#hes actually so interesting because hes like cool as hell and an awesome comic relief side character but hes also struggling a lot (1/23)
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daphnalia · 2 years ago
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the day the amount of dndads ao3 fanfics containing the tag yeet bigly goes from 17 to 18 is the day i lay down and cry of utter joy
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timetravellingkitty · 11 months ago
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Mulan 2020 sucks lol
Written and edited by yours truly
So, Mulan 2020 happened. And I am disappointed. Seriously disappointed. It is utter garbage. I would genuinely prefer it if I watched Mulan II 5 times in a row, and that's saying something.
There is so much to talk about because this has so many issues. I don't think my brain can handle a movie as bad as this for some time. It is a disgrace to the original animated movie.
(Who cares about spoilers?)
And yes, I can and I will compare it to the original movie because it is a remake. It is totally valid to see where this fell flat and where the original succeeded. I'm not saying it has to be like the original cartoon, that is stupid. As I mentioned, it's to highlight the failures of this movie.
Besides, even if we forget the fact that it is a remake, this movie is still horrible.
INTRODUCTION
Mulan 1998 is a classic. It has great visuals, an awesome soundtrack, wonderful and compelling characters, a great message and a cool plot. It's just a great movie in general. It is an adaptation of The Ballad of Mulan, a Chinese legend. Both the legend and the animated movie are about a young girl named Mulan who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army to fight back against an invasion.
As big of a success Mulan was, Chinese audiences thought some things were weird. For instance, having a dragon be a comic relief character, given that dragons are highly respected in Chinese culture. So of course, Disney decided to try another shot, claiming that they wanted to be more culturally sensitive, accurate and closer to the original ballad.
Mulan 2020 is a remake of the original animated movie, and was marketed to be more "accurate to Chinese culture and the Ballad". This claim is, of course, false, because they failed in that aspect. Say what you will about the cultural inaccuracies in Mulan 1998, but at least it was a great movie. Besides, Mulan 1998 didn't pride or market itself on being culturally accurate, the way Mulan 2020 did, so there's that.
CHANGES
I don't mind some changes. And honestly, if there's one thing I appreciate, it's that it isn't a carbon copy of the original (looking at you The Lion King 2019).
Li Shang's character is divided into two characters: Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, apparently in light of the Me-Too movement. This is a dumb reason. Disney wasn't comfortable with a superior having a relationship with a subordinate? The hell? The romance between Shang and Mulan was only insinuated at the end, when Mulan wasn't even a part of the army anymore, so there's that. Also, Mulan gave her consent, so I don't know what they’re talking about.
Mushu isn't present in the movie. I can see why though. He contributed quite a bit to the soul of the animated version but a CGI dragon would be very distracting. Also, the director said that removed him to achieve a more realistic tone.
Grandma? No grandma. Mulan has a sister though, who only exists to mess stuff up.
The Huns are replaced with the Rourans and Shan Yu is replaced with Bori Khan.
Mushu is replaced with a phoenix, who acts as an emissary for the ancestors
There are no songs, except in the end credits, which isn't a bad thing. The instrumentals of the songs in the animated one play during some scenes (I'll talk about the music, don’t worry)
CHARACTERS
The characters in this movie are so boring. Our lead character Mulan lacks the charisma her animated counterpart had. She's utterly bland, uninteresting and poorly written. In the original, she knew she wasn't physically strong and that she couldn't solve her problems with her strength, so she used her intelligence and wit. She excelled by working hard and being strong willed and determined. This Mulan is a well rounded character.
Mulan in the live action is given Chi powers (Chi is a big part of Chinese medicine, in case you didn't know). Honestly, I wouldn't be as mad at Mulan being given superpowers, had they actually done this properly! Chi isn't like midichlorians, it's something that flows through everyone. Mulan is naturally born with dumb superpowers and has to hide them because as her dad says, " Chi is for warriors, not for daughters”. There is a problem:
It has been mentioned many times that Mulan needs to hide her superpowers otherwise she will be shunned and ostracised. Then why doesn't she get more repercussions everytime she uses her powers? The worst thing that happens is little Mulan getting looks of disgust when she uses them. On other occasions, when she is now a part of the army, she uses her powers in training and she doesn't get any backlash? What the hell?? Then why even bother in the first place?
The only way for this narrative to work is if Mulan got more repercussions for using her powers.
If I were to make the line "Chi is for warriors, not daughters," work, I would make it go something like this:
*At the end of the movie when Mulan comes home*
Dad: Didn't I tell you that Chi is for warriors, not daughters?
Mulan: "I am a daughter, but I'm a warrior too."
(Yes, I know this is similar to a scene in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but this would be better, tbh. Also, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Let me compare the training montages from both movies.
In the animated one, there is an absolutely AWESOME montage of Mulan training side by side with her companions, slowly gaining their trust. She climbs the pillar with both medallions by using her wit, not by brute force. This Mulan worked hard. Besides, the fact that "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" plays over this is the only thing that makes it better (banger song, thank you Donny Osmond)
In the live-action, Mulan is supposed to lift up buckets and climb on top of a mountain. There are also other training scenes, but those aren't very important. In these scenes, she succeeds with the power of CHI. WHY? Mulan here just achieves her goal because she is oh so special. She didn't work to achieve her goal at all, because she is perfect. No struggling or development here at all.
Mulan in the animated version was more concerned about saving her father. Mulan in the 2020 version is a dumb patriot who can't even do patriotism right ("I know my place. It is my duty to fight for the kingdom and protect the Emperor") How very empowering.
In short, live-action Mulan can do no wrong. She has no flaws, no personality and no charm. Everything comes to her pretty easily, because MAGIC.
Li Shang's role in the live-action is divided between Commander Tung and Mulan's love interest Honghui, as mentioned before. Both of these characters are flat, dumb and boring. Tung exists to tell Mulan to cultivate her Chi and to train these idiots (and to offer his daughter’s hand in marriage to her, unaware that Mulan isn’t actually a guy, but eh). Honghui is there to be a stupid love interest, who gives us an “I am Spartacus” moment.
The witch is by far the most interesting character. She actually has more than one side to her, has SOME kind of depth and you can even feel sorry for her. She is supposed to serve as a foil to Mulan, given that both have similar powers. In case you've forgotten (which is something I wouldn't blame you for), she's an outcast who's now working with Bori Khan. Why is she an outcast? Because of her Chi. The witch has said many times that she could kill Bori Khan in a snap, then why doesn't she kill him? Because she needs acceptance? What the hell? She decides to pull out the whole "We're the same, you and I," stupidity to Mulan, and I can see that. It's just that the writers just didn't put much thought into it. “It’s too late for me” because you saw a woman leading an army of men? Also, why does she warn Mulan that Bori Khan is coming? Unless she's playing both sides, except her motivations aren't made clear enough for this to make sense. Finally, she dies for the dumbest reason. God, it just makes me so mad. She had so much potential, but no. They just had to mess her up.
Bori Khan? MORE LIKE BORING KHAN. Not much is there. His animated counterpart Shan Yu was scary and contributed to some of the darkest moments in the movie. This guy over here is just...nothing. That's all I have to say.
Mulan's sister is only there to mess up the meeting with the Matchmaker. What a stupid change. First off in the animated version, it's Mulan who messed up, because she isn't perfect. She fails at being stereotypically feminine AND masculine, but in the live-action, she literally pulls off a Spiderman cafeteria scene, and the blame is put on the sister. In the animated movie, this scene is groundwork for Mulan wanting to prove herself and going on a hero's journey, providing depth to her character, but in the live-action, she's perfect. What is the point? (I know this section was supposed to be about the sister, but eh). The sister doesn't provide anything else to the movie, so thanks! I hate it. Moral of the story: Girls can do anything boys can, as long as they have superpowers. If you are born special like Mulan, you can be respected, whereas if you are like the sister, you have no significance and in the end, you can just fit in and be irrelevant. Congratulations!
The live action group of guys Mulan met and befriended in the army lack the charm and comedic timing of their animated counterparts. That’s it. Seriously. I have nothing more to say about them, because they don't really have anything going on. I don't even know why they are included, because their contribution is nil, save for them blandly speaking lines from the animated version’s songs ("I don't care what she looks like, I care what she cooks like"), which is seriously cringe.
The dad is there to tell Mulan that Chi is for warriors. A shame, because I really liked the dad in the movie. He was a source of wisdom for Mulan, whose greatest honour was having her for a daughter. In the live-action, he just takes the sword that Mulan is given at the end of the movie. The mom is meh.
The emperor is also meh. At least he was wise and cool in the animated version, but here he just does bed sheet kung-fu.
Did I mention that the dynamics between the characters are unnatural, forced, awkward in a bad way and in no way indicates any chemistry between them? Oh yeah, I didn’t, until now. They don’t establish much when it comes to emotion.
Simply put, Khan (Mulan’s horse in the animated version) had more personality than all of these characters combined
PERFORMANCES
Liu Yifei as Mulan was a pretty terrible choice. She is just a block of wood, who has absolutely no range, and this isn't because of the writing. She is genuinely bad, and is regarded as one of China’s worst actors (I kid you not). She just can’t emote.
Jet Li as the emperor is meh. But hey, he doesn’t have much to do, so eh.
Jason Scott Lee as Bori Khan is fine. He doesn’t suck, but he lacks the command and authority of a character who is supposed to be intimidating, but I guess it has something to do with the writing of his character.
Donnie Yen is a martial art legend, but unfortunately, he doesn't have much range as an actor.
The best performance of this movie is that of Gong Li, who played the witch. Honestly, she is charismatic, charming and has an idea of what she is doing.
To save everyone’s time, simply put: most of the performances are bland and mediocre. Partly due to bad writing and partly due to most of the actors not being, well, good at acting.
CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL ACCURACY
So Disney went all “we like cultural and historical accuracy”, which is nice. For example, the Huns are replaced by the Rourans, a real tribe in China around the time Mulan was supposed to be alive. They also removed the hair cutting scene, because as iconic and awesome as it is, it doesn’t make sense. Chinese men wore their hair long too. You know what? I like these kinds of changes. I appreciate accuracy. If only Disney didn’t pride themselves on their accuracy when they got almost everything else wrong (They somehow got Mulan's house wrong lol). I don't know jackshit about Chinese culture so just go watch that Xiran Jay Zhao video it's very swag
THE BALLAD OF MULAN
In a surprising turn of events, this isn't accurate to the Ballad, like they had marketed it to be (I know, I’m shocked too). In a reference to the Ballad, Mulan is riding a horse and she sees two rabbits running side by side. She goes home and tells her family that she saw 2 rabbits, and she thinks that one was male and the other female, but she wasn't sure. This just misses the entire point of the Ballad.
Long story short, Mulan in the Ballad is actually a seamstress. She joined the army in her father's place. She defeats the barbarians and goes on a ten year long campaign with her friends, after which they meet the Son of Heaven (a sacred imperial title of a Chinese emperor). He offers her a high ranking position, which she refuses, because she just wants to go home. She returns home and her family welcomes her. Sometime later, her friends come to visit her, and they find out that she is actually a woman. The friends are shocked because she has been in the army for 12 years and in those 12 years, they didn't even realise that she was a woman.
Mulan then replies:
The male hare's feet hop and skip
The female hare's are muddled and fuddled
But when two hares are running side by side
How can you tell the male from the female?
Which is where the poem ends.
So, Mulan just going on, judging those rabbits like that makes absolutely no sense. The Ballad is about how no matter how different men and women look, when they live and fight amongst each other, who gives a damn about the differences? You know what would have made sense though? If Mulan got off her horse, went close to the rabbits, examined them, and then made the conclusion that one is male and the other is female. This would actually be sticking to the message of the Ballad. Also, why do they make it ambiguous as to whether she accepts the high ranking position? I assume for a sequel (yes, God save my soul). Here we can see another example of its impeccable accuracy to the Ballad.
THIS ISN'T EMOTIONAL AT ALL
Everything that made the original film good has been stripped away. Every moment that is meant to be emotional is very dull. For example, the scene where Mulan makes the decision to take her father's place in the army is supposed to be a very powerful scene. Mulan is risking it all just so her dad can be safe. She might be killed if discovered, and her family would be dishonoured.
When Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she has a moment of reflection while singing "Reflection". This is the beginning of her personal journey, discovering who she is. In this, after Mulan comes back from the Matchmaker, she doesn't have a moment of reflection. The army immediately shows up. Am I really supposed to believe that Mulan feels bad about this? That Mulan is really struggling?
When Mulan’s friends are singing, it suddenly shifts to the striking scene of the burnt village. This, in my opinion, is the best use of tonal whiplash. From this point on, things are getting serious, and the emotional weight of this tragedy is felt. In this, they just randomly show up at the village.​​ There is no seriousness (stop trying to tell me this movie is adult, mature and serious, it just looks like that on the surface).
Their attempts at being emotional are poor and unconvincing, and ultimately, the end product is an emotionless, soulless, depthless entity.
THE MUSIC
The director mentioned in an interview that she didn’t add songs into the movie because it is “unrealistic to break into song when you're in war”, and I don't think I’ve heard anything more false (apart from the concept of a flat Earth). Even I, who isn't going into war anytime soon, know this is false. They instead inserted instrumentals from the original film. Except, it's very weirdly placed. The instrumental for Reflection is placed when Mulan is fighting the Rourans after she reveals herself to be a woman. Like, there isn't any context. In the end credits, they had the original song "Loyal, Brave and True" sung by Christina Aguilera, which was nice. I don't really have much to say in regards to the music. The music is overall forgettable.
THE ACTION
The action may seem weird, but this kind of martial arts is a part of the Wuxia genre, which is what they were going for. Well, they failed. The choreography is bad, the CGI is bad, EVERYTHING is bad. Honestly, if you want a good Wuxia movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon exists. The action is here stupid and stiff.
OTHER DUMB STUFF
Why does Mulan take her armour off before going into battle? That is just stupid. Can't you just take the bindings off? Also, WHY OPEN YOUR HAIR-
Mulan really likes kicking spears (and pointy stuff in general). Seriously. It’s weird.
The CGI is okay I guess, I don't know. The phoenix in some scenes looks pink to me. There are some pretty visuals though.
It is very obvious that there is a green screen used in the scene where Mulan and her friends find the burnt village. And it looks bad. Pretty ugly. It looks bad. The green screen looks bad.
The war strategy is just weird. I can't really say anything about it in text form because how am i supposed to describe it, help- (she literally teleported behind the bad guys in the avalanche scene-).
I like how the animated film, which had a dragon as a comic relief and other silly stuff, is more mature than this.
For what joy does Mulan get another sword from the army? Also, shame the dad is all “oh look at the values written on the sword, they are honourable” even though in the original the greatest honour was having her for a daughter.
How was Mulan even able to tell the gender of the rabbits?
Why not just try to send a warning to the Emperor that the Rourans are coming to get him?
Why does Commander Tung let Mulan lead them-
I AM SO DONE
Well, I think I have said everything I wanted to about this movie. I know I havent talked about its controversies but honestly, I am done. I am so done with this. This document took 5-6 months of my life. I am kind of proud of this, and there isn't much I have done to be proud of. I did procrastinate on this a bit, and I had stuff going on, but finally, I am done. In the future, if I remember something, I'll add it here, but I think that is unlikely. I never want to watch or even go near Mulan 2020 again. It's horrible, and there is barely anything redeemable. I hate it here. It’s been reported that a sequel is in development. If it’s true, of course I’ll watch it, how else am I supposed to validate my self hate? I am also, of course, the resident “friend who suffers for everyone else’s entertainment”. If you want a live action remake of Mulan, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior exists. Go watch it, it’s free on YouTube with subtitles. I really liked it.
If you’ve somehow made it this far, thanks for reading. I congratulate you for putting up with whatever this is. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate myself for actually committing to this. It was painful yet fun to complain about this to the best of my ability. If anyone wants to add anything to this, feel free to do so. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m out. I have lost my faith in humanity, and I have other things to complain about.
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verminfang · 11 months ago
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oh you're reading berserk? that's awesome. what are your thoughts on Guts thus far? I know you said you can see the echoes of series you like in the manga which took inspo, but is it weird to see a protag who is the same?
Guts is interesting. A lot of that comes down to him being very flawed in ways that track with what he's been through. He very much isn't the 'somehow has a modern understanding of therapy and always empathetic after all the trauma they went through' type. They of course paired him with the winning combination of a little comic relief fairy to give us more of an insight into him then just broody silence, a tact that worked for Hyakkimaru, Kaladin and of course the most infamous powerful, angsty loner dark fantasy protagonist, Shrek.
What he has going on with Casca and Griffith is fascinating in the sense that each of them is constantly using another member of the trio as a medium, tool or substitute to convey feelings to the other in a way that is very complicated to put into words on zero sleep. Very Toxic (interesting) though, Charlotte plays into this in a big way as well.
The other thing about Guts is he's a thing I run into a lot where a series reputation is grimdark or unrelentingly nihilistic and then you read it and the text is like 'people keep talking about fate and causality and unbeatable monsters, we will say explicitly several times that the protagonist can fight both of these concepts and win'. Maybe I have different tolerances but that really doesn't read as grimdark to me.
Anyway most importantly, discount all of the above because the important thing about Guts is he's rad as hell. I'm a metal fan, I'm not gonna pretend to be highbrow about this. He's fucking sick. He has a cannon arm, a cursed mark, muscles, crossbow prosthetic, demon armor. GIANT SWORD. I am actually not that often impressed by big sword, they can feel weightless, anime in an uncool or uninteresting way, kinda basic. There is pretty much nothing more metal than how cool that sword is presented.
The effortlessly lifting a big sword is a stock trope its whatever, I see an anime girl or cloud holding a big sword who cares. It feels like nothing. Guts swinging this big giant hunk of dull iron and just crushing shit fucking rules. I don't care if I repeat myself. It rocks. It's an impractical sword in-universe, it was commissioned for an impossible task and the king who commissioned it said 'this is useless even for that.' and Guts just carves through dudes and demons with it. So radical.
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kasplonk · 3 years ago
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Episode 4 Moon Knight Thoughts:
(This is no necessarily chronological, just fresh from my head) (Also it's kinda long so yeah)
So it's clear they're taking a lot of inspiration from the Lemire & Smallwood run of the comics, which is really fucking cool
Layla being a badass and fighting the guys while Steven just takes a nap off to the side
I remember reading a headcannon a little while ago talking about how it's almost like Steven has the muscle memory, but in the wrong situations (I've forgotten who it was, I'm sorry), but that's all I thought of when Steven said that
Marc and Steven squabbling over Layla
"If I need a recipe for a protein shake, I'll call you" "I swear I'll thROW US OFF A CLIFF" These bitches god bless
But also Marc telling Steven he's not alone!! Honestly I love these two
Steven fucking kissing Layla anyway
It was so awkward, but so very in character
When he leaned in like that, I involuntarily looked away, but it was in character for him which I love
Honestly though I don't blame him, it's Layla El-Faouly for fuck sakes, who wouldn't fall in love with her
Steven just gushing about being in the tomb
Equally, Layla being patient and encouraging his enthusiasm!! We love to see it
Harrow is a little bitch, but I kinda like him. Like, I like him in a hateful way. Does that make sense?
ALSO when that mummy thing grabbed Layla and pulled her into the dark, I was so sure it was going to be the trope of love interest gets kidnapped and main hero has to save them, BUT SHE FUCKING ROCKED HIS SHIT!! QUEEN BEHAVIOUR!!! I WAS CHEERING SO LOUDLY!!
I've been given no choice but to stan!! But I really appreciate the fact she didn't need anyone to save her because she's strong enough to deal with it herself!!
I also really like that Marc wasn't actually the one who killed her father. It was foreshadowed, but once again, Moon Knight subverts typical expectations and. I'm. Living. For. It.
Steven calling Alexander the Great 'Mr Great'. Adorable
The seemless transition from Steven to Marc when Layla is angry. I love the idea that Steven was like 'oh hell no Marc you're in'
Another example of Oscar Issac's incredible acting skills
Also, backpeddling a bit, the drawing of the Eye of Horus was beautiful. And Steven figuring everything out!! There goes my boy!!
The breathtaking cinematography of this show. Honestly can't get enough
The continuous shot of everyone around the asylum though. Continuous shots like that aren't easy, and they did it really fucking well
Donna finally where she belongs 🥺❤
WAIT OMG I ALMOST FORGOT that clip of the old show in between was fucking awesome!! And then when the guy was introduced as Dr Steven Grant. The way I gasped
Harrow being the therapist. My guy at least take the glass out your shoes before you start playing psychologist I'm begging you
They honestly almost had me for a second though. Even though I know the general idea of the comics, the shots of everything around the room like puzzle pieces almost made me believe they were going with the "all in his head" route
Marc being sedated. DO I NEED TO REPEAT HOW TALENTED OSCAR ISSAC IS?? PEOPLE IN THE BACK AM I BEING LOUD ENOUGH??
Steven in the sarcophagus. The way he was panicking though. And when he sees and hugs Marc?? 🥺
No but honestly that hug was really great. It really conveyed the desperation and the relief at seeing someone they recognise (even if they look the same)
LET JAKE OUT
I KNOW HE'S IN THERE LET HIM OUT
I WANT MY BOY PLEASE
The difference in the screams when they see Taweret
Steven being all high pitched and shrill, while Marc is all deep and tough
Peak comedy
And when she speaks and it's like a discord trap. I can't with this show it's fucking incredible
And yeah, thats pretty much it, but I loved it as always and I can't wait for the next one (the one Jake is in, because if not I will take to the streets and riot)
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megaphonegirlk · 2 years ago
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I heard from Toko you're fans of Slayers right? If it's cool, I wanted to throw some questions out there [I never see anyone else who likes it without me having to first show them the series lol], only if you're cool with answering them though, no pressure!
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if I may ask, for Slayers:
How did you find the series and was it an immediate like of the series or did it need to grow on you first?
✨️🕯Favorite season?
👢🗝Favorite characters?
🐉🥀Fave villains?
And lastly, 🎶🎙fave song[s] from the series?
Also these questions extend to Toko as well!
I'll answer the same questions after but figured I'd pop in somewhere to inquire about the series sooner rather than remember a month later and feel too awkward to ask xD
Man we are SO Happy for the questions. it's true, it's so rare to find Slayers finds around anymore, so this is awesome :D. (I feel you on the 'remembering a month later' thing, lmao) and I'm always jazzed to talk about it. It'll be me (Komaru/Moidiress) and Alexei answering for this, because we both got feelings, lmao. We found the series through Toko actually. Well...okay. We found a VHS copy of like, four episodes back in the day and watched it a bunch but it was hard to get into because we couldn't find more and there was so little context (it was the middle of the original season). But then Toko showed Alexei the Slayers Movie, and the moment Naga went off on that first laugh the series bitch slapped them six ways from sunday. After that, we got more and more into it until we were as big a fans as Toko was. It was pretty instant (the look on Alexei's face was priceless when Naga showed up).
✨️🕯Favorite season? Probably Slayers NEXT. I loved the first season mind you, it was intense and interesting, but in Next it really hits a stride. The stakes? High as hell. Xellos? Peak, hell yeah <3. Adventure? Oh baby we've got adventure. Even the comic relief/filler type episodes are great (THE DOLL TOWER LDKHFSDLF). I just love that season.
👢🗝Favorite characters? Too many to count WEH. I love them all! But i'm gonna try to cut the list down. Obviously, Xellos ,Lina Inverse. NAGA THE SERPENT (in all her obnoxious glory), Sylphiel (too cute).
🐉🥀Fave villains?
Huraker and Sherra don't get enough love, by a long shot. They don't show up as much as I wish they would (they don't even show up in the anime :c) but I wish they were. Other than them, going by the anime: I wouldn't count Xell (more of a villain protag with all of the focus lmao), even with all the trouble he causes, so...Gavv. Big man, big coat, big goals, no communication. Love the guy.
🎶🎙fave song[s] from the series? TBH probably Give a Reason. It's a real banger, we have it on our MP3 player and jam out to it in the car a lot. Alexei is yelling 'any of the Naga image songs' but that's their vanity talking :wheeze: So yeah ! this was fun to answer, and i'm REALLY curious about your answers!!!
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garrothromeave · 4 years ago
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let’s talk about minecraft diaries rebirth.
and why it’s literally amazing. (warning: this will contain spoilers. lots of them. also, long post ahead.)
i think a lot of people hate mcdr because they were expecting a remake; but the point of rebirth is for jess to rewrite it. it wasn't supposed to be exactly the same.
honestly i went into mcdr with a closed mind. as an og mcd fan, i thought that this was going to suck ass and that i'd rant about how bad it was to my friends later. but actually watching it, i just... couldn't help but immediately fall in love with it.
ik im probably the only motherfucker that likes mcdr, but honestly how could i not? for one, garroth and zenix actually have personalities at the beginning. AND; the villagers? actually amazing. donna made me smile, visher made me laugh and cry, brendan was just bein as good as ever. like... i even didn't despise emmalyn with every ounce of my soul like i usually do?? the characterizations of them were GOOD, man.
and honestly, aphmau like--the way she spoke, her whole thing. it was reallyyy well done in my opinion. she was oblivious to things, but it wasn't overdone and wasn't done in a way to make her annoying. she's a very appealing character in mcdr, a main protagonist i do not mind following along with. her dynamics to the characters are really cool and all very unique.  gonna cut it here so i don’t clog y’all’s feed cuz i got a lot to say :)
the early use of aphmau’s powers was actually pretty cool as well, it also really showed how clueless aphmau really was to everything going on around her. AND UH, THE FACT THAT SHE THOUGHT THAT GARROTH FELT FAMILIAR? GOLDEN. absolutely golden.
AND GENE OH BOY, the early introduction of gene? ik a lot of people are upset about it, but god DAMN i love it so much. his role in the story is very important in original, and i cannot express how much joy this brought me learning that he was actually getting the proper attention for it. and the fact that gene and aphmau were working together?? i mean ik gene was just trying to use her to get back to the "shadow abyss" (pretty pog replacement for the nether, gg) but god DAMN i loved every moment of it. i found their dynamic to be pretty fuckin funny to be honest, would absolutely love to see more of it.
i might be biased considering gene is one of my absolute favorite characters, but i honestly think that introducing gene this early on in the story was a good move. again, he's literally the right-hand man to the shadow lord. it makes you really wonder why he didn't have as much of an important role in season 1 or even 2 of the original mcd plotline. also, we get some of that good-ol-fashioned exposition with seeing early on how vylad and gene interact. vylad’s at a very strange point in the story right now; his motives are unclear, even to the side he’s ‘supposed’ to be taking (aka, a shadow knight.)  another early introduction to a character is zane! this, my friends, is good. really good. i’d say that zane is the main antagonist of season 1 in the original series--and he wasn’t even introduced until like, episode 50. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but him being introduced this early on really gives the audience a better understanding of what threats are out there and what our protagonist will have to encounter in the future. in the original series, there’s not much explanation as to why lords are disappearing/dying left and right--and while yes, that was supposed to be the mystery of it, having some of that early information is a better move in terms of writing. 
AND IVAN?? BEING A PART OF THE JURY OF NINE?? I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE LIKE GOD DAMN that was a very pleasant surprise i'll just say that, thank you jess :)
and no i did not loop the 4 minutes of screentime laurance got in that one episode haha who would do that i would never do that anyways
SPEAKING of laurance, im so glad jess actually wrote him in this early :) she totally could have just waited for the first time aphmau visits meteli and meets him there, but no! she put him in an early episode. i dont even care if she did it just to shut up the fans about laurance but man that made me so happy seeing him, even if it was only for a bit.
okay i kinda wanna go over the guards real fast firstly; garroth. ignoring how weird the helmet showing emotions is, i really like how garroth is portrayed. he's under a lot of pressure because the village is putting a lot of the blame on him for malik's death, and he's trying his hardest to keep things running. the fact that garroth utterly refused the to take up the position of lord and even got a little snappy about it was actually really cool to see as well. and while he doesn’t have that same “reserved, quiet, observant” feel as the original mcd version of him had, this version of garroth is absolutely awesome. he’s more direct and blunt, is significantly more sarcastic, and isn’t as stiff or as much as a pushover as he is in the original. he even has a sense of humour. also, no homo, but he’s kinda adorable.  plus, the desperation that he goes through during the whole thing is just--it’s really cool to see how hard he’s trying to prove himself and help the village. my rating for mcdr garroth? 9/10. the helmet... the helmet is the main thing throwin me off, i can’t lie. next, zenix. oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this man. first of all, his and garroth’s dynamic is incredible. when i saw how the interacted with each other, my first thought was: father and son. zenix has this immaturity to him that is so fucking fun and interesting to watch, and seeing how garroth scolds him is so fuckin good man. and! seeing how he interacts with the rest of the village... honestly, if jess ever picks this story up again, i would probably cry when zenix (literally) backstabs garroth. HELL, i hope that’s something that still happens, it’d be heartbreaking to witness this character that we’ve come to love hurting his mentor, the man who took him in. he’s just a really good character all in all, and much more appealing than the original mcd zenix. ...except season 3 zenix. no zenix can be better than that one.  either way, zenix is amazing written to be the comic relief and he’s just an all-out lovable character in this series.  finally, dale and brian. yes i’m going to group them up because there’s not much to say regarding them, but i do want to address them. for starters, we have brian; who’s already 16 when the story starts. good on jess for doing that, because in the original aphmau watched brian be born and age INCREDIBLY quick, haha. THOUGH i do feel like there’s a slight connection lost there--one of the hardest things about brian’s betrayal in the original series in the fact that we watched him grow up in phoenix drop. we were there from the moment he was born, to the second he betrayed phoenix drop. BUT OF COURSE, this version is a lot more realistic, so it’s understandable. i just think that if it’s brian who’ll be betraying phoenix drop again (if it even goes down that same route), it won’t hit as hard unless jess really takes the time to grow the connection between brian and aphmau.  as for dale; gotta admit, love it. and like, i think one of the main things about how good of a call it was to make him a drunkard from the beginning is considering how much the village is struggling. the fact that the second-in-command is literally drunk all of the time really conveys the message of, “yeah. this village needs help.” plus, he’s another good comic relief character. i loved seeing molly and dale’s relationship too, it was very funny.  PLUS. we were blessed with a well scene, in which aphmau had to help villagers out of the well. i don’t know about you guys, but that was one of my favorite nods to the original series. i cannot thank jess enough for that, there was a smile on my face the entire time. another amazing thing--visher’s character. instead of just being introduced to this quirky lil merchant who only had one or two interactions with aphmau like in the first one, we got to sit there and really get a feel for someone worth remembering and worth mourning over. we had a reason to be sad over his death, it wasn’t just some npc getting blown up suddenly. this was different, and this hurt.  one of the major things that i hope is to come out of this is for jess to fix the major mistakes she had when writing the first series. she’d expressed how unhappy she was with some of the decisions she made, and i’m glad that she’s getting that second chance to undo the things she didn’t like. this series also gives her a second chance to really, really dig into characters and their motives. like, gimme laurance backstory in better detail. or like, garroth and zane’s relationship from back when they were kids? or how vylad died and who killed him? etc etc. she’s already done an excellent job so far, and i can’t wait to see where this goes. that is, if she ever continues it. god, i wish there were more episodes so that i could seriously let you guys know how beautiful of a series this is. there’s so much i want to say about rebirth, but i think i’ll stop here. i might say some more shit about it later, but if there’s anything i’d want you to take away from this, it’s: give minecraft diaries rebirth a chance. there’s a lot of potential, and this is a chance for jess to really change things for the better! ... but again, that is if this ever is continued. 
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quirkfics · 5 years ago
Text
finding the time
commission for the lovely @sabbywrites
wordcount: 4k
warnings: smut, dirty talk, resolving UST (unresolved sexual tension), aged up
pairing: Sero Hanta x F!Model Reader
“Who's that babe with the hot Shiketsu girl?” Denki asks, resting his elbows on the counter and sliding back to lean against it, and- Hanta cringes. It's just a little bit, but watching Denki point a finger gun in someone's direction and miming shooting it? Mildly embarrassing. Blowing away the imagined smoke makes it so much worse.
“Shiketsu girl?” Hanta decides to ask, pointedly turning away from his friend and attempting to wave down the bartender. Really, he’s only poking at semantics because it’s Denki. He has a fairly good idea who he means, but honestly, they are out of school, and the only time Denki should be saying girl in regards to their heroic comrades is when there are actual girl children around. 
“Woman,” Denki corrects, narrowing his eyes Hanta’s way. “You know, Camie. Aren’t Todoroki and Bakugou still on good terms with her or something? And probably Midoriya too, come to think of it-” Denki sounds like he's gearing up for a complaint about their old classmates popularity with- well, with every gender. Hanta is not up for it today.
“Yeah, woman,” Hanta mocks, grinning when Denki’s bright smile morphs into a frown. “Isn’t she a year or two older than us anyway? Girl.” He laughs when Denki holds up a sparking finger in warning, and finally turns to glance over his shoulder. He can humor him, it won’t take long. “You better not be calling her that to… Oh.” Hanta can feel the smile sliding off of his face, and he knows that Denki is going to give him hell for it later, but Denki was right. 
You’re absolutely lovely, from the top of your head down to your toes and he feels like an utter fool, staring at you like some slack jawed idiot.
“I know, right?” Denki says, elbowing Hanta in the shoulder. “But, seeing as I saw her first-”
“Hey Camie!” Hanta shouts, waving to ensure her attention, completely speaking over Denki and ignoring his muttered expletives. “Long time no see!”
Camie doesn’t do the quick turn-around, honestly she’s too popular to try and find every person who calls her name, but she flips her hair over her shoulder and glances their way- and she’s smiling. She latches onto you, motioning in their direction. Cool, Hanta thinks, heart pounding. She’s coming over, she’s going to introduce us to her friend, this is-
“Camie! Hey, how’s it-” Denki starts to make his trademark finger gun again, which has Camie laughing as she tugs you to a stop. 
“Chargebolt, Cellophane,” Camie says, and Hanta could almost swear she was smirking when she said his hero name. She introduces you without preamble, but the way she says your name is more than passingly fond. 
Denki snaps his fingers as soon as she does. “That’s why I know you! That editorial with those stellar lights? You did great!” He whistles, which leaves Hanta with raised eyebrows. “Model,” Denki explains, expression sly. He opens his mouth, ready to continue talking up a storm, but Camie suddenly latches onto his arm.
“Oh my god, Chargebolt, you have to meet someone - we’ll catch you two later!” Camie throws over her shoulder, nearly dragging Denki off into the crowd. 
Hanta turns back to ask what that was about and is nearly bowled over by the dazzling smile you’re directing his way.
“That wasn’t obvious at all, was it?” You ask, laughing like you’re shy. The look on your face is full of confidence, even though your hands are twisting nervously, but Hanta still feels like a fool because he is like- two steps behind on all of this. Something was obvious, and he has no idea what it was because all he can think is-
“Obvious?” Hanta asks, and feels a horrific blush crawling up his throat when you offer him your hand and introduce yourself again. “Oh! Ah, Sero Hanta,” he murmurs, hoping desperately that his hand isn’t sweaty or clammy. You don’t pull away or exclaim in disgust, so he thinks, or hopes, rather, that he’s in the clear. “So, you model?” He asks, sure that he’s acting the dunce
“Minor amount of hero work, so modelling has been my go-to. I like it, actually, but- and this might seem a little silly: I wanted you to know, I have been a fan of yours for a while-” 
Hanta’s heart speeds. “No kidding? That is- that’s awesome-” For a moment he has no idea where to go with this. Is he overthinking things? You said fan, there’s no way that you- “Uh, hey, want a drink while we chat?” He jerks his thumb at the bartender, who is slowly making his way back towards Hanta, and relief floods him when you smile again. 
“I’d love that,” you say, moving closer to the bar - and Hanta, hell, he can feel the warmth of you near his shoulder - while you wait to order. The longer you stay, the easier it gets for him to loosen up, and you don’t look like you’re trying to search for a way out. Hanta still thinks he doesn’t have a chance in hell of scoring your number, but you’re gorgeous and funny and- he is totally developing a crush on you, and is more than willing to spend the rest of his evening by your side. You discuss some of your work while you wait for the drink, but even after you accept the glass, you don’t really light up until you turn to him with questions about his latest hero exploits. If he didn’t know better, he would think you were a journalist - it’s all too easy for you to get him talking.
“You have got to tell me about that insect villain you took down a couple weeks ago - the tape as a web?” You give him a small thumbs up before you take a sip of your drink. You then have to set it down and laugh because Hanta knows he’s blushing now. Truth be told, he’d been a little embarrassed about the web thing. “Are you blushing?” You ask, reaching up to tap a single finger against his cheek. You don’t sound like you’re making fun of him or anything though. You sound like- like you’re flirting, and Hanta is pretty sure you are way out of his league.
It feels like it takes eons to get the story out, but you seem to think he’s as quick witted as his interviews typically show him. You laugh at his jokes and let him ramble, but he’s pleased to find that you’re perfectly willing to discuss your interests too. 
“To be honest,” you say in a whisper, leaning in close so he can hear it over the milling crowd. “I would much rather be home in sweatpants.” You straighten, gesturing down at your carefully tailored outfit. “Honestly, who can live in clothes like this?”
Hanta snorts into his drink and nearly chokes. “If it’s any consolation,” he offers, taking the small stack of bar napkins you hand him and wiping his face. “You can rock just about anything. Sweatpants should be more widely accepted.”
Hanta feels like he’s on cloud nine. The conversation never slows down and before he realizes it, the charity event is nearly done, you’ve strolled through the room with him twice over, arm hooked in his- and Denki and Camie are still nowhere in sight. He… Doesn’t really want the evening to end. 
“They’re wrapping up,” you say with a sigh, glancing up at the stage. It feels like his heart shoots up into his throat. He wants to ask for your number, but what if you’d just been passing the time with him because- “Listen, I have to head out - early work day tomorrow,” you explain, an apology in the downward curl of your lips. “But we should do this again sometime!”
Hanta blinks in surprise. “Yeah?” He asks, still feeling like he’s two steps behind as you tap something out on your phone and then turn it his way. You’re- you’re asking for his number! Hanta knows that he’s smiling, can feel the ache in his cheeks, but all he can think about is his name in your phone, followed by ~Cellophane~ and a web emoji. Never mind his previous embarrassment, if that stupid insect villain helped score him a date with you, he’s going to send the guy a care package in jail. 
“Can’t miss the chance to get to know you better,” you tease and then carefully take your phone back, fingers flying over the screen. A moment later, his phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out to see a string of emojis in his notifications, ending with a kissing face. 
He’s going to combust. 
“Wonderful,” you declare, smile turning a little nervous. “Maybe next time you’re free we can go on a date and-” 
Hanta trips, but you steady him before he can fall. When he straightens up he hurriedly agrees to the date, ignoring the fact that’s probably a vibrant red- and from somewhere across the room, he hears Denki whooping.    
Despite exchanging numbers and trying to plan an actual date though, the both of you end up being terribly busy a good portion of the time. Hanta’s versatile quirk takes him out of the city frequently, and so does your modeling. For the next two weeks you both have to settle for texting, which is frequent, or calling, which is less so. At one point you get to video chat, though it feels like something straight out of a comic book, because Hanta props his phone on building ledge and takes down a small group of villains with leaping quirks in between conversation. One of the villains tries to make a snide comment about Cellophane’s girlfriend and ends up in a tape cocoon, hanging upside down.
He surprises you with coffee once on a shoot, and is nearly mobbed with attention for his trouble. In the end you only get to spend about 10 minutes in his company before his phone is ringing and you’re being called back by the photographer. Both of you enjoy your work, you understand, but- it’s getting a little frustrating when you’re on each other's minds so much, and all you can do is grab a few spare hours together, and never all at once. 
“Call in,” Camie says over the phone one afternoon, tapping awkwardly at a keyboard. You’re fairly sure she’s trying out some new promotional product - Camie gets so many gifts from fans and companies that you’re not sure she knows what to do with them all. 
“But I-”
“He has the day off and you’re only due for something minor - seize that moment,” Camie insists, and then pops her bubblegum right next to the phone. She apologizes almost immediately, though you still have to rub at your ear to stop the stinging. 
“I’m just a little nervous, it’s our first date-”
“Pssh. First?? Didn’t you grab lunch together twice this week?” 
You have to pause before you answer that one. Did you? You count silently and then shrug, even though she can’t see you. “Yeah, but-”
“And breakfast last week. Are you classifying a date as dinner or-” Camie’s muffled laughter echoes over the line, followed quickly by a scraping noise as she pushes the keyboard away from her. “You two have been dating since the charity.”
Camie is.. Most definitely right. You just haven’t quite noticed. The rising tension between the two of you is almost overwhelming, and it’s all you can think about whenever he has to head out or back to work or you get called in for a show. You call out on the small job tomorrow, and immediately let Hanta know you’re free. 
Part of you expects the day to be a bit awkward. You’ve both been out of your mind trying to scrape together every spare second, but when you see him walk through the restaurant door all you feel is an overwhelming sense of joy. It’s still a little odd to see him in casual clothes, though to be honest, you’re fairly sure he could be a model himself, if he had any interest in it.  
“That’s a big smile,” Hanta teases, though he doesn’t have any room to speak with his megawatt grin lighting up the room. He pulls out a chair to join you, and then his expression turns a little goofy when he realizes you ordered his coffee for him. “Something good happen this morning?”
“Other than getting to spend time with you?” You shrug, all nonchalance, and then pause, tapping your fingers against the side of your mug. “So it’s been pointed out to me that… Well, we’ve kind of been dating this whole time?”
Hanta freezes with his drink halfway to his mouth. 
“I mean, we do grab meals together all the time and even though we’ve been lamenting not having a first date, we’ve kind of-”
“Had a whole bunch?” He asks, cheeks turning rosy. “Yeah. That’s- ‘s kinda true, huh? Are you… Are you happy about that?”
“Yes,” you blurt, and then both of you are laughing. During breakfast, at least, the tension eases and the both of you are finally able to grab more than a few minutes of conversation. You get to talk about more than just daily updates, or the quality of the food and it’s- it’s everything you both have been wanting. 
The day blazes by, though tension starts to amp up with every little touch between the two of you, every second more spent in one another's company. There’s always been attraction between you, but now- now there’s feelings involved. He’s sweet, and funny, and has a fierce love for orange flavored everything- and his hand curling around your wrist when he helps you down some stairs has your heart pounding. He laughs whenever you tease him, like he can’t believe his good luck, and you catch sight of his jaw starting to drop whenever you bite or lick your lips. He’s made frequent aborted movements all day, like he’s going to try and kiss you, or he’s shifting in his seat to adjust himself- You don’t feel any better. You have to stop yourself from tugging on stray locks of his hair or pulling him in close for a hug whenever you have to wait in line for food or tickets, just because you want to feel him pressed against you.
Halfway through dinner you stretch your leg, and your foot brushes against his ankle- and then both of you freeze like you have stage fright. 
“Trying to play footsie?” Hanta teases, smiling down at his meal. “I mean, I can’t blame you- have you seen my legs? I do a lot of squats-” He laughs, hiding his face when you flick a small bit of food his way. He brushes the crumb off, but his smile stays just as vibrant as ever. 
“Seriously?” You ask, trying to keep a straight face while kicking gently at his shoe. “All the ways you could have worded that and you joke about squats?” You shake your head, though your heart beats double time when he catches your foot between his ankles. This is getting ridiculous, knowing how much you want each other. 
So you can admit that you’ve had a few dates now. It’s just that… You’ve never been alone when you do. Coworkers usually abound, and even if they’re not in the immediate vicinity, you know they’re watching, for curiosity’s sake, or for gossiping reasons- neither of you have had the chance to just be alone. The last few hours, it’s been all you can do not to breathlessly ask him to take you back to his place because you want to kiss him, damn it, and… Either of you smooching someone in public is sure to warrant a tabloid photo somewhere. It’s not that you mind that, but you’d rather keep a few things to yourself, thanks much.
“Alright,” you decide aloud, pushing away your half eaten plate. “I say we take this to go, and unless you’re busy tomorrow, I- what are you-” You turn your head to see what Hanta is waving at, and see the waiter coming your way. 
“If you’re going to say what I think you are, I’m grabbing the check,” he clarifies. “...please tell me if I thought wrong though? Because if I did, I’m probably going to pay and then eat the receipt because embarrassment is nigh.”
You have to hide your smile behind your hand. “No, you thought right. Receipt eating will not be necessary.”
You run into a few minor issues along the way - a detour because of a hero and villain battle up ahead, and then a group of teen girls make a beeline for you when you decide to make a pit stop at a convenience store- you don’t particularly mind the last, though you promise yourself you’re going to pinch Hanta later. He’s standing in another aisle, mimicking their excitement, just tall enough for you to see over the shelves. When you finally make it to Hanta’s place, you swear you can hear your pulse in your ears, and Hanta is no better. He fumbles with his keys and keeps glancing at you out of the corner of his eye, like he’s afraid if he blinks you’re just going to wink out of existence.
As soon as Hanta locks the door between you two and the rest of the world, you stop thinking. He sweeps you up into his arms, nearly lifting you off of the floor, and plants a kiss on you that has your brain short circuiting. Every little moment, every little stolen touch or time you’d held hands was just building up that pool of desire and now it feels like you can barely breathe through it. Hanta’s fingers press just right into your hips and he groans when you bite his lower lip as run your hand through his hair. He lets you tilt his head to the side, tugging on the hair in your hand and curses as soon as your mouth touches his neck. 
“You have no idea how long I’ve been thinking about this,” he tells you, shoulders shifting. “You keep getting this look on your face-” He says, and you gasp, legs wrapping around his hips reflexively as he hauls you up into his arms. “And all I can think about is you making that face in bed.”  You let him carry you through his house, clutching precariously to his shoulders. 
“Maybe you should show me,” you say, and then squeak when he falls back on his bed with no warning. He laughs when he sees your face, but then seems to realize that his hands are still wrapped around your thighs and you’re on top of him and- His expression goes a little slack. You shift, and Hanta shudders as you brush against him.
“You’re so fucking warm,” he mutters, glancing between you like he’s expecting to see bare skin already. You rock against him again, just to see the blissful look on his face and start slipping off your clothes. His hands slide from your thighs back up to your hips as you do, breath growing a little short as he watches you with wide eyes. “You’re gonna kill me,” he mutters, moving his hands further up your body. “You know that? Just looking at you is making it hard to functi-” You press yourself against him, leaving him speechless. His thumbs just barely brush over your breasts before you’re sliding off of him to ditch the rest of your clothes.
Hanta tries to follow suit, but keeps fumbling, moving too fast- you’re fairly sure you hear the tell-tale sound of something ripping, but as soon as he’s free of the constriction, he’s tugging you back into his arms. You’ve been waiting for so long to kiss Hanta that every brush of lips has you going back in for more. He stumbles back against the bed, hands stroking over your shoulder blades and then makes a wrecked noise against your mouth when you take his erection in hand. When you squeeze him, his knees start to buckle. 
“Trying to take the lead, huh?” He breathes out, fingers trembling against your spine as he presses a wet kiss against your shoulder. “Get me on my knees? Or do-” Hanta curses when you start stroking and follows your gentle push towards the bed. He sits, and lays down at your prompting. 
“Mm, I like the way you talk to me,” you murmur, straddling his legs and leaning down for another kiss. Part of you thinks you should take your time, but this drawn out wait has been frustrating, and Hanta doesn’t seem to have any complaints about the speed. When you press him between your thighs this time, Hanta hands spasm.
“Fucking wet,” he mumbles, lifting his head so he can see. The wait was definitely worth it - he’s ridiculously warm when you rock your hips, pressing him inside you, and between the feeling and look on his face. “Do I- fuck, do I have to stay still?” He asks, hands still frozen between your back and your hips. 
“Do you want to?” You can’t help asking, and then you’re clutching at his shoulders for purchase as he thrusts up into you. 
“N-no. I want to touch, want to try and-” It takes a moment before you both find a rhythm, timing his thrusts with the rocking of your hips, all the while he’s telling you how beautiful you are, how much he’s been thinking about you, how he dreamed less than a week ago of finally having you in his office. “Was a- a mess when I woke up,” he pants, reaching up to curl his fingers around the back of your neck. He pulls you in close enough to kiss, but he’s still talking. “And then you called, and your voice-” Hanta finally seems to run out of words. His hips stutter and then his thighs start to tremble when you kiss him, swallowing down the noise he’s making. You think he might be getting close, but then he’s wrapping arms around you and rolling you onto your back. 
The angle change has you hurriedly breaking the kiss, your back arching, leaving your mouth almost numb from all the attention. Hanta shifts until the front of his thighs are pressed to the back of yours and picks the pace back up. His cheeks are flushed and his hair is sticking to his forehead, and then he’s reaching between your thighs to press his thumb to your clit and you’re seeing stars. You vaguely recall him saying your name, but you’re shaking and trying to catch your breath- and then Hanta is pulling out of your and coming over your abdomen, his hands clutching at your knees. 
He laughs almost as soon as he’s finished, brushing hair out of his face. “Ahh, I seriously thought I wasn’t going to make it,” he tells you, only the smallest amount of shame in his face. “I have been a mess since that morning you called. I thought for sure you could hear my thoughts and any minute you were going to say something about-”
“Hanta, you are ridiculous.”
“-ly good in bed?” He finishes with a cocky smile, standing up and then frowning down at the pile of clothes on the floor. “Lemme grab a towel.”
He leaves before you can answer, but you call out: “That too!” and relax back against the comforter, a smile on your face. Your phone buzzes on the floor, but you flat out ignore it. All you really want to do is take a break for cleanup, and maybe some food, and bring Hanta back to bed. After all, you waited long enough, didn’t you?
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gimmeyoon · 5 years ago
Text
Drink About [2]
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      ↳ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader x Jin
      ↳ Setting: College AU
      ↳ Word Count: 5.7k
      ↳ Warnings: M: for mature, Smut (fingering (f), marking, dirty talk, unprotected sex (no glove, no love friends) a heated Spider Man debate that may or may not reflect my own opinions, don’t @ me)
      ❝you just wanted to get drunk and dance and now he’s all you think about❞
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     "All I'm saying," Sana said, as she, you, and Joy made your way to the main dining hall on campus, "is that Tom Holland is more characteristic of the comic book Spider-Man and he actually seems like a teenager."
    "Okay, but Tobey Maguire seemed like a teenager to me when the movies came out," Joy argued. "It's all about perspective."
    "Perspective," Sana laughed.
     They had been arguing the finer points of which Spider-Man was the superior since you had left your apartment 10-minutes ago, and even as you neared the dining hall, there was no coming to an agreement in sight.
     Unless you counted the fact that neither of them had mentioned Andrew Garfield as an agreement.
     They didn't stop their discussion, even as the three of you passed your student IDs to the worker at the entrance who sent you a small smile that seemed to say, 'I feel your pain and I am sorry you must endure this.'
    You make your way to your favorite part of the dining hall, walking a little ahead of your friends, as to not be associated with how loudly they are still fighting over the better Spider-Man. Just as you see your usual table, someone rounds the corner and bumps into you, uttering a sorry almost as soon as it happened.
     You know the voice before you look up, hesitantly meeting Jungkook's wide eyes. You haven't seen him since you kissed nearly two weeks ago, and you find yourself smiling stupidly, just happy to see him again.
     "Hi," you said, your voice quiet as Sana and Joy approach you.
     "Hi," he replied, silence falling as Sana and Joy stopped to join the two of you.
     "Uh," you started, looking between your friends. "We were just discussing the better Spider-Man portrayal."
     You can see Joy looking over at you with a face that no doubt says you were not discussing anything, but you pay her no mind as Jungkook lights up at the topic.
     "Tobey Maguire, obviously."
     "Yes," Joy said, a little too emphatically. "Thank you for having some common sense."
     He nods his head, silence falling between the four of you. It feels like the longest awkward silence you have ever endured, a weight on your shoulders as you pray for anyone to say anything, literally anything.
     "Well," Jungkook starts, offering a small smile, before motioning that he needs to get past the three of you.
    "Oh, right," you said, a little too quickly, as you shuffle to get out of his way, pushing Sana as you move in her direction.
     His smile is genuine this time, when he said, "thanks," and moved on to the buffet line.
     "Riveting," Joy whispered, laughing as soon as you reached your table.
     "Shut up," you said, glaring at her.
     "He was probably just nervous, " Sana said. "I mean you made it sound really romantic when you told us about it, and he seemed nervous about kissing you, so he's probably just nervous about talking to you PFK."
     "PFK?" Joy asked, as the three of you walked back towards the buffet, you table now secured.
     "Post-first kiss."
     "Your mind," Joy said, imitating a chef's kiss.
     "Enough," you whispered, as Jungkook came into view again.
     "Do you actually think we're stupid enough to talk about him while he's right there?"
      You looked at Joy and smiled. "My mom said if I don't have anything nice to say-"
     Joy mock-gasped as she turned to Sana.
     Sana shook her head. "After all this time; I thought we were friends."
     "Sorry you had to find out this way."
     The three of you moved through the line, you trying your best not to stare at Jungkook ahead of you and almost sighing in relief once he was out of your sight. You were sure Sana was right, he was probably just nervous. That's why you hadn't reached out to him, so how could you hold it against him. He always seemed so confident around his friends, it was almost jarring to think that he could get nervous.
     You were able to make it through dinner without any more teasing from Sana and Joy, though you did find yourself looking over at Jungkook's table periodically, despite knowing it was not in your best interest. You're almost certain Taehyung saw you staring at one point, but you tried to play it off like you were scanning the whole dining hall.
     Sana is talking about a picture some girl posted on Instagram, when you see him out of the corner of your eye. You try not to make it obvious by whipping you head in his direction, but as you slowly turn to face him, you realize Jungkook is approaching your table. A nervous glance towards his friends, confirms that they are in fact watching this exchange, wide smiles plastered on their faces, as the yell something you can't quite make out.
    Jungkook looks back at them though, turning his red ears to you as he does so.
    "Breathe," Joy said beside you, which confirms your worst fear, that you looked like an absolute idiot right now.
    It feels like an eternity before he makes it to the table, your heart beating quickly in your chest the whole time.
   "Hey," he started, pushing his hair behind his ears. "So, um, how have you been?"
   You nod your head, though he hasn't asked a question. "Good, yeah, good. And you?"
   "Good," he agreed, with a head nod of his own.
    You wonder if this is more painfully awkward than when you approached him at the Beta Tau party. You think it might be because there are more witnesses this time.
    "I wanted to text you," Jungkook said, breaking the heavy silence surrounding the two of you. "But I realized I don't have your number, and there was something about sliding into your dms that felt... creepy." He laughed nervously at this and rubbed the back of his neck.
   He looked cute as he did this, and you couldn't help but smile at him, feeling more relaxed. You weren't sure if it was the relief that he hadn't ghosted you because he didn't like you or the fact that he clearly was as nervous as you were, but you felt as if a weight had been removed from your chest as he looked down at his hand that rested on the table.
   "I wouldn't have thought it was creepy," you replied.
   "Because she likes you," Joy added.
   You turned to glare at her, just as Jungkook began laughing.
   "Good," he said. "I like her too."
   "Really?" you said, turning back to him.
   "I thought I made it clear," he started, looking between Sana and Joy.
   "When you kissed her?" Joy offered, a teasing tone to her voice, that had Jungkook's attention returning to his hands.
   "Yeah."
   "Ignore her," you said, leaning forward so that you were in their line of sight. "I can give you my number. That way you don't have to feel creepy about reaching out to me."
   "Yeah?" he smiled. "Awesome." He pulled his phone from his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it over to you. "Would you wanna hang out sometime this week?" he asked, as you typed your number in.
   "Sure," you said, looking up at him with a smile so wide your cheeks hurt a little.
   "Cool," he replied, nodding his head. "I'll text you the plan," he said, as you handed him his phone back.
   "Great."
   He smiled at you one last time, before waving at the table and walking back to his friends. Once he was back with his friends, Sana squealed beside you.
    "You're both somewhere between awkward-as-hell and would do anything to get a date with the other," Joy said, laughing a little. "I want to be a part of your date so bad, just because I can't tell if you'll have the best night of your life or you'll both sit in silence."
    "Shut up," you grumbled, as Sana pulled you into an awkward seated hug.
    "Don't listen to her," your friend said. "She would be just as nervous if Dean tried to talk to her."
    "When did this become about me?"
    Sana and Joy continued to bicker like the old married couple they might as well be, but you only paid a little bit of attention as you focused on the way Jungkook's friends were teasing him in the exact same way. Jimin, you were sure that was his name now, had pulled Jungkook into the same awkward congratulatory hug that Sana was holding you in.
    Joy was probably right. The two of you were similar and that was either going to make or break your date.
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   A few days later you find yourself at the town's bowling alley with Jungkook. As expected, you both were mostly silent as you took the bus to the alley, but that was pretty normal behavior for public transportation.
   Jungkook had insisted on paying for the rental shoes and the two games he had signed you both up for, and you couldn't tell him no because it was the most serious you had seen him. He even made a point of reminding you that you paid for his meal at waffle house, which you reminded him went against every fiber in your being because he had the audacity to order a burger, and eventually the two of you agreed that you would buy the snacks after the first game.
    You were a little surprised when Jungkook said that you would be going bowling today. You couldn't remember the last time you had been bowling, but as Jungkook got ready for your turn, you realized he was taking this game very seriously. You knew he was competitive, but as he wiped his ball down with a cloth, you were beginning to think this was a hobby of his.
    "Jungkook," you started, drawing his attention away from the ball. "Do you bowl?"
    "Sometimes," he shrugged. "The have Rock n' Bowl on Thursdays, so occasionally Beta Tau comes here after pregaming for drinks and bowling."
    "Drunk bowling," you mused. "sounds about right."
    "Does it count as shenanigans?" he asked, his smile making his eyes crinkle at the sides.
    "Well that depends, was the plan to end up at Rock n' Bowl, because if so it's not shenanigans."
    "Ah, so shenanigans must always be unplanned."
    "Yes," you said, as Jungkook made his way to the lane. You watched him fight the urge to raise his fist in victory as he knocked all except two of the pins down on his first try. He managed to get the second two as well, claiming a spare.
    "Are you good at everything?" you asked as he turned back at you, looking very proud of himself.
    "No," he said, blushing slightly. "I'm not very good at school."
    "What's your major," you asked, as you stood to grab your own ball.
    "Undecided," he replied, and by the tone of his voice you could tell he didn't want to talk about it. It really wasn't a big deal, it was normal to be undecided, but you figured telling him that wouldn't make him feel any better, so you dropped the subject, and bowled your turn.
    You knocked four pins down. which Jungkook pretended to think was a good turn. As if he hadn't gotten a spare right before you.
    "What about you?" Jungkook asked, as he sat down after getting another spare. "What are you good at? Besides shenanigans, obviously."
    "Obviously," you echoed with a laugh, as you stood up to take your turn.
    "But seriously, what do you like to do?"
    You frowned as you managed to only knock down one pin. "I mostly focus on school," you replied turning to him. "I guess I don't feel like I have a ton of time for anything other than my dream."
    "Which is?" he asked, a fondness in his eyes.
    "I want to be a social worker," you said, before turning your focus to the bowling lane. You managed to get 6 more pins, a pretty okay turn in your opinion.
    "That's cool," he said, not moving to get up as you sat down beside him. "Why is that your dream?"
    "I just like to help people," you shrugged. "My mom and I volunteered at social services a lot while I was growing up, and I always felt proud of myself after. I want to do something that makes me proud."
    "That's beautiful," he replied, no teasing in his voice as Joy probably would have.
    "Thanks," you said. "It's kind of all I've been focusing on since I was a sophomore in high school. Joy and Sana couldn't believe I dropped my schedule to go out with you tonight," you said, blushing a little at the honesty. You had planned to write a paper tonight, but seeing Jungkook felt more important. You can't think of any other time you had felt such a way.
    "Oh no, I'm sorry," he said, looking just as embarrassed as you felt.
    "No, no, no," you said a little too quickly. "It's really okay, they just like to tease me because I'm anal about things like that."
    You realize what you've said as Jungkook quirks his head to the side, his brow furrowing.
    "Like a control freak," you said quickly, trying to amend your poor choice of words quickly. "It's a common word used to describe uptight people."
    Jungkook nods his head, and that should be enough for you to stop, but you can't force back the word vomit.
    "It comes from Freud, he coined Anally retentive."
    "So, you're smart," Jungkook chuckled, causing you to release a breath you didn't know you were holding.
    "And a klutz," you nervously laughed, hoping your self-deprecation would help make you feel better. It worked a little, especially when Jungkook smiled and shook his head.
    "You're cute," he said, pushing his hair behind his ear, as he stood to take his turn.
     You replayed that moment in your mind for the rest of the night, and even after he kissed you outside of your apartment again, this time more sure of himself.
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    Joy and Sana soon grew used to finding you and Jungkook at the kitchen table with a pile of books and papers surrounding you. Jungkook had taken your comment about your schedule seriously, and insisted that he wouldn't stop you from following it, but rather join you. That meant he ended up studying with you almost every night in lieu of an actual date.
    Jungkook swore he didn't mind though. He smiled brightly when he showed you how his test grades had improved. He offhandedly made a comment that his parents would be proud to know dating you was making him a good student. You thought about that for weeks. You wondered if he liked you enough to introduce you to his parents. You wondered if he liked you enough to actually ask you to be his girlfriend.
    Tonight was very much the same as every other night, Jungkook and you working silently on your own homework, occasionally taking breaks to talk and actually spend time together that didn't involve school.
    You're in the middle of writing a paper for one of your sociology classes when Jungkook excuses himself to go to the bathroom. You look up when he returns, and he holds up the geode he gave you on your first night together.
   "You cracked it open," he said, looking at the crystals inside the rock.
   "Was I not supposed to?" you ask, a little worried that you might not be familiar with the common curtesy laws of geodes.
   "No," he replied, shaking his head. "I just didn't know you kept it, let alone opened it."
   "Of course I kept it," you said, standing from your seat and walking towards him. "Besides," you started, taking the geode from his hands. "This was in my room, not the bathroom."
   Jungkook smiled widely as you walked back to your room. "I made a detour on the way back."
     "Creep," you replied, as you placed the geode back on your night stand. You turned around coming face to face with Jungkook, who was looking fondly back at you.
    "You kept it," he said again.
    You rolled your eyes, as you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. "Of course I kept it," you said before kissing him. "I kind of like you or whatever," you said, pulling away from him.
     "Yeah?" he said, following behind you. "I kind of like you too," he teased, as the two of you sat back down to do your work.
    "Liar," you said, not looking up from your paper. "You're clearly obsessed with me, creeping into my room like that."
    Jungkook laughed beside you causing you to look up at him.
    "Yeah," he admitted, his eyes twinkling with delight as he looked back at you. "I am obsessed with you."
    "How could you not be?" you teased looking back at your papers. "I'm the total package."
    "Definitely," he agreed, grabbing your pen from your hand and bringing your attention back to him. He motioned towards himself with the pen, earning a raised eyebrow from you in question. Rolling his eyes, he leaned into you and kissed you again.
    "Studying," you breathed, as you opened your eyes to look at him again. "We're supposed to be studying."
    "What if we study each other?" he asked, kissing you again.
    "Gross," you said, when he pulled away again.
    "Yeah, not my best work," he agreed with a laugh.
    "Focus," you smiled, grabbing your pen back from him.
    "Yes, ma'am," he teased, sticking his tongue out at you as he went back to his homework. You tore your eyes away from him fighting everything in your body that said you would much rather spend time studying that tongue than writing this paper.
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    "_____!" Taehyung called as you walked into Beta Tau Sigma with Joy and Sana. "Jeon, your girlfriend is here!" he yelled across the crowded hallway, causing you to cringe.
    "There's no need to announce my appearance like a town crier," you laughed as Taehyung pulled you into a hug.
    "Of course there is," he said, looking appalled that you would even suggest such a thing. "You are always a guest of honor at Beta Tau."
    "Is that so?" you asked, placing your hand over your heart.
    "Is what so?" Jungkook asked as he stopped beside Taehyung.
    "It turns out I'm a guest of honor," you said, winking at Taehyung as you did so.
    "And your girlfriend," Joy added, earning a giggle from Sana and an elbow to the ribs from you.
    Jungkook glares at Taehyung for this, only receiving a boxy smile from his friend.
    "Ignore her," you said, moving to grab Jungkook's hand a lead him deeper into the party. "See you later, Taehyung," you called over your shoulder.
    "And what about us?" Joy called back.
    "See you later, Sana. Joy, suck my ass."
    "You wish," she called back, a smile on her face.
    You turned back to look at Jungkook as you entered Beta Tau's living room. "Sorry about her."
    Jungkook shook his head. "She's right. I should officially ask you."
    "I don't care," you replied, though it was partially a lie. You never called Jungkook your boyfriend because you didn't want to assume this was anything more than what the two of you had defined it as. And based on the zero conversations you had actually had about your relationship standing, you had no clue what he thought.
    You knew he liked you, you knew you were dating, and you knew you were having sex, but if Jungkook wanted to put a label on any of that, he hadn't said anything close until now.
    "Taehyung probably said that since I call you my girlfriend all the time," he said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world and didn't make your heart beat erratically and give you the overwhelming desire to jump his bones right here in the middle of the party.
    "Oh?" you said, trying to keep your cool and not sound like some girl obsessed with the thought of being called his girlfriend.
    "Yeah," he admits, bashfully, looking away from you. "Is that okay?" he turned back to you, his doe eyes wide.
    "I wouldn't mind being your girlfriend," you said, smiling widely. "Has a nice ring to it."
    "Yeah," he smiled, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his side. "I could get used to being your boyfriend."
    "I mean," you said, looking up at him, a smirk on your face. "I didn't consent to that."
    "Oh?" he asked, a laugh of disbelief following it. "So you're my girlfriend, but I can't be your boyfriend?"
    "Well you never asked to be my boyfriend."
    "I assumed they went hand-in-hand," he said.
    "Listen, we can discuss the terms later," you said, earning a chuckle of amusement as you grabbed his hand that rested on your shoulder and led him to the kitchen. "How about we do it over drinks?" you asked, grabbing two White Claws from the fridge, and handing one to him.
    "I mean, if you insist," he said, leaning against the kitchen counter. You moved to stand between his legs, smiling up at him as he wrapped an arm around your waist.
    Sitting the drink on the counter, Jungkook leaned in to kiss you, his hand on your waist pulling you flush to his body.
    "Can I be your boyfriend now?" he asked, pulling away from you.
    When you opened your eyes, you saw him looking back at you with a smirk on his face, clearly proud of his methodology.
    "I don't know," you teased, knowing good-and-well that there was nothing that could convince you otherwise. "I might need to reexamine that evidence."
    "Are you sure you want to be a social worker, and not a lawyer?" he laughed, kissing you quickly on the forehead, before grabbing his drink again.
    You couldn't help but pout as he brought the drink to his lips instead of kissing you again.
    "What?" he asked, his eyes filled with mirth as he teased you.
    "Nothing," you sighed in exaggeration, as you drank your own drink.
    "Wouldn't it be nice to have a boyfriend, so you could kiss him whenever you wanted?" he asked, his eyebrows raising.
    "I can see the appeal," you replied nonchalantly, sipping at your drink.
     Jungkook grabbed your drink from your hand, placing both his and yours on the counter, before lightly grabbing your face and leaning in towards you. "Let me be your boyfriend," he smiled, before pressing a light kiss to your lips.
    "M'kay," you hummed, leaning in to kiss him again. Jungkook laughed against your lips before kissing you back, hungrier this time, without a care for the party that was going on all around you.
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    You've spent almost every night at Beta Tau Sigma for the past month. Joy and Sana pretend not to miss you, but the few nights you've stayed at the apartment, they've insisted on having an adult slumber party (exactly the same as regular slumber parties, but with wine).
    You like routines, and this is a routine you really like, having become used to waking up in Jungkook's arms. His place made more sense, because he had a 9:10 that he needed to go to and you could head to your’s after going to the gym in the morning. All you had to do was shove your workout clothes into your backpack every night before heading over to Beta Tau. It was easy, and on the days when you both had late starts, it just felt more natural to go to the house than to constantly switch where you slept.
    The only downside was having Jimin exclusively refer to you as different versions of "frat rat," though Jungkook was always ready to defend your honor and was bigger than his brother, meaning Jimin often insisted he was joking through his laughter as Jungkook tackled him against a wall. Neither meaning any harm of course.
    As the sun bleeds through Jungkook's blinds and draws you awake, you instinctually turn into his arms, one thrown lazily over your body, the other propping his head up, a little bit of drool falling from his mouth. You laugh quietly as you snuggle closer to him, his arm drawing tighter around you as your movement stirs him awake.
   "Morning," he mumbled, smacking his lips as he pulls you flush to his body.
   "Morning," you echoed, kissing him lightly before burying your face in his chest, breathing in the scent of him as it surrounded you in the early morning hours.
   You lay like this for a while, silently enjoying each other's presence. Jungkook rubs circles lightly into your back, the only true sign he hasn't fallen back asleep, and you sporadically place soft kisses to his chest, collarbone, neck, and the like.
    With no warning, Jungkook rolls the two of you over, him landing on top, and starts attacking your neck with kisses. You giggled as his nose brushes lightly against your throat, the tickling sensation quickly replaced with pleasure as he begins nipping at the same spot.
    "No," you mumbled half-heartedly, in an attempt to stop him from leaving a mark. Jungkook complies, kissing your body lower and lower until he reaches your breasts. He places a kiss to your breast through the fabric of your t-shirt, or rather his t-shirt currently on your body, before moving to rid you of the material and leaving you in nothing but your panties.
    Jungkook instead nips and sucks at your breast, leaving his mark on a part of your body that can be hidden throughout the day. You've learned in your time together that Jungkook loves hickeys, he loves marking you as his own, and you love being marked as his. You wouldn't even mind him leaving them in a visible place, if you didn't have to go to class and look your professors in the eye.
     Your fingers find purchase in his hair as he claims your body as his own, tugging lightly as he focuses his attention on your nipple, nipping at it slightly before rolling his tongue around it. He looks up at you at your tugging, his eyes still a little sleepy and he offers you a lazy smile before moving lower down your body and disappearing under the duvet.
    "Jungkook," you laugh, attempting to kick the covers off of your body, but instead hitting your boyfriend.
    "Watch it," he laughs, pushing the covers off himself, his eyes bright with laughter as he looks up at you. "You want to see me or something?" he asks, his tone cocky.
    "Don't want you to suffocate," you lie, knowing full well you want to see him as he eats you out.
    His favorite meal in the morning he teased once, earning a punch in the arm from you, but the more you thought about it, the more you realized that was exactly how he treated your body. As if he was starved for you and couldn't get enough. You would never get tired of seeing that.
    He places a kiss to your hip, before removing your panties and throwing them across the room. He stares at your cunt with no shame, something that had you trying to shut your legs the first time he did it, but now made you feel powerful. He would do anything to have you, he had said so many times, and as he looked at you in a way no man had dared do before, you knew he was right. He never made sex feel meaningless, as if every time with you was the best sex of his life.
   He ran a finger up your slit, circling your clit once he reached it, and looked up at you to judge your reaction. It wasn't necessary, you reacted just as you always did, a blissful sigh leaving your lips as he finally turned his attention to where you wanted him most. He smiled as your eyes reopened to look down at him, just as he introduced a finger from his other hand to your cunt, pumping teasingly slow.
    The sound of your slick and breathing fills the room, Jungkook smiling as a moan tumbles from your lips. He adds a second finger scissoring you open, until you beg him for more. It feels good but it not enough to send you over the edge.
    Jungkook chuckles as he moves to kiss you softly and then with a passion you don't think you'll ever get used to.
    "Ready?" he asks as he reaches between your two bodies, gripping his cock.
    "Always," you smile, earning a snort from Jungkook as your legs come up by his arms.
    "Is that so?" he muses.
    You hum in agreement as he slides his tip in.
    "You just love my cock, yeah?" he asks, grunting a little as he continues to slide in.
    "God, yes," you agree; your legs pressing into his sides as your head falls back into the pillow.
    "Good girl," he says, now buried inside of you. "You take my cock so good, baby."
    You go to agree, but your words get lost as he begins to thrust at a devastating pace, that has another moan falling from your lips. Jungkook echoes your cries as you pussy clenches around him, a string of curses fall from his lips, as he moves so that his arms rest on either side of your face.
    "You look so beautiful," he says, smiling widely before kissing you messily.
    "You look pretty good too," you say between deep breaths after he finally pulls away from your lips.
    "You're going to look even better in a few minutes," he smirks, changing the position, so that he is kneeling between you, giving him access to your clit.
    "God I hope so," you replied as he began rubbing your clit, knowing that he's promising you an orgasm. You have no doubt, feeling it build with each thrust.
    "Close?" he asks a few moments later, panting a little as he continues his assault.
    "Yes," you reply, bringing your own hand to one of your nipples, and rolling it between your fingers.
    "You're killing me," he laughs leaning down to place a kiss to your collarbone before continuing his movements.
    Soon you're coming undone beneath him, Jungkook cursing in pleasure, as he pulls out from you, and pumps himself a few times before coming onto your breasts. His favorite place to cum, he'll never let you forget.
    You're panting, breathless when Jungkook falls down beside you, half-heartedly swatting at him to get you a towel or something. He laughs at this, burying his face in the pillow, before suddenly getting up and walking across the room to grab the towel he used last night to dry off.
    "For you," he says with a goofy smile, handing the towel to you.
     You roll your eyes as you accept it and clean yourself off. Jungkook falls back into bed as you do so, groaning about his early class time.
     "You've already had a great start to your morning," you said, throwing the towel towards his hamper, and rolling into his side.
    "Yeah," he started, placing a kiss to the top of your head. "but now i have to leave."
    "That's so sweet," you coo, leaning up to kiss him.
    "I know. You really have the best boyfriend in the world."
    "Oh absolutely," you agree, your tone slightly teasing him.
    "Uh-huh," he mumbles, his hold on you tightening as he shuts his eyes, as if he is catching his last few moments of sleep. "I love you."
    It feels as if the room goes completely silent. Neither of you have made such a claim before, though you knew you felt the same way about him. You don't know why it feels as if the air has been knocked from your lungs, but all you can do is stare back at him wide-eyed.
   His own eyes open as he looks down at you. "Well say something, please. I'm dying over here."
    "Liar,” you say, causing his eyes to widen. “you’re clearly obsessed with me.”
     He laughs at this, burying his face in your neck, before placing a kiss beneath your ear.
     “I love you too,” you admit, causing him to look back up at you.
    "Thank god," he smiled, laying back down and closing his eyes again. "I mean I showed you my dick, so if you didn't say it back, I'd have to murder you. Can't have anyone who's seen my dick walking around campus, just holding on to that knowledge."
    "But what's more important," you replied through your laughter. "Is you showed me your heart."
    Jungkook snorted as you placed your hand lightly over his chest. "That was so cheesy, I take what I said back."
    "Sorry, no take backs," you shrugged before moving to get out of bed.
    Jungkook reached for you trying to pull you back into bed, but you avoided his grasp and began putting his t-shirt back on, followed by the clothes you packed in your bag.
    "Wait, let's shower together," he pouted, rolling to the other side of his bed so he was closer to you.
    "I think I'll pass on the communal shower you share with your brothers, though I do feel disgusting right now," you said, pointing to your chest. "I'll just skip the gym today."
    "Deviating from your schedule?" Jungkook questioned, his eyes going faux wide as he pretended to gasp. "Who have you become?"
    "A slob," you replied, as you stood at the edge of the bed and kissed him one last time before turning to leave his room.
    "Aren't you forgetting something?" he called, causing you to scan the room.
    You shook your head no, while Jungkook continued to gesture to himself.
    "Anything you might need to say? Get off your chest?"
    "None that I can think of," you teased, turning back to the door and opening it to leave. "Oh," you said suddenly, turning back to face him.
    Jungkook smiled proudly at you, leaning back as if he was waiting to take it all in.
    "Don't forget your econ test tomorrow."
    "I know that means I love you," he yelled as you shut the door behind you.
    He was right. That was what it had always meant. Ever since you realized you were head-over-heels infatuated with him.  
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agentofship · 5 years ago
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My thoughts on episodes 1x05 through 1x10
I am very very late for my rewatch posts so I'm just going to do a mix of important things from episodes 5 to 10. First of all, it's the first time I'm noticing the pattern of the first part of the season. -The pilot sets up the show, presents each character and what will actually an important part of the main plot of the season. -0-8-4 is about making them a team -The Asset and Eye Spy is about setting up all the different dynamics (bus kids, Fitzsimmons, Skye and Ward, Coulson and May, etc …) Then, even though, there's of course a role for everyone in each episode, each one focuses on and gives either backstory or delves into the personality of one specific character. -In The Girl in The Flower Dress has Skye kind of betraying the team. We could get to meet Skye's boyfriend, her implication with The Rising Tide and what really made her join the team and her interest in SHIELD. This also sets up an important part of season two's plot about Skye's origins and the inhumans. Other things about this episode: Skye is the first one to get some but it clearly doesn't mean anything in term of happiness in relationships. Jemma is being really sweet and understanding about the whole situation. It's a good thing she understands you can do anything for someone you've been through a lot with because … Oh boy! You'd think Fitz is a bit jealous because he still has a crush on Skye but knowing what we know now, it's probably the betrayal that hurt the most. -In FZZT, we don't get backstory on Jemma (Will we ever?) but we get to know her better and to know that she's not just the cute, dorky, genius scientist, she's also very strong and can make the hard call and sacrifice herself to save everyone else if needed. Of course, her life being completely entwined with Fitz, it's logical that we also learn more about their relationship. Up to this point, they were acting siblings like and being the comic relief and suddenly, we see how much deeper their relationship is with that look they share at the "You've been beside the whole damn time" moment. And we also get the first hint that there might more than friendly feelings. Other things about this episode: That iconic bus kids scene will never not be funny. Skye "shadowing" her supervising officer and being an actual child. May interviewing that poor kid "have a cookie". The most adorable cheek kiss followed by the pillow hug. Fitz calling Jemma for the first time. Coulson not letting anyone taking away his dream team is awesome. -In The Hub, we don't get Fitz's backstory but we get to learn a lot more about him and how he's like without Jemma. During the mission, Ward is his usual badass spy self but we also learn that Fitz can also do well in the field. But where Ward lies and says what he thinks people want to hear to get what he wants, Fitz manages by being exactly himself. He uses science and gadgets to find a solution but also, he manages to be liked by Vladimir and that woman because he's cute and friendly and he drinks with them. And we know it's sincere because he worries about them later. That's the big difference with Ward and maybe a bit of foreshadowing. Also, he can't stop talking about Simmons (that bunny suit story was cute, Ward you asshole!) and that tells a lot about their relationship. Other things about this episode: The whole scene with Simmons, Sitwell and Skye, it's absolute gold and this whole episode is gold. Those scanners in the Hub saying "say cheese", that's cute 😄. The Hub is Disneyland fo FitzSimmons, they would totally wait in line for a pic with Victoria Hand. The sandwich of love saga begins. Love Jemma saying "you'll be careful" not "please be careful" or "will you be careful?". It's not a question or a demand, it's an affirmation. He just has to be careful because she cannot imagine loosing him. And that's the same sentence she'll use after finally realizing her feelings in 2x21. -In The Well, we learn a lot more about Ward and the whole story with his brothers. It's a very interesting backstory because it's the "typical" abusive brother or parent but it's more complicated and actually, the fact that his older brother made him do bad things to his little brother might be foreshadowing about about that scene with FitzSimmons where he's struggling between the sincere feelings he still has for them and his loyalty to Garrett along with the pressure. Also, the staff making him agressive also reveals the worse sides of him, especially with Fitz. Also, Fitz looking down and being speechless when Ward is an asshole is heartbreaking and maybe a sign of his father being abusive. Other things about this episode: Piloting an alien ship is totally on May's list. Thor IS dreamy. I looooove Randolph ❤️ Simmons loves dissecting stuff. May is super badass and she's scary as hell with the power of the whole staff. "You are easily the most beautiful thing ive seen in a thousand years." That was smooth. -In Repairs, we finally get to know more about May and why she's The Cavalry. We'll have to wait until season two to get the whole story but at least, we get a better idea along with a better understanding of her personality. She's not being robotic or cold when she shots the woman at the beginning, she just doesn't want to risk something horrible happening the other people around. But we can also that she has a nicer, more sensitive side when she listens to Skye's speech about forgiving mistakes and talks to Tobias. "Let the girl go" is totally a sentence she could have told herself. Her smile after pranking Fitz at the end is awesome. I love how so much of what May expresses is through facial expressions only. Other things about this episode: May and Ward will always be gross. Also, does no one ever wear bras in movies and TV? Fitz being called sir in season will always be funny (because he's a baby). That scene with May and the blinking lights is gorgeous. -The Bridge finally goes back to what is going to be the main plot of the season: The super soldiers, Cybertek, the Clairvoyant and the big mystery that is Coulson's death. Except for Yes Men who would really fit better in the first part of the season, every episode from 1x10 on will be more or less linked to the main plot of the season. Thoughts about this episode: Mike was really sweet and wanted to do good and he deserved better. It's really too bad he became so much darker and robotic later. FitzSimmons is awesome in that episode, love all the little in synch moment with their matching clothes and the little wave when they're introduced to Mike. That whole scene with Mike is gold. FitzSimmons look tiny next to him. Fitz is so cute trying to be cute and Jemma is SO THIRSTY taking Mike's measurements by hand. (Don't worry Fitz, you too are well formed and symmetrical). And also, they're soooo proud of their suit, it's like it's their child. May has to be the mean parent with Skye because Coulson doesn't have the courage to be honest with and it's not cool of him because Skye already thinks pretty badly of May. But he's also very understanding of Mike's reasons and that's what makes him such a good leader. Just like he'll be surprisingly understanding of Bobbi and Mack's betrayal in season two.
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thehappyspaceman · 5 years ago
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Assorted Thoughts on The Dragon Prince Book Three
Hey guys, TheHappySpaceman here. The Dragon Prince. What more do I need to say about it other than what I’ve already covered in my first two reviews? Well, a lot actually.
I was impressed with the show’s improvement from Book One to Book Two and was super excited for where it was set to go in the future. Since then, I have joined the TDP fanbase and supported the show by making memes, reactions, AMVs, oneshots, and plenty of fanart. However, when info dropped last month about Aaron Ehasz and the workplace environment at Wonderstorm potentially not being so good, I didn’t know what to make of it, and as more and more info came out, I became even more confused. Though the fanbase was becoming incredibly toxic due to the near-constant infighting, I promised myself that I would still stick around for Book Three, seeing how excited I had been for it before the controversy, but I almost wondered if it would be worth it.
So, after so many accusations and hollow words thrown around, and after nine months of anticipation… how does it hold up?
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…Oh! Okay, wow, this season was a ton of fun. And yes, it’s exactly as good as I figured it would be after seeing Book Two. Everything I could have hoped for from this series really goes full-force here and it rarely if ever lets off the brakes.
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The Story
After a brief intro as exposition, the plot starts immediately after the events of the Book Two finale where Callum and Rayla have entered Xadia and have to face many challenges along the way, including archdragon Sol Regem, Rayla’s hometown, and a rogueish elf thief. All the while, Ezran arrives back to Katolis and has to face the challenges of dealing with being king of a country that he finds in chaos, being pressured to enter war and be the king that Harrow was, while Soren and Claudia are confronted with the decision between helping their own father wage war against Xadia or joining their friends.
The Characters
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This season introduced a number of interesting new characters. We got to meet some more dragons, for one thing, and while hearing them speak was pretty jarring at first (they talk normal English, which is strange since we’ve never heard them speak before), it turned out to be pretty awesome in establishing the characters. Most notably, we meet Sol Regem, the dragon who appeared in the opening of the series and was on many of the posters, and I’m surprised how he kind of turns out to be a major dick. Since was on so much of the promo materials for the show, I wasn’t figuring this, but he wound up being a racist jackass who was willing to kill our protagonists, including the young dragon prince Zym, all because of his hatred of humans.
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He’s not the only dragon we meet. We also meet Avizandum, otherwise known as Thunder, the late King of the dragons, in flashbacks, and we get to see just how he died. As well, we get Zubeia, Zym’s mom, and Pyrrha, a dragon who Ezran had met in the prior season and befriends. My favorite one might be a nameless dragon who is unchained by Soren and nuzzles him. That’s a really cute scene.
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We also meet a lot of new elves this season. Of particular note is Ethari, the Moonshadow elf blacksmith who had been seen in the end credits for Book One and had previously been given the fan name “Tinker.” There was a lot of fan speculation that Ethari was Runaan’s boyfriend and that the two of them raised Rayla together while her parents were gone. Well, this season proves that theory entirely false. No, Ethari is Runaan’s husband. Again, way to go with LGBT+ rep, Wonderstorm (especially since the episode that introduces Ethari was written by a woman in the LGBT+ community)! Ethari’s dynamic with Rayla is also very interesting and shows that he truly does care about her even after her town essentially banished her.
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This season officially introduces us to Janai, the Sunfire elf that Amaya was battling in Book Two. I find it interesting how, in many ways, the two characters perfectly mirror each other: Both women are highly dedicated to their duty of their respective countries, and both of them are sisters of royalty, with Janai’s elder sister being the Sunfire Queen. This gives them an interesting dynamic with their interactions. Also of note is Kazi, Amaya’s translator this season who kind of gives off C-3PO vibes. Every scene with them is very funny.
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Additionally, this season introduces us to a whole new race of elf: Skywing elves! It only makes sense, since we’ve already met Moonshadow, Sunfire, and Startouch elves; that only leaves two more to go. The two Skywing elves we meet are Ibis, a mage who works directly for the dragon queen Zubeia; and my personal favorite, Nyx, a loveable rogue type of character who our heroes meet when crossing the midnight desert. Man, I love Nyx, and yet, I feel like this season doesn’t do enough with her. I mean, they introduce her in episode four, and then she just kind of disappears after episode six. I was hoping that she’d play a bigger role, especially seeing how hyped up she was in the trailers for this season. Still, maybe she’ll appear again. She played an interesting part as an antagonist and I’d like to see her come back.
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Speaking of antagonists, how about this guy? Prince Kasef. Man, the writers wanted to make a real jerk type of character and they succeeded. He’s the warmongering son of King Ahling who takes over after his dad’s injuries from last season. Outside of a cool design, there is nothing redeemable about this character. I’m not faulting the show for this, for the record. It seems like it was the writers’ intention to make him a complete asshole, very comparable to Viren in a lot of ways. Kasef is taken down in a pretty spectacular way, for the record, and it’s hard to say he’ll be missed.
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But of all the new characters introduced, to me the real standout character of the season is one of the main leads from all the way back in Book One. Man… Soren is just great this season. After breaking his spine in Book Two, we get to see him go through so much character development beyond just being the dumb comic relief. He starts to question what is right, what side he should be on, and he is put through so much hell in the process, but he comes out better for it in the end. Leave it to the head writer of Avatar: The Last Airbender to make me feel sympathetic for a character like this.
The Animation
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Holy crap, the animation in this season is so damn impressive! Bardel Entertainment already fixed the animation in a major way between Book One and Book Two, but this season gives us some seriously amazing moments that I never would have expected from this show after watching Book One. Everything feels so much more fluid this season, even more improved than Book Two in that respect. The backgrounds are downright stunning, too. They feel so real, like you could actually be there with the characters. One of the major gripes I did have with the first two seasons was the facial animation, and how the mouths kind of looked derpy and unexpressive, perhaps due to the CGI medium the characters were animated in. But here, everyone is so emotive and expressive that you can watch the season without audio and still understand what’s going on. There’s a particular scene with Amaya and Janai that I’ll get into later that perfectly shows this. This isn’t only in the mouths, either; we also see little details like characters’ pupils dilating, or the elves’ ears slumping down or perking up depending on the mood. These were little touches that they didn’t have to include, but the fact that they did makes it so much more of an enjoyable watch, because you notice new little details each time you watch it.
The Relationships
I don’t usually have a separate section in my previous season reviews about this, but this season was heavily based on character relationships as much as individual characters, whether they be relationships between family members, friends, comrades in battle, or romantic partners. Just a warning: This section will get into spoiler territory. If you have not watched the season before reading this, I strongly advise you to stop reading and go do that.
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The first relationship I’d like to talk about returns to Soren. During the course of this season, he starts to question the morals of his father, Viren, and Soren has to struggle between his duties to his father and his duties to his country as a member of the crownguard. We get the sense that Claudia has always been Viren’s favorite, and that the abuse and gaslighting Soren has to deal with in this season is nothing new and Viren’s contempt for his son has been building up a long time. Soren’s relationship with Claudia strains in this season until, when not wanting to make his sister choose between him or Viren, Soren cuts ties with her. The scene where he says goodbye and leaves is genuinely a heartbreaking one, and in general, you can feel the emotions all the characters are going through.
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With Amaya and Janai, the two form a mutual respect over the course of the season. Amaya defeats Janai at the breach, but when seeing that the Sunfire general is hanging for her life, she ultimately saves Janai from dying. As the days go on and Amaya becomes a prisoner, Janai defends her against the Sunfire queen and they soon form a friendship that hints that it might lead to something more. But the scene that really increases the characters’ development is when Aaravos straight-up murders the Sunfire Queen. This sends Janai into a rage and she runs in, willing to risk her own life to avenge the death of her sister, but Amaya tackles her to the ground and gives her a solemn look of understanding, of knowing how it feels to lose her own sister. This little exchange is very powerful. I’ve always said that a scene is effective if it manages to give you chills without any dialogue, just letting the music and animation speak on its own, and, well, this scene passes that test. (Major shout-out to Frederik Wiedmann’s score, by the way; it really shines in this entire season.)
And… well, okay, there’s no use dodging it anymore. Let’s talk about these two.
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Rayla and Callum. Oh boy. So, remember in my last review how I said it was likely that Rayla and Callum were going to get together by the end of the show? Well, since this show has a planned seven-season run, I was expecting it to happen way later, like in Book Six, or more likely for them to pull the Last Minute Hookup thing where they confess their love and finally kiss at the end of the last season. That trope always frustrates me, but it’s a good way of stretching out the romantic tension for as long as possible to keep fans interested, so I figured that’s what was going to happen, right? Well…
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Yeah, I went into this season expecting a slow burn, but instead we got a freaking forest fire. Holy crap, I was not expecting them to hook up this early in the show. And it didn’t happen in the last episode, either; no, they shared their first kiss in episode four, smack in the middle of the season. And you know what? I’m all for that. The writers handled their relationship really well and it felt surprisingly believable and not rushed despite happening so soon. It hasn’t been confirmed how long Callum and Rayla have known each other for, but I’ve calculated that it’s been anywhere between 20-30 days since they first met, which is more than enough time to fall in love. Part of why it works is that the dynamic didn’t really change much. They already had a beautiful friendship, and the only thing that has changed between them is that there’s now more kissing. I wouldn’t have depicted their relationship any other way if I had made it canon. This does open up the question of where they’re going to go with it in future seasons, but as usual, I trust the writers not to screw it up. I may honestly dedicate a whole post to why Rayla and Callum’s relationship works, but we’ll see if I have time for that.
Other Stuff (incl. spoilers)
For the most part, the humor in this season is on point. With the exception of an oddly-placed fart joke in episode two, I found myself laughing at most of the scenes where I was supposed to laugh. Highlights include Soren putting stacking three pieces of bread to make a “bread sandwich,” Callum seeing a boomerang and finding it “oddly familiar” (hi, Sokka), and Nyx taking the dragang (Callum, Rayla, and Zym) past a magical forcefield protecting an oasis, saying, “Anyway, here’s the wonderwall.” I had to do a double take with that because I was laughing so hard. Though I think my personal favorite may be when Ibis laughs at Callum because “humans can’t do magic” and Callum does this.
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Just, the look on his face. He’s so done and it’s hilarious.
One thing I was surprised by in this season was the sheer amount of violence. This one really does feel like an all-out war. Apparently, the violence was enough to get it rated TV 13 in some countries (though it’s still listed as TV Y-7 here) and honestly, I can see why. There’s an all-out battle scene in the last episode that could be compared to the climax of Return of the King. Everyone is fighting each other; even the Baker from Book One gets a few punches in there! Not only that, but there are a huge number of onscreen deaths in this season. As previously mentioned, we get to see the Sunfire Queen be Thanos’d. Prince Kasef gets a pretty spectacular death when Queen Aanya has a Big Damn Heroes moment and shoots an arrow through his head. Not to mention that we get to see Viren die not once, but twice! Even though Claudia resurrects him using dark magic, it’s still pretty great to see because he’s a turd. (No offense to Jason Simpson, though—love ya.)
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By far the hardest death scene to watch, however, is the death of Avizandum, the Dragon King. In the flashbacks, we get to see how Harrow and Viren killed him, and, well… it’s really painful. The death, by way of petrification, is shown to be slow and agonizing, and Avizandum is shown tearing off his wings in a futile attempt to survive just to make it back to Zubeia. Even Harrow is mortified, with a look of “Oh god, what have I done?” on his face. In his last moments, Avizandum sheds a tear knowing that he will never be able to see his son grow up, and we as the audience are given a grim reminder that everyone… is a person. Even our enemies have families they care about. Avizandum may have been a gigantic, powerful dragon who hated humans, but at the end of the day he was still a dad who wanted to protect his son.
My One Complaint
Okay, so I’ve talked about everything I love about this season, and how it has significantly increased the show’s potential. With all that said, why can’t I give this season my full props? Well… I’ll be honest, it’s because of the pacing. Remember how I said this season rarely if ever lets off the brakes? Yeah, that’s both a blessing and a curse. There are a lot of people online who believe that Rayla and Callum’s relationship was rushed, and I somewhat agree with them, but only to the same end that everything in this season felt rushed. Nine episodes just isn’t enough time for each season. This has been a problem I’ve had with previous seasons, too, but here, it felt especially rushed because so much happened in this season that it felt like we couldn’t dedicate enough time to everything. I’m not saying that every season needs to be twenty episodes long like Avatar—especially since, with four more proposed seasons, we’re already supposed to be getting more episodes than Avatar if all goes according to plan—but 10-13 episodes per season would probably be beneficial for future ones, especially since future arcs of the show are overall going to be shorter (only two seasons each instead of three). Or hell, maybe make the episodes longer. Of course, if that’s my biggest gripe with this season, then we still have it pretty good, let’s be honest.
Where Do We Go from Here?
So, the question remains, where does the show go from here? There are supposed to be four more seasons, but the final episode of Book Three, titled “The Final Battle,” honestly feels like a series finale in a lot of ways: There’s a big epic climax, Rayla and Callum are together, Zym is reunited with his mom, and the elves and humans have formed an alliance, if only temporary. It all seems too easy, doesn’t it? My guess is that this was meant as a pseudo-series finale just in case Netflix doesn’t renew the show for a fourth season.
However, as I’ve rewatched the season, I noticed that they still leave a lot of loose ends. Most notably, Aaravos is seeming to metamorphize and grow outside of his mirror. Judging by how Aaravos really let loose in this series, I can’t wait to see more of him as a villain and find out about his backstory. Also, Rayla was ghosted—or banished—from her hometown after failing her mission in Book One. Will she ever be able to go home again? On a related note, what did happen to her parents? Are we to assume they were trapped in coins like Runaan (and speaking of which, will Runaan ever get out)? There are also other unresolved plot points, like Claudia’s path down the road of dark magic, Viren’s ex-wife, and Callum’s dad. The last one is especially interesting to me, since it would be cool to know if Callum is secretly half-elf, which is why he knows how to do primal magic. Oh, and my question from last season about whether Harrow’s soul is in Pip’s body still remains. So it seems like they left enough open-ended so that they could continue with a new season.
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I do hope to see how Rayla and Callum’s relationship develops in the future, though that may just be the shipper in me talking. But in all seriousness, this does open up some potential. As far as we know, Rayla and Callum are the first human/elf couple, so how is that received? Will they be judged by others? Will certain problems arise from this? I hope the upcoming seasons explore this and don’t just pull the usual romance clichés, though the writers have been pretty good at avoiding those so far.
I also have to wonder: When interviewed, the creators of The Dragon Prince said that there would be a time skip between Book Three and Book Four, since each of them is part of a separate story arc. How much of a time skip will it be? I can’t imagine that it will be over a year, but if it is, I hope they don’t do one of those things where since the main cast is too old now, they replace all the main characters with new ones and expect the audience to get invested in them. I highly doubt they will do that, though. It would be too jarring.
Conclusion
If you have been sleeping on The Dragon Prince, I highly urge you to check it out. Book Three is everything I had hoped the first two seasons would be, and more. With fantastic animation, likable characters that go through unique development, and a downright beautiful score (seriously, major props to Frederik Wiedmann), it wonderfully wraps up the first major arc of this series. I hope Netflix renews the show for all seven seasons, because this one has left me wanting more.
~Spaceman
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readingwebcomics · 6 years ago
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Analyzing Questionable Content: Pages 101-150
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While I’m all for body positivity Dora, that’s kind of public nudity. Most cities tend to frown on that. Although this IS your personal business you’re doing this in… I wonder what the law for that is? Like, do you have to pay for a permit to allow public nudity in a location you own? Or do city laws take precedent?
…I’m thinking about this too much, let’s move on.
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Hey, it’s Raven again! Hi, Raven! And you thought I was kidding when I said the no-name character who showed up for all of one comic would come back as a regular character. This is part of the reason why I enjoy Jeph’s style – he can, and does, very easily take bit players he made for a single gag or to fulfill one role and flesh them out if he thinks they can serve a purpose or if they entertain him enough. The most famous example of this will be roughly 2900 comics from now so… holy shit, I just realized Bubbles is 1000 comics old! That’s crazy awesome!
Right. Sorry, some of you might not understand a word of what I just typed. Nevermind, moving right along.
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Here we see the beginnings of Dora’s next character arc, if you’d like to call it that. I do have some questions about this as far as the in-universe time-scale goes, but I’ll touch on that later. Faye also invites Dora along to hang with her and Marten to indoctrinate her to the Hipster Lifestyle™ to serve two purposes: First, that their relationship as a boss and employee is relaxed enough that they’re comfortable doing this, telling us a lot about the way these two work together and the way this coffee shop is run without saying a lot. Second, this serves as the perfect in for Jeph to incorporate Dora into the main cast. From this point forward, Dora becomes a main secondary character, arguably a main character in her own right. The fact that she takes on a much more prominent role in this next batch of 50 comics and skyrockets to fourth-most frequent character is proof enough of that on its own, but we’ll touch on all that when we get to the data analysis at the end of this post.
Back with Marten, Steve is encouraging him to apologize to Faye. He offers a… novel solution to keep Marten from being the center of attention.
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Seriously, the sheer, raw confidence on this guy alone is attractive as hell. And I’m only mildly ashamed to admit that to myself!
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I hope you understand why I don’t need to explain why I should, nay, must provide this panel without any other context.
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Same deal with this one.
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And this comic puts me into hysterics every time I read it. I swear, this isn’t going to devolve into me just posting comics and saying “this is funny” or whatever. I just really, really like this progression of events right here. I wish we could see more of this Marten more often in modern QC – able to read a room quick enough to defuse the situation with absurdity or dry wit. It reminds us that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the boy does have a spine somewhere in that body.
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And as immediate contrast, we jump here. This? This isn’t funny. This makes me not like Faye. This is actual abuse. And I know I talked about in the last post how including Faye retaliating against Marten physically and actually showing it happen in the comic rather than implying it with backfilling is the better method of storytelling but… Maybe it’s because she created a visible bruise, maybe it’s because of how candid she is about it, maybe it’s because of my own personal fucked-up past relationships (which admittedly never got physical but still), but this feels infinitely different than the Faye Jeph is trying to set up. He’ll have to do a damn good job in later comics to win me back to thinking Faye’s a likable character again.
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Also Dora is definitely a woman of her word. I hope the coffee shop was empty right then. Actually, I hope it’s been a slow day from the point Faye started chasing her around with a dildo. Otherwise news might travel for all of the wrong reasons.
Faye tries to invite Dora over for festivities both as a friendly gesture because she expects her boss doesn’t get out much and because she wants to drag her from the dark abyss of Goth into the light of Hipster, only for her to turn the invitation down.
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Not that it’s going to deter Faye, of course. Also, QC is in wide screen now. I have NO idea how that’s going to be represented on Tumblr considering how narrow my current theme at the time of writing is. Maybe I’ll change it, I dunno, I’m shit with this sort of thing. If you’re reading this and the page doesn’tlook like some faux notebook shit, I pulled myself together and fixed things. Go me.
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Dora is being incredibly chill with this whole situation. Personally I’d be a hell of a lot more pissed. Although this does provide us with further insight to Faye’s character – someone who sees her next step, bulrushes her way towards it and has zero plans where to go after that until she arrives at her destination. She is aggressive and decisive, but to a fault as she doesn’t ever seem to really plan ahead. I’d say this makes her the perfect foil to Marten as someone who plans obsessively but never has the spine to go forward with anything but… Marten doesn’t really do much future-planning himself. He obsesses over little things and gets stuck in his own head, but he never really seems to look any further than maybe next week. Hm… I want all of us to keep this in mind for an offhand comment like, 500 or 600 comics from now. Trust me, it’ll make sense when we get to it.
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And yet despite Faye’s self-assurance and aggressive nature, here she shows an outright refusal to accept or face the reality of the developing relationship between herself and Marten. Not just being coy, not just dancing around the issue, but straight-up not allowing herself to even consider what’s going down. Maybe I’m reading too much into this little exchange due to what I already know about her character, but this is an extremely unhealthy trait that speaks a lot to Faye’s character that she doesn’t want the world to see. We’ll be touching on this later.
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I mostly like this comic for Marten and Pintsize’s reactions on the last panel. Marten makes a good straight man, and it’s not often we see Pintsize share that role either.
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Faye you’re really not helping your case right now. Although it is interesting how hard Faye is showcases how into him Dora is, considering she has her own feelings for him and I highly doubt she’d be 100% cool with the two of them going off to make out.
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So here we establish Anthro PCs relationships with humans – namely, they’re basically glorified pets. Pets that have human-level sapience. Don’t worry, Jeph comes to understand the unfortunate implications of this as well, and he goes on to change this in future comics. And by “change this” I mean “completely re-incorporate how AI works in this universe and establish QC as a near-future sci-fi setting.” But that’s not going to be for quite some time. For now, despite my poking fun at the horrific implications here, Jeph’s doing a good job taking the “funny robot sidekick” that’s supposed to be in every webcomic and creating proper lore behind it, making it feel like it belongs in this world rather than be used as a comic relief character and only a comic relief character.
Granted the Anthro PCs as a collective are going to be used as just comic relief right now but, y’know. Baby steps.
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As said before, the fact that these guys are all fully sapient creatures makes the implications of this downright horrific. Also, that’s Ell. I have no idea if he ever comes back – I don’t remember him coming back at all – but I’m marking him down in the character statistics because he’s named.
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This… actually has some interesting implications. Marten mentions needing Steve’s help with a date “the other day.” Does that mean he and Faye have known each other for an extremely short period of time? I highly doubt it, we��ve seen a number of times the time has moved from day to night, and the comic itself certainly implies at least a few weeks have passed. So unless by “the other day” Marten means “a month ago” then Marten has been dating women on the side while Faye’s been staying with him. That… seems extremely out of character for him considering the circumstances we’ve seen established in the comic thus far. Considering nothing else really comes from it and the fact if Marten was dating anyone on the side it would definitely be Dora, I’m going to go on the assumption Jeph simply made a mistake here and meant to say Marten was seeing someone a month or a few months back.
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She’s cut off by Pintsize’s destructive laser that he’s using to assert himself as King among the Anthro PCs, don’t worry about it. What we should focus on instead is… well, this second panel here. On paper, this is really good. We’re getting some insight to Faye’s character here, the cracks in her mask are showing. We’re addressing the issue of her assaulting her friend and roommate, what she thinks about it, her current mindset and addressing that this is an actual problem. She’s openly apologizing, sincere in her conviction and clearly wants to fix things.
The problem with this is of course the fact that this is rushed as fuck.
Part of this, of course, has to be the fact that Jeph’s comic by nature is married to the structure of a four-panel comic. We have to set up Faye’s conversation, allow her to continue, but due to narrative convenience she needs to be cut off before she can finish what she’s saying. So the laser cuts her off and after the panel of action, we follow-up and end with the punchline of Pintsize having been made King among the Anthro PCs. And I get it – interrupt Faye before she can finish so you can keep the romantic ambiguity of “boys whom I…” Classic RomCom stuff. Problem is, this isn’t the time or place to do it. Keeping to the structure traps them into a situation where unfortunately Faye doesn’t have the breathing room to stretch this out and make it feel natural. This feels contrived from every angle and every sense of the word.
Easy way to fix this: Have this conversation take place while they’re walking home. Establish she feels bad, have her bounce off Marten and have this conversation naturally. Then either you can have Pintsize cut her off at the end there or maybe even she stops herself when she realizes she’s saying too much. There are ways to make this feel natural. This isn’t natural. Still, credit where it’s due, they’re at least touching on this topic here. Part of me wonders if Jeph had, like, a mental map of where he wanted Faye’s character to go but because he writes these page-by-page it ended up stumbling along and falling flat. A written outline of events can, and does, REALLY help in situations like this.
Then again I’m giving writing advice to a version of someone who existed fifteen years ago. I’m sure he’s got this all down himself nowadays, right?
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Payoff to the previous comic.
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Not only does this crack me up every time I read it, it also shows that Faye and Marten have gotten onto the same wavelength of humor. They’re also comfortable enough with each other that they can imply for a moment sexual favors before completely derailing the implication with the absurd. This is a far-cry from when Faye was trying to burn Marten with her mind back when Pintsize merely implied the two of them share a bed with each other.
Granted, it does kind of fly in the face of Faye’s reaction back at the LANPark. Still, good moment.
Speaking of Faye’s character…
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Here we have Faye’s explanation for why she hides her southern accent. Makes sense.
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And here, her explanation as to why she doesn’t use contractions… I’ve already said my piece on why I feel this makes zero sense, let’s move on.
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And here we properly draw attention to Faye’s scar and establish the fact that her scar is a sore spot for her… was that a pun? It felt like a pun. Anyway, more and more it’s becoming clear that despite her outgoing nature, Faye has a LOT she keeps close to her chest.
Okay now I know that one was a pun, I’m sorry.
Point being, there’s a lot to Faye’s character we haven’t found out yet, plenty yet to explore in future comics. And I’d also like to point out, this? This is an extremely natural way to establish things about Faye, right here. This feels like something that would actually come up in a conversation rather than planted there for the sake of the audience, and I appreciate that. That said, this in conjunction with the last few moments makes this feel more like it’s time for Jeph to introduce and explain aspects of Faye’s character all at once, which deters a little bit from the natural feeling of this moment in particular. Or maybe I’m just being pedantic, I dunno. In a bubble, this comic works.
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And here we get a flash of the personality we’ll see in Raven in the future. Just a spark though, the flame hasn’t risen up quite yet. Also a little detail about Dora that… again, doesn’t quite make sense given the timescale Jeph has established. I’ll touch on it later in this post when we find out exactly how old Dora is.
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This… is an aspect of Marten’s personality that we never really touch on. Actually, this kind of goes toe-in-toe with his interest in Final Fantasy. Is Marten a fantasy buff? Does he enjoy escapist literature and media? Would he be super into Game of Thrones when it comes out as a series? These are questions that… unfortunately, don’t really get answered. I don’t know, I feel like these aspects of who Marten is ends up getting forgotten on the cutting room floor later on in the comic. Maybe they were only included as an off-handed joke, maybe Marten just developed as a character differently than what Jeph originally envisioned him as. Either way, these are parts of him that I think would be wonderful to bring back, especially with his current job and relationship in present-day coics.
Again, like a LOT of things I’m bringing up, we’ll get to that later.
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In case you forgot that Faye is genuinely interested in Marten, a reminder and an assertion: She isn’t just interested in the skinny boy. She’s got it bad for him.
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But, like a lot of things involving her personal life and feelings, she openly refutes them – not just to Dora but to herself.
Having gone out to give Dora a new look and indoctrinate her into the Cult of Hipster, Dora McPalerThanWhiteBread ends up sunburnt. Marten’s home, he has the lotion, we all know where this is going.
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Heaven holds a place for those who pray… I wanted to follow this up with a clip of Sonic from Tails’ story in Sonic Adventure saying “hey hey hey” but surprisingly enough, that particular soundbite isn’t available anywhere. There are plenty of Let’s Plays that poke fun at it, but nothing with that line in particular.
Anyway, let’s talk about time frames. Dora said she got into the whole goth and coven stuff in High School and only now gotten bored of it. She’s 26. Let’s be EXTRA generous and assume she got into it in Senior Year, and she graduated at 18. That’s eight years this has been her life style, almost a third of her life. This wasn’t a phase, this was a genuine life style choice. Either Jeph got the timing wrong, or this is genuinely an identity crisis on Dora’s part because seriously, when something’s been a part of your life for so long I don’t blame you for not knowing where to go from there. I’m just surprised it took 8+ years for her to get sick of it. Then again, maybe that’s normal. I dunno, you can tell me if that’s a normal human thing. I’m literally autistic so I genuinely don’t know.
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Setup… and also begging the question why you would give a libido to an AI, or how one would develop it naturally seeing as robots are incapable of sexual reproduction.
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I haven’t really mentioned it until now, but Dora’s like aggressively bi. I can dig it. Guys and gals are both pretty in their own ways.
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Ignore the lack of color for a second, Jeph wrote up this comic when he had like zero time and couldn’t color it in before he uploaded. Again, we have the HINT of something that Faye’s on the cusp of admitting that says more about her character only to be cut off once again. This feels a bit more natural than the situation at the LANPark. Still contrived by nature of Jeph introducing a conflict to purposefully cut her off, but an understandable narrative contrivance.
Also, remember when I mentioned the joke about the government level laser would come back as an actual plot point? Did you think I was joking? No, here we have Agent Turing (I can’t tell if that’s clever or if I should roll my eyes at this) here to take Pintsize in, dismantle him and take the dangerous laser back.
Faye takes it well.
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Can you guess what consequences she suffers from assaulting a government agent? I’ll give you a hint – it’s about the same as the consequences she suffered from burning down an apartment.
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Payoff.
And finally, we round off this batch of comics with Faye’s expert lying skills to fool Agent Turing…
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Ah yes. The ever-deadly Space Owls. Not nearly as scary as Space Bears, though! They’re horrifying!
…not buying it? Yeah neither did my professors back in college.
As per usual, let’s compare a panel from the first and last comics in the batch to see how Jeph’s art style has improved.
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It looks like he’s trying to get the proportions more… realistic? They’ve moved from “cartoons” to “cartoon versions of actual people” and it’s… eh, alright I guess? Personally I’m more of a fan of the more cartoon-ish style in the beginning of this batch, but beauty and eyes of beholders and all.
So overall, what did I think of this batch of comics? Personally, I think the humor is improving dramatically, this batch had the most comics that had me laughing aloud so far. And bringing Dora further into the limelight was a smart move on Jeph’s part – she’s just so likable, I want to see more of her. But as for the inter-personal conflicts… eh? It feels weaker than last batch. More is happening, progress is being made, but it feels… contrived. Artificial. It was the worst in the LANPark, but because that drew my eye I kept seeing every other piece of exposition as just that – exposition. Maybe I’m biased, I’ll fully admit that. I’ll also admit that the bit about Faye’s chest-scar was a well done piece of exposition without feeling like exposition.
I’ve said exposition way too much now, let’s move onto the stats (and for the record, Scarlet Manuka on the QC forums was kind enough to remind me that the name of Dora’s cat is Miéville, so while we haven’t been introduced to that name yet I’ll be using that in my stats from this point forward because it’s better than “Dora’s Cat”).
Faye: 47/50 – 94%
Marten: 41/50 – 82%
Dora: 31/50 – 62%
Pintsize: 18/50 – 36%
Turing: 3/50 – 6%
Steve: 2/50 – 4%
Raven: 2/50 – 4%
Ell: 1/50 – 2%
Grand Total:
Marten: 132/150 – 88%
Faye: 130/150 – 86.7%
Pintsize: 45/150 – 30%
Dora: 39/150 – 26%
Steve: 16/150 – 10.7%
Sara: 7/150 – 4.7%
Raven: 3/150 – 2%
Turing: 3/150 – 2%
Jim: 2/150 – 1.3%
Scott: 2/150 – 1.3%
Miéville: 1/150 – 0.7%
Ell: 1/150 – 0.7%
Faye is climbing up the ranks and getting closer to perfectly equal screentime with Marten across the whole series. Speaking of Faye, in this batch she pulled into first as the character in the most comics, the first time she’s been in more than Marten since the beginning. And Dora’s been in so many this last batch, she jumped up to fourth-most reoccurring character juuust behind Pintsize.
I’ll catch you next week for the epic conclusion to the Pintsize laser saga! And yet more insight on Faye’s past – hope you like ice cream! See you then.
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mymoonjin1 · 6 years ago
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My thoughts on Crimes of Grindelwald
I know there are loads of comments on this already but I too need to rant for a while. I’ll try to finish this off with some constructive criticism, though. (I’d like to add that it’s perfectly fine if you did enjoy this film, this is just MY opinion.)
I don’t even know where to start. Listen, I am a huge Harry Potter fan, always have been, even considering a tattoo. And I actually really liked the first Fantastic Beasts movie. It had its flaws, but overall it was a good story. But most importantly: the movie can stand on itself. It has its own plot. Newt arrives in New York and accidentally lets loose a few magical creatures. The goal: finding the creatures whilst figuring out who is causing the muggle attacks. Simple, fun. They mention Hogwarts and Dumbledore, stuff we’re familiar with, but not overly so. It’s done cleverly. Now. Cut to Crimes of Grindelwald. Oh, boy. From uncomfortable close-ups to just plain weird editing this film is a goddam mess, not to mention the nonsensical storylines. No matter how effing cute nifflers are. Let’s break it into themes. 
Grindelwald
The movie ended and I still had no idea what Grindelwald’s crimes were. He “escapes” (He had already switched places with Abernathy, so why was that whole scene even there? A dark, evil wizard like him surely would just call Abernathy's sacrifice necessary for the cause or whatever), his French sidekick kills a family in order to keep their house and then he gives a speech. That’s it. What were his crimes?! He’s already a “notorious" dark wizard, what has he done besides spreading the word? Also, what is his actual ideology here? I’m sorry but that speech was a bit lame and again, confusing. Is he opposed to World War II or is he gonna take advantage of it? Kill all muggles or only those responsible for the war? But most importantly, we see Grindelwald for like ten minutes during the whole movie, why is his name even on the freaking title? I liked when he held his wand like he was directing an orchestra whilst killing everyone with the blue fire. That’s pretty much it.  Also, I’m not getting into Johnny Depp’s controversy cause that’s a whole other issue, but I think it reflected on his performance, like he was being too cautious, or something, at least that was my perception. I mean, whatever the circumstances, you’re already playing the role, then play the goddam role. 
Queenie
*Sigh* I honestly do not understand how they managed to turn a sweet and caring character into this whiny and annoying person, doing things so out of character. The love potion crap. Are you freaking kidding me?! Why was this necessary? Never mind about Jacob’s consent when I can just roofie him, kidnap him and force him to marry me! I’m the victim here, I just want to marry the one I love! Just… whyyyy? Also, she’s a freaking mind reader. How could a mind reader get brainwashed into joining a dark wizard? Because he preaches... free love? Ummm, does he?! Also, why did she freak out on the street? It was never mentioned before that her mind could get overwhelmed in crowds. It would make sense, but it was so out of nowhere it came out weird, and that scene just takes too damn long. Then the movie forgets about her for like twenty minutes to suddenly show her at the French witch’s house, like sure, I’ll go for a cup of tea with a total stranger, why not? Ugh. 
Dumbledore 
Ok, I actually liked Jude Law’s performance. The issue is that he, just like Grindelwald, is barely in the movie. We already knew that their relationship wasn’t going to be explored in this film, but it was still disappointing. We only got a “we were closer than brothers” and some hand-holding seen through the Mirror of Erised, WHICH APPARENTLY CAN NOW SHOW MEMORIES TOO, BUT OKAY. And please explain to me how is a blood pact different from an Unbreakable Vow? I get the aesthetic but surely an Unbreakable Vow is more convenient since it can’t be undone. Dumbledore suggested at the end of the movie that he might be able to destroy the blood pact. Wouldn’t have Grindelwald made sure to not leave anything to chance? Also, when did they make this blood pact, before the duel that killed Ariana? Why were they able to duel then? It can’t have been after, they wouldn’t have been exactly on speaking terms after that. That blood pact storyline took away the complexity of Dumbledore’s motives about not wanting to go after Grindelwald. Why wasn’t it enough that he once loved him and couldn’t bear to confront him after all that happened between them? That was a perfectly good explanation. This whole thing completely downplayed their relationship, like “yeah, now I just need to figure out how to destroy this necklace and I’ll be free to duel and possibly kill him, yay!” *Sighs*
Leta and Yusuf
What was the real purpose for these characters? We were lead to believe that the Lestrange family history was going to have this awesome revelation/plot twist and it ended up going nowhere. Also, the (insufferably long) scene where they finally explain the whole thing was so overcomplicated and confusing AF. For some reason, Leta’s dad (a rapist) sent her and her half-brother to the US, but since the baby wouldn’t shut up Leta switched him with another baby who happened to look exactly like him, and that baby was Creedence. Uh…okay? But then Leta returned to the UK and studied at Hogwarts? Sooo was that meant to be only a cool summer abroad? And how did she know about her half-brother Yusuf? How did they meet? Who made that freaking prophecy? Yusuf made that unbreakable vow with… whom, exactly? Himself? Arrgggg. Yusuf seemed to be an important character, I mean he locks Tina and Newt in a dungeon (they escape immediately but ok), but no. He spends almost the entirety of the movie unconscious only to appear conveniently at the cemetery to reveal he’s Leta’s half-brother. Just. Why ANY OF IT if later on we’d find out Creedence isn't even a Lestrange? GOD. 
So, back to Leta. She switched the babies (in the Titanic?) and also befriended Newt at Hogwarts. What was her relevance in the present? Why wasn’t the whole "ending up marrying his brother" explained? That’s a flashback that would’ve been useful, unlike the other ones. It could’ve added so much more to the relationship between the three of them, specially Theseus and Newt. But it was never mentioned. Also, why was she hated by everyone at school? Were all the Lestrange hated or was it only her? And THEN, FFS what was she even trying to attempt when she approached Grindelwald? Was she like tempted into joining him but regretted her decision last minute and tried to kill him instead? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? I liked the part when she said “I love you” and you’re not quite sure if she meant Newt or his brother. That was interesting. Would’ve been even more interesting had it been developed properly. But the rest of it? What a mess.
Newt, Tina, and Jacob
I actually adore Newt as a character. He’s a refreshing male lead who’s unapologetically himself throughout the story. I read a Vox article that called him amazingly neurodivergent, and in an interview, Redmayne also said he thought of him as having Asperger's. What an extraordinary thing to see in a male lead in a multimillion-dollar franchise! He’s awesome and doesn’t need to change the way he is in order to be cool. And yet in this film, he’s sooo relegated. He could’ve done SO much more, instead, he’s just lost in the sea of subplots with no real purpose. As for Tina, she has absolutely no character development whatsoever and Jacob is just there for comic relief. Also, how did he get his memories back? I’m sorry, but “the potion only took away the bad memories” is lazy writing. They are great characters but did absolutely nothing in this movie. Totally underappreciated. 
Nagini and Creedence
I don’t get why they made such a fuss over this since she has like THREE lines in the entire movie?! Seriously, why was she even there? She brought absolutely NOTHING to the plot. She just stands there next to Creedence when she could’ve been a super badass character. I’m not getting into the whole controversy, but I mean, if it was already happening, she should’ve at least had a kickass introduction. A backstory. ANYTHING. Why is a woman turning into a snake a circus attraction when anyone in this universe can become an animagus with enough practice? She was sooo mistreated here as a character. I get that there’s gonna be three more movies but COME ON, you can’t just make a huge ass preamble to another film without ANY sort of character development. It needs to have a plot of its own too. Like each of the Harry Potter books/movies. GEEZ. Now, Creedence. How did he survive? We saw a little remnant of the obscurus at the end of the first film, but hey, a little more context would’ve been nice. I thought the host and the obscurus were different things. Care to explain?! Also, how did he end up in Europe working at a magic circus? That circus thing could’ve been a very interesting plot but it goes nowhere. Again. And then... the ending. I hope the theory going around that it’s actually Ariana’s obscurus that somehow got attached to him and not actually him that’s a Dumbledore (and that’s what the phoenix was attracted to) is real because otherwise IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE. Kendra Dumbledore died in 1899. Crimes takes place in 1927. That’s 28 years. I HIGHLY doubt Creedence is 28. Why would he still be living at an orphanage at 28 then? Or did Dumbledore’s dad knock someone up in Azkaban? Just. So. Many. Plot. Holes.
Nonsensical stuff
-The lady guarding Leta’s chamber. What. The. Fork?! She lets them through even though she clearly knew Tina wasn’t Leta, and only after they’re already inside she unleashes those weird cat things with Leta being there, the actual owner of the chamber who clearly doesn’t have a problem with the “intruders”. Just… WHY? 
-Jacob being able to go through the statue. Ummmm?! 
-McGonagall. SHE WAS BORN IN 1935! WHAT?!
-Also, I get the whole 1920’s vibe and I mean no disrespect towards Colleen Atwood, because the costumes are actually gorgeous, but like… no robes? NONE? You can’t tell muggles and wizards apart. That was a key aspect of Harry Potter, at least with the older generations, so you’d think in the 1920’s they’d be even more traditional with their wizard clothing. I mean, Lupin wore both suits AND robes. Just saying. 
-Out of hundreds of people at the cemetery, the niffler somehow knew precisely what item to steal and from whom. Ok???? 
-Nicholas Flamel. What was the point of him? All he did was talk with a random woman through a book and then conveniently appear at the end to tell everyone what to do to control the fire. I mean, cool, but care to elaborate?
-And that blue fire eagle thing. It’s a very, very long sequence that could have been way quicker. It was time wasted on CGI, time they could’ve spent more wisely elsewhere. 
-Another thing that has been rubbing me the wrong way is the mention of Creedence’s nanny being half-elf. I know it’s probably stupid for me to be weird about it but listen. This is a universe with house elves and goblins, and that’s totally fine, I like the part they play in the story. But then we also have Professor Flitwick, who’s never mentioned to be either of those things; he’s just little. That’s it. And he’s a total badass. So why did the nanny had to be half-elf? I remember an interview with Peter Dinklage in which he said he didn’t like playing roles that cast little people as magical beings, which is why he loved Tyrion in Game of Thrones. Then why couldn’t the nanny just be a regular witch? Why half-elf? How did that come about? Think about it: a human witch/wizard… with a house elf? Which are, essentially… slaves?! I don’t even want to know. And I’m probably overthinking it, but seriously. It wasn’t a necessary detail to mention. 
The Fanservice 
Ok, I get that they’d include certain Potter related stuff. Nostalgia is fun, right? AS LONG AS IT MAKES SENSE. McGonagall being there makes no sense. RESPECT. CANON. PLEASE. I get retconning stuff like classes taking place on different floors at Hogwarts but dude. This was kind of an important detail. The Philosopher’s Stone casually being shown at Flamel’s house. I mean, fine. But we get it, we know who he is, it’s not like we are idiots who need reminding of this. Also, the music. I adore Hedwig’s Theme, but this is a different story. I get like a few notes here and there, but the WHOLE damn theme during that Hogwarts shot? It actually kind of threw me off a little. I couldn’t pay attention to what was actually happening. 
Conclusion 
Ok. I honestly don’t understand what went wrong. I don’t know if Rowling should just stick to writing novels or if it was the editing, the directing or-or… I just can’t even. JK Rowling is amazing at writing mystery. In all of the Harry Potter books, there were mysteries to be solved: who’s after the Philosopher’s Stone? Who opened the Chamber of Secrets? Why is Sirius Black after Harry? Who put his name in the Goblet of Fire? And so on. And in the first FB movie, the mystery was who was responsible for the attacks, and it made you believe it was Creedence’s little sister. That was still a good plot twist. Please, do tell, what was solved in Crimes? What did they actually accomplish? They spent the whole movie going in circles. Like I said, you can’t just have a huge ass preamble to a different movie. It needs to stand on its own, have its own arc. Otherwise, what’s the point? I genuinely wanted to like this film, but its narrativity makes it impossible to enjoy the actual plot, even with likable characters and appealing visuals.
Listen, I will forever be grateful to JK Rowling for the impact Harry Potter has had in my life. They are to this day my favorite books. I loved the original book for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as Quidditch Through the Ages and Tales of Beedle the Bard. They added fun details to the main story, a little peek into the Wizarding World. But then the whole expansion happened. And I used to get mildly excited whenever a new story was published on Pottermore. But eventually, I lost interest. And whenever someone said “I wish there was another book” I immediately cringed at the thought. Why ruin something that had ended in such a perfect way? The Harry Potter world ended with the seventh book. And that was ok. You need to let things go. That’s life. But then for money some reason, Cursed Child (aka That Which Must Not Be Named) was allowed to happen. And then, Fantastic Beasts happened, but it was a whole different story with brand new characters within the same universe, actually written by JK Rowling. Well, that actually sounded promising. Because it was a separate thing. A few references here and there. What could go wrong? Right. 
There are millions of reasons why the expansion hasn’t been working, but I think part of the problem came from social media. When we were kids we’d send letters to our favorite authors, but now they are just a tweet away. Which can obviously be wonderful. But you have to know where to stop. And I don’t think JK understands that. And I don’t mean it like she’s not allowed to have her own opinions and versions of certain things that didn’t come up in the books; she created the universe. But altering canon isn’t right. Forcing narratives that don’t make sense with what’s already established is weird. That’s why it’s important to leave things to the imagination/each reader’s interpretation. You want to write a different story within the same universe, that’s amazing, go ahead! As long as it’s properly developed and has its own merits. I genuinely want to like FB. And I did. But I don’t know what went wrong with this one. You’re capable of SO much more, Jo, I know you are. Sorry if I’m being too harsh. 
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bushybeardedbear · 6 years ago
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So Season 7 of Voltron Legendary Defender... Oh Boy...
I had so much spoiled before watching it. Thanks email alerts. So after seeing so much spoiled already, I started lurking in Tumblr again. By the time I’d actually got round to watching the season I felt like I’d already watched most of it and was primed with all the various thoughts and opinions people were sharing online. In the days beforehand I was up and down like a yoyo on a rollercoaster. Hopeful one day, thinking it’s not even worth watching the next. Hovering my finger over “delete” on both this blog and my fics at points... Even contemplating that right now if I’m honest. Maybe I should have been Bushy Bearded Drama-Llama?
In any case, having finally sat down with rock bottom, possibly even sub zero expectations and watched, here are my thoughts now season seven is over... Well... In short, I think it suffers a lot from being so rushed. And before you say it, no, going in with low expectations wasn’t a self fulfilling prophecy. Psychologically speaking the opposite is true. If we go into something with low expectations, we tend to have a better opinion overall than we would have if we went in with sky high expectations. And whilst it may seem like I hated it so far...? Well, no. I didn’t hate it. There were some parts that didn’t gel with me, but to say I hated it would be an insult to everyone involved. But that doesn’t make it free from criticism. If you care what this bear’s about to growl about, strap in, it’s not a short one. Not kidding. This is long. But I guess I needed to get my feelings down and hopefully have someone patient enough to read it and see that I’m not completely insane. And, thought I shouldn’t have to say this... None of this comes from a place of hate. No, I don’t think regardless of how you feel about this season that hatred to the creators is ever acceptable. If you feel you must, then voice your grievances calmly, rationally, but the second you resort to hate you have already lost. Though what I would suggest is to just accept this season as it is and move on.  Moving on is partly why I’m compelled to write this post. Maybe if you are going to read this monster, bring some caramel to counteract the salt...
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The Season Itself
So within the first episode, I’m already full of mixed emotions. Yes, the Plance moment was great. Yes, the dynamic between Hunk and Romelle was cool. Coran was great, supportive Crolia, the none too subtle dig at Prometheus as Lance and Pidge ran from the grass... (Don’t think we didn’t spot that you writer rascals! Run at an angle!) I remain in Sheith Limbo trying to reconcile they met when Keith was literally a child and relationships can grow and develop with a worried dash of will people misinterpret this as grooming if they got together...? But a lot of it was by the by. Honey I Shrunk The Paladins was a great fun start to the series interspersed with great emotional character building for Shiro and Keith. It fleshed them both out in ways I wish we’d seen sooner and as others have pointed out drastically reframes a lot of the protective over Shiro moments in the context of his degenerative disease. And yet, it doesn’t make Shiro a victim, nor Keith a white knight, it keeps them both flawed yet strong heroes. Tiny cute paladins, Lance’s cargo pilot reference. As always the design of the planets is gorgeous. Lance sharpshooting. The attention to detail with little things like in scale surface tension! I can’t overstate how much time, effort and thought has gone into this! The narrative parallels of the speeder bikes. Honestly, there is SO much to unpack in just one episode that could easily be overlooked as silly and/or filler. But it’s so much. Keith’s growth is such fun to watch, confirmation of certain fan theories is great yet so sad at the same time...
It allowed Romelle to actually have a character that wasn’t just “Lotor Plot Delivery Service” and her interactions with Hunk were pretty adorable. “Are all ancient Alteans like this?” Was a great subtle piece of world building as well. And yeah, pretty sure I saw @hailqiqi mention this already, but Hunk and Romelle are so the audience surrogates. The one and only thing that bugged me, given the fact that so much of Voltron has had to be rushed or cut for time... Did we really need the flashbacks in this episode shown twice back in the quantum abyss episode...? Couldn’t that time in the QA been used for something else...? But that’s a very minor gripe. Overall, I massively enjoyed this episode but I’m still nervous given the priming from the fandom going forward... But that last hug? Saving Shiro with his voice / quintessence maybe?
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The Road home starts off well, though the idea that still nobody knows or comments on Katie’s name being such did disappoint me a little... The space road trip starting up was so cute, even if Lance’s logic of passengers is lost on me...aside from maybe cutting Pidge some slack. Let me Headcanon that little touch of unconscious favouritism, yeah? Though his taking charge in the battle here, being the right hand man, was really nice to see here. From the audience perspective, he may be stating the obvious, but in canon, that’s what we call battlefield awareness. Imagine season 1 Lance doing this? Nah. Buthe’s had no growth, so people say... “It’s super dangerous, it’s perfect!” Wonderful! And Keith’s leadership! Great stuff. (Almost) Everyone getting a chance to shine in the cave combat was also awesome. Full on frenetic energy, a little flourish of comedy from time to time, great characterisation, calm before the storm leading to a sudden yet satisfying cliffhanger? Full on Voltron to a T.
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"I will help you look for that passage.” Is a cute Plance moment that others are overlooking I feel. Coran’s memoirs are something I would personally read the hell out of. I don’t know about the rest of you. But seeing the entire saga retold through Coran’s eyes...? I’d love to see it. I’m also kinda happy to know how “Acxa” is pronounced! The slow reveal of the time skip up until the reveal at the end is nice, though honestly not as mysterious as the show seemed to think it was. Maybe it was just that I got spoiled? Evil power couple were great as well and it was nice to see the ice pop mystery solved. A return of Altean shapeshifting was nice to see. “Sweet on that one with the flippity hair” and “your favourite paladin” “never wanted to kill him” “true love”? Seems a little out of left field. Unexpected? Maybe not, just rushed? Axca and Keith seemed a little sudden. To me felt like they just needed to pair a spare and keep Kieth and Allura apart. Which, I get into later. Keith being able to transport his bayard seems...fine...? Why are people complaining about this? Paladins summon their bayarads all the time. He just did it from a few extra feet...?  I do wish Coran had a chance to play to his strengths though. Aside from his courage. He has brains and feels like he needs to use them more or be written in scenarios where he can use them. The three year time skip, when revealed, seems like it was just a convenient way to avoid the immediate aftermath of Lotor losing the throne. It works in that regard I suppose. But by the end of this episode I wasn’t really sold on it.
Nice new haircut though Axca. Really sells the redeemed rebel former baddie archetype. And thank goodness for your exposition. Tell don’t show, am I right? One of the ways we can see the show was rushed I feel. Though again, maybe just being picky...
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The Game Show Episode. I was expecting this later in the season honestly. It was good for comic relief I guess, so it served it’s purpose. Seeing the first family of the Galra along for some comedy was great if only for Neil Kaplan having such fun. But it felt like it was missing something. I can’t quite put my finger on what. It was nice to get insight into how the Paladins feel about each other but again, it felt like a way to get those ideas and characterisations out into the open without having to, y’know, show them in natural narrative progression. It’s probably the weakest of the comedy episodes so far and it felt a little like it was all just happening until it eventually stopped. It didn’t feel like the little hints of “tv flickering” implying something artificial were necessary. In fact, as soon as I saw the concept I thought “so, all powerful being captures them for reasons?” and that’s pretty much what we got. It was...ok. Just ok. And y’know what...? After seven seasons, maybe we do need to drop the “Lance is the dumb one” joke? I mean, yes, he’s not as smart as the rest of the team. No doubt. But if he’d been given a chance to shine on his own terms, with his own abilities, if they’d subverted the goofball archetype rather than doubling down on it I think this would have made for a more interesting episode. Just because it’s comedy doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be compelling. The Voltron Show for instance literally dealt with Coran pushing himself so hard to help the Paladins that he was willing to resort to what was essentially a mind altering drug and forcing himself to kick the habit. Where was the actual plot in this episode? Funny moments need a framework and this kinda lacked a framework in my opinion.
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Really episode 5? A Kobayashi Maru scenario...? Indeed, running a simulation when the lions are running on fumes...? Ok, you do you I guess... Little self referential humour from Coran was nice, but a little on the nose. And honestly, I think these episodes are starting to feel like, I dunno, filler material? Like, nothing is really being furthered in terms of the massive plots they still need to deal with. Did the journey back to Earth really need to take so many episodes, or could these have been more efficiently used to deal with countless plot threads that remain unresolved...? It’s a strange thing to be feeling at this stage, but maybe there’s more to come...?  And...it felt like another clip show filling out the backstory of the three years of Voltron being missing... Maybe it’s just me, but if you have written yourself into a scenario where the only way out is repeated massive exposition dumps... Maybe you need to rethink your story just a touch...? The fact it was also told from an unreliable narrator also means it wasn’t just exposition...it was literally pointless exposition that was likely mostly a combination of lies and half truths. And I’m sorry but, were people really clamouring for a rematch between Keith and “That One Nameless Druid...?” Really? You won’t hear me denying it was cool fight scene, yes indeed, but the set up wasn’t exactly great in my opinion.  As for how Keith managed to win? Ok, sure, I guess summoning the Bayard from a few feet was a build up to something else, something even more special that may or may not get resolved this season. I’m writing these as I go. Or will it be one more plot point that will need to be resolved in the next season with limited time and episodes to do so? Keith and Krolia’s goodbye was sad. I do hope for a reunion, but honestly don’t expect it. I imagine she’ll die off screen for shock value. Sadly, I already know the fate of Altean colony and why Haggar has forsaken her druids, so, no real hook for me there. 
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So the halfish way point. Lost in space, desperately trying to force plance out of every interaction... And ultimately, just getting bored. I mean, yes, I get that they need to reconnect with each other... But there are countless ways it could have been resolved other than this. It didn’t really feel like there was need for this particular journey into the darkest cave. It also feels a little forced that after saving countless realities by working together, they now all get forced apart...? Hunk saving the day, saving the team, great. Really wonderful stuff. He’s been overlooked for so long. But the idea that they needed to become friends again...? To reconnect...again...? I don’t know that it felt necessary. If after all these years, literal years together there isn’t already a profound connection...? I just can’t really buy that. And again, it felt like a filler episode. And Hunk Priming the audience for the concept of passing the torch? Yeah, that didn’t go unseen.  Maybe it’s just me, but after six episodes where it was already established that they can travel at crazy speeds to be told “yeah no, it’s not that the lions were drained, it’s just these people who’ve literally saved the universe together aren’t quite best friends enough...”? That just feels silly.  And yes, I know “silly” is relative when we’re talking about a powerful group of robot magical cat things that are powered by love and freindship. BUT what I feel was silly was the idea that their friendship was strained at all. It felt as though the season wanted there to be this divide between them but...the comedy episode just a little while ago established they’re all willing to sacrifice themselves for each other.... 
That’s just....fundamentally contradictory. Are you guys barely even connected as friends or are you willing to die for each other? You can’t be both... It makes the whole “struggle” of getting back to Earth feel false because it’s predicated on the assumption that they’re a fractured team this episode yet there’s been literally no sign of that until now... Still, as always, the visuals were cool. The Space Angler Fish is a great concept. The music was great. The voice acting was on point. Everything was so SO good except...the writing... The writing in this particular episode in the context of everything preceding it just felt... Bad. Rushed. Forced. Contradictory. Drama for the sake of drama. Artificial... What’s going on guys...?
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So a multiparter? Let’s see. Ok. Seeing how awesome Sam Holt is, fine. Seeing him reunite with Colleen. Also fine and dandy and cool. And it tugged at the heart strings... But do we really need him to literally tell us everything we already know in a power point presentation...? The audience doesn’t need to be caught up on the events.We don’t need a massive chunk of the episode’s run time devoted to playing catch up. We have the time for this, but apparently - according to the spoilers - we don’t have time to establish that Allura is getting over Lotor and Falling for Lance...? Not even a throw away line, or a glance, or a suggestion of that fact that needs establishing after her season six reaction to the mice... But we do have time for the events of the show to be repeated to us...? What!? I am literally bewildered at this choice. Flabbergasted. Gobsmacked.
The worst thing about this so far, is that under all the EXPOSITION there’s a great story that wants too be told. I think we’re only seeing fragments of that story. Sam and Coleen struggling to find their children again and fighting against political nonsense. But real talk... This was all stuff that could have done just fine implied. The Paladins arrive on Earth, they see the new ships piloted by their inevitable replacements in the new series they seem to want to make, Lance asks, “What are those?” Sam responds, “A fusion of Galra, Altean and Olkari tech. The culmination of months of Earth’s greatest minds working together. It was a struggle, but we got them made in the end...” BOOM. Done. Efficient use of what is obviously painfully limited time. Did we NEED the power point, the montages, the backdoor pilot for the new team...? Did we - good as they were - even need the Holt Family suffering...? Couldn’t Coleen’s transmission to everyone on Earth have been enough to get the point across that they’re awesome...? In my opinion, we didn’t need this. Not like this at least. It could have been done so much more efficiently, so much less padding. But we did get to see snippets of the messages back home. That was nice. But it doesn’t change the fact that the majority of the first episode felt really... Unnecessary. But that’s just how I feel after part one... So, the first half of the second episode? Superb. Can’t fault it, good heroic stuff, Sam stepping up. A realistic invasion of Earth, ie, we lose that’s rare to see in most media. Can’t fault it. Then the second half kicks in. The four archetypes we’ve been barely introduced to, go on a mission that narratively speaking is utterly unnecessary. I know that the Atlas gets built thanks to spoilers. But even if I didn’t, what function does this part serve? We may not be able to build a thing. Later on, that thing will be built. Do we need to into the minutiae of how the supplies were gathered...? Well, I suppose we do. But not because of how it serves the overall plot of Voltron Legendary Defender, but how it sells these new kids to us for the new series they obviously assume they’re making. But if it wasn’t for that? 
Then it defaults to more exposition... More information that could have been relayed to the audience in much more engaging ways.
This could have been, rather than a messy and kinda redundant two part episode with occasional brilliance, it could have been trimmed down to a truly brilliant single part. I’m not invested in these new characters. Let me get there or not when I see them in their own show. And if they’re literally just there as homage to the sequel series from the 80′s...then they don’t need this much focus. The actual paladins and their interpersonal dynamics do. Rift creatures do. Lotor’s fate does. Why are we wasting the limited time that remains on this unless it’s a back door pilot? Why should the current series suffer just to promote the next one...? It’s just exhausting and disappointing. By the end I was agreeing with Keith. What are we waiting for...? The continuation of the series we came here for. What kept us waiting was either an advert for the next series or a massive misstep in pacing.
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And now, finally back to the real story and after two episodes establishing that Earth is screwed over, Earth can barely contact other parts of itself, Earth is on the brink of collapse, Earth is holding on by a thread... In the first scene we have Earth, somehow, triangulating a jamming signal into the outer edges of the solar system and remaining undetected as they do so...? Even assuming they are “just” sending commands to satellites and installations elsewhere in the solar system, The Galra would detect that command signal. And given how much we’ve had it stated, overstated, hammered home that Earth is in such bad shape...that feels like a real ass pull. 
I am being nitpicky, yes, but this is the second time this has happened on such a large and frankly contradictory scale. So I’m calling it out again. First The Paladins are willing to die for each other, or at least be trapped for eternity, then they are barely friends. Then, Earth can barely contact it’s own countries, but sending an undetectable command signal to at least three satellites in the solar system is fine...? Why not just have Voltron get the signal sooner!? Why not have Pidge send a jamming signal...?
And in terms of introductions to the new team? What we got after the drone attack? Perfect. It didn’t need to be an entire episode of establishing them because it isn’t their story. But the Paladins meeting their families? The reconciliation with Iverson? Shiro grieving for Adam. Where was all this before now? Why hasn’t our focus been where it belongs. On the Paladins? Now, I don’t really want to get into the whole debate about unfair representation of LGBT characters. I can see both sides of the argument as being valid. Shiro remains a strong canonically gay character even if the man he once loved is gone. Adam, though dead, is not immune to tragedy just for being gay. What we did see though was a man openly crying for his lost love. There’s plenty to be critical of the series for. But personally, I don’t feel the treatment of Adam and Shiro is “queerbaiting” so much as it is a couple unfairly separated by the horrors of war. A canonically and unambiguously gay couple. That’s representation. Just it may not be precisely what everyone wanted. But don’t let me stop you writing out impassioned critiques, don’t let me stop you airing and venting your grievances. I’m doing that right now, aren’t I? Just please please please don’t send any more hatred at the creators...
Now, this whole section of the Altean enhanced tech...? Why is this being reiterated again? This could stand on it’s own as an introduction to the concept of Earth meets Alien tech. Why are we being shown the same things twice, first in the two parter in depth and again now...? Why do this when there is so much else that needs addressing in ever dwindling episodes...? Though aside from that, Hunk and Keith connecting is great. Hunk finally having a dedicated arc to save his family also great. Hunk being the outsider to the Garrison Trio dynamic and spending time with Keith again? Also great, wonderful even. So where was all this previously...? But even this, even this has to be if not overshadowed then frankly hijacked by the new characters they want to sell to us. It’s getting tiresome. I don’t want Hunk’s moments overshadowed, his spotlight taken... But damn, if he doesn’t still stand proud regardless. This is the Voltron I’ve been missing for most of the season.
I was going to post the image of him crying, but couldn’t do it... So here, Happier Hunk.
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Don’t know how I feel about Hover Hand. I get they’re setting it up for the final conflict with Sendak, so that Shiro will be his literal and visual antithesis...but...hover hand looks kinda goofy. And being the counterpoint to your nemesis doesn’t need to be so literal all the time. And again, the new characters forcing their way into the story with a half baked excuse to sell you them. I think from now on I’m just going to comment when Team Replacements don’t force themselves in...Even the fact one of them was Veronica felt a little frustrating, because Lance’s family dynamic with her is overshadowed in my opinion by her being part of the new forced team of replacements. Allura giving up her crystal tiara for Shiro was a nice moment. 
Okay, now imagine the whole infiltration section without Team Replacements. Just the Paladins, doing their thing. Let’s assume their resident tech genius has a way to stop the sentry drones sending out distress calls. 
What did they contribute other than a few quips? Are we really expected to believe our paladins, the protagonists of the story need these people...? No. It was just written that way to force the new guys in. What we need to wonder is why and the answer is most likely... Back Door Pilot. Over multiple episodes. That undermined the series I was already watching. And finally, despite it being the supposed new canon ship in town, we see our first indication that Lance and Allura might be interested. Or do we? No, we just see Lance checking her out and being teased. Then immediately afterwards we see Pidge implementing Lance style silliness and even a Lance style distraction with her own spin on it. But no, let’s focus on the blushing and the eyeballing. I’m not salty. I’m dead sea levels of salty. But I’ll put that aside for now... And roll my eyes at the Wilhelm scream... Ok, so I was all ready to be excited about the plan, but then the super forced Allurance twin blush happened. Was it...was it really supposed to hit home when there was no build up to it this season...? Or was checking her out through the sniper sights enough to replace any hint of them coming closer or Allura setting aside Lotor...? Sure, she’s bound to do it in time, but all I’d want is something to suggest as much on screen. Just a throw away line or two... Is that so much? Cut a scene or two with the Replacements and give us more Paladins.
As the paladins all fly to their thematically and elementally appropriate battlegrounds, I want to agree with some posts I’ve seen arguing that Pidge doesn’t just look concerned, or in the zone as the other paladins do. For at least one shot she looks sad. Troubled. Maybe I’m reaching. Probably reaching. Almost certainly reaching given the almost immediate Allura calling to Lance moment... The sequence of connecting with the lions though? And Lance protecting Veronica? Pretty much resigned to die before being saved by red...? Yeah, heavy and cool stuff.
But Admiral Asshole somehow getting in touch with Sendak? Betraying the entire planet? No. Just no. She can be a thorn in their side and an antagonist without being so utterly stupid. At this point she’s gone from concerned alternative view but essentially a good person trying to save the planet in her own way, to being pantomime levels of stupid. What a daft choice. What a needless choice. You know what would have worked better...? Sendak baiting the Paladins. It would play into his military genius archetype. He didn’t need intel from Admiral Asshole if the entire purpose of the planet killers was just bait for the paladins... We didn’t need admiral asshole to make a faustian pact with the people responsible for planetary genocide. Some of the choices this season just bewilder me. 
Well, at least no combining sequence before the Big Zapper Cannons hit. That’s something. I guess they can occasionally cut unnecessary scenes for time. 
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The Paladins are asleep and it’s time for the replacement team to take centre stage again. Even with their own repeated launch sequence animation. Guess they can waste time after all. Admiral Asshole...
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...yeah. Who would have thought that the mass murdering alien wasn’t to be trusted...? Except anyone written with an ounce of sense. I won’t deny, I completely and utterly lost interest during the Team Replacements moments. If you like them? Great. They were kinda written to be made valid off the back of the existing series so, I guess it worked for some, just not for me. I might even have been more keen on them myself ha they been secondary characters. But this season, they have so far felt like the focus. Yet also, they felt so undeveloped that they were like filler. They took up far too much focus that should have been on the Paladins. The characters I’ve been watching for six previous seasons. The characters I’m invested in. Even the launch of the Atlas - is it supposed to be a reference to The Gotengo in ship mode? - being powered by the Castle Crystal felt like a passing of the torch moment. There’s still a season left guys, can we wait until after this series ends maybe...?
Can we do The Paladins justice in their own series and make them the focus in their own series? Can we do the replacement team justice by making them the focus of their own series...? No? We’re going to try to do both at once and ultimately make both the worse off for it? Great, ok. Seems like a plan... SIGH
Soul-riding the lions? Now that’s a cool extension of the lore. That’s a cool new addition. That’s building more upon and actually watching Voltron again. Have I mentioned that it sometimes feels like I’m not watching Voltron any longer this season? Because, yeah, that. But during the parts where I was watching Voltron, it was great. Shame I couldn’t care more about Admiral Asshole’s sacrifice. They went beyond the pale with her outright betraying Earth. Noble sacrifice for an act of stupidity was just...meh. Didn’t feel like she’d be any additional motivation for the Paladins that earth already was. 
But damn does Shiro look good as the captain of a starship. Kudos where it’s due. The artists did a damn good job.
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So, the final episodes... Great set up for a final confrontation. Yet within the first half of the first episode. Oh no. Voltron has been pinned. Oh no. The Atlas can’t do stuff. What will we do? Oh gosh I hope the new team of plucky do-gooders can save the day. Whatever would we do without them? I hope we can buy their toys soon. Stop it. Why won’t they just stop it...? Stop making them such a major focus. This isn’t their show...or yeah, maybe it is now. Maybe the Paladins are the side characters now? Sometimes it feels that way. They spent a lot of time out of commission, damaged, pinned or otherwise unable to act except in montages.
“Lance, I’m coming to help!” Yes, because Allura is just there to support and look shyly away from lion glances. Sigh. Can we have Allura who didn’t need to be defined by a love interest back please?
Then again, Shiro had some time to shine which was really appreciated. The Sendak/Shiro fight was...ok? I mean, it had a lot to live up to after the Kuron / Keith fight. And it just fell short in my opinion. And much as Keith saving Shiro is kinda the default... Given how they were building Shiro up to be the anti-Sendak, it felt like the final blow was robbed from Shiro just a little.
Then of course, we get The New Robeast. More powerful than anything they’ve dealt with before and utterly unannounced. Ok. Well at least they didn’t just go to sleep for a bit and let the new guys do everything. But they still found a way to force them in even now. Wouldn’t have shocked me at this point though if the new group had just beaten the robeast. The twin swords are cool, but sadly a Plance moment it wasn’t. Maybe it would have been in old Voltron. Formed by a stronger bond between the two. But not so much now. Just a thing that happens. Like Pidge’s new gun thing. Thing that happens. No build to it really, just happens. No lesson, no moment of clarity, no greater connection, just, happens. How does the Atlas have back up generators that can make it functional when it’s already been established the only thing that can power it is the castle crystal? It was a pretty big plot point. Until it was just forgotten about. The Atlas mech formed by Altean magic was pretty cool. Shiro has a lot of moments with Allura leading to it as well. More than she had with Lance even. I’ll come back to that. Fake out Pala-deaths was cheap. And if they only reason they put the focus on the new guys was for that fake out...? Screw that. What a waste.
Seeing Hunk and Shay reunited was nice but too brief. Nice to be wrong about Krolia, but I’m not expecting she’ll last the next season. Shock factor you see. Watching Earth change and develop in flash forwards and montage now makes me wonder why that couldn’t have happened earlier. And my answer is, probably to sell the new team. And that sucks. I’m not really looking forward to another season of the Paladins taking the back seat. I do kind of expect it though. In fact, I expect it will only get worse.
And of course, now in a mere 13 episodes we have to wrap up Lotor, Haggar, the rift creatures, any and all ships, don’t forget set up the new team, because I think there were a few subtle hints there’s a new team they want us to care about. How about that new team guys? New team! And do all that without it feeling like a giant rushed mess. Heh. Won’t hold my breath.
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Overall? Season Seven as others have said for many reasons, is Voltron Legendary Disappointment. Now to be fair, the art, the music, the animation, the voice acting - even given some guff lines, kudos to Josh Keaton for making “Their very home” not sound stupid... All of that was great. All of those staff members involved? A plus, amazing. But the writing...? Oh my good gravy the writing is all over the damn place. Yes, I just write silly fanfics and they’re professionals so what do I know? Their paycheck invalidates my opinion, right? But to be frank some of the mistakes and I do mean mistakes are elementary continuity gaffs. Redundancy. Repetition. Over reliance on exposition. I mean, if this is considered professional then standards have dropped...  That’s not to say there weren’t moments of great writing. Moments where it felt like I was actually watching Voltron again rather than an advert for the new guys. But for the most part...? It was odd choice after odd choice. Daft move after daft move. Mess after mess. Forced and contrived plot point after forced and contrived plot point and if I was judging the series solely on the writing... I’d ask why nobody proofread the first draft.
But to literally everyone else involved in the show from the voice actors to the background artists to the intern fetching coffee...? You all did an amazing job with the mess you were given.
The Obligatory Over Long Shipping Bit
It’s not all about the ships, but... To some extent, it kinda is a little. Maybe even a very BIG little... At it’s most basic, a story, any narrative, has three parts.
The Beginning: The Status Quo, the ordinary world.
The Middle: A Challenge To The Status Quo, conflict, introduction of the special world.
The End: A New Status Quo, conflict resolved, special and ordinary world merge or become aligned to create a new standard.
And ships? Well, they’re an aspect of both the conflict in the middle and the New Status Quo at the end. Ships matter. The connection we feel to two or more characters and the connections they gain with each other? They matter. They are the story. So when I bang on about ships beneath, keep that in mind. Keep in mind that watching characters grow and grow closer is an integral part of narrative, romantic, platonic, whatever. Watching dynamics develop and shift between characters matters. That includes ships. And, I’m not calling the show bad because ships. The show itself is flawed, but overall still good. still very good in fact. All I want to do here is share my disappointment and frankly my confusion at the way that all the ships seem to be playing out right now.
But to start... Allurance. 
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Let me say, emphatically state, that if you enjoy this ship I have no beef with you. I am not against you enjoying it. I am not trying to tell you you’re wrong. If you and I having different opinions on this is enough for you to unfollow me, then fair enough, goodbye and have fun elsewhere, no hard feelings. However, my opinion remains as it has done from the start. Whilst this could have been a solid canonical ship if things had been written differently, as it stands... I can’t support it and feel it’s the worst outcome for these two characters.
Now, I’ve seen the argument that “maybe it all happens off screen” and that I addressed in a post here. The long and the short of it, I want to see characters develop on screen rather than off screen. That is literally what I watch for. The On Screen Developments. Not off screen assumptions. On screen this season, Allura had more bonding moments with Shiro than with her supposed new love interest. Does that make sense to you? Because it doesn’t to me. Then there’s the argument that Lance’s feelings have grown and matured and changed. But honestly, on some level, if Allurance becomes canon, it feels like they haven’t. Let’s go through it on a very basic level.
Allura and Lance meet, he hits on her. - Lance wants to be with her. They work together. He continues to hit on her. - Lance wants to be with her. They keep working together. He hits on her and is jealous and possessive of anyone who even comes near her.  - Lance wants to be with her. Lance tones it down a little. Starts to be supportive. You’re the heart of Voltron etc. - Lance wants to be with her. Enter Lotor. Lance remains jealous and possessive, but plays it off to Allura as a joke. “You need a third wheel?” But to everyone else, including the mice, he makes it very very clear this makes him unhappy. - Lance wants to be with her. He makes that speech to the mice about wanting to be a better person, how he’s unworthy etc. etc. etc. - Lance wants to be with her. Allura finds out about this, seems less than pleased. - Lance wants to be with her. Allura breaks up with Lotor after finding out the man who changed her life is a genocidal space vampire. - Lance wants to be with her. Lance does the supportive hug scene. - Lance wants to be with her. Some stuff off screen presumably and Allura is suddenly over it. - Lance wants to be with her. Dual blushing scene, soft gazes lion scene etc. - Lance wants to be with her and suddenly Allura wants the same thing.
Now, to me at least, I never felt like Lance’s feelings for Allura changed. What changed were his tactics in pursuing that desire. The ultimate ulterior motive of wanting to be with her at no point altered. To me, that severely undermines his and Allura’s growth together. It re-frames the supportive friend hug in season six into the only possible on screen moment that she fell for him and to me that makes Allura seem weak willed, flighty and frankly weak as a character to be rushed into needing a new man so soon after Lotor. It makes Allura into the opposite of what she has been all along. It reframes Lance as being a creep who’s not being entirely honest and is just hanging on to get some Altean Action. It’s unwittingly supportive of the concept in toxic masculinity of No Doesn’t Mean No and I think that’s a dangerous message to be sending these days. We should know better. No means No, it does not and should not mean pursue them like an object you want to possess. In reality, that attitude being normalised can lead to obvious and dangerous extremes. In a story, the pursued partner loses their dramatic agency and is reduced to a prize or else wants to be possessed and is thus framed as less capable. I think the idea of Lance and Allura shifting their dynamic to “genuine romance” between  seasons and off screen is cheap. Overall, I feel it devalues both of them rather than enriching them as a ship and an end to two character arcs should. Maybe, like resurrecting Shiro / Kuron early being down to executive meddling, the same is true here? Maybe the plan was for Lance to break the mould of the stereotypical nice guy waiting in the wings? Maybe Lotor being bad was also executive meddling? Or maybe that’s just the scapegoat for the roads we missed out on? The potential lost...
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Now, the weird thing is, I’ve seen the argument made that you wouldn’t say that about allurance if allura was a guy. Well...yeah I would. Because if nothing changed except Allura’s sex and/or gender but the events were otherwise identical then it would have exactly the same narrative issues. It would still be undermining both character’s growth and arcs. Chasing someone who isn’t interested is still toxic behaviour regardless of who does it to whom. But if you want to assume that I’m just saying this “because Allura’s a woman” then I guess I can’t stop you, but I hope you take my honest statement that it’s not the case as far as I’m concerned.  On the other side of this argument of well if x was y you wouldn’t z, well, that’s just you creating and answering a hypothetical question. Let’s say someone shipped, I dunno Keith and Cosmo. And the defence was “well you wouldn’t call it bestiality if cosmo was human.” And yeah, I suppose if something was changed so drastically there wouldn’t be a problem. But Cosmo is a wolf in Canon. And Allura is a woman in Canon. Maybe nobody would be saying Allurance has problematic elements if Allura was male or maybe the would. I feel that I certainly would see the issue regardless. But that argument is purely hypothetical and anyone who makes it has no way of proving it or supporting it.
There is however another issue in Canon that nobody seems willing to address. Alteans live for centuries. Centuries versus decades of lifespan. That kind of relationship will have the functionally immortal one watching the person they love ROT before their eyes. It will have them mourning their true love for CENTURIES or else callously moving on. It will, if they have or adopt kids, leave the functionally immortal one, watching their own descendants die. The functionally immortal partner will see their love reflected in their descendants eyes and faces. Forced to relive their loss generation after generation. I don’t want to contemplate that end for characters I care about. But that’s what would happen between Lance and Allura. I don’t want to think of Allura watching generations of hers and Lance’s kids and great grand kids dying like flies and thinking of her reliving that loss every hundred years or so as their next batch of descendants die in front of her. Maybe you see it as romantic? I see it as horrifying. And if the issue of Human vs. Altean ages is never dealt with on screen, I’ll assume the creators either didn’t think about it or assumed the audience wouldn’t care. Well I’m sorry, but you made characters that we love, they are part of a lore that we paid attention to. We do care and it does matter.
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What I will admit is that maybe, just maybe the way I’m interpreting things isn’t what the creators intended. As much as I am a proponent of Death of the Author, I won’t disregard authorial intent. To those of you who don’t know, Death of the Author essentially states that; all media is a collaborative experience between audience and creators. That no one interpretation of a text is more valid than another. That interpretations can shift and change based on the time and context through which the text is viewed. That interpretations the author never intended are valid. Now, a lot of people seem to have this idea that “Death of The Author” means audience interpretation matters more than that of the author and completely overlook the idea of shared meaning and no one true interpretation. I’m coming at this from the point of view not that the audience owns the text but that we all, audience and author, equally share it and it’s infinite valid interpretations.
So that said, the authorial intent may well be that Lance and Allura’s relationship isn’t and was never meant to be a creepy guy being persistent. That it wasn’t meant to suggest that despite being rebuffed, he should carry on chasing. Maybe it wasn’t meant to seem like he was dishonest, swooping in after a break up to pick up the pieces. Maybe we’re supposed to ignore the ulterior motive to get into her pants that never changed from season one episode one? It may well be their intent was to show a relationship developing healthily and organically but they were rushed and it ended up feeling incomplete? But, that less positive interpretation is just not how it comes across to me and many others. Intent or not, we can only interpret what we see. We don’t hate the idea of these two characters being happy, we just feel like the way it’s portrayed so far doesn’t seem strong enough or doesn’t make it explicit enough that there has been sufficient growth and change on screen to really make us buy it. You may disagree. That’s perfectly valid. The authors may disagree. That’s perfectly valid. I disagree with those opinions and that too is perfectly valid. I don’t hate any of you for feeling the way you do or for reading the text the way you do. Everyone interprets media differently. Please do me the same courtesy and don’t hate me for my interpretation. We can both make valid points yet still disagree. There is not one true and absolute interpretation.
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I suppose that leads me here. At this point, given the way that almost every ship possible has been hinted, teased, alluded to or given time onscreen... I wouldn’t be shocked if there aren’t any canonical ships by the end. Just hints. Forever hints. Because if nothing else, the Allurance shippers don’t deserve to be baited and switched. Even if I disagree with the way it’s been portrayed, even if I feel it was rushed and needed time on screen to develop, those shippers deserve a decent payoff if the show is going to tease it so damn hard and so damn obviously. The Sheith shippers have had plenty of hints as well. Kallura looks on the cards half the time. Hunay, Hunelle, Hidge/Punk all got hints at the possibility this season. Keith and Acxa, I was thinking they’d pull that as soon as Keith found her in the weblum. Plance, I may or may not have strong feelings about. Who can say? 
But given that the series so far has given so many contradictory hints, even assuming the caveat of multiple interpretations, how could anyone be happy by the end? I mean, if Plance happens and I still believe it makes the most sense for Lance and Pidge’s journeys and character arcs... Well what about the Allura / Lance dual blush moment...? The Allurance fans will ask that and rightly so. Why even include that if it isn’t going to go anywhere...? Chekov’s Gun. I can’t even deny myself that if the plan really was for Lance to move on, this would have been the season to explore that to make it feel organic. If Lance ends up moving on in the next season, then that will suddenly feel forced as well. The amount of ship baiting going on is a little frustrating. I can’t see how it could end in a satisfying way for every baited ship. So, maybe they’re just going to have nobody end up with anybody canonically? At this stage, part of me would rather have that than have my OTP confirmed in canon. Because if what has happened so far is anything to go by... I’m just going to be disappointed at it feeling rushed and artificial. Unearned and pulled out of left field at the last second. With all the build up to Allurance, whether I think it hit the mark or not, it feel like it would be cheap and rushed to have him suddenly move on in the next and last season. Plance might end up feeling not organically developed, just, info dumped into existence for time constraints. I’ve been seeing hints between Lance and Pidge since episode one. Waiting for them to change their dynamic for all that time and seeing hint after subtle hint, seeing how perfectly their two stories align. They literally and narratively complete one another. And yet, if it comes down to it that one line or one half baked scene or even one future still image in a montage at the end of the series, is the confirmation of them hooking up...? Then even I won’t feel like my ship was worth coming true in canon. I’d rather have it never come true than have it come true as badly, as forced, as potentially interpreted as toxic, as contrary to the narrative and as ultimately unsatisfying as Allurance seems to be right now. I have no issue with Allurance being the end game. I would just have wanted to see it done justice and right now... It just isn’t. Don’t agree? Ok, well...
Compare and contrast... One person in this series, Allura creates - using Alchemy - a means to be whole again. A weapon capable of overcoming a nemesis in visual dramatic parallel. Having learned Alchemy through tainted means from her Evil Ex, she’s now able to put it to physical tangible use for a new person. Not only that but she sacrifices her crown, her symbol of office, one of her last remnants of her dead home world in order to make that creation whole. She has shown this person nothing but respect and kindness otherwise.  Another person she barely interacted with aside from telling him to shut up then in the space of one episode they’re all blushy because reasons.
I’m being a little facetious, but let’s be honest.... What this shows is that Allura literally has a more meaningful and narratively significant set of interactions with SHIRO than she does with Lance this Season.  Shiro’s arm represents her turning the bad experience with Lotor to good. Her giving up her symbol of Altean Royalty shows she’s willing to sacrifice anything for him. And through that bond, she grants him the power to turn the Atlas into a giant robot. Where she created the Sincline out of a dishonest partnership, the Altas-Mecha is formed by honest...well, it looks like LOVE to me. Now I’m not saying I ship them. But if you showed me this season out of context with any of the rest of Voltron, I would be shipping Shiro with Allura even though he’s Gay. Because frankly, in the story told on screen this season that actually makes way more sense than shipping her with Lance. Even out of context, even assuming no Lotor, no previous issues, Lance and Allura being hinted just seems...out of nowhere this season.
Maybe I should just wait for the sequel series where everyone ends up with total randoms off screen that nobody is happy with? Maybe the ships that make the most sense and have been hinted at the most will be forgotten or end up with off screen unhappy marriages as some vague and irksome attempt at being “mature”. Yes, I’m still salty about Toph/Sokka as well as Kataang, what of it? Sometimes you just want the characters you have grown to love and adore to have a happy ending together. Is that too much to ask...?
So, season 8 predictions...?
After a heartwarming episode that teases Coranecker, Lotor will finally get his redemption arc. And by arc I mean, episode. There will be an entire episode devoted to info dumping how he wasn’t really a space vampire the whole time and Romelle got the wrong end of the stick. This episode will tease Lotura again as well as hinting at Hungar, Huntor, Hunlia and Huray, the Polyship of Hunk Coran and Shay. Haggar, having now established herself as the dark queen of the Quantum Abyss will send wave after wave of Altean-Robeasts at Voltron, before the series finally ends in, you guessed it, another big battle with another new big robot. There will be a “we won” montage, Sendak will somehow be resurrected or a void creature will emerge from Daibazol to set up the Big Bad for the sequel series. Maybe both. Nobody will end up with anyone and the next series and/or movie will be hinted at. We might end up with a cliffhanger to tease the sequel series. And we’ll all go away a little disappointed and a little happy all at once. Oh and Black Paladin Kaltenecker of course.
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Salty semi-joking aside, at this point given how rushed the series has obviously become, I really would not be shocked if Lotor DID get a redemption plot that was dealt with in a single episode. Or a single sentence. Just like the way he was turned into a Genocidal Space Vampire in a single episode, I’m sure they can turn him into the Space Pope in a single episode. Maybe blame it all on a rift creature? Or maybe save that plot thread for the next series, given that in 13 episodes there’s no way they can cover everything they want to AND cover it as well as they want to. Or just never mention them again. It’s not like they were set up to be majorly important or anything. 
Also, if the whole of Voltron Legendary Defender is now going to be a backdoor pilot for Voltron The Garrison Guys or whatever, that seems disappointing more than exciting. Voltron Legendary Defender should be it’s own show first and a sequel should organically follow based on success or failure. If there was always a plan to have more seasons as a sequel series then...
USE THOSE EXTRA SEASONS TO GIVE THIS STORY THE ROOM IT NEEDED!!!
Make VLD the best it can be before assuming we need a sequel series at all. We wouldn’t have half the problems we have now of story lines feeling rushed if, get this the story lines had more episodes to not be rushed! We could have had more Past-Paladins. Keith’s backstory could have been explored as a full episode or two not spoon fed to us by time flashbacks. Allurance could feel less forced and artificial. Lotor’s betrayal could have been given more than a single episode info-dump. We could have actually explored Allura’s feelings and hr process of getting over one of the most important relationships in her life turning to shit. Give this story the time and space it needs to breathe and grow. Let THIS story be told in a well paced way rather than being forced to rush to hit the deadlines for the sequel series. If VLD ends up being less well received owing to bad or rushed writing, we may just end up with zero interest in the sequel series anyway. It’s self defeating!
Don’t have entire episodes devoted to characters who show up, info dump and then are mute for the rest of the season. Don’t have entire plot threads be rushed and resolved in time less than they deserve! And if you can’t do that...
THEN TRIM THE FAT!!!
We can probably all point to a bit that felt “rushed” or “forced” or “out of left field” and that all comes down to a single fact. So far, there has been far too much story to tell in far too few episodes. So certain plot threads end up suffering as a result. Not being fully realised. Not being given anything more than flashbacks and montages rather than full episodes examining in greater emotional depth and deeper narrative exploration.
I would rather see a simple story well told than a complex story rushed for time. What we seem to get in seasons 6+ of Voltron are attempts to tell the entire story they wanted but being forced to cut it short for time. Sadly, what would have been better than telling the full story badly would be telling as much of it as you can save well and discarding the rest. Maybe that’s already happened? Wouldn’t shock me.
Lotor deserved better. Allurance if it becomes canon, deserved to have been built upon to make it seem more deserved, less creepy nice guy. Allura deserved to have on screen time to adapt, grieve and move on from Lotor. Matt could have had time to develop his relationship on screen. Plance if it becomes canon deserves time to shine, because for many fans out there if it does becomes canon in season 8 then for them it will seem rushed, sudden, forced. Or worse, Pidge will always seem like Lance’s backup girl... As Said before, even me as a hardcore Plance Shipper feels like it can’t possibly be given the time it deserves to feel earned when we have just one season left to tie it all together....  So again, maybe all they can do at this stage is shrug and only ever give hints as to whom ends up with whom in this massive cast...? And then just spew out the sequel series. Because we gotta sell those new toys.
I cared and invested in the VLD characters. I wanted their story to be their story and not just a vehicle to sell the next series that, to be honest, I’m probably not going to be remotely interested in.
The Salt Floweth To An End
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There is SO much potential in VLD that was squandered by things being rushed, compacted, cut and yet also being massively bloated despite this. Then there’s the obvious executive meddling that can’t have helped for a second... It just ends up making everything messy and unfocused. This season was a mess. Entertaining, yes, compelling, yes and damn good overall but with so many moments that just hit shy of the mark the creators obviously were aiming for. Almost all of it down to the writing. Because the animators, musicians, actors and all the other cast and crew did an amazing job. But the writing was...just a totally confused mess.
Overall, it ends up being Great rather than Exceptional which breaks my heart. Because the first 5 seasons? Exceptional. Every aspect. Especially the writing. But from Six onward? Everything seems to just crack and fray around the edges, the polish wears thin and the whole thing feels just slightly less like everyone involved gave 100%. Maybe a solid 90%, and some still went above and beyond... But things, in my opinion, shifted. Sometimes in service of “surprises” and sometimes just because they needed to rush. Whatever the case, it feels like somewhere along the line the writers stopped caring as much. If at all. Will I watch season 8? Sure. But I’ll always know it could have been so much more if they’d been given more time and more room to let the story flourish. At this point I doubt it’s possible given the already obvious lack of focus in the writing, that we’ll see every plot thread tied up to satisfaction. I’m not even going to kid myself that they’ll do it all well because that’s just not going to happen. I’ll be shocked if they manage it at all. Frankly I’ll be shocked if the last season doesn’t focus more on the new team again... I am not looking forward. It feels like a chore now. Will I watch the sequel series if there is one. No. Probably not.  I wanted Voltron Legendary Defender to be given all the time it needed to be exceptional. I didn’t want to watch an advert for the next series and the next group of characters and toys. Especially if we’ll just end up seeing them all wasted, rushed and never allowed to live up to their potential as well. I was invested in VLD and it sucks that my investment is used as a marketing ploy for a potential new show before being discarded. Ah well. There’s always fanfics I guess... Though even that tastes a little bitter now... Like I'm just another part of the Voltron Hype Machine and not even getting paid to do it... Sucks and it taints what I plan to do and what I already have done... I do want to continue supporting the show and the ship I love along with all the fans out there in The Garden, but right now... I’m left feeling so conflicted. In two minds about how much I enjoy this show and yet despite that, how often and how glaring some of the errors, missteps and plain crazy choices they seem to be making along the way... It’s hard to feel 100% positive, but I did make this post and I stand by it. If the Voltron writers won’t give us the reality that makes the most sense? We make it ourselves. I did make these three posts and I stand by all of them as well. Even now as it seems like the writer’s minds are falling apart like chunks of wet cake, I still maintain that Plance makes the most sense in the story for those two characters I loved. Will it still make sense at the end of the series? Honestly, yeah. I’m sure it will still make more sense than whatever the writers eventually decide to churn out. Here’s hoping Season 8 is...something...
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tumblunni · 6 years ago
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MAN OKAY IM MAKING A SELF INDULGENT KINGDOM HEARTS SONA
Probably the only main reason i havent made another one since i was a kid is cos i never really wanted to be a keyblade master. Even as a kid i always hated "they are just all magically born evil because darkness energy" as a trope. Whenever an evil guy had minions who were all "mindless and evill" and you were supposed to mow them down in droves because of it, i always felt like they seemed LESS evil, yknow? Like youre canonically stating that theyre NOT evil! Theyre dangerous, yeah, but you just said that they dont have complex cognitive thought or ability to choose their own actions. Theyrr just being USED for evil, by the guy whos the real evil! Theyre like guard dogs who were abused into dangerness and if they cant be rehibilitated then its sad, yknow? Poor heartless!! And seriously how can they make them have such cute designs and not expect us to see them that way!!
So yeah i hate that canonically the heartless are all evil and canonically everyone good has to destroy the heartless, like its the entire damn point of a keyblade so i couldnt even touch one without being forced to slay the cutebabs! And KHDDD was great with the long awaited addition of CUTE BABS GOOD GUY MONSTERS YOU CAN HUG, although they were a whole new species of monster and its still canon that heartless are all evil and the equally as annoying canon that all good/remotely sentient Nobodies look like regular humans instead of the cute patoots they once was. THE CUTE PATOOT THAT NEVER WAS!!!! Srsly the low level Dusk is my fave design in the whole series its such a good squiggle boye
OKAY OKAY SO MY POINT IS
If i was gonna make a normal khsona itd have to be either specifically a Dream Eater trainer keyblade weilder whose entire story is about pet raising and none of the fightng evil, or an Organization member because theyre the only sympathetic monsters even if they dont look monstery anymore. Even though obviously rationally my self insert in anything would always be a good guy cos i am a very soft boyo who is too much of a wimp to do the slightest evil. But alas all the best characters are evil and the monsters look so cute aaaa!!
SO OKAY my ULTIMATE self indulgent khsona would be ME AM ANSEM NOW
Me as a heartless researcher who hugs all the heartless and becomes a heartless and then we heartlessly heartfully hug! Cos seriously it is a true fact that i would be a good guy but also if someone came up to me and was like "hey its totally possible to BECOME one of the cute monsters" id be like "oh noooo dammit i guess im evil now" *shrugs in heartless* But i wouldnt really do anything evil i'd just run like.. Old friends senior heartless sanctuary. Just make a big nice house for all my monsters and bake them cakes everyday. I WOULD LEARN TO COOK FOR THEM!!!! So if that makes me evil then i guess i am evil, dammit!! "Oh nooo we dont wanna get our souls stolen and turn into really fabulous cute designs with amazing supernatural powers" well you are WRONG okay. Just my most self indulgent everything idea is just *points at the evilest beastie* im gonna lovv and cherish that! *takes a running leap into a ballpit of Darkballs* SERIOUSLY DARKBALLS ARE SOME OF THE CUTEST AND ALL THEIR ANIMATIONS ARE SO CUTE WHY IS EVERY HEARTLESS SO CUTE AND SO ANIMATED WHY ARE THEY THE MOST DIDNEY THING IN DIDNEY WHY DID THE NEW GAME ADD A HEARTLESS WHOSE JUST A BIG PUDDING WITH A FACE HOW AM I MEANT TO NOT LOVE THAT hhhh
So yeah khsona bunni is some librarian mothafucker who does Deep Darkness Research but is also the nice goofy good guy sort of mad scientist, like the nutty professor or something. I'd probably be the comic relief on some team of actual villains, thats the only way id really be any threat to anyone. But i'd also totally be The Mom Friend and itd be like u guys are having some serious battle and then i call up Mr Big Villain mid battle like HEY YO COME JOIN KARAOKE WITH ME AND THE HEARTLESS and then hes like "damn man can we have a rain check on the whole end of the world thing?"
Like lol another self indulgent oc thing would be "power to be friends with all the fave villains and they are my friend and we hug". Like an all star teamup of just specifically all bunni's fave KH and didney villains and then also they never fight anyone and we just enjoy slice of life friendship antics. Like Kuja and Ursula would be so cool!! Cos theyre both similar personality yet Kuja had experience manipulating a more loser-y lady who looked a lot like ursula so i can expect he'd underestimate her and try his queen brahne plan again and maybe get outsmarted? And maybe theyd be locked in an eternal battle of two masterminds trying to manipulate each other and along the way they somehow end up accidentally forming a mentor student or mom and son relationship? Like ursula is the better version of garland and she helps kuja heal from his childhood trauma and also in the process maybe he helps her heal from whatever ambiguous backstory event led to her being ostracized from her royal family and such. THEY WOULDNT BE BAD IF THEY HAD HUGS OK let me believe this!! And also of course theyre both the big gay/trans coded dramatic fashion person from their respective stories, so srsly there could be so much awesomeness from the combination of The Two Most Stylish Of Two Worlds! Also i wonder how Kuja would even work in a khified version? Like maybe terra still exists as a separate world in kh world rules and it has a plan to destroy and take over gaia in the same way as the original ff9. Or maybe take some of kuja's other plot points and go from there? Like with how he disguised himself as a treno noble and how he eas created by garland to be an "angel of death", maybe in this world he's a shapeshifter Nobody assassin who infiltrates different worlds and corrupts important people to help garland destroy them? But since he's a very complex experiment and complex = humanoid in this universe, it could be an excuse for him becoming sentient over time and having a plot similar to repliku wanting to be a real human. And i dunno maybe zidane is his "brother" because he's the heartless made from the same original dead guy, who was discarded as a failed experiment? Like it could be interesting to see both of them as villains on the same side, and actually have a close relationship as loving brothers. And theres even already a monkey type heartless! And i dunno maybe the plot of garland creating the genomes infiltrator heartless and then kuja going on to create black mages still black mages? Like he still makes Vivi cos seriously its SO WEIRD that the heartless are based on black mages and then of all things they decided that Vivi would be the ONLY ff9 character allowed to appear in the whole kh series and itd just be in the role of "normal human kid". But they didnt even change his design!! He still looks like a heartless!! Why does nobody question why fredbob mcnormalson doesnt have a face!! So itd make much more sense if he was still a heartless and he's just a good one who wants to be a real boy BUT COS THE WORLD SAYS ALL HEARTLESS ARE EVIL I CANT HAVE THAT. Theyre all evil and only extra evil people get to be humanoid types! Boooo! So kuja doing Special Experiment Science could explain there being at least one special heartless thats not evil. And i dunno, kuja sends vivi out on his first test mission to infiltrate and destroy twilight town but whoops instead he becomes everyone's favourite baby brother! Like he's about to devour some dude's soul and then seifer and co come in and yell at the victim like DUDE ARE U BULLYING THIS POOR TINY CHILD and they drag off this poor very confused heartless in a hug and now he's Lost Forever I Guess. Kuja: damn he tasted icecream i'll never get him back!
Look ok i really like Villains Who Are Not Bad and i will constantly make Villains Who Are Not Bad and nothing will ever be better than Villains Who Are Not Bad
My khsona is Good Heartless who hugs Good Heartless in a team of Good Heartless and also brings in other cameo characters to become Good Heartless ok yes the end hell yea hugs n such
TYHE BEST OCS IS HUGS OCS OK
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nebulawriter · 7 years ago
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Black Panther
WAIT BEFORE YOU SCROLL AWAY! If you like this blog, some news: I recently got a moviepass, which means I will be watching a lot more movies, I’m hoping to make it one movie per week, which means one movie REVIEW per week. I’m not sure what I want to do with television right now, though, so we’ll deal with that later. 
ANYWAY as all the early reviews have told you this was a really good character driven, socially aware, well plotted, well crafted movie. 
I mean I think it kinda had to be, right? The first major black superhero movie? Granted I only saw it a little bit ago, but it’s hard to find flaws. but I want to start with that so I can talk about the characters, since they’re the centerpoint of the film. 
I mean I guess it’s not...the most complicated plot? I’m sure that was done intentionally so they could focus on showcasing the world and the characters and everything else, but...I mean its pretty predictable for the most part. 
Tied into that there was a lot of pretty on the nose exposition? but that was needed to explain the world and properly set things up and. Yeah, it was fine. 
Oh and there was one character death that was kinda unnecessary. 
Other than that? Yeah it was pretty solid. 
Killmonger: As you may have heard, this is one of the best villains marvel has put forward. I mean, it’s not the highest bar, basically he’s hanging out with Vulture, Hela, and Loki in the “best marvel villains” tent. I will disagree with some critics that he’s the BEST part of the movie or something like that (especially with like...*gestures to all the other characters*) but yeah he has a ‘point’ and some excellent political commentary and he’s got a cool look to him. Marvel has successfully saved another ex-human torch, because he does some wonderful acting that really stands out playing against the other characters. Personally I’m not quite behind the trend to make sure villains “have a point” but “take it too far” because I feel like that treads dangerously into just having the marginalized being villains for the heroes, and then we get into the “bad” marginalized people and....okay thats a complaint for the trope in general, THIS movie doesn’t do too much to contribute to that. I mean it’s a thing but he’s still a good character and a bad...person...and I get that. Actually a part of me wants to write something up about what really ‘Made’ him a villain, because I think it was more America than Wakanda, but that might not be for me to do. 
Klaue: Andy Serkis steps out of his motion capture suit to give a....well it was still a pretty animated performance. I think if he were the ‘main’ villain he would have gotten annoying, but as a side villain he played off Killmonger well. Did not expect him to die, mostly cause I thought Marvel was gonna keep him on, but kudos, movie. Though I wasn’t happy Killmonger’s girlfriend died, that felt unnecessary.
W’Kabi & Okoye: This will probably be more about Okoye because Heck Yeah but I love the duality in morals presented with these two, especially as they’re presented as lovers. Both are close to T’Challa, but both end up betraying him for Killmonger at the halfway point (ish. Not really a betrayal. just. On Killmonger’s side) and it’s so clear that Okoye does this for her love of Wakanda, and when Killmonger did things according to the rules of Wakanda, Okoye followed him, even if she didn’t like it. Very Lawful. W’Kabi, though, wanted what Killmonger could offer, and when the chips fell, went to war over it. These two also were the leaders of the armies that fought in the finale, so it was very interesting to see these two as opposites. Also, though OKOYE!!! DAMN I LOVE HER SO MUCH!! LIKE DAMN!
M’Baku: Don’t have much to say on him, other than I guess the one thing that wasn’t predictable was the good guys coming to these guys for help, but it made narrative sense, and it was nice to see that he was just....legitimately doing what he thought was right, the traditionalist to Shuri’s progressiveness. I wonder what he thinks about the end of the movie.
Zuri: Yeah I called his death the second he was on screen. 
Ramonda: I actually called her death too, but was gladly surprised. Woo!
Everett Ross: I did not expect to like Martin Freeman in this. It’s weird hearing him with an American Accent. He might be the weakest character in the movie, but that doesn’t quite feel like a flaw, he was....a plot point. And it was nice seeing the white guy being a plot point. 
Nakia: I admit, it took me a bit to stop just thinking of her as Lupita Nyong’o, but I loved her, I loved that she was always right, I thought her romance with T’Challa was adorable, and she was badass. Absolutely the moral center of the film and I dug it. 
Shuri: !!!!!!!! The comic relief of the film, clearly more in touch with the outside world than most, but she had respect for Wakanda and traditions and such. Her dynamic with her brother was amazing (actually, T’Challa’s dynamic with all the women were amazing, but we’ll get to that) She was smart and witty and brought some great levity to the film. Plus....awesome. IDK. 
T’Challa: A solid man, a good king, I like him. I mean that was basically it was just following him as he faced some pretty damn tough decisions. And then everything went to hell in a handbasket and. Whoops. But yeah, he was awesome, and a great person to have at the center of all the wild personalities listed above. Woo!
Wakanda: What an amazing world. I know so little of African culture I can’t really speak to a lot of it but I appreciate all the touches of it, and....okay I really appreciated that the tribes were color coded that. that helped a lot. But yeah holy shit that was amazing to see. 
(Sidenote, Theory for Infinity Wars: I’m betting that inside that Comet of Vibranium that’s made Wakanda so rich is in fact the Soul Stone. That’s my guess anyway. I dunno, if I were an alien trying to keep one of the Infinity Stones away from Thanos, wrapping it in a giant ball of Really Tough Metal and launching it into space (where it might have accidentally hit a measly planet like Earth) seems like a good idea.) (But the Wakandans in their new trading initiative dug too greedily and too deep and will probably find it and accidentally reveal its location to Thanos. Whoops. Can’t wait to see all the tribes united, fighting together, WITH the Avengers) 
The Social Commentary: Im willing to put money on the idea that the mid-credit scene was written after 45′s election, because you could almost tell they were ust... desperately trying not to say the word “wall.” 
As it was, yeah, this movie was directed towards a specifically African American audience, and I say African American instead of Black here because a lot of it is focused on America’s race problems (not to say other countries around the world DONT have that, but it was very America focused, which, for a movie made by Americans, makes sense. 
Anyway, as I am NOT African American, or a racial minority of any sort, I cannot speak to this with any nuance and can just say “Good.” Like, thumbs up, with my understanding of it, I’m all in favor of black communities a) helping each other out and b) getting stronger in general. If anything, I think a lot of the white characters in the movie could have been held more accountable, and considering Ross was right there they could have done something with that. but hey, they kept their focus, I’m good.
The plot: Like I said, kinda predictable (did you really expect me to believe T’Challa was dead?) but I....don’t care. It was tight, like, no holes that I can think of though I’m sure the internet will think of some.
Oh, and Bucky’s still in Wakanda. We kinda knew that but ‘kay. 
I really want to see Luke Cage working with the New York Wakandan Outreach Initiative, and/or going to Wakanda. I just think that’d be neat.
Wait, actually, thats it. T’Challa vs. Killmonger reminded me of Luke Cage vs.....shit what was his name, his half brother. Like, finding out his Dad was Wrong and now dealing with a villain his Dad created.
Am I missing anything? I think that covers all the stuff. 
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kylosrehn · 7 years ago
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for the tv series thing, I know it isn't one but star wars?
send me a tv film series and I’ll tell you:
my all-time ultimate fave character: 
Since the sequels came, I’m highkey loving Rey. But before that it was Vader. Still is, I guess. They’re kinda tied. Yeah I like the villains okay fight me.
a character I didn’t used to like but now do:    
Hmm…Kylo I guess. I never disliked him, but I was pretty meh about him. I just didn’t care all that much. But I like how they fleshed him out in TLJ and built-up his backstory, and I’ve warmed to him since. He’s very much a tragic character and I always like that. Between the two of us, he reminds me a little bit of Ward—or FW Fitz, take your pick. It’s the whole lack of affection/evil mentors make monsters out of good boys/men thing all over again. 
      a character I used to like but now don’t:
I actually left this question til last to see if I could think of something, but nah, I’ve got nothing. I don’t think I went from liking to disliking any one character completely, just kind of…liking them less. Padme is one of those. She used to be my girl through my childhood and now I’m more meh about her. I guess that’s the closest example I can think of right now.
a character I’m indifferent about:
There’s a good few. Rose, Finn, Holdo out of the sequels. They’re the first ones that come to mind. Boba Fett, Phasma, Hux (aside from the fact that he makes for good comic relief). I don’t know, probably a few more.
a character who deserved better:
Maybe Padme, because the whole ‘breed and die’ trope, but it was obviously necessary because she never shows up in the originals and they had to explain that somehow. And Obi-Wan. Though it’s less of a ‘deserved better’ and more of a ‘fuck he’s been through a lot of shit in his life.’ The Rogue One crew I suppose, though again that was a plot thing. 
a ship I’ve never been able to get into:
Finn/Rey. I’m just not very interested in friends to lovers ships (looking at you FS.) And maybe Han/Leia. I know they’re basically at “iconic” level by now, but they never really wowed me. Tbh most SW ships are like, “eh, okay” for me. I tolerate/moderately like them, but there are very few that make me go into hardcore shipper mode. Mini-me loved Anidala growing up, they were literally one of my biggest childhood OTPs, but over time the allure has started to fade and I’ve picked up on more and more flaws, and honestly, I think I’ve just outgrown them. Now I’m focusing on Reylo because it’s just such a cool dynamic that’s never been explored in the films before (I mean, a telepathic/empathic bond that lets them tap into each other’s skills and memories? That’s so awesome, I’m so here for this) and all that build up and development in TLJ really got me. I was kind curious (but mostly in the worried kind of way) to see how they’d approach it after TFA but now I’m 100% on board. I loved what they did with them. Aaaand that’s not the question. (Totally unrelated: I lowkey shipped Vader with Aphra from the Comics. It’s such a rarepair, but the dynamic was quirky and I’m always here for that. She was kinda like a S1-Skye cracking jokes at this evil, murderous Sith Lord. Plus, the line “you’re what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.” ‘Nuff said.)
a ship I’ve never been able to get over:
Reylo. Please don’t screw it up in IX, please please please.
a cute, low-key ship:
Jyn/Cassian. Also, I really like platonic Finn/Rey. And Luke and Leia’s relationship. And I wouldn’t be opposed if somehow Finn/Poe happened. And Poe/BB-8. Okay so not all of those are ship-ships, but y’know.
an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:
Tbh I lowkey wanted Poe to be with Paige, Rose’s sister, but lol she got killed off pretty quickly. Unpopular…well, I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how Han/Q’ira plays out in Solo (I’m 99% sure she plays him somehow. But hey, that seems to be my type.) I don’t know.
a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:
Eh, I don’t hate any ships, really, or think something was “wrong.” Not a huge fan of Rose/Finn just because I don’t see any chemistry between them and it sorta feels one-sided, but I mean, you can develop feelings over time, so that might change in IX. I don’t mind them, they’re just kinda…there. Not a fan of Kylux but that’s just a fan thing, so whatever.  
my favourite storyline/moment:
Right now it’s the Reylo Force Bond scenes. Yeah, all of them, lol. And the throne room fight scene because you expect them to start attacking each other, but instead they work together and subvert all expectations and I loved it. That scene at the end of Rogue One where Vader just demolishes the rebels. It was so dark and chilling and just all around ahh. Also, the Obi-Wan/Qui Gon/Maul fight from TPM is one of my all-time favourites. And the music! Ahh, awesome. Oh, also, the arena fight on Geonosis. I’m not sure I have a favourite storyline—though I’m admittedly a sucker for the whole ‘here, go on a totally-not-romantic trip to protect to senator on this beautiful, lush, fragrant world and try not to fall in love lol bye’ storyline because it’s just so wonderfully tropey. It’s like something pulled straight out of fic (and not necessarily in a bad way.) I’m kinda tempted to write a fic based on that, ngl. One day. 
a storyline that never should have been written:
Predictably, lol, I’m gonna say the Jar-Jar Binks/Gungan stuff from TPM. The whole underwater kingdom concept was cool, but it just felt like it took up way too much screentime. I wouldn’t have minded if it was just more of a background thing, or if it was of lesser importance. They’re just a huge part of this film and then they’re virtually never brought up again (in the films) in any significant way, so all of that just feels so moot and unnecessary, like it was just a run time filler. The political plot, although somewhat frustrating, does prove relevant to the story later on so I’m cool with it. I don’t think I hated any storyline really. TFA was a disappointment for me in that it felt a little too familiar and I really wished they would’ve taken more risks and tried to pave their own path as opposed to recycling elements (I mean, ANOTHER Death Star? Sorry, Starkiller Base. Really? And the Empire’s defeated but like, merely a few years later they’re back and crushing the rebellion again? Sorry no, that’s…It’s the First Order now. Got it. Totally different. My bad.) from the originals just to please the hardcore fans, but luckily TLJ assuaged most of that frustration. I can only hope the mood for IX is closer to TLJ than TFA because that would be regression and honestly just a huge insult to the saga.
my first thoughts on the show films:
I think I just loved them straight away, lol. I must’ve been…five at most when I first watched them—well, the originals and I and II, they were the only ones that were out at the time—on the good old VHS with my dad because he was/is a huge fan and he got me into it. Obviously the more nuanced stuff flew over my head as a small kid and certain things only really clicked when I rewatched them years later, but the love was there. 
my thoughts now:
I still love it, though my love tends to come in sporadic bursts now as opposed to being linear all the time. Like, I can just push it to the back of my mind for a year/two/three but then something like Rogue One comes out and reminds me just how much I love that world. I ride the high for a few months, read fic, etc. and then the hype tapers off and plateaus for a while. Nothing for another few months/a year, new movie, and wham, I’m sucked back in. 
I try to stay in my own little corner though and not get too involved in fandom because the drama is just nasty and can really suck the enjoyment out of, well, everything really. For a long time I guess I just wasn’t aware of how nasty the SW fandom was—aside from the group that hates on the prequels for the sake of hating the prequels because it’s what the cool kids do or whatever—probably because I didn’t actively go looking for this type of stuff. But then TFA came out and it kind of erupted like a volcano that’s been…somewhat dormant since III in 2005. Still, I stayed away from it for the most part, only hearing stories of hate in passing, and never really engaged until after TLJ, when it became a little “safer” for the Reylos to emerge. Before that it was two years of hell and name-calling and threats and verbal abuse and general fandom wank, to my knowledge. And that’s fucked up. No one should have to endure that, not in any fandom. Stuff like that just pisses me off so much. But I’m sure you already know that.
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