#btw i put the source as the movie because the movie is the source of this quote. this is NOT a book quote

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

↳ Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

[riddlerosehearts]

thinking about how people who watch the emperor's new groove and somehow come out of it shipping pacha and kuzco, or thinking yzma only became evil when kuzco fired her and that she would've been a better ruler than him, are both so wrong in so many different ways and are also missing one of the things that i absolutely love about the movie. which is that, the way i see it, pacha and yzma are counterparts. as parental figures to kuzco.

like, just to get this out of the way first, yzma was a dismissive asshole to a peasant whose family was starving. and yeah, if kuzco had been in her place he definitely would've also done that, which... is why she would not be a better ruler than him. she'd just be the same because they're both horrible people in the exact same ways. her reaction to being fired is to plot murder, and as soon as his funeral is over she sets everyone to work on replacing paintings of kuzco with paintings of herself and covering the palace with imagery that makes it clear that it's all about her now. i'm not even sure why this is a discussion tbh.

and also, kuzco is literally a teenager. he's barely 18 years old. source: in the movie, yzma says at his funeral that kuzco was "taken from us so tragically on the very eve of his eighteenth birthday." she also claims in the movie to have "practically raised" him, to which kronk replies "yeah, you'd think he would've turned out better". and sure, she could be exaggerating, but what evidence do we have that she is? we learn absolutely nothing of his parents, who are never mentioned even once in the movie, or of anyone else who could've raised him, and she's his advisor who for some reason sees no problem with attending to royal duties in his place. most likely because she's his regent. also, i'm not exactly a fan of the sequel tv series "the emperor's new school" but it does have something that backs up my point: kuzco is revealed to be an orphan and just before his father went and got lost at sea, he asked yzma (who was also his advisor) to take care of kuzco if anything happened to him. so, yeah, the writers who worked on the series clearly thought that yzma genuinely did raise kuzco, and nothing in the movie contradicts this.

and i find the idea of her being his only parental figure for pretty much his whole childhood incredibly interesting because, and this also goes back into why she wouldn't be a better ruler than him--she mirrors him as a reflection of what would've become of him if he'd never met pacha. they're both incredibly arrogant, power-hungry, selfish, and cruel, with a tendency to blame their problems on everyone but themselves. yzma was even originally going to have her own reprise of kuzco's theme song "perfect world", which i really wish had been kept:

[ID: Lyrics that read:

I'Il be the sovereign queen of the nation And the chicest chick in creation I'm the cat with all the cream and ooh-la-la This deadly concentration Will put an end to my frustration Now this perfect world begins and ends with moi

What's my name? Yzma, Yzma, Yzma Yzma (what's my name?) Yzma, Yzma (What'd you say?) Yzma (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!) Yzma. End ID]

(this song can be fully heard in "the sweatbox", the documentary about the making of the movie, and is also on youtube btw)

anyway, i'm sure yzma would not exactly have been the most nurturing or hands-on guardian, especially given that she and kuzco don't exactly treat each other like family. but it makes a lot of sense to think that her behavior influened kuzco's throughout the years. and for the entire movie, she remains determined to kill him. when he tries to reason with her and admits that he should've been nicer, she says the same thing to him that he originally said when he fired her. she never grows or changes and in the end, she hurts the one person who was willing to stand by her (and even then, kronk had never fully been on board with her plan) and he ends up trying to crush her with a chandelier. kuzco on the other hand is able to realize the error of his ways, come to regret who he was in the past, and start taking steps toward being a better person. his theme song gets a reprise where it's changed from a song about one person being the center of the world to a Power Of Friendship song. why? because, as i've already mentioned, he has pacha.

pacha, who similarly to both yzma and kuzco is in a position of authority as the leader of the village but unlike either of them is gentle and humble. who isn't afraid to stand up to kuzco and be honest with him even though he's the emperor, who agrees to take him back to the palace but has no obligation to be so helpful, kind, and caring toward him--and just about every reason not to be--and still chooses to be anyway. pacha who is 45 years old (also stated in the sweatbox documentary) and can see that kuzco is practically still a kid, not a single day over 18, who has time to grow and change. pacha, who already has a wife and two kids with another on the way, but practically treats kuzco like one of his own. who acknowledges that if kuzco dies all his problems will be gone and then still worries about him and goes out of his way to rescue him after he wanders into the jungle. who sees kuzco shivering at night and covers him with his poncho, who carries him when he's genuinely too weak to keep walking, who refuses to give up on him even after repeatedly being betrayed by him because he believes there's good in everyone.

also, while yzma ends up repeating kuzco's harsh words of dismissal as she tells him of her plans to kill him, kuzco had previously repeated pacha's words that "nobody's that heartless" after he saved pacha's life. and as the movie progresses kuzco and pacha's relationship becomes more and more equal and is constantly contrasted by moments of yzma being cruel and unappreciative of kronk's kindness. a good example of this is how kronk is constantly being forced to carry yzma everywhere on his back while yzma literally walks all over him and steps on his hands when she gets down, whereas when pacha briefly carries kuzco after the latter collapses he tells him he'll have to walk the rest of the way later and kuzco doesn't even protest.

idk if i'm even explaining well what i'm trying to say here. but basically, if yzma actually raised kuzco and contributed to his current behavior, then she and pacha both are figures who guided him and helped him grow. only yzma helped him become the tyrant that he was at the start of the movie, who was selfish and callous and saw everyone else as beneath him. whereas pacha helped him see the value in being selfless and considerate of others. and in the end, yzma is stuck as a cat and nobody is concerned about her. kronk has found a new job that makes him genuinely happy, while kuzco has decided to build a hut on the hill next to pacha's and effectively joined his family. in the sweatbox documentary it's even mentioned that chicha and the kids were at risk of being removed from the film, but it was decided that they needed to be there because having just pacha as a single guy who lived alone wasn't interesting enough--kuzco needed to go from having basically an empty world where he had nobody to being able to come together with pacha's whole family. and i just think that's incredibly satisfying and beautiful. it also leads up to one of the few things i really do enjoy about the emperor's new school, which is the fact that during the show kuzco moves in with pacha and chicha and pretty explicitly thinks of them as basically his parents while he's like a son to them.

idk. i feel like my mind went in a million different directions while i was writing all this. but i guess i just think that for all of the praise the emperor's new groove gets for its comedy and for how hilarious yzma and kronk in particular are as a duo, the movie also has a lot of genuine heart that gets overlooked. kuzco's character growth and his unique dynamic with pacha is, for me, really what elevates the movie from just a funny movie that i like to one of my favorite disney movies. and i wish more people appreciated that aspect of it and saw it as a found family story in the same way that treasure planet, brother bear, and lilo and stitch are all found family stories.

[steviebbboi]

It's That Steve - Espresso

Writing this for @bigtreefest's Summer Lovin’ 300 Follower Celebration. Congratulations on 300! Thanks for putting this together :)

This follows the prompt/trope: friends to lovers + “you know, that's my favorite” + long drive together + summer inspired song

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (no y/n)

Words: 1,454 w/c

Disclaimer(s): 18+ fic, widely fluff and sweet moments btw/n you and Steve, adoration and sweetness, mild general descriptions of the reader's features, implied and mild depictions of smut, friends to lovers, equal partnership, subtledom!Steve, vacation time, Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter is featured in the fic - I do not own!

Now he's thinkin' 'bout me every night, oh

Is it that sweet? I guess so

Say you can't sleep, baby, I know

That's that me, espresso

Gusts of wind gently grazed the green silk scarf around your face, strands of your hair still peeking out and being rustled by the breeze. You recognized the song playing on the radio and hummed in appreciation. The song may have been playing everywhere, but when it comes on, you can’t seem to skip it. Listening to it allows the sunrays and laziness of summer to seep into the music. 

You looked away from the road briefly to reach over and increase the volume. Gently singing with the chorus, “Say you can't sleep, baby, I know – That's that me, espresso.” Humming the rest of the verse, Steve couldn’t help but extend a soft smile. He always appreciated your singing and your voice was a source of ease for him to bask in. 

Driving your red convertible on a long ride to Cape Cod, Steve was finally using his PTO. You would think Avenging would allow for unlimited time off but according to Steve, he only desires to take time off if he really needed to. After conversations about visiting the Cape (you may or may have not taken screenshots of the bay and saved them on his phone for him to find later), you accomplished convincing Steve of how necessary it is for you two to spend more time together away from the hustle and bustle of NYC.

Tuning into the song as you continued humming along, Steve’s curiosity took a hold when listening to one particular lyric. 

“What does she mean by ‘me, espresso’? Is that colloquial nowadays?” Steve innocently wondered out loud. 

The man carried super soldier strength and can strategize a whole army to coordinate together, to follow his leadership – but bless him, his innocence when being curious about the modernization of flirting was a beautiful thing to witness.

You let out a giggle and explained, “Steve, it’s an expression of her power as a woman layered within the song.” At Steve’s persistent look of confusion, your smile only grew bigger as you continued, “She’s conveying her effect on men – she’s always on their minds or they’d be up all night addicted to her. Like how you would be if you drank espresso, y’know, a strong caffeinated, addictive, beverage.” You wiggled your eyebrows at him to drill the suggestiveness of the lyric home even more. 

Steve’s face turned into comprehension until he frowned and looked at the cup of coffee securely placed in the car, “Does that mean that you’re my, espresso?” 

At that comment, you heartily laugh and look over at him with adoration, “Yes, Steve. I am your espresso.” Saying that with a straight face was the hardest thing you had to do the entire drive. 

Steve took in your teasing tone and softly smiled while reaching over to grab your hand to place on his lap. It was no secret that the adoration was mutual, if not more, in your relationship with Steve. Your start as friends only increased the intimacy between you when your relationship turned romantic. 

Widely attributed to the dating culture back in his day, but you would like to think it's also because of his own love for you, Steve is the kind of partner to pull out your chair for you everytime you sit at a restaurant to eat. He’s the kind of partner to pull you in closer when watching a sad movie on the couch, to not judge you for your feelings but to rub your back until you feel safe. 

Despite his status as an Avenger, you have never felt less than, nor have you ever felt unworthy, in your relationship with Steve. He took time to always extend an appreciation for you - if you cooked dinner for the two of you after he returned from a long day, the softest of smiles that was only reserved for you (like the one that he is giving you right now). He was an affirmative partner that helped you feel love, never putting you on a pedestal - and neither did you. 

The thought floated in your head as you glanced over at him a few times. Adorning a soft white tee and brown linen pants with a pair of worn converse - a smile graced your face at how casual Captain America looks right now, compared to the formidable stealth suit that most people envision him wearing most of the time. Steve was looking out onto the road, the sunshine lighting his face just right, his blonde hair tousled back by the wind, and his hand now caressing yours in his lap like it was second nature to do so. 

You adored him.

Glancing over your boyfriend again only resulted in him catching your gaze with another soft smile on his face. Although you were the one caught staring, Steve was content in letting this moment sit in silence, the music from the radio still playing softly in the background. 

Noticing this, you bit your lip nervously while glancing at him as he slowly gazed at you from the passenger seat. Steve’s eyes followed the silk green scarf holding your brown locks, down to the white dress that you were wearing that followed the curves of your body, and although partially hidden, your favorite summer heels that accentuated your body just right. His eyes landed on your lips, the way that your teeth were tugging at your bottom lip only reminded him of his own doing the same things last night. At the thought, his eyes darkened a bit making you release your lip. 

Clearing his throat, his eyes gravitate back to your scarf. He simply said, “You know, that one’s my favorite.” 

His comment rested casually in the space until you looked at him again with your own mild curiosity. “Which? The scarf?” You mindfully try to tuck in wisps of hair escaping said scarf back behind your ears unsuccessfully. 

Steve let out a gentle hmm and said, “You look beautiful in green, sweetheart.” He pulled the hand that he was holding to his soft lips and grazed the back of your hand with a lingering kiss. 

Your heart did the thing again where it skips a beat when he compliments you. You aren’t used to partners being so emotionally expressive and deep when extending their appreciation to you. Steve had no issues communicating with you about anything, and you both knew that when Steve spoke, it's always with intention. And right now, although his compliment was sent and received with a wholesome air, you were able to hear the passion underneath that said more about how much he admired you. 

Blushing a bit, especially when Steve was still making eye contact with you and continuing to graze his lips on your skin, you responded with a quiet thank you, baby. It was always like this with Steve. Somehow, his innocuous words and calm observations lead to an intimate, sensuality between the two of you. 

“How much longer till we reach the apartment?” Steve broke the atmosphere with his question. Steve was still adopting a fair innocent tone, although the way that he was still pressing soft kisses on your hand says otherwise.

Gulping a bit, still feeling flushed, you look over at the GPS, “It’s looking like we will get there in about 15 minutes.”

He smiled while still holding your gaze, “Good. I can’t wait to ravish you when we get there.” Still holding that ‘golden boy’, respectful tone, though, his eyes were still darkened from earlier, and were vocalizing his utter need for you. 

Flashbacks to the previous night where you were gasping underneath Steve’s sculpted body, his hands gripping yours above your head in the same softness that he was holding it now. Yet, his passionate possessiveness was shown in his tight grip. The heat of his skin being pressed against yours felt overwhelming but was so welcomed. Though, his whispered words held a revered promise in your ear of the same devotion that he was telling you now. The intimacy was almost too much to take in as tears left your eyes and soft moans were let out while Steve continued to thrust into you. His own groans reached your ears in genuine satisfaction. 

As you finally settled into the rented apartment, Steve proceeded to do exactly what he said he would. The lyrics of the song still echoing in the background of your mind.

Now he's thinkin' 'bout me every night, oh

Is it that sweet? I guess so

Say you can't sleep, baby, I know

That's that me, espresso

Thank you so much for reading! This is my first submission for a collective like this - thanks again to @bigtreefest for allowing us to celebrate with you!

Likes or reblogs/comments are heartily appreciated!

Read my other submission for Essie’s Summer Lovin’ Celebration here

[lucystark12]

what are you thinking, finn wolfhard?

everything i'm about to say aligns with my finn wolfhard is a genius agenda.

it was just made apparent to me that not only did finn wolfhard film it 2017 before season two, but he filmed his scenes as boris in the goldfinch literally DAYS before filming season three. this is extremely hard for me to conceptualize. but it also makes me think about finn wolfhard himself who obviously knows the truth about mike wheeler's sexuality. if byler is as deep seeded as we want it to be, odds are that finn knew what was up from the beginning. which makes a girl think- did he know the same about richie tozier when he first played him in 2017?

lets look at richie a bit.

richie is obviously gay. i will not be taking arguments on this. i'm reading a reddit thred right now where people are debating it and i'm like- are you kidding me. but he wasn't gay in the source material. stephen king has stated as much in a vanity fair article. though he calls andy muscetti's choice "genius" (which it is, btw), he makes it clear that it wasn't his intention. it's explicitly clear in it chapter 2, and being wired like a byler shipper, i was able to suss it out in the first movie, but was that andy muscetti's intention to begin with?

there are many ways this change can be interpreted. assuming that it wasn't something that was explicitly written into the original character description for richie in the first movie, you could see this as something that was put in as a sign of the times, a statement if you will. it chapter one was written in 2015-2016 while we were still under obama's presidency, one that saw drastic improvements for the quality of life of a gay person in america. it chapter two was written during trump's presidency and could have been trying to brand itself as a statement of sorts. i only say this because as far as i can find (and PLEASE tell me if i'm wrong) there wasn't nearly as much evidence hinting at richie's sexuality in the first movie as there is for mike or will to use a relevant example.

the idea that finn wolfhard could have gone straight from it filming (summer of 2016) to stranger things filming (early november 2016) just having played a character who he knows was in the closet and in love with his best friend in the 80s could open up new interpretation to mke in season two. oddly, the reason i bring this up is because richie tozier to me is the mirror image of a kid i was friends with in middle school. they acted the same, they even weirdly looked and dressed the same. the only time i've ever made the comparison between middle school kid and mike wheeler was during season two, specifically in the scene where max leaves them the note, which leads me to believe that he could have carried other things over from other aspects of the it production.

season two isn't what really concerns me though. i'm looking more at season three. the goldfinch only moved to production in albuquerque in april of 2018, which is obviously where finn wolfhard filmed all of his scenes. however, stranger things 3 started production on april 23rd, 2018, which means there might have even been crossover between finn's shooting dates if not at least a very short gap of time between them. it chapter 2 was filmed that same summer likely with some of it's own crossover with stranger things three dates. finn wolfhard's lack of scenes in the second movie are probably what made this possible, but the scenes that he did have tackled very delicate topics that had to be handled with care. most actors get their scripts for minor roles like this a few weeks out from filming, which means that finn could have had his scripts for it chapter 2 that very explicitly make it clear that he's gay during filming for stranger things 3.

so here he is with one gay character right before season 3 and one right after. he knows how to handle these things, which means that every move he's making, especially in season three, is most likely intentional, especially if he knows this far in advance about mike's sexuality. i think it's totally feasible that he does. i'm fifteen and i understand what was happening between byler during the fight scene, finn was sixteen and, being a part of this show, probably understood what was going on too even if he wasn't outright told. doing justice to a season like this when he was also having to figure out scenes like the boreo taxi scene or the arcade scene with henry bower's cousin or r + e was probably at the forefront of his mind.

in conclusion, i just have one question:

what does this mean, finn wolfhard?

[theobsessedcookiefan]

https://www.tumblr.com/theobsessedcookiefan/758178391877910528/im-not-deadd-so-i-was-thinking-about-how-would?source=share

Now I can't stop imagining a story/possible story series if you like this idea enough....a human iseaked into the cookie world and the begining is like...y/n wakes up from gingerbrave and the others waking them up and they are like 'ok....this human is ours now' then...onward to hilarious eating scenarios where....well I can already imagine:

Cookie: gingerbrave! Gingerbrave! We have good news and bad news...

Gingerbrave: what's the good news?

Cookie: the human we just adopted and decided to take care of isn't trying to eat anyone that's alive.

Gingerbrave: that's good...I'm glad they have morals. Wait, what's the bad news?

Cookie: they keep trying to eat random items instead.

*off in the distance.*

Herb: STOP TRYING TO EAT THE TREES!!!

Y/n: *just chewing on the tree...*

Herb: GINGERBRAVE! Y/N IS DOING THAT THING AGAIN!!!

(Bonus if you want: I also can't help but imagine whenever they go adventuring or something....gingerbrave has to put y/n on a harness child leash in order to hold them back from trying to eat random stuff...like if you want a funny scenario:

Gingerbrave, talking to a fellow cookie: yes, y/n is a sweetheart and really loves talking to cookies but it's true they have a bad habit of, hold on one second. *they turn to y/n and yank on the leash* y/n no! No eating the dirt! *turns back to the cookie* so as I was saying-)

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LAUGHED WHILE READING THAT LMAO.

So yes, I'll do it because guess what? Cookie run hiperfixation came back like William Afton. I gotchu bro

This'll be kind of interactive btw.

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ꋬ ꒯ꏂꇙꇙꏂꋪ꓄ ꅐꄲꋪ꒒꒯

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Okay, let's make a quick recap, you remember installing a silly game of cookies out of boredom and getting totally obsessed with it, it's okay, it's fine, it's not that big of a deal, younger you was obsessed with Minecraft after all, but back with the cookie game, maybe playing it on the bus stop wasn't your best idea, considering it made you get hit by it, okay that was definitely stupid of you, your parents always told you to pay attention to your surroundings when going out, you should've learnt that from all the pokemon go incidents. But focusing on the present; if this was the paradise your grandma told so much about then you should give her extra points, it was really pretty, a forest, blue skies with some clouds and green grass that looked exactly like those in movies, it was too perfect! But in the second glance, why were you slightly bigger than the trees? More importantly.. Why the trees looked so good?.. Was this the vegan's heaven? Or was this hell where you were forced to become vegan? Either way the trees were small, the bigger ones reached your forehead.

Keeping that in mind you sat down, thinking about the whole thing that was happening, were you really dead? If so then what were you supposed to do now? Then a sound broke your train of thoughts, voices? Wait.. You knew those voices. "Wait a damn second-" You thought, peeking through the leaves of the trees, taking advantage of the fact that you were sitting and they could cover you a bit, and what you saw made you speechless, why the heck were Gingerbrave, Strawberry Cookie and Wizard Cookie right in the path front of you?!

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What will you do?

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[bookishjules]

any thoughts on how Simon and Isabelle will be around their in laws, I know we got to see a bit of it in the later books but would love to hear your thoughts

anon i will take any chance to talk about rebecca lewis <33 yes, i know there are more inlaws in question, and i will get to them, but i have been dying to talk about becky hehe plus there really is so much more to explore on the lewis side--naturally, since neither elaine nor rebecca have interacted with izzy in canon (insane btw).

sidenote: i kinda love how izzy only ever grew up with brothers, but gained a sister through simon (or two really, since we really must count clary, but you know, we're talking technicalities here), and that for simon, it's the opposite.

anyway, speaking of sisters hehe i genuinely think izzy and rebecca would get along well. i think iz would be a good source of.. fun i guess? for becky. like a good reminder to let loose. and i think becky would be a good resource for izzy, someone with a bit more age and wisdom that she can go to, someone who isn't maryse. and it's not like becky would be the only one offering advice. i think izzy would remind her to put herself first sometimes, to chase what she wants and to be kinda.. undeniable i guess. and i think they would laugh together and i think they would go shopping together, despite their very different fashion senses, and i think becky would maybe make some clothes for izzy and i think they would bond over the matching simon-shaped swell in their hearts.

i think becky is a common presence at the sizzy household. movie nights or game nights, or becky-cooked dinners (she might also try train some better cooking instincts into izzy while she's at it hehe), at least for a while until life things happen etc. i also think, and i know this is thinking a decent way further down the line, but i also think she'll be one of their go-to babysitters, since i don't think she'll get settled with her own family until she's in her 30s, and because i just know she'll want to be part of every second of that.

okay okay i think i need to stop talking about rebecca now or i will end up writing a novel..

i think their relationship with elaine is a lot more.. delicate. they don't see her nearly as often. because they can't be honest about the shadow world, for one, but also because i think she still has a little bit of.. not exactly loose canon, but something akin to that, in her. i think she wishes she got to see her son and daughter in law more, but i think there's this underlying anger for izzy any time they go to elaine's place, because even though it was years ago, izzy's first introduction to her personality was still through the lens of her condemning her son and kicking him out of the house at 16. and i also think izzy's seen how that reaction has affected simon, both in the direct aftermath, and in the years after he got his memories back.

i know levi is dead and wouldn't have any sort of relationship with izzy, but i do think simon would have taken her to levi's grave at some point to introduce them anyway. maybe around their wedding?

i really don't feel like there's much to say about the lightwoods that we haven't already seen, or that can't be easily extrapolated, but in spirit of fairness..

jace and simon are very much jace and simon. it's kinda hard to imagine their relationship changing much more than it already has. the comfortability and familiarity between them, the playful jabs, etc. i do think jace has probably begrudgingly gone to simon for a second (or third after clary, ig) opinion on some plans or strategies etc. he's having to make as an institute head. and i definitely think simon has tried to teach jace dnd, and had him over to play video games more than once.

i think simon and alec's relationship goes through more change than what we've been privy to. i think they have their bonding time doing target practice or over coffee after putting the kids to bed. they talk about politics and work and the sda. they also definitely talk about jace being an idiot lol

when it comes to maryse.. bro maryse is so hard for me. their relationship with her would be much closer than that they have with elaine, of course. and i think in maryse's effort to be more present with her family, she also makes a point to have a personal relationship with simon. they don't really have all that much in common, but simon has always seemed like something of a mom charmer to me. he's funny and smart and knows how to be polite. plus he really really cares about izzy. and i think it means a lot to maryse to see that. call it projection or mother's love or a little of both, but it's nice to have that reassurance that her daughter won't have to go through what she did.

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

*breaks fingers* Let's go, mod Sus' rant on 247°F (2011)

Talking from the viewpoint of a finnish person, while the movie itself is American, and no I haven't actually watched this one but I did read the plot summary and watch a little bit for proper arguments.

TLDR: Characters are freaking idiots and physics don't work in this world, apparently.

For the reference, 247° fahrenheit is about ~120° celcius. So yes we're talking about hot sauna. I personally can stand 100°C for a while at best but anyways.

I guess we could start by inspecting the sauna itself first. It's supposedly electric sauna (which, it doesn't even look like a proper one but more spa/steam sauna than an actual good one) but also with this large rock pillar stove in the middle of RELATIVELY LARGE ROOM. With no leveled up seats, just one seats on same level + you could sit on the backrests for more space and height I guess. Compare that to actual proper finnish sauna:

This is a bit of a mix of modern and traditional sauna but only by the looks. Pay attention to seats on different levels, you want to have seats near the ceilings because that's where it's the hottest. Hot air raises up so it's cooler at the floor level, if not even very cold after getting used to the temperature at standing level.

Now the stove in the movie is supposedly the kind you throw water onto to release the steam and more heat. And here comes the fun part. In the beginning, they set the temperature to 187° F AKA ~86° C???? AND THEN THEY SAY IT'S "CRAZY HOT"???? IN THIS VERY LARGE ROOM WHERE HEAT SPREADS OUT A TON? BITCH THAT PLACE IS COLD and they act like they're already toasting in there???? Weak ass americans. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN TOSS WATER ONTO STOVE BEFORE THAT, they have just this one huge heat source in the middle of LARGE ROOM that's like WARM at best??? You're supposedly to throw water on that thing, or otherwise it'd be same as you'd just stand next to a hot cooking stove. You don't even start sweating properly without the steam which helps with the heat releasing from your body. You're just cooking yourself with that thing.

Okay, so just? Turn off the electric heater (which becomes a major plot point of the movie, so that's not an option here for some reason?), and don't toss water onto stove. LAY DOWN ON THE FREAKING FLOOR??? WHERE IT'S COOLEST OR EVEN COLD BECAUSE IT'S ASSUMINGLY MARBLE/ROCK/WHATEVER FLOOR. Sure if the average temperature in the room is 247°F aka ~120°C it is hot, but it's still cooler at floor level far away from the stove.

And speaking of the heater. At first I thought it was like, they set the heater to get hotter and hotter on purpose but why would you do that if you can't handle shit??? I guess the thermosthat malfunctions or some shit or because the heat keeps rising??? That's not how electronics work as far as I'm aware but suspend my disbelief I guess. I can't tell too much what the characters decide to do without spoilers but let's say they're all massive idiots with their choices. This is all on them. (BTW if this was a traditional wood-heated sauna, just stop putting more logs in the fire, lol).

Okay, let's assume it's all because uh physics broke or something. It's getting hot in there. You got a small window there, and even in trailer we see characters manage to break it. But apparently??? THE HEAT DOESN'T ESCAPE ENOUGH FROM IT???? WHAT. You can this huge room with one heat source, it's cold outside, and the heat still doesn't escape enough to make it more managable in there or at least near the window to cool them off??? Physics, hello???

Like legit the entire point of the movie is it's getting too hot in there but there's so many things that help you to stay cool in there until something gets fixed. The characters aren't even drunk which would've made this so much more belieable because alcohol is probably the main reason (aside sudden health problems like cardiac arrest) people would die in saunas because they pass out in there. But no, this is just idiot characters being idiots.

Also take your freaking clothes off, cowards. You can't even call yourself a sauna movie if there's no bare butts and peenors and natural hanging booba in non-sexual bathing setting through entire movie smh.

[bluenomad-snufkin]

More about me... be warned im a terrible human

I am 16 - Male, chronically depressed. Un-ironically a genius... and lack real connection.

I like weird music such as, Death grips, Semetery, Adam and the ants, Fried by Fluoride... I LOVE THE SMITHS BTW and nirvana.

i enjoy playing with computers and building them, have about 4 pc's now and 5 laptops, all old stuff cause i like old computers.

Linux enthusiast - I use mint :3

I own a shit CRT but its fun to use- lain core </3

Game a fair bit and enjoy games like Chiv2-Cof-Postal1/2-Tf2-project zomboid- Counter strike source and 2. silent hill series could go on and on but you get the idea

hmu if u want to game cause all my friends are ass at "these sort of games"

i enjoy some weird interests as well:

tcc, photography, design, steam power, engines in general, motorbikes, hacking, ELETRIC GUITAR, and acoustic, gambling, baking, cooking, pirating, audiophile, 3drinting, preservation of old tech, blacksmithing, reading, Gel-Blasting (for the Americans it is australian Airsoft in short), old game console modding, anime and movies.

That's probably the list ngl

I read a lot and i like to discuss deep philosophical concepts and the "psychology" of humans. (if you couldn't tell I'm a 'misanthrope')And talking about societal constructs and all that stuff... not many people like talking about that stuff.

a good way to describe me would be Lain but mentally Dr house. in the sense of dislike of just about everything and my attitude towards others and life its self.

I don't know why I am the way I am... I truly am a miserable person, i have my moments but I honestly am, and I make others very miserable just by more or less existing with them.

This blog is kind of apart of my journey to becoming something else, I think self discovery would be the wrong term but the closest set of words I can think of too how I feel.

some more personal stuff...

I am incredibly lazy, not to the point of not showering or never leaving bed but more "surrogate activates" - Ted K, or meaningless and basic tasks/activates, I don't really participate in class due to the fact i somehow know most of it (I'm ignorant too) I don't really like doing things like- actually this is hard to explain but the best way i can describe it would be doing this that have to value to me or my future.

I don't have a problem connecting with people but I find my self ALWAYS not actually caring for them or there feelings. I don't believe at this point in time I could name more than one person I really care for. I would label this a selfish but its not like to treat my self any better. maybe that is how i punish my self, any insight on this topic would be much apricated.

I seem to have sort of desire for Control - i think this because i love just watching people listening and anticipating what people will say, do, think, act, its some sort of game for me (i really don't know how to put this) and id have to say 80% of the time my guess are correct, i am a ""master"" of determining and analysing humans, its really weird and i don't understanding where or even how i developed this skill from. i often find my self using this to just piss people off and see how mad i can get someone (i mainly do this online).

A lot of human thinking and reactions piss me off, I hate how some people think and interact with this world i don't seem in some case even understand why these people are like this i s just know and know that they are. I'm not sure if i wish to be like them or for "them" to be like me.

I truly am a troubled and misunderstood person.

one may conclude that I'm autistic or have some other form of genetic/ mental illness, to that i say, are you fucking retarded... do you understand anything in this world or that of the human mind?

Maybe you do, if so please critiqueme and tell me why i am me.

I have been tested for Autism and ADHD, both Negative not sure by what margin although.

My best guess is that i am simply "hyper realised" or some other buzz words - or are a lot of people this way...???

Just been reading and editing this massive ass post, there are so many other things i could go on about, like the government, being clean, family, longing for societal escape, tictok, but you probably don't care just as i wouldn't.

Any way enjoy my weird blog i guess if you read this and where not turned away. lol

-last minute add don't know where to put this but i love tcc cause I'm "obsessed" with there minds, motives and stuff like that.

[beginningobserver]

Community Service Ending pt3 [read pt1 & pt2 before]

[02TB SPOILERS IN THIS SERIES BTW]

So, uh, the idea here was like, Rui loses his eyepatch because he's exhausted from working at TWO places at the same time (one is his regular part-time job at the café -- which is another of my pet headcanons lol -- and the other is him doing community service at a daycare under Hikari's supervision -- she offered to help him, and Iori & Taichi managed to convince the judge to accept that offer? idk, I didn't think that far lol)

And then a kid accidentally finds it and goes to give it back to Rui. Note that I assume that Rui is really trying to get used to not having to wear the eyepatch, so he just has a little panic attack thinking that people will find out his secret. But he quickly remembers, "Oh, right... that eye is gone now..." and calms down. I think he kinda had some panic attacks during the movie (like when he, Daisuke and Ken + Mons witness the baby Rui finding the egg...?), so I was wondering if...

Btw, the decision to use a CERTAIN OC of mine instead of some random kid designed specifically for this is... well, not exactly planned -- but Taisuke is kind of like Rui in wanting his family's attention (at least in his original source/project, DigiTimeLines, but here he's not Taichi's son and definitely NOT from an alternate future, btw), so I think this would be a good opportunity for my gremlin son to meet my favorite sad potato.

I'll put a transcript of the text on Read More, there's a lot to put on the Alt text.

Rui: Sigh-- Having to work on two jobs is hard...

Rui: I wonder how some people can manage that...

※ (He) just had finished his shift at the cafe shop.

Rui: But we have to compensate for those BAD things we had done...

Ukkomon: Rui...

???: HEY, MISTER!!

Rui/Ukko: ?!!

???: You dropped your eyepatch.

Rui: [turns back and sees a kid holding his eyepatch] huh------ AH?!

Rui: [immediately pushes the hair bangs to cover his right eye during, desperately] DON'T LOOK AT ME-- I'M--

Ukkomon: RUI!!

Ukkomon: Rui, take a deep breathe!!

Rui: [pants] Ah... I... I forgot that that digimon eye is gone...

Rui: [turns to the kid, scratches his head] S-sorry. I just forgot that I don't need that anymore.

[hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha] ← he's nervous right now

Kid: ...

Kid: AH! You are the person from the rumors...!

Rui: ...?

Kid: The one who got the first digimon partner in the world...!

Rui: [scratches his head again, looks away] Maybe I'm not the first... I don't even know anymore...

Kid: Ok... But why don't you need the eyepatch anymore?

Rui: [points to his face] Because I don't need to hide my injured eye anymore.

Kid: [frowns] Why would you hide your injured eye, mister?

Rui: [looks down, frowning] Because... I was ashamed of having one.

Kid: There's nothing to same here. Everyone has one or two imperfection in themselves, right?

Rui: The truth is... I was repressing it, thinking I was a weirdo now.

[Kid Rui, covering his right eye with his hand: Stupid Ukkomon, look what you did...]

[Kid Rui, depressive: ...]

Rui: BUT...

Rui: Some people made me realize that all of us are imperfect.

[Daisuke, standing his hand to Rui: So, go talk with him!]

Rui: And I was able to fix a few mistakes I've committed before.

Rui: [scratches his head again, smiles awkwardly] Though, I'm still getting used to those changes, haha...

Rui: So, you're right about it. We all have flaws and we shouldn't try to repress them.

[Kid looks at the eyepatch, quietly]

Ukkomon: Can I have the eyepatch?

Kid: [hands the eyepatch to Ukkomon] Sure, here it go.

Ukkomon: [takes the eyepatch from the boy's hand] Thank you~

Ukkomon: Do you have a digimon?

Kid: Yea, but... It's still hatching...

Kid: [takes the egg from his pocket, shows it to Rui & Ukkomon] And it's smaller than the other Digieggs...

Kid: [serious gaze] But that's ok. I'm sure they will hatch soon!

Kid: Their size is not going to change who they are!!

Kid: Because... [holds it closer to his chest, smiles] I'll love them by who they are.

Rui: ...

Rui: [smiles]

Rui: [In a light sassy tone, leans towards the kid] I bet that digimon will be lucky to have a partner like you then.

Ukkomon: [smiles] Yep, yep.

Kid: [smiles back at them] Hehe~

[kowloon-tiny-roach]

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 

Kowloon Four: Weapons + Fighting Styles Headcanons

Author’s note: GOD the movie was so good, I've completely fallen for the movie (especially worldbuilding and characters). Congrats to the movie making to a hundred million at the box office! This movie has got to keep growing better.

This was written with a friend of mine a week ago, (but I had to watch the movie again because of the postcards, and the extra edits). Written according to our observations in the movie, combined with some knowledge of the original comic. There could be some inaccuracy or personal thought into it, but hey it’s headcanons, different interpretations. First time here, by the way. Bit of spoilers btw.

source: Stills from the film: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

Chan Lok Kwan: Creativity 

Despite his expertise in combat, his biggest strength and weapon is his creativity. He improvises the use of the objects around him as weapons. Broken glass, brooms, tables, scrap metal, turning them into makeshift weapons in any way possible. He also uses his fixed surroundings, corners, walls. Thanks to his main character arc, he also has immense resilience to withstand fights, even when defeated, he’ll be ready to fight again after a recovery. 

Oh, and mouth. He bites. (He uses everything he has/finds REALLY well.) 

Shin: Butterfly knife /Motorcycle 

Precision is the cornerstone of Shin’s fighting style. His blows are swift, allowing him to finish dealing with one enemy to another. Whether you like it or not, handling his motorbike is another one of his fortes. He has great control over his motorbike, he’ll easily take down anyone or even navigate through narrow hallways. (careful shin pls (cries) that scene where he just 🛵🛵🛵🛵 up the stairs) 

12th Master: Katana 

The 12th Master is efficient with his katana. Like Shin, he’s swift with his blows, his agility is quite the honorable mention as his quick footwork motion helps him sweep goons even when he’s surrounded. Another thing is he’s very attentive to his friends and those who fight alongside him. (Like that time he helped Lok Kwan put on the Santa mask when his cover was almost blown 👀. Also seen when he’s fighting with Shin.) 

AV: Fists  

He was a professional boxer before he got into the Kowloon Walled City, so undoubtedly his fists are his greatest assets. He’s well-versed in kung fu, he makes great use of his sheer physical power to deal heavy blows to his enemy. Though, he prefers to assist his friends in killing/sweeping goons, as seen few times he’s helping Lok Kwan out, also might have affected his choice on focusing a few (maybe 1-3) enemies instead of a bunch.

[doyou000me]

Adaptation Concerns

I found out about Love In The Big City through this book club, so the very first thing I knew about it was that it is going to be adapted into a movie and a series. Throughout my reading, one question has therefore been a constant presence in the back of my mind: how are they going to adapt this? 

Already after reading Part I, I had concerns and wrote in my notes that “This seems to be the part they'll make the movie adaptation of which raises the question of if they'll be able to keep it as raw and unfiltered or if they'll romanticise it.” This is after reading part I, before we got into the truly heavy stuff. 

When this week’s reading questions popped up, I realised that my concerns for how the adaptations will be done are clouding my expectations for both the movie and the series. Don’t get me wrong - I am very much looking forwards to seeing the movie and the series, to see how they handle the source material and to get to discuss it with you all, but when @bengiyo asks “What parts of the book are you most anticipating in the forthcoming adaptations?” I can’t think of anything. I can't think of a single thing, because what I am anticipating is disappointment. 

Now, maybe I’m just tired and cranky and pessimistic. Maybe I’ve just been let down by one BL series too many in the past few months. I am feeling like a party pooper, but after receiving an ask on the subject from @archiveofmystuff (and this is your answer to that ask, btw), I realised I’m not the only one thinking of these things. I am honestly concerned about how the movie and the series will handle the source material, and the more I think about it, the more concerned I get. The reasons are many, so let me break it down a bit, starting with a couple of things that concern both adaptations and then delving into the movie adaptation and the series adaptation separately.  

[putting the rest under the break because it's long and also spoilers]

Heavy (Taboo) Themes 

As we’ve discussed in several posts in the past few weeks, the book handles a lot of really heavy themes. There is homophobia, terminal illness, attempted suicide, stigma and discrimination and HIV - and that’s just me rattling off the first few things that come to mind. All of these topics are not just complicated, but also sensitive. Some of them have been handled in Korean series and movies before (terminal illness and suicide, for example), some have not. Not that I can claim to have complete knowledge of what happens in Korean series and movies, but I have never seen themes such as HIV and the stigma and discrimination around it. 

Would a mainstream Korean audience be ready for a movie/series depicting such themes? Coming from an outside perspective looking in, I do not think so. As we’ve discussed in part III (for example in this post by @stuffnonsenseandotherthings) many of these topics are still seen as taboo in Korea. I am therefore very concerned about how they’ll tackle these subjects in the adaptations - if they’ll tackle them at all. Korean series do not have a pristine past when it comes to representation of queer characters. Seeing that the author himself is the screenwriter for the series adaptation gives me some hope, but not enough to assuage my worries. They might make a fantastic job of it. They might make an honest attempt and fumble it. They might remove parts. I do not know, and all I can do is wait and watch the movie and series when they come out. But they are going to have to tread very carefully, and they are going to have to be very aware of what decisions they make in the adaptations. 

Mainstream Reception

How the movie and series are going to be received by the mainstream audience is another worry of mine. Especially because they (the producers, writers, directors, investors and everyone else involved in making these adaptations) have to be aware that, to some extent, these adaptations are going to be viewed by a larger mainstream audience. Why? First off, the source material is a prize-winning novel that has gained some attention. This alone could lead to a wider interest among the general audience. However, what really makes me think the movie and series adaptations are going to go mainstream is the choice of actors. 

The movie is headed by Kim Go Eun. She’s got several main roles under her belt, perhaps most notably in the incredibly popular series Goblin from 2016 but she has also been the leading actress of several major productions since. Long story short: she’s famous. In the movie adaptation she’ll be playing Jaehee. With her, she’ll have Steve Noh who’ll be playing “her gay best friend” and Kang Ha Neul (I haven’t found who Kang will be playing, but my assumption is that he’ll be Jaehee’s boyfriend). Neither Noh nor Kang are newbies, and they’ve both been in large productions before. 

The series seems to have Nam Yoon Su playing the main role of Young, and Nam isn’t a new face either. He gained recognition in the Korean series Extracurricular in 2020, and has since been busy. Alongside Nam there are several familiar faces, such as Lee Se Hee, Jin Ho Eun and Kwon Hyuk (who, interestingly, was also in the Korean BL series The New Employee). As with the movie adaptation, none of these actors and actresses are newbies - they are more or less known faces. 

My point? Adding known actors and actresses to a movie and/or series production is going to bring interest from a larger mainstream audience. This brings me back to the previous point about the heavy themes in the source material - will a mainstream audience be ready for a movie/series with such themes? Will actors and actresses of some level of fame be willing to put that fame on the line, with the risk that the movie/series could be badly received because of the general view of such taboo themes? Will the production be willing to take the risk, or will they cater to that mainstream audience and aim to create a more palatable product? Again, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see. 

The Movie Adaptation

The movie is going to be an adaptation based on part I with Jaehee, which initially seems like a wise choice. There’s a lot going on in the book, potentially too much to do it all justice in one movie, so to choose one part of the book seems like a good idea. The focus, however, concerns me. 

As mentioned above, Kim Go Eun who’ll be playing Jaehee in the movie adaptation is potentially the most famous person out of all the actors involved in these two adaptations. Kang Ha Neul who (I think) will play the husband-to-be is also quite famous, while Steve Noh appears to be slightly less so (please do contradict me if I’m wrong, this is based on my own impressions from watching series as well as the MyDramaList profiles). What does this tell me? The money and fame is invested into the straight characters of the story. 

And the synopsis? 

“The movie depicts the love and separation of the free-spirited young generation, the free-spirited Jae Hee and her gay best friend Heung Soo who share a house together.”

Am I just being picky, or is Jaehee introduced as the front and centre of the film? 

My concern here, based on the choice of actors and various synopsis that I’ve read, is that they’re going to straighten out the movie. They’re going to make Jaehee the main character, which is going to make for a heteronormative story with traditional values. My pessimism is telling me that we’re getting “lost young woman living with her gay friend (le gasp!) finally settles down with a proper young man and finds happiness in marriage”. Young (in the movie renamed Heung Soo, another clue that they’re going to be changing things) is going to get sidelined and left behind, and while that is the theme and tragic end of part I in the book, it’s going to be proof that the gays don’t deserve to be happy and in love in the movie. This, for me, would be the worst case scenario and all the alarm bells in my head are going off and I do hope I am wrong. 

Please, I beg, surprise me. 

The Series Adaptation 

As earlier mentioned, the series adaptation has the authors as the screenwriter, which is very promising! As mentioned above, the risks with famous actors and a mainstream audience applies here as well, but I want to address two additional concerns: genre expectations and narrative structure. 

Genre expectations I am curious to see how they’re going to market the series adaptation. Korea has been putting out more and more BL series lately, no doubt catching on to the success of Thai BL series the last few years and wanting to cash in on the popularity, so they might decide to market Love In The Big City the series as a BL, which would come with certain expectations from the audience. Regardless of the marketing, large parts of the audience will not have read the book before seeing the series, and there’s the risk that they’ll approach it as one would a normal BL series. That is, I suspect they’re going to expect romance, BL-style kisses/sex scenes and a happy ending. 

That is not Love In The Big City.

There is romance, yes, but it is tragic romance. It doesn’t work out. Young does not get to skip happily into the sunset with his partner - not to mention that there are several partners and failed relationships, which does not happen in the world of BL. And the sex? Most BL-fans will likely expect a sweet/passionate kiss, some will hope for an expertly composed bed scene of deep sighs and romantic lighting, intimate touches and blissed out expressions transitioning to some cuddling and pillow talk. Now, I’m not trying to throw shade, but that’s not how sex is depicted in the book. 

In the book? 

“We’d gone at it a little too hard - there was bleeding.” (134) 

Yeah. Not happening in your regular BL-series. 

As I thought already after reading part I, this book is unfiltered. It is raw. It is real. There is no romanticisation to be had. And I am worried that the production will choose to filter it to cater to the expectations of the audience, or the audience will react negatively to the rawness of it and reject it. Again, I hope I’m wrong. 

Narrative structure  Judging from this post that @my-rose-tinted-glasses put up, they’re going to cover the whole book in the series adaptation. As already mentioned, that’s a lot to cover, but this is a series and so they have more time to cover more ground. 

But the book is not written as one story, it is deliberately written in four parts that are connected but not structured as a single narrative. I have been reading it as parts of the author’s own life, or at least more or less inspired by the author’s own life. They’re bits of reality put on paper, written as looks into a life lived. While some editing and adding has surely been done, the parts are not structured with the clear narrative arc and conclusion that stories tend to have - because it’s not a fictional story. 

I think the book is better for it. I appreciate how real it is. But how will they carry it over into a series? Will they follow the book closely and let the eight episodes correspond to the four parts? Or will they weave it together into one cohesive story with a narrative beginning, middle and end? If they change it, it’ll be at the risk of losing some of the real rawness of the book. If they don’t change it, it’ll again risk alienating a large portion of the viewers. 

I obviously do not know what they’re going to do with these adaptations. With what I know of the audiences - both the larger mainstream audience in Korea and the more specific BL-invested audience - I think that large portions of the audience will be unable to appreciate Love In The Big City, so I believe that the production will choose to make changes in the adaptations. What those changes will be and what the final product will look like, only time will tell. In my worst moments, I've been convinced they're going to pick out the “good parts” and piece together a perfectly generic romance, offencive in its inoffensiveness, all smooth where the book is crinkled with the raw complexity of real experiences. As I’ve said before: I hope I’m wrong. 

Final thoughts lifted from my notes: 

I am equal parts overjoyed that they're really investing in these adaptations and worried that they'll scrub it clean. 

They're either going to create a generic romance that's not worthy of the name, or they're going to make history. 

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Something that bothers me in the worldbuilding of She-Ra is how Etheria doesn't feel like an actual planet

Every kingdom is like, miles alway from each other and the heroes can just walk to each one of them super easily. We never had an explanation on why there's some people who look animalistic while other look more human (i always assumed that the humans would be descendants from the first ones since Mara also looks very human, but since they all seemed to have left the planet i think that woudn't be possible)

And we don't really have a sense that the planet have multiple species. Like, we see that there's animalistic characters but there's never an explanation on what their species is, where they come from, etc. We never found out what is Double Trouble species, or Glimmer's, or those random goat characters that apear from time to time, it seems like they just wanted to make those characters...because!

The race thing is never explained in She-Ra, it feels a bit like the old Star Wars movies where they just made the aliens design without thinking on context, just because would make it looks cool. And it did, and we later found out where these guys come from, but we never have this with She-Ra

Also, everyone was kinda racist, they just call Rogelio "lizard guy" and the heroes seem to be disgusted at DT transformation

(And do they even have animals in Etheria? Or is kinda like pokemon where they mentioned an animal but that in the context of the show woudn't exist?)

this bothers me too. the worldbuilding is so lackluster, it hardly feels like a world at all. it feels like a 2d cutout of a planet. we never learn the difference between the cultures of each kingdom, because there seems to be no culture. and that's just realistic because culture and traditions are something that naturally comes about in a place where a bunch of people live.

i know i sound like a broken record but again, the reason atla's world seemed so real was because each nation had its respective culture and traditions, you could plainly see the difference between earth kingdom civilians and water tribe citizens, or fire nation locals and the air nomads. culture was, in fact, an important part of the narrative because it was the source of aang's biggest dilemma.

in spop, etheria is like a hologram or a metaverse kind of thing. apart from the heroes and villains, no one else matters. we never see the perspective of the civilians. and this is especially important because there's a fucking war going on. that doesn't just affect heroes and villains, it affects everyone. people were dying but that isn't really focused on because the crew was more interested in writing teenage conflicts and forced romances.

anyway, i digress. like you said, i wish we had gotten more explanation as to why some etherians were more animalistic and some weren't. they don't seem to be divided into groups and there's no explanation to why they are like that. its just for the ~ a e s t h e t i c ~. i'm not sure if the rogelio and dt thing counts as "racism" since they're different species, not different races. but it does feel a little iffy when put into perspective.

they do have animals in etheria btw, we see horses (swiftwind was literally a normal horse that was turned into a pegasus later) and i'm pretty sure there were aquatic creatures too? there was also melog though he's not a "normal" animal by any means.

[oh-shtars]

Reach for the Stars! AU QnA:

Thank you so much for those of you who sent in asks!! Y’all are the best. 🥹

I’ve decided to compile the asks I received into one post for easier access. So far, this is Part 1. If y’all want Part 2, keep shooting me more questions! 😉

I had to type in some of the questions myself since Tumblr unfortunately only lets me put on 10 screenshots maximum. (I still put them in word-for-word too btw 😂)

But let’s dive into it, shall we?

(⚠️This is going to be a loooooooong read-)

……

@annymation

Yeaaaah, this section is dedicated to you. Couldn’t thank you enough for the support from the very beginning. Love ya, Anny!!! 💖✨

1.) Who are Asha’s parents? What do they mean to her and how have they influenced her life?

Asha’s parents are still known as the same from the canon movie, Tomás and Sakina.

It really bugged me in the film how they mentioned Asha’s father like TWICE, and never brought it up again. That sounds like a very good thing for character building, but nooooooo. They won’t even address it anymore. It’s just there so that Asha wins sympathy points from Magnifico >:/

Anyways, Tomás:

is a philosopher who had a dream to share his ideas with people around him. But he also had a passion to learning the ways of magic, which is why he worked as Oliver’s (the previous king before Mag) apprentice for 2 years in his reign before he passed away. After the king’s passing, Tomás became Magnifico’s assistant. No longer an apprentice since Mag had banned the usage of it other than him and his wife for “Rosas’ greater good.”

Tomás is passionate and holds true to his beliefs. He has a love and curious wonder for the ‘maybes’ and ‘what ifs’ of the old myth about Wishing Stars. Most of his work is written around them, gathering old info and recordings from old sources that claim the authors have been visited and blessed with the guidance of one. It’s a ‘legendary and once-in-a-lifetime’ chance for a star to ever go down to earth. But because of its rarity, most people don’t really believe the myth is true.

He shared this wonder and love of dreaming to his daughter, Asha. It was her favourite thing to do every now and then each night to sit under the stars, and listen to her father tell her about her favorite bedtime story about these wonderful, celestial and magical beings above them.

When Tomás unfortunately died from their house on fire, that ambition and confidence to become just like her dad someday within Asha, broke. It’s like it had withered away along with him. Ever since the tragedy, Asha closed in on herself and spent her time drawing on her sketchbook and on her own to cope with the loss. Keeping her mind busy by helping her mother carry out chores in the castle as she grew older.

Thus, it’s why she got so estranged with her 7 childhood friends. Asha loved her father and all her memories with him very dearly and it struck hard to have this dream be taken away from her so suddenly.

Tomás’ death is a very sensitive topic for her. Asha’s insecurities to accomplish things for herself stem from the fear of dreaming too big and experience that very same pain again of being disappointed if that dream could never be achieved. But at the same time, it serves as her motivation to help others with their own wishes and help them be happy. Because she, herself, wasn’t able to.

Sakina:

is a little more down-to-earth. She wants Asha to not look up at the sky all the time and actually appreciate what she currently has. She balances out her husband’s influence on their daughter. She’s happy to have Asha be a dreamer like her father, but it’s also important for her to notice just how lucky she is in the moment.

One of Asha’s flaws is that she fails to notice these little precious things since her eyes are always on the prize. She believes that the only way people can ever be truly happy is if their wish is granted. Her strongest trait is love. She cares so much that she barely looks out for herself anymore.

Sakina loves her daughter and is also saddened by her husband’s death. It pains her to see Asha be so distant and be missing that little spark she had as a child. It’s Sakina that constantly encourages her to open up to her old friends more.

Like I said, Sakina is a “in-the-moment” kind of person in contrast to Tomás. She was a seamstress before the tragedy, but ever since then, Sakina barely does this hobby that she used to love doing. She just does it in her free time now, which she barely even has. (She does spend the time making cute clothes for Valentino).

Whenever Asha is concerned on why her mother isn’t pursuing that hobby as much anymore, Sakina reassures her that it’s not so bad. What’s more important right now ‘at the moment’ is do her job as a servant to the king and queen and raise and look after her daughter.

………

2.) Are the 7 teens, or any different interpretation of them, any different in your rewrite? If so, how are they like and what will they serve to the story?

Funny, I actually already answered this same ask like twice now. 😂

I’ll just link the answer I’ve already done here.

……….

3.) How was Asha’s childhood?

It went just as normally as any child would have. Loving parents and a home with a South European exterior and a North African interior design. (I’m pretty sure that’s what it said in Wish’s Art book)

Asha pretty much lived in her family’s home until she’s 10 years old. That’s when tragedy struck, their house burned down, her dad…..you know. And now, Asha and her mother are generously given a place to stay in the castle in exchange for their services. To express their gratitude for the king and queen’s kindness.

Asha was only 8 when Magnifico started his reign as king, so she doesn’t really remember much of what Rosas was like back then. When magic wasn’t forbidden and can be studied by anyone. Back when the easy route didn’t exist and no one gives up their wishes to the king.

But at least she’s now growing up in a time where all wishes are given an equal chance to be granted very easily with no struggle or strife anymore, right?

……

4.) What do you want the moral of your story to be?

Fun fact:

When I was brainstorming how I would go with this rewrite, I went back to Disney’s roots. How did this company’s legacy come to life? Of course, I went back to their first movie: “Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.”

And you know what I found?:

Walt risked everything to let this movie exist. He risked selling his house and going bankrupt because he believed so much that ‘Snow White’ would be a success.

“Omg, this company. Disney. All these amazing movies. Started because one man took a giant leap of faith and never gave up on his wish.”

And I knew I just HAVE to capture this one action that brought the Disney we all grew to love into life. (No. Not the corporate Disney we have now unfortunately-)

Every character in my AU will experience the fear of “what ifs.” What if this doesn’t work? What if I fail? What if it’ll all be for nothing?

But Walt Disney pushed and strived to reach his dream. Even if the odds weren’t pretty. So I wanted the moral of my story to be THIS. To never stop dreaming big.

And now, at least you know why I named my Wish rewrite: ✨ “Reach for the Stars” ✨

………

@apricotchocolate

Awwwwww, THX SO MUCH. 💖 It makes me so happy that people love what I’m trying to create. Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve ever felt this committed to creating something grand. It’s kinda scary :,).

And Sueño’s backstory?

Hmmmm, I don’t want to spoil much.

All I’m going to say is he was unfairly captured from the sky at a very young age of only 12. And ever since then, Magnifico exploits and uses the young star’s Wish Magic to grant, collect and store the wishes of Rosas.

Basically, just think of this deleted scene where Mag attempts to pull down a star from the sky. ⬇️

Will Sueño ever run out of Wish magic? No, not really.

The most important part of a star is their magical core. It’s like a human heart. A Wishing Star is born every time two mortals share their FIRST and MUTUAL Act of True Love, whether platonically, familial or romantically. The magic of this act of love shoots upwards to the sky, where a Wishing Star’s core is created and an ordinary ball of burning gas gains consciousness.

This core is what holds them together and it’s what produces more Wish Magic that is used up whenever they grant a wish. Without it, they fade away to dust and basically die.

So as long Sueño’s core is still intact, he’s fine. Sure, it still hurts to have Wish Magic extracted from him but, he’s alive. 🤷

I sure hope Mag doesn’t intend in absorbing it for desperate measures in the end, amirite?

……..

@chillwildwave

I’ll be honest here, I’m no song writer. No experience or not even know what makes a song “perfect” for a scene. As long as the song is a vibe and it makes sense to me, I don’t really pay attention much to the rhythm or beats.

But most likely, I’m going to be keeping some of the canon songs and tweak them a little bit? (Definitely keeping “This Wish” and “At All Costs” but tweaked.)

Or, if the song is too far gone to save it from my story’s context, (like “Welcome to Rosas”), I’ll probably just explain what happens in that scene and pretend there’s a song there.

Or

I could use some pre-existing Disney songs to set up a scene’s vibe but they won’t actually be sung. It’s just to enhance the experience I guess.

……….

@spectator-zee

1.) I do actually! Omg, I even amazed myself on how I even came up with it. 😂

Magnifico’s end is going to be poetic and I already have a design in mind for him post-story. Also, the final battle? Ohohoho- it’s SOMETHING!!

It’s always the middle part of the story that gets me unfortunately 😤.

……..

2.) My favourite character has to be Sueño. I really love how I got creative with his character and make him really stand out from the other Starboys. Where he’s not exactly the naive “Let’s-grant-everyone’s-wishes!!” kind of guy. It’s the opposite.

I’ve also come to become fond on how he slowly opens up to the human world around him after all the paranoia and anxiety he used to have. Character development~ ✨

But I also liked Magnifico’s complexity too.

He’s tragic but it doesn’t excuse what he’s done. He’s incredibly cruel and he’s aware of it. He’s a hopeless romantic when it comes to Amaya. He’s someone sympathetic who didn’t deserve his village getting destroyed. He’s still a jerk and an arsehole who needs to be stopped. He’s someone whose concerns were unfairly ignored in the past. He’s still completely willing to make innocent people suffer underneath him.

Idk, I guess I just like grey characters.

……….

3.) Lol, Magnifico nor Amaya can’t speak sign language. And they’re used to the star’s passive attitude and being too afraid to stand up to them at all.

But the universal sign of ‘Fck you’ isn’t too hard to figure out once Sueño finally had enough of them and grow a backbone. Mag would be caught off-guard and heavily pissed about it, that’s for sure.

………..

@ficsinhistory

Thank you so much for this question, because it really made me think about this for a bit!! (Not saying the previous asks didn’t, but this is just a point that I had a vague idea but didn’t put much detail into it yet.)

When Asha accidentally released the star that Magnifico had been keeping this past decade, the star escapes the castle and tries to return back to the sky. Only to crash back down again due to an enchantment on him that prevents him from leaving Rosas at all. He’s stuck on earth basically until they find and break the artefact holding the spell.

Which is undoubtedly back with King Magnifico-

If he wants to go back home to the sky, he’s going to have to go back to the castle and break this enchantment. Asha wants to help him, but out of concern and love for her kingdom, she needs his help to release a few wishes and grant these poor, dull and zest-less people a chance to experience the joy of their wishes granted without being in the king’s debt.

The star did not like the idea. He is out of the Wishing business for the next million years or so. But he literally has no idea how to sneak back in without attracting attention and without confronting the scary meanie of a king as much as possible. Plus, he doesn’t even know what a “normal human” acts like. Without her help, he could risk getting caught by the king’s magic. Again…

And dammit, how could he say no to that desperate, sad look on this girl’s face-

Fiiiiine. A few wishes granted but that’s it.

I guess ‘trusting Asha’ is more of a ‘he had no other choice’ kind of thing? He does inevitably have to interact with her on the way though. And at first, Star expresses his frustration with this situation with little harmless jokes, pranks, and stalling their journey back by interacting with the cute woodland creatures. Much to Asha’s frustration.

He initially thinks Asha is just like everyone else. She wants something from him. That’s it. He’s sort of distant at first, and he flinches and reacts negatively to any attempt of touching him.

But over the course of the story, Star gets to learn more about who she really is. A loving and empathetic person who just wants what’s best for those around her. She even gave him a new name that meant she doesn’t see him as just merely a star.

Sueño. Someone who’s not just a wishing tool. She really treats him like an actual person. A person with feelings. Slowly, he starts to really trust her and become genuine friends with Asha.

And overtime, become a little smitten of her beauty both inside and out.

I mean, what, who said that-

………

@tumblingdownthefoxden

………..

@kstarsarts

I guess for Asha, she will try to understand as best she could and if it’s something serious, she’ll try to really listen and seek further clarification.

Though, if it’s casual talk and nothing important, she’ll do that introvert thing where they just politely nod and pretend that they definitely heard you because it’s too embarrassing to be saying “Huh???” like 5 times.

Sueño? He’s actually pretty extroverted once he’s out of his shell. So he isn’t shy to really ask for more detail on the subject if he needs to. He’s VERY familiar with the feeling of not being understood often because he, himself, can’t speak. So, he makes sure that he does put an effort to understand the person he’s talking to.

Though, he might accidentally go a little off-track with his questions and suddenly, you’re talking about an entirely different topic.

…………

Wow, this sure was interesting. Don’t you think?

As always, details might change in the future but this is really helpful for me to track down my thoughts on where this passion project is going.

I can’t say enough thank yous for all the asks and all the support!! Love y’all!! :DD 💖💖

Edit: Look at that, we have a Part 2 :)). Thanks Saph!!

[shadowsoveryou]

Who are you?

(You are 4 years older then rapunzel and all of this was based on memory of the movie)

☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆●☆

You looked out the window. Looking at the shimmering lights with delight. Your mother had said that she had a surprise for you. Although it was past your bed time, you couldn't sleep and miss the floating lights in the clear night sky.

You hear the door shut from below you and you panic. You quickly tip toe to your bed to not be caught. You pull the sheets up and you close your eyes. You her a baby crying and shot your eyes open.

'Who is that?'

You lay in silence until you start feeling like your eyes were giving up. You hear your mother humming a song to the 'baby' in her room. You tried to think of ways why there was a baby here but you doze off to soon to even think of a reason.

★ 17 years later ★

You groun to the sound of birds and crickets. Your eyes slowly opening to the bright light of the morning sun. You turn away from the light source, hoping to get some more sleep. You hear a ruckus in the kitchen down stairs and you climb out of bed to see what it was all about.

As you walked down the stairs from your shared room, the sweet smell of cookies and small baked goods fill the air like perfume. You walk in to the kitchen to see what the ruckus was about.

It was rapunzel (expected) and a.... guy?

Wait, wait. Are you seeing this correctly? You rub your eyes and look again to see the guy still their. You were surprised to see one. Your mother only showed pictures and stories about them, but you never really seen one before. You look at rapunzel straight in the eyes.

"Happy birthday?"

"What happend and what did you do?"

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"So your telling me that a man, complete Stanger broke into the tower, looks around a little, and you then hit him with one of your pans?

You look at your sister in disbelief. The man was in a chair wrapped around in rapunzels hair like a rope. You walk cautiously toward the stranger. He had brown hair and tan skin that looked like it was glowing because of the lighting.

You couldn't lie. He looked cute.

You see a shift of movement from the man and you freak out. He opens his eyes to see the two of you.

"What the-"

And everything went back to black for him again.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

*Flynn riders pov btw*

I wake up again (I think) with a major headache.something was definitely brused or swollen. And did something lick my ear? Ew. I rub my ear on my sholder and try to glace away from the harsh light from the windows. I went to rub my eyes to agest to the light. But, I couldn't.I try to lift my arms and I look around me. Rope or hair? Held me down and it was tight.

I struggle to get free and my eyes follow the hair on the ground. It leads me to the shadows and 2? Figures in there. They start to slowly walk my way and I squint my eyes to see closer. The hair seemed to belong to a blonde and the other figure, was a h/c.

"Who are you"? The blond one asks. "And how did you find us?"

The h/c one repets what the blonde said but a train of thoughts rum through my head.

I clear my throat.

"I do not know who you are nor how I found you but my I just say;"

Pause for effect

"Hi".

They give eachother confused looks.

"How you doing? The names flynn rider. How your day doing?"

I gesture to the h/c (guy/girl/person).

"Who else knows our location?" The blonde asks, putting a frying pan closer to my face.

"Aright blonde-"

"Rapunzel" she says coldly

"And y/n"

"Gazundheit. Here's the deal,I was in a situation. Galivanting through the forest. I came across your tower and... Oh! Ohhh no! Where is my satchel?!" I panic and frantacly look everywhere for it.where did it go?!

" I've hidden it. Somewhere you'll never find it." Rapunzel gives me a smirk and I look at her dead in the eyes.

I look around and see a big pot.

"It's in the pot isn't it?"

(CLANG!)

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

I wake up again to a tough in my ear. I see what seems to be rapunzels and y/n pet lizard

"AHH!! Would you stop that?!"

I rub my ear I grossness.

"NOW it's hidden. Where you'll never find it"

I give up.

"So, what do you want with my hair?"

I look at her confused

"To cut it?"

"What?!"

"Sell it?"

"Nooo!"

I sigh In frustration.

"Listen the only thing I want to do with YOUR hair is to get out of it! LITERALLY!"

"Wait... so you don't want her hair?"

"Why on Earth would I want her hair?"

I start to explain the situation that happened earlier.

"Look I was being chasedI saw a tower climbed it. End of story."

Y/n lookes pleased to hear my answer and blonde was surprised.

"You're... telling the truth?"

" Yes!"

The two nodded to eachother and huddled close. I tried to hear what they were saying but there was no use.

You pov

"Hmmm....(whispers) I know. we need someone to take us."

"And I think he's telling the truth too."

Rapunzel nods

"He doesn't have fangs" she says to lighten up the mood.

"But what choice do we have?" We discussed a few more things before turning back to flynn

"(sighs deeply, normal voice) Ok, Flynn. I'm prepared to offer you a deal" I say, hoping to make peace.

" Deal?"

[blueberrywhale123]

Guess what I watched?!

This was sooooooooo amazing! A beautiful story and a wonderful cinematic experience honestly! Not to sound like a movie reviewer 😅 I just want to gush.

I was totally not interested the first few times the trailer popped up on my ad feed on youtube but the first time I sat down to actually look at the trailer I was hit with the colors and the designs and suddenly I was six-years-old sitting with my dad while he showed me and my four-year-old brother our first piece of transformers media. It was an old cartoon with the bots on cybertron and I never really got something like that again with the other movies or shows that came out aside from the ones one find after digging.

So I instantly decided that even just for nostalgia's sake I would go see it and I was dragging my siblings with me. Even if the movie was a horrible cash grab that turned the characters into unrecognizable slapstick jokesters I would watch it because I wanted to be six-years-old again.

But!!!

LO AND BEHOLD this was incredible! Right from the start when they showed and talked about Primus being the planet I felt hope rising in my chest (MY EXPECTATIONS WERE ON THE FLOOR OKAY) And it just KEPT GETTING BETTER!

Ik from the trailers it seems so silly and stupid but it's NOT! This movie (imo) knows exactly when to be funny and when to be serious. It is for kids - don't expect anything super grown-up - but don't expect something that's aimed for a three-year-old.

Orion Pax (Optimus) and D-16 (Megatron) were the beating heart of this film in my opinion. I was gut wretched watching their friendship deteriorate and seeing Megatron slowly be born. I told my brother as we sat in that theater (which was 98% empty btw😭) that I really thought that the creative team really seemed to love Megatron because there was so much care put into his character and his change wasn't mocked or incomprehensible - I understood him the whole time even as I hated watching the downfall.

And ORION! He was amazing! I loved watching him go from a cocky selfish little guy to this inspiring leader. Even before the main conflict pushes him into the forefront as a leader you can see these hints of that quick-thinking and desire to protect those around him. The aspects of a leader are there - they just needed the right circumstances to pull them out.

There were so many of my babies in it too! It was nice to hear Bumblebee talk!!!! And he was precious! Elita was nice even tho I will admit that I'm not super deep into Transformers so I wasn't truly familiar with her. But I just about jumped out of my seat seeing Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave on screen talking and just being soooooo cool! They could just stand there and I would have been in heaven (not really that would have been a disservice to them but besides the point!)

ARCEE WAS THERE!!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!! Me and my brothers were scouring for Ironhide and Rachet and we were grinning like idiots when we saw Jazz oh my gosh! I'm pretty sure that we saw Cliffjumper too!

And Ariachnid was sooooooo scary my gosh I was so happy!

This just felt like a film that truly cared and loved and RESPECTED the source material!

Anyways I'm writing this because I think people need to watch it. It's good even if you don't know a thing about transformers too! My little sister came with and loved the movie even though she's probably seen 1/4 of a transformers movie. I know I'm no bigshot poster so it's not gonna reach a lot of people but if any little bit counts then ...

[myrskytuuli]

Welp, I finally watched Longlegs...it was a dissapointment.

I was pretty hyped for Longlegs ever since the really intriguing trailer and very good marketing campaign started, and even went out of my way to avoid spoilers before seeing the movie. With expectations so high for another artistic, slow-paced, psychological horror ala Hereditary or the VVitch, I have to say I was left wanting. The more I rotated the movie in my head, the more dissapointed I get.

Warning here be spoilers!

Longlegs is a story about an FBI agent who displays slight psychic abilities on her first case and is then assigned to help with a perplexing serial killer case, the Longlegs case. In longlegs case all forensic evidence suggests a murder-suicide of a family, and cryptogram letters left on the crime scenes and signed by "Longlegs" are the only hint that someone or something else has been involved with the murders. The main character, Lee Harker, eventually finds out that the murders are commited via devil-worshiping man called Longlegs, who makes a life-sized, Satan-infested, doll resembling the family's daughter, gifting it to the family, which then possess the dad to kill the family and himself. In the end, Lee figures out that she was supposed to be one of the victims as s child and that her mom made a deal with the devil to help with the doll-murder-scheme in exchange for Lee's safety.

Let's start with the biggest, most obvious one. The titular character Longlegs is a transmisogynistic caricature who could just as well be a distasteful Daily Wire sketch spliced between the scenes of a serious horror movie. Longlegs, both the movie and the character, relies way too hard on the expectation that you will accept a close up of a middle-aged man in a badly applied lipstick to be a jumpscare in itself. But we will return to Longlegs the character little later. First, I want to talk about Longlegs the movie.

Longlegs is both too much and not enough. It markets itself as an occult detective mystery, but unfortunately instead of getting best of both worlds, it strips both the detective story and the occult story off of its most enjoyable elements. For a detective mystery there isn't much detecting, and for occult movie there isn't much occult.

A lot of occult horrors have gone out of their way to base their stories around real occult histories and as a consequence are full of easter eggs for those who recognise the historical nods. Hereditary references the Lesser Key of Solomon, The VVitch based its horror on real 1600 century archival texts, and even As Above So Below followed real alchemical traditions. This allowed those movies to avoid infodumbing lore, while still having internally consistant mythology that you can dig deeper into, if you want to. Longlegs does not do this. It handwaves towards the idea of satanic occult without ever creating its own internal mythology nor relying on one consistant real-life source. Which for me, personally, felt like a very frustrating experience, because you can't connect the dots of why whatever occult means are used.

Why was Lee getting visions of snakes? Because snakes are spooky and associated with the devil. Why were there bible quotes left at the crime scenes? Because they come from the Revelation and the revelation is the spooky chapter of the bible. Why were these murders being commited? Because Lucifer was bored. Why did the haunted dolls need vibrating metal spheres inserted inside their heads in order to be haunted? So that the doctor can put a stetoschope on one and hear evil vibrations. Why dolls? Because the director read a book about voodoo and found the idea of symphatetic magic spooky. (Not what symphatetic magic means btw. It has nothing to do with christian magic tradition or possession)

lacklustre magical theory could be excused, and I have excused in many other movies, with otherwise solid or entertaining plots, but this movie about catching a serial killer does not actually offer the viewer any clues to put together or follow the detective along the trail of mystery. rememeber that slightly psychic part? A huge mistake in my opinion, which cripples the movie for no reason. (Also, I really felt like the scene of the FBI having a psychic testing program was a leftover from an entirely different movie. Why was it there, what did it contribute??)

Lee is a passive vessel being led around by her psychic visions to every clue and revelation. She doesn't figure things out for herself, instead she receives answers from her visions or by her sixth sense, or by other people telling her the answers. She solves the Longlegs cryptogram because the Cipher is literally handed to her by Longlegs. She finds the picture of Longlegs by being guided to it by her sixth sense, and finally sees the final plotwist of the movie in a dream narrated to her by her mom. There is an actual literal flashback scene that explains the twist, without any lead up of the puzzle pieces slotting into place. As a mystery, it's bad.

okay but why is Longlegs even here? No, but for real. This is one of those movie tries to do too much moments. The movie's focus is supposed to be on Lee, solving a murder mystery, and her strained relationship with her mom, who is secretely killing people. But instead of letting that plot develop and breathe, too much time is spent following Longlegs, who is what? Middle-manager of this scheme? The scheme which goes like this:

Lucifer wants to kill people -> Lucifer contracts a socially maladjusted crossdresser named Longlegs to build dolls which Lucifer can then possess -> Longlegs contracts Ruth Harker to knock on people's doors dressed as a nun and smuggle the dolls inside people's houses -> Lucifer, once inside the house, influences the dad to murder his family and himself -> ???????profit

It's halfway through the movie, why, instead of getting any development for the main character, am I watching Lucifer's doll guy fail at making small talk at the convenience store???!!!!!

Okay, joking aside, lets talk about the transmisogyny and ableism.

Longlegs is an older man(?) who dresses in women's clothes and wears grotesque amounts of makeup, while exhibiting behaviours best described as autistic stims, and lives in Lee's mom's basement.

His mannerisms osciliate between childish deference to aggressive cussing in a way that brings to mind stereotypes of low-fucntioning autistic behaviour. It's very uncomfortable to watch and not in the way the movie wants. I think there is something almost darkly ironic in the way that thorought the whole movie, we never actually see Longlegs, the titular movie monster, do anything evil, and the entire loadbearing part of holding the movie's uncanny athmosphere rests on us finding Longlegs' behaviour creepy without seeing him commit any attrocities. Sure, the uncanniness is supposed to come from the fact that we know that he is the killer, but the movie doesn't want to show us that part. Imagine watching Friday the 13th but you only see Jason doing grocery shopping with his hockey mask on and hear about other characters talking about the murders that happened off-screen. no seriously, why is Longlegs here?

We never find out anything about Longlegs, why he worships Lucifer, why he started the murder doll-scheme with Lucifer in the first place, or what his history is. In the movie Longlegs, Longlegs doesn't matter. Lee finds a picture of him in her home and In the next scene he has been arrested. Longlegs kills himself during the police interview, and Lee goes off to find the actual important part of the mystery, her mom. So....why did we spend all that time with Lucifer's doll guy? Wouldn't all that time have been better spent slowly finding clues that reveal Lee's mom's as the perpetrator???

The metaphor of Longlegs is confused at best, if it even is supposed to have one, which I personally doubt. Sure, the director says is is about the darkness in us all and about families, but...is it?

Longlegs makes gestures towards wanting to be a movie about family violence, but it never arrives at it. The outside influence satanic panic is played comletely straight. There could be something about Ruth, the church lady, being allowed inside family homes because she looks trusthworthy, and bringing with her forces which lead to family violence, but the fact that the force causing the violence is literally the devil in league with a vaguelly inhuman (does he have magic powers? Maybe?) crossdresser kind of kneecaps that interpretation. Allowing strangers inside your suburban home is the root of all evil in this movie. Even Ruth joined in leagues with Longlegs under duress, after home invasion.

The deepest the movie gets is that sometimes parents lie to their children and that makes those children distant from their parents. But that's the literal thing that happens in the movie, this movie isn't really a metaphor for anything in the way that Hereditary or Nope or any other horror movie that seamlessly functions as both good in-universe storie and out-universe fable.

Okay, so there is one very redeeming part this movie has and it's Bill Clinton's giant portrait looming over way more scenes than you would expect, with the energy that I would best describe as Laura Palmer's photograph in the end credits of Twin Peaks. Somehow, Bill Clinton is haunting this narrative.