#especially not after Puss and Boots: The Last Wish

[kierancaz]

I’m watching Kung Fu Panda so obviously I’m getting emotional.

Tai Lung is such a wonderfully crafted villain thats so sympathetic be even so you can’t excuse everything that he’s done.

The animation is beautiful and so subtle and detailed especially in the scene when Shifu says that he’s sorry, that whole fight scene between Tai Lung and Shifu is amazing actually.

When I was younger I never really noticed it but Tigress gives us an explanation for almost her ENTIRE CHARACTER in one sentence when she’s telling Po about the history of Tai Lung, “Shifu loved Tai Lung like he’d never loved anyone before… or since.” And it never felt that heavy to me because little 6 year old me was always just like “haha panda make silly sound and face!!” right after.

Po’s self doubt and imposter syndrome is also something that’s more obvious to me now that I’m older and also so much more relatable. There’s something about him asking Shifu “how? How?” Over and over only being met with Shifu’s silence until finally he admits he doesn’t know how to turn him into the dragon warrior.

And then moments later Tigress flinging herself off the Jade Palace is just plain awesome.

Also, I’m a huge sucker for fight choreography and all three of the Kung Fu Panda movies have such awesome fight scenes. Also each character has a distinct way of fighting based on their size and species which is just such cool attention to detail.

I know everyone and their mother had talked about or at least knows how great these movies are but I need to put my two cents into everything so here it is.

[mya-valentine]

Hello! Could I request platonic Class A with reader who is strong as hell and has a bone quirk. They can summon bones, make bone structures, create bone-weapons and even skeleton armies to fight for them. They fight with a pair of sickles (like Death, from the Puss In Boots: The Last Wish) to add some variety to their fighting style. They come off as a bit cold and intimidating at first because of how brutal they are on the battlefield and to villains, but they’re actually surprisingly sweet ^^.

Bones of Fury, Heart of Gold

When you first joined Class 1-A, your bone quirk immediately set you apart from the rest. You could summon bones from your body to create weapons, structures, or even skeletal armies to fight for you. The sight of bones materializing from thin air, forming intricate and sometimes gruesome shapes, unnerved some of your classmates at first. Combined with your cold and intense demeanor during battle, you quickly earned a reputation as intimidating and even a bit scary.

Your fighting style was brutal and efficient. Wielding your dual sickles, reminiscent of a grim reaper, you carved through villains with deadly precision, summoning bones to trap, impale, or crush enemies without hesitation. Your skeletal minions were an added terror, creating a battlefield where chaos reigned as you commanded your forces with eerie calm. Some of your classmates—especially people like Mineta—would shudder after seeing you in action, unsure of how to approach you outside of battle.

But off the battlefield, you were a completely different person.

The first person to notice was Tsuyu. She caught you in a quiet moment after training, sitting alone, tending to some small wounds. “Hey,” she said in her usual calm, straightforward tone. “You okay?”

You looked up, surprised that someone had approached you so casually. You had become used to people giving you space because of your intimidating quirk. “Yeah, just a few scrapes,” you said, smiling faintly. It was a small gesture, but it was the first time anyone in the class had seen a glimpse of your softer side.

Tsuyu tilted her head. “You fight really hard out there, ribbit. But you seem different when you’re not fighting.”

You blinked, a little thrown off by her observation. “I… guess I don’t like being too harsh with people unless I have to be.” You chuckled, rubbing the back of your neck. “The villains don’t really give us a choice though, do they?”

That conversation marked the beginning of the class realizing that beneath your cold, battle-hardened exterior, you were surprisingly sweet and thoughtful.

After that, more of your classmates started warming up to you. Momo admired your discipline and dedication to mastering your quirk, often discussing different strategies with you during training. She found your ability to create bone structures fascinating and started brainstorming ways to combine her creations with your powers during team exercises.

Kirishima was all about your strength. “Dude, you’re so manly!” he’d shout during training, his eyes practically sparkling whenever you summoned your bone sickles. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like you! The way you’re able to turn your quirk into weapons is insane!”

Even Bakugou, who rarely gave compliments, would grunt approvingly after seeing you in battle. “You’re not bad,” he’d mutter, which from him was practically a glowing review.

Your skeletal army also caught the attention of the more strategic thinkers in the class. Izuku couldn’t stop muttering to himself about the potential applications of your quirk, imagining scenarios where your army could be used to protect civilians or overwhelm enemies in large-scale battles.

Outside of battle, you made a conscious effort to be kinder to your classmates, which didn’t go unnoticed. You’d offer to help with studying or step in to assist someone struggling during training. Your sweetness caught them off guard, as it was such a stark contrast to the brutal way you fought. You'd offer words of encouragement when someone was down, or give small but meaningful compliments that always lifted spirits.

“I never thought you’d be so… gentle,” Ochako admitted one day during lunch.

“Yeah,” Kaminari chimed in, “you’re like, totally terrifying on the battlefield, but you’re actually kind of a softie, aren’t you?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, a genuine, lighthearted sound that made a few of your classmates blink in surprise. “I guess I save all the scary stuff for the villains,” you said with a smirk.

Even though you had started out as intimidating and cold, your true personality began to shine through as your classmates got to know you. They realized that the brutal, bone-wielding warrior who fought with sickles like Death itself wasn’t the whole story. Beneath that exterior, you were kind, supportive, and deeply loyal to your friends.

When the class had to face a particularly tough villain during a training exercise, everyone was ready to stand by your side. “We’ve got your back,” Todoroki said, cool as always. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

With your bone army at the ready, and your classmates rallying around you, you felt more supported than ever. You might have been intimidating on the battlefield, but here, with your friends, you didn’t need to be scary. You just needed to be you.

And that was more than enough.

.

.

.

Masterlist

[in1-nutshell]

Hi! if the request/ask is open, if so, could you do of tfrid 2015, Steeljaw's pack, and/or other cons, your choice, with human (gn! or f!) Reader? Romantic/Platonic

This Human's a cinnamon roll, somewhat naive/innocent, (has the personality/backstory of Perrito from the Puss in Boots movie or Fluttershy from MLP). They're very motherly and being nurse/therapy-like friend and also a Pacifist yet can be passive-aggressive…

I loved Perrito's character in the movie! His backstory bits where a bit of a twist yet it works! I hope I did a good job adopting his character into Buddy's. Lets see how Buddy's dynamic goes with some of the members of the Con's pack.

Hope you enjoy!

Steeljaw and his pack reaction to Bot Buddy with the personality of Perrito from "Puss in Boots the Last Wish"

SFW, platonic, mention of tragic backstory and some injuries, Cybertronian/ Bot Reader

Rid 2015

Bot Buddy is a minicon with a dog alt mode.

Why is the world is Buddy with these criminals?

Well, Steeljaw had stumbled across the confused minicon with a large garbage can on top of their helm. He grabbed the can off to see Buddy.

“Oh! Thank you!”--Buddy

“Erm… you’re welcome?”--Steeljaw

“Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve talked to someone. Even longer since that can’s been on my helm! That reminds me—”--Buddy

“Right… Do you have a place to go? A team perhaps?”--Steeljaw

“Nope I’ve been a part of a team before but more importantly do you want to be my friend? I can do cool tricks, I have a handy tool kit and—”--Buddy

“Can you do patch work?”--Steeljaw

“Oh you bet I can!”--Buddy

“Hmmmm… I guess I could be your friend— what are you doing?”--Steeljaw

“I’m trying to hug you?”--Buddy

“… Oh Primus…”--Steeljaw

If the Autobots could have a minibot, why couldn’t he? Buddy becomes a medic for the Cons as more join the ranks. The Cons, especially the newer ones, don’t know who Buddy is even around them. They know that they aren’t innocent and pure, but Buddy seems to be made of pure light and positivity that it hurts.

Steeljaw

Steeljaw doesn’t regret picking up Buddy despite what he might say sometimes when he is angry.

Buddy had made themselves a rather vital member of the pack whether it was intentional or not.

Not only was Buddy excellent at patchwork, but there was something about them that made everyone let their guard down.

Steeljaw even felt himself slipping sometimes when their talks go on for a bit.

“Oh! That reminds me of the time my friend pushed me off the ship while the ship was taking off! I fell near some of the acid waste, but I managed to land on a pile of sharp scrap. Oh! I also saw the prettiest piece of kibble that day!”--Buddy

“You’re friend… pushed you off a moving shuttle?”--Steeljaw

“No, the accidentally pushed me after they opened the shuttle door.”--Buddy

“…”--Steeljaw

He is disturbed hearing Buddy backstory.

Just how??

Their backstory screams anger, pain, resentment. Buddy just smiles and looks at their experience positively.

If the Bee team ever came across Buddy and tried to ‘rescue’ them, Steeljaw is unleashing the entire pack on them.

Buddy belongs to the pack and no Autobot is going to take them away from pack.

Thunderhoof

Thunderhoof was confused over Buddy existence. He has never met a bot this nice; it seems suspicious.

If they’re playing a game, then so can he!

It isn’t until Thunderhoof has a ‘friendship bracelet’ around his servo that he realizes that this might not be a game.

He takes Buddy under his metaphorical wing.

He does tell Buddy that he expects their loyalty, but Buddy is too busy hugging his ped to really notice too much.

Buddy mentions a bit of their backstory and he has to pause whatever he is doing.

“That was so cool! That reminds me the one time some of my friends and I were playing hide and seek—”--Buddy

“Hmm yeah?”--Thunderhoof

“—And I had to hide and, and guess what? Guess what Thunderhoof!”--Buddy

“What kid?”--Thunderhoof

“I hid in a scrapyard for 3 weeks! I am still the best hider ever! They said they checked everywhere but that just proves how good of a hider I am!”--Buddy

“…What?”--Thunderhoof

How was Buddy not vengeful? Not bloodthirsty? Not mean?

After all of that…

Thunderhoof does have a chat with Steeljaw about their past and they both agree to keep an optic on them.

He is ready to ram any bot if they come close to Buddy.

Underbite

Meeting Buddy was rather eventful as Underbite nearly ate them. A swift kick to the helm via Steeljaw stopped that though.

He ‘apologized’ and to his surprise Buddy forgave him.

Underbite brags all the time about his achievements to Buddy and Buddy just listens happily.

He comes to Buddy when he feels the need to brag mainly.

Buddy mentions a bit about their backstory, and he feels uncomfortable.

“The way you crushed that tin can reminds me that time my friends brought me to a trash crusher and accidentally pushed the on button! They were so silly and it was such a fun prank.”--Buddy

“You… nearly got crushed in a crusher?”--Underbite

“Yeah! Its was such a cool prank!”--Buddy

“… I’m just gonna go over there for a bit…”--Underbite

He doesn’t press anymore on this subject. This is not his suite and will not touch the Feelings.

He is willing to help Buddy out of a tight situation.

Who else is he supposed to brag to about his achievements.

Clampdown

He uses Buddy at first.

No one in the pack can seem to hurt Buddy so they make a perfect shield.

This has worked for a while. Buddy even offered to be his shield which he greatly takes advantage of this.

Until Buddy lets loose one of their backstory tales he backs off immediately.

“Are you okay?”--Buddy

“Yeah, yeah I guess still got my shell.”—Clampdown

“That reminds me the time my friends accidentally forgotten me under some rocks for a bit. And guess what!”--Buddy

“…what—”--Clampdown

“I chewed my pedes off to get out and crawl to a med kit! I saw the prettiest sunset that day.”--Buddy

“… I—I—Who are you?”--Clampdown

He is horrified hearing this and thinks that Buddy is an evil mastermind.

This was all an act! It has to be!

He does not care too much about if Buddy was taken by the Bee team. Maybe a little bit guilty, but that’s about it.

Quillfire

Like everyone else Quillfire is confused and suspicious of Buddy. After a bit of time, he gets used to Buddy.

He can rant and tell Buddy of his plan for revolution.

Buddy just listens intently and just feeds off of his enthusiasm.

He gets in on some of Buddy’s backstory and he is horrified.

“You throw those quills so far Quillfire!”--Buddy

“Yes! Each one was in the name for the Revolution!”--Quillfire

“Yeah! The Revolution! You know, this reminds me of that one time one of my friends thought it was funny to put me in a stasis pod and, and guess what! They shot me out of a canon into space! That’s actually how I got here—Umm… Quillfire?”--Buddy

Quillfire hugging Buddy with some tears in his optics.

How could sweet little Buddy be okay after that!? Quillfire wants to wrap them in a blanket and give them a cube full of energon. They deserve better friends.

Quillfire will die for Buddy.

He will throw any plan to the wind if Buddy is in danger. Quills will be thrown if Buddy is in danger.

[thankskenpenders]

What did you think of the Mario Movie

It was okay. A very pretty movie with passable performances and a script that seems allergic to spending more time on any one scene than what's absolutely necessary to rush us to the next big set piece. I wrote about my thoughts on the movie (and my frustration over the overly-defensive fan response) on my main blog here

I think in the months since I wrote that I may have soured a little more on the movie, especially after catching up on other, better animated movies like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Nimona, and Across the Spider-Verse. So maybe I'd downgrade it from "pretty good" to "on the upper end of mediocre." But it's still, like. Fine

[yanderes-galore]

Here's my first request. It's a normal request for a scenario with Death from Puss in Boots.

Some time ago, we talked about the idea of ​​a cat reader taking Puss in Boots' place after the former's death, so let me refresh your memory. This is a Puss in Boots AU that takes place after The Last Wish. Many years later, Puss finally passed away, but that doesn't mean the legend is over. After the burial, another cat, a big fan of the original Puss, picks a hat, a sword and a pair of boots for themselves and goes on adventures like the original. The reader soon becomes a hero who is not afraid to put their life in danger to save innocent people. What makes this cat different from the original is that the new puss doesn't waste their lives and acts arrogantly. But, unfortunately, they have already lost three or four lives while helping people (either because they were killed in fights or due to an accident). So, the cat's desire to follow the legacy of the previous PIB and their respect for their lives (unlike the original) ends up catching the attention of a certain white wolf.

To make things less confusing when mentioning the cats, i think it would be a good idea to use Puss in Boots (his name) for the original and puss in boots (which is now just a title) for the new one.

I'll see what I can do! Intentions are left ambiguous/can be seen as either romantic or platonic. This wasn't very intense for my plot... so my bad :( I hope you still liked it though!

Copycat

Yandere! Death Oneshot

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Manipulation, Some sadism, Soft yandere Death, Kidnapping (Technically), Dubious companionship.

Death never really liked cats. They always took life for granted in his eyes. All because they have nine lives they think they're untouchable.

Death has quickly proven such felines wrong... especially a certain orange cat. He was happy Puss in Boots finally learned to take care of himself near the end of his career. But eventually... the wolf claimed him too.

He thought that would be the last time he even heard the title of 'Puss in Boots'. The cat is dead and it's been years. His title is merely a legend.

But as Death watches the world of the living... he notices that name being thrown around again. The wolf had to make sure he was hearing things correctly when he picked up on the words. "Puss in Boots reborn" the people echo... so he checked things out.

Sure enough, another foolish feline has fallen for the legend. That's what Death sighed about as he watched you, a young cat, playing hero in a hat and boots, with a sword in your paws.

Deciding to keep a keen eye on you to see if you'd show arrogance... Death was surprised when you showed none of it. You treated every life you had with care... saving those around you and adventuring. It admittedly eased Death a little bit that he wouldn't have a repeat of your predecessor.

Soon Death realized he wouldn't just be watching you from a distance. Adventuring and saving others puts heroes in danger. Sometimes...

Sometimes heroes even meet a few close calls with Death himself.

Death recalls the first time he met you, the newest little Copycat. You looked so scared when he approached you, the wolf stalking over to you slowly. He really loved your fear... but now was not your time.

"Quite the little outfit you've got..." The wolf whispers. "You remind me of an old friend... but this is only your first life lost, cat."

It's then he releases you, allowing you to use your first life. You're down to eight and still doing your usual activities with care. Death admittedly found himself attached... often watching you as you save other souls.

Such a kind cat... much different from the usual troublesome felines.

Of course, as nature with your little job, you'd eventually meet Death again. Quite a few times, actually. Death liked every single one of your meetings.

He always said you lost your lives for a good cause. He appreciated that quality of yours. He only ever found himself looking forward to the day he eventually takes you for himself.

As for most, there was no way to keep Death away forever. Every meeting... every time he watched you live your life... he thought of the time he'd eventually take you away. You wouldn't like it... he knows it...

But he hopes to keep you as a companion... a reminder that cats can prove themselves.

Your lives tick down like the sand in an hourglass. Over time Death continues to meet you. His grin is wider the more accidents and lives pass.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Upon your last life you feel it is time to retire. While the wolf... Death... acted as an old friend... he would become an enemy soon. You didn't want to depart from your life quite yet...

But that wasn't your decision... it never truly was...

Death was always the one who let you live.

Even if you ran and tried to postpone meeting your maker, Death would always follow. You can hear him call out to you, a whistle accompanying him. The wolf always chuckled when he saw your fear.

Truthfully... you shouldn't be scared. The wolf would never hurt you unless you fought him. He can peacefully take you to the afterlife.

You just need to stop fighting him.

He guessed it was natural you fought him. Your predecessor fought with him too. Yet... he thought you were better than that.

Your fight to keep your remaining life would end soon. Your paranoia leads to another accident. Your lives going from one to zero in an instant.

Leading to Death standing over you, a grin on his face as piercing red eyes stare into you.

"You should really consider me a friend, cat..." He whispers, leaning down to look at you. "I've helped you this far... but you were going to come back with me eventually."

"I'm not ready yet..." You whispers, Death rolling his eyes.

"Trust me... you are. In the end... this is meant to be. You belong with me." The wolf scoops you up, a sadistic grin on his face. "The wait was worth it... the chase was fun..."

The wolf begins to walk away with you, the prize he's wanted all along. He feels you struggle but shakes his head. It was inevitable...

"But it's time to take you back where you belong, Copycat. I'll take good care of you in your new home."

[bestanimatedmovie]

Choose your favorite!

Either way, Puss is losing a life here

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish:

It has a very well done and mature depiction of serious topics (mortality) and mental health. My favourite scene is the depiction of Puss having a panic attack and Perrito comforting him. Also great animation and all the characters are amazing.

The trio of puss+kitty+ perrito was really fun and I loved Puss and Kitty’s relationship. The scenes with Death gave me chills when I saw it in theaters. The animation was gorgeous, the character arcs are very well done, every character is entertaining to watch and it's paced impressively well. Probably the best animated movie I saw in 2022

The animation, the characters, the details, the story, the comedy, the messages, the animation style, All OF IT!

I absolutely love the characterization, the fact that they managed to wrangle BLOOD into the movie was insane to me when I watched it in theaters. I was so entranced lol

It’s a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I nearly cried this film changed a part of my soul. The animation is incredibly stylised especially for the fight scenes, the locations are beautiful and the characters are all enjoyable in their own ways. The music is so good i recommended it to my music teacher on the basis of looking at it for leitmotifs. Genuinely one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

The opening scene is absolutely gorgeous + Kitty & pib's relationship is so important to me. they invented true love. <2

I've been fixated on this movie for five months now and it's not stopping; the animation is inventive and stunning, the characters are all in-depth and well-written, the antagonists are all a delight, the themes stay with you ages after you walk out of the theater, it has the most realistic depiction of a panic attack I've ever seen on the big screen in my entire life. It's all incredibly stylish, the music all goes hard, every single scene matters to the greater plotline, never is a character mocked by the narrative for their weakness or naïvete... I'm not a big movie person, but I've watched this over twenty times honestly, and it's impacted me for the rest of my life.

Shrek 2:

Shrek may be one of the biggest memes on the internet, but this movie legitimately SLAPS!!! This is the movie that most Shrek Conoisseurs agree is the best for the mostly great storyline and it's REALLY great comedy throughout. This is also the movie that introduced us to Puss in Boots! The ending is also INCREDIBLY iconic just saying. 10/10

"One of the greatest sequels of all time. Still holds up nearly 20 years later. It's got everything you could ask for. Diegetic music, a giant gingerbread man Godzilla parody, dancing, death/self-sacrifice, Puss in boots, and, most importantly, a banging song that mixes things up (Seriously, the cover slaps way harder than the original. The alternating highs and lows in terms of tempo and intensity really makes it).

Shrek is a good movie. But Shrek 2 is a great movie. It builds off of the world in the previous film, expands and make it more compelling, while still being a fairy-tale modern tale that critiques family relations. There's great jokes, like Shrek pretending to be from the union, the Fairy Godmother breaking her diet as a punishment for someone else, and a knight planting drugs on Puss in Boots. It's an absolutely iconic movie with THE BEST use of an existing song for a climax in any film (fight me) with the I Need a Hero scene, but also is able to slow down and perfectly capture the awkward first meal with disapproving parents.

[humanfleshbutcher]

Hiii! Can you make a platonic x reader with puss in boots (the last wish version) where the reader is a kitten and keeps calling him papá. I just thought it would be a super cute idea but you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to!

THIS IS AWESOMMEEEE

Puss in boots+ Reader 'Papa?'

Summary: After Puss in boots saved you, you saw him more than a legend, but a father.

!PLATONIC!

You don't know where you are. One minute, you're just traversing the forest alone, and the next you're in someones hands as they carry you deeper into the forest. You meow frantically, not knowing what to do.

They continue to carry you, the dark forest making things unnecessarily more menacing, especially to a young kitten like you. Your ears were down, your tail was swishing rapidly.

"Stop it!" One of the people whispered to the one who was carrying you.

"What am I supposed to do? I'm not the one meowing!" She whisper yelled to the other girl.

"Idk just shush it! If he hears us it'll be your fault!" The girl with blonde hair esponded angrily. The girl that was carrying you picked you up to eye level, then poked your head.

"Be quiet!" She mumbled to you, going to poke you once again.

"Hey!" Someone yelled out from behind the girl, they all instantly turned around, turning to face the owner of the voice.

"Drop the kitten." He said in a dark tone. A blade was pointed at both of the girls, the one holding it being a ginger cat. He was wearing boots and a hat with a belt around his waist.

"Ah, Puss in boots. Just who we were looking for." The black haired girl said, pulling out a poster.

'Wanted, dead or alive.'

There was a picture on the poster, perfectly drawing out your savior, Puss in boots.

The Cat tilted his head to the side a bit. "So in order to get me here, you've decided to kidnap a kitten from a shelter and drag it to the centre of the woods?"

The girls stayed silent for a second, all of them looking at you.

"Uh- YEah! And it worked, as you can see!" One of them answered, pulling out her sword... well more like a blade. Puss eyed it, before smirking.

With a flick of the wrist, he knocked the blade out of the girls hands. After a second, she regained her posture and pulled out a second one.

"Haha!"

Puss knocked it out again, his smirk still on his face.

"It's gonna take more than a blade to get the Legendary Puss in boots!" He taunted. The girls looked at each other for a moment, before dropping you to the ground and landing on your feet.

"On the other hand, we don't know why we came here. Bye!"

And with that they ran away. Puss retracted his sword and fixed his hat.

"Hm, amateurs." He scoffed, before kneeling down in front of you.

"Not to worry little kitten, you're safe now." He stretched out his hand, and petted you. You leaned into his hand and started purring.

Puss smiled.

"Papa"

His eyes widened. You were staring at him with a smile. Puss let out a nervous chuckle.

"Heh, um no i'm not your papa-"

"Papa!"

... He honestly doesn't know what to do. He just stared at you as you rubbed your head into his hand, purring ever so slightly.

He was just thinking. This never ever happened to him before. What does one even do in this scenario??? He just watched as you sat down in front of him and meowed.

After 10 seconds of silence, puss let out a defeated breath.

"Well, I don't see why you can't hang around with me a little more... But then, I will bring you back to the shelter where it is safe." He stated, picking you up.

"Papa!" You once again said, earning a chuckle from him.

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

Bonus scene:

"Ah, so thats how that happened." Kitty softpaws said, turning to you watching at perrito with curious eyes as he rambled on about how cute you were.

"Yeah, but Y/N is an entertaining one." Puss responded, drink some of his leche.

"Woah, woah, woah! You already named them?" She asked, honestly surprised. He just nodded, looking unbothered to the slightest.

Kitty swished her leche around in her cup, before coming up with another question.

"How long have you had them now?"

"2 months."

"2 MONTHS?!"

(Yeah he felt to guilty to bring you back to the shelter, you're too adorable)

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

Sorry this took a while to write and if it looks rushed! I only saw it this morning and tried to write it as fast as possible, it's a little shorter than the others but I hoped you enjoyed it!

[motziedapul]

I had a thought about Wish and why it didn't work that I don't know if others have mentioned.

It was made clear to me after I saw this concept art for Star Boy what this film lacked. It lacked a throughline of DESIRE AND RELATIONSHIPS; not just romantic desire, though the scrapped possibility of "romance" is what made me think about it.

Also, just wanted to say how ironic it is that Star Boy is so reminiscent of Jack Frost from Rise Of The Guardians while Chris Pine, who voiced Jack Frost in ROTG, was the villain (and best part) of this disappointing film.

Despite being ABOUT people's desires and wishes, both Asha and her grandfather's desires are nebulous. "I want to inspire people", "I want more". More what? Inspire them how? Their motivations are pretty unclear, as are their desires. The King even points this out, and he's right to do so.

It wouldn't be so bad for Asha to want her grandfather's wish to be fulfilled if the film could make you feel emotionally invested in him and his motivations. Love for her grandfather and a grave injustice against him and others is a FANTASTIC motivation, which is undermined by the fact that everyone's pretty darn happy in Rosas, and there's no sign to indicate that there's something deeply wrong underneath the surface.

The problem with presenting a society that needs change in a film is that you need to show why it's not working, and yet by all accounts Rosas is a wonderful place to live. SHOW US, DON'T TELL US, WHY THIS IS A GRAVE INJUSTICE. You have to show who's being hurt by showing them being hurt.

It's unfortunate that a movie in the same month dealt with wishes on stars 10000 times better than Wish did, but Puss In Boots The Last Wish did pretty much everything better than Wish did. That being said, they had a blueprint for how to make Wish work, and they didn't even follow it:

Encanto.

I love Encanto. It's not Disney's strongest film, especially plotwise, but what it lacks in plot it makes up for in getting you emotionally invested. The music, the tragedy, the character relationships, they all work. And even Encanto didn't have a romance, but it had suffering, desire, and something was wrong that needed to be fixed, and most importantly, it convinced the audience of that.

In comparison, you have a king taking people's Wishes away because he saw the destructive potential of unfettered desire and greed, all in exchange for peace and happiness - and yet we do not see people suffering from this decision. We see Asha get angry about it before we ever see why she should be angry.

People have already mentioned that Wish lacks camp, so I'm not gonna go into that, but it lacks camp and any Disney animated film that lacks camp is one not worth watching.

In terms of relationships, the only one in the film that has any sort of chemistry or emotional complexity is that of Asha and Magnifico. They literally sing a love song to each other in the movie, which baffles me because it gives you the idea of a budding romance/non romantic but loving relationship between the protagonist and antagonist of this film, only to be followed by a heartwrenching betrayal that justifies Magnifico's descent into darkness. And that would have been a fantastic story (after removing the weird age gap, obviously, though Disney's no stranger to that).

There is no other relationship in Asha's life that seems to mean anything to her, not even her relationship with her grandfather, because the only interactions we see her have with him before deciding what's best for him is 1 single scene where she actively avoids spending time with him and her mother to sneak off.

In Coco, we understand how important Hector as a great grandfather is, because of this scene.

In Encanto, we immediately see how and why Mirabelle loves her family and is proud of them, and yet also how she suffers from their exclusion and isolation of her.

The character who is *described* as caring for others but never shown caring for anybody only ever has a moment with the villainous king, who himself only ever has chemistry with her and his wife.

What's infuriating is that there's a deleted scene that, if combined with another scene showing Asha's childhood and why her grandfather means so much to her, would've made her motivation clear.

There's a deleted scene where her grandfather sings a beautiful song, and her and her mother sit there in emotional silence.

Would've been nice to have it in the film.

The most interesting character in the film is King Magnifico, which is why they had to scrape all the nuance out of him in the second act. Asha is described as selfless but is deeply selfish and self-centred. Her desires are nebulous. Her motivations aren't convincing. The character they try to sell you is one we never see.

A romance may not have been entirely necessary, but Asha having a real relationship and therefore emotional stakes with someone absolutely would have. It would have clarified and justified her desires, her motivations.

What a waste.

-

P.S. The Animation in Wish is gorgeous, lively, and well-done, but the rendering, lighting and watercolour effects were badly executed. Please make the proper distinction - the characters move beautifully.

P.P.S. Yeah the music's bad. Say what you want about Lin Manuel Miranda but he's at least talented enough and Broadway enough to know how music can synergize with story and character. None of my criticisms about him as a person extends to his musical ability - Moana is my favourite movie, and he did a fantastic job there and on Encanto.

Apologies for the long post, but after seeing so many rants about this film I realized there's still something to touch upon that people haven't fully addressed.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey Raven, are you going to watch the upcoming new Disney movie "Wish"?

I've seen mixed reviews, but i'm lowkey excited since we get to see a new Disney villain, especially since Disney got really lame villains after all the old classic movies!

Have you seen the trailer for the movie? What are your thoughts so far?

I saw Wish with a friend recently! I'll give my thoughts on the trailers here (in case you don't want spoilers for the film itself) and put my full thoughts beneath the cut (if you're okay with spoilers).

Looks-wise, I think Disney was definitely trying to go for something more stylistic and painting-esque for this?? And while I commend the effort, it definitely doesn't look as interesting as Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. The humor also definitely isn't for me, it feels very "quirky" and "so relatable" (Asha reminds me of Mirabel in that sense), and other times too juvenile (like the goat butt joke). I do like the idea of the villain passing as a good guy in-universe and actually being vain and selfish, especially since the marketing is making it clear who the bad guy is rather than making it a "twist" villain scenario. Not sure if I like Magnifico himself though??? All the ads with him in it feel like Disney is trying too hard to make people thirst for him. From just the trailers, Magnifico does seem interesting and like more of a return to the traditional "villain" rather than the protagonist having to deal with an existential dread or concept.

***Spoilers for Wish beneath the cut!***

Right off the bat, my first impression is the narrative is SO ham-fisted. Within the first 5 minutes alone we're establishing so much information and in such a clunky, unnatural way. Like... Asha says hi to her friends but then they robotically have a dialogue where they overtly call each other "friends" just so it's clear to the audience (when in reality no one talks like that). It's telling instead of showing, and this happens sooo many times early in the film.

Could not for the life of me remember the friends or their names. There were just too many of them when 1 or 2 would have been just fine to move the plot along and to help Asha. (Yes, I know they're a reference to the 7 Dwarves but it's STILL not necessary to have so many just for a reference.)

Bruh, the makeup in this movie is on point. Every time there was a close up of a character, I was staring at their eye makeup (especially Asha and the queen's).

Asha as a protagonist was... fine? She feels very close to Mirabel and at times Rapunzel in her character. I didn't dislike her by any means, but she didn't reinvent what it means to be a Disney protag. Her motivations also come off as… really “out of nowhere”. We’re told she “cares too much”, but she initially only wants to save the wishes of her mom and grandpa; she randomly decides she has to free ALL wishes midmovie and that was jarring. There could have been a smoother transition. Instead, it was abrupt and Asha didn’t change in any meaningful way. Even her “I want” song was vague (what exactly is “to have something more for us than this”?) and didn’t connect well with her character.

I do really like her design though! Her freckles, earrings, and how her hair moves are my favorite details.

Valentino was not as annoying as I thought he would be. Still didn't care for his sass and brand of humor, but at least he helped out a few times.

I called it, the film is trying so hard to make Magnifico "hot" 🤡 I don't get it but okay, Mouse. I see your effort.

Loved his fit!! Very cool cloak and diamond/star motifs everywhere! His lab and study was also fun to look at.

I quite liked the moments when the queen talked to her husband and tried to smooth things over with him. “I can fix him energy”— Their relationship seemed very genuine at the start of the movie.

NOT THE WISH NEPOTISM...

If they were going for “sympathetic” with Magnifico, it didn’t work. He gave this backstory about how he was traumatized before + left as the only survivor of a great tragedy and so now he wants to use his magic to prevent that from happening to anyone else. Thing is, we only ever know about this via his word and staring at a half-burnt tapestry. We never see the event on screen, nor what was left of the tapestry. I was expecting a twist where it’s revealed that he lied all this time about his backstory and rewrote history so he could more easily manipulate the people of the kingdom he founded and live out the fantasy of being worshipped as a “good guy”. That was such a missed opportunity!!

Something else I was thinking of (this was during “This is the Thanks I get” was??? Maybe Magnifico started off genuinely good but became worn down over time as people’s wishes grew more selfish and they became ungrateful for what they had?? Then he could have become bitter and disillusioned by the behavior of his people.

Another idea is maybe Magnifico was “villainous” only in Asha’s eyes, since they don’t agree on how to best handle granting wishes. This would be more of a clash of ideologies rather than the traditional Obvious Evil vs Obvious Good that Disney is so known for, but hey, it could be a neat evolution of their storytelling from classic fairy tale roots.

This is to say that there were so many more interesting directions they could have gone with Magnifico’s motives, character, and portrayal 😭 but the second half of the movie never commits to any of these, they just blame his complete insanity and turn to the dark side on Forbidden Magic which is such a cop-out.

The trailers gave away the twist that Magnifico was the villain. It wasn’t revealed until like the second song into the movie. Would’ve worked better as an on-the-spot reveal rather than part of the marketing, in my opinion.

When they showed the wishes, the TWST fan in my was shouting, "OMG IT'S WISH UPON A STAR, THE LIMITED TIME STORY EVENT FROM THE HIT DISNEY MOBILE GACHA GAME TWISTED WONDERLAND!!!"

As Wish is Disney's anniversary film for 100 years, there were tooons of easter eggs scattered throughout. (I had fun looking for them!) Some were visual (I saw Aurora's dress, Snow White’s well, Peter's Pan's costume, Ursula's green smokey hands, Asha's robes resembling those of the Fairy Godmother, etc.) or extended imagery/scenes (Asha recreates Mulan's dinner and “Reflection" scenes), others were more overt lines of dialogue (Magnifico says the "Mirror, Mirror" lines along with others, a deer named “Bambi”, Valentino mentions an animal metropolis in reference to Zootopia, etc.).

In theory, the wish magic sounds cool but has so much that isn't explained??? And yeah, it's magic so it technically doesn't have to be. However, there are things not explained even when it is important to the plot. For example, Magnifico crushes some wishes and seems to absorb their power for himself (including the wish of Asha's MOM, so you'd think this would be important)? The consequence of this is that the wish's owners... become sad??? Okay, what are the long-term effects??? Why isn’t this fully explored?? But then later in the film we see the same people whose wishes were crushed... regenerate their wish??? So what, he has to keep reaping them??? And why are the wishes only taken at 18 years old? What if a wish changes? Ironically, the townspeople of Rosas have a scene where they question the technicalities of this wish magic. Magnifico essentially tells them to shut up, and it kinda felt like Disney was telling us to not question their lore www

It was weird that they never fully explored the ramifications of going without your wish. You’d think they’d show us people without ambition or hope (which would incentivize Asha to return their wishes), but everyone seems blissfully happy without their wishes?? The only exception is Asha’s friend that betrays her (cannot for the life of me remember his name), and that’s namely because his asshole friends keep ragging on him for it.

I thought the movie was going to go in a “you can make your own wish come true!!” direction but NOPE, turns out it’s just magic. Felt like Disney unintentionally wrote a whole movie about "wishes not coming true unless some big powerful entity allows it to come true” (Asha literally becomes the fairy godmother of Rosas at the end, making her ultimately no different than Magnifico)… ie a metaphor for how Disney owns so many properties it practically owns our childhoods www

"The power of friendship saves the day" ending 🤣 It was very Paper Mario ending-esque...

A song saving the day though?? It’s giving the Illumination Lorax film…

I was right about the humor. Too "quirky" and/or juvenile for me.

Animation was alright? Nothing awful about it, it just didn't feel as detailed or as experimental as other films with a similar style.

Songs were mid, which checks out with the recent Disney music excluding We Don't Talk About Bruno--

Some of the lyrics however were awful. “I let you live here for free and I don’t even charge you rent” is redundant. “So I throw caution to every warning sign” means you’ll show more caution than usual, not that you’ll forego caution. The correct expression is “throw caution to the wind”. Etc, etc, etc.

There was a cute after credits scene where they reveal that Asha's 100 year old grandpa (same age as Disney omg) wrote the "When You Wish Upon a Star" theme, which was sweet since his wish was "wanting to make a mark".

THE BEST PART OF THE MOVIE WAS STAR!! It was very cute (partly because it couldn't talk and just jingled and giggled, I was dreading another annoying mascot animal voice) and reminds me of my own pet… The way Star infused everything with glitter and formed unique shapes with the red twine was so fun 😭 I'M A STAR STAN, IT WAS ADORABLE AND KINDA BRATTY AND I'M LIVING FOR IT

Decent ideas, "meh" execution. Enchanted and Shrek did it better in terms of self-aware, fairy tale defying stories. It felt as though the movie was trying to deliver a profound message but got lost in the sauce of making as making Disney references possible and didn't fully commit to actually saying something meaningful. As a result, the film feels somewhat… hollow.

That one friend betraying Asha was the biggest surprise in the film but I still saw it coming 😂 I do get where he’s coming from though (being worried that his wish won’t ever come true) but it also felt like his conflict wasn’t resolved??? It might have gone better if the movie actually fully tried to push the “you can make your own wish come true” message (to reinvigorate the traitor to make his dreams a reality on his own) but they don’t 💦

Wish didn’t end up being “the wishing star’s origin story” because not once did anyone question where Star came from or why it was different from other stars (or what the significance of Magnifico blotting out the other stars was).

I think the people that would enjoy this movie are the people that are already highly invested in Disney and the nostalgia of it.

... Anyway, stan Star 🤩 (and the talking mushrooms 🍄)

[bdzonthareel]

The Wild Robot

Animation is a special interest of mine, I love anime a lot but as I got older I have fallen more and more in love with the medium. And DreamWorks has always been one of those studios in my life that has helped cultivate my taste, for better or for ill. Their cgi work is nothing to sneeze at, check out Puss in Boots The Last Wish if you doubt me! After you go see this movie of course. 

The Wild Robot is the story of Roz, a shipwrecked robot who ends up becoming one with the native animals and forging a familial bond with an orphaned Gosling.

I fell in love with this movie long before its release. It's artfully and lovingly made by Director Chris Sanders, who has a very strong resume in the animation industry. The use of CGI combined with cel-shading makes the fluid movement in the film a feast for the eyes. 

Cinematographer Chris Stover provided pique visual storytelling. Without spoiling anything, there were plenty of “show don’t tell moments” and in animation especially it is so important.

I enjoyed the music, the musical backdrops seamlessly compliment the film’s visuals

I have never been a huge fan of casting screen actors doing voiceover work, because most of them don’t pick up on the nuance of the performances in the same way (looking at you Awkwafina). But in all seriousness, the performances of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal showcase they’re gifts for working with ADR as Roz and Fink respectively. With the exception of Kit Connor as Bright Bill, Stephanie Hsu as Vontra, Bill Nighy as Longneck and The GOAT himself Mark Hamill as Thorn the Grizzly Bear, everyone else just sounded like themselves.

What a wholesome experience The Wild Robot was, It’s a tale of found family, Defining your own identity no matter how much others will go against it, with a touch of environmentalism peppered in.

Well written, animated brilliantly and slightly imperfect, just like Roz and that's beautiful.

I give The Wild Robot a 4 out of 5.

[chriscdcase95]

So after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I’ve seen a few jokes about Death the Wolf being present for every Death in the Shrek franchise (Fairy Godmother’s death in Shrek 2, Harold’s or Charming’s death in Shrek The Third, etc)

Meanwhile - if we’re taking Shrek 4-D as canon - I’m  picturing Death side- eyeing Farquaad’s ghost. Especially when he declared that he will rule the Underworld. Which depending on the folklore, is more often than not the Death’s domain, be it a god of death, or an angel of death.

Bottom line, while Farquaad’s ghost was plotting to kill Fiona, Death was at the river’s edge, sharpening his sickles. And considering Farquaad was A. an arrogant prick and B. a spirit at this point ? He may have very well seen Death all the while.

-----

Farquaad’s Ghost: “You might as well stop struggling, Princess; soon, you and I will be together forever. With you as my spirit Queen, I will be King of the Underworld!”

Death The Wolf: (chuckles humorlessly) “Oh, you audaz hijo de puta.”

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: The Bad Guys

So this is yet another Dreamworks movie I've heard nothing but good things about but just never got around to watching for some reason or another. And now that I have watched it, all I can say is what the fuck how did I sleep on this absolute gem of a film for so long???? Its so good, ya'll, SO damn good! So let's get into all of the many reasons why!

The Bad Guys are a group of infamous criminals, made up of the cunning Snake, master of disguise Shark, loose-canon Piranha, hacker Tarantula, and the leader of the pack, Wolf. After getting caught attempting to pull of a daring heist, the Bad Guys pretend to work on going good to pull off an even greater heist... until Wolf begins to wonder if being good might not be so bad after all.

So let me just say, the plot here is brilliant. Like seriously, there were some twists and turns here (especially toward the end) that had me YELLING over how genuis they were. It's extremely tightly crafted, sharply written, and pulled together by an incredibly charming cast that you just love to watch. It's a thrilling ride from start to end and I was excited to see where it would go next with every new scene.

The characters, like I said, are really great! Wolf is a really well-developed lead who goes through a pretty compelling arc, same with Snake (seriously, the fakeout with him toward the end had me in awe, what a total pro) and a good deal of the drama in the film lies between those two. The other Bad Guys are a bit less in focus, but they're still really fun and all play off each other really well too. Also, Diane, the governor??? Holy shit ya'll? She's AMAZING. Not gonna spoil the twist involving her but let me just say she is so damn COOL like oh my god.

This movie does attempt a twist villain but like... idk Marmalade isn't really that much of a twist villain? From the moment he showed up I said to myself "oh, he's the villain isn't he?" and I was proven right, but like... the reveal of how he set the Bag Guys up from the very start was so clever that I couldn't even be upset about it. This tiny motherfucker played them up until the very end where he finally got his comeuppance. Good villain. Not the best, but still, pretty good.

The humor here is pretty fun, with some jokes that genuinely had me laughing out loud. Of course, it couldn't quite help itself with a few fart jokes here and there, which... ermmm aren't quite my up of tea. Still, it balances that humor out well with some pretty compelling drama and a lot of heart that really helps to engage you in the story they're telling here.

Also the animation??? Oh my GOD the way this movie looks is INSANE. Like, just the character designs alone are so fresh and interesting compared to what Dreamworks has done in the past. There's this overall stylization to this movie that's very sharp and unique, and it just makes it a feast for the eyes. The way the characters move too, very fast and snappy, as if they're 2-d characters instead of 3-d. Lots of exagerrated motions and facial expressions, it's all very silly, yes, but it works so well with the tone this movie is trying to pull off.

So yeah, I hella loved this one. I'm so mad at myself for not watching this when it first came out, because its such a joy ride from start to finish. So stylish, so witty, so engaging, and so fun! I had a great time with The Bad Guys, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should, because chances are, you will too.

Rating: 9/10

Verdict: IS THAT FUCKING KINGDOM HEARTS????

Previous Review (The Boss Baby: Family Business)

Next Review (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)

[fancycat-thesilvertux]

You said that you have an AU for a LMK x BnHA crossover.

Could you tell me about it?

Absolutely!

So this AU takes place after S3.

MK’s thoughts after defeating the Lady Bone Demon aren’t very pretty. We see in canon that he’s hard on himself, and while coming down from the high of defeating such a terrifying villain such as LBD, all the trauma catches up to MK.

He begins having thoughts of ‘if only I’d been better, if only I’d been stronger, smarter, a better hero.’ He begins to think that maybe, he could’ve spared his loved ones so much trauma if only he’d been better, begins to think that they shouldn’t have had to suffer so much trauma in the first place all because of him.

Ever hear the saying “be careful what you wish for”? That’s the catalyst for this AU.

Working out this part but I hat I thought up for it was that a demon goes after an artifact that can grant any wish, a sort of genie’s lamp but it can only grant one wish instead of three.

The demon gets defeated and the artifact is in MK’s hands. They thought the wish had to be spoken aloud to work but here’s the catch - wishes don’t come true when spoken aloud. To quote Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, birthday wish rule.

MK’s thought of if only I could be a better hero activates the artifact, causing him to be sent to where he could be a better hero - the Boku no Hero Academiaverse, seeing as there’s hero schools.

I thought about MK being happened across either option A) Dadzawa, option B) Mama Joke, or C) Papa Tsukauchi. And yes, I did mean to call them those.

Aizawa is such a dad, adopting without the paperwork his class, even though he doesn’t admit it, and MK in the same class as 1A would be hilarious since I do have thoughts on who he’d be friends with. This AU DOES start before the BnHA events, since I don’t want to land MK right into the middle of the school year, especially since I feel certain events and behaviors could be thwarted with him there.

That said, even if I don’t go the Dadzawa route, I still planned for MK to have those relationships with 1A students since his presence would help I think with a lot of them. But MK and Shinsou and Eri being siblings would be just perfect in my book.

Ms. Joke, despite being a goofball, takes her job both as a pro hero and a teacher especially seriously. I feel like since she deeply values her students and believes in them that she’d be good in helping MK find confidence in himself as a hero. (That, and he’s got too many dads, let him collect moms!)

Detective Tsukauchi’s Quirk let’s him know if someone is lying. MK lies a lot regarding his own well-being, so having someone that’ll not let him get away with that would do him well. Plus, Tsukauchi is a friend of All Might’s, and I did have plans for MK and Midoriya having a friendship since they have a great deal of similarities and would be helpful towards one another.

That’s pretty much what I have for the AU though.

[dynamite-derek]

Looking at the self doubt and intrusive voices of Alan Wake 2

Note: I tread very lightly on spoilers in this writeup, however I do discuss an endgame scenario, so if you wish to enter that segment of the game completely fresh I would visit this piece after finishing the game. Last year, a lot of praise was circulating around over the movie Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Not only was it apparently a very good movie, but it also contained a realistic depiction of a panic attack. For as much as mental health issues have been brought to the forefront in recent days, it seems like accurate depictions of actual mental health events are quite rare. Especially in children's media

Gaming received a moment like this in 2023 but it is far less talked about. Sure, fans of the game probably discuss it amongst themselves because that's what fans do, but the wider public hasn't grasped onto it yet. Hey, 2023 was an astounding year for games, stuff is going to slip through the cracks.

Alan Wake 2 contains a constantly shifting and complex narrative. The world seems to be changing based on the story the titular character Alan Wake is writing. The player will likely be questioning their memory on certain things as they play. "Did this interaction play out as I remember it? Did I miss a key point in the narrative that would clue me in as to what's going on?" Nothing is quite as it seems and you are constantly guessing about what is going on as you play.

Probably the biggest 'questioning the narrative' moment in the game is related to one of the game's playable characters Saga Anderson and her daughter, Logan. Saga is sent to a town called Bright Falls to investigate a series of supernatural murders. You witness a phone conversation towards the start of the narrative between Saga, her husband and her daughter that's fairly innocuous. It basically just tells you that they're a loving family. But that's the last little bit we hear about this happy family throughout. From that point forward, things change.

Various citizens of the town you're in act like Saga is an old regular of the place. They address her by her first name and speak in very familiar tones. They think she separated from her husband and took her daughter with her to this down. Oh, and also her daughter died via drowning. Kind of a heavy pill to swallow but one you probably shake off the first couple of times you hear it because you witnessed that phone call at the beginning of the game. You HEARD her marriage was happy and you even heard her daughter. Things are fine.

But as the game goes on, more NPCs mention this to you. In fact, basically every plot relevant character including Saga's partner thinks Logan is dead. Eventually you start to doubt yourself. Did you actually experience that phone call at the beginning of the game or is it a false memory? You didn't actually SEE the characters she was speaking to, was it something she hallucinated? Is the twist for this game that the narrative impacting the game world never actually twisted this part of Saga's life?

As the player, it's hard to determine what's real. In a lot of games, the character the player is controlling doesn't actually mirror the emotions of the player. You might be confused but the main character isn't. It all makes perfect sense to them! And for a lot of this game, Saga comes across as someone who absolutely believes her version of events. Logan is alive. Her marriage is fine. Alan's narrative is shifting the world and fixing that will fix everything. As a player I was second guessing everything the game was throwing at me but the character I was controlling was more sure of herself.

However, we get to peer into Saga's mind a fair amount. The game has a gameplay mode called "The Mind Place." In it, Saga can deduce pieces of evidence related to the various cases you undertake. You can get her perspective on a lot of events in the game this way. A lot can be inferred about Saga's personality through this. You find out she is very sure of herself and competent. But in the end game, things change.

After a wild sequence of events, Saga is locked in the mind place. Usually when you can exit out of there with the press of a button, but no matter what you do, you are stuck. With nowhere to go in the 'real' world you are stuck alone with your thoughts and here are where a lot of your doubts throughout the game come to surface. You grab various pieces of evidence throughout your mind and all of them are just overwhelmingly negative. "You are a bad mom, you are a bad cop, you let your kid die, you are a bad wife." With every new piece of evidence you collect, the player and Saga's doubts become more and more intertwined.

It hits hardest when you're dealing with Logan. Every piece of evidence basically just screams "YOUKILLEDHERYOUKILLEDHERYOUKILELDHER" over and over again. The evidence is accompanied by a picture of your daughter that slowly fades after each message. Is everything the NPCs were telling us about this character true? Is it possible that everyone else in the world is wrong and her life actually does suck?

When I'm having a dark period of time and I think everything is bad, I often search for proof that things aren't as bad as they seem. I think of interactions I've had with people or stuff I've done at my job and go "okay so maybe I'm not as bad as I think" but invariably when I try to cheer myself up like this, a voice in the back of my head calls bullshit on everything I am saying and pops up right when I am on the brink of breaking out of it. "Oh that person was just being nice to you" "Oh, you just achieved that because you knew the right person" "You have done nothing with your life." That sort of stuff.

And wouldn't you know it, Saga does the same thing. She rejects that the death of her daughter is a reality and tries to find evidence to support this theory. All very strong stuff and a lot of it is not new information to the player. And yet, with every bit of evidence you collect that suggests maybe you're not a bad wife and mother, maybe you're not a bad fed, Saga basically screams at you that you're wrong and in denial. That you are looking for an easy escape to the obvious solution. That you are merely coping to evade reality.

Eventually your evidence becomes so strong that you snap out of your funk and are able to leave the mind place and return to 'reality.' Saga still has those lingering doubts, but she also has given herself enough reasons to believe that the doubts are in her head. She is at a point where she is comfortable confronting the nature of her personal life. You know in the back of her head she's not sure what she's gonna find on the other side of her mind place, but she is at least no longer content with sitting in obliviousness.

The handling of intrusive thoughts is done so well. You the player are the one who is going about grabbing the evidence that you're not mentally broken, but the voice in the back of your head is shoving all the bad thoughts up front whether you want them to or not. I cannot overstate how gripping the storytelling is during this 30 minute segment. Many people would call the gameplay in this section 'walking-sim' esque, but I would argue it the most gripping bit of gameplay in the game despite not requiring anything out of the player from a reflex perspective.

There are no fail states. It's just you and the mind of one of the characters you've spent the past several hours with. And it is enthralling.

[jazzystudios82]

Diabolik Lovers - An Angel's Embrace AU: Akira Amor-Sakamaki 🩸

Bio for one of my Diabolik Lovers OCs, who is part of an upcoming fanfic. (Image made with Picrew). Please note that some of the information written here is privy to change in the near future as the story is still in development.

WARNING: Diabolik Lovers is a dark series with mature themes and topics. Discretion is advised. . . .

——————————————————————————

Biographical Information

Kanji: 明

Romaji: Sakamaki-Amor Akira

Nickname(s): Karlheinz's Precious Heir; Big Bro/Brother (The Triplets); The Runt (Cordelia)

Aliases: Anselm

Birthday: February 26th

Sign: Pisces

Age: 23 (physically; actual age is unknown).

Status: Alive (Resurrected)

Physical and Vital Statistics

Race: 1/2 First Blood, 1/2 Vampire

Ethnicity: Mexican & Japanese

Gender: Male

Height: 2 inches taller than Shuu

Weight: Unknown

Blood Type: O Negative

Eyes: Silver

Hair: Light Pink

Professional Status

Occupation: Karlheinz's Heir; Carla and Shin's servant (former)

Affiliation: The Sakamaki Family; The Tsukinami Family

Personal Status

Family:

Giesbach + (Maternal Biological Grandfather); Gabriel (Maternal Step grandfather); Carmen + (Maternal grandmother); Wolfgang + (Adopted Father); Karlheinz (Biological Father); Angelica (Mother); Richter (Paternal Uncle); Carla (Maternal Uncle); Shin (Maternal Uncle); Camilo (Maternal Uncle); Victor (Maternal Uncle); Shu (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Reiji (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Ayato (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Kanato (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Laito (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Subaru (Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Kino (Adoptive Brother/Paternal Younger Half-Brother); Various unnamed cousins (through mother's side)

Hobbies: Sword fighting

Favorite Food: Udon

VC (Voice Claim): The Wolf from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Akira Amor-Sakamaki (Sakamaki-Amor Akira) is the eldest son of Karlheinz and Angelica, and is the true eldest of the Sakamaki brothers. He was born during his mother's second marriage.

Appearance

Akira is a handsome young man who has inherited some of his mother's features: messy light pink hair and lovely silver eyes. Like his younger sister Sofia, Akira has lightly tanned skin that he inherited from his grandmother Carmen, and a beauty mark near his lips, though his is on the right side of his face. He has pierced ears that have several silver colored piercings. When Akira was attacked and killed, he gained a scar on the left side of his face that stayed with him when he was brought back. After his resurrection, Akira gained two tattoos, one on his face and one on his neck, since the way he was brought back used black magic.

For casual wear, Akira wears a white turtleneck sweater, a leather jacket, sunglasses with colored lenses, blue jeans, and black boots.

When he was going by the name Anselm and served Carla and Shin, Akira wore a dark cloak and mask that covered a majority of his face.

Personality

While intimidating at first glance, Akira is actually rather approachable and friendly when someone gets to know him better. He's a laid back guy who knows when to get series when the situation calls for it, particularly when it came to the Tsukinami brothers.

When he was a child, this was more evident. He was also very playful with his brothers and liked to tease them, especially Reiji, whom he gave the nickname "Pigeon" (often shortening it to "Pidge").

History

Akira is the eldest son of the Vampire King, Karlheinz Sakamaki, and his fourth wife, Angelica. He was four years old when Shu was born, five when Reiji was born, six when the triplets were born, and seven when the youngest brother Subaru was born. However, Akira never really got the chance to meet them all until Shu was four himself, which was during a family dinner where all of Karlheinz's wives and children had to be present.

Relationships

Akira's relationships with the Sakamaki family.

For Akira's relationship with Yui Komori.

For Akira's relationship with the Mukami family.

For Akira's relationship with the Tsukinami family.

For Akira's relationship with the Amor family.

Powers & Abilities: Inhuman strength; increased vision and sense of smell; increased speed and hearing; fast healing; healing saliva; teleportation; flying (during a full moon); swordsmanship

Etymology

Akira's surname from his mother's side, Amor, means "love".

Akira's surname from his father's side, Sakamaki, means "reverse winding" (逆巻).

Fun Facts

Akira is loosely based off of characters such as DC Comic's Jason Todd from the Batman series, and Anthony and Benedict Bridgerton from Netflix's Bridgerton.

The original nature of Akira's birth took inspiration from Terry McGinnis's origins in the animated series Batman Beyond: like Terry's adoptive father Warren, Wolfgang's genetic reproductive material would have been altered with Karlheinz's own DNA, meaning that any children Angelica would have had with Wolfgang would be Karlheinz's biologically. Also, the nature of Akira's death and resurrection also took inspiration from a DC Comics property, the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood. Akira's origins was changed to simply make it that his mother Angelica gave birth to the eldest son, and because Karlheinz was deeply infatuated with her, he made Akira his heir.

Akira knows how to speak English, Spanish, Japanese, German, and French.

He doesn't like strawberry ice cream, but enjoys other strawberry flavored treats.

After his death, many portraits of Akira were made and placed all over the mansion.

Because of his tattoos, Akira has some issues with going to some onsens (Japanese hot springs and bathing facilities) and beaches.

His favorite book is Rebecca.

Akira has nicknames for all of his brothers.

His least favorite play of all time is Romeo and Juliet.

Akira, while going by the name Anselm, got along pretty well with Carla and Shin, as he never caused any unnecessary issues for them.

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I feel like I made this one a bit too angsty, so sorry about that.

[meowblivion]

Dreamworks is this constant up and down rollercoaster.

For every shrek, there’s a shark tale

For every how to train your dragon, there’s a turbo

For every kung fu panda, there’s a boss baby.

For every Puss n Boots: The Last Wish, there’s another Trollz movie that nobody asked for.

For every Croods, there’s a captain underpants.

I’m feeling pretty cautious about shrek 5 especially after that megamind tv show disaster.

Will this be one of the good ones or is the animation community gonna riot in the streets again?