#but is it controversial if i say i don’t think this show is all dark and super duper mature?
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seasideoranges · 9 months ago
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guys i gotta be honest whenever people call the live action avatar “darker “more serious” and “less childish” then the original show i just think of this meme
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blindseer0 · 4 months ago
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Who Is Jenna and What is Her Route About?
(Reposted from Twitter)
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Jenna’s Route is a highlight for many: arguably the happiest ending and the one most people recommend playing last. It’s also controversial, not just because Jenna is one of the more polarizing characters, but because people feel it doesn't focus enough on her.
I’ve seen multiple people comment that they still didn’t really know who Jenna was after playing her route. That kind of makes sense, since it has a large focus on Leo, which I think distracts people from what is going on with Jenna.
It doesn’t help that she is canonically the most enigmatic and guarded character, with Chase even commenting that he feels like there is extra meaning to what she says but he’s not smart enough to figure it out. So, who is Jenna and what is the point of her route?
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Thankfully, the game has Flynn tell us exactly what each route is about. Carl’s is about his anxiety, fear of the future, and lack of confidence in himself. Leo’s is about his obsession with the past, inability to move forward, and projecting all of that onto Chase.
What about Jenna’s? Flynn’s comments to her are arguably the cruelest, and he even says as much. We know Jenna’s family were abusive towards her and that she had good reason to leave and never come back. Flynn knows this, he and Leo dealt with her family the most and its implied that after Leo and Chase started dating he was left to help her by himself. He never has anything positive to say about any of her family and seems to despise all of them. Why would he care about what happens to them or her relationship with them? The answer is, he doesn’t.
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Flynn isn’t talking about how Jenna treats her biological family, he’s talking about her found family, our main characters. As he points out, Carl and Leo are both in very dark places (and we see him trying to help both of them, in his own way) and could really use her help.
Chase, who went to Pueblo on Jenna’s advice, seems lost and unsure of what to do with his life. Jenna’s on the same campus as him, and they’ve hardly talked. To be clear, Jenna isn’t obligated to sort their shit out, but it’s easy to see why Flynn thinks she abandoned them.
Flynn also accuses her of thinking she’s better than them because she left Echo, and he’s absolutely right. Why do I think that? Let’s look at everyone’s reactions to Sydney’s death. In Carl’s Route, Leo talks about how everyone changed after that.
Carl became more anxious and depressed, Leo became overprotective, Flynn became bitter, and TJ was obviously keeping a traumatizing secret. So, what about Jenna? What did she “learn” from Sydney’s death? Jenna learned that if you stay in Echo, it will FUCKING KILL YOU.
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Jenna saw what the town did to her family, how it killed her brother, Sydney and countless others and she decided to leave before it killed her as well. We see her try to convince Chase, Carl, and even Leo to leave Echo, because she thinks the town will ruin them if they don’t.
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That’s why she shows disdain towards Janice for still working at the diner and to various other people, because it’s obvious to her that the town breaks people and if they were smarter they would know they should leave; if they were stronger or just tried harder they could leave.
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Jenna tells Chase as much, that the difference between her and Jeremy was “temperament”. Her “nature” was strong enough to overcome her “nurture”. She talks about how Heather “made herself a victim”, which is in contrast to Jenna, who does her best to not talk about her abuse.
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Jenna needs to believe that she got out of Echo through sheer force of will; that she is better, tougher than everyone who stayed, because if that wasn’t the reason, what does that mean for everyone still there? What does it mean for her family? For her?
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And the reason she shows disdain towards Flynn is not only because he’s still in Echo, but because he knows the truth of the lie Jenna tells herself: she didn’t survive Echo because of her temperament, she survived Echo because of her friends, her found family.
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To get her good ending, you have Chase tell her “We kept each other sane”; we’re supposed to understand that “we” isn’t just Chase and Jenna, it’s all of them. Chase even says he could have become like Jeremy and Clint if he didn’t have Jenna, Leo, and the rest of the group.
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Deep down, Jenna knows this. Before the temperament line she says that it was falling in with Clint that made Jeremy the (awful) person he is; that if things had been different, he, or she, could have been different.
In Jenna’s route Leo expresses a similar sentiment, saying he should have been there for Micha, should have introduced him to the group, that if he had, maybe things would have turned out better for the bat. In Route 65 he says that his friends are why he didn’t turn out like the people at the party.
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That’s why Jenna’s good ending is what it is. You, as Chase, convince her that people can change, can be better, and that they can help each other survive, that you don’t have to do it on your own. Jenna talks Heather down because she realizes she could have been like Heather, if not for her found family keeping her sane and supporting her through the worst parts of her life.
(This is also LITERALLY true, in that she could not have physically left Echo if one of her friends, Chase, hadn't given her a ride out of town.)
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It’s also why the Socketman is so prominent in the route; it’s what helped her survive her abusive childhood until she could meet Chase, Leo, and everyone else.
(I have another thread I could write about Jenna, Flynn and the Socketman, but this has already gone on too long.)
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That’s why she doesn’t actually talk to Jeremy, another common complaint. Jeremy makes his choice when he sells her, and the people she cares most about, out to Brian. It’s not him she needs to talk to, it’s them. Her route is the only one where they’re all together at the end.
Jenna is a tough, talented person, and it wasn’t just luck that got her out of Echo and where she is; she put in the work. But admitting that she was lucky, that her found family, for all their flaws were, and are, still there for her, that there was some good in the hellhole that is Echo, that’s what allows her to save the people in the town, to save Heather, and leads to (arguably) the happiest ending in Echo. That’s why I love the writing for Jenna and her route so much. There’s so much under the surface and so many layers to explore.
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(You, obviously, don’t have to agree with all or any of what I’ve said here, and I’d love people to tell me what they think or if I’m full of shit. I just wanted to put my thoughts out there, since I’ve seen people talking about it, and give another way to look at things.)
(I wanted to write a thread about Leo and Conservatism, but to write that I needed to write a thread about Leo, Jenna and College in Echo, and to write THAT I needed to explore Jenna’s character and what motivates her. Let me know if you would want to read either of those.)
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suffersinfandom · 1 year ago
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Controversial opinion (?): the Kraken Era wasn’t all that dark.
There’s a lot of meta and fic out there that portray Ed as a bloodthirsty, hyperviolent monster, and when that portrayal is challenged, the rebuttal is usually along the lines of, “I’m just doing what canon did. Did you even watch the show? It's racist, not me!”
I did watch the show, and honestly? I went in expecting far worse based on meta and fic I read during the hiatus. When I see people say they didn’t think Ed did enough to redeem himself or that he went past the point of no return, I just don’t understand.
I already went into this in my way-too-long meta about Ed and abuse, but I do think it bears repeating (in a shorter post) because it seems like Ed’s actions -- more than the actions of any other character -- are scrutinized and discussed outside of the context of a comedy about pirates. There’s tons of casual violence in Our Flag Means Death. Sometimes the violence is even funny! 
So what does Ed actually do in the first episodes of season two?
We see Ed directly harm someone twice in the first two episodes: first on the wedding boat, and then when he shoots Izzy in the leg. Kind of unimpressive numbers, yeah? I'd expect more out of a heartbroken Blackbeard.
The first instance involves Ed shooting a man during a raid. That man has a sword through his chest before Ed fires, leading me to believe that Ed’s still following his season one pattern of keeping himself a step removed from murder (technically, the sword killed that guy). We also don’t see the murder happen; the man tumbles offscreen before Ed shoots. This makes the action less brutal. If the writers wanted us to be appalled by Ed’s violence, we would’ve gotten a graphic kill or several.
And the second instance is Izzy. Ed shoots Izzy in the leg after he suggests that the shitty atmosphere is because of Ed’s feelings for Stede. Hot take, maybe, but I don’t think that was entirely out of line. Ed’s feelings for Stede are not the only problem; a significant chunk of the problem is Izzy. Izzy called in the navy and led to their capture. Izzy threatened Ed back into the Blackbeard persona the last time Ed tried to talk things through, and that was without an audience of potential mutineers.
We’re also told that Ed has taken more of Izzy’s toes between seasons. This isn’t cool -- bosses definitely shouldn’t be asking for their employees’ toes -- but there is a precedent for it. In season one, Ed told Stede that he used to feed people their toes for a laugh (yuck). For a laugh. This, to me, implies that it’s not a huge deal. It’s certainly not completely unexpected pirate behavior, and it seems more lenient than a keelhauling or a whipping. I think both of those things would've felt far more gruesome and dark.
As far as violent actions go, that’s not a lot. Like, numerically.
Things get darker in S2E2 when Ed becomes increasingly desperate for someone, anyone, to send him to doggy heaven. He’s unhinged and working his way up to a murder-suicide before he’s stopped. He hacks the wheel right off of the ship and threatens to shoot the mast. He orders Archie and Jim to fight to the death. He ignores anonymous crewmembers as they’re swept overboard in the storm. This is bad! It’s self-destructive and selfish! But it's also tragic and human and understandable.
In my opinion, the worst thing Ed does in these episodes is force his crew to do violence for him -- not because it’s violence (again, they’re pirates), but because the violence hurts them. THIS is what traumatizes them. Their trauma flashbacks are scenes of them hurting others, not of Ed hurting them directly. Ed didn’t physically torture his crew (with the exception of Izzy, and that’s complicated). His crime was driving them to do one violent raid after another, killing and plundering without any joy or theatrics. Ed feels trapped in the role of Blackbeard -- the role that he’s been desperate to escape -- and, in his heartbreak, he opts to trap his crew with him. 
Yes, Ed is messed up in the first two episodes of season two. I don’t blame the crew for almost killing him; it’s what needed to be done. I think that Jim, Archie, Frenchie, and Fang had every right to want Ed gone after Stede’s return. 
But I don’t think that Ed was a super violent monster who tortured his crew and murdered his way through his breakup. He engages in very little onscreen violence, and the person that most of his violence is focused on -- Izzy -- is the same person who told him to be violent. I think that anyone who says that Ed’s actions in the first part of season two are extremely dark is either looking at them out of context, misremembering what actually happened and just recalling the dark tone, or working with some kind of motive.
In conclusion: Ed is a man who, at his very darkest, was still operating pretty firmly within the bounds of "stuff pirates do" (but not stuff Ed has historically done, presumably).
Also look at him. Thank you.
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GIF by unearthlydust
EDIT: Read the reblogs for some amazing and more nuanced additions!
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brf-rumortrackinganon · 2 months ago
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I know that you mostly post about the Temu Royals but I am finding the new communications strategy of the Waleses to be quite interesting. They invited an amateur photographer, Liz, a young woman with cancer to take the photos at the investiture William did today, Catherine was there too but unannounced.
It seems to me they’re trying to keep thigh control over their social media while appearing more “approachable” but leaving the RR in the dark.
What do you think of it?
Quick little disclaimer first: I don’t want to be posting mostly or only about the Sussexes. I would rather actually not be posting about them as much as I do but I don’t get a lot of asks about other happenings in the BRF. I’m thinking about taking some longer breaks as we get into my busy season at work because this is too much Sussex.
I like the new media approach. I feel like it’s something William and Kate have wanted for a very long time - to have more control over how they’re covered. Not in a censorship kind of way, but more in a…putting “mystique” back in “royal mystique, or drawing a very sold, very defined line between what the public can access and their privacy. - so when everyone blew their top about simple edits to a family photo, they decided to take advantage of the moment.
The rota to me is a double-edged sword. On one side, they’re responsible for covering the royal family and providing information about them to their public. But on the other hand, they’re a money-making for-profit endeavor. They will only ever always cover the royals in ways that makes them, or their bosses, money. Meaning controversy, scandal, secrets, and gossip sell better than standard straightforward reporting - aka, the Court Circular.
The second part of it is the intrusiveness and pervasiveness of media today. First, the pervasiveness: the 24/7 media cycle has entitled the public to demand constant coverage of all newsmakers (politicians, athletes, musicians, actors, royals, etc.) to justify their interest in them. Because the public demands constant coverage, it’s similarly entitled, and enabled, the press - especially the rota - to demand to be in the newsmakers’ spaces. They believe it’s their job to be constantly present and they enforce their presence with controversy, scandal, secrets, and gossip under the guise of “informing the public.”
Then second, the intrusiveness: the use of social media has entitled the public and press to not only demand inclusion in the newsmakers’ private non-public spaces, but also to offer commentary and criticism over those spaces and that portion of their lives.
So because of that pervasiveness and intrusiveness, the lines between private and public and between fact-based reporting and opinion editing has blurred, and blurred so badly that it’s nonexistent. It probably didn’t help to have royals like Charles, Diana, Camilla, Andrew, Sarah, Harry, Meghan, and Eugenie running to talk to the media every single time they were offended or wanted attention. (And it also didn’t help that some reporters were hacking phones either.) Because certain senior royals were friendlier with the press, it ushered in an era of open transparency that enabled the public and the press - including the rota - to demand identical access and transparency from all royals in their personal lives/personal relationships - William and Kate especially.
After all, look what happened when Kate asked for privacy and needed some time to recover from a major surgery in hospital; the public and the press demanded she show herself and when she didn’t, it became controversy and scandal and the gossip proliferated in an attempt to force her out, and members of the rota were actively participating in that too.
Anyway. All this to say that KP’s new media strategy of disengaging with the rota to communicate directly to the public themselves using their own channels is good. I think so, at least.
The rota has gotten too big for its britches, in a way, especially if they felt emboldened to criticize Kate’s desire for privacy to convalesce from major surgery - and then a shocking cancer diagnosis - in private. They’ve needed reform for a long time, since the mid-90s-ish (when the 24/7 media cycle first became problematic (and I have theories on that too which I’m happy to discuss if anyone else wants)), which Harry was right to want and work towards.
Except Harry’s vision for reforming the rota and the monarchy’s relationship with the press was, essentially, censorship and autocratic control (ie “print only what I tell you to print and nothing else”), effective immediately. William’s solution seems to be more baby steps; letting the rota still have most of their access to do most of their work, but removing their ability to cover certain private or personal events (eg the birthday photos) and occasional work engagements (eg this latest investiture), then hopefully being able to scale that up to where the rota is actually doing their job to report on the monarchy, vs generating controversy or scandal to sell headlines. I do hope that William’s plan to modernize the monarchy’s media strategy means that he will diversify the rota and open it up to more publications and more new media - including from the realms, instead of letting traditional Fleet Street publications/tabloids hold the monopoly (because I do think that power has gone to all their heads, and I do agree with Scobie on Endgame that leadership of the rota needs to be on a rotating term basis, instead of always permanently Rebecca English).
I do think yesterday’s investiture where there was no media but the one photographer was probably a one-off event, perhaps along the lines of “make a wish” (but not really; I do think the Waleses felt for Liz and really wanted to give her/her family special, happy moments after having dealt with their own similar challenges this year.)
Personally for me, I don’t think there’s much to comment on about whether all future investitures will be embargoed or press-restricted until/unless it happens again because once is a happenstance, twice is a coincidence, thrice is a pattern.
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anetherealpoetess · 23 days ago
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Hi there, we don’t know each other but I was just scrolling through the haladriel tag and wanted to say thank you for your post about shipping and feminism. The Madonna/whore-ism around Galadriel is rampant in TROP fandom. Obviously much of it comes from the incelbros but unfortunately it’s also evident in supposedly “feminist” interpretations as well. People are completely entitled to dislike Haladriel/dislike that the show went in that direction, but I become suspicious when some people aggressively deny that Galadriel is romantically attracted to Sauron/deny that he is essentially her main love interest and claim this is something shippers have made up, despite it being plainly the text of the show (and even bolstered by Word of God i.e. director/exec producer). The real underlying reason for this refutal is the belief that G being romantically entangled with S degrades her, i.e. makes her a whore (instead of a Madonna = loyal to her husband even centuries after his death). The sexist lorebros declare this openly, while other puritans hide behind “feminist” rhetoric about destructive relationships etc. (with the truly enlightening implication that women who have dark fantasies actually shoulder the blame for real world male violence). TROP as a show is bold/controversial because it positions Sauron as a sexual fantasy for Galadriel; this is a CORE element of the story, and how you respond to it simply depends on how much you can tolerate the idea of women having dark sexual fantasies that ostensibly compromise their supposed purity. (This ask is ok to publish, btw.)
(i'm sharing this with your permission because it's absolutely perfect, and i want this flawless message on my tumblr.)
yes! sauron as galadriel's fantasy challenges all the old patriarchal narratives. the narratives where a female character's worth is bound to archaic notions of purity. where any hint of darkness somehow makes her lesser. but galadriel's story isn't about purity, and anyone reducing her to the blushing virgin archetype is missing out.
galadriel's story is about power. it's about the pull of darkness and the lure of lush forbidden things. it’s about how her fascination with sauron shapes her as a woman and in doing so shapes the fate of all middle-earth. female desire with consequences on such a massive scale is about as feminist as it gets, and divorcing galadriel from her connection to sauron isn't the progressive slay some think. quite the opposite. it's degrading. nobody has to ship it, but the danger is in the antis upholding harmful patriarchal ideas of womanhood.
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jackdaniel69nice · 4 months ago
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How about Tokoyami and Aizawa relationship together? They don’t seem to interact very much but I feel like they would share the same vibe.
You know it’s funny you say that…I have a bit of a controversial opinion on that haha.
Look I love dadzawa content but fanon goes a little off the rails making him a caring and supportive father…this man is not that. He is cold and critical and purposefully discourages his students to weed them out. His actions show more than his words by doing everything in his power to saving them. He does care about them but he does not show it well. He purposely keeps a distance between himself and his students. While tokoyami and aizawa prioritizes rationality above all else that similarity actually strains their relationship more than anything else.
Because tokoyami is so strict on himself and doesn’t allow himself to feel emotional responses to anything the extra criticism from aizawa is encouraging these bad habits. Tokoyami is already so hard on himself for his failures and Aizawa just creates more pressure with his threats of expulsion or reminding him he will die if this is a real battle. Tokoyami already knows this and the stress is slowly breaking him.
This is why he gets along so well with hawks I think. Hawks is very free spirited and encourages a more emotional and even silly side from fumikage. Even if Tokoyami doesn’t realize the reason he feels better around hawks is because he’s actually being more open and emotional. At first hawks ignored him which is a sort of neutral stance but then after tokoyami decided to catch up to him on his own he became encouraging and inspiring. He took him flying, he said he has potential, he said “those who can fly, should fly” and totally flipped Tokoyami’s world view on his head. No one has ever believed in him before, no one ever encouraged him, it was ground breaking.
As far as UAs teachers go Tokoyami actually likes aizawa the least for this reason. A teacher should be someone who encourages you and also pushes you to be better. Aizawa is a “firm hand” and while that may work for other students tokoyami has had far too many of those hands strike him down to feel believed in or even safe around aizawa. He needs a gentle and kind teacher, someone he can feel safe enough to go to for advice and support. In case it wasn’t obvious toko has had lots of problems with teachers in the past and is slightly afraid of them. He has also had problems with heroes. He tries to be on his best behavior around adults in general.
The thing that obviously scares him most about aizawa is his quirk. He doesn’t like when shadow is erased, it makes him nervous and shadow is always a bit disoriented afterwards. He keeps thinking that if aizawa tried to attack him he wouldn’t be able to escape (even if that situation is very unlikely…unless shadow was in a rampage…). He feels bad for not being able to trust aizawa when the man has clearly shown he will do anything to protect his class. He just doesn’t believe Aizawa would protect him specifically :(
Shadow is also afraid of aizawa for the same reasons. No adults have ever listened to them before and Aizawa doesn’t seem very open minded (dark shadow is actually wrong about this assumption). Dark shadow tries to keep from talking in front of him as much as possible. It is inevitable that they would slip up eventually but aizawa seemed surprisingly cool about them being out when they’re not supposed to?? (Shadow you are wrong about him he is nice and understanding I promise). Maybe Aizawa talks to nezu about Dark Shadow and understands a bit better about what they need and how their training should look. Both birds are very surprised when he starts addressing shadow directly in training. It says something about shadows past treatment that even if aizawa is the teacher they don’t like the most that the man still treats shadow with common decency.
Regardless I think toko stays to the shadows of 1-a so to speak so aizawa doesn’t pay much individual interest in him for quite a while. Once shinso joins class 1-a (however you imagine that happening) he has more free time for one on one training so he offers tokoyami a chance for training at night. Tokoyami immediately refuses. Aizawa makes it obvious that it’s not actually a request but an order and tokoyami relents. After getting erased several times in a row shadow is very sluggish and disoriented, after a few more times toko is having trouble getting them to manifest or wake up at all. He doesn’t want aizawa to think he is making excuses so he keeps trying to train without saying anything. Eventually tokoyami also becomes disoriented and passes out and aizawa is very upset toko didn’t mention anything (not to mention worried because he doesn’t actually know what’s wrong).
Once they are feeling better aizawa immediately berates them on keeping their discomfort a secret. Something snaps in toko and he says “why would I tell you anything when I don’t even trust you.” They have to have a long talk about Tokoyami’s frustrations with Aizawa’s teaching style. Even if Aizawa doesn’t suddenly become a reliable and empathetic teacher he is more careful about beating toko down and no longer a direct hinderance to their progress. Maybe shadow even feels good enough to come out during his class~
(This doesn’t have to be the only scenario where a resolution occurs but what’s important is that toko will not say anything about his issues until he is prompted or his hand is forced)
Eventually tokoyami could be forced to talk about his fear openly with aizawa and could be reassured that aizawa would never hurt him. Once again Aizawa would need to be paying close attention to Tokoyami’s behavior and subdued behavior around him. Then he could truly become a reliable figure in tokos life which would be nice.
As far as aizawa’s opinion on tokoyami goes when nezu told him about toko’s…history he was expecting a problem child but toko didn’t seem to stand out at all and never caused any issues. A good but albeit confusing kid. He quickly learns dark shadow is the actual trouble maker and doles out specific punishment for them if they act out. I’m not sure if aizawa is fully aware of how bad it was when toko lost control at the training camp but he did place his room next to aoyama in the dorms so he probably knew something happened.
I just want a final result of aizawa giving him head pats (without him flinching) and shadow coming over to his desk to play with his stapler and capture scarf while toko is trying to take a test and needs to focus.
PS if anyone has any different hcs for aizawa and toko with good reasoning I’d love to hear it!
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mrs-stans · 1 month ago
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Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong Say Their Trump Movie Is a Tragedy, Not a Mockery
The “Apprentice” stars and the director Ali Abbasi say their film is a “humanistic” treatment of the former president and his mentor, Roy Cohn.
By Kyle Buchanan
It’s natural to feel nervous before presenting your movie at a major film festival. But in late August, when the director Ali Abbasi boarded a flight to the Telluride Film Festival, he wasn’t even sure if his new movie “The Apprentice” — a fictionalized look at the Machiavellian bond between the young Donald J. Trump (Sebastian Stan) and the lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) — would be permitted to play there at all.
“It was really crazy what happened, and I spared Jeremy and Sebastian some of it, but it is a demoralizing feeling,” Abbasi admitted during a recent video call with his two stars. The former president had been threatening legal action against “The Apprentice” since its May debut at the Cannes Film Festival, which chilled distributor interest in the movie for months and made it a controversial prospect for any subsequent festival willing to show it.
“If a movie comes out and people think it’s bad or it’s flawed, you can deal with that,” Abbasi said. “But when it goes into a safe box indefinitely, that was heavy.”
In the end, Trump failed to follow through on his threats, Telluride played the movie without incident and “The Apprentice” ultimately found a distributor in Briarcliff Entertainment, which will release the film on Friday. Still, Strong was perturbed by how many major studios were unwilling to take on the film and potentially incur the presidential candidate’s wrath.
“You think that things could be banned in North Korea or Russia or certain places, but you don’t think that will ever happen here,” Strong said. “It’s a real dark harbinger that it even nearly happened.”
Written by Gabriel Sherman, “The Apprentice” begins with Trump in his 20s as he toils under his real-estate magnate father and aspires to become a momentous figure in his own right. Still, Trump’s ambition exceeds his ability until he meets the savvy Cohn, who takes the young man under his wing and imparts ruthless rules for success that will eventually launch Trump onto the highest stage imaginable.
“The Apprentice” could be an awards-season player for Stan, best known as the Marvel super-soldier Bucky Barnes, and for Strong, the Emmy-winning “Succession” actor who recently took home a Tony for “An Enemy of the People.” But will the politically charged fervor around the movie help or hurt their bids?
“Here’s the crazy thing: I don’t think this movie is controversial,” Abbasi said. “It’s retelling information that is freely and readily available everywhere, and it’s fact-checked and triple-checked. So my big question is, what is the problem?”
Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.
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At the beginning of the film, Sebastian, you play Trump as much more soft-spoken and abashed than we’re used to seeing him.
SEBASTIAN STAN Go rewatch Netflix’s [docuseries] “An American Dream,” look at all the early footage of him standing in front of a committee with a giant yellow ’70s tie and trying to find the right words to express himself. Watch him in the courtroom when he’s with Roy waiting to get the tax abatement: You’re seeing a starry-eyed kid who’s doing his best to keep his chin up and feign confidence. We need to stop talking about him like he’s a being from outer space. He’s been made on this planet like the rest of us.
ALI ABBASI There is a version of this you can read as the becoming of a monster. There’s also another version, which is this human tragedy: Were there other possibilities for these people if their whole world was not reduced to winning and taking?
JEREMY STRONG I 100 percent see it as a human tragedy, the way that I saw “Succession” as a tragedy of late-stage capitalism. With that show, we were at a party at Adam McKay’s house [he was a producer on “Succession”] the night of the election in 2016, and we had our first table read [the next] morning. Then Trump was elected, and that changed the whole container of the show and the way it spoke to the country. There’s an idea I think about a lot that applies to both of those things, something that Jung said: “Where love is absent, power fills the vacuum.”
What’s exciting about this movie is that it touches the third rail of all of these things, which not a lot of work frankly does these days. The world is on fire, and it feels like a lot of our business veers more and more toward laundry-folding content and things that are relatively safe.
Some people, sight unseen, have accused the film of “humanizing” Trump. What’s your response to that?
STRONG It’s a humanistic interrogation and investigation of these people. Ali is not making “The Great Dictator” — it’s not a farce, it’s not a cartoon. We’re trying to hold a mirror up to this world and these individuals and try to understand how we got here.
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“I don’t think this movie is controversial,” the director Ali Abbasi said. “It’s retelling information that is freely and readily available everywhere.”
ABBASI I think it’s a dangerous thing to start thinking, “Oh, you humanize someone too much.” Why would that ever be a problem?
With independent films, there’s always a risk that the work will never be widely seen. This is an unusual case where a high-profile indie was in danger of never being seen at all.
ABBASI During the summer when people were saying there’s a chance this is not going to be shown, I was angry. I thought, “Oh, they’re going to rip me off, they’re going to sell it and not give me money.” I could not believe it, honestly, and I kept asking different people, “How is this possible?” I come from Iran and I’m used to dictators and authoritarian governments, but I always thought whatever fault there is with American society, freedom of speech is not one of the problems.
STRONG We live in such a binary time. There’s such black-and-white thinking and a real failure to contain complexities or dualities, and I think that’s part of what has gotten us into trouble societally.
Though the movie is coming out just weeks before the presidential election, it’s been in development for years.
ABBASI We tried to make the movie many times and it fell through. I remember the time after Jan. 6, it was like looking at a stock market crash the day after: Everyone was like, “No thank you, no thank you.” Finally, when Jeremy came on board, you could actually start to see the movie in its whole.
STRONG At no point was the intention to release this in the middle of an election. This wasn’t purpose-built for that. There was never a plan to make this a political act or a hand grenade to be dropped in the middle of the election. It is, I think, incredibly fortuitous timing that it can come out at a moment where it has the potential to illuminate something about the inner workings of this man, but it stands alone as a film.
Sebastian, what did your friends and family say when you told them you were playing Trump?
STAN Pretty sure my mom said, “At least you get to shave.” But I asked a lot of people about it, actually. A C.E.O. of a studio told me not to do it because I was going to alienate half the country, and a casting director who I respect very much said, “We don’t need another Trump movie, you’re never going to get any applause for it.” And then there were other people saying, “Are you going to be worried about your safety?” But for some reason every time somebody said, “Don’t do it,” it made me want to do it more.
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“We need to stop talking about him like he’s a being from outer space” Stan said of Trump. “He’s been made on this planet like the rest of us.”
Cohn takes on Trump as his protégé, but the movie hints that there’s a sexual undercurrent to the older man’s interest, too.
ABBASI If you look at who was Roy’s type, it was young, tall, blond guys. I mean, Donald Trump was basically his type. Now, does it mean that was the reason they met and developed a relationship? Not solely, not necessarily. Jeremy’s going to shoot me down now, but it felt like he was someone who was turned on by the idea of impossible love a little bit, and Donald, in a way, was an impossible love.
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“We’re trying to hold a mirror up to this world and these individuals and try to understand how we got here,” said Strong, left.
STRONG I don’t disagree with Ali on that, although I was interested in exploring what I felt was a rather chaste, platonic form of love that exists between men, which is friendship. But what did he see in him? Roy cultivated influence. It allowed him to feel elevated above the crowd, and he saw something in Donald that mirrored himself. There’s also that idea that when a student is ready, a teacher appears. They just happen to meet in this moment in time where he [Cohn] could sort of be Iago and blow poison into his ear.
Ali, when the film debuted at Cannes and Trump threatened to file a lawsuit, you said, “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people. They don’t talk about his success rate, though.” You appeared unbothered, but how did you really feel?
ABBASI I learned a lesson when I did “Holy Spider,” my last movie. I knew that it was going to be controversial and sit badly with the Iranian government, then a teaser came out and the speaker of the Parliament said he thinks it is blasphemy. You realize that you are dealing with forces that are so much bigger than you as a human being or as an artist, but what can I do? Am I going to take the next flight, go and talk to the speaker of the Parliament and say, “No, I’m not blasphemous”?
In that way, we are sort of riding on the back of the dragon whether we like it or not. The other part is, I think a lot of what is happening right now is a knee-jerk reaction of people who have not watched the movie yet. For me, this conversation becomes real when the movie comes out, when people actually have seen it, when Mr. Trump has seen it. I would be super interested to know what he thinks either way. He might learn something. I’m not saying it in a condescending way, but he might.
Though the timing of this release is fraught, what are the good things about it coming out so close to the election?
ABBASI For me, this would be as relevant in December or next January as it is now. In that way, I don’t think we need the election to make us relevant, but am I not excited about us being in an interaction with the back of the dragon? I would lie to you if I wasn’t.
STRONG It’s mandatory viewing for any sentient beings right now who care about what’s happening in this country, and I think it offers vital insight, which could move the needle in a real way. In this moment where we’re surrounded by rhetoric of hate and divisiveness, I think art has a place and film has a place.
STAN I worry that people are desperate for answers and for guidance. They want to be told how to feel, they want to be told what’s right and what’s wrong. This whole discomfort with the film only reflects why it’s important: It isn’t just what you’re learning about Trump, it’s also what you’re learning about yourself from Trump.
I worry that we’re not going deeper anymore with how we approach things. We’re just reading Wikipedia pages. If that’s what you’re going to do, then you’ll just float among the rest of the ghosts of Christmas past. But the rest of us, at least, are going to try and get to the bottom of some things.
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gloriousburden · 10 months ago
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Debunking the “thanos brainwashed loki” theory (kind of)
DISCLAIMER: i don’t really have any problems with people taking this theory more lighthearted/just as an headcanon/au sort of thing, my issue is when it is accepted as fully canon, and words, meanings, and statements in interviews are completely twisted. people too often use it to mischaracterize loki, and disregard any of his motives, acts, and issues.
when i first got into the mcu and started interacting with the fandom, i too believed this theory when i first heard about it. until i thought about it a little more, and learned more about loki.
i’m aware that this is a little controversial to say since a lot of people truly take the theory as canon and have basically forever now… but in all honesty i REALLY don’t think it’s true. but let me just state that yes, loki definitely was persuaded/coerced into doing the things he did in avengers by thanos and his goons in order to retrieve the tesseract, that’s very canon as we can see in the scene of loki interacting with the other. loki fears thanos for a reason. thanos is a piece of shit and is shown to be a piece of shit to others including nebula and gamora, who were supposed to be his “daughters”. if he would torture his own “children”, why wouldn’t he torture and subject a stranger that he wanted to use to get the tesseract? so loki definitely was tortured.
i know there’s these two interviews, one with tom hiddleston (here) and the other with joss whedon that confirm loki went through a lot of horrible things between the ending of thor 1 and the beginning of avengers. they don’t necessarily give any specifics, just that it was really bad for him. please forgive me as i cannot find the joss whedon one right now, but i believe it was a video. the article with tom hiddleston which i’ve linked, is him saying “I think somewhere between the end of Thor and the beginning of The Avengers, Loki has been to the Marvel equivalent of the 7th circle of hell. At the end of Thor you see him let go. He lets go of the spear, he lets go of Asgard, and he lets go of the need of his brother and father’s affection and approval. He has bigger plans now.” and joss whedon pretty much said the same (in regards to loki going through horrible things between thor and avengers) from what i remember.
(but even with that being said, i’m going to focus more on canon rather than interviews.)
i’m not here to disprove that loki was tortured, i fully believe that he was and it makes sense considering thanos’ character, but i’m here to prove that he wasn’t FULLY brainwashed into doing what he did.
also trust me, i know that most of the movies loki has been in disregard a lot of the shit he’s been through, but i do feel that if he was truly forced into it, it would’ve been elaborated on. which i will elaborate on in this post.
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if anyone was brainwashed into committing the acts loki committed in avengers, they would be very distraught and traumatized when they eventually gained full consciousness and realized that they did those things. examples of this in the mcu being clint (who is literally in the same movie), as well as bucky who really was brainwashed by hydra into being an assassin, and is shown as being deeply traumatized when the brainwashing is undone. even if he didn’t commit those acts intentionally, and in his own will.
we can see in the dark world that loki was not really shown to be regretful about what he did. and honestly, i don’t think that was just them choosing not to show loki as being vulnerable, or them disregarding loki’s issues (per usual) because we actually get to see some of his true feelings, as well as him having a breakdown in the movie. he is willingly vulnerable. “now you see me, brother.”
he is shown to be deeply troubled, and vengeful about the possibility of him unintentionally leading algrim/kurse to frigga, the fact he was locked up and unable to be of any sort of help, as well as obviously frigga’s death in general. it was something that was truly done unintentionally by loki.
if loki had really unintentionally, and unconsciously committed the acts he did, he would be shown to be very distraught about it in the dark world, and it would’ve been elaborated on.
the approach the writers, as well as tom hiddleston wanted to take for loki’s character in the dark world was one that showed us as the audience, and as fans of loki more about him, as well as to see him at his most vulnerable, so why would they leave out his supposed trauma from brainwashing? because that’s not really how it happened.
they would have shown him be vulnerable about being brainwashed, and doing something unintentionally if it were something that really happened. since loki’s writing in the dark world was meant to “humanize” him. we’ve seen him at his most villainous in the last movie, so now let’s see him at his lowest in the one after that.
a major point of mine that disproves the theory is that although loki is shown to fear thanos, he’s not necessarily doing this whole thing JUST for him. he is also focused on ruling over earth, rather than just retrieving the tesseract.
if he was brainwashed, however, he would’ve got the tesseract to thanos without anything in return. thanos wouldn’t have had to bargain with loki, or offer earth/an army to him. he would have just mind controlled him with the scepter, the same way loki did with clint, and called it a day.
another point that disproves the theory is that if loki truly was mind controlled by the scepter, he would act almost robotic, and would be quite still, only doing things when told/motioned to the same way clint was when the scepter was first used on him in the beginning of the movie. (i’ve linked this scene further down in this post when i talk about the misconceptions of loki’s eyes being the same blue as the character’s who were mind controlled.) loki clearly says, and does whatever he wants in the movie. this would not really be the case if he were being mind controlled.
(also another example of loki realizing he had partially caused something unintentionally was thor’s banishment. he is shown to be quite nervous about the fact that thor got banished, although it did end up working in his favor later on in the movie.)
loki has shown many times, even before avengers when he is undeniably a villain, that he has no issues with hurting people to get what he wants. people who use the theory and accept it as canon often (i kind of hate this word, so forgive me for the lack of better words) infantilize and mischaracterize loki as being this character who is completely innocent, and helpless. and that he only became “bad” in avengers. meanwhile loki has always (always meaning since after/during the events of thor 1) been shown as a manipulative character with dark thoughts and violent tendencies. in thor 1, he committed genocide against the frost giants BEFORE he was under the influence of thanos or the scepter.
(let me state that i’m not saying loki is a bad person or a psychopath who just goes off hurting people left and right merely for the fun of it. i’ve elaborated on this, as well as loki’s motives in this post. but basically i’m saying that loki does everything he does with reason, and purpose. he is conniving, and calculated with his decisions. he doesn’t get satisfaction in hurting people, he gets satisfaction in getting closer to his goals.)
loki is already a “tragic victim” type character. you don’t need to erase that he’s capable of and willing to do wrong, and imply that those things were very out of character for him to prove that. characters can simultaneously do bad things out of their own will, while having a shitty past. not all victimized characters are completely innocent, and without flaws.
loki is never shown to have any love for midgard, or midgardians in general. he genuinely wanted to rule over them. in thor 1, loki says “i never wanted the throne, i only ever wanted to be your equal.” in thor 1. but in avengers, he says “i’ve grown, odinson, in my exile.” showing that he, and his motives have changed since then. he’s not the same person he was in thor 1, begging for his father’s love and recognition. not wanting a throne isn’t the case for him anymore. if he wasn’t able to prove himself to his own father, then midgardians were the next option.
in the dark world, loki no longer cares for odin’s approval. “he’s not my father!” “i didn’t do it for him.” as well as banishing/exiling him, and taking his throne. his focus shifting from odin’s approval as his own son in thor 1, to the approval of midgard as their king in avengers, to the approval of asgard as their king in the dark world, shows how loki’s character and his motives developed and changed with each movie. he realized that odin will never approve of him as his own son, let alone as king of asgard. thor 1 was just the start.
the reason this is relevant to disproving the theory, as well as the points i’m trying to make are:
1. the motives were already there. the will to do bad things, was already there before thanos and even the scepter’s influence/interference.
2. loki has changed between thor 1 and avengers, and he didn’t need to be brainwashed for this change to happen. he didn’t change and become “evil” because of what thanos put him through.
3. some people who take the theory as canon, believe that loki is fully good and would have never willingly hurt others to get what he wants, or to prove a point. which could not be further from the truth.
i know most of this won’t really make sense to people who already know these things, but my words (and this post in general) are more directed to/are about those who use this theory to try and make loki seem like he’s a character who only started doing bad things, due to being brainwashed. that he’s a character who would never do anything wrong against his own will. meanwhile, he’s exhibited “bad” behaviors willingly since the first movie he was in.
he’s a character with manipulative tendencies, and deep rooted resentment and jealousy towards those put above him. he is insecure, and is willing to do anything to prove himself worthy.
also a lot of the things and points that the people who believe this theory as canon use as proof are things that have been debunked. a point that they often use is that marvel has confirmed that loki was influenced by the scepter. but the only thing they confirm is that it heightened his anger and negative feelings. a big issue is that people hear “influenced” and misunderstand, taking it as a confirmation that loki was mind controlled, and not that the scepter was just amplifying his negative emotions that were already there, and have been since thor 1.
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(link to the whole page.)
nowhere does it say that he was brainwashed, or mind controlled. influenced? yes, that’s what the scepter does.
another thing is people talking about his eyes supposedly being the same blue as clint’s, and erik selvig’s when they were under the influence of the scepter. when in reality… their proof of this is just lighting, edited photos, or them mistaking loki’s eyes as being green when they’re actually blue. tom hiddleston has blue eyes, and loki in avengers has the same blue eyes that he did in thor 1, before he even met thanos. his eyes aren’t green, and have never been. (also if loki was MIND CONTROLLED by the scepter, his eyes would be EXTREMELY blue, considering his natural eye color is blue.)
examples:
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he has the same beautiful big blue eyes eye color. not the insanely bright blue that clint, or erik selvig had when they were mind controlled by the scepter.
more examples:
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guys, if loki was being controlled by the scepter… his eyes would be the same color as theirs since the cgi was purposely used to make their eyes very unrealistically blue so that everyone would know they were being controlled. these two characters both have blue eyes. these pictures show them before being mind controlled/brainwashed, versus afterwards. also… his eyes would be that same blue throughout the movie. which they’re not… clint’s eyes remained that bright blue until the mind controlling was undone by natasha.
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it won’t let me add any more pictures so forgive me, but trust me… it’s not the same blue. loki’s eyes do look a little brighter here so maybe i understand the misconception a little bit, but that’s due many factors that can be explained. one being the makeup put on tom hiddleston in this scene to make his skin lighter as well to make him appear exhausted. another factor being the lighting!! as someone with blue eyes, i know that basically anything can make them appear a different shade. but that even goes for other eye colors. that’s just how it works. another thing to mention is that tom hiddleston is naturally blonde and has warmer skin than this. the contrast of the darker hair and the makeup (ESPECIALLY the makeup used to make his under-eye area look dark, which is only used like that in this scene btw) will make his eyes look really bright especially when he already has bright blue eyes. here’s the scene.
another example of his eye color being this post of mine right here. he literally has the same eyes
we can see that the avengers, specifically the hulk, were influenced by the scepter as well. but their eyes weren’t bright blue, because they weren’t being brainwashed by it and instead their negative emotions that were already there were being heightened. this caused cap and tony to argue even more, bruce banner to become angry and emotional about being the hulk, everyone else to become more hostile, etc… these were pre existing issues. loki’s resentment towards thor as well as his need for approval were pre existing.
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anyway i will probably update this in the future if there’s anything i left out/to correct mistakes.
moral of the story is, loki was canonically tortured, subjected, and manipulated by thanos. but even with that being said, he was not necessarily brainwashed and he was definitely not brainwashed by the scepter. there is no canon proof of that. the scepter only heightened his negative emotions that were already there.
if loki really was brainwashed, don’t you think he would’ve just retrieved the tesseract for thanos without wanting to rule over earth? it would’ve been that simple. but since that isn’t true and loki was consciously and intentionally doing these things, he wanted something in return. neither clint, nor erik selvig wanted anything in return. they did whatever loki needed them to, unconsciously.
people tend to take the proof of his torture, and mistake it as proof of him being brainwashed for some reason. loki is not an innocent character who only started exhibiting “bad” behaviors in avengers. just because he’s done bad things doesn’t mean that you cannot love him, sympathize with him, or see him as the true victim in the story. he is the god of mischief. he is manipulative, and has deep rooted issues that causes him to do bad things in order to prove himself. you don’t need to dumb down his character, and motives in order to like him.
sorry if none of this makes any sense. i’m really bad at explaining my own thoughts and putting them into words, and i’m sure this could’ve been worded better. i just made this to clear things up as well as give my own take on the theory. don’t take it too seriously but also feel more than welcome to correct me on anything, as well as add your own take or anything else onto this.
thank you for reading!!
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aprocessionofthoughts · 21 days ago
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Meet My Clone Sister
ectoberweek24 day 6- two sentence tw- none summary- the Hogwarts trio meets Ellie
masterlist ao3 part 2 of CvH
They had been in Amity a week and everything still seemed extremely weird. And it wasn’t just the classes. It was also the fact that they used electricity and other muggle tech. And all around the town there were signs of magic. It was so strange to see signs of magic in what looked like a muggle environment. 
Harry kept waiting for aurors to show up to obliviate everyone.
And the classes taught at Casper made him and Ron uncomfortable, and Hermione was always bordering on arguing about the content. Harry didn’t struggle as much. He hadn’t grown up believing blood magic and necromancy were evil like Ron, and he hadn’t delved into studying all things about British magical history like Hermione.
But of course, Harry’s life was never simple.
“Is that your sister?” Harry asked, pointing to a girl who looked about two years younger than Danny, although they looked like they could be twins. They were at lunch and Harry was trying not to think too hard about what was in the food. He definitely preferred Hogwarts meals. He had seen the girl before and been curious. 
“Ellie? No. She’s my clone sister.”
“What?” Hermione asked, dropping her spoon.
“Oh yeah. There’s this creep that wants to kill my dad, marry my mom, and take me as his son. Since we kept refusing he tried to clone me.” Danny smiled at his…sister. She waved at them, coming over.
“Hey, I’m Ellie. You guys are the visitors from the weird magic school, right?” she plopped down on the seat next to Danny, reaching over to steal one of his fries.
“And you’re a clone?” Hermione said, her eyes flickering between Danny and Ellie.
“Yup.” she said, stealing another fry from Danny. 
“What’s a clone?” Ron asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.
Hermione stared at him. 
“Well, you see,” Ellie started, and Danny snorted, “when a Fruitloop is so obsessed with having another woman’s son as his own, he takes some of his DNA, and makes a baby, that he then grows with magic till they’re about the right age, then he tells them that they’re meant to replace the original, but they’re too smart and decide they’d rather be the original’s sister, and they both beat up the Fruitloop.”
Harry stared at her incredulously. Beside him he could see Ron gaping, and Hermione opening and closing his mouth.
Across from them Danny rolled his eyes while Tucker and Sam laughed.
“That’s not quite how it happened.” Danny said. “But basically yeah.”
“You have a Dark Lord?” Hermione finally managed to say.
“He wishes he was a Dark Lord.” Danny said, chuckling.
“What even is a Dark Lord anywary.” Sam said, rolling her eyes. “Is it just someone who does magic you don’t agree with? What is it that makes someone a Dark Lord, and who gets to decide?”
“Sam,” Tucker interrupted, “let’s not get philosophical again.”
She huffed and crossed her arms but fell quiet.
“Besides, Vlad’s a Fruitloop, not a Dark Lord.” Danny said, rolling his eyes.
Hermione looked like she wanted to argue about the Dark Lord thing, but Ron elbowed her in the side. She glared at him, but picked up her spoon and angrily started eating again.
Harry decided to redirect the conversation. “So, why don’t you have Defense Against the Dark Arts?”
“What’s really considered dark?” Sam started, but Tucker spoke up quickly.
“I think we cover the same basic concepts when it comes to spellcrafting. And there’s classes on the different magical races–”
“The people you classify as creatures.” Sam interrupted, glaring.
Tucker continued as if she hadn’t spoken, which was probably for the best. “and their history and traditions. But that’s more of a social class. It’s still a required gen ed so we can be more aware of each other.”
“Really?” Hermione asked, sounding interested. “I wish they taught that at Hogwarts.”
Sam opened her mouth, probably to make another controversial comment, But Danny spoke over her.
“You can probably buy the textbooks to take back with you when you leave at the end of the semester.”
Harry relaxed, glad that it didn’t look like they’d be getting into another debate.
This was a strange place. But he was eager to learn more about magic, even if it was different than Hogwarts.
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homestuckreplay · 2 months ago
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gardenGnostic alien theory [not clickbait]
(page 696-706)
9/25, 9/26, 9/27/2009 Wheel Spins: Parent Bad :(, Captchalogue Lore, Dramatic Irony Verdict: ❌ NO LONGER RELEVANT ❌
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Gonna say something controversial but true: Can Town needs more cans. WV keeps introducing non-can elements, such as ‘roads’ and ‘trees’ and ‘splodgy chessboard’ and it’s just not very can-focused anymore. It is still the most adorably charming way to deliver a major lore dump that I have ever seen, and so deeply cryptic.
WV visually talks us through the cosmology of Sburb in a very similar way to Nannasprite a few hundred pages ago. Of course, WV was listening to Nannasprite’s exposition, so could be recreating what they’ve heard – but it seems like they have extra information, too. This Nannasprite lore is the part of the comic I most often go back to and reread so I guess grandmotherly wisdom is real.
NANNASPRITE: One [orb] goes down, to a kingdom entrenched in darkness. The other, up, to a kingdom basking in light! (p.424)
These kingdoms basking in light and darkness are definitely the ‘luminous planet’ (p.702) and ‘ominous planet’ (p.704) WV draws, although Nannasprite doesn’t mention any moons, and WV is certain of these. The ominous planet is ‘beyond an impenetrable veil of darkness’, which is what John sees when he gazes into the abyss below his house. Presumably the luminous planet is something he will reach on his way to Skaia if he begins to build up through the gates – since the forces of light are charged with Skaia’s protection.
NANNASPRITE: [The Medium] is where we are now! A realm that is a ring of pure void, dividing light and darkness. (p.421)
The four planets without satellites WV draws (p.703) are part of the Medium – more specifically, I think that small parts of these planets have been transported to the Medium. The lower left planet looks like Earth being hit by a giant meteor, so, could the other three be planets that have been destroyed by Skaian technology in different ways? The red planet (Mars?) has been enveloped by a large gray dust storm while the colorful planet and the black planet (Venus and Mercury?) both have strange clouds in orbit. If the Incipisphere is a realm that’s not part of Earth or its flow of time, it makes sense that other planets would be affected by it too, and that other planets with intelligent life might try to draw on Skaia’s power if they discovered it. Four planets, and four screens on WV’s monitor.
I think Rose and Dave are definitely from the same Earth as John but I could totally believe that GG is from a different planet. Rose’s ‘So, shall I expect a green package dropped to my house via airmail from whatever screwball cranny of the globe you're tucked into?’ becomes a great line if GG is not from this globe at all. So, maybe WV figuring out how to view other screens on the monitor is our lead-in to actually meeting GG and discovering what’s up with her.
NANNASPRITE: The Four Spires are situated above a throne, and these two thrones preside over the two respective Sovereign Powers! (p.424)
These Sovereign Powers must be the kings that WV detests so much. On this same page, the animation shows a chessboard – first a 3x3 with just the white and black kings, but as the orbs reach the spires of the light and dark kingdoms, the chessboard becomes a 12x12 (bigger than a standard chessboard) with a whole bunch of extra pieces, which roughly – but not perfectly – correspond to the pieces on an actual chessboard. This is the ‘stage’ that the forces of light and darkness duel on, and is clearly a place WV has either spent time in or spent time watching, because the chessboard is ‘the only logical pattern that occurs to [them]’ (p.697). So WV was in combat? Or possibly had someone close to them who was in combat, since they don’t seem designed for violence, and were forced to lose that person to this war?
NANNASPRITE: This is a war that the forces of light are always destined to lose, without exception! (p.424)
This line hits a little different after meeting WV. They would have won the war. Their side was fated to succeed, but something was important enough to them that they betrayed their king and their planet and voluntarily resigned themself to wandering in rags? I really think they have a more complicated history than we’re let in on right now. There’s a trope I’ve seen in books and movies where a child who has been through something traumatic doesn’t talk about it, but a teacher or carer figures it out through art the kid has drawn. I don’t know how based in reality this trope is, but I’m thinking about it in the way the ‘ominous planet’ is hidden behind pipes and coils of rope and massive messy smears of motor oil, compared to the lovingly crafted clouds of the rest of the scene.
Also, my can research paid off, because I am 99.9% sure that the mayonnaise (the only food from WV’s stash not found canned in real life) was put there so that they could make the ‘MAYOR’ sash. Planted because the (likely reader-submitted) commands ‘Clear out all the cans inside the purple machine’ (p.681) and ‘Become the mayor of Can Town’ (p.685) fit so well together. I kinda love the thought of three people’s brains in different places momentarily being on the exact same wavelength and creating this cute moment.
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strawberry-milkbunny · 1 year ago
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I have no one to talk to about Tokyo Rev so here r my random hot takes that I need to say:
- Emma and Hina r boring and used as romance plot devices it’s okay to admit that Wakui can’t write women idk I don’t expect shounen/men to be able to write girls well (still cried when Emma died tho bc she didn’t deserve it!!!)
- lol I LOVE Yuzuha and Senju tho
- I actually do like Emma and Draken together but I also firmly believe Draken is in love w/Mikey and was just projecting onto Emma LMAO
- Yuzuha is a lesbian
- Controversial: I don’t think Shinchiro was THAT great of an older brother. Like he was cool but he still introduced Mikey and Izana into the world of gang life/normalizing violence and yeah OG Black Dragons isn’t like that but….what do u expect when u form a gang??? .obviously there’s a high chance that it’s gonna develop into LEGIT gang activity
- As an adult and someone who was basically raised by an older sibling w/a big age gap (my sis is 7 years older) I kinda don’t blame Takeomi for being a bad older brother??? Realistically he’s a 17 yr old in charge of raising 2 toddlers like NO SHIT he did a bad job. At least Shin had his grandfather to help out but Takeomi actually had no one. Doesn’t explain y he’s a brokey LOL buttttt again I don’t FULLY blame him for being a bad sibling still hurt my boi Sanzu 😤😤
- I HC that Mikey is used to having a caretaker (Draken and later Sanzu) bc when Shin died he was so depressed and genuinely couldn’t get out of bed
- Takemitchy is also lowkey boring/typical shounen protagonist and canonically stinky like Hina could do sm better. This is personal preference so I find myself wanting more chaotic/dumb protagonists who are slightly morally ambiguous like Denji, Gintoki, hell even Naruto at times. Takemitchy didn’t get character development until BD arc and that’s just a bit too long for me….
- Koko and Inui r gay and dating 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻
- the Haitani brothers r the kardashians of the TR universe they’re so embarrassing Deadass show up and pose/do absolutely nothing I LOVE THEM SHKSKSKSK
- I love how it’s universally agreed that Mitsuya and Chifuyu r the best bois
- I have mixed feelings about Izana. I genuinely do like him and DESPISE how he’s whitewashed by fanart
- I get it u genuinely just wanted to not be alone and found out ur adopted in the worst way possible but…..idk how that justifies killing ur own sister but u do u ig 🤷‍♀️ and u have KAKUCHO AS UR FAMILY WTH
- don’t listen to me tho I’m a Mikey and Sanzu stan LMAOO 🤭🤭🤭
- Izana is the definition of mommy issues and 100% had crunchy hair lik mans was homeless
- if I saw Izana IRL I would RUN 🏃‍♀️idk he looks a lil crazy
- also this man does not know Tagalog he didn’t even know he was Filipino until he was lik 12
- idk the Tenjiku arc is so funny to me bc Izana is deadass: imma kill everyone in Mikey’s life for revenge and Mikey is lik: bruh I didn’t even kno u existed until last week and now ur killing our sister UNPROVOKED ???
- Bonten!Mikey is a virgin/no libido mans is DEPRESSED
- wished the Bonten arc was longer simply for the outfits bc Wakui KNOWS FASHION but that shit was DEPRESSION
- 3 Deities Arc was amazing and also funny/serious at the same time. It literally was an all out brawl in an AMUSEMENT PARK
- fr tho wtf was Benkei, Wakasa and Takeomi doing there??? Like they’re canonically 27 GO GET A JOB STOP FIGHTING 15 YEAR OLDS SHKSKSKS
- U cannot tell me that Sanzu WASNT sad when Baji and Mucho died.
- Baji was straight up his childhood friend and the only one other than Senju who knows about the plane incident/Mikey’s possessive side. And In the OG!timeline I’m pretty sure Baji was the only friend Sanzu DIDNT attack. While with Mucho he was pretty much his older brother, Sanzu just decided Mikey was better
- Tbh if the dark impulses/Shin thing wasn’t real I would’ve firmly believed Mikey had DID or something. Which again made only worse by the fact that violence and death is such a regular thing in his life (GET THIS MAN THERAPY LIK WTF IS SHIN AND GRANDPA SANO DOING???)
- Kazutora going a lil crazy is lowkey expected and I hate how we only find out about his home life in the character books. This kid grew up in a physically and mentally abusive household (gaslight to pick between parents and as s/o who has experienced that shit it’s fucked up) and I rlly don’t think prison helped out his mental stability either no shit he tried to kill Mikey
- I don’t ship Mikey and Takemichy (despite the IMMENSE gay ness btwn them) firmly bc I think everyone can see how much power Takemitchy has over Mikey idk it has a weird power dynamic like if Takemitchy tried he could 100% control Mikey (platonically or romantically)
- Baji, Chifuyu and Kazutora r a throuple
- I HATE how Sanzu is reduced to this crazy drug addict. Sanzu is canonically smart, manipulative, and formally trained fighter. He also REMEMBERS the OG timeline, he had to experience Shin dying twice and everyone else die no shit he’s a little bonkers/needs drugs to take everything away. Plus his relationship to Mikey which tbh is a whole separate post
- controversial !!!: I ship Mikey and Sanzu or Mikey and Draken. Sanzu only bc this man has a big ass crush and deserves some niceness for once
- ppl write Kakucho as this shy, nice guy like ur not wrong but mans is also running UNPROVOKED into Yakuza offices like it’s the gym while dragging Rindou wit him 😭😭😭
- the haitanis r the best sibling duo
- It lowkey makes me mad in fanfics where Ran is depicted as cheating w/Rin’s gf like??? This man raised his younger brother himself u cannot tell me he doesn’t love his brother and would actually do that to him
- Ran would 1000% do anything for Rin and i firmly believe he kinda regrets not saying anything in court to prevent Rindou frm joining him in jail. Like saying he forced Rindou to kill someone w/him, abusing his brother at home, etc especially in the Bonten! tl he def thinks about wtf he dragged his brother into
- I also don’t think they’ve slept w/ the same person before. Idk I feel like they have diff types like Ran goes for more motherly/mature types while Rindou goes for sweeter/shy types
- Draken has road rage
- Yuzuha should’ve been taller like AT LEAST 5’7 bitch is related to Hakkai and Taiju for gods sake
- OG BD 100% thought Wakasa was a girl for at least a month. He’s canonically 5’3 and pretty.
- Characters who r 100% bisexual: WAKASA, Senju,maybe Hina, Draken (def in denial), Rindou, Ran (he’s a whore as long as ur pretty he’s down), Sanzu, Koko, Kazutora, Chifuyu
- Mitsuya had a crush on Draken
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electricsynthesis · 7 months ago
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lance - sorry to teenagers in fanon in 2016 but I don’t think lance would listen to the pop hits of the 2010s. I think lance is too hip for that. He is not listening to pop from 100~ years ago. (Or more, nobody can agree on when the show takes place & I think that’s beautiful). lance is listening to the billboard top 100. He’s listening to what people are talking about . I imagine their pop music as very synthetic, almost edm, with loud vocals over top of it. Less bass than we have in our pop music, more tenor. he’s into particular celebrities and while he likes their music, and he says it’s about the music, he’s more into the celebrities really than the music. he’s into his eras version of, like, Britney Spears. Because they’ve gotta have an edge to them. Some controversy. if they’re too squeaky clean he gets bored
hunk - whatever the sci fi future equivalent of melancholy, heavily vocal guitar indie music. the kind of music that’s more poetry than it is really music. Stuff made by underground artists. it’s all emotional, ranging from sappy to comforting to sad. he likes love songs about pining but they make him really emotional . He also likes pop music generally, soft hip hop and r&b. also atmospheric music. He strikes me as the type of nerd to listen to a lot of video game osts because of the sweeping orchestral vibes, but for some reason refuses to just listen to actual classical music. Feels too pretentious but then he just listens to orchestras perform the video game osts anyway so lol
pidge - god’s most annoying electronica. I think 100 years of sci fi future is going to make hyperpop one of the whackiest music genres and pidge is right there with it. She wants pitchy, bit-crushed squealing. she wants electronic shrieking. she wants voices autotuned to the point of nigh unrecognizability. I think she also listens to more normal electronica, which I think is more mainstream in their era. Stuff we would associate with weird youtube electronica is a whole cast genre. She’s really into it. She knows all the bands, all the subgenres, all the specific sounds of each one. Matt finds this so fucking annoying because she plays it out loud and he h a t e s it. After she joins team voltron lance gets to take over matts place here
keith - forgive me for this, but I do think keith listens to what WE would call numetal. But it’s like. Classic metal, to him. Og metal. Like I think he literally listens to linkin park. I’m saying that keith kogane listens to 100 year old music. He heard it all from his crazy ass paranoid conspiracy theorist father, who only uses analogue tech because he’s terrified of the garrison finding out about his fuzzy purple alien long distance wife and his alien hybrid child. so he plays like, breaking Benjamin cds on an old boombox. This is the only kind of music keith likes . He’s ok with modern metal but he prefers what we would call classic metal. he doesn’t like emo music
allura -
So I have really detailed thoughts on what constitutes “music” and how that may be defined for alien cultures in sci fi. I’ve thought about this extensively since I was 14 and the conclusion I’ve come to is that altean music is the most industrial, heavy, absolutely dark fast paced noisemusic ever conceived. Metal grinding against metal. Plates shrieking against each other. Dull thumping on thick glass. String instruments that squeak and squeal. sudden starts and stops. Heavy drums you can feel in your teeth. clanking. whistling. wheezing. All the kinds of noises you hear in altean music. coran prefers more “classical” altean music, which entails more drums and strings (of the shrieking variety). allura prefers the “modern” (of her youth) altean music, their equivalent to pop, which is more industrial & metal grindy.
She excitedly shows the humans some altean music only to find them absolutely repulsed. Just, like, they’re trying to be nice. But when I say industrial I mean like, a collection of noises that we wouldn’t even categorize as music. so they can’t help the just inherent misunderstanding. except keith, he fucking LOVES it. He goes WILD for it. Allura convinces him to actually dance to it and they just flail around wildly.
he tries to show allura the music that he likes but sadly divorced dad rock doesn’t do much for her. But through their & pidge’s combined efforts into the forays of Abrasive Human Music they discover that allura also really likes death metal
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amourtoken · 1 month ago
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Okay I just got back from sweating off my makeup at the state fair and I conjured up a thought 🫡. I just watched this music video of theirs and I don’t know why but seeing Ari’s room served as some sort of inspiration 🤞🏽😞!! I think it’s because it was really giving me ‘older, stoner bf that doesn’t play around abt you’
So, back to being Ari’s controversially gf and the start of your relationship being during his oddy nuff days. He’s not that much older than you but enough for him to make jokes about your age/how he knows more than you about certain things, him teaching you how to properly take his fat cock despite all of the tears u shed during the painful yet enjoyable process of having him pop your cherry (see what I did there 😏?), having him be the first and only person to ever be settled between your plush thighs. Whenever you’re around him, you can’t help but flush at the intense security you feel with him by your side. Is it because of the age gap? Well yes, but also because of the fact that he always has one of his hands on you and isn’t afraid of showing that you’re his no matter what it takes. There are nights where you call him begging for him to come and pick you up from your parents house bc while you could do the risky thing and have him fuck you while everyone else is asleep, you’d much rather prefer being able to hear him and moan unapologetically at the slick noises coming from his cock pounding your pretty pussy. So, to have an ounce of privacy, you’ll have him pick you up in order to revel within his attention with no worries of being caught/having to quiet your moans. And no matter how fucking dirty the position the two of you are in, he’ll always remind you how much he loves you, how pretty his baby looks taking his cock and how your body & wet babydoll eyes have him under a spell.
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Okay that’s ENOUGH I have so much more to say but I’ll save that as to not overwhelm you 💌 LOVE YOU MY SISTER IN CHRIST
THIS IS MY FAVORITE CONCEPT OF ALL TIME IM GOING TO KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH
He already hates spending nights home alone without you so whenever you call him up begging in that sweet voice to see him cause you need him so bad he's pretty much instantly on the way cause how could he ever in a million years say no to you? He's even so courteous as to turn his music down when he's near your family's house so they don't know about him picking you up, how sweet. You try your best to keep your movements silent until you're out the door but after that you're pretty much running to meet him.
He'd 100% be leaning against the side of the car waiting for you (cause he always opens the door for you anyway) so you could crash into him in a tight hug, his arms immediately wrapping around you while he kisses the top of your head and holds you close. You're supposed to be secretive and low key but he's not skipping a chance to feel your body against his. It's not hard to tell how much he missed you without him saying a word either cause you can feel his dick pressed against your torso when you're hugging him, twitching at the sight of you (he can't help himself he loves you :(( )
You'd planned on waiting until you got back to his place to do anything but you're just as bad as him and can't keep your hands to yourself, dragging your nails up and down his thigh and palming his length through his sweatpants. It's really not even that long of a drive, maybe 20 mins tops, but you need him right now. He'd be all over you too if he weren't focusing on the road but he'll let you have your fun for now. Thank God for it being so dark out cause it helps hide when you pull his cock out and start pressing little kisses all over, smiling when you hear Ari sigh above you.
"You really couldn't wait a few more minutes? Shit- baby you're so good to me-"
he'd free up a hand just to tangle in your hair and help guide your rhythm while you're taking him down your throat. You can feel him pulsing in your mouth but you don't get to taste his cum yet cause he pulls you off as you get to his place. As much as it pains him to do so, he doesn't wanna get off just yet.
Once you're inside it's over for you though. The second the door closed behind you Ari dropped everything to turn and pick you up, wrapping your legs around his waist to keep you steady while he walked you to his room. He could've just stripped you there and fucked you against the front door but where's the romance in that? He's missed you and wants to really show you.
Ari drops you on his bed and immediately follows, leaning himself on top of you and grinding against you through your shorts. The whole interaction is so fucking messy, trying to strip eachother out of their clothes while messily making out and hating to ever seperate even if it's just long enough to undress. If you do break the kiss, his lips are immediately finding other places to go. He's leaving dark bruises on your throat and collar that you're gonna struggle to hide from your family but they're just symbolism of ownership to him, you belong to him in every way (he's a step away from getting you a collar with his name on it as further proof but that's another story)
You really don't need extra lube cause you're so fucking wet for him already but he spits on your pussy before slapping his fat cock against your clit making your hips jerk pathetically. Taking him is always a little bit of a struggle so you guess you won't complain, it's been a few days too so the stretch is intense. Ari holds himself up with an arm next to your head while his free hand roams your body, squeezing your tits and thighs, lovingly pressing against your stomach and sliding lower to help press himself into you. It's always one of those moments where you both sigh at the same time, foreheads pressed together while he sinks into you until you're whining and tearing up at the stretch.
"Good girl, takin' me so well. I missed you so fuckin' much baby- fuck-"
"God you're so fuckin' tight- shit- you feel so good"
You definitely got your wish from earlier, being able to be as loud as you both want to since you're at his place not yours. He sets a brutal pace from the start and you can't help but whimper and cry about how good it feels, his thick cock filling you entirely and knocking against your cervix every time he bucks into you. If he's feeling particularly evil he'll press a big hand just below your navel to feel how deep he's hitting inside of you, feeling his tip through your torso like you're nothing more than a fleshlight for him to fuck.
He'll never ever ever get sick of hearing you moaning his name like a Mantra, only muffling the sound when he leans in to kiss you (it's mostly a fucking mess of teeth and tongue anyway it's not rlly coordinated he just has to feel you). The closer you get the more desperate of a tone your voice takes on and it only drives him to fuck you harder. He's chasing your end as much as he is his own, freeing up his hands to press your knees up next to your ears so he can sink as deep as possible. It's a real struggle to keep your eyes from rolling back but why fight it? You can't decide which sound to focus on either; the headboard knocking against the wall, the way Ari's moans catch in his throat and turn to deep growls, the slick sound of your pussy taking him over and over, it's overwhelming.
All of these feelings catch up with you out of the blue as you cum around his cock with a broken yelp of his name, he doesn't slow down at all though, dragging you into overstimulation while he focuses on his own pleasure for once. The feeling of you tightening up even more around him drives him up a fucking wall and he's rambling about how good you feel, how much he loves you, misses you, how bad he wants to fuck a baby into you, all of it while his brain is fogging up before he spills into you as deep as he possibly can. You wish you were more conscious in the moment so you could enjoy it more.
Ari hates to but can't help but admire the way his cum spills out of you when he pulls out, leaving you feeling terribly empty. It's a good thing he's so good at aftercare, it makes up for the loss of contact. He doesn't get out of bed to grab you one of his shirts to throw on without kissing all over your face and reminding you he loves you :( you're his princess and deserve the whole entire world.
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meteors-lotr · 6 months ago
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4 16 18 and 33 for the ask game?
Oh god many at once okay
4. Which movie from the Lord of the rings is your favorite and why?
I have always found it very difficult to actually rank the lotr movies, cause not only all they all very similar in quality but they’re all also so connected to each other, so it’s difficult to think of them as separate from each other.
With that being said, I must say that The Fellowship of the ring is my favorite. It’s the movie where the main characters are actually all together for the majority of it, which like I know why they all had to be separated but it’s fun to see them all actually interact, which if you know me you know that I love seeing characters actually talking to each other. I mean I run an incorrect quotes blog for fucks sake.
16. Do you have a favorite orc?
My dad and I have always loved this dude lol
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His name is Guritz
18. Favorite soundtrack of the series?
Listen I will always love the original lord of the rings soundtrack, it is nothing but iconic
Buuuuuut, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack is just, very good. Like, very good
There’s of course the actual like, sung songs, like Misty Mountains and Blunt the Knives, but there’s also the classic Concering Hobbits music, the tragic My Dear Frodo, the foreboding Axe or Sword?, the whimsical The World is Ahead, the elegant but extreme Roast Mutton, the lighthearted A Very Respectable Hobbit, and the ever epic Out of the Frying-Pan
The music sets up the journey ahead so well, with it mostly being fun and exciting, but with an underlying dark tone throughout it, also the fact that the instrument of Misty Mountain became sorta the main theme is really brilliant and I get actual goosebumps every time it plays. Howard Shore knew what he was doing with the soundtrack, and he did it well. If you’re ever bored then check out the wiki page for the hobbit soundtrack, Shore goes into why he composed the songs the way he did and it’s all very fascinating to read.
33. What’s your favorite fight scene between all of them (Movies)?
This may be controversial, because yes I know that the battle of helms deep is incredible, as is the Moria Battle and Thorin’s duel with Azog
But I wish to draw all of your attention to the battle with the trolls, in the first Hobbit movie
It’s not a long battle, or particularly epic, but it shows of the strength of The Hobbit movies, with it being the dwarves and their relationships with each other. Because while all of the fellowship battles are great, it’s mostly just one character as an individual fighting against the enemy.
The dwarves all fight as one unit, taking advantage of each others strengths and covering each others weaknesses. You can see them boosting each other, doing combo moves, throw each other weapons, it’s all very cute and it’s very fitting for them, because they were all trained like this. In the scene where they do the dishes at Bilbo’s house, they are seen doing the same thing, and it makes sense for them.
I think it’s the most apparent in the trolls fight scene, because it’s simple, and a not very long fight, which I don’t like needlessly long fight scenes so that works for me. The music is also amazing, the Misty Mountains theme returning once more. I think the scene with the trolls is just brilliant as a whole, it’s one of my favorites of the series
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uncreativeuser27 · 1 year ago
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Happy Pride Month!!!
(Totally not two week late)
I had planned on doing some art with Jaiden since she’s aro-ace, but I didn’t have any ideas which is why it took so long. I decided I wanted to take inspiration from the latino culture of the server and find some salsa dancing poses. It might not be exactly salsa, but it’s still dancing, so I take what I can get
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I think my favorite details are the line art as well as the shading. I wasn’t planning on making it as dark, but then I fell in love with it and kept it. I’m really proud of the over all turn-out of the drawing, so yeah lmao
Here’s an alternate version with the separate flags:
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Rant time lmao
Jaiden video made me realize that I was asexual and that I was on the spectrum of being aromantic, and she did so while making me laugh and cringe from memories of school that were similar to her own. I’m not gonna go on and try to say that she’s under-appreciated or underrated, but I will say that I have heard about the controversy around that video, and I honestly don’t understand why it exists. Jaiden is one of the least controversial content creators ever, and her coming out video was focused more around love than sexual preference whatsoever. She has an impressive way of covering serious topic in a funny and light-hearted way, and I honestly admire her for it.
I know this is late, but I hope everyone’s been having a great pride month. Most importantly—I hope everyone’s staying safe. I understand that not everyone has an excepting environment (Hell, made an alternative coloring for this drawing so I could show my mom without it turning into a deep conversation lmao) but I hope you at least have friends that accept you. Always remember: You are valid and you are loved.
Happy Pride >:D
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puppy-phum · 2 years ago
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Pick Your Vice Versa Outfit ↳ Talay Rawi Edition [Puen ver.]
My Top 10 Talay Outfits for @stormyoceans​​​​  layout insp. [x]
+ bonus:
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(some thoughts under the cut!)
more rambles about these outfits for you monica! i hope you enjoy ^^
TOP 10 Talay Outfits explained:
10. Zebra Boy a stylish and flowy zebra print shirt with basic white slacks and talay’s signature white bag. this one is so silly but cool i had to include it. i actually am obsessed with both of the white & black print shirts tess owns but the other one is mostly worn my ohm in the series so i didn’t inlude it here (ep 2 when tess/talay goes to pester tun at the café). also i just like this scene a lot and couldn’t get over the “secret lover” -line. 
9. Reunion Blues a simple navy blue dress shirt and light colored pants plus talay’s round glasses. listen: am not a big fan of talay’s clothes in his own universe even if he looks adorable in them, but this one! this one is a legend. straight up iconic. he looks so pretty in dark blue and then we have this whole scene and ugh. just pure insanity. 
8. Goodbyes taste bitter an orange and white striped shirt and black jeans. am so obsessed with the v-neck of this shirt, it’s crazy. i don’t blame puen at all for instantly going like, “oh yes, that’s my bf now” bc honestly? very understandable. talay just looks so good in this shirt, holy hell. continues on the road of, “why must you dress up so nicely when the occasion is breaking my heart?” i guess these two are similar like that. 
7. Let us kiss again a red-blue-white striped sweater with red pants. i love this color combo on talay so much. blue and red just suit him. the shirt is also tight fitting and it’s amusing to see puen Struggling bc of it. man is not able to keep his hands off. it’s very understandable but pls sir, calm down. you’ve known each other like two weeks. and you still haven’t even told talay that you’re not kissing him just bc but bc you’re head over heels in love with him. get a grip. 
6. First Kiss a simple white sweatshirt and red/fucsia pants. i don’t want to say this but i have to say this: talay’s ass looks amazing in these pants. like, am not one to stare but oh boy. it’s right there! stealing the show! and then it’s combined with talay’s sexy wet hair after running through the rain to look for his long lost lover friend who he wants to make up with. Literally. bc they’re kissing by the end of this. and i scream. 
5. The Green Sweater a yellow-green sweater combined with white pants. talay looks adorable in this with his guitar and the sweater paws. am not at all surprised that puen looks close to tears bc bitch, me too. it’s just So Soft and then it’s mixed with the guitar (+ the lotus flower) and talay singing a love song and. i want to hug him so bad, puen get out of the way it’s my turn now. 
4. The Wedding Suit a light pink colored suit, apparently without a shirt underneath. this whole thing began with this suit. as i said, this one is 100% outshining the one puen wears in this scene. i am just in love with this suit; the color, the simplicity, the cut, the way talay wears it so casually. he looks amazing and positively ethereal. puen is marrying him on the spot. talay is thinking it’s a joke but i might just tell him it’s not. get a ring and be done with it, would you. this might sound controversial after me saying puen is rushing things with the kisses but i don’t actually have anything against it.  
3. Loneliness is yellow a simple black sweatshirt with bright yellow pants. i feel like the more heartbreaking the scenes get, the better talay gets dressed. he’s always serving looks when am crying on my floor. i don’t mind tho bc why not have several mental breakdowns at the same time, saves me the time. he looks absolutely glorious in that black shirt, and the colored pants are a wonderful touch. if tess got nothing else, at least he's had the sense to buy all these clothes.
2. The Gray Jacket a textured gray jacket with a black shirt and white pants. the texture on this jacket makes me go wild bc it looks so nice to touch and the whole jacket looks so cozy. am wondering how talay can wear that with the heat but that’s fortunately something that doesn’t get to me through my screen. he looks very huggable once again. he looks positively radiant when he smiles. and it’s just a plus that puen looks so gone for him bc yeah, valid. am in love with this sunshine boy too. 
1. Second chance a gray sweater with red details, combined with red pants. honestly talay’s best outfit in this whole show hands down. every time i start this ep, i am just blown away by this outfit. the styling team was going crazy that day. the shirt has a v-neck, the red details work so well, it fits talay nicely, the rolled sleeves, the delicate bag. the pants are tight fitting and make his legs look extra long and slim. especially in that billiard room lighting he just looks insanely pretty. i want to yell into the void. the void might yell back at me. 
Bonus: Striped Bathrobe a black and white striped robe, worn mostly for breakfast. i am not really sure what to call this but a bathrobe felt like the closest fitting one so i went with it. it’s crazy how this is literally the second outfit puen ever sees talay in if we don’t count talay being half naked. he got absolutely bewitched and talay is not even bothered. this striped robe is what truly mattered. and please let’s not talk about ai’dang. 
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