches with horrified eyes how every member of his family is suddenly out there to set him up with the wrong boy! Luke handling the thought of Elliot the boyfriend with awkwardness unbefitting a Trigon champion (granted, Elliot is kinda more prickly than an average glass ball). Luke having 110% confidence in Elliot and admiring him sass people into submission from the sidelines.

A look at Luke’s friendship with Serene - completely compatible with Luke forever crushing on Elliot, just saying ^^. I suspect lack of Elliot’s Serene goggles could do marvels to building nuance to her character: a little less reverse gender comedy just for the sake of comedy, a little more someone who is clever enough to balance multiple things, connect the dots, and learn, and stand by what she believes is right.

Competence kinkkk. Forever admiring the bookish people, refusing to stop trying to catch up, and zero time spent being conceited about own achievements while fully embracing his role of a champion and defender - that’s the Luke I love <3 Luke’s brand of leadership & charisma - an introverted champion, well-loved by people and easily tired of company of not his people.

Figuring out life after graduation! Casefic of them solving a mystery and preventing a war breakout! Getting assignments and storming the castles! Building cross-cultural competence by throwing Elliot at new people and watching him sign up new pen friends and treaties!

Sunborn family fic! A holiday get together? Drunken exchange of family stories? Another terrible competition that Elliot boycotts? Rachel reading Luke’s letters from year one and with great amusement observing the progression of his “THAT ELLIOT” feelings. God I love the Sunborns <3

I’m not particularly fond of Dale, on understanding that he got enough screentime as is already I’d be grateful if you didn’t center the fic around him. Obviously no objections to him as part of class ensemble, whose names Luke will never bloody remember.

CAPTIVE PRINCE (Damen, Laurent, Auguste, Jokaste)

You would not have wanted to see me at the peak of my CP obsession - dignity readers for miles around were in the red zone for months, I can tell you that. Even my bitter disappointment with many things in the third book didn’t survive the onslaught of feelings that overcome me every time I turn my thoughts to this series. R e g u l a r l y. (If you don’t think Prince’s Gambit is the high point of modern literature, f i t e   m e)

Things that make me happy:

Laurent/Damen endgame, always.

Auguste! Alive and well and fiercely proud of Laurent and quite possibly giving young Damen - his admiring bro - confused boners. Which he manfully swoonstruggles against, because see above.

Clever, competent Damen that drives Laurent up the wall of his fervent refusal to admit any of it affects him

Laurent POVs in general. There is nothing more delightful than a well-crafted narration of acerbic denial of hearteyes, self-crafted personality, hardwon competence and utter self-awareness.

Did I say competence porn yet? Hearteyes, motherfucker, hearteyes!!

Jokaste-Laurent queenbee friendships - vipers united!

Consider this: FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS arrangement for a CERTAIN AGENDA feat. Jokaste and Laurent - preceding or purposefully leading to Laurent/Damen endgame. Benefits as imagined by Damen, the poor cookie? Fake dating for purposes of short-circuiting Damen’s brain with the blonde ratio? :DD

Mafia/noir AUs *swoon* In fact, a variety of modern or historic AUs would be an a+ sandbox to play in and watch the chemistry unfold.

On another note, I have the soft spot the size of Delfeur for Nicaise and particularly Nicaise & Laurent spiky sibling-like affection, so if you think your story could benefit from that, please don’t hesitate to include it <3

I’m absolutely okay with fic that would not include all four - it’s just that I couldn’t omit either Auguste and Jokaste from the list of happy things. You are most welcome to include only one of the two, or none, if you want to concentrate on Laurent and Damen only.

Canon divergences, what-ifs and AUs are super-welcome for this canon. Please feel free to play to your heart’s content!

MACHINERIES OF THE EMPIRE (Shuos Mikodez)

I didn’t know how to request what would essentially be just heartfelt sobbing of PLEASE WRITE FIC FOR THIS AMAZING MEME ART (“please send help my family is starving!!”) - but if! By any chance! This is what you want to do, please disregard everything from math rules to heretic calendrical rituals, and go for it :DD i keep shoving this picture into all of my friends’ faces and get vaguely upset that they don’t immediately agree with me on how brilliant it is; maybe I should revise my strategy and give them the books to read first, hmm.

I’m fond of most of the cast of the books, especially of how competent and done with nonsense they are 99% of their screen time. Mentor relationships were amazing - Cheris and Jedao in Ninefox Gambit was a thing of true beauty, Zehun and Mikodez continuously delight me, and I’m looking forward to what book 3 will bring on this front, too (Nija? Please say Nija!). But as I need to choose something that won’t be guaranteed to make the matching algorithm cry, let me center it around a character that delights me and makes others cry instead.

Mikodez in his younger days! Zehun, I’m so sorry for your loss of sleep and possibly hair, teenagers are the worst, teenage Miki is the worst best Miki, and I am dying to hear all about his notorious Academy heroics.

Mikodez, Zehun, Nija and Cheris, the most terrifying parental equation of this calendar <3

Mikodez and his Questionable Alliances. Kujen “I had a friend once and then the leash broke” Nirai. Jedao - how does Miki’s view of the man change with Cheris in the game, and her (literal) insights about the dead mad general?

Mikodez throwing endless shade on all other factions, especially Andan. (Sorry, Andan. At least you’re pretty.)

Mikodez and his secret humanitarian agenda that he will politely deny forever, get fake-distracted by one of his bazillion hobbies and miss whatever sleep time he had scheduled in the day because he will inevitably get genuinely carried away. Every. Fucking. Time.

As a sidenote, I’m terribly fond of Vahenz <3 Bring her back! Let Vahenz have her fun! Let Mikodez meet his true competition for world domination and in the race towards diabetes.

I really liked Istradez, and would be happy to see him among the army of Mikodez’s high powered babysitters, but am not really in the market for Mikodez/Istradez shipfics.

Thank you very much for reading the letter! Please be assured I’m super excited to read everything you write already <3