#but I feel like Disney kinda just Gave Up which is. sad.

[pale-fairytales]

i. i listened to the villain song from Wish and. oh my god. that is not a fucking villain song. we're bein punk'd.

I'M GONNA JUST SAY THIS i think the concept for the villain was actually kinda interesting but I feel like the villain song needs to be rewritten ASAP and istg if the movie is as *incoherent noise* as the villain song, then i fell like it'll need to be redone/reimagined, too

Petition to remake the movie but in 2D animation, with a better storyline and a better villain song (i would even like to see people on the internet get together to make it happen)

[annymation]

What things annoyed and infuriated you the most in Wish 2023 (or Canon!Wish)?

OOOOH BOY! You just gave me permission to open a whole can of worms! Let's gooo!

Okay so here's a list:

I don't like how weak the reveal of what Magnifico actually does is. Asha finds out that he doesn't grant all the wishes, awesome, that would be a cool reveal, except, it's not a reveal, she freakin KNEW THIS! Asha herself said to a kid "It could be you someday" COULD! Asha, you said COULD, as in, there's the POSSIBILITY he'll grant that kid's wish, not a certainty! Not to mention if he only grants ONE wish per month then OF FREAKING COURSE not all wishes are granted. Okay, case in point, there's no grand reveal that the king is doing something no one knew, Asha apparently just forgot how their kingdom works.

Now hear me out, I am NOT one of those people that says Magnifico is a hero and Asha is a villain, I wanna make this clear, because although I find people who legit think like that kinda funny and I reblog their takes from time to time, I also find it frustrating that Disney managed to make a STRAIGHT, WHITE, MAN, IN A POSITION OF POWER, MORE LIKABLE THAN THEIR SECOND BLACK PROTAGONIST! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? IT'S SO EASY TO MAKE US HATE HIM!!!-ahem- But, although Magnifico is the most likable character in the movie, I do not see him as a hero, no no no, keeping the wishes away from the people of Rosas is bad, pretending that he'd grant Sabino's wish only to say SIKE was bad, saying he'd never grant Asha family's wishes was bad. So, am I saying Magnifico is a villain?... No. That's topic number 2, Magnifico wasn't a villain, he was a jerk. A jerk does not a villain make. I didn't feel threatened by that man for not a single minute, and that's including when he was possessed by the evil book, speaking of which.

That dang book both ruined and saved the movie honestly, because yeah, although it's a stupid way to make Magnifico an actual villain, but in a way that makes us sympathize with him since he's not in his right mind, and the last thing you want is for the audience to feel bad for your villain... Well, there's exceptions of course, but that's a whole other subject. But even though the book caused all this damage, it also gave us King unhinged, campy, straight up evil, fruity, voiced by Chris Pine having the time of his life Magnifico, and I loved every second of it, I ate possessed Magnifico up, I was living for every cringe cliche evil dialogue that came out of him, like hell yeah, that's what I've been waiting for, that's what it's all about WOOOOOO!!! I loved him so much I just copy pasted his personality into the Magnifico in my rewrite, although, my version is actually willing to kill teens, while Canon Mag seemed more hesitant for some reason, my headcanon is that Magnifico was fighting the curse deep down, and that's why his magic actually didn't hurt anyone, so... That's sad, hope he breaks out of the mirror and kills them all Idk

We're on topic 4 and this is not even half of my problems oh my... Anyway, Asha is boring. And I mean like, in a way that feels intentional, how did they do it? It's fascinating how she has nothing going for her, she doesn't stand out, doesn't have any internal conflicts at the start of the movie, something ALL Disney princesses have: Belle doesn't fit in with her village, Mulan struggles to make her family proud, Mirabel struggles to make her family proud x10.000, Moana wants to explore the sea but can't, Ariel wants to explore the land but can't, Jasmine wants to get out of the castle but can't, Cinderella is a victim of domestic abuse, ya'll get the idea, all these girls get their struggles that make them compelling, what's Asha's struggle that has been with her for most of her life?... Uh... Her grandpa, this dude we just met and seems pretty happy... Doesn't have his wish granted yet... Ok, what else? Oh yeah everyone in town seems to love her and dance along with her to show tourists how cool the kingdom is... Uhum... So yeah she has no compelling struggles that hook us with her from the start, and the conflict she DOES get, as I explained before, feels underwhelming.

The setting, oh the setting. Like, don't get me wrong, the architecture is pretty, but nothing about it screams SPAIN to me, where is the cultural food? Where are the bulls? Where's the stuff we associate with the Iberian Peninsula? They did such a good job in Encanto, what the heck happened? Oh and did I mention that most of the animals that appear in the forest are not even native to the Iberian Peninsula, there would be no racoons in a medieval setting there, considering they're an invasive species that was brought there from North America, something that, I assume, wouldn't be possible back then, as I don't think the americas were even discovered yet, but anyway, there they are, racoons hanging upside down from their tails, something they can't even do. Sorry for expecting biology accuracy from my disney movie guys, but you can't just make Encanto, that was freaking amazing with it's inclusion of so many gorgeous latin American animals, and then do whatever Wish is, like bruh where were the Lynxes??? They're an endangered species there, Disney could've raised awareness!!!

The music...

Valentino was absurdly annoying, and it would be SO EASY to make a baby goat cute! Baby. Goats. Are. Cute. SO WHY DID YOU MAKE HIM UNFUNNY GOAT THAT MAKES BUTT JOKES???

Characters were unmemorable, Asha's mom didn't do anything, Sabino, whose supposed to be the backbone of the story, is barely a character, and again, it's not like Disney hasn't made likable elderly people before, Moana's grandma, Mama Coco, but my guy Sabino was just... There.

Aaaand I probably could go on and on but I can't think of anything else, feel free to share your own problems with the movie yall.

[fanfic-inator795]

SPOILERS FOR “THE END”

Okay so, much like the ending of Amphibia, I’m sure this ending’s gonna be controversial for some people for being so bittersweet and for it also ending with the two BFFs splitting seemingly forever… but honestly? I fucking loved it.

While the penultimate ep felt slightly rushed and just a tad unsatisfying due to all they had to cram in and wrap up, I love that this show’s finale was ultimately focused on just Molly, Scratch, and the latter’s series-wide arc of changing for the better and “being brought back to life”, as the TGAMM show bible put it.

Having believed in the Wraith feeling since the start, I was afraid that the Todd reveal would feel rushed given that the crew lost the 3rd season of set-up they wanted, but thankfully it managed to feel fairly natural since - while Todd himself may have been a more subtle hint that you’d only notice if you were paying attention- again, Scratch’s arc and the clear changes we see from him are made known throughout the series. So by the time you finally get to the big payoff, it feels like a natural conclusion.

For all the info dumps we got, I also felt like the ep was pretty well paced as well, still having jokes that made me laugh so it never felt too heavy or melodramatic. I also love that all the major characters in Scratch’s life got to play a role in this one final adventure. I also love that - for as important of a role that Adia played in helping Scratch regain his memories - it wasn’t framed as Scratch choosing his old BFF over his new BFF, but simply Scratch choosing to be brave and live the life he always wanted deep down instead of continuing to run away/hold himself back.

As for what could be seen as the Most controversial bit - Scratch forgetting his time as a ‘ghost’ - I feel like this was incredibly well crafted too. Like anything else in TGAMM (and as Molly herself says) there’s still that spark of hope hinting at Scratch still remembering Molly and the impact she had on him. He’s going to live with those memories and the importance she gave to enhappifying in his heart, even when he doesn’t consciously remember these things.

What’s more, the show also subtly but beautifully emphasizes that even if Scratch won’t fully remember Molly and the others until he’s officially died, the time he spent and the things he did for others as a ghost still mattered - they’re still going to be remembered by Molly, the McGees and their friends, and I LOVE how they also brought back Scratch’s silly toboggan-sneeze curse as just another way a part of ghost-him is going to stick with all of them no matter what - no matter how far apart they are.

While I would have liked one final song (which, I guess we arguably did get that in the credits) I also feel like ending the show on Libby’s Maya Angelou quote was the perfect summation on the show’s core themes - to not just do good for others, but for yourself. To live your best and happiest life.

In my opinion, this truly was just a master class in satisfying series finales. We didn’t need any big final battles or a ton more drama, just one last beautiful character piece that isn’t afraid to be somewhat bittersweet in order to fully sell its message while also still being just as fun and enjoyable and lovely as the rest of the series.

Really, the only thing that makes me kinda sad is that Scratch never said goodbye to GhostShark - but hey, he’ll see him again eventually, and honestly my hc is that the Jeoffs are taking care of Sharkie for him in the meantime. Other than that, this was a 10/10 finale for me, absolutely no notes.

Now… obviously this was the finale that the TGAMM crew was always leading up to, I assume once they realized that they weren’t getting a s3 they asked Disney to give them one final ep to wrap things up. If that wasn’t the case though and this was always meant to be the s2 finale, I guess s3 would be about Todd slowly remembering his life as Scratch and eventually coming back to Brighton alongside Adia to help Molly stop Jinx’s revenge or whatever. But… eh, I personally don’t think that’s needed.

I think the show ended perfectly, leaving just enough ambiguous for fans to still imagine how Molly and Scratch’s adventures are going to continue one day while at the same time being super satisfying - probably the best series finale that we’ve seen out of any modern Disney cartoon.

[falmerbrook]

Summerset Chapter thoughts

I've actually moved on to Murkmire a bit ago and forgot to do this oopsies.

Overall: I liked it! Although I have a harder time saying why or why not compared to previous expansions (although lord knows I'll certainly try to explain below). I just had a good time with it and looked forward to logging in every day to play, but I don't think it was my favorite thing ever either. I particularly liked the main quest, it gave us a lot of good characters to get attached to.

More details under cut

What I liked:

The characters! I pretty much liked every reoccurring character in the Main Quest. Obviously y'all already know I loved Darien, and I think this chapter did a good job giving him a bit more depth and setting up some very juicy intrigue for him. Raz is always a joy (although he made less of an impact in this chapter for some reason). I also liked Iachesis (although he made me feel kinda sad, but that's a good thing) and I liked how kind and mentor-ly he seemed. I really liked Leythen and Valsirenn. Their relationship was super compelling to watch unfold and they both got their own internal dilemmas set up due to each other than made them both just really interesting. Leythen was really interesting to me, but I do wish they developed what drew him to Mephala enough to make him loyal to her until he literally died. Valsirenn's voice actor was also doing over time good lord she really made me feel horrible for her. Val needs a long ass vacation after all of that. Even in a good number of the side quests there were a lot of good strong personalities that were fun to work with.

The voice acting has gradually gotten better and better with each new expansion, but I think this is the first one where it has been noticeable enough to mention. I liked the voice acting.

There were a good number of interesting side quests. Some good mysteries (especially the Russafeld one) and lots of "well that was fucked up" magical nonsense. I had fun with them.

I liked the cities and architecture. It felt tall and grand. I have more to say in my dislikes though.

I loved Artaeum! It was so gorgeous and the buildings were gorgeous (I liked the disney castle effect they had on Ceporah tower, that was a good touch to make it look bigger). I liked it so much I've taken several opportunities to just take a walk around it. It was the highlight of this chapter.

The themes with Summerset opening up to emigration were real topical, probably even more now than when the chapter first came out, and I liked their inclusion.

I liked the look of Summerset. I bit generic fantasy but it has enough of its own thing going on that I think it still stands out. The fossilized coral forests were very cool, and most of the fauna were unique but also felt like real enough animals (unlike some other eso creatures). Not my favorite visually but still nice.

On that note, I also really liked the Indriks. Good ass animal. Welwas are good too (although I recently discovered they were also in Craglorn but I skipped that one).

In the Russadeld murder mystery quest (which I just really liked in general) I enjoyed getting some worldbuilding on minor things like the different ways forensics can be undertaken. I just always appreciate when side quests are used to develop parts of the world that are otherwise mundane to us but would probably be different in a fantasy setting.

I appreciated how connected some of the story points of the side quests were with either other side quests or the main quest. It usually wasn't important or anything, but it's a nice touch.

Another thing that I have noticed gradually over the expansions that I think stood out most here was that the enemies in each zone are no longer every 5 feet. You can explore the wilderness without having to kill something every 15 seconds, and I appreciate that.

What I disliked/thought could've been better:

Now, I'm not gonna be one of those "but the cities are supposed to be made of glass!!!" people because I generally don't think the games should have to follow every single one off line or lore from previous games, but I do think they should've leaned into the glass look at least a little bit. Make the cities more colorful! The while stone and marble were pretty, but idk I just feel like they could've been colorful. Maybe keep the white buildings but make their windows all ornate stained glass so during the day the reflect on nearby building and light up the interiors with colors and at night the cities look like a sparkling rainbow? Something like that. The architecture, while pretty, was also a bit to generic tbh.

So arguably this is a complaint I could make about literally any zone/environment of any of these games, and I don't expect it to ever change, but man it is disappointing to me to see some interesting ecological lore in books get tossed out the window so we can always have a bunch of hostile animals/plants that attack you on sight when you travel off of any path. Don't tell me that Summerset's environments (or at least major parts of it) have been carefully crafted to be perfect in the way the Altmer culturally see it (and have a quest around it) and not be able to actually see that outside of like, gardens!

I find delves tedious and was annoyed that we had to go through a few of them for the main quest. I don't think that's happened in any of the zones before this but it felt lazy. Like they didn't want to bother making a new location for the main quest so they just plopped whatever you had to grab in a delve they already built.

Veya made me so angry!! I mean I guess that indicates some good writing because I cared that much and it makes sense she'd turn to more destructive ideologies after everything she went through but I was so disappointed in her and they didn't do enough with her! She just became a generic bad guy we killed (I think this comes down to one of ESO's biggest writing flaws imo, that every story has to be accessible to new players)!

So I'll be honest, daedra lore is probably one of the places where I'm weakest, so maybe I'm wrong, but the inclusion of Mephala and Nocturnal in this whole scheme felt really out of character for them. And even if they would go through something like this, they were written to just be very generically evil demon-like to me. They're designs are meh to me too (Mephala's more than Nocturnal's). Vile at least felt in character and like this is something he'd get invovled with (and I liked his design, but that's because the humanoid look is already what he's always been portrayed as). I just always felt like Mephala and Nocturnal were some of the better examples of how the Daedric Princes aren't just evil but have their own complex moralities, but in this they make them "I want to take over the whole universe!" level evil. Their motivations (once again, besides Vile) feel not in character either. They were weakest part of the Main Quest for this whole arc for me (besides Barbas, who I always enjoy).

Kinda related, a lot of their minor daedra from their realms (specifically Mephala, the other two were fine) felt kinda bland or generic to me.

Also kinda related, the didn't sell why anyone in the Court of Bedlam (specifically Leythen) would believe they Princes or go along with their goals. They wanted to create a paradise? They're daedric princes how do you fall for that??? I can see Veya or cultists who already followed them being easily manipulatable but Leythen goes from respected Psijic to taking the Daedra at their word because of seemingly nothing but grief? And he continues to support Mephala until he dies despite knowing they were lying?? I didn't get it.

Finally, there was a moment that implied that Meridia's realm was invaded that never got a conclusion. Normally I'd be like "well maybe they're setting it up for later" but I know they haven't done anything with it yet so it feels like more of a dropped plot point than a set up for the future.

Let Darien take me out for a drink, dammit!!!

[mythicalartistx]

Opinions of KH2 novels that happen that are funny/interesting

I saw a lot of sections recently

Riku Axel & Namine are a trio

Their interactions are nice

It's something I didn't know I needed

I love seeing them do stuff in the background while Sora does basic (game moments), instead of focusing what happens in the games during Disney worlds, it shows them

Axel being a grey character

He doesn't know himself if he's bad or good

But some of the others noticed it and gladly call him their friend.

Also when Goofy "dies" he helps him to see if he's alright and even gives him a potion

Instead of initially kidnapping Kairi, he does so with good interest in mind, thinking she's in danger because the organization is after her— Riku and Naminé were going to her but got caught up in a battle with Saïx.

Then Saïx fought Axel and won, obtaining Kairi.

Also Naminé helps heal Axel after he lost to Saïx.

I love his banner with Riku

At one point Mickey is like, I'm glad you're not alone Riku, Riku responds, He's my friend, but then Axel says, Nobodies don't have friends, it's not exactly word for word, but similar.

Axel comments to Riku

Riku eating ice cream and Axel is like is it good, You're like a little kid even though you look like a mean old man. Then Axel steals his ice cream and Riku like bruh really dude there is plenty of ice cream in there.

After Land of Dragons, Axel tells Riku, Seeing Sora made you that happy, and Riku is like I don't feel like telling you. Then afterwards he's like it's creepy how you smile with Ansem's face.

Mickey and Goofy can smell

So Pluto is in the novel sometimes around Axel and of course Kairi. When Mickey first sees Axel after Riku leaves, he sniffs him and is like oh it's you I thought it was Riku but you smell like Pluto.

Then later when Axel helps Goofy after his "death" he is like you smell like Pluto and at this point Axel is like AGAIN!?!?

Maleficent and Riku

Honestly I find this kinda charming and kinda nice.

At one point she calls Pete useless and how Riku was so much helpful and even got him what he was trying to do and gave him Kairi. She then admits that she was using him, but it made her kinda sad or a "thorn in her heart" that he left her without hesitation.

Then at one point Riku goes to see Maleficent and Maleficent is like oh you're alive and he says I see you came back from the dead. And it's great exchange.

He wanted to see if she'd fight the nobodies/ organization 13. But when he goes to her he wonders if he is betraying Mickey by doing that and he thinks it's all for Sora.

Riku opinion of DiZ request

So DiZ got Riku to do some things... that isn't great and afterwards he wonders if that was right.

After seeing how DiZ treated Naminé and views nobodies he is like Should I have fought Roxas? He was thinking Should I have destroyed him for him to go back to Sora? What if there was another way so he could still be here?

And I wanted to point it out that he obviously questions whether it was right and he was just following DiZ because he wanted Sora back and thought it was the ONLY way and much would have rather Roxas to stay as a person too.

DiZ offers Naminé ice cream

At one point Naminé goes back to the mansion in the middle of KH2 and she finds DiZ which she is surprised by. DiZ was harsh and mean to her at the beginning of the game and is weary of him,

But this dude straight up offers her sea salt ice cream like he didn't want her destroyed or want Riku to get rid of her (which Riku was like NAHHH I won't because he saw them as people and Sora was waking up). And then he says there are plenty more, you can share with friends 😀😁 LIKE COMPLETE SWAP

Saïx fight Riku and Naminé

First when Riku and Naminé is fighting Saïx while Axel gets Kairi, Saïx slaps Naminé and causes her to fly back.

Then he is like oh you're trying to protect your home from darkness (assuming he might corrupt it or by getting Kairi) and then he's like but you did that once before. LIKE 😭😭😭 THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR

And then he tells Riku he sold his Soul for Power. JUST wow, great character but man is he cold sometimes.

I never want Saïx to touch Naminé again though... Saïx over here hurting Axel and Naminé.

Donald and Goofy no longer tease about Kairi

So... In KH2 there are moments where Donald and Goofy tease Sora about Kairi with possible romantic implications

(though I'm not exactly sure since that is the English version which could have some transaction errors and there's a lot of added romantic moments because of English version)

In Halloween town, Sora also imagines himself dancing with Kairi when Jack and Sally dance, but in the novels none of these things happen. Donald and Goofy don't tease him about Kairi.

Shang and Mulan = Sora and Riku

So in land of the dragons when Sora sees Mulan and Shang he tears up and thinks of himself and Riku cause he missed him.

This does happen in the game, but it's more explicit here that he missed him and thinks of Riku and himself when he sees Shang and Mulan.

Sora always wanted to fight by Riku's side

In the novels throughout the ending battle Sora is so excited and is just glad to fight by Riku's side and he had always wanted to have him as an ally.

He states how he always hoped and dreamed he'd be able to.

He feels so excited and just glad to be able to do so.

Also want to point out that they feel better together and they're okay in the dark realm because they have the other

Sora doesn't care as long as Riku is okay

At one point Sora says, so what if he's in organization 13, it's fine.

Donald is like it's not they're a bad group of people.

This just shows how much he cares about him.

Axel pretends to betray Riku and Naminé to help Kairi

He told them he was going to and would give them their location and reassures them that he doubt Xemnas would come over.

And Xemnas ends up being the one going over....

[talonbite4596]

This took over 20 hours to make I'm deceased... I'm glad it's done I need a break lol

Close ups on the pins under the cut!! (And some extra little notes for fun)

The formatting and graphic design could be better but, again, I just want to be done 😭 so ummm oops sorry !!

Yay yum yayaya art woooo yes !!!

More notes for fun !!

- when I say "loves animals (... not many, but still)" it means he can, has, and WILL burn squirrels alive for free entertainment, as well as shooting animals for fun... but he would also cry and feel awful if he stepped on a dog's foot... he's got favorites, basically, and does NOT hide it

- sun freckles, because why not

- kinda a dirty kid... literally the definition of "boys will be boys 🤪" where he's just always getting into the weirdest shit. You take your eyes off him for 1 second and he returns with mud all over himself and probably has a cat or something and just has the dumbest smile on his face !!! Idiot kid love him tho

- I added a gir pin because I love gir and for fun, doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense.... just roll with it !!

- made him Trans bc psychonauts as a whole is a trans allegory in my mind so, it made sense !! And because he's... 10 he hasn't done anything medical yet, just socially transitioned !! (Adding this point because some people see that and think the wrong things, like those ppl who think 4 year Olds are getting surgery and forcefully getting hormones jabbed into them. NO that's not happening)

- if he was a 2000s kid he'd like a lot of different things, like Mario and sonic games, and certain TV shows and movies (like invader zim, pokemon shows/movies, Disney stuff etc. Just general kids stuff yk?)

- sasha gave him coffee once.... he then proceeded to ramble about random things for hours while he tried to help work on things. So, he was able to focus better but won't shut UP (I'm projecting)

- he enjoys media that reminds him of himself, which is the "odd man out" type stuff, it helps him feel better about feeling like he doesn't belong bc he knows he isn't alone. It's sad but it helps him idk!!

OKAY IM DONE (for now) but yippee wow isn't that cool !!! I'm curious what yall think so lmk if u wanna !! I love hearing what Y'all think of my stuff, and I might post more headcanon type stuff later on if that's something ur interested in, honestly just send me an ask if u wanna know my hc for specific characters!!

OKAY goodbye drink water 💖

[andrwgarfields]

i love that alice gave joe (and agatha) a shout out and agree that netflix could have done more to promote joe in general. even though heartstopper is a uk netflix production, it's a huge hit for netflix overall and you would think they'd do more. however i don't think it's weird that they're not promoting him as a marvel character/his marvel show on one of their biggest competitor's streaming service.

(unrelated i laughed when i saw your tag about your feeling about patrick + kit because for me i always felt like it was patrick + joe + bash with kit looking in from the outside, at least in the early days 🤷🏽)

lol we’re not asking them to promote him as a marvel character but promote him as CHARLIE SPRING one of the main characters of heartstopper which even then is a chore for them to do. Netflix usually puts up weird posts when its joe centered and uses Nick/Kit more for promotional stuff since S1. Kinda sad to see even with the kind of performance joe gave and his characters development they don’t really give two shits. I hate to compare but if you see how disney/marvel treats joe its obvious they adore him as part of the cast and co-lead of the show which is why i said its ironic that it took a marvel project to appreciate joe

nahhh for me it was like bash being this excited puppy and joe just following along trying to get Patricks attention and kits the favourite kid who does not need to to try too hard cause Patrick always favours him lol even in s3 patrick praises and talks more abt kits performance i feel compared to joe

[deanstudies101]

4x10, Heaven and Hell

[mid-season finale]

Critical theory: Doubt, disobedience. Fathers. Secrets and confessions pt. 2 [Dean]. The handprint <3 Perfectly normal reactions. 

Discussion point/question(s): What do we think about the heaven/hell positioning of Sam and Dean? 

Key quotes: Dean, “How I feel… This… inside me… I wish I couldn’t feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn’t feel a damn thing.” 

Further reading: 

Perfectly normal reaction to seeing your buddy kiss a girl (@bloodydeanwinchester)

Discussion: 

[I love the one perfect tear as much as the next man, but. Damn I love to see Dean sobbing.]

John is God confirmed. 

Dean wants to be an angel—Anna says angels can’t feel anything. She wants to be human, to feel. He wishes he couldn’t feel anything. 

Dean/Anna, the handprint, destiel. Iga, “This is just a loaf of bread.” Me, “Buddy, this is nothing. We’re just preheating the oven.”* 

[I looked up when Cas was supposed to leave.] [They gave a lot of Anna’s stuff to Cas. Dean and Anna just fucked on screen. So.] So obviously Dean and Anna would’ve had significant romance. And they took her out of the show and replaced her with Cas. And then… Well. [I think certain plotlines, ie. the finale, would’ve been less impactful if it had been Anna. We’ll discuss.] Did Jensen have a say in this character switch, was it partially because of their chemistry? 

[We’ve discussed that demons are camp. I mentioned in the episode that angels are homophobic.] It’s giving disney villain. Was flamboyant demons an acting or writing choice? Was homophobic angels a response to this? Iga, always imagined demons as very emotional, very chaotic (Vampire Diaries vampires, bpd), and angels as stoic, not giving a shit about humans etc. And this… is kinda that? [I’m talking about Paradise Lost, of course. Lucifer is emotional, emotionally driven, persuasive etc. He convinced a whole chunk of the host of heaven to fall.] They have to be like that for it to make sense! 

We’re seeing how humans become demons. They get tortured until they break and start to torture, and we can assume that leads them to becoming demons… so what happened with Lucifer? Did he fall, become human, and then go through this process? Or did he go straight to hell, and go insane because he was alone? [I just read them Paradise Lost Book 1 242-263 aka my favourite bit.] 

Ruby is a real one. She literally put herself through torture for that plan. They love the alliance, the relationship between her and Dean. A lot of feelings

Ruby understands Dean in a way that Sam doesn't. They exchange looks that Sam doesn’t get. He doesn’t feel the need to put up the protective wall, to protect her. He doesn’t need to parent her. And she sees him. And maybe Dean sees her in a way Sam doesn’t, they’ve both had the hell experience, and maybe he respects the fact that she would’ve been in hell much longer than he was. Iga, “Sam doesn’t see Dean and never will, because Dean is his mummy.” And this isn’t an attack on Sam, he’s religious and has a lot of guilt about himself and him and Ruby, and now he knows the angels kinda sucks maybe he’s looking for something to fight for. He sees demons as evil—he trusts her and doesn’t consciously see her as evil—but he does see demons this way, so he has a lot of shame. 

Re: the sex scene. Dean is intimate and soft and… always on the bottom. 

Julio, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but if Sam is the antichrist, Dean is the new Jesus. He’s destined to go to heaven. He masks it in his dedication to his job, but he is sad at the state of the world, and mourns what is going on. Ying to Sam’s yang, which makes him the new Jesus, which is why he has to be kept alive, because that is his purpose. Kai’s addition, Jesus doesn’t have a good time on earth. He suffers. He dies on a cross because God told him to. Deancore. Julio again, Dean has all the elements to be Jesus. 

Anna, even as a two-year old human, was terrified of God. She was convinced he would kill her—and eventually the angel’s orders were to kill her. The demons love Lucifer, they’re excited for him to rise, they worship him in a “chill Christian kinda way.” That’s embarrassing for the angels actually. How is God the good guy? He’s not. He’s a dick. Even outside of the ~they just obey, they follow orders, kill humans, kill their own kind. This child was so scared of her father. [I would like to add, though. A lot of demons didn’t believe Lucifer really existed, he was ~just a story told in demon Sunday school. Whereas the angels truly believe all their orders are coming from God. Does that change things? Is it not easier to love something whose presence you don’t feel as much?] If you know someone better, you see their flaws more.  If Lucifer is just an ideal in their minds, they can project on him. However, it seems like Lilith knows Lucifer in some way? And she’s terrifying. So. Not a good reflection on Lucifer.

Re: heaven/hell positioning. Kind of on the nose. Can’t infer much from it literally, Sam having demon blood, Dean saved from hell, Dena is Sam’s guardian, he fucked an angel. Julio, “angels have an affinity for Dean.” Demons have plans for Sam, angels have plans for Dean. But, before the angels and demons got this involved, Sam was the pious one, Dean was the ‘sinful’ one. So a nice reverse. 

[Cas is autistic. He just stands there like (does the Kubrick stare)] Julio, I feel like he’s not really looking in the eyes though. [The thing is, often when he’s talking to people he’s like. Looking around. But with Dean it’s. Full on intense eye contact. Obsessed.]

Mid-season finale—finale predictions. Iga, Angels will be in the finale. Something about Dean’s time in hell, losing touch with his humanity, he doesn’t want to feel anything, he was transitioning into a demon. Kai, Big clash between heaven and hell. Lucifer is gonna get out, and now God is back too. Lucifer and God have some kind of face off. Julio, Sam and Dean need some time apart, they’re going in different directions. Kai, ohh, maybe Sam and Dean fight each other. Iga, Sam, or someone, comes up with a plan to make both sides fight each other again. Maybe Dean has to choose between his brother and someone else to save. Kai, Dean 1v1 Lucifer. Iga, Ruby gets in a predicament, and they have to sacrifice something to save her. Kai, maybe Dean has to die again… following the Jesus route. Iga, no, it’s Sam’s turn, he’s demon Jesus, and he gets reborn slightly more demon. But we’ve already done ‘came back wrong’. 

Star student: Julio, antichrist/Jesus analysis. Also commented mid-episode that maybe Sam’s powers come from drinking Ruby’s blood. This was ignored by everyone. Good job king. [Iga is annoyed by this because apaprently she knew but didn't say it because it felt too obvious.]

Notes: Visiting student Julio. 

*the trail of breadcrumbs is just entire loaves of bread / "the bread we made on supernatural" post (@tiktaalic), which I reference almost daily with lines such as "there's no such thing as bread" and "wouldn't it be crazy if bread was real" etc. etc. a very common tag on my main

[aldi-spice]

Retirement home anon again: I’d like to get your opinion on this (if you have one), it’s gonna be long sorry 💀

I bought Story of Seasons: A wonderful Life for the Nintendo switch which is a remake of the 2003 harvest moon a wonderful life.

I’ve bought other harvest moon/story of seasons games for the switch as well and honestly… I’m disappointed.

The character design lacks, they all look so dead and emotionless I don’t know how to explain it. The whole world looks like it’s straight out of Cocomelon. You also start with a gifted Cow and other things, that you’d normally not get in the originals and tbh it feels like they stripped all life away in all the newer versions, made it way easier in the beginning and tried to up the cuteness to a maximum which resulted in it looking like a kids show. The dialogs also turned so soft imo.

In harvest moon ds you straight up start with the mayor of mineral town insulting you and then the character (you) proceeding to try to kill him/punch him with an axe, a hammer, a scythe, even a watering can and in the end your dog bites him in the ass in a blackout screen.

It’s like how they took the sass out of the animal crossing characters with time and it just makes me sad. The new versions of the characters feel like lifeless copies :/

I‘m still hoping for more remakes and I’m still a big fan of the harvest moon/story of seasons franchise. But fields of Mistria honestly gave me the exact feeling I had when I got harvest moon ds on Christmas as a kid and started it up for the first time. I literally had a bit of a teary eye playing the demo and then the EA version of FoM 🥺

That’s also why I like FoM so much - it’s funny, it has innuendos, it’s made for adults/older teens despite it being cutely designed, the characters look and feel like they’re adults as well.

I‘m not trying to be mean to the newer games and I understand people enjoy playing them, hell I still buy them because I love the series, but they leave me hanging. ://

YESSSS I get it OMG it's so boring I have about 100 hours in PoOT (pioneers of olive town) and although I controversially found Harvest Moon One World better than Olive Town (I loved the open world concept and Jamil in particular), it was still kinda boring compared Stardew Valley which I bought as my first game for my switch back in 2019.

That day, I played SDV until 4 am, it was summer break and I just graduated highschool and it was magical playing SDV for the first time, I could barely put the game down for long enough to take care of myself lol.

And I get that exact same feeling again playing FoM, that kind of magical feeling where you're completly transported into a new world. I don't think ConcernedApe made SDV with children as a primary audience in mind, if he did he probably wouldn't have added depressed alocholic in there and I love it, I love a good story and good characters, inperfect characters with flaws, they feel way more real and more likable than the boring nice, polite ones we were getting in newer HM/SoS games. All I remember from PoOT is how claustrophobic the town feels, and how hard it was to decide who to marry because none of them was interesting enough, even Damon, the edgy biker boy, felt like he was taken straight from the Disney Channel. I want characters that I can call bastards, I want mean characters, they're the funniest to learn to love.

As for making the games way too easy, I'm not sure, I just remeber struggeling in older games but mostly because I was a child when I played them. I'm pretty sure you also could get a free cow in Animal Parade and in the tale of two towns but I could very well be wrong.

I'm not gonna lie, I never played Harvest Moon DS but that sounds hilarious, we need more of that back, and less Ned Flenders neighbors. That's another reason why I love SDV so much, Pam and Shane are so mean to the player at first (hell even Sebastian is kinda cold) but that's what makes them more compelling characters than the cast of PoOT, where frankly only the non-marriagable characters were interesting.

I think that's why I'm so obsessed with FoM right now, while yes the characters are so so nice, they're not boring and I don't even remember them by their niceness, Hayden is a super polite farmer, but I'd say his distinct traits are loud, open and so very passionate wbout farming, even his dialogue about being a good neighbor and lending you sugar is so much more memorable because he's so forward about it. I feel like most characters in this game can be described with a positive and a negative trait, which is what newer HM/SOS games lack, the balance between baby boy baby and bastard. And the dialogue in general is soooo good, I don't feel like I'm being talk down to, it feels like a normal conversation between adults, not between a child and their caretaker.

Laslty, thank god (NPC Studio) for the older characters, I feel like farming game fans are not in their teens (13-15) and more like in their twenties and up. We don't want to romace teens, we want something that doesn't feel illegal lol.

I totally agree anon, I love FoM so far and it has also made me super emotional playing this game. Ugh I can't wait for more content, I need to fall for this game harder.

[pluviophile-bookworm]

AJR lyrics which speak to my soul (in purely chronological order)

a.k.a. baring my soul into the void and finding an excuse to talk about my favourite band at the same time

When did all my friends turn into fake IDs and skinny jeans?/ I don’t belong

Sometimes I wonder if we matter at all/ if we’re not written down

And we’re just children in a world of diversion/ trying to stick it to the man before we’re grown

Like a flower sheltered in stone/ with no chance of regrowing

There’s a long day ahead/ she is lost in her bed

And why should I spend time running for my life?

I won’t forget you but I may/ forget your name

If the work gets me/ where I’m s’posed to be/ will I know I’ve made it then?/ It’s so hard/ Can we skip to the good part?

We said that we’d keep in touch/ and we did our best

Am I ready for love/ Or maybe just a best friend/ Should there be a difference?

I grew up on Disney/ but this don’t feel like Disney

I’m a little kid and so are you/ Don’t you go and grow up before I do

I thought I had the ADHD/ but that’s a real thing and I’m just lazy

Nobody knows my quirks/ cos I’m not famous, no

We’re standing, laughing at the disco ball/ like who’d invest in that if no one’s looking at it?

You haven’t got that far/ You can find a real job

Is it normal to stand here/ and wish that I was back at home?

My god, are you growing without me?/ Somebody help me

I’m kinda scared of graduation/ cos who am I when this is done?

I bet our parents always stay in love

We had to work a bit more hard/ only just to get a little bit less far

Can we keep my legos at home/ cos I wanna move out/ I don’t wanna move on

Life gives you lemons/ At least it gave you something

I was too worried how we’d end up/ I wasn’t looking and you grew up

Is this all that life’s about/ Trying to love how you turn out?/ I don’t love it much at all

Recently I’m thinking ‘bout my purpose on Earth/ but I don’t wanna think about my purpose no more/ cos it may come up short

I’ve been so good but it’s still getting harder/ I’ve been so good, where the hell is the karma?

Am I normal or not? Am I crazier than other patients?

I tripped on my ankle and fractured my elbow/ but doesn’t that mean that the tour’s gonna sell, though?

It could be passing/ Should I put eggs in more baskets?

They tell us to be different/ but no one told me I could go too far

They wanted heaven from me, I gave them hell/ Now they want something bigger, I’m overwhelmed

And I can’t be 18 my whole life/ But I’m too fucking young to feel so fucking old

It’s kinda funny how I keep debating/ if someone’s shy or if they hate me/ I feel like everyone I know right now is hooking up and getting wasted (without me)

Would you go running if you saw the real me?

It’s kinda funny how you vote for someone/ to vote for someone, to vote for someone

I worked really really really really hard, let me show you my play/ but I don’t wanna do it twice cos it’s not the same

I don’t ever think of you, I’ve got so much stuff to do/ Should have left you back at school/ Now, Joe, do you think I’m cool?

Put quinoa in my fridge, still I’m not feeling grown

The truth is that I’m screwed

I guess the last time you had any fun/ was way back when you weren’t anyone

Something’s wrong but I’m scared to look it up/ cos if I do that and no one has it/ I’ll feel so alone

Somewhere in the universe/ somewhere someone’s got it worse/ wish that made it easier/ wish I didn’t feel the hurt

And I don’t wanna cry no more/ so I set my bar real low

No, I ain’t happy yet but I’m way less sad

Well, I can’t fall asleep and I’m losing my mind/ cos it’s half past three and my brain’s on fire

And I’m trying too hard but I can’t not try

But I’m not dead yet, so I guess I’ll be alright

How lucky am I to have two things I love/ makes it that much easier to fuck it up

Am I talking too fast?/ I’m running on adrenaline and one-hour naps

I’m trying, trying, I can start Friday/ You’ve wasted your life but thanks for applying

I’m all grown up but you couldn’t tell/ Now I don’t know what to do with myself

You got older cos you’re good at life/ I’m all 17 at 35

Getting a life’s a little like dying

You think you’re hurting me/ Bet you won’t believe it but you kinda set me free

I’d do it in person but I’d probably mess it up/ I’ll text you, that’s enough

[festive-unserious-fellow]

OMG WE'RE RANKING HAZBIN SONGS!?!?!?!? MY TURN MY TURN MY TURN!!!

Respectless: Carmilla and Velvette both have such satisfying voices omfg. Also the beat goes sO HARD- it catches your attention and DOESN'T LET IT GO! Also it moves the plot forward very effectively which is actually really important for songs in musicals to do so. That's nice. Tbh it's only flaw is being too short-

Stayed Gone: VOX MY BELOVED- this song is so fucking catchy. It also kinda gives me Will Wood vibes, and I love Will Wood so ofc I'm gonna love the Will Wood ass song. Love how petty Al and Vox are, like it's so fucking funny. The lore drops are also really interesting. Aaaaaaaand Alastor's bit at the end reminded me of the Nowhere King and I love Centaurworld so :)

Loser, Baby: Pretty obvious why this one's so high up; Huskerdust, Keith David, cute bonding, has a message I needed to hear tbh, and its catchy as FUCK

Hell Is Forever: God I love all the different genres they play around with in this show- like I was NOT expecting a straight up ROCK BALLAD in the FIRST FUCKIN EPISODE but god Im so happy we got it. This song goes so fucking hard. Alex Brightman should be allowed to sing more Rock n' Roll.

Poison: Once again, this song is catchy as hell! Blake Roman's vocal preformance is also phenomenal, like that man can fuckin SING!!! Of course he can he's been on broadway and releases his own music bUt you get it. Also that final verse... man. In the context of the episode this song is emotionally devastating, out of context it's uh. Still really sad tbh but it's easier to bop along to it cause you don't have the visuals- Idk it's just a fuckin banger man. Though speaking of the visuals VOX WHAT WAS THAT FUCKING LOOK WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVEY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ANGE- *gets shot dead*

Happy Day In Hell: Honestly? Pretty neutral on this song. Love Erika Henningsen's voice, I think it's catchy(no duh), and the Disney Princess vibes are IMMACULATE. Not a huge fan of the random shift in the music I wanna say half way through? But otherwise it's a good song I think, conveys Charlie's motives really well.

Whatever It Takes: Okay okay look. It's a good song. Does it's job in the episode. It's just not for me. I think it goes on a little too long, and I think that, while Daphne Ruben-Vega's voice fits the song PERFECTLY, Stephanie Beatriz was singing too high in her range to a distracting degree. Like I think there was something wonky going on because that shit gave me the same whiplash I got when Marinette started singing in the Miraculous movie, and it just. Doesn't fit the style of the song. Like Vaggie's part should've been more belty or something. Idk man I might be too out of my lane w/ this for my critique to be valid, because I have literally never written a song before, and music is VERY subjective so I don't think I can even be objectively right here, but still. Oppinions.

It Starts With Sorry: Look, I know this song is supposed to be a joke, but the first time I saw the episode that did n o t click with me, and without the understanding that it isn't entirely serious this song just feels so fucking out of place and really falls flat. Like it feels like somebody took a song from My Little Pony: FiM, made an AMV with Hazbin characters, and then threw it in the episode, y'know? And like don't get me wrong MLP has some FUCKIN bangers(Say Goodbye to the Holiday, This Day Aria, etc), but a lot of the musical numbers are still really bland and samey, y'know? So uh yeah it's a decent song and a funny joke but def my least favorite so far.

[neenack]

I'm doing a thing where every one or two weeks, I watch a Disney princess movie from the classic & renaissance eras (in no particular order) and switch it up a bit with movies like Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland.

This time I rewatched Cinderella. I haven't seen in it since I was a wee child, but it brought back all the anger and sadness it gave me. But it's ok because we all know Cinderella's happy in the end!

Like, idk what it is about the animation, but every second Lady Tremaine was on-screen her face looked so punchable. I already hate her guts, so...

(Not my first pick for a gif but this is sorta what I mean. I don't like how her face scrunches up half the time.)

And for some reason, those mice took a lot of the movie's screen time. Like, why are we still on the mice? 15 minutes in, and the main plot hasn't even kicked in yet because of these mice trying to get breakfast. I feel like 2 out of the 3 big scenes they were in did serve the plot, but it felt kinda dragged out.

Idk I read that the cat and mouse chases were like, an extension of the battle between Cinderella and her evil stepmother which is interesting.

Anyone else think it was wild how the king basically created a whole hook up scenario just so his son could make some grandkids? Maybe this isn't surprising but it's funny that this is the side plot of Cinderella.

So, yeah. Cinderella gets to live as royalty now after having a love at first sight dance with the prince. But other than that, what's the prince doing for Cinderella?

Eh, I don't need to dwell on that for long. That's probably just one of the narrative flaws of fairy tale stories. 😒🤷‍♀️

[hoardingpuffin]

A Word on Muppet Media and Music

[this post is about the Muppet Show and Muppet Movie Media, not all Muppets, so it excludes Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, Emmett Otter and pre-Sesame Muppets]

The Muppet films [excluding the 2011 one plus its sequel, I'll explain why below] have no fricking business having songs that are this good.

The original Muppet Movie's "Rainbow Connection" is obviously iconic but it's also a really beautiful song if you take it out if the Muppet context. Same with it's reprise "The Magic Store" - I mean, c'mon!

Life's like a movie

Write your own ending

Keep believing, keep pretending -

We've done just what we've set out to do.

Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers and you.

Then, in the same movie, we get "I'm going to go back there some day", Gonzo's song, and oh my goodness, it's got unironically one of the most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard.

There's not a word yet

For old friends who've just met.

Part heaven, part space

Or have I found my place?

You can just visit, but I plan to stay -

I'm going to go back there some day.

And it's not just the Muppet Movies either - think about "Muppets Treasure Island" and "Muppets Christmas Carol" - yes the songs are sung by Muppets mostly, but you wouldn't know so if you took the lyrics out of context. Treasure Islands "Shiver my Timbers" is a great pirate-y pseudo shanty, "Something more" is a perfect I-want-song; Christmas Carol's songs overall set the mood for each scene - "Scrooge" has a looming undertone, "One more Sleep" is longing, "It feels like Christmas" perfectly encompasses Present's personality, "Bless us all" has happy words but a sad undertone (also the fact that Present is the only spirit to sing, and the fact that all the musical numbers cut pff after Yet to Come shows up, amd then the next song happening only after Scrooge returned to Christmas Day... aaargh so good).

Which brings me to the 2011 Muppet Movie by Disney. Where other Muppet songs did have a muppet-y tone, the actual lyrics were pretty deep, with interesting and clever plays on words, and you could easily take the lyrics out of context and the wouldn't read as particularily muppet-y or at least like they aren't in their own way little lyrical works of art. None of them seem childish or shy away from big words.

Disney's Muppet Movie's songs meanwhile gave us

Am I a man or am I a muppet -

if I'm a muppet I'm a very manly muppet.

Am I a muppet or am I a man?

If I'm a man then I am a muppet of a man!

and

Everything is great, everything is grand -

I have the whole world right here in my hand.

The lyrics seem so empty in comparison. They aren't clever, they aren't deep and meaningful, they just exist to be funny and to maybe give minimal storytelling on the very surface. The melodies also aren't very inventive and all the songs kinda just... sound the same? Meanwhile the original Muppet films had lyrics with layers that fleshed out the characters, songs of different genres and styles and meanings.

I swear I am just time and time again disappointed by the Disney-ification of The Muppets. You can tell that whoever wrote 2011's songs did not try to make good songs that happened to be in a Muppet Movie, they tried to Just Make A Few Very Muppet-y Songs and ooooh my did that backfire...

[dausy]

I'm back in town! we survived! So as I have said in multiple videos. The husband is about to leave on a 9month rotation and I won't see him again until next year. This was his vacation before he leaves though I'm not sure exactly when he's leaving but it'll be a few more weeks.

I know I was just in Vegas, but that was a holiday weekend so we both had 4 day weekends and we did splurge to get there. I feel like I have to apologize for going on vacation but in hindsight the last time we went on vacation was actually back in December when we were in the process of moving and this year is over half over now...don't even know how that happened.

My MiL wants to try and go to Disneyland for Christmas and invited me so I won't be alone during the holidays but we were both looking at the prices for tickets and I'm not sure thats going to happen.

Anyway I'm going ramble on about our trip more (including comparing Universal orlando vs hollywood) below.

So again, my inlaws live in Arizona so we drove the 8 hours to their house and spent a couple days before picking up my SiL and driving another 8 hours to Los Angeles.

We had discussed what kind of vacation we should take this year. Besides this past Vegas trip my SiL hasn't really had a vacation (kinda) and wanted to go to the beach for the first time ever. Some of the logistics for other trips we were just too..tired...to handle...so we both wanted to see the new Super Mario World so California was an easy enough thing to plan.

When we got to Los Angeles we checked into our hotel..which hilariously was having some sort of water inspection and they gave us an apology letter saying the water would be shut off until the next day T_T so we dropped off our luggage and went and wandered around the City Walk which is like Universals version of Downtown disney. The shopping district. Now I have been to Orlando many many times living close on the east coast. This city walk in Hollywood was super tiny. We ended up going to go see the new SpiderMan movie which was fabulous. Little long, but wonderful. Ate dinner and then went to bed.

Next day we actually went to Universal Studios and I have some safety issues. Now US really has a pretty view up on their hill but somebody didn't think about these logistics of these escalators. We got let into the park early but the mad rush for mario at the bottom of the 3 escalators felt like a dangerous human stampede. I don't know how people werent falling off or getting squished and dying. Thats dangerous. And I'm sure they had them but I didn't see any elevators. My FiL is disabled and though he wasn't with us, I honestly don't know how anybody in a wheelchair or scooter manages to get around this park at all. Its small and cramped and very dependent on going up and down hills. I will say too that I was actually disappointed with the Mario ride. The land looks cool even though it isn't magically hidden. Like at disneyworld or universal orlando they hide the buildings and structural supports within a facade so you "forget" you're in a themepark. Mario you could see the wirings and supports..which was fine..but the ride sucked. I was honestly expecting some sort of 3d immersive ride. Maybe not a real rollercoaster but one that felt like you were on one. This was just another Buzz Lightyear or Men in Black. Instead of lasers you are shooting turtle shells. 8( sad. I didn't get to try any food because we planned poorly and are broke (not really but yeah).

I will say that Jurassic World is great. I wish they would update the one in Orlando. I also really enjoyed the studio tour. And I could be totally wrong but I think we accidentally saw a celebrity from afar idk. But I liked how they incorporated F&F and kingkong into it. I'm not a fan of the individual rides over in Orlando.

Overall we finished the park quickly. Very small. P.S. we did single rider for mario because it was a 2 hour wait from rope drop and I aint about that wait. Near walk on with single rider.

And then the next couple of days were spent at Santa Monica Pier and Little Tokyo and Hollywood BLVD. I had no desire to visit Hollywood at all but we accidentally drove by the Line Friends store and miniso so we stopped. I was hoping for korean make up and then I just like looking at anything cute. We did see an angry woman screaming at somebody who then pulled her naked boobs out and swung them like nunchucks and then saw another naked man applying sunscreen(?). So that was about accurate to what my inlaws said Hollywood was like, I guess.

In Santa Monica we ran into 2 celebrities. One, I don't know who he was but a group of Chinese tourists were taking photos of him. I asked who it was and they showed me what looked like an IMDB page for him but I couldn't read..the..chinese..its fine..he was handsome and smelt good up close?

and then Logan Paul was filming literally behind me. Photo was posted to twitter. So like..catch my butt on his youtube later I guess. I had a simba backpack on.

But mainly I wanted to go to Koreatown or Little Tokyo. For times sake, we went to Tokyo because I was told its less "ghetto" and just better. Tokyo I had high hopes may have art supplies but korea had make up..ugh...I did see art supplies in Tokyo but the amount of people just brought on stress anxiety. One of the bookstores I went into had sets of 5 copic markers for 7.99...that is...impressive. Looking back theres some stuff I kind of wish I'd bought but I got stressed out I left the shop.

but overall, I could spend another day or two for sure. But I know we got scammed a bit with parking costs, traffic made me nauseous, it was kind of cold too...I was honestly expecting weather to be like Florida (hot and muggy), so I brought summer clothes and ended up cold. And oddly enough, I think I also expected the landscape to look like florida. I've definitely heard of the "hollywood hills" but in my mind I was still expecting swamp..and yes..LA is very dirty. I don't think I need to live there. I do however like some of the architecture on the outskirt cities.

also, I finally got some decent pastries and a matcha coffee. /highfive/

[themattress]

Blackosprey's comment is correct, but some of yours I must question.

A good portion of it was KH2′s writing just bouncing around, we rarely seen our antagonists and when we did it felt kinda lackluster.

HARD disagree. I thought the Nobodies were effective when they showed up, mainly because we rarely saw them. If the Nobodies were constantly present like the Heartless, they would lose their unique edge.

Of course this is undone as he screams in horror because he’s fading, showing fear

Not really. I kind of like the idea that as they're fading (thus ceasing to be), Nobodies finally feel an emotion purely...even if that is a negative one. It's a dramatically ironic way for them to go out, highlighting their tragic nature.

At this point we didn’t know what nobodies were which let the original version of the game (alongside textboxes) have more freedom with the characters. They had personality and motives aside wanting to be “whole”.  This hurt KH2 in a way as well I think, they had to persevere the mystery of the “Organization” for Kh2′s release but they wrote the members like normal people. The whole scheme of the game is Marluxia’s thirst for power/keyblade for example.

This was fixed in Re:CoM, though. The way all of them are depicted is like they're acting upon memory with their emotions, with several instances where they slip into more monotonous coldness. Zexion even has a disturbing breakdown where, after acting more or less emotionless the whole time, he feels the need to emulate emotion for his anger and it just...doesn't feel right. It feels more mentally deranged than emotionally volatile.

Given the context of the Organizations goal, all you really had to do was show them in the disney worlds being the source of chaos. They want hearts, Sora, their only remaining means of getting them, is free. Have the problems in Disney worlds be due to nobodies. Throw out Pete, have the Organization or even mid boss nobodies releasing heartless into worlds.

HORRIBLE idea. Just horrible. As seen in 3D and KH3, there is only so much most players can take of black-coated assholes showing up in worlds before it gets tiresome. The Organization could and should have been in a few more Disney world visits (and in the case of Land of Dragons and Agrabah's second visits, shown doing more), but not in every world. Having Pete, Maleficent and/or local villains as well gave the game way more variety and made the universe feel richer; things felt more "alive", y'know?

The Nobody premise was really good on paper, it just needed minor tweaks. Play on the creepiness of their false personas, the tragic nature of a being that can’t feel.

We have to keep in mind that Disney is still a factor. It could be that Nobodies were supposed to be even darker than they ended up being but Disney didn't allow it. This would certainly track with Nomura being so eager to do Versus XIII, where he could go as dark as he wanted without interference (or so he thought...)

Kh2′s writing lost me on nobodies before but these additions added later really threw me off to them as a concept. They feel moot and I think that’s sad.

Exactly. The "expansion" (aka retconning) made them just feel pointless.

Nobody Ramble

No, I’m not gonna rant about how I think nobodies should’ve been a heartless type again. I still think that but I also think that the idea just suffered from KH2′s writing and the later games alterations.

I wont say KH2 was outright bad, since to some it wasn’t, but I do think we can all agree it had a lot of good ideas it didn’t execute that well. Like the entire plot spectacularly built up during Roxas’ prologue vanishing for half a game the moment Sora wakes up.

And yes I think the nobodies were one of those poorly executed things. However the idea is damn good on paper. I mean it makes sense, what does happen to a physical body after it’s heart is stolen?

It’s a fantasy series so it’s not like we need a huge level of detail. The set up is damn perfect, the heart’s will is so strong it clings to the body as it’s being stolen. Boom, you have this tortured being that remembers what it’s like to feel or be “whole” but can’t be.

It brought on a lot of great debates back in the day. It’s something we can all identify with, a “what would you be willing to do to be yourself again?” motive for their actions.

It also contrasted their heartless counterparts greatly. The heartless are mindless, the very heart of a person turned into a monster due to darkness. The nobodies are bordering on nothing, they can think but they can’t feel, they dont have instinct.

Even the names contrast. To a degree, the heartless are the true nobodies since they dont even have awareness. In turn the nobodies are the true heartless since they are bodies without a heart, a body lacking it’s mind/soul in our real world terms.

It’s all edgelord as hell in retrospect to me but it was 2005, the era my gen hit that phase. Still, the concept works really well which makes me wonder where it went wrong. Sure I can peg things added later like in DDD but during KH2 it’s a wonder almost as to how.

A good portion of it was KH2′s writing just bouncing around, we rarely seen our antagonists and when we did it felt kinda lackluster. They also showed more emotion than a being lacking feeling should. It broke the illusion. Originally it was stated they do this because they’re acting according to memory. this would’ve worked real well if they had kept that logic for each one.

The best example, I think, was Demyx. His personality just vanishes when it’s time to battle, it played into the sense he’s showing his real nature. It was kinda eerie tbh, that these creatures can drop their perceived persona in a heartbeat. Of course this is undone as he screams in horror because he’s fading, showing fear, but I think it would’ve done real well if every nobody displayed this trait and stuck to it.

Thinking on it, that may have been the problem. These characters were supposed to be emotionless, faked personalities, but it’s also really hard to write interesting villains that way. KH2 had to balance the act and follow up the rather good writing of Chain of Memories.

At this point we didn’t know what nobodies were which let the original version of the game (alongside textboxes) have more freedom with the characters. They had personality and motives aside wanting to be “whole”.  This hurt KH2 in a way as well I think, they had to persevere the mystery of the “Organization” for Kh2′s release but they wrote the members like normal people. The whole scheme of the game is Marluxia’s thirst for power/keyblade for example

The only one really true to a nobodies nature in the game was Axel. He had a persona forged from what he remembered but he clearly didn’t care what he was doing. Such as the death scenes of Vexen and Zexion. (not counting the scene Axel mentions feeling something)

The final main problem, I think, was the aforementioned bouncing of KH2′s writing. We rarely saw our villains and when we did it was…uh…a mixed bag. You’d get scenes like Sora telling a grown man “you gonna cry!?” then scenes as fucking soul crushing as Roxas’ basically dying at the start of the game.

More importantly though, you didn’t see them. Sure the Final Mix added scenes but it just feels a bit weird. Of the titles, KH1 & CoM had the best presence of a villain. You regularly saw them watching Sora, talking to one another, being cohesive and plotting.

Basically put, the writing of KH1 & CoM introduced the villains to us early on. Sora didn’t meet them until later but we the player knew they were there. This sense wasn’t in KH2. The nobodies had no presence.

They want to collect hearts? Ok then show them doing this. You dont necessarily have to copy KH1 & CoM but you should show the nobodies being counteractive to Sora.

Given the context of the Organizations goal, all you really had to do was show them in the disney worlds being the source of chaos. They want hearts, Sora, their only remaining means of getting them, is free. Have the problems in Disney worlds be due to nobodies.

Throw out Pete, have the Organization or even mid boss nobodies releasing heartless into worlds. Have a moment or two when the nobodies save Sora to further confuse him. (sora wouldn’t know they need him at this point)

Explore the nature of nobodies and Ansem, have more of the Organization level bosses behave like Demyx did. Having personalities they show only to drop the facade once they’re in battle or dying.

Rather than fear, hate or anything, show how truly lost they are when they’re fading away. No sadness, no tears, just fade away. Play on the creepiness of these beings. 

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Don’t have Sora be so antagonistic to them. Yes Sora isn’t some saint but have him behave more like KH1 or CoM. In CoM Sora openly questions what they are, aghast Axel would kill one of his own with no emotion. Bring this back, play on both Sora’s anger and his empathy.

The Nobody premise was really good on paper, it just needed minor tweaks. Play on the creepiness of their false personas, the tragic nature of a being that can’t feel. Their motives for being villains was damn good and it sparked so much debate.

Keep the nobodies as they are and just expand on them properly. I know newer fans or those loving the newer material wont get it but, to me, it was truly sad to see Nomura “patchwork” them later.

“Oh they act like they feel? That’s because they can grow new hearts!” “They werent’ that relevant in their own game? Dont worry they’re relevant now and human again too!” “Roxas could cry? Easy, it wasn’t nothing special he just had a heart of his own and Ven’s.” “The nobodies had this morally questionable reason to get kingdom hearts? Nah Xehanort just wanted to yoink 13 extra bodies.”

Kh2′s writing lost me on nobodies before but these additions added later really threw me off to them as a concept. They feel moot and I think that’s sad. Now I’m speculating what could’ve been or worse, wishing the concept wasn’t used at all….

Thanks for reading.

[sepublic]

About Emira...

Honestly, Emira being a healer outside of illusions and only that is just. SO implicitly sad, because she clearly has Eldest Child syndrome and it was even kinda confirmed canon by Disney at one point! And you can see it with how Emira is always being a big sister to Amity, always trying to encourage and bring forth her best (telling her she can pull off the fire spell, advising Amity on her crush, healing Amity), while she also has to keep Edric in line, make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or harm; He definitely could’ve with Batric or eating snow, and canonically has with his fireworks!

So it’s no wonder that her worst fear in Grom was being stuck with Edric forever... She still loves and enjoys and appreciates him, but it really is suffocating and confining to Em how she’s defined by the role she has to play for her siblings; It’s almost adultification in that Emira had to be the mom and attentive parent for her siblings, not their actual parents! At most there was Alador but even he drifted away...

Which means I get the sense that Emira is just left wondering; What about me? What about my childhood? Why can’t I goof off and be the one who’s saved? I can’t blame her for being a bit selfish in that desire and fear. It’s no wonder she wants to be a troublemaker who can do whatever she pleases, because life is already hard and even being a natural prodigy has its expectations! Which then contribute to Emira’s saltiness when Amity feels the need to undermine Emira and Edric, because Em is already doing so much for this family as-is, almost as the forced central pillar/glue; Why can’t she goof off, doesn’t Amity know and appreciate that it’s NOT as easy as it looks???

Which could tie into the twins having to put in the effort to appear flawless; Not just in terms of talent but also their physical appearances, hiding their imperfections. Meanwhile Amity doesn’t need a concealment stone and so she kind of takes it for granted how the twins struggle in their own, meaningful, equally valid way... That isn’t to say she shouldn’t be frustrated over her own situation, but lording it over her siblings isn’t fair either. The twins also had to change their appearance.

There’s honestly something almost meta about Emira’s storyline this episode; Amity and Edric get their arcs and focus, while Emira has to focus on supporting them, getting the ball rolling by taking Edric’s concealment stone, which thematically sets up his storyline with Eda and King, and then healing Luz and Amity between battles. But then when all is said and done, when Emira sees that Edric got his little arc that culminates in a Bad Girl Coven T-shirt...

Well, SHE wants one too! And the hurried way Emira butts in, almost desperately; It’s like she realized that in her efforts to keep her siblings ahead, she got left behind and she’s trying to catch up before it’s too late! Trying to get that approval and love before the episode’s screen time literally runs out! I could honestly compare it to Luz, how they’re both so concerned with helping others and their growth, that... What about their story? Did they forget about themselves???

...Anyhow, I hope to TITAN that we get an Emira B-plot later this season. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would’ve happened in Season 3 instead, but it got cut due to the show being shortened. I’m still desperately hoping that if the writers gave Edric development this season, then they may as well have given Emira some later on... But I also have to wonder that we have seven episodes left. And later episodes might’ve been changed to focus on the plot more, to tie up loose ends and transition better into the Season 3 specials.

So it’s not looking good for Emira and purely by Disney’s fault. If not, I’m gonna be really sad for Emira, because she really is that kid who was born first and seemingly ahead of her siblings in everything, from wisdom to competency; Only to be left behind in making sure Amity and Edric aren’t! Edric got Eda and Amity got Alador, Emira deserves some parental love too! A part of me is hoping, without much evidence, that Labyrinth Runners will have an Emira B-plot; Since I speculated on that episode being about the coven tryouts, which Hunter mentioned as including a maze...

Who knows, maybe Odalia will shift towards Emira as a last-ditch attempt to get a kid into the Emperor’s Coven? Because Emira is already more talented than Amity and actually sixteen, the bare-minimum age to compete. Maybe having expectations shifted from Amity to Emira, as a result of Amity’s development, will prompt some sadness and maybe even some guilty jealousy from Em; That in helping her siblings grow free, she’s left to handle the remaining burden of their parents’, mostly Odalia’s unlived expectations. Emira probably doesn’t want to join the Emperor’s Coven, but who knows, maybe she can get away and choose something for herself?

...Obviously not, the show has made it clear the coven will make any issues about recognition worse instead of fixing them. But god I can kinda see the parallels to Lilith, who felt unnoticed due to the more troublesome Eda needing attention, wanting to stand outside of Eda’s shadow... Maybe something similar can happen with Emira, and Lilith can stop her? Maybe Hunter? Luz? I just want my girl to get some healthy development.

Her siblings got to address THEIR worst fears from Grom, Em deserves to as well, and maybe have them understand just how much of a burden she’s carrying and why she wants some alone-time; Not unlike Amity realizing this episode how Luz has been struggling with a weight, prompting Amity’s guilt in not noticing and helping her out any sooner. I’d just hate for any Blight kid to be left behind, when the rest have made it; Especially if the show planned to explore that by thematically have Emira’s arc come later than sooner, only for that to backfire when DISNEY steps in...

Dammit. I’m getting the same vibes and angst as that one Grom art Dana did of the twins, being stood up by their dates; But at least they were together in their rejection! Now it’s just Emira. Now it’s just Emira who’s been left behind while she’s happy for, but also envious of a sibling’s development and growth. And while back in Grom her and Ed didn’t get brought up because screentime issues... Emira leaping to hitchhike on Edric’s arc this episode feels like she’s just starting to realize how far behind she is, and Em’s desperately trying to fix that now that her twin brother is ahead of her too! But at least she isn’t stuck with him in the back...?

It’s sad. Comparing their fears, Edric and Amity’s were based on how they wanted, needed another person and were so scared to lose that. Meanwhile Emira’s was just being stuck and tied down, so theoretically she’s perfectly ready to be her own person, while her siblings are still struggling! And yet by cruel irony, Em is in last place... And now even Edric, who Em admittedly saw as kind of a liability, is beyond her now; So if anything, Emira might be the one dragging people down! Or at least she now has a new understanding of Ed’s fear, because she doesn’t want to be left behind and thus not alone. And maybe the twins’ fears have reversed for them to understand each other, with Edric wanting to hang out with Eda and King instead of his sister, especially since he admittedly doesn’t feel as stupid around them.

God it just feels like these twins have a LOT of subtle angst and pain and pressure going on the background. Some unique tragedies of their own, a lot of it based on irony and a reversal of positions. I just hope Emira gets her dues... Maybe with a graphic novel if the show can’t fit it in, but those are looking less and less likely as Disney continues to sabotage TOH. DAMN YOU DISNEY!!! Maybe all I’ll have is a fanfic I can write exploring Emira’s angst, like I did with the twins for Grom... But never a resolution for Emira, especially not from canon! Which hurts because I figured/hoped that both twins would receive that, but in the end it’s just Edric...

I just want to see Emira’s feelings explored too. There are many ways to be lonely, and being surrounded by loved ones who had their development while you didn’t is one of them. I want to see the loneliness and resentment leading to guilt for being jealous. And the horrifying question; Did it always require a loser? Did their happiness have to come at my expense and vice-versa? Why didn’t anyone ask how I felt about the sacrifice, consider it from my end?

And worst of all... If they didn’t need me, if they still would’ve done it without me, just longer; Then did I neglect myself for nothing?! Does she feel forgotten by fate, and even by her siblings, and so ironically doesn’t want to be alone and without them, as Edric once felt?! Because who else would stick with a loser like her, besides out of familial loyalty!? And just some gratitude for what she did for them, can Emira get at least that, is that too much to ask for???

Even the magic we see these kids use is kinda, arguably indicative; To overanalyze, we know Emira is a healer outside of illusions. Healing magic is all about existing for others, in support of them; Beastkeepers and Abomination witches at least exercise some control on others and get to be on the top. Edric has control over beasts albeit not absolute; He isn’t AS developed as Amity but he’s there at least. Amity has absolute control over her Abominations, and is the most self-actualized. Her Abominations are only really an extension of herself, while Edric’s beasts are still their own thing; Because Amity can and has devoted the most to herself, followed by Edric. But Emira?

She’s the oldest and first child; Yet left behind and the least developed. Eldest, yet gets hand-me-downs in the form of a complimentary shirt that started as a reward for her brother. Emira has to ask herself; I’m looking out for them, but who’s looking out for me? Are my siblings even doing the same in return, and why should I do that if they won’t do it for me? Because it’s the right thing to do of course, and once I operated from a position of power, having the luxury and privilege to focus on and help others, being the most mature and self-assured; But now I’m left behind at the bottom, so shouldn’t I receive instead?

...Well, if there’s one thing we could possibly look forward to; We know Viney was brought back by popular demand, and now we know she and Emira are both dual-type kids, with one of their skills being healers. Given how the writers have been attentive to the fandom and even ascended Steve in response to his popularity, and with how queer the show already is... May as well make it extra queer out of spite towards Disney for cancelling it over that, right? So maybe we’ll get a bit of Vinira confirmation at the end. Seeing Emira get a girlfriend who she can trust and count on, be herself around, the way Amity is around Luz... That’d honestly sate me a LOT in my desires for Emira development, because that would be a brief yet entire story on its own that speaks for itself, the way a picture is a thousand words.

(Honestly I’m almost definitely overthinking and over-angsting and putting out a lot. But it’s fun, at least and good inspo!)