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hopefully-inspiring-persona · 3 years ago

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Dude

Everything Everywhere All At Once is such a great movie and has overtaken Grand Budapest Hotel as my favorite movie, which is a feat because I’m a sucker for Wes Anderson cinematography and acting.

It’s just so, unashamedly goofy yet serious. It doesn’t take itself super seriously, yet still tackles the big topics of Sci-fi multiple universes, fractured timelines type of thing. It’s just, not only is it a good time, but it’s so fucking cool.

Like, god. The colors, ugh the use of color. There’s the scene from the trailer where it’s the main actor’s face being overlapped with all of her other universes and just, the costuming and lighting is fantastic there, but that’s also carried into the full movie. Like, even the normal lighted places still are vibrant and well lit. The entire movie is jam packed with life and I love it.

Also? Oh my god the opening scene. I can’t describe how much I loved it. Not only does it unknowingly set up the plot/a big motif of/in the film but it’s just such a great shot. It basically starts with this shot of a circle mirror, I forget what was in it, then we see the actor walk past it, then she slams the door and it then shows the room, then we see her sit at her table in the mirror as it zooms in and switches to an actual pov from the mirror’s angle. I’m not doing it justice and there’s no way to find the clip online, but god when I saw that I was like “holy shit I’m in for an amazing film” and it was literally the first minute. The amazing cinematography carried on throughout the whole film and god damn there were so many absolutely beautiful shots in the film, also great moments. The audience laughed a lot throughout the whole film, and by the end I was sobbing and I could hear someone behind be sobbing as well lol. Sobbing solidarity.

Another thing, language and culture. Both are so fucking cool and expressed brilliantly in the film. The characters are Chinese, and they speak Chinese. They also blend English and Chinese. I was honestly really shocked at first because I thought they were only speaking Chinese for the first 5 minutes, it had subtitles and I was relying on them to know what was going on, so when they kept talking and the subtitles would stop my brain got really confused until I realized oh shit they’re mixing Chinese and English. That was one of my complaints about the film because it made it really hard for me to understand them sometimes because My brain had a hard time switching from paying attention to the subtitles and listening to the audio but it was really fucking cool and I really really appreciate it how they handled it. I know in the very beginning they were talking about a character and the main lady kept fucking up pronouns because in Chinese they don’t have gendered pronouns and I thought it was cool. The language barrier was a constant throughout the film and I honestly really loved that little touch. also there’s a lot of cultural aspects expressed in the film through costuming and music and things the characters do, I can’t explain more without spoilers but it was wonderful to see.

Kinda sad that there wasn’t a portion with anime animated stuff, just a flash of it. I saw it in the trailer and was really hoping it would have it but it didn’t. It had an animated segment and I loved it, but no anime. There was, however, a scene with rocks. It was basically complete silence and the rocks had text dialogue. Watching It in an almost full theater, having it be dead quiet, everyone just reading the text of this really cool subject, it was just a really great experience and I highly recommend seeing in theaters.

Also? The action? So fucking good. There’s a scene where someone fucking fights off five people with a fucking fanny pack and I went completely nuts it was so good. There’s a surprising amount of combat in this movie and it’s all just brilliantly choreographed, outrageously cartoony, and just so fun. When I said this film doesn’t take itself seriously I literally mean it in the best way and it makes this film so great.

Also, costumeing and make up? Amazing I fucking loved it. There’s this one character in the film that literally has the best outfits and you just know the costume designer had a ball making all those different clothes for that character. Also all of them fit the character so well and I love it.

My only complaint was with the ending, but that’s only because I don’t really like super open ended endings. Was just really ambiguous and I still had a lot of questions, but all of the questions that mattered were answered. Well except for one that I feel matters but it doesn’t really matter to the plot.

I’m being really vague because I wanted to convince people to watch this movie and not spoil it, so apologies.

Just please fuckin see this movie, A12 is a great studio and deserves your support. You won’t regret it at all

#movie review #everything everywhere all at once #vague spoilers but not really #such a good movie #I’m going nuts #also googly eyes #fucking amazing #eeaao #EEAAO review

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gold-pavilion · 3 years ago

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Red-san お疲れさまでした! ♡

Enjoy your days off as much as possible and rest a lot!!

For the ask, I have two things in mind hehe I hope you don't mind! You don't have to super deep analyze it (if you don't want to), it's more like your opinion.

First, I've just finished marathoning bsd manga, anime, spin offs, novels, fics lol, and I'm in a BIG Chuuya mood and as I also know he's your favourite, I was wondering what your fav canon moments of him are! Like, scenes that most caught your attention or something.

Thank you Anne-san!! Oh don't worry, that's perfect!!

This is one of those things where Chuuya being a side character in the grand scheme of the mainline story (not the novels, ofc, where he gets his protagonic time) is actually nice, cause it makes each of his appearances SO significative. Thinking of each time he's appeared in the manga/anime, each of them has a huge significance in regards to his character, so I love all the moments dfgfdhfg.

The first encounter with Dazai, when he's captured by Port Mafia, introduces the character interestingly but ALSO shows a great deal of the back and forth they've got together, Chuuya knowing that Dazai is underhanded and tricky, Dazai preparing plans cause he just adores messing with Chuuya, plus their banter and inside jokes (the 'rich lady Chuuya' bit).

The brief moment at the end of season 1 where all he does it stand there and bow down to Mori as mafia leader, showing that rowdy guy we've just met as humble and respectful before his superior.

That time where he meets the ADA for negotiations during the 3-part conflict with the Guild, where he's just charming as HELL, approaching the others with such confidence and carrying out his negotiation orders to the T cause as much as it's not his intel work, he follows orders phenomenally.

The brief appearance where he's helping protect civilians along with the rest of the mafia while the city is in chaos over the effect of Q.

And at that, the small scene where he's speaking with Mori about fallen mafia comrades and how much that stings for them both to see!

His drink and cheers with Kouyou and Mori at the end of season 2, showing his relaxed demeanor in down time with his coworkers n family.

His moment as interim mafia boss in season 3!! It's such a power moment, as well as heart-warming to see him operate with his beloved organization in Mori's stead, plus how funny his showdown with Ranpo is.

Of course, can't forget about his stellar participation in Dead Apple, from the amazing battle scene to the lil moment with Akutagawa to everything between him and Dazai.

And the yet-to-be-animated helicopter rescue, around when the Hunting Dogs first appear in the manga!! I've pointed that as my favorite manga panel of him, having such a TIME fighting and letting his passionate character shine through.

Every time Chuuya has appeared, his time has been anything but wasted. He's always having amazing character moments, he's utilized carefully and fantastically in that way.

But if I were to pick, I'm going with the entirety of the season 2 Double Black episode and its manga equivalent. That moment of Q's rescue where Chuuya threatens to kill him, testing and mocking Dazai's new morals in the process as well as keeping steadfast on his own, even though the thought of "his comrades in bodybags" tests his patience... followed by the first use of Corruption, it's just unforgettable. Corruption is the peak display of Chuuya's character to me, the abandon and dedication that's so inherent to his nature, the trust in Dazai that can never be buried away and, of course, the amazing visuals of that moment (I'm a sucker for fucked up powers and his slashed pupils and the pattern on his skin drive me nuts HAHA).

#asks #nakahara chuuya #literally just me loving my fav character all over #loki spoilers #anne-san #thoughts and talk and so

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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years ago

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What I Thought About "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" from Marvel Studios' What If...

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Back when Marvel Studios announced the new lineup of films and shows, I was admittingly underwhelmed. Nothing we've seen so far has been poorly written, far from it, but during the announcement, nothing really popped out at me as worth getting excited for. That is, except for one series: Marvel Studios' What If... An animated series that changes the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all through the simple question. The question being, "What if this happened instead of that."

From the get-go, I was sold on this idea. I'm a sucker for hypothetical scenarios, thinking up all the ways of how some of my favorite stories in fiction could be drastically different thanks to one tiny change. Some might call that "Fanfiction the Series," and while you're not wrong, I fail to see how that's a criticism. Because fanfiction can be fun...just as long as you ignore the sick freaks, sure, but it still can be fun! So whether Marvel Studio's What If... is fanfiction or not, it still didn't change how excited I was to watch it. Was it all worth the hype? Well, to answer that question requires spoilers, so keep that in mind as we dive deep into Marvel's most ambitious project yet.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

The Watcher: Gonna get the generals out of the way before I talk about what I specifically like about this episode. Ok? Ok.

Now, using the Watcher as the narrator for this series is just perfect. What If... already has a similar energy to The Twilight Zone: An anthology series that takes viewers to new and mysterious realities all through the guidance of an omniscient narrator. And using the Watcher as that type of narrator might just be the second-best choice...number one would be Stan Lee, obviously, but...he's dead now. May he rest in peace.

I haven't read that many comics, so there's not much that I know about the Watcher's character aside from a ten-second Google search. But something tells me that a character described as a celestial being that observes and records the events surrounding the galaxy sounds like the exact type of omniscience to guide us through the unknown. All added with Jeffrey Wright's performance, who really does convey a character that sounds like he's as old as time and wise beyond his years. Plus, it's pretty cool that such a seemingly odd character now technically plays a major role in the MCU canon. Comics are weird, and if the Watcher proves anything, it's better to embrace that weirdness than deny it.

The Animation: Looks like someone watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

That really is the feeling I got when watching this. What If... doesn't look as good as Spiderverse (Nothing can be as good as Spiderverse), but the idea is still there as it combines primarily CGI animation with a few hand-drawn elements. It makes certain scenes just pop and, at times, even makes specific shots look like they're straight from panels in a comic book. Besides, while Spiderverse still looks better, that doesn't mean the animation isn't phenomenal in What If... The scenery looks gorgeous, the CGI models moderately match their live-action counterparts, the expressions are fantastic, and movements are as smooth as butter. There was definitely some money that went into this series to make it look as good as it did, and my eyeballs were more than grateful because of it. Especially when it comes to--

The Action: Holy s**t, was it a good thing that this series was animated!

The MCU has had its fair share of great fight scenes in the past, but it always felt restricted to what the big superhero fights could be due to everything needing to look "realistic." That all changes in What If... Because now that this series is animated, we can finally chuck realism out the window and allow these characters to be as epic as they were in the comics. The movements are swift, the blows look like they hurt, and best of all, you actually get to see characters fighting each other! There are no random cuts to hide the stunt doubles or weird camera angles to avoid audiences seeing how ugly the CGIed replacements are. We get to see all of the action with zero restraint, thanks to the fact that animation is limitless and allows writers to get away with literally anything. And shows like this make me wonder, "Why the hell isn't the MCU animated?"

Peggy as Captain Carter: It's here that we get into the specifics, and by golly, do I love me some Peggy Carter making a return. And what a return she made!

Seeing Peggy kick Nazi ass as Captain Carter is as awesome as it sounds as she gives a new definition of a "Strong, independent woman." She took s**t from no one and was more than willing to destroy anybody who said differently. It's a ton of fun for fans (the ones who aren't sexist, at least) and even fun for Peggy as well now that she gets a chance to wreck shop. However, that in itself could cause problems. If you watched Agent Carter (a great show, by the way), then you'll know that Peggy doesn't act as...somewhat meatheaded as she does here. As she said it herself, she's "usually more covert than this." And she is, as she was pretty much the first superspy in the MCU, who's impressive through how she effortlessly infiltrates her way to winning the day with diminutive requirements for fighting. So stripping that away gets rid of a core part of what makes her character so interesting. Although, in fairness, you could blame the fact that the reason she's acting like this is that the super-soldier serum is messing with her brain a bit. We've seen through U.S. Agent the reciprocations of the wrong person taking the serum, and while Peggy is far from the worst pick, there are hints of why Steve Rodgers was the best choice. Still, even though it's not the same Peggy Carter, that doesn't mean Captain Carter is a poor addition to the hero roster in the MCU. She's cool in all the right ways, even though they're drastically different from what made her compelling, to begin with.

Howard Stark: Another character I'm more than happy to see again!

Howard didn't leave that much of a grand of an impression in Captain America: The First Avenger, but in Agent Carter (Seriously, great show), he was a blast. You can just tell he was Tony Stark's father through all the ways he fast-talks in and out of problems and brilliantly comes up with solutions thanks to being tech-savvy. The main difference between Howard and Tony, however, is that Howard prefers to stay on the sidelines, where Tony learned to be more proactive. You get a sense of that in this episode. Because even though he goes to save the day, you can tell that he would rather be anywhere else. And, as a bonus, Howard's just funny. Probably not up there as one of the funniest characters in the franchise (Paul Rudd's Ant-Man reigns supreme), but he still cracks me up more times than not. Howard may be nothing more than a side character, but he'll always win me over no matter how small of a role he has.

Steve Rodgers in the Hydra Stomper: Don't mind me. Just admiring the fact that despite being crippled and skinny, Steve Rodgers still finds a way to fight the good fight, which is who Steve is to me. One of the best things about The First Avenger is that it fully understands the hero that is Captain America. Serum or not, he will do all he can to do the right thing and won't give up despite how many times others tell him he should. So if Steve's going to fly around in a suped-up Iron Man suit that's appropriately named "The Hydra Stomper," then Steve'll f**king soar. Because he is a gosh dang superhero, no matter what name he takes at the end of the day.

Fast-Forwarding Through Events: Some fans might take issues with this. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see all the little changes that Captain Carter makes to the story, but realistically that's not the best choice to make. Let's be honest, there's not that much to show other than what this episode did, and doing a full-on rewrite of Captain America: The First Avenger would have rubbed some fans the wrong way. Besides, from what I can tell, most of the What If... comics are one-shots that very rarely branch out into longer arcs. The primary goal is less to write this large-scale story and more of this self-contained narrative that does what it precisely delivers: Show fans a glimpse of what would happen if this happened instead of that. That's what we were given, and I can't really complain that much. I would have loved to have seen more, but I can learn to be happy with what I got.

Colonel Flynn Taking Credit: This guy is sexist and an idiot, and that's why I hate him...but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least chuckle when he said everything was his idea. It's such a scumbag move that I couldn't help but find the humor in it.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING !)nd Steve falling in love inThe First Avenger, which certainly wasn't helped by how they had these dumbass misunderstandings of each thinking the other was dating someone else. Here, they at least get to interact, confiding in one another about their insecurities and offer support when needed. And while it may be a little rushed, I'm more willing to believe their romance in under thirty minutes than I did in over two hours. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

(Like, what even was that scene where Peggy was pissed at Steve kissing a girl. THEY WEREN'T EVEN DATING AT THE TIME!)

“I won’t tell you anything.”/”He told me everything.”: That's the Peggy Carter I know and love! Added with a solid joke, too.

Steve’s Pratfall: It's nice to know that no matter what universe we see, Marvel is still funny.

Peggy’s Sacrifice: Much like Peggy and Steve's romance, I buy Peggy's sacrifice way more than Steve's. Several fans already pointed out how it makes no sense for Steve to crash the plane into the icy waters when it seemed like he had enough control to land it or could have easily jumped out after aiming for the crash landing. Here, there's a more legitimate reason why Peggy sacrifices herself. The monster was undefeatable, and the only way to stop it was to push it back through the portal. Peggy, being the only one strong enough to do so at the moment, was the only option, and there was no way where she didn't end up going through with the monster. Even her return makes more sense, as I think her being lost to time and space sounds more believable than Steve surviving being frozen in ice. Something no mortal man should live through. Peggy's sacrifice proves that while the MCU can't change its cannon past, the writers learn from their mistakes and make something better.

WHAT I DISLIKED

The Reasoning Behind Peggy Becoming Captain Carter: So, the idea that one small change can greatly alter the story we knew is a great one, and it's one of the main reasons why I was excited about this series...but how does Peggy staying in the room cause the Hydra agent to detonate the bomb early? I understand the ripples that come from the Butterfly Effect, but I feel like that's too big of a leap to reason how Peggy ends up taking the serum instead.

Colonel Flynn: How is it possible that this guy is somehow even more of a pain in the ass than the general he replaced? At least Chester Phillips had the decency to respect Agent Carter!

Red Skull is Still on the Dull Side: Red Skull isn't an awful villain, but he wasn't really a great one. It's the same here, as he's just as forgettable and wooden an episode of television as he was in a full-length movie. But at least he had a cooler death this time.

Sebastian Stan is Not a Great Voice Actor: He's not awful, but his talent really doesn't shine in this regard. Some people think that being an actor and a voice actor is the same thing, but it's not always the case. Through live-action, actors are given a chance to express emotion through their expressions, movement, and voice. With voice acting, actors still have to convey emotions, but strictly through their voice. Meaning that actors like Sebastian Stan are limited to what they're used to and can stumble a bit when trying to perform in a field of acting they're unfamiliar with. You can tell he was trying his best, but this type of thing can take far more practice for others to perfect.

“Whew. Thanks. You almost ripped my arm off.”: ...hhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHA! HA HA! Ah...oh man...I, uh...I felt the internal bleeding with that one. Wow. Just...wow.

Bucky Leaving After Steve “Died”: Ok, now that's the biggest bout of bulls**t I've ever heard. BUCKY WOULD BE WITH STEVE 'TILL THE END OF THE LINE AND WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT THAT QUICKLY!

...This episode did Bucky dirty, didn't it?

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "What If...Captain Carter was the First Avenger" is an A-. It's still a solid start of what I can already tell will be a great series, but some elements could have used some polishing out. I loved it, but it wasn't as bloody brilliant as it could have been.

(And I meant it: WATCH AGENT CARTER! It's pleasantly surprising!)

#marvel cinematic universe #mcu reviews #marvel studios what if #peggy carter #captain carter #steve rodgers #hydra stomper #howard stark #bucky barnes #what i thought about #what if reviews

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number5theboy · 4 years ago

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Favorite song montages/music scenes?

Oooohhhhh, love this. Because I’m on a roll, I made this another list, a top ten one, just so I don’t go overboard. I really looked at this as the scenes as a whole, rather than me liking the song or the scene individually. There are songs from the soundtrack that I love way more than some on this list, but didn’t think that they worked as well with the scene they’re in as the ones that did make the list. Without further ado:

10. I’m a Man (S2E2) - Diego & Reginald Fight

I just like how the aesthetics of this fight and the vibes of the song play perfectly together. It’s a more laid-back song than most fight scenes we get, and the line ‘I’m a man, yes I am, and I can’t help but love you so’ played over Reginald, who is demonstrably not a man and definitely doesn’t love Diego gives it such an almost sarcastic tone, like Reginald is toying with Diego.

9. Exit Music (For a Film) (S1E7) / All Die Young (S1E9) / Hello (S2E5) - Group Montages of Sadness and Change

I couldn’t decide between these three, because they all basically fulfill the same function in the narrative, showcasing different characters at low or turning points, and the mood of each song just hits perfectly. The way ‘Exit Music’ ramps up to Vanya’s guilt over killing and the confirmation that Leonard is Harold Jenkins. How ‘All Die Young’ is upbeat yet melancholic as nobody but Vanya truly is at their lowest at that moment, but you feel the arrow being drawn to the inevitable conclusion to this whole mess. And ‘Hello’ hit so much harder than it had any right to, it have the Swedes some dimension, but also the interplay of music with the funeral and the siblings’ big decisions, Vanya trying to confess to Sissy, Klaus going back to his cult, Allison telling Ray the truth, Diego and Luther burying the hatchet. It’s the perfect mood for it all, and the idea to use a Swedish cover is absolutely brilliant by the music department.

8. Soul Kitchen (S1E6) - Klaus & Dave in Vietnam

The Doors and Vietnam of course perfectly fits, but using the Doors to soundtrack a gay Vietnam romance??? Awesome. I’m usually someone with an ear for lyrics rather than the music, because I just know more about it, so I like it when the lyrics match up, but in this case, I don’t know any of the lyrics. I just like the mood the music creates. It’s a club in Vietnam and they’re not dancing to a club song. I like the rift between image and sound, and the sound still creates such a charged yet comfortable atmosphere.

7. In the Heat of the Moment (S1E5) - Five’s life in the apocalypse through the years

The fact that Noel Gallagher’s snooty singing and borderline meaningless lyrics fit this scene so perfectly is a minor miracle, but they do. The na na na nas coming in with the image after the counting in before the song quiets down just to soar again over Five’s struggles. And it’s also not a song that sounds strong, that is technically perfect, it never quite reaches grandeur, and I don’t know why the atmosphere it creates goes so hand in hand with decades in an apocalyptic wasteland. And the irony of a song about having someone by your side over excruciating loneliness. Also the lyric ‘you better learn to fly ‘cause they’re gonna point you up at sky’ objectively goes harder than Noel Gallagher lyrics should.

6. Stormy Weather (S1E8) - Allison drives through the rain to find Vanya, haunted by her past actions and flashes back to when she rumoured her daughter

It’s just the perfect soundtrack to Allison’s backstory with her powers, and the fact that it’s sung by Emmy Raver-Lampman herself adds a dimension to it. The entire scene is centered around her voice, you hear her past rumours, you see her tell a story to Claire, then rumour her, and she is singing in the background. It intertwines scene and soundtrack on another level, and I love it. The combination of the sad lyrics but the more upbeat instrumentation, and how they carry into her memory........so good.

5. Shingaling (S1E4) / Pepper (S2E8) - Drug Trip Scenes

TUA has two scenes where people are tripping on drugs, and I cannot choose which one I like more. The mood for weed chocolate vs the consciousness-warping FBI drugs is so drastically different but the song choices are so perfect for both. Hazel and Cha-Cha dancing high off their asses to Shingaling, which is a chill but fun song as they commit arson, coupled with that green colouring and fun shot set-ups. Truly exquisite. Vanya getting nightmare visions in the FBI building, with the weird, disconcerting energy and lyrics of Pepper blasting, and the second-best use of scene switch at the drop that this show has pulled off this far. Stupendous.

4. Run Boy Run (S1E2) / Never Tear Us Apart (S1E2) - Five pushes his powers and lands himself in the apocalypse, where he finds his siblings’ bodies

These scenes are SO good. So good, and it’s because the music is the driving force of the emotion in that moment. Run Boy Run has exuberant energy to underline Five’s excitement as he’s testing out his powers, but it’s also somber and dark and swells at the chorus, which leads to the best scene-switch at a song’s drop in the show. The moment where Five lands in the apocalypse as the chorus becomes grand and he looks around, panicked, and when he runs frantically back to the Academy with the claps and percussion in the background? I get chills every time, and the lyrics make it, I think, the definite Five song as it pertains to his character, his characterisation, his arc, as running, in many different interpretations, is one of the key themes to Five for the entire show. The relatively short scenes really hammers in the tragedy of Five being ripped from his home at such a young age, and it gets underlined with Never Tear Us Apart. I put it with Run Boy Run because they fit together, but Never Tear Us Apart is heart-wrenching in itself. Just the imagine of Five searching through the rubble for his siblings, his small frame stumbling through the ruins, with Paloma Faith giving it her all in the soundtrack, and this heavy bass really banging us over the head with the heaviness of the situation. It’s great and sad and both scenes are carried as much by the soundtrack as they are though Aidan Gallagher’s acting.

3. The Phantom of the Opera Medley (S1E1) / I Think We’re Alone Now (S1E1) / Sister of Pearl (S2E7) - Character-establishing Montages

I am a sucker for this trope, of characters being characterised through a song playing, and TUA pulls it off so well. Phantom of the Opera shows you what the siblings do and where they are at in their lives perfectly, telling you so much with so little. It’s a great introduction and using the Phantom of the Opera, with the idea of Vanya being the phantom, the mysterious musician constantly belittled and underestimated (this is generalised, very much so, but it fits) that lashes out at some point because of the abuse they suffered, is genius also because it combines different themes that you can set the Hargreeves to. I Think We’re Alone Now is about personalities, of who these siblings are if nobody’s watching. I don’t think I need to sing its praises, the scene has become iconic for a reason, it’s memorable and creative. And the music choice, a pop song that they could have listened in their youth, with lyrics that are eerily prophetic, is so good. And Sister of Pearl is the long-awaited addition that introduces Ben’s character, and the music is sweet and fun and him messing around in the world, all giddy and a little goofy, fits with the whole theme of dancing like no one is watching. All three are so amazing at characterising the different Hargreeves.

2. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (S1E1) - Five fights the Commission agents at Griddy’s

Okay, but what is better than a musical sequence that characterises a sibling? A musical sequence that characterises a sibling that’s also a fight scene! I’m not going to be long about this one, because I wrote 500 words on why I think Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is a brilliant scene just yesterday, you can find it here if you scroll for a bit. It hits so many sweet spots. It re-contextualises Five and adds several dimensions to him. The fight scene is brutal but the music is happy and fun. The song is thematically relevant to the scene and the character and what this scene is trying to accomplish, namely making clear that this kid, who looks like he did at age 13, is not the same as he was, and never will be. Again, go to that other post, I couldn’t stop gushing about how excellent this sequence is, because I really love it, but Season 2 brought along another that I love even more.

1. The Order of Death (S2E6) - Five arrives at the address Reginald sent them, and watches on as his siblings slowly join him one after one

I genuinely don’t know why this one resonated with me so much. I just like the cold but melodic 80s synth together with the cinematography. Every single shot is so good, Five looking up at the looming skyscraper, him climbing the stairs, pushing the button with the use of negative space to show his loneliness, until he gets into the elevator where his siblings come to him. And the music is so fitting, for the scene, but also for Five as a character, it’s a song that works well for him. The rhythmic thumping of ‘this is what you want, this is what you get, this is what you want, this is what you get’ is so dark at second viewing, because this is what Five wants: to talk to Reginald, with the support of his siblings. And what is it he gets? What is the consequence of his actions? His existence gets wiped from history. The music is tense, in anticipation of what comes next, and fits perfectly over these wide establishing shots and their harsh lighting. I can’t pinpoint why I like The Order of Death more than any other musical sequence in the show, but I do. It is such a small, yet perfectly executed scene, and it hits some emotion within me, even though I can’t really articulate which one it is. Intrigue, probably, mixed with dread and a hint of sadness because now I know how this enterprise ends, and it’s not well.

#Replies #jeyfeather1234 #a less extensive monstrosity this time

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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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I Like to Watch | Zack Snyder’s Justice League

by Don Hall

Mythology is fun.

As a kid I loved reading Edith Hamilton’s book on the Greek gods and the myths. Hercules, Perseus, Apollo, and Hera—this fell completely in line with my love for superhero comics. The strangely petty human traits of envy, greed, and lust combined with the power to level cities make for some great storytelling.

Zeus was basically Harvey Weinstein in the retroactive revision we’re mired in today. If Harvey could’ve changed into a golden animal and boned unsuspecting ladies looking for careers in Hollywood I’m pretty certain he would. The gods and demi-gods of the Greeks dealt with daddy issues, mommy issues, bad relationships, and fighting. Lots of fighting. Sometimes for the good of humanity but more often for the glory of winning.

Zach Snyder is in the business of tackling myths and reframing them with a style all his own. His career has become its own myth.

From Dawn of the Dead (not so much a reboot of Romero's zombie mythology but a philosophical reimagining of the genre that arguably jumpstarted The Hollywood fascination with it), 300 (a borderline homoerotic take on the myth of the Greek underdog), and Watchmen (a ridiculously ambitious attempt to put one of the most iconic takedowns on the potential fascism of the superhero legend machine ever written) to his nearly single-handed hack at answering the Marvel juggernaut with Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Snyder is in the artistic business of subverting and re-envisioning the mythologies we embrace without even seeing them as such.

Snyder's style is operatic. It is on a grand scale even in the most mundane moments. The guy loves slow motion like Scorcese loves mobsters and Italian food. When you're tackling big themes with larger than life stories, the epic nature of his vision makes sense and has alienated a good number of audience members. With such excess, there are bound to be missteps but I'd argue that his massive take on these characters he molds from common understanding and popular nomenclature elevates them to god-like stature.

Fans of Moore's Watchmen have much to complain about Snyder's adaptation. The titular graphic novel is almost impossible to put in any other form than the one Moore intended and yet, Snyder jumped in feet-first and created a living, breathing representation of most, if not all, of the source material's intent. Whether you dig on it or not, it's hard to avoid acknowledging that the first five minutes of Watchmen is a mini-masterpiece of style, storytelling, and epic tragedy wrapped up in a music video.

Despite a host of critical backlash for his one fully original take, Sucker Punch is an amazing thing to see. More a commentary on video game enthusiasm with its lust for hot animated chicks and over-the-top violence that a celebration of cleavage and guns, the film is crazily entertaining. For those who hated the ending, he told you in the title what his plan was all along.

The first movie I saw in the theaters that tried to take a superhero mythology and treat it seriously (for the most part) was Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie. Never as big a fan of the DC characters as I have been of Marvel, it was still extraordinary to see a character I had only really known in pages to be so fully realized. Then came Burton's Batman movies. The superhero film was still an anomaly but steam was gaining. Things changed with Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, then Raimi's Spiderman, and those of us who grew up with our pulpy versions of Athena, Hermes, and Hades were rewarded with Nolan's Batman Begins. A far cry from the tongue-in-cheek camp of the 1966 TV Batman, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne was a serious character and his tale over three films is a tragic commentary filled with the kind of death and betrayal and triumph befitting the grand narrative he deserved.

I loved Singer's Superman Returns in 2006 because it was such a love letter to the 1978 film (down to the opening credits) but by then, the MCU was taking over the world.

Snyder's first of what turns out to be an epic storyline involving perhaps seven or eight movies was Man of Steel. It was fun and, while I had my issues with the broodiness of Kal El, the odd take on Jonathan Kent, and a redheaded Lois Lane, I had no issue with Superman snapping Zod's neck. Darker and more tragic than any other version of the Kryptonian, it was still super entertaining.

Then came Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. By 2016, Marvel had codified their formula of serious characters wrestling with serious issues of power and responsibility peppered with lots of good humor and bright colors. Snyder's desaturated pallete and angst-filled demi-gods was not the obvious road to financial competition.

I'll confess, I hated it. BvS felt half-rendered. Lex Luthor was kind of superficial and played as a kind of Joker. The whole Bruce Wayne wants to kill Superman thing felt undeveloped and the "Martha" moment was just stupid.

When Joss Whedon's version of Snyder's Justice League came out in 2017, I was primed for it to be a turd and I wasn't surprised. So much of it didn't work on any level. I dismissed it as DC trying and failing miserably and was comforted by the coming of Thanos.

Following Thanos and the time heist was COVID. Suddenly, we were internationally sidelined and the movie theater industry caved in. Streaming services started popping up like knock-off smartphones and Hollywood was reeling, doing anything and everything to find a way back. Since Whedon's disastrous helming of Snyder's third act, fans online had been demanding to #ReleasetheSnyderCut but no one was ever really taking them seriously until all movie production was shut down for a year.

The stage was set to remedy a mistake (or at least make some bucks on a do-over of a huge box office failure). Snyder had left the production in part because of the suicide of his daughter and in part due to the constant artistic fights over executives looking for the quippy fun of the MCU but he still had all the original footage. Add to that the broiling accusations that Joss Whedon was "abusive" during the reshoots, the path seemed destined. For an additional $70 million and complete control, Snyder delivered a four hour mega-movie streamed on HBOMax.

Of course, I was going to watch the thing as soon as I could.

The Whedon version opens with an homage to the now dead Superman (including the much maligned digitally erased mustache on Henry Cavill). The SynderCut opens with the death of Superman and the agony of his death scream as it travels across the planet. It's a simple change but exemplifies the very different visions of how this thing is gonna play out.

Snyder doesn't want us to be OK with the power of these beings unleashed. He wants us to feel the damage and pain of death. He wants the results of violence to be as real as he can. When Marvel's Steve Rogers kicks a thug across the room and the thug hits a wall, he crumples and it is effectively over. When Batman does the same thing, we see the broken bones (often in slow motion) and the blood smear on the wall as the thug slides to the ground.

The longer SnyderCut is bloated in some places (like the extended Celtic choir singing Aquaman off to sea or the extended narrations by Wonder Woman which sound slightly like someone trying to explain the plot to Siri). On the other hand, the scene with Barry Allen saving Iris West is both endearing and extraordinary, giving insight to the power of the Flash as well as some essential character-building in contrast to Whedon's comic foil version.

One thing I noticed in this variant is that Zach wants the audience to experience the sequence of every moment as the characters do. An example comes when Diana Prince goes to the crypt to see the very plot she belabors over later. The sequence is simple. She gets a torch and goes down. Most directors which jump cut to the torch. Snyder gives us five beats as she grabs the timber, wraps cloth around the end, soaks it with kerosene, pulls out a box of matches, and lights the torch. Then she goes down the dark passageway.

The gigantic, lush diversity of Snyder’s vision of the DC superhero universe—from the long shots of the sea life in the world of Atlantis to the ancient structures and equipment of Themyscira— is almost painterly. Snyder isn't taking our time; he's taking his time. We are rewarded our patience with a far better backstory for the villain, a beautifully rendered historic battle thwarting Darkseid's initial invasion (including a fucking Green Lantern), and answers to a score of questions set up in both previous films.

Whedon's Bruce Wayne was more Ben Affleck; Snyder's is full-on Frank Miller Batman, the smartest, most brutal fucker in the room. Cyborg, instead of Whedon's sidelined non-character, is now a Frankenstein's monster, grappling with the trade-off between acceptance and enormous power. Wonder Woman is now more in line with the Patty Jenkins version and instead of being told about the loss of Superman, we are forced to live with the anguish of both his mother and Lois Lane in quiet moments of incredible grief.

To be fair to Whedon (something few are willing to do as he is now being castigated not for racism or sexism but for being mean to people) having him come in to throw in some levity and Marvel-esque color to Snyder's Wagnerian pomposity is like hiring Huey Lewis to lighten up Pink Floyd's The Wall or getting Douglas Adams to rewrite Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

I loved Snyder's self-indulgent, mythologic DC universe.

So much so that I then re-watched Man of Steel and then watched the director's version of BvS (which Snyder added approximately 32 minutes). The second film is far better at three hours and Eisenberg's Lex Luthor now makes sense. Then I watched Zach Snyder's Justice League a second time.

After nineteen hours of Snyder's re-imagining of these DC heroes and villains, I saw details that, upon first viewing, are ignored or dismissed, but after seeing them in order and complete, are suddenly consistent and relevant. Like Nolan or Fincher, Snyder defies anyone to eliminate even one piece of his narrative no matter how long. With all the pieces, this is an epic story and the pieces left at the extended epilogue play into a grander narrative we will never see.

Or maybe we will. Who knows these days?

#I Like to Watch #Zach Snyder's Justice League

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offspring-of-calliope · 4 years ago

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Peculiar (Newsies Fanfiction) - Chapter 1

Description: Jack Kelly is having a strange encounter on the street.

words: 1696

A/N: This AU was kinda inspired by Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, so it's basically that some of the Newsies, the Peculiars, have powers and all the Manhattan Newsies live with Medda in the Theatre. Then, there are also those who chase after Peculiars, the Collectors. I'm not quite sure where I want to go with this story bc initially, I only wanted to practice my 'English skills' (she said, sitting in front of her computer like: 'How to English?') and suddenly I had a whole AU in my head. So if you wish for certain scenes or something, you can put your wishes in the comments and I might comply. One thing I'm certain of, however, is my choice of main pairings: Javid and Sprace. But I might include other pairings as well.

I hope you enjoy.

Sincerely, me

Lélodie

-----

The sky was still being shadowed by dark clouds, even though the rain had stopped approximately three hours ago. Puddles decorated the streets which were filled with busy people, running back and forth while being indifferent to the world around them. And right among these apathetic businessmen, there was a vivid, excited boy, no older than seventeen – Jack Kelly.

The newspapers in his hand felt kind of damp to him but that didn't keep him from advertising news after news, praising the papers as if they were the most precious things on earth.

“Extra! Extra!” Jack cried, followed by made-up headlines nobody bothered to check when buying the paper. It was already late in the evening and most of the papers were sold by now. A little more time passed and eventually, there was only one paper left.

Jack, who did not seem to be quite satisfied with his day's pay, looked around the street until he suddenly caught sight of a well-dressed man who was heading towards his carriage. 'Well, that looks promising,' Jack thought, straightening his collar and making his way over to the man.

“Extra! Extra, good man! A whole factory going up in flames and -”, he began but the man interrupted him with a dismissive gesture of his hand.

“Move, boy. I do not have time for this nonsense.”

“Surely, you're a very important fella, dear sir, but if ya'd just buy a pape -”

The man looked at him in disgust. “I have no intention on doing business with a dirty little boy from the street.” With these words, he entered his carriage, leaving Jack standing like a fool on the street.

“Whatever ya say, good fella, but I's by no means little, nor dirty! And I'd never do business with such an arrogant sucker either!” Jack didn't know why the words of the man had bothered him this much but it was probably because he was tired, exhausted and just wanted to return to the theatre to get a good night's sleep. He was going to continue his quest to sell the last paper when suddenly the carriage was set in motion, purposefully driving through a puddle on the ground so that a bunch of muddy water was being splashed all over him.

“Alright, you sucker, ya totally owe me a new shirt, this one's brand new!” He called after the disappearing carriage. “There goes a four month's pay,” he eventually mumbled, eyeing his body. The dirt felt familiar yet unpleasant on his skin. He hesitated. Next thing he knew, he was making his way towards the nearest dark alley he could find.

A considering look down the alley. Then, he let his powers do the work. A stream of clear water crawled along his arms, his neck, his face and was softly cleaning his body. Jack smiled as he navigated the cool stream, letting it embrace him like a safe blanket or the arms of a person that felt like home. For a short moment, he closed his eyes. Forgetting the world around him that only wanted to harm him and pushed him from one danger towards the next. Forgetting that he had to work under inhuman conditions, day after day. Forgetting everything. And for a short moment, he imagined being in Santa Fe, where everything would be okay.

Then, there came the self-satisfied laughter.

Startled, Jack opened his eyes and found himself faced with a big, bulky guy with crooked teeth and large ears. “Well, well, look what we have here. A Peculiar and a very precious one at that.” The guy held a club in his hands that he'd probably stolen from one of the policemen at some point. The self-satisfied laughter turned into a sinister smirk.

Abruptly, Jack stopped the flowing water and looked around him, searching for an escape route. But he was stuck in a cul-de-sac and the way back to the main street was blocked by Bulky Guy. “Yeah, well, what's it to you, man? You's gonna mind ya own business?” Trying to hide the nervousness that was burning him up from within, Jack settled for a daring grin.

“Oh, so you're a bigmouth, too, huh? This is gonna be so much fun.”

Jack saw the first blow coming. He lifted his arm to block it and stretched out his leg to kick Bulky Guy in the knee. The rest of the fight was kind of a blur to him. Every time it occurred to him that the opportunity to flee had come – Bulky Guy definitely had the upper hand -, his opponent seemed to be reading his mind and was once again blocking his path. Jack wasn't a fool. He knew that he was too tired to keep on for much longer and a little voice in his head was constantly persuading him into using his powers. But he did not dare.

Too clear was the memory of the last time he has used his powers against an actual person. The feeling of flooding another's lungs, more and more and more and more until they were drowning from within. Jack groaned. What in the world did he have to do to just be able to forget the Incident?

“Ready to give up yet, boy?” Bulky Guy asked, clearly enjoying himself.

“You wish,” Jack replied, ducking under yet another blow. His hands were sweaty, his ribs felt broken and the poor boy's head was spinning.

Then, a different voice pierced though the alley. “You there! Leave the boy in peace and get away from here as fast as you can.” Jack was aware of the fact that the newcomer was talking to Bulky Guy but his voice, this delicate, melodic voice was so inviting that his urge to escape from this alley was getting stronger as well.

Jack looked up, wanting to know how Bulky Guy would react, partly expecting him to just turn around and knock out the news guy. To his surprise, Bulky Guy nearly bowed down before the owner of the mystical voice, as if he wanted to apologize for being such a dick, and retreated without another word. Completely bewildered, Jack squinted at his saviour for the first time.

He was only an ordinary boy, as far as he could see. Black hair, worry in his eyes and overall a quite cute appearance. He seemed to be a bit perplexed as well because he solely stood there, at the entrance of the alley, his hands balled into fists, his gaze fixed on Jack.

Jack, who now had found his own voice again. “I guess a 'Thank You' might be appropriate in this situation. Free paper?” He nearly had forgotten the now not only damp but also slightly crumpled newspaper he had stuffed safely into his pocket at the beginning of the fight. He also didn't really care any more. He was too relieved. So he held the paper out to the guy who spared it not even a single glance. Jack was slightly offended.

“Oh my God,” the guy said, his voice softer and more down-to-earth than before. A friendly tone, yet no less beautiful. “I'm going to be in so much trouble now. What if he comes back and what if somebody tells Mama and Papa and why would I even – Oh no, and he is a stranger as well, why did I have to help a complete -”

“In my defence, I am quite a catch and I don't mind playin' damsel in distress, as long as a guy like you's gonna be my knight in shining armour,” Jack interrupted him, slowly getting bored because the guy was talking non-stop to himself instead of reacting to Jack's presence.

Cute Guy looked at him like he was crazy. “What are you talking about? I barely even did anything, to be honest, I was just passing by and saw how this guy attacked you and couldn't keep on walking as if nothing was going on. But it's not exactly my fault the guy went away, he was probably afraid I'd call the cops on him,” and there he was, rambling again.

“Sorry ta interrupt ya, pal, but we both know that he'd have knocked ya out in seconds. And for the record, we also both knows that what ya did there wasn't quite normal.” At least, that was Jack's assumption. It might have been a really big coincidence but his intuition told him that the boy in front of him might be a Peculiar as well. With a grand gesture, he took the guy's hand and put his last paper in it. “Like I said, thank ya. It's nice that our kind looks out for each other. Ya know that there's also others with powers, don't ya? You's not alone in this -”

“Again, I have no idea what you're talking about!” The voice of the boy was getting more tempting this time. He withdrew the hand that Jack still had clasped in his own, stuffed the paper in his bag and looked Jack straight in the eyes.

“Of course,” Jack mumbled, his mind suddenly clouded by something he could not comprehend. “I's sorry I's made such an accusation.”

“Thanks for the apology,” Cute Guy said, looking still a little panicked but in a strange way also satisfied. “It was nice to meet you.” He smiled a bit, then hurried off into what seemed to be a randomly picked direction.

“Wait!” Jack called out. The other guy stopped and glanced back at him in confusion. “The name's Jack Kelly. An' who are you?”

“Wouldn't you like to know?”, was the only answer he got before his saviour disappeared into the crowd.

Jack just stood there, dumbfounded. Then, after what seemed like half an eternity, he came back to himself. “Of course he has powers, that sucker,” he mumbled and swore to himself that he'd never fall for that persuading voice again. But to see if he could keep his promise, he had to find the mystery boy once more.

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aliypop · 4 years ago

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The Heat Of It All

Wordcount: 2,086

Warning: Language, suggestive themes

A/N: Thank you to @sharlatan-ka for your help and advice!, Also yes I enjoyed the scene of our Kaer Morons getting drunk together I incorporated it into chapter 5 so here it goes!

The two other witchers still staring at Geralt and Adina had soon gotten an idea, a game of some sort that Lambert learned from an Oxenfurt man. But the one rule to the game was that you only took a shot when the question applied to you. "I don't think a princess such as yourself would want in on this.." Lambert smirked, nearly downing a stein of Ale. "I think I'll go first.." Adina smirked, her bottle of vodka already to her lips. Geralt only sighed as he walked over towards the table sitting next to Lambert.

"I've never had a threesome with a doppler and a mage!" Adina smirked, taking her sip of vodka. Watching around her, she had noticed Eskel, who picked up his glass along with her.

"I stand corrected.." Lambert looked at Geralt, who only shrugged. He then cleared his throat as he tried to think of a question. " I've never slept with a succubus .." the table got quiet, and the whole table except for Lambert took a nice swig. " How bout that, expected Geralt might've but you!" he looked at Eskel in complete shock. Adina only took it as he must've been the innocent one out of the batch.

" I'm a sucker for women with horns," Eskel admitted, watching both Adina and Geralt laugh.

"What's your excuse, Adina."

"War and women go hand in hand." she then looked at Geralt, who shook his head at the knight airing out her dirty laundry that he didn't even know.

"Alright.. my turn... " Eskel smirked, "I never after a bender, woken up wearing nothing but my knickers."

Both Lambert and Geralt took a drink. Adina only merely cackling like a hyena.

"And all those times I thought you just slept naked.." she laughed. Geralt only rolled his eyes as the pain that Adina caused was slowly melting away from every sip.

"What would papa Vesemir say," Eskel questioned his speech a bit slurred,

"Think papa Vesemir, would'a drank that round too..." Geralt smirked back at Eskel, a bit of tension between the two wolf witchers. "Quit yer blabbering an go!"Adina interjected, watching the two stare at each other.

"I've never jumped out of a lover's window." Geralt laughed, watching as he looked at Lambert drink and then back at Adina. Adina had seemed to have been having a grand time, but he still saw something that said differently. "My turn ..." Adina laughed, watching the candle flicker amongst Geralt's face. She didn't know if it was the vodka, Ale mix in her cup, or her small amount of consciousness, but she had never been so attracted to Geralt as she was now. "Let's end on that, or else I'll never be able to look you all in the eyes again.." he turned to see honey orange eyes looking nearly drunk in his direction.

"There's nothing you've done that I haven't done worse.." Adina had then slurred, "Lambert, another ounce of ale!" she cheered, halfway sitting up. The keep had reminded her almost, like her childhood tower. Except for a bit warmer of an atmosphere with the wolve's. A few tables were surrounding them, and a few beds possibly enough to hold the three witchers for when they returned. " I want to hear more," Eskel said, grinning a bit at the two: waiting on Lambert felt as if it took forever, which caused Eskel to meddle a bit in Geralt's life, being that he brought a knight home. Or more so, she followed him like a lost cat. "So why a knight... If you don't mind me asking?" Adina perked up at the question while Geralt only groaned, mostly due to the fact he hadn't thought to ask her.

"You really wanna know.." she asked, propping herself up. "I wanted an escape from the life I was living.." she sighed. Adina knew that what she had to say would sound stupid and a bit daft, but it was about time she'd let her final self shine through. "What life was that.." Geralt asked, getting a bit invested in what she had to say. Adina only nudged him as she laughed,

"Being a princess.."

"A princess?" Eskel looked at Geralt.

"Yes.. now can I finish talking.." she asked, drinking out of Geralt's glass. Both witchers only nodded as they stopped talking. "I wasn't just a princess: I was a child of surprise.. and.." Adina started remembering how many times she had gotten hit on or forced to stay in the towers that still reeked of dead things when she thought about them. She could feel the stinging mark on her back still left by Clarion just as she could still smell the flesh from within her nostrils.

"The king my birth father loved reminding me just how much a royal fuck up I was.. " she began laughing to hide her pain. "I ran away when I was 13 .. got slapped around training to be a knight.. left again never looked back, and I found this big oaf." she poked Geralt, watching as he cracked a smile. Too drunk to try to be mean towards Adina, he only pulled her close, feeling sorry for her. Hearing her talk about her left only made him question at times how she could still be so kind.

"I see you cozied up with Wolf over there," Lambert smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Well.. what can I say: he's warm," she smirked, scratching behind his ear. The get together was then stopped as they heard the footsteps of Vesemir. Almost like thunder, the keep was silent with a collective.

"Oh, shit.."

"To bed all of you!" Vesemir said as if his wolves had awoken him. The three wolves slept in their beds in the keep, All except for Geralt. Who fell out of his bed and asleep on the floor. Adina, who had been in what she assumed was a guest room tower, snuggled up into the fur with nothing much but the moonlight to radiate it. "It's just you and me .." she sighed. Tossing and turning throughout the night as she had done when she was sleeping during her nights in battle. Adina knew what had gotten into her: but didn't want to admit it. It was the warmth of having Geralt beside her.

"Psst... Geralt, are you sleep.." Eskel tapped him with his foot.

"No, I'm slowly trying to die in peace.." he sassed, looking up seeing the other Witcher, the soft lighting highlighting his scratches. The truth of the matter was Geralt had not been asleep. He was closing his eyes hoping that instead, he would drift away. "Why.. what's going on.." Geralt asked. Eskel and Geralt had always been close like brothers though some would argue even like lovers. They knew each other well enough to read each other. " I could ask you the same thing.." he smirked, crouching down to the white wolf's level.

"It's her, isn't it..."

"Her who.."

"The princess.. you grew attached, and now you can't sleep without her, eh," he smirked, watching Geralt's expression changed from his usual scowl to a softer look. It was true that Geralt, who usually had no problem sleeping alone, was having problems sleeping alone.

"I spent months without her.."

"And how was that going for ya.. "

"Hmm.."

"Exactly.."

Suddenly Geralt's ears had perked up, picking up on the sound of Adina panting. Knowing that something wasn't right, he took to the spiraled stairs and towards the tower Adina was staying in: Sitting there with sweaty, matted hair was Adina, her eyes bloodshot orange. Since the wars and her small missions, she had been accumulating night terrors, except they were never about what she experienced,

But instead of her father, "He's going find me.. and kill... her..." Adina had said, her eyes fixed on Geralt, who was trying to decipher what she was clambering on about,

"What the hell are you talking about.."

"I'm talking about my father!" she turned her back to him. Geralt only sighed as he got under the fur and pulled her close. He wasn't always good at comforting, but he knew that silence had always been golden for the two.

"Your father's a dick... " Geralt began to think of what to say. "With balls!"

Adina had only laughed, knowing that was the only thing he could think to say. "He's a .. a .. limp dick noodle!" she then began to join in, laughing at the fact that her taunting wasn't much better. "But you.. you are perfect.." she turned to kiss his nose. Geralt had only turned brighter than his already drunken cheeks.

"You.. you don't mean that.."

"Drunk men tell ye no tale.." she glanced at him.

"Well.. this drunk man's going to sleep before he says somethin.. he regre-"

"Like what.." Adina turned to face him. Her eye's wanting him to say more than what he led off. "Go to bed.." he wrapped his arm across her waist, something that he hadn't done in a while.

"Watch your foot placement, Geralt.." Vesemir grumbled. Training wasn't an uncommon practice during the winter months at Kaer Morhen. It was just unusual to have an outsider training along with them. "Adina, straighten your back." he watched the two spar. To say that Adina was good was an unsatisfying and underestimated statement: Her swordsmanship seemed beyond human almost, even for the usual knight. He just hoped her hand to hand combat was the same.

"Lambert, stop that at once!" Vesemir rushed over to the two. Being surrounded by shirtless men didn't phase Adina, but being surrounded by a shirtless, sweaty Geralt was a bit more challenging. Grabbing his fist, she only gave him a look that meant she was ready for whatever he chose to throw first. Dodging his first punch, she took her hand to hit in his side, feeling a bit victorious. Jabbing at him with her fist getting him a bit bloody, Geralt took his sword. Lunging towards her, he knew that she would have a disadvantage. "You think you're sneaky White wolf.." she mumbled. Taking back her sword, she got into a combat stance, ready to plunge into him.

"I bet you a few coins... Wolf's gonna win.." Eskel smirked.

"My bets on the knight kicks Geralt's ass." Lambert winked. The two kept watching the fight, both opponents a bit bloody. Geralt's lips curled into that of a cocky smile, sharp canine teeth, and a few hairs coming out from his ponytail.

"Having a hard time focusing.."

"You wish.." she pushed him away. Suddenly she felt his strong hands wrapped around her neck, not too tight to kill her. But strong enough to send his message across. Adina only bit her lip, watching as he came closer.

"My.. my Geralt, at least take me out for a drink first! "

Adina had now been hovering over Geralt, who she had the joy of pinning him down to the ground. Sweet victory, she would have called it.

"I believe I won, Mr. wolf..." she took the tip of her sword under his chin. Straddling him the way that she was, she could tell it wouldn't be her last time.

"Whatever.." Geralt rolled his eyes, seeing Eskel pay up on what he knew was a bet with Lambert.

"Oh, and one more thing."

"What now.." he looked over at her.

"Next time, add more pressure and take me from behind won'tcha," she smirked, removing herself off Geralt. He could smell the scent of need radiating off of her. Nothing that a wolf couldn't fix.

Later that night, the four gathered around the table to some drinking and another round of I've never.

"I've never fucked a demon!" Lambert said both Eskel and Geralt had their steins still on the table. Adina knocked her stein back, taking a sip.

"Why.. not that I'm judging, but why.."

"He was hot. I was 16 and curious." Adina then turned to Eskel, "Your turn!" she giggled, this time holding her mead, wine, and vodka a bit better.

"Never ave I.. ever slept with Geralt!" Eskel took a sip of his drink as Lambert was shocked that Adina didn't. "Wait... Wait.. you've never."

"I have never slept with the acclaimed almighty sex witcher Geralt." Adina gave him a smirk.

"But a succubus, a mage, doppler, a few women in a brothel, and a prince, but not Geralt!"

"He never asked.."

"Neither did you.."

#the witcher fandom #the witcher oc #the witcher oc fanfiction #geralt x oc #eskel #lambert #hint of eskel x geralt #kaer morons #kaer morhon #vesemir #the witcher fanfiction #the witcher oc fandom #new stuff

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rathernotmyname · 4 years ago

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Fictober! Day 17

Fandom: my Cirque du Soleil!AU (ha ha, as if I had fans) BoRhap RPF

Warnings: it’s RPF. also me bullshitting about Cirque du Soleil Kurios (informed bs-ing tho! I watched the behind the scenes)

Okay. So if anyone remembers this fuckhead of an AU (which I’m quite fond of, actually), this is playing in the same universe. Although! It’s pre-the-drabble-I-already-wrote-about-it, so Mazlek isn’t a thing Yet. Capital Y Yet. (Also, Joe performs together with another aerial silk artist, just to clear that up.) Enjoy!

Appreciation

Joe sees not much more than a blur of movement when he enters the main tent, loud music booming out of the speakers all around him, accompanied by the well-known “boop, tick-tick-tick” that helps the artists keep the beat.

The back of his mind registers that the band seems to be on coffee break right now, only the violinist is present and fiddles the shit out of his instrument.

The giant net is spanned in all of its glory, almost invisible in the low, blueish light. A mat is placed beneath it to help the daredevils training on it hit the center to avoid being catapulted somewhere into the audience.

The five men on the net have arrived at the grand finale, only feigning some of the big jumps as they are not at full power.

Still, seeing Arnaud and then Rami fly almost 13 feet up into the air is disconcerting, to say the least.

The trampoline coach who’s name Joe can never quite remember is standing at the side, sometimes shouting directions or beats, but mostly grinning proudly as his boys let out whoops of excitement.

The last note rings out, the violinist breaks a string, and Rami and his teammates lie in the net like stranded fish, gasping and sweaty, but very satisfied with their day’s work.

When Joe starts to clap in admiration, Rami’s head whips up and he’s on his feet in seconds, fighting his way out of the acronet on rubbery legs.

“I missed my favorite part,” Joe complains when Rami climbs down the rope ladder leading onto his ‘stage’.

“Really? I’m sorry to hear that. Which one is it?”

“The one where you wear the beards and wigs.”

Rami tips his head back and laughs, chest heaving underneath his wet t-shirt. It’s a white t-shirt, gone almost transparent. Joe can’t deny that he enjoys gawking at the lean muscles that are visible underneath it.

“Of course that would be your favorite part, you sucker.”

Rami wipes his face with the rim of his shirt, exposing the muscles that Joe had ogled in secret just a moment ago. Now there’s nothing secret about it anymore, and the look that Rami’s collegue Karl throws him tells him just how obvious he is about it.

Apparently not obvious enough for Rami to notice, though. He stretches and scrunches up his face as his back pops, and then he leads Joe to the canteen wagon (which is actually a trailer, but they are old-fashioned regarding names around here).

“I need a steak,” Rami groans as the meal of the day is shoveled onto his plate; fried sweet potatoes, salad and ‘chili sin carne’, as the chef likes to call it. “But this looks lovely, thank you. Yum.”

Joe gets his own portion, choosing a little less salad and more fries because if he’s jealous of one thing, it’s Rami’s stamina regarding dieting. He can’t survive without some more carbs in the afternoon, okay? It all goes into his arms, anyway.

“How’s that figure coming along?” Joe asks because he’ll never bother to learn the three million words for the flips and somersaults that are part of Rami’s routine.

“So-so,” Rami replies, wiggling his hand to empathize it. “I still don’t land the right way, always meet the net face-first. Until we figure out how to propell me a little higher so that I have more time, or,” he stops to take a sip of water, “or maybe I should start backwards instead of forwards…”

Joe nods, folding his hands beneath his chin and leaving his meal be for the moment.

“Sounds like you’re not completely lost at what to do, at least.”

Rami smiles. “Yeah, it’s definitely a start, if nothing else comes of it. I still have time to try something completely new, of course, but I’m kinda hesitant. I spend a lot of time with that fucker, it’d feel like a wasted effort. Anyway, did the new silk arrive yet?”

Joe launches in a passionate and affectionate rant over said new silk (“I’ll use it for the show, I swear to God. I have never felt so good while slowly strangulating myself in front of an audience.” “Joe.” “I’m serious!”) and they end up almost missing the last meeting of the day, still fully engaged in a heated discussion about whether Zumba or Contemporary is a better warm-up.

As they separate to go to their respective cool-down classes, Joe holds Rami a little tighter than usual when they hug goodbye for the night.

“No hard feelings, I love Zumba,” Rami quips, but he melts into Joe’s embrace, quietly admiring the arms that could probably lift three Ramis at once.

“I’m looking forward to your presentation of the fancy stuff,” he adds, lifting his head from where he rested it on Joe’s shoulder to look at him, a challenging glint in his eyes. “It’s delightful to see you two trying to out-do each other. And your routine is fucking beautiful.”

“Well, we all know that I’m better,” Joe huffs, but then cackles at Rami’s dry “Of course”.

“I’ll be there to see you succeed that asshole of a flip. Even if you do happen to land on your face, it’s gonna be nothing less than magical.”

Rami smiles, mouth curling in that particular way that makes Joe’s heart race.

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” he says. Then they squeeze each other a little longer and finally go their separate ways.

#mine #rami malek #joe mazzello #mazlek #fictober #Cirque du Soleil AU

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emybain · 5 years ago

Text

After the Battle

hey @rubys-finger-cymbals im your secret santa for the gift exchange!!! ive never written an osby/tuckva-centered fic before so I hope I did okay with this one:) I had so much fun delving into ruby’s mind, and hopefully this wont be the last time I write these two beans! I hope you have a merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if not, I hope you have a wonderful day!!

THIS FIC CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SUPERNOVA!!!

It seemed like an eternity had passed in the amount of time Ruby spent searching for her friends. If it weren’t for Max, she wouldn’t have been there in the first place. He convinced her to sneak him out of her home, as her mom put the two of them on house arrest, and take him to the scene of the battle. For someone so young, he was a pretty persuasive kid when he needed to be. Now, after witnessing the near destruction of Gatlon and it’s unexpected reconstruction, she knew bringing Max was the right thing to do. However, she had dozens of questions in her head about what the heck just happened. Gatlon was saved, Ace Anarchy was finally killed, and silence...silence, and then out of nowhere, a powerful energy sweeping out from the cathedral and over Gatlon, bringing with it a beautiful light. At first, she was frozen in awe, until she felt familiar aches from her arm, chest, and stomach where she had been stabbed all those years ago. After being neutralized at the arena, her mom patched up her wounds, which had grown more painful than when she was a prodigy. Peeking underneath the bandages confirmed her giddy, although confused, suspicions. The murmurs and gasps and screams of joy further confirmed that she wasn’t just hallucinating; those who had been neutralized were prodigies again.

Ruby shoved through the mass of people gathered at the cathedral, only barely paying recognition to the gathering media stations and helicopters to the battle scene. There were three people on her mind, one more than the others perhaps. Her heart began to sink, tears springing to her eyes, at a possibility that she refused to be true. But then her eyes laid on Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden, embracing tightly. Nearby stood four figures, three of them that Ruby knew. A grin broke out on her face as she ran towards them, calling out their names.

Oscar was the first to turn, eyes widening at the sight of her. That dopey, relaxed grin that Ruby adored played at his lips. She all but hurled herself into his arms, burying her face into his neck. She felt his hold on her tighten, tugging her closer to him. Pulling back just slightly to look at him, she could tell he was exhausted but elated to see her. The tension in her shoulders relaxed upon seeing that other than a few scratches here and there, he was mostly unharmed.

“I was getting worried when I couldn’t find you,” she murmured, bringing her hand to rest on his cheek. “You’re a big, dumb, stupid idiot for doing that to me.”

Oscar leaned into her touch. “Didn’t I promise I’d come back to you? We still haven’t gone on a first date, after all, and me dying would’ve been a bit awkward for timing.”

Ruby rolled her eyes, and was pulling him in for a kiss when a throat cleared. She opened her eyes and glanced over Oscar’s shoulder at Danna.

“We’re alive too, by the way,” she teased, gesturing to Adrian and herself. Ruby broke out into another smile and planted a kiss on Oscar’s cheek before her racing heart could decide for her otherwise.

She parted from him and hugged her other two friends, gripping them tightly. The fourth person she had seen earlier stood awkwardly off to the side behind Adrian, and Ruby gasped when she recognized who it was. But...why was Nova dressed like...like…

“Nova’s Nightmare?” She frowned up at Adrian, then Danna, then Oscar. Clearly, she had missed a lot more than she had originally thought. “But...but what about Cronin’s granddaughter?”

“It was a cover up to get me out of prison,” Nova explained, taking a hesitant step forward. Ruby stepped back, mouth agape. If Nova was an Anarchist, then why was she still alive? And here with Ruby’s friends? “Ruby, I-”

“You betrayed us,” Ruby snapped, causing Nova to flinch. “You manipulated us and tricked us and...and-and…” her mouth struggled to find the right words, her body suddenly filled with anger, “you neutralized innocent people! Among dozens of other things,” she added.

“She’s on our side again, Ruby.” Adrian reached for Nova, who tentatively allowed him to pull her beside him. Ruby’s frown deepened at the protective way his hand rested on her arm. “Listen, it’s been a long night, and we’re all tired. We’ll explain more tomorrow, okay?”

Ruby shook her head firmly. “No. I don’t trust her, not after everything she’s done to us, to Gatlon. And I frankly don’t understand why any of you would trust her, either.”

Oscar wrapped an arm around hers. “She helped us kill her uncle, Ruby, as well as other Anarchists. I didn’t want to trust her at first, either, but I think she’s genuinely sorry for everything.”

Nova coughed into her arm. “Right here, you know.” Her gaze shifted to Ruby, and her eyes softened, almost making Ruby’s frown lighten up. “I don’t blame you for not trusting me, Ruby, and I understand if you never want to speak to me again.” She glanced over the others quickly. “That goes for the rest of you. I’ve been blinded for most of my life, and because of that, I’ve been following the wrong cause.” She shook her head. “I thought I was doing the right thing, but it turns out I was just lied to my entire life and-” her voice broke, and she dropped her head to the ground, releasing a slow sigh. She raised it back up again, and at the sight of unshed tears in her eyes, Ruby’s frown disappeared this time. “I’m sorry, really. If I could turn back time and fix all my mistakes, starting ten years ago, I would.”

Although she didn’t want to forgive Nova just yet, Ruby nodded. Her apology would do for now, and in all honesty, Ruby had a feeling there was more to the story that she hadn’t heard yet. Deep down, even when she had previously believed Nova to be an Anarchist when the other girl was arrested, Ruby knew that she had a good heart. Too many instances had occurred where Nova had proven that, and Ruby couldn’t forget about them. There were still questions dancing at the tip of her tongue, but judging from the worn state of her friends, they would have to come later.

_______

Adrian and Nova had left to check on Max, who, according to Adrian, was more spent than the rest of them but resting. Danna had also left to speak with some other Renegades, leaving Ruby alone with Oscar.

They sat in front of the cathedral in the dirt, joined at the hip. She leaned against him, playing with his fingers that rested in her hand. They didn’t speak for a while, just letting everything sink in and settle before saying anything. Ruby didn’t want to talk about the fighting or the events of the night, not yet anyway. Not until her questions were ready to be answered. Oscar, apparently, didn’t either.

“I had a plan, you know,” he spoke up, turning his head slightly to look down at Ruby.

Ruby hummed, lacing their fingers together and letting their joined hands fall into her lap. “What do you mean?”

“To ask you out.” A small blush formed on his cheeks; Ruby would’ve teased him about it had she not felt her own heat up. “Called it Operation Crown Jewels.”

Ruby scrunched her nose in disgust. “Ew, seriously? What the hell, Oscar?”

He threw his free hand up in exaggeration. “Because, you know, your gift and your name and all. Crown Jewels.”

Okay, she had to admit that the thought was sweet. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, heart thrumming at the way his thumb traced a pattern over the back of her hand in response. “And what was this plan?”

Oscar dropped his eyes to the ground briefly before returning them to Ruby, his expression sheepish. “Well, it was many things, really. Poems, speeches, grand declarations of love…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “But nothing was ever good enough. It had to be perfect.”

Ruby snuggled closer to him, reaching her free hand up to push back one of his curls. She thought back to the arena and how he fiercely defended her after she lost her gift. And their kiss…

“It was perfect, planned or not.” A teasing smile appeared on her lips. “Although, I wish you would’ve made a move sooner, dummy.”

“Hey!” Oscar nudged her shoulder playfully, causing a laugh to escape her mouth. She pushed him back, their hands separating from one another. But the chill that went through her body at the loss of his warmth was brief, for he wrapped her up into his arms once more. This time, though, she was practically in his lap, his arms draped loosely around her waist; she had to twist her whole body toward him to be comfortable. Their laughs slowly disintegrated, their smiles falling shortly behind.

Oscar placed a hand under her ear, fingers curling around the hair at the nape of her neck. Ruby’s heart pounded in her chest. In her mind, she chided herself on this sudden burst of nerves. It was just Oscar. Her friend. Her best friend.

“I’ve had a crush on you since I first saw you at the trials.” Ruby’s lips parted a little at that; while she had been crushing on him as well, it hadn’t been as long as that. Her crush had only surfaced about a year and a half ago, confusing and terrifying and wonderful and painful all at once. “And since then, I’ve been a sucker for girls with white and black hair. Oh, and also the color red.”

Ruby blushed furiously, wanting to look away in embarrassment but forcing herself to keep her focus trained on his eyes. “Oscar, I-”

“You’re the most amazing girl I know, Ruby,” he interrupted softly. “You’re also the girl of my dreams, which is why I’ve been terrified to do this.”

Ruby scrunched up her nose when he didn’t continue. “Terrified to do what?”

Oscar inhaled slowly, then exhaled. His gaze shifted to the ground, then back up to her. “Ruby Tucker, will you be my girlfriend?”

The world around her shrunk to just her and Oscar. No longer were they resting on a battlefield, surrounded by Renegades and the media. It was just the two of them and the overflow of happiness expanding in Ruby’s chest. She beamed at Oscar, laughing wildly before leaning forward and smushing her lips against his.

He hummed in surprise, but quickly reciprocated the kiss with enthusiasm. Her hands were just starting to wound their way around his neck, her fingers itching to dig themselves into his crazy curls, when he pulled back suddenly. Her lips, not expecting that, chased after his.

“Wait wait wait.” He held up a hand between them, a goofy sparkle in his eyes. “Is that a yes.”

Ruby groaned loudly, fingers wrapping around strands of hair as she pulled him back to her. She had waited a year and a half for this, and didn’t want to waste a single moment. “If I say yes will you go back to kissing me?” While she was fully teasing him, like he had teased her, her answer wasn’t completely a joke.

His hand dropped to her waist. “Mhm.”

“Then yes.” She peppered light kisses around his face, from his nose to his cheeks to his eyebrows, then to his lips. “A thousand times yes, Oscar Silva.”

When they kissed again, Ruby shivered. Very quickly, the kiss deepened, possibly more than it should considering they were in public and surrounded by dozens of people. But Ruby didn’t care, not one bit.

The only thing she cared about at the moment was right there in front of her.

#supernova spoilers #Oscar silva #ruby tucker #Adrian everhart #nova artino #danna bell #renegades #archenemies #anarchists #my writing #osby #tuckva

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roseprincesskristina · 4 years ago

Text

Zero's Delicious Revenge

((Hey guys and gals. Just wanna revamp a few sentences to make really clear and steamy for ya. Once again for those who are young, you don't need to read this fiction. It's for adults only. So without any further ado, please enjoy the story! 😊))

Downwards into the dark yet unknown torture room, somewhere hidden or secret underneath the Hunter Base, that no one, not even the pacifist hunter would even try to find out about it. For it is unlike any other styles that anyone saw into a horror movie or shows watched on TV. Someone crazed for domination to arrive towards humanity to become rid of from earth before the true beginning of a new world for only the strongest reploids to stand by his side until there's nothing left. A former commander of the Maverick Hunters whose morality have morphed from sane to mad due to the unavoidable Wily Virus, have been chained against or to the walls built with auto control restraints just to cease him from planning to flee. He is known as Sigma, supreme king of the Mavericks. He would slowly open his eyes to regain his consciousness. The last thing that he had remembered is from the previous battle with Zero, now becoming stronger than he was in the past and won. Secondly, thinking about trying to become victorious until the continuation of his usual schemes by erasing the existence of all organic individuals once and for all. Before delivering the drastic finale, the fire colored hunter would then pull out a powerful trick from his sleeve, by transforming into the unstoppable Absolute Zero. Ending the epic duel at once with a quick swift of his Calamitous Arts, damaging his arch foe without hesitation thus far. Humiliation has clothed him for his arrogance against the Class A sword wielder, the sins poured upon his greatness as punishment for the destruction of mankind while his enemy calls for backup to arrest him.

"This is not over yet, hunter... In return, I will regain my dream of creating a new world for only the strongest reploids to become free of the disdainful humans..." Pledged the defeated boss, growling of vengeance. Before escorting him to the containment jail, the scarlet crusaders proceeded toward him with hands planted on the hips and smirked at him mockingly.

"Honestly, I hardly felt bad for you, Sigma. For your so called dreams for a grand world, always end up being turned into ruin by us Maverick Hunters. And yet, you still don't learn. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll earn yourself a private underground cell for not so long time until you're a good boy." He chuckled. "And by the way, I'll be your harden warden from now on." Then he patted the bald villain's head until snapping his fingers as a signal for the other hunters to take him away to HQ.

And now, here he is. Trapped within the doorless shack of a prison facility, covered into the wounds of his nemesis's claws and arms completely destroyed or hacked off permanently.

"Argh.... C...Curse him.... I had almost dismantled him if I didn't gain the chance to strike him down before his transformation...." Staggered the irregular boss, coughing up a few drops of blood while trying to speak clearly. "W...Where am I? And....what happened to my arms?!"

His answers to a few mysterious questions was right above him the entire time, from the last fight as he was hanging upside down like a bat into the cave. But this time, he's the repli-fied version.

"He he he he he he...... Oh poor useless commander... You still haven't learn, have you? Always posing yourself as the large hotshot whose too perfect to clean his pride... Or maybe to wash his own ass..." Said the unknown reploid. Chuckling darkly at his failure.

"You... Show yourself this instant and face me!" Screamed the big boss of the Maverick society, looking into a slow condition to view who is was.

A surprise has rained down upon him when the blacked themed android hovers by land, revealing himself to him as, you guest it, Zero. He grinned with a menacing plot in store for the scarred villain in chains, with no arsenal or hands to protect him from his deadly claws.

"Peek-a-boo...."

"So it is you, Zero..."

"Hello, Sigma... How do you like your new home? It suits your doomed misery quite well, obviously. But enough of that. Because I'm your worst nightmare now and this time, my revenge for turning me against my boyfriend by your pathetic control is strongly personal.... "

"Hmph... Ignorant hunter.... Do you really think your feeble threats would even phase me, the unbeatable Sigma? You're completely out of your elements..." He scoffed. "No one would ever hope to defeat m-!"

Then, he was interrupted by the clawed hand grasping violently just to shut him up. But the goth themed vampire was still calm with expression, not even amazed by his gloating whatsoever.

"Sigma Sigma Sigma... Seriously, are you even listening to yourself? That sad attempted speech of yours is always humiliating to me. Plus, it really annoys the hell out of me completely more than Axl's immaturity. No matter what you always do in order to change the world for your disgusting amusement, it will always fail by my hands, including X's. Using me as your so called "prized creation" just to force my decisions into beating my beloved boyfriend, but not this time. Nor ever. From now on, I'm in control of my own self today, and let's just say, that you're positively shit out of luck here. Without your precious minions to cover your helpless ass or anything that you hold dear within your pockets, it's all gone. Every. Single. One. And guess what, big boy? You're gonna be much more fun to play with when nobody's even around to interrupt our alone time... And additionally, my bitch..."

Proceeding his face and body towards him into a close action while placing the claws onto his chest, grinning once more but showing his devious white diamond fangs. Ready to pierce some flesh and synthetics. Before doing to what Sigma would've thought of his opponent would do, he whispers into his ear port with a flirtatious manner.

"But you know what, I think you're actually kinda hot when you're vaguely miserable and weak in that naughty condition~ In fact, it makes me very, VERY horny to just suck your wounded lips right now~ And mostly, I find you aggressively attractive~" He said with a quiet yet sultry tone, placing his hands onto the big bad wolf's cheeks. Staring into his eyes before the beginning of this "tortuous interrogation". "How about a little fun, or maybe perhaps, a kiss~?"

"W...What?!" He said in a surprised state, weakly blushing. Hardly anything in his mind to reply, but alas, he was silenced by the biting kiss in the mouth.

"Hissssssssssssss~ Hush your shitty tongue, "commander"~ And let me drain your glorious bravery from your broken chatterbox...sexually~" Hissed the terrifying blood sucker silently, attempting to zip his trap by pressing his mouth into the former commanding officer's.

And finally during the horrifying talk towards him, the blond demon would desperately began to make out with his enemy all over as well as the jacked neck. Hands stroking from behind the back so smoothly, running his tongue across the face and travels into his mouth by a deep kiss. So hungrily that the core inside of him is pleading for more, but his revenge needs it instead.

"Mmmph! Mmmph!" He once again shouted, trying to break away the unbreakable mouth lock.

"Mmmm~ Oh yes~ I want to hear your crying squeals, big boy~ It really increases my thirsty needs~" Moaned Zero, craving for more of such delectable hollers. How it does represent the music to his hearing ports. Much more beautiful to enjoy.

In difficult situations like the ones during a kidnapping scene, where a victim was abducted by a criminal for a proper beating of sexual abuse in order to get what they want. Right now, it's almost similar to what the winged Wily bot is doing to the irregular king, but with a tortuous seduction with no conclusion until vengeance has been earned immediately. He is strongly mad for such a massive neck like Sigma's during his love making madness. Scratching his bald head into a circulatory motion, slurping in his mouth all forcibly as the starving loin waiting for his prey to appear for dinner. Such depraved agony for the doomed ex commander, now trapped within the palms of his vampiric warden.

He finally started to shiver in cowardice increasingly due to the visions he had. Now, that nightmare has came true to scare away his soul, if he had one. Attempting to retrieve his bravery by shrugging his head to get away, but a futile trickery such as that will grant him the maximum dose of terrorized punishment.

"It's effortless to think about fighting back in your weak condition, big man~ In fact, there isn't gonna BE any hope for you now~ He he he he~" Chuckled the menacing android. Continuously slobbering more pain and destruction upon the crushed master of evil. Instead, with a passionate position during his permanent mouth to mouth kiss.

"Mmmmph....! Mmmmmmmph!"

"Mmm~ Mmmmmm~ God, your bruised lips are so hot, papa~ It's just the way I like it for the first time~ The desirable pain from you has gotten me REALLY satisfied~" For he's quite right, this torturing phenomenon was incredibly intriguing to him. "Give it to me, ya big bitch~"

"You are...foolishly insane, Zero...." Coughed the battered evil doer, whose spirit will be crushed soon until the nightmare was over.

"That's right~ I'm correctly bat shit for your helplessness showering all over me, running all over my crotch just to please me~ But now, I want more from you~" Licking his pale lips of a starving attitude, he approached himself to the large baddie for a second of his weaken but scrumptious kiss.

"Pucker up, daddy~" Whispered the hard killing droid, yearning for some kinky tongue to tongue action. Inserting his into the enemy for a slow search of his cowardice to eat. Deeper than ever before.

Sigma, also known as the ultimate leader of all things irregular who rules with a powerful yet gruesome fist than iron, has now become the frantic victim of unlimited chaos which is standing in front of him. No hope, dreams, weapons or arms. All that he have ever possessed was already taken from him by force. Along with his rank, popularity, fearlessness and spirit, now belonging to the evil dark themed hunter to steal. It was all over for him as he began to talon his whole body, instead of ripping it off. Having his entire armor to freeze with more restraint. Greatly scared for his life, Zero forcibly pins him to the wall for some delectable playtime at last. Or otherwise, his dinner.

"Well, Sigma~ I'd really hate to stop our get together activity so soon, however, there's nothing more better than to snack onto something....fierce~ Ah~ And finally it was there in front of me the whole time~"

"No.... P...Please.... I beg of you.... Anything but this...." He shattered with fear.

"Shhh~ Don't worry, big bear~ I'm fully aware that it won't hurt....much~" Purred the onyx incubus, with red eyes glowing unlike the dangerous monster in the closet.

The grand finale has made its appearance, for the long patience has been concluded at last. He tilted his head closely to the neck of a muscular maverick who is permanently victimized and surrounded by the ghosts of Nightmare Viruses floating above him, taunting his failures for not destroying the elite forces or to achieve his desires for a paradise world for reploids only. All will go against him for eternity when it comes to weaknesses. For he had no other choice but to give in of being a slave.

"Do as you wish.... For I lack the reason to live without the purpose... You have won... Maverick Hunter Zero..." He finally admitted towards him. Losing his chances to establish a new world to rid the humans from hoping to ever exist alongside reploids.

"Now that's more like it~... But unfortunately, it's too late for apologies this time~"

Then, finally, he have inserted his fangs deeply into his opponent's neck, sexually feasting in peace until Sigma began to scream loudly just to satisfy his extreme vengeance forever.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Yeeeeeeeeessss~ Scream for me now, big daddy~" He whispered, impaling the pointed fangs deeper. Ohh, you're such a naughty maverick, aren't ya~? Looks like I'm gonna have to punish you more~" Aroused Zero.

He kept preying even harder, but moans in complete and utter silence while holding the threatening villain down. Wrapping his arms around the body to claw diagonally into a calm pace to full his enjoyment. Grinding his black armored anatomy onto his with extreme lust, grasping his enormous ass with one of his hands and slaps it into a hot way during his fun time. Secondly, participated into the tongue lock as well before folding his wings around both of them for a darker privacy in mind. WIthout interferences.

"Mmmmmm~ Oh Sigma~ Sweet Sigma~ How I love your terrifying squeals of the night~ For it bounds before my superiority as the new and true badass of Abel City to welcome my powerfulness~ Feed me more of your fear~ For my hunger for revenge has reached its end~ But my meal will never become the conclusion~" He spoke, licking his ear port all the way. Once again, hissing very loudly to return to the neck for an endless supper.

"No.... It couldn't be....No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

"He he he.... Keep howling, Sigma boy~ But nobody's gonna hear it from you~ And now, it's dinner time~" Running his extended tongue once more and across his decimated body before going back on his dinner. Caressing over his steel crotch by interest has shown a lustful smirk upon his pale face for just a little scavenger hunt.

"Damn, Sigma~ That's a nice looking bolt you got down here~" Impressed the shadowed blonde, soothing the maverick lord's glory box.

"U...Ugh...." Groaned the threatening villain whose throat have been crippled, felt of his rival's bladed claws tighten of the grasp by the crotch.

"Mmm~ You know, it would be very bad of me just to ruin a sexy piece of massiveness, but it makes a perfect chance for me to punish it~" And so, with that of a remarkable thought in mind of interrogation, he grips the golden treasure of his arch enemy due to the extreme hardness, provoking the scarred eyed devastator to groan of a scream for a clear taste. Including a few slappings, motioning, etc to force him to cry.

"Oh yes~ I wanna hear more of your agonizing squeals, big baby~ it makes my body feel so hot~" Intrigued the black clad vampire. "Even your low hardness really inspires my interests when I "abuse" it~"

And so, he does that when dominating the large superior's hard bolt so sensually. Caressing, groping along with a little thirsty cheek licking to rise up the mood of this dungeon as well as his interests.

"Man, you must've been exercising that brave box quite a lot, Sigma~" He meowed, while running his tongue all over the face. "But, I bet it can hardly survive against my bloody palms~"

"Grr...." He snarled, like an impatient toddler.

"Oh there's no need to get all pouty, my commanding slave~ While I'm the king of this jungle, all I can do now is torment your fragile yet gorgeous body with mine~ All the time~" Leaning his body against the enemy's for an even fascinating fun, secondly with his hand remained attached towards the harden maverick jewel by grip. Purring rapidly into his ear port and advancing his tongue all over him including the neck, legs, lips and ears. Grinding endlessly, anatomy to anatomy into a sensually condition. Every single time or day and night.

"U...Unh..." Moaned the irregular predator, who either enjoys the torment or despise it.

"Mmmm~ Come on, big bitch~ You know you love it when I ground you for being a naughty maverick~" He hissed seductively, taking the other hand to spank his massive ass. "Unh~ Mmm~ Now who's your master~?

"H...Hmph..." He refused. But without his bravery or fearlessness to save him from the clad hunter. "You are...."

"Good boy~ Now let me kiss you and everything you have, so violently~" He purred again, pulling his face towards for an aggressive lip to lip in order to please his hunger. Deeply with force all over with no stopping whatsoever, along with the grabbing of the ass and polishing his body by smooth grinding.

"Unh.... U... Unh...."

"Oh yes~ Yes~ Give it to me, big boy~ Unh~ Unh~ God, you're even more sexier in your disintegrated state~" He moaned without ever needing to rest.

Then, the enormous overlord have descended his heartbroken tears from his peers, wanting the ex maverick to wipe them all out by his tongue and silencing his sobbing with a relaxing mouth lock once more. Returning to yet another of his private torture by sensually neck kissing all the way before it's done.

"Mmm~ Your bold neck is so delectable and yet, very sexy as hell, big daddy~" He said to the leader of the mavericks with an invigorating tone, making love to it. "Somehow, I'm amused of its crippled feature right now, but I still think of it as honestly hot~"

And that, it's absolutely true. For the horrid neck does look very tasty at its best for the shadow armored hunter's sexual liking. For his attempt to abuse it for a slight minute would even cause him to blush of naughtiness. Or perhaps something else. But no matter to him anyway for his continuation of the victim's neck will be the most scrumptious meal of all.

"C...Curse you once more, Zero.... Curse your impudent foolishness for destroying my schemes...." Growled the half broken mad maverick weakly.

"Aww, tryna burf out your little insults at me~? Now that's not very nice at all~ But since you've been an honest prick of a maverick, I'll decide to let you off with a warning~" Spoke the reploid demon. Slurping his tongue all across the ear port and the bulk chest before going back to his playful supper.

"I'm gonna enjoy violating you in your dreams so badly, bitch~" He said, continuously crippling the ex superior by punishing his body after everything he took away that was dear to him, sucking on his nose and mouth very hard.

"Y...You barbaric maniac..." He spilled. All cramped and battered from an endless torture.

"Mmm~ I love it when your low level insults kept pouring all over me~ It feels so hot~" The blond was intrigued, caressing his body while imagining himself being showered by his bald nemesis's crappy ridicules. Rocking his tongue around like crazy. Resuming his private business by slobbering once more all over the irregular king by fangs, pleasuring his iron crotch into a loop while breathing a sultry hiss towards his face.

"Hisssssssssssss~"

"U...Ugh... Argh...."

Unfortunately, his endless playtime with Sigma had almost arrive to a close, but not until it's over as the blonde blade wielder could punish him again by granting a poisonous smooch by the mouth, in order to drain his strategies and movements along. Without any hope not freedom to slice off the unbreakable chains of trapped seduction. He have felt the deadly serum venturing inside his mind or traveling everywhere, losing his consciousness that quickly.

"That's for ruining everyone and both mine as well as my friend's lives by your damn stench of human obliteration.... " Hissed Zero, extending his clawed hand into a reach to grab his prisoner's chin before "cursing" him with one last kiss.

He chuckled as his final words before meeting his critical demise by death.

"Sleep tight forever, my former commander~" He grinned menacingly, pushing his pale yet frost lips with a deep force into the irregular king's. Laying his hands upon his boned face for an icy love/torture making of a lifetime before the gruesome decapitation to shut his existence for good.

"And good riddance~" Before ending the crumbled maverick villain's existence, he offered the frosty smooch once more into the lips for the last time. Never to look or think about his devious comeback no longer.

"Mmmm~ Ahhh~" Gifting him this frosted "curse" should be able to permanently force the arrogant ex leader of HQ to slumber for all eternity until the final decapitation. By a quick swipe of his claws to end the life of Sigma, severing his head from the body. "And lastly, thanks for the perfect meal~" The deed has been finished. No mavericks, no problems. He then taste his blood by licking his hand. Finger by finger.

"Mmmm~ Delicious~"

And thus, his revenge has purposely created a new ending. Perhaps a peaceful version, to be exact. However, the full course was no longer done just yet until every drip of blood was driven dry from his body. Thankfully, his very schemes have been declined for good this time. And tranquility had once again return to embrace all beings as well as reploids and humanity. All thanks to the heroic Maverick Hunters.

Few days later when nighttime arises, peace has regain its true colors once more due to the rigorous defeat of the insanely mastermind of the mavericks, plus, to allow all civilians and reploids to live as equals forever. At least for now. Hovering above the building in front of the blissfully snow themed moon, The dark vampiric droid would be able to live free from the horrid shackles of bad memories grappling him down, or to become a mindless puppet to use for trying to kill the blue B Class. But it's all over. Within his hand, grasps the head of his frighten victim after his "interrogation" from earlier. However, it was quite intriguing. Before descending towards a new mission, he lifted it up and closely to make love by kissing it one last time.

"Thanks again for the wonderful evening we have together, big boy~ Quite a shame that you won't be around to view my victories after all~" He purred, pressing his lips softly and hard deeply into Sigma's. Sadly, that was his first and last tongue kiss he had with the bat themed individual, even though that he is decapitated from his body. Deserting the broken head by hurling it faraway into the ocean of force.

"And good bye, you sexy bitch~" He blew a kiss after tossing his enemy's damaged head for good, never to be seen again until he heads for a new reconnaissance.

In conclusion, the war was completely done with as we speak. Not only justice was decently served at last, but his vengeance as well. To him, revenge is the most scrumptious dish ever made cold.

The End

#megaman #zero #sigma #absolute zero #yaoi #vampire #fan fic #incubus #2020

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avijohann · 4 years ago

Note

I Don't Hate the Gravity

the fight

The audition!!! All of Gravity is just one big build up until that scene. Avi helping Johann, Johann playing for Avi, I’m a sucker for grand gestures of love

but also yeah the fight im not even sorry about that im a drama loving bitch

#Anonymous

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duhragonball · 5 years ago

Text

Dragon Ball Z 280

World is fuck, so I’m gonna write about DBZ for a while until the Benadryl kicks in.

Last time, Goku fought Majin Buu, but he wasn’t doing so great, so he upped the ante by going Super Saiyan 3.

This is where I regret falling behind on the manga way back in the Red Ribbon Army Saga, because the Buu arc is where the anime and the manga really start to get off-track from each other. I mean, the same plot points are followed, but in the manga, Goku fights Buu as a Super Saiyan 3 the whole time, while in the anime, he starts at SSJ2 and ramps up to SSJ3... twice. So it’s kind of hard to match up exactly which parts of the anime version are direct adaptations of the manga. They’re probably all there, but I’d really need to do a side-by-side comparison. A project for another time.

This has gotta be one of the best damn episodes of the whole shebang. Goku and Kid Buu are just whalin’ on each other, and this isn’t even the climax of this arc.

Starting out, Goku deals some pretty heavy damage to Buu, and he has some difficulty reassembling himself. But that’s about all Goku ever does to the kid. I mean, if Perfect Cell took a hit like that, he’d just be dead, or so badly wounded that it would take barely any follow-through to finish the job. But with Majin Buu these kinds of enormous blasts are just chip damage at best.

Something else I want to do one of these days is go back and try to figure out when they screwed up Dende’s Buu-Saga character model. I think most of Dragon Ball Super depicts him as a child, as if he never aged after the Cell Games, but I think that only happened because they were screwing him up as far back as 1995.

Here’s the thing, though: Why was Dende so short in the Cell Games? He had aged four years from however old he was in the Namek Saga. Piccolo Junior was fully grown by age three. Maybe this is the Namekian life cycle. You grow into an adult when you’re three, then you turn into a kid again, then you grow into an adolescent about 11 years after that, and then you just sort of switch back and forth for a while. It’s a good thing Piccolo’s off-screen for most of his life.

Yamcha and Krillin are watching this from the Grand Kai Planet, courtesy of King Kai’s telepathic vision. Why isn’t anyone else grabbing a Kai by the back?

And they’re even screening this fight in Hell, which seems kind of strange to me. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, but we’ve got pay-per-view in the commons.

Hey look it’s Cell! And Dr. Gero. You think they talk much at all? Think about how much it must suck for them. Gero was maybe the only other person Cell ever respected, because he trusted Gero’s grand design for him as the perfect being. And Gero must have viewed Cell as his ultimate hope for avenging the Red Ribbon Army. And then they bump into each other in hell, which proves that they’re both failures. All Cell really accomplished was to kill Goku, and now he’s not even dead anymore. I have to figure Cell/Gero interactions in Hell are pretty uncomfortable. At the same time, who else are they going to hang out with?

Why are all these guys still in their bodies? Everything that happened to Vegeta in this arc implies that letting Vegeta have his body after death is a big deviation from the norm. Episode 195 introduced the idea of DBZ’s hell being like this big Arkham Asylum for all the bad guys. I guess technically all those episodes with the dead Ginyus in the Frieza Saga did the same thing, but you could argue that they hadn’t been dead long enough to lose their bodies. Here, now, we’re looking at characters that have been dead for over seven years. I think the premise in Resurrection F was that the damned get to keep their bodies while they suffer, until they finally learn to let go of their past lives and move on. And I can see why Frieza’s such a bitter fuck that he’d still be holding on for over a decade, but what’s Recoome holding out for? Just get reincarnated as a cockroach or something and get it over with.

Also, why is Gero a cyborg in this scene?

And why isn’t Frieza a cyborg? I mean, he wasn’t a cyborg in Episode 195 either, but that seemed to suggest Gero would be fully human in hell, and he isn’t. And if Gero does get to keep being a cyborg, then why couldn’t he keep his hat?

Anyway, Goz and Mez recognize Goku as the guy who messed with them way back in the Saiyans Saga. Hey, why aren’t Raditz and Nappa in this scene? I watched an AMV where they edited Bardock into this, which seems like a good idea. Did they just not go to hell? I find that a little hard to believe.

Anyway, all the bad guys are salty as fuck to see Goku alive and fighting, and Frieza’s actively rooting against him. He’s just jealous because Buu’s doing better against Goku that he ever could.

Meanwhile, over on the classy side of the villain crowd, Cell wonders who Goku’s opponent is, since he’s clearly impressed to see anyone give Goku a tougher battle than himself.

Then Babidi shows up and announces to everyone he used to be tight with Majin Buu. Actually, he claims Buu was his servant, and that he taught him how to fight, which... yeah. I guess he did help Buu practice punching people’s faces off.

This whole moment feels a bit contrived. Babidi’s been down here for a couple of days already. I don’t know how long they’ve been watching this fight. I would imagine the oni switched it on somewhere when Vegito was on deck, so it kind of feels like Babidi was sort of hiding around back, waiting for someone to ask about Buu, so he could jump out and go “Oh, funny you should ask about that! I was Majin Buu’s master for like six hours, nbd.” I almost wonder if he paid Cell five bucks just to set this up. Cell demanded payment in singles, because he wanted to spend it on the vending machine. He’s a sucker, though, because hell may have a big screen TV, but the bill changer on their vending machine hasn’t worked in 10 million years.

Anyway, everyone’s impressed, probably just because Babidi has the inside track on Buu more than anything. You gotta figure most of these guys have heard it all before, and at least Babidi has a newer story to tell. Everyone’s probably sick of hearing how Frieza ate that crab while he killed Vegeta.

But then Babidi wanders off, and in private he cusses out Buu for, you know, killing him, and he roots for Goku to win. Wait, is Bibidi in hell too? You’d think they could catch up on old times.

Meanwhile... well, this shot had pink and yellow energy trails moving across the planet, and it looks pretty cool, but this screenshot doesn’t quite do it justice.

Kibitoshin is worried about their planet, but the Elder Kai insists that it’ll take more than this to wreck it. I want a woman who believes in me the way the Elder Kai believes in the sturdiness of the Supreme Kai Planet. That sounds kind of masochistic when I put it that way. Moving on.

Writing about all those other villains, it starts to come into focus how little I have to say about Majin Buu. I dig the guy, though. Critics complain that he doesn’t have much on personality or motivation, and they’re not wrong, but I think that’s part of the point with him. Godzilla doesn’t give touching speeches in his movies, but he remains a popular character because of the sheer spectacle of him. He’s a force of nature, a symbol of immense power that the human characters can barely comprehend.

In Buu’s case, he’s just this stubborn, impossible obstacle to peace in the universe. So much has gone wrong, and we could wish it all back the way it was, if only someone could beat this pink little turd. He’s got some personality, but his main purpose in this story is to just be there for the other characters to interact as they deal with the problem.

For example, while all this action is going on, Mr. Satan is basically helpless, but he reassures Bee that he’ll protect him, even though Satan thinks this whole adventure is a dream. This says a lot about Mr. Satan. Yeah, Bee had a big part in reforming the Fat Majin Buu, but he means a lot to Mr. Satan as well. It’s easy to write off Satan as a coward and a fraud, but even when he’s retreating into denial, he still wants to be a hero, even when the rest of the world is dead, even when his only audience is a little puppy. And you could have a moment like this with Mr. Satan regardless of the villain, but I think it stands out better when the bad guy is Kid Buu, who doesn’t get in the way with any big speeches or characterization moments of his own.

Back to the fight, Buu gets the drop on Goku, so he decides that this is no time to hold back...

So he drops a Super Saiyan 3 Kamehameha on the little creep. Yeah!

It blows Buu to pieces, but then the pieces just turn into mini-Buus and they all shoot back.

Goku tries to power up for another round, but suddenly he runs out of gas and collapses.

So Vegeta rushes to his side and offers to switch in. Yeah, this whole part is filler. In the manga, Vegeta only gets one turn, and this ain’t it.

However, I think some of Vegeta’s lines during this scene are lifted from the part of the manga where he fights Kid Buu later. So it’s a little weird here. I’m curious how Dragon Ball Kai handled these episodes, because when they started that project it seemed like their goal was to edit out most of the filler from the original DBZ anime, but in some cases that just isn’t practical. Like Pizza and her entourage in the Cell Games. They weren’t in the manga, but they appear in almost every Mr. Satan scene that was in the manga, so Kai had to leave them in, because the alternative was to painstakingly edit them out of every shot. Here, you may not even have that option. You could edit Goku vs. Kid Buu down to just one uninterrupted string of action where he’s fighting at Super Saiyan 3. Cut out this intermission with Vegeta, cut out the opening bit where Goku fights at SSJ2, but I don’t know if the fight choreography would still make sense.

Everyone watching is horrified that Vegeta can’t even land a blow, and Buu starts openly mocking his lackluster performance. What I don’t understand is why Vegeta would even try to fight Majin Buu in his base form. I mean, the real reason is probably because this fight is filler, and Toei didn’t want it to detract from when he actually fights Buu in the next episode. But it makes Vegeta look kind of stupid. He knows better, and we know that he knows better.

So Buu quickly overwhelms him, and he’s all set to fire a ki blast to finish off. Why doesn’t Vegeta just transform to escape it?

But then Goku jumps in and ruins Buu’s shot. He’s still in base form too, but I sort of buy this, because he snuck up on Buu. Even so, this sort of fast-and-loose attitude with power levels is exactly the sort of nonsense Toei did all through Dragon Ball GT, and one of several reasons why GT sucks. It’s not as bad in filler scenes like this one, interspersed among stories based on the manga, but once there was no manga to work from, they just decided there were no rules, and Base Form Goku was almost interchangeable with Super Saiyan 4 Goku. They just used whichever character design they preferred that day.

Vegeta’s astonished, because he thought Goku was down for the count, but he’s already back up and demanding to tag back in.

But Goku ain’t done yet. This is probably the other reason Toei had Vegeta fight in base form here, so it would make it look cooler when Goku defiantly powers up to continue his effort. And yeah, it works. I really do love this scene, but it’s a pretty egregious example of filler scenes messing with the flow of the story.

Goku ramps up to Super Saiyan 2, then back to 3, and we pick up where we left off. And that’s awesome, but the main idea of this fight is that Goku’s having a hard time fighting at this level. To have him drop out of SSJ3 early, then immediately get back up and resume SSJ3 like it’s no big deal... well, that undermines that premise. I guess you can make an argument that it supports the premise, because having Goku power down twice in this fight only emphasizes how volatile SSJ3 really is, but... I dunno.

Anyway, Goku goes back to fighting Buu, and you know, that may be the real reason Toei did that whole bit with Vegeta tagging in. The alternative is to just have SSJ3 Goku fight Buu for two and a half episodes straight, and that would get dull, no matter how well they animated it. You can have spectators observe the battle, and that’s a great way to break up the action, but a moment where Goku rescues Vegeta adds some drama. The manga didn’t do this, but it didn’t need to, because this fight was much shorter in print.

I guess that’s the main defense of filler. Sometimes, it’s not about padding the anime, or working the studio’s “agenda” into the story, or anything sinister like that. Sometimes it’s just a matter of pacing.

Anyway, in either version, Vegeta watches Goku fighting, and quickly recognizes that Goku is the only one who can fight Majin Buu now. At Vegeta’s level, he’d only get himself killed.

Then he has this whole flashback of his relationship with Goku up to this point, and unlike most flashbacks in this series, this one features all new art, which is pretty awesome. Honestly, they could have used old footage from the Saiyans Saga, but they had already done that recently during the Babidi Saga, so maybe Toei figured they couldn’t do that trick again so soon. Or maybe they knew DBZ wes winding down, so they wanted to do something special while they still could.

Not surprisingly, Vegeta’s main recollection of his first fight with Goku are the parts where Goku beat the shit out of him while using Kaio-ken times three. That fight had a lot more to it than that, and it’s easy to forget that Vegeta dominated most of the battle, mainly because Vegeta himself doesn’t see it that way.

Then we get this part where Vegeta has kittens over Goku beating Recoome, and he begins to suspect that Goku is the Legendary Super Saiyan. Would have been awesome to see another shot of Luffa the Golden Ape from episode 66, but I guess that wouldn’t make a ton of sense in this context, especially now that we know what Super Saiyans actually look like.

For instance...

Vegeta considers that Goku’s secret might be that he’s motivated by a need to protect his loved ones, but even if that’s true, Vegeta has his own loved ones now, so they’d be even if that were all it was. I love how surly he looks here. “Dammit, I can’t believe I care about these stupid people! Now I gotta blow myself up if things get out of hand.”

Also, Vegeta’s observation ties in well with that filler scene from a moment ago. Goku was exhausted, but as soon as he saw Vegeta in danger, he pulled himself together and found the strength to defend him. Goku cares as much about Vegeta as the others.

But the real difference, Vegeta observes, is that he always fought for the fun of it, and for the satisfaction of killing his enemies. Goku, on the other hand, fights primarily to improve himself. That’s why he keeps pushing himself harder, and why he keeps seeing results. It’s not about winning, it’s about not losing. This seems to be a trend with Goku, where he usually says things like “I won’t lose” or “I ain’t lost yet,” instead of “I’m going to win.” Vegeta’s classic mistake is to assume that he’s already going to win, and then he crumbles when things start to go wrong.

And critically, this is why Goku doesn’t kill people if he can avoid it. Well, he killed a lot of Red Ribbon guys, but most of them were cowards and no real match for him. King Piccolo pushed him too far. After that, Goku’s been pretty light on killing enemies, and that’s probably because he reached a point where he became so strong that it got harder to find worthy adversaries. Vegeta would kill his enemies just to watch them die, but in doing so, he denied himself the opportunity to face them in rematches. This was something I read in a Superman comic once, where Superman overpowers an evil-universe version of himself, and he makes the point that his doppleganger kills all his enemies, so he only ever has to fight them once, where Superman has to stay sharp, because he has to mess with those guys over and over again. Same deal.

And you’d think Goku might have killed Vegeta after he surpassed him, like when he became a Super Saiyan, or when Vegeta went Majin, and no one would have blamed him for putting the bastard down. But Goku never did. Not because Vegeta was no longer a threat, but because he knew Vegeta could still catch up to him some day and challenge him again. Goku believes in Vegeta, even when Vegeta doesn’t believe in himself.

It’s like Goku knew Vegeta woud start to turn into a good guy. See, this is where I take issue with criticism of the dub, way back in Episode 36, when Goku asked Krillin to spare Vegeta’s life. The subs focus on Goku’s desire to beat Vegeta on his own, while the dub spends more time on Goku’s hope that Vegeta might see the light if they show him a little mercy. And you can argue that the dub is cramming their own take into the script, except their take doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Funimation’s take in Episode 36 is Vegeta’s take in Episode 280. Call it foreshadowing, or call it putting the cart before the horse, but the line itself isn’t out of bounds, because Goku did hope that Vegeta would learn the value of mercy, and and Vegeta knows it.

Again, let me pause to note that this big epiphany by Vegeta is much more effective when the bad guy is as flat as Kid Buu. We’re not missing anything during this fight because they’ve just been hitting each other, and Buu bites Goku for like half a second while Vegeta reflects.

The main point of Vegeta’s monologue here is that he’s always struggled with the idea of Goku as the antithesis of what he thinks Saiyans ought to be. And yet nothing succeeds like success. Goku’s stronger right now than any Saiyan in the last thousand years. Hell, right now, Goku’s the only Saiyan alive. Vegeta’s dead, and so are all the others. If his kindness is such a noose around his neck, why is he still breathing? Why is he the only Saiyan who figured out how to turn Super Saiyan 3? Why is he the only one who could bite Majin Buu on the head and get away with it? Because Goku’s metal as fuck, that’s why. Because kindness isn’t a weakness at all. It never was. If anything, it’s the lack of kindness that got all the other Saiyans killed.

And maybe Vegeta has to think about that a while longer, but he knows this much, Goku’s better than he is. He’s the best.

But he’s still not beating Buu anytime soon.

There’s a cool spot here where Goku hits him and his upper body stretchs out from the impact, and he waves hello to Mr. Satan before snapping back.

And by “waving hello” , I mean “fires more of this pink crap out of his hands.”

And this right here is the last shot of Cell, I think? There’s some more Frieza coming up, but I’m not sure if we see all the villains again or not.

Babidi’s watching from way back there, because he’s shy. I think Cell would hang out with Babidi. He’s pretty sociable, right?

Anyway, this fight rules, not just because of all the great action and fluid animation, but because of all the cool stuff going on around it. Everyone’s learning an important lesson about friendship today, thanks to Goku punching the crap out of this pink thing. That... sounds vaguely dirty. Let’s move on.

Oh, well, the episode’s over. That’s kind of awkward. Uh. Goodbye!

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

Text

What I thought about “Young Blood, Old Souls” from The Owl House

Salutations random people of the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. Today, I am reviewing the season one finale of The Owl House. And by the way, there are zero dislikes that I have for this episode. Any issues I could have are either petty nitpicks, or just not worth talking about. So, for the first time ever, I'm going to share my thoughts unfiltered. No likes. No dislikes. Just my thoughts on why I think this episode turned out as great as it did. And in case you couldn't guess, there are going to be enormous spoilers for the finale itself, and The Owl House in general. So consider this your last warning as we dive in!

The opening narration: I'm a sucker for fairytale esque opening narrations in stories, and that's the feeling I got when watching this scene. Sure, you could say that it's an exposition dump that tells us stuff we already know, but I don't see it that way. I see it as a technique to set the mood of the episode, while also reminding us how much of a threat the Belos can be.

And again, let's ask ourselves: How much is accurate in this small history lesson, and which parts are made up by Belos? Because who's to say that he isn't the one who wrote the book that King is reading?

No intro: This. Was a shock.

Usually shows shorten the intro to it’s first and last portions, or at the very least, flash the opening logo. Never, to my knowledge, has a series straight-up drop both the intro and the logo. To me, that is a good sign of a great episode. Because no intro tells me that the writers had so much to put in, that they didn't want to waste a single second to even flash a logo.

Not that many jokes: The jokes were another appreciated, albeit well missed, absence within the episode. Because this is the season finale. An event that, depending on what show you make, needs to be taken seriously. And while I say that The Owl House is a comedy show with drama on the side, that doesn't mean it shouldn't focus on the drama if an episode calls for it. And an adventure where Luz has to save her mentor from an emperor who turns people to stone? Yeah. That's an experience where drama has to take center stage for the time being.

Luz is serious and angry: Don't get me wrong. I love Luz for her endless optimism and her ability to find fun in whatever situation she's in. But this is not the type of episode that requires that personality. If anything, I was happier to see Luz act more seriously rather than stick to her quirky personality. Because this proves that Luz isn't some oblivious goofball who can't see the darkness in the world. It shows that she understands when to be serious if the situation calls for it. This also reveals that not only can Luz get angry, but she can get downright vengeful. Her desire to make Lilith pay is not only understandable, but it's absolutely justified. Say what you want about her now, but what Lilith did to Luz in the last episode was awful. So I can't really blame her for getting angry at the mere sight of Lilith.

Now, if Luz were to remain with this angsty personality, then I would be less than ecstatic. But it seems pretty clear to me that angry Luz is a situation-dependent side of her personality that will only come out in the more dramatic episodes. This is evident with the fact that Luz's optimism returns after Eda comes back safe and sound. So while I came to enjoy angry Luz, I'm still going to prefer happy Luz any day.

Owl Beast Eda sticks her tongue out: I love the idea that this was a part of the real Eda shining through, just because the thought of Eda fighting a curse to get under Lilith's skin is just funny to me. And Lilith sticking her tongue out too was just icing on the cake.

Belos’ is still terrifying: That's it. That's all I have to say. We get even more of a glimpse of Belos' power, and it just cements how he's the most terrifying villain that Disney has made in years. Because I saw his fight with Luz (more on that later) as Belos holding back. Which makes me wonder: WHAT THE F**K IS IT GOING TO LOOK LIKE WHEN HE'S ALLOWED TO LET LOOSE?!

And if I'm being honest with you guys, I'm a little scared to find out the answer to that question.

Eda is partially the Owl Beast: This was a cheat, but an effective one. It gives Eda a chance to have actual speaking roles, while also nerfing her, so she doesn't escape. Would it have been more tragic if Eda spent the entire episode as an unintelligent monster? Maybe. But it also means Eda couldn't give Luz the portal (the most important thing in the finale) and not get to say goodbye to Luz (the most gut-wrenching scene in the finale). Say what you want about Eda being partially cursed, but I think it was a smart decision.

We meet Gus’ dad!: This might not seem like a big deal, but I certainly enjoyed it. Hell, I always appreciate it when I get to know more about the lives of characters in my favorite media. And finding out that Gus' dad is a news reporter? That's a nice reveal, even if it's not the most important thing to happen in the show.

Petrification: Sooooo, this is basically the death penalty. Let that sink in for a second. Because the world of this show, that's aimed for children, actually has a death penalty. Sure, the writers don't actually use the d-word. But turning people into stone with no way to turn them back? They might as well be dead at that point. And I actually like that The Owl House is allowed to go this dark. It raises the stakes much higher than any episode once we find out that Eda could die if Luz fails. And that's a thought I'm sure no one appreciates. Especially Luz.

Luz and King stepping on the grass: Hey, there may not be that many jokes in this episode, but that doesn't mean it isn't allowed to be hilarious. And, yeah, this got a huge laugh out of me. Both from how King and Luz look as they commit their "crime," and because of the guard's over-the-top reaction to it. It gets me everytime.

Warden Wrath’s high-pitched scream: Not much to say here other than I just thought it was funny. Because what also gets to me is when a "big scary character" does something pathetic like what Wrath did. And if you didn't hear his scream, go back to play this scene again. It's well worth it.

“Draw me a map!”: I don't know why I love this line so much. Maybe it's because Sarah-Nicole Robles' delivery made me laugh, or because it preemptively shuts up nitpickers who would ask how Luz knew where the detention center is. Either way, this was a great line.

Willow and Gus help...sort of: In the grand scheme of things, Willow and Gus didn't really do that much when helping Luz and Eda. Sure they got a crowd to chant about letting Eda go, but that effort didn't do anything to stop the petrification. Even that brief moment of standing up to the Emperor came to an end the second he showed up. Which means that it's an issue that Willow and Gus didn’t really help Luz, right?

That would true if it wasn't for the fact that Willow and Gus didn't immediately jump at the idea of backing Luz up if she needs them. That makes these two the perfect best friends that Luz could ask for, solely on that loyalty alone. Would it have been better to see them fight alongside Luz? Maybe, but I doubt Luz would actually want her friends risking everything for her vendetta. Besides, I doubt Willow and Gus would really be that much help compared to how quickly Lilith dismissed both of them in the last episode. So while they get a C for contribution and efficiency, they get an A+ for loyalty in my book.

Eda’s goodbye to Luz: Oh, man. And I thought Eda's goodbye in "Agony of a Witch" was painful. This? This actually got me misty-eyed. And I think the reason why it's more heartbreaking this time around is that Eda is fully showing her emotions in this scene. In my "Agony of a Witch" review, I said that Eda was trying to hide how dire the situation from Luz by smiling and playing the thing off as no big deal. She fails because her eyes and her voice cracks give away all of her feelings, but she still tried nonetheless. This time, however, Eda makes it clear how serious the situation is with both her expressions and tone of voice. Probably because the last time she tried to be gentle with Luz, her apprentice threw herself into the lion's den. So as a result, it comes off as more heartbreaking, given the fact that Eda makes it clear how serious their predicament is. And the fact that she not only says a real goodbye to Luz but practically pushes her away?! Add that with the fact that they share "I love you's" to each other, and you got a scene that just tears at the heartstrings.

Luz crying again: NnnnnnnOPE!!!

I already said that the single image of Luz crying was enough to break me. So seeing her just break down and sob her eyes out is more than enough to hurt the soul, man!

IT HURTS DA SOUL!

“Talk to the glyph, WITCH!”: You know for a FACT that if Luz was allowed to swear, she would use a very similar sounding word to describe Lilith. And I love that implication!

Luz can’t do magic in the human realm: Woah boy! It was one thing when we all predicted it. But to now have visual confirmation that Luz cannot, in fact, do magic in the human realm? Let's just say that adds a whole new level of heartbreak for when Luz has to go home. As well as an overflowing amount of angsty fanfics that plays with that idea.

Lilith’s backstory: ...

*DEEP INHALE*

I will hold off Fredrick Ulisinsburg for now. For. NOW. Because while Lilith's actions are nowhere near justified...it is clear that she does regret her actions. Lilith said it herself. She thought the curse would last for at least a day, and in no way intended for it to be permanent. It's still crappy of her to willingly curse Eda at all, but at least she didn't want her sister to live a life of torture. Plus, there's a sense of tragedy given the fact that Eda wasn't going to fight Lilith anyway. Lilith underestimating how much Eda truly cares must have made the guilt set in even more. And I hope that the show explores that in season two. Because while I think Lilith is on the right track towards redemption, what she did was awful, and I want her to actually earn her forgiveness. Not just hand it out because of a few acts of kindness (more on that later).

(Also bonus points for that foreshadowing with the sharing-the-pain spell. I did not think it would come up again in the way that it did.)

Baby Eda: Must. Protect. Baby. Eda.

Amity’s parents(?): It's yet to be officially confirmed (to my knowledge) that those students in the bleachers are Amity's parents. But if they are, then it's awesome that The Owl House crew snuck this reveal in the finale. They didn't need to do that, but the fact that they did just make schmucks like me happy.

Luz briefly looking out into the forest: So much is said about Luz with just these few short seconds. The fact that she hesitates going back to the Isles tells me that she's wondering if she should. Because right now, Luz has an out. She could say goodbye to her problems and run home to mami, especially given the fact that that's what Eda wants her to do. Except Luz would never do that. Because Luz has proven time and time again that she will not back down when it comes to helping the people she loves. Eda, Willow, Amity. These are all characters that Luz would do anything and everything for if it meant they would be safe. But that doesn't mean she won't briefly get tempted to escape. So while this moment of hesitation shows that Luz can have times of selfishness, her almost immediately running back proves that she will always choose the path of selflessness.

Lilith willing to be a double agent: This was the first sign of Lilith working her way towards redemption. Her willingness to still work for the Emperor's Coven, and to change it from the inside, is pretty admirable. It's almost a shame that she gets caught almost immediately. Because I would have loved to have seen Lilith's attempts to work against the Emperor to protect Luz and Eda from getting arrested. Not only for character growth reasons but because it would actually strengthen her redemption by having Lilith willingly risk everything for the right people.

Luz vs Emperor Belos: I could have never expected this. At least, not so soon. I always assumed Luz would fight Belos at some point, most likely in the series finale. Never would I have expected this confrontation to happen in the first season. And man, oh, man, what a fight! I'm sure some people are gonna complain how easy it was for Luz to fight back, but to those people: I have a few things to point out.

First off, Belos' line of, "I'll play," tells me that he's going easy on Luz. Nothing he does really looks like it would hurt Luz too badly-at least by his standard. And to me, it seems like Belos is treating the fight in a similar way a teenager lets a toddler "challenge" them. Because when you compare Luz's frantic movements to Belos' calm and calculated ones, it is clear who's the better fighter in this battle.

Second, Luz doesn't do that much. Sure she chips his mask with an ice spell. But that's the equivalent of how Iron Man's finishing move on Thanos only resulted in "a drop of blood." Every other glyph Luz uses during this fight was to protect herself rather than fighting back. And the fact that she barely got a chance to fight back, when the Emperor was going easy on her? Let's just say that it makes me even more terrified for Luz's safety when round two inevitably happens.

Lastly, Luz is someone who has what I like to call: Percy-Jackson-Syndrome. A character who's a bumbling idiot seventy-five percent of the time, a surprisingly good strategist for fifteen percent, and terrifying when angry in the last ten. And Luz has shown in the past that she has a sense of quick wit and strategy when fighting powerful foes. Her plan to beat Willow's inner-self, as well as Luz's plan of escape from Otabin, are two examples that come to mind that prove this. So it's not too much of a stretch that Luz is still alive after fighting Belos, because the one time she got the upper hand was by outsmarting him.

So again, good fight, and I'm terrified for round two.

Luz destroys the portal: This was a heroic sacrifice I didn't see coming, even though I really should have. If you've been paying attention to the episode titles, you'll notice that the first letter of each title spells out the phrase, "A witch loses a true way." A lot of people have been speculating what this phrase could mean. Even I dipped my toe in theorizing the right answer. It turns out the people who thought Luz would lose a "true way" back home were correct. But I don't think anybody could have thought that it would be Luz who would take away her only way back home. Not only is Luz being the one to destroy the portal tragic, but this sacrifice shows how much Luz cares about Eda. Luz is willing to say goodbye to everything she knows, for who knows how long, just so Eda can be safe. Plus, it's another moment of Luz defeating her enemy by outsmarting him. Which teaches kids that you don't need to fight harder. You just need to fight smarter.

Lilith shares the curse: This is another sign that Lilith is on the right path. While I still wouldn't say that I forgive Lilith, I will say this sacrifice makes me want to at least consider it.

Belos is fixing the portal: You want to know what makes a villain even more terrifying? The fact that every victory our hero has is more of a minor inconvenience towards the villain. Which is what this scene is. Because while Luz definitely won the battle, it looks Belos is planning on winning the war.

Eda looks different in the outro: I like this. You know why? Because it tells me that Eda being half cursed is not going to be fixed any time soon. Case in point: Willow was wearing her Abomination Track uniform during the intro and the credits, so as not to spoil the ending of episode three. For every episode after, Willow remained in her Plant Track uniform, and it looks like that's not going to change. So the fact that the crew is committing to Eda's design change, to the point where they change the credits as well, shows a great attention to detail. That also hints at a dynamic shift that will remain for the foreseeable future.

The finale makes me want more: To me, the best finales are the ones that resolve most stories but still opens up more for the next season. Because every narrative and conflict season one opened up has been closed. Lilith wanting to arrest Eda? Closed. Who cursed Eda? Closed. Amity's redemption? Please. That got closed, like, three episodes ago. And yet, this finale left me with more questions that I can't wait to get answered in season two.

How will the dynamic change now that Lilith is added into the main crew? What's the day of unity? Why does Emperor Belos want the portal to the human world? Who's that hooded figure that Belos sends to spy on the Owl House? How is being half-cursed going to affect Eda and Lilith? Can Eda still turn into the Owl Beast? Is Lilith going to turn into an Owl Beast now? Are we going to have an episode where Luz and King are going to deal with TWO Owl Beasts? And most importantly: WHEN THE HOLY F**K ARE LUZ AND AMITY GOING TO KISS ALREADY?!?! DO I SERIOUSLY HAVE TO WAIT DURING ANOTHER SEASON-which I'm totally fine with-TO SEE THESE TWO IDIOTS GET TOGETHER?!

I doubt I’ll ever know the answer to all of these questions, but it sure makes me more excited to see what happens next.

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So, yeah. "Young Blood, Old Souls" is a definite A+ of an episode. It had excellent drama, astonishing character moments, some closure to several stories, and even a few well-timed jokes on occasion. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's the best episode of the season. It's definitely in the top five, for sure, but not the best. I'm more than willing to give that title to "Enchanted Grom Fright" just for the importance of it alone. Hell, I'd say that I enjoyed "Agony of a Witch" a lot more than "Young Blood, Old Souls." But, I'm willing to blame that on the same reason why Avengers: Infinity War is seen as the better movie than Avengers: Endgame. Whereas the first part did a great job at lifting up the stakes and tension, that part two pales in comparison from doing its job of giving closure. But that doesn't change the fact that "Young Blood, Old Souls" is a damn-near perfect episode that both hurts and heals the soul.

(And that’s it! It’s going to be another few months ‘til season two hits, and in turn, months until I’ll have to review episodes again...Unless I want to do something crazy like review the episodes I didn’t talk about. But that’ll never happen!)

(...)

(...Alright fine. I’ll review them. But not until The Owl House comes onto Disney+!)

#the owl house #the owl house review #what i thought about

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