#i can’t keep doing adaptation theory without reading the original lol

[romanceyourdemons]

i think an important point of distinction between nbc hannibal and the other various thomas harris adaptations is that in those previous adaptations the hannibal lecter actors have said yeah he’s a serial killer and he’s fucked in the head, he doesn’t realize what he’s doing is wrong, etc. but while nbc hannibal was in its early stages mads mikkelsen said i’m going to play hannibal as lucifer. the sexy man from the bible. and i think this change is the genesis of the fundamental tonal shift from a fact- and mystery-based story (as in previous adaptations) to an allegory-based one, and why thomas harris’s simultaneous horror of and fascination with transformation reads less as cartoonish trans- and homophobia and more like the tradition of 19th century gothic novels

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep15 [FINALE]

For better or worse I think Ryukishi achieved exactly what he set out to do with this series, and I guess everyone’s just gonna be forced to reckon with how they feel about his own perspective on this franchise versus how they feel about it, lol.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut, plus Umineko spoilers.

I’m not entirely sure where to even start with this, but I guess the TL;DR is that I honestly think Gou/Sotsu was ultimately just fine despite it’s issues, and part me of can’t help but be like ‘I told you so, lol’ about how this really did end with this episode, and also committed pretty hard to the Umineko prequel elements.

It’s not like all of my theories were correct in the end, but I at least think I was pretty spot on in my prediction last week that this would end with the miracle of them side-stepping the sword issue entirely and choosing the third option of forgiveness and reconciliation. And also them ending it with an epilogue where we go back to the Matsuribayashi timeline and get a happy ending for Rika and Satoko that provides a ‘non-magical interpretation’ for the story while also giving us an idea of how Bern and Lambda formally split off into their own entities and start the relationship we see in Umineko.

I didn’t quite expect them to go down the route of having them agree to just spend a few years apart and accept that they don’t need to literally always be together, but I think that was a really good way to wrap things up between them. It’s pretty much the healthiest compromise to their conflict that doesn’t come across like it completely invalidates one of their dreams. I get why it feels too anti-climactic and convenient for people, but when you pull at that thread you get into wider topics of what the entire story is about, since this was always going to end with Satoko being redeemed and forgiven. People might not have taken him seriously, but Ryukishi was 100% genuine about his regrets about Matsuribayashi’s ending, and how part of why he came up with this new story was to create a better ending, while also doing more with Satoko as a character.

Basically I think a lot of the fandom negativity towards this boils down to people fundamentally disagreeing with the idea that Matsuribayashi was even ‘flawed’ in this sort of way to begin with, or that Satoko was badly written. It’s valid to disagree on this stuff, but at the very least we all have to grapple with how Ryukishi has his own specific relationship with this series.

People like to focus on how he’s a troll who likes to mess with people, but I feel like this is a bit of a wake-up call for people about how he’s actually extremely sincere, almost to a fault, and he likes to use his stories as a vehicle for expressing his personal philosophies and ideals. 

This whole story is also a good example of how he just sees this as ultimately being a fictional story about fictional characters, and not literally a matter of real people who need to be sentenced for their crimes or whatever. As early as the original VN he was almost being outright preachy about the message that nobody is irredeemable, and that philosophy carries through to this. But to be more specific, nobody *in this story* is irredeemable. He’s pretty open about the fact that in practice you can’t apply this sort of ideal to real life, but fictional stories are their own separate matter.

I think this whole issue of how he views this as a story first and foremost is also the central reason why this ended in a way that comes across as Satoko being let off too easy for her crimes. One way or another, Ryukishi’s made it clear that he sees this as being no different to how other characters had arcs where they committed crimes but still got forgiven, or how Takano is basically a straight up war criminal who also got forgiven for her crimes.

Anyway, this episode at least committed to the Umineko stuff, so that was satisfying. Sure there’s people that still want to deny it, but at this point I think a lot of people are just being stubborn, so it’s not like anything would have really convinced them, lol. I’m also genuinely not sure what people even would have expected them to do beyond what we saw her, aside from having the two of them literally put on their gothic lolita outfits and turn to the camera and go ‘we are literally Bernkastel and Lambdadelta from the video game series Umineko When They Cry’. I almost feel like there’s some kind of misunderstanding from people who aren’t familiar with Umineko when it comes to the idea of what it even means for this to be ‘an Umineko prequel’, or ‘a Bern/Lambda origin story’. I mean, this is quite literally exactly what I expected and hoped for in that regard. It’s not like I was expecting them to incorporate anything related to, like, Beatrice or the Ushiromiya family.

I think this is also one of those things where you just have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to earnestly engage with the story that’s being told, or if you want to assume that there’s some level of malice or trickery going on.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting them to literally have Rika and Satoko recite part of Bern and Lambda’s final conversation with each other word for word, lmao. Combined with the scene at the end where ‘Witch Satoko’ talks to herself about how she’s going to give her body back to Satoko while she goes chasing after Rika, it was literally just the exact origin story of their relationship as it’s depicted in Umineko.

I still feel like this would all only really be ‘worth it’ if we actually get something like a full on anime remake for Umineko, but at this point I can’t help but feel satisfied with this part of it all.

It’s not like I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is perfect or anything, though. I don’t hate it as much as basically everyone else does, but I think Ryukishi’s the sort of VN writer who really struggles with the shift to writing for an anime. I think a big part of the frustration people have is just from how this is formatted as a weekly anime series spread across basically an entire year, instead of being something like a stand-alone VN chapter that you can read at whatever pace you want, even if it ultimately takes the same amount of time to read as it would to watch all of Gou/Sotsu.

There’s also the whole issue of this being a sort-of-remake, which snowballed into a whole list of structural problems. They absolutely tried too hard to have their cake and eat it too, and they should have just committed to it being made for old fans only, instead of trying to sincerely incorporate elements from the VN that old fans don’t care about anymore because they’ve gone over it already.

And as I’ve said several times before, it was a major issue for them to decide to put Nekodamashi in the middle of Gou and then spend like 20 episodes on flashback answer arcs until finally getting back to that cliffhanger. I’ve been waiting until this all ended to decide exactly how I feel about that, and now that it’s all over I still think it was a really bad idea. I don’t think it was an issue for them to reveal that Satoko’s the culprit that early, but having the gun cliffhanger specifically happen that early just gave people misguided expectations and tainted the answer arcs because people were just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. And then the cliffhanger itself ended up being somewhat anti-climactic, which is what I’d been fearing would happen. It would have worked fine if they shuffled it around so that the cliffhanger happened right before Kagurashi and was followed up in the very next episode, or if this was a VN where you could binge your way through the flashback stuff, but spending like half of an entire real-life year to get back to that point only to have the resolution be ‘Satoko just shoots Rika and the death loops keep going’ just didn’t really work properly.

I’m a lot more generous towards the Akashi arcs than most people are, since I think they really over-estimate how much re-used content there is there, but they still suffer from the central issue of the show trying to be accessible for new fans. It could have been heavily condensed otherwise, without losing anything in terms of Satoko’s whole character arc.

On the other hand I think the first half of Kagurashi was awful specifically because it highlighted how bad of an idea it was to put Nekodamashi so early in the story. They still ended up having to go back to that arc and repeat it anyway, in the most 1:1 recap-y way in the whole show, but that wouldn’t have even been an issue in the first place if that was instead the first time that arc happened in the show.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I would rearrange the story to make it flow better while still following Ryukishi’s intentions, and I think they could have condensed it into a 2-cour season with this sort of structure if they did something like this:

-First arc where Rika gets thrown back into the loop and quickly figures out that somebody intentionally caused this to happen, and it’s not Takano because at least in this idea of mine she’d try and investigate her only to find out that this version of Takano regrets everything and is planning to flee the village with Tomitake.

Basically I think this could tie into the idea of Satoko initially wanting to just concoct an idea world for Rika so that she won’t want to leave this time, but sort of like what I think happens in Saikoroshi, Rika would still reject it, and this time around there’d be the additional layer of her knowing that somebody did this to her for an unknown reason. Maybe they could even initially market it as a new adaptation or a remake of Saikoroshi, and then reveal that it’s a sequel, to keep that whole element to the series. Either way I think this would end with everything going to shit when Rika rejects that fragment and wants to go back to St. Lucia’s, and Satoko basically snaps and kills her, and that way the audience can find out about her being the culprit without Rika finding out about it yet.

Maybe there could even be some dramatic irony where Rika’s attempts to meddle with certain ‘trigger events’, and her displaying her looper side, inadvertently triggers people around her to get paranoid, and the whole fragment would start to spiral into tragedy from there. I think they could at least use the whole conflict in Tatariakashi about Teppei actually being good this time as a starting point for that sorta thing.

-Second arc, rounding out the first cour, which is basically just Satokowashi. I don’t think there’s much that you’d need to change here, but like I said above I like the idea of her initially trying to just invent a perfect world for Rika and her to live in, instead of jumping straight to murder. But maybe instead of her literally just watching Rika’s loops, she could instead just be stuck using her looping powers to try and figure out how to create that ‘perfect world’ in the first place, by personally investigating all of the different tragedies and how to prevent them.

-Staring the second cour, a third arc where we basically just get to see those loops Satoko goes through, and her whole process of solving the tragedies and ‘purifying’ characters like Teppei and Takano, until we eventually see her perspective on the first arc, and how she reacts to Rika ultimately rejecting the world she tried to make for her.

-A fourth and final arc which is basically just Nekodamashi + Kagurashi, where she just totally snaps and tries to just torture Rika into never wanting to leave the village again, and eventually Satoko gets exposed and they have their direct confrontation with each other.

With that sorta story structure, you’d keep all the relevant bits of Gou/Sotsu as it is now, while being more focused on Rika and Satoko instead of doing kinda half-assed reruns of the Rena and Shion arcs. It’d also push the big cliffhanger between them until near the end of the show, while still revealing to the audience relatively early on that Satoko’s the culprit.

I’d also like them to do more with Satoshi and Shion, so maybe like with how Teppei gets redeemed and Satoko almost gets to have a happy life with him in Tatariakashi, the central question arc of this hypothetical story could also involve Satoko making sure that Satoshi wakes up from his coma, and Shion also gets to have a good relationship with all of them. You could probably do something interesting with the idea of Satoshi and Shion being in the camp of not trusting Teppei and his whole redemption arc.

Honestly I could spend a long time talking about how I would have done things differently, lol. For one thing, I think the Akashi arcs would have been much better if they just changed it so that Satoko used psychological tactics to make people paranoid, and we completely cut out the whole syringe plot device. I get how it fits with Satoko’s whole certainty gimmick, but it made those arcs way too predictable. Even if we knew the outcome, it’d at least be entertaining to see exactly how Satoko might go out of her way to set up the different tragedies. We kinda got glimpses of that sorta plot point in Wataakashi when things seemed to go outside of her control, but they didn’t really do much with it.

Anyway, this is a whole lot of words to say that I think that in spite of the serious structural issues going on, I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is fine, and was at least working with a lot of perfectly good ideas that could have been executed much better.

Also, on a side note, that one scene during their fist-fight at the start where the art-style changes a bit was kinda weird, but I really liked how it looked, and part of me almost wishes the whole show looked like that, lol. I like Akio Watanabe’s character designs, but I feel like that sort of stylized, almost TWEWY-ish art style would have been really fitting for this series, especially in the horror/action parts.

Oh, and the new rendition of You was so good it almost felt emotionally manipulative, lol.

[firelxdykatara]

kitty i can't wait for your thoughts of Shadow and Bone asdfasfaw

Ok well I just finished and I have so many fucking thoughts. Most good! Some, less so. Part of it may just be my bias because I’ve only read the Six of Crows duology and have little interest in actually reading the original trilogy, because I know how it ends and Leigh clearly hates me personally and doesn’t want me to be happy (/j), so I was already predisposed to be far more invested in the Crows and Darkling/Darklina segments (genuinely, the Mal/Malina scenes/storyline bored me to tears, and while I appreciate that the show went out of its way to change Mal’s character to make him much less of a toxic douchebag [I’ve read enough excerpts and explanations of his actions in the books to really loathe book!Malina], it isn’t enough to make me ship them when Darklina is right there), but I also don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Crows absolutely stole the show.

It’s actually kind of funny, because I’d assumed they were only being so heavily marketed to hype the show up even more, since while there’s a lot of TGT/SoC fandom overlap they are also two fundamentally different genres and I’d wager there are a lot of people who are massive fans of one but not so enthused with the other, while remaining fairly insignificant to the overall plot. Turns out, they make up fully half of the show’s runtime (much to my delight). Which is part of what I think will help this series stand on its own, both as a book adaptation and simply as a fantasy TV series.

I’ll put more of my story-specific thoughts under a cut, so there’s lots of show spoilers to follow!

I know that a lot of early reviewers were saying that Alina’s motivations and storyline revolved too much around Mal, and that really held true for me. It made sense in the beginning--he was the only constant in her life, she was thrust into something new, terrifying, and completely unfamiliar, and they’d developed an unhealthy codependence as a coping mechanism for their childhoods and the traumas they faced, the lives they lead growing up in a war-torn country. But she started coming into her power, falling for the General--not just his power and charisma, but what she felt when she was with him. The way he helped her summon the sun, the way she felt free in a way she never had before.

Until it all went to shit--but the Darklina make-out scene in episode 5? Fucking iconic. Poetic fucking cinema. The way they were quite literally about to have sex on that wartable (and someone better write fic of that moment, what if they hadn’t gotten interrupted), and the General left, but then he ran back just to kiss her one more time... this is what OTPs are made of ok.

I think what really bothers me overall is that Alina ultimately lacked agency in her one storyline, pretty much the entire way through. She did make a few choices, but they were mostly incidental, and a lot of it was Alina desperately trying to get back to Mal rather than seizing her own power and destiny and running with it. The most prominent example is the end of episode 5--Alina is having happy make-outs and almost bones the General in his own war room, and then he leaves, and Baghra comes in and infodumps to her about how evil he is and how he’s only using her and she needs to escape.

I recognize that a lot of this is probably because that’s essentially what happened in the book and Leigh is an executive producer for the show so she has a lot of shot-calling power. However, I really think that even in the book this plotline would’ve been better-served by having Alina make these discoveries on her own.

For example, imagine that the letters which were used as framing devices for episodes 2 and 3 were vitally important to the plot, rather than being one-offs that are mentioned a few times but not really affecting much of anything. Alina begins to get suspicious when she doesn’t receive word from Mal, and she starts wondering if her letters are even reaching him--so she starts snooping. She finds ashes in the war room hearth, late at night,, and recognizes a fragment of Mal’s signature and larger piece of her own. She now knows that someone--possibly the General, but maybe that creepy priest guy, or someone else in the palace--is keeping her and Mal from contacting one another. So she starts snooping around even more. She asks the General leading questions, trying to figure out what the truth is of his intentions. She still feels this pull--this connection to him, and she hopes she’s wrong, but she’s not willing to just sit around and wait for the other shoe to drop.

The Winter Fete still happens, she still gets the hot make-out session with the General, and then when he’s called away, she snoops through his papers, looking for anything that can tell her the truth. She finds a hidden compartment filled with journals.

She reads about Aleksander’s past (and, incidentally, wasn’t that supposed to be a huge moment in the books, him revealing his true name to her in private? kinda wish it had been kept that way in the show but who knows where they’ll go with it in the future)--that leads to the flashbacks in episode 6. She feels for him, but she also reads further--she gets a firsthand look at his desire for power, something that began as a noble desire to save his people, but was twisted by a lust for vengeance (for his lost love and all the Grisha who were killed) and shot through with greed, the realization that if he found the Sun Summoner he could control the Fold, rather than just destroy it. He could create a new world where Grisha could live without fear--where Grisha could rule.

Alina is terrified. Whoever the General used to be--whatever humanity she saw flickering in his eyes, the way his heart fluttered when they kissed--she can’t trust that it’ll be enough to save her from plans centuries in the making. So she goes to Baghra, the woman who helped her discover her power, learn to channel it--the woman who always seemed to know much more than she ever let on. Baghra gives her side of the story--Alina got it from the General’s perspective first, now Baghra is telling her something framed much differently. She isn’t sure what or who to trust, but she knows that Baghra seems willing to help her escape--but rather than trusting her ‘loyal Grisha’, she makes the choice she made in the show, to choose the other path, and winds up with the Crows.

Idk how Mal and the Stag thing would fit into this (if it isn’t obvious by now, Mal just... doesn’t interest me), but Alina’s story and her character arc would be so much stronger for it. And she’s supposed to be the central character, so her story being weak and her agency so frequently being compromised ultimately hurts the show as a whole.

I know I’ve gone on and on about Alina and the Darkling (look, I’m a slut for enemies-to-lovers, and also lovers-to-enemies-and-back, so Darklina and Helnik are where so much of my investment is rooted--plus Kanej, but that almost goes without saying), but the true standouts of the series were the Crows. Inej, Kaz, and Jesper, and Nina and Matthias in their episodes, stole the show (along with the Darkling, Ben is far and away the best actor in the cast and I love that for him, but Freddy, Amita, and Kit are also amazing, and Danielle&Calahan were fucking phenomenal as Nina and Matthias--I do have to say, though, that the whole cast is really solid and has amazing chemistry).

They worked together so perfectly--Freddy and Amita communicated so much with their eyes alone, especially together, and a whole lot of their relationship dynamic is rooted in how they exist together, which really came through. The show altered the Crows timeline considerably (I’m pretty sure Kaz would’ve been 14 during the original trilogy lol), so Inej is still at the Menagerie, but things like Kaz putting up the Crow Club for Inej’s freedom, the way Kaz needed her but could never bring himself to say it (until the end of the season dklhfgdkjfgh i SCREAMED)--the way Jesper played off the both of them, and it’s so obvious they all love each other even though they’re criminals and thieves and murderers, and Kaz would never admit it (out loud--which actually feeds into my theory that his love language is acts of service; Kaz does things for the people he cares about, he never announces it and he will almost always try to downplay it, but the way you know he cares is if, for example, he puts his entire life, everything he built, up as collateral for your freedom), but they’re a family.

One thing that I was kind of iffy about was Inej’s refusal to kill--but I thought it might be something they were planning to work into her overall character arc, and they did. It was the one line she hadn’t crossed--in the books, I’d imagine that it took a while for Inej to wind up at that point, being willing to kill on top of everything else. So I actually like that they worked that into the Crows plotline, and Inej killing for the first time was to save Kaz’s life.

Just like Kaz’s first selfless act was to save her.

(He’d deny it, of course. He protects his investments. He needed her for the job. But the truth is, he did it for her. And he’d do it again. Even if he’d never admit it.)

Meanwhile, Nina and Matthias’ storyline was pretty much note-for-note according to their backstory as it was revealed in Six of Crows, and I loved every second of it. Their chemistry was perfect, their journey from enemies to begrudging allies to friends to maybe something more (Matthias’ stomach cockblocking them when they were about to kiss had me fucking SCREAMING AT THE TV, and then of course the whole ‘betraying him to save him’ thing happened and I sobbed), and then suddenly right back to enemies.

Because from Matthias’ perspective, he trusted a witch--believed in her, liked her, wanted her--and she turned on him. He has no idea that she wasn’t the one who knocked him out in the first place, and no reason to believe her, because as far as he knows, she just confirmed everything he’d ever been told about Grisha. That they are deceitful and treacherous, would turn on you as soon as look at you, that they are dangerous and not to be trusted. It wasn’t revealed in-show but I imagine Matthias’ backstory is largely the same, which means that his entire family was slaughtered by Grisha when he was a young boy, and then he was turned into a brainwashed child soldier by the witch hunters and never knew anything else.

They are perfectly primed for their SoC arc next season and I, for one, am so stoked to see the rest of their journey. And if I slip Netflix a couple twenties, maybe they’ll let Helnik have a happy ending please please please.

Anyway, yeah! I have a lot of thoughts but things are still percolating in my head so I’ll probably float around the tags for a bit and let things settle. This is just a preliminary overview of my thoughts in the immediate aftermath of bingeing the entire show in one night kldfjghdkjfhgkjgf

EDIT TO ADD: I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THE TRUE STAR OF THE SHOW, M I L O

MILO BEST BOY. MILO THE MVP. MILO DESERVES ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD AND I HOPE HE LIVES A HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND FULL LITTLE GOAT LIFE.

[tempenensis]

hullo hullo!! novice manga reader here! if you don’t mind, would you be able to explain a bit about the relationship between megumi and sukuna, please? I’ve been noticing some nuances, but I’m not quite sure how to decipher them? Like, why is sukuna so interested in megumi? Is there a special reason for that? ahhh it’s been bothering me for forever. if not, it’s totally fine! 👌

Helloo! I’ve actually answered this same question here, but well, since the chance comes up now, I’ll explain this in more orderly manner. 

So, during the first fight, Sukuna is fighting Megumi just because he can, mainly to make Itadori regret “using” him without limitation. He even said that he’s going to kill Megumi without reason.

But as he fight against Megumi, he starts to take interest on Megumi’s cursed technique. 

And his interest on Megumi’s technique keeps increasing. “That was a wasted opportunity” is a bit of incorrect translation, the better is “what a wasted treasure” - and even more literal “what a rotten treasure”. This sentence keeps being in Megumi’s mind, even push him to develop his domain expansion. Sukuna is Megumi’s biggest supporter lol

At the end of this fight, Megumi, cornered as he is, do what he always do when he is cornered in battle; summon Makora, his strongest shikigami. And this is what cemented Sukuna’s fixation on Megumi. 

That is how his interest started. Now from this point on is my pure opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. 

So, Sukuna seems to have a plan, that he has been brewing since before he was sealed a thousand years ago. Uraume is involved and seems to be preparing for this plan even until now. 

He most likely needs Megumi for this plan, more specifically Megumi’s technique. 

In my opinion, he probably has a use for Makora. In the translation, it is unclear, but this is what he says during the first fight when Megumi is going to summon Makora,

and this is when he finally sees and fights again Makora, who Megumi summons in Shibuya when he is cornered against Side-tail. 

His words are parallels of the first fight against Megumi and the fight against Makora. The above read “misetemiro, Fushiguro Megumi” = “Show me, Fushiguro Megumi!” (even more literal, “fascinate me!”), the below read “misetekureta na” = “You’ve showed me.” This has gay subtext yes

Makora itself is the strongest shadow in the shikigami arsenal of Ten Shadows jutsu, which is never been able to be exorcised by previous users of Ten Shadows jutsu and consequently never been able to be used in combat. Makora’s main trait is its ability to adapt to its enemy, making it almost unbeatable. 

Another addition, Sukuna maybe needs something similar or something that can go against Yamata-no-orochi - which I suspect will come up on the story later. Most likely in relation of his plan. 

Yamata-no-orochi in its original legend is a monstrous serpent with eight heads and eight tails that can be defeated by noone, but the storm god Susano-o, kind of main hero in Japanese folktale. 

Since Makora still can’t be exorcised by Megumi, when it is summoned, Makora will be hostile first to his summoner -- which is why summoning Makora means death for Megumi. It is something like a suicidal attack - bringing death both to Megumi and his enemy. And because Sukuna needs it during his plan later, he can’t let Megumi dies before his plan actually starts.

Well, this is all just my opinion considering all the things we have given in the canon. There are a lot of different theories about this, so you can explore this more. 

[maariarogers]

Why Webtoon!Suho is Superior and K-Drama!Suho Needs To Catch Up 👏

Hello, everyone!

Am I here again with another semi-controversial meta? Why, I might be.

If you’d like to catch up with my last meta, which was: Thoughts On True Beauty and Why I’m On Team Suho, you’re going to get a whole butt-load of information on why I’m mostly a Lee Suho-simp, thank you very much.

With that said, to cut the story short, I’ll be listing down some points I’ll be bringing up on this particular topic. Feel free to skip some points if that’s your cup of tea, or if you’re just cruising and find that the points I’m bringing up are not of your interest at all and you’re scrolling by? That’s fine too!

If you’re sticking around though, thank you!

The Points:

Intro: What Do I Mean?           a.k.a. What’s The Deal With Suho (Again)?

Webtoon!Suho vs. KDrama!Suho           Is K-Drama Suho ‘Mary Sue’?

Why K-Drama!Suho Needs To Step Up

How K-Drama Lowkey Didn’t Capture Seojun and Suho’s Friendship

Conclusion: #TeamJugyeong

Full disclosure: I absolutely, completely adore True Beauty — both the drama and webtoon — and this is purely written from my own point of view, based on the thoughts I’ve accumulated by my own deductions. There certainly will be criticism, but mostly I just want to put it out there to hear out what others are also objectively thinking about this. So, let’s go!

I will try to make this one short, but let’s see how this goes :D

Now.

Intro: What Do I Mean? a.k.a. What’s The Deal With Suho (Again)?

To start this, if you’ve read my first meta, then you would know first-hand that I’m completely fascinated with Suho. That is, the webtoon version that’s been presented of him. I find him intriguing for a character that is quite “dull” — but only because that dullness played a part more than just him being a “cool” and “distant” character.

I’ve mentioned before that I do critically think Suho is clinically depressed. It’s actually proven in the original Webtoon that, especially after Seyeon’s death, he went to a therapist and was taking medications for it. Though I’m not quite sure if he’s still following any medical routine in this current arc (the adult arc), we do see a recurring theme in Suho wherein he seemed to struggle with finding any proper passion, it became an important plot device when it was made clear to him that “he never tried hard enough [for anything]”. and him falling back into a certain habit (studying) to avoid the sadness.

(I’m not quite sure the exact quote, but it’s been mentioned again that he was studying to distract himself when his sister confronted him about it.)

I find the way the author portrayed what I’ve perceived as a protagonist with this prominent mental illness was quite refreshing? Not in the way that it glorified the mental illness or the trauma Suho was experiencing which some authors or dramas tend to do, no — what the author had planted was precise, it was realistic.

Suho struggled in a way that’s consistent (from his teen years up to his adulthood, I mean), but you can’t really tell. And that’s the thing with mental illness, a lot of the time, we don’t really see it – but it’s there. In Suho’s case particularly, it doesn’t just go away when Seyeon’s death was finally accepted and the friendship between Seojun and Suho were amended. It’s still there.

That’s quite intricate for the author to do, isn’t it?

Of course, there is so much more to Suho — which I think I’ll be implying here and there throughout this meta — but if you’d like to read more on it, the first meta is just me fangirling from the start till the end.

Now that that’s over with...

Webtoon!Suho vs. KDrama!Suho

I think I briefly mentioned that, for a moment there, I was kinda scared — but also superbly interested and excited – when they announced that True Beauty will be adapted to a drama.

For the first few episodes, especially episodes 1 - 6, it was super engaging, it was sweet, and the chemistry between the casts were absolutely *chef’s kiss*

Now, episode seven was where it went a little downhill for me.

I’ve always had a slight problem with how they’ve portrayed Suho being a “fighter” — that is, him picking up Jiu Jitsu in the drama.

Now, I know! I know! I have the same thought — the drama and the webtoon are two completely different adaptions that really mirrored one another based on characters and premise, and that’s about it. I’ve made peace with that, I enjoyed it even! But I was still a bit iffy about this particular trait because, for me particularly, it was important for me that Suho wasn’t perfect.

And guess what? He wasn’t.

In the webtoon, Suho can’t fight. The one time Seyeon and him almost got into a fight when they were in middle school, Seojun was the one who actually had experience in street fighting or brawling to defeat the bullies. And this is quite important, especially if you’ve been a writer or an author or, hell, even an audience to these mediums, “perfect” characters can often become “mary sue”.

But the thing about the k-drama is, Suho’s ability to fight was purposeful — which was why it was okay for me in the end. It was a way to introduce his father and the strained in relationship they had, he faced foes several times, and, most importantly, he had to protect Jugyeong (karaoke scene).

Now that I’ve seen (SPOILER FOR PREVIEW EPISODE 9) that he could also be musically-inclined? ...yikes. And, yes, okay, I get it! The actor is an idol, so it’s a great homage to his career, but it was still...

It felt like the writers were desperate to fill the gaps for Suho possibly being “dull” as this typical cool and distant character — when, in reality, Suho’s existence as is was quite enough. He didn’t need to steal Seojun’s fighting ability, and he especially didn’t need to rob Seyeon’s musical passion too, to be interesting and have depths of his own, do you get me?

In fact, he was without all of that, and his romance — however short-lived — with Jugyeong was still so sweet and enjoyable in the webtoon. And that’s the appeal of Suho, I think; Suho doesn’t need to be “more” for Jugyeong (like, all he did was study and read horror comics with Jugyeong), just as Jugyeong doesn’t have to appear “more” (with her make-up etc) for them to be interesting to each other. They like one another in spite all of that.

To be honest, if they had made the room about Suho’s mom, which would've thrown people off because “aren’t we still stuck in the Seyeon Arc”?, that’d be an interesting plot line since I have a feeling that the webtoon will be using that as a major plot device soon BUUUUUUT that’s a theory for another day! So—

Why 👏 K-Drama!Suho 👏 Needs 👏 To 👏 Step 👏 Up 👏👏👏

Because, honey, being unnecessarily possessive doesn’t look good on you.

I’m so, SO GLAD that Seojun actually talked some sense into him! Seojun’s absolutely right! In the end, it’s up to Jugyeong who she will choose as her romantic partner! All this, him-walking-in-and-demanding-Jugyeong-to-come-to-him-in-the-slightest-chance-she’ll-be-going-out-with-another-guy is getting boring. And you know what, my guy, you haven’t even asked her out or anything! (Besides from THAT scene at the end of Ep 8, you know what I mean lol)

Like, I didn’t mind when he was just following her because he was curious and jealous, and that led him to quietly “put a stop” to Jugyeong's blind date because the man obviously had bad intentions. I also understood when he threatened Semi Lee’s boyfriend into apologising. That’s fine - while he was manipulating the situation, it wasn’t exactly him telling and/or demanding Jugyeong to blindly follow him and/or go with him or anything.

I actually find it so, so sweet when it became a common phrase between them for Suho to always ask Jugyeong how she’s doing ( “Are you okay?” ) because that’s essentially what his character builds up to: this protector, that goes beyond keeping Jugyeong’s bare-face a secret. He’s really out there making sure Jugyeong is safe, and that’s okay!

That was the character he was establishing to be.

But then the writers pulled out this obsessive and possessive jerk out of their ass? That isn’t Suho. That’s contradicting through the whole build-up of Suho and Jugyeong’s characters from episode one to six. The whole point of why they leaned on one another is because they trust each other so, so, so much.

But in episode seven, Suho was falsely blaming Jugyeong (for sleeping when he was the one who napped) just because he’s “flustered”, taking it out on her when the baseball player just asked for her number (which, well, was understandably creepy, but like, chill bro); and in episode eight, Suho was glaring at Jugyeong the whole time just because he thinks she’s ignoring him and she was around Seojun so much?

Dude....... you never even apologised for those words that you knew hurt Jugyeong in episode 5.

Suho, babes, I love you, but - no.

I get so frustrated because ‘anger’ was never Suho’s default expression; he never truly has a temper. That was always more of Seojun’s trait and it worked with Seojun because it’s consistent throughout his character (in the webtoon). The few times Suho was actually angry to the point of nearly instigating violence in the webtoon are only because he’s pushed by this deep sadness [over the loss of Seyeon].

Rather than a glare in the scene in the beginning of the camp, it’d be more in-character if Suho’d looked like a sad puppy. Because if anything, wouldn’t Suho feel threatened since he has this deep-rooted belief that he doesn’t deserve happiness (a canon line admitted by Suho, himself, in webtoon, and spoken by Seojun towards Suho in K-Drama) and therefore, would have this inferioty complex and would never think Jugyeong would be interested in him? Which was why she’s going to Seojun a lot?

Now, let’s talk about Seojun.

How K-Drama Lowkey Didn’t Capture Seojun and Suho’s Friendship

I think one of the most prominent thing about Seojun and Suho’s friendship was how much they respected one another — especially when it came to their shared love interest in Jugyeong.

This K-Drama? (Sighs) Butchered it a little? Yeah.

Which isn’t wrong, no! But I felt like... firstly, it’s overdue; it’s making Suho look really, really not pretty (character-wise) next to Seojun, which I think is a misstep for the production because shouldn’t your male lead be persistently desirable? (But I didn’t mind lol, my heart is half-rooting for Seojun already *sighs dreamily*); and it really, most importantly, hurt the absolute loyalty and pureness that Suho and Seojun shared together in the webtoon.

Because when Seojun knew that Suho and Jugyeong liked each other? He backed off. He did. He didn’t say one word — not even a slip of a tongue — about his feelings towards Jugyeong.

But Suho somewhat knew, right? And he backed off when he knew he was disappointing Jugyeong by his departure. He makes way for Seojun to be there, however he can be, for Jugyeong while he’s not around. And when they started dating, Seojun and Jugyeong? Suho was supportive throughout.

He was never jealous, there was never one instance where he showed his dislike, and even when Jugyeong casted doubt or talked with Suho about her relationship problems, Suho was always rooting for the both of them. He wanted them to work.

They were all excellent friends.

I understand why and how the K-Drama ended up the way they did currently at episode eight, but in my opinion, I feel like it’s a bit disrespectful to the true friendship that Seojun and Suho shared in the webtoon only to present them as these unending rivals when... when you think about it, it isn’t really Seojun and Suho?

Cause obviously webtoon!Seojun and webtoon!Suho, once they’ve made up that is, were extremely reliable towards one another; they were very encouraging (besides from the slight hiccup when Seojun got a bit jealous); and they were incredibly loyal and understanding of one another’s situation.

I hope we’ll see glimpses of it more in the future, ‘cause I’d pay for nice and slightly-realistic progression of friendship that’s somehow mixed up with romance and how these people are coping with it, rather than just seeing two boys glare at one another while my girl Jugyeong just wanted to go to the toilet 😆

Conclusion #TeamJugyeong

I just want this girl to stop being pushed-and-pulled and happy, man.

I’m still looking forward to more of the episodes and the webtoon, though! I still love the casts, the production, the way the story is flowing so far (because I wanna know what’s gonna happen, you know?) but I do think Suho could’ve been written a bit better? Or, at least, with a bit more consistency?

Or, I mean, maybe he could just start apologising for every reckless actions rather than him getting away with it because he saved Jugyeong? Maybe?

I really still adore him, and I’m still rooting so much for Suho because the times when he was alone with her, he was super sweet? And immediately the sincerity and the core of what made Jugyeong and Suho so appealing to me just came out? Like he has that potential that webtoon!Suho is already at.

I love them so much, ugh.

(Although Seojun, bro, I’m lowkey on your side too. That bracelet he did for her was 💗💗💗💗💗)

I hope everyone’s doing well, keeping each other safe, and if my head’s running wild again, I’ll keep you posted akdjksjhskdhf

Thank you so much for reading!!!!

[raat-jaaga-paakhi]

In Bimonthly Discussions with Shaon Di’s @distapata​. - II

Responding to this post. 

Much like you, Shaon Di, it varies from project to project for me, as it probably should. I will mostly take what I call my master-fandom in consideration here, because it’s what I am focusing on currently and...well, haha, since the canon is in public domain, the master-WIP is as much fanfiction as it is an original work. ;P 

Considering there is this huge bunch of canon that I mostly need to stick to (like you), if only to take the skeleton (main events, plot - you know the drill) of the story and considering I have been fangirling over Mahabharata et al for some 6 years now, I can’t really say how much is enough for me to find it worthy to be written, to invest huge-ass hours and all. But well, in my messed-up head, nothing is ever enough for something as vast as this. I keep forming theories and I keep forming HCs about character motivations, about the politics and the society...heck, I even keep oscillating between what timeline I will put this in, since it decides how I see the culture in those days, and world-building is arguably fully dependent on the time period. So, yeah, there’s that, for one. 

Like you, I too am a passionate daydreamer (*cough* role-playing behind closed doors and getting caught and laughed at by family *cough*), and I think up this...rather audacious scenarios that I can never put into a “serious” project, lol. I am one of those damned people who lean towards not writing stuff which doesn’t sit within the soul of canon. I absolutely adore reading canon divergences (and in my “serious WIPs” I am even rather cruel to those canon stuff that doesn’t seem to flow with respect to the body of the text, the individual characters, and either cut them off, or tweak them as far as justifications can go), but writing AUs is not my cup of tea. I am the sad small bean, that can only daydream. *makes pitiful face* ;P 

The only time I am accepting of AUs in my own works is when an alternate scenario plays out in my character’s head, when they themselves think of what-ifs...and well, then it isn’t really an AU, is it? It is like a... teaser, of what could have been, for both the character within and the reader without. 

Rest of my process is rather frighteningly similar to Shaon Di’s linear method under “fanfiction”, as you can see in this post. Haha, thanks to you, I don’t have to try to sort out the mess in my head more, lol. ;D

I look at the master-fandom as I would at an original work, with harsh scrutiny, and since, er, what we call “canon” is rather full of inconsistencies itself, I gotta treat these people as original characters too. Also, there is the dearth of female characters overall, and I balk at things like “oh, the text doesn’t mention Satyabhama’s mother, so she is dead, yay”. Um, no. Literature is full of dead and dying women, and for the sake of what? So there is that - I have to weave in original dynamics between these “new” characters and the canon ones. And this is only one example of the original stuff I have to insert. There is a lot of reading between the lines, too, which I guess any serious fanfiction writer would do. Basically what Shaon Di herself said about filling all the holes. 

Also also, regarding the time period, if one has to do some dating, we will find the Mahabharata is most likely to fall in the transition from Bronze to Iron Age (at least in my mind), which is what one may call the “Vedic period”, which…kinda has a completely different organisational setting than what we see in the Mahabharata text? (Let’s not even speak of the TV adaptations.) For one, there is hardly any rigid, hierarchical “caste” structure (may I quickly say that Purusha Suktam is kinda misunderstood - they saw words like Brahmin-Shudra etc. and they just jumped “here’s the caste system, Rig Veda advocates casteism!”), or a repression of females (which one may still debate, yes). There is this famous hymn which seems to strongly advocate democracy. Basically, much different from the social structure as we see in Mahabharata. In a nutshell, I have a lot of extrapolations to do, since when a “story” is actually written down (and by whom) has a lot to do with the canon portrayals.

I will unashamedly quote Shaon Di here, because she gives this excellent, brilliant, Medha-has-no-words-except-incoherent-ahs-and-hms-and-yasss analogy of how she views a story (because I am not this eloquent by far, and I have only rambled in a very unorganized manner throughout this, lol) – 

Think of your story like a human body.

Skeleton is the theme. The concept.

Blood is the undercurrents, the 'vibe’.

Organs are the characters.

Veins and arteries are the relationships.

Flesh is your plot.

Skin is the sub plots and side plots.

 Ahahahahahahahahahahaha, look at this! (I am cutting out a lot of my shameless fangirling here, much to the displeasure of Shaon Di herself, because…eh, I can get far too excited about you freakishly intelligent, inspiring, creative people.) This is just so perfect! *chef’s kiss*

For me too, as long as I have got a nice grasp of the skeleton, organs, blood, veins and arteries, I have got it under control. Who are you duping, Medha, you are so out of it. I am not too concerned about flesh and skin because, eh, I believe in letting the organs, veins and arteries guide it. It is more...organic that way, I feel. Lol, this became kinda too biological; I can’t articulate like Shaon Di. 

What actually gets stuff into my to-write list is based (very broadly) on: (1) Can I pull this off? (2) Am I invested enough or Is this worth my time? (this is probably the hardest question to answer, and the most challenging for any project to get a “yes”) and (3) Will at least a few people like to read this shit? – If I get a yes for all, yep gal, you’re in. I mostly concentrate on the first two, personally. I can make stuff people-friendly after I have gotten it out of my system. ;P 

Thank you for hosting this, Didi; I had fun reading your posts and writing this! :D 

[makeste]

1)Quick query here- Was just thinking about Toga’s new-found quirk powers and I just realised- is it possible for her to copy One For All? I don’t mean just with the base power like with Monoma, but also granting her partial access to some of the stockpiled energy- Toga’s Abilities do seem designed to contrast against and compliment twice’s own ability to copy things, and he can create constructs with access to all the memories and Powers of the originals, so it makes some sense that her own

(okay so I’m just going to copy/paste the rest of the asks and edit them together since that’s easier to read than screenshots. hope that’s all right.)

…power copying might give herself greater access to the abilities of her targets, especially since we see how overpowered Twice’s Quirk can be now he’s not afraid of creating himself again. When she copied Izuku before, she didn’t have the time or the inclination to attempt to use his powers (and wasn’t aware of it as an option to boot) but now she is, it could be a way of getting access to the power that’s the greatest potential threat to the league.

Actually, thinking about It, All 3 of the ‘copy-quirkers’ that we’ve seen have had contrasting abilities that grant different benefits and applications to the same theme of copying powers- not to mention whatever Ujiko’s up to that lets him keep creating nomu’s with powers like the captured league members. Twice’s quirk lets him duplicate objects and people, alongside their powers, but doesn’t directly affect his body, unless he duplicates himself, and then that’s just double twice, no added superpowers or anything, just greater vulnerability to folding like a cheap tower of cards in the rain if someone roughs you up too much. However, since he isn’t producing the powers himself and putting strain on his body by using them, he can theoretically create an army of the same quirks, even getting round the ‘2 only’ rule by making more twices to make more powers with. However, he needs precise data of more than just what the quirk wielder looks like, but also their exact proportions and personalities to effectively produce more of them.

Monoma, in contrast, can copy anybody’s powers with just a touch, even without knowing what the powers are exactly, and can even copy multiple powers at once, but he’s constantly limited by a timer on his borrowed power, can’t duplicate energy based/ accumulated quirk benefits, and can’t ever really train with abilities to master them to the extent of the original wielders, hence he relies on guile and trickery until he can learn enough about the powers to make use of them when it counts. Actually, between both Monoma and One for All, I’m getting a bit of a shared ‘bio-energy’ vibe in relation to their shared ability to replicate the mutations and power sets of others within themselves, using their targets original bodies as a template to transform their own genetics on the fly to utilise the same powers. The difference being that AFO can completely separate, absorb and store the unique energy and powers within himself for later use or distribution as he sees fit- he even seemed to indicate that taking the powers gives him an instinctual understanding of the type and utility of the quirk, albeit not enough to use well without proper training and dedication to fulfilling the requirements of the quirk, whereas Monoma can only ever ‘trace’ a basic version of the power from those he copies from, duplicating a starter version of the same quirk with an expiration date before the inferior version deteriorates too much to be used anymore. Hell, we even saw this copy degradation thing happen before, between Midoria and All Might. Passing on his quirk via his genetic sample resulted in OFA duplicating itself- creating a brand-new amped up version of itself within Izuku that feeds off and empowers his own bio-energy alongside the stored quirks/bio-energy of the previous successors, allowing him to reach heights they never could with all the accumulated powers feeding into each other. Meanwhile, All Might gets left with a weakened copy of his old powers, no longer sustained by the core he allowed to flow into Izuku, and thus, like a battery off the charger, his powers got weaker every time they were used until he’s left with only 1% power before completely losing it altogether. 

With that in mind, Toga’s quirk initially seemed only to allow her to copy the appearance of those who blood she swallowed, but now we know she can also copy the quirks and various powers that come with them, even without knowing much about the target (unlike twice) but not being able to effectively use them without having studied the target’s beforehand (like Monoma). Presumably this is why she didn’t transform into any of the more obviously mutated students, like Tsuyu, or Shoji- in the case of the latter, she would have found him uncute, and wouldn’t have wanted to turn into him, but if she had duplicated Tsuyu’s appearance, including the whole long tongue thing, it would have been more obvious she could copy the physical changes that made some students able to use their powers in the first place, thus her own power copying wouldn’t have been as big a surprise. Since we don’t know the limits of this new ability to absorb both appearance and powers through her own quirk, isn’t it possible that Toga’s ability will allow her to go farther in copying Izuku’s quirk than Monoma’s did? After all, unlike any of the others she needs to directly ingest the genetic material of her target to absorb their essence for her quirk to activate, which, given Midoria technically did the same thing to get OFA from All might, might mean she’s capable of absorbing and replicating more of the power than the other’s get through touch/mental understanding. She’s technically replicating and adapting the bio-energy of her targets to take their appearance and powers, giving her a similar power set to Izuku himself, and just because It’s impossible for Monoma to do it, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a quirk capable of forcefully copying OFA fully charged off Izuku- at least I think this new Power-set gives her a greater chance than most at pulling it off, assuming she can get enough of his blood stockpiled.

first off, I love when people get really in-depth analyzing the series like this. this was fun to read!

regarding Toga being able to copy OFA, it’s an interesting thought, but I have a suspicion that she would more than likely run into the same issue as Monoma if she tried. she copies the DNA of her opponents, including their quirks, and yes, we have seen that OFA is passed down via DNA. but – and this is crucial – we’ve also seen that that’s not the only factor in it being properly passed down. specifically, OFA, as far as we know, can only properly be transferred to someone if the user wills it. that’s the deal. you can steal the bare-bones quirk, but the power accumulated with it only goes if the user gives their say-so.

it’s not very scientific to say the least, but this part of OFA seems to be more of a spiritual thing. there was talk of people’s wills and such. so even if Toga – and Twice for that matter – can copy people’s physical traits and even duplicate their memories, it seems to me like a person’s soul is the key to actually transferring OFA’s whole kit and caboodle.

having said all that, this post helped to make something finally click for me that I’ve been trying to sort out for a while now, so thank you for that! new OFA theory post incoming shortly, lol.

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

I was asked about my thoughts re: the political!Jon theory, but my thoughts ended up being WAY too long to go into a message.

I know the political!Jon theory is a somewhat incendiary topic in sections of the GOT fandom, so I’ve placed my reply under a cut. If you choose to read this, please be aware that these are just my personal opinions---no condescension or offense is meant towards anyone. 

As much as political!Jon might help make sense of the clunky pacing and tone of Jon's decision to bend the knee in S7, I don't think that theory is going to be canon on GOT. IMO, what you see is generally what you get with GOT; if what you see doesn't make sense, that's just due to poor writing/pacing rather than it being a red flag for viewers to look closer. Keep in mind, these are the same fine people who brought us Season 5's "Marry Your Enemies for Revenge" plotline and who managed to utterly misconstrue who characters like Ellaria Sand and Stannis Baratheon are at their core in ASOIAF. You can’t look at GOT from a purely Watsonian standpoint when trying to make accurate predictions; you have to keep the Doylist factors in mind. And from a Doylist standpoint, I highly doubt that D&D would intentionally write political!Jon. Which is a pity, because that could make for such a rich, interesting storyline!

Beyond that, I can't decide whether political!Jon would be in character for show!Jon at this point. For one thing, I have a difficult time seeing show!Jon initiating sex with someone he doesn’t care about in order to manipulate them. (Going along with it, on the other hand...) For another, the people writing/directing GOT seem to believe that characters can’t simultaneously be clever/cunning and be kind or have a strong sense of morals. In the GOT universe, honor gets you killed, full stop, so obviously if honor=good, then good=always stupid. (Don’t get me started on the nihilistic way in which The North Remembers plotline has been implemented on GOT lol.) The writers have been hammering home that Jon is honorable but occasionally thick-headed because of it for several seasons now... it’s possible that this is just a misdirect to make political!Jon seem all the more ironic and/or shocking in retrospect, but I rather doubt it. See again: when in doubt, I generally assume that what you see is what you get on GOT, and that goes double for anything that would have required planning across multiple seasons. (Note: big book plot points like R+L=J are an exception, and even those don’t tend to be foreshadowed very consistently on the show.)

As a general rule, I think the GOT writers/directors have a difficult time crafting character arcs that feel organic and earned, and that this weakness was exacerbated once they lost the scaffolding of GRRM’s books. For instance, take a look at show!Sansa, whose character has been jerked this way and that over the seasons according to what’s most convenient for the plot. In some episodes, she’s reasonably intelligent, whereas in others she’s clearly carrying the Idiot Ball rather than merely making mistakes that would make sense for her character. (And this situation, I hasten to add, isn’t unique to her character.) Of course, that’s not getting into the show’s tendency to have important developments occur offscreen... and I’m not just talking about huge developments like Sansa and Arya learning the truth about Baelish, I’m talking about smaller things too, like Arya actually being shown learning how to fight rather than just being constantly beat up by the Waif until suddenly she wasn’t. Obviously we don’t need to see everything---viewers can be trusted to intuit a fair amount and can put pieces together without being constantly spoon-fed them---but we do need to see a certain amount onscreen in order to find a character arc believable and satisfying. Headcanons are all very well and good, but they should be an added bonus... not a necessity.

Though it may not seem it, I have a fair amount of empathy for the people running/writing GOT. Intelligent characters are incredibly difficult to write, especially if their strengths are different from your own! And not only has it got to be hard to try to wrap up this massive series from just a handful of plot points from GRRM, but what works well in books doesn’t always translate well to the screen. I don’t think the writers on GOT are always bad at their job... they’ve added some good original scenes to the show (ex: Ned saying goodbye to Jon in S1) and they’ve made some good changes (ex: book!Sansa says “Maybe my brother will give me your head” in response to Joffrey’s taunt about gifting her with her brother’s head; show!Sansa says “Or maybe he’ll give me yours”, which is a much snappier retort, IMO). That said, they’ve also become increasingly lazy over the seasons and are far too fond of shocking “twists” that exist merely to be “shocking”. I enjoy GOT for what it is, but when people create clever theories about what’s happening on it and genuinely believe that those theories will be borne out in the show, I think that they’re usually setting themselves up for major disappointment. (Having said that, I’m certainly not some arbiter of How You Should Fandom. As long as you aren’t harming anyone, do what brings you joy, y’know?) And hey, I love reading all the cool theories that fans come up with! This is a creative, talented fandom, and it’s much enriched by all of the theorizing, regardless of which of those theories end up being true.

When well executed, I enjoy political!Jon in fanfic, as long as it doesn’t become too mean-spirited towards Daenerys. I’m not much a fan of show!Dany---she’s another character who has been rather poorly served by GOT, IMO, especially with Tyrion taking on so much of her role in the show’s adaptation of her ADWD plot---but the level of vitriol that some fans have towards her makes me extremely uncomfortable. Once again, I’m not saying fans can’t write what they want to, that there aren’t a lot of legitimate criticisms to be made about Dany and her decisions, or that dark/antagonist!Dany can’t be written without bashing her... just that some people really hate her and want to see her utterly humiliated and destroyed to a degree that I simply can’t wrap my head around. (I think that some of this has to do with the usual fandom shipping wars and that some of this has to do with the usual societal unconscious sexism/misogyny, but YMMV.)

As far as ASOIAF goes, I’m not ruling the political!Jon theory out, but I don’t feel like I have enough information to make a decision one way or the other. Dany hasn’t even heard of Jon yet in ASOIAF, after all, and Jon has only barely heard her alluded to, IIRC. Whether political!Jon ends up being a thing in ASOIAF or not, however, I suspect the pacing and tone of Jon allying with Dany will be significantly different (and more nuanced) than it was on the show. This is because book!Jon and book!Dany are different characters than their counterparts on the show; because books are a different medium than TV and allow for both more detail and more internal character development; and because, quite frankly, I think GRRM is a better writer than the people writing GOT. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hope this rather long-winded reply answered your question!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Theory by a Nonny: Gregory Went Out Looking for a Doctor

Nonny says:

So this is my “Gregory went out looking for a doctor” theory. I originally sent this to another TD tumblr, but since this ask about Gregory on your tumblr started I decided to share it with you too so I can hear what you have to say about it. 🙂 Especially as you don’t believe Gregory went out looking for a doctor, it’s much more fun to share theories if two have different opinions! :D I apologize in advance if anyone in the TD fandom already made a theory like mine. I don’t have a tumblr myself and don’t keep up with all of the theories that’s around, I mainly read a couple of TD tumblr’s and try to make up theories on my own on my iPad. So if anyone else already have made a connection like mine - I’m sorry, I didn’t know. 🙂

This one is about Gregory and proof that he DID in fact go out looking for a doctor in 7x15. The actor himself admitted in an interview I don’t think we’ve talked about. So stay with me, before we get to this I need to sum up a couple of things first:

1. In 7x11 Negan killed the only doctor the Saviors had at the Sanctuary… 2. … so because of that in 7x14 the Saviors went to Hilltop and took the only doctor they had back to the Sanctuary so they could have a doctor. 3. Hilltop is now without a doctor. They need one.

Now… In 7x15 we can see Gregory in his office take up a map from his desk. It is a map of Virginia. As Gregory opens up the map and checks it he calls Cal into his office. He tells him “I’m gonna need you drive me somewhere… Yeah… You gonna wanna pack a bag���”.

So where was he going? A lot of fans thinks that Gregory went to the Sanctuary because of these 3 reasons:

1. In 7x16 Negan tells Sasha that “A little birdie told me that Rick and the rest of your people are up to no good.” and in the comics it is Gregory who betrays Rick and tells Negan about his plans. 2. In 7x14 Gregory and Trevor have a conversation after the Saviors have taken the Hilltop doctor. Gregory basically tells Trevor that as the leader of Hilltop he got to provide for his people and gain their trust otherwise he’s afraid someone might get crazy ideas and try to take over. Trevor answers with “If you’re having problems of that nature - come to see me. Anytime! I’ll arrange it so that you just tell the guard who you are and he’ll let you right in. As long as there’s no shenanigans afoot.” and Gregory replies with “There willl be none.”. Trevor gives Gregory a note where he has written something. One would think of a map to the Sanctuary since Gregory told Trevor he doesn’t know where to go. 3. Gregory is a douchbag.

I don’t agree with these (well… I mean… Maybe except from number 3… LOL MEAN!). I’m going to explain why:

We know from 7x16 that it was Jadis and her group what’s-their-name-who-can’t-talk that betrayed Rick (seriously, what’s their name? The Garbage people?). The Garbage people is not in the comics, so what we can see here is that this comic arc changed in the show (just a funny easter egg… When we first meet the Garbage people we get a closeup of a bird at their camp. Negan calls the betrayer “birdie”.). Gregory also didn’t know about Rick’s plans. Secondly, Negan didn’t know Maggie was still alive until he saw her in 7x16. After Trevor told Gregory he would come to the Sanctuary if someone tried to take over as the leader of Hilltop one would think Gregory would tell Trevor who would tell Negan about Maggie being alive, hiding and Jesus helping her and that they are the ones trying to take over the Hilltop from him (these two are obviously the ones he had in mind). But nope… Negan didn’t know Maggie was still alive. So no. Gregory did NOT go to the Sanctuary because in summary it was The Garbage people who betrayed Rick, Gregory didn’t know about Rick’s plans and he has NOT told Trevor-Negan about Maggie being alive. May I also add that Eugene told Sasha in 7x16 that it takes a couple of hours to drive from the Sanctuary to Alexandria. Hilltop is not far from Alexandria. Gregory would not need to tell Cal to pack a bag for just a a couple of hours drive. Trevor also told Gregory to not bring any other people with him to the Sanctuary if he went there and to wherever Gregory’s going he takes Cal with him, so he’s obviously not heading for the Sanctuary.

So here we go. The proof there is that Gregory DID IN FACT go out looking for a doctor for the Hilltop are as follows:

1. When the Saviors are together with Gregory in Dr Carson’s office at Hilltop to take Dr Carson with them back to the Sanctuary, Dr Carson tells Gregory before leaving “All of my charts are in order. You need to make arrangements for some kind of medical care here. Especially for my uncle and patients.”. Gregory answers “I will.”. 2. When Gregory and Trevor are talking about him going to the Sanctuary if someone will try to take over as leader of Hilltop Trevor tells Gregory to not stress. Gregory replies with “I would be a lot less stressed if you would leave my doctor.”. 3. In an interview with Xander Berkeley (who plays Gregory) he (pretty much) confirmed that Gregory didn’t go to the Sanctuary. The interviewer said Gregory went to the Sanctuary which XB replied “Well, I like to think that we’ll keep the audience guessing with Gregory. And one of the things that does make him entertaining and fun is that you can’t quite be sure where he’s headed next literally or figuratively. He does appear to be on his way somewhere there in the last episode that you saw him in, and he always seems to be headed somewhere a little other than what you expect. You’ll look back and you’ll see I wasn’t such a big douche-waffle after all. I was a good guy. Like I said, I’m not a bad guy [Proof Gregory didn’t go to the Sanctuary and betrayed Rick]. But what I will hold out hope is that I will continually be able to pull away new layers and show new colors and keep the audience constantly unsure of where I’m going to go next. One of his survival instincts is to keep adapting to whatever people want and need from him [DOCTOR!!!], and one of those things is going to be a certain element, even if it’s a little sleazy snake oil huckster charlatan charm and humor. That’s an element that we’re not finding in other places as much at this point. So that will be a fun place to go with Gregory wherever he goes.”. Read the FULL interview HERE http://www.blastr.com/2017-4-2/amc-the-walking-dead-xander-berkeley-interview.

Hilltop needs a doctor. Gregory did NOT go to the Sanctuary. In the interview XB also says that he has talked with SG about the character and he says Gregory won’t be a bad guy. XB says Gregory’s survival instincts is to keep “adapting to whatever people want and need from him”. HILLTOP NEEDS A DOCTOR!!!! KSHFSLFVSNSX!!!

So Gregory’s heading out to find a doctor. The most obvious place to go looking for one would be, even after an apocalypse, at a hospital. Now, there’s obviously hospitals in Virginia. But after following SG’s way to run a show I would think he would prick up the dropped storyline of Grady Memorial Hospital here considering EVERYTHING SHADY that has been around Coda, panels, contracts, actors, actresses, filming etc around Grady. There are tons of paralells with Grady, Hilltop and the Sanctuary. Then the obvious choice for a hospital in the show would be Grady me thinks. However, why Gregory chooses to go to Atlanta Georgia instead of some hospital in Virginia, there’s a few ideas. There are reasons to think he does in fact go to Georgia instead of staying in Virginia. First of all, Gregory is from Virginia or had been to Virginia before the outbreak. Add to this that most likely there are a couple of people from Hilltop that lived in Virginia before the outbreak. Gregory and his people know where the hospitals are in Virginia. So why use a map, right? No, he would'nt need one. Correct. And maybe Hilltop already had runs in all of the Virginia hospitals to find medication, supplies etc, so they know there are not any doctors there (maybe that’s where Hilltop first found their Carson doctors? Who Negan later took… First one, then two. And then it will be a third doctor at Hilltop!). If Gregory knows all of the Virginia hospitals are empty of doctors at this point, but knows that they DID find the Carson doctors at a hospital, he might think he can find another doctor but at another hospital, in the nearby state and THAT he would need to pack a bag for. And bring Cal. Because it’s a long way and dangerous and Gregory doesn’t have any walker skills what so ever as we saw with him and Maggie. So, if he’s going to Georgia/Atlanta, why use a Virginia map? I think he checks out the fastest road to take to get to Georgia. He would'nt want to leave Hilltop too long. Gregory wants to be in charge and being away mean someone else (Maggie and Jesus) will take over as leader (he was afraid that would happen) and adding to this the fact that he has barely gone out from Hilltop after the outbreak it makes sense he wants to do whatever he’s going to do as fast as possible. And if anyone after reading this would come up with the theory that maybe Gregory went to the Sanctuary to rescue Dr Carson and take him back to the Hilltop… I don’t think so. 1. Gregory is too much of a chicken to pull that off and he would need someone much stronger and bigger than Cal to bring down even a few Saviors (If you’re not CooorAAAL!) to take back Dr Carson / 2. Gregory and Cal doesn’t know how the Sanctuary looks like, how to get in without being seen and they don’t know where Dr Carson is. Sasha was different. Sasha had a map of the Sanctuary. She knew how to get in without being seen by guards. She didn’t plan to get out of there eventually either / 3. If Dr Carson disappeared Trevor would know it was Gregory who took him since Trevor knows how much Gregory wants a doctor. And even if Trevor didn’t think it was Gregory he would still show up at the Hilltop to look for Dr Carson since he knows the Hilltop was his home. And the writers aren’t that bad that they would go with that hide-cuz-the-saviors-are-coming-to-the-hilltop again like they did with Maggie and Daryl.

As an end to this sub I want to say that I think Gregory changed his mind about Maggie when she said that it’s never too late to change and saved his life. He also talks about her as a pregnant woman and he’s aware that she above all else at Hilltop needs a doctor now during her pregnancy. I think he decides to go out to find a doctor because that’s what Hilltop needs and he wants to be a good leader.

Thoughts?

@twdmusicboxmystery says:

Thanks so much to the Nonny who sent this in! You’re right: having opposing theories to discuss is always fun.

And can I say that this theory is very well thought out and I think you do a great job gathering evidence. I think you’ve shown very astutely that when Gregory left Hilltop, his destination was not the Sanctuary. (I especially love your detail about the bird at the junk yard. (Officially the group is called the Scavengers, btw.)

My one issue is still that I don’t see Gregory having the balls to make a journey all the way to Atlanta. Even if, as you say, and as XB said in his interview, Gregory is turning into a nicer guy and decided to do the right thing, I still don’t see him making a journey like that himself. He’d be more likely to try and send someone else who is better at surviving. 

But that certainly doesn’t mean your theory or your evidence is wrong. I was thinking as I read it that you’ve definitely found a lot of clues to Gregory + Doctor. As I said in a previous Ask, I’m not sure I think anyone will go back to Atlanta. I think our most compelling evidence is that Beth will show up in D.C. via Oceanside. I still think we’ll see stuff that happens in Atlanta (downfall of Grady, Beth at Terminus, etc.) but it will be via flashback. There’s such a “can’t go back” theme throughout season 4 and 5 that I don’t think anyone will actually “go back to a graveyard” as Carol said in 4x10.

So I think most of what you’ve gathered here is right and that you’re really onto something. Maybe Gregory will find a doctor but it will be more like finding him wandering around in the area with a certain blond, rather than traveling all the way back to Atlanta to find him. 

Of course I could be wrong. And if someone does go back to Atlanta, I’ll be tickled. Either way, you’ve made me very curious to see how this story line and set of symbols pans out. 

One more thing: I have seen spoilers that do put Gregory at the Sanctuary in S8. I can’t say for sure how reliable they are. If I read correctly they are both unconfirmed and also I don’t think they came from the main, big spoiler site, but from another one that’s less reliable. So we really can’t take them as fact right now. 

But, I wanted to say that even if they’re true, that still doesn’t mean your theory is wrong. Gregory might have set out to find a doctor. Any one of a million things could happen (and we all know Gregory isn’t the best survivalist) that could have led to him ending up at the Sanctuary. 

So like I said, we’l just have to see how it all pans out. Can’t wait to find out. Thanks so much for sharing this theory with us, Nonny. You’re a natural! Xoxo! 💖

[furederiko]

Today's Random-News-Digest is of course related to the happenings of San Diego Comic Con International 2017. Some recent news after that event are also included. This is just part 1 of 2 though, with the second arriving... hopefully soon (the plan is tomorrow, but we'll see). LOL.

Death Note

I believe by now, fans of the original Japanese franchise (manga nor anime) should STOP wishing for a faithful and bit-by-bit adaptation in this Hollywood movie. At the very least, it might be best to NOT even expect it to be one. Director Adam Wingard brought some of his cast to Netflix first Hall H panel for SDCC 2017 (on July 20th), and once again stressed out that this movie is 'his personal take' on the source material. He even said he was interested to work on it, with the goal to "breath new life into a great premise". That pretty much summed it up, if you ask me. Wingard was accompanied by Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Masi Oka, and obviously, lead actor Nat Wolff who said that he wrote his own 'Death Note' as soon as he got the part. Creepy... much? Actor Willem Dafoe didn't attend, by his voice was featured to present a special clip from the movie.

The clip depicted the first meeting of Wolff's meek and angsty Light Turner and Dafoe's sinister-looking but clown-like 'shinigami' (God of Death) Ryuk. Light opens the 'Death Note', and Ryuk unveils himself to the boy, taunting him to write the name of his bully, Kenny Doyle. And the rest is history. For the clip, and not Doyle. No way Netlix going to spoil the movie's first R-rated scene, right? LOL. Said footage, which has been made available by Netflix via their Youtube channel, is precisely another (the first being the American cast and setting) solid proof to why this is not a direct adaptation of the manga. While Light and Ryuk still retain traces of their manga/anime characterization, they really feel like a different incarnations. Rather than consciously accepting the book, it felt like this version of Light was being 'tricked' to use it instead. I could be wrong on this, because I'm not an avid fan of the manga/anime, but I honestly remember it... differently. Also, this Light is giving off a strong vibe of Jughead from "Riverdale" if he was pushed too far, so picture that if you will. Ryuk was more or less similar to the source material, thanks to Dafoe's eerie vocal-tone. But the design... made it a bit hard to fear, nor even be wary of him. And here I am remembering how the anime Ryuk gave me nightmares for a good while when I saw him for the first time.

Wingard stated that audience can expect to see 'humor' in this movie too, so it won't be all-out horror. To put it simple, this movie will have its own 'dark comedy'. Hmmm... I'm not really sure what to say about that. I have to admit, I'm really curious to see this movie. Yet on the other hand, I'm not fully sold about it, for reasons I can't even really tell. The early reviews didn't sound too bad, but also NOT too good. So it hasn't really cleared out this personal doubt of mine. Go ahead and read them, perhaps it might convince you... better. "Death Note" arrives on Netflix, August 25th, 2017.

Spawn

Are you a fan of "Spawn", was disappointed by the 1997's movie (for the record, I thought it was okay, even if I never managed to get past the first half LOL), and has been itching to get a modern live action movie adaptation? Well, then you're in luck. Todd McFarlane has personally announced that he will be writing and also directing a new R-rated movie for Blumhouse Studio! If that wasn't clear enough, McFarlane is THE series own creator. This project has been pitched as a low-budget horror movie, and it's really an intriguing take on what's supposed to be a CG-heavy movie. Guess who he wanted to play the lead character, an NYPD detective named Twitch Williams? Leonardo Dicaprio. Wow, that's a really TALL order... for a now Oscar winner actor. Let's just see if it pans out.

Fantastic Four

Quite surprisingly, 20th Century FOX didn't brought out their Marvel franchise like "Deadpool 2" or "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" to their SDCC panel this year. Instead, they brought the sequel to "Kingsman" which I will talk about in the next category. That doesn't mean the studio weren't making headlines though. In the panel of the TV series "LEGION" (which I will also talk about later in the TV section... *sigh*) that took place July 20th in Ballroom 20, showrunner Noah Hawley made a major announcement. He's developing a movie for FOX, and it's going to be about... "Doctor Doom". That's not the title of course, but I'll use that instead.

Honestly, I'm not even sure how to react about this. As proven by his hit series "Fargo" and also "LEGION", Hawley is indeed a name you can trust. So the prospect of him working on a Marvel title for the big screen, would make his devoted fans cheer. On the other hand, do we really NEED another Doctor Doom story? FOX have tried to work with this character twice, and both failed miserably (though I'd gladly argue at least Julian McMahon's version was still much better than Toby Kebbell's horrendous version in that awful 2015 movie). So why, pray tell WHY must they continue milking this character eventhough the well of potential is pretty much dry? And that's where I'm starting to get a little pissed off. It's more than clear than FOX will do ANYTHING to keep the "Fantastic Four" copyright from automatically reverting to Marvel. The 2015 "Dis4ster Four" was a good example of this annoyingly negative behavior, and now this.

Making a Doctor Doom movie without a Fantastic Four, would be similar to what SONY is doing with Spider-Man-less Venom. It feels like a FATAL mistake. Would Victor von Doom work in a solo spin-off too, much like what they did with "Logan" and "Deadpool"? In the comics, the answer might easily be YES. But this is a movie, and I need not to remind you, FOX has an infamously BAD track-record in adapting this amazing antagonist to live action. So yeah, should I be cheering, or should I be jeering at this 'idea'? I can't even answer that. I don't think anyone in their right mind would! Oh well, let's just see how this develops. But really, this spells... DOOM!

Barbie

Have you been wondering where Anne Hathaway went? It felt like she somewhat faded away from mainstream publicity after singing herself towards an Oscar win... and got married. She's probably taking more Indie projects like "Collosal" though, and American indie movies don't really get much spotlight in a far away land like my country. But we can expect this to change in the near future with a potential high profile project on the way.

Latest report has it that she's currently in talks to star as in the live action "Barbie" movie. This Mattel toy line project has previously circled Amy Schumer for the lead role, who has to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Director Alethea Jones has been brought into negotiation, after being handpicked by Hathaway herself. Assuming the plot of the movie stays the same, it will tell the story of a woman realizing she doesn't fit into the perfect land of Barbies and thus journeys to the real world. So basically, "Enchanted" part Deux, which I think is a really good fit for her. With this project (assuming she takes it), as well as the "Ocean's 8" spin off, I think we can expect Hathaway to be back in the spotlight once again. "Barbie" is currently set for a June 29th, 2018 release, but that is subject to change to match with Hathaway's schedule.

Kingsman

Okay, let's leave that bizarre Doctor Doom reality aside, and talk about what's likely going to be good... "Kingsman: The Golden Circle"!!! The cast of the sequel attended the FOX panel, and entertained audience with a chug of beer and fresh mind-popping second trailer. And wow, was it really good! The actions, and all the style and swaggers? It was SOLID for me. Oddly, eventhough I've been a fan of Taron Egerton's Eggsy and his classy team of Kingsman, I'm slowly growing a weird fondness to the American counterpart instead: the Statesman. Particularly, that hispanic cowboy character with the electric lasso rope who is played by none other than Pedro Pascal. He's a real scene stealer in this trailer, and to think that he's not even getting his name top-billed for the movie. Ouch! "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" is set to be released on September 22nd, 2017. And it's TOTALLY on my watch list!

By the way, there's also an interesting animated short where Eggsy runs into... the infamous Sterling Archer from the FXX series "Archer"! If you're a fan of both worlds, make sure you see it. Because well, it's hillarious!

James Bond

You want a more serious, non-comic-adaptation spy movie? Then well... "Bond 25" (obviously a placeholder title) has been announced. The Hollywood Reporter first delivered the news, before it was officially confirmed by Eon Productions. Yes, the 25th James Bond movie has gotten a release date, of November 8th, 2019. Meaning two years from now.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the whole content of the news. There were no details whatsoever. Thus everyone got pushed into this weird 'curious' mode, with plenty of important questions being thrown around. What is the movie's title and/or subtitle? Does the movie have an actor? Is Daniel Craig really returning, and if he's not... who's the replacement? Will we be getting a female Bond, following what happens to the hit series "Doctor Who"? Come again, which studio has won the distribution bid? Because I totally haven't caught that announcement. Many sites began developing their own take, or should I say 'theories' about this announcement, and well... for now, they are nothing more than that, theories. Some have said that Craig is a done deal. Other said that the franchise will be sold off after this one movie. Then again, until there's another official confirmation (said to be announced at a later date), it's pretty much anyone's guess, right? So yeah... perhaps we should let it slide for now, and just look forward for "Kingsman" for the time being.

LEGO Movies

2nd trailer for the "The LEGO NINJAGO Movie" was premiered in the SDCC 2017 panel, and was later made available online by Warner Bros Animation. And well... I'm still mixed about it. The pseudo-brick animation style of "The LEGO Movie" is very clear here, moreso than "The LEGO Batman Movie"... particularly with that hybrid scene featuring a real life CAT. Which I'm positive wasn't CGed (assuming it's not the case of "The Jungle Book"). So fans of that first movie will be thrilled.

But at the same time, this felt like a drastic difference compared to the hit TV series. And that is the part that's not working for me. As I've said once before, having been invested with the show for SEVEN Seasons (which is a great achievement, since I normally wouldn't go pass Season 2 for other shows), it's just hard to make good sense out of this... 'ALTERNATE UNIVERSE' version. I'm not even sure how I feel about seeing Dave Franco's Lloyd as an awkward high schooler, with the others being hi classmates. It just screamed too... "Power Rangers"-y to me, and I truly never expected them to go that route *sigh*. Not to mention, Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" was just grating on my nerves, no matter how appropriate it was used to depict Lloyd's fractured relationship with Garmaddon (which seems to be the core plot of the movie).Perhaps, this movie is intended for those with ZERO experience in the franchise, then? Likely so. Anyways, whether you're digging this or not, "The LEGO NINJAGO Movie" will still arrive on September 22nd, 2017. Let's just see how the critics and audience will react to this version.

Ready Player One

If Walt Disney has critically-praised director Ava DuVernay and her "A Wrinkle in Time", then Warner Bros' secret weapon is none other than... legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his "Ready Player One". Nope, by all means, I'm not pitting these two people and their totally different movies. I just need to point out how they are SIMILAR to one another. Because both are working on a movie based on a supposedly famous and fan-favorite novel that... I haven't had the slightest idea about. No seriously, I have been seeing these titles being headlined every now and then, yet I was totally clueless about them. Were they good? Don't ask me. I've never even heard them before, so all I did was scratching my head wondering how they ended up being so highly talked-about. One thing for sure, it wasn't until I've seen the first trailers to those movies that I could say... "Aaaah, so THAT's what this book is all about". That's a genuine LOL moment right there.

Since I've dished out about my confusion for "A Wrinkle in Time" last week (thanks to the movie making a big splash on D23 Expo 2017), this time I'll shashay into the second title. Mainly because the movie was among the major features of WB's SDCC Hall H panel, alongside "Blade Runner 2049" and of course DC Films (which I will talk about in the next category). Spielberg attended the section of this panel with book writer and co-screenwriter Ernie Cline, co-screenwriter Zak Penn, and cast members Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn and T.J. Miller. The director shared his thoughts about the movie, as well as presenting the first official teaser. Since this is WB, obviously we could easily expect said video to arrive online right after the panel, and of course it did. Exclusives footage for attendees? That's not their thing... LOL

Turns out, "Ready Player One" is like a live action version of "The LEGO Batman Movie", or Disney's "Wreck-It Ralph". It's Cline's love letter to the 80s, and also the technology of Virtual Reality. The trailer didn't shy away from this premise, as it showed plenty of nostalgic stuffs like "The Iron Giant", Lara Croft, Freddy Krueger, DC characters to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and all. Though of course, most of them are WB's own properties, no surprise about that. LOL. We get to experience this massive virtual space where everything collides, through Sheridan's Wade Wyatts, a young man living in the year 2045. He'll go through a fantasy reality-bending adventure to locate an Easter Egg inside the OASIS, because whoever fins it, gains control of the virtual reality world. That kind of stuff. Yes, it's a grand concept, and the trailer seemed to wow practically everyone.

But I'm probably in the minority here to say that, it was not that... 'mindblowing' for me. Perhaps, because I've already seen this concept before, over and over again through other media? I'm not sure. It's the case of "The Hunger Games" I think, where western audience saw it as a new concept, whereas it's basically a 'been-there done-that' in Japanese entertainment. So in a way, I've been there before, hence it didn't feel that original no matter how glorious the CG effects looked. But don't let this subjective opinion ruins your hype. Not everyone saw "Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle", right? If you're digging the vibe of this movie, then good for you! If you're not, then we're on the same team. There's one for everyone after all! "Ready Player One" arrives on March 30th, 2018. And yes, that's 3 weeks after "A Wrinkle in Time". Coincidence much? Hmmm...

DC Films

"Justice League" is set to be released on November 17th, 2017. So should we even be surprised to see WB bringing the core cast to their panel? Nope. Minus Henry Cavill though, since he's busy filming "Mission: Impossible 6" with a troubling thick mustache (why? more in this later). Beside, he wasn't even shown in the latest appetizer official poster (available through the official twitter account). To which I'm not a fan by the way, even if it's been given almost unanimous praises all over the globe. "You can't save the world alone", the tagline said. A sarcastic statement towards Cavil's Superman's for "Man of Steel", perhaps?

Oh, and of course there would be a new trailer. Duh? Remember, this is WB we're talking about. If the first one that Zack Snyder (when the absent director was still solely in charge) debuted in last year's SDCC showed action scenes, CG flares, photoshoot poses, with a relatively small amount of story, this one had more balance between character interactions and battle sets. Longer duration too, clocking at more than 4 minutes! And yes, that means more of J.K. Simmons' Commissioner Gordon and Jeremy Iron's Alfred Pennyworth. To be honest, I'm also not a fan of this trailer. It didn't really made me want to see the movie, which has become a constant issue between me and WB's marketing department. I DO like it better than the poster though, because it's clearly taking many good cues from "Wonder Woman". In many ways, it also felt... a bit similar to Joss Whedon's "The Avengers". That scene with an antagonist arriving near a macguffin? Or the heroes talking in a meeting room esque setting? Yeaaah. No surprise, because the movie's pretty much in Whedon's hand right now. Sadly, similar to "Ready Player One", had this was released before the 2012 Marvel Studios movie, I would've responded in a much better manner. For this time, it felt like an odd dejavu instead.

However, the biggest takeaway from the panel, would be the other non-Justice League-related news. Because WB confirmed a parade of projects currently in development, as well as some new projects in the works. There are 8 big titles in the works! It's currently unclear if they are chronologically ordered, but they are: - "Shazam!". Prior to the panel, "Shazam!" was already reported to be starting production in early 2018. If not in January, in February. So it's safe to assume it might be released in 2019, that's the goal anyway. While WB hasn't revealed, or even cast the lead actor just yet (perhaps, Armie Hammer?), David F. Sandberg has been assigned to direct. - "Flashpoint". The new official title for Ezra Miller's solo movie. After losing directors over and over again, WB has decided to go ahead and just do an adaptation of the massive storyline. And this might be the most unexpected and shocking reveal of them all, that immediately raised up concerns and speculations in the fanbase. Why? In the comic, "Flashpoint" was used to... RESET the DC Universe!!! The event in that movie, ultimately created a new timeline, that sequed DC Comics into the New 52 era. Does this imply that... WB is attempting to do the same with their live action movies? So EARLY in the game? Is this their way to fix the mess that was caused by Snyder? Or a direct response to Marvel Studios' sequel to "Spider-Man: Homecoming"? Hmmmm. It's clear that this movie won't make it to fulfill its initial March 16th, 2018 release, due to Miller's commitment with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2". But there's also no telling if the studio would be able to rush it for a 2018 release. No director is currently attached, but safe money is leaning towards Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after their departure from "Star Wars". - "Wonder Woman 2". This year's "Wonder Woman" is DC's first critical and financial success since "The Dark Knight", so a direct sequel is practically a no-brainer. Not to mention, director Patty Jenkins have been working on a script with Geoff Johns, that will put Gal Gadot's Diana Prince in the 80s. Jenkins might even return to direct the movie, though that part was not yet confirmed. This movie has recently been confirmed for a December 13th, 2019 release. - "Suicide Squad 2". Just earlier this month, we have heard that Jaume Collet-Serra has been the frontrunner to direct the sequel. Will Smith and Margot Robbie are expected to reprise their roles as Deadshot and Harley Quinn. - "The Batman". Yes, looks like that IS indeed the official title. And we know that Matt Reeves will begin working on this title as soon as he's done promoting "War of the Planet of the Apes". Hot negative report (not rumor) was running rampant prior to SDCC 2017, that current Batman actor Ben Affleck might be walking out of the DC Extended Universe. Especially with the fact that Reeves won't be using Affleck's script that he has written with Johns. Thanks to that, Affleck had to blatantly give a public response. He pretty much confirmed his involvement as a lead actor in the solo Batman movie. Oddly, he never blatantly denied that he's leaving the DCEU after this movie. So in a way, that's just him smart talking his way out of difficult conversation. Suffice to say, it was NOT a nice moment. - "Batgirl". Whedon has openly revealed to IGN that he'll start working on "Batgirl" next year as well. Likely after his obligations to 'help a friend' with the post producton of "Justice League" is wrapped. - "Green Lantern Corps". I think... David Goyer was working on this? The movie had been given a 2020 release window in WB's old announcement. It's unclear if it will still keep up with this plan. - "Justice League Dark". Last we heard, Doug Liman has walked out of this title. But that was due to his conflicting schedules and commitment with other studios. Since this is the last title on the list, there's always a chance that he might be back on board. After all, WB needs the self-proclaimed 'greatest director' in the world, right?

These announcements sounded GRAND and AMBITIOUS and all... but should we really be excited about them? I'm not sure. It obviously caused mixed reaction in the internet, triggering plenty of questions in various media in regards to DC Films' long-term plan. The way I see it, WB was just the KING of big talk as usual... eventhough they don't really have a good track record of keeping up with their words. I honestly doubt the studio came fully prepared for this panel, and that those titles were merely another temporary placeholders that might come and go without certainty. Several titles that have been headlining in the medias for a while now, were conspicuously MISSING from the lineup. Remember Dwayne Johnson's much reported "Black Adam", Ray Fisher's supposed solo movie "Cyborg", "Justice League Part 2" that originally was set for a 2019 release, the heavily rumored "Man of Steel 2", and David Ayer's "Gotham City Siren"? Not to mention, a recent entry in the rumor circuit that talked about a Harley Quinn vs. Joker movie, that started as soon as SDCC began? Yeah, those titles were a no show. They might even be gone for good.

With WB only releasing one movie next year in form of Jason Momoa's "Aquaman", we should expect most of these newly announced title to arrive as soon as 2019. I hope they won't get carried away and act bullish by releasing 4 titles a year. Even Marvel Studios took almost 10 years before finally deciding to release 3 per year. Then again, that's certainly their main intention, especially if we put into account that they HAVE 4 release dates for 2020 now! Does this mean, we get the first 4 of those movies in 2019, then another 4 in 2020? I don't know how I can even begin to fathom that...

Also, WB just can't catch a break. After sort of 'debunking' (technically, that's just smart corporate talking) a previous rumor about Batffleck, another one already hit the studio as soon as SDCC 2017 was wrapped. Variety reported that the reshoot process for "Justice League" has been causing issues for the studio. This report was backed by The Hollywood Reporter, that called it 'substantial'. Apparently, the extensive extra production took a toll of $25 million, roughly the cost of a separate mid-budget movie! Budget for additional photographies in big budget Hollywood movies generally cost between $6-10 million. Production duration was also dragged on for roughly two months, causing scheduling headaches to its cast members. Momoa and Gadot had to spend 2 weeks worth, while Affleck is still filming new scenes this week. In the case of Cavill, as I've mentioned above, a special post-production budget will be required to digitally remove his natural mustache.

Thanks to this bizarre new scenario, Whedon would also be getting a producing and/or screenplay credit, due to him spending more time than planned to finish the movie and add much-needed 'connective tissue' between sequences As I said, the recent trailer strongly felt like his own "The Avengers", so I sincerely hope Whedon will be getting the credit he deserves. Will this movie be another case of "Suicide Squad" or "Fant4stic Four"? Or will it come out unscathed like "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" or "World War Z"? Here's hoping it's the latter case. We'll know the answer in November.

DC Television

When it comes to live action adaptations, the TV side of DC actually fared much better than the tumultuous DC Films. Even shows that wasn't a hit like "Legends of Tomorrow", slowly getting better and became a favorite. Not saying I'm a fan nor avid follower to those shows though. I'm just fully acknowledging that they are indeed, the more favorable ones. Especially when compared to Marvel TV's products. As each The CW shows had their own panel, a new cool-looking mashup trailer for them was released during SDCC 2017. One show that was included in it, is their upcoming adaptation of "Black Lightning", set to debut in 2018.

Ironically, Black Lightning has been publicly confirmed to be its own thing, and not part of the Arrowverse. So general audience seeing this trailer, might be getting the wrong idea about it. As for my impression on this new show? Well, superhero SHOW's fatigue aside, it's getting more and more clear that this show is definitely not my cup of tea. Not saying it's bad, the concept and overall look felt just about right. It's definitely in the standard of other The CW superhero shows. I just didn't feel a personal connection to warrant a regular viewing for it. After all, I'm more of an animated guy...

Speaking of animated, the "Young Justice" Q&A panel debuted the official character designs for the much-anticipated 3rd season. The season will be officially titled "Young Justice: Outsider", and the concept art includes Static, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl, Spoiler, Blue Beetle, Arrowette, Arsenal, Beast Boy, and a new character named Thirteen. The absence of several characters from Season 2 will surely make some fans wonder, and co-creator Brandon Vietti reassured that characters like Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy won't be completely absent since they are still part of the DC Universe.

Vietti also confirmed that the series, planned to be 26 episodes in total, will be streamed in a separate channel, not on Cartoon Network like several existing DC shows. "There’s more creative room here for more adult themes and more sophisticated and challenging stories for our characters", he said. It's still unclear what form will this stand-alone DC only streaming take. But I'm sure we'll be hearing about it in the near future.

X-Men Universe

I believe the upcoming X-Men series "The Gifted" had a panel during SDCC 2017. That's because a new trailer has debuted for the show. But since I couldn't care less about it, I won't be talking about it.

Instead, I'll talk about FX's "LEGION" instead. First season for the Dan Stevens' starring mini series, was a huge hit. Even I have to admit, that I didn't see it coming. Showrunner Noah Hawley and the cast were present at Ballroom 20 for their panel, and of course talked about the upcoming Season 2. Saïd Taghmaoui, who was featured in the WB's "Wonder Woman" movie, has been announced to be playing another 'face' of Amahl Farouk, a.k.a. Shadow King. In the first season, this supernatural entity (I don't recall that he's a mutant, no, but I could be mistaken) was played by both actress Aubrey Plaza, and Stevens himself, since he's part of David Haller's consciousness. It's going to be interesting to see how Farouk cooks up his creepy plot in the new season, especially because he's getting a new form. We'll just have to wait and see the 10-episodes sequel when it arrives in 2018.

NOTE: By the way, I didn't consider this to be a Marvel talk, since it's developed and produced by FOX. Yes, the characters are Marvel's, but we all know that FOX never really cared about source material, right?

Netflix

No Marvel talk here either, so expect the category to be more... brief. LOL. Also, it's the reason why this category gets bumped down a few notch than usual. Though definitely not because it's lacking by all means.

The first full-length official trailer for "Stranger Things" Season 2 was debuted through their SDCC 2017 panel. And great goodness, things weren't looking good. I mean, in the show, due to Noah Schnapp's Will Byers death-defying experience in the "Upside Down". As many of us had suspected, Will's return to the real world might not be a good idea. Instead, it's likely he's opening up a gateway for more creatures from the supernatural place to visit and 'invade' the real world. CREEPY af!!! The panel itself could be seen as a success, with Patton Oswalt moderating, and Shannon Purser making a delightful surprise visit.

That suspenseful trailer did a really good job teasing the developments of the characters. We see pretty much everyone, including the new cast members like Paul Reiser's Dr. Owens, Dacre Montgomery's Billy, Sadie Sink's Mad Max, and others, as well as fan-favorite Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven who wrapped the video by discovering a way out... or should I say 'way back' to the real world. Go Eleven! Series creator the Duffer Brothers had promised the new season to be 'Bigger, Darker, Scarier' and it really showed. They had already mapped out the series end game, which could be even bigger than this, so that's certainly saying much. "Stranger Things" Season 2 arrives on October 27th, 2017, and obviously I can't wait to see it.

"Voltron Legendary Defender" also had its own separate panel, with producers Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery, as well as voice actors Bex Taylor-Klaus and Tyler Labine making their appearances. Aside from debuting the official trailer for Season 3 (possibly the reason why it wasn't available in the official channel before), the team also announced voice actor A. J. Locascio as the voice of new antagonist Prince Lotor. Lotor will have four half-galra female generals as his aides. First episode of Season 3 was premiered exclusively for SDCC attendees.

The panel confirmed that the 7-episodes Season 3 will arrive on August 4th, 2017. That's a strange number, huh? I wonder if several episodes will be... I don't know, 50 minutes or more? Remember, the first season was only 11 episodes, but its first episode had the duration of 3 episodes. So in total, it was still 13 episodes like Season 2! Anyhoo, what I didn't expect was, the event also confirmed that a 4th season will arrive much much sooner than expected, in October 2017! I'm curious to why it's announced so early? Could it be... the final season? Hmmm...

Overall, Netflix had a generally successful presence throughout the event. Even if cult-favorite "Sense8" was a no-show despite its much applauded finale renewal, and David Ayer's "Bright" had mixed reception, the other panels were considered to be a win. They are taking over Hall H this year, and who knows what will happen next year and so on. One particular highlight was of course Marvel's "The Defenders". But since it's Marvel-related, that's a story for another day... or to be precise, another post!

One Piece

Now this is a news that would get any anime fans feeling... mixed. Mixed as in, a joy with a hint of concern, or anger with a touch of delight. It's your call.

Yahoo! Japan (via ComicBook.com) reported that... we'll be getting a live action Hollywood TV show for Eiichirou Oda's "One Piece" series!!! It was officially announced during the manga's 20th anniversary. Yay, or nay, I'm sure this will make you speechless. In one side, the cast of One Piece is as global as it can get, so having international cast would be VERY fitting compared to Japanese actors who pretend like they are foreigners. But on the other hand... seriously? This is a big title that requires massive special effects, particularly characters with the effects of those Demon Fruits. Don't forget the numerous islands, with their own quirky colorful inhabitants that hints towards huge production cost for makeup and costume. Can a TV show, with a really limited budget pull it off such tremendous challenge?

Marty Adelstein is set to be in charge, and Tomorrow Studios will be working on it. And this is where things get more... concerning. Adelstein is also the one working on that "Cowboy Beebop" TV Hollywood adaptation! And he even has already boasted... er, I mean admitted that this adaptation will be the most expensive TV shows ever made in the US. "I have been a fan of One Piece for 20 years. It is an honor to be entrusted with such an important work by Shueisha and Mr. Oda. I am enthusiastic to give my all to make One Piece succeed. I think this project could set a new record for the highest production cost in television drama history. The work's worldwide fame merits this scale of production.", was his official statement. Confident, but knowing the rating system and stingy budget of US networks, will this approach even work? He hasn't even proven his worth with "Cowboy Beebop", how can he be so bold about a more difficult one like this?

Thankfully, Oda has officially expressed that he has taken a great amount of time to consider this. So basically, he has given his seal of approval. His promise to not let down his fans, is definitely reassuring. Beside, Oda is notorious for speaking out if he's not pleased. Which means, as soon as he's not 'feeling it', I'm sure he'll immediately pull the plug. Thus the franchise is saved! LOL.

Professor Layton

"Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy" has been released last week! Have you played the game? Before you ask, nope, I personally haven't. Sure, it's available on iOS and Android for worldwide release, but unlike "Layton Brothers: Mistery Room", it's not free. So of course I haven't had the chance (nor money) to play it. Ahahaha... ^^;. Its Nintendo 3DS version is also currently only available in Japan, so there's that.

Thankfully, western fans who are holding out for an English 3DS version, can now rest at ease. LEVEL-5 has officially announced that it will be available very soon, in October. That's good news, albeit a bit odd considering the iOS and Android version have already been made available in foreign language. Why would it require 3 months to transfer the finished product to a 3DS cartridge, right? Oh well, the important thing is, you only to be patient just a few more months to experience Katrielle's adventure in your region-locked 3DS! Good for you...

Of course, if you don't want to wait that long, don't forget! The full version (consisting of 12 complete cases, and the entire set of additional mini games), and not some random scaled-down clone is already available on the App Store and Google Play for $15.99. Just make sure you cleared up the proper space on your smartphone before you download, okay! Because I have a feeling the size is going to be preeeetty BIG.

Sonic the Hedgehog

That cool-looking new antagonist for "Sonic Force" that was teased by SEGA last month? He has been given his own reveal trailer, as well as his own theme music! Yes, Infinite, is just one of the villains that Classic, Modern, and Custom Sonic will have to deal in this game. But there's no doubt that he's definitely the coolest of them all. At least for yours truly. "Sonic Forces" will be released this holiday for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Street Fighter

Three more character costumes have been made available for "Street Fighter V". Ibuki, Laura, and Rashid have received sports-themed alternate costume, and they should have been released alongside the latest update on July 25th. CAPCOM announced this on their "Street Fighter 30th Anniversary" panel at SDCC 2017. Ibuki got a volleyball-themed costume, while both Rashid and Laura got football-inspired ones, all available alongside a new DLC character Abigail. Visit Gematsu to see their individual pricing.

ARIKA

The company debuted 50 minutes worth of gameplay from their... 'Mysterious Fighting Game'. It's available online via their official channel. Seeing EX characters like Garuda, Hokuto/Shirase, and Kairi is nostalgic and all, but I can't help but feel that the whole gameplay looks... 'rough around the edges'. The design was a bit blocky, somewhat "Street Fighter IV" inspired, and the movement wasn't as smooth as the "Tekken" series. Even the first version of "The King of Fighters XIV" looked nicer somehow. But this new title is expected to be released next year, so the company still have plenty of time to work on the visuals and controls. Here's hoping we'll get clearer idea of what this is all about in the near future.