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mychlapci · 3 months ago

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We've talked robot periods before right? I gotta project here, make it someone else's problem. Rodimus hates getting his period. He's so uncomfortable and cranky from cramps and frame aches, his period is always long and heavy and leaves him a mess by the time its over. He gets a brilliant idea though while he's writhing in berth one night on how to make the pain stop.

Ratchet did not think it was as brilliant as Rodimus did when he showed up in medbay for a pregnancy test. It was a perfect plan, Rodimus didn't see the problem. If he was sparked, his valve lining wouldn't refresh for another stellar cycle, no more pain! Ratchet was ready to physically grab the captain to shake some sense into him, if Rodimus wasn't carrying he would have.

The pains from carrying are hardly as bad for Rodimus as his period pain, at least that's what he tells Ratchet. It's a different kind of pain and discomfort. His frame was achey in different spots, his bladder was constantly being crushed or kicked at, he was so tired all the time, it was still a better ordeal though than the bad periods. Unlike his period, the pregnancy had plenty of benefits to offer.

Rodimus' tits were huge now with milk for his little sparklings, and he looked damn good with the extra carrying weight. His period made him feel gross and bloated in the tank but he glowed with his carriage, other mechs couldn't keep their hands off their sexy milf of a captain. Maybe it was the matrix speaking to him or some kind of prime feeling Rodimus had, but carrying and repopulating Cybertron just filled him with a spark deep sense of satisfaction. He was absolutely built to be a carrier and provide his planet plenty of cute little babies, and of course they're gonna be cute I mean haven't you seen Rodimus? Ratchet can't even fight him about the dumb idea after so long, not when he's as distracted as everyone else about how gorgeous Rodimus was with a baby in him.

The pains from birth were terrible, it was the only time Rodimus had slight regret in getting pregnant. He grunted and cried in the medbay over it all, but really? He could take the hours of pain versus the weeks of his long periods. When he would zone out and stop thinking about it, it almost felt good having his valve stretched so far open by his fat little sparkling's helm and shoulders. When he was pushing the second bitlet out, he ended up overloading on the delivery table. He had 2 healthy and happy bitlets latched to his nozzles, and the main thought Rodimus' mind was how long he'd have to wait to be sparked again. No way he's going back to the decommissioning weeks of pain when he can get so much time away from it with so much reward back.

oh lord oh lord this is so hot. Ouch though, Rodimus' periods must be really terrible for him to prefer carrying.

Pregnancy is honestly soooo good for him. He looks sexier and feels sexier, constantly taunting mechs with his big swollen belly. The birth was his only doubt, but he found he doesn't mind it – the stretch was pleasant when he really thought about it, the feeling of his sparkling driving into his ceiling node every time it slipped back in even brought him to a squirming overload right there in the stirrups, so the way he sees it, this was an exceptional trade-off.

Rodimus gets pregnant as soon as possible. Once his valve was good for interfacing he simply started taking it raw again and a miracle happened once more. He's still breastfeeding even as his third sparkling is about to be born, tits constantly heavy with milk.... And this time, he's looking forward to the labour, too <3

#valveplug #pregnancy mention #texty #birth mention #birth

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liljakonvalj · 1 year ago

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I watched the Great Mouse Detective tonight and as someone who loves this movie, here's some of my thoughts:

First of all and this cannot be overstated: Best. Sherlock. Holmes. Adaptation.

I was today years old when i discovered that Olivia and her dad are Scottish (which explains her father talking about catching a train at the end of the movie)

(I grew up with the swedish vhs and watched it in english for the first time today. in swedish none of the character's have any particular dialect )

The aesthetic of Victorian human London but with mice having a miniature society mirroring it?? Love that!!

Despite Basil being the titular character and being the main character in so far that he's the one going on a personal journey and change through the movie- Dawson is the POV character for most of the movie which I find interesting

The transitions when Basil tells them about Ratigan and then showing the audience what he's up to and then back to Basil's apartment are stellar

All the songs are sung in universe - I think this is the only disney movie to do this??

And two of them sung by the villain?! Outstanding move

(It should be mentioned that the remaining song was sung by sexy, stripper mice in a bar)

The heroes drink alcohol, get drugged, enjoy a strip tease and accidentaly causes a bar fight all in the same scene

Yes, the toy store was both entrancing and scary to me as a child. The first doll they see when they enter? That doll whose face smashes and nearly kills Basil and Watson? The toys from which Fidget steals the mechanics? All super terrifying

Ratigan is the only character to have a human-like five-fingered hand, all the others have standard animated four-fingered hands

Ratigan mention a that he thought basil would be 15 minutes quicker to find his lair - which he uses to taunt his enemy but it also means he cannot be there to observe his machine killing his captives. That gives them the opportunity to escape unseen. If Basil and Dawson hadn't been late they probably wouldn't have survived, just saying

The clock tower sequence!! I actually clapped when it started

The cogwheels were computer animated while the mice were drawn by hand - which makes for a really dynamic moving camera

(The man who talked about this in the extras were so enthusiastic about this. Love that for him)

Speaking of moving camera - I greatly enjoyed the camera movement when Rattigan jumped over the citizens to reach the balcony with Olivia and the bat after his plan had been foiled at Buckingham palace. It was really fluent and full of angles

Back to the clocktower: when Ratigan snaps and you can see the angry pen strokes?? They simply don't make movies like this anymore

That was of course very scary too as a child

The final battle outside on the clock hands? Give this movie all awards !!

When Basil comes cycling on that little propeller thing? Link in Tears of the kingdom wishes he could do that

In the extras someone mentioned that they'd made extensive backstories of all the characters: why Rattigan became evil, how it was for Basil to grow up so smart etc. And i desperately want to read that

I know no one cares about the swedish voice actors but I found the different performances of both Basil and Rattigan interesting. I know Vincent Price is much beloved as Ratigan (justly so) but idk if it is nostalgia speaking but I think swedish Ratigan really held up. There were actually some lines that I knew by heart in swedish where the delivery was preferable to the English one for me. After looking it up i saw that the swedish VA is an opera singer (base) which really isn't a surprise given his performance. Basil's voices were really similar normally (so similar I didn't hear the change when I switched between languages - which i did one time to freshen up the swedish voices) but the VA in swedish goes up in falsetto quite often which gives a quite manic impression. Swedish!Basil's sanity is hung by a thread in his restless pursuit of his arch nemesis - which makes his devastation when Ratigan bests him more believable imo. English!Basil is much more a proper, brittish gentleman throughout. All performances were great, I just found the differences interesting.

I have some Core visuals from this movie living rent free in my mind since childhood which are: when Basil compares the two bullets, the closeups as Fidget jumps out at the audience, when Dawson pulls out the glass door with his finger, Ratigan squishing Olivia's doll, Basils machine when analyzing the paper, when Toby makes a stair out of his ear, that flag/balloon/matchbox contraption they used to chase Ratigan at the end, the end fight on the clock arms.

Did i miss your favourite part of the movie? Any core memories from this movie for you?

#great mouse detective #i understand all who ship basil and dawson #basil mouse #doctor watson #Ratigan #blomsterspråk #disney #the great mouse detective #tgmd

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loveroftoomanyfandoms · 1 year ago

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Cooking Up Love, Chapter 11

Pairing: Chef!Matt Murdock x F!Journalist!Reader

Rating: T

Story Summary: Here

Warnings/Tags: Hallmark levels of fluffy, cheesy goodness (and speed that their relationship develops, lol), no use of Y/N, Matt is not a vigilante, idiots in love, Kelsie is her own warning 😈

Word Count: ~1k

A/N: Super short but super important chapter here! This is setting up our Mega Angst for the story, which will be coming next! 👀

As always, thanks to @theradioactivespidergwen for the stellar divider! 🥰

Tag List: @yarrystyleeza @hailey-murdock @mattkinsella @bellaxgiornata @danzer8705 @chezagnes @shouldbestudying41 @thepunisherfrankcastle @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment @roseslovedreams

Ugh, why isn't this coffee kicking in, you thought to yourself while you sat at your desk attempting to proofread several articles for the Thursday digital edition of the paper later that morning. I've read this same sentence no less than 5 times.

You shook your head, trying to clear it. The unusual quiet in the normally bustling office definitely wasn't helping your sleepiness. Maybe some stronger coffee will help.

You stood up and walked towards the break room. Skyler had brought a bag of espresso roast coffee in the previous week and you were pretty sure there was some still left.

You paused as you spotted Ellison at the Keurig. "Copier's on the fritz again," you said, walking over towards the cabinet that held the coffee mugs. "Thought you should know."

Ellison nodded as he waited for his coffee to finish. "Hopefully there'll be enough money in the budget to replace it next year. Damn thing's probably older than I am."

He looked over at you and squinted. "No offense, but you look like shit."

You huffed out a laugh. "Gee thanks, Mitch. You sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"Rough night?"

You shook your head. "Just tired. I only slept about an hour last night."

Ellison studied you for a moment. "Look, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Go home and get some rest."

You opened your mouth to protest, then thought better of it. You were still exhausted and a nap honestly sounded wonderful at the moment. "Are you sure?" you asked instead. "I was just going to get some more coffee and try to power through the rest of the day."

Ellison nodded. "Absolutely. It's been a slow news day, and besides, you've been working your ass off lately and deserve a break."

You smiled. "Okay. Thanks, I appreciate it."

Ellison shrugged. "Eh, don't get all sappy on me. I just don't want you burning out on me, otherwise who else would tell me if my editorial column sucks or not?"

You grinned. "Oh I'm sure people would be lining up for that privilege."

Ellison chuckled. "Seriously, go get some rest."

You nodded. "I will. Thanks, Mitch. Really. I'll see you tomorrow."

You walked back out to your desk and gathered your things, then stopped by Skyler's desk. "Ellison gave me the rest of the day off, so I'm heading home. I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay?"

Skyler nodded. "Okay. Get some rest."

As you headed down to the first floor and out the door, you considered stopping by Daredevil on your way home so you could apologize to Matt in person.

You headed towards your apartment building, sighing happily when you finally walked in the door.

You shook your head. You were so tired that you honestly weren't even sure if you could come up with a coherent apology. I'll talk to him after my article is turned in.

You peeked in your pantry and refrigerator, wrinkling your nose at the paltry options you had for dinner that evening. Instead of a choice between boxed pasta, instant ramen, or leftover Chinese takeout you wished you had Matt's spaghetti carbonara, pesto-parmesan linguine, and tiramisu. Maybe I could order something for delivery later, try something else on the menu.

You headed into your bedroom, changing into something more comfortable before climbing into bed.

Your mind drifted to your article. You really didn't want to have to replay the last few minutes of the blind tasting yet again, but you needed to add a bit about it at the end so you could give it a quick read-through then send it to Ellison.

You sighed. You were a professional, dammit, and no matter your feelings, you were going to write a damn good article about Matt… Even if you never spoke to him again after it was all over.

I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night… No, take responsibility for your actions, Matthew.

I'm sorry for trying to kiss you last night… Actually, no, I'm really not.

I apologize for my behavior last night. I must have misread the situation and… Ugh.

Matt sighed as he rode the elevator up to the Bulletin offices, wishing he would have had time to make a fresh tiramisu for you.

He stepped off the elevator, unable to detect your now-familiar heartbeat among those of the rest of the Bulletin staff.

"Can I help you?" said a woman's voice to his left.

"Uh, yeah." Matt turned towards her and asked to speak to you.

"She's not here."

Matt sighed. Damn it. He probably wouldn't have time to come back later and based on what Foggy had said about you looking miserable he wasn't sure if you would be willing to come by the restaurant either. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Actually ," the woman continued, "she's out on assignment for the rest of the day. You know those investigative types, always looking for their next big scoop."

Matt furrowed his brow. That had been the exact opposite of the type of stories you had told him you were interested in writing. "I thought she was in Features."

"Oh, yeah, she is, but she really wants to be an investigative journalist, you know, digging up the dirt on people, finding out their deepest, darkest secrets and publishing them for the world to see." The woman paused. "Nothing nor no one is going to stand in the way of her and a good exposé… even if she has to make one up."

She made a dismissive sound. "Anyway, would you like to leave a message for her? I'll make sure that she gets it."

Matt shook his head. "Oh, uh, no, that's okay. I'll… catch up with her another time. Thank you."

"Sure thing. Have a nice day!"

Matt walked back to the elevator then headed down to the first floor. He had thought that he was getting to know you, but after that surprise revelation from your coworker he wasn't so sure.

He shook his head. Could you have been lying to him this whole time?

#lotmf writes #Cooking Up Love Masterlist #Chef! Matt Murdock x Reader #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x fem!reader #matt murdock x female reader #matt murdock x you

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waterbenderkat · 9 months ago

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“I can wipe out an entire race of benders. Can you imagine?”

“Yes, I can”

Holy shit, yes Gordon had some iffy acting moments but his delivery of that line was stellar.

#avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #avatar #netflix #gordon cormier #aang #avatar aang #general zhao #a:tla live action #a:tla netflix #a:tla spoilers #avatar spoilers #waterbenderkat

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goldenmusicmoments · 27 days ago

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Kacey Musgraves Takes A Deeper Dive Into The Well:

Kacey Musrgaves surprised us all with the announcement of a deluxe edition of her new album Deeper Well that she dropped earlier on in the year. The album as it was, was a beautiful body of work. So it was going to be intriguing to see how the bonus tracks would fit. After hearing the deluxe, she keeps things in line with the standard edition. It feels like an extension and on top of that she was generous enough to give us seven completely new tracks. Let’s do as Kacey says and take a deeper dive into this well.

Ruthless - The first track on the deluxe revolves around her devotion to the person of interest, she says that she’ll be ruthless if anyone were to try and cause them harm. What sounds like an electric guitar gives the track an intense edge, however it fades as the song progresses into this more mellow production. She’s overprotective over those she loves and that highlights the extent of her love as well. The production then builds to bring the track to a close on a more grander note. A stellar start to the deluxe tracks, that gets you excited for the journey she’s about to take you on.

Little Sister - Now this heartwarming track that takes a journey through the bond she shares with her little sister follows. It has a sense of longing as she takes a look through her relationship with her sister. She acknowledges all the bumps in the road and how she may have not been the ideal sister at times. However regardless of those moments where they butted heads, she loves her little sister. The piano accompanies her vocal and it stays in the back, allowing for her to stay at the forefront. A sombre track in which her vocal delivery really lets you know her yarning for the connection she has with her sister.

Flower Child - This one is a light hearted track with a groovy edge to it due to the production choices made here. A track that promotes living life in the way you truly want to. She seems to be singing to someone else, however it could also be her speaking to herself. She’s letting them know that things will workout regardless of how difficulty life maybe right now. That they should keep focus on what they are doing. She also gives them assurance that they are fine the way that they are.

Superbloom (Ft. Leon Bridges) - The first of the two collaborations and Leon Bridges was a choice that stood out when the tracks were revealed. This one is a cosy guitar led moment that plays to the sentiment of having the comfort of knowing that regardless of the hardships either one is facing they will be there for each other. Their voices work well together, Leon really mellows his tone to match Kacey’s signature tender tone. It is a lively moment that you find yourself moving to.

Perfection (Ft. Tiny Habits) - This is the second collaboration on the deluxe, Kacey had posted herself at one of their shows where they performed a cover of one of the tracks from Deeper Well. They also posted a clip of them singing with Kacey backstage. It seems that, that was where this collaboration came into fruition. Here they don’t have a verse to themselves, however they instead provide harmonies. This gentle track speaks on the pressure to be perfect, however she has no desire to be perfect. She’s self-aware and knows that she’s got shortcomings. She’s content as long as she knows that this person will be there to offer her love and protection. The production remains tame throughout, again she really wants focus to remain on the vocal and lyrical journey.

Arm’s Length - Here on this tender guitar led track Kacey sings about a relationship that seems very one side. She loves him with all her heart, yet he seems to not give her anything in return. She’s trying to hold on, whilst he’s trying to let go. She’s hurt over the lack of reciprocation and it shows through her vocal delivery. In the bridge she acknowledges that she should have known that he didn’t have it in him to stay for the long run. This is a highlight not only because it is a heartfelt track, however her vocal performance also helps it stand out.

Irish Goodbye - A sombre end to the deluxe which feels extremely fitting particular through the journey the lyrics take you on. The guitar carries through into this track and the delicate strokes give you this feeling of flowing water. On this track the relationship is no more as the person of interest has left without any sort of warning or goodbye, which plays to the meaning of the songs title. She’s left feeling betrayed, as she says that she could have forgiven him for his faults, however she’ll never be able to forgive him for leaving in this manner. She hopes that one day he’ll realise what he lost when he left.

The seven tracks are a great continuity to this era and though it leaves things on a rather sad note, it does give closure. The album still stands at the top as one of 2024’s best releases so far as Kacey Musgraves has such a talent for putting forth her emotions and the journey she’s on. The tender nature to her vocal paired with the acoustic production choices allow you to feel fully immersed in its magic.

#Kacey Musgraves #Deeper Into The Well #Music #Album #Leon Bridges #Tiny Habits #Billboard #Artist #Folk #Country #Alternative

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ithappensoffstage · 8 months ago

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r&g report

I had the privilege of seeing rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead with billy boyd and dominic monaghan on march 5! a few people asked for my thoughts after, so here's a sort of stream of consciousness report that may or may not be comprehensive depending on what you're looking for out of said theatre report

anyway I do genuinely believe boydmonaghan are literally the only people who can and should ever play r&g

to start off I will say that this was my first time seeing r&g staged -- I've previously just read it A LOT -- so I can't make comparisons to other productions. I am also a lifetime fan of theatre and have been somewhat involved, but do lack some technical knowledge, so apologies if I can't cover some aspects accurately!

most important of course, boydmonaghan were stellar. their comfort and familiarity with one another is amazing to witness. of course it's staged, but none of their movements come across as anything other than two old friends. they move together like dance partners; there's really no other way to put it. when you put on a show with someone you're so intimate with, it just comes through in the physicality in ways that aren't replicable with people meeting just for one production. watching them as r&g just feels like you're watching them hanging out. they anticipate each other's movements beautifully, lean into each other naturally, play off each other with such comfortable rapport that you feel like you're watching childhood friends goofing off from your corner of the party.

and the RAPPORT I mean wow. damn. if you're familiar with r&g -- the question game scene? holy shit. breathtaking quickness. they are rapid-fire, on each other's heels in the vein of the best comedies. for everyone who knows my tastes of course, they have * the * hawkbeej dynamic. (I almost cried watching because I kept thinking of my beloved url namesake fic.)

great pacing, great chemistry. even when they're sitting still you can still feel the intimacy between them in just how they arrange themselves. lots of staging to reflect mirroring, lots of staging to reflect the thematic element of identity (sorry, I'm rosencrantz; he's guildenstern), etc. great costuming choice -- billy wears green except his blue waistcoat; dom wear blue but for his green waistcoat.

their deliveries were nothing short of spectacular. that of course wraps into pacing and chemistry as mentioned above. but I do feel it's worth mentioning again that they're both so good at speaking their lines. they have such rhythm with each other. and of course that's going to happen--they have a podcast, theyre incredibly close friends, but it's so great to see in a setting with predetermined script, predetermined runtime. again, youre watching two friends who are off their minds at a party really Go Through It.

boydmonaghan aside, I had some general issues with the production. they had quite regular sound errors, and made some sound design choices with music and vocal warping/autotune that were not to my taste. there was a cool echo element utilized that I liked a lot. as I mentioned I don't know other productions so I don't know if this is standard practice, but for this one it was quite fun. coin echoing, echoing around the stage when they shouted into the wings to give you that sense of being trapped. when they spoke to the audience space, it felt enormous, and as if they were speaking to you specifically. I just got so distracted by the mic problems and weird autotune.

the autotune moments were exclusive to the hamlet scenes. that brings me to the other actors. the player himself was magnetic. phenomenal. so much presence. emcee cabaret presence. great stuff. hamlet? so lacking imo. he played hamlet very angry and masculine, which is a choice I guess, but not how I like to see hamlet done. it did make some of the intersectional scenes a little jarring; which, I know is not entirely without reason, but it just wasn't my ideal way to play it.

other than the question scene, one of my favorite scenes in the original text of r&g is when they're talking about leaving the stage, and they continue to make excuses not to. "i think he went this way / maybe that way / why don't you come with me it'll be safer / we should try this direction / oh we should actually wait in case he comes back here." the director did skip this dialogue, which I think gives the indication of less agency for r&g. a little less participation, a little more of things happening to them. which is fine. I have no feelings either way of a better way to do it, but that is just the sense I got of it.

the stage is very small, the set is very cramped. lots of overt use of trapped imagery. theyre often crowded into specific space, sitting very close. when they make space, they make SPACE, indicating periods of disagreement. pretty basic staging for this, I'd assume.

outside staging, very cool lighting, although I am generally against scenes with "party lighting." again, not sure what typical lighting is the scenes with the players that got that, but I could have left it out. similarly, we got a scene with "rock" lighting, and I just thought it was too on the nose / in bad taste. arguable how meta you need meta/absurdist work to be ofc but that decision wasn't for me.

the other lighting choices were great. it starts SO dark. I had lower balcony seating and have great vision, but the start spotlight was so soft the two of them were damn fuzzy for me at the beginning. they gradually get more light in the spotlight, and then it expands. there was a great sunrise moment where they turned the Big Warm Light on the audience and it truly felt like a sunrise over me. the final "rosenc--? guilden--? now you see me / now you don't" from billy was beautifully performed. the lights split the stage into two distinct chambers, truly separating r&g for the first time despite any previous physical distance. I did get a little choked up.

(the final hamlet scene that follows jarred me from the emotion a bit because the horatio actor didn't even try at an accent ToT and it was just weirdly red-lit and they came in with the autotune for the Big End of Speech). and I wish they hadn't made it so Intense and Dramatic because they of course we get our time loop / back to the start / they start on "heads!" and it's such a hold-your-breath type moment. boydmonaghan are good enough that it brought me back but damn. (horatio actor please don't skip vocal lessons again.)

and yeah then I skipped stage door because it made me a little uncomfortable and I went home!

I was very lucky to go and I took my lovely wife (who liked it very much despite only having seen hamlet the day before lol). anyway if you can go I highly recommend! I am even considering pulling a @thealogie and going to see if I can scoop some last-minute box office tickets one of my remaining days here.

ask box is of course open for any questions <3

quick edit: I will say, sincerely, the r&g audience was one of the worst audiences I’ve been in. none of these people knew what the fuck was going on. I wanted to eject them all from their seats into the city skyline and have the theatre to myself (+ wife). literally constantly “what” “what is going on” “huh” from around us. go away. mutuals please come see this show so I can sit with you and not next to someone trying to have a y/n when they look at the audience.

edit 2: I think I mentioned but I did have lower balcony seating. I could see well! I think I might have preferred to be a bit closer just for the microexpressions I probably missed, but I would echo others in saying there really were no *bad * seats at all.

edit 3: stage door is out front to the left of the main doors if you're interested. I personally was not (I already have something signed by billy/have met him multiple times, and would prefer to meet dom at a comic con setting because that makes me more comfortable than stage door).

#might come back and edit or add more later but here's some hasty thoughts #rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead #theatre #r&g toronto #text

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film-bro-hotch · 2 years ago

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Back to December - Hotch x Fem!Reader (One Shot)

I feel like I should apologize in advance for this one. No happy ending, so be warned. For what it’s worth, happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

Loosely based on Back to December by Taylor Swift.

Summary: A year ago, Aaron proposed, but you couldn't say yes. Living without him made you realize just how much you really did love him, so you ask him for a second chance.

Warnings: Light discussion of failed relationships, anxiety, no happy ending

WC: 1.4k

I go back to December all the time

If you were being honest with yourself, you were shocked that he even agreed to meet up. You expected him to just not reply, tell you to fuck off, to keep going your separate ways. And he had every right to.

You sat across from him in the coffee shop the two of you would frequent on the weekends. Ever the gentleman, he paid for your drink. You exchanged pleasantries, but the air between the two of you was becoming sickeningly thick. Neither of you wanted to bring up the real reason you were there.

“What are we even doing?” Aaron eventually asked you. You would have given anything for his tone to be angry, or to be indifferent, or the dry delivery you grew to love. Perhaps it hurt more than he just seemed tired, an exhaustion that matched his eyes and the crease in his lips. A kind of exhaustion that you caused.

You weren’t sure how long Aaron had been planning this dinner. Neither of you were close with any of your family, so the closest thing you had to family was the unit. It was why he spent so much time getting these reservations set so all of you could come to this makeshift Christmas dinner. He seemed more nervous about it than usual, though. You wanted to ask him what seemed to be causing him stress. You talked yourself out of it, though. He was always stressed. And you always worried in the back of your mind you were nagging instead of concerned. You should have known he would never think that.

That night you had put on a nice dress. Aaron had paid to get your nails done the day before. You went with a deep red to help put yourself in the Christmas spirit.

By this point, your relationship with Aaron was known by the BAU, and like true friends they kept quiet about it. Besides, with Aaron’s stellar performance, he was already in talks to get transferred to a bigger, better position. Once that happened, you could actually go public about it.

You hadn’t told Hotch, or anyone for that matter, but the idea of going fully public with the relationship sent chills down your spine. Part of you liked the secrecy, the kisses stolen in empty hallways, the late night rendezvous that somehow managed to make your blood pump faster than some cases had. Going public meant losing that. It meant mundane. It meant complete domesticity, and you weren’t ready for that just yet.

He held your hand as the two of you walked inside, your fingers caressing his callouses in some mute attempt to ground yourself. This was supposed to be a happy occasion. You were supposed to be happy, so why were you scared out of your mind?

He knew he wanted to marry you a few months into the relationship. Your reservations were as clear to Aaron as a muddied puddle. His obliviousness was clear by the small box in his right pocket. Each time he rested his hand there, his fingers wrapped around it, their rough edges catching on the velvet lining. At first he wanted to ask you in front of everyone. You both saw them as family, so what would be more perfect than including them in the occasion? His own fears stomped that idea, though. If you said no, what would that mean for the dynamic of the team? Would you feel pressured to say yes in front of all of your friends? He didn’t want to put that on you, so he decided he would ask when it was just the two of you.

He spent most of that night laughing, part of it with his arm around you and a glass of Dom Pérignon in his other, constantly hoping you would not bump into his side and feel the ring box in his pocket. When the diner was over and everyone was leaving, he made his grave. Like a fool, he led you to a more quiet spot, the restaurant’s back patio with string lights and ornate cast iron furniture. You love those kinds of lights, he thought to himself, and you love the way I look under them even more. You had told him as much. You had those lights all over your apartment. You told him how handsome the soft golden glow made him. He would learn, quite quickly, that these moments couldn’t last forever.

Because the last time you saw me

Is still burned in the back of your mind

You gave me roses, and I left them there to die

Seeing Aaron on one knee, the sparkle of a far too expensive diamond, you knew you couldn’t do it. You had thought about being family with him, but the word alone made a weight catch in your throat, made you feel as though your stomach was about to drop. Family was never something you could rely on, and you didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

Maybe Aaron wasn’t close with his family, but he had started one in Haley and Jack. He had settled down and he was ready to do it again. You weren’t ready to be bound to someone, to put so much work and faith into something with the possibility of none of it working out.

“I can’t,” you managed to say, your words no more than a breath, not for the heartbreak you knew you were causing him, but the anxiety of the idea of settling down, of committing yourself to one person when you have seen marriage crumble and fall apart. You could see the realization start to form in his eyes, the way his smile dropped, confusion and pain mixing on his face.

“What?” he asked, probably hoping he heard you wrong, hoping that somehow those tears forming in your eyes were happy ones instead of what he knew.

“I can’t, Aaron. I can’t do it,” you said a little louder, but your voice was still strained, still breathy as you tried to maintain some type of composure.

“I though-”

“I said I can’t marry you, Aaron! What is there to not understand?” you snapped, but you wished you hadn’t. Looking back on it, you wished that you could explain to him that your outburst was from fearful apprehension, not malice. That you were foolish and wrong. But wasn’t that why you were here with him now, getting coffee and sitting across from each other in an awkward silence after Aaron had spoken?

You reached for his hand, and he allowed you to take it, though he didn’t wrap his fingers around yours, not like he would have before.

“Can we try to fix this?”

If we loved again, I swear I’d love you right

I’d go back in time and change it, but I can’t

So if the chain is on your door, I understand

“Fix this?” Aaron was in a sort of disbelief he couldn’t put words to. You wanted to apologize? Now, after nearly a year? For jading him, for breaking his heart in a way that completely blindsided him? “There isn’t anything to fix.”

He kept his voice down, but you could sense there was still a resentment for what you had done, the way you had hurt him. And you told yourself that you would be okay if he shut you out, but you should have known better.

That idea that terrified you so, of settling down, of being trapped, you would take it over the gutting feeling of sitting across from him in the quaint coffee shop you always used to. You had said it wouldn’t be the same as keeping your relationship a secret, and you were right to some extent, but you would take waking up text to him every day rather than not knowing him at all.

“Aaron,” you had started to say, but he pulled his hand away, stopping you.

“No matter what your thought process or your intentions were, you hurt me. I gave you everything, and six months ago I probably still would’ve given you everything. But I can’t go through that again, not now.”

You could still feel the ghost of his touch lingering on your hand, and you wish that you could clutch that too. Hold on to it and never let it go. Because you were sure you would never feel it again.

So this is me swallowing my pride

Standing in front of you saying I’m sorry for that night

I go back to December all the time

You watched him start to stand, pulling his chair away, his coffee only half finished as it still sat on the table, steam floating above it.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” you said, this time not reaching for his hand.

“Yeah, me too.”

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speedierthanasubmarine · 7 months ago

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Season 2

God, I’m vacillating between feeling ambivalent and downright antagonistic about this show rn

Before I begin, lemme explain two things about me and watching shows:

A) I don’t really care about the genre or type of a show; I enjoy any kind of show as long as it can commit to being itself. my issue is when there’s some sort of dissonance (or worse, gaslighting) between what the show thinks it is and what I’m being shown on screen: if something is a comedy then let it be a comedy. Have some serious scenes but keep the overall tone comedic or it’s not a comedy anymore. If you want me to take it seriously I will, but if you then don’t take it seriously and then try and twist it around that’s when I begin to get pissed off. (My biggest gripe with episode 3 of this season) Also please just be what you are. If you decide you want to be something else that’s fine, but then commit to it. If you say you are something and act like something else but then continue to reinforce that you are the initial thing you claimed to be it makes me want to clean out my ears with a chainsaw.

2) I can vibe and enjoy anything I watch as long as you don’t break my immersion. Ik this is a pretentious statement for commentators on YouTube to shout but hear me out; I will consume media as though it’s almost a documentary or an in person experience. I will pretty much accept anything the characters or setting gives me as long as the show can make me believe it is the characters and setting giving them to me. The issue begins when I stop wondering what’s going on with characters and their inner worlds and start wondering what’s going on with the production staff; IE instead of my brain going “Oh my God what is blitzo thinking, that was ridiculous” it goes “Oh my God what was Viv thinking that was ridiculous” this will occur when the plot stops feeling like an actual sequence of events and starts feeling like something my students tell me to justify why they didn’t do their homework

I understand these are more of me issues than Viv ones but this post will partially be explaining why this season didn’t work for me on a personal level and will be why I don’t think certain aspects worked on a critical, technical, and objective level. Sorry if I ramble

To start off with positives the voice work in this show is freakin stellar. I don’t know how or why but Stolas’s voice actor has stolen the season, the random cracks and squawks making him sound even more bird like than ever. Stella actually also has that quality and it’s really neat they also found a bird woman. Two of my favorite lines are when he screams for the divorce in E1 (that squawk sounded like an actual bird, are we sure this guy is not a bird?!) and when he exclaims “FUCK” when blitz bites him, my words cannot articulate all the emotions I can hear conveyed in that single word. Alex Brightman (shocker) also absolutely slays Fizz and his delivery kept a smile on my face throughout some of the most difficult times in the show. Additionally Stolas’s dad (AKA FRIGGING JAFAR) saying “stop your bitch crying” is my new favorite thing ever

The animation was just as vibrant and awesome as ever and I want to highlight episode 3’s fight sequence with Millie because it was crisp as a crisp and the 3D shot of Moxxie threatening his dad, I remember seeing that and whistling aloud, that was a fantastic sequence and the animation was by far the best part of the episode for me.

The songs this time just didn’t hit as hard as the first for me, but this is completely subjective. my favorite one this time around was Look at this; Alex Brightman made that song genuinely delightful and I lost it when he started just saying shit in Italian, that song is so funny

Ozzie and Fizz are very cute, I enjoyed bits of them. I also love how this is so not how I’m used to hearing either of their voices, it’s rather like watching the Rock and RDJ being in a loving relationship, it’s just so random and jarring I think it loops back around to working and I enjoy that.

Viv is a fantastic technical director with amazing ideas and concepts, my issues lie with her writing, execution, and lack of professionalism.

Ive seen a lot of people say that the relationships in this season frustrated them because there doesn’t seem to be any continuity from episode to episode and each one seems to return to the status quo by the end with no impact on the overall story, except I didn’t really have an issue with this. In season 1 there was no continuity! Moxxie went through the same character arc in 3 different episodes! There was a new antagonist introduced in almost each episode; Fizz, Verosica, CHERUB, Stryker, DHORKS, and Ozzie, and barring fizz none of them connected to each other, so I kinda assumed that there was just no continuity in this show and that it’s all just kinda go with the flow good old fashioned fun; in the same way Ever After High was a show where they just kept repeating the same stuff over and over but like who cares, it’s a fun show. This didn’t bother me at all. But then the show started contradicting itself… all of a sudden there was continuity. What? stuff was brought back from previous episodes, Moxxies dad, Stryker, Ozzie, events that transpired were referenced, but only certain ones, wtf?! Wait a minute… If there is continuity in the show, then my whole explanation is worthless! NEVER MIND (?!)

Whatever, that’s plot contrivances, and honestly more of a me issue, I’m not watching this show for the plot (even though yes I am but whatever) who the hell watches shows for plot, I can get past that, the vibes are still there, right? I can still enjoy the zany chill vibes? The comedic tone?! WRONG! I mean, some of them are still there, which imo made it worse,but then the show started to bring in very somber and serious moments, character building, then subsequent character assassination (honestly what tf was episode 5) and then out of nowhere some sort of backstory and themes while still maintaining that it’s an episodic comedy and ow, my neck hurts from all this whiplash. Dear Helluva Boss: Are you a comedy or not, are you episodic or not, are your characters real people or not? Pick a tone Show, make up your mind. To illustrate this I’m going to point to the (sigh) Dildos/“Im bisexual” scene in episode 3 and contrast it with the Angel’s dressing room scene in hazbin episode 4. Both scenes are in shows that are meant to be more lighthearted and comedic yet within them there is heavy subject matter being portrayed. but in the case of hazbin E4 it took its subject matter seriously, so in the scene with Val and Angel they played it completely straight and so subsequently it hit hard. To illustrate further, in S1 E6 moxxies tripping balls song (god I miss season 1) despite it being a more emotional scene than usual the entire show was committed to being played for laughs, no one is playing the scene seriously, including moxxie. Blitzes portion of the song is played completely straight by everyone involved, it being cartoonish isn’t comedic, it’s messy and hellish, the result makes it hit harder because both scenes are consistent with themselves which is the the key here. (I bring up this scene because some can point out that the Hazbin one had Amazon to help regulate whereas this is an indie project and therefore has more room for error, but in this hypothetical argument I follow up with this point I should have used initially. Will I go back and delete the Hazbin part of my argument? No.) The scene in E3S2 opts not to do that, with moxxie playing the scene completely seriously and everyone else around him acting like parodies. It was like he was in the wrong show. (I thought it felt weird and disjointed and I just hated that whole episode.) If it’s a joke, play it as a joke, and it could have been a funny joke! If it’s not a joke treat it with the same severity as Val and Angel in E4 of hazbin, because the subject you’re portraying is heavy. If she had picked a lane you could have had either a really strong scene as you had with Angel Dust or a very dark comedic scene as you had with the Imps trying to convince an old man to kill himself in season 1. The end product is the best of no worlds

womp womp

The whole season kinda suffers from this issue, which is what really brought it down for me. I guess this is subjective, but it feels like I have an objective point in here I’m not verbalizing well. If you want to help out, go for it in the comments.

Another thing that this season fell short on: PACING. The scene where Fizz signs to the little deaf kid (wait a minute why is this kid in hell WHAT DID YOU DO-) was adorable. I paused the show and texted my friend about how cute the scene was and the second I pressed play I am just SMASHED with the annoying troll guy and I got whiplash. My neck really hurts guys please stop doing that. This was the most egregious example of bad pacing, but the whole show suffers from it. Let your moments breathe, please, allow the audience to enjoy them, I promise we’re not going anywhere. And if someone wants to argue “they had no time, they had to get as much crammed in as possible” I’m going to point to the scene where Ozzie is in his dildo factory making dildos for 40 seconds. The scene did nothing and told us nothing, if you can have shit like that you can add 3 seconds for us to breathe after emotional scenes. The pacing is just generally shite throughout the season. A friend of mine pointed out that because this is a crowd funded indie project there’s no guarantee how many episodes Viv will have so in order to make the story work she has to cram as much as possible into each episode so she can have proper setup for her story. This argument doesn’t work on either side. If she doesn’t know how many episodes she’s going to have so she’s trying to cram as much as she can in as little time as possible than why don’t any of the episodes seem to be building any sort of connectivity or narrative? Why do new things keep being introduced on top of each other with no explanation or lasting effects? Why all the time meandering with stuff that means nothing if you’re pressed for time, every episode should be connected and concise. If this really were the case, every episode would be like E7S1, with not a moment spent on anything else. Maybe she thinks that’s what she’s doing, and she’s just doing it badly. If that’s the case then again, this is worthless and never mind. However If it is an episodic show with no plot… then why such a rush? Why the heavy content? Why the lack of comedy? Why the mini plots? why isn’t every episode just a chill time with filler arcs? Why all the world building and setups? Why the random stakes? On top of that, if it does have a plot, just not the one I was expecting or promised in season one, IE: the business and any of the related villains, then you’ve wasted my time and taken a shart on my shoes because that’s what you advertised! This show is about a boss! It’s in the title! You telling a story then switching to telling a worse story and then saying it doesn’t matter because you’re not telling any story regardless but then saying “stay tuned because the good story I was telling might matter soon in this new not story I’m currently bullshitting my way through” is JJ Abram’s storytelling IE fuckery. I don’t fuck around with fuckery. This is an objective criticism, this show fails as both a story and non story kind of show.

Additionally we have lost the plot in terms of a story engine here which tbh kinda frustrates me. I remember really liking the premise of the show; I cared about them building up a business, that was why i continued to watch it! But womp womp once again, there is no more of that in this show, barring one episode. Let that sink in. there was 1 episode in this whole ass season that actually was related to the effing premise and it wasn’t even very funny! Yes, the idea of them trying to find the murderer has potential but they didn’t execute it well. This is both subjective and objective, because objectively not giving the product you advertised is kinda shitty, and subjectively I don’t like what I received as a substitute.

My criticism is not boiling down to “She should have done it like this idea I had!” Because that’s not valid criticism, that’s just being butthurt that a creator didn’t read your mind when making her show. There are lots of people that are doing that, and that’s not how you critique media. “imagine how much stronger this could have been if my headcannon was cannon” is not a criticism, that’s a weak wishful statement, so please don’t take what I say as that. I’m giving actual constructive criticism, not “put me on your writing staff because I’m better at it than you” criticism. I think this was the point she was trying to make with the troll character in Episode 7. Shoddy execution, but a good point nonetheless.

In conclusion, I wrote this whole ass novel on this show because I loved it. I’m sad that season 2 turned out to be what it was. A friend of mine said I shouldn’t approach criticizing this show like an actual show because it’s not one, it’s an indie project, and I don’t think that’s fair. Every piece of art should be held to the same standard because everything had capacity to be great, whether made by a massive studio or an indie group. Every piece of art is a form of communication, and I think Viv has something to say, which is why I refuse to give her exemption. Her work deserves to be paid attention, and subsequently, her work deserves to be approached with the same amount of critical thinking and nuance that I apply to everything. She deserves to be taken seriously, which I did. I hope I got my point across well.

#ash #thoughts #helluva boss #review #essay #analysis #vivziepop critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop #testing a theory

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wekiaam · 12 days ago

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DUTCH MOULIN ROUGE: Thoughts and fun details!!

I just saw Moulin Rouge at the Beatrixtheater in Utrecht you guys!!!! I want to share my memories of it while it's still fresh in my mind, some cast information and general details I was able to notice from all the way in the back rows of the theatre!

I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed when I found out that the Dutch production of Moulin Rouge was going to keep the songs in English, although I kind of got it bc people still have to recognize the pop songs. I am now sorry for ever having doubted that choice. It somehow worked really well, even at the part where Christian goes from Dutchly speaking to Englishly singing the lyrics of Your Song (Het is een beetje raar, this feeling inside (I'm dead)).

Zidler is usually played by Carlo Boszhard (BIG name in Dutch theatre, known mainly as a tv host but played Thenardier, Lumière, and voiced The Grinch, Mushu, and Donkey from Shrek) but tonight he was played by his understudy Wim van den Driessche (Javert, Valjean, Captain von Trapp, Judge Turpin, the Phantom) who was AMAZING at hyping up the audience and he played the character as so stressed out all the time it was great

Satine was also played by understudy Tessa Sunniva (Ariel, Anya), and Christian was played by Martijn Noort (Fiyero) and they had such good chemistry on stage they just melted into each other each time they embraced

I also looked up each of the ensemble members and at more than half of the ensemble had been in either Tina: the Tina Turner Musical, The Bodyguard, or both. The Netherlands truly has five musical productions

And now for some fun bits I noticed (spoilers ofc) (all the dialogue was Dutch but I will be citing in English for convenience)

-Christian was so adorably awkward in his line delivery and body language throughout the whole show (Satine: You're different from what I expected Christian: Surpriiise *jazz hands*)

-At the moment when Christian usually rickrolls the audience, he sang samples from famous Dutch pop songs instead ( "What brings you to Paris?" "🎶Ik ben mezelf niet of al die jaren nooit geweest🎶" en "Sing one of your love songs!" "🎶Je komt in ademnood🎶") Audience lost it

-The audience went WILD when Satine came down on the trapeze

-Zidler breaks his over-the-top-extravagant-night-club-owner persona at the line "The Duke is expecting the Sparkling Diamond!🥰 MAKE SURE THAT SHE IS THERE." cue audible gasps

-After Christian says "I have been practicing all day" Satine downs her whole drink

-Pitch song was entirely in Dutch!!! :D

-Nature boy. Oh my goooodd

-Speaking of, Toulouse-Lautrec, played by Giovanni van Gom (Tarzan, Aida, Hairspray, ALSO TINA) is my absolute favourite character in the whole show what a beautiful man with a beautiful voice (his speaking voice was high and enthusiastic but his singing voice was a lot lower in contrast)

-When Christian starts singing "Everlasting love" Satine tries to run away from him but he sort of chases after her it was so funny

-Backstage Romance was so electric!!

-The Duke played by Nino Ruiter (Soldaat van Oranje, ZODIAC) was SO CREEPY he would constantly lean in so close to Satine when speaking to her and just being such a sleaze the whole time it was great

- Zidler was so excited about his shaving blade prop it was hilarious

-After "BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T LOVE YOU!" there were like three hours of dead silence

- EL TANGO DE ROXANNE WAS STELLAR I LOVED IT SO MUCH

-During Satine's first verse in "Crazy Rolling", Baby Doll takes her hands in hers, then turns away so Satine won't see her crying, then when she rolls the vanity off the stage she turns around to look at Satine one last time and excuse me while I go sit in a corner and cry

-All of Satine's last interactions with the Moulin Rouge people made me so so sad by the way

- At the end, Satine and Christian sing Come What May one last time, and the ensemble lined up on both sides of the stage and singing along and I'm surprised I didn't bawl my eyes out actually

Here are the bows and me screaming!!

Also caught these two in 4k

#moulin rouge #moulin rouge musical #musical theatre #dutch theatre

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jasbaklonbri · 9 months ago

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My issues with the Avatar Live action show. (Spoilers)

before I get on with this… rant I guess, I want to stress that I do not “Hate” this adaptation, I actually think it’s pretty…. decent. Mixed in terms of being an adaptation but as its own thing i do think it actually is good. If a newcomer gets introduced to the franchise through this show, I’d mostly be okay with that (though would still stress to watch the original, especially hinting about the rest of the story if they’re really invested) before I go into my biggest problems I should quickly list its positives.

The characters, for the most part, are done well, they meet the core criteria of what made the original characters so beloved. The acting, for the most part, is good, overall the cast does a really good job at their respective roles. Costumes are amazing, sets, while not exactly 1:1, are still overall awesome. soundtrack is really REALLY good, stellar work all round. The action is not only great, it’s BRUTAL AS FUCK, it does not shy away from the themes of war and death and I love that 😈 some of the expanded editions to the lore are really interesting, big shoutout especially to the inclusion that zuko’s crew is also the battalion he defends in the war room, that was actually brilliant 👌 on top of that, references and inclusions of stuff from expanded material I mostly really liked, from the comics, to legend of Korra to even the kyoshi novels. As for the writing and story…. I can accept no adaptation is perfect and there will be changes, I think it follows the moments of the show decently and that the writing is… adequate. overall rating for me is a decent… 6/10… almost was a 7 but… no.

okay now for the stuff that sucked!

The Characters that weren’t good:

Aang is not bad in this, character wise and acting is overall good, Gordon Cormier does a good job, he looks and sounds the part. My issues are how the character is written. Ill get into more about his biggest issues later on as it mostly has to do with writing and a few particular scenes, but for now I’ll harp on how repetitive and annoying his dialogue can be sometimes, way too many times has the character had the same “guilt scene” which hits the exact same beats: he sees devastation, he says “this is my fault”, he’s reassured it’s not. Again and again.

sokka is awful in this. And to be honest it’s not really the writings fault, Ian Ousleys portrayal does not do it for me, his line delivery is too monotone-ish, his emotional delivery is lacking, he has the same blank facial expression throughout the show. He has a decent one liner here and there, but the comedy and character is MILES away from the over expressive, hilarious and badass original.

zukos actor is decent just enough, and honestly it’s a little unfair to compare Dallas Liu to Dante Bascos performance, but admittedly I felt he was comparatively more underwhelming at times. Though if anything I was more annoyed at the look of his Scar. Don’t get me wrong, its leagues more noticeable than it was in the god awful movie adaptation… but it’s still not great. Remember how grotesque his scar is in the animated show, even at a distance, his skin is shrivelled, he can hardly open his eye, even his ear is half burnt off, they could of gone all out in showcasing his disfigurement, the greatest source of his self shame and most brutal showcase of his fathers cruelty and abuse… but no it’s just a dark red patch around his eye, it’s not even ugly to look at. Disappointing.

Bumi, while acted and portrayed really well by Utkarsh Ambudkar, is written very badly. His motivations have completely changed from the original, and no it is no where near as good, unlike in the show were he “toys” with Aang to teach him lessons about the journey ahead of him, offering wisdom and compassion to his old friend, keeping his identity a secret allowing Aang to realise who he is, making an emotional reunion when he realises another piece of his lost past is still alive: here Aang finds out immediately it’s him, and Bumi instead is pissed and petty that Aang left to the point HE TRIES TO KILL HIM, completely disregarding the point of the message and character from the original show. Oh and not to mention the ending scene with him, but again I’ll get to that scene later.

finally, biggest problem I’ll harp on the characters themselves is the diminishing, lack of focus and editing of the three protagonists flaws. Aangs childish immaturity, kataras inexperience, Sokkas rudeness and distrust. There are reasons why the show took these out or didn’t focus on them, but in my opinion this was a huge mistake to do. Character flaws are integral to character growth, throughout the original show we see the characters learn and grow with and out of said flaws to become more rounded and stronger characters, Aangs journey to embrace his destiny and responsibilities, Kataras growing wisdom and strength, Sokka accepting his wrongdoings becoming more open minded and accepting. Diminishing these ultimately take away a lot from these characters and it does them and the fans a huge disservice to outright ignore them at times.

Aang and Kataras bond is there… but it’s Seriously lacking!

I’m a Kataang shipper. Before I go into detail with this I think it’s important to point out a certain bias I might have with this, but regardless of any opinions about the original shows romantic themes, I’d still argue that Aang and Kataras relationship is one of the core and integral bonds of the original show (the others being Katara and Sokka, Zuko and Iroh, Aang and Zuko and Zuko and Azula (book 2 onwards) so getting this right is in my opinion important to any adaptation. Overall their relationship is fine in this iteration, but MAN it’s just not as good.

Imagine my utmost disappointment When in this version: Katara is not the first person Aang sees when he wakes up! Now I know that seems like a petty thing to harp on but really think back to the original show, how beautifully written their friendship was, how they constantly support and empathise with each other, how Aang is a source of Kataras hope, how Katara is an emotional rock for Aang when coming to terms with his loss and grief. All of it starts with the foundation of their first meeting in that first episode. After a hundred years of sleep, Katara accidentally discovers Aang (with Sokka) and rushes to save him, the first person Aang sees as he opens his eyes is her, he immediately, and essentially asks her out. Katara introduces him to her village, she’s enamoured by his playful attitude and abilities, there are hints of a blooming crush between them (mostly from Aang) they promise to explore the world together, they go penguin sledding, until finally, when Katara realises and breaks the truth about Aangs 100 year absence and slow realisation that everything and everyone he knew is likely gone, Katara tries to reassure him mentioning there may be a bright side: Aang responds with “I did get to meet you”. all of that build up and setup of the friendship (and budding romance) of our two leads is masterfully established in one, 23 minute long episode. Really think about that. It takes the original show 1 episode to set the core points of the two lead’s relationship in what takes this show AN ENTIRE SERIES TO PROPERLY ESTABLISH! Not only is all of that practically absent in this iteration, but plenty of scenes and moments are either missing or lessened, Such as when Katara calms Aang out of the Avatar state, or how they begin to train and learn their waterbending together (more on THAT later), cave of two lovers is now given to Katara and Sokka?? (really missed the point of that episode) or how about the mutual understanding of each others grief through their own grief, oh yeah that’s another thing, in this version Katara, nor Sokka for that matter, ever mention to Aang that their mother is dead?! Not once. I don’t even think he ever knows, or maybe he finds out off screen? Big thing to not mention guys??

Now there are plenty of scenes in the show that do help build up their friendship here, but by missing core scenes, especially those from the first episodes, it just makes it harder for the show to establish that bond towards an audience, and again just pales in comparison.

No statue room???

I’ll be a little more brief here, but the fact that this moment is completely missing infuriates me. You have the quintessential moment where Aang is in full view of the scope of his legacy, a monument to hundreds of all the past avatars, a moment for our characters and the audience to visually realise the weight and burden that Aang Carries upon his shoulders… and you completely take it out??? What the actual FUCK???

Kyoshis premonition almost ruins the show! as awesome and badass as Avatar Kyoshi was in this version, this one tidbit is by far not just a weird addition, it’s arguably one of the biggest fundamental flaws of the show, not as an adaptation, but the show in of it self. The idea apparently (according to behind the scenes comments) is that kyoshis premonition to Aang of the northern watertribes destruction is to give him more of an assentive to head “straight to the point”, removing the unnecessary detours and filler of the original. The problem with that is even for that reason, this addition is completely pointless, because Aang already has enough assentive to head to the north: LEARN WATERBENDING!!!

In the original show after Katara and Sokka save Aang from zukos ship in the 2nd episode, they establish that they must find Aang a water bending master so he can begin his first step in becoming the avatar, in fact rewatching the first few episodes, AANG MAKES THE SUGGESTION FIRST TO KATARA SO SHE CAN MASTER HER WATERBENDING! Even the god awful movie understood that that was enough reason to head north! And if you really want more reason and imperative for them to get there as soon as, why not just reiterate that there is a WAR GOING ON! The attack on the south, the genocide of the air nomads, accidentally bringing an invasion to Kyoshi island, these are all good enough reminders for the Gaang to showcase the need for Aang to head to the known one place in the world where Aang can possibly master an art integral to achieving his destiny. But even worse than that, this addition seriously hurts the show going foward, because now, after Aang has been shown the impending doom destined for the north, he STILL detours from it, not once but twice! (And according to one gossiping bartender, possibly a few more times!!) in an attempt to try to showcase his nobility and compassion to always help those in need, every time he decides to stop to help a new problem, HE IS LITERALLY RISKING THE DESTRUCTION OF AN ENTIRE CIVILISATION!!! Priorities dude!!! It’s not like he’s given a time frame, for all he knows this premonition could happen at anytime, it could be already happening??? It is by far one of the biggest, if not THE BIGGEST flaw of the show.

Muddying the rules of the spirits and spirit realm

Aside from kyoshis future sight, too many instances does this show, in an attempt to expand ideas of worlds spirituality, often just make things more confusing. Another example is when Aang accidentally drags Katara and Sokka into the spirit world, which even with the reasoning they give it makes no sense whatsoever and it only serves an excuse to combine moments from other episodes into one. Or how about when wan shi tong… for some reason… explains that spirits can only talk to the avatar and only they can communicate with and talk to spirits… except that rule is completely ignored when Katara and Sokka can clearly hear what koh is saying? ooops???

Hai Bai has no agency or resolution in his inclusion here, he’s not even the central threat despite HIS forest being burnt. Instead of going on a full rampage against humanity for their destruction, he’s now just really angry about being wounded? Instead of hai bai kidnapping people, it’s now Koh, who while still really creepy in this version, his abilities are now greatly diminished. Instead of his lightning quick speed to remove the faces of anyone who show any ounce of emotion in his presence, here he can only prey on negative emotions, and is never shown to be especially fast (except the two jump scares). again it just pales in comparison to the intensity of the original scene.

Kuruk should know why his advice is horseshit!

while I like the inclusion of some details of the lore outside the original show, using it during Aangs scene with Kuruk significantly hurts his first scene, because now we have the writers completely miss the point and lessons of Kuruks life. Kuruks advice to “walk the path alone” to “distance himself from his friends” is not just obviously poor advice on its own, but considering that the past avatars are aware of events after their death, it especially doesn’t make sense coming from Kuruk! Avatar Kuruk HAD friends! the kyoshi novels go into detail about his closest companions as well as his secret deeds of hunting dark spirits. Yes Kuruk did it in secret and inadvertently and purposely distanced himself from the people he loved so that he could in his mind protect them, and that’s excusable because Avatars never have hindsight about some of the consequences of their actions, in fact past avatars often use their mistakes and their consequences as advice and warnings to the current avatar. KURUK SHOULD BE ADVISING THE EXACT OPPOSITE!!!

One of the major consequences of pushing his friends and keeping secrets was that when he eventually died mysteriously at a young age, his companions felt they had failed in their mission to serve and protect their friend, pushing one of them, Jianzhu, to fall into a path of political meddling and corruption, and being consumed with keeping his power and influence through back handed tactics like kidnapping, torture, intimidation and murder, eventually becoming Kyoshi’s earliest nemesis and one of her greatest enemies (highly recommend reading the Kyoshi novels 😍) Not to mention that Kuruks “advice” leads to an incredibly forced scene and trope where our hero attempts to push Katara away and “nobly distances himself to protect his friend”, only for the advice to be immediately ignored a few minutes later, making it entirely pointless.

AANG NEVER LEARNS WATERBENDING???

yes, through the entirety of BOOK 1 WATER, Aang never learns waterbending! Katara offers to show him some techniques she knows in one scene, but for some reason he’s hesitant to take her offer, which would have been interesting to explore, except they never really address it?? Worse even when they finally reach Pakku in the north, all that happens is that he’s kind of scolded for not starting his training, but not once is it seen or mentioned by pakku that he’ll teach him ANYTHING. If there’s enough time to have Katara shown water healing lessons as well as arguing and fighting Pakku to teach her combative techniques, WHY THEN DOES EVERYONE IGNORE TRAINING THE GOD DAMN AVATAR!!! The fate of the world rests on Aang learning the 4 elements, but for some reason they completely leave it out?

Now Katara is mentioned to teach him in the future like in the original, but the problem now in this version is that while Katara is gifted and talented, unlike the original show she’s never formally trained (outside of healing lessons) by Pakku or a master to warrant her to become Aangs official waterbending teacher. They are literally leaving the training of the most important person of their time to an AMATEUR!!!

a baffling diversion?!?!

Finally my last big problem with the show is the handling of the ending scene. Take in mind that the fire nation sends an entire fleet, no, hundreds upon hundreds of ships to invade, subjugate and snuff out an entire civilisation, and to take out the avatar, once and for all. Also consider the sheer loss of life and devastation that was unleashed by the ocean spirit upon them when zhao murdered the moon spirit, they got hit back hard and then some, honestly it was spectacular to watch! The problem, according to Ozai: “it was all according to plan”…..

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK?!?!?!

apparently it’s revealed that the North Pole wasn’t the “real target”, but instead a “clever ploy” to instead… invade Omashu?? First of all, who are you creating a diversion for??? We don’t see earth kingdom soldiers coming to assist the fight in Agna Q’ela? It’s not like we ever see waterbenders helping to defend Omashu when we were there earlier, it’s not like anyone outside the protagonists was aware of Aangs premonition (oh by the way why didn’t Kyoshi warn Aang it was a “diversion”??) WHO ARE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT???

and again, just to reiterate, you are saying you sacrificed an ENTIRE INVASION FORCE, big enough to destroy a whole society, which led to a huge loss of life and ships which YOU CLAIM was “to be expected”…. In order for you to take one city???? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING JOKING??? That’s not just bad writing, that is beyond STUPID!!! Oh and just to add, unlike in the show where Bumi willingly surrenders to avoid the destruction of Omashu, instead opting to wait for the right opportunity to free it later, saving his people doing so, here we see him bruised and bloodied after a siege! Yeah, one of the most powerful earth-benders in the world is taken out offscreen!!! CHRIST ALL BLOODY MIGHTY!!!

okay… rant over… 😮‍💨😮‍💨

#avatar the last airbender #aang #atla remake #kataang #avatar

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chocolattekinq · 9 months ago

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How is star delivery MK going ? I don't know much about him but I love the design and would love to hear more about everything 💕

Hi!!

There were a couple of questions wondering about this MK design and the story behind it, so i decided to do a little post ab it

First of all, thank you all for the support, it means the world to me and reading notes is the best feeling ever❤️

“Star delivery” MK was a spiritual successor to my reverse aesthetic shadowpeach designs. For them i used cosmic phenomena (blood moon, solar eclipse) as a reference and i wanted to do something similar but with other characters.

For MK i found stellar winds to be kind of a cool correlation, with stellar winds carrying large amount of particles all across the space (that s what the first article on them told me lmao). Connections were connecting and i kinda started drawing lol

Unfortunately the end design wasn’t… as good as i wanted it to be. And by that point the original shadowpeach designs started to feel off, so i kinda ditched the rest of the planned characters. There was never one story and i treated them more like a stand-alone alternative costumes rather than an AU.

BUT

After some time i started to think about how the star stuff could be translated to the story format, which helped me rethink the designs.

I’m redesigning them LMAO. Doing more research this time and this time putting an actual story to the designs!! Hoping to do the main cast (The Monkie Kids + Wukong, Macaque and Red Son (possibly the whole fam)), but can’t promise anything with my tight schedule

Unfortunately these are not at the top of my to-do list, right now I’m working on some side projects and art trades I accumulated due to being an idiot + i have an idea for a freenoodles comic i ve been thinking about for a LONG TIME, so it will take a while for me to finish the whole line

Thank you for your question, love and hugs❤️❤️

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sapphire-weapon · 11 months ago

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i just finished Infinite Darkness and have a lot of Thoughts™️. please indulge me if you'd like.

spoiler + long post warning

i went into it with pretty low expectations because everyone kept on calling it a shitshow. it's not bad per se, but it wasn't good either. it was.. meh. 2.5/5.

afaik ID takes place in 2006, and RE4 in '04. so why tf does Leon look like he's at least 40??

that honestly fucked it up timeline-wise for me. was the show purposely designed not to fit into the timeline in any way whatsoever a la "welcome to raccoon city"?

if that's the case, Leon and Claire still somehow are able to remember the events of Raccoon City in this timeline.

my brain can't come to a logical conclusion over the timeline, so i'll leave it at that.

i wish they gave Claire more screen time. they did her so dirty imo.

what were they trying to set up with Claire and Leon's interactions? a loveteam? if this was so, what even was their last conversation in ep 4?

the Claire on top of Leon scene. tf? what the hell were they trying to set up? were they going to fuck and continue the redfield bloodline right then and there? kiss? hug? maybe punch each other's lights out?? i'm seriously so fucking confused.

Shen Mei and Leon too. Leon asks her out and she declines. what was the point of that conversation? i'm just going to assume it's to show the locket with Jun See's picture in it.

(were they trying to show how bitchless Leon is at least in this series?)

why the hell did Jason kill Shen Mei? what was the point? why didn't Leon give a shit when she died? it was like he just forgot about her.

i love how President Graham believes anything as long as Leon is involved. in ep 1 when Leon's late: "it's fine bc you saved my daughter." in the last ep when Patrick tells him that Wilson was behind everything and cites Leon as source, Mr. POTUS decides to wing his speech ON THE SPOT just because of that fact. what if Patrick was making it up? that really would have fucked up international relations and all that. i don't know. Graham really loves Leon i guess.

going off of that, i wish we got to see more of Patrick. i would have loved to see him interact more with Leon.

what is gonna happen to that chip!?

i have no idea if a Season 2 would be able to salvage/explain the plot, but honestly i don't think the series deserves a Season 2. it might be a waste of time and money plus an even bigger disappointment to fans.

alright, onto performances.

Nick Apostolides to me sounds like someone who's breaking in a new pair of shoes. it sounds like he's still getting used to walking in them and therefore tries different things (which i find ironic since he'd already voiced baby faced rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy atp, but also understandable as Leon sounded young in that game). he's all over the place imo. he sounded like RE2R Leon, RE4R Leon, and someone else entirely throughout the four episodes. but as you said in another ask, he really made up for it in RE4R. solid voice acting all around imo.

Ray Chase. before i saw him here i knew him as Neuvillette (aka "according to the judgment of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale") in Genshin Impact. his line delivery is stellar. i hope that's also him voicing mutated/infected Jason because he sounds fantastic there. but there's a line that he says there that sounds so awkward because the delivery is so sped up that the emotion is gone.

Stephanie Panisello also voices Claire in RE2R, but i haven't seen too much of her there to compare it to her performance here. i will say, however, that i honestly enjoyed her performance here, but there are times when she sounds like she's holding back a bit. it would have been perfect if she let go a little bit more.

Jona Xiao as Shen Mei was also great, but i think she also suffers the sams problem as Stephanje in that she sounds like she'a holding back.

Doug Stone as Wilson was perhaps the most enjoyable for me, as well as Billy Kametz who voiced Patrick.

this (https://youtu.be/HN2OkCu6FbE?si=jl7K8tILCYoheGCX) was pretty badass tho

https://youtu.be/7lnFgfhVW-E?si=RZ-EF-WN2vVDY8PS holy shit.

the unfortunate thing is

most of my responses to your reactions boil down to "welcome to the RE CGI-verse." like:

why tf does Leon look like he's at least 40??

i wish they gave Claire more screen time

why the hell did Jason kill Shen Mei? what was the point? why didn't Leon give a shit when she died?

all fall under that category LMAO

now, in terms of things i can respond to:

was the show purposely designed not to fit into the timeline in any way whatsoever a la "welcome to raccoon city"?

no. just because leon's character model looks bad doesn't mean that the story exists out of universe. it takes place in 06 and is part of the regular OG canon timeline. period.

what were they trying to set up with Claire and Leon's interactions?

nothing.

the CGI-verse is the reason why a few true cleon diehards still hold onto hope that cleon will still somehow be endgame, but the fact of the matter is that leon and claire just have That Kind of Friendship. it goes nowhere; it's just how they are.

Shen Mei and Leon too. Leon asks her out and she declines. what was the point of that conversation? i'm just going to assume it's to show the locket with Jun See's picture in it. (were they trying to show how bitchless Leon is at least in this series?)

both explanations are correct. ID adds a new dimension to the running "OG Leon is a Fucking Slut Who Can't Actually Score" gag by making him an actual homewrecker this time around. but ultimately yes it was to show the locket.

what is gonna happen to that chip!?

nothing and you know it lmao

this (https://youtu.be/HN2OkCu6FbE?si=jl7K8tILCYoheGCX) was pretty badass tho

this is the best moment that OG leon has in the entire series and i'm not joking. it's not the best in the sense of "this is when he, as a person, is at his best." it's the best in the sense of "this is the only moment in the entire series where we get to see leon do his Actual Job and know what he Actually Does outside of outbreak incidents, and it serves to add more context and perspective to so many other facets of his character." i could write an entire fucking essay about this scene/moment. god.

goD

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