#buddie canon is unneeded

[charliewrites99]

Representation

Super rare male friendship on tv

VS

Slow-burn over several seasons, friends to lovers between two guys (neither of which was introduced as queer)

[domoz]

somehow, now i have a lot of tobi/hikaku thoughts? like jesus christ this is halfway to a fic outline so i might as well add it onto my endless list of things to write. so uh:

In the early days of the village Tobirama and Hikaku quickly come to realize that the other is one of the only others around who will just buckle down and Do Their Fucking Job without causing a bunch of unneeded drama. They start to see the other as dependable and even though they have their prejudices they’re both willing to hear the other out on things without immediately starting arguments (unlike Tobi with SOME people). Tobirama maybe even fully admits that he has trouble fully trusting the peace/the Uchiha, but  Hikaku finds that when he takes the time to explain the logic of why the Uchiha do things the way they do.Tobirama is able to accept them and start to move past it. (Hikaku also probably spends a lot of time carefully bringing up Tobirama’s ideas to Madara in a way that makes him think HE thought of them, just so they actually get done). So they work together a lot and end up being like. Office buddies with a pretty big mutual respect, and as time goes on they just become full out friends going out for drinks after work etc etc.

Hikaku slowly becomes a victim of the dangerous+pretty+competent problem Tobirama poses and starts catching feelings. Like he ends up pining and ANNOYED that he’s pining because not only is this not his first time w/ a stupid unrequited crush (Madara and/or Izuna take your pick) he knows that even IF his feelings were returned actually doing anything about them would be a huge political nightmare. He’s got this feeling of maybe being a little inferior -- he’s a good shinobi, sure, but he doesn’t hold a flame to Madara/Izuna/Hashirama/Tobirama when it comes down to it. A lot of his best skills are in like, logistics, not decimating the battlefield (which Tobirama likes quite a lot actually cough cough). He’d have to do something crazy to attract someone like Tobirama’s attention (which during the war was actually a good thing!!)

Tobirama meanwhile is in denial that they are even friends for a while, but I think when he realizes that they are (the catalyst probably being like. Hikaku just does something Nice for him b/c he’s a nice guy. Which no one really does for him! but Hikaku did!) he dives straight from ‘oh we are friends’ to ‘oh i’m kind of in love with him’ and then gets PISSED at himself, because surely he’s not the kind of person who will just fall for the first person who is kind of nice to him?? It takes him a while to work through his feelings. But in the end Hikaku is someone who he respects a great deal which is why that act of kindness mattered so much to him in the first place.

I’ve got no idea how the confession happens. tobirama is probably really straightforward about it (or god, maybe hes like “you’ve always been good at explaining things so riddle me THIS why do i like you so much??” and he is genuinely asking). From there like you could go “they both know they like each other but because the Uchiha as a Whole still hate tobirama there’s nothing they can do it about it and it sucks” (and if this is in a more canon compliant situation. good lord but tobirama as the hokage and hes in love with Hikaku and this is their best chance to do something about it and they STILL can’t) or you could have the Very Funny Scene of Tobirama trying to figure out Uchiha courting customs + what the fuck he has to do to convince Madara to allow him to try them.

(also as a bonus thought. Hikaku developing his mangeko bc of tobirama dying/almost dying thank you for your time)

and FURTHERMORE I also had thoughts about tobirama/hikaku/madara vis a vis tobirama/hikaku ending up in a relationship.

ver 1 is like -- he allows tobirama to court hikaku but he DOES NOT trust itand keeps inserting himself into the entire process, and in the end tobirama and Hikaku are kind of powerless to really stop him? from doing that. Madara is so mad that they’re actually kind of romantic with each other?? But also somehow in the process he ends up endearing himself to tobirama by being cringefail (and Hikaku already liked him on the dl) They end up bringing him into the relationship before he even realizes he wants to be in it.

ver 2 is Tobirama and Hikaku ending up married and like. Domestic and happy much to literally everyone’s surprise. Madara wants that SO BADLY that he keeps going to all the married people he knows just to get a mere hint of it. But Hashirama sees him as a good friend/brother, and Izuna, whatever the hell is going on with him, is his actual brother and doesn’t see much weird with Madara wanting to hang out with him, even if him wanting to hang out with him and his S/O specifically all the time is a little weird.

But Tobirama and Hikaku are Not Related to him and draw very different conclusions about what he wants to get out of spending time with them. I think Tobirama maybe relates to Madara a little more than he wants to here because he, too, was desperate for intimacy before he had it, and Madara must be down BAD if he’s willing to spend time with Tobirama. Which, he is, but I think Madara saw how happy they ended up -- reverse relating to Tobirama bc he saw how Tobirama was before and how he is NOW, and decided ‘they can fix me.’

[matan4il]

Re-watching last week's episode in prep for the finale. And I'm laughing a bit because it occurs to me there really wasn't a reason for the Buddie scene. Especially with Gavin unavailable to film. Of course I loved it but honestly it was a useless scene outside of our love for it. We all know Eddie has issues with his parent's. I can't think of any viewer that wouldn't know what he was walking into. You could have had Peppa and him roll up and be like you ready for this retirement party, and Eddie be like yes and just so you know there is a hotel I mapped 20 minutes away.

The friendship of the episode was Chim and Hen. Buck and Eddie's storyline were entirely separate from each other, Buck being with Hen and Chims. And again everything in the conversation were things we already knew.

I'm taking it as a win the writers were feeding us lol. Maybe I'm wrong... But still when you really look at it, it was unneeded filming. And we had the Halloween episode with zero Eddie, so it's not like they aren't afraid to not have them have scenes. But it seems more blaring now that they are allowing them back together and are highlighting the difference between Eddie and Buck and Buck and Taylor.

Hi Nonnie! IDK if this is in continuation to this ask reply, but I thought I’d link it just in case it is.

Technically you’re right that there was no need for the Buddie scene at the start of 517, but some set up for Eddie’s journey was needed, even in the sense of telling us “we are now leaving for Texas, where Eddie’s family is” or “for the casual viewers among us, who might have missed some stuff or don’t remember that much background info on each character, this is where Eddie is at when it comes to his dad.” Out of the core cast, it does make sense that it would be Buck who Eddie shares this talk with, though it didn’t have to be someone from that group, it could have been Carla, or in the same direction of your suggestion, we could have seen Eddie picking Pepa up at her house while Chris is waiting for them in the car to set this trip up. The choice to prefer Buck is therefore a significant one, because it confirms once more in canon that there is no one else who Eddie is closer to or who means more to him, not even his own family.

And I so very much agree with you! I find it very telling that the writers are feeding us even in eps that are very much not about Buddie at all. Heck, even in eps that don’t even feature Eddie, we can still find echoes of Buddie, which is fascinating to me.

Thank you so much for this ask and I hope you have a wonderful hiatus! xoxox

(I got an influx of asks, I WILL answer all of them, but it might take a sec. If anyone wants to check whether I've already answered theirs or to read my replies, here's my ask tag. Thank you! xoxox)

[duskkodesh]

Reasons I’m Not Getting My Hopes Up About The Morbius Movie

1. The music. So far we have a public domain classical piece, fine. Fair enough and... People Are Strange. Why? Why couldn’t we make a movie about Morb without harkening back to other vampire movies? Why does The Lost Boys have to exist in Morb’s canon freaking universe?

2. The color palette. The trailers have been all 90% black and blue, and so goddamn dark. This is a comic movie, give me some color variance. Give me some art direction. 

3: The bat scene. That. Never. Happened. In. Any. Comic. Ever. And while I recognize creative license that... is just a stupid scene in so many ways. Look, Morb would just import the damn bats, and actual vampire bats too, not the things that Sony CG’d there (Guys, vampire bats aren’t that big. They are like palm sized. Like 7 inches fullll wingspan. Smol bois.) Even if he did go to catch bats humans really aren’t as attractive as a dish of pig blood would be. The whole thing is unneeded and just reeks of cringe.

4. the dialog I’ve seen so far. “Some kind of bat radar.” IS THIS MAN A DOCTOR? BECAUSE YOU COULD HAVE FOOLED ME. The idiot didn’t even say ‘bat sonar’. 

5. We all know how I feel about the lead actor. 

6. The villain. While Matt Smith is freaking fantastic and will be great as any villain they very much messed with canon in order to do the same vs. same villain/hero scenario and... guys we just did that with Let There Be Carnage.

7. The company. Unless Morb teams up with Stroud there’s no good buddy dynamic in here. No other good characters. No Werewolf by Night, Legion of Monsters, Midnight Sons, no Blade, and I will wager my life no Spider-man. 

8. PG13...

9. And the biiiig one: The crew. The writers do not have a good track record. Gods of Egypt?! Dracula Untold? The New Power Rangers? God, if those are your selling points than what have you done that you’re ashamed of? And the director. Go through his imdb and find one thing good to watch. Nope? That’s what I thought. There’s no Tom Hardy here, no Ryan Reynolds no real advocate for the heart of the character. I think at some point production called Roy Thomas and MAYBE they got some insight... but I’m not holding my breath. These are not comic people making this, these aren’t even good movie people. I hate the mouse but at least they read the comics they are using.

[hazbincalifornia]

People can ship what they want but stella and stolas aren't gunna work things out we can say maybe they used to love eachother but that's what context clues are for and I swear some people don't notice them in the beginning of Loo Loo Land, notice how Stella is kinda hogging the blanket and making Stolas get up to see Octavia animation takes a long time so if this scene was unneeded especially for the story they would have axed it off

Yeah, right now there are a lot of big gray areas, and one is if Stolas and Stella ever did love each other and fell out of it or if their marriage was arranged, but by the time we got to You Will Be Okay, things were very clearly already crumbling. Even if you missed the blanket thing, he straight out says in a melancholy tone ‘I used to think love would be fun’, and he would not be so ecstatic to spend time with Blitzo if he was getting emotional fulfillment elsewhere. This is not a happy marriage.

People who characterize Stella as a loving mother confuse me, because while you can argue that ‘the woman being cheated on is a bitch who deserved it anyway’ is a bad trope and I won’t necessarily disagree, that’s the role she plays in the story. It’s just... fact. And she plays it perfectly well! I’ve written a bit of her for an upcoming chapter of OT and she’s a very fun character to write! But she’s a villain. There’s no way around that. She’s an antagonist, and it seems like she’s going to be the main one considering how episode 5 ended.

It’s not so much people playing with their own dolls that bother me, goodness knows I’ve got my own ships that contradict canon, it’s just when people so confidently assert that they know what’s going to happen IN CANON/that their interpretation is the correct one when it’s very, very blatantly wrong from analysis of text- not even subtext, straight text- that makes me go ???? You’re gonna get a very rude awakening, buddy.

[supercasey]

So I watched Batman Ninja with my buddy Jason the other night...

Under a readmore because I'm screaming and y'all normal people don't need to see this shitshow.

So, like, to begin with; the animation is gorgeous- I will in no way try to deny that- and does a lot of cool things with the art style. You can tell a lot of work went into this movie, and while I personally find it so bad that it's funny, I'm not gonna shit on anyone who likes this film more seriously. (Also, I'm gonna shit on the outfits a lot, so sorry if that comes off as unintentionally racist. I am white and stupid.)

However, other than that... What the shit??? Was that??? I'm still reeling 48 hours later.

The basic plot of this wild ass movie (that I could figure out): Gorilla Grodd has built a time machine so he can go back in time and rule over Feudal Japan and change history (it never really specifies why he chose Japan of all places but go off, DC). He brings Deathstroke (my fav obviously), The Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and The Joker + Harley Quinn (because if you want your plans to work you should absolutely bring in the disaster piece of shit that is The Joker).

Also Catwoman is here but from what I can tell it was accidental on her part/I think she's the one who fucked up the time machine??? Unclear.

So everyone goes to the past, including Batman, Alfred, and all the Robins (Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Damian Wayne as Robin) (none of the girls but let's be honest, I think they dodged a fucking bullet).

Batman ends up behind everyone else during the time traveling??? Not really explained, but now everyone has been in Japan for two years and Catwoman has depression.

Okay onto me rambling:

They have this scene where every villain gets a title card/one-liner, and everyone else but Deathstroke gets a line that fits their shtick. I feel like they had no idea what to do for a pun/joke, so there's just a literal pause then "... Yeah :)" from Deathstroke. I straight up scream-laughed so fucking hard.

All the Robins look so fucking stupid except for Tim. Nightwing looks like Goku, Red Hood has the tallest bucket on his head I've ever seen, and Damian's hair... good fucking lord.

Also, Damian is completely out of character. The people making this movie, I think, have never read a comic with Damian, and just made him into "annoyingly happy child character that is annoying as all fuck and talks to animals for no reason except Baby" and let me tell you, I got such whiplash from seeing that. Also Damian and Red Hood are apparently voiced by the same guy and my buddy Jason is freaking out about it lmao.

Joker's fucking UGLY next question.

Harley sounds low-key annoying in this film but that might just be me... feels like a lot of people who try to voice her make their voices as high-pitched as possible and it's very grating after awhile.

There's an amnesia plot??? Where Harley and Joker get amnesia after a boat fire??? Red Hood beats the fuck out of them and while I feel bad for Harley, fuck Joker, he can die. They get their memories back by seeing a plant... that looks like Joker's face... as my boy Deathstroke would say: "... Yeah."

There's a clan of Batman ninjas from the past and, tbh, they look pretty fucking cool and I thought they were a really neat concept. Doesn't excuse the bat ghost thing.

OH GOD THE ENDING FIGHT

Through a series of unfortunate events, Gorilla Grodd and all the other villains start fighting each other in giant mechas in order to decide who will rule Japan because of course they do.

My favorite parts from the villain fights:

Two-Face's robot is the shit of nightmares. At one point Deathstroke and Grodd are going at it, Two-Face gets between them, then FLIPS A COIN FOR WHO HE'LL BEAT ON (very in-character I guess but I was still screeching). Btw, he chooses to attack Grodd, and Slade just stands back like "... Yeah :)"

Can you tell that I'm not over that stupid line yet?

PENGUIN HAS SEMI-SENTIENT PENGUINS WORKING ON THE INSIDE OF HIS ROBOT WTF!?!? WHERE DID HE GET THEM!?

Poison Ivy is beautiful, next question.

Okay, back to everything in general:

Grodd reveals that he has been low-key mind controlling all of the other villains this entire time, and that he's the one who made everyone build giant robots. He attempts to take full control of everyone, but Joker does instead. This is maybe the most sane part of this entire goddamn movie.

ALL OF THE ROBOTS MORE OR LESS FORM VOLTRON, LADS!!!

So now our heroes (Batman, the Batsquad, and the Batclan) need to take on this giant robot... so what's a boy to do? Well, if you're Damian Wayne in this movie, you get a magic flute from Grodd after he nearly dies for you, and with the help of your baby monkey friend, summon an army of millions of monkeys that form a giant monkey.

This is a Batman movie. Just thought I'd remind y'all of that.

At first it doesn't work, but don't worry! Another monkey (wearing a pink bow to remind us that she's a girl and the other monkey's love interest) comes and helps Damian play the flute better so the monkeys are better.

Monkeys still aren't enough, so with the power of bats and probably a lot of weed being smoked, the bats that came out of literally nowhere form a giant Batman to punch Voltron.

(Side note: they destroy the arm that Deathstroke was controlling so I don't know why he isn't dead. Never explained. He isn't even really hurt!!!)

The Robins enter Voltron to fight the villains because Joker loses control of everyone: Nightwing vs Penguin, Red Hood vs Deathstroke, and I forget the other match-ups, but nothing matters except that Red Hood walking up to Deathstroke and saying "Tell you what... I'll let you take the first shot" was badass and the best part of the movie.

Too bad we didn't get full fights scenes between everyone 🙃

Batman nearly died??? But lived??? I was so lost at this point and probably should've been paying better attention, but I was too busy trying to convince myself this wasn't a fever dream.

They got back to the present and everyone lived happily ever after, the end :)

Notes: I'm sure I missed some shit but Jesus fucking Christmas, it was a wild ride from start to finish. It was, like, not that great storytelling wise, but it was so bad it was funny??? It was the "The Room" of Animated Batman films.

Batman is a fucking HIMBO in this movie. I dunno how to exactly explain it, but he makes so many stupid ass decisions throughout the movie, it's so funny. When he's trying to blend in with the townsfolk HE LITERALLY CUTS HIS HAIR TO HAVE THE BATSYMBOL ON THE TOP OF HIS FUCKING HEAD!!! WHO APPROVED THIS MOVIE!?!?

I have decided that Deathstroke didn't die because trans rights. Is he canon trans? Well, he is in my heart.

Jason Todd's voice actor did a great job with him, tbh I wish he had been more prominent in the movie.

I literally forgot Tim and Dick were there most of the time they were so unneeded in the plot.

I hated Damian but whatever.

I honestly did enjoy the movie, but probably not for the reasons the creators wanted me to. Again, nothing against the creators, but this was such an odd movie for 90% of it's run time.

7/10 would watch again, if only because it was so funny and nonsensical.

Ratings all together:

Animation: 10/10

Voice Acting: 7/10

Story (If taken seriously): 2/10

Story (if not serious): 8/10

All together; watch this if you're a Batman fan that feels like having a hilarious time and doesn't mind seeing your favorite characters be OOC or doing weird shit. I feel like this movie is best enjoyed on call/while hanging out with friends.

[writer-and-artist27]

To Care, Even in Sleep

For @langwrites. Or @cyb-by-lang if you wanted to put this up on the sideblog. Why am I writing this? Because I wanted to, I was inspired by CYB 27, and with some things in life, I can’t help but be worried.

You do a lot for me, Lang. It’s about time I give something back to you too. Aside from the rambling reviews where I occasionally feel ridiculous typing into the void.

Themes are split between Kyle Landry’s piano cover of Hikari from Kingdom Hearts and TYER Records’ English cover of Oracion from No Game No Life. They worked when writing this.

“Is it enough?” is something I constantly ask myself. This time, I hope with all my heart that this is.

“…Kei?”

“…”

I blinked, keeping my grip steady on the pitcher of lemonade in my hands. My voice came out in a barely audible whisper, almost blending into the quiet air of the Gekkō living room with the low frequency. “Kei-chan?”

My reincarnation buddy simply twitched, not even reacting to the call. Another moment resulted in her shifting on the couch, her back left lying against the cushions as her eyes remained closed. Kei’s hitai-ite bandana was barely covering her hair anymore as she unconsciously nudged closer to the nearest armrest, left arm thrown against her stomach haphazardly. The barely visible rise and fall of her jacketed chest as she breathed confirmed everything else.

She fell asleep, Hisako said softly in my place. She must’ve really been tired.

Considering that she came back to the village from a month-long mission a mere hour ago, probably.

I looked around. Wherever I looked, there was used clean furniture telling of a living room well-cherished by a four-person family, but that wasn’t the point. I needed a place to put down my delivery. Thankfully, there was a table nearby, so I could walk over to deposit my newest creation of lemonade pitcher. It could sit there for a little while.

Blanket?

Blanket. And pillow.

I clamped down on my chakra as much as I could to make sure Kei didn’t wake up before quietly skedaddling out of the living room. Flitting across the floor in slippers was surprisingly easier than I thought. “Miyako-bachan?”

Thankfully, once I hit a nearby hallway with my personal task, my surrogate aunt poked her head out of the nearest room. “Yes?” Miyako-bachan met my stare with an inquiring tilt of her head, her long hair falling against her shoulder with the gesture. “What is it, Tomoko-chan?”

“Do you have any spare blankets and pillows?”

She blinked at me, black eyes searching and curious as I approached her. A single second was all it took for understanding to shine in her gaze, and she nodded to herself. “Kei-chan fell asleep?”

With no other response, I simply nodded, avoiding the urge to hold onto the hem of my blouse. There was nothing to be nervous about. Miyako-bachan was a good auntie for many reasons, and this moment right now proved one of them. She caught onto things quickly.

“Wait here then, Tomoko-chan.” Miyako-bachan smiled. “I will go and get them for you.”

The bedding search didn’t take that long, so the only thing left on my mind was how to drape them over Kei without her waking up. The bundle Miyako-bachan found for me was light enough, but my chakra spoke up far more than I ever did in real life, both as Vy and as Tomoko. Kei as a sensor would notice unless I held it down as much as I could.

A balancing act is still a balancing act, Hisako said sagely, nodding her head to the point of her glasses shining over almost mockingly. If I didn’t know any better, it was like she parodied Fate/stay night’s old meme of, “People die if they are killed.” Need my help, dear?

Hm. I hefted the bundle in my hands with a small bounce in my step. The hallway’s wood tiling didn’t even echo under my step. Well. That was one check off the worry list. If you’re good at holding down spiritual energy?

Dear, I’m a Nobody. Energy is my thing. For the first time today, Hisako smirked, waving my approaching worries off with a hand fan. Leave it to me, honey.

Thank you, Hisako. That seemed like enough, but just in case, I added a small, Love you. There was really nothing better than that.

Awwww. I love you too, Tomoko-chan. Now get going. All the signal I had past those words was Hisako’s smirk and a mental push to my back, and I tried not to skip on the way back.

Huh. I probably should’ve expected that. Now where was that heat dial…?

Thankfully, opening the door to the living room revealed Kei still on the couch, and I tiptoed as best as I could across the floor. Now, for one last check…

“Kei?”

“…”

No answer. My reincarnation buddy continued to breathe softly, sleeping the time away.

“Hee hee.” I held the giggle back to myself as I tiptoed over to that couch, gently unfolding the blanket. It didn’t take that much effort to tuck her into it, and fitting the pillow under her head was just as easy considering the space between her shoulders and the nearest armrest. The entire time I went about this, Kei didn’t even move, her expression relaxed from sleep. Hell, the simple fact that she didn’t do so much as twitch when her hitai-ite fell off mid-tucking in said a lot.

Hmmm. Maybe she’s not having a nightmare for once? Hisako pointed out thoughtfully, shrugging her shoulders. She’s not sweating.

Maybe. Despite the uncertainty of the thought, I couldn’t help the smile on my lips. For once in our shared lives, Kei was getting the peaceful moment. She didn’t have to fight like this. Right now, it barely even looked like she was a ninja who could kill with how relaxed her expression was. Right now, with her unfurrowed eyebrows and light eyebags, she looked like the teenager she was supposed to be.

I didn’t even know what prompted my mouth to keep moving. The volume was quiet, and her eyes were still closed, so there was no way she could hear it. At least, I could hope. “Kei, you’re a dork, you know that?”

No answer again.

I sat down on my knees, folding my skirt under myself. “You put so much onto yourself. Taking care of Hayate, earning money to help Miyako-bachan and Wataru-jichan, and then you’re in Team Minato.” The team that suffers the most from canon aside from Team 7, and they already had bad luck. I couldn’t tell if the small laugh that left me was fond or regretful. “You’re amazing, Kei.”

Sure, Kannabi hadn’t happened yet. But Obito and Kakashi were getting along. Kinda. And Rin was alive right now, learning to be a better medic than Canon ever allowed her to be.

But as expected, Kei didn’t answer. Simply breathed in and out, and lay still. Just as she was supposed to, sleeping her stress away.

I brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. Hopefully my feather hairclip could handle that bugger. Or I could adjust the clip itself later. Sure, it was a different sensation compared to my usual hair ribbon, but I could cope. My voice came out somewhat deep in pitch. Almost like Hisako’s inflections. “How am ever I supposed to thank you…? You take on so much of the work changing Canon over me, I don’t think I can ever compare.”

My smile was starting to feel the slightest bit forced, but I knew it was the truth. When Kei chose to be a ninja, I knew she had the audacity to do so much more than I could and ever would admit to. She was the game-changer. She was the main piece that would help us win the war against Madara and other Canon-related bullshit.

“I just can’t help but wonder if you’re happy. If I’m helping you enough.”

You do so much more than me, sacrifice so much more than me, and I can’t help but respect that. You deserve so much more than I can ever give you.

I leaned my head against the nearest empty couch cushion, reaching over to pat her blanket. This wasn’t the time to be feeling inadequate. This time was all about her. “You’re my best friend, Kei. And, just, thank you. For being here. For everything.” I closed my eyes. “Thank you.”

Good. I said it all. Even if I knew she wasn’t going to hear it, I said it.

Then again, what was I even doing? I was muttering ridiculous things to a person who was supposed to be sleeping. What was I coming to?

A mental hug was the next response. You did good, dear.

I did, huh…? Even though my legs called out otherwise, I slowly stood up from the floor to stretch. “That was enough witless and unneeded cheese. Time to make some mochi.”

To work off the sugar?

To work off the sugar.

Or it could just be unneeded fat.

I don’t know how I feel about the food analogies.

Baaaaah, says the girl who uses “happy juice.”

Hey. It works!

Just in case, I pulled on my chakra to keep it closer to my core before glancing over at my reincarnation buddy. Yep. Still asleep.

“I love you, Kei,” I whispered softly. “Just rest up.”

The last I saw before tiptoeing out of the room and past the doorknob was a bit of her messy cowlicks sticking out from under the blanket as she slept on. My hand moved for me in closing the door behind me, and once the familiar click of the door sounded as it shut into its frame, I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

Well then. I slapped my cheeks. No time to sit around. 

The next stop was finding red bean paste.

[almost-fun-doodles]

1, 16, 17 for Joe—

rgerkjrg thANKok here we fuckin’ go1. Physical weak spots:tbh for this one I was wondering if it was for like?? fighting?? or for like something else?? so I guess I’ll do both because where they’re ticklish is already a different ask-so fighting wise. Alastor and Joe spar a lot, hell even before they were close friends and more just training buddies or rivals. He’s got no defense and is really a showy attacker, but it works well I suppose because he’s pretty fast?? so not like you can do damage if you can’t get your fist up against his face nargrgajnrg. Tbh go for the legs?? When Alastor uses his sword against him he tends to swing lower to keep him back, because Joe’s only got one long ranged attack and it takes a while to get ready-For literally anything else?? hair soft, his hair is really soft and it’s fun to stroke kjargrg he really likes it and it’s really calming so tbh Joe would call that a weak spot16. Dark secrets/ “Skeletons in the closet”this one was really hard for me to pick out because I’ve always seen Joe as someone who’d let go of things easily? Well, things that people did to him. Not things he does.Canonically, Joe cheated on his canon girlfriend Silvia multiple times, and since there was never a new installment after the game that revealed that, I guess he still does? Tbh the way I’ve reinterpreted the story I’d feel he’d stop after he and Silvia break up but like.. how he did it? He’d love to forget.Joe’s an artist, and since he was pretty famous once we found out about him cheating, I think he took advantage of those traits a lot. Y’know, going out to bars without trying to hide himself, he’d encounter a girl that might be a fan of him (or not, sometimes seeing a guy hang out at the bar with a sketchbook is interesting on its own) , and he’d have his sketchbook there as a conversation topic. A lot of the times he’d offer to draw them to impress them, and if after that the night went right they’d have sex. I feel that Joe’d done this countless times, and when he looks back on it now, he supposes it’s possible to blame how Silvia treated him (Recently found out that she beats him up and takes pride in it, adding that to the pile of things she’s done to him) but he believes he shouldn’t have used his popularity as a way to create a power imbalance and weaponize his art. He thinks about how a lot of underage people often will fake IDs to get into bars, and he wonders if he had sex with someone underage sometimes, the thought scares him a lot. He’s got picture after picture of woman in one of his sketchbooks, but eventually he tears them all out and tosses them.17. RegretsJoe has like.. at least three major regrets in life-Not seeking more help when he was young and taking care of his younger sister, his mother died when he was 7-8, and his father was already a bit of a recluse, but that was amplified after his wife died, so that left Joe to do a lot of work around the house, plus he struggled a lot in school so the home stress was probably to blame. On top of that, probably regrets not appreciating his mother more when he was alive-attaching himself so much to Silvia. Silvia and him were actually childhood friends, and a lot of Silvia and her sister Goldie’s time was dedicated to trying to be there for him. Silvia’s mom is abusive to her father, just like Silvia is to him, so I feel like that’s where a lot of her behavior came from. But how she treated him fucked with his mind a lot, and though she was an emotional outlet in the later years they were together really hurt him, caused him a lot of unneeded pain, so he wishes he got away from her sooner, cause then he thinks he would’ve grown closer to being the person he is today faster.

-Coming to terms with his bisexuality so slow, and learning to accept himself in general. That dude was gay for his idol before he could properly comprehend love, and he knew he appreciated feminine things as much as masculine ones, but Silvia’d beat a lot of those heteronormative stigmas into his head a lot, and attack his masculinity often. Being attracted to men he always saw as being girly, so he pushed those thoughts down. He was always a big supporter of Alastor coming to be openly gay and gnc tho, maybe its because he kinda wanted to appreciate it for himself too?

[classicfilmfreak]

New Post has been published on http://www.classicfilmfreak.com/2017/09/28/sons-katie-elder-1965-john-wayne-dean-martin/

The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) with John Wayne and Dean Martin

From the four winds they came, the four brothers, their eyes smoking and their fingers itching…

Not itching that much, truth be told. In his first film after major cancer surgery, John Wayne takes the lead as the eldest of the four brothers Elder in The Sons of Katie Elder. They’ve returned to the sleepy town of Clearwater to bury their mother, and in so doing decide to not only discover the truth behind their father’s death and loss of the family farm, but also fulfill what they think would be Katie’s wishes for the yougest son, Bud.

The Sons of Katie Elder marked the end of an era of sorts, though nobody at the time realized it. It marked the last time John Wayne, nearing 60 at the time, played anything resembling a romantic lead and also the last role where Wayne’s character didn’t become laced with the crotchety air that his final roles exhibited. After this, he definitely took on more grandfatherly roles, though perhaps out of necessity rather than desire.

In many ways The Sons of Katie Elder is simply a mundane oater, too slow to develop and overly long for most viewers. Though the second half is quite action-packed, the first half is slow on the verge of being ponderous, though full of exposition and character development. Most notably we get more familiar with the Elder boys.

What helps the picture and has helped its image recover a bit since critical panning on release is a strong cast. First of course, is Wayne himself. Willing himself to a miraculous recovery he looks mostly like his older self, though clearly a bit more haggard as a result of the surgery a few months prior. Though production was delayed, the contingency plans which included at various times Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum or William Holden replacing Wayne proved to be unneeded.

Though clearly straining just a touch in the higher elevations where filming took place, Wayne performs admirably throughout, even performing most of his own stunts during the action sequences. Wayne’s only real misfortune happens only in his casting itself. He’s not only a bit old relative to the rest of the sons (especially Bud), but his age also makes any realism in his relationship with Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer) sorely lacking. In reality, this love interest storyline never takes off throughout the picture, seemingly tacked on at random. In any regards the resulting age difference between the two is borderline creepy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvCm0SITe4U

    Filling out the siblings is Dean Martin as Tom, Michael Anderson Jr. as Bud and Earl Holliman as Matt. Martin, in his second film with Wayne (the first being Rio Bravo) is a wonderful match sidekick. He best two scenes are two opposite ends of the spectrum. In the first (on the comedic side) he demonstrates how to raffle off his glass eye for liquor while in the second (on the dramatic side) he sneaks out of barn late in the film to kidnap one of their pursuers.

Unfortunately the other two brothers fare not so well. Michael Anderson as Bud seems a bit overawed by both Wayne and Martin and one thinks that Dennis Hopper (who plays the villian’s son Dave Hastings) may have been a better choice in this meatier role. If nothing else, Hopper had no real awe of his more famous costars as they’d become drinking buddies. Holliman as Matt has potential but seems underutilized, though he too perhaps seems a bit starstruck.

George Kennedy is setup as the villain initially, complete with black wardrobe, as a hired gun to help handle the Elders. Usually one would expect a dramatic showdown between Curly (Kennedy) and the Elders. Though he does meet his end, it’s in a far from compelling fashion and robs the audience a bit. Perhaps another opportunity lost.

The other antagonist, James Gregory as Morgan Hastings, is more than adequate but seems unable to fill the void left by Curly’s early exit. Though making it to the finale engagement with Wayne, his end too is almost a bit anticlimactic. Overall Morgan seems more angry and self-centered rather than evil and it’s hard to take much interest in him.

The Sons of Katie Elder truly doesn’t deserve the panning it has traditionally been given and it’s pleasing to see it recharged a bit of late. Produced by Hal Wallis and directed by Henry Hathaway (who would direct Wayne a few years late in his only Oscar winning performance in True Grit), the film is a well put together big budget production. Though not as visually striking as John Ford’s westerns, it still bears Hathaway’s trademark touches of atmospheric exteriors and location shooting.

Though lauded, Elmer Bernstein’s score isn’t quite as memorable as say, his work in The Magnificent Seven, but nevertheless it’s a more than worth entry in the Bernstein canon, resembling the earlier film quite a bit especially in its rousing main theme. The resulting soundtrack even includes the song “The Sons of Katie Elder” sung by Johnny Cash, though I don’t recall hearing it during the film.

In spite of a few plot holes (for example, if the Elders’ father passed away six month prior to the mother, did the sons not return to town for his funeral?) and a sluggish start, the film is more than worth two hours of your time. Plus, you get to see Wayne club George Kennedy with an ax handle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHMrhZs1goU

[buddyfaith]

ok check this out right, this is The Great Skewing of AA Ships, in reverse chronological order by birth chunks for convenience.

2009-2011

Athena, Juniper (2009)/ Pearl (2010)/ Trucy (2010/11)

Because this category is all girls, Athena’s introduction is literally her being a Doting Gal Pal™ to Junie, Trucy and Pearl being psychic kid buddies is canon iirc? it’s a good time all around. There’s two years between the oldest member of this batch and the youngest, and as far as i can tell like no male character who shows up more than once belongs here. 

1999-2004

Simon, Maya, Franziska (1999) / Ema (2001)/ Regina Berry, Kay, Klavier, Sebastian (2001/02)/ Daryan (2002)/ Nahyuta (2003) / Apollo, Clay (2004)

okay so im gonna kick this off with the only “”feasible”” m/f pair I can see here, fey///quill. Don’t get me wrong, Maya is a lesbian through and through (imho), but for [straight person voice] argument’s sake: there’s a lot in terms of a potential relationship there? Maya would think Simon as equal parts too cool!!! and too dedicated….. and they would both collect steel samurai trading cards, dont even lie to yourself. This makes 300% more sense than….. the other simon one. look inside yourself.That being said!!!! I don’t think they’ve even met, really. Timelines have always been kinda ehhhhh and if capcom wanted this we would have had it down our throats, especially now that they’ve existed in the same game. I want them to be friends.

ANYWAY look at all of those girls. I admit Regina is only there because she tried to apply to be Kay’s gf  in the yatagarasu but aside from her, any and all of them have met. They’re an ot5 or less depending on personal preference, and honestly any combination of the girls (especially if you exclude Regina, who’s only here on two technicalities) stands as plausible. This is compounded by all of these girls in particular being popularly depicted as lesbians!

aaaand the back six. I admit Daryan shouldnt be here but he’s put with Klavier sometimes and he’s also an asshole. That’s something I’ve seen in fics sometimes so there he is. Anyway. Outside of that and, obviously, Brothers Nahyuta and Apollo, it’s fair game here too? everybody else has a ship with apollo and that’s just the start of it, the only person I’ve genuinely seen never shipped with anybody is Sebestian. 

ANYWAY i’m personally partial to the fan favorites of this generation in terms of the boys (klapoll/o + simon and nahyuta) but im always down to throw clay into the former for the truest ot3. this is my Unneeded Opinion™ to close the category.

1992-1996

Phoenix Edgeworth and Justine (1992-93)/ Larry, Dahlia, and Iris (1993)/ Bobby Fulbright (1994)/ Adrian Andrews (1994/95)/ Maggey and the wonderful couple The Delites (1995-96)

it’s worth noting that the established grand larceny power couple were both born at the same time, that’s cute. also, Adrian is just here for reference against Franziska, who’s in the next chunk chronologically, and Bobby is here for reference against Simon, who is the same. (*deep breath* black/bright….. what could have been…….) also maggey is here to go up with gumshoe but i dont even remember where that dude is.

This technically isn’t a complete chunk. Lang is born in ‘91, in between this batch and the last one, but im making the list and the rules.

Not much to say here except bi phoenix is pried from my cold dead hands? right. Also i’ve never seen justine/ edgeworth in my life and i appreciate that in retrospect, although im sure it exists.

1985-1991

Diego (1985)/ Thalassa, Gumshoe (1986)/ Lana (1987)/ Mia, Calisto Yew (1989)/ Aura Blackquill (& presumably Metis Cykes) (1990)/ Lang (1991)

i put the interpol furry in this half as opposed to the last one because calisto yew had us both going and i Love to Suffer c:

anyway the only romantic cyke///squi///ll i need in my life ever is Metis and Aura. Metis doesn’t have a birthday so im taking things into my own hands there but even if i wasn’t she’d be around here somewhere.

Observable phenomena: lana and mia were born consecutively and are big lesbians…… i should talk about diego here but i won’t, lemme save it for the end, i have conclusive proof mia is a lesbian.

1982-1985

Datz, Valant, Ray (1982)/  Dhurke (1983)/ Katherine Hall (1985)

ok this is kind of the point when things start getting irrelevant but we have the rebel leaders who were probably a ship? i havent done much fandom-ing wrt soj and also ray and kate who is like. the only person in his own age rage that he hits on. ray wyd stop being a creep.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

There’s a 13 year difference between badd (1958) and faraday (1971), making them the largest age difference ship with any traction in my heart. The gap between Gumshoe and Maggey is ten years? wow.

Morgan’s birth is approximated, but she’s a maximum 3 years younger than Greg (1966). 

 Most differences of 6ish years (Miles and Franziska, Phoenix and Maya, Athena and Simon in the outlying 12 year case) are portrayed as siblings (I mean I guess the latter two are my humble onion but. C’mon.) 

Thalassa is closer in age to gumshoe, Katherine Hall, Lana Skye, and Diego Armando (to name a few, there are more) than Zak Enigmar. There is no documented birthday for Jove Justice, but if he was older than twenty when they were married, the same holds true for him.

Defense attorneys aren’t suited to each other! As far as i can tell nobody with a badge on their lapel tries to date anybody else with the same.*

Co-counsel doesn’t date!*

(*my idea that mia is a lesbian is vaguely rooted in this since mi/ego is the only thing that goes against it? and that ends badly! it turns out she didn’t feel that way for him and she realized that once he “died”, so hc that she only said yes to him to see if it would go anywhere/heteronormativity/realized she was a lesbian after dating him)

anyway every other co-counsel relationship is literal siblings or someone and Mr Wright.  

this got even longer than i was expecting but as a closing remark because of the story’s format and timeline we have a particularly large amount of gay ships! like the particular focus that the game casts upon the relationship between wright and miles, klavier and apollo, particularly NOT simon and athena, considering how similar the “i became a lawyer to save you!” narrative is to p+m and yet the story is about her mother, is about coming to terms with their own trauma etc, siblings, anyway. i’m done now.

[sonfaro]

Problems I had with Star Wars: The Last Jedi...

So, first: Merry Christmas!   Second...  Saw Star Wars again... SPOILERS, obviously. After second viewing, I still like it, but it's now below the Force Awakens for me in terms of how much I liked it.  This is a complicated metric though, as I think it's a better written movie in some ways than Force Awakens.  It certainly takes more risks, and leaves us in a fresher state story wise than ever before in Star Wars.  However, I still have problems, and this time I wasn't as glossed over by the stuff I hadn't seen before to ignore them.  To be fair, Some of the problems I had with it (Super Leia for example) WERE better the second time, but some things got worse.  This will largely be a rant of the things I didn't like, just because I want to get the negativity out.

Most people are complaining about Canto Bight, and it's understandable - not much of consequence happens there.  However, I think a lot of the Rey/Luke island stuff drags on and doesn't really fit together well either.  Rey repeats some version of "Kylo Ren is evil and we need you to come back" three or four times to Luke.  One of them after Luke has agreed to train her already.  It seemed like a ham fisted means of getting her to talk about the Force as a power for Lukes lesson, but if so there are better ways than repeating information both the audience and Luke know already.  I think that section needed reworking.  The first lesson should have been the one in the cave - how the Jedi order were hypocrites and what not.  Then move from there.  Also, Luke should have commented on/helped improve her sabre technique so she's not just proficient after having used it only once.  Him watching her suddenly become a ninja and doing nothing just illustrated that Rey again didn't have to work at being super skilled at something and just sort of was.

While we're on the subject of Rey - in TFA and in TLJ (though much less in the latter thank you Rian) Rey is OP.  Flat out.  The explanation we're given in this movie is that as Kylo get's stronger in the force so does she... despite this notion being nowhere in canon prior (Sidious is the most powerful being on the dark side and Vader is second to him.  Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda could hold a candle to either, and honestly neither could Luke (well, he could have dealt with Vader towards the end maybe, but definitely not Palpatine).  The force produces no light side equivalent in the 20 years the two run roughshod across the galaxy.  But it does now?

Snokes death is still a supreme waste.  And no it's not similar to Palpatine.  Palps got NO real hype until return of the Jedi, and his death wasn't treated as a joke.  Cut Luke milking the pokemon down and add in twenty seconds of Luke telling Rey in that cave "Snoke made that hole at the bottom of the island.  I fought him there.  I thought I killed him but he escaped and has haunted my family ever since".  <- takes ten-twenty seconds.  You can easily trim 10-20 seconds of this behemoth for enough so that I at least know where he came from.  I shouldn't HAVE to read an EU book to have a little character backstory on the evil counterpart to Luke in this series.  

Also, Rey and Kylo's story arc made less sense to me upon second viewing, because Kylo never seems to show her any conflict within himself before they force touch.  He barks a command at her the first time they link up.  The second he taunts her about the look she gave him in the forest and hints that Luke did something to him.  Third time was the creepy shirtless scene where we get his side of things.  Then Rey jumps into the dark side hole and suddenly she thinks Kylo is okay to have at a fireside chat - and that there's good in him... When he's displayed NO good to her the entire time?    What?  If their link allowed them to see memories - like Rey sees him decide not to shoot Leia - then it's justified, because that moment would have given her a sliver of doubt.  As it is, it just doesn't make sense, and makes Rey come off as an idiot (which, if you wanna make that her flaw - that she's a naive idiot sometimes, that's at least a step in the right direction.)

Also, one of my major problems that the second viewing crystalized for me is - ALL of the characters hold the idiot ball way too long.

Poe is probably the most egregious, but his idiocy I like, because it's a bit more character than the last time we saw him and it gave Oscar Isaac something to do.  I like that he'll be leading the charge next film.

Admiral Holdo though?  Oh, she came off much worse in the second viewing.  She tells no one... NO ONE about her plan?  I could agree with the think pieces I've read about fighting mansplaining and toxic masculinity if it were clear she'd told some people and was keeping Poe and his crew out of the loop as a lesson, but while I agree Poe was out of line - some sort of plan should be relayed to the rest of the crew while they're running for their lives.  She's literally told no one, and her excuse is some random quote that Leia says about "hope being pointless if you can see it (<a paraphrase, sure - but that's her reasoning)" which inadvertently hands Leia an idiot ball.  That's a flimsy as heck contrivance for unneeded tension that doesn't make logical sense, and is directly responsible for literally everything bad that happens to the resistance.

...I still love that character though.  Best death in Star Wars bar none.  Also, Laura Dern played her really well.  I WOULD be willing to read EU books about her and Leia complaining about politics and blasters and dudes and whatever they wanted to talk about while murdering Stormtroopers

On to my favorite new trilogy character, Finn, and his new buddy Rose.  It's still better than I expected from the trailers... but not by much.  I've read a few articles trying to pass his storyline off as character building, including one from Rian Johnson.  In no way do I believe them.  Finn's character is right where he was at the beginning of the movie, only now he's in an apparent love triangle (ugh.)  Some one wrote that the point of his story was to have him grow from someone who ran to someone proud to be in the rebellion... except a.) that was his story arc in The Force Awakens, and b.) he was 100% already working with the rebellion and happy to do it when the film began!  After his initial "where's Rey" he works with and asks questions of Leia about the Resistance's next step - He's all in when the movie begins.  Him running away isn't cowardice, he just literally puts his relationship with Rey over the resistance.  Which makes sense, because she's his first friend.  And also because HOLDO TOLD NO ONE HER PLAN SO FINN THOUGHT REY WOULD DIE!!!  Another option I read for his arc was that Finn learns the lesson not to run into danger... but that wasn't Finn's problem in the film, that was Poe.  Finn was super cautious, trying to escape the ship in secret to protect Rey, and not wanting to ride the horse-rabbit.  And then even after Roses' sacrifice he still thinks he needs to run in to help Luke, so that's not a lesson he learned.  That situation should have been reversed.  Rose should have wanted to make the sacrifice, but Finn should have stopped her.  Just kill the arbitrary "save the things we L.O.V.E.", because that still wouldn't be earned though.  -_-

That said, Rose remains adorable, and fares better on second viewing.  I'm pretty sure she caught on to Finn sneaking off before she let on, and if so, that's cool on her, she's super observant.  My only problem with her character wise was... why was she, a mechanic, flying with Poe and the remnants of Black squadron?  I can sort of see Finn, because he's a soldier, but her being in her own cockpit seemed contrived for her weird rescue attempt that didn't make sense.  (Those things were old, and safety couldn't be great on them, running into Finn COULD HAVE KILLED HIM.  There's her idiot ball).  Apparently there's a bunch of shippy scenes between the two that build up her crush on Finn that were left on the cutting room floor.  But so much was cut that it just feels unearned.

I'm still eternally grateful that Finn finally got a win of some sort after getting kicked around all of TFA.  The fight with Phasma was 100% more awesome on the second viewing because I saw so much more going on.  I now really need a Star Wars fighting game, no lie.  (Also, lets be honest.  Phasma isn't dead.  They showed blaster fire ricocheting off her armor for a reason.  She'll come back and if we see her face there'll be a massive scare over her eye... Or... OH WOW, I LITERALLY JUST THOUGHT ABOUT THIS AS I TYPED IT!!!  EYE-PATCH GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE!  Someone who fanarts DO THAT PLEASE!

BB-8 played deus ex machine one too many times in this movie.

I paid more attention to Hux this go around, and I actually liked him much more as the sniveling weasel who thinks he's more powerful than he actually is.  Domnell Gleeson is so good in that smarmy role.  I can't wait for the inevitable Kylo/Hux infighting.

Why is Chewie getting orders barked at him from Rey?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?  Or could she ask?  It's the difference between "Chewie, swing us around!" and "Chewie, CAN YOU swing us around?"  Minor point but bugged me.

Kylo Ren is my favorite Star Wars villain of all time.  Adam Driver is awesome.  He's essentially a school shooter who has been rewarded with power and nothing can be more despicable.  I really don't want him redeemed.  "Star Wars is all about redemption!"  you might cry.  Yeah, if one wants it.  But kids need to be shown what happens if you reject it too.  Food for thought.

You couldn't have given Benecio Del Torro a name IN the movie?  Finn and Rose wouldn't have asked him?  Huh?

Also, that war profiteering storyline seems flawed to me.  Of course a weapons dealer will eventually sell X-Wings.  If the rebellion beats back the empire in your sector, what are you gonna do?  Sell them cheap but unsafe TIE's?  The logic of that scene didn't work for me, and the storyline seemed discarded as soon as Benecio Del Torro left, unresolved.

There is no reason Lando Calrissian couldn't be in Canto Bight.  Heck, he should have been the dude with the pendant, and he missed Leia's call because he was gambling and not paying attention.  Rose and Finn could have missed him before they saw him... or just not known who he was because they were young when the first rebellion was a thing.

This is the best acting from Mark Hamill in a star wars movie ever.  It's a shame they veered so far away from his original characterization.  I disagree with him on the notion that Jedi don't give up.  But that's because I think that trait is Luke's.  LUKE doesn't give up, even when he should.  So derpy depressed Skywalker doesn't really gel with the rest of the Saga to me.

Carrie Fisher was a gem and will be missed.  She was perfect.

 A lot of my friend who have issues with it say that they think it's a good movie, just not a Star Wars movie, or something along those veins.  I will say now, that having watched it a second time, I don't quite agree, though I see where they’re coming from.  This one felt more like a prequel Star Wars though.  Not in terms of quality though, as I'd say it was much better than the prequels.  Certainly Attack of the Clones anyway, which is still my least favorite live action movie (the Clone Wars Movie is worse).  I don't think it's a great SAGA movie, because Rian seemed determined to throw away most of the promises and intrigues from TFA and ignore basic lore stuff to make this one. It felt like he hated much of the Force Awakens and wanted a mini do-over, which I would argue was a dumb idea. But despite that, it's definitely a Star Wars movie.  Just not a great one for the saga.

Here's the big issue though - the REASON it's not a great Saga movie, is because this story team Disney's cooked up haven't been much of a story team.  When they got the property and decided to do a trilogy, they should have written out a skeleton for the three movies, just so everyone who writes and directs has an idea of where they're going.  Rian had free reign on this one, and it almost felt like he was making both the first and second movie of his own personal trilogy.  I am looking forward to his actual trilogy, because his ideas were interesting to me and I feel like he does love the franchise.  But it did a disservice to this film.

And finally, just because it irritates him so - Reylo is a terrible garbage ship.  I hate shipping in general - but not since SasuSaku have I truly loathed the idea of two characters hooking up.  Shoot, Reylo is worse.  In no way should it happen.  Honestly, it shouldn't even be promoted, and should be looked on the way Sansa and Joffery's relationship as looked at.  The fact that SO MANY media outlets are romanticizing the damaged white boy (and sorry to make it racial, but it really does feel like there's some of that in there) and thinking it would be totally hot for the first truly prominent female protagonist in Star Wars history to boink him makes me fear for society.  Literally any other ship is preferable to this...

Star Wars is my favorite franchise of all time and holds a special place in my heart, and this movie does bring that love back.  But the people who are confused as to why it’s not as liked as ESB should take a more critical eye to it.  It’s great, but not that great.

...And again merry Christmas!