#because like already just FUCK WB anyway

[spill-that-anxietea]

Every time yet another streaming service announces a plan to “crackdown on password sharing” my bloodlust grows stronger.

[myheadphonesareneverloudenough]

Thinking about how Matt Lang mentioned rerunning TGWDLM.

Obviously, there'd have to be changes. Not just in the casting, but in every aspect of the show just due to the nature of how Hatchetfield has expanded and how TGWDLM has aged.

Now that we know for sure that the events in TGWDLM happened because of Pokey, I think they'd design the show even more around the colour blue instead of green like in the original promotional material. This also gives Matt Dahan so much more to work with when it comes to underscoring, think of all the motifs he has to sneak into the scenes now.

Hidgens would have to be recasted, and while there's plenty of options, I think after Workin' Boys he has to be played by Jeff Blim. I don't know if anyone can ever top what Jeff did in WB. Of course, that would mean that Jeff's original TGWDLM characters would need to be recasted as well. Mr. Davidson has not been seen in HF since TGWDLM (save for the small BF cameo), so it wouldn't be hard to find someone new for that role. Sam Sweetly is more difficult because of his appearances in Nightmare Time and the pre-recorded NPMD cameo, but it's impossible to have Jeff play both Hidgens and Sam in the same scene so he would still most likely be recasted.

The only Jeff character that would need to stay the same is General John Macnamara, that's another permanently Jeff character, in my opinion. The show would require some rearranging so that the Macnamara and Hidgens scenes weren't back to back this way. Between TGWDLM and BF, Macnamara went through a lot of character development and Jeff really discovered who he was by the second show, so it would be super interesting to see him interacting with Paul again now that we've learned so much more about the guy.

Now that Hatchetfield has expanded so much, I think it would be really fun to bring in new characters that we've met since TGWDLM happened. They should include Curt Mega as Officer Bailey in Show Me Your Hands, since we know he canonically works alongside Sweetly. Bring in James Tolbert during the PEIP scene as Xander Lee. Even just the people on the streets in La Dee Dah Dah Day, imagine the amount of cameos that could come into play there. Kim Whalen dances in as Becky Barnes, Angela Giarratana is Grace Chasity, all these well-known characters that we never saw during TGWDLM before making small appearances as they were already infected by the hive mind.

Speaking of the La Dee Dah Dah Day number, it would be fucking awesome to get Joey Richter back in the Pete Spankoffski costume for the coffee shop scene to do the hot chocolate boy bit.

I also just think a new perspective on the show will change so much of the context. Like Emma discussing Jane, we now know Jane's family with Tom and Tim. We're now very familiar with Ted's little brother, a character we had no idea existed during TGWDLM (think about Ted's little freak out over Alice being dead at Hatchetfield High...). We had no idea that this apocalypse was brought on by one of the Lords in Black.

Anyways. I agree with Matt, they should definitely bring The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals back for another run of the show.

[allwormdiet]

Your recent post on Arc 8 have got me wondering if the dice roll was, on a certain level, an artifact of a Worm that never was. Like a lot of web serials, Worm is a giant first draft, so a lot of early ideas and elements that would have been sanded off in later edits remain as discordant notes. @artbyblastweave has described how you can see the traces of a campier Worm with a more conventional kitchen-sink superhero setting in the early arcs. (There's a WoG out there where Wildbow discussed how the decision on whether to include magic or not in the setting was made late in the day, which would have completely altered the entire story.) Anyway, in another WoG WB described that in his initial conception Worm would be more of an ensemble piece. Taylor would have been one of multiple protagonists exploring different aspects of the setting. In that version of Worm, Taylor would have had a smaller part in the story, so she could have been killed off and replaced while the other protagonists continued their stories. However, WB probably realized pretty quickly that he'd hit paydirt with her character, so Worm quickly became the Taylor Hebert Show. While he may have always planned to roll the dice for the Leviathan arc, settling on a single protagonist would have changed what those rolls meant for the story. (I do want to emphasize that I am not making that dumb "Worm was only good by accident!" argument. I think WB just set out wanting to write a superhero story with a bunch of details up in the air, and when he hit on something good he leaned into it. Most stories start out like this; the nature of serialized web fiction just means we're more aware of the sausage-making process than we are for most published fiction that (mostly) tucks it out of sight.)

That's an interesting line of thought, honestly.

As someone who's dabbled in serialized fiction and had not nearly as much success, either in terms of popularity (hah) or in terms of actually finishing the fucking things (hah hah), it's an outrageously difficult format to work with because you set so much of it in stone as you go along and you might not realize until too late that you've changed your mind about something, and that gets a lot harder to work with the more of it is already published.

I know that there were prior versions of Worm where the protagonist was entirely different (iirc the main one of note was centered on Glory Girl and Panacea called Guts and Glory, but I think there was at least one point where Brian was considered for the protagonist), and that even the first version of Taylor's story was scrapped some time before making Worm (Myriad?)

It'd be easy to believe that there's some version of the story very early on where Taylor or a proto-Taylor bites the dust, you get that even with more major productions; Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad was gonna die in the first season and they changed that mid-filming. All I can really say is that I'm glad as fucking hell that Wildbow realized that Taylor was a bullseye protag choice.

Now if only he would stop putting her in all of these horrible situations

[james-stark-the-writer]

alright, now that i've finally done the homework of the 4 90s-Batman movies, let's actually pick back up with the DCEU watch and get seated for Andy Muschietti's The Flash.

what i know about this is that it brings back Michael Keaton, that Christina Hodson wrote it (which is the only reason i'm even mildly excited to see this movie, because she also wrote the best DC movie which has a practically perfect screenplay), that there was some bullshit face transplant of dead people — i think one of them was Christopher Reeves, i am not watching those Superman movies for this (haven't seen any of them, might watch them after i'm done with the DCEU), i don't even have access to them, i'm not doing that shit for a cameo anyway, and fuck DC for that, obviously, but i'm going to try to give the movie the best shot i can.

i've heard mixed things about this one as well, i know a few people who really liked it, and a lot of people who really fucking hated it, it's been called every fucking insult i can think of, so i'm not optimistic but Christina Hodson wrote it so it can't be terribly written at least. it may look like shit (from the two clips i've seen: microwave baby, and the shot of Flash and Supergirl zooming into frame, oh that's another thing i know, new Supergirl is in this) but at least hopefully it's well written. and he cannot have fucked up Christina's script that bad.

i'm just hoping that if this is bad, it's at least fun. and that it's not soul-crushing like The Rise of Shitwalker. i know the people at Disney are fucked up, i also know the people at WB are even more depraved somehow, if their track record in these last 4 years haven't shown you that already, but i hope this is as free from their shitty tendencies as possible. i can't do another TROS.

also, have to do the disclaimer: fuck Ezra Miller, i hope their victims get the justice they deserve. don't fucking misgender Ezra, they won't fucking care because they are a celebrity, other non-binary people like myself will. if you say you're an ally and your allyship is conditional, you are just a fucking bigot too <3

for the purposes of this watch we're gonna try to pretend Ezra aren't who they are, bc otherwise i'm gonna be here all night and it's already almost 1 am and this movie is 2 and a half hours long.

ANYWAY, let's get into the fucking movie already.

[doberbutts]

I mean it's the same author intent vs favored adaption thing with LOTR vs TROP which I know y'all have heard me say already but it's really very interesting with Warner Bros having acquired the rights to more LOTR stuff that people are begging for Peter Jackson to make more stuff when like. The Tolkien Estate famously hates both of PJ's trilogies and Christopher Tolkien himself hated them so much that his stipulation for any more sales of the rights was that PJ wasn't allowed to touch them.

Listen. Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite movie ever. I watch the LOTR trilogy in full multiple times per year. I've already marathoned it twice in 2023. I fucking love the original trilogy.

And I also know that it has its flaws and that back in the day a lot of book purist fans really hated it and considered it largely non-canonical and an inferior way to experience the story, to the point where pretty much every fan site I was on had very strict "you may not start flame wars re: book vs movie shut up no one cares" rules to the point where being mean to new fans who'd only watched the movies and hadn't read the books yet was an instant perma-ban.

You don't have to like The Rings of Power. It has its flaws, some big some little some nonexistent except to bigots. But when you complain that it's unfaithful to the source material unlike your precious PJ films, you just sound absolutely silly, because the PJ films were unfaithful as fuck to the source material.

ESPECIALLY when you consider the Hobbit trilogy, which is really not faithful to the book at all, or when you consider the Shadow of Mordor/War games in the same universe which more or less goes "canon? What canon? Anyway Celebrimbor made the One Ring and fused with Sauron and also Sauron fucked Shelob who was a shapeshifting spiderlady"

And if you wanna be mad that TROP disregards author intent, then you need to be mad that the PJ/New Line Cinema/WB stuff does too, because the Tolkien Estate is VERY LOUD about their dislike of what's come out of that so far and shockingly quiet about TROP.

[ask-stjerne-and-logan]

UPDATE: All hope is not lost!!!

So, I know a lot of people don't use Twitter because it's a warzone, but I do (for TTTE reasons), and while checking out the RWBY tag, I came across something rather interesting.

So, there is a Youtuber named Dillon Goo, (I'll just call him Goo for short), who used to work on RWBY. I actually follow him on Youtube, and his skills in animation are immaculate. And, on Twitter, he has brought up the idea of him buying the rights to RWBY from WB.

Screenshot of the tweet as proof of this

Now, if this were to happen, RWBY would go back into the hands of it's original creators, or most of them anyways. It's very likely that they would return the show back to what it once was and maybe even reboot it with new animation and go back to writing the series the way it should have been written, and not the deviant mess we all have today.

If you all really want the show back, we need to band together and support Goo if he really is serious about buying the rights to RWBY. RWBY!Twitter has already risen up in support of Goo and the former animators of RWBY retaking the show. If you are all in support of this endeavor, you need to do the following:

REBLOG THE FUCK OUT OF THIS FUCKING POST!!!

Seriously! Get the word out there! RT may have disbanded, but that doesn't mean things have to go to shit. I know I said in my last post that we don't need big corps and that at least we'll have fanmade content if RWBY does end (and I still stand by this), but if there's even the smallest chance of saving something dear to you, then it is worth it. If WB is allowed to keep RWBY, then we are in for one heck of a reckoning. And it's one we won't even like.

So to people who want to save RWBY, here is your golden ticket.

[lakesbian]

not going to finish reading 1.1 tonight due to. the sleepy tired. and that shit is way longer than gestation. but i am certainly microwaving the first section i have read in my brain

i do have some Thoughts on the presumed magic(? this is one of the ones with magic i'm sure) but to be clear i am not generally a guy who gets really into trying to extrapolate or put together lore abt how the universe functions. like i figure we get there when we get there. i am significantly more invested in autopsying the workings of various characters. already breaking out the hacksaws for blake

i am surprised that he's in his 20s because the way everyone talks about him had me thinking he was also a traumatized teenager but like even more sopping wet than the undersiders about it. also i was surprised by how much of a Guy he is. like worm is primarily focused on complicated and interesting female characters and there just are not that many Guys in it. there are very few guys who are as relevant as the women and none of them are capital-g Guys. like...defiant is a redditor. brian owns a motorcycle helmet but taylor is literally, like, the first girl he's talked to in years that wasn't his little sister he's responsible 4 or his teammates he's more begrudgingly responsible for. he's so socially dysfunctional. alec vasil would never own a motorcycle or have tattoos, he walks around looking gay and then goes down 4 his gf's character development. none of the wormguys are capable of the energy blake thorburn is carrying. so it was very funny going "oh shit he's in his 20s instead of a sad wet teenager?" and then "oh shit he has a fucking motorcycle? and tattoos? and boots? and he's DATED people? and has friends??"

also very funny: being specifically surprised by the motorcycle because it seemed Too cool for how people talk about him and then finding out like 7 paragraphs down that it's actually the world's most shitty-dink sad little bike ever. like yeah okay. that checks out. that seems to accurately encapsulate blake thornburn's energy.

anyway my initial misassumptions out of the way. it is also sort of surreal seeing a wildbow protagonist that has like....basic levels of self-awareness about himself. he actually notices when his shrugging is starting to become more of an act than a genuine indicator of his disinterest. taylor would not have noticed! making my tentative first forays into understanding the blake psyche here because again i have not even finished 1.1 but the energy i'm getting so far is like. he tells himself he's not gonna get sucked into the family drama and then he does a pretty decent job of that, but he also does an excellent job of avoiding thinking about what the implicitly referenced background trauma is. he is generally not terribly unaware of his own emotions but this does not stop him from having his flight reflex triggered over a hug or from having trouble sleeping at home even when alllll the doors and windows are locked. i'm catching the vibes of him being relatively functional on the surface but having Something that is Extremely His Family's Fault broiling inside of him that might not come out now but will nigh-certainly come out eventually. i predict he has at least three really really bad mental breakdowns before this book is over. like i'm talking Severe. i'm getting "left and sorted out some of the trauma and is doing a pretty good job at being a reasonably mature 20ishyo not getting sucked back in the second he returns but is still going to have things boil over when shit gets real" energy. that might be nothing but i'm throwing darts here. we'll find out. definitely very surface level blatant trauma responses compared to some other wb characters though. i think the lack of repression means he's better at seeming like a Normal Guy upfront but is significantly more prone to getting very unnormal when the horrors get involved. i will not be comparing this to worm forever ftr but guy who has only read one wildbow novel is going to inevitably compare and contrast w other wildbow novel. it's a fun frame of reference 2 start analyzing thru when i'm only going off the very basics at first. anyway feel free to send ask commentary or whatever as always

[bentosandbox]

I think that majority of players don’t even know that chen is one of the main character in game that it’s sad. I see a lot of people complaining about her appearing in stories after reunion arc even though her screen time is already a lot less than amiya and kaltsit… I think yj already forgot about the main characters concept lmao but her getting new outfit at different region is cool i guess but why are those outfits so weird- (sorry this is just my personally ranting…

true! before I go on my own ramble everyone else can scroll down to the bottom for (unconfirmed??) ten thousand mountains lore/trivia

i have a feeling this image is somehow related to your ask LMFAO...

actually... have they mentioned the whole 'kaltsit = past, chen = present, and amiya = future' thing outside of CN or did i dream this i feel like they said it somewhere...i can kind of see how people would think amiya is the only protag seeing as there are people who unironically think the doc is the (sole/main) protag and chen/kal acting so antagonistic early on probably didnt help lol

2. yea its sad but as always if chen has 1 morbillion fans i am one of them if she has one im that 1 fan etc drinking their salty tears 🫡🫡🫡

3. uhhh went on a little costume design ramble sorry. my outfits copium is basically telling myself she's really getting the 'dad who does not really understand fashion buying(designing) clothes for child' treatment anime-style (like what can i say other than point to the night and day difference of dossoles chummer e2 fit vs the ice cream collab fit)

i have my personal nitpicks for every outfit but (looks at gavial2 summer skin) a 8.8 is so much better than a...nvm i'll refrain from grading. but for all the nits i pick i think they still pass the baseline of costume design because of the storytelling they do

base chen: cop who likes to yolo a bit too much, leave that one button undone so roll up her sleeves, give her gloves, give her a walkie talkie/earpiece etc, e2 makes that jacket even bigger and has that yummy rhodes teal

CNY skin: still of the opinion/hc that its the dress fumizuki mentioned which is why she looks like shes wearing it grudgingly, it has shorts though at least !!

chummer: shes (trying to be) on a holungday so bring back her epic tourist c cap and make her existing recognizable jacket more summer-y, also the duck heart emoji

victorian arc: cop sideclass(?) to sheriff detective or something, embracing her cringe but free era by leaving her collars up now has the sense to tuck in her shirt and wear actual pants, better coverage against the elements etc etc thank terra nevermind the fact theyre so tight fitting this is just like khr also she looks flatter in the animated PV smile i'm reminded of a wb comment that went sth like 'why are you dressing like this when youre already 30' on this fit and shes not explicitly 30 etc etc but i really like the 'chuuni(cringe but free) at 30' vibe

yumen: passing-by traveler with the cape!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍 i really like how it looks in the cg lol with the thinner/darker stripes on the outside, ngl no fucking idea what that green box is but i appreciate chen still having a little green and yellow on her outfit, the shortness of the dress? bothered me at first but ive come to the terms that chen is a shorts enjoyer so

10k mountains: youxia-core with the hat and cape👍👍👍👍👍👍 and keeps the plastic part from chummer jacket as well as the checkers (i think they were zips but you know, the black and white alternating…lol remember how her current thing is supposedly dealing with the reality of being grey or whatever as little sense as that makes. we are in full hc territory here but its so much better than adding another 20 belts) the heels dont exist to me though

like idk it's not even a high bar honestly just nail down the role/silhouettes first before adding your morbillion belts/fanservice 😭 looking at a certain bunch of characters anyway this is why swire has the best track record for outfits 1/? ill stop here before i start tambling about her summer drip

anyway everyone should look at this Canon(as in camera brand not the other meaning) ad ft. real cormorant im convinced they got the designs from HG early because they dropped a photoshoot ~bout a week after the 4anni livestream and they got the 2hu-style sleeves right that you can never see unless you look at the sprite sheet, uh

wait what's this on the back

oh its from a poem wait whys that so famili

just going to link some translations/explainers of the poem i think but you can also look up '涼州詞 王��渙 + english translation' or something for more there's quite a few

[wonderbatbvs]

It's such a no-brainer to me that if you're going to take a risk like starting a new universe (The DCU), ending an old universe (The DCEU), or trying to start something new in an old established universe (Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League) that you should ALWAYS have back-up plans & immediate countermeasures in place so if things start getting outta control there's a way to make things right again.

This is especially important in the case of The DCU because it can't afford to fail after the disastrous failure of The DCEU & abrupt tragic end of The Snyderverse.

How am I supposed to care about a new Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman, when Zack Snyder already nailed it perfectly with his casting? Unfortunately, they never got a proper opportunity to shine together as The Trinity on-screen.

I really hate how unnecessarily confusing James Gunn has made this whole new universe already. For example, is Blue Beetle part of The DCU? Technically, yes, it is even though the movie takes place in The DCEU Continuity.

So then why is he gonna be in The DCU? Simply put because he probably assumes nobody gave a fuck about Blue Beetle & decided to just throw him into this new universe because fuck it might as well since nobody cares anyways.

Now that begs the question, why not do this for other characters like Karen Fukuhara's Katana from Suicide Squad (2016) or Will Smith's Deadshot who were both perfectly cast but much like Ben Affleck's Batman didn't get the chance to reach their full potential.

The DCEU will go down as one of the biggest missed opportunities in cinema history. All because WB couldn't leave well enough alone. What a damn shame..

Good luck, James Gunn. You'll damn sure need it.

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Warner Bros Animation, favorite character from the 1996-2001 half of the Kids WB era of shows: Superman the Animated Series, Road Rovers, Waynehead, The New Batman Adventures, Histeria, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, Batman Beyond, Detention, Static Shock, and The Zeta Project?

Superman TAS: Toyman. The comics still haven't been able to match this verison: creepy design, fun gimicks and a geninly unsettling nature. The show itself is great. Not quite on the same level as BTAS, but still a great distalation of one of the greatest heroes of all.

Road Rovers: Reviewed a bunch of this and honestly forgot it. No faviorite character bu ta decent fun action show

Waynehaed: Haven't seen it and still marvel that this exists The New Batman Adventures: Dont' have a faviorite only because I haven't seen enough, but serum lake (Who I mentiond last time) has my intrest piqued. That said what I have seen is pretty good: the show is diffrent from btas, from what I found out from said videos embracing the camp a bit more. A solid followup.

Histeria: I've only seen the one episode but it's one I need to seek out as hot damn is Histeria fun. Funny, eductational and jam packed it's a damn shame this series was basically abandoned by WB and has been mostly buired as it's on par with tiny tunes and animaniacs. Defentily could use a reboot.

Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain:

Yeah this is like hysteria one I only saw for a review and once was enough. It's what happens when execs don't realize this idea had already been mocked and somehow make it worst. Larry at least is funny entirely for the great meta punchline of just how little he fits. Elmyra... is an awful character already. I respect Tiny Toons Looniversity for rebooting her properly, making her just as cutesy but now a slightly unhinged animal photographer instead of an animal abuser. I didn't know it was possible and it's clear they woudln't of tried had fans not complained so much Elmyra was gone

But the orignal.. is a bad character. She just is. Cree Summer does her best but Elmyra is abusive, annoying and just not fun to watch. Pinky tormenting brain works because he's likeable.. Elmyra isn't. I'm baffled this series was on hulu but Freakazoid wasn't.

Batman Beyond: (techno music intensifies) Terry himself might just win this as a fun character who serves as a nice contrast to bruce. The series itself is one I badly need ot revisit as I don't remember how fucked up it was (Thanks again serum lake) or how spider-man it was, but I do remember liking what I saw as a kid and later in college on the hub, and I like how unique it is. From what I can tell the comics have yet to truly capture the spirit of it. All the props to Glen Murkami who thanks to said videos I keep mentoning I found out is the reason we got this: Superman and NBA were canceled abrubtly to make a teen batman show and not wanting to A) throw out continuity or B) leave the show to someone worse they came up with a new legacy batman... but it was Glen's excellent designwork that really got them excited, creating a blade runner future with fresh villians, a spider-man flair and a true succsor to the bat. This show is one of the DCAU's most unique and best.

Detention; I don't know the motherfucker

Static Shock: Yeah this block is pretty much all DCAU. Rubberband Man is the faviorite here. I love his redemption arc, romance with Static's sister and dyslexia episode. I don't have it myself but it's well done and as someone who DOES have a disablity (autisim and disgraphia), I felt seen anyway. The show itself has been awesome any time i've revisited it, giving Dwayne McDuffie room to do what the DCAU (which it got made part of eventuallys), does best: strip down the glut in the continuity (as little as static had being from milestone and all), and make the characters their best self. The result is a fun well paced action series with some well grounded moments. The seris can both have Shaq guest star and have an episodes about gun violence and racisim and both fit. I also marked out as a kid seeing the justice league crossover, but more on that soon.

The Zeta project: Haven't really seen this one , here it's good. ti's the odd man out in the dcau as it's the only one not based on anything prexisting. Still seems worth a look and I wish Zeta would show up in the main dc universe.

[alaffy]

House of the Dragon, Ep. 2x03 – The Burning Mill (Spoilers)

Correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t this show supposed to be about a great war?  When’s the coming up?  And with who?  Not with these idiots.  Not with these so-called plans.

In fact, things have gotten so bad that the smaller houses have just decided "fuck it, we’ll start the war ourselves."  You could have at least shown part of the battle. 

Sir Chirstian, now the King’s Hand, shows that there’s no way on Earth he should ever have gotten that title.  Sir Bitch, as he will now be referred to, decides that he’s going to take Harrenhal with the few men that he has at the moment.  After all, all the have to do is force loyalty from all the smaller houses on the way (well, the ones that aren’t already for the King).  This is a stupid plan, done by stupid men.  At least, Alicent’s brother has just so happened to show up and goes with Sir Bitch, to keep an eye on him for Alicent.

Aegon is not happy he’s not going with them.  He tries to sneak after them, but is stopped by Layrs Strong who uses (probably false) rumors to make him stay.  Strong is made the Master of Whispers.  Aegon goes on a pub crawl.

Aemond is also unhappy he will not go fight.  He is more practical about it and shows that he’s the one person of intelligence involved in all of this (not counting Alicent).  We also see his dick.  Wheee.

Daemon has gone to Harrenhal and has taken over.  Not that it was a challenge.  The place is falling apart, there are maybe eight people living there, and the Lord at Harrenhal hates Lord Strong.  I honestly think he would give Daemon the proverbial keys and take his family on a long vacation if that wouldn’t be seen as treason.  It’s also clear that Daemon sees a far grander role for himself than just consort.  He also starts to have strange visions.  Are they prophecies or is he just going mad?

Baela had a chance to rid the world of Sir Bitch; but does not.  Baela is currently on my shit list. 

Rhaenys and Vaemond prove, again, they are the best characters on the series.

Rhaenyra and Rhaenys have a chat.  Rhaenys suggests that maybe there’s a way to avoid war if Rhaenyra and Alicent were to chat.  It is a naïve belief, but I think Rhaenys is just done with this shit and is trying everything to figure out a way to end it.  Rhaenyra sends the younger children away, as well as Baela’s sister, for their protection.  Rhaenyra’s council suggests Rhaenyra hide as well…and that would help her cause how?

Rhaenyra decides to let the White Worm stay at the stronghold.  She also decides that it might be best that she and Alicent talk and asks the White Worm how she might go about and do this.  And…sigh.  Last episode, we had a twin sneak in pretending to be his twin.  This episode, Rhaenyra sneaks into King’s Landing dressed as a Nun in order to talk to Alicent at the Sept.  I know this show is produced by WB, that doesn’t mean the battle plans need to come from Loony Toons.

Anyway, the two meet and we finally have something that really advances the plot.  The two of them discuss what happened the night of the King’s death.  Long story short, Rhaenyra figures out that Alicent thought the King was talking about her son Aegon because she didn’t know about “Fire and Ice.”  Meanwhile, Alicent realizes that she did misunderstand what the King was talking about.  However, it’s kind of too late.  Even if she were to recant, who would believe her?  And what would happen to her family?  Rhaenyra might say she’ll be merciful, but there will always be those who believe Aegon is the true king.  He would have to be killed, as well as his heirs.  Really, the only thing she can do it continue saying that the King chose Aegon.

Anyway, it looks like the actual war starts next episode.  Perhaps I’ll start to find the show more interesting.

[mrstsung]

Mortal liu kang over dumb fire god liu kang

Vent ahead. Sorry.

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Cuz dumbass fire god liu kang did fucking nothing. Nothing worth a damn. Didn't change anything. All mk12/mk1 proved is they can't write god characters and they make them fucking useless. What actual divine authority do they really have?! Eldergods mean nothing. These fucking titans are the stupidest useless plotpoint. Nothing actually changes or gets done. Everyone still suffers,no matter what they fucking change?! So.....yeah....what fucking new era is called a new era,if nothing actually happens? Some characters are ruined because the dynamics are changed in a way where it's not actually the character. It's someones oc fanfic. Legitimately NOTHING CHANGES. It's legitimately mk11 2 electric boogaloo. And using shang tsung again as the main baddie? Sus as fuck. You got nothing new? You gotta use my boy as a plot point again because you ran out of tagawa money? You couldn't get him again because your script sucks! Im not being nice,im being raw and the truth is and sometimes it hurts,you could have fucking stopped nrs and made your dumb superhero injustice game like all you stupid braindead fans wanted. But noooooo! You had to continue a storyline that's been fucking dead and is done. Mk11 wrapped it up nice. Both guys won anyways. It's already hinted at. Why go any more? It's fucking done. Shang won,liu won. End of story. Bye bye. Like ffs,mk spinoff game would have sufficed. Most fans wanted a mk shaolin monks remastered. Most fans didn't want a continuation. They just were doing fun fan theories as they always do that doesn't mean we want a new fucking game or continuation. Speaking of which. What did you actually continue? There's nothing to continue. New world? Dont fucking feel like it. If it was. You wouldn't be using the same fucking bad guy. Nor same roster. Nor would you be fucking over integral parts. You'd be actually writing something new. In a new world. That isn't basically high def of the same fucking world. Rebranding your shit isn't making it new or better! It's all to put money in your ips so you can renew shit and fuck over your fanbase. Im sorry but i hope nrs gets fucked over and boon gets a thousand hammer death. For real.

Thanks for nothing boon. The game is garbage worthless,like your job.

Mk12/mk1 is bullshit because there actually is integral lore to mortal kombats world and character archs and they ruined the characters and story by trying to be "look at me,im not like other games guys!" Pick me ass shit.

But back to liu

Liu kang,when mortal. Got more shit done. Abit it was very plot convenient for him to win. Hardly any real struggles after the first fucking arch of his journey. Aka the real mk1. The last time i saw any struggle was in the mk 1995 movie. And even then that was still Hollywood,convenient win.

Like i just want a story where liu kang stays fucking mortal. And liu actually struggles and has realistic ups and downs throughout his life and heroes journey?

Still got more done. And he had fucking actual help. And friends.... as a god he made the same mistakes as raiden yet gets none of the flack. Fuck outta here. Nah liu kang as a god sucks and all who like that version of him can fuck right off

Also that fusion bullshit that happened in mk11 is ridiculous. And a cop out. Everything in the story thus far....is a fucking cop out.

It's lazy LAZY LAZY WRITING

I get it,they don't want the same dudes on the roster. But....guess what? You do it anyways nrs?! Is wb fucking you over in the ass? Just blink twice if they are. Like that's the only reason nrs keeps making mistakes,problems,and stupid ass decisions.

Anyways. Mortal liu kang any damn day.

No questions.

Anyone who picks god liu kang over sweet boy mortal liu kang is a fucking fool and honestly doesn't really know liu kang.

Fuck fire god liu kang,Oops i ment boons comicbook insert.

Mortal,shaolin monk liu kang ftfw.

All day any day.

Like I'm just sad they couldn't have just let....ya know....his shaolin bromie kung lao take over? And ya know LET FUJIN DO HIS JOB!? and ya know....let liu kang fucking retire from the narrative?

Without god powers,without killing him off,without making him evil from plot device,without making him undead,like ffs man this man has been thru every trope except having a fucking sexy honey boo on his hip! Ffs man let this guy have happiness?

Ya think the narrative would be kinder to him considering how much bootlicking they do to him.

But nope....they want their cake and eat it too. Fuck nrs.

I'm sorry liu kang,im so sorry they made you a joke. (And to all the other characters that i know n love and grew up with so much)

People think that shit is funny,or nothing to sneeze at. Well how would you feel if something that bringed you joy growing up was being fucked over by corporate greed? And fans just eat it up and consume mindlessly without actually thinking about it? Like they buy cuz of brand and "it looks cool" .

Ugh im just sick of it man.

[thesoftboiledegg]

One of my friends recommended The Consumerist Dystopia of Harry Potter on YouTube. I thought it was fascinating and really enjoyed watching it. The video ties into this blog because I kept thinking "Well, Harry Potter is a capitalist's dream, but I guess I can't say much because I'm a Rick and Morty fan."

I mean, you can look at my merchandise roundups to see all the bizarre products for sale, most of them having nothing to do with the series. Whoever markets this show just slaps a label on anything. Snow globes, hot sauce challenges, potted plants, lapel pins...anything that people might buy.

The video points out that, unlike other series, Harry Potter is inherently capitalist. Shopping, buying and indulging are huge parts of the story, like Harry Potter buying school supplies for the first time. The series has countless descriptions of magic stores and all the cute products.

And that easily translates to real-world shopping. The Harry Potter theme park is crowded with stores. WB sells products sourced directly from the books, such as chocolate frogs, wands and snitches. Many people buy the same product four times because they want to get all four house colors.

Conversely, Rick and Morty doesn't have the same marketability. The only items from the series that people want to buy are Rick's portal gun and the plumbus. Other than that, your product options are limited. I guess that's why WB slaps the characters on anything that they can find.

Also, Rick and Morty merchandise inherently has that "cringe" factor because people think that the worst fans represent the show. Everyone thinks you're douchey if you walk around with a Rick and Morty T-shirt and snapback.

People are starting to turn on Harry Potter, but they're never going to make up the majority of the population. Most people still see Harry Potter as the cute wizard school series. People act like stores are pulling HP merchandise from the shelves, but man, I still see HP junk everywhere. Stores have entire sections dedicated to merchandise.

Anyway, whether it's Harry Potter or Rick and Morty, I think that all mass merchandising is cringy. It's partially because I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes. The creator, Bill Watterson, was vehemently against licensing the series because it would cheapen the story.

I've thought about that with Rick and Morty, too. The series mocks capitalism a few times, but the marketing team is still cashing in. Some of the merchandise is even a little tasteless. Why do people want to buy shot glasses and alcoholic drinks with a raging alcoholic on them?

Anyway, it's not going to make me stop watching the show, and I'm already done with Harry Potter for other reasons, but I do think that the mass marketing world is fascinating--and a little fucked up, too.

[kitkatt0430]

SO I don't really keep up all that much with the DCEU so I was taken aback when watching a video essay about why the sequel films are bad when the essayist said that... the whole DCEU was ending with Aquaman 2. Like I know this 'verse has never done, like, amazingly well, and I know some of the sequels were pretty naff but...actually scrapping it? And I'm wondering why - is it really that it's flopped or is it that they wanted an MCU without being willing to put in any of the work and instead expecting Instant Billions or whatever (or is it tax reasons, like they did with Batgirl?)

Oooh, send me a link to the essay? I'll have to check that out.

So I admit I haven't paid all that much attention to the DCEU either. I gave up on following everything for that one a lot faster than I did the MCU, so I really only tune in to one of the DC movies if I hear enough about it being good after it's been out a while. It was definitely mismanaged compared to how the MCU was handled - which is funny because the Arrow-verse interconnected shows was well done and they could have leveraged the multi-verse aspect of the comics to their advantage, though it's probably for the best they didn't. The shows had their own problems with seasonal rot and using them to prop up the movies would likely have not been pulled off with any finesse or skill. (I mean, they did finally tie in the movies in the Crisis on Infinite Earths with the DCEU!Barry cameo, but that was too little too late and barely counts.)

I hadn't heard the DCEU was coming to a close, but I'm not surprised. Though the news articles I just kinda flipped through before responding here were mixed on whether the DCEU is actually ending or if there is gonna be one more Aquaman movie since the second movie apparently ends with a setup for one? (wouldn't be the first setup for another movie that never followed through though) And it may not so much be ending as it is soft rebooting. Which... since I doubt the WB execs learned anything about why the DCEU failed to achieve what the MCU managed, I can't say I have high hopes for DCEU 2.0.

Their tax games definitely contributed to the DCEU loosing fans and thus money in the long run. The Batgirl movie had a lot of interest in it from fans and, if I'm remembering correctly, it had finished filming and just had post-production left to do. So tanking it for tax reasons pissed off a lot of people and killed off a lot of goodwill towards WB's handling of the DC movies. The fact that WB/HBO are continuing to play tax games with the Road Runner cartoons continues to erode trust in the company and continuing to play those games are likely to continue destroying their fan base as more and more people lose trust in them. Until these kinds of tax shell games are made illegal, I don't really see the company admitting that these kind of short term tax benefits are hurting their long term profitability with every person who stops caring about new movies or shows announced because, well, it'll probably get canceled for tax BS anyway, right?

Their strict control of characters being allowed to appear in DCEU vs the various tv shows was ultimately harmful too. By refusing to allow a live action Batman show, we got a version of Arrow that was at times good but was still pretty clearly Bruce Wayne-lite with Oliver Queen slapped on top. And who basically became a cop in the final season; comics Ollie would be ranting in all fucks about that if he knew. (Dinah probably wondering if he'd forgotten other words exist...) Declaring Deadshot off limits too meant putting an end to the use of the suicide squad episodes, which I have no doubt backfired by making fans of the show interpretation less interested in seeing the movie version.

While I'm glad that bringing Barry Allen as the Flash into the movies didn't end up killing the show - it was already popular by the time the Justice League was announced so I suspect they at least realized killing that show would definitely be shooting themselves in the foot, a rare good decision for the DCEU - but the way interviews about the Ezra Miller version of the character are given tells me that they just... don't care about the success of the show compared to movies. And that alienated fans of the Flash show, especially down the road when a standalone Flash movie entered development and the movie related hype got louder. "Oh how wonderful Ezra is at playing Barry Allen, none could do it better." Except Grant for nine years. Ten if you count the intro episodes he had on the Arrow before the Flash started. Talking about the movies as if the show didn't exist, or matter, definitely shot them in the foot with show fans. And it didn't help that the movies were retreading stories with that version of Barry that the show had already done - Eobard murdering Nora, Flashpoint, an evil version of Barry too??? not totally clear on that one - and did so badly if the clips I've seen of the Flash movie are any indication. At the very least had the interviews regarding the movie had been respectful of the show's success, they could have drawn in a lot more viewers than the Flash movie ended up with.

Those are not the only places where the movies have caused characters to be barred from the various tv shows or where the movie PR has treated the shows (and not just arrow verse shows) like they don't exist. But they're the ones that come to mind for me first. And it generates bad feelings with fans every time it happens.

Then there's the fact that the DCEU movies were just literally difficult to watch. The MCU movies get dark, but wow. Do DCEU filmmakers know what lighting is? Do they know that lighting is important in order to see what is happening on the screen? Do they know that people watching movies like to be able to see what's happening on the screen?

The MCU has a lot of planned continuity between entries. The plots for the movies may be kinda shallow, but the fact that a lot of the movies can stand on their own despite being interconnected was a major strength for building up the fan base it has today. They don't account for every plot hole or contradiction, and it's kinda hilarious what continuity errors some of the later retcons have introduced, but ultimately there is a cohesiveness of story being told across the various movies and shows. And the shows have been very good at diving into the fallout of plot points that are left shallow in the movies. What happened to the agents burned during the Winter Solder - Agents of SHIELD handles that question really well, though being so tightly tied to the movies was as much a weakness for the show in it's early seasons as it was a strength. Daredevil and the other Defenders shows explored the fallout of the Battle of New York. And the Disney shows continue that trend of diving more in depth into various questions the movies have left us with.

The DCEU doesn't really have that. There's no real unified vision. There's a lot of big ideas but not a whole lot of follow through. The characters don't really seem to exist between movies - the Flash movie was supposed to be a few years post the Justice League movie, but Barry had done basically nothing as the Flash between the two. Diana is still mourning Steve as the love of her life in the second WW movie. Though Diana has grown more comfortable in the regular world, she hasn't really grown any as a person between the first and second movies despite the decades in between. And then sometimes the characters are more stereotypes than actual characters - Batman vs Superman was less Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent clashing over misunderstanding each other and more the concept of Batman vs Superman as argued by out of touch fanboys who don't actually like the source material. (You can tell where I stopped keeping up with the DCEU now right?) And even the extended version of Justice League has at best superficial readings of the characters because it's trying to do too much at once. While sometimes the characters do learn and grow and better themselves, if it survives to the next movie is hit or miss. Which, admittedly, is one movie sin the MCU does have in common with the DCEU.

(The things that could be said about how wildly unevenly Clint Barton was written to be... I swear he's basically a different character every time he shows up at this point, despite having the same name and actor every time.)

And the DCEU hasn't really handled it's scandals well. When actors or directors or whoever is called out on bad behavior, the company will cover for them. So while the people running the shows seemed to have learned from the #MeToo movement and ditched problematic people even when it meant changing direction with ongoing plots (Supergirl season 3) or writing out one of the main characters of a show (Hartley Sawyer being let go between seasons over uncovered past bad behavior and the subsequent decision to write out Ralph Dibny instead of recasting), but those in charge of the DCEU have routinely protected people called out for racist, misogynist, and other prejudiced behaviors. (the post Justice League racism debacle, pretty much everything to do with Ezra Miller pre-Flash movie release...)

Honestly, the TLDR here would be that the DCEU was just mismanaged every which way it turned. And while we still got gems like Aquaman, the first Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey... those were never going to be enough to save the DCEU from either getting shelved or rebooted eventually. And if we are getting a DC movie-verse reboot? Unless the problems that tanked this iteration are addressed, it's still going to fail in comparison to the MCU's ongoing successes. Because ultimately, yes, I think they wanted MCU level success without being willing to do the work to achieve it. And I don't think they'll be any more willing to do that work with a rebooted DCEU either.

[sidetable-drawer]

7 and 12

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

It fortunately never turned into full-blown hate but Bloo from Foster's I have a like/hate thing depending on what episode it is, but I've come across some hardcore stans who justify all the bad things he does and make the rest of the cast out to be "abusive" (even Wilt believe it or not), as well as flipping out whenever anything negative was said about him even if 1. it was a joke or 2. referring to something that actually happened in canon. Instead of making me see reasons to like the character more...somehow they made me find him more annoying than he already was post-flanderization (thanks again for that, CN). Anyway I was tired of dealing with fully grown adults who need to retake media literacy (or go outside and play and take a break from discourse, or some combo) so I blocked anything related. So now my original opinions toward the character are back. I can like funny asshole characters WITHOUT woobifying them to death or demonizing them, which seems to happen with EVERY funny jerk character in every fandom. It's getting old.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

She's more of a base-breaker but Lola Bunny from the Looney Tunes franchise. I know a lot of fans think she's "boring" (not counting TLTS Lola) or just "too sexy" but really I feel like she has a LOT of potential and she has the makings of a fun character, but WB underutilizes her and honestly...sometimes it feels like they're not sure what they're doing with Looney Tunes in general (fuck Zaslav again for the Coyote vs Acme thing).

[ok-au-tournament]

SUBMITTED BY @bubbleberryuniverse

Sami Apocalyptic AU Ramblings, Part One of However Many There Will Be...

The general AU summary is that it's an AU where the villains end up winning. They, after well over decades of planning, end up finally succeeding and destroying and wiping out most heroes. With the bonus detail of KO and TKO being separated!

In today's submission, I'm going to be rambling about the KO and TKO separation portion of the AU, as that is currently what's bouncing around in my head. I absolutely will get to and explain the other general information about the AU at a time that isn't right now (considering it's 12 am as I'm writing this and I work in 9 hours.)

[Some details will be kept vague until I get a chance to ramble sone more later on.]

The AU takes place, and diverges, during season one. At least in a more noticable way. In a very simple summary— sometime roughly between We've Got Fleas and One Last Score, Shadowy ends up separating KO from his TKO, in the forest.

He used a weird kind of machine— cob knows how he got his hands on it— to physically separate the two. This... is absolutely not a fun experience. It's painful. Because he's essentially tearing apart their souls, cause KO and TKO share a soul in kind of a weird way? Words are hard! But it's absolutely one of the worst experiences both KO and TKO have ever experienced.

KO remembers more of the details than TKO, as KO was in control during the separation, but even then, KO doesn't remember much, except for the fact that he was separated and it HURT.

ALSO, ALSO, after the separation, the cage in KO's mind is absolutely just... destroyed. As this was season one, KO never got the chance to let TKO out of the cage, and this is part of why TKO resents him so much [will elaborate later!] The mind is never visited again after this, but the cage, the poor cage, man...

(WB doodle by freepaperdetective!)

ANYWAY, they both end up unconscious on the forest floor after they're separated. Because holy fuck, these two kids were kind of legitimately split in half in a way. It's honestly a miracle it didn't end up killing them [it definitely almost did, though.] Shadowy takes TKO and leaves KO in the forest while he's passed out, where he's eventually found by Rad and Enid, who definitely panic because KO suddenly won't wake up.

He's definitely alive, he's just... unconscious for a few days. He wakes up again a few days later all snuggled up in blankets, but this post isn't about him, so we'll skip that for now.

As soon as TKO wakes up, a few days later, much like KO, Shadowy wastes zero time in beginning to manipulate him. Again, I won't go too in-depth cause this is meant to be super short, but he ends up pretty much making TKO go from, "I hate KO for everything he's done but whatever" to "I absolutely HATE everything about KO and his existence, he's the cause of ALL my PROBLEMS and ALL of my bad feelings and thoughts would go away if I killed him." To put it simply, at least.

Of course, that's not all immediate. It takes like a year [roughly] of manipulation to get him to that point. At which, the apocalypse would've already been very much a thing, and that definitely adds to the problem. [The villains destroyed everything around the time of Villains Night Out/In, which was a few months after the separation. They're kind of connected but not really, TKO just helped. I'll get into that later.]

It's a good detail to mention that over time after the separation, KO definitely ends up feeling bad about keeping TKO in the cage. But as you'll find out, it just... doesn't matter. Cause by the time he does try talking to TKO, it's unfortunately not able to work. I absolutely will get into the little tiny teeny details when I can...

There's a stark contrast to KO and TKO, too, cause TKO is with the villains, and KO is with the heroes, and while KO is forced to hide from the villains, TKO is essentially living with and around them. The villains that destroyed everything. It absolutely affects him in a lot of ways and AUGH it's SO good, man...

[I'm going to end this submission here because I REALLY need to sleep, but please remind me tomorrow to write more and submit the rest of this! After that I'll be open to people asking me questions about it and stuff as I ramble about more AU details. Hope this was a good amount of starting information!]