#favorite subplot favorite levels favorite characters favorite music favorite everything

[infiniteharmonicreflux]

i love you the son i love you henchman i love you bodyguard i love you blue lips i love you petrov i love you vip guard i love you colombian boss i love you colombian henchman i love you act 6 of hotline miami 2 i love you chapter 15 "showdown" of hotline miami

[zettatoad]

finished mario and luigi brothership. i liked it! misc thoughts

i kinda like that this game is relatively back-to-basics. feels like a good decision considering it was made under a different studio. besides that, dream team and paper jam were very much following the template of bowser's inside story, and i feel like that was a little to their detriment. compared to these, the first three games were all trying new things, and in resetting like this and figuring out how to make mario and luigi work again from scratch, brothership is both trying new things and paving the way for any future titles to try even newer things

it does kinda suck that they made it so that you select luigi's battle options with the A button. a little awkward to switch from A to B when attacking

regarding trying new things: i like how luigi is handled in the overworld in this one. i don't know if i prefer it to the classic way, but i feel like it was a different way of controlling him that introduced new puzzles and such, rather than a simplification. it admittedly took some getting used to to not try to make him jump while navigating

the music is pretty good, but it's not yoko shimomura good, y'know? i don't begrudge hideki sakamoto at all and i wish him the best but i do hope they're able to get her back for any further sequels

the pun game here is on point. kudos to the localization team for their many ways of interweaving electricity, sailing, and gardening together (some of those are freebies, though. e.g. i'm pretty sure electric current is named after water current)

i've seen people complain about how long the special attacks and enemy attacks are for multiple mario and luigi games, and that hasn't really bothered me before. but boy, do some attacks take a while in this game. not a big deal for me but i'm beginning to see where those complaints are coming from

i wish this game had repeatable boss refights like the previous few did. they could give it an in-setting justification with connectar, somehow. the fact that there's already a level scaling system means you could potentially have an option to strenghten old fights so the early ones don't die in one hit when you're strong

the bowser jr. subplot was a good payoff for me actually playing bowser jr.'s journey. i think the mario and luigi writers care more about bowser jr. than basically anyone else. i like how he's characterized as being an incredibly spoiled and selfish brat but still a good kid at heart (besides being, you know, evil)

i like that peach does things in this game instead of protecting or saving her being a major goal. awarding mario and luigi brothership two feminism points for this

i haven't talked about the actual plot uhhh it was pretty good. i liked it. some of the many characters who tag along with you were a tad one-note but it was kinda nice having a whole gang of guys you get to know. iunno.

they did nail the ending, in particular the stuff after the final boss. a great conclusion to everything

overall i rank it as my 4th favorite mario and luigi game, above dream team and behind partners in time (i have an unusually high opinion of partners in time, relative to how i've seen other people talk about it. if you did not like partners in time like this is basically like saying it's my third favorite (i don't know if it works like that))

we still need more mario and luigi games until we finally get one with a wario and waluigi boss battle

SPOILER THOUGHTS BELOW:

reclusa is sort of like if flowey the flower and monokuma had a horrible son together

i kinda think he sucks but i kinda think that's at least partially because he kinda shows up out of nowhere to take over the last act of the game. and then that last act is kinda just going back to old islands without doing anything interesting. kinda kinda kinda

like if he could peak out of his egg a little earlier and have some dialogue, some influence on the plot, maybe introduce a couple of reclusa-brand enemies earlier, then it would it be less like some random annoying guy took over the game from the previous villain and more like the annoying guy we all know and love rightfully ascending to his place as the true villain

also: why an egg. that's kind of random, considering how on point the rest of the game's theming is. a seed would make much more sense, especially considering he makes an evil tree

i bet you could have fun dialogue with him being his annoying self and zokket being like "yes, master. your will be done" or whatever and the extension corps could be like "is this REALLY the guy behind the guy we're serving?" could help make their face turn at the end of the game be a little less out of nowhere. oh well, writing is hard and making video games is hard and it's a lot easier for me to say all this in hindsight

i DO like his design and the design of the reclusa-brand enemies. i even feel like his dialogue and personality is kinda (again? argh) fun. but the way he suddenly shows up and takes over everything left a bad taste in my mouth

the final boss has a problem where they wanted it to be an epic multi-phase fight, but they also need it to fit in with the difficulty curve of the rest of the game, so it ends up that every phase goes down pretty quickly and has only two or three attacks, and it all feels less exciting than the fight against zokket, who had a bunch of attacks and survived several times longer than any phase of this fight

while i'm at it, why didn't zokket get a unique boss theme. antasma got one and he didn't do anything. he didn't even do anything

as it stands, i think the game would be improved if it ended at fortress zokket

i feel like i should write a conclusion here but i already concluded it before i started talking about spoilers. i complained here but i liked the game and i'm glad they're making more of these even if i'm still mad about alphadream. odds are high that the next paper mario game will be good instead of bad. that's all i got

[xb-squaredx]

Super Mario Bros. Wonder: How Mario Got His Groove Back

Mario has had a rough regression into 2D. Once the top dog in platformers, Mario has been in a bit of a lurch regarding a number of his titles for the last several years. While once seen as a breath of fresh air, as the New Super Mario Bros. series went on many regarded them as too same-y and stagnant. The same could be said for the 3D titles, as every title from Super Mario Galaxy 2 onward sanded off a lot of the wackier, more experimental aspects of the earlier 3D titles. The less said about the state of the Mario sports and RPG spinoffs the better. However, in recent years there have been glimmers of hope that everyone’s favorite plumber might be getting back to his roots. Super Mario Odyssey was a well-received return to form for the 3D sandbox titles, and the resounding success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie speaks for itself. But the real test was releasing a 2D Mario game that manages to actually FEEL new and exciting. Is Wonder that game, or will be left wondering when this supposed renaissance will truly begin? Let’s find out!

A NEW COAT OF PAINT, AND A FRESH NEW SOUND

The first thing that stuck out to me when first booting up Wonder was just how alive everything felt. The New series after a time felt anything but new, filled with lifeless animations and a bland visual style that was…fine but not exactly exciting. Wonder by contrast is vivid and adorns everything with either a painterly or even clay-like texture. It might not be the most visually striking game ever made, but as far as Mario’s 2D outings go this one really pushed past some boundaries. While in 3D, everything looks a lot more akin to the older 2D art for the Mario cast. Faces are rendered with this 3/4s style, always facing the camera and making sure we can see just how much more expressive each character is. From the determined looks on their faces when dashing about, the way Mario pulls his hat over his eyes when he crouches, or the little flourishes like how the extra-large elephant versions of characters have to squeeze through doorways or pipes, there’s so much attention to detail here.

Adding to that is the sound design and music having a much greater presence here than normal. Over time, we’ve taken for granted how past Mario games have sounded, but Wonder shakes this up a bit. A jump is now the plucking of a string instrument that’s different for every character, while a ground pound is accompanied by a drum roll into a satisfying cymbal hit. Even the iconic sound of entering a pipe has been changed, replicated with a xylophone. The music in general matches the tone of each level well enough. From the early stages and their more laid back tones, to the more sinister themes of the Bowser airships, there are also several stages that feature musical setpieces that really stand out as the most memorable parts of the game. But that’s not all regarding the game’s presentation taking it up another level.

Wonder’s plot is about as simple as we’ve come to expect for the Mario series, and yet there is FAR more voice work and dialogue in this game than you’d think. Mario and friends are visiting Prince Florian of the Flower Kingdom when Bowser crashes their party, stealing one of many powerful Wonder Flowers. Harnessing their power, he merges with Florian’s castle, using his newfound status as…Castle Bowser to build up Wonder energy for…well, something that can’t be good! Florian accompanies the Mario crew in a manner similar to the assistant characters we’ve seen in the older RPG series, having something to say after major levels are beaten or when you enter into a new world. Each world itself also has its own subplot that gives a BIT more context to your platforming fun. In the Sunbaked Desert, we have to track down Bowser. Jr. and take back all the water he’s stolen from the residents. Whereas in the Fungi Mines, players have to investigate several ruins and progress further and further underground to save a group of miners that have been trapped by a cave-in. Even the talking flowers you see throughout the game help the world feel more real, like the adventure is unfolding in real time. At times they can be there for a joke, or as a more diegetic in-game hint, but they also serve as a way to test the waters for more natural voice work in the Mario series after mostly abandoning the prospect with Sunshine. On the note of new voices, this game actually marks quite the shake-up in the voice cast.

After nearly 30 years voicing the plumbers, Charles Martinet is now succeeded by Kevin Afghani. Afgahni’s take on the Mario brothers clearly takes a lot of inspiration from Martinet’s portrayal and in many cases is downright identical. His Luigi sounds uncannily like Martinet, though there are places here or there with Mario where you can hear a bit of a difference, but the transition is largely painless here. Giselle Fernandez also takes over for Daisy after Deanna Mustard’s similarly long tenure with the character, and they really capture the energy Daisy is known for overall. Nabbit is now voiced by Dawn Bennet, while Prince Florian and his Poplin subjects are voiced by Caitlyn Elizabeth and Christine Cabanos respectively. The likes of Peach, the Toads, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are all still done by their longtime actors, but this definitely feels like a new era for the series as the old guard is stepping down. It’s a bit strange to see more professional actors taking on some of these roles, as a good amount of Mario enemies and NPCs are often done by members of the sound team or even the Nintendo Treehouse, but if there was ever going to be a game to swap out a good chunk of the cast, it would have to be this one. The first of MANY changes and surprises in store!

ELEPHANTS AND BADGES AND FLOWERS, OH MY!

Within the first few moments of touching the game, I was reminded of my first impressions with the likes of Super Mario World and how different that game had been from the NES games. Wonder feels like another step forward for the series regarding not just level design and gimmicks, but core gameplay elements that aim to surprise and shatter past conventions. Don’t get me wrong though; this is still a platformer through and through. You run through stages, grabbing the flagpole at the end and gaining collectibles along the way. But each level has something that feels well and truly new and exciting to spice things up. Be it the rather large roster of new enemies, level-specific mechanics like pools of goop you have to slowly push through, or using water to cool down giant superheated platforms, there’s always something around the corner that makes for several standout levels. But the biggest takeaways for a given level will arguably be the various Wonder Flower segments.

Just about every level features a Wonder Flower players can touch, which then triggers a large change to the stage that players will have to navigate in search of a Wonder Seed, which will turn things back to normal. Sometimes the stage itself starts moving like its alive, while at other times enemies might change in size or multiply, and there are even transformations that will affect the Mario crew. While a handful of effects are repeated throughout the game there are a number of completely unique ones that make for a fun climax to the stage. What’s interesting is that the vast majority of these segments are optional, allowing players to skip past them either on replay or when speedrunning, but you’ll be missing a huge part of the game’s charm if you don’t engage with them.

Outside of that, there are also new tools at your disposal to get through these stages. The Elephant Fruit power-up is the most documented part of Wonder in general, letting players become powerful pachyderms as they slam enemies away with a powerful trunk, which can also store and shoot out water. That said, its own uses feel a bit less revolutionary when compared to, say, the Cat Bell from 3D World. Other new power-ups include the Bubble Flower and Drill Mushroom, with the former letting you  bubble up enemies and jump off of them for a boost, while the latter lets you burrow past obstacles and occasionally unearth secrets. Alongside the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, Wonder uses the power ups smartly, especially with certain timed challenges that task you with taking out enemies as quickly as you can with your arsenal of abilities.

When it comes to character-specific abilities however, some might be a bit disappointed to see the cast is largely homogenous. While it’s great to play as the likes of Daisy and Peach, alongside the Mario Brothers and Toads, everyone is the same (barring the Yoshis and Nabbit, who function as “easy mode,” basically)…so that’s where the Badge system comes in. Players obtain Badges throughout the game, which come with a wide range of effects. From replicating those character-specific abilities (the very first one you get is essentially Peach’s floating from past games), to passive effects like drawing in coins or hinting at secrets, there’s even some Expert Badges that make the game harder on you. You can try out the Jet Run badge to speed through levels but there’s no way to stop running. Or try out the Invisibility Badge to sneak past enemies…just good luck platforming when you can’t see yourself either! Badges are probably my favorite addition to the game, allowing for a degree of customization with exploration and difficulty that really ups the replayability and even accessibility of the game, though I do wish there was a bit more freedom with the system. Only being allowed one Badge, even in multiplayer, is a bit of a shame, but if anything this is a great new system that I’d love to see become a mainstay to the series.

PLAYING “TOGETHER”

Speaking of multiplayer, that’s one facet of Wonder that’s drawn some ire from some circles. Compared to the past few multiplayer Mario platformers, Wonder doesn’t employ collision between players, and also limits the ways players can interact with each other. So this means no more running into people, or picking them up and “accidentally” throwing them to their deaths. This also allows the level design to no longer have to space things out for up to four players, keeping things from feeling too cramped OR too spaced out. It seems perfect and we should all be rejoicing…but for the griefers out there that love to mess with other players this is a dark day and they probably cancelled all of their pre-orders. Now, there is something to be said about being able to physically interact with players and create some spur-of-the-moment plans to grab a collectible or make it through a tough section. If someone plays as Yoshi you have the ability to ride on their backs at least, but otherwise it feels more like you’re playing alongside someone rather than truly together. But perhaps as a result of this, the online experience might be some of the best the Mario games have ever seen.

When connecting online, players will encounter “ghosts” or “shadows” of other players that can be seen but, similar to local play, can’t be interacted with normally. Players can see each other and use little emotes to communicate, but you’re all largely playing your own instance of the level. As a result though, there’s no real input delay or lag to worry about (except when players are loaded into a level you’ve already started) and you can go about your business without worrying about someone messing with you. That said, you can’t, say, ride on another Yoshi player online like you can in local play, but you do gain the ability help out other players. Players can share spare power-ups with other players even online, as well as revive players if they die if you can touch their ghost before a short timer goes down, in a manner somewhat similar to co-op in Cuphead. On top of that, online is where Standees showcase their use. Players can crouch down and press “X” to throw out a standee of their character on the spot, which can serve to either highlight a hidden block or area players can reach, but also serve as a way to revive other ghosts. Throwing down a Standee right before a tough spot can end up really helping other players out, even if it doesn’t do much for you. Players can gain “heart points” by helping other players out and finishing levels with them, which do nothing but give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside. While most online interactions are with random players that can come and go as they please, it IS also possible to make dedicated rooms with friends and engage in races through certain stages too. While the online and even co-op multiplayer might not quite be what every player wanted, I do feel that Wonder found a way to truly innovate after the last several Mario multiplayer experiences were often characterized as being chaotic and frustrating. It feels nice playing through levels and serving as a guide to less experienced players, and being able to race about with friends can be fun in its own way.

THE DIFFICULTY OF CREATING A CHALLENGE

Now, one major aspect of Wonder I was worried about pre-release was the overall challenge the game would pose. Seeing how strong the new power-ups and Badges were, combined with the ways that other players can help in multiplayer, I was worried this wouldn’t be very engaging and you could kind of sleepwalk through it. As subjective as difficulty can be for people, I do think that Wonder largely managed to keep me engaged and offered some real challenges, while also enabling players to really shape the game to their own skill levels. Mario is always going to be a series that appeals to as many people as possible. It doesn’t carry the kind of reputation that, say, the Donkey Kong Country series had regarding difficulty, but Wonder does give players a TON of options to make the game ease up on you and a lot of the difficulty can come from just NOT engaging with these options. Just avoid using Badges, the power-ups or the Yoshis and Nabbit for a more challenging run through the game. That being said, the game does pepper each world with far more challenging levels off the beaten path. Most of the world map actually allows you to tackle levels in any order you want, and levels have individual difficulty ratings so you know which ones to avoid if you want to have a chill time, or indeed which ones to seek out for a real challenge. The game’s final challenge was also suitably hard, so on the whole I was satisfied with my time with the game….with really only one exception.

The vast majority of Wonder is designed around surprising players, constantly doing something unexpected and weird….which makes it all the more disappointing to see them drop the ball with boss battles. Now, this is a platformer and I don’t really ever go into a platformer thinking about the boss fights. If they’re fun, then that’s good enough for me, but they’re often not at the top of the list and I care way more about the levels leading up to them. In Wonder’s case though, not only are the bosses very simple and easy, they’re also infrequent and very same-y. In that regard, it’s the one thing that I think the New series handled better. You fight Bowser Jr. in most of the worlds, with the same overall idea of him attempting to run you over in his shell, with the only difference being a Wonder effect that changes up the arena a bit. But after about three or four jumps on his head the fight is over and they all fail to leave an impact. Not helping matters is that a few worlds just don’t even HAVE boss fights at all, not even minibosses like Boom Boom show up here. While the final boss at least was unique and fun, it still felt like it ended somewhat too soon and I was left underwhelmed by the finale before the post-game challenges. Again, most Mario bosses aren’t much to write home about but with every other aspect of Wonder really going out of its way to impress me, the bosses just stuck out like a sore thumb. Maybe if they had gone for a more setpiece driven platforming challenge for the final level, similar to the finales for 3D Land and 3D World, that would have been better, but at the end of the day I wish the game had just pushed the envelope just a bit further.

That being said, I applaud how accessible the game is overall, and for younger or more inexperienced players they’ll likely have enough to grapple with and be plenty engaged. Multiplayer can be both helpful but also make things a bit more tricky depending on the level, and having some easy-mode characters on top of certain badges SHOULD give everyone a chance at beating this game if they so desire. I do feel that the path to true 100% completion is a bit more fulfilling. Each level has at least two Wonder Seeds to get, one for beating it normally and one for completing the Wonder Flower segment. Some levels have secret exists that bestow another Wonder Seed though, and I had to really keep my eyes peel for hints to find those. Wonder Seeds are the only plot-critical collectible but the game also keeps track of whether or not you got three large purple coins in each level, on top of reaching the top of every flag pole at least once, so I had my hands full getting full completion and felt satisfied enough at the end, so I think they did well enough. Maybe in the future they could use the Badge system to let players tweak the difficulty a bit more minutely. Maybe give us some Badges that make enemies tougher or impose a time limit on stages (something this game notably removed compared to past games), just for some extra spice. Difficulty is always going to be tricky to balance, but for the most part Wonder excelled enough there.

A WONDERFUL START TO A NEW ERA

2023 really does feel like we’re entering into a new era for not just Mario, but Nintendo as well. A new console is all but confirmed to exist within the next year or so, and after the Mario Movie’s smashing success, on top of the debut of the Super Nintendo World theme parks, Nintendo is likely ready to make even bigger moves with their IPs, and that includes Mario. Wonder, at least according to the developers, isn’t necessarily the blueprint for every Mario title to come, but it does at the very least paint a picture that this franchise isn’t anywhere close to running out of steam. Mario’s “dark ages” are still far better than the heights of many other franchises but all the same it’s nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel here. With remakes of beloved RPGs, and games like Wonder and Odyssey taking chances and being real returns to form for both 2D and 3D platformers, the future of the series hasn’t looked this good in a while, and I’m excited to see where it goes next. I don’t know if I could say that Wonder is the best 2D Mario game, but it’s easily the best in a long while and will likely be considered a bit of a swan song for the Switch era. Endlessly creative and boasting some surprisingly novel online elements on top of playing like a dream, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the easiest recommendations I’ve had in a while and even with releasing so late into an utterly packed year of amazing games, it stands on its own as far as being in the Game of the Year conversation.

Until next time,

-B

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VII Review

 Year: 1997

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, PlayStation Store

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

The Shinra Electric Power Company rules over the city of Midgar, and the eco-terrorists AVALANCHE stop at nothing to try and prevent the life essence of the planet from being used as energy. Barrett, leader of AVALANCHE, hires a mercenary named Cloud Strife for their bombing mission on a Shinra Mako Reactor. Cloud doesn’t care much for the greater cause and only wants his pay. But then, after a mission goes awry, he meets Aerith, a flower girl who is the descendant of the Ancients. He quickly finds himself wrapped up in the greater conflict against Shinra.

 Gameplay:

Final Fanatasy VII utilizes magic spells via Materia – little orbs that come in a variety of colors pertaining to the natural elements. You can mix and match them on your weapons and equipment, which gives you access to different spells and stats. All your equipment varies with the number of slots for how many Materia orbs you can put in. Leveling up not only upgrades the character but the equipped Materia as well.

 Final Fantasy VII also uses an ATB system but is known for introducing Limit Breaks – finishing moves that build up after the character gets hit over time. Final Fantasy VI had a prototype called Desperation Attack – but it was very rare as it only appeared when your character had 1/8 of their total HP, and there was a 1 in 6 chance of performing the Desperation Attack after selecting Attack. I actually had no idea that was a thing until long after I finished the game, and never experienced it when I played Final Fantasy VI.

Graphics:

Out of all the Final Fantasy games, I have to say that this one has not aged well. It has the worst graphics of the entire series. The battle and cinematic graphics are passable.

(Most of the graphics power seemed to be put in Tifa’s, uh, bosom.)

But the characters in towns, the overworld, and in-game cutscenes are incredibly blocky. PC versions are supposedly sharper, but the PlayStation One version makes it nigh impossible to see any facial expressions. 

The graphics are definitely a product of its time. I always say that the beginning of 3D gaming was essentially like puberty – awkward and full of zits. It wasn’t yet at that stage where it could be aesthetically pleasing. We marveled about it when it was first released, yes, but then we cringed in retrospect.

The environment backdrops however are probably the strongest points, where they capture the industrial nature of Midgar, the reactors and other such buildings.

Story:

Final Fantasy VII became legendary the minute Square released it. Every aspect was memorable. Part of it could be due to the fact that it was the first Final Fantasy game to enter the 3D realm. Another part was Tetsuya Nomura’s character designs, which hit the cool meter to the point of sub-zero.

 The cinematics blew our minds. The opening action scene with Cloud, Barrett, and the rest of AVALANCHE attacking Shinra’s mako reactor is the most memorable opening to a Final Fantasy game. Period. Final Fantasy games really do know how to start at the right spot, no matter how good or bad the overall game is. The opening is always the best part.

Then there was the motorcycle chase. Cid’s airship. The gun fights. Battles with Sephiroth. The extra stuff to find, like summons and extra bosses. So much was jam-packed into the game.

 But the story was the primary factor in making VII famous. It’s definitely one of the better ones. Man, the story became so famous that even gamers who haven’t touched a Final Fantasy game knew the major spoilers. It is the equivalent to knowing Darth Vader’s line, “I am your father” without having actually watched Star Wars.

Aerith (Aeris in the English releases) Gainsborough – the innocent flower girl who holds the secrets of the Ancients – develops a romance with Cloud and fucking dies at the end of Disc 1 by the main villain – Sephiroth. The scene shocked everyone and practically made headlines. Everybody has seen the horrible image in one way or another.

It seems to me that since Final Fantasy V, the stories have gotten more and more used to main character deaths, ultimately transforming into a heavy-hitting TV series rather than simply a video game series. In other words – it matured. Looking back, Final Fantasy IV appears to be child’s play and a prototype of later dramatic storylines with fully realized worlds.

 Final Fantasy VII was also the first Final Fantasy game to create a world much like ours – one with cars and trains and airplanes and machine guns and even cellphones. The main city of Midgar reflects industrialization at its worst, with miles of slums and claustrophobic cities. Shinra Electric Power Company is a reflection of capitalism at its worst - a single entity in charge of so much that it’s pretty much the government. For the first time in a Final Fantasy game, you play as characters who dance between the morally ambiguous line of terrorism and activism. Funny enough, the theme of neglecting the planet resonates with us now more than ever. This game ended up being rather prophetic about the uncontrollable growth of corporations.

While the story is memorable with many intriguing elements, the plot itself is a tangled web. In my opinion, they really hashed in so many things that it’s easy to forget crucial details. It’s not straightforward, but at the same time everything does connect by the end. While Shinra is the driving force as a whole as the villain, Sephiroth takes over, then you learn about his backstory and then with the evil scientist Hojo and the extra-terrestrial Jenova and then “Weapon” and then the planet’s history and this and that and the other thing.

If I were to put Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII together and contrast them, as many gamers do, I would find that Final Fantasy VII is the summer blockbuster and Final Fantasy VI is the Oscar winner. Final Fantasy VII started introducing the sappy romance subplot to the series. A love triangle forms among Aerith, Cloud, and Cloud’s childhood friend Tifa. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a love triangle, the writing is like watching middle schoolers trying to express their feelings. Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IV treated any romance with dignity and realism.

But maybe I’m being a bit harsh. After all, Cloud Strife did go through some suffering as an adolescent. His backstory clearly drives his antisocial behavior, so that becomes a good arc. 

The goofiest but memorable part of the story deals with Don Corneo and Wall Market and running around store to store doing tasks in order to free Tifa from Don Corneo. It ends with Cloud needing to cross-dress as a woman to get inside Don’s mansion. Because, you know, it’s not like Cloud can just break in with his sword and Aerith’s magic or anything like that. But whatever. It’s anime.

The recent Final Fantasy VII Remake for the PS4 seems to streamline the story, and actually enhances the emotions they were trying to deliver in the original. I will be talking about the remake in a separate post altogether since I’m almost done with it at the time of this writing. But there’s a lot that I want to say about comparing and contrasting the remake and the original.

The latter half of the plot takes a couple weird turns. At one point, Cloud became catatonic and confined to a wheelchair.

That part of the game became the sluggish part for me. Sephiroth also tries to confuse Cloud, which confused me. Cloud apparently suffers from some alternate subconscious mumbo-jumbo and like. . .ungh. I get an aneurysm thinking about it sometimes.

Complicated plotlines like Final Fantasy VII start showing up from here on out in the Final Fantasy series. The trend of bishonen characters also begin here, bishonen being the Japanese term for “beautiful boy.” Cloud and Sephiroth have that look. The series starts hashing in sappier romances and much more of an anime feel.

Final Fantasy VII ultimately marked the start of a new era for the series – introducing both cool and overused tropes.

Music:

Hands down the best Final Fantasy soundtrack of all.

The entire soundtrack of this game is memorable. The opening tune, with its light twinkle when the stars show up, is enough to make any gamer know exactly what that’s from.

With a story set in a more modern world, we have music that is more modern. After Final Fantasy VI had a more serious and operatic score, Uematsu displayed his love of progressive rock here. The motorcycle chase incorporates a lot of synth, which was fitting for zipping through the streets of Midgar. However, Final Fantasy VII is the first Final Fantasy game without that familiar starting bassline for the battle them. The battle theme is instantly recognizable but also radically different from its predecessors. It’s dramatic and displays danger.

Meanwhile, the boss theme is one of the best boss themes in the series, or any video game really. It’s an electrifying progressive rock piece, and it’s my personal favorite boss theme.

 The more instrumental pieces are somber, given the dreary atmosphere of the planet. The world map music is very different from its predecessors. It’s romantic one moment, soaring the next, and then dips into foreboding terror. I guess that sums up the story of Final Fantasy VII.

And we cannot leave out One-Winged Angel, which I will talk about below.

Notable Theme:

Without a doubt, One-Winged Angel – played during the terrifying final battle against Sephiroth – is the most memorable piece of music in Final Fantasy VII.

It may very well be the most popular song of the entire series. Nobuo Uematsu was inspired by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It’s a whopping 30 something minute classical piece. If you look it up on YouTube and browse through it, you can definitely note the similarities. However, Uematsu didn’t want some boring classical introduction to the piece. He wanted to add the destructive impact of rock. The theme has a very distinct stamping-your-foot-down quality to it.

I had noticed a certain piece-by-piece feel of the song and that’s exactly how Uematsu composed it. This is the only song that Uematsu has composed where he created several tunes in his head and then rearranged them to make a single comprehensive song.

If you want to get technical, One-Winged Angel is the first Final Fantasy song with lyrics. The chorus sings in Latin about Sephiroth’s burning anger, with some lyrics actually taken from the medieval poem Carmina Burana. It sounds fantastic when fully orchestrated.

In Advent Children, the animated sequel to Final Fantasy VII, the music is accompanied by hardcore metal. This new rendition really illustrates the destructive power of Sephiroth. Uematsu changed the lyrics for Advent Children. They are more original now. I specifically noticed the lyrics “Veni, veni, mi fili”, which translates to “Come, come, my son.” Sephiroth is inviting you so he can kill you.

 Uematsu has stated that the original orchestration didn’t sit well with him. As I suspected, Advent Children’s hardcore metal version is the one he preferred, the one he would have composed had he the technology at the time of Final Fantasy VII.

Verdict:

Another must-play for any RPG fan, even if you think it’s overrated. It’s a must-play because of its popularity, in the same way that people are wide-eyed when you say you haven’t seen Star Wars or such-and-such other popular movie. It’s a whole lot of fun, especially in the scenes that involve other forms of gameplay, such as the motorcycle chase and even a battlefield strategy game in protecting Fort Condor. 

Direct Sequel?

Yes – first there was the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

I actually watched Advent Children before playing Final Fantasy VII. I had already known most of what happened in the game and Advent Children became a monumental craze when it first came out. Everybody was talking about it. Watching the sequel before playing the game skewers your interpretation of things. My first impression of Cloud was that he was always whiny and angsty, and meanwhile Tifa kept nagging him to move on. I felt really bad for Cloud losing Aerith.

Then when I actually played Final Fantasy VII, I saw that Cloud starts as this badass mercenary. Tifa is spunky and clearly is the better choice (IMO) but Cloud is enamored by Aerith after only meeting her briefly. WHAT? Cloud. Bro. Make a move on Tifa, you nitwit. Tifa is AMAZING.

 Square Enix then continued the story with Dirge of Cerberus – Final Fantasy VII. This video game sequel focuses on Vincent Valentine, a fan favorite of the original game.

Let me remind you about something – the original game revealed Shinra’s inner deep secret experiments, namely with Sephiroth and Jenova. Dirge of Cerberus introduces an even deeper research team within Shinra called Deepground. I don’t know about you, but it already sounds like the start of a terribly redundant string of sequels, like how the Jason Bourne movies keep revealing an even deeper level of conspiracy theories. Vincent’s mysterious background is now fully revealed. He is defined by – guess what? – another angsty lost lover story, this time with a woman named Lucrecia. Now, okay, look, maybe I’m just being a dick about these types of love stories. But when it keeps popping up within the same series in the same manner, I start asking if you have anything else to offer on your menu.

Lastly, there is the prequel for the PSP – Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Of all the games in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core has received the most positive reception. If anything, play that after playing Final Fantasy VII before bothering with anything else.

 Oh, and of course there is the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which we thought wasn’t going to happen for the longest time but they finally released it in April 2020. More on that later after I finish it, and after I post my entire series of Final Fantasy reviews!

[authenticcadence18]

For the sending you a character thing could you maybe do Candace Flynn please? :)

Hi anon! And of COURSE!!

Favorite thing about them: I love how relatable she is! Candace being overwhelmed with life and feeling stuck/discouraged and frustrated is just, a big ‘ol mood, especially as I’ve gotten older. “The Universe is Against Me” is very therapeutic to sing for those reasons! I also love the moments when she is genuinely a kind older sister, like in “Dude We’re Getting the Band Back Together” or the end of “Summer Belongs To You.” I also love her friendship with Isabella (especially in the later seasons), it’s just really sweet! Candace helping Isabella out with her crush on Phineas (or just reacting to it in a deadpan way) is so so soooo so great! (Basically big sister Candace. Yes.) Candace is also just, SO FUNNY. Both with her dialogue and physical comedy. She’s a great character. (On a personal note, I also relate to her struggle with not wanting to drive right away! I was the same way, and thinking about Candace made me feel better about my own struggles!) Also her SINGING. YES. I love Ashley Tisdale. ...Ok, now that I’ve said lots of nice things about Candace...onto the next question😅

least favorite thing about them: sometimes Candace is just, very unkind. Like, I KNOW she has her own struggles and I’d never want to invalidate those.....but she is just so MEAN to Phineas and Ferb sometimes for no real reason (particularly in earlier episodes). Like, in the Christmas special for instance, she continuously laughs off Phineas and Ferb’s desire to write letters to Santa (but then USES this idea in a scheme to figure out what gift Jeremy wants, so it’s hypocritical on her part) (EDIT: i wouldn’t change the “letters to Santa??” bit, btw, it’s pretty funny!! but it illustrates my point) and THEN puts the thought in Phineas’s head that he might be the reason all of Danville was deemed naughty, which DEVASTATES him. I think the saddest part is that, 95% of the time, Phineas and Ferb are nothing but kind to her. It makes her occasional spitefulness towards them seem so JARRING. (And again I KNOW she struggles with her own issues and feeling inferior, CATU especially made that apparent, and I get it! But that doesn’t make it okay for her to be mean to her brothers, you know?). Also scenes where she says something nice to Jeremy and then rude to her brothers...idk, it just rubs me the wrong way. (I also dislike it STRONGLY when she is condescending to Isabella. I think this only happens, like, twice...but Isabella is my fave so I’ll never forget, LOL)

Favorite line: oh MAN how do I CHOOSE??? She’s got so many iconic lines. Maybeeee: “It’s SO not fair! I mean why am I still on sock detail when Gladys from accounting got promoted to commander and she doesn’t even know hold to hold a blaster!!! No I mean, really, she failed that part of the exam three times, she held it backwards AND upside down but she’s a second cousin to some mid-level darth and so SHE gets the promotion?? What about ME??? If they would just open their eyes, they’d see that I’ve got everything it takes, I COULD BE THE STORMIEST STORM TROOPER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!” Oh i also like (in reference to lumpy tables) “it’s the new hip-thing, it’s so European!!!” And also “Though I’ve often thought of you as just a nuisance and a bother, today I can’t imagine havin’ better little brothers!”

BrOTP: Candace and Stacy, 100%!! I love them and their friendship SO much, it really feels genuine (especially as their characters develop more). Their subplot in “Canderemy” is one of my favorite Candace plot lines in the show, it’s so funny and so sweet at the end (and a welcome distraction from a certain OTHER subplot in that episode.....yes I’m still mad about the ending🙃)

OTP: CANDEREMY! I’ll be honest, when I was younger, Canderemy kind of annoyed me because Phinabella was my fave and I always got mad when Candace had better luck with love than Isabella (because Candace was mean and Isabella wasn’t and I identified with Isabella and like, I’m just trying to give y’all a picture of younger me😂). But now that Phinabella is canon and I’ve gotten older, I really, REALLY appreciate Candace and Jeremy. Candace doesn’t have to act a certain way for Jeremy to like her: he likes her just the way she is and actively DISCOURAGES her from changing her identity just to appeal to him more. That’s so refreshing and wonderful to see in media aimed at kids/teens. I love that, for the majority of the show, they’re either “talking” or in a relationship and it’s just, a healthy relationship! No multi-episode arcs about them breaking up, no love triangles, no petty arguments (sometimes the show leans into these tropes for an episode, but that’s it. And it’s always resolved). They genuinely care about one another, and I think it’s really sweet. (Plus a Canderemy wedding is RIFE with possibility for pre-relationship Phinabella moments👀)

nOTP: I don’t have any specific nOTPS for Candace, so I’ll just say I’m fine with any ship between her and someone her age (that she isn’t related to, obviously. AND THAT GOES FOR ALL MY SHIPS. I don’t want to say that on every one of these character posts so like, just know. That is where i stand.)

Random headcanon: Candace and Jeremy adopted Fred. I just think it’s a sweet headcanon 🥺. Alsooooo ok this doesn’t specifically revolve around Candace, but when she and Jeremy got married, Isabella and Phineas were both a part of the wedding party and Candace made SURE they were paired together to walk down the isle💕. And Candace continues collecting Ducky Momo memerobilia well into adulthood!

Unpopular opinion: Candace isn’t a terrible, irredeemable character.....but she’s not a purely amazing character who can do no wrong either. I feel like some fans either despise her fully or love everything about her. I’m in the middle. I see her as a flawed character who was written by numerous people and thus is somewhat inconsistent in her characterization. I like it when she is characterized as kindhearted but easily overwhelmed and longing for validation, so that is how I choose to portray her in my own writing/headcanons.

Song I associate with them: look Candace sings so many FANTASTIC songs in the show that I can’t associate her with any other music. Like I guess Ashley Tisdale’s “Kiss the Girl” because there’s fics of her singing that to Phineas and Isabella and I think that’s adorable? (I know I wrote one of those waaaaaaay back in the day, LOL). But in general, every Candace song is great. “The Universe is Against Me” ESPECIALLY.

favorite picture of them: you know what Y’ALL GET FOUR PICTURES BECAUSE BIG SISTER CANDACE IS THE BEST OK

Thank you so much, anon! As you can see, I’ve got quite a few thoughts on Candace😅. At the end of the day, I think she’s a great character and I relate to her a lot! I had a ton of fun writing all these answers out.

This is the last ask I’m going to answer tonight, but I’m looking forward to answering more tomorrow!!!! 😁

[plasticnightmaredoll]

Godzilla vs. Kong - Full Review

Ok, as promised, I have a more in-depth review for this film. My review is kind of all over the place because there was a lot to unpack, but not in a good way. The movie has all the potential there, and it got the two most important things right: the battles and the portrayal of Godzilla, Kong, and Mechagodzilla. However, everything else regarding the plot and characters felt rushed, like, a few minutes more here and there would have gone a lot way.

Anyway, this review contains all the spoilers, just a warning.

The Good

Godzilla, Kong, and Mechagodzilla were the most interesting characters in the movie. The very human charm of Kong, Godzilla's mercy towards Kong twice, and Mechagodzilla's sinister rebellion almost made up for the lack of character development from the humans.

Godzilla's display of mercy was key to his character development, and perhaps the first time a Godzilla has displayed such a trait. This Monsterverse Godzilla seems more focused on conquest only for the sake of the preservation of the planet, not to create terror and destruction. Defeating Kong was more a display of dominance, maintaining his title as King of the Monsters, than anything else.

Kong was actually like a person in his behavior, which was kind of funny but also just highlighted how uninteresting the human characters were. Kong scratching his butt after waking up from a nap was more entertaining than listening to most of the human characters speak.

Hollow Earth was like the Lost World, the land the time forgot. It's vast, beautiful, mysterious, dangerous, and fascinating all at once. The odd quirks with gravity add a surreal element to this world within the world, almost like it's something out of a dream. I honestly hope we get more movies in the Monsterverse so we can explore Hollow Earth further.

The fact that Kong's species crafted an ax from a Godzilla-like titan dorsal fin is expected behavior for a primate, but it's also pretty badass. It can absorb energy, which makes me wonder what Godzilla's dorsal plates are capable of.

All the fights were excellent: Kong vs War Bats, Godzilla vs Kong at sea, Godzilla vs Kong in Hong Kong, and Godzilla and Kong fighting against Mechagodzilla. The fight with Mechagodzilla may have been a little too short, but it was still very well done.

Some amusing music choices. I don't know why Kong got all the cool music cues but, maybe it has to do with him having more personality than any of the human characters.

I liked the reveal about Ghidorah's three heads using telepathy. I don't recall this being mentioned for other versions of this character, and it does make sense. Yes, they can talk to each other normally, but with the length of their necks, it would be easier to be able to mentally engage in conversations from time to time, especially in combat when there's so much going on and they need to coordinate fast.

I am guessing that the use of Kevin's (Ghidorah's severed left head from 2019's "King of the Monsters") brain for Mechagodzilla was the cause for his rebellion against his programming. It makes sense when you consider how he deliberately killed Walter Simmons, his "owner," and then went right after Godzilla. It fits the story that Ghidorah's brain would have taken over Mechagodzilla's body after receiving enough power to push the robot to its full potential. It also implies that Kevin may have been lying in wait until he was given enough power to take full control over Mechagodzilla.

Kong did lose to Godzilla twice, and honestly, it was inevitable. Kong may be more agile than Godzilla but he lacks tough, armor-like skin and fast regeneration. Godzilla is essentially a massive powerhouse of brute force and strength and can endure for much longer than Kong in a fight. Having Kong defeat Godzilla in the 1962 film from Toho just...didn't make much sense to me. It felt liked it was forced like the movie was meant to cater to Kong instead of Godzilla -- which I think was the point but...it didn't work for me.

Godzilla and Kong teaming up to fight Mechagodzilla gave me what wasn't provided in "King of the Monsters." I was seriously hoping the 2019 movie would have Mothra, Rodan, and Godzilla fight against Ghidorah just like in the 1964 movie, "Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster." It's a personal favorite of mine because of the teamwork, but "King of the Monsters" sadly didn't go that route. Fortunately, "Godzilla vs Kong" did and it paid off.

I preferred Godzilla and Kong making amends at the end of the film instead of remaining enemies. If the movie had only been about those two fighting, it would have been disappointing. Seeing as how both characters are anti-hero types in the Monsterverse, it suits them better to come together to defeat a common enemy and put their differences aside afterward out of respect toward each other.

Godzilla's level of intelligence: he realized how Kong's ax worked after engaging with it once and charged the ax later to allow Kong to slice apart Mechagodzilla.

The science behind Mechagodzilla's functionality was interesting, even if we didn't get to dive into it.

I enjoyed Jia's friendship with Kong. It was very sweet. Much better than giving Kong a hot blonde woman to simp over!

The Bad

The villains were awful. Not just awful people but awful in terms of how they were written. What the hell was Walter Simmons' deal? I guess he was seeking supremacy? His daughter was even less memorable, proving to be as one-dimensional as a piece of paper and dying almost immediately after serving her purpose in the story

I thought Team Godzilla's subplot as a whole was terribly written. It was just meant to show us Mechagodzilla in action before he fought Godzilla but we couldn't have been given something more substantial than three idiots roaming around?

This felt more like a sequel to "Kong: Skull Island" since this movie focused more on Kong than Godzilla. Why?

None of the human characters were all that interesting, even pre-existing ones like Madison and Mark Russell. Jia was a very nice little girl and served as a means of easing Kong's mind. Everyone else, though, was just there to move the plot along.

The fight with Godzilla and Kong teaming up against Mechagodzilla was good but it felt a little short. If it had been a little bit longer, it would have been perfect.

The storm that wiped out Skull Island...what the hell was that about?

The convoluted and rushed explanation of Mechagodzilla's "brain" functionality was cool but I would have preferred we didn't get all that just tossed into our lap. The movie doesn't give you much time to process this information.

Then again, the movie moves too quickly to allow you to process a lot of what's going on.

The Ugly

Ren Serizawa didn't need to be in this movie as Ren Serizawa. It's never mentioned why he is working with Apex Cybernetics to kill kaiju. I mean, we can guess that maybe he's upset his father, Ishiro, sacrificed himself to help Godzilla in "King of the Monsters," but why? It wasn't like Ishiro was killed by kaiju. Did Ren just disagree with his father's beliefs about kaiju? The movie never discusses his motivations, and he's barely given any speaking lines. He didn't need to have such a specific detail attributed to him when said detail amounted to nothing.

I don't get why Josh Valentine's character was needed in the movie. He served no real purpose other than some comic relief.

Overall, "Godzilla vs Kong" is decent entertainment, but it's the weakest entry in the Monsterverse. The battles were fun, the CGI was excellent, and the three kaiju (Kong, Godzilla, and Mechagodzilla) were great, but the story and characters need some serious work.

Final Grade: C-

Godzilla (2014): A-

Kong: Skull Island (2017): C+

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): A

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Time for my feels dump thoughts on Diabolical Box...! y’all, this game. this game. I don’t think people give it enough credit for... a lot of what it does, despite the messiness of the plot reveals... but it’s so special and unique, in ways I’m only now appreciating. also this is gonna be really REALLY fucking long I am so sorry, but I have a Lot to say about the ending parts... i just love this game so much...... so i wrote a fucking novel bc of course i did.

also i played this in October, completely unintentionally, so that’s noice.

The amount of voice acting and cutcenes in this compared to CV is amazing, I love it so much, even if it is funny sometimes the dialogue they choose to voice and then abruptly cut off a few lines later.

I had COMPLETELY forgotten about Luke jumping on Chelmey and trying to rip his face off and it’s just the funniest fucking thing omg; Hershel in the background going “NO LUKE THAT’S HIS FACE” is comedic gold.

Will we ever know what Hershel was going to say when Chelmey asked him what Luke’s relationship to him was... dammit Luke why’d you have to cut him off.

Hershel calling the hamster “generously proportioned” is amazing. also “I’ve always said that helping rodents in need is among the duties of every true gentleman” Hershel... please tell me what other situations have made you say that... please...

Why is there an entire subplot about finding this Karen’s dog, just to make Chelmey look like even more of an idiot? if they needed to pad the game out more, they definitely could have done it with flashbacks or in places that I’m... ahem... emotionally invested in

Flora’s treatment in this game is so infuriating to me, like... why did they think this was a good idea? What was the point of bringing her into the plot for NO other reason than to be kidnapped and impersonated? Was it literally just because they needed a way for Hershel and Luke to run into Don Paolo and get the box back from him??? Why couldn’t, idk, Katia run into him in Dropstone and get the box from him and save Flora, that would still get the box to her and keep Flora in the group, and it would tip them off to Katia being related to all this even earlier, and Don Paolo could still be shown there if he absolutely has to make an appearance in each game. I know it’s because he has to be built up and then revealed, and because Hershel always has to have a dramatic point-n’-reveal every game, but whyyyyyy does it have to be at the expense of Flora. :))))) It would have been interesting to see her reactions to Folsense and Anton and everything, and not have Katia be the only female involved in all this; maybe she could, you know, actually have a personality!! hahaaaa who am I kidding...

beluga: “it’s already been a year since she passed away” me: whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg

Anderson talking about Dropstone and the sacrifices made to found it and how it can’t die out like “other towns”... with the song playing... whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg

The sheer coincidence of Katia going to Folsense on the same day that Hershel and Luke would end up in Dropstone and then there, and on the 50th anniversary of the town... not a likely one.

Didn’t some versions of the game come with a real version of the train ticket to Folsense? I want it D:

i also want a real Elysian Box, like can i commission someone to make one minus the whole you know actual gold, please, i’ll pay aNYTHING- *sobs*

LUKE HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT HERSHEL IS AN ARCHEOLOGIST, AFTER ALL THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SHIT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH

Hershel to “Flora”: “you’re as white as a sheet!” Don Paolo, minutes ago while the others aren’t looking: *furiously powdering his face mask or some shit*

Why was Anton’s diary lying in the street though... it doesn’t make sense that Katia or Beluga would have it, and they couldn’t open it anyhow. probably just a gameplay thing that should go unquestioned but I want to knowwww lol. Also wish Hershel and Luke had reactions to the entries.

Ilyana tho. Also bootleg Clive asdfghjkl

I LOVE THE TOWER OF HANOI PANCAKE PUZZLES

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the obsession with the tea set... like yeah it’s fun to serve tea when you actually get it right, but I’m stuck with like two recipes missing and getting frustrated just trying and trying countless ingredient combinations on end because some of the npcs are NOT helpful enough in telling what to make :))))

Obviously Katia can’t reveal anything or say anything about why she’s there at all to keep the suspense till the end, but it would have been cool to see her working together with them and making a plan to get into the castle and help Anton aka I just wanted more scenes with Anton being nice and not flying into a rage over a misunderstanding ugh

It’s honestly pretty impressive some of the deductions/connections Chelmey makes in this game, despite his... other incredibly stupid ones lol

“iSnT iT oBvIoUs?”

WHY DOES HERSHEL RISK KILLING LUKE (AGAIN) WITH THE BOX. And why tf does it not do anything to them since they assumed it would...?

The biggest mystery of the series is how Pavel gets where he does, truly

The music in the forest is truly one of the best osts, god I love it. I also adore the Herzen Castle ost now, I never really noticed it before but it is WONDERFULLY creepy and heavy and melancholic and just... idk, those harpsicords go hard. damn.

Opening the Elysian Box is the best puzzle in the series, because of the meaning behind it. Or at least, it’s my favorite for that reason :^)

Alright folks so I’m gonna be completely, unabashedly honest here, and reveal myself to be the superficial, shallow fucker I am lmao: Anton is super hot and I’m still attracted to him even now, and I hate that we get so little time with younger him dklslskdfkflssd I AM SORRY I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY. BLAME THE VOICE ACTOR, HE HAD NO RIGHT TO SOUND SO UNEXPECTEDLY DEEP AND INCREASE ANTON’S HOTNESS LEVEL BY 1000%... just. god damn. damn. the dining room scene. the lighting. the way he puts his hands down and closes his eyes at one point. the way he says Herzen. the freaking sass with “chalk it up to my bad taste then.” the little clap. his entire design which just oozes Victorian era anime bishie beauty. kudos to the character designer who was like “well they said make someone cool and handsome and i wasn’t sure what to do but i tried and i guess it worked out” GOOD SIR BOY DID YOU SUCCEED. how dare this man turn me on so much, fUCK. And I know it’s super shitty of me to not like his old design as much!!! but just!!! why the beak nose.... why.... he was so gorgeous and then you give him the Bronev nose treatment..... i’m already so sad over the ending but you make him look so much sADDER, THE SADDEST POSSIBLE DESIGN FOR OLDER ANTON. It’s not that I mind him being old, I just wish he looked more like himself... there didn’t need to be such a drastic change. But I know I’m just being petty lmao. anyway stan Anton for most beautiful PL character always 🙏 Descole and Clive’s hotness have nothing on this man

*ahem* But to get back to serious topics, replaying this now when I’m older, with the ones after it in mind, I think I finally realize why this game stands out to me so much from the others, making it my favorite. To put it as best I can, Diabolical Box, to me at least, just has a different feel from all the other PL games. Yes, it’s still definitely a Layton game, you still investigate a mystery, there’s still puzzles everywhere, it still has a relaxing city or country feel to the atmosphere, there’s still lots of charm, but once you hit Folsense and the climax and the ending reveals, the tone sort of... shifts? Not drastically, but enough that’s different from any point in all the other games that I can remember; I feel like Last Spector might have the closest kind of atmosphere to Folsense at certain parts, but even then the plot of that game is nowhere near to having the same tone as this one. Diabolical Box, when you really look close at it and think about it, is dark. Dark in a way that none of the other games are, despite the darkness some of the others do have. And I think part of that is because almost every other game/movie is connected to the overarching story involving Hershel’s past and people involved with him, and so the drama and angst is very much grounded in London or other places Hershel would be/was, and in his time, but Diabolical Box is unique in that the story and characters in it have nothing to do with him. And to reflect this, Anton and Sophia’s story is based in the early 1900′s, the Victorian era, in a city so far separated from, again, everything to do with Hershel, that if you were to just watch their story by itself and take the professor and Luke out of it, and you knew nothing about the series, you could reasonably argue that it isn’t from a Professor Layton game at all. What I mean is that Anton’s story could be an entire anime all on its own surely it’s not obvious how badly I want that, nope, not at all, completely separate from this series, and it would work; it could be its own period era-esque drama series, still with all the supernatural shit intact later on. I can think of a few existing anime similar to what I’m imagining. 

And I really do think it would be amazing, because like I said this story is terribly, terribly dark, and sad; as a PL game, like a lot of the other ones, it can’t go deep into the nitty gritty of what makes Anton’s story so fucking depressing, but just like... Imagine it. Imagine being alone, for so long in that castle, so long that you don’t even know how long it’s been anymore, with virtually no one, after having your heart broken and being abandoned by the person you loved the most, and who you thought loved you, and getting no closure about it. This long post goes a ton of detail about Anton’s character and things he was probably feeling/reasons for his behavior, but in short, Anton’s mother is never mentioned, so combined with how distant he was from his father and the fact that he feels alone in his role in society and that no one truly sees him as a real person, it’s quite possible that he clung to Sophia unconsciously as a mother figure, and, in general, she was the only person who made him feel seen, and loved. The only exception was Beluga, but Beluga leaves the town and Anton behind after quarreling with their father, so... It’s just extremely apparent when you read the diary entries and his dialogue (with the voice acting) that Anton was always alone and terribly insecure, and that Sophia made him the happiest he ever was - and so her leaving him was devastating to him. He was alone for fifty years (and who knows how long it actually felt, to him), in a lonely castle and emptying town, his entire family either left or dead, his body slowly aging without him even knowing it, while he had a daughter and granddaughter born without even knowing it, and all the while he’s left with the misunderstanding that Sophia might have loved someone “better” than him all along, never getting answers, having to live with all that grief and guilt and blame and jealousy and self-hatred over a situation that wasn’t even entirely true. Imagine what your MENTAL STATE would be like, jfc it’s a miracle he’s as sane as he is in the game!! Not to mention everything that crashes down on him within TEN MINUTES AT THE END. Yes, Unwound Future and the prequels very purposefully heap the angst on with Clive/Dimitri and Descole respectively, like “we are trying so hard to make you feel for this guy cry cry cry” and I fall for it like the trash i am love them too, don’t get me wrong, but Anton’s tragedy is much more understated but in my opinion is by far the absolute saddest of them all. I just... i’m crying y’all, this poor man. give him a fucking HUG. Anton Did Nothing Wrong 2k20; he doesn’t even hurt the people he lures in with his vampire scheme!! he lets them go without a scratch!!! what a guy... give him a hug and blankets please i love him so much, him and Sophia- *sobs*

and also as a side note, I honestly think Descole/Desmond would fit perfectly into this game for a lot of these reasons, in the trend of “trying to fit Descole into the first trilogy”; he’s got the right Aesthetic™ for one thing, but mainly just he and Anton have a LOT in common...! actually, now that I think about it, Randall and Anton do too, but I much prefer the notion of Descole and Anton interacting. honestly, I’m toying with the idea of an AU where Desmond and resurrected Aurora end up in Folsense and solve that mystery themselves instead of Hershel and Luke; i think it’d be fascinating.

However, by the same token, as much as I LOVE this game and characters for all of those reasons... it also makes no fucking sense ahaha. How the FUCK does the gas work. The illness that started killing people when the ore was first unearthed and is the reason everyone starts leaving, is THAT from the gas I assume?? but like why?? cause eventually it just turns to making the town appear as it was years ago and keeping people young, so...? ARE ALL THE TOWNSPEOPLE NOT ACTUALLY THERE, OR THEY ARE AND ARE JUST YOUNG LIKE ANTON; I’m still not clear on this!! because Hershel at the end says they’re illusions, and yet when you talk to the npcs so many of them complain about being tired and feeling old, so what is the truth!! It would make sense if newcomers see the town as it is in the pictures, but there’s no reason for them to not age... in fact, I don’t understand where the not aging thing comes from at ALL, since if the idea is that the gas makes what you think will happen happen, how tf did that even come about in the first place??? There’s no way everyone who inhaled the gas would think the exact same things and have the exact same hallucination. And if fifty years passed in reality, how long did it feel like to Anton/others; surely it couldn’t have been that long if they never questioned why they weren’t aging? If the gas in the box put Schrader in a coma, what was his theory about what would happen? Why does nothing happen to Hershel and Luke upon opening it when they clearly assume something will happen? Related to other things, how does the box become the source of a rumor, and how does Schrader even get it? Do people just assume Anton is dead or otherwise gone, or do they know/assume he’s still in the castle but don’t try to see him because of the vampire? Does Beluga know Anton is still there, if he does it’s pretty shitty of him to ignore him, and why does he think the box has to do with the fortune of all things if he possibly knew Sophia wanted it and knew it had something to do with her and Anton (seriously I don’t understand Beluga, I really wish they’d done more with him; he looks so shitty even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he knew the least amount possible)??? Did Sammy know that the drugged flowers related to getting into Folsense? Did Katia know how to get into Folsense, and what was she planning to do if she never found the box in order to prove she was who she said she was? Why do some of the npcs act like they know the deep dark secret of Folsense and keep saying Hershel and Luke don’t need to know, and keep talking about the town being cursed, like do they really know the truth?? Or not??? LEVEL-5 I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AND I’M TOO DUMB TO FIGURE OUT THE ANSWERS. EVEN LAYTON VS. WRIGHT’S STUPID REVEALS MAKE MORE SENSE THAN THIS AAAAAHHHH

anyway DB best game anton hot Even with all the weirdness though that makes this game the most Layton the Layton series has ever Layton’d lmao, I still love Diabolical Box so damn much. I love it so much, guys. It’s not part of a huge narrative, it’s not connected to the main characters; it tells its own little story and it does that perfectly. It’s so unique from all the rest, like I said, the plot has so much depth I don’t really see talked about, Anton and Sophia’s story is so beautifully tragic and underrated on a mature level that none of the other games really reach, and despite how upset I am we don’t get to see more of them, their love story is so impactful and emotional just from what little we do see, despite some of the oddities of how it plays out... they’re so sweet together and I cry so damn much over them ಥ⌣ಥ Iris is one of the most beautiful and touching songs in the series, too, and my favorite. And I’m a sucker for the Victorian era and cute romance lmao, so it just gets me like nothing else does... it’s so wonderful. saddest PL game, I will die on this hill. Even if I seem to talk a lot more about some of the other games/characters simply because there’s more content to talk about and there’s more to say about the more flawed content. you can’t improve perfection *chef’s kiss*, deep down, I think, this game will always be my favorite. ❤️

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-1st Place!

And now. 

For real this time.

What is hands down.

The Best.

Animated series.

In the 2010s.

Is…

(Pause for dramatic affect)

#1-Adventure Time (2010-2018)

I mean...what else?

The Plot: The magical land of Ooo has many things: A kingdom made of candy, a sociopathic Ice King, and even a self-proclaimed Vampire Queen. Amongst all this chaos are two adventures: A human boy named Finn, the Human, and his magical dog/best friend/adopted brother (yes, really) named Jake, the Dog. These two then go on adventure after adventure, facing against the many oddities that the Land of Ooo offers. What type of dangers? Well...you’re just going to have to watch the show to find out.

Before I start praising the crap out of this show, there’s one thing I want to get off my chest. You see, I hate Top X lists that always end with “the one that started it all.” It comes across as lazy because there is no way the first story tops every other one after it. Case in point: when looking at the best episodes of your favorite shows, how often do you see the first episode making the top ten, hell, even the top five? Not often, I bet. And sure, you can make the argument that “Without X, there wouldn’t have been Y,” but is that even a fair comparison? Sure, Disney wouldn’t have been as big as it is now without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs being a success, but does that make it right to ignore great movies like Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994)? Sure, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is the reason why fans love to hate Star Wars in the first place, but how often do you hear people saying Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the franchise. And sure, the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t have existed without Iron Man being a box office hit, but with movies like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, can you really say Iron Man is the best in the franchise anymore? To me personally, if you’re going to pick “the one that started it all,” then it better be something that can outshine “it all.” This is why I chose Adventure Time as the best-animated series of the 2010s. Not because it’s a show that practically sparked the existence of almost every show on this list, but because it really is that good of a series. Unfortunately, with a series that really is that good, there will be people who try to pick it apart. This is why I’m going to do my best to defend against some criticism that Adventure Time seems to face. 

The first criticism I want to talk about is one that hasn’t even occurred to me until I watched JelloApocalypse's video called, “So This is Basically Adventure Time.” In that video, I realized that Adventure Time doesn’t really have a proper storytelling structure. Hell, most episodes don’t even have a conclusion. They just stop almost randomly. But there’s a remedy to this problem, and it's one that I discovered somewhat effortlessly during my rewatch of the show. And that solution is to stop looking at Adventure Time as a series of episodes and more of a series of experiences. What do I mean by that? Well, while watching, you can either have a good experience or a bad experience. A fun experience, or a depressing experience. A philosophically brilliant experience or a randomly stupid experience. All of which can happen separately or conjoined in every episode. Personally, I like this style of storytelling because I’m more likely to remember the experience of watching something rather than the basics of what is being viewed. However, as JelloApocalypse has proven, not everyone is going to be ok with this style. This is fine, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just remember that if it doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean it won't work at all. Case in point: there’s a reason that this show got ten seasons.

However, with those ten seasons come the inevitable seasonal rot. Which, in this case, can easily be explained. Halfway through season five of Adventure Time, series creator Pendelton Ward left and made Adam Muto the head showrunner. And where Ward’s style relied on being random and hilarious, Muto took the series in a more philosophical direction. Several fans were turned away from this aspect, but I like to argue that this isn’t seasonal rot and more of a series’ development. Tons of shows on this list went through their own transitions, some subtle and some drastic. Whether or not you’ll be ok with those decisions is entirely dependent on who you are. And personally, I actually enjoyed the direction that Adventure Time took. While I was entertained by how hilarious the original seasons were in Ward’s run, Muto caused me to think more intensely than any other show I have seen in my life. This is why, once again, I would like to point out that just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean that it won’t work at all.

But one thing that didn’t work for me, and one criticism that I’m inclined to agree with, were how some characters got treated in later seasons. Now to be fair, most of the characters actually become more interesting as the series goes on (Ice King, Marceline, BMO, Susan Strong, etc.) There are just two characters that got a little iffier compared to others: Finn and Princess Bubblegum. The main reason why Finn’s character seemed to fail is that the writers focused more on Finn's love life (or lack thereof). I genuinely believe that Adventure Time has some fantastic romantic relationships, but that aspect of Finn’s character is easily the most uninteresting. It’s even worse when an episode focuses on his armorous hangups through past...mistakes. I even heard that this decision ruined Finn as a character for some people, which I can totally see why. Luckily the show course-corrected itself, and by season six, it started focussing on an aspect of Finn’s character that is actually interesting: His family. Not to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that Finn gets significantly more fascinating through this decision. Unfortunately, one decision that never got better was how the show treated the one and only Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. This character started off as a gentle/playful ruler who was as sweet as her kingdom. Only to evolve into a sociopathic control freak who is obsessed with science. What went wrong is that the show goes so far as to say that she’s always been that way, even since she was a kid. I guess she just was good at hiding it in early seasons. Once again, the writers try their best to course-correct Bubblegum, but all they did was make her bearable than despicable.

But while Bonnie doesn't work for me, do you want to know what does? Literally everything else about this show. One of the reasons why Adventure Time is the best series on this list is because it has elements of every other show that has already been mentioned before it. You see, Adventure Time can have: Hilarious comedy, intense action, superb animation, creative ideas, compelling drama, catchy music, thought-provoking stories, good romantic subplots, gay romantic subplots, great lore and backstory, intriguing mysteries, and, most important of all, bacon pancakes. All of which can be handled in ten to eleven minutes, where most shows struggle within twenty-two.

But one element that stands out among the rest is Adventure Time’s serialized storytelling. You see, there are two different types of storytelling: Plotting and pantsing. Plotting is how it sounds: You come up with ideas beforehand and work your way into making them come to life. Pantsing is where the goal is to basically make things up as you go along and try to make everything connected afterward. The ladder is the route Adventure Time takes. Every single amount of lore, character development, and even surprise twists were thought up almost on the spot. And one might think that this makes things more complicated, but when I rewatched the series in 2019, a solid 99.9% of what’s written lines up. Sure, there are small things that get confusing or downright forgotten. But that’s the keyword: small. It’s the big things that the writers try their best at explaining away, which can be much appreciated. And while I can love a show for creating a well-crafted story, I got to give Adventure Time respect for doing the same thing just by improvising. But do you want to know the real reason why I stuck with this show? And why do all the elements mentioned before manage to work so well? The same reason why any show can work so well: The characters.

And yes, I know I just complained about how certain characters were nearly ruined in this series, but that doesn’t change how good they are. Almost every character that the show focuses on has a level of intrigue to them, and characters that don’t still manage to be incredibly entertaining, to the point where a worm’s butt can carry an episode by itself (Yes. Really). But nothing beats the central duo, and I’m being honest when I say they make the series enjoyable. Finn and Jake not only have such an entertaining brotherly dynamic, but the two of them are just so much fun that I can’t help but smile whenever they’re on screen. They’re easily the best thing about the show, as well as the most entertaining characters in it. This is saying something because Adventure Time has a LOT of characters. One might say too many. In fact, one could argue that Adventure Time suffers from the too-many-characters syndrome, which I can absolutely see. However, every character is so unique and creative that to this day, I still remember the Tree Witch in the episode “To Cut a Woman’s Hair.” From her voice to her design to even Tree Witch's creative and hilarious way to convince Finn to get her some princess's hair.

This brings me to another great thing about the show: Its endless amount of creativity. Everything that Adventure Time does is something you will never see anywhere else. From all the unique ways the show has Jake use his stretchy powers, to also having a vampire drink the color red instead of blood, Adventure Time is always a show that leaves me scratching my head wondering, “Why hasn’t someone else done this before?” And the best part is, no other show can do the ideas that Adventure Time has had. Because there is no way of doing it without coming across as a carbon copy. Which I can appreciate. Believe it or not, I would rather see an idea done once and never again, rather than repeated to the point where it becomes stale. Letting Adventure Time keep its creativity helps the show stand out among the rest and prevents it from being forgotten through time.

Thus, we come to the real reason why Adventure Time is the best-animated series on this list: Memorability. When doing a rewatch of the series, I was surprised by how many episodes I somehow remember. In fact, out of over two hundred episodes, I only manage to forget one (which coincidentally managed to be an episode I hate). I honestly don’t know why so many episodes managed to stick with me. Maybe because the show is so creative that it’s hard to forget. It's probably because the characters are instant icons that their impact just won’t leave me. Hell, perhaps it’s because the show is so gosh dang weird that my brain refuses to forget a second of it. No matter what the reason is, it all still stuck. And I’m not going to lie, I feel as though there are going to be a lot of shows I'll forget over the years. But ten years from now, something tells me I’m never going to forget Adventure Time.

Now that I think about it, there really have been many great cartoons over the previous decade. And we owe it all to Adventure Time. The act of being unique and creative with one’s ideas came from Adventure Time. The idea of being more mature and deciding what should and shouldn’t be for kids came from Adventure Time. The fact that a show needs well-written characters to tell a great story came from Adventure Time. Even certain shows were made because creators worked on Adventure Time (looking at you, Steven Universe). Is the show perfect? No. Far from it, even. But when looking back at the many great series we’ve gotten in the 2010s and the many great shows we’ll get in years to come, I realize that the fun will never end WITH Adventure Time.

(Especially since we’re still getting it with four hour long specials on HBOmax)

[jeanvaljean24601]

Black Monday's Producers Explain Why Confessed and Went to Prison in Season 2 Finale

If you stuck with the joyously demented carnival that is Showtime's Black Monday for all of Season 2, you know it took bonkers to new heights, even for a show that was pretty bonkers to begin with. By the time it was done, we'd seen a half-dead man sing a song through a computer; an epic shoot-out that looked like something out of Rambo; the precursor to the modern-day dick pic via a Xerox'd willy; and a whimsical musical number inside a white-collar prison that celebrated the joys of wealthy white privilege. Yes, the jokes, set pieces, and gags in Season 2 of Black Monday were a lot, in the gleeful, "I can't believe they just did that" way that makes the enjoyably absurdist romp unlike anything else on TV. Season 2 also juggled a dizzying number of overlapping storylines involving financial jargon and backstabbing schemes, with Mo (Don Cheadle), Dawn (Regina Hall), Blair (Andrew Rannells), Tiff Georgina (Casey Wilson) and Keith (Paul Scheer) tangled up in crisscrossing tales of revenge and oneupmanship. At the conclusion of its 10 episodes, we'd seen Mo try to do something right for a change, the once-innocent Blair turn dark, Keith cozy up to the Lehmann brothers, and Dawn land in prison after confessing that she was the one who engineered the Black Monday crash that kickstarted the series. Even if the intricacies of every story turn became a little head-scratching at times, the overall movements made Season 2 like a wild, intoxicating ping-pong match that ultimately finished with Dawn in the clink and Mo back at square one. Why did Dawn tell on herself? And what might a Season 3 look like if the Showtime gods smile on us? Executive producers Jordan Cahan and David Caspe talked with TV Guide about how the madcap season came to be, some of their favorite moments, and what they're thinking about next. There was so much happening inside this season; how'd you map out what you wanted to have happen? Jordan Cahan: Well, that's funny, because I was thinking before this call, as comedy people, it's rare that we get to go story first. Usually, it's like, what jokes, what is a funny set piece. But it's good to go story first, and that was what so fun about the season. We really did talk about where we wanted the characters to end up. What is the final frame of each character? Where are they? And then the real question was, how do we get them there in a way where we're juggling all the characters but where you can't get so cleanly ahead. So that it feels like a drama where the journey is exciting and unexpected, but hopefully at the end, it all feels like it makes sense. We're not used to doing that for comedy. I think the fun of that was looking at a board and bringing out where the characters' peaks and valleys were and how we could get them to all interact. David Caspe: I think the end game that we were excited about was Regina [Dawn]. The room as a whole got to a place where they're like, "Okay, the most interesting thing is that a Black woman is responsible for [Black Monday] which was actually a brilliant trade, but also something very illegal. There's such an interesting dichotomy of wanting the credit or something that also would take you down, but being so frustrated over the course of the season that you're not getting the credit you deserve, that in the end, she basically turned herself in to get the credit more than anything. We had where everyone begins and we had where Regina ends and we had to figure everything else out. Black Monday Wasn't Conceived with Black Leads, but It's All the Better for ItOne of the things that stood out to me was the feminist theme of the season. You have Dawn in charge of a mostly female firm at the start, and then this subplot where Wayne (Horatio Sanz) is this incel character determined to punish women. Was Season 2 intended to be an overtly feminist statement? Caspe: I think every character we have is, for lack of a better word, not a straight white man. Looking at how they have to navigate today through the lens of the '80s is really been what the show is about a little bit and I think inevitably women are a big part of that. The Just for Men thing from Wayne was very much about a lot of men's reactions to like, the female Ghostbusters and stuff like that just felt insanely ridiculous to us. It just felt natural that if we've got this woman who was the mastermind behind Black Monday, she would break the glass ceiling and start this all-female firm, but inevitably you're gonna have one of these sort of incel type-men who reacts in this misogynist way. You see it constantly now, as a reaction to the Time's Up movement. They always frame it as like, "I'm a men's rights activist," which, you know, straight white men don't need activists. They've done just fine. So a lot of the story is, "How did we get to the end game?" We really wanted all the characters and stories to be very interconnected. You've talked before about how your writers' room is mostly people of color and/or women — and you had that in place before the new push for more inclusivity behind the scenes. Do you feel like you were ahead of the curve there? Cahan: Saying it's a mandate is sh---y. For us, it's always been our absolute desire to have the most diverse rooms as humanly possible. I've never worked any other way and I won't. Yes, it happens to fit this show hand in glove, but I just think it's the way shows should be made. Caspe: And it's also selfish, frankly, in that you get a better show that way...the more perspectives you get and voices you get in the room [you get] more variety of hilarious jokes and experiences that inspire storylines.

Cahan: I can think of two or three storylines that I would be really afraid to touch, that would be like third rails, and the room was so encouraging going in that direction. Ultimately, you want them to lead you. Not only did it end up educating me, but I think it makes the show richer. Dawn borrowing from what is essentially the United Negro College Fund. Stories like that where it's like "Do we really want to do this?" and then having the room get so excited, to put that character in such a difficult moral pose

Caspe: And the story itself is just not one that I would think of. The relationship between Dawn and her mother is informed by Black women in the room. I wouldn't have come up with the nuanced, intelligent version; I would come up with like, an outsider looking in assumption of it rather than something that felt authentic. A lot of [Blair's] story was inspired by people that went through similar things of what it means to be gay in a religion that doesn't accept it. That's not my story to tell; I also don't know it, because I haven't been inside it. Let's talk about the brilliant song "White Collar," Keith sings in Episode 5. How'd that come to be? Cahan: We knew we wanted to [take on]  Club Fed because it was such an '80s anomaly. And it was so weirdly written about in the '90s as like, "Can you believe this happened?" It felt almost like a Simpsons-style step out where all of a sudden you're seeing things...it felt like a fun, silver bullet way to describe what you're seeing in these prisons but in the same way but a silly, fun thing that stretches the limits of credibility where we didn't know if we could pull it off and still feel like you're in the real world. Caspe: It was very inspired by the Simpsons musical numbers. Cahan: It was "See My Vest" from The Simpsons. It was Maison Derrière Simpsons. We probably pulled the rubber band back as far as we could with that one. In that vein, the visual gags and set pieces in Season 2 went to a new level — the bank shootout, in Episode 3 ("The Idiot Inside") for example, the most over-the-top. What were your favorites of the season?

android tv box

Cahan: I would say the things that got me excited are on two ends of the spectrum. And I'm sure Dave's would be different but on one end, the bank is as ambitious anything we've ever done. I mean, the idea of not just making it a little music video or alluding to it, but actually playing it, and really destroying that bank digitally and physically, having to do a lot of practical effects and plotting that whole thing out. We had never done an episode that didn't have a B-story. So we have never done an episode that didn't cut away to the other characters. So it was very much like writing a play, but a play that could get explosive very quickly. I can't tell you how much fun it was for somebody who grew up with '80s action movies and loves them so dearly, to be able to do that. And then weirdly, on the complete other side of that, I would say the very next episode, which was on purpose, was the country club episode. We wanted it to feel zany and goofy, almost like a Three's Company episode in the same way that our bank episode feels like a Miami Vice or something like that. The country club episode deals with race and class and sexuality and religion; we really wanted that to feel like a farce. And I think I think we got really lucky with our writers, directors. I really love the way the show can go from one complete extreme to the other. It sure seems like Mo is full-on in love with Dawn, but he just can't seem to get over himself. What's up with their dynamic and why he's so reluctant to be vulnerable with her?Caspe: I think this season he was a victim of circumstance, which was like sort of the most tragic [part]. Usually, in the past it's been his own ego and his own lack of vulnerability that has [messed things] up with her, you know, I think this season, he was getting on that plane. He was going to disappear forever. Now granted, he had just completely f---ed her over, but he was completely f---ed over by her Black Monday. She did steal his entire company and basically took all his money. So he was pissed. And he did his one last piece of revenge to screw up her bank deal. And then he got on that plane and was leaving. When the FBI caught up to him, they forced him back to help them find who was responsible for Black Monday. And in that respect, he was trying to keep Dawn out of it, and he was genuinely trying to steer them towards Blair and saved Dawn.

He just kind of wasn't able to. But he really was trying to do the right thing by her. I also think we were trying to look at [how] there's still sexism within races or cultures. When you flashback to him, he genuinely looked at it as like, I'm the one who got the seed money, I'm the one who got on the [Wall Street] floor. Like I think it never occurred to him that Dawn would have been his partner. Mo has some sexism [about him] too. Discover your new favorite show: Watch This Now!But, he's willing to take the rap for her. I read that as a sign of his deep abiding love for her, and I reading that wrong? Cahan: No, you got that. He literally says, "I'm going to be the tragic hero." He's trying to display that he's changed. At the end he runs into Keith and Keith is basically telling him "You are going to go away for life." And Mo continues on. He goes to the FBI and he confesses, he's willing to do the sacrificial thing. Where are you thinking about for Season 3, if you get renewed?Caspe: Maybe the '90s. It's almost '89 by the end of Season 2, so there's something interesting about 1990, or even jumping ahead.

Cahan: I'm really excited by where the four chess pieces are. We really wanted to position them in these exciting places. Season 2 starts with Blair making a deal with Tiff and they have this understanding, and they're going to help each other. And by the end of the season, you can see she's kind of terrified of him, and how far he'll go for power. And we get a glimpse into his background and know that when his back is against the wall, he's not afraid to push back all the way to protect himself. Now I'm like, "Oh, God how bad is this going to get?" I think for Mo, it hinges on a little be careful what you wish for. Now he's inadvertently got the immunity he's always wanted. All of his old transgressions are wiped away.android tv box

He's a new man. He can start again clean, but the question is at what cost? For Dawn, we were very careful to not mention how long she'd been put away or how deep of trouble she's in. But clearly it's a very serious crime. We've painted ourselves into a corner of how could that possibly work? And then for Keith it's another be careful what you wish for [situation]. He's finally found someone who really appreciates him. But there's a bit of a Single White Female relationship. I feel like if Season 1, we painted ourselves into a corner, I think Season 2, it would be even more fun to watch how these four people, who seem to not be able to get out of each other's way, and their lives would continue.h96 tv box

Last question is, in the final moments, we see Lenny, that poor twin who's just come back from the brink of death, being attacked by a wolf after being left in the woods by his brother. The guy can't catch a break. Is he dead, or just in bad shape again?Caspe: I think it would be the same thing as Season 1. So if he died again at the end of Season 2, if you're a betting man I would bet on Lenny's triumphant return at some point in Season 3 if we get it, probably even more mangled than he was at the end of Season 1. In classic '80s villain.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

If I had to rank the Ace Attorney games (minus the spin-offs since I haven’t played them), from least favorite to best:

6) Justice for All  

This was an easy pick. Least favorite tutorial level, least favorite turnabout in the entire series (Turnabout Big Top), and the writing just felt rushed, which makes sense when you consider the game’s production. 

Also, this might be a controversial opinion but I’m not a huge fan of Farewell My Turnabout. The case would’ve been great but they just had to push Franziska von Karma aside in order to force Miles Edgeworth into the story. Not only did that ruin Franziska’s character arc, it was also not a good use of Edgeworth’s character. Since I have 5 other games to cover and I’ve written a whole post about this before, I won’t repeat my points. 

5) Spirit of Justice

I hate to put this here but after going through all six games again, SoJ definitely did not age well. Out of the five cases in the game, the only case I really liked was “The Magical Turnabout”. The other cases weren’t bad but the overall story was just okay. 

This is probably just personal preferences but for me, the Khura’in revolution stuff felt half-baked and underwhelming. Maybe if they built up that storyline in the previous two games, like how the original trilogy developed the Fey clan family dispute storyline through all three games, maybe the revolution storyline would’ve landed better. 

In addition, I hated how SoJ was trying too hard to capitalize on nostalgia for the original trilogy. They brought back Maya Fey but didn’t do anything substantial with her character. Her appearance was more of a wink to the audience. Then there’s Apollo and Nahyuta, whose shared past subplot was written too closely to resemble Phoenix and Miles’ relationship in the first game. And then, they just copied the plot of Farewell My Turnabout for Phoenix and Apollo’s “showdown”. 

So yeah, I don’t think SoJ was a terrible game but it’s definitely one of the weaker Ace Attorney games in my honest opinion. 

4) Apollo Justice

I don’t have much to say about this game. It’s a good game but the overall storyline was just...bland? I feel like, out of the six games in the main series, Apollo Justice was the least engaging. There really isn’t that much for me to say, Apollo Justice was just...okay. 

Kristoph Gavin was a good antagonist but not my personal favorite. Klavier Gavin was a cool prosecutor but he would be somewhere in the middle of my prosecutors list (at least above Nahyuta but below Simon and Godot). Then there are the cases, which are all sort of in the middle of my list if I had to rank them with all the other cases in the series. 

I will say, the aspect of Apollo Justice that stands out for me is the music. Apollo Justice has the best music in the entire series and has my favorite pressing pursuit theme. 

3) Dual Destinies

I was honestly surprised by how much I liked Dual Destinies after going through it again. When I first went through the game, I had it placed below Apollo Justice. But after a second run-through, the game left a better impression on me. 

What really made the game for me were Simon and Athena. Simon Blackquill is easily my second favorite prosecutor in the series and I really liked Athena Cykes’ storyline in the game. You can argue that Dual Destinies was really Athena’s game, which is why I feel that Turnabout Storyteller should’ve been in this game rather than Spirit of Justice. 

As for the rest of the game, I really loved all the new characters introduced. Juniper Woods is easily my favorite minor character introduced in this game and I’m still disappointed that she wasn’t included in Spirit of Justice. Aura Blackquill was a great minor “villain”. Then, there’s Bobby Fulbright and the Phantom. Personally, I liked the twist that Bobby was the Phantom the whole time. The Phantom isn’t one of my favorite villains but I did like the switch, as well as having Phoenix, Apollo, and Athena team up to take the Phantom down.

2) Phoenix Wright

The game that started it all. If it weren’t for this game, the whole series wouldn’t exist, so by default it has to be high up on this list. Now I actually love all four cases (technically five because of Rise from the Ashes), even Turnabout Samurai which suffers from the dreaded 3rd case syndrome. 

The only reason why the first game isn’t my favorite in the series is that my favorite cases are in the third game. If my favorite cases were in the first game, then this would definitely be in the number one spot. 

Now, if I HAD to nitpick, I’d say that Turnabout Sisters had some of the weaker writing in the game. Although it was nice to have Mia Fey be the one to ultimately take Redd White down, it felt more like a way-too-convenient deus ex machina for me. In addition, Redd White was a bit underwhelming as the main villain, especially when compared to the other killers in the series. Also, I just couldn’t get into Rise from the Ashes. It’s not a bad case but it’s just way too long and takes forever to get you invested in the story.   

1) Trials and Tribulations

Yeah, this was a pretty easy pick. As I previously wrote, my all-time favorite cases are in this game (Turnabout Memories / Bridge to the Turnabout). In addition, Godot is my favorite prosecutor, Dahlia Hawthorne is my favorite Ace Attorney antagonist, and I loved how the game was a culmination of the entire original trilogy. 

This game was a great send-off to the series and it really did feel like a decisive conclusion to Phoenix’s story. In fact, just going through this game again really highlighted how the Apollo Justice era games need to break off and be their own thing. Sorry to bring this back up but the new games really didn’t need to bring Maya, Miles, and Phoenix back into the story. T&T wrapped everything up.  

Now, if I HAD to nitpick, all my criticisms go towards Recipe for Turnabout. That case was just...not good. Still, that’s one case out of five, that’s forgivable. 

[morievna]

Ni-Ti loop curse - Ugetsu’s arc and predictions

I noticed that most of fandom thinks that after chapters 27-28 Ugetsu’s story is finished. It surprised me a little since I have different opinion that in fact he will definitely play role in upcoming final arc and that him getting happy ending is still possible.

Whole Given basically

Spoilers for manga below.

1. Ugetsu compared to rest of characters

Since Ugetsu was introduced I was clearly intrigued by him, but no means I expected him grow to be my favorite character. I was rather surprised that instead of presenting him in a bad-ex trope way he got full-fleshed and nuanced. I like how he is one of mysteries of the story – at first we know that he is responsible for Akihiko views of love as painful thing and we got tidbits of theirs domestic life where they seems to be intimate but we get vibe that there is something wrong. Then we got chapter 17 and we know what went wrong and it is heartbreaking. I think it interesting choice that we simultaneously got both Akihiko and Ugetsu perspective on it and we get why it went that way. Natsuki-sensei not only spent lot of time fleshing out story from his perspective to sympathize with him and clearly puts a lot of effort in showing all emotions on his face. Compared to other supporting characters he got the most of time in manga and we get him to know relatively very well – from little information about childhood, his motivation and so on. Besides, what also distinguish him from them the most is the way he impact main storyline – he is important both to Akihiko’s as well as Mafuyu’s story, while rest orbits primarily around one character.

But what I found truly fascinating is how he is foil and contrast with rest of characters, because he is such extremum when it comes to music and relationships.

Uenoyama – he is called prodigy too; before meeting Mafuyu his life was centered only on music but it didn’t go well for him

Haruki -  totally opposite in almost everything from acting towards others, living space, views on music to relationship with Akihiko

Mafuyu – another prodigy who express feelings via music, but who wants to cultivate bonds with others

Yuki – both are dedicated to music at cost of their wellbeing and relationship

Akihiko – since he and Ugetsu are paralleled a lot with Yuuki-Mafuyu I will use Hiiragi’s quote “together, they filled in each other’s missing pieces” – in terms of character qualities and simple things as providing home and support, whose they respectively needed.

By all this I wanted to show you how his story entwines with rest of characters, so cutting him from main plot would be for me at least weird.

2. Ni-Ti loop and CAC song

To be honest I was worried that we may get negative character arc to contrast him with Mafuyu. But after rereading whole story I have more hope about this. So let’s start what is core of positive/negative character arc

“The Central Problem: This is the damaging belief your character must face to complete their arc. They may believe they’re weak or inferior to others, or they may refuse to trust anyone but themselves. This inner struggle will be confronted at the Climax and their ability to overcome it will determine if they succeed or fail in the conflict of your story.”

https://thenovelsmithy.com/positive-negative-character-arcs/

Applying it to Ugetsu he believes that being isolated from others is only way to be dedicated to music, thus pushing away others and acting inconsiderate to them.

It reminds me also of Ni-Ti loop:

“Instead of a healthy balance of introverted and extroverted functions, the INFJ becomes stuck in their introverted processes, keeping them trapped within their own mind in a seemingly endless loop of thought.

As our introverted iNtuition (Ni) ponders theories, concepts and possibilities, it feeds these ideas to our Ti which seeks facts and logic to back up and solidify these thoughts.  As it obtains this information, it feeds it back to our Ni which creates even more theories and concepts.

Each time this loop goes full circle, the thoughts become more and more radical and outlandish, pushing us further from reality and deeper into our minds.”

http://www.jennifersoldner.com/2016/02/ni-ti-loop.html

So we get Ugetsu thinking about how they chasing each other and neglecting music, then instead of talking to Akihiko about his insecurities he decided to push him away since prior to their meeting he was alone and fine this way. When declaring breakup didn’t work, he fallen further in this way of thinking and tried to discourage Akihiko by sleeping with other men. However, logic doesn’t apply well to love, so he is conflicted about his feelings constantly. So there is cycle in their relationship of pulling and pushing away resulting only in more pain and violence.

But even after Akihiko leaves him after their argument, it got even worse – he got more isolated from rest of world and depressed. His solution didn’t work at all.

During CAC we can observe that he starts to understand this. He seems to be stunned that not only Mafuyu can perform music on his level and be connected to others and Akihiko’s skill in drums got so much better thanks to Haruki’s influence.

Theoretically this could be end with him failing to change but…

CAC song is about ending and begging. It conveys that positive change is possible. I like how Mafuyu is not only referencing his experience about trauma and healing, but want to help others persons in his life and reassure them that everything will be alright. And there is this frame:

Of course it has double meaning – Mafuyu want to resonate feelings via music like Ugetsu as well as to resonate meaning of song to him.

So concluding – with the both facts that Ugetsu does no longer believe in his previous standpoint and we have positive message of the song, we can discard option that his story ends here. But what comes next?

3. 3-act structure and what it means for the story

Quoting Wikipedia:

“The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts, often called the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution.”

For Given as whole it would look like that (image from wikipedia, little changed by me):

3-act structure is one of most common used in stories. I think it can be applied to Given too, because of the way stakes are gradually rising and evolution of Mafuyu’s songs (first one about his trauma and past love, second about positive change and final will be most likely about his feelings for Uenoyama – well technically second one mentions it too, but I think it will be explored more). For now I rather want to use that structure as tool to predict what can happen. Let’s look again at what Wikipedia says about final act:

“The third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. The climax is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist and other characters with a new sense of who they really are.”

How to grow more tension?

For me the most interesting it would be instead of *insert some cliché drama* getting all main four character confronted with someone who foils all of them on both music and personal level. It would cause to challenge their perspectives, disrupt the routine and reevaluate their standpoints. In the end it would be resulting in character grow for all of them.

In less vague terms my theory is that Ugetsu will perform together with Given on debut in festival. To break Ni-Ti loop the best is interacting with people and outside world. To step out of comfort zone and leave basement.

I envision this scenario roughly like that:

Since it is very likely that Mafuyu will write new song (probably together with Uenoyama)

Then he would consult it with Ugetsu

Mafuyu would be concerned about the other wellbeing hence trying to help him the same way it worked for him in begging of the story 

Tensions during rehearsals – mainly due to Ugetsu being critical of their skills at music

After some time Ugetsu will start open towards rest of group and genuine wanting to help them performing at their the best – even if it would took some sacrifice from him (like resignation from violin competition or concert)

Thus resulting in final reconciliation with Akihiko (not necessary in romantic sense, more like healing each other wounds they caused before)

Climax at debut

Of course, maybe I went too far with this theory, but it would wrap up things nicely in my opinion. This was written emphasizing Ugetsu’s story, maybe I will expand it in relation to rest characters another time.

Finally I want to point out certain issues that would tie into this from recent chapter:

1.    Mafuyu’s hesitation about debut - his fear of taking music seriously is rooted in Yuuki’s death and Ugetsu’s story as well. As chapter 18 showed he want to learn from their mistakes and I think he is afraid of losing himself too much in music and breaking up with Uenoyama in result. In order to move forward he has to make peace with music in some sense like discussing his insecurities with certain some who embodies music basically XD

2.    Akihiko pursuing both violin and drums – these two instruments are so loaded with double meaning (drums – fun, escaping pain and violin – passion and lost dreams). But regardless if Akihiko has to choose one of them or not – pursing violin corresponds to confronting why he given up on violinist career earlier and by this confronting Ugetsu

Bonus:

Doesn’t sound it like foreshadowing?

So this is all for today. I don’t remember writing this much since my thesis – I hope it is coherent and that there is not that many errors XD If there is something unclear – feel free to ask.

[disappearinginq]

Tag Game

Tag Game

I was tagged by both @amandagaelic and @waitingforthestarstofall

1. What was the last movie you watched in theaters? I think...either Little Women or Knives Out (for the second time). 

2. What’s your favorite game to play? One that I call Murder Mansion, but I think is actually called Betrayal at House on the Hill or one called Bang! - mostly because it was the most hilarious introduction to a game I have ever had where I got to play a trigger happy unlimited round packing Sheriff who everyone was trying to kill and my besties from the dawn of time were in fact my loyal deputies. 

3. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla, if I must only pick between those two.

4. What’s the last show you binge-watched? Yellowstone or Locke & Key

5. Do you have any pets? Oh dear. Yes. Three cats, two horses, and three dogs (though technically I might own a third horse, who knows at this point?).  

6. What’s your favorite fairy tale? Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

7. Who’s your favorite superhero? Batman - not the one that they keep portraying as an abusive asshole like Howard Stark, but the one who legit went to court to keep Jason Todd as his son and dipped out from being Batman and Bruce Wayne social obligations when Jason needed him and collected orphans and tried to make sure they wouldn’t turn out like him. 

8. Who’s you favorite Disney Princess? Pocahontas or Tiger Lily probably, though I was never really a fan of the princess movies. I liked Treasure Planet and Great Mouse Detective where there were zero romantic subplots or princesses. 

9. Where’s the first place you’re going to go after the social distancing is over? ALASKA. BECAUSE THAT WAS THE PLAN BEFORE THIS HYAH! SHITSHOW! 

10. Cookies or Cake? Cookies. I am weirdly not a fan of cake. 

+ 10 questions from @teenwolf-theoriginals:

1. which show could you watch over and over? Lucifer, Daredevil (and add-ons), Republic of Doyle

2. favourite song lyric? " I choose my eyes wide open/And my heart half-broken every time/Over the gilded golden shackle/And the reassuring sentimental lie.”

3. favourite season of your favourite tv show? Lucifer season 4, Daredevil Season 1, and...whatever season ends with Jake Doyle getting kidnapped and locked unconscious in a shipping container bound for Mexico

4. what never fails to make you smile/happy? Cirque De Sewer videos on Facebook (ren fair comedy show with cats and rats and a former ballerina). 

5. how are you doing with all that’s going on in the world (virus, having to do social distancing, etc)? I feel really weird saying this, but the quarantine is working out freakishly well for me. My sister, who hasn’t lived nearby since 2010, came to visit for our mom’s 70th birthday just before the travel ban, so she’s been here for a little over 2 weeks now, which is the most I have seen her in 10 years. We live in a small town on a farm, so I have a lot to keep me busy outdoors without having to go to public outdoor places. My job is 100% capable of being 100% remote, we always buy from the warehouses when we have coupons so we have plenty of food and paper goods, we have puzzles out the wazoo to keep us busy when the weather is bad, we have a huge garden every year so if this keeps up we’ll have all our own food and eleventy billion movies and crochet projects, etc. I’m also a hella hermit normally, so this is not really all that new. Little mad I can’t go help a friend paint their house, but eh. Small price compared to a lot of others.  

6. we all love new music to listen to, name an artist that is underrated/you think people should check out? Janet Devlin. Irish/English folk singer I found on Spotify. 

7. tv show or movie? TV show. I love the level of character development that can happen when given the opportunity. 

8. favourite holiday? Thanksgiving. All the food. And less work than Fourth of July, because July means I get roped into directing the town parade and half a dozen other things because my parents get me to. 

9. a song that describes you? “Psycho” by Ava Max. 

10. describe your tumblr in three words? Themed = for chumps.

+5 questions from @macspaperclips

1. What is your favorite hobby? Crocheting, or writing

2. What is your favorite book? Or/and a really good book you’ve read recently? Six of Crows duology - a heist series that I got sucked into thanks to fan art and then finding out the main male lead can’t stand human touch and I was like SOLD. 

3. What is your favorite Ship that will never happen (Or hasn’t happened yet)? Not a shipper. I hate ships, because inevitably, ship wars ruin everything. And in some cases, really make me question sanity or mental health of some people. Said I didn’t like a female romantic lead, next thing I get is death threats, and I am totally the type to back track a URL, hunt you down in the real world, and brain you with a hammer. It’s not good for my anger management. 

4. If you could spend the day with any living celebrity, who would it be?  Harrison Ford, because it would be on his ranch in Jackson Hole. 

5. The best worst movie you’ve ever seen. A movie that you know objectively is trash but you can’t help but really enjoy it. The new Robin Hood with Taron Edgerton, or the Four Musketeers.

My questions (answer these if you’re tagged, then come up with some questions of your own, and then tag people):

1) What is your MBTI and/or Enneagram Number? MBTI - I had to look this up - INFJ or ENFJ, depending on how you want to interpret that first letter. 

2) What TV episode is your all-time favorite? The Hay Burner on Bonanza, 

3) What does happiness mean to you? Lack of desire

and tagged on because I was in fact tagged by two people @amandagaelicquestions: 

1) If you’re a fic writer, do you reply to every review? And if so, how long do you wait? I have only recently started getting over my weird phobia of responding to reviews (I also am rather new to AO3 and it was a little hard or impossible to do in FFN.net), so some stories in the smaller fandoms like Magnum, I have tried to respond to all of them, and it takes anywhere from a day to a month, but in Lucifer...oh dear. It’s daunting, and I keep freaking out because I haven’t finished the behemoth that is Damnatio despite it being years, so I don’t want to respond back to everyone saying “I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN I AM FINISHING THIS” in between severe writers’ block. 

2) What color Starburst is the best? Of the original? Pink. Of the options of outward packaging? Blue. 

3) Skittles or M&Ms? M&M’s

4) If you were to learn any new language, which one would you choose and why? Bold of you to assume I would learn only one. I am actually taking...four lessons through Duolingo? Irish, Welsh, Spanish, and Hawaiian (Was learning Navajo, but I made it to food and WTF....nope, kicked my ass). 

My questions: 

If you could be anything else, what would you be? 

If you’re a fic writer, what would you guilty pleasure fic idea that you won’t write because you don’t think anyone else would read it?

Is there something you wish you knew more about, and if so, what is it?

tagging: @dragonnan, @rohanrider3, @sofasurf, @buckky, @ariaadagio, @get-whumped, @itsjustdg 

If you’re busy or otherwise not feeling it - as always, feel free not to play. If you weren’t tagged, I also mean you. You can come play too. 

[blackbatpurplecat]

My Thoughts on Batman: Hush (the animated movie)

The story arc Batman: Hush from 2002 was one of the first Batman comics I have ever read and it quickly became one of my all time favorites. I would have given everything to get an animated movie based on it!

Then the adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke came out and changed everything.

I had to take a closer look at recent DC animated movies and realized their glorious days had been over for a long time. I stopped wishing for an animated movie. One came out anyway. So was I wrong? Was this another loveless adaptation with stiff animation and unnecessary changes?

Right at the start, we see a closeup of Gordon’s hand and he’s wearing his wedding ring on his middle finger so... yup, I’m sure DC invested a lot of money in the film’s production...

I’m gonna assume we all know the comic’s story. We know about BatCat giving their love a try, that Bruce reveals his identity to Selina, that Catwoman pushes Lois Lane off the Daily Planet to help Supes break free from Ivy’s control, how Bruce’s childhood friend Thomas Elliot is killed, how Clayface is mimicking Jason Todd which triggers Batman, that the new villain called Hush actually is Thomas Elliot who had teamed up with Riddler, that Riddler knows who Batman is, and that Batman breaks up with Catwoman because he’s still having trust issues.

Let’s just say the arc is PACKED with story and characters so it shouldn’t be hard to make a movie out of it, right? Sure, I was expecting some changes because of its packed-ness. Not every single subplot and every single character would make the cut, I get it. However, I still wasn’t prepared for what DC turned the story into.

So what were some of those changes and what did I think of them:

- replace Killer Croc with Bane. alright, more people know Bane, it’s fine - replace Huntress with Batgirl. ugggggh, okayyy... more people know Batgirl. I feel bad that this choice removed Oracle’s existence but okay. she had one scene, you already had the character design from that godawful Killing Joke movie and not enough budget to make Huntress, I can see past this - cut Leslie Thompkins. hmmm yessss okay, she wasn’t that essential to the story, alright, I can live with it - cut the entire involvement of the League of Assassins. I’m not the biggest fan of Ra’s al Ghul and co. so I didn’t mind that they reduced it to one cameo of Lady Shiva. HOWEVER she is the world’s best fighter! WHY NOT SHOW HER FIGHTING?! she could have been so much better but they chose to waste her for exposition purposes - make Amanda Waller skinny. yes, they once again turned the baddest bitch into a skinny woman because we can’t have fat people in a Batman movie, no one wants to fuck a fat Waller or jerk it over a fat Waller -__- just get over yourselves, DC you assholes! - Robin was cut entirely. wow. just wow. why do DC hate Robin so much? I don’t get it! - the shit stain rape result popped up in one scene for absolutely no purpose except for poorly establishing a fucked up “continuity” between all recent DC animated movies. something NO ONE in the fucking world wants or needs. just kill that little shit, he serves no purpose, he was annoying as fuck, he wasn’t even created when the original story came out, fuck him, delete him, stop shoe horning him into every Batman-related thing, he’s useless - cut the entire Jason Todd part. again, why the Robin hate?! it was one of the most emotional parts of the story, why cut it?! - cut the BatCat scenes in the cave, including Alfred telling Selina that he thinks the world of her. no words except for “what a disappointment” - change the entire ending and make it worse. S I G H

So Thomas Elliot was just a red herring for everyone who’s read the comics. Instead of Hush having a personal connection to Bruce and having more complex reasons to kill him, we get Riddler who wants to kill him just because he can. Cool. But seriously, who thought that this would make a satisfying ending?!

Kidnap Catwoman, make her the damsel in distress, have Batman come save her, and kill the bad guy - sounds like a quality script to me...

But apart from the poorly written ending, I have a major problem with what the movie focuses on: the Batman x Catwoman romance.

A huge reason why I love the comic is the BatCat relationship. It’s the first time, Batman kisses Catwoman back, it’s Bruce willingly revealing his secret to Selina to include her in his ENTIRE life and trust her with his life. We see them work together really well, we see how Selina loves Bruce but also doesn’t give up her independence. She’s willing to be by his side but won’t turn into his sidekick or change into a to him more “convenient” version of herself. And most importantly, she understands and appreciates and loves Bruce for his moral code.

DC being DC, they of course only half-ass their biggest romance.

While I did enjoy the added BatCat footage like Bruce and Selina in bed (I LoVeD that Selina sounded like they had just had the wildest most erotic experience ever while she was still wearing a shirt and he was wearing his boxers and both Selina and Bruce looked stiff as boards o_O ), having breakfast together, sharing kisses, taking down thugs together, and just the entire pacing indicated that their relationship grew over a longer time period in comparison to the comic, the movie fucked up essential points which I won’t forgive.

Catwoman was portrayed as a murderous, reckless villain. There’s no way around it. It was HER who threw Lois off a building and Bats chided her for it (IN THE COMICS IT WAS HIS IDEA), he has to hold her back from scratching up a bad guy’s face, she cuts the line holding Riddler so he falls to his death (CATWOMAN ACTIVELY KILLS HERE), and in the end, she angrily accuses Bruce of being absolutely insane because he has a moral code to keep himself from becoming what he’s fighting against.

What the flying fuck?!

That ending pissed me off SO MUCH! In the comic’s story arc, Batman breaks it off due to trust issues and it did seem a bit rushed and irrational just to re-establish the comics’ status quo of “Batman has to be single” but it’s a SO MUCH BETTER REASON than what the movie gives us! Catwoman has no problem with killing (one of the reasons I hate Nolan’s interpretation of her) and doesn’t understand Bruce AT ALL, she doesn’t get him as a person, she doesn’t understand that he wants to SAVE and PROTECT. He sums it up quite well, if there’s a chance to save someone, he has to at least try. That’s the hopeful Bruce we rarely see because DC fanboys are all about grim gritty edgy brutal.

And then they part on “maybe we’ll see things the same someday” a.k.a. Catwoman hopes that Batman will someday have NO problem with killing. Fuck. You.

So in this movie, Selina was a reckless murderess, a damsel in distress, and of course willing to change herself for a man and not for herself. Big round of applause for shitting on Catwoman.

Alright, done with my rant on story-related shit. What else was there?

Yes, the additional BatCat scenes were nice as well as the interaction between Catwoman and Nightwing. Just Nightwing in general was awesome. A true BatCat shipper.

The dialogues were bad. Best example is the post-sex one.

I can’t say much about the music, it was so bland that I have already forgotten it.

The animation ranged from nice to fucking bad. They had clearly put more effort into the fighting scenes when the movements were fluid and smooth - and then you get back to stiff, dead characters and nothing moves on them except their mouths. I couldn’t help but compare the shots to the comic’s pages: Superman and Poison Ivy, Joker on the trashcan, the big BatCat kiss - they all looked fucking ICONIC in the books but so boring and bland in the movie, with a color palette that covered mostly black and gray. There was absolutely nothing memorable about the adaptation’s look and style.

(also: yes, we totally needed ivy kissing catwoman so all the fanboys have jerk material again and harley quinn’s costume reveals her shoulders now? what a mUcH nEeDeEd change to the costume, yes, well done)

Also the pacing was weird, there were SO many awkward pauses in-between dialogues. I cringed way too often watching this.

Which brings me to the voice-acting. Did DC have so little faith in one of their most iconic stories that they didn’t even bother to get Conroy + Hamill? I guess so. Once Upon a Time star Jennifer Morrison did a great job at being Catwoman, her voice was a really good choice! Also Sean Maher as Nightwing was a riot. Jason Spisak was a surprisingly good Joker as well as Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn - but how do you cast Tara Strong and NOT give her Harley?!

The biggest dud however was Jason O’Mara again. He has no range at all, he keeps his voice as monotonous as possible ALL THE FRICKING TIME. There’s no Bruce Wayne voice, no Batman voice, he just grumbles everything without any emotions behind it.

Well, I guess that was it. I could go into more detail about every single thing they changed but I think this review is long enough as it is already. ;)

Would I recommend the animated adaptation of Batman: Hush? Maybe. To me, it was an expected letdown because DC’s animated movies are almost on the same very low level of the live-action movies nowadays, so if you’d ask me “should I watch it?”, I’d say “if you like BatCat, yes BUT read the comic first and don’t expect too much from the movie.”

[nellie-elizabeth]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I Have a Date Tonight (4x16)

Weird Al! White Josh! Dr. Akopian! I had so much fun with this episode and also I'm so nervous about next week and I don't know what to think!

Cons:

Okay, obviously, obviously, the narrative is promoting Greg over the other two. For my money, Josh was never in the running in a serious way, although I appreciate the connection that he and Rebecca have. I have some problems with the idea of Greg and Rebecca ending up together, even though I really do like them and think they're sweet. It's kind of difficult to be articulate about it, though. First is the undeniable fact that Skylar Astin is doing a great job, but he doesn't seem like Greg to me. The dynamic that him and Rebecca have now is perfectly sweet, but it does not in any way feel like a continuation of the same character and the same relationship that we saw before. I know that in some ways this is intentional, but in other ways it's kind of weak because we didn't get to see this new thing develop for long enough for me to want it as end-game? If that makes sense?

I also think this story does a bit of a disservice to all three of Rebecca's suitors. With Nathaniel, we have seen how far he's come, but I feel like at some point the show decided that we'd had enough development with him, so now his only personality trait is that he loves Rebecca. Same with Josh - we know he's been going to therapy and working on himself, which is great, but here at the end it's like all of his character focus is about Rebecca, instead of about being a fully realized character in his own right. That's kind of disappointing, and I don't know if the finale could possibly be good enough on its own to assuage some of my unfulfilled feelings.

I will probably be delighted with whatever happens with Rebecca. At this point, she's either a) picking Greg, or b) picking nobody, or c) picking some fourth option we don't know about yet, or d) picking nobody with the hint of a future suitor tagged on at the end. I think I'll be satisfied with the end of Rebecca's narrative, but I'm less sure that I'll be satisfied with the narratives for all the rest of the characters. And hell, maybe something will come out of left field and Rebecca will end up with Josh or Nathaniel. That's pretty much the only thing that could surprise me at this point!

Pros:

Despite everything I just said above, I did get intense warm fuzzies when Greg said that Rebecca was the love of his life. That was just so cute, and so pure, and it felt very real. Sure, I have my complaints, but if the show ends with the two of them together, I'll be pretty happy about it. Backing up to look at Greg's date in its entirety... honestly I loved everything about Greg in this episode. He starts off being confident, knowing that he and Rebecca have something special and don't need anything flashy. People start to get into his head and he gets nervous, so he goes too far and wants to book a hot air balloon... but the date ends up being Rebecca and Greg ordering take-out while sitting in the mechanic's shop waiting for Greg's car to get fixed. It's domestic, it's sweet, and it gives both of them a chance to reflect on how much they didn't want to do the whole big, elaborate date thing. Rebecca had so much fun with Josh and Nathaniel, but those dates didn't help her to make a decision of any sort. This one? Just being with Greg and cutting away all the pretense? It's pretty perfect.

It also occurs to me that this situation is a direct parallel to Greg and Rebecca's disastrous date to Josh's sister's wedding back in Season One. Back then, Greg decided not to put any effort in, and Rebecca was crushed. Here, Greg decided to put in all sorts of effort, then it went wrong, and Rebecca and Greg were both happy with the result of a casual, uncomplicated evening together. I think that's a pretty clear sign.

One of my favorite moments of this episode was the scene between Nathaniel and Josh. They are allied and paralleled in so many ways in this episode. They both have an unfair "advantage" with Rebecca that needs to be neutralized - Nathaniel's money, and Josh's hot body. They both take Rebecca on a simple date involving a picnic. And they both love her and want to be with her, but they both will probably be okay if Rebecca doesn't choose them. They even have a "good game" moment, and I can see them being friends when this is all over, no matter the results.

And those dates... Josh was just so cute, tying back in his past with Rebecca, but making sure she knows that it's not about looking backwards, but about coming full circle. They spend the date mostly talking about the past, though, remembering their experience at camp. I think Rebecca and Josh will always have a special connection because of the things they've been through together, and I think they can survive this situation as good friends.

Nathaniel and Rebecca's date made me so happy, and despite the obvious narrative pull towards Greg, I'm always going to be a bit enamored with Nathaniel/Rebecca. I mentioned earlier that I think the narrative is doing a disservice to Nathaniel as a character, and the best way I can articulate that is that I think Nathaniel is currently at a "mid-season-three-Rebecca" kind of stage. He's not ready yet to be the one that Rebecca ends up with. We've seen a lot of development and introspection from him, but he's still focusing a lot of his energy on being with Rebecca, despite the many times he's realized that he should back off. This mirrors so much of what Rebecca had to go through to get to a healthy place. If the show were centered on Nathaniel, and there was a Season Five coming up, we'd probably see him develop further into a person who could comfortably be able to commit to another person in a healthy way. I hope that he finds that love, and that while Rebecca was the first love of his life that made him realize he needed to change and grow, he's able to find happiness elsewhere. Plus, Nathaniel and Rebecca have hella good chemistry and they look super cute dancing together. The end.

The rest of the gang spends the episode betting on Rebecca's love life, and it is so much that I never knew I needed. First off, just having the whole gang together warmed my heart in unexpected ways. There was so much fun energy, and interesting character dynamics, and jokes from characters we don't get to see enough of... I liked seeing who was rooting for which guy, and I think there's something very interesting about how that ends up panning out.

For the main three gals: we've got Paula rooting for Josh. Paula is supposed to be Rebecca's best friend, the one who knows her the best, and yet here we see her picking the guy that seems the least likely. Heather, someone who's been a friend to Rebecca for most of her time in West Covina, goes with Nathaniel, someone who she has grown to appreciate more over time. And Valencia, the one who started as Rebecca's adversary, picks the guy that narrative-wise makes the most sense for Rebecca at this point. I think all three women have interesting points in why they chose their men, but Paula is focused on the story-book aspect, Heather is focused on how Nathaniel has grown, while Valencia seems to see to the heart of Greg and Rebecca as a good couple.

White Josh. Love of my life. I was just complaining that we haven't seen enough of him lately, and then we get this. Guys and Dolls is one of my favorite musicals of all time, so that "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" number was just excellent for me on every level. I like that we start with White Josh being his normal judgmental self, but then he literally says "JK LOL" and is all about it. There's something so fun and carefree and mean-spirited but in a way that's still kind of allowable. We get a fun group dance number, lots of hilarious jokes, and a general feeling of celebration and lightness. In some ways, it's this subplot that gives us permission to be okay with the bizarre Bachelorette-like scenario that Rebecca has going on here. The tone of the show is telling us that this isn't Rebecca having another back-slide. This is silly and weird, but it's okay to have fun with it.

We also get that message more explicitly with Dr. Akopian. As much as Rebecca is doing great with managing her mental health, she can still get a little bit intense at times, and stalking Dr. Akopian definitely qualifies as problematic behavior. I love that poor Dr. Akopian is just trying to live her life, but she tries to be patient with Rebecca as well. Still, she knows her boundaries, and asks Rebecca if she can have her morning back. She's a therapist, and we know her in this show in that context almost exclusively. But just like every other character on this show, no matter how minor, she has a life outside of Rebecca, and it's fun to see little hints of that.

I could keep going, but I think that's all I've got for now. This was an excellent episode. I'm conflicted about so many things. Some of those things I think it's good to be conflicted about... others, I'm not so sure. Still, every time I've had doubts about this show, I've been proven wrong. I cannot wait to see what the finale holds next week, and that musical concert thing afterwards is sure to be a lot of fun!

8.5/10

[pixelgrotto]

The horrific Resident Evil playthrough, part ten

Resident Evil 6 is the big one that I was anticipating when I started this series playthrough in March. It’s the one that seems to have split the fanbase like no other, the one that some folks love and others abhor, and the one that took Resident Evil so far into the realm of explosions on top of zombies on top of exploding zombies that the franchise had no choice but to dial the entire thing back in Resident Evil 7 in order to give everyone’s minds a break before those exploded too. There is, in fact, a particular sort of enemy in this game that represents it well - called the Whopper, it’s a giant Fat Albert-looking thing that charges at you in a truly grotesque example of fun character design. It’s a bioweapon to be reckoned with, and when you see one coming your way, all you can say is “OH SHIT” as you try to blast its head apart before it barrages you into a wall.

RE6 is a whopper of a game. It’s chock full of so many different gameplay styles, so many plot threads, so many bits and pieces barely holding together at the seams in a mad effort to appease all sectors of the fan base - the people who preferred Resident Evil when it was eerie and quiet, the fans who fell in love with the series when Resident Evil 4 introduced an emphasis on action and the shippers who just love the characters and want to see them press the trigger of a Magnum at the same time and let loose with a bullet that will send the remains of a hulking Serbian mutation go stumbling backwards into the flames of a burning wind tunnel. 

The only way to properly assess RE6 in the midst of all this madness is to look at its four campaigns one-by-one, which took me 33 hours in total to complete, a staggering number for this series. 

Leon’s campaign - Everyone’s favorite Resident Evil protagonist who is still rocking Leonardo DiCaprio 90s hair (even though he’s aging in real-time and is apparently in his late 30s now) is BACK in this campaign, which seems to be the one that the game wants you to play first. It’s a rollicking adventure which I personally thought was the best of the bunch, though I wouldn’t blame you if you found Chris’ campaign better. I think I was won over by the fan service, since Leon’s opening chapter immediately channels Resident Evil 2 by forcing you to escape Tall Oaks, an American metropolitan area that’s essentially Raccoon City 2.0. Zombies will be lurching at you from the darkness like the old games, you’ve gotta run through subway cars just like in RE2 and RE3, and the whole vibe actually approaches scary at a few moments, which is something that the rest of this game has absolutely no time for. Partnered with Leon is Helena, a new character who’s also a US government agent but frankly kind of boring, and the pair quickly find themselves wrapped up in a conspiracy engineered by a politician named Derek Simmons. To figure out the extent of his conspiracy, you’ve gotta play Ada’s campaign (all the characters’ stories intersect at various points, which is one of this game’s best ideas), but let’s just say that Leon’s party ends in a wild rush to a made-up Chinese city named Lanshiang - which, from the POV of someone who lived in Hong Kong for six years, is clearly HK under another name. Half of Lanshiang gets blown up, Simmons transforms into what looks like a T-Rex and then a giant insect kaiju, and the general tone is deliciously batshit, though if you don’t like batshit then your mileage will vary. Leon gets music that I like to call "Funky Zombie Porno Breakbeats” for his ending theme, and I feel like this phrase can summarize the tone of the entire Resident Evil franchise perfectly. 

Chris’ campaign - If Leon’s adventure was the cheesy-but-occasionally-spooky “LET’S TAKE THESE ZOMBIES TO SUPLEX CITY, CHUMS” vibe of Resident Evil 4 on acid, then Chris’ campaign is the “MILITARY ESPIONAGE ACTION AGAINST BIOWEAPONS, BRUH” vibe of Resident Evil 5 on acid. It begins with Chris suffering from a bout of PTSD after losing a contingent of his men in a made-up country that’s supposed to be Serbia, then moves to Lanshiang after ace sniper Piers recruits Chris for one last mission. Instead of zombies, you fight mostly J’avo, a breed of terrorists using viruses to give themselves horrific limbs, and everything resembles a Call of Duty or SOCOM game, with Chris hearing instructions from his squad leader through his headpiece, ducking behind cover to shoot J’avos apart and generally being a weathered, grumpy soldier. The main theme of Chris’ campaign is actually removed from the overarching tale involving Simmons, and the focus is instead on the quieter, MANLY subplot about how all these years of fighting monstrosities has worn Mr. Redfield down. He needs to learn how to be a soldier once more, and Piers - a guy who I was initially suspicious of because he’s a pretty boy with nicely groomed hair, and those sorts are usually lame in Japanese video games - comes through as one of the most likable additions to Resident Evil lore in a long time to offer Chris much-needed support. The entire campaign might actually be better if played as Piers instead of Chris, especially due to a touching ending scene which is probably the one moment where the game’s plot transcends crazy horror action and enters the realm of something actually thought-provoking. Chris’ campaign, in general, is also where RE6 seems the most focused and confident, though the cover shooting mechanics are clunky when compared to titles that actually specialize in cover shooting, like Gears of War. Chris also doesn’t have Funky Zombie Porno Breakbeats for his ending music, so Leon gets a tiny point ahead of him in my book, but not by much. 

Jake’s campaign - I’ve read a few reviews that call this campaign the “experimental” one, and...yeaaaaah, it is. Jake, who’s the son of former Resident Evil baddie Albert Wesker, was presumably designed to serve as a bold new protagonist for future games, but he’s kind of an emo douchebag, so I played through the entirety of his missions as his partner Sherry Birkin. Sherry’s the little girl from Resident Evil 2 all grown up, which I think is genius, because she serves as a tangible example of this franchise’s progression over the years. You could probably show her picture to anyone unfamiliar with Resident Evil and be like, “That’s a formerly 10-year-old side character from the second game grown up into a secret agent” and get a response of "Woah, cool,” so yeah, I like Sherry a lot. In fact, her presence made this whole campaign tolerable, because Jake is an edgelord and his missions run the confused gamut from shoot ‘em up sections to weird exploration bits that seem to want to channel the spirit of the old games but don’t succeed. Then there are the stealth and chase sequences against Ustanak, the “hulking Serbian mutation” that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago. This fellow was clearly created to remind Resident Evil veterans of Mr. X and Nemesis from RE2 and RE3, but while those guys would break down walls and pop outta nowhere to put a lump in your throat, Ustanak’s every impending arrival is advertised from a mile away, to the point where he’s not really frightening - just redundant. And the stealth bits against him seem like B-tier ripoffs of sequences in Metal Gear Solid, because RE6′s engine is really not engineered for sneakiness. At one point, Sherry and Jake have to hide in garbage dumpsters as Ustanak sniffs around, and that serves as an accurate representation of what large portions of their campaign are. These two kiddies do get a cheesy love ballad for their ending song, though, because the game really wants you to ship ‘em. Sherry, ya deserve better. 

Ada’s campaign - As messy as Jake’s campaign is, however, it’s nothing compared to Ada’s, which was originally an unlockable extra in the original release of RE6 and designed to tie up loose story threads. It does do that, though the resulting plot - where Simmons got so obsessed with Ada Wong that he whipped up an entirely new virus to re-create her and then lost track of it - is pretty meh, though it could perhaps be an intriguing exploration of the depths of male entitlement in the hands of a better writer. Aside from these pieces of so-so story, Ada’s adventure offers aggravation in the form of bad level design and a truly horrid slew of Quicktime Events and wretched stealth sections, which, once again, this game just doesn’t do well. It opens with her investigating a sub filled with guards that she’s encouraged to sneak past, except you can’t really sneak in RE6 and eventually they all notice and decide to gangbang you, and then the sub floods and there’s dizzying shaky cam everywhere that made me feel sick. You’re given a minimal amount of seconds to succeed on the Quicktime Events to escape the rising floodwaters, and I felt like I was playing a game of Dragon’s Lair, where you need to press right or left immediately or risk seeing yourself die over and over again. That sums up the frustration of Ada’s campaign, which also made me realize one important thing - I really don’t find Ada Wong to be much of an interesting character. She’s little more than a walking femme fatale trope, and even people who insist on shipping her with Leon will probably have to admit that those two’s “relationship,” if you can even call it that, is little more than quick winks and five minute interactions that have amounted to nothing over the span of nearly twenty years. The pair of them get ONE good scene on a bridge in this game, but that’s it, and honestly, their cornball kiss near the end of RE2 is still a more genuine character interaction. Oh yeah, and on the topic of ending music, since I seem to be coming back to that a lot in this post, Ada gets generic filler tunes for her credit roll. How appropriate. 

As you can see in the impressions above, in its own special way, Resident Evil 6 has something for everyone, ranging from a quality tale about battle-hardened men shooting biomutations to terrible levels that feel like they came out of a 2005 PS2 game that was quickly relegated to the bargain bin at Gamestop. Reviews were all over the place when this sucker came out, and still are today, with just as many people insisting that this game is the shit as there are people emphasizing that it is shit. My verdict? It’s BOTH, with some truly excellent parts and some truly abhorrent ones. It could have done with some trimming, for sure, and at the end of the day, Leon’s and Chris’ campaigns feel like the only real important ones here. A streamlined and likely better-received version of Resident Evil 6 would’ve only focused on those two guys - since one pivotal scene where the pair meet for a few minutes, briefly scuffle and POINT THEIR GUNS AT EACH OTHER YEAAA FAN SERVICE - seems to have been written first. That would’ve given Resident Evil 6 a better balance, with Leon’s missions possibly focusing on old school survival horror and pulp while Chris’ missions would lean hard on the military action stuff. 

But we didn’t get that. Instead, what we got is a shambling whopper of a game - at times as unwieldy and ridiculous as the enemy bearing the same name, at other times just as satisfying as a real-life beef whopper. Resident Evil 6 is both good and bad, the video game equivalent of an excessive and expensive comic book crossover, and shit, I think I’ve just written the most about it than any of its predecessors.

That, at the very least, has to count for something.

All screenshots taken by me. For more, check out this Twitter thread showing my step-by-step progress through the game.

[marypoppinswasmyfatherbitches]

Oh my goodness, I didnt see the link to your fanfic account! I am dumb. So ignore my previous ask and instead answer this one for the meme. 13, 3, 14, 1 and 2 for Happiness goes on? (I shall leave reviews on your beautiful fanfic soon I promise, they are good.)

(Hiii, sooo…this whole reply is late because I actually typed up ALL OF THIS last night, and then accidentally “x”-ed out of my browser and lost it all, because I am very very stupid. And then was too tired to retype it up before going to sleep. I hope I remember roughly everything, and apologies for that mistake.)

Oh! Haha! Alright then! Thank you! Don’t feel dumb at all for not realizing which AO3 account is mine or for your previous ask(which for others who are curious, said: “1 - 5 for all your fics! Just talk about your favs!”). I was prepared to choose 3 fics (including “Happiness Goes On” since that’s definitely the one I’m most proud of, so I guess that’s closest to a “favorite” right?), and go through the first 5 questions for each, though I won’t lie and say it wouldn’t have taken some time to answer.

BUUUT…since you said to scrap that first ask, I’ll answer these individual ones for “Happiness Goes On.” And your compliment and promise for a future review means SO goddamn much, thank you sincerely.

(WARNING / REMINDER: This is about my fic that deals with the subject of child molestation, and I do reference that a little bit in this reply. Don’t read further if it makes you uncomfortable, which I entirely understand and respect.)

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13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

HA! Well, American Pie obviously, for a majority of it. While brainstorming / writing / editing the epilogue? A lotta Billy Joel. ;)

The idea to use American Pie bounced into my brain when it came on the radio at the thrift shop where I volunteer, one of the rare times my own music speaker battery died. Usually a disaster, because our store radio is pretty crappy, but the sound quality wasn’t too bad that day, and I rediscovered how much I love that song and ‘Why isn’t this on my ipod again?’. Listening to the lyrics, I realized how much some of them fit the Guardians in general, and this story specifically, which I have Gamora mentally note in the fic. I was sitting and casually chatting with the manager while also thinking, ‘Google what year this came out when you get home, but I’m sure it’s the 70′s. Peter would know it, and it could be the Zune. I think it could work.’ I’m proud that I was able to reference the song so many times without actually naming it by title, but I assume most readers knew what it was, it’s just that famous. (I also couldn’t resist the light-hearted joke, later when things calmed down, of Gamora saying “This…is the longest song…I have ever heard.” and Peter smiling without even looking at her and giving a cheeky “I know.”)

In terms of using Billy Joel for the epilogue, I’m just a Billy Joel fanatic. The use of him for this story began just from the We Didn’t Start the Fire joke toward Rocket at the bar (I thought it was clever, Peter!), and later on I saw how The Longest Time fit romantically for Starmora, and some of the lyrics matched the healing themes of the overall story, and I thought ‘Maybe they’ve been playing BIlly Joel since that night; maybe that can be the joke.’ Why shouldn’t his Greatest Hits albums (at least) be on the Zune? I struggled a lot over what song should be the final one Gamora comments on before they switch artists to appease the group. I never specify which romantic Billy Joel song Peter and Gamora slow danced to during their “date night” in that six-week summary, but I like to imagine it was Just the Way You Are. I considered Keeping the Faith or Vienna for the final one, but I thought they deserved something more fun and naughty to analyze this time, so Only the Good Die Young it is. :D

In conclusion, I listened to The Longest Time, and the entire An Innocent Man studio album, a lot (as if I needed an excuse).3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

The portion in italics is my favorite line, but I’m including the entire sentence for context purposes: “She would need to grow used to him viewing Yondu as a caring parent who was extraordinarily protective of his boy, and would have hunted down this pervert to whistle a glowing arrow through her skull.”14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Ohh geez, wow, that one is tough. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say this story was intended to educate, but just to explore the idea with fictional characters. I have no expertise on the subject, and would never claim such, or talk down to those who do. I didn’t intend to create a PSA. I suppose all of the “lessons” for Peter (if they can be called that) I hope all readers already know and agree on (basically a collection of “it wasn’t your fault” and “this doesn’t define you” and “trauma isn’t a competition, someone else suffering worse doesn’t invalidate your experience” and “you should feel comfortable talking about anything without judgement or shame” etc.).

Slightly lesser scale messages, there’s also reminders about the importance of communication, trusting each other, letting the other person speak in an argument, not letting one’s jealousy/instincts/bad mood interfere with fairness, not running away from a fight or staying angry, respecting boundaries and privacy, all that healthy relationship jazz that these two are still figuring out. 1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

This post is already very long, and I could probably talk for hours about the decision-making process for many scenes (of my GotG fics, this took the longest to write and publish, over 2 months), so I’ll try to condense this to a few bullet points that probably don’t fit the “inspired” criteria.

- It was originally going to be in two parts, 4 scenes each, when I thought the epilogue would be much shorter. But as the lil’ wrap-up got longer (because we needed a fluffy conclusion, dammit!), I decided to make it a separate “chapter.”

- I think the concept probably started as one of those strange, angsty “what if?” scenarios I make up in my head at night that I still can’t believe I created into a full-fledged work. I liked the idea of Peter and Gamora having this conversation and her comforting him, but I knew if I was really going to throw it out there for other fans, it had be more balanced with happier moments, too. I just know I was always going to make the offender a woman - both because it would lead to the misunderstanding that she was a past consensual hook-up when Peter was an adult to spark some irritation and jealousy in Gamora, and because it’s realistically different from other sexual assault stories, since women can be pedophiles and child predators too, and they’re just as horrible. :(

- The fanfic idea of “Gamora accidentally starts a fire while trying to cook, and Peter falsely accuses and lashes out at Rocket” was in my head before, but there were two key differences. 1) It was the entire plot, not a light-hearted subplot in the shadows of something bigger, 2) Meredith’s letter was either fully or partially burnt as a result of the fire. By the end Gamora was going to confess it was her fault, that she was trying to surprise Peter by cooking spaghetti, and he would apologize both to her and to Rocket for losing his temper and getting so angry. I hated that idea later and found it too sad (he’s already lost the Walkman and second cassette tape, why would I want him to lose even more from his mother?), and in “Spark My Memory” (the Christmas fic I wrote for “12 Days of Starmora”) the Guardians put his mother’s letter in the photo album gift for Peter, completely safe and unharmed. I like to keep all my fanfics canon-compliant and non-contradictory from each other, so the letter is fine, no burning it.

Yet “Gamora started a fire cooking” still seemed fun to me, as I like the idea that she’s so badass and skilled and intelligent, but failed at something so domestic and simple. Kinda cute. I was so excited to insert it into this, because I think it worked on multiple levels. It’s a driving force for the plot (the reason the team go to the restaurant and they stumble upon that particular waitress), the reason Gamora was already in a bad mood during her fight with Peter, it could be used as a metaphor/comparison for Peter’s anxiety and Gamora’s guilt, it was something for the Guardians to put at a higher priority to tease and mock Gamora for while oblivious to the main story, something for Peter to just break down into giggles over once they changed the subject (because he earned a good laugh after that heartbreaking and vulnerable childhood trauma story), an excuse to give Rocket so many funny lines, an overall silly and sitcommy-style subplot to fall back on, and a sweet “victory!” for Gamora to have (sort of?) conquered by the epilogue. ^_^2: What scene did you first put down?

This is easy. I’ve written all but one (8 out of 9) of my fanfics in order, except for “Just Like Everybody Else.” So ya, I wrote the opening scene first, Baby Groot’s magic trick lesson and Peter’s oh-so-cruel “can only be seen once” deception. I needed to ease readers (and myself) into the angst and heavy shit to follow, and that cute idea had also been in the back of my mind for a while. ^_^

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PHEW, OKAY, ALL RE-TYPED! Thank you again SO MUCH for the lovely ask and wonderful questions, your actual interest and curiosity thrilled me! You see I wasn’t kidding about the incessant babbling. :P

Thank you also for the kudos you left on AO3, and take care!~