#first time I actually have the titular character in a gif set

[nerdish-nostalgia-revived]

"We are dealing with a maniac that is very dangerous."

"Oh, my Lord! What about Egg? Is she going to be alright?"

Hercule Poirot and Sir Charles having a brainstorming on the train.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi, what do you think Yang's future arc might be, besides the whole Team STRQ background?

Since as of now, there is something that I still feel that Yang lacks compared to the other three heroines. I mean, all three of them have a much bigger role to play in the story compared to Yang, who is just Ruby's sister and being a child related to Team STRQ. And I know that it's probably because of the Citrinitas and Rubedo dynamic in alchemy. But isn't acquiring gold one of the results desired from the Magnum Opus?

Anyways, I also want to ask if you think that there should be more Chinese elements through Yang's story besides her name. I mean, why name her after a Chinese Dragon (who is the most revered mythical creature in China) if they aren't gonna apply it to her story? If Yang's focus is her main fairytale Goldilocks, then why not just name her that is reminiscent of the hot-cold-just right dynamics present in her story? The three other heroines has other fairytales associated with them and I wish that Yang has that too (instead of being just a part of their tales i.e. Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz).

I guess that I wanted the writers to explore more of Yang's ptsd arc, like maybe have Yang practice shui-mo or water and ink painting as a coping mechanism; to essentially help her control her emotions or anger. Instead of Taiyang seemingly looking at Yang through other people's lenses instead of through his own (which might be even worse, like hello mini Raven lookalike).

Anyways, thank you for entertaining this ask of mine. Hope you have a great day.

Hi!

Thank you for this rwby ask :D

So, tbh I don't feel Yang's arc is lacking compared to the others. I would say so far she and Weiss have my favorite arcs among the protagonists tbh (and they are 3rd overall).

Anyway, to address your different questions...

YANG'S ROLE

I think Yang's arc will focus on Ruby and Blake, other than Raven and Summer:

She needs to overcome her contradictive feelings towards Ruby

She needs Blake's help to reconcile her feelings for Raven and Summer

If Weiss and Blake's subplots are linked to the world, as they used to represent two extremes of an ongoing conflict (the Schnee Family and the White Feng), then Ruby and Yang are tied to the conflict through their mothers. So, Ruby will have to overcome Summer, as Yang will have to aknowledge she is projecting part of her feelings towards Summer on Raven. You say Yang has no other role, than to be Raven's child, but if so, then Ruby's own subplot ties to Summer. I don't think there is much difference between the two sisters. It's just that Ruby is also the titular character to an extent and the main hero. That's why she is set up to save Cinder together with Jaune. Anyway, I am expecting the STRQ's subplot to actually be pivotal in volume 10 (and hopefully 11 :P - let's dream big). So, I am not worried about Yang's screentime. I actually think there is more of her arc left than Blake, who just needs a wrap up. As a result, I am expecting Blake this time to be the one that ties into Yang's arc.

In short, I would like a repetition/inversion of their Beauty and Beast motif. Throughout the Mistral Arc Blake is the beast having to deal with a corrupting Rose:

I wonder if this time Yang will be the one having to face her "roses":

After all, it is clear Yang has still to fully deal with her conditional idea of love:

Jinxy: The bidding starts at- Yang: No! I was the first one to- Jinxy: …knowing… what it is to feel loved.

Which can only be resolved through Blake, Ruby and her two mothers. In particular, the fact Jinxy asks for Yang's "knowledge about what it is to feel loved" in exchange of her arms says a lot:

Firstly, Yang lost her arm to protect Blake, so it is like her arm in exchange of love. Secondly, in that moment Yang is slowly figuring out her romantic feelings for Blake, so in a sense she is still figuring romantic love out. Finally, Jinxy's items are metaphorical representations of what they ask:

The mouse is exchanged in exchange of a hug, as a reference to the fact Little is Ruby's inner child and needs to be protected

Ruby is asked hope in exchange of Penny's sword because Penny gives her hope

Finally, Yang is asked for the knowledge of being loved in exchange of a part of herself because unconsciously she thinks she has to give up parts of herself to be loved. That is what conditional love is. You can be loved only if you are good, not if you are bad. It is clearly something Yang believes unconsciously and that stems from her abandonment issues. In short, in Mistral she thinks Blake leaves because she doesn't care. I am expecting Vacuo to be about Yang thinking she has to be perfect for Blake to stay, in a sense.

I think realizing she does not have to be would tie nicely with her Goldilock's allusion:

Vale is the TOO HOT: The Yellow trailer has Yang meeting up with Ruby (red=hot) and asking for a beverage with no ice:

Yang: Strawberry Sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas.

(Let's highlight Strawberry Sunrise alludes to both the Citrinitas and the Rubedo phase (yellow + red), which ties into the two sisters, as Ruby loves strawberries and Yang is associated with sun)

Throughout the arc Yang shows her strength (body) and her refusal to tame her own feelings, which end with her losing an arm surrounded by fire:

Mistral is the TOO COLD: Yang's search for Raven leads her to Weiss (blue=cold) and into a bar where she asks for some water to cool herself down:

Yang: A water. It's hot out.

It ends with Yang and Blake together and safe, while surrounded by water:

Atlas can be seen as Yang having found an inner equilibrium towards the JUST RIGHT. After all, the arc ends with Yang and Blake (purple= just right) at balance, surrounded by both earth and air (opposing elements)

However, Yang's equilibrium is suddenly disturbed by Ruby's spiral and I am expecting this to have some kind of lasting impact on Yang. So, I am expecting Yang to quickly go over the three stages again, so that she can realize she is in fact just right, without having to always be right at everything :''')

As for the major plot, it will mostly depend by how Raven and Summer tie to it tbh. It is possible that whatever Summer's plan is, it gave Salem's the idea to use Cinder as a vessel for the Maiden's powers (hence linking Ruby and Cinder together even more). Still, there are still questions related to Raven's past, which will probably find an answer and tie to the main conflict. In short, I really see Yang involved with Ruby in the main conflict concerning Raven/Summer and Salem, which will be pretty relevant plot-wise.

After that, Ruby will probably have the peak of her arc, where she saves Cinder. This fits, as Ruby has had less development than Yang, as her arc has been saved up for the end, so that it resonates more, as she is the main heroine.

YANG'S CHINESE INFLUENCE

Yours is a great question! I am not sure tbh! I have wondered myself if there is some kind of allusion hidden behind Yang's chinese influence, but I could not find it. Maybe someone else did or will! Or it will become clear later on.

In general, I think martial arts are a strong inspiration for Yang's character, so she might have been given Bruce Lee's name. After all, another inspiration for Yang is dragon ball's super sayan:

And someone suggested she might allude to Yang Guo from the return of the Condor Heroes, but I have not read the novel, so I am not sure this is true.

I also don't think it's a problem she isn't called after her fairy tale. After all, only Weiss is directly called after it (Weiss Schnee as Snowhite literally). Blake's name means both black and white and it alludes to Blake being both Beast (black) and Beauty (White). However, it does so indirectly. The same goes for Ruby, whose name and surname are much more tied with alchemy, then her fairy tail. She is the philosophical stone (a ruby) and she is tied with rubedo, whose main flower is a red rose.

Yang's name alludes to:

Her being linked to Citrinitas and to gold

Her being the sky-woman (a sunny dragon), so the Wise Woman in juxtaposition to Raven's Bad Mother

Her being the yang to Blake's yin

It ties indirectly to her allusion in how it alludes to the too hot (sunny dragon), which Yang definately is

Probably something else I am missing :P

YANG'S ALLUSIONS

Yang has actually many allusions:

Goldilocks

LRRH

Beauty and Beast

She isn't only a part of her loved ones' allusions, but she shares them, which meta-narratively might tie with her Goldilock's inspiration. As a matter of fact Goldilock has no beginning nor end. We do not know from where Goldilock is from and we have no idea where she goes after she escapes. RWBY gives Yang a beginning and an end in other fairy tales:

She starts as Little Red Riding Hood (Summer's daughter, who loses herself in the wood, while looking for her mother and meets a big bad beast with ferocious eyes)

She will end as Beauty and Beast (the Yellow Beauty, who burns gold in Blake's happy ending)

In general, all the protagonists have secondary allusions, which tie into their loved ones, not only Yang:

Weiss's secondary allusion is the Snow Queen, which is really Winter's primary allusion. That is because her bond with Winter ans her family is key in Weiss's arc.

Blake's secondary allusion is the Jungle Book, which ties to Menagerie as a whole.That is because Blake's arc is about her whole community.

Ruby' secondary allusion is the Wizard of Oz, which ties to the main conflict with Salem, but is also Oscar's main allusion. So, Ruby too ties into someone else's inspiration.

As you can see, RWB too are parts of their loved ones' allusion. Still, since they are protagonists these allusions end up being just as important for them, as they are for the other characters. Yang is the same, but in her case her loved ones are Ruby and Blake, two of the main heroines, hence she ends up sharing the spotlight with them. Again, it is not really different from Ruby sharing the spotlight with Oscar in the Oz's allusion (Oscar too is a main character, after all).

All in all, each protagonist has their own set of motifs and chosen imagery, which is similar, but also different. It is interesting to understand why. I mean, to this day I keep seeing people getting annoyed Blake shares her trailers with another character (Adam and Ilia)... whereas Blake sharing the trailer ties with her shadow motif and with her beauty and beast allusion. Hers is an allusion, which needs to be shared. Just like Yang's allusion needs to be completed by other stories.

YANG'S PTSD ARC

I love your headcanon and it would have been a great idea! That said, I don't dislike what we got. I also disagree about Yang and Taiyang's confrontation tbh.

First of all, Yang's recover does not start with her father, but it starts with Ruby. She feels responsible for Ruby and decides to get herself back together, so she can go find her sister and protect her. It ties with Yang's big sis complex, which still needs to be addressed. That said, it is a good example of Ruby being Yang's too hot. After Adam's attack, Yang is left depressed and symbolically her hair is tied (her flames are not burning). Thanks to Ruby, she finds new drive and starts her journey of recovery.

Taiyang's advice is thematic in nature rather than psychologic (like RWBY as a series puts more focus on themes, rather than psychology). It tells her she needs to control her feelings better and it is an invitation to find inner balance. This sets up Yang's objective really, more than anything. Finally, Taiyang actually discussing Raven with Yang is necessary and healing. Up until that point Yang's attempts to discuss her mother were always shut down by her father, which clearly made her suffer. Taiyang's inability to address Raven (together with his shutting down) is what leads Yang to put herself and Ruby in danger in a misguided attempt to locate her mother. Not only that, but it is also what leads Yang to repress herself to an extent. She forces herself to be the good daughter and strong big sister, but deep down she too is a child, who wants to know why her mothers both left her. Taiyang could help her to come to terms with it, but he stubbornly avoids the topic. That is why him finally addressing it with Yang helps her. It is also a sign Tai is aknwoledging her growing up. I also think Tai's line about Raven is actually telling:

Taiyang: Your mother was... a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. And, it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see... there's a way around as well. Come on - one more before dinner.

Does this description fit Raven in your opinion, because imo it does only to an extent. The Raven we meet surely does believe in strength, yes, but she also invites Yang to question things and to look at things from a different perspective. Actually, this description not fitting Raven is also brought up by Yang herself:

Yang: You're right. I don't know you. I only know the Raven dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! Did you kill her too?

Raven might have learnt knowledge to an extent, but she lacks the wisdom of truly understanding herself. She gives up what she believes in out of fear aka she lacks to take her feelings in check. Not only that, but she needs Yang's perspective to truly see the truth of things and to better understand what strenght and wisdom truly are.

Thank you for the ask, it was fun! Even if I am not sure I gave you the answer you wanted :)

Have a great day as well!

[centrally-unplanned]

I watched the Scott Pilgrim anime! I was deeply ambivalent, which I am sure is a shock to no one who knows me and saw it lol. I think I have a sequence of thoughts, so I will tackle the obvious one first to get it out of the way: Marketing, Adaptation, & Genre Drift in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Starting from top, if you don’t know, the Scott Pilgrim anime is not an adaptation of the original source material, but an alternate history version of the events where the titular Scott isn’t present for the majority of the episodes and Ramona Flowers is the main character. Which has been controversial! Not…amazingly controversial or anything, this is an extremely low stakes scenario and from my analysis the majority of people liked it. But controversial enough to get insufferable Kotaku articles “explaining the backlash” which don’t explain the backlash well. Let me see if I can do a better job - its fun to set low bars for yourself to clear after all.

The backlash starts with the marketing; really just the professional drama-trolls would have objected beyond an initial reaction to Netflix announcing Ramona Flowers vs the World; as a concept it makes a ton of sense, and it is essentially what they actually did (well, we will get into that). But that is not how it was sold:

“Join Scott in his fight for love, life, and rock!” I’d love to, still waiting for the invite! This is the first teaser for the show, and if you do a quick “frame count” it pretty equally privileges Scott & Ramona both, but Scott is still on top and it deliberately hides any sense that it is an alternate timeline. It even has this screenshot as one of its final moments:

Which I am pretty sure does not appear in the actual anime! If it does its in some flashback alt-timeline scene in a later episode, not its implied context (in the actual episode Scott ‘loses’ this fight). I can show more evidence - casting the original cast of the movie to make it seem like a ‘recreation’, statements by O’Malley where he plays deliberately coy with the idea of how similar it's going to be, and so on - but I think I don’t have to, because it was intentional, you don’t have to read the tea leaves on this. The bait-and-switch is part of the marketing, not an accident from it.

That is the step 1: people are thrown about being deceived. The step 2 is simple - this is a deception about an adaptation. I am someone who constantly complains about shows sacrificing cohesion & storytelling for “the twist”, but its too common these days to be that mad over it in a mass way. My designated punching bag over at Kotaku points this out:

This is a recurring theme for metatextual work like Final Fantasy VII Remake and the Rebuild of Evangelion films: initially they’re presented as retellings of beloved stories, only for it to become clear at some later point that they’re going to take more than a few liberties and tell a different story entirely.

The difference here is that FFVII and Evangelion are remakes, not adaptations. FFVII is a video game being made into a video game again; Evangelion is a tv show + movie being made into a movie series. The FFVII decision was controversial, but fundamentally you can just go back and play the original game; fucking everyone hated the idea of the Evangelion rebuilds being remakes because that is pointless, the originals have aged amazingly, and they had to deviate to justify their existence (they failed at that, but a story for another time). Meanwhile, Scott Pilgrim is a comic, that has never been a TV series, or an anime. There is the movie, but did you know a bunch of comic fans hate the movie? You see a lot of comments like these all the time (from a discourse reddit thread debating the new show):

Personally, I thought it was fun. I agree with a lot of your complaints honestly, but I don’t understand how you liked the movie? I can’t stand the movie because I feel like the characters are all flat, especially Ramona who has absolutely no personality at all.

I disagree btw, the movie is great, but it is a loose adaptation - hell it was released before the final volume of the graphic novels was finished, it has a different ending! A short, cohesive movie could never adapt a long-form, episodic graphic novel. And its live action, stylistically very different. So this TV show was both branded as, and was expected to fulfill a demand for, a first “real” adaptation of the comic, that people wanted. The fact that Evangelion deviated in its remake is a poor comparison. Questioning that people want full adaptations of works they enjoy isn’t really worth our time.

Now I personally don’t care about the above two - I am explaining the debate, but they aren’t problems for me. Step 3 is where I start caring - I think Ramona Flowers vs the World is a great idea. They thought they made that, and I wish they had. But in the process of telling the bait-and-switch of the story, they also bait-and-switched the genre. There is this great quote from O’Malley about the original graphic novel’s story from an interview (whose headline we will revisit in another post, don’t you worry):

Yeah, I mean, when I was writing Scott Pilgrim the first time, I just wanted to come up with a very simple story engine: fight, fight, fight, get to the end. That gave me something to hang all this other stuff on, all this slice of life hanging out in Toronto.

Its such a nice summation of what Scott Pilgrim is - the fighting against the evil exes? Its all sizzle and jokes, none of it matters. Its a plot device to structure the real story, which is a slice-of-life romance drama, coming-of-age narrative, and extremely intimate portrait of Toronto’s scene of indie music venues and hipster coffee shops. The joke is that Scott is dealing with all this crazy video game/anime shenanigans on top of actually having to navigate very grounded past emotional damage and present challenges of adulthood. The heart of the comic is not the fight scenes, some of which literally happen in the background while other characters are talking, but scenes of a group of friends hanging out at 11:00 PM at a dive Korean restaurant:

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off meanwhile is not built around this cast. Its built around a mystery plot and Ramona Flower’s evil exes, who she is investigating, and Scott Pilgrim, uh, checks notes travelling to the future and fighting his …aged enraged alternate self from the original timeline…? Anyway, Ramona’s evil exes are mainly joke characters, comic reliefs who engage in crazy shenanigans. Half of the episodes are structured around them, and their episodes are filled with extended comedy bits and very-long fight scenes. Episode two has a 13 minutes long fight scene between two of them, including build-up, over control of the League of Evil Exes. Hell, they don’t even live in Toronto - a ton of the new anime takes place in New York City and a bit in California. The comic meanwhile has panels just…explaining locations in Toronto sometimes:

Listing the hours of operation, its so cute! The anime has no time for this in between its sci-fi plots and fight scenes, and its far cheaper for it.

The decision to focus on shallow characters like Ramona’s exes is downstream of the decision to focus on Ramona without Scott -besides the exes the rest of the characters are Scott’s friends, who Ramona gets to know through him. Which is the final point here - who are the characters people love from Scott Pilgrim?

All of Scott’s friends ofc. Characters like Lucas Lee are memes, not people. Obviously Kim Pine, Young Neil, Knives Chau and so on appear in the anime. Sometimes they have great scenes - like the adorable scene of Knives & Kim playing music together, Knives’s first time really trying to jam:

Which goes absolutely nowhere from a character perspective - Knives & Kim barely interact after this. It sets up Knives doing a comedy-meta musical for the plot, sure…but that’s boring in comparison to real emotional connections, Knives doesn't have an arc. But they can’t have more, because our main character Ramona Flowers doesn’t know these people; she wouldn’t just hang out with them, and she is busy with her mystery investigation. She sees them when she needs them for plot reasons. Kim and Knives and Stephen Stills are much flatter this time around (Julie, to her credit, kicks ass in this one).

Obviously I could point out that Scott & Ramona’s relationship in the anime, given that they have literally one date before Scott vanishes, has no depth to it, but that is easy. The funniest way to summarize this character issue is if you check the tags on Tumblr right now, you are going to be awash in Scott/Wallace shipping posts. Like I swear, at times its straight(?)-up 50% of the posts going on, its a rabid gay horde out there lusting for this sugar daddy/baby dynamic. Which makes sense, they have so much sexual tension & emotional depth as friends…in the comic. In the anime they barely know each other! Wallace hates Scott and interacts with him maybe a half dozen times, primarily to tell him to move out, then does his own shit. This is all people projecting comic!Scott/Wallace onto the current show.

There are more downstream consequences of these decisions & other issues (like the overdone meta elements, or abandoning most of the indie-music aesthetic) but this has gone on long enough. The point is that telling a different version of the story would actually be fine. It would disappoint some fans, sure, but if done well you would likely win them around. Hell, the original comic’s ending kind of sucks, good time to polish some things. But if you change the main character and the genre and the cast focus and all the character dynamics…at a certain point its just its own new story now. A story irrevocably tied to the old one, but not about any of the things the old one cared about. I think you can see why that would be a harder sell than Ramona Flowers vs the World, even if it was a good zany action comedy anime in its own right. You will get backlash from this level of drift - and you will deserve it.

Also fuck Lisa am I right? Jeez, 0 out of 2 for moving picture adaptations. What you get for being blonde I guess.

[its-a-ducky-mess]

Speculation: Sarah's Potential Neurodivergency

Some certain viewers and fans of Sarah & Duck have posed a certain question over time. So much so, that it's even one of Google's autocomplete results and one of the suggestions when you so much as look up the show or its characters. That question being...

"Is Sarah autistic?"

While (to my knowledge, and at the time of writing this) no staff of the show have put out an official word, some fans have theorized based on evidence seen in the show that Sarah is in fact autistic/neurodivergent. One such user is @beenovel, an autistic individual, whose theorizing has gotten me to do some of my own research over time as well. I will be paraphrasing and using their evidence here, marked by "quoted italics". I do not mean to steal their evidence or their work, but using it to compile a stronger collection of evidence for this theory/headcanon. Please check out their original analysis here.

As a warning, this post is incredibly long.

Clothing

"She has comfort clothes. A lot of cartoon characters wear the same outfit over and over again but Sarah is shown to have other clothes, she just likes her outfit best. When one of her shoes gets a hole she is very upset about the prospect of replacing them. I also like to think that the reason she’s always wearing her beanie is because (like me) she finds the pressure on her head comforting."

The shoe point is from Tapping Shoes. More about this will be elaborated on later, although it is worth mentioning that Sarah tried to play off the damage to her favorite shoes in order to keep them before being convinced to look for new ones.

While it's unknown as to her exact attachment to her pink jacket, Sarah has been shown to prize it. When the zip pull breaks off of it, she becomes incredibly upset and near-unresponsive. So much so, that Duck had to push a whimpering Sarah all the way to Scarf Lady's house in Haber Dasher.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 37, Haber Dasher]

When at her door, Sarah could only muster a heart-broken "Zip..." as she presents it to Scarf Lady. When Scarf Lady's solution doesn't work, Sarah sighs in resignation and hides behind a curtain.

Sarah's beanie/cap/hat is near and dear to her, as seen in Balloon Barnacles where she is upset over the possibility of losing her very first hat made for her by Scarf Lady. She's also had the hat long enough for it to appear (potentially) years earlier in the past, during the flashback in Duck Flies. The head pressure idea actually does have some more ground to it. During Cloud Tower, which takes place on a hot day, Sarah doesn't wear her jacket, but keeps the hat. Also in Doubles, in her tennis outfit, she actually does forgo the hat, but replaces it with a headband. This give a neat amount of credence to the pressure angle.

Favorites

"Her hyperfixations are sea cows (also known as manatees) and lemons. In one episode they are going to the zoo to see the sea cows and she mentions it’s been five days since they last visited the sea cows and the narrator replies with “[the sea cow]’s probably [wondering] where we’ve been”. This implies they often visit the zoo just to see the sea cows. For me, I was obsessed with otters... there was this one aquarium I used to go to... and it was my favorite place to go, even as an older teenager. I can watch them for hours and be perfectly happy, and Sarah seems to be the same way."

This moment is at the beginning of Paisley Sea. (This episode also contributes to another theory I'll post about later!) The zoo and aquariums are a frequent setting for certain episodes. Apart from having a poster of a sea cow in her bedroom, Sarah was upset at not getting the chance to adopt a sea cow during Basking Shark, seemingly disappointed at having to settle for the titular shark. Sarah also practically explodes with happiness upon seeing a baby sea cow during Paisley Sea.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 17, Paisley Sea]

In addition, every visit to the zoo that's occurred, Sarah has sought out the sea cow and greeted it at least once, if even for a moment. One such occurrence is in Planetarium Aquarium, where she even went back to say it was "still her favorite" and giving it a thumbs up despite not visiting them for a proper amount of time.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 15, Planetarium Aquarium] This is also a very adorable screenshot.

"She also has lemon water all the time. I don’t know if that’s a common British thing, but I know that my mom and I (both autistic) prefer our water with lemon in it because it adds flavor and makes it easier to stay hydrated."

Lemons remain a very present theme/motif throughout the show even outside of the lemon water drink.

[Sources: Series 2, Episode 13, Shallot Circus (top) | Series 1, Episode 32, Puncture Pump (bottom)]

Sarah has a lemon themed telephone, bike valve covers, and had difficulty picking a singular item from the cafe's menu in Lemon Cafe (although being on a very short time limit didn't help), let alone pick a drink. In the same episode, she goes through a lot of work to make her own lemon cafe. Sarah is the sole human enjoyer of lemon water within the show, and solely during Lemon Cafe, she seems disappointed when Duck, Umbrella, and Bug dislike lemon water, and seemingly doesn't understand why exactly they don't like it like she does. I say "human enjoyer" because Flamingo during Scared of Stairs drinks and likes lemon water, much to Sarah's enjoyment.

[Source: Series 1, Episode 30, Scared of Stairs]

Learning

"She loves learning things and pretty much every time she has a question that her dad the narrator can’t answer she looks it up on the computer or goes to the library to find out more. She gets very upset if she can’t find a satisfactory answer."

While I am personally a "NarraDad" truther as well (Despite the evidence which I'll discuss along with the theory in a future post, maybe), that's not the point here.

There are many points where Sarah will look something up on the computer in the technology room for answers, such as in Slow Quest and Tortoise Snooze. Sarah is also a frequent library visitor, and a few episodes take place there or are visited for a part of them (such as Cheer Up Donkey or Lost Librarian, to name a few).

Sarah also repeats back certain words or phrases sometimes (like repeating 'shokupan' from John during Fluff Bread), which beenovel says is how autistic children learn inflection, and hypothesizes this is a vocal stim for Sarah. She often mispronounces words, new or otherwise. Such as, saying "burger" instead of burglar (Constable Quack), "elephants" instead of eloquent (Mountain Mints), and "eyes, sky, dry" instead of "eins, zwei, drei", which is "one, two, three" in German (Woolly Memories, Duck Hotel). Possibly the funniest of these examples is Sarah pronouncing "itadakimasu", a Japanese phrase said before you begin eating, as "it's a ducky mess" (which is where I get my blog's handle from!!) during Fast Slow Bungalow. Sarah also clearly pronounces "hello" and "yes" as hullo and yus. Merchandise and social media confirms that she says them with a U as opposed to their proper versions. She also combines "it's nice" into "s'nice" at times, even to the point where the Narrator says s'nice and has to correct himself (Bench Blocked). "Suppose" also gets this treatment, sometimes sounding like "s'pose"

[Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYt4c2yHWQ | https://shop.sarahandduck.com/collections/art-prints-1/products/sarah-duck-a-z-art-print-sdaz]

On the topic of "proper" things, during Extra Bounce, Sarah and friends are brought to a room within the bouncy ball machine that houses unusually bouncing balls. The Narrator remarks "This must be the room for all the balls that don't bounce properly." Sarah then looks a bit upset and replies with a corrective/offended "Bounce differently."

beenovel writes "Autistic children are often upset at the prospect of toys or animals being treated differently just because they don’t do things the “right�� way or are perceived as “broken”.

Sound Sensitivity

Tapping Shoes comes back into play here. Sarah sometimes shows an aversion/discomfort with certain noises, most prevalent being sudden, unexpected noise. In Tapping Shoes, when she unknowingly wore tap-dancing shoes and walked into the tiled kitchen, she became surprised and covered her ears first thing. She tried to quiet/muffle them, trying to get them to not make any sound until she's told that they're supposed to make sound. Before entering the noisy carriage in Train Fudge, she recoils back due to the noise and again, covers her ears first thing.

To link to another few point beenovel makes, Sarah becomes frustrated when others don't follow along with her games, such as her idea for her birthday in The Mouse's Birthday. Throughout the episode, all she wants is a quiet birthday, but is constantly annoyed and upset when her friends are loud, so much so that she retreats to the closet to escape the noise. beenovel states they've done this on multiple occasions as well.

Focus, Concentrate! /ref

Sarah has sometimes displayed inattentiveness and lack of focus, even when she's "supposed" to be focused.

"This is a common little kid trait but it’s more intense in autistic kids."

A possible instance of this is in Perimeter Pals, where while waiting for Tortoise to finish crossing their biking path, Sarah and Duck elect to take a break. They then nap for much longer than anticipated and have to scramble ahead to continue their park trip.

Funny Duck

"She’s taken an interest in an “odd” animal companion, and treats him more like a sibling than a pet."

Sarah may have a hyperfixation on ducks as well, in no small part due to Duck's presence in her life. Apart from her shirt and pajamas featuring ducks on them, she has a Duck shaped window in her house, as well as having a Duck costume already made and prepared before she even had the idea to swap with Duck during The Play.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 3, Cheer Up Donkey | Series 1, Episode 35, The Play]

She is also very emotionally attached to Duck and becomes downtrodden at the possibility of not being around him for a long period of time. She dearly misses Duck for the short time they're apart during Duck Flies, almost unable to fathom doing anything without him.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 40, Duck Flies]

This feeling of togetherness seems to go both ways, as when Duck does come back at the end of the episode, the Narrator remarks "It seems Duck missed you too."

The Bench

Sarah is strongly attached to a specific bench in the park. She treats this bench incredibly seriously. When highlighting various parts of town, she holds the bench to a higher regard than a playground (Outside Outside). Sarah doesn't like going to other nearby parks because they lack the bench (Fancy Park), and gets very upset when something prevents them from sitting there, such as a fairground obscuring it (Fairground), or a sleeping teenager (Bench Blocked). Duck, without any word from anyone, offers to bite the teenagers leg of his own volition, which Sarah gives him the okay to do. The Narrator has to interrupt Duck, and Sarah is shown with an excited look right before Duck is about to bite. When the Narrator wonders if there's other places to sit, Sarah shakes her head "no", and gives a hesitant, begrudging headshake when the Narrator pressed her if they've actually tried to look for a place.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 14, Bench Blocked]

Later in the same instance, Sarah herself tries to bite the guy but is stopped by a squirrel. Sarah and Duck sit on the bench even while the paint on it is still wet, and are so relieved that they can sit there that they don't notice the paint on them (Fancy Park). Likely the reason Sarah likes the bench so much is because she met Duck there when she was younger (Duck Flies).

Making Friends

Going back to friends, she seems a bit awkward when meeting real people. Inanimate objects or animals, not so much. She meets Rainbow, the celestial bodies, Cake, Bug, Umbrella, Leftover Wool, and more and seems nonplussed about it. In contrast, when she meets John and Flamingo during Doubles, she walks back into her yard after exchanging neutral greeting with an awkward pause, and without the Narrator prodding, likely would've not continued a conversation. In addition, she confuses John for a girl and Flamingo for a duck, likely trying to make sense out of the new people using herself and Duck as reference. John sounded like he had a higher voice when he said hello to Sarah, so maybe she just assumed John was a girl by that. Sarah also seems a bit awkward with adults she isn't familiar with/hasn't met yet, like Music Lady and Cloud Captain, though that might just be a common kid trait.

Organization and Spontaneity

"She likes having things be organized and in their place. She also likes categorizing/matching colors."

"She enjoys looking for things. Many episodes start with [Sarah] and [D]uck looking for things like crunchy leaves, green patches of grass, things that match the colors on her color wheel, fluffy clouds, etc."

Sarah has rows of identical hats in her closet, her tuba is always seen in her room when it's not being used, and she has a drawer full of her previous drawings in the living room (Picture Planes). The color wheel point references Rainbow's Niece. Cheer Up Donkey begins with Sarah and Duck counting grass in their back garden.

Sudden interest in random things is also a trait Sarah exhibits. She often declares things to be good, saying "this one is best" or similar. Octagon Club is the best example, she sees an octagon in a shapes book, and goes to find things around the area that's octagonal. She forms the titular Octagon Club and quickly invites many other friends into it.

Literal-mindedness

Sarah often takes some of the Narrator's jokes or metaphors seriously. Either that, or the jokes completely fly over her head. Kite Flight provides this exchange:

Narrator: What we need is a windbreak.

Sarah: Don't break the wind, we need it!

Mountain Mints also has this:

Sarah: The mint's at the top!

Narrator: Fine, why not… Perhaps I'll find a nice chocolate log cabin.

Sarah: [excitedly:] Ooh!

Stimming

Sarah, when excited, sometimes does this sort of shaky-fists gesture close to her face, usually accompanied by an excited 'oooh!' or other hushed surprised sounds. She does it a few more times in the series, but at this moment, other examples are escaping me.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 1, Lots of Shallots | Series 3, Episode 11, Fluff Bread]

Smaller tidbits I couldn't really fit anywhere else

She also sometimes does things in a formulaic fashion. Whenever she steps in snow or crunchy leaves, Sarah remarks "good crunch" (Seacow Snow Trail, Mountain Mints, Boo Night, among others) and becomes upset at Duck (albeit only for a brief moment) when he crunches some leaves in the path faster than her (Boo Night). She has commented "good crunch" since early childhood, as seen in Duck Flies.

Sarah originally would've kept her hair long and grown out simply because Scarf Lady didn't give her a good hair cut the "last time" during Hair Cut. She keeps trying to avoid it by preoccupying herself, and when she does eventually go to a salon, she tries to get Duck to take her place and admits that she's scared to the stylist. All in all, she lets a bad experience get the better of her and makes her catastrophize when trying something again.

Sometimes Sarah does things only she herself would like. One example I could think of is Cheer Up Donkey. Sarah played the tuba, which Donkey didn't like, but she was so into playing the tuba that it took the shouting of the Narrator for her to stop. When asked to try something that cheers her up and what makes her happy a short time after that, she immediately grabs the tuba again and has to be preemptively stopped before playing it again.

One more attachment related point similar to previous interests. Something ends up wrong with Sarah's tuba during Music Fixer, so she goes to the Music Shop to get it checked out. Music Lady tells her that she can hear what instruments think and that her tuba was saying it was too small for her (though that was just Bug). Sarah gets upset over having to replace her favorite instrument with something else and ends up not finding something that suits her before the episode's resolution.

As a final, sort of funny thing, Sarah is friends with a rainbow, and the rainbow lemniscate is the symbol of neurodiversity.

To my current knowledge I am not on the autism spectrum, and for that I do not wish to seem like I'm speaking on behalf of the autistic community. I do have ADHD however, which I was recently diagnosed with (I recognize those two are not the same thing). Thinking back on my childhood, a lot of Sarah's behaviors struck chords with my behaviors. Especially the sound sensitivity and lack of understanding with plans, those two were very prominent growing up, and the sound portion is still somewhat of an issue for me right now. Regardless of if Sarah is "canonically" autistic/neurodivergent, fans can interpret the cast of characters however they want, and I think it's sweet for kids watching Sarah & Duck to be almost represented in a way. It's also very nice that Sarah is never treated differently nor excluded from things because of her mannerisms. She's Sarah, and Sarah is s'nice.

[starleska]

RAAAAH I got a job interview for my dream career field, my autism evaluator is deciding how Afflicted and Afflicted with what I am, I'm well rested, and I've had a great time talking to people today! I believe I am finally blinded by the hubris of my victories enough to tell you (and whoever may be following the saga of my ramblings in your askbox) what my Latest Fixation is! You can just dm if I say anything inane in my post-pleasant day delirium, or you can put me on blast, idc idc I'm losing my mind rn, I'm rotating this show in my head so fast.

👉👈 so...The show is called Longmire. It's an American, contemporary western, crime drama from 2012 based on the book series of the same name. It follows the titular Sheriff Walt Longmire as he tries to get his life together after the loss of his wife and solve crimes in his county and whatever he can around the neighboring Native American Reservation.

I say "whatever he can" bc The Reservation isn't actually within his jurisdiction and he's barely allowed to be there, bc they have their own police force, and THAT'S where THE GUY I keep trying to tell you about without telling you about comes in!

👉👈so...he's Tribal Police Chief Mathias Clark. Yeah I gotta say the whole thing.

We're first introduced to him when he tries to beat the ever-loving cowboy out of our protagonist for daring to show his face on The Reservation after arresting his boss, the previous Tribal Police Chief (albeit for crimes he did commit, but Walt didn't even wait for the federal police like he was supposed to, but...it was complicated, ok?)

I think he walks this nice line between upholding the law above all else; doing things often more by-the-book than any other character; being calculated and calm and sane (...despite that introduction); and, at the same time, being fiercely protective of his people and culture; considering Sheriff Walt and co. to be opportunistic, reckless, disrespectful threats and scarcely cutting them any slack and still giving them trouble when he finally does in any investigations that may lead them onto his jurisdiction; being willing to kick and bite (and occasionally blackmail, uh oh) to achieve everything he can for the good and well-being of his people on The Reservation, even if the people refuse to trust another Police Chief, or if it may cost someone else.

Ultimately, he holds the law in a very high regard but holds his people and culture higher. He's very limited in what he can do, as a tribal police chief, and he's set on being fair, but he'll do anything he possibly can to make The Reservation safe and ensure the people on it a good future. <3

Also he's got a lot of attitude and sass and is constantly mad at Walt and loves his people sm and its very endearing and funny and also don't fact check anything I've said today with a real long-time fan of the series unless I made him sound unlikable, I hope you're doing well plz take care okay bye AGAGGHAAAAA THE POST RANT CLARITY-

LORELEI YOU LITTLE LEGEND OMGGGG!!!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 honey i am so, so proud of you, that is absolutely amazing!!!! wow - makes me feel a lot better about a rough month that it's balanced out into a good time for a pal, eh? 🥰 ohoho FIXATION TIME!!! okay okay i am sitting cross-legged and listening eagerly :3c wow!!!!! oh my goodness first of all this show sounds so cool, i'm adding it to the watchlist immediately 👀 and second, hello Tribal Police Chief Mathias Clark!!! he sure is a handsome guy 😳😳 and from everything you've said about him, quite the catch (and exactly the kind of man you tend to fall for 😉) :3c he sounds like a wonderfully principled man who isn't afraid to protect those he cares about most...and you know what? i reckon you falling for him is a sign that you feel you deserve to be taken care of. which you do. that is so, so wonderful 💖🙈

i can imagine this is a series which touches on a lot of prevalent issues to do with the erasure of Native American culture and safety at the hands of American racism and police brutality...would you say this show does a good job of portraying that? it's not a subject i'm overly versed in being from the UK, and i'd love to get a better grounding on that even if in a fictionalised context. i'm not sure if you'd recommend the tv show or the books first, but you've certainly got me curious 👀 interesting that the first thing which comes up when you google his name is fanfiction - clearly you've got some competition in the fanbase, eh? 😉 you'd better be inviting me to the wedding!!! 🥳🥳🥳

[taiblogcomics]

Pilots in the US Air Farce

Hey there, electrokinesis. Well, like I said at both the beginning and end of our look at Slapstick, we're doing a look at two different six-issue series focusing on toon physics. I was way into the concept, like, half a year back when I decided to review these. And this might be the darker of the two, fair warning! It is a Garth Ennis comic, after all. Yeah, that Garth Ennis. I normally do not like his work, but given that this isn't actually about superheroes, it's a lot easier to stomach. This is a good comic, I promise! But if it's not about superheroes, what is it, then?

Well, here's the cover:

Yeah~ This is about Hanna-Barbera characters. We're reinterpreting these beloved cartoon characters into modern, more realistic times, with a realistic art style! This seems ripe for disaster, but I promise you this goes somewhere very interesting and not as straightforward as I'm pretending with this description. So, rather than further coyness, let's get you familiar with these characters, if you've somehow avoided contact with two of the most iconic cartoon villains in, like, the last half a century or so~

The titular duo, Dick Dastardly and his sidekick doggo Muttley, got their start in Wacky Races, where their typical role was to get an early lead and then attempt to cheat and set traps to maintain that advantage. They can't simply continue and win, they're the villains, so they have to cheat. Dick really loved being a transparently evil villain. Not that he was a world-conquering monster or torturer or anything, the man just wanted to win some races. And he was really committed to his bit at doing everything in the most underhanded way he could think of.

Muttley, meanwhile, was his dog sidekick. Known best for his signature raspy giggle, Muttley didn't otherwise speak too clearly. Not that he couldn't speak at all, but usually it was some vaguely understandable muttering. And if it wasn't Dick's own overconfidence in his plans doing them in, it'd probably be because he pushed his abuse of Muttley too far or just Muttley messing with him for his own amusement. Kind of a disfunctional relationship, honestly, but what do you expect? They're the villains!

After Wacky Races, they went on to menace other Hanna-Barbera characters, particularly the likes of Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo. They also got their own spinoff, which is pretty good for a pair of villains who lost continuously! And that spinoff, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, is essentially the basis of this comic, which I promise we're gonna get to by the next paragraph. In fact, this one's almost used up, so let's dip in and see how you take that whole concept and bring it into modern realism~

So we start in the Middle Eastern country of Unliklistan, which we only see from a distance. Instead, we're hearing a radio broadcast where they're about to switch on their first atomic reactor. You can see the huge cooling tower and everything, it's the biggest building on the map. Before it starts, one reporter questions the active scientist (one Professor Dubious by name) whether the use of Unstablium-239 is a good idea. He will hear no protest, and activates the reactor. We are then treated to a massive explosion for page 2~

Four days later, we're joined in a United States Air Force jet piloted by Lt. Col. Richard Atcherly and his co-pilot Captain Dudley Muller, better known by their callsigns "Dick" and "Mutt", which I will also be using. Dick is annoyed for several reasons, not the least of which is that Mutt has brought his dog in the jet with them. Mutt reasons that low-level recon won't require the oxygen, and Dick tells him to expect the unexpected. Especially since a lot of these nations are unfriendly to begin with, and Unliklistan even more so, since the entire nation is currently irratiated following that explosion.

To that end, Mutt suddenly has a bogey on his radar. It's exactly what they've been sent to find: a surveillance drone that lost contact after investigating the explosion. And suddenly it's behind them. The pair catch a glimpse of it as it passes. It's a standard unmanned aircraft, labelled "War Pig One" on its side, and spewing a huge cloud behind it. But not a black cloud of potential engine failure. No, it's weird rainbow cloud filled with cartoon symbol swearing and other such iconography. The drone passes over them, bathing their jet in its cartoon discharge.

Dick tries to swing the jet around to follow it, but as he does so, the throttle turns into a cartoon steering wheel with an old-timey horn attached and detatches in his hands. Much like the Slapstick series before it, the cartoon objects are in a different artstyle to contrast them from the real world around them. Coloured outlines, a different kind of shading, the works. Anyway, with the steering wheel now disconnected from the aircraft, they start plunging to the ground. Mutt's eyes bug out of his head in shock, and I mean horrifically, hanging from the optic nerves and everything.

Dick yells at him to eject, and Mutt hits a button on his console, which has changed into just a single big red button. This launches them out of the jet--through the glass of their cockpit, at the end of enormous cartoon springs. They parachute to safety, and since I can see their parachutes, they're okay. Indeed, what we see next is Dick waking up in a hospital bed, covered in bandages. There's a few doctors surrounding him, letting him know that he's in a German air force base and that he's fine. Like, no trace of even any radiation sickness fine. Dick passes out again, asking vaguely where Mutt is.

Next time Dick comes to, he's being interrogated by a couple of secret agent types. They never say what organisation they work for, but they've got sunglasses, brown trenchcoats, and badges clipped to said trenchcoats. You know the type. Given they're in Germany, I'm gonna guess CIA? Anyway, while they're argumentative with Dick, they do tell him Mutt is being held in a different facility, which the wording "held" raises alarm bells for Dick. He demands more information, but they're leading the investigation, and show him a picture of the drone War Pig One.

He recognises it, stating his mission was to destroy it, which raises the suspicions of the first agent (we'll learn his name is Perkins in a few pages, let's go with that). Perkins states that the drone has been spotted in numerous locations over the Middle East and Europe since, and Dick remarks that it should've run out of fuel days ago. Perkins' partner, Nixon, tells him that it passed over their car that afternoon, and Perkins suddenly begins getting more erratic, shouting "you fool" and similar jargon, even accusing Dick of getting "wascally". Hey, is Hanna-Barbera allowed to reference Looney Tunes? Is that okay??

Dick asks if the drone was still spraying its bizarre cloud of stuff, and despite Perkins protesting not to give Dick information, Nixon confirms that they got a huge bath of the grawlix-filled mist. Dick notes to Nixon that this is when their aircraft started going out of control, then demands more information, such as where Mutt is and what exactly was being discharged from War Pig One. Perkins dives off the deep end, spewing almost as much gibberish as the drone was, until Nixon basically has to haul him away as he begins spouting cartoon cliche phrases.

Our comic ends with time having continued to pass since then. It's night and Dick's either asleep or just fading into it, when suddenly a voice calls out to him from the darkness--a voice he recognises. It's Mutt, and he's come to see him. He's escaped the other facility and is planning to have them both sneak out, but first he needs Dick to promise him to not over-react or panic when he turns on the light and shows him what happened. Dick does so, but immediately begins screaming when he catches sight of Mutt: he's fused with his dog, transforming him into a realistic anthro dog-man. As seen on the cover, so maybe this isn't as shocking to the readers as it is for Dick~

An intriguing premise to start with, eh? Of particular note, note how our titular protagonists aren't villains to start out with. (I mean, within the context of the comic; there's a lot we could argue about the US military, but this is neither the time nor place~) The clever among you can probably see where this is leading, but it's definitely the ride there that's the interesting part. As such, that's where we're headed the next few weeks~

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Loki Season 2 (2023)”

The first season of Loki was one of my most enjoyable Disney+ MCU shows. With Marvel releasing a lot of mediocrity and garbage lately, my hope was that season 2 did not end up falling into that category. Does season 2 live up to the first or is this another bummer from the MCU?

Let's get the obvious out of the way, Tom Hiddleston is still amazing. He continues to deliver a phenomenal performance as the titular character. In this season, we get to see Loki at what feels like his most vulnerable ever and Tom illustrates that well. Owen Wilson returns as Mobius and while he is still the funny one of the Loki and Mobius duo, he gets some great serious moments. There is a moment where Mobius is being questioned by another character and Owen does a great performance through body alone. Jonathan Majors also returns but this time as a Kang Variant called Victor Timely. I like how he made this character feel completely different from He Who Remains. In terms of newcomers: Ke Huy Quan is delightful fun as Ouroboros and Rafael Casal is great at being hatable as Hunter B-5.

Season 1 felt like an adventure story with Loki and setting up future MCU stuff which was fine. Season 2 on the other hand, is all about Loki. He has such amazing character development and throughout season 2, we get more of an understanding of the character. By the final episode, Loki has one of the most satisfying conclusions for any character in the MCU. I also like how this season explores a bit more how the TVA operates, as we get to see how the chain of command works and other areas of the TVA as well. The season is also a satisfying end for a lot of the supporting characters as well making this feel like a complete story even if there are some things still left open. Natalie Holt returns as the composer and continues to provide a terrific music score with its mix of electronics and orchestral sounds.

With Loki season 2 being primarily focused on Loki, the supporting characters don't have as much focus. Sylvie returns for season 2 where in season 1 she was one of the focus characters, but here not so much. The season doesn't explore any of that romance between her and Loki or give her much to do either. This is also the case for characters like Hunter B-15 and Casey who now appears more but doesn't really have much to do. This season doesn't have many action set pieces either and even when it does, it's mostly just fine. There is no memorable one-take sequence like in the first season. Autumn Durald doesn't return as the cinematographer for season 2 and it does show. Season 2 doesn't look ugly, it actually looks okay, it's just lacking in those gorgeous shots like in season 1.

Overall, Loki season 2 is an amazing conclusion to the series. It is so wonderful to see how far the character has progressed and changed throughout the MCU. Loki season 2 also succeeds where the movies, specifically Ant-Man 3, failed. Which is making me excited for Kang as a villain in the Avengers movies. Whether this is truly the last we see of Tom as Loki, it was a magnificent run as the character.

For more reviews like this visit: https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

[topknotstrunk]

Review Everything 18 - Avatar: The Way of Water

I want to open by saying that I have been a staunch lover and defender of the first movie since the day it came out. I never was a part of the “I couldn’t name a character from Avatar movie if I tried.” Crowd. I loved it from the second I saw it in 3D IMAX, which we drove 2 hours to see. I watched it at least once a year between then and now. I happily defended the movie to anyone who would listen, how it was a story of found family, of the lack of culture America wants to saddle white people with, that it was meant to be a movie to make you love and appreciate nature, about adapting, and finding your true self. In the lead up to the second movie I felt very smug watching all the “Avatar was always good, actually.” Reviews coming out.

I am fully aware of the white savior complaints about the franchise, but I don’t think that’s my place to speak on here. I am a HUGE spec-bio and worldbuilding nerd. I have several projects of my own that are based around these concepts. The fist Avatar is a spec-bio nerd’s and worldbuilding fan’s wet dream. I think based on that alone I would have loved it, but both movies are so much more than that. In the second movie we are introduced to the Metkayina society, one very obviously inspired by Polynesian culture. From the face tattoos, to their fighting hype up being an obvious homage to the haka, it was a delight to see how much thought was put into making the Metkayina different from the Omaticaya. The titular Way of Water and other Navi specific traits were good to see too, especially the different biology to the forest people with the paddles on the limbs, the broader chests, the more slimline noses, the wider tails, and the skin coloration. I’m so happy so much more of the world got explored, we got to see two new biomes in the Hallelujah Mountain’s caves and the sea, with the sea being so filled out and thought through that it didn’t even feel made up or alien, just like the movie team had gone out and filmed somewhere on Earth I’m just not familiar with.

But the thing that stood out to me in the first movie, and in the second even more strongly, is the environmentalist message. I cannot tell you how much I cried when they hunted the tulkun. Even just the scene with Payakan getting the spear pulled out of his fin got my water works going. One of the things I really valued about the first movie is that Carmen relies on your own love of and inherent connection to nature PLUS what he’s taught you about Pandora to really get you to buy in to the alien nature presented in the franchise. You really care about these animals on the screen, because you know how important animals are in real life, and this fantasy that’s presented to you with animals that don’t exist remind you of the nature that’s all around you.

Also, the movie looks incredible. I bought in completely, there are so many parts of the movie that are CG that just look like actual objects and/or creatures being filmed. Watching it in 3D IMAX, like I got to with the first one, was a real treat.

There was at least two elements of the movie I felt were a little predictable, the death of the oldest son and the beginning of the character arc for Quaritch. I wasn’t sure at first which one of their kids was going to die, but I had the thought really early on in the film that Jake and  Neytiri had one to many kids for the audience to realistically keep track of, and then when Lo’ak kept putting himself in danger for his siblings, I felt his death was inevitable. I don’t always feel that predictability is a negative in a film though, it can often mean, as was the case here, that the movie is using film language well and has good internal logic that’s solid enough that you can guess where it’s going to happen ahead of time.

The sequel sets up so many questions I’m looking forward to subsequent movies answering. What’s up with Quaritch? Is he gonna “go native” in an effort to survive and be able to kill Jake? Is he now a child of Eywa, an his own person? I mean, he’s a clone, he’s not the man that Neytiri killed, he’s not even the same species, by his own words to Spider. How far does Kiri’s power reach? Will she overcome the seizures, or be overcome by them? How many of the Sully kids are going to stay with the Metkayina, just Lo'ak? Will Spider stay a Human? Does Kiri have a father? Gah, I’m REALLY looking forward to Avatar: The Seed Bearer [title pending, I know]!

My only actual complaint about the movie was that I wish they had set up cloning yourself with memories in tact in the first movie. It’s fine in a sci-fi movie, it feels like typical sci-fi shenanigans, but I would have liked any kind of set up. I’m not a big fan of retconning in basically anything and this felt like that to me. This is a tiny quibble in a movie I otherwise loved, though. And the soundtrack was a little weaker than the first movie. I don’t think I can actually count the soundtrack against it though, as I didn’t even notice until just now, sitting at home with it playing on its own as I write the review.

In summery: I am a big Avatar nerd who was fully engrossed the entire movie.

Overall: 10/10 Read my rating system’s expectation here.

[accio-victuuri]

cpn: assorted candies 🍭🍬

I had to take a sunday “rest” ( lol not really ) with the cpn post but now i’m back. for bxgs only. here’s your monday treat. let’s all work hard together this week! 💪🏻

• Hotpot - This is just clowning okay, but in one of the fan-taken shots of GG during OOL, a hotpot restaurant was there. The same place has a branch in Changsha which Web visited. CPN is that GG might have told Web about seeing hotpot place so Web tried it as well with TTXS crew.

BXGs are connecting this to the well-known fake rumor of a 2019 Double 11 Hotpot Dinner. Fans are saying they ate at this same place together. I also saw comments that the both of them stayed at a different hotel from all the other participants. They seem to like doing that huh— staying in their own place.

source.

• Some clues from GG’s OOL Tencent interview.

I. The part where the Q was about Gu Wei being naughty, in reference to trying to get LZX’s attention, GG said :

There are a lot of times he will tease Lin Zhixiao. He will say something to make her angry at first, and then make her happy. Is it a childish way of chasing girls? Okay, you can see for yourself.

Does this remind you of all the teasing GG/Web did during the Untamed promo in 2019? Obviously, it worked for the two of them because look at where we are now. Not even then, the play fights and endless teasing during the 2018 filming is evidence too.

II. When the question was about how to separate yourself from an emotional scene, and by extension— a role you’re playing.

For me, how can you adjust yourself after filming? I went to sleep and finished work when the director called out to stop work, and I unloaded it.

It’s interesting to see him speak about it so plainly. It’s like him saying that when the director yells cut, he is no longer Gu Wei. However, we are all familiar with how this did not apply to Untamed. The infamous character bleed he fell into. WWX was just too close to him and I guess it’s fair to speculate that his developing relationship with his LWJ did not help.

In this interview, Q: Immediately after the filming of "Chen Qing Ling", I filmed "Zhu Xian", How did you switch roles?

Answer: In fact, it took about a month to get out of the role.

even in his Elle cover back then when he was talking about his school-like ‘routine’ in Untamed set the write up said:

Everyday life is quite simple, a bit like going to school. After Xiao Zhan finished speaking, there was still a bit of nostalgia in his tone.It sounded rather sad

In this interview, towards the end too, he says the summer belongs to Untamed and WWX had such a big impact on him. 🤍 I mean, anyone who calls themselves a “fan” and keeps on implying that GG somehow wants to distance himself to being WWX clearly does not understand GG. It’s his titular role and I know the chaos that came with it but it doesn’t change the fact that GG is is no way, shape or form ashamed of having played WWX.

III. This exchange right here : 🎨

Q: Do you any special way of expressing longing?

XZ: Drawing

Q: Have you drawn anything lately?

XZ: I’ve been constantly drawing

Following the timeline of this interview, August 2020, we can see what type of “artworks” GG posted at that time. Most of them with CPN ties and others are much more emotional. This shows that he expresses himself in his art and it’s really not unreasonable to think that he hides clues in it too.

This also reminds me of a fake rumor that goes:

Mr. Xiao gave Mr. Wang a small notebook. I don't know what's inside, but Mr. Xiao said it's very convenient to carry.

Popular speculation is that it has GG’s drawings in it that he gave Web. or something they can write/draw things in and exchange with each other.

IV. The bit about wanting to go skydiving. It’s not the first time they both said they wanted to do it. I hope they get to someday 🙏🏼 well actually there was a fake rumor back in 12/2019 that talked about them already planning a skydiving trip.

• Yibo Official and XZS is at it again with similar things in their post. They truly are dating. They have my blessing. 😌

• Also some people went 👀 with the three dots. cpn interpretation is it means i miss you. feel free to not believe this one. Hahahahahaha!

• There is a scene in OOL where GW and LZX go to a convenience store. This brings backs a repo shared before about a fan who worked on the OOL crew. They shared about GG shooting that location and even included a photo.

Here is an excerpt of the candy. Treat this as fake. OP started by saying GG looked sad or maybe tired because of filming.

I saw gg took a bag of potato chips, I thought he wanted to buy it directly. after taking it, you can see him smiling at the potato chips. he took a photo of it. After finishing, put it back to the original place, take the mobile phone and send WeChat (because it is just to watch typing posture). He was laughing and typing ten. There seems to be no reply from the other side. I looked at the snack area for about 5 minutes. (...) There is a voice over the chair, I think it must be the person you are waiting for. GG had a smile. Then after the play, GG immediately asked the assistant to look at the phone. GG was smiling after Listening to the voice.

That’s all for now clowns. 🍭

[house-of-slayterr]

Spoilers I guess if you’ve never seen Batman Begins…

TLDR: I don’t like this movie 😶

So I just watched the movie… what… the actual… fuck??? First of all, fuck Rachel right in the ass. I would rather eat glass, on a gravitron then ever see her boring ass on screen again. I was so mad that Crane didn’t kill her. She’s is by far the most boring, understated, and I’d love to say forgettable but I unfortunately cannot forget, character I’ve ever seen. Also that forced fucking kiss at the end 🤮 kill me.

Second off, who ever the fuck didn’t give Jon more screen time, I hope your pillow catches fire at night. Like that man is the best part of your movie, les Rachel, more Scarecrow!

If somone says Falcon-E one more time, I’m going to hire Victors Zsaz (yes that’s how they misspelled it the whole movie) to kill me. Why was he Bostonian, he’s supposed to be Italian! Like what was that accent? I wanted to ring his neck every time he opened his mouth. #notmyfalcone.

Also like, the entire movie I forgot Flass was even supposed to be a cop. Like he just looked like a random homeless man the whole time. He also had way to much screen time, like I could not care any less about this man.

Now to my biggest fucking issue, other than the annoying way everyone pronounced Ra’s Al Ghul the whole fucking movie. WHY THE EVER LIVING FUCK DID THEY CAST LIAM “I HAVE A PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS” NEESON?!?!? LIAM NEESON!!!!!!! Ra’s is many things, but white is not one of them. Can we stop casting white people in Asian fucking roles? This being made in 2005 doesn’t make that any fucking better. Like I didn’t think anything could piss me off more than Finn Jones being cast as Iron Fist in the MCU. But this takes the cake.

Like I understand, maybe this is like the 500th Al Ghul cause it’s a title that can be bestowed upon people. But can we please just get actual representation? It’s not that hard to cast East Asian people. Like I’m sick of white washing.

When we talk about Bruce… oh boy. One I’m sick and tired of seeing Martha Wayne’s god damn pearls. Burn them. She makes pearls seem tacky. Like I shouldn’t be routing for the Wayne’s to be shot, but that was literally the best thing they did in the entire movie. First off, that casting choice…. I’m meant to believe Bruce came from that? Where? Also why do we need to show them die over and over, especially if you only show them bonding with Bruce for .5 seconds. There’s no suspense, no tension. Nothing is happening. Like I get Batman can’t exist without them dying. But just pick up the movie after they’re dead, skip the whole rushed sob story and just start with the actual fucking story.

Also his obsession with Rachel. What are you seeing Bruce? She’s a walking lamppost that keeps flickering in the middle of fucking nowhere. Hate to say it, but I don’t think Gotham would change if Rachel Dawes disappeared. She felt like a plot device to just be like “hey Bruce isn’t a playboy and has feelings” like the titular love interest. Like when it comes to Defence Attorneys, I want Laurel Lance on my case, not this wanna be girl boss.

Also why was Bruce being a “playboy” such a throw away gag in this. Alfred mentioned it so suddenly I actually had to pause, because we had previously seen no playboy bullshit. And then the next scene, dear god I’d rather be fear gased. It felt so forced and show boaty. Delete the whole scene, give me Loner Bruce Wayne who’s traumatised from his parents death. Give me Bruce Wayne who lashes out in fear and anger. Bruce Wayne who’s broken. Not Bruce I fuck bitches from Europe and don’t even remember their names Wayne.

Now go the things I liked about the movie:

CILLIAN FUCKING MURPHY!

More more more more more! I have never been happier than during this scene. His mannerism are mesmerising and Enticing. I wanna know more about the fear serum. I wanna see more of his experiments. I wanna see more of him in Arkham as a patient. Why have him as a side villain, when he had so much potential for a better storyline. Again, I think he should have just fucking killed Rachel. Like I want to see The Bat unleash his fury on Jon. I want to see him come back as scarecrow because he was doing an amazing job and it looked like he was having fun. Like I can’t express enough how much I am in love with this man. He did Scarecrow proud.

Next, Alfred. I will admit I am partial to Gotham’s Alfred. But this guy has a special place in my heart. I fell the same way about him that I do about Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal. And his South London accent is so endearing. I think it’s a bit odd that he just is ok with what Bruce is doing and joins him right away. But I love their relationship. I feel like he’d Ground Bruce if he went to far. He genuinely just wants to see this kid thrive. This man deserves all the kisses and hugs and complements on the planet. 10/10, I love all Alfred’s 🥺

Luscious mother fucking Fox!!!! Morgan Freeman did a fantastic job. Holy shit he made me love this man more than I thought possible. He’s such a good character and I feel like he doesn’t get enough love. Like I’d marry this man, no hesitation. Like pull up in vegas homie, let’s do this shit. I want to sit and talk to him about science for hours. I want to calm this man after a long stressful day. Love a black man from infinity to infinity! Give me more! 😍

Last but certainly not least, Bruce, I have autism, Wayne. Am I projecting? Most likely. But I think a lot of versions of Bruce have autism. His mannerism as so socially awkward, and he hates crows. Like that scene where he sent everyone away felt like he just stopped masking. The one thing Rachel got right, is he is Batman. Bruce Wayne doesn’t fucking exist. He’s the alter ego. Bruce is the most fake, forced man I’ve ever witnessed. He’s so much more comfortable as The Bat. His obsessive tendencies are obvious. His need for justice and struggling with revenge is just 10/10. Like he seems to have hyperempathy, even Ra’s points out how persistant his compassion is. His tone is incredibly flat most of the time, and the way he just leaves conversations unannounced. Bruce says it himself he doesn’t give a shit about his image or what people think about him. He just cares about justice for Gotham.

Bruce doesn’t have any real friends other than Rachel, and Luscious is getting there but he’s new. Like his fucking smile when talking to Rachel melted my heart. That boy was just so happy to be in the same room as her (i don’t understand why her but I’m happy if he’s happy) the way he just stands and pauses in conversations is so relatable. Like home boy really became the 🧍‍♂️emoji for so much of the movie. Again, probably projecting cause autistic Bruce would be way more interesting to me 😂. But he at least has C-PTSD and OCD. Also what kind of person is like “I’m terrified of this thing, let’s become this and use it as a symbol for hope.” Like Bruce, you could have legit become anyone else, why Batman? Are you a masochist? But over all, i enjoy this Bruce, he’s nice.

So overall rating. 3/10 would not watch the movie again. I’m hoping the next two are much better, I’m looking forward to finally seeing Heath Ledger’s Joker in action. I will also now be watching Scarecrow edits from now until forever. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be trying to forget this movie, and mentally preparing to watch more Batman films. There is a reason I avoided watching these for so long, but I just know I’m gonna love Rob’s Batman when I finally get to see it.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Chapter 316: BBQ is capable of critiquing BNHA and… Oh boy.

Let's start this off properly, Horikoshi's typical quality of writing has been diminishing in recent chapters, but this week it was so different that it didn't even feel like Horikoshi was the one who wrote it.

To be clear, I'm not blaming Horikoshi for the issues I'm about to bring up. The man is criminally overworked, usually doesn't even get the final say in what makes it in the final drafts, and even in his other rough patches he's still produced decent chapters that hold up amongst the grand scheme of things. This feels like something else is going on behind the scenes, and while I have my suspicions on who/what might be the culprit behind it, I choose not to share it at this time because if I name names some people might go off on a crusade, and that's not what I want.

I just want to be clear that I'm not blindly firing off shots in the dark, but despite my frustrations I want to wait to see if this gets resolved down the line, and while I do I can complain about the specific reasons this chapter left such a bitter taste in my mouth.

Buckle up, buttercups, because we got a lot of points to cover.

Where's the Gun?

Not a literal gun, but I mean Chekhov's Gun. It has always been a staple of Horikoshi's writing and the reason so many of his long-standing plot lines have paid off so well.

Chekhov's Gun is a writing principal that if you see a gun on the table in the first act of a play, it will be used in the murder that happens in act 2. Basically, the author should include details that are relevant to the story and not betray the audience by leading them in one direction and at the last minute pull the rug out from underneath them to go in another direction.

Horikoshi has done this to phenomenal success in the past. Just as one example, he dropped hints about Nomu being human experiments early in the series but held off explicitly stating it for a while. He hinted at the loss of Shirakumo in the main narrative and that he was important to Aizawa and Mic as well as approved it for Vigilantes so when it was revealed that Kurogiri was Shirakumo's body, not only did it narratively make sense but it also pulled in Eraserhead and Present Mic's emotional stakes into the battle with the Doctor, and then when Ujiko reveals he was after Aizawa's quirk the whole time it made the payoff for Mic punching him in the face all that much better and brings the weight of his crimes and the impact they have on the victims full circle.

That's 3 different guns paying off in the long run: the Nomu, Shirakumo, and both Mic and Eraserheads' personal arcs past the loss of their childhood friend and that they could finally finish processing their grief and avenge him in full righteous fury instead of chalking it all up to cruel chance.

He has left details, some particularly innocuously, in plot lines like the Touya Todoroki reveal, Hawks' backstory, Shigaraki's blood connection to Nana Shimura, even with Mr. Compress's backstory, and more. When re-read, these details become more obvious and usually leaves us with a greater sense of satisfaction in the plot knowing that twists and turns were not only planned, but built up to and hinted at for us to find so the payoff is that much better and it feels purposeful instead of just shock factor.

None of that happened this chapter.

Lady Nagant has zero business being in this plotline. She was never hinted about before this arc, and her existence does nothing to tell us about the plot moving forward or the world that they're trying to change. Nothing her existence provides actually has any bearing on the universe or tells us anything we don't already know. But that's not how she was presented.

In the beginning we're given a glimpse of her helping Overhaul escape from Tartarus. The focus on her was odd enough to begin with as a new character, and the fact that she didn't look like she fit the profile of someone who belonged in Tartarus was like a flashing neon sign saying, "Pay attention! This new character is important!!!" She then shows up later with Overhaul in hand to attack Deku out of the blue. We get her talking about how she thought Overhaul might be useful and her disillusions with Hero Society. We catch her mannerisms with eery similarity to Hawks only to find out immediately after she was a senior colleague in the HPSC. Never once to my knowledge has Hawks referred to any of his senior colleagues as a "senpai" - not even his fellow heroes - and when he catches her in midair, he uses the words, "Don't die on me, senpai!" as if she's near and dear to his heart.

The entire character arc is set up for her to have known about Hawks and grapple with her desire to help people and her fear of re-creating what she hated, and this also set up Hawks to be the successor who succeeded where she failed and helped bring her to a place where she could be a hero without guilt again. What actually happened?

They're strangers.

They have never actually met before, and while he seems to know a lot about her, she doesn't even seem to have any idea of who he was - at least as far as being another hero under the thumb of the HPSC. So ALLLL that setup, all that gesturing, and all of the potential themes that would be right at home in an arc like this goes completely out the window.

Her story doesn't tell us anything new. The HPSC bad. We knew that. They're not above throwing innocents under the bus to achieve that goal. We knew that. They preyed upon young hopefuls with powerful quirks with the intent to maintain the status quo. We knew that even if the fact that Hawks isn't the only one now makes more questions than answers. We know that these young heroes can never say no under threat of steep, life-shattering consequences. We knew that already.

So what does Lady Nagant even bring to the table?! The entire "you're just a puppet doing what you've been told" angle is a little tired and out of place in this point and time with actual anarchy in the streets (not to mention hypocritical considering she was a blind puppet following orders and offers zero actual solutions that supposedly fall in line with her heroic nature), and it could have been left to any number of other villain characters who could have executed on the theme better - you know, like Shigaraki who's justification this entire time has been, "hero society doesn't make people safe, it just makes them feel safe" from the moment of his inception.

So from that angle she's unnecessary.

Her presence messes with the continuity of the series as well. If Hawks is supposed to explicitly replace her, that would mean that he wasn't just a fluke find on the commission's part and grabbed to mold into their own special superweapon; and that also would mean that her killing of the former president was before he was discovered which should put her at least in her forties. If this isn't the case, and he was meant to simply replace her in a "special agent" case, that still begs the question of how many more gifted children the commission preyed upon and are still out there.

And maybe the worst kicker for me is that something stinks. The way the art in this chapter is presented, if you completely blanked out the speech bubbles, is the same setup I had before - Hawks reaches out to his former mentor and pulls her from the brink of despair with a moving message about why he never gave up hope in being a hero who could actually make a difference.

Again, this is not what we got. He claims he knows her, and it's implied to have been a deep, personal character witness; but at best he only knows about her from secondhand sources. Even his reasoning as to how he never lost hope doesn't vibe with his character.

We have gotten so many cool one-liners for Hawks, but there has always been a consistent tone and imagery with them.

"Those who can fly, should."

"I don't belong in a cage."

"I'm free of my shackles."

"Can I be a shining light, just like him?"

What we got was, "I'm an optimist to a fault" which was the wording the official release went with and was by far the best iteration I have seen, but even this falls short of being truly in character for him and answering her question properly.

@mikeana made an edit of the titular panels for us Hawks stans this week with dialogue we and a few other friends felt was more fitting not only with the imagery of the chapter itself but internally consistent with the specific expressions Hawks uses in his heartfelt, personal dialogue. I just tweaked it a little bit more to fit what I was going for in our original conversation.

Which brings me to another concern.

2. What's the point?

There was no use for Nagant in the series as she's been presented so far. But more than that, Hawks has no business in this fight to begin with. He literally did nothing to earn this emotional moment, and this should have been Deku's moment.

We were teased in an interview with Horikoshi that Hawks was going to get a special moment as an important end-game character as a "shining light" of hope for others to follow as well as promises for Ochako to have another moment in the spotlight to make a difference.

If this was Hawks' shining light moment, it wasn't necessary, and it does nothing to move the plot forward or develop characters in any true or believable way. It just happened because plot. This should have been Deku's victory through and through, and even he is the reason BOTH Hawks and Nagant made it out alive instead of painting the street below them.

Deku's victory was stolen from him, too. It sours the other promises made to us about other characters moving forward, as well, if this really was Hawks' "Shining Light" moment.

By the way, did you forget about Overhaul? Me too!!! What was the point of getting our hopes up about reintroducing this beloved character with the implications this was a major arc setup to have him scream about pops and then get detained with no clues about what's going to happen to him besides, "Say you're sorry to Eri, and you get to see pops"?!

All this posturing and clumsy narrative flailing only actually succeeded in getting Deku in front of AFO again for plot when we already know Mr. Potato Head could summon, show himself to, or find Deku at any time he wanted. But instead we get this time skip with a bunch of heroes completely mended walking into a big, spooky mansion for AFO to evil monologue at Deku for… *counts*

FOUR PAGES!!!

Only to then give him the "I want YOU!" point over a pre-recorded message and the final nail in the coffin to me that something is off.

3. Ex-pu-LOOOO-SHUN!

It's become almost a game among friends to count how many explosions have happened since the end of the war arc - and specifically fake-out explosions. In the end of 311 we get All Might's car attacked via explosion and Deku cornered by Nagant only for All Might to be fine in the next chapter. In 315 Lady Nagant herself explodes in a blaze of glory to once again not be dead.

Gee! I wOnDeR if aLl the heroes were AcTuAlLy cornered and KiLlEd in that explosion in the mansion!

None of us do. They're fine. We're going to see it first thing next week. The shock has worn off, and it's repetitive and annoying at this point. There is no cliffhanger despite how the framing might try to tell you otherwise.

It's BAD WRITING.

The writing has been moving far too quickly and clumsily with no explanation in sight, and even character interactions are being cut short to the point of them being meaningless and empty.

This doesn't even feel like Horikoshi's bad writing. It feels like someone else is trying to call the shots and rushing him through these final bits of the series, and he's run out of things he's previously set up for months and months to reappear so someone is trying to get Dabi-reveal levels of attention with arcs and storylines that don't have the build-up to result in a satisfactory payoff.

4. At least it can get better... I hope.

Maybe those who share my suspicions or know what particular suspicions I have are with me in believing that this is a temporary disappointment and we haven't seen the last of the writing that's captivated me for years. I don't blame Horikoshi for these glaring faults that all came to a head in this chapter.

It CAN get better later, and I think it WILL- we just probably are going to have to wait for it. Until then, I'm going to enjoy the Hawks panels we got, maybe edit the last few chapters to be more in line with something more like the BNHA I know in a "fix it fic" fashion so I don't groan in anticipation of how long it might take us to get there.

See you all next week, hopefully on a much brighter note.

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi has a lot of heavy lifting to do - not only is it the first MCU film to center around an Asian-American superhero (Simu Liu in the titular role), but also the first new face and origin story in the Marvel universe post-Endgame. This is a whole new world and therefore should feel big, exciting, and different from everything that came before, right? Well...

Marvel’s biggest strength is its biggest weakness here - the interconnectedness of all the movies (and their reliance on stories that are all variations of the hero myth) mean we retread a lot of the same territory over and over again. It’s a reliable dopamine hit, and I’m not immune to it - I think most of the average moviegoing public gets that same dopamine hit, and that’s why these movies basically print money. However, Shang-Chi is at its best when it’s not trying to be like anything else in the MCU.

Things I loved:

The fight scenes, particularly the first three big set pieces - outside Ta Lo, on the bus, and on the scaffolding of the building. The choreography is inventive, exciting, and really showcases what makes Shaun aka Shang-Chi a dynamic and interesting character - he’s lightning fast, balletic, and hardwired to protect and defend rather than attack. I also appreciated the lack of quippiness during the fights - it actually made the stakes feel higher to not have people exchanging jokes all the time!

Simu Liu is a strong lead, and I liked watching him - he and Awkwafina have good chemistry, and physically, he’s an absolute dynamo, moving through every fight scene with incredible power and grace. As a solo act, he’s good, but I’m hoping that when he’s interacting with the rest of the Avengers that could be elevated to great.

[Mild spoiler alert!!!] No forced romantic subplot made me the happiest camper. Shaun and Katy (Awkwafina) have excellent bro vibes and I was so happy, even with the inclusion of a sassy grandmother’s “When are you going to marry her?” line, that they remained platonic bros at the end of the film. 

Speaking of, Awkwafina is playing the same kind of character she plays in everything (except the FANTASTIC film The Farewell, which if you haven’t seen you should go out and watch right now), but she also gets to have an actual character arc! Plus, this movie passes the Bechdel test AND the Mako Mori test, and you know that’s that good shit.

I would die for Morris, the Very Good Fuzzy Boy from Ta Lo, and it’s important that you know that no harm comes to Morris throughout the course of the film.

The production design of all the different worlds we visit - Ta Lo, Xialing’s (Meng’er Zhang) graffiti’d underground club, Xu Wenwu’s (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung) compound - they couldn’t be more dissimilar, and each has its own fully-realized aesthetic and fantastic set and character design. The creatures in Ta Lo in particular are GORGEOUS, and I *think* all of them come directly from actual Chinese mythology, like the nine-tailed foxes. 

The few familiar faces that we do see from the MCU were particular highlights for me, but I know some people’s mileage may vary there.

Michelle Yeoh. Enough said. 

Things I wish were different:

The script is a little generic, in large part because Shaun doesn’t have the mile-a-minute quips of Spider-Man or an ensemble of different personalities to play off of, like the Guardians of the Galaxy. As a result, the story and dialogue are not really where the movie shines the brightest.

My biggest beef with the movie is that the primary conflict just...didn’t really wow me. I am so here for big daddy drama, and once we got to the climax of the film, I found myself a bit...checked out? I wanted to care so much more than I did, and I think the wishy-washy way the film treats Xu Wenwu is a big part of what didn’t hit for me. I always want more nuance in these types of movies, and I think there’s room for an antagonist that contains multitudes (the few MCU antagonists that do this well are based in the same kind of family drama Shang-Chi is grappling with, namely Loki and Killmonger), but this one just didn’t hit me the way I wanted him to. Leung’s performance is OUTSTANDING, but again, I think the issue is with the script and the story here.

Striking visuals, but that final fight with the big third-act bad was another thing that felt super generic with stakes I just couldn’t find myself caring about. Really the last 30 minutes of the film were only ok for me (as is often the case with MCU final acts). 

Everyone’s going to compare this story to Black Panther, which feels reductive and an eensy bit racist, but the comparison is an easy one to make - a son grappling with his father’s legacy, the primary conflict being amongst the family, and a glimpse of a magical civilization that is inaccessible to outsiders, not to mention the groundbreaking nature of the identity of the primary hero. I know there are a bunch of cultural touchpoints in Shang-Chi that will feel personal and revelatory to Chinese and Chinese-American viewers, and I can’t wait to read more about the depth and care that was put into this movie to make it resonate with that demographic deeply. As an entry in the MCU, this is solidly upper middle of the ranks for me, and what I’m most looking forward to is how these characters and this mythology gets folded into the mix with the rest of the Avengers. Don’t forget to stay for the TWO post credit scenes and come back here and tell me how you feel about that last one, as I’m still conflicted. 

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

[cybernaght]

Detective L: Sherlock but make him jazzy

So if you were wondering why I’ve been slow to update with my next Guardian recap, it’s because my partner and I have spent every evening this week binging the hell out of Detective L/绅探, a procedural show set in 1930’s Shanghai, with Bai Yu in the lead role. Yes, we have watched it in a week. No, we don’t have any regrets.

“Well this is so far basically Sherlock”, messaged a friend of mine as she was watching this one a few weeks before I have gotten to it. 

Alright, I thought. Great. A western IP-inspired period procedural? That sounds fun!

And then the opening credits start, and...

Oh. Ohhhh. 

This is not inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the Conan Doyle series. This is inspired by Sherlock, the BBC series.

Right from the opening, right here. This is extremely close to The Game is On from the Sherlock soundtrack.

The parallels become apparent in the script, as well as some of the visual short-hands for the titular detective’s deductions. So, if this review is looking at it from this angle, Detective L brought it onto itself. But don’t worry, the comparison is mostly favourable. 

Our point of view character, a rookie policewoman called Qin Xiaoman, moves into a shared house which is owned by a boisterous landlady who is definitely not a housekeeper. Xiaoman discovers that her neighbour is a consulting detective called Luo Fei, and, after a brief misunderstanding in which she attacks him, the two become partners. They then go on solving a series of complicated crimes some of which may or may not be tied to a criminal mastermind known only as the Captain. 

The actual procedural side of Detective L is highly enjoyable, albeit rather formulaic, even for the genre. 

The show’s 24 episode runtime is divided into eight cases, each three episodes long, and each case goes roughly like this: a seemingly trivial crime occurs, something piques Luo Fei’s interest enough to investigate it, a wrong person gets arrested, then a set of clues point to the case being actually about something else entirely, protagonists find themselves in peril, the culprit is caught, there is a last minute twist addition to the case, and the characters are enriched by the events. Sometimes the order of those narrative beats changes, but all of them are present in most of the cases. That said, the elements within this structure are well presented. The audience is given enough information to follow the twists and turns of the investigation, and to reach correct conclusions around the same time Luo Fei does, but not enough to feel smarter than the protagonist. 

If you are familiar with the genre tropes, you will be able to predict, at times, exactly where the cases are going, but honestly, I prefer old fashioned well plotted murder mysteries over more outlandish ones that rely on critical information which is delivered by an omnipotent detective, and could never have been observed by the audience in the first place. I personally watch procedurals for the experience of solving the case alongside the protagonists rather than to marvel at the lead detective’s big brain. And if me saying this sounds like a jab at BBC’s Sherlock, it’s because it is. 

Detective L does not take itself too seriously, either, mostly due to its unyielding pace. 

The episodes are short and snappy; discounting previews, recaps and occasional screwball comedy specials tagged at the end of the cases, the actual runtime of each episode is about 30 to 35 minutes. And there is a lot that this show can cram into half an hour. Detective L simply does not have time to be pretentious. It’s fast, and loud, and over the top, and thrives that way. The action shots are incredibly idiosyncratic, equally loud and fast, chopped in a way which is almost reminiscent of comic book strips - but I genuinely think this is the only way they can offer any escalation to already relentless pace of the show. 

The aforementioned little extra featurettess tagged onto four of the main cases are an absolute delight: they are charming, there’s some genuinely expert comedy, and pretty ballsy forth wall breaking. This show’s ability to not take itself too seriously pays off there as well.

Production-wise, it’s beautiful. I’ve no idea where it was actually filmed - but the locations are stunning, the set design is wonderful, the costumes are jaw-dropping. It’s well lit; it’s mostly well shot and well edited, and, discounting the opening credits, pretty well scored. Tencent has money, and it shows. In every way you look, beautiful really is the word that comes to mind. Although I am currently rewatching Guardian so any show that has actors wearing foundation that matches their skin tone, and sets which are not held together with papier-mâché is going to be beautiful.

The only fault I’d say it has is wanting to be BBC’s Sherlock so damn badly, it introduces us to elements of Mind Palace-type arrangement, as well as superimposed effects explaining some of the deductions. 

While those are done reasonably well, not all of them are strictly speaking necessary, and their presence was at times distracting in a meta kind of way.

I had a fear very early on that Detective L’s hectic pace would mean that it would be void of any breathing room for the characters, but thankfully the show found time to linger on those. Thus, Luo Fei is actually a very interesting subversion of the Unsocial Detective trope. He is flippant, blunt and, yes, not very good with people: these are all parts of his public persona, which allows him to use sharp words to ensure that he is given space to be effective. The more the show progresses, the more of Luo Fei’s caring, kind heart is revealed to the audience. He is a character who would be beastly to his partner to her face, and then fiercely protective of her reputation behind her back; would verbally dismiss an emotional response to the resolution of a case, and then proceed to financially support those wrecked by it. 

It is also interesting that Bai Yu puts a lot of foxy energy into his character’s enthusiasm for crime-solving, there is a bubbly twitchiness to his physicality; and even the harsh words the script makes him say are mostly a played as a joke, a tease, a deflection. All of this makes Luo Fei infinitely likeable. 

Qin Xiaoman, the female lead and point of view character, is there, technically speaking, to have things explained to her, and, by extension, to the audience. Making her a detective herself gives two additions to that: one is maintaining a link between Luo Fei and the actual police force (which I’m like 90% sure is another censorship thing), the other is giving their relationship a mentor/mentee flavour. But - again, in a lovely twist - she is a protector more than a caretaker. She would be the one ducking out of the cover in a gunfight, she would be the one taking the bad guys out in hand to hand combat, she would be the one providing a shield to Luo Fei. And none of it would be played for laughs. It is a given that she is not just stronger than her partner, but stronger than most men on the show. 

The two have a will they/won’t they dynamic, complete with a set of romcom tropes, which include such things as accidental tumbling on top of each other with slow-motion yearnful gazing, and comedic bath times.

Still, the two characters’ relationship is still mostly based on mutual respect, and the resolution to the will they/won’t they question is entirely contextual. Bai Yu and You Jingru have a lovely chemistry, which is also a plus. 

It’s also... kind of interesting that Luo Fei is portrayed as having a close relationship with the coroner, Ben Jie Ming (or just Benjamin), in a way that has an almost OT3 kind of vibe. It could not have possibly been deliberate, but the protagonists’ romantic entanglements can absolutely be read as casually polyamorous. Which is a lot of fun to see. 

Aside from the two mentioned above, Luo Fei’s team contains an overworked superintendent, an enigmatic psychologist and a narrow-minded rival, which pretty much ticks every box there is for a group of misfits solving crimes together. 

Detective L’s shortcoming mostly comes from the last case being somewhat weaker than the rest: it is quite blatantly overwritten, almost as if the show ran out of time before it could put all the moving pieces into place, which really is a shame. “Oh boy, I hope they manage to salvage this” is not a feeling I like to experience before hitting “play” on the series finale. Thankfully, they do manage to salvage it, playing out a very well placed, and extraordinarily satisfying gambit. Make no mistakes through, this show does not wrap itself in a tight little bow, instead ending on a suspenseful, poignant, note. In many ways Detective L ends in a way which screams for a second season - only the second season never arrived, and, considering that this has been released in 2019, is unlikely to do so. 

I wish there was a season two, and a season three for that matter; I would happily watch many more adventures of Luo Fei and his team. 

—

This is not a comment on the show itself, but subtitles it comes with on YouTube and WeTV are so poor they cross all the way into sublime, and include some highly memeable content.

__

I feel like I need to clarify my feelings on BBC’s Sherlock, because I kind of ended up dunking on it here quite a bit. 

As a person alive on the internet between years 2010 and 2017 I was hurt by it: not just because of blatant queer baiting (while I was definitely shipping Johnlock, I did not have any hopes for BBC actually delivering on their relationship as endgame), but because the quality of the later seasons highlighted just how poorly plotted it was overall. Season four made every bad writing decision on this show retroactively apparent: every time a plot resolution came out of nowhere, every time it hyper focused on the protagonist over the story, every time choices were made with the female characters. 

BBC’s Sherlock is masterfully crafted from the visual standpoint. The camerawork is out of this world. It’s well acted. David Arnold and Michael Price’s score is wonderful. But I honestly cannot in good faith call it a good procedural. I’m not even into Conan Doyle’s writing, being more of an Agatha Christie gal, but even I had to sometimes question whether decisions made with the source material were wise. 

YouTube essayist hbomberguy has a savage dissection of that show, which I think very accurately analyses its failures. 

[magicalgirlagency]

So, I know you hate Frozen, but what about older Disney Princess movies, like Cinderella?

Ahhh, Cinderella... what a misunderstood masterpiece.

People would often complain about how the titular heroine was weak and shallow because she didn't do anything about the abuse that her stepmother and stepsisters inflicted on her...

...but the thing here is that not everyone is fond of being a fighter! Not every princess or royal is active like Merida or Mulan, and that's okay! Cinderella worked hard and still believed that her dilligence and kindness would be eventually rewarded someday...

...and this said reward comes in with the help of a fairy godmother.

Also, can I just say that the concept of a wish granter (like fairies and genies) is just SO underutilized on the Magical Girl genre? I wish I could see more of that.

However, that's not to say that Cinderella didn't do anything either, no... she was quite clever herself.

She wanted to have fun at the ball, and wasn't expecting to charm the prince. She saw the prince's romantic pursuit as an opportunity to finally be free of her abusers.

I feel like the same can be said for Snow White, too. She got married to a prince so she could be finally safe from her vain and wicked stepmother.

Even when they tried to stop Cinderella from trying on the glass slipper, she comes around with the other half of the pair.

Ohh, the catharsis in this scene. So delightful!

Also, the SEQUELS. Sequels often get the bad reputation for not being better than the first movie, but please, give them a chance.

We catch a glimpse of what happened after Cinderella left her home, with her stepsister Anastasia now becoming the target of abuse, being constantly denied of small moments of joy and happiness in her life.

She also gets a chance to redeem herself and set things right for Cinderella, eventually earning herself a happy ending, and I know how you all are suckers for character development and redemption stories.

If that wasn't enough to convince you all, THIS is a scene that actually happened on the third movie:

Y E E T.

There was also a live-action remake of the first movie, but live-action is too overrated, so who cares?

Anyways, Cinderella is one of my all-time favourite classics, and should be more appreciated.

[popculturebuffet]

Sparkshortstravaganza! (Commissioned by WeirdKev27)

Well this was a needed kick in the pants. When I first heard of the Sparkshorts program I was excited. As a kid I loved PIxar, as an adult I love pixar and as an old man dealing with the loss of his partner floating away in my balloon house, i’ll still love pixar. So the idea of a program focused on giving new fresh talent the room to do whatever they wanted and make content that would be on Disney Plus, a platform BADLY bereft of original animation? It was a dream come true and the first one I saw Kitbull is easily a masterpiece and something that I can vividly recall every part of to this day, which for my terrible short term memory recalling EVERYTHING is a rare feat few works have achived.  But given I have a REALLY bad habit of letting things I want to watch sit there if I don’t jump on them immediately.. I let it sit there and didn’t touch any of the shorts and mostly forgot about the program until now. Until Kev, my patron and the only person paying for reviews at the moment, though others are more than welcome wink wonk, just decided what the heck and to test out comissioning shorts picked these ones because why not. And given I had been dragging my feet and reading the descriptions found creative and suprisingly heavy premises... I was fully on board And better late than never because along with Soul this program has EASILY restored my faith in the company after Onward really disapointed. Granted they’ve done worse, while there are pixar films I haven’t seen I need to like Coco or Cars 3, I’ve vowed NEVER to watch Cars 2 unless I have to and that vow has served me well so far. The shorts here are as a whole beautifully animated, have a ton of wonderful concepts and even the two weaker ones are still gorgeous to look at and a decent watch regardless and both come from a very well meaning place with a very well meant message. So yeah i’m thankful for this comission and to show you why let’s go through every Sparkshorts so far and see why their so awesome.. after some background of course. 

Sparkshorts, for the uniniated, is a program by pixar where animators are given six months and a limited budget to create a film based on personal experince. The program was designed to test out new ways of animating, directing and creating and to find a creative “spark” in it’s employees. Thus each film feels unique, has it’s own style.. and is utterly charming. I’ll be looking at them chronologically as while this wasn’t my watch order, I feel it’s a bit neater that way. I’ve already taken long enough to get to watching these, let’s open these films up and see what makes them tick shall we?

Purl: An Adorable Yarn Ball Vs Toxic Masculinity  Purl.. was better the more I thought about it. The first short released, it DOES have a good message and killer animation. The film takes place at B.R.O., a dude broey brockerage firm that’s painfully relasitic both in how broey it is and in how it looks. That’s to contrast our heroine: Purl, an adorable ball of yarn who just wants to be accepted but is instead ignored by the rest of the company till she changes herself up, donning a suit like her co workers she badly wants to fit in with and adopting their wolf of wallstreet esque douchebaggery. She finally gets accepted.. but ends up shedding her new self to help another Yarn Ball starting up.  Director Kristen Lester drew from personal experince, starting work at animation in a mostly male dominated workplace and thus having to adapt and only letting the femine side she’d repressed out when she moved to working at pixar, which had more female employees. The film DOES have a good message about toxic workplaces and toxic masulinty and learning the personal story did raise it a few notches as it made it clear to me that what SEEMED like an over exageration.. was probably just a light exageration given the kind of bro antics we’ve heard about at companies like Ubisoft. So while I didn’t like the film much at first honestly.. it’s over the top because it NEEDS to be because even though it’s 2021.. some idiots STILL don’t get it and kids are better off learning it now so it’ll hopefully stick when their entering the workforce. So we’ll get more people like perl willing to make a change and stick up for those like her and less dude bros. Still a decent and clever short with Perl’s bro form looking really neat and the animation on her in general is really fucking gorgeous. All in all not the best of these but still pretty good and while a bit thick on the message.. it kinda has to be. 

Smash And Grab: A Jaunty Ride to Freedom

This was a really fun one. Directed by Brian Larson and inspried by his need for a break from routine this follows two robots, the titular smash and grab who are designed to well.. smash and grab coal-like energy things for a train and have for years and years. The two long to high five, but can’t because their hooked to tubes so they can’t escape. But one day Smash looks out the window and not only sees fellow robots living a better life.. but a way to power him and his buddy/love intrest? I mean bromance or romance, either way it works. Point is our heroes escape, and have to fight security.  It’s just a really damn fun and creative movie. While robots wanting a better life isn’t new, the crisp art deco animation, breakneck pace, fun gags and heartwearming relationship between the two bots is just charming as hell. It’s just a fun ride the whole way through with a lot of heart and creativity with the two’s way they throw coal to one another used to take out the guards, and all together just some really good set pieces. Easily one of my faviorites here and that’s a high water mark to pass. 

Kitbull: Tiny Orphan Kitty + Big Abused Doggo = Best Friends

As I said this is the only one of these I saw before today and as I said it’s stuck with me. I love dogs. I have one of my own named Yoshi whose just a sweet boy. So i’ve always loved ALL DOGS.. and was thus horrified years ago when I learned about the stigma Bulldogs get. Seen as “agressive’ and “Mean’ and victious.. when really a lot of them, including my grandpa’s own pitbull when I was little, are just loveable as any other dogs. And having also known a former fighting dog my friend owned, if a much smaller min pin rather than a pitbull, who by the time I met him had become the sweetest dog you’d ever meet.. yeah.. don’t mistreat a dog just because some assholes force it to fight to the death because their sick, horrible, ghastly human beings.. if they can even be CALLED human beings after doing that to these poor animals.  My point is it’s nice to have a short about such a needed subject. Director Rosana Sullivan actually had the idea for the short for years and intended to do it as a side project, but when the program cropped up she moved it to pixar and the result is one of the most popular and easily one of the best of an already bright bunch, brought on by her love of animals and working in a shelter. It’s also one of Pixar’s first 2d animated projects and proves their just as good at that as cgi.  It’s the touching story of a kitty whose alone in the world and initally mistrustful and hissy at a big dog she finds and is naturally scared of.. until she grows to bond with the dog, realizing much like a LOT of fucking people need to that pitbulls.. are just dogs and often victims of circumstance and the poor, sweet pooch who just wants his owner to love him.. is instead thrown into a fighting pit, nearly killed and forced to make a daring escape with their new forever friends help. It’s through this wonderful, heartrending friendship that the dog finds freedom and the cat.. finds them both a home, no longer running from people but instead making sure they both get a person. It’s often brutal at times, with the scene of the dog being forced to fight being one of the most striking: while we thankfully don’t see the action, we HEAR IT, as does the poor kitty, and we see the aftermath: a friendly harmless dog thrown out into the cold just because it dosen’t WANT to fight. It’s just really heartrending stuff that makes the happy ending all the better. It’s also gorgeiously animated which I mentioned but i’ll say it again; the animation here is GOREGOUS, unqiue and stunning. Go watch this if you haven’t. 

Float: This is Why Krakoa Exists

This.. has easily been the hardest to review of the bunch. While ALL of these stories are very personal, very inclusive and very intresting, this one.. is a bit rougher than most of them and hits REALLY close to home. See this one was built out of director Bobby Rubio’s experinces raising his son who has autisim. 

It’s about a dad who discovers his infant son can float... and thus gets stares of fear or judgment from eveyrone around him slowly getting broken down by this. So he makes a HORRIBLE judgment call and rather than just accept some people are assholes, weighs his son’s backpack down with stones despite him hating it then drags him away when he ends up floating off, before screaming at the poor kid WHY CAN’T YOU BE DIFFRENT.. He DOES instantly regret this and the ending is genuinely touching as the father finally accepts his son is different and throws him into the air while on a swing, letting his son soar as he always should’ve. It is a beautifully animated and well meant film and the filipino representation is truly great: Rubio originally was going to have the characters as white but his fellow animators convinced him to go for represntation and be true to himself and honestly in a time when disney itself has had to be fought to get queer representation most of the time, it’s nice that pixar at least is a part of it that throughly encourages representation and will gladly put diversity and representation over any bullshit “risk factors”.  That being said.. while this was a decent short with a very well intentioned message and it clearly connected with a lot of people.. it wasn’t for me and I say this as someone who has autisim. As someone who has worn down people’s patince and been starred at by a freak for something I was way too young to properly deal with.  I’ve been in this Kid’s shoes. 

And that’s the problem: The metaphor dosen’t really work for me. While auitism CAN have some benifits and I wouldn’t be any other way i’d be lying if I said it was easy having trouble commuincating, constnatly misreading people, constnatly worrying if someone’s going to like you, and hyperfocusing on a problem instead of being able to set it and forget it for a bit to my own detriment. There’s other problems and not ALL of my issues come from anxiety disorder: I also have anxiety and depression. They just bleed badly INTO said autisim sometimes, as it’s hard to effectively combat anxiety sometimes when your mind won’t let you. 

What i’m saying is... there aren’t any FAULTS in his powers. See i’m a fan of x-men, so I can only see this boy as a mutant, and yes I know they usually manfifest at puberty but there have been exceptions so don’t at me.. and one of them who has no real downsides other than the unfair stigma of being a mutant. He’s more like storm, who can control the elements and whose power only enhances her life nad lesss like say Rogue, who looks normal.. but can’t touch anyone without knocking them out at best or horribly abosrbing them into her head at worst. There’s no downside other than the fact people judge him and his dad is a dick about it.  And the dad part is hard because I get what Rubio is going for: parents make mistakes, parents mess up and their only human even if they should embrace their kids anyway. That’s a good message and one I support.. I just think Rubio was way TOO hard on himself and thus made his stand in into an unlikeable asshole, one whose more concerned with how everyone ELSE thinks and does the horribly abusive action of basically tying his son’s wings down so he can’t fly. He mans well, it’s so his son dosen’t float off.. but instead of finding a way to help him and work with him on it.. he just stuffs rocks in his back and forces the kid to be miserable so other people can be happy. It just goes way too far in the other direction to work. As I said I think it’s the guy being too hard on himself, manifesting his worst moments with his kids and his biggest regrets and making himself into a very hard to like character because he has trouble forgviing himself for how he acted. So I want to say if you ever read this bobby while I wasn’t hte biggest fan of your film.. I do wholly support you and your son.. and the fact you made an entire FILM just to show your sturggle and show people there not alone was a beautiful act. You are not a bad person , we all make mistakes and we’re all just human. You are a good man Bobby Rubio. I may of not liked your metaphor... but your message is beautiful. 

Wind: Immigration by Way of Rocket Science

Thankfully moving on.. this one is tied with Kitbull for my faviorite. It has a truly intriguing premise, a great metaphor, stunning animation, and is just really moving, gripping and fun to watch. This one was by Edwin Chang, and as is usualy by now, it was built on personal experince.. but not his. It was built on the fact his father was an immigrant who had to leave his mother, Chang’s grandmother, behind to a better life. She rejoined them eventually but it left an impact on his father and thus serves as the core of this story. And honestly knowing that only STRENGTHENS an already impresssive sci fi short.  It’s the story of a boy, apparently named Ellis so i’ll use that, and his grandmother who live in a bizzare, hauntingly beautifuly stygian sinkhole that has floating rocks and debris. The two spend their day farming potatoes and grabbing whatever they can to hopefully make their way out. But it becomes clear to young Ellis after they find a plane his grandmother wants HIM to go alone and escape and is willing to sacrifice herself.. and ends up having to trick the boy into thinking sh’es going along in order to get him to do what he needs to surivive and thrive. It’s a truly gut wrenching story as even when she seems to have found a way for them both to leave.. it’s very clear she’s simply training him with all the welding tools and what not so he has skills to make it out there on his own in the unknown. So he can live without her.. but more importantly.. so he CAN LIVE. Away from the darkness, not having to scrape and to surivive and hopefully find something better out there. While the old parental figure sacrifciing thsmelves so the youngun can start hteir journey isn’t new.. it’s the unique, beautiful and haunting setting and the emotoin, conveyed only through the utterly beautiful animation that make this story feel fresh, along with it’s great metaphor. This short is just haunting, beauitful and really damn sad, and I only dont’ have all that much to say because it’s all in the visuals. The only thing I have left is like all of these really, watch it. But especailly this one. 

Loop: Enough Said

This is part of the reason I didn’t like Float all that much. Loop is just.. way better at conveying the experinces of having auitism. While Renee is a more severe case than me I can relate to what kicks off the film: Renee, usually paired with an adult at the camp she at, is forcibley paired with a chatty boy named Marcus. While Marcus is eager to go home and has no idea how to interact with the two the two genuinely bond, with Marcus slowly getting into Renee’s world. The key scene for this and the one that clinches the film is Renee waving her hands over the reeeds in the water, throughly enjoying it with marcus not getting it.. till he tries himself. Director Erica Milsom, whose worked with autistic children and picked this medium entriely because i’ts perfect for a non verbal character and is one that can tackle heavy issues like this in a way to help people understan, really wanted to counter most depections of severe autisim, paticuarlly sensory issues. While we see the good in them instead of JUST her freaking out or being overwhelemed: how her sounds and the things she feels truly relax her and how she really DOES enjoy nature and is perfectly at home there. It’s just a beautiful way to show this disablility is not ALL bad, as many works tend to focus soley on the drawbacks. While I had my issues with Float part of it was it had too much good.. but Loop is superior at this simply because it shows both with unflinching honesty: The beauty of something that calms and relaxes your brain or a touch or sensation that just FEEELS really good, things that while again i’m not on the same level as Renee.. I can still fully relate to.  But what puts it over float besides not having a messy metaphor is it DOES show the issues that come with it.. but does so WELL and with nuance. It shows how isolating autisim can be, especially for someone like Renee who can’t talk, how people are sometimes freaked out by you and don’t know how to interact with you and how adults can MEAN WELL, and the counsler setting them off was a good idea in the end... but can also be misguided and not fully know how to handle you without overwhelming you. It shows just how bad a panic attack can be, how you can just.. shut down and drive away. It was easily the sequence that hit the hartest and resonated the most as I’ve had those, and i’ve just shut down with no one able to reach me.. and it makes it all the more touching as Marcus eventually realizes how to handle things, and gives her space despite the setting son and the peril of being stranded.. because he realizes she needs it and offers to simply be there when she’s ready. It’s a touching, wonderful gesture, capped by him giving her a reed.. and the two heading home finally udnerstanding one another.This one is very close to wind in my heart and I think I found even more love for it writing this review and realizing just how much it hit me. And that ain’t bad. 

Out: Be Proud of Who You Are.. with the help of a gay cosmic space cat 

Speaking of hitting close to home and really resonating with me, we have Pixar’s first short with a gay main character, with his sexuality being the center of this. And as a bi person who had struggle accepting his sexuality let alone telling anyone, even when you know someoen will likely accept you.. this naturally hit hard. I took some time to realize I was bi, and when I did I was terrified of telling my mom, despite her being loving, supportive and just wonderful, same with my brother. Both fully accepted me as I figured and had no issue with it, esepcially sine my romantic history is nearly non existant anyways, but I related to our hero Greg’s fears of coming out to his parents despite them being utterly wonderful, well meaning people. It’s hard to come out, it’s hard to admit that about yourself, and it’s hard knowing you may not be accepted or things may change. I had an even harder time coming out to my dad, who I fully expected being a trump supporter and having said “if gay marriage is leagal I should be able to marry my cat”, to not support me and to loose him.. and was proud and suprised when nope, he was utterly supportive and happy for me.. if a bit awkward with the “be careful with sex” advice.. to someone whose had none and may never will due to being awkward as shit. But he meant well and the point is I really related to this, and it’s easily one of the best coming out stories of this kind, tied handily with Schitt’s Creek’s episode about Patrick coming out to his parents that dealt with the same theme.  And naturally given the nature of these shorts it was a story close to Stephen Clay Hunter’s heart, as he group up a gay nerd in the 80′s a time when homophobia was even worse and representation was near non-existent. So when given the shot he wanted to make something for a young him, something they can look at and point to and tha’ts me. And the behind the scenes short for this one sold just how... big this felt for him. To draw two men in love and embrcing, to see guys mo capping that. To see someone LIKE him on screen. It shows just how important representation is and how dumb it is it took 20 goddamn years at pixar for them to get gay. 

The short itsel is delightful as we open with a gay space cat and dog appearing in a rainbow. The Cat and Dog are watching Greg, a nice young man whose moving out of his small town with his boyfriend Manuel.. only to panic when his parents who he hasn’t come out to show up to help move and try and hide the one photo he has of them. And despite Manuel seeing it as a very easy thing to do to come out.. it’s not for Greg. He knows it’s hard and a scene of him practicing shows the poor guy breaking down at the thought of telling them despite getting every indicatio their nice people.  It’s then the whole Space Cat thing comes in as the cat enchanted Greg’s dog’s collar, so when greg puts it on as  a jest, it’s a body swap! So naturally we get tons of REALLY well animated shenanigans as Greg has to get his body back. Seriously the animation here is gorgeous with director Hunter choosing the painted on , impercet style to give it a storybook feel which fits the story perfectly.. seriously if Disney hasn’t made a story book of this do so.. and if they won’t someone on etsy do it because Etsy is apparently where the merch companies should be making happens.

The point is it’s fun, furious and leads to some great gags.. and then we get the emotional punch to the godnand as Greg bites his mom’s hand in order to prevent her finding a photo of him and his boyfriend. He instnatly regrets it, and breaking the photo in the process and goes to comfort her.. and we get easily the most emotinal, most beautiful part of it as Greg finds out his mom is hurt as she can clearly tell he’s keeping her at arms length and dosen’t want to loose him.. and she’s known all along he was gay.. just like the Schitts Creek example it’s clear she’s hurt a bit her son is scared to tell her but just wants him to be happy. So with a brilliant use of a squeaky toy greg switches back.. and comes out, with his dad warmly hugging miguel when he introduces himn and the space dog crying. Just a beautiful, charming, fun, and gorgeously animated short with some badly needed representation.

Also... one last note. This isn’t related to the short.. but Disney, who once again proves they can’t be progressive without stabbing themselves in the foot and no I will not stop giving out about this. This time’s especailly bad as while Out was heavily promoted.. the descripton DOSEN’T mention it having Pixar’s first gay lead and goes out of it’s way to hide Greg being gay despite the fact the short dosen’t and his being in the closet is the whole conflict of the short. And the not mnentiong the first gay lead thing is noticable because Loop DID rightly point out it was their first non verbal proganist. You can’t.. brag about being progressive about one thing and then try to hide your being progressive about another you idiots. Plus the “pleasing the bible belt” ship has sailed and left port. Ducktales is gay as hell with Penny being gay, even if Disney won’t let her just come out and say it, the crew still had her say it as much as they could, Violet’s dad’s being gay, Della being bi and Webby and Lena being as close to a couple you can get without disney screaming at them no. Andi Mack is fully avaliable on D+ as well.. well okay not fully because the dad turned out to be a pedophile, but still a series with a fully gay character is out there. And finally Owl House got TONS of press for having a bi progatanist and having her love intrest be a girl. Even if Dana Terrance had to FIGHT for that, and rightly so good on her, the point is you have queer characters already. The groups that hate you for that aren’t going to magically stop hating you because you hide the fact a short anyone can see from minute one is very , beautifully gay, I mean it starts with a very swishy space cat emerging from a rainbow atop a pink dog. COME ON. I only have a few words left for disney..

Okay whew, one more and we’re out of here. 

Burrow: It’s Okay to Ask for Help and To Bang a Willing Salamander This was the first one I watched today. In hindsight had I properly researched the shorts and realized how heavy they were I probably would’ve saved this one for later to help balance out the deep feels of some of these. While Burrow is VERY VERY good, as all these shorts have been even Float, it’s subject matter is a lot lighter. I mean so far we’ve had stories about toxic masculinity, animal abuse, issues accepting your child is diffrent, sacrficing yourself so your loved one can have a better life, autisim and coming out of the closet. Even Smash and Grab which is light and breezy.. still has a disney death, and is still about a heroic rush to freedom from slavery whenyou think about it. This one.. is about an insecure bunny whose afraid to ask for help and ends up learning to get it while ending up plumiting through a bunch of comedic set pieces. It’s basically if Winnie the Pooh and Bugs Bunny had a baby comedy wise, it has the warm feeling of pooh art wise, a storybook quality tha’ts utterly adoring.. but director Madeline Sharafan specifccally wanted the animators to take after chuck jones, using lots of great expressions and reactions. It has a real classic theatrical screwball comedy vibe and given The Looney Tunes, Droopy, and Tom and Jerry mean the world to me and i’m glad nto reocnnect with 2/3 thanks to HBO Max.. I fucking loved it. 

Burrow is still a personal story and is based on Sharifan’s experinces having trouble colaberating, wanting something to be fully baked before showing it off, something I agian relate to. She often hid from the others and refused to show her work until it was done while everyone else was happy to help. And as the previously used to slam disney hard with something they own Hickman Era of X-men has shown.. colaboration is just better and more freeing. By having friends and colleuge s to bounce off of you refine ideas, see how people react to them and grow a bit and that’s what the shorts about. 

The plot is easily the simpliest of these: A young bunny wants to build her dream burrow but gets self concious when she runs into a friendly mole and rat living next door to where she wants to build and keeps digging to find both privacy and her own place.. and instead ends up digging into various shenangians and other burrows from frogs, to hedgehogs to most memorably some Salmanders taking a sauna.. and in the best and most ‘how the fuck did they get away with this bit of it”, one of the salamanders ends up .. gladly removing his town and being liike “You wanna do this? I mean I got an hour free” And i’m just saying while now wasn’t the time and the offer was a little awkward i’d go for it if I was her. I mean at least ask him out for coffee later. He seems nice enough if low on boundries. Then ride him until the morning light girl, ride it. She also finds the Demon Bear from New Mutants at one point.. so that’s where he retried to after danny kicked his ass again. Neat. 

But eventually our heroione digs herself too deep and ends up hitting water before finding a 

Who sees her crumpled plans and then does the stygian call of the badger to call all the other animals to help and after they escape the flood, the bunny finally realizes their good people and lets them see the plans. So we end on our heroine and her new friends and possible salamander lover helping her settle in as she finallyg ets the home she wanted, complete with disco. I mean every home should have a disco. If I didn’t have a ceeling fan i’d have a disco ball.. and I still want one just to set somewhere or hang away from the fan . Let me dream dammit. Overally a fun, hilarious, mad dash short with a good message and a good note to go out on.

Final Thoughts: Overall.. the Sparkshorts program is fucking spectacular, a great way to let some of Pixar’s staff get into the directors chair and really shine, and a way to tackle issues that they may not be able to get greenlit into a full film. Lushily animated, well produced, Pixar has announced MORE are coming and I cannot wait. Thank you kev for comissioning this, and thank you all for reading. If your new and liked this review, follow this blog as I talk disney all the time: when they come back i’ll be doing regular coverage of Amphibia, Ducktales and the Owl House as new episodes come out every week, and i’m currently doing a retropsective on the three cablleros kev also paid for, with the finale of it, an episode by episode look at the legend of the three cablleros, starting this week. I’m also covering LIfe and times of scrooge mcduck (though infrequently for a bit), and finishing up a look at darkwing duck’s just us justice ducks, started with looks at all the players involved and finshing next week with the episode itself.  So if any of that sounds good to you, check out the archives, but goodbye, goodbye, goodbye for now. 

[solcomfortssouls]

I posted 1,641 times in 2021

303 posts created (18%)

1338 posts reblogged (82%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 4.4 posts.

I added 1,519 tags in 2021

#writeblr - 292 posts

#writing advice - 278 posts

#other people's work - 225 posts

#writeblr community - 138 posts

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#spilled ink - 92 posts

#writing encouragement - 84 posts

#other people's writing - 78 posts

#sortinghatchats - 69 posts

Longest Tag: 110 characters

#cause there are people just putting it out there and get recognition for it with much less thought put into it

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

First page of the first chapter findings

So I have rounded around another 20 books to choose from and decides to give each first chapter a read and decide according to that what to read next. A few findings about first chapters that worked really well for me:

Start with conflict. A question, movement, urgency, a problem

Start in the middle of some kind of action. Don't worry about it being understandable, if it's engaging and curious the reader will want to find out through reading

Don't start with description of place or world. Or weather (if not setting the tone). Ehhh. Big slowdown

Don't start with something mundane if there isn't something interesting or unusual about it. Or if it isn't very specific setting (like ships)

Omg prologues. I have been jumping over them cause I don't want to bond with these characters that will be at best referenced somewhere in the middle. Like if they sound interesting it actually feels worse to abandon them for the official first chapter plot.

Start where the story starts. No need to set the day out of normal life for the protag before the inciting incident. Scythe has an excellent first page - it starts with the titular Scythe visiting one of the protag's homes. Excellent incorporation of world, plot, conflict and character

Finding out about important characters from point of minor characters is so so boring. Wow. I don't want to bond or listen to your useless pov if you are not important.

Ofc these are totally individual and personal. Whatever works for you in books or purpose of your writing is good, I'm just sharing some direct feelings and complaints for things that didn't work for me while reading.

Also reading books and seeing what things and techniques are possible is the best teacher. Who would have thought? (smashes head against the pile of books on writing theory).

275 notes • Posted 2021-03-23 14:40:14 GMT

#4

Plotting is like, yeah this is great idea, I love how this could work together and beautifully lead to this and what it shows about the world...but damn what do they eat and where does the food come from? XD

298 notes • Posted 2021-01-02 22:31:10 GMT

#3

any easily-overlooked character building questions i probably need to ask myself about my character(s) ? thank you !!

Character building questions:

What are your character's core traits? If you had to sum them up in two, what would they be?

What makes your character special and distinct from others in your cast?

What makes you character unique for readers? What will make them memorable compared to similar stories in your genre?

What makes the character relatable? What traits, fears, backstory, wants, dreams or problems will be easy to idenitify with?

Do you know your character's arc in the story? Describe it in a few sentences.

Does your character have a wound from their past they are dealing with? Will they get a wound during the story? In other words, what will be their greatest challenge and where does it come from?

One of my favourite things to do when building interesting characters: contradictions. What about them is contradicting that will make them stand out? This could be a trait combination (like arrogant but hardworking) or fears vs ambitions (want to find friends but hate meeting new people) a conflict of dreams (they want to travel around the world but also help their sibling with their new child) or a conflict of needs or obligations (they want to be with their family but can't stand their overbearing mother) etc.

Some core questions about the whys and hows they do things. Are they idealists or loyalists? Do they like to improvise or plan? Do they follow logic or their feelings? Are they more practical or abstract?

Another cool exercise is skimming through character personality tests. If you can pinpoint who your character is in the profiles you probably know them well. Try MBTI, Enneagram, @sortinghatchats, 12 archetypes etc.

Any habits, quirks, preferences about them? This can be a nice touch of realism (do they bite their nails, like close spaces, sing when alone, give people weird nicknames etc).

Hope that helps! Don't hesitate to ask any writing questions you might have^^

472 notes • Posted 2021-09-02 11:46:10 GMT

#2

Types of enemies to lovers/friends

External 

There is an external reason why they are enemies that isn’t personal 

They are on opposite sides of a war or a conflict

History of violence and confrontations

Their families or friends or gangs are fighting 

They grew up set up on hunting each other’s kind

They are actually quite similar or likeable once they get to know each other  

Internally their values, goals or feelings align, it’s the external forces and obstacles that stand in the way 

Examples: Romeo & Juliet, To kill a kingdom, West Side Story, Promare 

Emotional

There is an emotional reason why they can’t stand the other that doesn’t make sense logically

Grudges

Rivalries

Prejudice

Jealousy and complexes - they can’t forgive the other for beating them, taking their dream, position or love interest 

History of hatred or conflicts 

Past wounds and emotional betrayals, hurt pride

Examples: Pride and Prejudice, What women want, You've Got Mail, Cruel Prince, Sky in the deep

Internal 

There is an internal reason why they don’t get along, like different attitudes, opinions or worldviews

Different cultures or beliefs

Different ways to solve the same problem 

Goals or methods clash 

They can be on enemy sides or even collegues in the same team

As they get to know and understand each other better they come to respect the other’s ways

They either learn to accept and admire each other

Or one of them switches and changes sides to the other, taken by their ways

Examples: Avatar, The Last Samurai, Atla, Naruto 

-> Common Arcs

See the full post

549 notes • Posted 2021-03-10 14:50:28 GMT

#1

Sometimes I really think writers must be crazy. Writing doesn’t pay off at all most of the time: 

You pretty much have to beg other people to read what you invested time and hard work in to create 

Selling and marketing your writing requires a total seperate set of skills and time investment to build/find a suitable audience

You create from the heart naturally the things personal and important to you, so rejection and being ignored hurts much more than by most other hobbies/products

Writing is incredibly hard to judge and meassure for quality, because of how individual taste is with art. 

It’s incredibly hard to notice and measure your own progress and improvement

It’s much more exhausting to consume than movies, music or images, which gets all the more difficult with the shorter attention spans in the modern digitalized era

Since it’s so hard to monetize you have to face the society or your close enviroment, family and friends questioning the value of an activity that doesn’t translate into immediate visible results and money

Lots of activities crucial for writing like researching, reading, daydreaming, outlining, note taking, doodling, meta writing is considered “unproductive” because again, no immediate tangible visible results 

No instant gratification with this hobby. You know how long it takes from a spark of idea to a complete work? Ugh

So people who keep on loving writing and making up stories in their heads are total heroes that totally get more from the internal value of writing like creative expression, processing of emotions, building self-awareness and becoming consious of living, the sheer fun of creating and finishing something and being in control of your own world and characters...which is really fascinating, beautiful and gives me hope for humanity 

3010 notes • Posted 2021-06-25 15:58:15 GMT

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