#before anyone says anything—yes the entire fight scene is important

[pizzazz-party]

fight scenes should write themselves honestly

[kehideni]

The time has come... the aroacest person ever will rant about how in LMK Wukong's feelings regarding Macaque were hinted at.

And by hinted at i mean that ultimatelly it can still be platonic but yeah i get why people ship it. I'm grumbling over here like

so you can think of me as a reluctant shipper. (ugh)

Jesus Christ... how do i even start...

I guess with readmore because i'm going to talk about the whole entire show so far. Which means Spoilers for Season 5 (and 4... but like that's been out for a year now)

Also before i start, i'm not gonna talk about Macaque's pov in this because he is even more obvious than Wukong and people talk about him all the time. I should know i'm one of them.

S1E9 "Macaque"

First and foremost it's not much, but SWK's reaction to seeing Macaque for the first time in who knows how long is legit suspicious, not because it's anything special but specifically because it's such a toned down reaction. Even if SWK doesn't know that Macaque is supposed to be dead, Mac has been suggested to be at least MIA since their mysterious fight. He wasn't goofing around, he wasn't taking it lightly, but also he didn't take Macaque's appearance with the weight you'd think he should.

Let's just do a little mental gymnastics: In your mind replace SWK with MK and Macaque with Mei. Imagine that Mei has Macaque's backstory and MK has SWK's. Two long time best friends, with a serious fallout, Mei goes MIA and then comes back. Do you think MK would react the same way SWK did in the episode? Obviously not.

Now i know Wukong is rather secretive, exspecially in S1-3(for plot reasons) but the thing is, that DBK was also SWK's friend, a very dear one at that. His reaction to DBK is goofy, light spirited, hardly interferes with the MK vs DBK fight. He wasn't really shush-shush about missing DBK's company. (S2E2 Revenge of the Spider Queen)

In contrast to that, when he finds out Macaque is back he doesn't take it lightly, no goofing off, but also doesn't seem to want to fight Macaque? In this episode all he does is make Mac back off from MK. I guess he wouldn't want to, of course, but yeah had Mac been anyone else, Wukong would be actively working on how to get rid of him. Ie.: Lady Bone Demon or even the Major("how about him? Is he part of your destiny?" bit)

And we do know SWK was holding back, as he wooped Macaque's behind when he was possessed by LBD no problem.

S2E1 "Happy New Year"

SWK: "It's called misdirection."

MK: "Seems like a shady lesson."

SWK: "Too soon, buddy."

It's not really saying much- again-, after all it's just a one liner joke. It's just that no comparable joke was made in any other character's expense. Also the annotation in SWK's voice wasn't really silly. A "can't decide if i'm supposed to smile at the pun or feel sorry for SWK" thing.

(Now while we are ignoring Mac's side of things, rewatching Shadowplay while having S5 knowledge, it's kind of haunting what kind of parallels the show is drawing between MK and Macaque of all things but moving ooooooon~)

In most of Season 3, Wukong is back to his monkey-ing around personality. S3E1 "On the run" he behaves the same way he'd with DBK.

The next of note episode is pretty far off in S3E9 "The king, the prince, and the shadow"

The importance of this scene

specifically Wukong's expression, is that funnily enough, he believed completely that Macaque was working for LBD, when in truth he was going behind her back the whole time, working towards his own agenda (ie.: freeing himself from her) and also thought he could fool Macaque.

Macaque on the other hand easily read Wukong's intention, something that Nezha fell for completely, that the rings were fake. (Macaque knows Wukong better than Wukong knows Macaque.)

That means, at this point Wukong was convinced that Macaque is a bad guy (something he will mention right at the beginning of Season 5) and still he did not hurt him. He later on almost did, yes, but did not need much convincing from Tang to leave him be.

"If you hurt that kid, i'll..."

"What? Make things worse for MK?"

*cuts to that scene

Obviously intentional poetic positioning, reflecting Macaque in a position that is suggested to be the "made things worse for him" thing that Mac is referring to. Yadda yadda, had Wukong not killed him the LBD would not have her claws in Macaque right now as she wouldn't have resurrected him. *is still a hella sketchy story with holes and i don't intend to make Wukong out to be the bad guy, i'm working with what the show is er... showing us/telling us* !Which is fine!!! The story is on going!!! They choose to tell it as teeth-pullingly slow as possible for plot convenience! Sit down, we all know the truth will be far more nuanced than it was presented in S3

But to get back to Wukong's pov, if you notice, after he hears that Macaque is not loyal to the LBD he tries to tell him that he has a plan, one- presumably (if Mac would have listened) -Wukong would have involved him in. Possibly even help him get free from LBD.

Next in line would be the parallel drawn between Mei and Macaque

Wukong was impulsive way back then and now, hurting "those that care about you the most" But yeah... Macaque's line is also incriminating "She's completely out of control, if there's a time to go it is now."

MK countering it that- paraphrasing now but -"bruh that's not really a punk rock thing to do." Possible reason for ^ that cut to Wukong's reaction is that Macaque's line opened up some scars. Hearing that he'd abandon you when things go wrong is very much the first wound that SWK and Macaque suffered in their friendship (from Wukong's side, again imma just ignore Macaque's side in this post but so help me if anyone goes on a comment rampage about how Macaque is truely a piece of shit i will just tell you to go watch the whole series again because whole ass plotlines and characterDEVELOPMENTS fly right by you)

Nezha: "She controlled the fire? This is impossible."

^ Wukong getting a front row seat view of what could have been had they not given up on each other with Macaque.

"Mei was right, i need to stop dragging you into my fights."

ehm... you guys hear it too i'm sure, but we will get to that later

(On a slight tangent... actually i do recommend a rewatch of the show because LBD's lines get so much more meaning. Macaque specifically gets added to the destiny speech all the time, which is funny considering he should know all about destiny and he is the most againts the idea of a destiny existing, Macaque refuses his own powers???And i do believe Macaque has his future-knowing powers because he has reaction time to things that didn't even start happening yet such as LBD throwing the girl away, hiding from Azure and co. when he shouldn't have known they are free, etc.)

On another cute little side note, Nezha said Wukong is not a loner, no matter how much he seems to be.

Lookit that happy smile, fighting along side all his fwiends awww, go you funky little monkey man

This ending scene for it's few seconds is packed with things to point out. "I hate that guy so much, always acting like he's so cool." Literally no one ever said that or thought that Wukong. That was your take on Macaque's behavior. When i first saw that scene my thought was that "Yeah if i were Macaque i'd have left too."

Or even this gag bit can suggest Wukong being out of balance once Macaque leaves.

Stress eating...

Season 4 goes a bit more into detail concerning Wukong's issues

"Forever is a long time bud, trust me." Shows two monkeys hanging around, eating fruit, doing whatever they want.

So the scroll gets opened, and in no practicular order characters are shown that Wukong feels guilty about, looks properly sad when they show. The stress lines around his eyes start showing after Macaque is shown

Flashback scene, kinda is a thing in season 4 that Wukong is much more physically affectionate than Macaque

not gonna do more screenshots because i could literally just post the clip but the thing that we can take away from these is that Wukong insisted on including Macaque

"You're really going through with this?"

"Correction, WE are going through with this." i'm choosing to take it as a tie back to Nezha's line of Wukong not liking being alone.

Much of the brotherhood doesn't seem to actually care for Macaque and Macaque seems to not care for the brotherhood either. And Peng isn't even our first clue for this, since DBK and Macaque have been around since Season 1 and they have yet to interact with each other, eventhough they are sworn brothers too. Azure Lion and Yellow Tusk if name drop Macaque once the whole season, and Peng is the most vocal about their dislike/hatered of Macaque. (Also when the scroll wants to traumatise Azure it only uses Peng and Yellow Tusk)

You can headcanon that Macaque joined the brotherhood only because Wukong is there, but also it's not really a stretch to think that it was actually Wukong that wanted Macaque in the brotherhood and Macaque just agreed to join because Wukong insisted. Either and both can be true.

I just posted this screenshot because Wukong's face made me laugh.

Wukong being the only one paying attention to Macaque's thoughts and feelings, even if ultimately he brushes them under the rug. (Which says more about the brotherhood than Wukong actually...because the brotherhood just about ignored Macaque completely. Wukong paid attention but ya know... big plans and big dreams require big actions)

His speech is a nice promise, but the annotation is on "like we always wanted". The whole quote going: "Relax bud, when this is over we'll be back here basking in the Sun, getting fat on fruit for the rest of ... well forever!! Like we always wanted."

Since it's a conversation with only Wukong and Macaque in the shot, we as the audience are clued in that it was specifically the dream of those two, not the whole brotherhood.

Btw rewatching the episode, Azure says Wukong had the habit of keeping people at arm's lenght, like bruh that's a straight on lie.

(lmao that Tang joke with the water :'D not thirsty, Tang?)

Now Azure when talking with MK, showing him select few scenes to make himself look the victim says one thing. That Wukong imprisoned them. Did not kill, imprison.

I said this before, i will say it here too. Why would Wukong, who is closest to Macaque from the brotherhood, imprison everyone else, but specifically kill Macaque? Nah ah, i'm pretty sure that was not how it went down. But that's a to be cleared thing for season 6 hopefully.

As.... hilarious as this picture is, it's kinda proof of Wukong's sentimentality.

Finally i arrive at S4E11 A lifetime of mistakes

Nothing much to say about this scene, it speaks for itself.

"Everything i did was for us!" This sentence alone means Wukong's fear of death extended to Macaque. Macaque said that Wukong feared death more than anything which is true, but whenever Wukong talked about his goals the emphasis was on them together spending forever with whatever they wanted.

Third time reminding you of Nezha's statement, that Wukong is not a loner. Something that Azure flat out lied about, telling MK that Wukong kept them at arm's lenght.

It's 2+2 guys... spending eternity alone is boring as fk, of course you need a buddy. And a buddy just as immortal as you, since we know the heartbreak that comes with an immortal - mortal friendship. To the mortal that friendship is for lifetime, to that immortal it's just a small chapter of their lives. Wukong really DID do everything for Macaque, but well... he went overboard, like MK said. He could have stopped right here, he already had his wish:

They already were sitting in the sun, eating fruit and doing whatever they wanted.

But now look at thoooose stress lines

While the show doesn't even suggest what Wukong's full punishment was -because let's keep it PG it is still a kids show- Wukong also just lost his best friend.

In Season 4 peaches were the symbol of their friendship, something that Wukong -probably just out of sheer anger- rejected from Macaque in this scene, only for Macaque to crush said peach in answer and throw it away. My guys, this was an ugly UGLY divorce. Thing is that had cooler heads prevailed, they probably wouldn't have had this fight here. It's dressed up as a gag line, but Wukong says he really wanted that peach.

In the scroll MK and Macaque follow the memories that Wukong punched himself through, trying to find some good ones AKA memories with MK. Wukong saw this memory too, which was the last memory before MK and Mac found Wukong.

After seeing this memory and deciding to escape it he stopped in the next one. Meaning this memory is the freshest Wukong is thinking about.

"I just wanted to protect the people i care about." *camera angles to Macaque.

MK then quotes Wukong saying that maybe they can't fix everything, but they just have to leave it better than they found it. That's just another way to say "fix" btw... and he looks to Macaque, because that's what he wants to fix most.

Well he has an eternity to do it.

He was legit asking permission from Macaque here, idk what for if you are the Monkey King you don't need permission, right?

Next episode "The Plan man" starts with something i already said:

Wukong is looking for Macaque when he notices he is not in the heroic pose with the rest of them. Showing once again, where Wukong's priority laid. He needs to make sure he still has his buddy by him. Kinda going into Sun Mumkong mode, embarassing Macaque:

Do note, Wukong verbally said he wanted all of them to have the "happily ever after" but before that talk with Azure, Macaque was emphasized.

And the thing is, at first i thought, surely i'm reading far too much into this, but this weird Macaque-prioritising will appear in Season 5 too. We will get to that.

This was Wukong's wish, to not be alone.

Anyways, show uppy "tsundere" way of expressing, that he is happy Mac is there.

Like i said, peaches in season 4 were a metaphor for their friendship. Handing Mac a peach ice cream is kinda his way of saying "friends?" but maybe in a different way. The "try again" button in the game if you will.

Season 5 however hooo boi...

I ran out of pictures/post so i'll have to make a part 2, which will be season 5.

[kiirotoao]

HEYY YOUR SO PRETTY BTW AND I LOVE YOUR BLOG

the ask :

so, i wanted to get ur opinion on s3 mike. such as, what he was going through and his internalized homophobia. things like that!

maybe some things w/ him and his relationship w/ el too!

THANKS FOR ANSWERING IF U DO ANSWER :D

I’m gonna pretend that I’m fine after weeks of getting flustered just staring at this in my inbox! Thank you, anon!!! 🥺🥺 You’re making me blush! But, uh, anyways! Let’s talk about Mike Wheeler! 💙

I think that Mike in season 3 is the most interesting version of himself in the entire show because of how hidden his story becomes. In all other seasons, Mike cries openly with other people and expresses his sadness and fears over Will and El.

In season 3, though? Besides the finale, the tearful goodbyes narrated by Hopper, we never see Mike truly cry and explicitly talk through why. Sure, it can be pretty readily implied that it’s because of the Byers leaving, but we don’t hear that aloud. We don’t see exactly who’s on Mike’s mind as those cars pull away. We're left with silent and unsure stares, looks of seeming regret or something else unknown.

Season 3 is truly a huge turning point for Mike, he’s losing his girlfriend and arguably his closest friend in the Party, and it's so easily overlooked because it all happens at the very end of the final episode. Whereas El goes through hell and fights to connect to Billy and save her friends, where Max also feels the weight of his loss, where Will gets his heartbreaking scene at Castle Byers - all the Party members who are very linked to Mike get their emotional moments that season, and we know exactly why they cry.

But Mike dances around his emotions all season long. In consulting Lucas to deal with breaking up and making up with El, in trying to tell El that he loves her without ever saying it, in fighting with Will because "it's not [his] fault [Will doesn't] like girls."

Oh, Mike. I really don't think that Mike was out to hurt Will when he said that. Rather, it's a culmination of heteronormativity and the poor relationship that he has with El and trying to compensate for it. I interpret the outburst as him saying, 'it's not my fault that I'm in a relationship and you're not, so you wouldn't get it.' And by extension, Will being in a relationship would require, normatively, being with a girl.

But at the same time, for a jab that deep - I can't help but question more.

Mike could have said, "it's not my fault you don't like anyone!" or "don't bring her into this!" or even as simple as, "you wouldn't understand!" But no. Mike takes the direct train to sexuality station and brings up the fact that El is a girl. So it seems to me that Mike is very likely harboring something in his heart about why El being a girl is important for him to argue.

But we never know for sure. This moment is never addressed again due to the Mind Flayer’s sudden return. And so it’s up to us as the audience to decide what we think of Mike’s statement. And personally, as I’m sure many of you believe, too, I think that Mike is projecting and trying to hide the fact that he doesn’t like girls onto Will, pushing away his problems to someone he trusts who’s more similar to himself than he realizes.

Tied to his inability to say to El’s face that he loves her, to the fact that they've - reportedly from Hopper - kissed all Summer long with no mention of meaningful conversation, to the very surface-level relational mending his makes by calling El’s outfit “cool” and giving her candy, to the very end of the season where Mike once again denies saying that he loved El just before an open-eyed kiss and a face like this:

Mike doesn’t need to say anything about that kiss for me to know that that’s not the reaction of someone who’s perfectly happy to be back together with his ex-girlfriend. So do I wish that we had a moment of vulnerability for Mike where he expressed his heart in season 3? Yes, but his nonverbals spoke volumes.

So, yeah, I think that in season 3, Mike is very much gay, but he he acts cautiously and self-preservingly because trauma is drowning everything out.

And what is this trauma? I know that I’m working backwards, but I need to bring up that Mike was separated from El for so long in the time of season 2, and I think that that makes him so attached to her in season 3. Think about what else he says in that scene when he admits his love: “I love her and I can’t lose her again.”

As sweet as it is to be reunited to El by the end of season 2, it’s not a clean reunion for Mike. He’s in shambles when he learns that Hopper was lying to him and not letting El even tell Mike that she’s okay.

Not to mention that this isn’t his first but second time almost losing her to the monster that season.

Because of this unstable connection, I think that Mike has built a protective relationship with El, one that focuses on keeping her rather than knowing her, and we see how that all unfolds with his superficial “superhero” complex he has of her in season 4. Season 3 was just the beginning.

And so I think that Mike in season 3 stands as a version of himself that’s confused protectiveness with love. Even though he arguably behaves with that same mindset all the time, it’s at its highest during season 3 because of his never-ending insistence to help El even if she’s capable to do things by herself. Mike isn’t just clingy, he’s worried. Worried for her life. There’s no time to worry about where the problems in their relationship arise, there’s only time to fix them and go back to how they were at equilibrium - when things were normal.

Thus, Mike behaves rather stubbornly. He’s insistent and defensive, not letting a single thing slip through the cracks and risk any more hurt. In doing so, his personality is left far under the surface and unexplored. He only acts to stir up emotions rather than reflect on them, because any pausing to think will only confuse him more. He’s looking ahead, looking at the light, holding onto everything good he has with all the propriety of a 13/14-year-old who has a heart bigger than his head.

Simply put, Mike is a bit of an anti-hero this season. And I think that it's because of this that he starts to get most controversial for the audience.

I’m clearly a Mike apologist, but I genuinely don’t think that he’s out to hurt anyone when he argues with others this season. He’s just stubborn and loud about it, which can definitely be to his fault at times. But in the end, when it comes down to who he loves, I think that season 3 is the era of change, and that ending scene with Hopper’s letter paints the perfect setup for the next seasons to reveal that Mike has a lot more going on under the surface that’s causing all of this. Maybe some regrets, things he wishes he could “turn back the clock” on, regarding, say, Will and El and how he treats them platonically and romantically? Just a thought.

The question of the day for Mike in season 3 stands: is he being selfish or selfless? And I think that it’s a mix of both, blended in with some heavy confusion due to role changing (not needing to protect El) and uncertain affections (not knowing how to figure out what he has with Will).

So, yeah. All in all, I think that Mike is really closeted in season 3 and doesn’t realize it until the final episode, and I honestly love him for it. As someone who’s gone through similar hurdles of internalized homophobia as a teen, it’s really heartwarming to see him grow and figure things out, even if the journey is far from perfect. It’s a humble origin story. And if he somehow ends up being straight and Byler isn’t endgame, well. I’ll be upset at the writers, but the impact still stands.

[bonbon-acide]

KLANCE MOMENTS THAT STILL LIVES INSIDE MY HEAD AFTER 8YEARS BUT WITH THE EYES OF A 20YO

1. We are a good team

Remember how we were all so moved up by that one scene where they just stare at each other and say something meaningful AFTER A FIGHT (where Lance was severely injured). We were all freaking out but it was totally normal that Keith would be emotional by the fact that one of his teammate was okay, we were just freaking out bc the scene was in purple bc the spaceship was infested by the galra which means everything was totally not trying to say anything else, it was just coherent :,)

2. Lance and Keiths drones scene

We were so thirsty for anything that even just a little fight (which was totally a daily occurance) would be turned into something else. Like yeah they were bumping into each other but people were freaking out by saying they basically accidently kissed like what????

3. The elevator scene

Okay imma be honest this scene is quite suggestive especially when your primarly audience are teenage girls that are into shipping boys. But now that i look at it with my adult eyes i just cant imagine how incomfortable that must been to be back to back topless with someone you can't stand. Like the friction of the skin it itches my brain. Also the shot of Keith's foot? Was it really necessary

4. Keith? My man

Again what were we thinking??? They just bonded over a little something ofc Lance was happy that Keith was being nice with him bc he thinks that he hate him (which he don't). I dont even know what to say but dear god that scene was so important to klance shippers. Anyway we were thirsty god

5.Scene where Lance goes to Keith to talk to him about not feeling like he belongs in the crew after Allura piloted the blue lion

Basically just a normal conversation. They've been through so much together and Keith is their designated leader, so ofc hes going to talk to Keith about his place in the team and ofc Keith is going to reassure him that his place is with them bc he actually cares about him since they need to bond to form Voltron??? But yeah this scene is cute and it still makes me go aaawww

6.Blaytz (original paladin of the blue lion) being implied that he might be queer

Okay Ive only remembered this while rewatching the show but i remember everyone went crazy bc if the original blue paladin was queer (implied during one scene that didnt even last 3sec) that means Lance was queer as well. Like what were we thinking??? Were we out of our minds (yes definitly and im still ashamed) (but shoutout to Blaytz for being the best original paladin nothinh can makes me hates him)

7. The sunset scene

OKAY LISTEN IDC WHAT YOU SAYS IDC ABOUT ANYONE'S OPINION BUT THIS SCENE HAS ME BAWLING

AS A 20YO WATCHING THE SHOW NOW, THIS EXACT SCENE CONVINCED ME OF KEITH'S FEELING FOR LANCE. IDC ABOUT ANY OTHER "SUGGESTED KLANCE" SCENE BEFORE THIS ONE, THIS SCENE IS THE ONLY OFFICIAL KLANCE SCENE AND IDC IF ANYONE SAYS THAT KEITH SAID THAT BC THEYRE JUST FRIENDS.

AS A GAY MAN WHO HAD AN HOMOEROTIC SITUATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER GUY BEFORE, I CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU ONLY SAY THIS KIND OF STUFD TO THE GUY YOU LIKE BC YOURE TOO AFRAID TO TELL YOUR FEELINGS TO YOUR FRIEND IN FEAR OF REJECTION AND BECAUSE YOUVE JUST LEARNED HES GOING ON A DATE WITH AN AMAZING GIRL AND YOU ONOW THEYLL BE HAPPY TOGETHER WHILE YOU JUST WATCH WONDRRING WHY YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING

(this scene hits too much home than it should be and i think i only speaks with my feelings for this one)

ANYWAY

As a 20yo person with 8years of hindsight I'll say that Keith definitly had feelings for Lance, the sunset scene was placed on a perfect time while this dialogue could have been said anywhere else in the season or even the show, and Ive just recently refinished the entire show and Keith never said something so emotional to someone except Shiro (but he considers him as a brother and he was about to kill him so i understand the whole emotional dialogue).

As for Lance, I doubt he has feelings for Keith canonically but hey that doesn't mean we can't imagine things.

Looking back now, I realize how fucked up some of us were for this ship and we probably bored everyone of the cast with this freaking ship. Honestly Voltron is such a good show with good animation and well written characters and we shouldnt have been so angry that a silly little ship wasnt endgame while they gave us such beautiful content for two years(except the end of s8, sleep with one eye open).

Be fucking grateful you dipshits. We werent queerbaited, we had others queer reprensation throughout the show (alien lesbians my beloved) and Voltron isnt a romance show

But still kind of sad that Klance isnt canon but thats my 12yo talking i guess

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 19-22 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

Obligatory ShB spoiler warning.

First off, the two panels that took a silly amount of time just because I wanted to reflect Vivi’s impressions on the city.

Episodes 18, 19, 20 open up with Vivi being concerned with the most pressing matters:

Can’t fight if you ain’t pretty (or got just 1-2 outfits to be pretty in, that won’t do either)

I still really like the panel above, especially their pose. Episodes 19-22 show how they gradually get rid of physical boundaries. They didn’t even touch back when they first met (episode 15).

Vivi’s casual about physical affection with friends, just one of his core things.

Of course Vivi would trust and choose the company of a pixie, a supernatural being, over a (presumably) human who only reinforces Vivi’s worst opinions on humanity at that point in time, concealing himself and swimming in secrets. Get rekt nerd.

At least Vivi isn’t openly hostile, just.. Dismissive? I saw some other WoLs who outright hate Exarch for abducting the Scions and almost getting themselves, the WoL, killed at Ghimlyt Dark. Vivi, however, just wants to be left alone.

Tfw the love of your life is being stolen by your dear friend. Or vice versa? Or both at the same time? Anyway, Vivi and Feo Ul form a new cool kids' club and Exarch isn't invited.

Can't relax in your favorite secluded spot for a godsdamned moment without some pesky dragoon randomly popping out of nowhere.

While I hc Exarch being able to sense living presence around the Tower, imagine doing that 24/7 for every person. I like to think that he learned to filter it out, turn off/on at will. And while he's in a public place, with his glamour up, he doesn't need to upkeep the "radar", he's just chilling and is possibly lost in thoughts, and that's why Vivi startles him.

This scene bears more symbolic meaning than plot importance. And, uh, some foreshadowing? Forelighting? x'D While Vivi doesn’t fall (heh) for his savior, he’ll reflect upon this at a later time.

Vivi’s normally careful and stately. Yes he’s an elf but he do be carryin’ himself like a cat. There’s a lot of control and assertion behind his trademark nonchalant posture. So, NORMALLY, this wouldn’t happen. Maybe he got distracted by the shiny? And where’s Feo Ul?

Exarch, however, the man that chokes on air unprompted, in a moment like this acts before he could think. As some people correctly noted, the old man’s QUICK. The “screentime” stretches out as Vivi’s life almost begins flashing before his eyes, while for Exarch it's gotta be a mere second or two.

I’m extra proud of the colorwork here. As if blood’s gone from Vivi’s face, as if his entire body went cold, but life slowly returns to him, starting with that hand. You bet this’s brimming with subtext.

Exarch uses his left hand over the right, for better friction and probably because he doesn’t like the attention to his right hand.

I like that this panel’s caused confusion, it worked as intended :9 An all too vague dark joke that almost cost Vivi his life. In his head it went like “yeah anyone can fly once, when they’re about to go splat”, but he wasn’t only preoccupied with the jumps, but also didn’t KNOW yet that he HAS TO speak with a fae like almost with a child, or a lawyer. Simplest terms. No ambiguity. EVER. They’ll misinterpret you unwittingly, or on purpose.

And so they did. Or didn’t? Feo Ul’s spent a long time offscreen, but whether they chose not to help, or even gave Vivi a little push, will forever stay a mystery because why not.

Lesson learned.. On both sides.. Hopefully. Also, fret not, Exarch WILL say fuck one day, one day~

Vivi's lucky. Incredibly so. He's aware of it, doesn't see it as anything special, like you don't see anything special in being able to read this. Perhaps jumping up an unknown structure while being accompanied by an exceedingly curious and mischievous creature is risky even for his kind, but Vivi's so used to getting away with so many things that he doesn't stop to consider it for the tiniest moment.

The first genuine exchange of smiles.

Silver lining: now they have better chances at getting along and returning to that world-saving duty.

Update from January 2024: I came back here to tell you something that took me so long to realize about episode 20′s description:

And all he saw was the Light, and then he knew that Death wore white in this world.

I randomly popped off with this prose, which on itself is a cool thing, but now I realize the extra meanings it could take on. Thinking about 5.x and Elidibus has me feeling unwell in the best way. THAT VIVI ALSO WEARS WHITE HERE IS UH. A coincidence. But it also kinda works as the Warrior of Darkness becomes somewhat of a local Reaper in the First, and then, well, then we have that Light corruption arc :3c

Vivi's calm and tender enough for a pixie to trust him with their wings.

Feo Ul ate and drank several times their size, and all that hero talk.. Ugh. Time for a nap.

Drawing this made me yawn at least 3 times. You’re not immune either.

He’s activating his scanners :>

Vivi's definition of nice is "not nagging, begging or preaching, and using bare facts and logic to convince the hero to do the hero thing".

Literally the next page if you’re reading in order :’> Riiiiiiiiight. That hero thing.

We don’t question whether Vivi invited his loveliest branch, or if they invited themselves. The fact is, they’re there and Vivi’s totally cool with it.

Exarch must be watching. And probably foaming at mouth as Feo Ul keeps leading in the race for Vivi’s heart. They don’t only earn the hero’s trust, but get in his bed and, gasp, brush his hair.

Vivi's getting comfy in his role somewhere between a disney princess and Feo Ul’s pet.

A writing-related tangent incoming, but, since you’re here, I assume you’re already somewhat interested in this kinda stuff.

So, there’s the script, the plain text that waits to get illustrated. The screenplay, if you will. I don’t just sit down and draw enough random things to fill a few pages, I approach this as an actual cohesive serialized story.

I changed a good half of this episode when I began storyboarding it. In the initial script from some months ago, Vivi said "I slept so well". Something about this didn't sit right with me. It’s the most basic mistake of telling instead of showing. I asked myself, would he, a person who takes good sleep and dreams for granted, say that out loud? Nah. I removed that bit, and drew him stretching deliciously. He also asked Feo Ul if they guarded his dreams, they smiled vaguely but warmly just like in the finalized version, but then Vivi simply muttered "I could get used to this" and gave them headpats. I decided to elevate this scene by adding this tiny rollercoaster, which brought Feo Ul's greyness to the forefront, and thickly hinted that Vivi doesn't only sleep well, but has nice dreams that he probably starts cherishing after this.

To be fair, this isn’t super important for the main plot, I just wanted to highlight the difference between Vivi and Exarch, the latter being in a hate-hate relationship with sleep. Vivi’s affinity with dreams is a door I like to keep open for the possible future story (talking post-EW events).

Now you know this’s the face they make before going apeshit.

Imagine if this prank didn't exist and instead Vivi simply said "I slept so well, this's so important to me". I’m proud of the writing muscle I’m growing on the fly ;w;

Ardbert's chance to act and feel normal, thwarted in the next few seconds.

I'm so glad that people are picking up on this!! “Hey man” is Vivi’s way of providing whatever comfort he could. An illusion of normalcy. He’s emotionally intelligent when it matters.

..But he should’ve also considered that Feo Ul can and will ruin the vibe :’>

Another screenwriting thing: this episode lacks an establishing shot, i.e. the obligatory zoomed out view on everyone in the room, but I think this’s a rare case of “less is more”. Along with the light vs shadow, it reinforces the feeling of separation. Vivi and Feo Ul are shown together, interacting, doing cute stuff, while Ardbert’s alone. Sorry not sorry for the hurty :’>

This’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading and paying so much attention! People start to notice and analyze the things I’m weaving in, and it’s the best kinda interaction I as a creator could wish for.

[new-revenant]

Mirror World of Mine AU art hoopla! It’s the Lunch Lady scene but it’s uh different. Danny’s basically saying that only he has the capability to defeat the Lunch Lady. I have a story bit under the cut. This is making me want to write a whole fic for this AU. Anyways, if you don’t know anything about this AU, just look at my previous posts about it under the MWofM AU tag. This is a magic AU. Neil is this AU Danny. Regular Danny also exists in this AU. Possession ieskai. You read that right.

After Neil had darted to the bathroom after the “garbage fight” he managed to start, Sam and Tucker barely had a moment to settle down before the temperature in the cafeteria started to plummet.

“Brr, since when did it get so cold?” Sam asked, shivering. Tucker shrugged, shivering as well.

“Maybe some garbage got in the AC?” Tucker suggested.

“It’s not garbage-“ Sam started before being abruptly cut off by a screech coming from the kitchen. Everyone in the cafeteria started looking over toward the noise, and promptly started panicking. Did they even notice the wind that came from nowhere? And that it started to swirl over to the kitchen? Sam and Tucker noticed.

“Sam, I think we might have a,” -Tucker leaned closer to Sam to whisper- “we might have a ghost problem.”

“Hopefully the ghost doesn’t show up psychically,” Sam whispered back.

Then the ghost appeared. A sweet looking lunch lady, clad with pink clothes and a white apron, seeming rather confused.

“Hello dearies, I’ve noticed that there isn’t any meatloaf, even though it was supposed to be served today, according to the menu,” the Lunch Lady asked quite calmly.

“Well it was going to be served until someone changed the menu,” Tucker glared at Sam, who responded with a huff.

Then the ghost’s appearance shifted. She got bigger, and her white hair outside of her cap burst into flames.

Green flames surrounded her body as she yelled, “WHO CHANGED THE MENU?!”

“You just had to tell her didn’t you?” Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

“What was I supposed to say?” Tucker asked.

“Nothing! Say nothing!”

“THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR 50 YEARS!” The Lunch Lady continued. She growled as a green vortex appeared above her.

“We’re done for!” Someone yelled. Sam and Tucker could only agree with that sentiment-they had no idea how to deal with a ghost. Maybe if Sam actually bothered to learn more about her psychic powers, and if Tucker knew anything about supernatural creatures that aren’t vampires or werebeasts, maybe, just maybe they could’ve done something. And it looked like Sam was going to be the Lunch Lady’s first target, as the ghost pointed a fist of green at her.

“WERE YOU THE ONE TO CHANGE THE MENU?!” The Lunch Lady questioned.

“Um, maybe?” Sam smiled nervously. That was apparently a good enough answer for the Lunch Lady to lift one of nearby tables to throw at her.

A haunting laughter sounded out from every corner of the room. The Lunch Lady paused, lowering the table. The air seemed to still for a moment, returning to the same calm of before. Sam gave a sigh of relief before remembering the laughter.

A figure phased up through the middle of the floor. Another ghost, a boy that looked around her age. His lower face was covered by a white cloak that enveloped his entire body, only the toes of his white boots poking out from under it.

“It isn’t very professional to attack students lady,” the new ghost told the Lunch Lady with much more confidence in his voice then anyone else would have in this situation.

“Well someone changed the menu,” the Lunch Lady responded.

“The same menu that was in place for 50 years? How awful.” The new ghost seemed to know about the menu then. Or he was just listening in.

“Yes! You understand me then!”

“Oh I understand. I understand that you’re putting your anger onto innocent students!”

The oppressive air returned with the Lunch Lady’s anger, “LUNCH IS SACRED, LUNCH HAS RULES, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE IT’S IMPORTANCE!”

The new ghost just laughed. He clasped his hands together, and shaped a giant, odd looking scythe out of ice in mear seconds.

“I don’t think I’m defiling lunch’s importance, I’m just standing up for these kids.” The new ghost said. He stuck the end of his scythe into the floor and floated to stand on top of tip of it. He looked over to Sam and Tucker specifically, looking between the two before his bright green eyes settled on Sam. Sam looked back, but couldn’t bare to look him in the eyes. She focused on his white hair, which had a golden sheen on the tips of it.

“I think we’re all aware that without me, Danny Phantom,“ -the ghost-Danny Phantom-threw his hands out flamboyantly, unveiling the green coloring of the inside of the cloak- “You wouldn’t have a GHOST of a chance~“ He cackled after saying that, whether it because of his pun of for some other reason.

“Now let’s get this haunt on the road!” Danny pulled out the ice scythe from the floor and launched himself at the Lunch Lady, and the fight began.

Both Sam and Tucker wished they went to bathroom like Neil did.

[clockwise-works]

Interested to read your Sonic bitching. 1, 7, 9, 13 for that fandom specifically?

Thanks for the ask, maniskillingus! (I need a shorter name to refer to you as lmao) Sonic bitching, huh? Well you'll learn, I can bitch about ANY of these damn games. Also, sorry for the late response! I got a little carried away with this... Also, there ARE hot takes below. Consider yourself warned.

1. The character everyone gets wrong.

So this is a little tough, ngl. In the 30 something years of this franchise, Sega has created SO many different iterations of these characters that it's... well it's hard to really define what a character "is". With that being said... Amy.

Amy's been relatively fucked in terms of fan perception for literal decades. She was initially conceived as a character who had a crush on Sonic, yes, but that wasn't ALL there was to her character. In the beginning? Yes. But, that was Sonic CD, a 16 bit 1993 game with no dialogue and barely even 2 in-game cutscenes. Every other character was a one dimensional character trait. Sonic was the main character who was cool and fast. Tails was the player 2 (that is literally it). Robotnik was the evil scientist. She, like many other characters, started out simple, yes, but grew over time without losing that core idea.

In Sonic Adventure, she finds a little bird that's being chased by an

Robotnik robot, and immediately decides to protect it. She does end up getting captured, yes, but she doesn't sit until the blue bastard shows up and rescues her, no. She protects the little bird from a Gamma (who she quite literally says she knows he'll hurt both of them), questions his logic, and is asked why she cares for someone she knows nothing of, before Gamma ultimately let's her go. Is it clunky. Oh absolutely, they don't really answer Gamma's question explicitly, instead she just tells him "love isn't part of his programing, you are missing out on something good" which reads to me as her basically saying she doesn't need to know anything about anyone to have a love or care for them, it's inherent. Her compassion towards the little bird and questioning Gamma's logic both results in her freedom, and is a part of Gamma's arc in growing beyond his coding.

And then when Eggman orders Gamma to dispose of Sonic, Tails, and Amy later on the Egg Carrier, her compassion from earlier pays off again as she pleads for Gamma not to fight, in which we actively see him fighting against his coding and agrees! She then STOPS SONIC from destroying Gamma, once again proving her inherent kindness. Sonic could've and would've trashed Gamma with ease, so that was completely in favor of Gamma, going against someone she loves to save another person.

She does this again in Sonic Adventure 2! Throughout the entirety of the game, she was the ONLY ONE on the hero team to actually attempt to reach out to Shadow. Sonic NEVER does. It's on sight for those two every time they meet up. Sonic NEVER has a moment where he argues for Shadow to be better, to turn over a new leaf no matter how much the IDW comics try to retcon his personality into. But Amy does. She's the ONLY one to actually ask Shadow to help save the earth, arguing for the good of mankind in spite of learning what the government did to Shadow and the entire Ark. And he agrees! Her words resonate with him and help him remember that Maria wanted him to protect earth. To the point he agress to fulfill his promise to Maria... AND AMY! Even directly stating her! Once again, yes, there were scenes of her having a crush on Sonic, like breaking him out of prison (another good scene of Amy showcasing she's not just a damsel in distress, this will be important later btw) but that wasn't ALL there was to her! She was compassionate to Shadow in A2. She went out of her way to save Elise in 06. While Heroes does kinda just write her down to "chasing Sonic", a byproduct of that games rather flat and simple writing to the point most characters are one note, she's now playable and does cool shit. She's fully capable as her own person AND as a team. Sure, it was mainly gameplay reasons to have her play similar to other Speed characters, but that's still a part of the game and the representation of her. She can fight Eggman robots just like everyone else, and can lead a team.

Now, I'm not saying Amy had this perfect characterization and the fans simply fucked it up, no. The biggest misconception and "joke critique" DID have a foothold within the franchise, such as Sonic X, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Chronicals. But honestly? Those at times absolutely abysmal portrayals (seriously what the fuck was Battle and Chronicles doing����??? Giving Amy body dysmorphia??? Jesus man) shouldn't have been the main thing people take away in regards to her character. Almost ALL the characters had their points of having badly written characterization up until 06, such as Shadow and his "angst amnesia", and "stupid Knuckles" to the point Sega attempted to... overcorrect. For Shadow, they made him a villian in Boom and now he's kinda just... there (I'm not counting Prime, I didn't want past season one but people say he was written good), REALLY leaned into the dumb Knuckles joke until forces, and Amy...

The biggest takeaways for Amy's character was that she was "lovesick for sonic" and "pathetic damsel in distress" so Sega leaned HARD into the other direction.

For the Boom show she was more of a feminist, independent strong woman, but given that show was a comedy that would sometimes joke about her hypocrisy or shortcomings (think Knuckles feminist joke), I don't necessarily want to focus on that. Instead, I want to focus on Amy now.

After the release of Sonic Frontiers, people (especially Sonic Twitter) raved about how the game "fixed Amy." That she was now a good character. ...uhhhh what? I mean ok, I get it in regards to the 2010's, in which her personality was representing in... Sonic Gens (where she had maybe three cutscenes with a speaking role), Sonic Lost World (where she, once again had maybe three cutscenes), and Forces where she actually had SOME weight in the story being the resistance's... something. Basically in Gens she was represented with a background joke of her attempting to hug Sonic as he pushes her away and hits Knuckles for insulting Sonic, in Lost Word she showed surface level worry for the kidnapped critters and worry for the world dying, and in Forces she kinda just directed everyone to where they needed to go. So Frontier's attempting to course correct THAT under representation is fine!

It's... it's the sense that Sega has removed those traits of her bold affection of Sonic, her bubbly and outgoing personality, her capability and accomplishments, and pretend she always relied on others to put Frontiers up on a pedestal. That they retroactively attempt to convince us that Amy was someone who ALWAYS needed saving and that she has to "grow past her crush on Sonic". To me, it's a cheap way to get Twitter brownie points for "fixing Amy", (They do this with Knuckles and Tails too btw) to the point they even included a line in the Final Horizons update where Amy says "I'm not longer a damsel in distress you know." ...SHE WAS A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS IN CD! A GAME FROM 19-FUCKING-93! WHAT DO YOU MEAN "ANYMORE"??? YOU HAVENT BEEN ONE IN THIRTY YEARS. SHE HAS SAVED SONIC AND THE WORLD AS MANY TIMES AS SONIC HAS SAVED HER!

This is one of my biggest gripes with Frontier's writing. It wants this praise for "fixing these characters" when at best the characters announce they're "gonna make a change", and in the case of Knuckles and Amy pretend any and all growth she had/times he left the island never happened so Frontiers can act like IT'S the game to make that change.

And the fans ate it up. Shit, even for a hot minute I thought it was... something. But it's really not, they really didn't 'fix' Amy, they just removed any parts of her character that people overly inflated during the 'Dark Ages' and made her a simple "I'm just one of the boys, I'm a capable woman now" to avoid that misunderstanding, when she WAS ALREADY THAT!

Idk, maybe that didn't really fit the question, but people mass misunderstanding and grossly inflating Amy's character traits that could be seen as negative to the point Sega overcorrected, and now we have a "girl hedgehog with tarot cards" and fans love it. Because they're convinced "loving Sonic" was the entirety of her personality and with it now striped away she's now a better character.

...she doesn't even really use her hammer anymore, man... She had it for one move in Frontiers, and used it ONCE in a Dream Team cutscene... even Origins introduced the hammer as a Insta-Shield comparable move, but got rid of it in Superstars... give her the hammer, man...

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

These follow up questions won't be as long so don't worry. Uhhh, this one's a little tricky, because I haven't ben part of the Sonic fandom nor have I even considered myself a Sonic fan since Forces, so I'm not too certain how fandom acts about these guys outside the core cast in Frontiers.

I guess Eggman? I gotta be honest, I didn't like the Dadbotnik route taken with Sage, it felt really underdeveloped (to the point they included a 'sad song montage' flashback showing all two cutscenes we saw of the two, one watched not even an hour prior) and Boom introduced this "angry old man yelling" skew of his character that hasn't really gone away. Eggman's NOT Boswer. He's not this goofy guy who 'loves his daughter ai and robot son and bakes cookies and yells about menial stuff', he's a maniacal and destructive man fueled by arrogance and pride. He had SWAGGER. The man carried himself like an actual doctor with menacing dialogue and pure confidence in his brilliance, but is now kinda just seen as a "a wacky mad scientist that just HATES that hedgehog but also has a 'respect' for him that he WILL monologue about" (gee I'm so glad THAT carried over from the IDW comics, I love it when characters bluntly explain retcon their stances on each other).

Idk, I just don't like how the fandom has reduced him down to 'Eggdad'. For jokes and funny fan comics? Sure. I got no problem with that. But an actual evaluation of his character, deeming this as 'character growth' and not just a complete personality shift? Nah, I don't fuck with it chief.

Man, two rants back to back inadvertently praising the Adventure era? I don't even really like those games 💀

9. Worst part of canon

FORCES.

I mean not really, I'm sure it could be the constant retcons or even the 'Everything is Canon' mindset we now have, but Forces kinda did fuck up the IDW comics ngl. At first they just followed up the storyline of Forces with a Metal Sonic post story and the restoration of the planet, but it now feels like the comic is in constant 'damage control' from that game. The now-renamed-Restoration is STILL around, a dominant part of that world's worldbuilding, and has lead the world to feel more 'superhero-y' with organized mass teams.

idk, maybe it's the IDW comics just starting to lose me, especially after issue 50, but man am I sick of the Restoration, and that and a couple other things are a result of Forces. Fuck Forces. All me and my homies hate Forces.

13. Worst blorbofication

I deadass don't fully understand what 'blorbofication' is. Is it when people mass take a character they like, and slowly turn them into something else entirely such as some fans infantilizing BotW Link? If so... Idk, I guess Silver...? Idk, I mean he's a character who was SO dedicated to save his home he was willing to kill a man, but grew to not want to lose Blaze to do so, but still ultimately did so. He's angry at the state of his world, has to constantly come back to fix it, yet remains positive in a world and time lacking it.

Sometimes fans write him as this goofy precious child that needs to be protected and I don't really fuck with that. I mean the dude was willing to obtain a body count, but fans... and TSR with the "in your dreams, Sonic" line have kinda funneled him into this sweet baby boy who's a dumb piece of shit. Look at him, so innocent! 🥺

[starbylers]

This is what actually happens in the monologue scene

I feel like there’s so much misinformation between Bylers and Mlvns about whether ‘the monologue worked’ or ‘the monologue didn’t work/caused the end of the world’ when in reality both statements are wrong but also both kind of right. I think people (mainly Mlvns let’s be real) have a tendency to just see what they want to see, but this is how it actually plays out on screen:

El is choking, and Mike is just repeating her name so Will reminds Mike of his love confession which leads Mike finally say that he loves El. He repeats it many times, and says many more contradictory or factually untrue statements

El cries/looks upset the entire time, but it could be argued that she’s just in a very stressful situation. She laughs at the t-shirt mention and does kind of look pissed when he drops the superhero line but if you really wanted I guess you could argue she’s just feeling determined

El looks over at Max whilst Mike is telling her she has to fight, and she begins to focus

There is a final cut to Mike saying ‘fight’ again before El rids herself of the vines completely, which suggests his words, at least at the end, did help her get out

The important part Mlvns conveniently ignore: Mike may have helped El break free at least to some degree, but he does not help her save Max or defeat Vecna. It is too late. Yes, El blasts Vecna away from Max (not killing him or even really harming him, that is all Nancy, Robin, Steve and the Russia team) but it’s too late and Max dies from her injuries, triggering the apocalypse

Mike does not canonically help her revive Max. I am so tired of Mlvns clinging onto that one flashback on the script (which is not canon because it literally didn’t happen) instead El has flashback memories of Max teaching her about girl power/autonomy and essentially telling her she doesn’t need men

So yes, the monologue might have worked to help her free herself by encouraging her to fight but no, she did not save Max or Hawkins or really do anything useful as a result. Honestly though, the scene is intentionally very confusing. I see how people go into it expecting the power of love to help Eleven so they think that’s what they’re seeing and it kind of is…? But it doesn’t fully work? It helps her somewhat but it doesn’t save the day? And the ‘love’ was also professed due to a lie so that adds another layer of weirdness? Maybe there’s a metaphor in there somewhere idk. Anyway Byler endgame because let’s be real if Mlvn was truly in love there would be no debate around the monologue’s usefulness and they would not have associated Mike’s confession with the apocalypse at ALL. The full picture is very blurry but the one thing that’s just canonically wrong is any Mlvn claim that the monologue saved anyone or helped the situation in any way. They’re remembering the scene how they think it happened and not how it actually happened (I have a whole other post about how this is a pattern throughout the show).

[zazzander]

When was the Order of the Phoenix Founded & Why?

Here's the thing about the First Wizarding War, the Order of the Phoenix comes into being really late but exactly how late?

In the books, Harry is shown a photo of the "original" order with all members present. This is taken in the summer of 1981. By the end of the year, however, something like half the people in this photo are dead. And they didn't die all at once, they were picked off. That implies that the Order hadn't been engaging in much battle until this photo, because otherwise there would have been a whole host of deceased members not pictured. Moody, who tells Harry about so many previous members, never indicates that anyone "didn't make it" into that picture.

We have to assume, then, that the Order of the Phoenix was founded not long before this photo was taken. What was the point of the Order? Officially, it was to fight the Death Eaters and save lives, and that’s a great premise but what happened in 1980 or 1981 that prompted it’s founding? The war had been going on for a decade.

One possibility was that the Aurors had all been defeated and Dumbledore was therefore forced to step in. However… there were at least three Aurors in the Order. Now, it’s possible that these three were the last Aurors, with people like Rufus Scrimgeour joining up post-war. Thus, in 1980, Moody called on Dumbledore for a favour.

However, something significant did happened in 1980 that could explain Dumbledore’s change of mind: the prophecy.  

So, the thing is, Dumbledore was aware of Tom Riddle for decades. He knew that Tom had a little posse of dark wizards following him around, since they all visited Hogwarts in the 60s (or thereabouts). But Tom wasn't really doing anything, so there was no need to get involved, and that makes sense.

Then, in 1970, BAM! Voldemort shows up on the scene with a group of Dark Wizards intent on waging war. At this point, you might think Dumbledore would make a move. He has no strong bonds or ties with Tom, unlike with Grindelwald, there’s no reason for him to hang back. Unless he trusted someone else to do the job. Presumably, he trusted the Aurors working for the Ministry. After all, their entire department is dedicated to hunting Dark Wizards.

Dumbledore seems to have been content to let the war run its course without him. During the First Wizarding War, the Death Eaters never take over the government. Yes, they had plants working for the ministry but this was a small minority and no one of any importance. Therefore, the Auror department was able to work properly. They were even given additional license to use Unforgivables. In theory, there was no need for the Order at all.

So what happened in 1980? Pre-June, Dumbledore heard a prophecy from Sybill Trelawney. By this time, the Potters and the Longbottoms had already "defied" Voldemort three times, but that didn't necessarily happen as part of the Order. Voldemort had his eye on Lily and James because they were talented and powerful wizards, as proven by his attempt to recruit them. In fact, them saying “no” is probably one of the acts of defiance.

Now, Dumbledore didn’t necessarily know who the prophecy applied to and it wouldn’t be out of character for Dumbledore to see how the cards would fall. Still, it would be a good idea to scout out anyone who fit that description, and what better way to find these witches and wizards by forming secret group who’s goal was to “defy Voldemort”.

The only issue with this plan if that Snape heard the prophecy. Voldemort then seems to have spent some time trying to determine who was going to be having this baby, eventually he lands on James & Lily. In my opinion, he was unaware that Frank & Alice were also expecting which is why his focus was placed on the Potters.

In makes sense for Voldemort to attack them right then and there (this could even be another act of defiance since Harry wouldn’t be born yet). After escaping, the Potters and the Longbottoms go into semi-hiding. Dumbledore, naturally, continues to recruit more people for his cause – including people like Sirius, Remus and Peter. However, they don’t do much actual fighting.

At some point in 1980, Peter begins to pass information to Voldemort. The way I see it, this probably happened after the initial attempt to kill the Potters failed. The couple were then a lot harder to fight and so Voldemort used his other talent: his charisma. He targeted and manipulated Peter into trusting him, into spilling his secrets. I like to think that Peter didn’t even know he was a traitor until way later (this gets around Dumbledore’s ability to read minds!).

So because Peter is passing information about the Order late in 1980, we know it definitely existed by then. But as I mentioned before, they don’t start dying until the second half of 1981. Either they simply weren’t involved in that many fights or what happened during the summer of 1981 is that Peter went full spy on them and started naming names. That’s when the Death Eaters were able to strike.

So yeah, the Order of the Phoenix was almost certainly founded in mid-1980 and it’s secret agenda was probably simply keeping Harry / Neville alive long enough for the prophecy to come true.

[imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper]

💫🎀💞

(I couldn't pick just one zbzbxn)

AHHH FELLOW GRIM <3 <3 <3 <3 THANK YOU FOR THE ASK! 💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

GOD this one feels so goddamn arrogant like even more than the compliment one lol but my favorite comment I’ve ever gotten (and I’m by no means asking anyone else to do this) was from someone who saw their trauma and their flaws and shit in a character in my fic and commented telling me about it and how MY GODDAMN FIC of all things was helping them to work through it because the way I wrote the character was something they’d never seen before and it really connected with them. I JUST-. Like I said I am NOT asking anyone else to get that personal, I don’t expect that much from anyone but I still feel like I have to shout it out because it is ENTIRELY the reason I am still fighting to finish that fic through the burnout even after abandoning it for an extended period of time. 

On a much more general note I always write about my blorbos and my very specific headcanons of said blorbos so anything like musing on my portrayal of my blorbos will send me into a flurry of hand flaps. 

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I love that I always (sometimes unintentionally) make very flawed and very broken characters. In TMDORG Janus was once a very toxic and selfish person and literally killed someone (inadvertently but still) , Remus ran away from his long term partner and completely shut him out for a solid year and Roman is- well- was an arrogant jackass who’s too wrapped up in his own problems to notice when he hurts other people. My OCs and my portrayal of other characters are all so mean and co-dependant and nihilistic and do fucked up shit without thinking first and sometimes even with thinking first they do it anyways. There’s a specific scene I’m thinking of from a series of un-posted vignettes I wrote where there’s some very DEEP intense longing going on and its like: this is the culmination of at least three years of headcanons and about a solid month of struggle to write this scene in this fic in this series alone, right? I work up the nerve to reach out to a friend of mine to read it and they’re like “Yeah this is fucking creepy and bad” and it stung a little (a lot) because I hadn’t really been thinking of it like that. But I turned around and re-read it and agreed with them. It killed a part of me I think but another grew to take its place: it IS a little fucked up because these are deeply fucked up people I’m writing and I’M GLAD its fucked up. I love my fucked up little people. But also the flip side to that is that I LOVE that they can be all that but still be good and lovable and deserving of love and good things, they can bounce off eachother like fucking cattle going down a round pannel shoot for medical treatment and still love and care about and try their goddamn hardest to do what’s right by each other. Am I giving myself too much praise? Yes. But is this more about how I personally see my characters and not how they actually are? Also yes. 

💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

100% the characters above all else, I write dreadfully slow painful character explorations and nothing else LOL. I do always try to make sure that something HAPPENS IE the “Murder mystery” in TMDORG or a better example of what you’re usually gonna get the slow build of a relationship in my most recent baby MWBEYH but exploring characters and their relationships is where my heart lies and is the reason I come up with stories and write them in the first place. I get an idea about a scenario or a very specific headcanon and I have to put the characters into the little Webkinz movie maker (side note you couldn’t say root beer in that stupid thing and it pissed me off SO MUCH) with the right pieces and press play. Usually this is to my detriment LOL if you want an example of this in action look at TMDORG: Initially the plot was a much heavier focus and it was going to BE an actual murder mystery, the character’s screen time/focus was going to be a lot more balanced but I got super caught up in the very very fraught relationship between Janus and Remus in the world I’d made and WHOOPS everything else fell to the wayside. Hopefully in the future I will have actually written another one of my bigger pet projects that I can reference besides TMDORG lol.  Thank you again! :)

[xbeezchaos]

My <Harsh> thoughts/headcanons of your faves

Yes I'm serious so take a seat and get ready. I firmly belive a lot of these are Canon in my heart and cannot be persuaded otherwise.

This will be multi Fandom but I'm starting with genshin because I have a lot to say about certain characters. Also, this may be multi parts and some of this won't be explained.

Kamisato Ayato

Look I know he's some dude everyone loves but like. I can't wrap my head around it. If you think you can help. Please entertain me with it.This man has the most cocky attitude and that isn't even the part that makes me mad.

He has a piss kink.

Would let the right man/woman piss on him and would give EXTRA MONEY if it's stinky

He doesn't shower or bathe often

I wouldn't ever put it past him to not only wear shoes in bed, but to wear dirty white socks on freshly cleaned bedsheets

His bed is dirty. Like. Crunchy dirty.

He gives off high school guy using way too much axe Apollo body spray in the middle of the Hallways to poorly cover up his man must after gym class

Take petty and smart and dial it to to the thousands. He's a smart stink bag

He uses a cringey baby voice with his partner. Don't even fucking try telling me otherwise.

Probably calls himself daddy towards his partner too.

Smells like a wet beach towel

He would eat expired food. <this one pains my soul>

Raiden Shogun

Honestly I do not give a flying fuck how hot she is or what her past is. I'm aware of most of it but still don't get it tbh. Game wise she's cool but in the lore she makes me mad and confused

She quite literally fits the definition of "stick up your ass"

Unjustified and over the top rage. It's calling sister issues. Not even mommy issues

Immature and old as hell

Scatterbrained

She can't read.

She showers, but she takes 4 fucking hours and takes them twice a day without telling anyone so she'll be gone during important times and kill anyone who tells her that

A bad mother. I know you can't read but bro. Get somebody to write your son a damn letter before sending him out next time like??? Going back to the scatterbrained piece lol

Anyone and everyone is on her shit list. No fetus or dust bunny is safe.

Has the same energy of the try hard super competitive kid in gym class that takes all the fun out of the games.

Would purposely step on your phone if it fell on the floor (especially if she's in heels)

She eats uncooked rice as a snack.

Smells like metal 24/7

She really doesn’t understand affection so she bully flirts at best.

Tartaglia <Childe>

I love him and plan on pulling for him in his next rerun but bro the shit I have going on in my head either makes me laugh or mad.

Has freckles

Like to fight pretty women when he's bored so he can get choked out by thighs

Has arthritis/ something like that

Can and will eat anything for the right price <or if you say "i dare you" "you wont">

He's the "where's my hug at"guy but not creepy.

He’s literally just a hyper pit bull, and he does need a leash.

He was and still is a leash kid.

All his shoes wither and fall apart at the soles up. Shoe stores and repair men love him

Would get into bar fights

Cuts his own hair at 3AM with no back mirror

Has gotten into an argument about why the flame in a match doesn't have a shadow with the entire universe

Despite his vision. He doesn't like to drink water. Anything but that.

The closest he’ll get to regular water is flavored water

Can't ride a bike. At all.

Cries at sad scenes of shows or movies like someone shot his dog

Impulsively twerks on people he considers close.

Can and will torment his siblings. Had probably thrown one into a river before

Looks like a twink. But probably eats ass too. Don't question me.

Super easy to rile up. Try gaslighting him. It's funny.

Can't read Roman numerals.

Breaks shit at fatui headquarters a lot and finds people to fix them for cheap

If he has any close friends. He breaks into their homes often to take naps, eat or leave shit there.

Gojo Saturou

I know nothing about this man so it’s purely the vibe I get from him and some of. May be off due to the fact that I’ve only seen fan stuff of him- ANYWAYS TO THE FUN PART BELOW

Personally think he’s a perv. But like. Hell only make perverted jokes to friends or complete strangers

Has a vast knowledge of the human body and fixated on the nervous system for like 3 years

Makes dick jokes.

I feel like this man has ADD/ADHD he just reeks of it. Look at him!!!

Has a raging secret foot fetish. Like. You wouldn’t guess it about him. But he has it.

Sleep talker

He’s very clean. But dear gods he smells either really good like. Has that amazing jaw dropping cologne or he smells like 10 cans of bounce that ass fucked a dumpster fire on a hot summer day and no there isn’t an in between

Despite using the eye cover a lot he falls a lot.

He can’t swim. But if it’s canon he can. You’re lying

Eats raw pasta. For fun.

Chews on plastic. And has accidentally swallowed pieces of it multiple times too

Asks questions with obvious ass answers. Most times it’s genuine, but others it’s to be an ass

Would use “🥺” emoji un ironically

An instigator. Til death may he never stop.

Uses that baby talk shit. He’d baby talk his partner. Sorry I don’t make the rules

[crimsonxe]

It actually doesn't but keep trying to tell yourself that in order to dickride for Decknine. The fact that Max even has it as a choice and then chooses Chloe = showing the importance that Chloe has to Max; that if anything goes into reinforcing their feelings for each other. Yes, Chloe would likely have survivor's guilt that doesn't change her feelings for Max. And "resenting" fuck ALL the fucking way off, cause no the fuck Chloe wouldn't go near that. She handed the fucking choice to Max and what she said is what any non-full of themselves good person would do in advocating for everyone else having more value to the world than themselves. Its not at all accurate, since Chloe's life is just as valuable as anyone else's and even more so for Max. Not a shred of canon material or interviews has EVER said there'd be resentment of any kind. Is there trauma and guilt? Sure, but that does NOT break soul-bonds. The entire LiS1 ordeal was one that either fire-forges/soul-bonds or utterly shatters the bond to an irreparable state; it has been repeatedly stated and shown that it did the former. This being confirmed once again recently by Michel Koch father of LiS who stated that while there might be bumps in the road/rough patches between the two, they'd ALWAYS come back together specifically because of their soul-bond.

Actually no, there's an entire damn story before that decision going back to them being kids together. Also miss my ass with this "cost so many lives" pity party bullshit, I'd easily make the same choice as Max. Once again there is NOT A SHRED of bitterness from Chloe and you trying to suggest there would be shows how little your ass knows the fucking character. The ONLY thing she'd have is survivor's guilt and once again that entire ordeal is one that SOUL-BONDS people. So no it isn't realistic, your dumbass just wants to dickride for Decknine over DontNod; especially now with Michel having stated that Max and Chloe would NEVER break up, were soul-bonded, and even saying that Decknine's version of the characters don't match his. Its a forced ass non-canon thing shoved in because Decknine's narrative team don't like Chloe and wanted to instead push a soft, femmed up, mainstream appealing, lipstick lesbian Chloe knockoff that better fits their preference nvm that Amanda has no chemistry with Max. The LiS comics show how things would actually go between the two as a fan, which the writer for them is, would know.

Not a "trauma bond" (do actually look that word up before tossing it around), soul-bonded. They had their bond tested and it held, thus it NEVER breaking.

Oh wow so your ass truly is just dickriding for Decknine. DE disrespects DontNod, character assassinates & disrespects Chloe as part of Decknine being anti-Chloe, disrespects LGBT+ fans, and has an entire up-own-ass tone to it as if Decknine thinks they're better than DontNod. Which fits with the behind the scenes things that have come out where its mentioned that the narrative team does indeed dislike Chloe (as well as Square) and even called her as a "manic pixie girl", which it utter fucking garbage and disrespectful towards DontNod. They could've had Max and Chloe having an argument over Max not being ready to move forward due to her trauma, where the player is presented with a CHOICE to "fight for the relationship" that leads to a trial separation or not that leads to a full break (still breaks from main canon as defined by Michel but its player choice). Max goes to Caledon to clear her mind, goes through the events there with the focus being on her trauma & no damn new romantic interests to detract from that, she finds closure as a result of the events, and finally meets back up with Chloe ready to go forward TOGETHER. But see that'd require Decknine to actually show respect towards DontNod, LGBT+ fans, player choice, characters, and main canon; instead of taking an up-their-own-ass approach where they try to force on the players their preference of LGBT+ option in Amanda who's the "handsome, well-off, and traditional" one to Chloe's "bad boy". Who cares that players have repeatedly fucking chosen Chloe, cause Decknine knows better.

DE is a fucking trashfire that sits in its own rotting "fix-it-fic" AU branch of the LiS multiverse and I hope it utterly bombs leading to Decknine being kicked off the damn franchise or at least the narrative team behind it being shuffled to bring in actual people that know & respect the characters, the fans, and DontNod.

On the conversation about life is strange double exposure!!! Max and Chloe breaking up makes TOTAL sense (even though it hurts). I mean, after Max chose Chloe over Arcadia Bay, there’s no way Chloe *wasn’t* gonna feel some kind of guilt about it, right? She probably started resenting Max, even if she didn’t mean to, because choosing her literally cost so many lives. And Max? Ugh, you just know she’s been carrying that guilt, too.

Max’s choice to save Chloe over the Bay set the foundation for their whole relationship! Everything they went through after that was built on this massive decision that cost so many lives. It makes total sense that Chloe would grow bitter over time, even if she loved Max. you can’t survive something like that and not be changed, right? And yeah, it sucks because it makes it feel like your choice in the game doesn’t matter, but honestly, this is more realistic. People change when they’re carrying that kind of guilt.

They’re both so messed up from everything. It sucks, but sometimes trauma bonds fall apart when you can’t escape the past. I genuinely don’t understand why people don’t like double exposure!!! The game so far seems so cool and i’m so excited to play the full game when it releases!!!!

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Kanato Ecstasy [08]

ー The scene starts on the open field of Rotigenberg 

Yui: Thank you for everything, Kino-kun. I’d appreciate it if you could pass my thanks to Yuuri-san as well. 

Kino: Will do!

Kanato: ...Just so you know, I don’t trust you in the slightest. 

You are my enemy and nothing more. Please remember that. 

Yui: K-Kanato-kun...

( I mean, it’s true that Kino-kun isn’t entirely trustworthy, but I can’t believe he’d say that straight to his face. )

Kino: Fufu. You have no filter, do you?

Kanato: Well then, farewell. 

ー The scene shifts to the forest

Yui: ( Anyway, I wonder why Kino-kun was so nice to us in the first place...? )

( He wanted to interfere with the Apple of Eden project, didn’t he? )

( Then I don’t really understand why he’d save us...? )

( Hmー ....I wonder if he decided it wasn’t that big of a deal after all...? )

( I don’t really get it, but I doubt the two of us can become Adam and Eve under the current circumstances... )

Kanato: ーー Hey, Yui-san. What do you want to do at Eden? 

Yui: Eh...?

Kanato: I mean, we’re going to live there from today onwards, right? 

So I believe it wouldn’t hurt to discuss the things we’d like to do.

Yui: Hmー ...Sorry. I can’t think of anything on the spot.

Do you have something in mind?

Kanato: Yes, tons of things.

First of all, I want to eat the pudding you make.

Once I’ve completely filled my belly, I want to take a long afternoon nap together. 

And then afterwards ... ーー 

Yui: ( Kanato-kun seems very happy. )

( Is this right though...? Can I really take Kanato-kun to Eden as if I’m leading him straight into a trap...? )

Selection

→ Tell him the truth (❦)

Yui: ( I should tell him the truth after all. )

( Even if it shakes him up...I can simply calm him down before his powers go out of control. )

( It’ll be fine...I’m sure I can manage it. )

→ I shouldn’t tell him 

Yui: ( I probably shouldn’t tell him, huh? )

Kanato: ...Have you thought of something you’d like to do as well? 

Yui: W-Well...Not really.

( He looks so cheerful...I guess I should tell him after all. )

( If I continue to hide it, I’ll only hurt him more in the end. )

( I don’t want to see him sad. )

Yui: Listen, Kanato-kun. There’s something I have to tell you...

Kanato: ...Yes?

Yui: I’m sorry for keeping it a secret. But...It’s very important, so I want you to listen. 

Monologue

And so, I told Kanato-kun,

about the situation in the Demon World. 

About how the things he has done,

caused certain developments,

in the already ongoing fight for sovereignty over this World. 

As well as about which role,

the Sakamaki and Mukami brothers will take in this. 

And finally, that if he were to go to Eden right now,

he might just find himself surrounded by many opponents,

who will try to strike him down.

Kanato: Hmm. I see.

They’ve all chosen to rise against me, it seems? 

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Kanato: Fufu, it’s fine. 

I have powers. I’ll make quick work of anyone who stands in the way of my goals. 

Yui: B-But...! It’s your brothers and the Mukami family who are at Eden, remember? 

Don’t you feel scared...or reluctant to fight them...?

Kanato: So? 

I honestly don’t care who my opponent is. 

I told you, didn’t I? I honestly could care less about what happens to this World, as long as I have you...

So I don’t really mind. I believe they can simply do what feels right to them. 

Yui: ...

Monologue

He might have to kill his brothers. 

Or alternatively,

he could just end up losing his life at their hands.

Despite that being the situation,

Kanato-kun did not seem bothered at all,

as he continued to cheerfully talk away,

about our supposed ‘dream life’ (夢の暮らし)  at Eden. 

There’s something wrong with Kanato-kun,

he’s gone insane (狂っている). 

Still, perhaps I am the most crazy of all...

For being unable to abandon him,

despite of this. 

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[4-horsemen-of-the-riordanverse]

Why The Percy Jackson Adaptation Should Be Animated

We can have Heroes of Olympus/Trials of Apollo/Magnus Chase series

Percy shows up in four of Rick’s five (at this time) mythology series, those four series have eighteen books spanning six years

Even if Disney could crank out say three in two years, that’s still twelve years, the actors playing Percy, and Annabeth, and Grover, and Thalia, and Clarisse, and many more will be in their twenties when all the books are covered and that’s on a sped up timeline that is unlikely to work in reality

The reality is, we probably won’t get a Heroes of Olympus television series and we definitely won’t get a Trials of Apollo or Magnus Chase series, which is sad as many favorite characters won’t be seen

Grover, Thalia Chiron, and the Gods won’t age

Yes, technically Grover does age, so that title is a bit of a misnomer, but he ages slower than the others, either the whole he’s actually twenty-eight, but satyrs age slower will need to be axed, or he will have to be played by an adult so that he doesn’t age, which will look strange since he’s suppose to look fourteen/fifteen for the entire series

Grover is only a small problem though, how are they going to deal with Artemis or Hestia, both of whom are portrayed as very young ages, the twelve year old playing Artemis will be fourteen, minimum (though, if we want good cgi, she’ll be more likely around sixteen) by the time the show reaches The Last Olympian

Plus, Thalia is suppose to stop aging at fifteen, again, I suppose an adult could play her, it isn’t unheard of for adults to play fifteen/sixteen year olds, but unless they get an actor with a serious baby face, she’ll stand out amongst the children and teens playing the other characters

It’ll be bearable to watch in ten years

Cgi is improving everyday, which is great....until you watch something that’s more that a few years old, when we have newer and better cgi, the monsters and action of Percy Jackson is going to look....well we’ll remember that it looked good once

That is, if they pay attention to details, skimming over detail, especially when making living things with cgi, you risk falling into the uncanny valley (I’m most of us have seen at least a clip of Lion King 2019), if something is off, we will notice, even if we can’t place why

We can have it sooner

Animation for animated series are easier to make than animation for live action series, they don’t have to worry about matching the lighting and shadows because they get to choose the lighting and shadows, no need to worry how the actors are interacting with the animated monster (ex. the Percy actor bumps into Mrs. O’Leary, then goes to pet her, but moves his hand too far forward and now that has to be accounted for)

The battles will probably cause the most delays, anyone watch Game of Thrones? remember how long the final season took to get out? that was because of the major battles spanning multiple episodes, which is exactly what The Last Olympian will be

They wouldn’t have to use child actors

This isn’t a bash on child actors, there are some good ones out there, what I’m concerned about is the children’s well being

Ever read or watch an interview from an ex child actor, especially Disney child actors, it’s brutal and takes a toll on their mental health, there’s even instances where the child doesn’t want to act, their parents are forcing them to

If on the extremely rare chance someone from the Percy Jackson crew is reading this please: let the kids play when they aren’t filming, don’t make them feel guilty for eating, shield them from the inevitable criticism that always comes with an adaption, take care of them, very few people do these things and kids get messed up from that

It’ll be easier to relate to the characters

Acting just doesn’t doesn’t have the same feel as animation, especially when the actors are new to acting

Acting is obvious, we ignore that it is because that’s how you watch live action, but rarely will it ever not feel like people repeating back lines they memorized, that the expressions are calculated and filmed 20 times over to get it right

Animation doesn’t have that, characters feel real, not like they’re acting because they aren’t, making it a lot easier to relate to them

None of the fight scenes will have to be cut

These are children playing these characters, obviously fights scenes are going to be cut and the ones kept are going to be simplified, these kids will probably have limited fighting experience and even if they don’t, they can’t hire children to play stunt doubles for safety reasons, so they won’t do anything too risky

Just imagine the fight scene between Ares and Percy in The Lightning Thief, they’ll probably hire a bigger guy to play Ares, comparing that to tiny Percy, the battle is probably going to look more like a dance number with every movement scripted as to keep Percy’s actor safe

It supports social distancing

Social distancing is still important and animation is easier to do social distanced

We could see every part of camp, not just the parts they built sets of

Camp is big and fantastical and probably will be barely shown, that’s a lot of set to build, so they probably won’t see it all

The big house, interior of the Poseidon, Athena, and Hermes cabins, and the mess hall will most likely be made, but the lava wall? the forge? doubtful

It’s easier to replace actors

Like I mentioned before, there are 18 books if they were willing to make them all, even if /magnus Chase and Kane Chronicles were made along side instead of in between, a lot of actors, especially child actors, don’t want to be stuck playing a character for that long

while no one shows up in ever book, some characters get dropped and brought back, which when being adapted causes actors to be replaced, the actor playing Will in The Last Olympian will probably not be the actor playing Will in Blood of Olympus (that is, if they even make Heroes of Olympus)

They won’t have to sacrifice the small details

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a Nico and Bianca cameo in the Lotus scene? won’t happen, what about characters slowly getting more scars after each battle to symbolize the trauma half-bloods carry with them? Luke will probably be the only character with a scar, see a background character that resembles minor characters like Drew or Kayla or Castor and Pollux? that’s not going to happen

Small details that make the story will be tossed to the side, mostly because it isn’t feasible in live action, I think the Lotus scene is the best example, seeing Nico and Bianca there in the background would be so cool, but they don’t age in the Lotus hotel, and it’ll take probably 14 to 18 months to make a season, let’s say 14 months for now, that’s over two years between their cameo and they’re actual appearance, a very obvious difference when discussing 10 and 12 year olds

All in all, this is just in my opinion and preference

Will I still watch if it’s live action, of course, it’s Percy Jackson

It won’t be as good as something animated and I’m sad I’ll never see some of my favorite characters on the big screen, but at least we’ll be getting a decent adaptation

[lucky-dyse]

I think this is an important post to reblog actually. We need to get on big companies' asses and demand better than this. I'm not spending over 4 hours on movies to get to the 'good part' when there have been plenty of movied before that did it just fine with 1.

Disclaimer: I am 17. The rant below is not from a professional or from anyone who is looking for a fight. It is simply the opinions of a 17 year old on tumblr.

Fucking. Kung Fury. 30 minute not even feature length film. It was made to be stupid and funny, and I enjoyed it much more than I did dungeons and dragons. (Unfair comparison, I know, but I have a point and I'm getting to it)

My qualms with Dungeons and Dragons (2023) is entirely on the exposition, lack of dragons, and nerfing the villain. Maybe it's just because I don't like super fast paced movies, but it fell flat with me on the emotional parts, too.

I understand telling the audience the mc's backstory, it gives us a base to work off of. I don't entirely think it was very well done with determining the relationships, though? Being told that mc 2 was like a sister to him felt kind of pushed, like they were trying to convince me of that. Just. Show it in how they interact?? Which they did, I'm just saying he really didn't need to say it out loud for me to understand. It kind of felt like they were treating me like a child.

They also kept hammering in how much the mc hated the bad guys with quips and honestly. I don't think it was Chris Pines' greatest role? His character was static and didn't really express anything, it kind of felt like he didn't add anything to the story originally and the creators went "oh fuck we gotta make sure trophy actor doesn't get a lame roll so we get big bucks".

Like look at Hugh Grant for example. I loved his character because he put so much life and energy into it. We didn't need to know his backstory because we knew what kind of character he is now. I feel they should've done that with mc, it would've made it more interesting.

Also in the aspect of DnD, it's not all about one character. So why does the mc get all the spotlight?

In the DnD movie we had to have everything explained to us about the characters and nothing about the world they're in, which completely ruined it for me.

For a good movie, I think, it's better to show and not tell about the characters. Take Kung Fury for example. In the first few minutes of the film you know that Kung Fury is a supercop(yes yes acab) who takes no shit. He lost a mentor and gained superpowers in one night. We only need a quick flashback scene and a short explanation of the prophecy and that's it. In Dungeons and Dragons (2023) it felt like I was constantlt in like a tutorial stage.

The biggest qualms I have with it, though, are the lack of dragons and the nerfing of the big bad.

1. Lack of dragons

We only get two dragons. One is mentioned once in a scene and the other is a fat dragon that's there to be made fun of for being fat. There was no sense of danger for the dragon scene, none of the characters got hurt, it literally was a boring fetch quest the entirety of that scene. We got one interesting creature that consumed intelligence and it disappeared as soon asut came.

The frustrating part about the dragons is one had a full ass toy marketed for it, and it's in a scene for maybe ten seconds. I thought it was the big bad, but no. The big bad was some evil witch lady.

2. Nerfing the villain

In the end, there was again no sense of danger. None of the mcs were hurt until it was relevant to the plot. Instead they slapped a no magic bracelet on the witch and called it a day.

I could go on for days about my problems with this movie, all of which could have been solved had the creators made it without thinking about how marketable it could be. If they had made it as a passion project instead of "ooo wizards of the cost is popular now."

Critical Role is an example of a passion project gone right. I mean, look at Vox Machina. The characters die, the characters fight tooth and nail to get the good ending. The characters develop and change over time. Only one of those things happened in Dungeons and Dragons (2023). A character died for a trope. That's it.

Overall the movie was, for a lack of better terms, mid. I don't hate it, it wasn't terrible. The sets were gorgeous, the character and race designs were beautiful, and I did actually like a few of the characters. I just wish it had been more about all of the mcs instead of one, and I wish the character development wasn't so stagnant and not just a "oh maybe I was a bad dad whoopsies lol"

One thing I hate about modern cinema is the whole "this movie is okay but it's building up to be better in the next one!" NO!! Make it GOOD in th FIRST MOVIE. What happened to good storytelling in the span of an hour and a half?? What happened to the ability to create something so monumentally artistic and beautiful without having to wait another three years for the next one to be better? If you make me wait for the second movie to be better I am simply not fucking watching it. Prove to me it's worth it. Prove to me that I should watch your second movie by letting me enjoy the first one.

[miredinmiddleearth]

Rings of Power, Ep. 3 Review

*Detailed rant ahead*

The madness continues. Buckle up. Here are my thoughts for episode three.

1. Good grief, Galadriel’s hair only gets worse. It’s like they’re mocking me.

2. It’s weirdly jarring to see Galadriel eager for food. So non elf-like. This is the same race that nibbles lembas, yes? 

Absolutely nothing separates the men from the elves in this show. In appearance, in mannerisms, or in wisdom, and that’s just criminally lazy.

3. Elendil!!! I could listen to this man talk all episode. Just scrap everything else. Sit this guy down and have him read The Silmarillion.

4. Numenor is really awesome. See? I can give compliments.

5. Oh BOY that council room scene. Whole section just for that:

ONE: I am so lost why an entire government would put everything on hold to interrogate two castaways. 

TWO: The scene where Galadriel introduces herself fills me with RAGE. Throughout the episode, Galadriel keeps talking about how impressive she is and how much more she knows than anyone else. NONE of her actions speak to this, and in a person of true nobility, actions are EVERYTHING. 

Compare to how Aragorn gets introduced. He NEVER introduces himself, not even as Strider. Others say his name, and awe follows. Heck, same with movie Galadriel. Her name is whispered with reverence and myth whirls around her like mist. But RoP Galadriel? Apparently the woman thousands of years older than literally everybody in the room has to list her resume in the clunkiest way possible (again, defining her own importance in relation to MEN). When I tell you how poorly this show is written, this is what I mean. Compare it to anything competent, and it falls ridiculously short. 

THREE: I hope Halbrand is Sauron, because I do like the way they are setting him up as a charmer and potential manipulator. Though it’s annoying he has to be a voice of reason when two women apparently can’t talk things out rationally.

FOUR: “I would sooner knee-cap a stallion.” What does that mean?!?!?! 

FIVE: Umm, what self-respecting military man as smart as Elendil would let himself be hugged by a random guy he picked up on the open water? And Halbrand is going to steal and return the dagger in front of all those people?!

SIX: Why is Galadriel always in a rush? In a time of relative peace, she can’t even wait three days?! When are elves ever in a rush to do anything?!

SEVEN: STOP GIVING GALADRIEL A ROMANCE WITH HALBRAND

6. The scene that introduces Isildur does absolutely nothing but show us Isildur knows how to pull a rope.

7. Elendil’s voice is still beautiful.

8. “The sea is always right.” A motto that’s setting up for when Numenor gets swallowed into the sea, I assume. My problem is, it just sounds dumb.

9. Water drinking scene takes sooooooooo long. 

10. Oh no. Don’t kill THAT elf who I only just remembered we’ve actually met before. And he gets a choir to sing him into death? What about this feels earned?!

11. WHY DOES GALADRIEL TALK LIKE AN ANGSTY TEENAGER?! WHY DOES A MORTAL MAN HAVE INFINITELY MORE GRAVITAS AND WISDOM THAN HER?! I don’t know if the actress just can’t do passionate without sounding like a YA heroine or if it’s the writing. I think it’s both.

Regardless, I love Elendil and I want to punch Galadriel in the face. 

12. Where did Halbrand get money? I do like how they are setting up his character.

13. Halbrand fight scene is brutal.

14. The mark of Sauron is idiotic. Drawing a rough sketch of Mordor on random objects? What the freak is the point?

15. Cotton clumps in the Harfoots’ hair? Weird choice.

16.  The stupid “past is dead” line from the trailer is even dumber in the show. They’ve established Elendil as a man who values and honors the past. He knows how to speak Elven, he is an elf-friend, and he speaks up for old traditions. Then they give him this line? Writers, do you not see the contradiction in this?!

17. One: Impressive statue for a prison. Two: How is Galadriel allowed to wander down into the prison?

18. They better be setting Halbrand up to be Sauron, because if they’re trying to make him into this made-up knockoff Aragorn type, I am NOT here for it. 

19. Seriously, I do not understand Harfoot culture. They are all about community and sticking together. But they are also about if someone falls behind, screw them. They fall behind and we leave them. WHAT ABOUT THIS MAKES SENSE?! A guy has a hurt ankle. No one can help him? No one bands together to assist? This is so infuriatingly nonsensical, I’m going to go mad. 

20. Oh no. Don’t kill THAT elf whose name I never learned. (Side note: warg CGI was rough)

Okay, I am more intrigued. I have trouble looking away from this car crash. I’m curious what they’re going to do with Halbrand and this shadowy elf figure, and it might be enough to keep me going. Unless they return to more boring stuff.