#but if the movie didn’t have any elemental stuff going on either

[cable-salamdr]

Humble proposal: Buzzfeed Unsolved/ Ghost Files Ninjago au (in a normal world), where Ryan is Lloyd and Shane is Morro. Morro is a pure skeptic & thinks Lloyd is being an idiot (he always says it’s the wind), meanwhile Lloyd is constantly being pranked by his weird ass ancestors who are just trying to get his attention.

[marta-diablo]

Any small child catching sight of Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh in his clown gear would vow never to go to the circus again. Fielding’s torso is encased in a green felt globe, his hands protruding helplessly from the bottom. From beneath lurid make-up, he flashes a deeply unsettling grin, as if auditioning for the role of a psychopathic killer in Test Card: The Movie. “I’m just popping out for some coffee,” he deadpans. “Does anybody want anything?”

His Booshmate Julian Barratt, who currently looks like the victim of back-alley gender reassignment surgery, brushes his new blond tresses away from his face and sighs. “What a job, eh?”

When the duo decided to pose as the pair from the 1970s TV test card, it didn’t take long to decide who should play which part. If you want make-up and a manic grin, Fielding’s your man. He arrives at the studio resembling a time-travelling glam-rock star: pointy boots, snug red trousers, tight T-shirt, pendant shaped like a Flying Vee guitar, alarming bone structure. In one episode of their TV series, Barratt tells Fielding, “Look at you - feather cut, the pointy features. Put you in the 1950s, you’d be imprisoned for being a witch. They’d lock you in a trunk!” He’s probably right.

Barratt carries himself like someone trying to elude capture. It’s this wary unease that defined his performance as misanthropic style journalist Dan Ashcroft in Nathan Barley, Chris Morris’s Channel 4 comedy series. Morris wanted Dan to be someone who “wasn’t really comfortable in his skin”. I ask Barratt if Dan is a version of his own personality and he looks mildly wounded. “Not really, no. There were elements of me - it’s sometimes painful to be around people who are annoying - but Dan was a bit of a tit. I didn’t really like him.”

The Mighty Boosh have already completed two successful BBC series and are currently working on a third. Fielding, 33, thinks comedy is about allowing people to feel young again. “When you’re really laughing, you feel like a little kid and nothing matters. Everyone’s trying to feel as free as they were when they were kids.” Barratt, 38, seems to regard comedy’s inner workings as an imponderable mystery. “You still don’t know why you’re funny, do you?” Fielding says. “Not really,” Barratt sighs.

After almost a decade of working together, the pair are obviously close. When the camera’s not pointed in their direction, they huddle on the studio sofa in earnest conference punctuated by giggles. There is much to discuss: “We’ve got so many things we want to do and we need a basket to put them all in,” explains Barrett. “A structural basket.”

Fielding has a different metaphor. “We know when we’ve got enough ideas. If we haven’t and we try to write, it’s a bit weird. It’s like loading a gun and not having enough bullets.”

They first met in 1996, when Fielding went to see Barratt doing stand-up in High Wycombe. There had been less auspicious nights. Barratt recalls, “I ran off stage at my first gig. Halfway through it, I forgot my lines and didn’t know what to do, so I just ran out of the building down towards a lake. I was going to throw myself in, but the compere came out and said, 'No, it’s going well, come back and finish the gig!’ ”

The two share enthusiasms (Captain Beefheart, Monty Python, Mr Benn) and Barratt launched their collaboration by asking Fielding if he wanted to write the new Goodies. “We wanted to be a gang rather than a sketch troupe,” he says. From the start, their combination of absurdist wit, far-fetched narratives and bizarre musical interludes was the stuff of cult success. Audiences either entered their world and found them the funniest thing around, or they didn’t get them at all. “We used to have to convince people we were funny,” Barratt says, “and it didn’t always work.”

It did, however, work well enough to earn them nominations or awards at three consecutive Edinburgh festivals. A radio series followed and they finally made it to the nation’s TV screens in 2004. Earlier this year, they returned to touring. They get offers all the time, but having got this far on their own idiosyncratic terms, they have no desire to work according to anyone else’s.

“If Tim Burton called up and said, 'I’m making a film about two white Americans who go and become Red Indians��, I’m sure we’d jump at the chance,” Fielding says. “But if it’s, 'Do you want to be in this sitcom that’s a bit like Coupling?’ I’d rather shoot myself.”

When did you first find something really funny?

Noel Fielding: My nan used to look after me in the summer holidays and she had a cat with one eye. It used to walk into walls and tables. I used to think it was hilarious. It was a slapstick cat.

Who are your comedy inspirations?

Julian Barrett: I loved the Goodies’ sense of adventure.

NF: The Young Ones was the first thing I really liked. I was so young I didn’t really know what students were. I just thought they were some men who lived in a house.

What’s not funny?

JB: Cancer?

NF: It can be, though, can’t it?

JB: Yeah, sometimes a tumour will make me laugh.

When did you last laugh?

NF: I laugh all the time. I’m slightly simple. I went to a festival in Cambridge last weekend and there were men standing on a wheelchair and getting their friends to push them down a muddy hill and really hurting themselves. One of them had a fur coat, a dress underneath, massive boots and a witch’s hat. It was so stupid that everyone was laughing at them. It was quite freeing, actually.

What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you?

NF: Once I got stuck in a suit of armour. I had to be a knight in Al Murray’s show for two minutes. I had a gig afterwards and there was no one there backstage, so I couldn’t get out of it. I had to run next door and do the gig in a suit of armour. Al thought it was the best thing ever. “You should do that every night! It’s brilliant!” he said.

What’s the secret of comedy?

JB: The secret of comedy is don’t grow up. That’s why some comedians are a nightmare, because they never grow up.

Tell us a joke

NF: You stop hearing proper jokes when you’re a comedian. I’m always slightly disappointed by real jokes. There’s a lot of pressure to understand them and laugh at them. Occasionally we come up with a proper joke by accident and we almost apologise.

· The Mighty Boosh debut live DVD is released on November 13.

x

[impulsivesuperrobin]

i saw a post talking about neverafter slander on twitter so i went to check it out

here are some thoughts: (keep in mind, i’m not calling anyone out or saying your opinion isn’t valid if you agree with one of these points. try to read this as a light hearted discussion, like talking about a book with a friend)

a lot of it is people saying the season wasn’t horror enough and while i agree it’s not exactly as straightforward horror as the marketing suggested i think that that’s a take that is fundamentally misunderstanding what this is. it’s the horror season of dimension 20 which is a d&d show first and foremost. it’s not going to be following the beats of a horror movie because that’s not what they’re doing. when you run a horror campaign you fold in horror elements which they have been excellent at doing especially in the eldritch and existential categories

not to make assumptions but it seems to me that a lot of people making a big fuss about this haven’t played d&d for themselves. the things i have seen suggested the most for making the season more in line with the horror people were expecting involves turning the campaign into a more dm vs players situation (which is joked about a lot in fandom but in more of a meta humor way than is being suggested). this is something that anyone who has ever played in a bad campaign knows makes it a hell of a lot less fun to play and, i’m assuming, not so fun to watch either. the point of playing d&d is to work together to tell a story, if you go into to making a campaign with the goal of making your players lose, everyone is going to be miserable and your story is going to suck.

following that, some people are ragging on brennan for forgetting details and not having the lore entirely fleshed out. as someone who does unnecessary worldbuilding for homebrew campaigns every single time, i would just like to say on behalf of dms everywhere: it’s hard! there’s so much stuff to keep track of and so little time to keep the lore straight if you want the session to keep moving smoothly, i’m sure it’s even harder when you have a limited time to film the episodes/season

and maybe it’s just me, but i love horror movies (and other media) and neverafter is about as scary as most horror movies i’ve seen. it’s definitely better written than a lot of horror movies, we get to know the characters and are fully invested in them when bad things happen. it’s sort of on the level as the hellraiser reboot imo. some people make the point that besides the body horror, there’s not enough gore/blood kinda stuff, but i think gore isn’t truly horror, especially in a spoken format. it’s more of a shock factor thing, like a verbal jumpscare

and i’ve seen people saying that the pcs are too much like heroes/they’re too capable to be in any real danger, but in a horror movie, most of the bad things happen around the protagonist(s), they’re still thrown into the shit but most of the time they make it out. horror as a genre is so ill-defined anyway that people still debate if slashers and thrillers even count. plus, how many times in a movie has a side character been forgotten or something about the lore has been off? and that’s with multiple people overseeing the production.

jumping away from the “it’s not like the horror movie i envisioned” complaints, i’ve also seen a lot of people say it’s confusing??? and tbh i’m more confused about that than the campaign. to me it’s pretty straightforward, no more confusing than starstruck at the very least.

for the big picture: it’s different factions of people with conflicting (but occasionally overlapping) goals than all need to get to macguffin in order to reach whichever goal they’re aligned with

the pcs have their own character arcs which are very clearly laid out throughout the season

the minute details are there because that’s how you make your world feel lived in

and yeah, there’s a lot of potential in the stuff they could’ve done but didn’t. but i feel like that’s the whole point, y’know? this is the story they did tell, and the thousands of other ways they could’ve told the story live on like every retelling of a fairytale.

[heyheyitsjae]

So the trailer for The Minecraft Movie (sorry, “A Minecraft Movie”) came out a couple days ago. I had a lot of thoughts upon seeing it, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head, and have been combing through other people’s takes the last few days, so I’ve been itching to talk about it. The trailer is currently sitting at 500,000 likes vs 900,000 dislikes, so obviously it hasn’t been received well. Even the official Minecraft channel hasn’t uploaded it, only linking to WB’s upload. I thought I’d go back to the beginning and give my thoughts on progress as stuff from the film came out. 

So the first major red flag for me was when they announced the film was going to be in live action. I could not for the life of me fathom that decision. Minecraft has such a goofy and stylized world that it would only really work in animation, and we’ve had plenty of excellent Minecraft animations over the years to prove that. The Fallen Kingdom Pentology, Villager News, Cas van de Pol’s shorts, Kelpilox’s memes, Hapico’s stunning 3D shorts, and of course the official update trailers. Time and time again Minecraft has proven that both hilariously funny and epicly badass content can be made in its world, often by the fanbase. 

And yet, they chose to make the film in live action. The only way I could possibly think of this working would be if they entirely ditched the blocky aesthetic, and made it a high fantasy like Lord of the Rings, The DnD Movie, or even The Princess Bride. There’s plenty of fantasy elements like Creepers, Endermen, and Piglins that could keep something like that grounded in Minecraft’s world, even if it would be an odd choice. 

Then the birthday short came out. For those of you that don’t know, as a part of the 15th anniversary of Minecraft they put out a short on YouTube and Tik Tok of Jack Black and Jason Momoa cutting a cake and wishing Minecraft “happy birthday.” The actors weren’t even wearing any sort of outfit or costume for the film, and their acting felt very strained and terrible. I had my fingers crossed that they just cheaped out because it’s a promotional short, but it was still a bad sign. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2f0fPzZNPWw 

Then concept art started to leak for the film. While there were a couple of designs I did find cool like the Spider and Elytra, others like the Pig and Villagers concerned me and looked pretty doofy. These were obviously created by a variety of artists, so there was no telling who’s vision they would go forward with, and I saw it as a bit of a coin flip. 

Then the actual trailer came out, and… oh boy… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE2YZhcC4NY&t=1s 

For a start the opening shot didn’t seem all that bad to me. Yeah real life Minecraft is still a weird concept, and that archway looked unnatural, but at least some level of effort seemed to have gone into it. 

And then the actors showed up and all hope dropped. Their implementation into the film felt really awkward and lazy. Every shot they’ve got an awkward glow around them, either a result of being poorly green screened or needlessly backlit. They often feel out of scale with the environment and there’s a decent amount of shots where they don’t even cast a shadow. They feel so unnatural in this world. It makes you wonder, if all the backgrounds and mobs are gonna be done in CGI anyway, why not make the humans CGI and the whole thing an animation from the get go? 

The wardrobe of these actors is also a strange one. One that stands out as odd to me is Momoa has blonde hair, a brown beard, AND a pink jacket? At least make his hair and beard the same color it just looks awkward. 

And of course the king of awkward stand-outs is Jack Black as Steve. They didn’t even try, they just threw a blue shirt on him and called it a day. They could have at least trimmed up his beard. It’s especially odd they went with Black given Jason Momoa is right there!? Momoa has the perfect skin tone, right beard shape, and roughly the right amount of muscle mass to be Steve. The only thing that doesn’t really line up is his hair is a tad long, but if they were gonna put him in a wig anyway that’s not a hard fix. 

Most of the delivery in the teaser also feels pretty stiff and none of the jokes land. So far it’s got a strong “gulp, he’s right behind me” vibe that I’m not digging. 

Before we get to the moment you’re all waiting for, a couple of little side complaints on minor things. 

Something I noticed in the trailer that super bugged me, but I’ve only seen one other person mention so maybe I’m overreacting, is the logs on the scene where they meet Steve. For some reason the bottom railing has the logs rings facing up toward the crenelations or sideways into each other, but the crenelations have the logs facing sideways toward the camera!? Not only does it look really bad, but that’s the kind of thing that would take a lot of extra effort to do in-game, placing and breaking two extra blocks for each bump, only for it to ruin the build. 

And then there’s the crafting table. This scene was a bit quick, blink and you’ll miss it, so I didn’t give it much thought on first viewing. I just assumed Mamoa put two buckets and a chain on the table… but he didn’t. He threw like, six iron ingots and five cobblestone, onto the table and it somehow worked. The items on the table weren’t even lined up with the crafting grid. It’s the literal fucking name of the game and they couldn’t get it right!? HOW, HOW DO YOU FUCK UP THAT BADLY!!!

Okay now we’re on to the REAL bad bit! The mobs in this film are a train wreck. They are a shining example of what I mentioned before, either you make this film entirely animation or entirely live action. This awkward halfway point just creates an uncanny valley feeling that’s disturbing to look at. Most of them feel A.I. generated. 

The Sheep and the Llama are obviously the worst contenders. They look like something a parody YouTuber would throw together for a grossout short in 2013. I’ve heard some people try to defend this movie by saying “it’s just for kids, don’t be so hard on it.” I can’t think of a single five year old that would piss their pants crying in fear if they saw this thing pop up on screen. They are horrendous. 

Then there’s the Wolf. The Wolf doesn’t look as bad in comparison. There’s something off about its lips and hind legs, but I think obscuring it in shadows is saving us from the brunt of whatever the hell could be going on. 

And then there’s the Creeper, which is an… interesting choice. A lot of people have complained that it’s fuzzy, but looking at the poster it seems a bit odder than that. It looks like its skin is made of a dirt like substance and its fir is grass, which is… a choice. For those that don’t know, the original description we were given of Creeper skin was that it was “crunchy like dry leaves.” This has led to basically everyone assuming Creepers are plant-like creatures, with most people giving them scaly skin. I suppose grass fir fits with being plant-like, but it’s not scaly or dry at all. To be fair, a lot of fan theories have suggested Creepers could be made of peat moss, and it looks a little like that, but it’s still off. 

That then brings us to the Piglins who… honestly don’t look that bad. I think a combination of smaller eyes, less fur, and not being based on a real life animal makes them a lot more digestible than the other mobs in the film. I also like the use of Ghasts as airships. That was a concept we saw in one of the Fallen Kingdom songs that Minecraft almost implemented into canon with Minecraft Legends. While these Ghast airships are nowhere near as cool looking as either of those examples, at least it’s something. But there’s a lot of stuff to talk about with the Piglins aside from their appearance, so let's get into it. 

The first is a common complaint I’ve seen people make: how they’re able to breathe in the Overworld, when normally this causes Zombification. We *might* have an answer to this. In Minecraft Legends the Piglins tried to invade the Overworld. They brought with them huge Nether Spreader devices that spread Netherrack and heated the air, while the Horde of the Spore bred and spread mushroom fungal spores into the air. The spores made the air breathable for Piglins, and the heat presumably killed off the virus. 

Now that made sense for Legends, but doesn’t really make sense here. After the Piglin Invasion, the Horde of the Spore was hit hardest by the war. While survivors of the Horde of the Hunt remain in the Crimson Forests and the Horde of the Bastion remain in the Bastion Remnants, Piglins have since abandoned the Warped Forests, with Hoglins even developing a fear of the Warped Fungi, leaving the Horde of the Spore extinct. 

During Legends the Piglins had giant machines and an entire third of the army dedicated to making the Overworld breathable, while this trailer seems to show the much smaller modern Piglin army, so I have no idea how they are keeping alive. 

The other big issue that rises with the Piglins being here is… why? In Legends the Piglin Invasion at least sort of made sense. In the base game we had the Ruined Portals revealing travel between the two Dimensions was once more common, and the Bastion Remnants hinting that Piglins were once more populous and militaristic. Legends answered both of these by implying that the Piglins once tried to invade the Overworld, but after their four abusive kings were killed the few survivors split up and determined the Overworld not worth their efforts. 

The Piglins went from a militaristic and imperial force determined to conquer, to a small band of tribes that, while territorial, are ultimately friendly. They’ve become far less united and greedy (assuming they even were that greedy, Legends is a story written by the victors after all.) Based on the outfits, and Steve being alive, it seems the Piglins in this film are the *modern* Piglins. The chill dudes that give you enchanted boots for gold and compose fire mixtapes. The whole turning an entire race in your story into mindless evil monsters for Legends was already something that didn’t sit well with the Minecraft fanbase, especially with how adorable Piglins are, so using the friendly version of them as the bad guys in the film is an odd choice. We already have a group that raids villages, the Illagers, and a group that's yet to get the story spotlight, the Undead, both of whom would’ve been more logical and interesting villains for the movie. 

That brings me to another minor point that I think is worth bringing up here. I’ve heard some people complain about the portal at the start and while I agree it shouldn’t be blue, it's not for the same reason they do. A lot of people claim the portal should be purple, which is actually not true. Purple is the color of the Nether Portal yes, but we know from Minecraft Story Mode and the Infinite Dimensions April Fools Snapshot that that portals in this world can be basically any color, with each Dimension getting its own color, so the idea of the human world not being purple makes sense. 

But I think this shade of light blue is a bad choice, for one simple reason. The plot of Minecraft Legends was: Piglins decided to invade the overworld, so heroes from a far off land were brought in through a light blue portal to fix it. So far, the plot of this film seems to be: Piglins decided to invade the overworld, so heroes from a far off land were brought in through a light blue portal to fix it.

We’re just doing Legends again, which I cannot fucking fathom. Why the hell would you make a “Minecraft” movie and then base its plot on something exclusive to one of the sequels. Where’s the logic in that!? It’s especially baffling that Legends of all things was the one they decided to go with. Filming for this film didn’t start till earlier this year, sometime after February, meaning that things like actor schedules, lot rentals, and creating props probably weren’t set in stone until like, last August. 

That was well after Legends was the biggest critical and financial flop of any Minecraft spin-off (sans maybe Earth, but that never really came out.) This film had already been delayed time and time again, presumably because the script wasn’t up to snuff, so one more delay after it had been proven that people didn’t want to see that story wouldn’t have been that big a deal. Then again, Legends wasn’t officially canned until a couple months before filming and Black and Momoa probably have busier schedules and had to be booked further in advance. But it still feels like a poor choice that they had time to course correct on. 

Although there is ONE thing that sets this story apart from Legends. It appears to be going down the Jumanji route. Now while you could argue Legends already was an Isekai story, at least in that case it was someone traveling from a Minecraft world to another Minecraft world. Here we’ve got another fucking instance of a bunch of people being sucked into the videogame world. 

As people have mentioned before, having Jack Black in here is automatically giving Jumanji vibes, but even ignoring that I’m so damn sick of every single videogame movie being an Isekai. It is so annoying that game worlds aren’t allowed to exist as their own thing. The protagonist always has to be some outsider from the real world sent to this strange and kooky realm, and it’s just annoying. Videogames are fun when they have rich, fleshed out, and lived in universes, and reducing that to either “I’ve been trapped in the game” or “I’m unfamiliar with this world at tall” robs them of a lot of their wonder. The Mario Movie did it, the Monster Hunter Movie did it, the Sonic Movie did the reverse of it. We need more Detective Pickachu type films, where we explore people from a far out place in that far out place. 

Now let’s shift gears into less of aesthetic annoyances and more into potential spoiler territory. 

Something that I didn’t notice while watching the trailer, and I’ve only seen one person point out, is that The Seer from Minecraft Legends shows up at one point, surrounded by a crowd of Piglins. Now I would assume this movie is non-canon (it’s not made by Mojang and previous stuff not made by Mojang, like Story Mode, have been non-canon.) But if it IS canon, The Seer being there has interesting implications for the series lore/timeline. 

First and foremost is the idea that the Seer and Steve are alive at the same time. Steve is in both the base game and Dungeons, both of which were agreed to happen in a similar time-frame anyway. (Dungeons has both statues of the Ender Dragon being alive during the Arch-Illager’s reign and statues of her getting slain.) But Legends is agreed upon taking place hundreds if not thousands of years prior to the events of the main game. None of the ruined and abandoned structures of modern Minecraft are in it and it depicts the origin of most of the series main races/factions. 

In order for The Seer and Steve to be alive at the same time it either means The Seer is immortal and has been hiding in the background for a while, or Steve is both immortal and MUCH older than we thought. Of the two the first seems more likely, and creates interesting potential for The Seer. They’re the only major antagonist from any of the three main games to not either be befriended or killed (I’m sure someone in Story Mode survived I’m forgetting about) and so their story is unfinished. They also serve as a great explanation for the Piglin army.

The Piglins only attacked during Legends because they were ruled by tyrannical kings who borderline enslaved their people and had a might-makes-right mentality. With all these kings dead, and no army left to maintain their rule/order, of course the survivors would become more independent and less militaristic. It was a logical way to transition from how they’re depicted in both games. If anyone was going to revert the Piglins to their old ways, it would be the ancient hag who advised that cruel council, the only one their violent king showed an ounce of respect or fear to. Seer’s reinstating the old ways, the only question is why now? What took them so long to strike? 

But there’s another potential wrinkle in this plot that could make it more complicated, in an honestly annoying way. Throughout the trailer we see the main kid in the red hoodie is holding a strange glowing blue cube (that totally isn’t just the Tesseract from Marvel.) What this device is hasn’t been explained, but I’ve seen two popular theories going around. 

The first is that it’s a Beacon. In which case, sure, whatever. The other is that it could be the Orb of Dominance and this is the Orb’s origin story, of how it became an all powerful evil artifact. That would make this film a prequel to Legends, establishing how The Seer got their hands on the Orb and got their good standing with the Great Hog’s council 

I… don’t like that. For two main reasons. The first is that this would just exacerbate the Steve is immortal problem, you’re really gonna tell me he was there for EVERYTHING!? The second is that it really drags down the Orb of Dominance’s cool factor. The way it's depicted and talked about in Dungeons implies it's some sort of manifestation of an eldritch entity hellbent on destroying or conquering everything it comes into contact with, who has been vying for power since the dawn of time. Now it’s… something(?) that the humans brought with them. While still mysterious, I suppose, it sounds a lot less cool now (although let’s be honest, it was always a little dumb.) 

Also slightly off topic but I just want to mention, PhoenixSC made a video reviewing the teaser, and WB copyright struck him and forced him to mute a portion of the audio. Now you might think “oh well they own the trailer they’re allowed to do that” but no, it wasn’t anything from the teaser they took down. You know what it was? A couple minutes of a fanmade Minecraft short-film Phoenix was praising for being better than the official thing. Not only is that footage they don’t own any right too, but reviewing things is well and truly covered under fair-use. 

That’s an absolute scumbag movie. Combine that with the recent controversy Jack Black is getting into and I say please, just don’t watch this film in theaters. It’s clear not an ounce of care or love went into making this. It already looks like such a by the numbers and cheaply put together thing. They can 100% do better and we 100% deserve better.

[frankenwolf1564]

Transformers ONE Optimus Prime and Megatron: ONE shall stand, ONE shall fall

Trying another little something this week, kind of a blend between a photo gallery and a full review. Not as in depth or with as much background as a full review but more complex than my notes on a gallery. Hasbro Deluxes are like… the default transformer toy? So there’s usually nothing exceptional to say about what the actual figure can do. “It has a waist swivel, it has a bicep swivel, it has an ankle tilt.” Standards have risen substantially over the past, like, decade, especially post Siege, so while there are standouts, the context of a toy will usually be a meatier discussion. I’ll still mention accessories and stuff but I’m not going over every point of articulation.

Starting with Optimus, he’s a fine little lad! He’s on the smaller end of the deluxe scale, not quite mini-bot, but close. That might be a bit small for some people’s taste, but it does leave him as the perfect size to work as cogged Orion Pax, especially when stood next to the Studio Series Optimus. It helps that most of the elements that distinctly denote him as “Optimus” are his accessories. The smokestacks can unpeg, the axe is completely optional, and the matrix isn’t even visible tucked away behind his thinner, opaque chest window. Nearly everything else that feels like Prime is just from the two forms looking fairly similar. The biggest thing that’s baked in is his face, which is molded with the classic mouth plate. Given the scale and some of the styling at play, he works wonderfully as the Autobot Leaders younger self. I’d even be willing to look past the SS’ weird color choices and get him too if it weren’t for something we’ll get into later.

Rounding out Orion, he’s a little lacking in articulation thanks to his slightly lower price point, with no ankle tilt and slight clearance issues in his arms, but you can still get him into a wide range of poses, no problem. It might just take a little more balancing. I love how the fingers are sculpted into the axe. It’s close to how it works in the film and is just fucking cool, innit? Optimus feels incomplete without an Ion Blaster but it’s not a deal breaker. You can use the smokestacks as guns if you really want anyhow, though they are a bit dinky. The axe tucks away neatly on his back, and the matrix is as nicely sculpted as ever. I like the more Prime styled handles, though they are mostly just to let him hold it.

His truck mode is cute. It rolls fine and does the job. I said Deluxes don’t have much to talk about when it comes to what they can do.

Moving on to Megatron, he’s similarly splendid! Like SS ONE Prime his colors are a bit off, having used an off grey compared to the movies shiny silver, but it’s much more at home on Megatron, and it doesn’t look like it’s just yellowing, either. The rest of him looks great anyhow! He’s well sculpted and the muted red pairs nicely. It’s a great rendition of the character but… that fusion cannon is seriously hurting selling him as Megatron. The tri-barreld cannon didn’t have quite as much screen time, but it is a huge visual distinction that clearly sets him apart from just being D-16. The sculpting and such are absolutely that of his final form with the harsher angles, but like Orion and Optimus there isn’t a massive visual shift between the two forms and the cannon isn’t doing him any favors.

He shares many points of articulation with Optimus, with a few improvements and one or two downgrades. He gains a second hinge in his elbows, his wrists swivel, his ankles tilt and his feet can rock, but he can. Not look up. Like at all. His head swivels just fine, and he can look down, thanks to the transformation, but that one thing really hinders what you can do with him. You’re forced to stick with more static poses unless you want him looking at the ground all the time. Or at least. I was.

The tank mode is fun! There’s also more to talk about here so- Nothing’s coming undone once it’s all pegged together and it’s a dead ringer for what we see in the film. It’s definitely one of my favorite tank Megatrons in recent years and in general. The turret is just “alright” though. The swivel is located above the hinge so it’s hard to point it up in any one direction other than straight forward and have it look natural. It also unpegs a tad easily…

Megatron has a couple things that could have used a little more work, but they’d probably require bumping him up a size class to get more parts. Things like the head, maybe his shoulders and hips, a few minor bits that we’ve seen done better elsewhere. He could have easily gotten the triple barrel cannon as well. I really like him at this size though? I wouldn’t want him any bigger, and none of those things are a deal breaker. All of this comes with zero kibble, too. Honestly my biggest complaint is that there isn’t a mainline Deluxe version of him. I’d have gladly gotten both Orion Pax and D-16 and Optimus Prime and Megatron, but they didn’t release a Prime Changers D-16. I have no reason to also get the SS Optimus, as I’m happy with the Prime Changers and that doesn’t have a direct Decepticon counterpart, so the whole set would forever be incomplete. Hasbro I want to give you my money please-

[idkaguyorsomething]

Why Greta Gerwig should adapt The Magician’s Nephew instead of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I had some thoughts. They are below the cut in list form

Something we Haven’t Been Shown Before- to put it bluntly, we already have a perfectly good adaptation of TLTWATW, and it’s probably as good and accurate an adaptation as you could ask for. There are a few minor details that got cut and added, but honestly, as far as book-to-movie adaptations go, it’s extremely faithful to the plot, themes, characters, the whole shebang of the original book. Even if you don’t count the live action movie, there’s still the animated movie, the BBC production, and several play adaptations out there. It’s had its time to shine and by adapting The Magician’s Nephew, we’d be getting something fresh from the franchise.

Equally Accessible Starting Point- while TLTWATW was the first Narnia book to be written and published, chronologically The Magician’s Nephew takes place before it, serving as both a prequel and standalone story so that newcomers to Narnia could get into the series with either book. C S Lewis himself said that it didn’t matter which one people chose to start with, so it would serve as a great entry point for anyone looking to get into the Chronicles of Narnia as well as provide an interesting prequel for people familiar with the movies that already came out, leading me to my next point:

Worldbuilding- this book has so much cool stuff you guys. The pool world, Charn, the apple grove, the rings, Frank. ¡Actual literal worldbuilding! Also Sherlock Holmes and Atlantis for some reason. There’s just a lot of really interesting concepts and locations in this story that have the potential to be a true spectacle while also serving as a rewarding expansion of the universe that Narnia fans know that newcomers will still be able to appreciate.

Our Heroes- Digory and Polly are incredibly adorable and likable protagonists. They feel a good deal more fleshed out and realistic than the Pevensie kids in the books, and even though the movies went out of their way to give them some more depths, our dynamic duo from The Magician’s Nephew still feel quite distinctive in their own right. Their interpersonal conflict never grows as deep as something like, say, Edmund’s betrayal, but they both have different perspectives and things they bring to the table as individuals while also having a very fun, genuine friendship. Bonus points for being a rare boy/girl relationship that is never so much as hinted to be anything beyond platonic.

The Villains- The Magician’s Nephew has a pretty perfect combination of antagonists who manage to be memorable and legitimately menacing as well as pathetic little meow meows. This book gives us Jadis’ backstory as well as her getting to wreak unhinged havoc in downtown 18XX London as well as Uncle Andrew, a conspiracy theorist incel Redditor before Reddit was ever a thing. They’re delightfully entertaining in completely different ways, and seeing them onscreen would be an absolute treat.

Thematic Resonance- lots of things that happen in this book carry a lot of similar motifs to other films that Greta Gerwig has worked on, and since she hasn’t really created any epic fantasy style films yet, they could provide a strong emotional core to center any experimentation she tries out in the genre. You’ve got Digory’s loving but complicated relationship with his mother due to her illness displacing them from home, the coming-of-age aspects as the children encounter various adult figures they feel powerless to oppose, and learning the consequences of one’s actions. It’s even mentioned in the book that Polly is working on a little writing project that she’s sensitive about, like Jo March. A lot of people have complained that they feel Greta Gerwig will neuter the story by toning down the religious elements (which there is A LOT to dissect about concerning how C S Lewis’ beliefs led to things like the Problem of Susan, but there just isn’t enough information about the actual movie out yet to draw any actual conclusions) yet I’d argue that these emotional arcs, which play into Gerwig’s strengths as a director, could easily hold up a movie on their own if handled well. Combine that with the potential for unique visuals, the book’s surprisingly good sense of humor, and the many concepts that could be brought onscreen in a truly unique way, and you’ve practically got a recipe for a great addition to the Chronicles of Narnia unlike anything the movie fans have gotten before.

Feel free to disagree about any of that, though. Hearing where other people think the netflix movies should pick up would be really interesting, so leave any thoughts on the subject in the notes if you want. I just wanna see Fledge the pony accidentally get yanked into another dimension.

[pixiedust-poppers]

Okay so after you reblogged my post about jatnp I’ve been stalking your blog and I didn’t realize there was a fandom for this show?!?

Anyways while I was looking down your blog I kept getting more questions so I figured I’d do it all in one ask.

Do you think all the Disney neverland stuff exists in the same universe (the Disney verse or just specifically the neverland stuff) and if you do what’s your explanation for the discrepancies. Ex the missing lost boys in jatnp and then the lost boys showing up in Peter pan 2 or Captain Hook not knowing how to use pixie dust in jatnp but he flies well in the pirate fairy etc? I have some of my own theories that I’ve been adding to my notes app of Disney timeline from Covid but I’d love to hear someone who is clearly a strong fan, since you definitely would be more knowledgeable than me.

And if you don’t think that it’s the same universe, like athena p (ooh name twins), that YouTuber who made a video on jatnp (thank you for posting that on your blog, it was a very enjoyable watch - she has a stf video?!?! That show was my Covid) or do you have a different theory on why / how it’s not the same timeline.

Also going off of athena p’s video what’s your thoughts on the time loop / fairy’s controlling everything theory that athena p mentions?

And then what are your ships? By what I’m seeing for your posts and reblogs that Izzy is basically shipable with anyone. Anyways I’d love to hear your favourites.

And then I’ve seen you mention fanfiction, have you written any on ao3 or Wattpad? I’d love to read it.

Along with that if you have any ff recommendations with either grown up / aged up crew or darker themes, that’s something I’d read.

And then this is my half baked theory but how do you think the doubloons come from? Because it’s like green pixie dust do you think it’s another form of fairy alchemy zarina created that’s like transportation? Idk if that’s a popular fanon theory or if it’s a stupid idea that is easily disproved.

Along with that what do you think the origins of the crew are? (Because I’ve seen some mentions of izzy being adopted by fairies which is very interesting)

Ok that’s all you don’t have to answer everything, I’m not sure if one big ask is preferable to a whole bunch or smaller asks, but what’s done is done.

Well well. this took a few days to craft. Its a bit of a long one so buckle up, I decided to do this all in one go, because it makes more sense than breaking it up even though it would be faster. So enjoy this long-ass ask…

cracks knuckles Ok Let’s break this down 

Yes! Yes hello! We are very small, but we are here!

To start off, I don’t think it's in the same universe as the regular Disney neverland, or well they could be but you would have to cut out certain episodes to make it work. Also JATNP’s neverland would mess with the Original Peter Pan movie/Neverland universe, timeline + world the movies have set. So Jatnp is just in another version of Neverland that’s a mix of the Disney property and some elements from the original book. Because in Peter pan remember they don’t like Pirates so why would Peter have a pirate team in this movie? The boys would be lost boys and Izzy wouldn’t be here. But Peter Pan obviously happened (in Jake’s universe), but he never told either group about one another for some reason, like Jake and his crew didn’t know about Wendy till literally that night when Peter asked them to go get her. But Wendy + the brothers did meet the lost boys as she lead them to The Hangman’s tree, where hammocks and Peter’s bear throne was set up as well as some of the brother’s things were there (no Jake and his crew didn’t know where this was, implying that he ALSO never told them about this or the Lost Boys) Speaking of lost boy’s where are they? It’s obvious why the Native Americans are not mentioned but The Lost Boys, I can only assume that they weren’t in Jatnp because of money reasons or that the animators didn’t want to animate six more kids? For show reasons, you could theorize that the lost boys left once they realize they all missed having mothers and are now out in London with their adopted families, and Peter never told Jake and his crew about Wendy, or the lost boys was because he didn’t want them getting the idea of leaving. After all he DID bring them to neverland to protect it and they can’t do that if you present them with the idea of how the others left lol

But judging by the pitch bible, these guys (minus izzy) were supposed to be the lost boys Jake was originally named Slightly and Nibs... well Nibs, and Cubby while not exactly like Curly there is some semblance, or maybe they were place holder names until they could finalize things. I mean if you’re a showrunner trying to pitch to your boss that “hey we should re-visit that Peter Pan property again, but this time make it preschool show and more pirate!” you are going to have to sell them that certain characters could totes work and once it gets approve either rework them or drop them once you realize they don’t work. 

*Quick Peter interlude- He also couldn’t be the same movie Peter because he’s just. Too nice, less childish and older brother-y in the series, to be considered his movie counterpart. But he seems lowkey negligent of them considering whenever he comes these kids are willing to do just about anything for his undivided attention.

As For Captain Hook, you’re just going to have to take Zarina out of your mind for this show’s canon. I’m sure the other Disney fairies do exist but for Jatnp, his history with that woman just does not exist and I don’t think they ever intended to make it so. He’s ‘supposed’ to be Hook from the original movie not from the Disney fairies’ movies. The Pirate fairy didn’t debut till 2014 and by that point the show was already on for 4 years why they never did a ‘crossover’ or have a pr marketing thing to promote the movie is beyond me, especially since she’s a pirate and all. I guess they thought girl related pirate things and fairies wouldn’t sell??? … then again Pixie hollow online did shut down in 2013..I guess Disney didn’t think fairy anything was worth heavily promoting? Dunno.

But back to the show’s canon, you could put Zarina in there (like the rest of the fairies) and Hook either distantly remembers her or doesn’t remember her period since that was a long time ago, and who knows how long it’s been since he’s aged? (Continued below)

Speaking of aging let’s go into that Time loop. But before that my thoughts on the video, I’ll admit... It wasn’t my favorite. I feel like she skimmed over alot about the series and the certain things within it for example, time does pass in neverland as they do have holidays and seasons (well ... just winter apparently). And the idea of Sharky and Bones being the ultimate gods behind the scenes of things, I just no, if I wanted to really care about pirate men in a more meaningful way, I would watch Pirates of Caribbean or Our Flags Mean Death. And I wished she focused on the kids more because they are their own little individuals and there some points you can bring about their dynamic that are like ‘wtf?’ for example, Jake never leaves his friends with a sword or his previous ones to protect themselves when he gets a new one. Or when he does give over his sword, he always gives it to cubby for some reason despite Izzy being his first mate. Then Izzy, she clowned on my girl so badly that she didn’t bring up the point that Izzy from beginning to end the only useful thing she got from peter or neverland is the pixie dust, while the boys got more (i.e. Jake… everything and Cubby a map, a compass, learning magic with Beardini) meanwhile she’s also pushed to side in favor of letting the boys shine, she does get her episodes don’t get me wrong . (Also, it’s interesting because the series tries to show that girls and women can be the lead, be captains and princess without being tied to men… but it fails because Red Jessica, Molly, and Winger were clearly made to be love interest. Misty, the PP, Queen Caroline, and Marina fades from recurring to basically non-existent. The only woman to make to the S3 final was Beatrice and then poof she is gone. Leaving Izzy, who slowly loses her usefulness + main identity as the less they go on adventures together and the more Jake just solves the issues with his sword and they give her NOTHING ELSE to focus on or anything, despite her being close with the mermaids, knowing a lot about neverland + its items, and she’s willing to adventure by herself if the boys don’t give a shit about what interest her. Not counting Wendy + Tinkerbell they’re special characters.) Which I find both sad but also a bit ??? considering if you look in her gallery on the Fandom wiki under merchandise has her own ship and they also give her a sword with one of her minifigures, so they could have given her more things but they just never did. But I will say her line at 1:12:14 (“And Izzy turns invisible, just like every other girl in this series”) did get a laugh out me and unfortunately, she is telling the truth. BUT I also know that Athena was Busy with important IRL things and JATNP is ALOT especially when you factor in the other Neverland universe so it can get overwhelming and she was already stressed about the video so while I’m still happy we got the video, I think that some things could be improved. 

But ANWAY BACK TO TIMELOOP. I think its an interesting theory that could explain why Hook or the others don’t emotionally mature and there’s something that is just devastating about that, because he can be shown to change but because of this time loop he is unable to and in the end no matter what lesson he learns will be fruitless because the loop just resets and he's back to square one. It’s honestly sad if you think about it because if you think about it with the Kids, he could learn to be a better person (sort of) and eventually realize that it's time to move on. He can’t chase Peter forever. But Neverland will always need a villain and even with all the threats they continue to introduce no has come as close to matching the Icon that is Captain hook, plus Peter doesn’t give a shit about them lmao, who’s going to be his biggest hater other than hook. 

But I do not think that the fairies are doing all this, I think it’s neverland itself. I was told by @/perciouslittletoonette that the neverland in the book can apparently physically stop and hold you in place you from entering it if it doesn’t want you there. Also, that it’s always moving?? (towards Peter) AND can also look into your mind and see if you want to go somewhere and if it does not want you there it can fuck with its own geography and make something that takes usually 30 min to get to a 2-day trip. Which is so terrifying that I have to make neverland responsible for all the mindfuck things that can possibly happen and considering that this island geography changes almost daily for these kids I can’t fathom other horrifying shit this sentient island can do. Also, since it can also make you forget about your past life and according to Battle for the book, Neverland itself entirely if wendy’s book is away from them for a long period of time…Yeeeeeeeeah this island is fucked, why did Peter leave these kids in the vicinity of this place.

The doubloons? I have no idea where those things come from, hell the island probably just teleports them from other various hidden treasures around Neverland when the kids survive or do sometimes it deem as morally good as both a reward and motivation but also as compensation. Because I’m not sure how the fairies would know of all the kids happen without them noticing the fairies at least ONCE. so, this is probably the island’s magic again. But I do think it would be funny if the doubloons just came from the bottom of their team treasure because their chest is so full that they don’t even notice them missing. 

Now onto origins! Jake + Cubby are obviously from the Mainland, because they recognize a lot of sport and modern objects that show up on pirate island. Hook doesn’t, which is why he often takes their things and then doesn’t know what to do with them which then brings up the question “Hey if it's 1906 in London…where did Peter get these kids from?” In which my only thought is that when he was traveling in the lands beyond the neversea after the lost boys left, he went through a different star and landed in a new era of the mainland and on a different continent each time. For example, I think he got Jake from Britain (so he’s British), Cubby from Scandinavia (Sweden; I headcanon him as German/Swedish, yes, he can still speak both.). Izzy is Latina/French (she would be from the US, specifically Miami) if she’s from the mainland.

 I say “If” because I’m not sure Izzy is from the mainland. Listen, this girl knows too much shit about this island, and the artifacts + legends within it at 7 years old. Which brings up this theory that I saw in a fic and really liked it, and it’s that Izzy is from the mainland, but she has already been in Neverland for DECADES before she ever met Jake and Cubby (in case you're wondering how long she has been missing in the fic she has apparently been missing since 1907, she was born in 1900. Jake was born in 1935, cubby in 1941. And she doesn’t meet them until 1944 and 1948 with the forever quest taking place in 1950.) I could not imagine being stuck in this place for 43 goddamn YEARS, I do not know how she did not go insane by 1917 (well she did later... But like for different reasons) Remember this is someone else’s interpretation but I really do like this as an explanation on why she knows too much shit about neverland. My theory that does not involve the mainland is simply the island quite literally created her. Peter was Gone, maybe the lost boys followed him and the island was lonely and with some help of the natives and fairies, boom made herself a child so it wouldn’t be lonely. Yes, I do think a sentient island can do this, this thing is like an eldritch cosmic being to me. And to make a long story short; Izzy was created (no infant-toddler period; she was just born a child) by the island to replace Peter + Lost boys, then it lured her to the dense part of the jungle once they returned and basically trapped her there via endless jungle loop. This side of the jungle also just so happens to hold the fairies and Pixie Hollow and they eventually take izzy in as their own. ….I’m still trying to think about the rest of this but this is the general idea and I KNOW this would be easily debunked by watching Pirates sitting pirates but whateverrrrr, headcanons rule. Now for the fun stuff. Ships* and Fics

*I should note that like my other fandom, if a ship doesn’t involve my favorite character, then I’m either neutral or I don’t care. Unless I vehemently hate it for reasons.

Jake/Izzy - From a shipper to anti-jizzy to once again liking it, the essay I could write about these two and how despite my early love for it, the fandom basically made me fall out of love with them, because no one ever went anything beyond surface level and no one ever did anything new - it was crush -> love -> marriage -> shitton kids -> that’s it, nothing interesting with it. OR when someone did, it was once again the most surface level shit (Abuse and SA, no they did not explore the complex trauma that comes with Izzy being Abused by Jake, someone she has trusted for years, Also no Jake faced no consequences.) and became “oh it was just a ‘’’mistake’’’, we’re still besties”, and in the end they got married and kids anyway. So it was the same method but with unnecessary steps that doesn’t affect their dynamic in a scenario where it def should. Also, I’m not saying that traditional fluff and love between them can’t be done but when you see it over 1000 times and can predict the end result each time, it got boring.  

But to me now (going to overanalyze the hell out them for a moment excuse me), Jake x Izzy could be the interesting case of “We’ve known each other for DECADES, I’ve seen you at your highest and I’ve seen your absolute worst, yet I will still be by your side till the end. I know I won’t find someone like you again.” They’re so familiar with one another that trying to do the same with someone else from a different planet (earth) would take alot of time so why bother? I also think they ground each other in a way that they both do need, Jake for example sometimes need to be told No and that he’s being reckless, and Izzy is going to do that in a really blunt manner. Or sometimes Jake will have to be the one to calm her down and not be so hotheaded and not let the first things that slip out her mouth be something that is hurtful or rude, but to more empathetic and be nicer. I know it’s not their original personalities. But please bear with me I’m trying to make them less as a unit and more individual-

John Darling/izzy - Nerd x nerd come on. His gentleman Bri ish swag won her over, and they’re very cute when they interact. I think that if Izzy were to leave neverland and stay with him I think they would be okay, though that depends if he survives WW1 if he doesn’t then I think that she would go back to Neverland or maybe emigrate to America or something... That got dark fast uh anyways-. 

Marina/Izzy - You said something about tragic sapphic relationship? I’m here for it. Now you could do this cute thing, where after they realize it’s pointless to have beef over liking the same boy, he’s probably not interested anyway so what’s the point of being enemies? And their relationship begins to heal, and they become close friends again and then realize “holy shit... I like her.” and boom love. They are now in a relationship yay!

Now let's think about this tragedy, come walk with me a bit- Who do you think is willing to sacrifice their livelihood for the other? After all, Marina is a mermaid and Izzy is a human Pirate with legs. The question is “Do you love me enough to become a mermaid forever or have legs forever?” Because while I’m sure both options have their pros they most certainly have their cons. Cons for Marina being - her family is down there, her livelihood and things she holds dear, the ocean and its creatures are important to her and who says the potion that makes her human is reversible and what will you have to sacrifice for said potion? Such a spell doesn’t come for free you know. Then there’s Izzy, she’s a pirate, I know she’s pushed to the background, but she enjoys her life going on adventures and the fairies still trust her with pixie dust. Not saying there isn’t adventure in the ocean as well but one might go insane with how much blue and ocean there is, not to mention that most of her friends would still be on the surface so who will she communicate with? Who is willing to constantly go out on adventures with her that farther and farther out of the mermaid's comfort zone?

I could see Marina being worried whenever Izzy goes off with Jake on more dangerous and dangerous adventures, and don’t let them be adventures where they go beyond the neversea. She wants to sail alongside them to make sure Izzy will be safe but at the same time, she doesn’t want to venture far because she knows if she’s captured out there then she’ll be mermaid meat. Each time Izzy comes back there is a new scar from battle and she wonders one day if Jake will bring back her corpse. Izzy knows there are no reassuring words she can give Marina that will relieve her worry. You can consider their relationship a constant worry “What if you never return?” and the other trying to downplay the very real possibility that she CAN die.

✨crossover👑

Sofia (yes the first) x Izzy - Pirate x princess girl edition boom. A very sweet relationship and Izzy would probably tell sofia to sit the hell down every once in a while. 

Amber x Izzy - Pirate x Princess enemies to lovers’ girl edition. I’m pretty sure Izzy and Amber would buttheads more often than not. But I do think they can encourage and bring out different sides of one another for the better... Or for worse!

Fics!

Oh gooood do I! 

One of my favorite fics of all time is this one from ficbook

Часть 1, Тонущий корабль — фанфик по фэндому «Джейк и пираты Нетландии» (ficbook.net) (Sinking ship) - Oh my god. The concept that Izzy was supposed to be the new Peter Pan and Jake was supposed to be the new Captain Hook. But Jake being selfish and wanting to be Peter pan himself because he thinks he’s worthy of it. He basically spits on the crew’s friendship and changes his destiny. Leaving Izzy to go to Captain Hook and tells him to train her to be like him. (Cubby stayed with her, she couldn’t bear to leave him to someone like Jake, who already abandoned him). And in the end, she fills his role both figuratively and literally. Girl. She fucking WILLINGLY feeds her hand to tick tock croc to LITERALLY fill his role, took his hook and everything. That is so fucking metal of her, and I love her for it. It’s a good read, I really recommend it. Sad ending tho :(

Часть 1, Потерянные детки — фанфик по фэндому «Джейк и пираты Нетландии» (ficbook.net) (Lost Kids) - BITTERSWEET. The trio just trying to do their best to stay sane on an island they so desperately want to leave but can’t. It's mostly from the third Povs of Jake and izzy but still I can’t help but feel for these guys. It does make you wonder, what if these kids want to leave someday, once they get tired of being pirates will the island or Peter let them leave? If not, then why? How many times have they tried to get out? It makes you think.

I am the Psycho Pirate Chapter 1: What Happened?, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction Jake gets back from traveling with Peter from the lands beyond the neversea and the weird thing? He has grown up to the age of 15 AND neverland is quiet AND half of pirate island is burned down, Cubby is acting strange yet bitter toward him. Skully is nowhere to be seen and Izzy is as well. Yet there are rumors going around about this Psycho Pirate… who is this psycho pirate and why is everyone being so weird about it. The abuse Izzy and cubby suffer through in flashbacks will get dark, particularly for Izzy so uh content warning for physical abuse and sexual assault. The sequel is currently still in progress! So, after you read this and maybe the prequel if you can stomach it, check it out!

Eye of the Storm - Chapter 1 - Seerless - Jake and the Never Land Pirates [Archive of Our Own] It's unfinished but it's basically about the crew breaking apart and going their separate ways and what they go through during this period away. But they’re going to reunite in the end dw. So far only Izzy and Cubby’s chapters are out but they’re still a good read. The Hand is Gone - TheBackyardigirl - Jake and the Never Land Pirates [Archive of Our Own] Evil Peter hours! And he gives Jake the hook treatment! and it's very well written and a bit gory too. But Jake stumbles around as he loses blood all the while trying to comprehend why Peter did this to him, leaving an ambiguous ending. I really hope the author comes back and does a part 2 :[

[Content warning for physical abuse and some sexual abuse for these next to fics, I’m so serious if you are uncomfortable with stuff like that don’t read these]

Peter's Wrath Chapter 1: The abuse begins, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction We got evil Peter hours again hellll yeah! Not on purpose this time, however, though it might seem that way. This is purely Peter verbally and physically abusing them the fic and them trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with him. It can get brutal but does get ridiculous towards the end especially when they figure out what's wrong with him. If you think he’s going to jail after this you will be disappointed. 

The Wrath's Revenge Chapter 1: Prologue, a jake and the never land pirates fanfic | FanFiction

Sequel to Peter’s Wrath, my Roman fucking empire. This is from Izzy’s pov and if you thought Izzy had suffered enough under Peter, Jake is about to show you he needs to be locked up immediately. This is Izzy just being domestically abused and she’s only 11. You're going to question why she didn’t just run or try to blind him with pixie dust at points. Also shit will get very brutal and bordering on Sexual assault towards the end. However, it's the ending that makes me lose my fucking mind, the WAY that Izzy gets Jake back to normal is the Stupidest fucking idea I’ve seen simply because if you were to try to apply it to a real-life situation, it absolutely wouldn’t fucking work and the assaulter would just laugh in your face and probably think you want it more. And then he faces NO consequences for his actions, and Izzy somehow isn’t weary, or nervous or doesn’t feel any negative emotions or feeling from this simply because he was “possessed” MY ASS. That being said, this fic for me is important because when I read it when I was young, it was something that was new and violent and it involved Jizzy no less, so while it might not be the greatest thing in the world, it’s a nostalgia read. 

Now to end this, I do have an ao3! It's MaggotsMeat. If you’ve looked on there and Saw a work named “Clarity” that’s my writing!^^ I have a lot more WIPs in my google docs lol that I can barely focus on but I do hope to crank them out soon and write more… eventually!

[yoonia]

For my adaptation of sloth, I’d wanna take inspiration from the lotus eaters from Odyesseus (as well as the casino scene from the Percy Jackson movies/series. Have you ever seen the movies or the series btw?). I think this particular myth (as well as from Percy Jackson) captures the whole essence and theme of sloth perfectly. And again, I don’t think I’ve seen anybody come up with that concept yet. At least not for the deadly sins. I’m debating though whether I wanna cast Yoongi or Jimin as sloth.

If you’re curious why I’m considering casting Jimin as sloth (instead of lust), I just think it’s another one of the sins that would suit him. I remember watching some of their stuff, and the rest of the members tend to talk about (like run bts) of how Jimin had (or has) a tendency to not be on time or arrive late to things. Plus, they’ve stated multiple times how long it takes for Jimin to get ready (or him taking long showers) lol. I also think it would give a touch of irony (to either of the boys), considering how hard-working they both are irl.

So in this story, OC is another average person who lives in the rat race and just lives to work (unfortunately). She might’ve had big dreams at some point, but gave up on them (likely because out of pure laziness and that she didn’t want to do even more work then she already did) Then at some point, OC gets fired, leaving her with almost nothing.

Instead of looking for a new job though, OC just goes “f**k it. I’m taking a vacation”. So when she sees a suspiciously affordable but luxurious casino hotel located in an island (which is owned by Jimin/Yoongi) OC decides to go for it.

So when OC arrives at the hotel, she’s offered some cookies by a waitress that resemble lotus flowers (like in Percy Jackson). Surely enough, OC becomes addicted to them like drugs and doesn’t even think to count how many she ate. From then on, OC forgets her worries by partying in the casino, lounging around in the pool or lazy river, and spending time with Jimin/Yoongi.

But as each day goes by, OC notices at some point that she’s in an endless loophole, where she’s just repeating the same day but forgot any doubt or second thoughts because all the lotus flower cookies she’s eaten. Readers would get confused for sure and might even think that I might’ve accidentally copied and pasted the same paragraphs, but the thing is that’s exactly the whole point. It’s the same thing, day after day.

Like in Percy Jackson, OC doesn’t find out that something’s off until she interacts with someone playing a game, who’s still under the impression that they’re living in the 20th century (like the 80s) instead of the 21st century (the 2020s).

When we learn more about Jimin/Yoongi though, we learn that since they believe there’s (seemingly) no point in trying to get back to heaven, he decided to create an environment where he’ll have all the friends he could have (because loneliness). And since he also gets attached to OC and when he finds out she’s trying to leave, he does whatever it takes to keep her from leaving.

Perhaps making a Yandere Jimin/Yoongi(?) Idk I’m still debating on that because I’m not really a fan of yandere aus but still, it would work so well with this story! Or at least give them yandere elements? If I were to make them yandere though, I don’t think I’d go for the typical crazy sociopathic deranged persona. Instead, I’d make them a lot more calm and calculating who never loose their cool.

Even when OC has the opportunity to escape, she still has second thoughts about going back to her old life where she just lived to work, instead of the other way around. This gives her an epiphany however. OC realizes that what she saw in common was that in both at work and the hotel, she had the same repetitive days with no real enjoyment or meaning in her life. She’s also afraid of facing humiliation like when she lost her job and afraid she’s not good enough. Which is another thing that’s mentioned in the YouTube video I talked about. I’ve considered putting existential crisis themes too. I think for a story like this, it would work well.

Idk exactly yet but I’ve actually considered leaving the ending ambiguous. I’m still torn though because I still wanna end it on a good note and show OC and Jimin/Yoongi. I still would like to show that you can’t just only work or just only lounge around. It’s all about balance (that probably sounds campy though when written in paper lol). It’s something I’d rather show and not tell though (or rather, describe it without making it too obvious if that makes sense).

One thing I’m concerned about is how it might have too many similarities with the greed story. Since as of now, both stories start out with an OC who starts off living an average life but then falls in the rabbit hole of said sins. In the other hand though, I’m not too worried because another way I see it is that even though some of the stories I’m writing out already have parallels, the OCs commit or go about their respective sins differently (if that makes sense?). To be fair though, some of the deadly sins are pretty similar already, like greed and gluttony.

Also, somewhat unrelated, but for my adaptation, I imagine Jimin/Yoongi always speaking in a soft spoken voice, never yelling or raising his voice. When OC tries to escape his hotel though, his speaking comes across more as apathetic or emotionless, since apathy is also associated with sloth.

Also, I forgot to mention from my last messages but I’d like to give them all powers that align with their sins. I haven’t come up with powers for every single one of them yet, but I have some ideas for this story. For Jimin/Yoongi’s powers, I’ve been coming up with concepts of either of them having the ability to hypnotize people with the power of a flute they use. Basically, with this flute, Jimin/Yoongi can put anyone to sleep if they listen to its music (like a siren’s song). I first got this idea after rewatching Narnia a while back (idk if you’re familiar with the movie at all or know what scene I’m talking about)? But it can also drain a person’s will and emotions, and replace it with apathy, the more you resist that is (since apathy is another emotion aligned with the same sin).

Another twist I’d like to do is show that not only are the boys the embodiments of the seven sins, but they’re also the embodiments of the seven heavenly virtues. But because of mistakes they all made in the past, they’re banished to wander around the earth for eternity unless they decide to change.

You know, I've known a lot of fanfic writers who write fantasy stories that started their journey with books and fiction works through Percy Jackson series. I, unfortunately, was not one of them hahaha I did dive into Narnia at some point, though.

For some reason, I can see that Yoongi as Sloth can be quite a predictable to some, so appointing Jimin as Sloth would be a nice twist. He can appear really laidback, so you got a point there. It will be interesting to see a playful Sloth like Jimin. Even if your idea sounds a bit similar to your idea for Greed, I agree that the parallels would make it okay. You can make it seem different through the storytelling and the characters' trait. I love the idea of the repeated timeline/day and narrating it through replicated paragraphs. Stories that can get the readers lost and experiencing what the characters are going through are so much fun. I think it'll work with reader insert fics too since your readers can be as confused and clueless as your OC haha

I think from the idea you shared with Greed, you did insinuate about the characters having magic or special powers aligning with their sins. That would be a good premise and addition to create your fantasy stories and make things more interesting. I've read a webtoon a long time ago about a long battle between seven sins vs. seven virtues which was so good. It would be interesting if you can make the characters dealing with their inner battle where they had to struggle between the good and the bad inside them. Maybe you can make their backstories similar to fallen angels? like they were once representations of good and virtue but ended up falling into the dark side. intrigues like this one can create a wonderful drama for your story.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2023 Movie Journey #12: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

indiana jones and the dial of destiny. so i really enjoyed this. a lot. here’s my complicated backstory: my mom owned one or two of the original indiana jones movies on vhs, i remember seeing them in our movie cabinet--but i’ve never seen any of the movies in the series. i wasn’t planning on watching this one, either, because while it has an obviously great cast, i’m just not an action movie person. at best, i like action movies in spite of their genre, like birds of prey or mad max fury road.

so unlike when i plan to see a movie, i wasn’t avoiding spoilers for this one. and what i did read about it, was interesting. and @actuallylukedanes​ was already planning to see it, and invited me to join--and let’s face it, where phoebe waller-bridge goes, i will follow. leander promised i didn’t need to have seen the rest of the movies to watch the new one, and i figured i could always watch them later if i wanted to--this was not the first time i dove into the end of a world first.

with a few minor exceptions, i absolutely loved it. they created a story that (to me, at least) felt like it existed for a point--like they had something specific to say, in bringing indiana jones back, rather than just wanting to cash in forever on the franchise. i’m not saying they weren’t also doing that, of course...i just enjoyed the way it felt conclusive to me as a movie. it stood well on its own and i loved its themes. i like my action movies with some feelings.

spoilers ahead:

harrison ford was predictably great and i enjoyed watching him. i didn’t even realize antonio banderas was antonio banderas, until leander mentioned it after the movie was over. there’s really nothing i can say about mads mikkelsen because he is a delightful chaos agent always, and i don’t actually enjoy watching him play a nazi, but he’s one of the very best when it comes to character actors. as usual, he made a great villain.

and of course, phoebe waller-bridge was everything i wanted and more, as helena. she was conniving, she was conflicted, she was wearing an unconvincing facade and carrying an unexplained backstory, and whenever she faced off against indy like some kind of shadow self from a new generation, it was as if she believed she was a badass antagonist, when mostly she just seemed sad and hollow underneath a smirk and a truly great wardrobe. 

i was just so thrilled that they gave her such a huge role in the action--i knew she was in the movie, obviously, but it’s so against type for her to do that kind of acting that i think i expected more of a bantering sidekick thing. she was a full-fledged participant in the high-speed hijinks! i couldn’t have been happier about that. it was so fun to see. and i wish we knew more about what made her who she was.

the four issues i had with the movie overall were an underwater scene (because i have drowning fear, so it wasn’t anything specific about the scene, i hate all underwater scenes where humans could die), the way that they used the era the film is mainly set in (late 60s) to make a lot of the action based on car chases and plane drama, the use of the movie’s two black characters, and the way the happy ending kind of seemed to undermine the whole point of the movie. 

when it comes to the car chases, which lasted forever and i found really boring, they only bothered me because i wasn’t expecting them. even though i haven’t seen other indiana jones movies, i had the sense going in that they were set far back in history, with his adventures revolving more around, like, cave stuff. even the trailer for the new one didn’t emphasize the modern elements so much, in the trailer fast-forwarding to indiana jones’s elder years. it’s like ‘whip versus guns!’ played for laughs. 

but in the movie itself, i got the strong sense that the filmmakers were thrilled to have the option of making huge scenes out of vehicle chases in a way they couldn’t before, because sure, this may be indiana jones, but people seeing blockbusters today love giant car (and train, and plane) chases--the best way to make a better movie is include more of them! whereas i’d much rather see an indiana jones movie, which leander assured me afterwards really didn’t use to have that stuff. those other movies already exist! for the people who want that! 

it was kind of uncomfortably meta for me, like the movie plot was saying the main character doesn’t want to live in the modern world surrounding him...while they were also filling the movie with modern elements i didn’t want, as a viewer who came to see that main character who’s out of place. 

when it came to the couple of black characters in the movie, i really felt like they were wasted, because the acting was way better than their roles so i expected more. the cia agent who was working with the villain as a sort of handler and facilitator, she spent the movie trying to corral him and failing, telling the nazis off for undermining their mission...but given how her storyline ended, she could honestly have been removed from the movie entirely and nothing would have changed. i don’t remember a single moment in the movie where her involvement made anything happen or not happen--and that’s not meant as an insult to her! 

i was waiting for her to get to be cool somehow, surprising, because she could have been. where was her big moment, while helena was getting so many? i know she’s not the lead, but she was on the movie poster too. instead, in her final scene, i was just left thinking that’s all? what was the point? i guess it was meant to complicate the group of nazi goons chasing our heroes, but given that it didn’t end up turning that into action, i’m not sure it really complicated anything, so much as it went hey look a black woman is working with secret nazis. and then it had nothing else to say about that. she really deserved better.

the other character was a minor one, he didn’t even have a name, but the actor grabbed my attention and the scene was so tense, i said out loud that i felt bad for him, because it was pretty obvious what his fate was about to be. and then it didn’t happen! instead, the hotel porter just had this truly well-acted scene opposite mads mikkelsen, and it raised the emotional stakes in a way that none of the nazi’s interactions with indy (past or present) really could, because his hatred of indiana jones was personal even more than it was political or national. the kind of dangerous revulsion he simmered with in that hotel room, that was the stuff true bad guys are made of. 

it made me all the more disappointed, though, because they didn’t give that same kind of space to the cia agent who actually had a name, and major screentime. the antagonist kept his disrespect for her on a more detached level, so it could be explained away as a snobby scientist looking down on a government worker he doesn’t find useful. we don’t get to see her wrestle with the realization that she’s in danger just being around him, or the true evil that lies under his well-regarded skills. even when his goons start killing people, she’s more upset that they have no restraint than over the actual murders, because she thinks they’re all after the same objective. and that’s gross, and definitely could have been resonant, if it had ended up mattering more.

besides that, though, i enjoyed the ‘supernatural’ element they went with for the movie. it was a good time, and also added emotional weight to the end that was great. my third issue comes from that, and it’s not a real problem i have or anything so much as an open-ended wondering about what they did.

because they set it up to give everyone a happy ending, a nice found family and family reunion with the characters who were left. but to get there, they had to piece together an object that made the adventures possible, while stopping nazis from using it to go back and win the war. once they’ve defeated the nazis, and everyone is reunited and happy, they have the intact object--the one they spent the whole story trying to keep nazis from piecing together to use for evil. it’s unavoidable that they had to fix the object, even as it was dangerous because bad guys wanted it...but once they did fix it and return to ‘normal,’ are we supposed to believe that it’s not dangerous anymore?

obviously it’s safe with our hero, but these movies are all about history, and history knows that nobody and nothing lasts forever. the best efforts to protect a powerful, dangerous object are naturally imperfect. unless the point is to keep the object, on purpose, to be able to time travel (which the movie seemed to say at the end was not what they should do, even indiana jones, because of the risk it would pose to everything that came after) then it seems to me the moral of the story is that the safety of the world depends on destroying the object, just like helena’s father wanted. 

because even splitting it into pieces and hiding those wasn’t enough to protect it from nazis, and they only stopped those specific bad guys. the world already knows the object exists, even if it’s a myth to most, and there will always be evil in the world. so looking far down the line from indiana jones’s specific life, the best case scenario is a future where he (or another well-meaning person) chooses to time travel and we’ll then see the wide-ranging unpredictable effects of that. the worse future is one where an inevitable new evil rises up, with enough knowledge and resources to try to find and use the object and destroy everything or rule everything.

i suspect i’m overthinking it, especially since they swear there’s no continuation planned with phoebe waller-bridge as a natural choice for indy’s successor in a new world. but to me those questions were just left sitting on the literal table. 

it didn’t take away at all from how much i enjoyed the movie. i just...wonder. i definitely recommend this one, though, especially with snacks. movie popcorn got me through that car chase. and watching it with somebody you love is even better: leander was great comfort during my drowning anxiety, and while i stared away from the screen entirely during a spider scene. (ack.)

i especially appreciated getting to see harrison ford as indiana jones in this closing chapter, partly because what this movie digs into with his character is a focus on the past when the past is gone--and at the beginning of the year, i saw a totally different movie that was exploring such similar themes: a man called otto. 

but where that one emotionally scarred me, i felt like this movie gave us a man looking backwards, and did it better. or at least, it did it in a way that i liked a lot more. when we start this movie, it’s the end of indiana jones’s life, well past the end of his adventuring career, and what he has left is an emptiness he’s not even trying to shake. just like a man called otto, the real point of this movie is the many reluctant interactions with other people that start to improve his outlook and his life in general--but first, requiring one final grouchy return to adventuring!

while he can’t completely turn back time to fix all his heartbreak or escape it, he gets a much happier ending than otto, on multiple fronts. i didn’t know and love indiana jones going in, like i know most people already will when they see it. but i absolutely loved him by the end, in all his curmudgeonly glory, and this movie just made me happy. he and phoebe waller-bridge made me happy, the cleverness and the nazi murders and the time travel made me happy...i’d enjoy this one just as much on a rewatch.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Smarty x Savy Dancing With Musical Notes & Hearts Around Them (2023)

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

This Is Both A Drawing Request & Gift Art

Credit for Savannah "Savy" goes to Heartsissopure

Credit for Who Framed Roger Rabbit Movie goes to Robert Zemeckis

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

I hope I did okay with this, and yes I gave Smarty some pants in this drawing.

as to what music could be playing as they are dancing...

I guess it could be anything, maybe like that one song I like from the first Hotel Transylvania Movie, that is either called “My Zing” or “Your My Zing”.

okay I decided, the song they are dancing to in this drawing, is that song. XD

I’m weird, and I nickname myself The Embodiment Of Weirdness.

the title of Embodiment of Ego, would belong to Grunkle Abel, which is what I’m viewing him as being the embodiment of ego now because of certain reasons....but anyway I hope I did okay on this, and I’m glad I was finally about to draw it a few days ago this month.

Smarty giving a wink does add something to the drawing, even if it might seem like they aren’t dancing, but they are still suppose to be.

maybe I will do another drawing of one of the Toon Patrol this year, I can come up with some ideas, like is it weird to fan headcanon Psycho from the Toon Patrol, as being a Nonbinary-Boy who’s pronouns are They/Them & He/Him.

if they ever make a new remake of the Who Framed Roger Rabbit Movie, but like handled by those who made two awesome Sonic Movies, where Eggman is Smart but Sassy, and has Agent Stone clearly crushing on the “good” doctor.

then maybe they could end up making Psycho into a Nonbinary Character.

Disney, as great as they can be, but they have their not so great moments at times, so if they form a partnership with Paramount, and let Paramount handle the remake of Who Framed Roger Rabbit or like a sequel that has Eddie and Dolores’s Great-Granddaughter or Great-Grandson in it as the main human friend of Roger who helps him and his wife, then that would be awesome.

I got to say this about the last episode of The Owl House, at least they didn’t pull a Twilight Sparkle or Star Butterfly...which one didn’t stop Celestia, Luna and Discord from turning three creatures to stone, and other decides to destroy the magic, and basically make magic the scapegoat, even if Star and her family had misused that very same magic.

don’t get me wrong, still love MLPFIM and SVTFOE, but I come to question their moral compass I guess, and if Sunset Shimmer were there just as Celestia, Luna and Discord were about turn living creatures to stone, then maybe she would of stop them......The Element Of Empathy is more important than we realized, and Chrysalis reaction to her forming a bond with Cozy and Tirek, but rejecting it, might have to do with her trauma.

anyway, if Disney and Paramount did form a partnership, where Paramount ends up making the new Roger Rabbit Movie, they could possibly make it just as awesome as the first and second Sonic Movies.

maybe even show Smarty using a cellphone, and when in the drivers seat with maybe Greasy sitting next to him.

his ringtone could play a song that could be anything...

maybe “I Make Those Good Girls Go Bad” by Cobra Starship...

Greasy’s ringtone, would likely be “Valentino” by Years & Years, and MNEK.

if there was a emoji I could use, it would be one with a smirk and eyes that  look to either the left or right....

I like that song, the first time I heard it, was I guess from a fan Hazbin Hotel Music Video Animation, that song just fits so well with that Overlord with the same name as the Valentino.

can you picture Valentino from Hazbin Hotel, hitting on Greasy from Who Framed Roger Rabbit...?

even if it would be in a Fanon Timeline, but still, can you picture the look on Greasy’s face....?

and picture Jessica and any other Girls that Greasy had hit on, watching and saying all at once “Not So Funny Now, Is It...?!”

that would be interesting to see, but anyway like I said before, I hope I did okay on this, I did try the best I could, and I think the stuff I added into the drawing really looks nice and awesome to me.

and I hope the one who this requested drawing is for, likes it. :)   

also even if one of the tags says “toon patrol weasels” it just as the one toon weasel person in this, but anyway when I can I might do some other drawings of The Toon Patrol. :D                                             

[yourreddancer]

In the movie Highlander, Scottish actor Sean Connery playing an Egyptian with the last name Ramirez asks the question “Are the stars just pin holes in the curtain of night? Who knows?” The scene takes place in the middle of the sixteen century, and Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus already had a pretty good idea about what stars were and that Earth revolved around ours. But when it comes to what stars are made of, it wouldn’t be until the early twentieth century that astrophysicist Cecilia Payne figured it out. And because she was a woman, the establishment said yeah you’re full of shit Cecilia. STFU.

Born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1900, the composition of those totally not night curtain pin holes was the subject of Payne’s 1925 PhD thesis, which she had to do in America. She had to go to the United States because, despite completing all her courses (on a full ride scholarship) at Cambridge University, they wouldn’t give her a degree. Why not? Because they were sexist assnuggets. Cambridge didn’t grant degrees to women until 1948.

And so, Payne went to the Harvard College Observatory, a leading force in the study of astronomy at the time, which wouldn’t grant her a PhD either because boy’s club bullshit. But she did get her doctorate at their sister institution, Radcliffe College, which is now part of Harvard University. Dr. Payne became the first person of any gender to earn an astronomy doctorate via the Harvard Observatory.

And that doctoral thesis told us what the universe is made of.

Using spectral analysis, she said yeah there is all sorts of stuff in these stars like silicon and carbon and other metals in about the same relative amounts as on Earth. But there is also a lot more helium, and an absolute assload of hydrogen. It was Cecilia Payne who discovered that hydrogen is by far the most abundant element in the universe. And a dozen years later that element would blow the shit out of the airship Hindenburg, but that’s another story.

Anyfuckingway, the men at Harvard literally told her to downplay the shit out of her results because they couldn’t have a woman unlocking the secrets of the universe. Henry Russell, a professor of astronomy at Princeton, said yeah Cecilia your data is fucked this is all wrong. Russell was a firm believer in the idea that stars were basically made of all the same shit as our planet and in the same relative amounts, just nuclear hellfire hotter. Guess he didn’t like his prevailing beliefs to be questioned by a twenty-five-year-old woman.

And because Russell was a total cockwagon about it, Payne was forced to significantly water down her conclusions in her thesis. She relied upon the male establishment for approval and employment and didn’t have much choice in the matter.

After completing her PhD, Payne moved into a different area of astronomical study, and then Russell kinda stole her work.

Four years later, in 1929, Henry Russell published On The Composition of the Sun’s Atmosphere, and his was the only name on the paper. I say Russell only kind of stole her work because he did cite her by name several times in the paper, but he definitely stole her glory. Russell had been a leading force in telling Payne to shut the fuck up and basically say her conclusions were all wrong. Then he went and said yeah those conclusions were right our sun is mostly hydrogen. And he became the guy famous for it. Fucker.

Dr. Cecilia Payne continued to make many more contributions to the study of astronomy, and would eventually be granted a full professorship at Harvard, the first woman to be honored with such a title. She is recognized as having broken through a number of glass ceilings for women in astronomy, inspiring many to pursue careers in science.

Cecilia Payne died in 1979, but it would be decades before the world came to recognize her for her discovery of what the universe is made of.

[coffbeanie]

guess who finally came up with some hcs!! these range from serious to silly, so if you guys want something specific or hcs for a character i didn’t include, feel free to request it!!

Some context!!

Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane (and my Ocs) are around the same age, and all in the same grade,

Lloyd and Nya are a grade below them

Pixal is in the same grade as the rest of the Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, and the OCs, but she’s the same age as Lloyd and Nya cause she skipped a grade

Morro is older than the rest of them, but in the same grade as Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, and the OCs, since he was held back.

Also for funsies i think the movie takes place their in Lloyd’s sophomore year (not relevant just wanted to say that)

Lloyd

He’s not too involved in school activities. It’s not for a lack of trying, he’s just pushed out and silently excluded from most stuff (not being told when there’s a meeting, not being told when a meeting location is moved, etc)

When the other ninja realize this, they’ll drag him to their own club meetings, though Lloyd realizes how awkward he makes everything, so he usually puts down their invitations

Lloyd is an above average student, though his grades would make you think he’s some kind of prodigy-the teachers are just less harsh in grading him-they don’t know what Lord Garmadon would do if his kid had a crappy report card

That’s also why he doesn’t suffer the same repercussions as the rest of the Secret Ninja Force for missing class (though they skip the same periods and miss for the same amount of time)

That’s also why publically, the Green Ninja became the most popular-Lloyd could just afford to be out as a Ninja more often, so he got a better rep

He actually does really well in his history classes though. He doesn’t really have to study for those, he just writes down whatever his uncle Wu says when he starts talking about “the good ol’ days”

He hates PE though-he tries to hold back on his skills which usually leads to him getting brutally beaten in most games

He’s also taking an elective class related to religion. He’s not too spiritual himself, he just likes hearing the myths about the FSM (i imagine that if the school had anything close to a religion class, it would be about the FSM’s creation of the world and the Elemental Powers, but it’s all just regarded as myth)

Kai

Kai is exempt from taking shop classes (he was a danger to himself and the other students) Not that he’s complaining though, cause he wasn’t that good at them in the first place

Not too involved in school clubs either-just by choice, he’ll just follow his friends around whenever they have to go to a club meeting

Not the best student-he could be doing really well if he tried, he just doesn’t really put in the effort, and he feels he’d rather put his energy towards the Secret Ninja Force

That being said, if any of his friends are having help with the homework, he’s the first one to try and help them (keyword IS try)-he won’t do it his own work, but he won’t let his friends’ grades suffer, especially since he knows they’re so smart and don’t deserve it

lives off pencils he finds on the ground

was also probably on the basketball team before joining the Secret Ninja Force (he just gives me basketball vibes idk-he’d look good in the fit)

Cole

Hates the theater kids (he tried out for the school play freshman year, humiliated himself during the audition process, and never wants to be seen near the stage again)

Takes music as an elective-he plays the piano, and he’s really good! The music teacher has tried countless times to get him to join the school orchestra, but he turns her down every time (orchestra plays for the school musicals)

Likes headphones for the aesthetic, but uses whatever Ninjago’s equivalent of airpods are-they’re easy to hide under his longer hair

Made personalized playlist for his friends

His house is the go-to hang out spot (his dad is usually out playing a venue)

Member of the school vinyl club (my school has one but i’m not in it so i’m not really sure what they do other than share albums with each other, but i think thats cool) its a part of his side mission to bring better music taste to the school

takes home ec (idk the one in the movies) and he’s stupidly good at every domestic chore there is

he’s a lot smarter than he looks and he’s really chill so he’s everyone’s fav tutor

Jay

designated group photographer-everyone asks him to send photos in their gc after they hang out

doesn’t do photography in school though-all his electives are filled with shop and computer sciences classes

actually used those classes to help come up with the ninja mechs (he did it with the help of nya and zane)

It was also through shop classes that he got close with Nya

This also arguably makes him the most sleep deprived-all his homework along with Secret Ninja Force stuff means he doesn’t get too rest too much)

stupid smart but DO NOT ask him for study tips-he doesn’t study he’s just smart

this PLUS his sleep deprivation means he’s mastered sleeping in class without getting caught

too socially awkward for most clubs-he tried to do the robotics team but he wasnt too comfy with the team aspect )he wasn’t given the push to get close to those kids like he was with the secret Ninja Force)

Zane

If you guys thought he was bad with all his robot-ness in the movie

he was straight up emotionless freshman year. he’s taking in information around him to act more human, but it’s not quite working since everyone is so different and constantly changing as they go through phases-it’ll take him a bit to figure himself out

Also why he’s not in any clubs-he was around so many different kids and was filtering through so much info that it didn’t really help him at all and left him confused so he dropped out of most

He WOULD be a teacher’s pet if he didn’t struggle keeping up conversation with them-he just kind of freaks them out

only kid who still uses books-he freaks out if he accidentally connects to his device’s bluetooth

It’s actually through bluetooth that most kids know he’s a robot, (he shows up as a device they can connect to) even if he thinks he’s doing a real good job at hiding it

The smartest kid-is probably going to graduate class valedictorian

Also not in too many electives, but is always in the highest ap or honors course offered to him

Sets up study groups for his friends-always reminding them when they are

Probably the best trained ninja-think of him like a tablet where you can still do stuff on it even if it’s charging, so he’ll do most of his homework and studying while he’s charging, and since he doesn’t have anything else to do after the fact, he just trains

he’ll still wear himself out from time to time, so the ninja carry around portable chargers for him, and jay and nya put one in his mech

Nya

Even though she’s younger than them, she’s in the same classes as Kai and Cole since she tested out of the classes for her year

Would be a favorite students by teachers if she didn’t insist on driving her motorcycle around

Definitely in her school’s equivalent of the girls club?? (idk what the general term for it is in my school its called Voices of Women)

at my school they do an equal pay bake sale where girls pay 50 cents and guys pay a dollar based on the gender pay gap-she wanted to contribute but can’t bake so zane helped her make stuff

she wants to be in other clubs like debate and the robotics team but since she was pushed into the Ninja Force from the get go, she didn’t get a chance to check them out

the paint job on her cycle is based on a bunch of doodles she does on her notes

part of her schools wrestling team-she doesn’t go to any meets but she gets really antsy to do Secret Ninja Force work during school so practices and classes help her let off some steam

Also helps her with some anger issues-she will kinda freak out if she gets a bad grade or if she’s just having a tough day

Samurai X was a concept she came up with before the Secret Ninja Force was a thing-she saw how much destruction there was in the city before Garmadon and wanted to help, but never went through with it because she was immediately recruited for the SNF-she still has the suit’s concept designs stuffed in one of her notebooks

Also doesn’t believe in folders she just shoves everything in her bag

Pixal

The closest to Zane, Nya, kinda friends with Kai, and just buddies with the others through association

She’s still a robot, but unlike Zane she’s not programmed to adapt to her surroundings-she sees how Zane tries so he helps her act more human

She’s a bit more selective in what clubs and groups she joins (she takes computer science classes, whatever their schools equivalent of Voices of Women is, set crew for the theater program, and student council) so she takes on her personality a bit quicker than him

She still loves constructing things, but the robotics team makes her feel icky, so she went on to help making sets for the school plays and musicals instead

Also does a lot of the planning for school events (pep rallies, dances, etc)

it’s through her clubs that she met Nya and they quickly became close-she’s the only one Nya showed her Samurai X concepts to.

Well loved by the faculty (her father Cyrus Borg donated new equipment to the school)

She'd definitely be more popular if she didn’t associate herself with the Secret Ninja force, who are just generally disliked for their association with Lloyd.

in the story she’d probably take on a similar role that Nya did as Samurai X-someone who was seen as an enemy trying to one up them

Probably keeps her identity a secret though she does reveal it eventually

First reveals it to Nya since Samurai X was her idea in the first place

This also probably happens after the events of the movie-she figures the city still needs a vigilante type hero since i’m pretty sure the ninja ended up revealing their secret identities (or at least Lloyd did i thought)

Morro

Notices the favoritism towards Lloyd and hates it especially since he’s pretty similar to him (not putting his best effort in class, skips a lot, etc)

Also generally disliked by most teachers-he used to be a really model, well behaved students, but after a rough patch in his personal life he was held back a grade and since then has been generally been disrespectful to most of the teachers and just misbehaves overall

This “rough patch” was that Wu tried to start the Secret Ninja Force with Morro first, and insisted that he find his “Team” Morro was unable to find people he could work well with but insisted he could do everything himself-Wu immediately stopped his training and broke contact with him.

Tries to take similar classes to Lloyd-he knows Lloyd is Wu’s nephew and hopes that having similar interests will get him back on Wu’s good side

He’s generally antagonistic by trying to find out the identity of the Secret Ninja Force to get his revenge-he eventually becomes somewhat of an ally and stops tho

Keeps up his “training” through sports (rn i’ll say he does cross country in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and maybe tennis or baseball in the spring?)

A lot of his focus being on the Secret Ninja Force does contribute a lot to his not doing very well in school BUT he was able to make a Ninja Force Fan Club that helps him with his detective work tho)

part of the school orchestra (include “plays a wind instrument” joke here)

now for some OC stuff (saved them for last in case people just wanted to skip <3)

For the following four OCs (mae, rayna, cedar, and wren) they’re a part of a separate vigilante group-i don’t have a name for them yet but think of them as damage control, they make sure the ninja don’t cause too much destruction with their huge mechs, clean up after them, and tend to the civilians, leading them to safety and getting them any medical attention they need

They know each others identity but don’t know the identity of the ninja (and vice versa)

Led by Ms. Yasu-she’s Wu’s sister (they don’t know that) and she works undercover as a history teacher in their school

Their group was formed over the summer before their sophomore year started

Mae (EM of Spring)

Went to the same grade school as Kai and Nya-he lost contact with them when they went to different middle school but he reconnected with them in high school

On good terms with Nya (he checks up on her from time to time, making sure she’s still doing alright in school, keeping her grades up, getting enough rest, etc) but a bit awkward around Kai (he has a crush on him and they have a lil love square thing where they’re really into each other as ninja, but aren’t too close as civilians since they don’t talk much)

Besides the people on his team and Nya and kinda Kai, he doesn’t really talk to anyone else-he’s a bit of a workaholic and doesn’t do much outside of studying and training

Even before becoming a hero he was very much a quiet kid, keeping mostly to himself and not bothering to go to any of the social events the school held freshman year

Did start up gardening club and school though-helped set up a local garden where they plant veggies

Works part time at a pet shop-mainly deals the creepy crawly type pets

His dad was like the football mvp at the school-mae picked up a football and almost gave himself a concussion so he hasn’t touched any sports since

his dad was also known as a bit of heartbreaker-mae has one crush and doesn’t know how to tell him other than being kinda mean to him and hoping he gets it

Constantly reminding his teammates to sleep cause for some reason they’d like to do anything but

Probably does the best at balancing his school and hero work without over exerting himself

has the most medical knowledge on the team so he’s the best at giving basic treatment whenever they’re saving people

Rayna (EM of Spring)

Former mean girl-she gets better her sophomore year tho(she’s still a bit snobby tho)

Also arguably the most popular, but once she became a bit of a hero she cut contact with most of them-it quickly became difficult to keep her secret identity

can’t comprehend the idea of pants-always wears dresses or skirts to school

Does water polo in the spring, wrestling in the winter, and volleyball in the fall

Would be an amazing athlete if she weren’t missing practices and meets all the time

Outside of her team, she became friends with Morro-he’s part of the orchestra for the school musicals and she’s a part of of the theater makeup and costume crew so they ran into each other a few times and slowly became friends

Became friends with Cole afterwards when she would sneak into Morro’s music class (him and Cole have music the same period)

Cole convinced her to join club vinyl. Besides that she’s also a part of the fashion club.

Cole and Rayna are better friends as heroes tho-he made her a playlist and she actually likes the music on it, so when he hears her listening to soft rock music he just assumes she gained a better music taste overnight

Uses waaaaayyyyy too much caffeine (she won’t drink coffee, she mainly does celsius type drinks) to get through her day-she also does a lot of physical work leaving her sore, so she always carries tylenol and ibuprofen.

Team tank-she’s physically the strongest so she protects the people while leading them to safety in case any of Garmadon’s goons try to get them

Wren was her hallways crush before they were on a team together-tries a little bit too hard to impress her both in school and as a hero

Cedar (EM of Autumn)

Literally in every single club at school (their favorite is book club tho)

Will never bother to get an exec board position in any of these clubs tho

Has 0 free periods-they like to keep busy so they took up a bunch of electives so their schedule is crazy packed

Also works at the public library part time outside of school-whenever their friends need something for a school project they always go to them cause they know the best books for school

Their house is the designated hang out spot for their team (their mom is always out of state for work stuff)

Best dressed-very much a thrifter and modifies clothes to fit their style (also uses this to make gifts for their friends-clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc)

Met Jay through their computer science classes-they’ve always wanted to learn computer science but had a hard time starting out, but Jay was a great help to them

In turn, they helped Jay with their photography skills (how to take banger photos with his old af iphone)

Met Kiran through art classes-they were the only two who took the class seriously so they became friends as they would share tips and constructive criticism with each other

Don’t talk a lot though-they just feel comfortable in each other’s company

Takes the clean up crew bit of their job very seriously-they’re the one that works on clearing rubble to allow for clear ways out, and making sure that the buildings don’t completely collapse

Very grateful for becoming a hero and being a part of this team-they had no real idea of what they want to do in life. They know they want to explore the world but that takes money, and they don’t really have a strict passion where they’d want to work the same job for the rest of their life

Wren (EM of Winter)

Time management goddess

Takes a bunch of honors and ap classes, and is also a part of student council, diversity club, chess team, scholastic bowl, national honors society, tutoring, and the school yearbook

(she doesn’t want to do half of these tho-her mom made her join them)

very strict with her timing-doesn’t have a lot of time so she doesn’t get much time to hang out with her team outside of missions

Is very worried cause she’s held to very high expectations-not that she’ll let anyone know that

Her friend Volkan has very muched noticed this-he’s been advocating for her to drop some classes, drop some of her clubs, but she is very stubborn and wil!! not!! listen!!

Speaking of Volkan they met in the nurses office-he faked being sick to miss class, and she passed out cause she missed lunch to work on a project-since then they only hang out during lunch cause he says she has to make sure she eats, and she walks him to class cause she needs to make sure he’s actually learning something

Outside of her team though, she hangs out with zane a lot-she met him through Pixal as they’re on student council together, and then recognized him as they end up taking a lot of classes together.

Did becoming a hero take up the only free time she had left??

perchance

becoming a part of this team helped her get closer to Rayna though, who helped her learn the only self care tactic she knows-dressing up cute everyday so she can at least feel good about how she looks (its also v gender affirming for her)

team strategist-she knows where everyone should be at all times to keep the minimal amount of destruction and most people safe

Kiran (EM of Dust)

Very much a large advocate for mental health at her school during her second semester junior year-she was a perfectionist but realized how much that messed with her so she quit it and tries to help other kids break from the idea they should just seek validation from their grades

Through this work that she met Volkan-they’re not dating BUT they have been each other’s date for school dances since (though they insist they’re just going as friends)

Helped start up a yoga class at school-she found some teachers that would be interested and though it would be a nice way for kids to stay active while also learning how to calm their mind

Found a bunch of other ways to creatively express themselves with the help of Cedar (she picked up jewelry making because of them)

Also LOVES swimming-spends a lot of time at the beach

Takes painting classes at school but she does it a bunch outside of school-she finds it very therapeutic and it's a good way for her to express her emotions

Knew Jay from middle school-they were semi academic rivals and that beef semi carried into high school (she also just finds him painfully annoying and watching him function gives her second hand embarrassment)

Her opinions on the Secret Ninja Force are pretty negative-she gets that what they’re doing is good cause they’re keeping the city safe from Garmadon, but she thinks they cause way too much destruction (building rubble may or may have not blocked her way out from the beach a few times) so she’s glad that the clean up crew exists :)

Volkan (EM of Magma)

Go with the flow kinda guy-he does what he wants when he wants

This does make him a bad student on paper but he is pretty smart-he just doesn’t put in the effort if the subject doesn’t interest him

probably just plays games on his phone or tablet all day tbh

Also most def a gym bro (but those ones that perfected the art of making healthy food that tastes good-he likes to cook <3)

Plans a lot of the after school hang outs with Kiran-he might skip the last period or two so he can figure out a nice place for them to hang out and study in case she has any work to do

Knows those really underground spots in the city

Besides Kiran he’s close with Wren-he hangs out with her at lunch and will tag along with her to any of her club meetings in case she needs company

Very much unnerved by Zane-he’s just so stiff and rigid that it makes Volkan very uncomfortable

It wouldn’t really matter since they take very different classes, but teachers have been setting Zane up as Volkan’s tutor and they straight up drag him to meetings and sometimes monitor them-Volkan hates this

His opinion on the Secret Ninja Force is also really negative-his mom is still semi traumatized by one of Garmadon’s attacks and in his mind the ninja haven’t done anything to help, so he’s witnessed the destruction they can cause first hand

thinking about how The Lego Ninjago Movie gave us the high school setting and vigilante set up and did NOTHING with it

What electives do they take? What clubs are they in? Can they even be in clubs or does Wu forbid it cause it gets in the way of their Secret Ninja force?? Have they made plans for after high school??? I NEEDED CUTE HIGH SCHOOL SHENANIGANS!!!

if u giveeeeeee me a minute i will return with some hcs!! (for canon characters and my ocs cause im weak for my ocs <3)

[denimbex1986]

'All Us Of Strangers might be one of the most moving films of the last decade. The film, which is based on the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, follows a middle aged man named Adam who has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbour, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life.

As a new relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up.

To celebrate the release of the movie this weekend, we sat down with director Andrew Haigh to learn more about the making of All Us Of Strangers...

So, congratulations! I’m a big fan of your work including Looking and Weekend. In fact, I’ve indoctrinated so many people to Weekend, so I was very excited for this film.

Oh, thank you!

My first question is, I feel like there’s so many amazing elements to this movie, but one thing that really stands out is Andrew Scott’s performance. How did you go about casting him and what was it like working with him?

The minute I finished writing – I didn’t think about anybody as I was writing, I never do normally – I thought about Andrew. He was the first person we went to and he was the first person I really thought of. My gut said he would make sense as the character of Adam. You know, he’s of a certain age, and he understands growing up in that time, so that helps, but he’s also such a good actor. We obviously wanted that at the same time – someone who’s a really, really good actor and also really understands the role. Those two things were in perfect alignment with Andrew.

That definitely shines through. And did you learn anything interesting about your main cast from working with them? Any fun facts about Andrew, Paul, Claire or Jamie?

It’s funny, when you’re working on a film you definitely get to know each other in a very strange way. It’s an intense working period, and in your conversations with each other about character and such, some really personal stuff comes our – stuff about my life, stuff about Andrew’s life and everyone’s, really. You sort of get close, but I don’t know how well I know them as such, I just know a lot about elements of their lives.

Did any of them have any weird habits on set or anything?

Well, everybody’s got strange habits. That’s certainly not something I’ll share, and hopefully, they would never talk about my weird habits either! I feel more like a therapist on set sometimes, and the job is to work out when to step in and when to say something or not.

Speaking of “personal stuff”, was any part of Adam’s relationship with his parents based on your own experiences?

It’s less based upon my own experiences with my parents, although some of it is, and more about a generation of gay people who were coming into their sexuality at a certain time in the ’80s and ’90s. Most of us, if not all of us, experienced a similar feeling growing up in a very complicated time when it really was quite tough to be gay, and it certainly wasn’t easy to come out to anybody, let alone your parents. We’re talking about, you know, the height of AIDS and section 28 and homophobia being incredibly rife in the UK. It was a rough time for a lot of people.

I think it’s so different now, it’s changed so dramatically, but for a generation of people, we still remember what that felt like, it’s still there. We still feel it. Sometimes it can re-emerge and you feel suddenly triggered by something. So rather than it being like an autobiographical experience of me coming out to my parents, it’s about feeling what it was like to be gay at that time.

Absolutely. I mean, I’m a slightly later generation, but I think you’ve done such a good job of encoding that. The movie is also based on the book, of course, but the respective plots are very different. How and why did you diverge away from the plot of the novel?

I loved this idea of meeting your parents again, which is in the novel, but then it takes a very different direction. It turns into more of a traditional ghost story. The Harry character was not only a demonic spirit in the original story, but also a woman, so that was quite a fundamental shift. So it’s now a queer relationship, which changes how Adam relates to his family, I think. That central idea of going backwards in time in order to move forward is definitely still there though, which is what I think the novel is about.

I feel like you could’ve “gotten away with” not even mentioning the book, because they truly are so different. Did that ever cross your mind?

It’s funny, when I read the book again recently – actually, just before I started doing all this press – I realised that while so much is different, the story itself is very personal to that writer, he really made it his own, and in a similar way I did that with this film. I took his book and made it personal to me, but I’m still taking the core of what he did in that book. I feel like that can be the joy of adaptation. You take the truth of the original thing and you throw it up in the air and remix it and re-make it.

One thing I want to ask you about is the recent BAFTA nominations. The film has been nominated in quite a few categories, including casting, but Andrew didn’t received a nomination for Leading Actor. What are your thoughts on that?

I mean, I’m very sad and heartbroken for him. I think it’s tough. Like, clearly, all of the other nominations would not have happened if Andrew hadn’t been incredible in the film. It wouldn’t be nominated for a screenplay nomination if Andrew hadn’t been good. I wish he’d been nominated and it’s sad for us. But all of the nominations would not have existed without him, and it doesn’t change his performance, which I think is brilliant.

So many of the scenes are so intense to watch, which scene was most difficult for you to write or direct?

I guess the scenes with Adam’s parents – the ones back in the house when he speaks to his mum and his dad – they took a long time to write and get the tone right on. We had to make sure you weren’t hating his mum and dad in those situations and that you could sort of understand where they were coming from, but you could also understand the pain that was being resurrected in Adam at the same time.

So there was a lot going on and they weren’t easy scenes to shoot. They weren’t easy to watch either! When I was editing them, they were very challenging to watch. Obviously, it’s shot in my old house. So–

I’m sorry, it’s shot in your old house?

Yes, that’s my old house that I lived in when I was a kid. I haven’t lived there for 40 years. So it’s sort of like I’m watching, let’s say the scene of Adam and his dad in what was our old front room, they’re around the Christmas tree where we used to put our Christmas tree up. So there’s a lot of sort of strangeness within that for me.

Did you just rock up to the house and go, “do you mind if I film here?”

Yeah, pretty much.

That’s amazing. Well, speaking of that, are there any other sort of Easter eggs or random details in the movie that you left in hoping people would notice?

There’s always things. It’s more things from my personal life that only people I know will recognise, and I’m sure will mean nothing to other people, which is fine by me! I like the fact that there’s bits of me in there that people can decide whether or not are me.

I guess something like The Whitgift Centre would be one of those things, no? I actually used to live near there with an ex-boyfriend and we went over a few times. Why did you want to include that place and do you hope there’s an increase in visitation there after the film comes out?

I lived nearby when I was a kid and we would go there on the weekends. It felt like a glamorous place to go in the ’70s and ’80s, it was kind of like a version of the future. It felt so British that we live in these little places and the centres of our lives become these things that mean nothing in the scale of anything to anybody. The Whitgift Centre is not some glamorous location, but for Adam, as a kid, he loves going. Kids love going to weird places and I think those places become quite important in our lives. Even if it’s just a place you go on the weekend with your family.

At the start of the movie, I remember Andrew gets his kit off a lot – was that just because you wanted to see Andrew Scott naked? Because fair enough.

That’s funny. I think they both get more naked in the beginning of the film and then less naked later on. That makes sense in the scope of their relationship. Their intimacy develops throughout the story and sometimes that involves sexual intimacy, which usually you are naked for! But as they go on, while that’s still a part of their relationship, there’s also everything else that’s happening. So I feel like it sort of makes sense that they’re physically naked first, before they become emotionally naked.

Do you have a shot or scene you’re particularly proud of?

I kind of feel like every scene links to the next one, so all of them speak to the same kind of thing. I do like the scene when he gets in bed with his mum and talks to her, and then he leans over and his dad’s there. It’s all one shot, which is kind of nice, and the acting is so beautiful. It also goes from a little bit silly and humorous to being very heartfelt and sad, so I like how that scene develops, too.

I also like the first time that Adam is walking through the park and sees his dad. He feels him appear behind him, and turns around like they’re cruising or something. It’s sort of mysterious and strange and odd, kind of like you’re drifting off into a dream.

I completely agree. I mean, so much of it stuck in my head, but for some reason that bit really did. Because you do think it’s going to be one thing, and then it’s completely different. Now, I feel like I know what you’re going to say here, but what do you think is happening when Adam sees his parents? Is it really happening? Is he imagining it, or is it some sort of mental break?

I think you can read it in whatever way you want to. They could be actual ghosts that have reappeared, it could all be in his imagination. I mean, for me, I actually don’t know how much I care about what is the specific reality. All I know is that Adam has longed for this encounter so much that it has been brought into the ether, and whether it’s all in his mind or not, the important thing is that he’s desired this into existence.

That’s roughly what I thought you might say! In your career, you’ve worked with quite a few openly gay actors on some very queer-centric material. What’s your view on the debate about straight actors playing gay roles?

Look, I completely understand the debate; I think about the debate long and hard. I’d say it’s a very complicated argument. There are times when, absolutely, I think you should cast a gay actor in a gay role. I also think trans characters should be played by trans people. in those roles. I guess I’m not so dogmatic that it means it always has to be like that for gay roles. You just have to understand what the role is, and it makes a difference if the writer is gay or the director is gay. There’s a lot of gay people involved in the making of this film, for instance.

For Adam, I knew I wanted a gay actor to play it. There’s too much nuance and there’s too much stuff in there that I wanted to get across. But it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, it’s about what’s right for the role. Sometimes, it’s definitely right to cast a gay actor as a gay character, sometimes I think it’s less important.

Finally, I’d love to know what your favourite film of the moment is?

Probably Anatomy of a Fall. I loved Sandra Hüller’s performance in that, I think that’ll go down in history as one of the greatest ever.'

[selfconsciousfangirl]

I hate 'if you hate musicals you hate joy' posts. First of all, yes, I get its hyperbole, but sometimes stuff just doesn’t vibe with you! I wholeheartedly believe there’s a cultural element involved (as in, musicals are not necessarily a common art form around the world), but yes, it’s entirely possible not to enjoy art mediums while accepting they’re perfectly valid art mediums at the same time.

I don’t like plays. I get theatre is wonderful and it can be a very moving experience, but it just doesn’t work for me. It feels both too artificial and yet not enough at the same time: I can’t forget I’m watching a play thus I can’t lose myself in the experience. How is it that I adore opera, then? Who knows! Maybe it’s the incredible music that allows me to sort of get hypnotised and lose myself into the experience. Maybe it’s artificial enough that the exaggerated performances feel just righth instead of jarring. Maybe it’s having listened to operas on the radio since forever —though I know both my parents and my schools had me watch plays since I was little and yet it's never worked for me, idk. Maybe it’s the supertitles projected over the stage that allow me to keep track of what’s going on —I kind of have trouble processing song lyrics with regular pop/rock music even at the best of times. Who knows, really, but if theatre doesn’t work for me, then it’s perfectly reasonable to be indifferent to musical theatre.

For a gazillion reasons (I’m old, family taste), I never watched any of the big disney movies. The lion king, little mermaid, etc., I flat out never watched them, so I didn’t get exposed to any ~stealth musicals either. I remember watching some of the classics (sleeping beauty) on a cinema thanks to my grandma, but the music didn’t register.

Tl;dr: I don’t hate joy, I don’t even hate musicals, I'm just aware that they’re not for me & I’m hardly the only one who feels this way. It’s really no big deal

[epicyclical]

Dear Author Letter -yes it's done now! Sorry!

Dear Yuletide Author,

Happy Yuletide season! My favorite time of the fandom year :). I am always happy with any gift, so no pressure and feel free to ignore any prompts/suggestions!

Without further ado, my requests!

1) Rivers of London (up through Foxglove Summer)

I’m getting the other books for Christmas so I doubt I will have read them by Yuletide, so if you could avoid spoilers for anything past Foxglove Summer that would be very kind! But I couldn’t resist requesting RoL anyway, because I am SOMEWHAT OBSESSED. (Also I consume it as audiobooks so apologies for any misspelling!)

Soooo I love Thomas Nightingale an unhealthy amount. Stylish, self-possessed, an INSANE TANK-DESTROYING BADASS, with a dust-dry sense of humor and deeply buried trauma. What’s not to love? I also like Peter although DEAR GOD BOY keep it in your pants, for real. I love their relationship, how seriously Thomas takes his responsibility to Peter as his ‘master’, how exasperated Thomas is with Peter’s experiments (and tendency to only use his brain to make pop culture references).

Ship-wise: I love gen, I like Peter’s love interests (except the jazz vampire, I forget her name) but would prefer a story not focus on his relationships, I personally ship Thomas/Varvara secretly in my heart. I haven’t read any Thomas/Peter but am willing to be convinced!

Things I love: Thomas being a badass, other people talking about how much of a badass Thomas is, master-apprentice dynamics, protectiveness (going either way), Thomas’ adventures pre-RoL, Peter please stop telling people you’re a wizard I’m begging you, daily life in the Folly, Molly and Toby, cop talk

Things I DNW: the usual (rape/non-con, permanent major character death). Canon-typical violence and gore is fine.

2) Dracula

Yes I’m basic and obsessed with Re: Dracula (the podcast), sorry not sorry. I'm also Magnus Archives trash so I have imprinted on Jack Seward like a baby duck, but I love every single character!

So I read this when I was much younger and didn’t really engage with it on a Fannish level, so I’m absolutely delighted by all the tumblr discourse surrounding dracula daily and re: Dracula. Seeing fans talk about this book from 1897 the way they talk about Supernatural is just so weirdly charming to me, so really I don’t have any specific requests re: characters/plot/etc, but I would love to see some old-fashioned fanfic, if that makes sense. Shipping trash, h/c, crossovers, AUs, meta, songfic, bodyswap, genderswap, sex pollen, soulmate, etc -- everything you would ever see on a cliche bingo card. (I’m an Old Fangirl, sue me) What kind of fic would get written if this book had come out in 2005? Or 1995? (Honestly that goes for any of these requests, I love this stuff)

If that doesn’t float your boat, no worries! Things I would love: OT3/4/5/+, Jonathan and Mina OTP 5EVA, Jack/Abraham, Jack and Abe’s adventures when Jack was in school, the Suitors having adventures (esp pre-canon), Everyone is Poly except Dracula, Everyone Is Poly Including Dracula, what-ifs (Lucy vs Mina, Mina vs Jonathan, etc.), Victorian sensibilities, Victorian sensibilities being absolutely wrecked, train travel, boat travel, horse travel, gothic atmosphere

No DNWs for this -- if you want to lean in to the Darker Elements, go for it.

3) Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

I've been playing DnD for *mumble* years and this movie was the first that really captured how it FEELS to play Dnd. It's not the lore, gods and kingdoms, it's the party of different classes trying to accomplish a small scale task chaotically. I love that you can tell in the movie when they fail a skill check. (Though I am still sad that we didn't get any real Bardic magic from Ed. I love a good bard singing during fights!)

So meta is highly encouraged! Anything acknowledging that it's a game, the rules of the world, etc. would be delightful! Showme the players if you dare haha

I also really enjoy pretty much all the characters from the party, I am a total sucker for Found Family in all its forms! I also adore: Ed and Xenk's ridiculous dynamic, Ed and Holga's platonic bro-hood, Holga as Kira's warrior surrogate mom, Forge and his scheming, Simon's awkward crush on Doric, Jarnathan and the poor patrol board -- basically everyone lol. I adore backstory -- all the stuff that gets referred to in the opening montage, how everyone met, various previous adventures. Or future adventures! Where to next?

Just let me hang out with these doofuses some more haha.

Shipwise I ship Ed/Xenk but am happy with gen, please no Ed/Holga (their platonic-ness is too precious), I think anything else is fair game. DNW: rape/noncon, character death. DND-typical violence/gore are fine (and somewhat encouraged haha)

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 10: Scream VI Pt. 1

[This is from 2 days go because my power went out Sunday night.]

Writing this in the dark because my power is out. My power almost never goes out here, which tells me how bad this storm is. It should be done by tomorrow morning, though, which I guess is good.

I was watching Scream VI and I only have about 10 minutes left, but that’s not going to be possible without power or wifi, so I’ll have to finish tomorrow. A few thoughts on what I did see (very few since my computer battery sucks and I don’t know how long I have to write here):

It’s definitely better than Scream V. Too long—I really don’t think any slasher needs to clock more than an hour 45 minutes—but consistently entertaining with very good set pieces and a strong set of new characters.  This is probably the only scream movies I’ve seen that legitimately scared me in parts. And it actually managed to get real humor in there, which, as I’ve mentioned, I think many of the installments struggle with. I think moving to NYC was a smart move, not dissimilar to moving Halloween H20 to California: the core franchise elements stand out more when you see them still working in a different environment.

My favorite scenes were the attack in the apartment—even though I was said to think I was seeing Quinn go, because I liked her a lot, and the death of Mindy’s girlfriend was pretty upsetting, more sad than scary at the end—and the scenes on the subway. The apartment attack was well put together, had a great mix of comedy—and comedy from something other than meta, but from the juxtaposition of the group camaraderie and the scariness of Ghostface—and horror, and was, as I said, actually truly scary to me. I’m afraid of heights so watching them have to cross a ladder to safety over a tall drop was very, very nail-biting stuff. Similarly, the subway scene made such good use of the new setting. Being stuck in a subway car with absolutely no way out between stops is very unnerving, and the number of people can be blessing or curse very easily. All the different horror franchise homages in the background costumes was Scream at its best: meta and spooky at once.

This film rectified one of my biggest issues with Scream V, which is that it should have just been a reboot and its original characters really just dragged the story down. It tried to be too many things at once, and it didn’t trust its new cast enough to let them shine. But the thing is that they are a good cast! They are good characters! I am invested in the “Core Four” and their new little friends filled in the suspect/victim seats well. This film didn’t need Sydney, and Gayle’s role was fine and a good size. I’m still mad that they killed Dewey, but at least without him, Gayle is freed up to be more nefarious. Still, she didn’t do that much in this, ultimately. It was a glorified cameo but she got some good lines and good moments, and I’m fine with that. Same with Kirby: I really liked that they brought her back, connecting the original trilogy with the Scream IV bridge, and the new trilogy. Small scenes like her and Mindy talking about scary movies made the film… warm, something I could feel affection towards. And I think for the most part, the movie understood that. Not actually killing off either of the twins, for example (I looked up spoilers), or Gayle, not actually having Kirby be the killer: these were feel-good choices, about crafting a franchise you want to come back to because you want to be with the characters again, not because you want to see the next big twist. It makes me feel hopeful for Scream VII.

The twins really came into their own in this movie. I liked the Chad/Tara romance and Mindy I thought hit a better, more consistent footing than in the previous film, where I wanted to like her more than I did.

I’m glad I took a break before watching this but I’m also glad I saw it. It left a much better taste than Scream V. I would say my rankings are Scream (1996), Scream IV, Scream VI, Screams 2 and 3 (I feel like they’re roughly equal) and Scream V.

Okay, my computer is at 55% which means it will fade FAST. Gotta save everything and power down. I’ve never lost power for this long before so I’m a tad worried but I guess it won’t matter if I’m asleep—which I should be anyway.