#harold reference? amazing

[strunmah-mah]

Okay, now having both read and watched Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I have thoughts. (spoilers)

While the movie makes a new universe where Batman and the Turtles co-exist, the comic makes the choice to be a dimension hoping adventure between the actual main comic continuities between both franchises.

This facilitates a specific plot point the movie doesn't have, as the mutagen from the tmntverse exists in the dcverse it goes inert, meaning anything affected by it will unmutate. This means two things. 1) Functionally it kills the boys if they don't make it back it the universe in time. 2)it also means anyone affected by in the dcverse will only be affected temporarily. This means the stakes are raised for the tmnt while guaranteeing no lasting damage to the dcverse.

Other things the movie cuts from the comic:

Raph having beef with Batman (Cowabummer dude)

Casey Jones existence

Splinter successfully stalking and figuring out Batman's secret identity

the TMNT scuffling with Killer Croc

The Batman Intimidator suit

Things the movie adds:

since there's do dimension hopping the movie replaces The Foot stealing portal stuff to get home with them stealing stuff to disperse mutagen

since there's no dimension hopping Gotham people getting mutated is a much bigger deal

the Arkham inmates getting mutated is featured more

Baxter Stockman

Babsgirl

more Damian

So while it does add stuff the movie is overall a more streamlined plot compared to the comic.

Also interestingly, while the two have many similar sometimes even identical scenes, the tone is very different. in the comic everything is very serious and dramatic. But without the existential threat of the brothers being unmade, the movie is allowed to be more comedic.

I think all of these changes add up to the movie being the more fun and enjoyable version of the story. As it has less plot to get through its less rushed, and you really get to enjoy the expanded version of certain ideas (like the mutated Arkham villains) even if you do loose some good moments in the process, (Raph and Bruce in Crime Alley).

And the comedic tone is a boon too, as outside of certain scenes I had troubles getting invested in the emotions and how serious the comic was trying to be. Maybe if had gone harder into the horror of being unmade, but it didn't. Instead it felt like a shallow way to raise the stakes.

Meanwhile the movie was more earnest while still encouraging you to laugh at how objectively silly some this was.

So yeah, those are my thoughts Batman/TMNT the movie is better than the comic.

[bambi-on-the-ps3]

FUCK HIM UP FRIDAY 🔥🔥🔥

REBLOG TO FUCK HIM UP

[sgt-dignam]

hysterical pregnancy. isn't that what they used to call it? hey, no one here thinks you're being hysterical.

[lackadaisycats]

I’m so sorry if you’ve already answered this somewhere, but how do you design your characters?

I’ve been trying to make an OC from the prohibition era and it turns out there’s basically nothing to work with for men’s outfits, so I’m curious how you made this many that look unique and fitting to the characters

There is so much to work with, though! You will tend to find more of a focus on variety in women's fashion, but there is still quite a lot of menswear to ogle too. I suppose it's just a matter of searching out ideas and inspiration in the rights corners. Here are a few suggestions:

Old Clothing Catalogues -

Collections from Sears-Roebuck and other popular clothing retailers are pretty easy to find compiled into relatively inexpensive books, or just floating online.

A fair bit of it is in the public domain now.

--Here's an entire 1922 catalogue of stuff to flip through.

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

Contemporary Artwork -

Some phenomenal illustrators were working in this field amidst the "Golden Age of Illustration" and featured prominently on the covers of magazines and on the ads inside. There was a lot of emphasis on fashion.

Collier's and The Saturday Evening Post are a couple of the more prominent and easily searchable resources. The costuming on the cover art always has a lot of personality.

There's Rockwell, of course, and it's almost impossible to go wrong with J. C. Leyendecker. He's probably best known for his Arrow Collar ad art, but even his sock ads are like…

There were numerous other amazing and influential illustrators working at the time too. Here's a list of some of them. Here's a bonus Henry Raleigh featuring some of his fabulously-dressed people.

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

Blogs and Articles -

There are so many of them! If you want historical accuracy, be wary of write-ups pulling all of their references from film and television. There's nothing wrong with using those for inspiration if you aren't too concerned with historicity, but there are some pretty comprehensive and well-researched things out there with more of an eye on actual fashion history too:

--Gentleman's Gazette - What Men Really Wore in the 1920s

--The Fashionisto - 1920s Men's Fashion

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

Digital Collections -

There are numerous digital historic image collections stemming from universities, museums, libraries, and the government that are free to peruse too.

--The Metropolitan Museum has a searchable catalog of exhibits that includes fashion and photos

--Here's some things from the New York Public Library

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

Photos at Large -

If you aren't sure where to start, image searching for any of Hollywood's early celebrities will typically turn up a bevy of production stills and promotional photography featuring a variety of fashions. Here's a random Getty images search for Harold Lloyd. A lot of standard 3 piece suits, but a lot of stuff with added character too.

Photography was generally quite accessible by the 1920s, though, and you can find a lot of authentic photos of people from all walks of life, out in the wild wearing all sorts of clothes.

This is by no means the limit to the resources available, but hopefully it'll provide some leaping-off points for designing looks for your characters!

[therummonster]

glad ya like it! {way too much lore for some of the characters... and i'll probably be adding more characters always.}

design notes, tayrun gem on left palm. that's why it's not showing.

burn's is on her cheek, so i just slapped it on her right side.

plz, darling dearest, light of my goddamned life,

your aus are wonderful and people would likely enjoy them. here's some character art for your gem au!

i made a spread sheet for it just so more info could be figured out-

i'm getting way too creative with the background stories-

Thank you so much habibi!!!

I am so excited to use these!! Your art is as stupendous as always!! You’ve also reminded me to actually post my gem au on here so thank you!

[spade-riddles]

Submission: About the house facade falling

About that reference to a silent movie with house facade falling - hello silent movie fan here! :)

You are thinking of the iconic scene from "Steamboat Bill jr", a film by and with Buster Keaton! (Who happens to be a cousin of mine, so double interest jippie!)

This is one of his most famous scenes. The house facade was weighing about 2 tons, so no cardboard here - he could have been killed if the calculations hadn't worked out and the crew on set was worried about Buster's safety. This is even more amazing when you think about Buster's education or lack thereof - his parents were Vaudevillian actors and Buster grew up "on tour" and acting from early childhood on. Meaning he never got a formal education. He famously had difficulties writing his own name. Buster couldn't really read or write but created these elaborated sets and stunts himself.

Buster talked about that if he hadn't been born into an entertainment business family, he would have become an engineer. The film industry was quite literally build with his technical input on film technology (he took cameras apart and rebuild them, to make them more adaptable to his ideas for example) and stunt work on set.

All of this to say - the falling facade is iconic in so many ways! And I hope Taylor saw "Steamboat Bill jr". :)

Copyright has run out and Library of Congress has put it on the National Film Registry. So it is easily possible to watch this online.

I don't know if I'm being a bit too informed but I want to add this too - maybe Taylor not only wanted to reference (maybe) this iconic scene, but also the circumstances?

You see Buster was one of THE creators of cinema. Even back then people acknowledged that. But he was always bad with, or rather not interested in, money!

Unlike Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, his two big contemporaries, he decided to sign with a big studio. Thinking that way he didn't have to do the paper work (he couldn't read anyway) and accounting and the studio could do the promo work he wasn't really interested in.

That deal turned to be his downfall! He got screwed over with the contract. The studio thought he was dumb and uneducated and treated him terribly. Buster suddenly had to hand in written scripts - how? The studio was getting more and more involved with production because he couldn't give them written pages ... it was a disaster!

At that time his marriage to a famous actress also started to fall apart and Buster started drinking. By the time of "Steamboat Bill jr" he was a full blown alcoholic. His last wife, he met after he had sobered up, Eleanor, later talked about that everyone around Buster back then thought, he was trying to kill himself with this stunt (which was filmed at the end of the movie shoot) because he was so desperate and depressed at that point. He couldn't deal with his marriage falling apart and the studio trying to micromanage him.

So yeah ... I don't know. Did Taylor reference this? She knows about Clara Bow, the star no one was interested in when she started speaking ... does she know about Buster and his conflict with the film industry which sucked him dry and discarded him? Possible ...

If you want to know more about Buster - there is a very good documentary "Buster Keaton - a hard act to follow". He is also featured in the "Silent Hollywood" documentary series. All his films are amazing, but his personal favourite was "The General". I think that is the one Buster would recommend to you. ;)

————

Anonymous said:

So after the volcano 🌋 anon she Buster Keaton’s through the door and comes out under the floor.

[hawkogurl]

Okay so I’m a relatively new fan of Harold and trying to get into the fanbase but man these acronyms are A Lot….. seeing USM and MSM and SSM and JMD and WOSM……. my dude I am lost……. one crumb of guidance I beg you……….

So a lot of the time if it’s acronyms relating to the names of comics writers, I am not helpful. But here is what I can tell you

The live action universes that feature Harry are going to be referred to as the Raimiverse (the original trilogy with Tobey Maguire) and either TASM or the Webbverse, used interchangeably, to refer to The Amazing Spider-Man movies starring Andrew Garfield)

To my knowledge, whenever someone is referring to comics under the name The Amazing Spider Man, that’s going to be called ASM instead of TASM. TASM is for movies, ASM is for comics.

There are more animated series than I can count but the ones referred to most often in here are TSSM, The Spectacular Spider-Man featuring Josh Keaton and James Arnold Taylor as Peter and Harry, USM, Ultimate Spider-Man featuring Drake Bell and Matt Lanter as Peter and Harry respectively, and MSM or MSM 2017, Marvel’s Spider Man, featuring my beloved Robbie Daymond and Max Mittleman as Peter and Harry respectively.

Confusingly, MSM is also used to refer to the current insomniac game series, though they are often referred to with some variation of the word insomniac to differentiate them and keep the tags organized. However, if something is referring to MSM 2017 it’s almost always referring to the show and if it’s MSM2 or MSM2023 in my experience it’s almost always the game. Yes, this is confusing.

Just as confusing is the fact that despite SSM is used to refer to the spectacular spider man comics and separate them from the show similar to ASM, USM is the acronym used for both the show and the comics in most instances I’ve seen. So you’re just gonna have to use context clues. Most things referencing a comic are usually going to include issue numbers which helps.

Comics arcs that commonly have their own acronyms are OMD, aka One More Day, and TCW, aka The Child Within. Sometimes you’ll also see KLH to refer to Kravens Last Hunt but that’s not nearly as relevant to Harry so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

There’s also TNAS, The New Animated Series which came out near the release of Spider-Man 2002 and is intended to continue it, but because it’s kind of terrible you’re not gonna see it often. The 90’s animated series is much better but has no acronym and will usually be specified as specifically the 90’s Animated Series.

I believe WOSM is simply referring to the World Of Spider-Man but I could be wrong. (Edit: I was wrong, it’s Web Of Spider-Man. Everyone say thanks @theopolis)

I know JMD is referring to a specific comics writer but I’m not even confident of the name of the top of my head. Because I’m not terribly proficient in the comics quite yet, I’m probably gonna ask @oliveroctavius and/or @theopolis who are far more familiar with them than I am for that and any other comics acronyms I’m missing and I hope they don’t mind the tag.

Hope this was helpful!

[technicolour-dreams]

All Dream / Silent Film references

(It’s important to note that Buster Keaton did his own stunts, and the house fall in particular, as well of a good lot of them, were deadly if performed wrong. Actors, especially in stunts, have marks they must stand on so as not to be hurt — this house was actually a real house frame weighing 2 tons. If off his mark, he literally would have died. I would recommend looking into Buster Keaton’s work if you’re at all interested, because a lot of his scenes are very dangerous indeed! He’s also ridiculously funny — amazing silent comedian)

Suture, pg. 74 / Steamboat Bill Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1928)

Hoofers, pg. 248 / Safety Last! (Harold Lloyd, 1923) / Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936) / Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924)

(Also notable is these were considered the Big Three of silent comedy! Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton)

Hoofers, pg. 249 / One Week (Buster Keaton, 1920) / The General (Buster Keaton, 1926)

(In One Week, the house here is shortly crushed by a train after being left on railroad tracks. The train that crashed through here in the dream though, is a different steam engine than in One Week— it’s The General from Buster Keaton’s film of the same name!)

BONUS: not a dream, but my favourite little reference to The General (Chiaroscuro, pg. 333)

Flood, pg. 505 / Girl Shy (Harold Lloyd, 1924) / Three Ages (Buster Keaton, 1923) / Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)

(The Big Three again!) Those are the ones I've collected so far, and I've actually seen all of these!

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 300: The Astonishing Legends All-Star Holiday Special

"Christmas is the season where you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money."  -- Unknown

Description:

It’s the fifth Year of our annual Astonishing Legends Holiday Special, and we’re back with our crew from last year. We all love getting together this time of year to reflect on everything that went right or wrong over the past 12 months and consider what parts of our collective reality have eroded and what parts have solidified. Join us as we celebrate the friendships we’ve built along the way and the joys of working together across the paranormal and real spectrum. It’s a perfect way to kick back, relax, and embrace the holiday spirit with us. So grab your favorite drink and cozy up as we share some fun tales and look ahead to what 2025 has in store. Everyone’s welcome!

Reference Links:

Donate to Habitat for Humanity at habitat.org

Find all things Jim Harold at JimHarold.com

Micah Hanks’ programs at MicahHanks.com

The Debrief is a news site providing a public venue for credible reporting on science, tech, and defense news, with an eye for the cutting edge science and technology of tomorrow, at TheDebrief.org

UAPSightings.org – “A public resource for sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)”

Allison Jornlin and AmericanGhostWalks.com

Join Ed and Chris with thei Scared All The Time podcast – scaredallthetimepodcast.com

Visit Miranda Merrick and Mr. Darling at The Midnight Library – midnightlibrarypod.com

Peruse Richard Hatem’s Paranormal Bookshelf at richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com

Paul Gledhill’s British Paranormal Podcast – Anomaly – anomaly.co.uk

Susan Lambert Hatem and Sharon Johnson and their 80s TV Ladies podcast – 80stvladies.com

Jerry and Tracy Paulley of Hillbilly Horror Stories

“Former BBC radio presenter Howard Hughes dies” from BBC.com

Suggested Merch:

CLICK HERE to purchase prints and merchandise from Star Wars’ first ship designer, Colin Cantwell, at ColinCantwell.com!

There are still nearly two dozen exclusive prints of his amazing work available for purchase. Head over to colincantwell.com, and use the Promo Code DROID for a 15% Holiday Discount! And here’s why it’s special — each purchase helps support the TSJ Foundation’s mission to inspire youth in STEAM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.

click here to Donate or to Habitat for Humanity – habitat.org

Donate to the middleway conservancy!

Click HERE to donate and help keep the historic village that is the home of the wizard clip alive!

From the Astonishing Legends Network:

Find us on YouTube!

Click this text to find all Astonishing Legends episodes and more on our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/Astonishinglegends

Join us on Patreon!

Click HERE or go to patreon.com/astonishinglegends to become one of our Patreon members and receive exclusive offerings, like our bonus Astonishing Junk Drawer episodes (posted every weekend the main show is dark) commercial-free episodes, and more!

SPECIAL OFFERS FROM OUR SPECIAL SPONSORS:

FIND OTHER GREAT DEALS FROM OUR SHOW’S SPONSORS BY CLICKING HERE!

CREDITS:

Episode 300: The Astonishing Legends All-Star Holiday Special V. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2024 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[privately-andre]

Rating the gay things harry has done in the GAYNESS scale because I got bored.

1) BEING A RAINBOW TORNADO

10/10 definitely in the super gay scale.

Nothing can stop him when he is holding that flag above his head and run around. 🏃‍♂️

2) OPENLY SUPPORTING GAY FOOTBALLER MICHEAL SAM.

9/10 in the gay scale!

This was a great memory back in the days wasn’t it? I love harry for being always there for other lgbtq+ people when they need. He also helps fans come out in his shows, how amazing this is.

3) GREEN CARNATION?!(QUEERCODING)

1.000.000/10 GAY MEGA GAY.

A new gayness scale has been made to scale the gayness of this outfit. I rate this gayness as INFRARED.

4) I’M A FRIEND OF DOROTHRRY

9.9/10 gay!

He is slaying with this outfit yes. But more importantly he is dressed up as Dorothy. And we are all Dorothy’s friends aren’t we?

5) DADDY I LOVE HIM.

12/10 rate in my gayness scale!

This is a super duper gay T-shirt which makes you look gay. Honourable mention to the pink toothbrush!

6) FEELING IT OUT 🍆?

145/10 MASTER GAY.

This song is the gay anthem. Period.

I mess around with him and I’m okay with it.

He sang with making blowjob references 369 times to his microphone. Poor microphone (more like.. lucky microphone..)

7) “THANK YOU FOR KNOWING” …knowing what harold?

7/10 in the gayness scale!

I gave 7 because this number randomly became a larry totem. But also because it’s the 7th gay thing in this post!

8) LOVE GRINDR!

8/10 in my gayness scale!

First of all, this is not his so private finsta anymore but. At least back in the days when he was using it, he was getting his daily GAY MEMES content. Good for him.

9) THAT INTERVIEW.

50/10 MASTER GAY GAY!

In that interview day he came out at least 3 times. Publicly I know of 4, these are:

-Not that important :P

-“How’s your bum (mum) by the way?” // Both quite content.

-“What four things do you suck at?” // Uhmm.. 🍆

-Hey don’t knock it till you try it!

I said publicly 4 because I don’t know what more gay things he is getting at behind the doors. (Lucky Louis)

[ninja-muse]

The Twenty Book Challenge:

If you could only keep 20 books (physical/ebook/audio), which would be the ones you would keep?

Rules are simple:

1 book per author. 1 book per series. Tag #twenty books challenge

Tagged by @theinquisitxor

Tagging @lizziethereader @therefugeofbooks @ofliterarynature @franticvampirereads @midnightlibrarymouse @thequeerlibrarian and @magnetarmadda because I'm evil

List of books (and reasoning) under the cut!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon (rereadable)

Middlegame - Seanan McGuire (rereadable, her best work, can be plummed for writing tricks)

Possession - A.S. Byatt (rereadable, can be plummed for writing tricks)

Dealing with Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede (childhood fave, will never not be delightful)

How to Be a Victorian - Ruth Goodman (for reference)

Or What You Will - Jo Walton (rereadable, can be plummed for writing tricks)

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (I occasionally take side gigs as an editor, this is a necessity)

The Riverside Chaucer (maximal story-to-book ratio, rereadable, one day I'll finish it)

The Kitteridge Complete Shakespeare (maximal story-to-book ratio, rereadable, one day I'll finish it)

The Hunter's Moon - O.R. Melling (childhood fave, will never not be delightful)

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (childhood fave, rereadable)

Hogfather - Terry Pratchett (rereadable, will never not be delightful)

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco (rereadable)

The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison (rereadable, will never not be delightful, pretty cover)

Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher (rereadable, will never not be delightful, pretty cover)

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke (rereadable, can be plummed for writing tricks)

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (rereadable, will never not be delightful, pretty cover) (this is a Neil Gaiman book, obviously)

The Silk Roads - Peter Frankopan (for reference)

Dancing With My Daughter - Harold Rhenisch (family connections)

Miles in Love - Lois McMaster Bujold (rereadable, will never not be delightful)

[bloodied-gems]

TW: Blood, gore, disturbing imagery.

Victim three: George.

Oh George. You think he’d be fine because of his amazing hearing. But you’d be wrong. Poor thing was distracted. And the killer cut off his ears before George even had the chance to scream. That was it though. He killed the last one quickly. He wanted to watch George die slowly. Poor George. He didn’t deserve that. Just because he took Melvin’s bow tie. Poor thing. Poor, poor thing.

Notes: Just Like with Harold, the eyes are a reference to the “Hyper realistic blood eyes” in creepypastas. And what’s in Georges hand is a kidney, as a nod to eyeless Jack. Theres also a pencil in Georges war hole. Does he write with it? Yes. Also this wasn’t on purpose but his mouth kinda looks like it’s from the Walton files-

Bye 👋

[randomvarious]

Motown Returns to the Apollo (Live in New York, NY) 1985 Soul / R&B / Pop / Tap Dance

Harlem's Apollo Theater is, hands-down, the single most important institution in the history of black American performing arts. It was first built in 1913 as a burlesque venue for only white patrons, but by 1934, its white owners transformed it into a space to showcase black performers. And from that year on, and into the mid-70s, it played a decisive role as a launching pad for an abundance of highly successful careers, from music, to dance, to comedy.

However, after having rode its high throughout the 60s, the Apollo would find itself in dire financial straits, and for a multitude of different reasons, its doors were shuttered in 1976. There were then a whole bunch of fits and starts to have it reopened, and eventually, after a thorough, years-long renovation process, it sprang back to life in 1985, and a legendary concert called Motown Returns to the Apollo would mark its long-awaited grand reopening.

So, take a look at some of this incredible concert bill, folks, which simultaneously celebrates The Apollo's past, while also showcasing a mid-80s present: DeBarge, George Michael, Smokey Robinson, The Manhattans, The Drifters, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Mary Wells, Martha Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Nile Rodgers, Billy Preston, Joe Cocker, Patti Labelle, Jennifer Holliday, Thelma Houston, Marilyn McCoo, Vanessa Williams, Debbie Allen, New Edition, Boy George, Wilson Pickett, Chuck Johnson, Little Richard, Mavis Staples, Al Green, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, James Brown, Luther Vandross, The Commodores, Lou Rawls, and Diana Ross. Such a magnificent concert for the ages, but unfortunately, it was hosted by Bill Cosby 😫.

Now, something that particularly struck me about this whole production is what they ended up deciding to call it—Motown Returns to the Apollo—because there's a whole bunch of people on this bill that were never actually on Motown itself. But I guess the sound of soul and R&B from the 60s to mid-80s had just become synonymous with the name of the label anyway, even if they'd never actually released a lot of the music that came out of it. And when someone's describing their taste in music, and they say that they like Motown, they're probably actually referring to more than just that one powerhouse label, and more so the type of music that they and a whole lot of other outfits were putting out. But it's still interesting to refer to it that way when naming a concert, though.

Anyway, you should definitely try to fully immerse yourself in this whole show, but I'm gonna timestamp some of my absolute favorite performances here, a few of which include some truly incredible belting feats from Patti Labelle, whose every appearance on this one night was pure magic; especially with the gospel tune, "You'll Never Walk Alone," which she delivered with the help of Little Richard, Mavis Staples, Billy Preston, Al Green, and the New Jersey Mass Choir. I'm not even a remotely religious person, but that's probably one of the most powerful performances that I've ever seen in my life. Good lord 🤯.

Sam Harris - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Stevie Wonder - "Sir Duke" Billy Preston, Joe Cocker, & Patti Labelle - "You Are So Beautiful" Little Richard, Mavis Staples, Billy Preston, Al Green, Patti Labelle, & the New Jersey Mass Choir - "Joy Joy Joy Down in My Heart"/"You'll Never Walk Alone" James Brown - "Please Please Please" Diana Ross with everyone - "I Want to Know What Love Is"

And the show wasn't limited to strictly music, either. There was some amazing tap dancing too!

Gregory Hines - "Tribute to Teddy Hale" Tap Dancing Showcase, with Bunny Briggs, Chuck Green, Gregg Burge, Ludie Jones, Jimmy Slyde, Sandman Sims, Harold Nicholas, & Sammy Davis, Jr.

[trulyinspiringmovies]

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

“Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” is a movie that was getting amazing reviews, and after watching it, I liked it but didn’t love it as everyone else did.

Puss In Boots has always lived a carefree life and enjoyed being a legend. When he dies for the eighth time, he’s informed that he only has one life left. After an intense run-in with someone he thinks is a bounty hunter, Puss runs off to find The Wishing Star to try and get his lives back. The only problem is that a few other people are looking for The Wishing Star too.

I was already going to watch this movie since I was looking for an excuse to review the “Shrek” franchise, but when I heard this movie was getting rave reviews, I knew I had to check it out. After watching the movie, I thought it was great! I loved a lot about it, but I don’t see why everyone is calling this the best DreamWorks movie of all time. So, right off the bat, when I first watched the trailers for this movie, I immediately noticed that the animation style and frame rate were similar to “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse”. I love this new style of animation, but I fear that if too many movies use it, it’s not going to be something special for “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” anymore. I mean, DreamWorks already did a similar style with their “The Bad Guys” movie. Still, I think it works well because of how dynamic the fight sequences were. Animating on twos really gives you that extra frame to soak in the cool action poses during each fight scene. I also like it thematically because it was stated that the decision was made for it to resemble storybook illustrations. One of my criticisms of the last “Puss In Boots” movie was how uninspired the storybook characters were. I’m happy to say that in this movie, all of the characters were utilized creatively. I love Florence Pugh in anything she’s in and she’s fantastic as Goldilocks. I wish there was a bit more time to dive into her character because her motivation seemed a little weak. Like, I get that she wants to find her real parents, but I think it would’ve been more powerful to see her want that throughout the whole movie rather than it being revealed near the very end. Maybe have her haunted by vague images of her parents throughout the movie so that we know she has this obsession that blinds her from seeing that her real family was the bears all along. Jack Horner was a nursery rhyme I didn’t know about. The only reference to it I knew was that one Graybles episode of “Adventure Time”. I thought the character was funny at times, but not all the time. I also think that John Mulaney’s voice didn’t match the character super well. I wish he had changed his voice up a little, but that’s a nitpick. The stand-out character had to be Death. He genuinely looks terrifying and I’m not saying “for a kids’ movie”. He is just terrifying. Plain and simple. He switches from teasing, yet calculated, to a feral monster on the drop of a dime. I love his aesthetic so much. His creepy whistling is such a great inclusion as well. I know that if I ever heard that whistling in the middle of a dark forest, I would crap my pants. His introduction was genuinely unnerving as well. The way he throws Puss off his game was masterfully done. It immediately made me understand why Puss ran away from a fight for the first time. I just wish he was in the movie more. It seemed like Death was just an afterthought. I get that he’s always supposed to be looming, but a character like that deserves more screen time. Instead of splitting screen time with a bunch of underdeveloped characters, I would’ve much preferred to have Death be the only antagonist and explore him much more. I had so many questions about him like: How does he work in the “Shrek” universe? We’ve seen a lot of characters die in the Shrek universe like King Harold. Was Death there to pick him up? A lot of interpretations of Death have it so that he can’t interfere with or kill the victim, only pick up the soul after death. Why is this Death allowed to fight Puss head-on? More exploration of this character would’ve satisfied these thoughts. The dog, Perrito, got on my nerves a bit. I know a lot of people said they thought the dog was going to annoy them, but was just the right amount. I disagree. He felt too one-note for me. I know he’s supposed to be relentlessly optimistic to combat everyone’s cynicism, but he’s still a one-note character at the end of the day. Also, I saw a lot of people write about how sad it was that he couldn’t grasp how sad his backstory was. Personally, I think if it’s not bothering him, then it’s not as tragic. Still, I enjoyed how this movie tastefully tied back to the other “Shrek” characters. I loved seeing Gingy, Pinocchio, and even Shrek and Donkey. I know people were complaining about the ending and how the Far Far Away tease makes it so that this movie doesn’t stand on its own. Personally, I think it was a great ending. Now that I know these filmmakers can make something of this caliber, it’s exciting to think about how they can apply it to “Shrek” himself. It’s also exciting to just get teased about new “Shrek” content after so many years. These “Puss In Boots” movies are, by nature, spin-off movies, which means they don’t stand on their own. They’re built off of the framework of another movie, which means they’re connected. I get wanting a movie this good to be its own thing, but that doesn’t mean any connective tissues are a bad thing. All in all, I had a ton of fun with this movie, but I didn’t think it was the masterpiece everyone says it was. It’s still definitely worth the watch.

★★★★

Watched on January 11th, 2023

[askthe4thwallbreakers]

heyy, I read the pinned post and I didn't see that it's not allowed to ask the creator, so regards.

I wanted to ask about how Fourth-Wall Breakers are characterized. i mean, i remember how Warren in his episode literally "pauses" it and speaks to the audience, he speaks to us. So, would he also be a Fourth-Wall Breaker? and I also ask about the characters who look at the screen, who look at us.

sorry if it's very inquisitive and it turns out to be annoying, you can answer with a simple "it's a fanfic stop screwing around " and I'll understand🫶🫶

very good fanfic and I hope you have a good life‼️‼️🌟🌟

oh yeah you're perfectly allowed to ask me stuff (at least somewhat related to this fic) through the askbox.

and dw your ask wasn't annoying in the slightest, this is something I've been thinking about for a while. please keep screwing around, look as far into it as you like, even for stuff I might not have intended. If I was someone who says "it's not that deep" to everything, this fic wouldn't exist.

so. I think the fic title is a little bit misleading on my part (and I don't just mean the word 'support' when the characters are getting none of that). Fourth-wall breaking refers to pretty much ANY form of self-awareness for fictional characters, of course. Like Deadpool, or Wander - even George and Harold from the goddamn Captain Underpants books count as fourth-wall breakers by definition, those books are stuffed with meta jokes and genre awareness. But there's the rub - in all those examples, the fourth-wall breaking is intended as a joke.

"This has been going on for an entire season-" *looks at audience* "-of our lives."

"We were supposed to do this four chapters ago!"

"You really can fix anything with a montage." (spoken right after a montage of characters solving a problem)

All those are clearly intended as nothing more than jokes. Warren is a slightly different example, but he still falls into this category. He's supposed to be a caricature of bad PSAs and anti-bullying instructors and influencers and whatnot, and him talking directly to the audience is part of that.

Monika, Wally, Rob, and to a lesser extent Yellow, on the other hand, all have a vital part of their character tied to their self-awareness. It's essentially 'crack' versus 'crack treated seriously'. The fourth wall breaking may have started off as a joke, sure, but if you - or the characters - stop and think about the implications of them KNOWING that they're fictional, it's horrifying no matter which way you look at it. Rob specifically is an interesting case because The Amazing World Of Gumball ALSO does fourth-wall breaking as a joke. And Rob's arc is far from the only time it's taken seriously. Just look at 'The Signal', one of the most horrifying episodes in the entire show to the point where I am astonished it's not talked about more.

Anyway, TL;DR - the four idiots whom this fic centres around are set apart from your average fourth-wall breaker by one single thing. They thought about the implications.

[the-firebird69]

We see it. Tomorrow they move back to Charlotte county shelter. Not bad. Better. Not remote. His place should be ready sorta. We listen hear Stan he's upset poop in everything. Will leave tires of being sick. Might change out the refer. Then again electrical components look fried ok

We see it. Soon then. The place a mess but Devon is needed. Thursday back to the other shelter. Our son seems sickly Tommy f tries. Nope is up fine. Was upset today. He strolled in picked a winner got lettuce. Said pls help her anti mutagen. And they saw it lettuce. Helped. Saw the clones move them. They seek the ship want them out. Did sense. And think yes there's something. Morlok will go for it too need him out. Psuedo empire too. Tense day ok. All sat anxious. Eating mmm good. Tomato. Greens good. Darker better. Heard him. Then out of there shit ok.

Salt by Tommy f iodized yes lol works.ok.

Big day too. Got the checks. Deposit early a.m. move after he will check mk sure. Better at Harold but John remillard area so he will start work on the apartment. Needs to cut out dwall likes the idea is a menace.

We help our son. There he will hv higher rads ever increasing. 8.1 3 times a day. 8.4 rad once to 8.9 rad four times at night. And will increase to 10-12 rad per day. And will increase to 15. But not too often. Mostly 10 RAD for a month

He's adapting yrs healed up. More to come then quieter they will think dress. Then healing. And he was exposed to high yield devices 1MT or better 3 a week nope one a day. And was attacking the macs and mom dad and son. Knew it. He was checking but yeh for evil. He said it to her he's at me mom dad for what you don't do shit ...told him nah these stop it and found it's all true. Wanted them gone. Then this. Who would I be but your ultimate enemy. Heard no A sucker. Was lost. Mac proper hd him test ok ok why. They were astounded. Worked Hera too. They were amazed. He was shocked. Laughed laughed said at that point figure it out.

He's been up to 20 for weeks all of you would die. His pareyfelt I'll mom ok dad left came back. Was astonished. More help now Nuada bellows good works Arrianna says. Most will die from Babcock. Charlotte the rest

He Will reach zero Prilosec November 3rd. Zyprexa is a growth inhibitor. Friday at 88%. Nov 3rd at 80%. And only a month it's out. Growing will start mid November. Radiation continue through November into December. All five new canals will open

He will be big in November around 280 on Thanksgiving Day. But muscle 17.5 biceps when retracted big ok

Thor Freya

Olympus

Steve Carrier lol

I love it ok. Means we hv power Mac proper did it

Hera

Oh boy

Nuada Arrianna we do..yes a deep meaningful culture

Me too haha Steve Carrier ...ok strange imAge at Celtic Ray. Huge huge affect. Mortified some horrified others Elysium. They go mow

Thor Freya

What a beautiful boy ok good match. His face said it a teeny bit what's this. Hilt. Seen similar but no can't see the sword. And they mocked carried on. Bought tshirts nope couldn't. Tommy f did take one

Lobo proxima Midnight

Olympus