#because there's a story behind the song names and design choices btw

[fourth-dimensional-thinker]

Imagining Marty's future discography. Inspired by this post by @timechange

[aspiestvmusings]

TMS S3: GROUP A

THE MASKED SINGER SEASON 3  GROUP A/ GROUP 1: (contestants 1 - 6)

EP 3x01: CLUES & MORE: RECAP for remaining 5: 

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

KANGAROO

CLUES: 

Location: Outdoors: “Australia” 

Location: Next to a /in a yard of a “peach coloured” building with arch/vault-style architecture 

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign: OUTBACK (with the U being in the shape of horseshoe)

Sign: Yellow “road sign” with an arrow pointing down (”spiraling down”) 

MIB as papparazzi/press following her - taking pics, media attention (for “the wrong reasons”) 

Gramophone on a tree branch 

Boxing bag -  the kangaroo boxing/hitting the boxing bag 

Jump rope - the kangaroo jumping over a jump rope (made of a vine...held by MIB)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

”Like most of you watching, I’m a survivor.” 

“I recently lost a person, who held my familys heart together. Then, by my own admission, I found myself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.” 

“But I’m here to do what kangaroos do best - bounce back.��

“I have to fight for my family. And show them that bullies never win.”

“I am beyond terrified - I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’m not about to lose the chance to realize the dream I’ve always had.” 

“To all the survivors out there -- This one’s for you.” 

 ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn 

Look/Costume: The kangaroo has a pouch (indicates female), but also has a red/silver boxing outfit & gloves (indicates male). Outfit colours: red & silver. Important: there is a crown on the back of her robe. 

Stage: hexagon-shaped mirrors (5 of  them) surrounding her/behind her [if my other guess is correct, then that stage design is a “clue”] 

Height: Tall-ish...almost the same height as host Nick. A bit shorter, around 175cm, probably.

Mic hand: Right 

Talking:  “One of my greatest fears is being vulnerable. And this year I’ve had no other option than to be vulnerable. But...with this kangaroo costume I feel like I can get my superpowers back.” +  [breathes in/sighs heavily before the song starts]

GUESSES: 

I HAVE NO NAMES OF MY OWN. -- I thought she was this certain female artist, because the voice kinda seemed familair (sounded like hers to me), but none of the clues and other things seemed to fit. And after checking the clues it seems to confirm it cannot be her, cause nothing matches. Also... to me she doesn’t sound like any of the singers I thoughts she could be based on the clues, so... I havent actually figured her out...

I think people online are correct, and it’s a certain “reality star” (gramophone = reference to her dad being a sound engineer on a well-known past TV show) Though I am considering a few more options - mostly other reality stars/youtubers/family members of celebs... particularily one name. If my guess here is correct, then just like Llama, she would have a connection to a previous TMS contestant...but since I am not that familiar with her singing voice, I cannot be sure. But she has lost family members in the past few years, she has been in a media scandal, and you can even explain the australia thing kinda... so...until I hear more of her, I’ve got one name mainly in mind. But I wont name it until I’ve heard her sing at least once more.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

Survivor = the title of a “Destiny’s Child” hit song

Lost a family member recently = either her family member (parent, grandparent?) died or they parted ways (were cut ouf of each others lives)

Gramophone = possibly a reference to a Grammy nomination/win. Or just music/sound/audio

Outback = possible connection to Australia

“spiraling down” road sign + papparazzi following her = she’s been in a media scandal “recently”

Crown = King/Queen 

LLAMA

CLUES: 

Location: Radio station/Mixing studio - mixing console (close up) 

Location: Pottery making “class” 

VISUAL CLUES:

Mixing console - close up of a studio/radio station mixing console 

23.3 The Wool (name of the radio station/show) 

Red lightbulb in the studio 

Photo of a bull (the animal)

Playing cards: Ace of Spaces & Jack of Spades). Two black suit cards showing (Jack Black)

Sounds of Seattle - title of a vinyl album 

Romancing a llama: pottery 

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"Mi-Mi-Mi-Mi-Mix it up!”

“Good morning, Nerd herd! You’re listening to The Wool. Where we’re all cool. No Bull.” 

“I’m here for one reason only - to have a laugh. And what’s funnier than a Llama? (laughs at his own joke)”

“You may call me a joker. But I’d like to get serious for a minute. The song I’m singing tonight is my favourite track for celebrating love with that... special someone. There’s nothing like being swept up by it’s deep, profound lyrics. It’s a tune that really gets me in the mood for romance. I can’t wait to sing it for you tonight.”

“Llama out!” 

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin 

Look/Costume: Dressed as a tourist - “hawaiian” style shirt,, photo camera around his neck. Llamas tongue out of his mounth, on the side. 

Height: he is around 180cm - about the same height as host Nick (their shoulders are on about the same height)

Mic hand: Left 

Talking: “umm.. This whole costume just spoke to me... My vibe... I wear digs like this in real life.” (answering the question about his costume & it’s looks) 

GUESSES:

Drew Carey (TV host/comedian/actor...)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES.

23.3 Wool = His show (The Drew Carey Show) had, during it’s 9-season long run, a total of 233 episodes. 

Photo canera prop = His hobby is photography. Actually, it’s more than just a hobby - he has been accredited press photographer during many (sports) events.  

Radio = He was a radio operator during the time he served in the Marine Corps. Also..he’s hosted a radio show (radio DJ) during his later career 

Red light in the room = photography reference. In the DarkRoom red light is used when developing photo film/photographs.

Buddha figurine (Dalai Lama/Llama joke) = He is a buddhist. 

Joker = he is a joker aka comedian 

Seattle = He is the co-owner of a Seattle Football Club. 

Playing cards = He took part in the celebrity poker game in 2003, where he did better than Jack Black did (played against Jack Black)

Nerd herd = He did take part in Zack levis (Chuck) “Nerd herd” lightsaber race one time at a Comic-Con convention. 

Nerd herd = his show (DCS) & character were/was about nerds/was a nerd

Llama’s side tongue = early in his stand-up comedy days he had a joke with a side-tie (it looked visually very similar to what the llama’s tongue looks like - he just added some wires & tape to do “the trick” of swinging the tie to the side)

BONUS: He knows last years winner, “The Fox Mask” - they did “Whose Line is it Anyway” together, so... connection... 

SPOILER ALERT: Llama is the mask who will be voted off next - in ep 2 (on Wed, Feb 5th). But while his voice might not be as trained as some other contestants, I loved his stage energy, and the comedy/fun he brought! One more song coming from him! And no, I am not sharing some secret info - they “accidentally” revealed the first two contestants, who get unmasked, so it’s been revealed by the network...for those, who notice small details...

MISS MONSTER 

CLUES:

Location: Lady’s restroom/bathroom. The moster getting ready (coming hair, applying hairspray...) 

Location: school hallway - lockers 

VISUAL CLUES:

Sign:  (image) ladies restroom 

Itmes on the counter in bathroom/dressing room: Furspray (hairsray) can,  pink bottle of some beauty product, three crystals (stones), a piece of sequin fabric 

Key/Keychain: a single (old style) key with a keychain that says “FUN” #FUN #KEY = FUNKY = “QUEEN OF FUNK” 

Purple furry diary/good luck charm/cosmetics bag/pencil box (with a face + kitty ears & unicorn horn) + a glittery pen 

Lockers: Lockers numbered 10 (the ones she opens) & 11 (the one next to it)...with no other lockers having numbers on them 

Miss Monster Locker: filled with images of S1 Monster, scrapbook flowers..etc...

Piece of paper on the locker door: Monster Hits.

Photograph of a cityscape (skyline with many skyscrapers) on the locker door [if I could only see the image better to know which city it is on it, that’d be one more clue]

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

“When you become famous, people  want you to look or act in a certain way. They forget that you started off as just a shy little monster.” 

“It didn’t take long for me to be misunderstood. So I’m here to set the record straight. Just like my favourite creature in Season 1 did. The Monster. He made me feel. He re-wrote his story. It was fire!" 

“And now this performer in pink wants to follow in his furry footsteps, But darlings... I’m nervous. Will you still love me without knowing my name?”

ON STAGE CLUES: 

Song choice: “Something to Talk about” by Bonnie Raitt

Look/Costume: pink & purple/violet furry costume with a bowtie

Height: she is short-ish (shorter than host Nick). She looks very short (barely 5 feet - more Dolly P. height 152cm than Chaka K height 162cm)

Mic hand: Right 

Talking: NO ON-STAGE TALKING!

GUESSES: 

Chaka Khan 

Dolly Parton (since the total number of Grammy noms that the 18 contestants have in combined in 69 & Robot as the first revealed one has had 24-25 of them, that leaves only 44-45 for everyone else, that rules out this person, because she alone has had 46 nominations...compared to C. Khan’s 22 noms)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES. 

Number 10 = She has 10 Grammy Awards/wins. (interestinly: both D. Parton & C. Khan have 10 Grammy wins!)

Monster Hits = she has had (many) hit songs during her career 

He made me feel = She has a song by the title “I Feel You” (1984 hit)  

It was fire = She has a song by the title “Through the Fire” (1985)

Will you love me - that is (word for word) the title of of her her hit songs, “Will You Love Me?” (2007)

It was fire = She wrote the hit song “Fule to the Flame” (1967 hit) for Skeeter Davis. 

Will you still love me? = She has/wrote a song titled “I will always love you” 

Furspray/Hairsray = he was/is known for her big hair/haircut (managing that probably takes lots of hairspray)

FUN = FUN(K) #FUN KEY [FUN:KI] - she’s kinda the “queen of funk” (one of her albums is titled “FUNk This” (btw: Pun intended by her!) 

TURTLE 

CLUES

Location: school’s track & field event (Balzano Track Field) - contestants getting ready to run. The slow turtle surrounded by fast bunnies, all preparing for the event. [Slow & steady (turtle) wins the race]

Location: Schools track & field event - BANG! The race begings. The three other contestants (MIB as bunnies - wearing pink bunny ears - starting the race with a head start, all jumping on their blue bouncy balls)

VISUAL CLUES:

Turtle vs bunnies 

BANG! in comic style - to mark the start of the race 

The others (three bunnies) bouncing on blue balls whe n the race begins 

Surf board - the turtle poliching/cleaning his poink & blue surf board 

Pins on the track...popping the blue jumpy balls 

Grilling burgers on an (outside) grill...on the track field. 

Turtle crossing the finish line first (bunnies just going in circles, being stopped by pins on the way, or other reasons), as he has time to do other things & take it slowly, and then still get there first...with a burger in hand & winning the golden medal.

AUDIO CLUES/VOICE OVER:

"At the starting-line of my career I was surrounded by other hungry new-comers. It felt like everyone around me was fighting tooth-and-nail for the dream. And I watched as many of those stars burned too brightly, too quickly, and then fizzled down”

“I’m a turtle, because I’m always taking it step-by-step.”

“Slow and steady wins the race. But now I feel like I’m ready to break out of my shell. After years of preparation I would love to make a big splash. So I don’t want anyone to cross that finish line before me.” 

ON STAGE CLUES:

Song choice: “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal 

Look/Costume: Punk/Rock-style, dressed in leather (pants, jacket), has a spike (hair)

Height: Short-ish (shorter than host Nick) - seems around 175cm. Small in size.

Mic hand: Right 

Talking: “It’s hot. It’s really hot. And it’s heavy!” (when answering how doesn it feel to be in that costume and perform in it)

GUESSES

Jesse McCartney 

Joey McIntyre  PS. I tried connecting the voice to any boy-bands (of 1990s & 2000s), but I coukdnt. Even after some “research” - listening to each possible candidate...and IMO it’s none of them. The voices dont match, the heights doesn’t match---But it did sound like someone, who for me was a one-hit-wonder. Yeah, I only know that one song (and one more) from him... but voice seemed familiar.

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES: 

Surf board = that he is a surfer;  that he is from Cali/Australia/somewhere which is known as being popular among surfers; that he has won Teen Choice Award(s) (this award in in the shape of a surfboard)

being surrounded by other new-comers at the start of his career = either he got his start through a (singing) competition and was one of many contestants fighting for the win AND/OR he got his start in a “boy-band” and was one of the youngsters looking for fame...

Surf board = Teen Choice Awards - winning several TCAs for his first/biggest hit song/album in 2005, and more. And he’s played a surfer character on a TV show

BSB references/connection  - he was the opening act in 2005 for BSB during the European part of the tour. 

Dream = he started in a boy-band with the name “Dream Street”

on stage presence/body language (movements) = very similar to J.M. 

WHITE TIGER 

CLUES: 

Location: Football field. Tiger striking a power/winners pose. 

Location: School hallway, lockers. Tiger walking in, shoving everyone out of his way. 

Locatrion: School library (sitting behind a table, with his legs on the table) 

Location: School hallway, lockers. MIB trying to get him to audition for TMS. MIB (fans) taking selfies with him. 

VISUAL CLUES: 

Golden plate/sign with text: Ultimate champion for clam shucking: 51 clams” (next to a golden clam shell) 

Sign/ad on the wall: “Masked Singer tryouts 5/3.” + images of three past masks included: Eagle, Lion & Raven. Plus the text: “Hurry. Not for long" also written on it. 

Sign on the all with images of past US presidents, including Abe Lincolns & the text/quote “Four Score and Seven Years Ago...” 

The TMS golden mask throphee shown next to the lockers (as Tiger says “let’s party!”)

AUDIO CLUES/VOICEOVER: 

“Ready to meet your next champion? My entire life I’ve sought out perfection, so choosing a mask with unlimited power like the White Tiger was a no-brainer.”

“I’ve had a giant career full of accomplishments. But when I imagine being on stage (and) singing, I’m a big old scared cat.*

“It’s been a while since I did something that scared me, so I’m here to concour yet anither challenge.”  

“What’s my motivation? My fans! I don’t wanna let them down." 

“So now I’m ready to get in that ring and smash the competition.” 

“Let’s party!” 

ON STAGE CLUES: 

Song choice “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice 

Look/Costume: Dressed in “Egyptian style"

Height: very tall & big (much taller than host Nick) - over 190cm, looks about 2m tall

Mic hand: R & L (alternates)

Talking: “It’s the most powerful I’ve ever felt. Like I can concour anything. I never wanna take it off” (when answering what did it feel like when he first put on the costume/mask)

POSSIBLE MEANING OF CLUES: 

He played during the 51st  (51 clams) & 53rd  (5/3) Super Bowl games. 

The three past TMS masks shown are all animals that are parts of  names of existing football teams: Ravens, Eagles, Lions. Meaning he is an athlete & specifically plays american football (NFL) 

The Lincoln quote translates to “87 years ago...”, so number 87 is the clue here. This could be a reference to player No. 87. 

He has had a very succesful career in his own field (sports). Singing is not his main job.

IF the voice-overs were done later, not during initial filming, then it’s possible that “smash” relates to the person smashing a lego-statue of a TV host during 2019/2020 New Years. Which in itself was supposed to be about his famous “Gronk Spike” during football games. 

A tiger (albeit “regular”, not white) was one of the characters & costumes + name of the sports team in the Katy Perry video “Swish Swich”, where this athlete also appeared. 

The Golden (Golden Mask) trophe - most likely a reference to his many wins (the trophees he/his team has won)

GUESSES: 

Rob Gronkowski (Gronk, athlete, 198cm) = 99% certain it’s him 

Because of the height alone (seems to be around/almost 2m = 6 feet 5) there are not that many possibilities at all. Even if we don’t listen to that voice or consider the clues. Based on height alone it can basiclaly be only one of these names: Dave Bautista (198cm); The Rock (196cm); Hulk Hogan (201cm); Tyler Perry (196cm); Brad Garrett (204cm); Joe Manganiello (196cm); Jeff Goldblum (194cm); Jason Mamoa (193cm); Tom Brady (193cm)..or the likes...

Even other possible names, like the ones listed by the panel, are not valid guesses, because of their height: John Cena for example is actually only 185cm tall. Also... several of these tall men are bigger/more muscular, so that makes it even easier to determine the name based on only the physical appeance...without even listening to the clues. 

ROBOT 

First mask to be voted out in ep 1

Havent listed his clues, cause there’s no use for them anymore, as he was voted off. 

With his 86 tattoos he makes up for about half of all the 160 tattoos the 18 contestants have combined. With his 24-25 Grammy nominations he makes up about 1/3 of all the 69 noms the 18 contestants have combined. And quite many of the 88 gold records the 18 contestants have combined,  belong to him (I don’t know the exact number, but most/all of his 10+ albums have gone gold, I think) - exact number depends on how they count it for this list.

<<<<< THIS IS WHAT GOES ON IN MY HEAD AFTER EVERY TMS SHOW/EPISODE. THIS IS HOW I CATEGORIZE THE INFO I HAVE INTO FOLDERS IN MY MIND. THIS IS HOW SPECIFIC I AM, AND HOW INTO DETAILS I GO. THIS IS HOW MUCH I PAY ATTENTION (while, most likely, missing a ton of more hints that I’ll only notice during re-watch) I JUST DECIDED TO WRITE IT DOWN...FOR ONCE. 

BUT... unless I decide to cut some sleep time to do this again, I am probabky not gonna do this after every episode. Possibly for the first episode of every Group (so beside ep 1, also ep 4 & ep 7)

[80s-teen-titans]

I just saw Aquaman!

And! I! Loved! It!

I think it was the aquarium bit right at the beginning where I just stopped and went, “oh fuck, I’m afraid of fish.” I had kind of… forgotten? that I have an irrational fear of fish? There weren’t many scenes where just little fish were going around so it was mostly fine. And despite this fact, I still very much loved the movie. It was amazing. So here’s some things I loved.

(long post full of spoilers under the cut)

The absence of death for the drama: Firstly, let me just say how happy I am that they didn’t go the cheap route of killing off characters for drama. Like it would have been so easy for them to kill his dad. So easy. And through that scene (which was gorgeous btw, both the sound design and the cinematography) I was so scared that they would, but like… kind of resigned to the fact. And then they didn’t. And Vulko too! I thought he was gonna for sure get killed for motivation. First during the Ring of Fire (btw, the Johnny Cash song of the same name played in my head every time someone said it) I thought he was gonna jump in the way to prevent Arthur losing and die. Then during the rest of the film there were so many opportunities for him to get killed and he did not! It would have been so easy to kill his dad or his father figure but they didn’t, and you know why? Because then it wouldn’t have been about Arthur regaining his birthright and learning to accept both sides of himself, it would have been a plain and simple revenge story. Like so many other movies we’ve seen before. Good on them for avoiding the cliché that this has to happen for a hero’s journey.

Atlanna: While we’re at it, let’s talk about Queen Atlanna. Because I don’t think most people, who have seen movies like this before, really believed that she was dead. When there’s no hard evidence, you gotta assume they’re fine. And I love that, when characters are so pleasantly shocked and surprised to see their loved one alive. I live for that. And this film did not disappoint. Their reunion was beautiful and touching. And I definitely teared up when she asked about Arthur’s dad. And the person sitting in front of me was just absolutely sobbing. Either that or choking on their popcorn. I couldn’t tell.

Diversity: How about that love story between his parents eh! That was heartbreaking and beautiful. And it was just so, so refreshing to see non-white characters let me just say. Like Arthur’s dad is a gorgeous man and it hurts that we haven’t seen stuff like this before. It was just perfect. And I loved how Arthur was also still very much connected to the culture of his father and his family. That’s an extra layer of depth that you can’t get as easily when everyone is white. 

Comedy: So this movie was hilarious. It was so, so funny. Like… the octopus on the drums? During the Ring of Fire scene? I laughed so hard and so long that I set off the person sitting next to me who also started laughing. My god, I just couldn’t help it. It made me think of The Little Mermaid. But also like, the “bogeys on our six” “what does that mean???” “Bad guys behind us!” “Just say that then!” “Bad guys behind us! Bad guys behind us!” Just getting increasingly higher and higher pitched. Like that was priceless. Also side note, we talk a lot about female characters being allowed to make “unsexy” noises when fighting, but like there are also multiple points in this film where Jason Momoa isn’t just being all gruff grunts in fights either, like he gets thrown off a roof in Italy and his yell turns into a high pitched scream at one point like yes!

Mera: Also Princess Mera! Like damn! It is very clear she is very much an equal, and never lesser than the male lead. She’s the one who knows what she’s doing. And like the thing with controlling water? That’s something that’s uniquely her. It’s not something that she has to teach to Arthur. That’s her own insanely powerful thing and Arthur and everyone else can’t help but respect her and just be in awe. Also, trying to do things from the background to keep the leverage she has in her position, but not hesitating to just go for it either. When she sees no other choice she jumps feet first into her new role as a traitor because she wants to see her nation under better rule.

Arthur: As a character, I loved that he wasn’t like, the smartest guy, but he could still use his head and think through things. He’s not an idiot. He has knowledge about certain things like history. I loved that he was named after Arthurian legend and they kept with that, that his dad is a history lover and taught him stuff.  He differs to Mera, acknowledging that she’s brilliant. And he wins his battles not by brute strength (except for the first one which set up perfectly what he could do) or by outsmarting the other guy, but often by just stopping to talk (that monster that was guarding) or by getting help (the huge battle at the end with the sea creatures). An argument can even be made for it not being sheer strength that wins the final duel, but skill. He even acknowledges this by saying that he’s a blunt weapon and good at it. All he wants to do is help and protect people which we see plainly on both the sub and in Italy. Arthur is a great, well fleshed-out character that felt completely real.

Atlantis’ walls: Ok, the bit where they’re entering the city and Arthur says, “why don’t people just go over the walls?” and Mera says that it’s impossible and there’s hydra canons and whatnot, I just started chanting in my head Chekhov’s gun Chekhov’s gun Chekhov’s gun! (For those that don’t know, it’s a literary device that states “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired”. Meaning, if you gonna mention something like that, do something with it). And by golly did they! I was assuming they were gonna have to break in at some later point, I didn’t think they’d be breaking out! That was great!

The ending: It was absolutely perfect. How everyone stands witness to the battle and their battle itself, including all of the talking they did in it. I adored the relationship between the two brothers. Like how Arthur said earlier that he had wanted to meet him and get to know him. Then at the end he tells him that they can talk when he’s ready and Orm actually hesitantly gives him a nod. And the fact that he spared him at all. He regrets not showing mercy to Manta’s father, and will not fail to show mercy again here. And how Atlanna shows up and talks to Orm and tells him she loves him and doesn’t blame him, she blames how his father raised him. It took my breath away with how genuinely fulfilling this ending felt.

Couple last points: The soundtrack was an absolute bop my dudes! Like wow! The song choices, the original music, it was all just so, so good and so, so perfect. Also enjoyed how the movie didn’t coddle the viewers. It didn’t explain everything straight up. There’s mentions of Vulko before we know who he is, they don’t tell us right when we met her who Mera is, they showed us through her short conversation with her father. The characters felt real, having conversations about things they knew about and not bothering to tell us until we had wondered how they knew, like how Arthur believed his mother to have been executed. They did show don’t tell extremely well throughout the entirety of the movie.

In conclusion, it was an amazing film with a terrific cast, great acting, brilliant and witty writing, breath taking cinematography, believable characters, and beautiful battles. And I loved every second of it.

What did you love?

[mimiplaysgames]

What Episode Luna is Going to Be About (Or... how to drastically change a character)

This post is going to be a theory, a critique, and a follow-up of my previous post, Why Lunafreya Can’t Be Fixed. In this previous post, I go into some serious detail about how a character like Luna is not possible to fix based on how the writers have designed her. After the new DLC line-up reveal, I maintain this position, in light of my own three theories about what this episode is going to be about. I do not think that my theories are of tin-hat-conspiracy quality. Professionally, I believe in organic and deeply human writing and storytelling, (I can’t help it, I am classically trained and hold degrees in writing and literature), and I try to maintain this standard in my theorizing. I will discuss what my theories will be about, what this means for her overall character “growth” or “development,” and what this means for the direction of these new DLC from a writer’s standpoint.

TL;DR: Luna is going to get seriously retconned, and this is the only way for the writers to pitch a meaningful story to tell about her.

1) Ghost Luna

I wanted to get this one out of the way because it is the most far-fetched, yet the easiest to tackle from a technical development standpoint (because they do not have to write an alternate reality where she lived, which takes more resources). The statement that her fate is something that “not even death can free her from” really bothers me here. What is the reason to include this statement in the episode description? Ravus goes as far as to mention this in Episode Ignis. Does this mean we are going to play Ghost Luna? How is that going to play out exactly, what are the game mechanics? Are we going to fight pre-demons in the Astral plane? How does this mesh with her ghostly appearances?

Keep in mind that her ghostly appearances have already been retconned in Royal Edition, although there is no indication as to what the limits of her appearances are. Before, it seemed like her appearance was unnatural, hence why she disappears so quickly. In Royal Edition, we suddenly have a talking ghost with magical powers, and no discernible reason why she would disappear then.

Then there is the story arc in this option. A ghost, by normal folkloric standards, will continue to have ties to the earthly realm because of deep-seated regrets, or unfinished business. If she has unfinished business as an Oracle in death (and has the power to make shit happen) then.... why didn’t she do anything for the 10+ years that Noctis was asleep? If she regretted leading Noctis like a lamb to a slaughter, why support him in Royal Edition? All of these options would mean a serious retconning of her by illogical standards.

Now let’s discuss two more believable options...

2) This is a story about her activities during the events of Final Fantasy XV

In other words, this is going to be about what she is doing during the base game. I have already discussed in my previous post that there isn’t much of a story to tell in this aspect, which means that this would require some serious retconning, in light of this sentence: “Her battle to save the one she loves overturns the destiny dealt to the Lucian king.” This statement REALLY bothers me.

First of all, we do not see her make any action to save Noctis from his fate in the game. His fate was to die. She didn’t do anything to thwart this, and IF ANYTHING, egged him on in Royal Edition. This is also emphasized by the fact that she knew he was going to die (I mean really, her crying about never seeing him again, Gentiana talking to her about how Regis cried over the fate of his son, Pryna carrying the prophecy of him dying, etc.). She knew, and she lead him to slaughter anyway (that is not love, btw).

So what does it mean that she wants to save the one she loves, and this overturns his fate/destiny? If we are to keep the canon of the original game, and if this takes place during the same timeline as the game, then this means that she didn’t know he was going to die and has decided to do things behind the scenes that we didn’t know about to stop his fate. Which would be the most bullshit retcon on this list (SINCE SHE KNEW) and quite defiant of the logical understanding of her character and her role in the game. This leads me to discuss some of my intuitive (and possibly my most tin-hat) thoughts about her character development, and how she was built the way she is (from a writer’s perspective). This is where I will strongly criticize the approach that Hajime Tabata has taken with her.

I do believe that Tabata is very sensitive about criticism over Luna. It’s why all of the recent additions and changes to her address her most vocal critics. One of the most vocal criticisms is that she and Noctis are not in love, so he has to hammer away at a dead horse to the point of obnoxiousness (such as giving her the cover of Royal Edition, the repetition and literal spelling-out of her love for Noctis, the update of her train scene with Noctis where Tabata felt the need to make it more dramatic, naming songs attributed to NoctxLuna like “Lost Love,” “True Love,” and “Moonlit Melodies,” etc.), and his marketing decisions that suggest this major role that she does not have in the game (Luna edition of the PS4, song lyrics that mention her, her strong appearance in most official art, Luna edition of the NVIDIA harddrive, and on and on and on...). It’s almost as if her PR is what emphasizes of her importance in the story, because the actual story does a shit job of doing it. Another common criticism of her is that she is evil for leading Noctis to his death without telling him. Keep in mind that Luna is essentially designed to be perfect and free from criticism. Tabata tries to legitimize this by making everyone in the world either adore her, or hold her in high regard. This is not a creator that understands human complexity, and the way he keeps throwing her in our faces and plastering her in all of the advertising, especially in Royal Edition, when she had four minutes of screen time, and when she is still inconsequential, is an ego trip on his part. A writer/creator/director is not supposed to do that. Furthermore, the fact that he felt the need to spell out her love for Noctis is insulting to the player - yes, we can tell that she loves him, we aren’t dumb. Spelling it out doesn’t validate their love or convince critics that it’s real.

I do not think, therefore, that he can tolerate such criticism over her and her relationship to Noctis. Which is another problem with this retcon: if she still knew that Noctis was going to die in this story arc, and decides to save him from it, then she ultimately makes a giant turnaround against her religious indoctrination and defies the gods, which is in strict contrast to what we know of her.

I mean, we are talking about a character who is so involved with her religious indoctrination that she gives a speech to a public, telling them directly that the gods are watching over them, minutes before she wakes one up and it destroys the city and subsequently kills a bunch of people. We are talking about a character whose religious indoctrination is so important to her, that this is THE ONLY THING SHE TALKS TO NOCTIS ABOUT - as children, in her death scene, and in their new reunion. Despite the Astrals’ abuse of the people, she still has delusional blind faith in their protection anyway and in spite of obvious evidence to the contrary, so it doesn’t make sense for her to defy them.

I also think that the development team does not have the resources to address the quagmire that is the Astrals, which is why they have already been retconned. Attributing all of the ills of the world to the Astrals, and blaming them for the Starscourge (being that their falling out was thought to be the cause of it) cannot be an acceptable criticism, because then it means that the development team would have to explain why Noctis would decide to die for them when he was commanded to. They don’t have a good reason for this if the Astrals are depicted as the cause of the whole problem. So the blame was shifted to Ardyn in the 1.16 patch, and Ifrit became more of a sympathetic figure.

And here is where I touch upon another flaw in her overall character design that I did not touch upon in my previous post. Blaming the gods for the Starscourge also puts blame on Luna for having faith in such abusive figures, which is also unacceptable because she is designed to be perfect. It is not acceptable to question Luna’s beliefs because the game paints her to be a character that is righteous about everything that is happening around her, and she has to be correct about the prophecies (and Florence + the Machine’s song “Too Much is Never Enough” hammers this away by saying that Luna is “right” for doing what she did). Nyx is the only character to criticize her and Regis, and she “corrects” him by implying that the countless sacrifices made in Insomnia are needed for the good of the world. The concept, then, that she will defy the gods is very strange. Ravus defies her beliefs, and look what happened to him. The Glaives in Comrades defied the gods by abandoning their king, and are called heretics or the like in need of redemption. You don’t defy the gods, which means that Luna, as their official bitch spokesperson, cannot be wrong. In other words, Luna defying the gods in the canonicity of the original story can’t happen without it being a terrible contradiction.

Which leads me to...

3) This is an alternate reality where Luna is the most retconned

By alternate reality, I can mean different things. She either lives in Altissia, or she makes different choices by defying the gods altogether and not go down the same path that she did in the game (although, defying the gods in this alternate timeline will then open its own can of worms that will have fans debating about their use and purpose in the original...).

This is arguably the easiest way to make her consequential to the plot (for more on her lack of importance to the story of Final Fantasy XV, please read ooc-but-stylish’s post on her plot progression, which is much more eloquent than I can ever hope to be). It is interesting here how her DLC is titled “The Choice of Freedom,” another sensitivity to the criticism that Luna had no actual choice in the game because she behaved as a pawn to the gods, and just kind of did whatever the plot told her to. I address her lack of choice in my previous post, as well as ooc-but-stylish.

I do believe this is also a reaction to fans’ desire for her to be selfish (which is strange - it is already selfish of her to not tell Noctis anything, which she had many chances to do so because they shared a notebook). People were expecting her and Noctis to defy their fates because they were unfair, and find another way to bring light back into the world. If the option to defy the gods is what fans want though, then they are asking for a retcon. I have discussed the possibility of putting Luna in a catch-22 in my post, where she is changed beyond what is already understood of her.

This kind of suggests that if we were to make her consequential to the plot, and take action that would seriously change the events of Final Fantasy XV, then this means that she will be changed to the point where we stop recognizing her as the Luna we know, and change into a completely different Luna (and not in the organic-character-development-way).

Looking back on my previous post, I realize that Kingsglaive Luna was very reckless and suicidal, which makes no sense in comparison to Game Luna, who is concerned about completing her role as Oracle (nor does it make sense... how does losing Regis and Insomnia mean that she lost everything if she knew that Noctis had already left? If she died being so reckless, wouldn’t that mean that she can’t do her duty?). Anyway, I am trying to say that if she changed that much, and being that she will continue to change so much, we will certainly have a third Luna in our hands, as opposed to a character learning throughout her journey and making changes to her own priorities.

I said in my previous post that it is not possible to develop Luna for proper character development, and I do believe that this option is the only way to attempt this. This doesn’t help her apparent uselessness, however - if she is still inconsequential to the original plot of FFXV, then this retcon does not justify it, nor will it fix her. 

This option also supports the concept of coming close to a grand finale that supports an idealized ending for the characters, although it will take the most work. This option would therefore be the build-up to the payoff that will then become Episode Noctis (meaning, Episode Luna is going to put all of the alternate new plot into place that Episode Noctis will solve).

So then, here are the common themes that address all three options...

Her relationship with Noctis will still need some serious work, and spelling it out isn’t good enough. There’s a good reason why there are so many Nyx and Luna shippers out there - it is because they have what fans interpret to be sexual tension between them, and they collaborate with each other. I have already discussed in my previous post why a relationship between her and Noctis will not add to her development because it isn’t possible to develop her based on her character arc. At the same time, I do not believe that putting more time and effort into building their relationship will make much difference, because then it continues to repeat certain things that we already know: one, that she is obsessive over Noctis, and two, that she cannot exist outside of Noctis. The former means that her relationship with Noctis is toxic and abusive: rsasai has an amazing post about why this relationship is psychologically damaging, and making them more romantic is not going to change this. I do not believe that the writers will have the resources to address their most pertinent problems, either. 

And shall I repeat that she cannot exist outside of Noctis? Holy shit, every single official description of her is tied to Noctis, from game manuals, to the official website, to the movie description, to the Ultimania. The idea that Episode Luna is therefore necessary to her character development is a bit too optimistic in my opinion, considering that it is truly going to be about Noctis anyway.

Furthermore, fans are optimistic because Terada will be directing these new DLC. This is fair, and yet, unfair. Yes, Episode Ignis was amazing. However, I cannot attribute writing credits to Terada’s involvement because Ignis’ story arc was already decided before Episode Ignis went into production - it has to be, in order to start the actual pre-development process. What can be attributed to Terada is the alternate ending... which most of us can agree has a serious degradation of writing quality in comparison to the main storyline, and seems like it was rushed.

I also have to emphasize that I personally believe that Episode Luna, and therefore, Episode Noctis, are going to be the alternate reality that the developers are alluding to. Which means that my initial post about her being un-fixable, and having no story to tell, is essentially on point. They didn’t have a story to elaborate about her in the canonical storyline, so they were forced to write up an alternate ending in order to make sense of her character and bring in some development. When you contrast these two vague episode descriptions with the detailed ones of Episode Ardyn (yay!) and Episode Aranea (as long as Ravus is in it, I’m good - but no, seriously, what is lacking in Ravus’ development is knowing what exactly his relationship was with the empire), then it really pushes my belief that Luna and Noctis will be the alternate reality.

All in all, she is still a mess, and retconning her like this will not decrease her controversial standing in the fandom.

[xswhitetee]

Blank Space- The bearding analysis

*This is only my interpretation and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I originally started to write this to celebrate ‘Blank Space’ was about to reach two billion views on VEVO. The milestone has come and gone and it stayed put in my drafts until the recent interest in the meaning behind the lyrics.

This song is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music not only because it’s a pop masterpiece, but because Taylor oh so cleverly used it to expose her PR ‘love life’ strategy through a disguised satire.

Also take note that by now we immediately associate the music video imagery to the song (Call it a ‘Michael Jackson Thriller’ effect), so the message she sent through interviews about what the song was supposedly about got delivered with such a powerful force that people didn’t question it. 

In reality ‘Blank Space’ was never just a song. It is a masterfully crafted production (it even included an app for God’s sake) designed as a vehicle for Taylor to say ‘fuck off’ to the false image created around her. 

But that’s not all. What makes this production even more clever and mind-blowing is the deeper message that lies hidden just under the surface of the general public’s perception.

Let’s start first with what is common knowledge.

General public’s perception based on Taylor’s interviews:

- She’s making a parody of what people say/believe about her

- She’s cleverly profiting from that ‘false’ made up image

- She’s mocking the press’ obsession on her ‘love life’ 

- She’s punching back against those who think she only dates men to write successful ‘break-up’ songs

Quote from Taylor: “Essentially, it is a song I wrote about basically the fact that the media has kind of portrayed me to be this desperate crazy serial dater and so I decided I was just going to kind of continue the joke and take back the narrative.”

Interviews talking about the song: Link 1, Link 2

Grammy Museum acoustic performance and intro: Link

1989 Album secret message:

“There once was a girl known by everyone and no one." 

Lyric analysis:

Nice to meet you, where you been? 

I could show you incredible things 

Magic, madness, heaven, sin

Saw you there and I thought

Oh my God, look at that face

You look like my next mistake

Love’s a game, want to play? 

‘Blank Space’ is like a bearding manual and it perfectly starts with an introduction scenario where she first meets a guy and immediately type-casts him as her next mistake because she knows the relationship will have an expiration date. She sells the contract’s advantages and describes to her potential ‘love interest’ the relationship scenarios that will have to occur in the public eye. Taylor then confesses she has been playing the fake relationship game and makes a final offer at the end of the first verse: Are you in or are you out?

“I could show you incredible things” is the first clue that suggests this is not only a satire song about her being ‘boy crazy’. To me, the fact that she says it right after the introduction means selling the benefits of dating her is the first order of business. Not a romantic involvement. It also has nothing to do with sexual attraction. It’s what she can offer to entice the beard.

New money, suit and tie

I can read you like a magazine

Ain’t it funny, rumors fly

And I know you heard about me

So hey, let’s be friends

I’m dying to see how this one ends

Grab your passport and my hand

I can make the bad guys good for a weekend

In the second verse Taylor confesses she knows all about the type of man her ‘new boyfriend’ is. The fact she mentions “I can read you like a magazine” suggests she has sin him in publications and understands his ambitions.

“Ain’t it funny, rumors fly” is a very clever line that hints at amusement when the media get the first first leaks of info on the new couple.

“So hey, let’s be friends” is a key suggestion that she is not talking about a romantic interest. She is merely offering a partnership to her beard, a mutual-beneficial arrangement that won’t lead to heartbreak. 

The last part of the verse is a reminder that Taylor is first and foremost a story-teller  and writer. Here she is already figuring out how the ‘relationship’ will play out, imagining all the places she can take it to, and even going as far as dreaming the breakup scenario before it begins.

So it’s gonna be forever

Or it’s gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it’s over

If the high was worth the pain

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They’ll tell you I’m insane

‘Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

In “You can tell me when it’s over if the high was worth the pain” we can read ‘high’ as career benefits for the beard, and ‘pain’ as the months of media/public scrutiny and a hectic schedule of ‘public appearances’. 

“They’ll tell you I’m insane” I think is referring to her ‘need-to-control-every-tiny-detail’ and anxiety issues Taylor has confessed to in past interviews.

“You love the game” hints her ‘boyfriend’ is thirsty for fame and is willing to play the ‘celebrity love game’. 

'Cause we’re young and we’re reckless

We’ll take this way too far

It’ll leave you breathless

Or with a nasty scar

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They’ll tell you I’m insane

But I’ve got a blank space, baby

And I’ll write your name

Taylor continues to describe the ups and downs of the whirlwind ‘relationship’ her and her beard will play in front of the public eye. 

“We’ll take this way to far” suggest the feeding of rumors through ‘sources’ or not ‘taking care’ to deny false information in order to let the stunt grow bigger.

At the end she finally reveals the song’s title meaning: she has everything set up and ready for the bearding phase to begin. Contracts literally have blank spaces to insert names and initials. Enough said.

Oh, and btw, I don’t buy into the ‘pen click’ sound before “And I’ll write your name”. In her voice memos she does the sound with her mouth and I think it’s just the sound some people make when they wink and are trying to be saucy. 

Cherry lips, crystal skies

I could show you incredible things

Stolen kisses, pretty lies

You’re the King, baby, I’m your Queen

Find out what you want

Be that girl for a month

Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh no

In this part of the song Taylor goes on to describe the public image of the relationship: set up pictures of perfect settings, papped pics of a kiss that was ‘private’, ‘perfect couple’ hints. She was basically foreshadowing scenes of her two subsequent beards.

“Find out what you want, be that girl for a month” This is Taylor offering her image and power to the needs of the beard according to what was agreed at the beginning of the ‘relationship’.

“Wait, the worst is yet to come,oh no” suggest a warning to the beard of the media whirlwind to come when the ‘relationship’ runs its course.

Screaming, crying, perfect storms

I can make all the tables turn

Rose garden filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh my God, who is she?”

I get drunk on jealousy

But you’ll come back each time you leave

'Cause, darling, I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream

This last set of lyrics basically depicts an ‘insiders view’ on the bearding relationship where everything from the outside looks perfect, but inside of it is a mess and she confesses she’s the one in charge and can stir anything to benefit her interests. 

The last two lines are amazing and probably the one that sticks out the most of the whole song. To me they mean that even though it is exhausting and frustrating to be under her control, the beard doesn’t have a choice but to do what he is told because the ‘nightmare’ is worth the success ‘daydream’.

That’s it. The rest is a repeat of the same lyrics.

What do you think the song’s about? It’s kind of scary how after this was released her biggest PR stunts happened and basically followed the song to the ‘tea’ (pun intended). Maybe she was trying to warn us?

If you want even more analysis on the genius of ‘Blank Space’ I’ve added a couple of links below that I’ve found greatly interesting.

Bonus song analysis:

- all-my-possessions’s analysis of 1989 singles: Link

- Taylor Swift’s Songwriting Secrets: The Subtle Genius of Blank Space Link

[the-kool-kyle]

Kong Skull Island Review

WARNING SPOILERS!!!

First off is this film worth watching. Yes. This may have been the third time they've made a King Kong movie but this film delivers plenty of action,humour,drama and so horror elements. The beginning starts off pretty well with Hank and Gunpei crashing onto Skull Island and engage in close combat and are approached by Kong. Which later revealed on that forced them to work together to survive the islands many horrors and which eventually lead them to putting aside their differences and their opinions of WW2 and becoming great friends (as close as brothers) Which I gotta say is actually a pretty good back story to how Hank ended up the island. 

After a time jump we learn that Brooks and Bill ( Corey Hawkins and John Goodman) are typical theorists and nut jobs no one believes and yet are so how able to get permission to go on a expedition to an unexplored uncharted island with a military escort .Typical cliche for these kind of movies . As the film cuts to Vietnam we meet most of the soldiers 80% of which who die throughout the movie before you get a chance to learn their names but we all seem to love Sam L Jackson character as the typical army Stereotype (The Badass veteran who’s seen everything and can never leave the war behind). Then were introduced to Conrad and Weaver (Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson) I’ve never been much of a fan of Hiddleston but I gotta say he was such a Badass in this film especially during the graveyard scene. Weaver was a strong independent woman in this and wasn’t afraid of those Skull Crawler creatures especially when she fired a flare at the big ones eye. 

Some of the soldiers (whose names I can’t remember) Did I pretty decent job fighting off most of the island creatures like that big ass spider and some of the Skull Crawlers but they kind of just wasted Chapman (The lone soldier with the son) because he was eaten by that Skull Crawler typical cliche the guy who dies the worst death is the one with the most kids back home. The part when the guy with the AK-47 tried to sacrifice himself to the big Skull Crawler seemed like a pretty good scene but when it struck him and hit at the cliff you kinda just go “Well so much for that idea”. 

But possibly the best thing this film pulled off was Kong himself. As we all know he’s gotten bigger in size which is awesome and the whole thing about him being the last of his family as the natives described in their temple drawings actually makes the whole reason why Conrad and the others believed in helping him defend the island from the Big Skull Crawler and stop Sam L Jackson from killing him is what made this film so entertaining to watch and really makes you think who is the bad guy here? The final battle between Kong and the Big One was really well shot and the CGI on both creatures was really well done considering that CGI battle scenes are really hard to pull off. 

The costume designs were very well suited for the time it was set in they did a great job designing the american Vietnam solider fatigues and the jungle/explorer outfits for the others. 

The sound track is probably another one of the favourite thins about this film. The two best songs they used was Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival these songs were really well suited for a film set in the 70′s. 

Many of the locations Kualoa Ranchand ,Waikane Valley and Queensland we really great spots to film this Jungle based film at. 

This film was really well shot it had plenty of high, low angle, slow mo and POV shots which made the scenes more exciting. 

The film’s tone was a mix of serious and humorous especially when they recovered after the chopper crash and start cracking some funny dialogue. The times when it gets serious really does it well espically when out of nowhere many of the characters die brutal deaths. 

During may of the action sequences they did a great job with the sound especially when Kong threw the tree at the chopper the song stopped then the film and the cinema went dead silent. The acting choices were great Hiddleston was the Badass, John Goodman was the rule explainer guy, Sam L Jackson was the Good guy/Villain. I can honestly say they all did great jobs on their roles and delivered worthy performances. 

The ending was actually a pretty great way to close the film Kong lived, the main characters made it home alive and there wasn’t any forced love between any of the characters.

Final verdict 8/10. This film really delivers on action and horror and welcome’s back to one of the most iconic movie monster of all time.

One BTW theirs a post credit scene. message me if you want to discuss it.