#but for that i'd need to do a marvel rewatch

[thebeautifulfantastic]

describing each mcu disney+ tv series in one word:

wandavision: introspective

the falcon and the winter soldier: reconstruction

loki: redemptive

what if: hypothetical

hawkeye: nostalgic

moon knight: revolutionary

ms marvel: joyful

she-hulk: forced

[bedlamsbard]

I think everyone who's followed me since my Star Wars days knows this already, but I am not watching That Show (Ahsoka), I don't want to hear about it, I don't want to talk about it, I have everything related to it blacklisted (including "star wars" right now), I will probably unfortunately still know what's happening in it, but like...please do not come try to talk to me about it. No not even about [insert whatever exception you think counts here]. "But what about --" No. Leave me alone about it, I don't want to know, I don't go here anymore, the happiest day of my fandom life was the day I broke up with Star Wars. If you were not around then this sounds overly dramatic but it was Really Really Bad.

[comicaurora]

Just finished rewatching first avenger and was kinda thinking about some of the detail diatribes. In the most recent, you said something about marvel failing to give Cap a real purpose in recent media, and now I can't help but think what could be a plausible motive. At some point I started thinking about superman and how marvel and DC have a tendency to parallel, and I was wondering if you think maybe Cap is Marvel's superman equivalent, in that he sets the bar? As a symbol of hope in a sense?

I'd say that's accurate. Captain America is a paragon with a capital P, and the best versions of him play that to the hilt. He won't just always do the right thing, he'll always find a way to do the most right thing. What he brings to the table isn't military experience or tactics, although on a basic power level that is most of what he can contribute to a fight - he brings an unshakeable moral compass and a clarity that cuts through the noise.

I think his portrayal in Earth's Mightiest Heroes does a very good job of getting that across. It's explicit that Cap is the team leader despite being the most underpowered fighter because he's just that good.

And it's not just lip service. Cap works as a leader because the Avengers trust him to lead them right - something that everyone else is too volatile or self-motivated to handle. For instance, Cap is one of the only people the Hulk unconditionally trusts, because Cap cuts through 100% of the bullshit around him and reads him like a book.

There are episodes where Cap gets depowered, weakened, captured, etc - none of it slows him down or makes him unable to contribute to the story. It's very carefully written to prove that the serum didn't make him Captain America, and its super-strength are not what he brings to the table, even if it does help him a lot.

Cap is characterized as a living legend, with all that entails - not a mythological hero with all their atrocities and downfalls, but an inspiration that sets a nearly impossible standard. He's a legendary hero, a paragon of goodness and nobility. He doesn't compromise his morals, he doesn't leave people behind, he will always choose the most heroic course of action no matter what it costs him. He's the definition of "hero" and all the heroes he inspired are constantly aware of how much he really does embody that legend.

The MCU doesn't know what to do with him because they're torn between "Iron Man has to be the most coolest specialest guy" and "the Avengers only exist onscreen together for five movies and they spend four of them breaking up" and there is absolutely no way to do Cap justice in that environment. I think Winter Soldier comes the closest, but of course we still only see Cap leading the B-team. If the MCU can't understand why it needs heroes, there's no way it'll understand why they need the hero.

[fizz-pop-thwip]

Okay, I'm rewatching Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I noticed this little tidbit.

When Steve goes to find Sam at the support group for vets, Sam talks about how he lost his wingman Riley and how he struggled to find reason to stay at war with them gone.

They move on from the topic pretty quick but it's a very clear parallel to Steve's own experience back in the 40s, loosing his own wing man and ultimately crashing the plane into the ice.

But reasonably, Bucky dying is the only reason he went down with that plane. I'd say he wasn't thinking straight because of the grief and just missing his pal a lot, more then 'i need to kill myself because Bucky's gone.' Either way, call me delusional but I think what Sam said was a pretty clear reference to Steve's own story and I really do think that was Marvel's subtle way of saying that's why he crashed the plane.

[angie-likes-to-art]

Fic Recs (Stranger Things Edition II)

I wanted to share my favorite series/ one shots while I work on my own, please show some love to these amazing writers! All fics are fem!reader Did I watch the most resent seasons of Stranger Things? No Do I have severe brain rot? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely.

Marvel Fic Recs One Two Three Harry Potter Fic Recs One Two Stranger Things Fic Recs One Specific Characters Tangerine Masterlist

Like a Virgin by @usedtobecooler (18+ Only)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington x Reader Request: “(I know you don't write for Steve but this just came to me) What about Steve teaching virgin!reader how to blow virgin!Eddie?!”

We Got A Lovin’ Thing by @sanguineterrain

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “Eddie, as it turns out, is the only one with a brain cell among the three of you. (Or: the time you didn't know you were all dating).”

Dealer’s Choice by @ohcaptains (18+ Only)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “your dealer’s always been a bit sweet on you -- giving you deals and letting you try out new shit. he even lets you make house calls! and pick the music, and sit on his lap...and... ”

Bruises by @imjuststeddietrashatthispoint (18+ Only)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “Working the bar in an underground bare knuckle boxing club, reader meets the new fighter on the block, a wiry, charming metal head.”

Scoops Ahoy! Steve by @loveshotzz

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader Request: “Hello, hello, so, I love Eddie (don't we all?) But I know you take requests for Steve too...I just rewatched season 3 and I'm just craving some nerdy/naive Steve? I feel like we've all made him out to be this suave and dirty man, but I need Steve falling in Nancy's window, Steve playing a fake trumpet, Steve yelling too loudly, "Ahoy ladies! I didn't see you there!" So maybe something where Steve is just absolutely clumsy and dorky, knocking things over and flustered by readers charm and confidence? Needs to be told what to do and will gladly do it, but he's going to make you laugh while it's happening. If you're not into writing it or have NYE and other WIP that are filling your time, thats a-okay, I just love your style of writing and thought I'd throw it out there! Sending love, good writing vibes, & all the Eddie/Steve thoughts your way! 💕”

Vickie’s Friend by @idyllicwillowtree

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader Summary: “Robin isn’t the only one chatting up a lady while volunteering at Hawkins High. ”

Never Could’ve Seen You Coming by @supernovafics

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader Summary: “in which a mutual wingman situation forces two strangers to talk to one another. both you and steve are only doing it to help your friends, but it surprises you how effortless talking to him is. simply the idea of love or even deeply liking someone has always made you nervous and scared, and would usually lead you to running away rather than facing your feelings. but, maybe it’s this unfamiliar comfort you find yourself quickly having with steve that can make you finally want to do the opposite of run and actually dive headfirst into what you’re feeling”

More Than Just Friends by @schoopsahoy (18+ Only)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader Summary: “you and your best friend have gotten into the habit of making out, as long as there's no touching. but that's easier said than done.”

Hard Times (Series/ Ongoing) by @bimbobaggins69 (18+ Only)

Pairing: Roommate! Eddie Munson x Reader Summary: “after getting your electricity and water shut off, you and your roommate are desperate for money, so desperate that you’re willing to have sex with each other on camera, but will your 10+ year friendship be able to withstand all the drama that comes along with shooting a porno?”

Sweeter Than This by @sanguineterrain

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader Summary: “you and Steve take the gang apple picking.”

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s1 ep6: Eye of the Needle

Another episode I'd almost entirely forgotten about, and so basically got to experience for the first time again. It was very good, and a bit heartbreaking, but in a good way.

Being early in the show still, when the crew were still kind of in the denial stage of grief, this 'almost getting home' story hits particularly hard. The cast all do a marvelous job of portraying the characters bouncing around from excitement, to desperation, to disappointment as the plot twists and turns. I really truly didn't remember where any of it was going, and it was quite the emotional roller coaster. Kate Mulgrew in particular puts her whole heart into it, and I got a little misty eyed at Janeway's pleas at more than one point. We get treated to more fabulous Janeway hair down moments in this one, but the scene is so heart tugging you forget how pretty she is and just want to give her a hug because she tries so hard to make this random incredulous Romulan understand how desperately they want and need to make some contact with home. (And while I've always been critical of putting Starfleet women in pink nighties, since it's a very obvious attempt to 'soften' them and reassure the male audience that they have 'a feminine side', regardless of whether their characters woud actually be the type of person to wear something like that- and I don't feel like Janeway would- however, I'll let it slide this time because there's literally no outfit they could put her in that could take away from how commanding and compelling she is. Goddamn I love her.)

The subplot of Kes advocating for the Doctor was also nicely done in this episode. Obviously the Doctor being treated poorly by crew members because he's a hologram is a metaphor for all the people society treats as lesser for one reason or another, and it was an important moment when Janeway realizes that whether he's a hologram or not, letting her crew treat someone with disrespect just because they can get away with it is not okay, in and of itself. When she decides to stop thinking of him as another computer program and start treating him like a member of the crew, it's a crucial turning point for his character to start thinking of himself that way too, and makes the scene where he tells Kes he'll have to be left behind if the crew goes back to the Alpha Quadrant all the more of a gut punch.

I also liked getting more of B'Elanna and Harry science-ing together. There really was a lot more of it in the beginning than I remembered. It was great, and I wish they'd kept it up. It was cute as hell when she called him 'Starfleet' again, and I wish they'd kept the nickname as a running thing through the show. Harry's the first Starfleet person she tells about her estranged parents to, and I think that's a mark of trust in their friendship that really should have been something the writers went further with instead of abandoning.

The ending was generally a downer, but left them with a tiny sliver of hope, which I don't think was ever followed up on, as far as I can remember, so I guess we can assume their messages didn't get through, unless I'm forgetting a later reference somewhere. But I really appreciate stories that remind us that even if goverments may be enemies, most average people are good people who are willing to help others in distress. That's the spirit of Star Trek, to me.

Tl;dr: a well written, bittersweet episode.

[caliburn-the-sword]

since i've been gone:

watched atla live action. hate the tell don't show writing style. got mad every time i saw ian ousley on screen. suki and jet ate that up tho i'm literally SO pan. zuko's flashbacks made me cry. him leading the division that he saved in finding the avatar is a nice touch. love how secret tunnel and two lovers/omashu is gay now

am starting a jade fire gold by june cl tan reread because holy fuck i'm in zutara feels rn

read if you could see the sun by ann liang. made me cry shake throw up. obsessed with her writing and need her book to hurry up and appear in aus

read the first shatter me book since i enjoyed the first 6 chapters on google. BIG mistake. how did simultaneously nothing happen in that book while everything happen at the same time?? why do people hate adam and love warner??? why is every man on the planet obsessed with juliette??? however the last two chapters gave xmen vibes so unfortunately i will be reading the rest of the series at some point in time

i became OBSESSED with the maleficent movies for an entire fortnight. so much so i thrifted a grunge fairycore skirt with NOTHING to style it with. can't wait for maleficent 3!!!!

follow up to maleficent, i ended up rewatching all of descendants. all i'm gonna say is mal did nothing wrong. ben is insanely mid. i think that evie's backstory is a lot darker than let on by the disney channel rating but i'll make a separate post about my headcanons for her. saw the teaser for the 4th movie. rip to cameron

i watched the marvels FINALLY. i ADORED kamala as always even with all the shitty writing changes to her backstory, iman slays as always. i screamed cried and threw up when i saw the og beast from xmen and professor x mention!!! seeing carol from the kree's perspective was also actually REALLY interesting. the family angst between monica and carol also made me emotional. seeing kamala become disillusioned with her hero was also very civil war 2 coded and i'd LOVE to see that fleshed out more. i'm interested to see whether kamala is trying to form the young avengers (which she was never a member of and predates her by 10 years), champions or secret warriors (both of which kate was never a member of if i remember correctly)

because of xmen crumbs i unfortunately rewatched about half of the gifted s1 for those feels

i now know 4 programming languages and am living out my own little cress darnel life

watched a few episodes of love between fairy and demon, thought i didn't like cdramas, gave an episode of who rules the world and actually?? i might be into it. i'll see in a few episodes time (IF i have time)

[poppypirate]

So I'm rewatching PJO episode 6 in preparation for tomorrow (so excited!!!) and here's some thoughts~

1) I watched the Iris message with Luke like a million times and it is SO unnerving to see what a master manipulator he is. He's the cool older friend everyone wants to be seen bumping fists with - and he's giving them so much caring attention. All while subtly deflecting the conversation to pushing the conclusions HE wants Percy and Annabeth to arrive at. For the first time, I was reminded how scary this thing with Luke was, and once again, gave me the same feeling I'd had when I first read the books :')

2) Social commentary in the Lotus Casino like pls????? Rick NEVER fails to deliver on the best messages. Drugs injected into the air of one of the biggest gambling businesses in the world? Grover literally getting "lost in time" in the VR headset? Hermes lamenting about parenting? I love it.

3) Percabeth🥹🥹🥹🥹 "You were like two seconds ahead of me" SO PERCY. I was wheezing. Percy FINALLY opening up to Annabeth about the dreams had me sighing in relief. And the way the two of them navigated Hermes and the Lotus Casino together had me sobbing fr. MY BABIESSSS

4) PERCY DRIVING IS SO ME PLS. "Try aiming for the middle!" Like same bro been there😭 Waiting for a full minute after the guy cuts him off and then angrily honking ME. ME ME ME. I detest driving and I mean. Oh, and the best part - Annabeth staring proudly at Percy as he goes up that ramp, and Percy happily looking into her eyes AND THEN CRASHING INTO THE WALL I WAS BESIDE MYSELF I did not know this was something I needed. And... of course... WISE GIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRLLLLLL

5) When Annabeth said "it's easy to forget what's important when you're alone" it reminded me so bitterly of Luke. For this kind of lone forgetting is exactly what Kronos is betting on when he singles Percy out as his backup or whatever. It's scary how blurred the line between Luke and Percy's possible destinies is. And branching from the same dialogue, Grover's reaction after he realises he forgot quite a bit was heartbreaking. It kind of reminded me of the scene from Chalice of the Gods (spoilers, yall!) when Grover's sad Percy and Annabeth will be leaving. Hit too close to home :')

6) The Nereid was so mindnumbingly beautiful??? Also, they're making Percy's colour palette green and gold instead of blues, and while that's going to take a while to get used to, they're doing an aesthetically marvellous job!

7) But... there was no zebra :(

Anyway now I'm SO excited for tomorrow's episode I cannot WAIT. I cant wait to see the Cerberus, the Underworld, and Hades and Persephone (the gods all look so amazing so far this is going to be SO good) - and I can't wait to see Sally again!!! Her figure in the teaser seemed so cool. Literally counting down the hours😭

[monsterfloofs]

I don't know if this recommendation will interest you or if you've already seen it but have you seen the movie Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust?

They have the whole movie in dub and sub on youtube for free and I'm plan to rewatch it again this year.

It following a Dhampir vampire hunter who is commissioned to save a lady named Charlotte from the Vampire Meier Link who seemingly stolen her away. But there is more to it than most people in there world expect due to prejudice.

That's the best I can describe without spoiling it. Now it's a mostly fine movie to get through but I must mention at the final act especially from what I remember there is some blood and gore sprinkled throughout the film but other than that its a great movie. Especially for Halloween. That even me who is a bit squeamish I do really like the movie.

It's really beautifully animated and characters. And it's set in the future but covered in old gothic era elements and aesthetic.

Now you don't have to consider the recommendation but if you're interested it might add to your Halloween.

Sorry for the long ramble but I saw your post about it being hard for you this season and I've been feeling the same lately catching a cold at the cusp of the season. But I'm trying to plan out for a fun day on Halloween with things I like to make it more special.

Here's hoping it ends on a high note for us both and everyone else who needs it! Take care and I wish you all the best and fond wishes!

I have not seen a Vampire D movie! I did listen, to an audio book of the story while I was at work shelving one time. I thought it was a facinating story and did not realize the world building in Vampire D included both electronic marvels and also semi historical things thrown together in a distopian world due to what happened to the human race. It's a fascination mash up between the two and from the snippets of art I have seen it is a very beautiful art style.

Geniunely, truely, from the bottom of my heart, please never feel bad about rambling here! I am a shy bean who has trouble making connections and communicating so getting to talk to others, even in an ask format is a treat to me. I say this with every ounce of sincereity I can muster. Thank you, thank you for taking the time to share something that is precious to you. You have no idea how many times I read this before trying to figure out an equally suitable response.

And I am also going to send you a buck of digital hugs 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂 because it sounds like you need them too this season. I am so sorry that spooky month is also not going so well for you. But yes, we shall do our best to reclaim it, and if that means extending it through November and beyond well, I'd like to see people try and stop us! Spooky season is a mindset after all. ^-^ ) Thank you again for sharing a spooky month tradition of yours with me! Watching beloved movies is high on our tradition list too!

I honestly would love to read about what others do to celebrate, what nostalgia things they like to do, what movies they dust off and rewatch every year like a ritual. Songs or games, or lighting candles? Decorating the porch, heck, where I live, raking leaves is like a ritual. We have a beautiful fall change over and the leaves get everywhere! A big tradition for our household is holding a family pumpkin carving party, where we eating apple dumplings and watch Charlie Brown's Halloween and The Disney Legend of Sleepy Hollow to celebrate my Mother's Birthday since she was born just a few days from Halloween!

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

7 comfort movies, 7 tags

A big thanks to my sweet friend Valentina @valentinaonthemoon for tagging me in this! Her list can be found here and it's got some true gems, definitely check it out!

The Sound of Music (USA, 1965. dir: Robert Wise) This is THE movie of all time for me. My absolute favourite, and the one I watch when I need to be reminded that there are good things in this world. It simply heals my soul, there's no other way to describe it.

Ponyo (Japan, 2008. dir: Hayao Miyazaki) It's not a comfort movie list without a Miyazaki movie. Ponyo specifically is a lovely fable about a goldfish, a boy, the beauty of nature and the power of true, pure, joyous love. Marvelously wholesome.

The Intern (USA, 2015. dir: Nancy Meyers) A little gem of a movie about the unlikely friendship between a 70-year-old gentleman and the up-and-coming CEO of a recent fashion empire. Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro are perfect in this one. It's got the vibes of a romcom, but with a platonic relationship at its core. Really endearing.

C'è ancora domani [There's still tomorrow] (Italy, 2023. dir: Paola Cortellesi) The most recent addition to this list! C'è ancora domani is the story of a normal housewife simply living her normal life in post-WW2 Italy and dreaming of a better future. You'll laugh, you'll feel, you'll cry your heart out and you'll be happy about it. A must-watch.

Sister Act (USA, 1992. dir: Emile Ardolino) This is one of my favourite movies of all time. There's no joy quite like singing and dancing along Whoopi Goldberg and her delightful choir of colorful nuns. It's impossible to come out of this movie without a smile on your face.

Knives Out (USA, 2019. dir: Rian Johnson) If there's one thing I always love, that's a good murder mystery with a funky detective and a cast of colorful suspects. Add in some really good performances from all the actors, some *incredibly* high-quality sweaters, and just the right pinch of rich spoiled people getting what's coming to them, and you've got a classic for the ages. I can't believe it took them this long to get Daniel Craig in this kind of role, he's a natural.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (USA, 2014. dir: Wes Anderson) What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? I find it impossible to describe - it *has* to be experienced first hand. It's perfect and delightful in every way.

Compiling this list was a lot of fun - I really need to rewatch some of these movies asap! They're all very dear to my heart and I absolutely recommend them all. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thanks again @valentinaonthemoon for the tag! Anyone who wants to take a shot at this, feel free to use this post as your invite - and tag me if you do, I'd love to check out your favourite comfort movies! Have fun!

[flydotnet]

Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where I give myself stupidly niche requests according to this marvelous card… or something. It’s been three years dawg. (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled).

Besides, if I didn't mess up in the first place, this wouldn't have happened.

This fic is quite a long time in the making. I started working on it last year, before I even had the idea for Rice Vinegar, a previous entry in this bingo card series. I was reading/catching up to the absolute banging series that is Brimstone in my Garden, Roses set on Fire by @inkblackorchid. I was on my yearly YGO kick, this time mostly 5D's-related (it's either 5D's or Arc-V, I've come to notice) and reading Snapping Jaws and Piercing Horns (which you absolutely should read, btw, but I have a sneaking suspicion that, if you're reading this, then you've at least heard of SJPH), when the idea for this fic came to me. I really like the friendship between Aki and Crow that the series sets up during the WRGP arc, because it's got my two favourite 5D's characters involved and also it's got canonical whump material linked to it and I'm a sucker for that stuff. Everything was here for success; I was unemployed at the time so I had a bunch of free time on my hands, the inspiration was crisp and I could fuck around and find out with writing new characters I hadn't before. Issue: I hated what I was actually writing.

Since I was reading InkBlackOrchid's works, I was like "God, I need it to be as good as hers". Problem is, I don't have her writing style at all, all the while I was somehow attempting to pastiche how she writes Aki's POV. The result was a very spiteful narration that doesn't even fit Aki at this point of her character development or even the story I was trying to tell in the first place, and a lot of clumsy descriptions. It was bad, y'all. Now, that was the first draft. I had abandonned it at first, thinking I'd just never do anything with it nor with the idea I had, but I just happened to look at my AO3 subscriptions, remembered the banger 5D's fic series, and finally went on InkBlackOrchid's Tumblr. Reading her Autopsy of Crow series of posts reminded me of my WIP and made me want to finish it so I could throw my two cents in the 5D's fight.

I mention Brimstone in my Garden, Roses set on Fire this much because my love for this series is a genuine explanation for some elements of this fic. I like its version of canon so much I wrote established Faithship into this fic as if they were actually dating by this time of the series, forgetting that actually didn't happen in 5D's proper. Sorry not sorry on that front, btw, I've always shipped them and I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. The very first version of this idea wasn't even going to delve into Aki losing her powers after her crash pre-Team Catastrophe (my very own guilty pleasure of a duel, I actually really like it lol), but since I was so inspired by something that did, I figured I had to tackle the question as well. I hope it doesn't fall flat on its face. Be Careful what you Wish for had me by the gametes.

Wow, I had a lot of things to say for something that's kind of just whump I decided to write on a whim like a year ago, huh. I don't even know if my characters sound right (as in, I think my Aki is OOC, she's too open if that makes sense?), it's my first rodeo and it's scary but hey, getting out of your comfort zone is how you improve, ain't it? I don't know if this story is good, I didn't really rewatch 5D's before writing it, just pantsed it out based on memory and what I rewatched earlier this year (I think it was this year? I remember writing a post for my side Tumblr back then mentioning Max Verstappen out of all people and I wasn't into F1 until late 2023. Anyway).

-------------------------------

Outside the Comfort Zone

Summary: Aki passes by Yusei and Co.'s living quarters to retrieve a copybook. Crow makes it way harder than it has any right to be. (or: a recently-ish powerless Aki finds herself having to care for a very stubborn, unwell Crow, and it goes as well as you'd expect.)

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (set during the WRGP arc)

Word Count: 4K words

AO3 version available here.

Event run by @badthingshappenbingo

-------------------------------

There’s something off with the garage of Poppo’s Time, today.

Oh, of course, most of it is obvious: the air’s still, there’s a distinct lack of mechanical clicking and Yusei isn’t here. It’s a minutia of various little details that, added together, make the entire place tilt forty-five degrees to the left.

It’s, unfortunately, not just these which make her feel this way. Frankly, if it was, Aki would’ve already gone out the door and back home. She’s just here to recover a copybook and it should’ve only taken her mere minutes to do that; yet there she is, ten minutes after stepping on the other side of the door, still without her biology copybook, still in a home that isn’t hers, and unsure of where to take the situation next.

The reason might just be the odd-looking Crow that’s standing in the way between her copybook and her.

Is she friends with said Crow? Yes? Maybe? “Friends” sounds a bit strong for their relationship, she’d say; there are no strangers to each other, and she likes sharing a room with him enough to consider them on friendly terms, but they don’t share enough emotional intimacy for them to be friends. At least, that’s how she sees it – maybe he sees it another way.

(Or maybe they’re already friends, and she’s just too afraid of rejection to admit it to herself – better be safe than sorry, even around the most transparent person she knows).

Whatever their relationship is, what Aki knows without much doubt is that Crow isn’t looking like himself. His stance is slouched and unsteady, his hand is holding the doorway just a little too tight for comfort and his eyes look mussed. It’s like his gaze, while explicitly trying to focus on her, is instead looking at something right behind her – as if seeing through her, which is a thought Aki truly has no time to unpack.

“Oh, hi Aki,” he tells her with an indignant wave, head bobbing along with the sway of his hand.

“Goo – good afternoon.”

His smile turns into a puzzled expression, which doesn’t help the impression she’s gotten so far. He looks around, his left eye twitching and his brow furrowed, then looks back at her when it seems like he hasn’t found what he wanted.

“You not hangin’ out with Yusei?”

Aki almost freezes.

“What do you mean?” She asks back, a shiver going down her spine.

Crow’s brow furrows even further, finally pointing her in the direction of the dark rings under his eyes.

“What do you mean, what do you mean? You come here to hang with Yusei, right?”

“He’s… He’s not here, Crow,” her voice staggers against her will. “He’s in Peru with Jack. I just came her to get a copybook I forgot here.”

The reminder, as useless as it should’ve been, seems to have confused him even further.

“Why the fuck would they go to Peru?” Crow asks, anger sipping in his tone. “That’s on the other side of the damn planet!”

He then hacks a lung out, prompting Aki to jump out. It’s harsh, not unlike the coughs she’d get when she was ill as a child and it seemed like the world was melting around her, psychic powers mixing in with the fever – the powers who, like so many people before, have abandoned her.

The silence is too heavy. She can’t let herself falter now. She may be in danger – scratch that, she’s fine, Crow is the one who needs help as far as she’s concerned. They’re friends, or as close as it gets, and she needs to step up now that his foster brothers aren’t here.

“They’re there to follow on a lead Bommer gave them.”

Her heart sinks a little further when all she sees is confusion. In fact, anything she says seems to result in confusion.

“How? That guy’s dead, y’know,” he gulps with a wince. “I know. I watched it happen. And, like, the dead don’t send emails.”

It’s an understandably difficult thing to swallow, she’ll give it to him. To this day, and despite her (former) psychic powers and links to the extrasensory through her Signer’s Mark, she still has little idea how Carly or Misty have managed to rise from the dead. It’s beyond either of their comprehension.

What shouldn’t be for Crow, however, is the whole travel thing. He was there when Yusei and Jack announced they were going. He must’ve been there to fret over them and their budget like Jack likes to complain about. So how come he cannot remember any of this? Why is he so—

“What time is it already?” Crow asks out of the blue.

It takes her aback, but she looks over her phone screen anyway.

“It’s fifteen to six in the evening.”

His face gets splattered in surprise.

“Shit! I’ve got a shift to attend to!”

“What shi—”

His hand lets go of the doorway.

“Sorry to leave this quick, Aki, I’m in a hurry—”

He walks past her, but before he can make it past her, he folds in half into another coughing fit. Fearing the worst, Aki runs to catch him with her arms, the click of her heels almost hiding the harsh sound of his cough. Heat sips through his clothes and through her gloves, ringing the final alarm that finally allows her to deduce what it was that bothered her so much about his appearance.

Despite the audible pain in his breath and the grimace on his face when he moves his arms, Crow still tries rising to his feet on his own. He weakly bats her away with his hands, but he has to lean against the nearest wall to stay upright. It’s an unreal sight, knowing how stubborn and enduring he truly is. Where is the man who was driving with an injured shoulder mere weeks ago?

“Is this shift really that urgent?” She makes no attempt at hiding her ever-growing concern. “You don’t seem like in any state to go to work…”

“What day of the week are we on?” is all he says back to her.

“It’s… Wednesday? Why?”

Crow’s face finally lights up.

“Oh! I’ve got some time ahead of me then.” He chuckles, but it dissolves into a cough, and she can’t keep her grimace to herself. “I thought we were Monday, for some reason?”

“You honestly seem very out of it,” she ends up bluntly stating instead of going along. “I really don’t think you should go work today.” Or tomorrow.

“Can’t afford not to,” he croaks back, but it lacks any sort of sting.

What looks to her like a dizzy spell ends up taking his resolution out, his whole body pitching forward. Once more, almost in rhythm, her body moves on its own as a result, her arms catching him in his fall.

Heat lingers on her hands even after she has finished bringing him to his room.

Unlike most of Team 5Ds, Aki has never had to care for someone else. She has none of Yusei’s instinct for help nor Crow’s experience with dealing with children. Usually, when faced with this sort of situations, she’d entrust the person in need of care to someone with a lot more ease in this domain – as it turns out, most of the time, it’s asking Jack’s childhood friends to handle his problems, much to his protests. As such, she’s never had to play nursemaid before, and nobody has trusted her with such a role until Yusei came along, and for once, she hadn’t wanted that to change (except for Yusei, but this is a situation that’s unrelated to her current predicament).

Whatever she’s used to, unfortunately, is now out of the realm of possibility. The two people she could ask about it on any other occasion where the need could rise up are respectively currently in Peru with terrible reception and too busy refusing to stay in bed for much longer than a minute to give her a precious hand.

And, you know, you don’t usually ask someone who’s sick to take care of themselves, let alone help you in the process.

Very much to her misfortune, this is all without taking into account that Crow is as stubborn as a patient as he is in every other thing. It was to be expected, of course, and Crow is nothing if not stubborn; but it hasn’t made anything easier. If anything, she should’ve seen it coming as soon as he was too beyond himself to know where his housemates were and why.

Still, it doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try her best in this situation. What friend would she be if she left a comrade in need on his own, harmful to himself? (And she craves for empathy, a part of her whispers, the part of her who misses her powers for the bond she enjoyed having with Black Rose).

Despite a losing battle against his own voice and the way his limbs tremble whenever he tries holding himself out of bed, Crow is insisting that, no, he’s fine to go work, and she has no reason to worry, because it’s not his first rodeo… or something along those lines. Admittedly, it’s difficult to understand everything when he’s struggling to push the sentence out of his throat to begin with, let alone articulate his thoughts.

All that ends up doing as a result is annoying her, because this is oh so similar to Yusei but in all the wrong ways, but that’s once more beside the point. She isn’t here to lash out her annoyance at Crow being an idiot, she’s here to make sure he doesn’t die an idiot.

“I’m tellin’ you, I’m fine,” he whines, a hand already back at gripping the edge of the blanket.

“Why are you so insistent on pretending you are?”

(She doubts it’s because of a martyr syndrome like Yusei’s).

“I’m not pretendin’ anythin’. I’m actually fine.”

His voice is feeble, his words tremble out of his mouth.

“Crow, I know you’re not. Please stop making this harder than it has to be.”

He deflates with a single, wheezing sigh.

“It’s Satellite nature, I guess,” he shrugs with a slight smile. “Both Yusei and Jack got it too, y’know.”

“Speaking of Yusei, right now you’re just like him in that regard.” She lets herself sigh. “Pretending like you’re fine when all signs point to the contrary.”

“Yeah, it’s… Y’know, when you were sick in Satellite, unless you had someone to shelter you and cover your back, ‘t was like signin’ your death certificate.” He coughs again, and it keeps dragging on, worsening, and it pangs at her heart every single time. “Guess that never went away, even now.”

“Even for something like a work shift?”

“Especially for a work shift. Do y’know how tight our finances are? Jack sure don’t seem to, that asshole!” A barking cough interrupts him. “Fuck this shit, I could be literally anywhere else but here. Plus…” He turns to her, and despite the evident weariness on his face and in his eyes, his gaze is sharp. “You should be doin�� better things with your time than watching over me, though.”

Aki rises an eyebrow.

“Such as?”

He shrugs again as a response.

“I dunno. Studyin’. Playin’ cards. Drivin’ a D-Wheel. Tryin’ to… sort through what mess that must’ve been for you, these past few weeks.”

The last bit hits her a lot harder than the previous ones. Having to replace Crow in haste due to a mysterious crash, the conflicting sentiment of her first race as a member of Team 5Ds, her own crash, and now, having to grapple with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of her powers… It’s been a lot of turmoil. Too much, in fact.

Despite all of the pain, it’s somewhat heartwarming to have someone genuinely worry for her, even if it tugs at an uncomfortable heartstring. It means she has the company she so desperately looked for and thought to have found in Divine, now truthful and actually what she needed. Yet, she feels uneasy when she has to show vulnerability in front of them, afraid of what they could take advantage of, of hidden intentions that may be hiding beneath a smile. Letting go of her masks has been terrifying, even if it’s the right thing to do.

For the longest time, she could protect herself with her powers. They were her curse, they were her blessing. They made her unlike the others but allowed her to connect with Black Rose and all of her deck. She misses them even now as she’s within the warmth of Team 5Ds; who don’t judge her for them like the others. Who care for her, like Yusei has ever since meeting her, like Crow is at the moment. Even in pain, they care.

The least she can do is pay them back now that gets the chance to. Now that her powers have left her more vulnerable than ever and created a void she can’t seem to fill on her own.

“I’ll be fine not brooding about it for a while,” is all she tells him in response.

Because it’s the truth. Sometimes, letting the dark clouds consume you is worse. It’ll always be worse, no matter how easy it looks.

“You sure? Because watching over an ill guy gets boring real fast.” He gives her a small smile. “I’d know, I’m usually the one doing the watching.”

She replies with a smile of her own.

“A bit of calm would do the both of us some good, I believe, after all that happened.”

He closes his eyes with a deep sigh.

“Can’t go against that, I guess.”

“Take some rest. I’ll be here by the time you wake up.”

It’s not intended to be a lie to make him feel better about sleeping.

“If you’re lookin’ for it, the medicine is in the cabinet in the bathroom. Pretty sure we got the right stuff at least.”

“I’ll go get it.”

That, and a basin of water, and everything she can remember from hazy memories of childhood illnesses.

Yusei once told her to write down thoughts that were confusing to her, as a way to at least alleviate the black clouds in her mind. He helped her pick a cute-looking notebook for it too, just the size of her uniform pockets, red with an embroidered rose on top of it. It seemed too fitting not to pick it, and Yusei seemed even happier about it than she was. She isn’t sure if what she’s writing in it right now makes sense, but it feels nice to have a place where to dump all of the thoughts that’d usually fester and poison her mind nonetheless.

The loss of her powers continues to leave her at a loss. The best way she can describe the feeling is a bittersweet void it’s left behind: she’s finally normal, like she wished for so long when pretending to be a witch, yet now that she is, it’s like this life wasn’t for her. She misses the bond she had with her Monsters, now that she can’t caress Black Rose Dragon like she could for so long. It makes her feel lonelier in a way that’s wrong to her. It’s like she never knew what she actually wanted out of life, out of the world.

Writing down this loss, this void and this coldness is what’s helping her process some of it. It onsets the way the melancholy would’ve taken ahead of her before she met Yusei and the others. It allows her some lookback and to keep her head out of the water until she can find a solution or get used to a new situation. It feels… soothing, at times, despite it just being scribbles on paper.

A hand strangles her arm, her hands lets go of her pen, her notebook falls to the ground.

“What—”

“Who the hell are you?!”

Shaken, she stares back at her assailant – a frazzled-looking Crow, his eyes glazed over and his pupils dilated. His breathing is erratic, coming out in little wheezes, his teeth gritting.

“I…”

Aki has no idea what to do. A stranger attacking her is no surprise, but a friend? Clearly, something is very wrong with Crow, and she has trouble connecting the dots as to why he’s in such a state. Did she not look after him hard enough? Is she just as neglectful as she was when she was isolated and lost, manipulated, used as a weapon? Is this retribution for that, to be forgotten by those she cherishes?

He lets go of her arm, seemingly against his will – it seems like he doesn’t have enough strength left to actually fight her. She can hardly breathe normally, every gasp of air coming quicker than the last, but she has to compose herself back anyway. She’s the one who’s supposed to fix things here, and now, she doesn’t want to destroy anyone further. Perhaps she can still find redemption.

“What’re you doin’ here?!”

Crow’s voice is unsteady, made all the worse by the cough that’s dried it into being hoarse, and his words slur together, making him very difficult to understand. Aki wishes she knew what do say back, but…

“I’m – I’m looking after you,” she explains back, because calming him down seems like a good idea.

He cocks an eyebrow at her, doubt just barely readable in his half-closed eyes.

“Who’re you?”

“I’m Aki. I’m Yusei’s girl… I’m his friend. I’m your friend.”

His hands grab at her shoulders.

“What’s tellin’ me you are, huh?!”

She looks around the room, trying to ignore how uncomfortable the pressure from his knuckles on his shoulders are, and the heat sipping from them almost right into her skin, before finding a sign of reassurance.

“See this basin of water?” She points it with her finger, he follows it to the bottom of the chair where she sits. “It’s mine. I was trying to keep your fever in check.” That sounded like a good idea, at the time. “I’m admittedly… not great at it, unlike you are, but I’m trying.”

His gaze slightly clears up – and then his eyes flutter close and don’t open up, leaving him in her arms once more.

It’s sort of a wake-up call for Aki, as she puts him back to bed. She should’ve kept a keener eye, but instead got lost in thoughts. She was so sure she had done all of the right things already, yet there she is, only realizing after the fact she wasn’t careful by being attacked by a delirious guy who mistook her for the enemy. Talk about failing at the mission you assigned yourself.

She takes off her gloves and puts a hand on his forehead – his fever has gone back up when she wasn’t looking. It makes sense, miserably so. But this is no time to mop for herself, she must be more like Yusei. She must help out her friend even if she has her own issues. She can’t do anything about her powers, but she can do something so Crow doesn’t have to see things that aren’t there.

So she picks up the washcloth that fell onto his lap and twists it cold again, determined to correct her mistakes.

Aki is staring at Crow when he finally opens his eyes again. They’re clear, able to follow the way her hair sways when she backs up from the bed and back into the chair. Her back is trying to make her pay for the unnatural positions she made it endure, but it’ll have to bear through it for a bit. She’s not letting him down now.

“Hey,” he tells her, stifling a cough.

“Glad to see you awake again,” she confesses. “How are you?”

“Erh… Sore. Sick. You know the deal.” He sits up with the help of the headboard of the bed. “How long was I asleep for?”

“I’d say… an hour or so.”

“And you’re still here?” He chuckles, even if it dissolves yet again into a coughing fit. “Gah, forgot how much that sucked.”

“I… I didn’t want to leave you alone like this.”

“Don’t worry, I went through worse. I’m a big bird, I can deal with it on my own.”

The way she’s staring back at him must’ve looked suspicious, because he looks concerned, now, and it’s like cold water seeping through her socks.

“Hey… Did something happen?”

“No, nothing. It’s… it’s not important.”

“Tch, you’re like Yusei. ‘Not important’ my ass.”

“I don’t think I should tell you about it.”

“You’re not makin’ your case any easier. Shoot ahead anyway.”

Aki looks at her hands on her lap, her knuckles almost white. Her skin looks slightly red, especially without her gloves.

“You weren’t yourself earlier,” she manages to get out, “and you thought I was some sort of enemy.”

She can’t bring herself to look up and see what his reaction to that is. Her head’s weighing heavily on her neck.

“Shit, did… I did something to you, right?”

“You… You tried to attack me, yes,” and she realizes how bad that sounds, “but it’s nothing. You weren’t yourself and it wasn’t a big deal. I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound like you are, though… Shit, I’m so sorry, Aki…”

She rises a careful eye, only to see pain distort Crow’s pallid face.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” she replies. “I should’ve done a better job.”

“Hey. Look at me, Aki.”

Hesitantly, she does – and finds no anger, no disappointment in Crow’s eyes, only compassion.

“You didn’t have to put up with my shit, and I was trying to push you away, but you did it anyway. Attacking you was wrong no matter what. You’ve got a lot to deal with at the moment and none of this is me. Don’t beat yourself up for not handlin’ everythin’ perfectly.” He smiles. “So, thanks, Aki. Don’t worry about good ol’ me, I’ll handle myself from now on.”

Silence follows.

“Though I get why you’d doubt that. We don’t really have a good track record when it comes to that stuff, do we.”

“Not really, no,” she manages to chuckle. “But friends need to trust each other.”

“You catch on quick!” He coughs into his elbow. “I’m sure it’s starting to get late, your parents may be worried. You should head home.”

“Can I… Can I stay here for a little longer? At least until Bruno comes back from whatever errand he may be running. I’d… feel better if I knew someone could watch you over.” Like she’d like it if she was as vulnerable as Crow is right now. “It keeps me occupied too.”

He gives her a sympathetic look from which she wants to recoil, but stops herself from doing.

“Make yourself a home, then. Yusei’s bedroom should be available.”

He winks, right in time for her face to warm up.

“Thank you, Crow.”

“If you need an ear to talk to and I ain’t sleepin’, don’t hesitate, okay? I promise I won’t bite your head off this time.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.”

She doubts she’ll bother him with this when all she’s tried to make him do today was resting, but she very much appreciates the reminder. It’s always nice to know she’s not only accepted, but also cared for by people whose honest intentions she can be sure of.

It’s making her feel welcome, and just for that, she’s more thankful – her and her missing powers, her and her conflicting feelings it, her and her past that she’s just now feeling comfortable with disclosing anything about. Her and the ghost that may continue pursuing her in the future, but which are leaving her mostly unscathed for now.

Perhaps that’s what home is – and it may just take the shape of a friend’s bedroom, or of a garage.

[tarzinnia]

Where Hugo, I Go...

Rewatched for the umpteenth time, the lovely film, Hugo (2011). If you haven't seen it, nor read the book by Brian Selznick upon which it is based, please consider a look and a read.

We rewatch films for a variety of reasons, just as we often do for books. Always something new and different to see, to hear, to learn, to experience.

But that wasn't why I put this film on the blog. With the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, now more than ever, the Martin Scorsese directed piece seems relevant. Here we have the young orphan, Hugo Cabret, living in the train station and maintaining the clocks; the timepieces that make the trains, and presumably society, run on time. Those horological machines are human made and what time represents in the lives of humans is a constant tick tock, tick tock. With every beat of our heart, every breath taken, time passes.

Hugo senses this, as does his young friend, Isabelle. At one point in the film, Isabelle questions the future and what her purpose in life is to be. Hugo thinks for a moment and remarks:

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

And during their conversation, Hugo also states:

"Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do… Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose… it's like you're broken."

Turning that scene over in my mind and thinking about the plot (w/o spoiling too much, it is a wonderful homage to humans and art and film and history and human connections) and the ongoing strikes...but...

How is it that we humans have so readily turned the machines into the masters and the humans who created them into the extra parts?

This marvelous film would be nothing without the humans who dreamed and created and built and moved and loved it into being along with the original work upon which it was based. The humans aren't broken, the system is. The studios/corporations must recognize the labor that gives purpose to our lives and place the technology in the place wherein it serves the greater good before time runs out.

I could contemplate this film and its themes for a long time, it is a real gem to view and think about in the context of the past, the present, and the future. Hats off to all involved.

[bl0ssomized]

life (brainrot) update!!

I've FINALLY decided to reread Percy Jackson again. after 6 years. currently on the battle of the labyrinth. not stable.

also really really into marvel again cheers. TFATWS has become my comfort show and Bucky and Sam are my comfort idiots. will probably rewatch it a lot.

the pokemon (oc) lore is expanding once again I can't stop thinking about it... I'd post about it but I'm not sure how interested people are in my canon x oc ship and their life after the canon events. but honestly do I care? not really.

STILL INTO THE MARAUDERS just. not as much as before but it's okay the hyperfixation will return one day

I really. really need to talk about my thoughts of all of the above. maybe I will.

[starburstfloat]

The Triumph of Twenty Five Twenty One

Now that 2022 is coming to a close, it felt worthwhile to revisit the one show this year that shook my world and kinda shifted my perspective on life :’)

It's hard to know where to begin when talking about Twenty Five Twenty One. I could start by sharing how beautifully shot this drama is, the way viewers are invited to delight in the vibrance and oftentimes loneliness of the landscape.

Or I could start with the historical context, how the drama managed to bridge the struggles of the 1997 IMF Crisis to the current pandemic.

Or I could start by marveling over the individual characters, how they come across as so genuine and real, and how they are delightfully funny and messy and truly alive. 

But I think instead the best way to start by honoring what a triumph this show is - from the acting, the cinematography, the directing, the screenwriting - is by stepping back to something more abstract, namely the acquiescence and narrative empathy the show provides.

In literature (and I assume film studies as well), acquiescence refers to a viewer's accepted passivity, meaning we as the viewers become so naturally enveloped in the world presented to us that we genuinely start to feel that this place, these characters, and their stories, are all real. We forget there’s a host of camera and lighting crews watching and controlling every meticulous move. 

As a result of our passivity, we begin to develop an emotional connection with the work. This is referred to as narrative empathy.

Simply put: acquiescence = viewers’ accepted passivity; narrative empathy = viewers sharing the feelings witnessed on screen

So how does Twenty Five Twenty One reach a level of acquiescence that I find unparalleled in any show or movie I've seen this year? It’s hard to exactly pinpoint one piece since our passivity and subsequent emotional investment revolves around several intermingling factors like the aforementioned cinematography and authentic characters. Personally though, I'd say what really makes Twenty Five Twenty One reach an all new high of acquiescence is the feeling-centered narrative revolving around the diary. 

After all, the premise is that Kim Min Chae begins to read her mother’s diary in 2020, and slowly starts to understand her mother through the detailed entries.

I initially glossed over the significance of the diary, seeing it more as a useful transition device to travel viewers back into the 1990′s whenever Min Chae was reading it, and then transporting us back to the present when we needed to see her reactions. It felt like nothing more than a simple plot device.

But there are so many scenes where the diary is important in building narrative empathy. For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus exclusively on the way the diary heightens viewers’ acquiescence and narrative empathy in the last episode.

~spoilers ahead~

After rewatching the last episode multiple times (and still crying almost as hard as the first time sjhdhsjs), I’ve found that the diary is such an integral part in conveying the drama’s intended message of remembering and living in the moment.

And even more so than that, the diary as a thematic and narrative tool is so clever, because diaries are something so incredibly personal. A diary is an output of our innermost thoughts; an intensely honest inner monologue meant for our personal retreat, unintended for the consumption of outsiders. By placing the diary in the open, by using it as a narrative device that allows us to see Hee Do’s thoughts and interpretations of the world, and by welcoming Min Chae into her mother’s youth as well, the audience develops a sense of intimacy and understanding for these characters. 

Nothing seems more indicative of this point than the scene in which Yi Jin starts reading Hee Do’s diary and realizes how truly lonely she was in the later stages of their relationship; how he took her support for granted. 

Like Yi Jin, we are welcomed into seeing these pages for the first time, hearing Hee Do narrating the words on the page. We can’t help but feel deeply disheartened by her loneliness. As if that weren’t already enough to digest, we witness Yi Jin soak in the words and cry as he slowly makes his way through the pages. Like many emotional scenes in the show, the camera does not cut away. We are forced to sit in the pain with him for a while. This heightens our empathy for both Hee Do for having experienced such a solitary love, and Yi Jin for immersing himself in her sorrow and truly, for the first time in months, understanding her. 

This diary scene really brings the show’s acquiescence to another level. The intimacy of Hee Do’s words; Yi Jin reading them in the privacy of his empty room, with lingering shots on his face capturing his welling sense of grief and guilt - these are details that make this drama just feel so achingly real and powerful. 

The most noteworthy use of the diary, however, is the very last scene in which Hee Do imagines how their last encounter would have been had they said the words that they saved for the diary pages instead. The added detail of including a fade-in of their writing from the diary was so incredibly touching and made this scene a whole new level of emotional. Because, like I mentioned, diaries are an honest inner monologue. Nothing they could have done could have been quite as sincere as this. 

Honestly it’s so beautiful that their last farewell is captured in the pages of the diary. It initially seemed unfair to have this farewell by the tunnel be a hypothetical, imagined goodbye, but the more you think about it, the more you realize how truly beautiful it is that their honesty is forever immortalized in Hee Do’s diary.

In the end, the diary served as the best parting tool - for the characters and the audience. It gave Yi Jin closure because he was able to truly understand Hee Do and respond to her. It gave Hee Do closure all those years later when she had the opportunity to read his final message. And it gives us as an audience closure because we know they’ve parted in a way that is untainted by bitterness; celebrating the love they shared, recognizing the value of cherishing every moment.

And now Hee Do, with her diary - the physical embodiment of all that ever came between them - has that right in the palms of her hands. 

I still struggle to understand how something so sad can be so beautiful. So profound. 

All I can say is that this, for me, is what makes the show a triumph.

[blazehedgehog]

Thoughts on the Last Nintendo Direct for the Switch?

It was alright. A lot of people are very excited by what was shown but, I dunno.

A lot of modern Mario RPGs are pretty hit-or-miss, so Brothership isn't necessarily an instant win for me.

Nintendo World Championship could be interesting. It's probably a better take on the NES Remix idea than previous games, and the way they're doing online multiplayer could prove to be pretty cool. It's a shame it isn't live, but I suppose racing against ghosts means you don't have to worry about latency.

The thing is, with both NES Remix and this, I also want the option to just... play the full versions of these games. No timers, no competitions, just the raw games. But Nintendo's not going to do that. They'd also rather have you subscribe to their NSO service, too.

Fantasian is mostly interesting to me for the fact that a lot of the backgrounds are effectively pre-rendered -- but not using CGI. They apparently made realworld dioramas using actual model making material and photographed them. That's cool. The rest of the game seems like generic JRPG fluff.

I've tried over and over to like Donkey Kong Country Returns, both on the Wii and the 3DS, and it just rubs me the wrong way. I've said it's something weird with the controls feeling sluggish, but I think it's also the level design. It feels like it stretches some of its ideas pretty thin. Like we did not need a whole world dedicated to minecart levels. I'd hope the DKCR remaster is the version I'd finally enjoy, but I don't have my hopes up.

It's cool to see the "HD-2D" Dragon Quest games, at last. Those old phone versions they have on the Switch are awful. But also the only DQ game I've ever connected with was the demo for DQ8, so I dunno how much this tickles my fancy. But I've also never given a real one of these games a chance.

Hearing "timed exclusive for the Nintendo Switch" for Denpa Men is weird, given that was a 3DS game. I always thought it was first party. Is this also coming out on PS4? PC? Very strange.

Glad to hear about the Marvel Vs. Collection. I was just scrolling through my XBLA library on my 360 a few days ago and lamenting how I only own MvC2 and not MvC1, even though I like MvC1 better. Weird it's apparently only coming out for last gen; there aren't native PS5/SX versions of this or the Ace Attorney Collection. Just PS4/Xbone/Switch. With backwards compatibility I guess they don't have to bother with a native version, but still. Weird.

Zelda looks good and is a long time coming but I wish it wasn't so different. Like I have faith it'll be interesting but it does disappoint me it's going to be more puzzle-y and not an action game. After so many years of asking for the ability to play as Zelda, for them to say "well she CAN'T swing a sword like Link!" feels a little compromise-y. I'm sure it'll be fine.

That was not enough Metroid Prime 4. They picked the most unceremonious, least exciting way to show it, too. I actually thought it was them announcing remasters of Prime 2 + 3 like they did with Metroid Prime 1, because it's just generic "shooting nameless space pirates to metroid prime music" footage until the end.

Rewatching it, I can definitely see how people are saying it's a Switch 2 game, though. Like that Metroid Prime remaster seemed like it looked really pretty, but this feels like a step above what the Switch is normally capable of, at least as far as 60fps goes. Like compare for yourself. Prime remastered on the left, Prime 4 on the right.

Look at the ridges in her shoulder panels, and how they're a 3D modeled groove with inset detail in Prime 4. That detail is probably just a texture in the Prime remaster. And just, like, how much better the material work is overall.

I could see this being 1080p 60 on Switch 2 but only 30 on the OG Switch.

Also please show me new guns or mechanics or something next time.

[bedlamsbard]

btw, what are your thoughts on WandaVision? I really liked the concept and the execution of the first half but was a bit disappointed by the decision to have a Big Enemy To Fight instead of being entirely about Wanda's duality and internal conflict.

I don't mind the show having an enemy to fight, though I think WV might have complicated it a bit too much by having too many antagonists that turned up in the last couple of eps, particularly because none of them have since shown up in the MCU and explained what they were doing there in the first place. That last is really a Phase 4/5 problem, though, not a WV-specific one. (When I did my rewatch a few months ago, I also said that WV really should have had a cameo from either Ross or another Avenger -- it needed a tie to something else that was relevant to Wanda.)

I like WV a lot -- it's very rewatchable for me, and I like how playful and experimental it is. I think it's also pretty good at actually dealing with the post-Blip chaos when it acknowledges it, and a lot of the character dynamics are excellent. On rewatch I can pick out some nitpicks with it -- for example, they never acknowledge that Pietro also got Infinity Stone-kickstarted powers, despite Fake Pietro and Tommy both having superspeed in the show. And "Agatha All Along" is a bop, but like...what did Agatha actually do aside from insinuating herself into Wanda's life and enchanting Ralph Bohner.

From a two and a half years later perspective, WV's biggest problem is what I think of the as the "CATWS Problem" -- although it's individually excellent and does pretty well at building off preceding installments of the MCU, it's essentially ignored by the later installments, even the ones that depend on it (a.k.a. DSMOM; we'll see how The Marvels does with Monica, I guess). Through no fault of its own, it becomes retroactively worse just because of how it's incorporated, or not incorporated, into the rest of the MCU.

Fun fact: my department at the university was consulted for the Latin that's in Agatha's flashback scene, since the movie was filmed in Atlanta, and Jac Schaeffer's assistant e-mailed the nearest classics department to make the Latin be Not Google Translate. I've seen the request letter with the original Google Translate version, it's pretty bad. The Latin in the show is accurate now! A friend of mine did the Latin translation and Marvel Studios sent her some WV merch when the episode aired, though I don't think she's credited in the ep.

Other fun fact: the first time I watched WV I hadn't seen anything Wanda or Vision had been in, because the only three Marvel movies I'd seen since CATWS in 2014 had been Ant-Man and the Wasp, Thor Ragnarok, and Captain Marvel. So WV was actually my introduction to Wanda and Vision.