#i don't care that he's british irl

[roxie-roo]

Emptober Day 6: Night

Night falls on the Empires. With the nighttime, brings a promise of rest, of peace, and of a new day rising ahead.

Nighttime also brought with it challenges. For Katherine, those challenges lied within monsters. Taking care with her battle axe, she raised it above her head as she slammed it down onto yet another undead riser. Monster slaying by night was her one outlet for stress and anger. It just so happened that it also saved her kingdom from harm. Wasn't that just the perfect coincidence? She certainly thought so. So with a heavy breath, she picked up her axe again and turned around, smirking as she saw a creeper try to ambush her. "Oh no you don't.." she snorted as she sliced it in half. Tonight was a good night for a monster hunter.

Shelby sat alone in her study tonight, pouring through journal after journal and book after book, searching frantically for answers. Tortoise watched her from afar, noticing the twitch of her eye, or the tremble of her hand as she flicked another three pages. There was something wrong with the Evermoore, she knew there was something wrong with the Evermoore, but for moon's sake what is it?! Tortoise jumped on top of her notes, looking up at her with his big eyes, and only one message was clear. He was not moving. It was bed time. The young dropout slumped back in her seat and smiled, her hat drooping low over her face. She pushed it back and stood up, scooping Tortoise into her arms. "You're right, bud.. bedtime." She could finish this mess in the morning. She'd get nothing done if she was exhausted.

Joey had fallen asleep in his creeper farm. Exhaustion had caught up with him, and the thought of returning to the bed above the parrot shop just irritated him. He found that the hissing, the crackling soul fire, a cacophonic symphony to others, but a lulling melody to him. It reminded him of being out at sea, where there was never an ounce of quiet on his ships. There was always a creak, or groan, or gentle splash around him. The silence proved to be disturbing, and frankly kept him up rather than helped him sleep. Though, the thought of spending the night with chirping, screaming parrots just made him want to rip his hair out. So there he was, propped up against the wall of the creeper farm with his hat slumped over his face, snoring about as loud as the machine itself. Pete could swear he heard it from the library. The avian rolled his eyes and preened his feathers again, before turning over and going back to sleep.

The Moon rose over Stratos, reflecting on the lake and casting a lovely shine over the kingdom of the sky. Joel was putting the last few touches on his new temple, standing back at a decent enough distance and putting his hands against his hips, a proud smile on his face. "There... that should do it." He nodded. Another temple to honor a long forgotten friend. Or foe. Joel wasn't quite sure how one could begin to describe Jeremy. But regardless, the temple was done. "Now if only I could remember the rest of you lot." He half joked to himself, sitting on the steps of the temple with a sigh.

The Historian raised his torch higher, feeling along the wall of the cave as he traced across the ancient markings. "Hi semper tyrannis, in aeternum cadent..." He read aloud, squinting and tilting his head. "Such always to tyrants, forever shall they fall.." He translated. Further exploration showed a hideout long abandoned. Days crossed off on a wall, rations scattered across the floor, and the remnants of a fire, nothing left but burnt kindling. "Curious.." Pix muttered under his breath. But the groan of a zombie and the rattle of bones snapped him out of his thoughts. Frantically whipping around, thankfully before he was attacked, he set a hand to his head to keep his hat in place and ran. Maybe some other time.

Scott settled against his bed, humming softly to himself as he let himself be transported into the world between pen and ink. He often found himself lost in his journal writing, and his thoughts from the precious hours of the day. Today's was tricky, difficult to place exactly. It felt kind of like a blur, but then again, that damned Warden took up most of his time. Oh, of course. That warden. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, continuing to scribble down his thoughts of the day. It hadn't really been all that eventful, besides the Warden, thankfully. The Moon rose higher and Scott huffed quietly, closing the binding once again and setting the quill down on his makeshift end table, the book right beside it. If he was going to get anything done tomorrow, he needed his beauty sleep.

The mayor of Critter City was hard at work by the time night fell upon Animalia. While her citizens slept, and the Iron Golems patrolled the streets, she was down in the community center, going over her collections. The warden head in the middle as her prized possession. She then looked towards the skulk on the floor, gathering in a mass in a corner and,, spreading? The mass seemed to be growing, if not moving. Lizzie shrieked and blindly waved her sword near it, her eyes shut tight as her tail shot straight up. Though, after a few beats of silence, she slowly opened her eyes again. And the skulk was stationary. Huh. She frowned a little and tilted her head, stepping just a slight towards it and lightly batting at it. It didn't move. Maybe she was just seeing things. She laughed nervously, stepping away from the skulk and putting her sword away, before quickly scampering out of the room. That was enough of that for tonight.

Princess Gem was already asleep before night fell. Apollo was the newest citizen of Dawn, and he was most certainly comfy. He was so fluffy and warm, and he was a perfect pillow! So could someone really blame Gem if she wanted to fall asleep against him? The bear curled up under a tree, eyes shut and asleep promptly after. Gem yawned softly, sitting against his side and laying her head in the soft fur. Her tiara rode up on her head a bit as she settled in to get more comfortable. It had been a long day in the kingdom of Dawn. She'd been hard at work building, and organizing, and all around, she just needed the rest. Apollo, to be quite honest, didn't care one way or the other if the human was laying against him. He just curled up further, the both of them drifting off into peaceful sleep.

False didn't sleep that night. She stayed up and wondered, and watched, and observed. She couldn't sleep, even if she tried. And lords above, she did try. Head hit the pillow repeatedly, she tossed and turned, until she fell off the bed, a twisted mess of blankets on the floor. She grumbled to herself and rubbed her head, letting out a huff as she shoved the blankets from her. Sleep had come so easily the past few nights. Why now was it frustrating her? She had everything, right? She had a name for her area, people were nice to her, why was this so hard? Maybe the paranoia was getting to her. Maybe the statue moving scared her too much. She huffed softly and went outside to check, having a quick fly to the other end of the bridge. He was still here. Floating, and ominous, but he was still there. Thank god. She let out a sigh of relief and went back home, past the strange sign in her entry way, to try and fall asleep once again.

Fwhip was certainly not a forgetful goblin. Definitely not. And he definitely didn't forget about his deal with False. And he most certainly didn't forget that the day and night cycles happened outside of the cave. So going outside to check on Gobtopia, he absolutely expected the phantom shrieks raining down upon him. Oh who was he kidding? He was Fwhip of the Goblands, and he was one of the most forgetful people among the twelve rulers. Hell, his memory could've rivaled that of False, or Joel for that matter. So he promptly screamed when he heard the phantoms descending and divebombing him, wildly swinging his pickaxe as if that'd do any damage. Quickly running back into the safety of the Goblands, he went straight to his home and hid under the covers. No, no, that was enough outside for tonight. He'd check later. When those damn demon birds were burned.

Tumble Town was cooler at night. Without the sun beating down on it, the weather was actually quite nice. The sheriff often found himself wandering his town at this time of night, admiring the progress made, and sparing a half glance towards the still unfinished railroad. "That'll come.." He reminded himself. "It'll get done." It was an arduous process, not to mention incredibly expensive. And sure, he could use the iron in his vaults, but that still wouldn't be enough, and then what? He'd have no more iron in his vault! He'd have to talk to False... He nodded to himself and looked back at the water tower, Judy, as he liked to call her. She was up and running again, perfect. He'd be back in business soon enough. With a satisfied smile and a tip back of his hat, he went back into his office and ran his hand along Norman's back. "C'mon, fella. Time for bed."

Sanctuary was just as alive at night as it was in the day. The sounds of the fountain, and the axolotls chittering inside, along with the quiet murmur of townspeople settling down to bed. And of course, animals intermingling and taking their homes in the nature. Hermes snuggled up under the covers, sheriff plushie clutched tight in his arms, and Bubbles curled up beside him. Sausage came in to check on his son, smiling fondly and pressing a little kiss to his forehead. "Buenas noches, mijo.." He whispered, turning out the last lantern and closing the door quietly. He was somewhat avoiding sleeping that night. After all the weird visions, and dreams, and sleepwalking, the thought of anything else happening almost frightened him. But after the recent events, after being turned human again, maybe tonight he'd be protected. Santa Pearla would be there to help him, he knew that much. Eventually, the moon was getting to the point where it would likely be early early morning, and Sausage let out a frustrated sigh as he went to his own home. Maybe some sleep this time around might do him some good.

Night brought promise of a new day, and new experiences. Night brought a sense of tranquility, that provided somewhat of a break, finally, as things were finally brought to their close. Until, of course, the sun's fateful rise yet again. The new day was upon them, now a new beginning.

Only time would tell what that day would bring.

[itzaltwins]

Y'know those agent profiles that are seen in TGC when Charlie hacks into the Kingsman database? I made these near the time I got into the franchise (late 2021), but I never shared them anywhere, mostly because I doubted the film makers really cared about their accuracy (and most viewers don't care either). I've never been hooked on any film franchise unlike video games, so I was shocked no one overanalyzed the images and shared it for the fandom to see. Well, here they are (with accompanying alt-text):

James is in there too - he deserves it.

Some of the text I couldn't make out from the film, so if you can fill in the blanks, please share. Fortunately, thanks to these tweets, I could read some parts better.

Explanations and thoughts under the cut:

I decided to mix Eggsy's profile from the one we see in TSS when he visits Harry at the infirmary and TGC. Why? He's apparently 5'9" IRL (so I went with TSS's 5'10" over the 6'00") and he couldn't be born in 1985 because he would be 29 in TSS, which is wrong. Same thing with Roxy's DOB. Changed their admission dates to 2014 instead of 2012.

Speaking of incorrect heights, I'm pretty sure they just threw in some random numbers: Colin Firth is 6'1½". In TSS, after the train test, you can see him and Alastair (Percival, 6'4") on the same plane. Alastair appears just slightly taller, so I assume 6'2". In this particular photo of Colin alongside Alastair and Carlos (Bedivere, 6'3"), they're all roughly the same height. However, they're not standing side-by-side so it's a bit difficult to determine the exact difference. They're like a variation of that three-headed dragon meme. Then there's this other photo with Chester (Lamorak, 6'5"), Carlos, Bimbo (Gawain, 6'3"), and Percival. Chester is clearly taller than all three. If Carlos and Alastair are 6'2", he's probably 6'4". Bimbo looks just slightly shorter, so he's 6'1". Oh and Jack Davenport (Lancelot/James) is also 6'2", not 6'1". Not a big deal overall, but I really like accuracy when it comes to heights.

Some things that may be of interest: Lamorak and Bedivere share admission dates. Next of kin for filler agents are actually those of the film crew in TGC (yes, I looked at the credits too much). Arthur (good) and Lancelot (James) share the same next of kin.

As for the notes sections: With The King's Man, it's impossible for Arthur to have served in all British special forces before Kingsman formed - he was born 1940. Bedivere is referred to as Percival. Percival is referred to as Kay (!), who doesn't have a profile. Finally, the section after Geraint's hair colour is covered by other profiles the entire time.

So yeah, do whatever you want with this info.

Who do you have as the last unnamed agent? I was hoping they'd officially confirm all the codenames in TKM, but then they only listed names we already knew plus Bedivere. They'll do it in TBB, right? Right?

[thatscarletflycatcher]

I am extremely interested in your draft/post about Downton Abbey and the timeline 👀

Important disclaimer: I was never in the fandom of the series, so I'm completely ignorant as to word of god and fanon, and might have forgotten some details of the plot as the years have passed since I watched.

*video essay voice* (bear with me) in 1980, British playwright Peter Flannery, while watching rehearsals for Henry IV, felt inspired to write his own historical epic, a Shakespearean sort of short History of his native Newcastle from the 60s to the present, interweaving the personal History of 4 "friends" with the big historical events of Britain through those years, to create a strong political narrative through them, but that was life-like enough in its everyday life details and turns as to feel real. The characters deal with their desire to change the world, achieve success, recognition, or even just survive, and experience hope and hopelessness by turns*

This theater play, called Our Friends in the North, caught the eye of the BBC, and after several back-and-forths it was adapted into 9 episodes in 1996. It was a big bet (it cost 8 million pounds to produce) and a big hit, and I do get the gut feeling that in some corner, the first season of Downton is inspired in OFITN as a concept, a sort of Our Freenemies in Yorkshire, but that its own success derailed it into a different direction, and made it Edwardian-Roaring 20s Aristofairytaleland, the same way Regency Romance tends to take place on a Regency Fairytale land full of dukes and none of the social, economical and political problems of the time.

S1 of DA hinges around the "Death of the old world" theme: it opens with its first marker (the sinking of the Titanic) and closes with the last marker (the beginning of the Great War). The central plot is that of the survival of Downton as a place and an institution -the kickstart is the death of James and Patrick aboard the Titanic, and the next heir presumptive being a middle class lawyer, an outsider to the aristocracy. The old, dying aristocracy, managed to patch up their situation by marrying rich American heiresses, like Cora, but it doesn't have any vitality for the future: the heir (Robert and Cora's son) is born dead. The question then is "can the aristocracy make a bridge with the raising professional middle class, merge with it in order to gain new life?" that's what Matthew's plotline this season is all about, specially in his growing and changing relationship with Robert and Mary (who are the epitome representatives of the aristocracy, with lady Violet): there is a small seed of aspiration that grows through the season, but gets quashed once he realizes that as much as he has grown to care for the Crowleys, they haven't really grown to care for him as anything but an uncomfortable necessity. And so he leaves. And the Great War begins. No compromise can be reached, the old world is dead.

I don't think I say anything controversial when I say that Fellowes and Downton as a series loves Mary with undying devotion; she gets a second chance at Matthew in s2 that she wouldn't have gotten IRL, and she would have kept Matthew forever if the actor didn't want out. And I think Dan Stevens wanting out (and Jessica Brown's to a certain extent), and as much as he can say within the bounds of politeness, has a lot to do with a sense that the series he signed up for was not the series he ended up being in on the follow up seasons. Matthew, who was a central character to the main plot of the series in s1, now gravitates Mary's storylines, because that pressing conflict of the inheritance is solved, and he can be disposed of as soon as he produces a male heir without causing any plot-ripples. A story about Downton the house as anchoring to class conflicts and point of connection with big events becomes a story of Mary and her relatives with Downton as a mainly aesthetic backdrop as s2 progresses (yes, yes, every once in a while some lip service is given to "money troubles" and having to downsize, but it's just... that).

As seasons progress, as well, the historical markers to open and close a season disappear, and so do... general historical events at all. The story gets atomized and more and more separated from History, and "the old world is dying" theme vanishes.

So, now, on this premise (that Downton S1 and Downton s2-6 are different animals, with different core themes and structures) where do I think a true continuation of S1 would have gone?

Mind you, I haven't plotted five series to detail, because I'm not that invested. But also it feels like DA the series itself started running out of plot after s4 anyways, so, in general lines:

The same way OFITN did (episodes were each set on a different year: 64, 66, 67, 70, 74, 79, 84, 87, 95) every series would have a time skip that would tie in with bigger scale events in Britain and the world (the end of the Great War, the Spanish Flu, the crack of 29', etc), and in my mind I would have it cover until the late 1940s: the series begins with a middle aged Robert and Cora, and ends with a middle-aged next generation.

Matthew does actually marry Lavinia, and takes William with him as they bonded in the war, and goes back to his job. They try to keep their distance from Downton, but, of course they keep getting drawn in because of the inheritance.

Matthew's marriage to Lavinia means a vital wake-up call for Mary: she -and by extension the aristocracy- cannot always get what she wants, even though her name and status carry a lot of importance. But she also experiences new freedom because her choice of husband has now no influence on the fate of the estate. I think she'd choose to travel a lot, in ways that would widen her mental horizons and change her feelings and perspective about her family. I even feel like her marrying Henry Talbot in the end makes sense; she remains ever the aristocrat (although I'd think she'd marry later, probably past her mid-30s, a spirit of the new times).

Sybil's storyline remains the same, minus death (in this scheme, the core characters that thread the timeline are the Crawley sisters AND Matthew), but she never returns to Downton to stay, and it is through her and her visits that we do get the perspectives and storylines of the process of independence for Ireland, and her complicated position as wife of an Irish man but daughter of a British earl. You can even get stories in the later years storylines like Marygold trying to run to Ireland and her aunt after WWII breaks.

A similar thing goes for Edith; if Mary is and makes the choice of aristocracy, and Sybil makes the choice of a working class life, then Edith embodies a commercial-professional upper middle class aspiration (in fact, I do think that her punching-bag status in the series has a lot to do with Fellowes derision of that class), so it makes sense for her to do most of the things she does towards her place in life; just cut some of the drama and no sudden marquess nonsense in the end. Edith and Bertie marry and remain successful editors/printers/periodical owners.

As for the house itself, of course Matthew inherits (you could set Robert's death for 1929, and then have a Lavinia inheritance save the estate after Robert's failed investments like it goes in s1). I do think this lends itself to interesting dynamics, specially with the servants, considering the aristocratic head is gone and the Great War significantly changed the self-image of the serving class, plus the return of William now in a much more privileged place; but also with Cora as the new Dowager and Lavinia as the new Lady Grantham. How do the children adapt to their new home and status? How did their parents conduct their upbringing? I think you can do a lot there (I'd assume just two children, a boy and a girl).

I do also think it'd be interesting to contrast the rising tensions in the 30s as Mary perceives them through her continental travels -I can imagine Henry Talbot joining the foreign service and getting at least obliquely involved in spy shenanigans- and Edith through her very localized work.

The Kingsmen movies play with this idea of WWI creating a generation of fathers who buried their sons and had to take their places. The Crawleys escape this by having only daughters, so I think it is fitting for Matthew and Lavinia's son to die in WWII, and for the daughter to become a war bride and move to the US, as the centre of power moves from the UK to the US.

Downton, more and more difficult to maintain as the years pass, cannot survive the economic blow of WWII, and Mathew and Lavinia, now middle aged, don't have the energy and vitality to begin again; and so they make an arrangement with the just-founded National Trust after the war ends: the main part of the house becomes a museum, but they still get a part of it to live in. I think, after a family reunion tea/party to wrap things up, you can have as a symbolic last shot, a close up of Matthew's hand as he turns over the keys to the Downton gates to the National Trust agent, CUT TO BLACK AND THE DOWNTON ABBEY THEME.

So, hm, that's pretty much it. Please do not maul me to death XD

*While I think the series was very well written, I'd hesitate to recommend it here as there was too much explicit nudity and sexual content for my taste and that of many people here. The 2022 radio adaptation seems to be faithful to the original tv series and avoid that problem, but of course you lose on the other visuals that are quite impressive (and believe me, besides some awkward wigs and make up, they really did blow up that 8 million pound budget in many ways).

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Imho people put too much in the houses. Like they're basically just social cliques, and the sorting hat was definitely taking into account what would or wouldn't destroy their social lives.

I mean, people put as much into houses as the characters seem to put into houses.

For the characters houses are meaningful, they are social cliques and I'm sure the Sorting Hat pays attention to the social situation the student would be in, but there is an element to these traits, to the values a student has when sorted. But more importantly, wizards think about them as so much more. They are a sign of status, legacy, and worth. Like, little 11-year-old Draco says he'd just leave if he was sorted into Hufflepuff because, in his mind, it would mean he isn't worthy of the other "better" houses.

And Draco isn't the only one. Hagrid calls all of Slytherin Evil, practically all the professors play favorites, Ron is worried over not being in Gryffindor because all his family is in Gryffindor, Neville worries about being in Gryffindor because he doesn't think he is worthy of the house reputation because of what his grandmother told him, and students repeatedly fall into the trap of "Wait, why aren't you at X house?" When someone's behavior deviates slightly from the stereotype of their own house. Like, Terry Boot, when told Hermione cast a NEWT Gemino charm, asks her: "How come you aren't in Ravenclaw?" Because they're supposed to be the smart guys.

Basically, the Wizarding World treats houses like a Big Deal. Even adults who graduated decades ago still have pride in their own house. Actually, there are real-world examples of things like that.

I mean, school houses are a British commonwealth thing that exists in public boarding schools. In these irl houses, students take pride in their house, wear their house colors, and are incredibly competitive with other houses. There are schools that apparently have family houses, an in, if a student's sibling/child arrives at the school, they'd go to the same house as their family member.

(I got this from reading online, as I never encountered a school like this irl, but the internet tells me they exist)

But if we talk about something I'm more familiar with, I taught in a sorta summer course thing for teenagers, and we divided the students there into classes since there were over a hundred of them. There wasn't really a difference between the classes, but each class had its name, symbol, and colors (and different staff members), and the students' tribal instincts kicked in. They got super competitive with the other classes and had their closest friends basically exclusively within their own class. We often caught them making fun of other students for being in another class (something that meant literally nothing). So the staff put a lot of effort into creating activities for the entire group without class separation to try and fight that.

Humans are tribal creatures, we have a built-in mechanism that tells us to come together in groups and think our group is the best. A house system just happens to kick that instinct into gear, but it's always there.

So, it's not that weird that that's how Hogwarts houses are treated in universe, and the fandom gives them the same importance characters in universe seem to give them. Because to them they are that important.

(Of course, not all characters have the exact same opinion about the house system. There are adults in the Wizarding World that don't actually care, but then there are many who do)

Now, houses aren't necessarily a bad thing, humans have this tribal instinct for a reason. We need to feel like we're part of a community, a sense of belonging is something most people seek be it subconsciously or consciously. And there is joy in being part of something that has a long history and that you can be proud of. The problem is when these groups start to define people more than their own person as an individual does. And, shockingly, I don't think the Wizarding World has that problem on a cultural level.

Like Scabior says:

“So you aren’t wanted, then, Vernon? Or are you on that list under a different name? What house were you in at Hogwarts?” “Slytherin,” said Harry automatically. “Funny ’ow they all think we want to ’ear that.” leered Scabior out of the shadows.

(DH, 386)

Houses aren't everything. Even a Slytherin who knows where the common room is but has a suspicious name and says Voldemort's name is cause for suspicion. Being a proven Slytherin doesn't necessarily save you because they don't expect all Slytherins to back them. Because there are those who don't and they seem very aware of it. We also don't really see jobs that are reserved for certain houses.

I think some wizards do generalize more based on houses, but I think the majority of their adult population is aware that people are individuals outside of their houses.

Basically, I think the wizarding world's treatment of houses could definitely be way way better, it isn't as bad as it could be (which isn't a high bar since I expect the worst from the Wizarding World).

[floof-ghostie]

casually leans on wall and hands you a microphone. how was the spiderverse experience i want all the deets (ive already watched it dw about spoilers👍🏾)

Ohhhh Strap in we're gonna be here for a while (Imma do this in point form for this, because so many thoughts, no energy for real paragraphs

Okay the animation. THE ANIMATION MEDIUMS. So many cool methods. I loved the colour changes in Gwen's universe. HOBIE'S ENTIRE THING, THE WAY HE'S ANIMATED OMG

Mumbattan is such a cool city, I love mashing irl cities to make one cool megacity so much it's such a lil fave worldbuilding thing of mine

Pavitr is so great, I love him, idek how to talk about him I just like him a lot. Him and his gf make such a cute pair too!

Also him saying "I don't use product, just coconut oil, prayer, and good genetics". I love him

The chai tea scene. God he's so great

THe character design is amazing and sososososo cool!! I love that we see the characters change (Gwen's hair growing longer and pinker, Miles' growth spurt, Peter B.'s bathrobe, MAYDAY's LIL SPIDER HAT THAT MJ PROLLY MADE FOR HER).

I love Pravitr's costume glowup. Thank you to whoever arranged for that.

Also, Hobie??? His lace coded boots?? His locs??? HIS FUCKING PIERCINGSSS??? HOW HE COMPARED A FUCKING VOID TO CAPITALISM??? Him taking a liking to Mayday, and straight up SHOWING MILES HOW TO GET OUT OF THE FORCE FIELD WITH A LIL SMIRK?!!! I need him. Need his gender. I love his anarchist ass.

His design really calls back to the punk scene in England, and I love the way he reminds me of old newspapers

Speaking of Hobie, holy shit that guy was flirting with Miles. I know what you are (pls Hobie do u like enbies?)

"I hate the AM, I hate the PM (prime minister probably, idk for sure) AND I HATE LABELS" I love you

Daniel Kaluuya, thank you for your service.

Also Hobie and Gwen make such a funny friendship. But I don't ship them.

The themes of growing up, and Miles' parents being worried about Miles and the people he's with...I nearly cried in the theatre, and I don't normally cry during stuff.

You can just tell that black people were making the big decisions for this movie. Aaron and Rio asking Miles why he took the braids out. Jeff and Rio being like "On time means 5 minutes early", I felt so at home watching this movie. I'm not even from Brooklyn but I just felt so at home at all the interactions Miles had with his neighbors. Even the random storeowner.

Like ppl were speaking aave, using patois, Hobie's accent. And none of that was played for laughs (except for Hobie's lingo but that's a little different bc he's British)

I love how Miles' Ganke is so different from Peter Parker's Ganke. It's such a fun detail how Miles' Ganke was like "I'm not gonna be your guy in the chair".

I love that despite the general "Canon" for Spider Man, there are some differences! I love those intricate details!

And the way the lady in the office was so hasty to force the narrative of them "struggling" when that really wasn't the case? Hit real close to home. I just love the Davis-Morales family

I love the way that the Spot isn't like a general "mildly bad" villain like I originally assumed. I really thought he'd be kind of a "setup" villain, or something that they'd have to clean up and THEN Miles would take care of Miguel and them.

I especially love the way that The Spot is someone from the first movie, who we don't even know until his backstory is brought up.

His voice is also perfect too. He sounds like a complete loser.

Miguel O'Hara. Meet me outside, I just wanna talk

No For real though, he talks a lot of shit about Miles being "The Original anomaly" when his ass needs to inject himself with some kinda spider-fluid to maintain his powers??? Mind you, he tried to force himself into a reality that wasn't his.

This guy is just an A-class hater. What do you have against Miles, honestly???

On the subject of the Spider Verse I think it's so cool how there were so many callbacks to the original canon of Spiderman! I loved seeing the og live action Spider Men in the film too!

And the easter eggs! I couldn't keep up with them all!

Also, wtf was Childish Gambino there. I mean I'm not mad, I actually found Miles' staring at him really funny

I love Issa Rae's voice! But Jessica, queen, please don't fight, you is PREGNANT

Also idk why but for some reason I thought Jessica and Miguel were married in the beginning. Not completely sure.

Gwen being like "Can you adopt me?" when first meeting Jessica...She's so real

Also Gwen is so sososososo so so trans. It's so great

THE ENDING FUCKING DESTROYED ME ARE YOU KIDDING???? 42-Miles being the Prowler?? I'M NOT OKAY BUT I'M SO EXCITED to see what happens!!

But in all seriousness, all the feelings in the movie talked about and the the things left unresolved for the next movie is just. You can tell this was such a labour of love and all the animators were so happy and excited to work on it. I cannot wait for Beyond the Spider Verse!! I'm still buzzing!!

[musecraft]

alright ! i've had a full 24+ hours to Process — which may have involved a bottle of prosecco ( i don't drink btw ) & going through a few waves of tears — & i'm here ready to talk about the finale. of.md spoilers below the cut, obviously !

some things i actually did like ( a short list ) :

the plot on paper. the beats of a good story were there but it was so rushed through & poorly executed that it just felt messy, unearned, slapped together.

ed thinking stede is dead & disassociating so hard he goes on a rampage & murders several of the soldiers in very sexy ways, ie: bayonet flip. also ed coming out of the ocean like aphrodite, ready to murder in his black leather. slay.

jim & archie kissing Like That before going to battle. also jim throwing knives from in the trees. very hot, powerful trans energy there, i really enjoyed it.

unfortunately everyone on the crew looked very sexy in stolen navy uniforms.

spanish "you best believe everyone in this household is poison trained" jackie.

zheng existing ( i would like to formally request a whole show about her )

stede yelling 'for love !' when attacking the british. romantic stede my beloved.

most of izzy's main dialogue — especially telling ricky that what really matters about piracy is belonging to something in a world that has told you that you are worth nothing. & yes, even most of of his conversation with ed. izzy telling him it's ok to just be ed ? killed me. & blackbeard was both of us ? don't even. i did want him to apologize to ed properly & am still glad that he did but be careful what you ask your god for am i right.

the final panning shot of the crew on the revenge. beautiful shot despite it all.

issues i had ( a longer list ) :

the editing ? why so many harsh cuts ? the way it was spliced together only contributed to the chaotic & disjointed feeling. & of course, the pacing. i think these two issues are connected & probably not the fault of the writers themselves. the show clearly really needed all 10 episodes to do what it really wanted to do, & this finale is just begging for that lost hour of screentime.

it wasn't even a good fuckery lol.

i wish lucius & pete's wedding had been... idk, just more. something more akin to calypso's birthday, a proper celebration for them. i also wish they would have given an indication they're still poly. "i now pronounce you mateys" was good tho.

ed apologizing & saying i love you & stede not doing either one in return. stede not being sappy in his irl fantasy ? impossible, im really confused by that choice.

0 resolution for stede's entire arc ? 0 indication of self reflection on his part ? & thus no resolution for the primary conflict of the show's central relationship ? they didn't even talk about their future, it just cut to them standing there & stede saying "so i guess we're innkeepers now" as if that's all he would have had to say about that ? i know that this show handwaves away a lot of things, like travel times & the realities of sailing, but i thought the story was literally about this relationship, & we don't get to see them decide on what their future together will look like. it's framed as stede just kinda going along with ed's latest whim ( since you know, they've always worked out soooo well for him in the past ) even though it's the exact opposite of what he's been moving towards personally lately, all without even saying a word about it ? i'm not even saying that i don't like this ending, but it just again felt so unearned.

very little actual resolution for ed's arc. his whole deal this season was about deciding who he wants to be, but he flip flops every time something doesn't go his way & the episode gave us no reason to think that would be different now with their inn. also he just killed a bunch of soldiers after having serious trauma surrounding the act of killing throughout the entire series, but i guess we're just supposed to believe that's ok, he's totally fine, he's an innkeeper now ! (will say more on this topic in the final section.)

poly things not being handled well or outright forgotten about. like olu / jim / archie / zheng has all the potential in the world for a beautiful poly love story & we barely got to see them interact together at all. & to think i was all :eyes: when izzy was dubbed the unicorn because i actually thought for a few episodes there that they might be doing the same thing for polyamory in s2 that they had done for queerness in s1, showing the audience that it's ok to see ourselves in stories & not just on the fringes, we're not stupid or freaks reading into something that isn't there. but turns out, it wasn't there, & i was the freak & the clown all along. live & learn.

the elephant in the room ( rip izzy you beautiful freak ) :

here's the thing. obviously i was never going to be happy that they killed my most favoritest old man. the fact that he's dead just when he found something real to live for is literally heartbreaking to me. but i could have swallowed it as a natural & important part of the narrative if one small thing was done differently: izzy could have had an actual sacrifice. & not for ed, but for the crew. after his speech about living for the crew, him choosing to act in a way that compromised his safety but earned their freedom would have felt like a completion of his arc. but instead it was a stray bullet to the left side which he earned in stede's so-called suicide mission ( don't even get me started on that line given where izzy started this season ), an injury which the show has told us previously is 100% survivable.

in the crew sacrifice scenario izzy could have acted as the symbol of piracy itself, a way of life that is dying. he is, after all, The Pirate (aside from blackbeard himself) on the show. & he has a history of letting shit slide that kinda doesn't align with the way of life they're trying to build on the revenge, not just in s1 but also in the scene with lucius in s2 ("& you? are you happy with all this?" "well, this is a pirate ship, & i'm a pirate so... yeah, i'm good with it.") ricky says they are at "the end of piracy" & izzy is the last REAL pirate (including ed because at this point as he is moving away from that life). & as izzy himself says in s1, "the only retirement we get is death." izzy also shows pretty intense self-preservation, & most of his shitty actions in s1 are motivated by often misplaced survival instincts, ("i'm not dying. not for you & not for that ponce,") so having him go against this longstanding character trait to protect the crew would have felt earned after his dramatic growth. it could have worked. it still would have hurt, but it could have worked.

instead, the way it is actually framed, the narrative actively robs izzy of this symbolism & instead makes his death entirely about ed & ed's relationship to piracy. having him die in a random incident & then having his death scene be followed up by ed finally "officially" (for the third time) giving up piracy honestly flattens everything i find interesting about them as characters & their dynamic to each other.

ed & izzy have very clearly been in clearly a mutually toxic codependent relationship (platonic or otherwise) for decades, but the framing of izzy's death being the only thing that can free ed from piracy (& blackbeard) turns izzy from a complex character of his own into a 2-dimensional plot device. & if izzy truly couldn't exist without blackbeard, then it would make sense — but we've just seen that he can, actually ! that he is a person outside of that relationship, despite what he himself thought for most of his life ! that they can both exist outside of them, & there is a very real possibility that neither of them actually need blackbeard anymore. so instead his death feels cruel to me. & because we know this is the show where injuries simply don't matter unless we need them to, we know that this was a conscious choice, that the writers genuinely felt he had to die for the story (ed's story) to continue.

& you know, that's fair on some level. he's the lead after all. but i also think this framing is actually kind of reductive to ed's character ! i don't write ed, but part of what makes him so compelling to me is that he is... kinda a "bad person," but he wants to be better. he's extremely complex. he has trauma & big feelings & he doesn't always act on them in the right way. & he feels guilt & remorse — he knows he has done wrong in the past & wants to be better, even if he doesn't always know how. & izzy has admittedly been an obstacle to him reaching that end in the past, but to frame it as if ed's actions were because of izzy, & actually izzy was making ed be blackbeard & manipulating him into doing bad things that he didn't really want to do, then i guess now that izzy is dead ed is free to skip off into the sunset happily ever after with his man ! the bad influence in his life finally gone, so he is all healed ! never mind that his most recent return to piracy & killing spree as blackbeard had literally nothing to do with izzy & everything to do with thinking he'd lost stede again. never mind that ed's trauma has its roots in things that happened to him before izzy (his father) & things that also happened to izzy (hornigold). nope, izzy was the real shackle all along. he has to die so ed can be free, & he only ever existed solely to develop ed's pain. that's what this narrative feels like. & i just... don't like the taste of it on any level. izzy says himself that blackbeard was both of them. so why does izzy have to die while ed gets to move on, given they both have shown the capacity to do so ?

the bit that i think i like least about how it's executed is izzy saying "i want to go," especially considering how he & ed are both shown to be actively suicidal in the opening of the season, & he has since started to regain his self confidence from that lowest point. & maybe that line could be read as him just trying to soothe ed in the moment, but idk, it rubbed me the wrong way for him to say he still wanted to die when in fact he had just found something he actually wanted to live for.

so ! i think that's all i have to say about that ! if you've made it this far, thanks for reading ! i'll be working today on writing up a basic canon divergence for both stede & izzy, since i don't like how either of them ended the season out. sorry, but stede's simply not ready to give up pirating just yet, even for ed. & in my head, izzy is fine because he was shot on the left side & "science" tells us there's nothing important in that half of the body anyway. : )

[ozdicaff]

Popping in from discord to say that I absolutely love your AU designs, especially Moon's design!

I just want to give them all a big hug!

Your Moon radiates a nice calming presence that my anxiety ridden self would love to have as a friend and maybe take a nap nearby.

Also, your Y/N is very snazzy, love their design!

I really love Sun's design too but as someone that needs some peace and quiet right now, my brain zeroed in on Moon and won't let go.

Big hugs to you and the au crew! (unless you don't like hugs in which case a friendly wave)

Hope you have a wonderful day/night dear. Take Care!

Anon. Im going. To CRY

THANK YOU SO MUCH??!?! 😭😭😭😭😭 IM ON THE FLOOR IN A PUDDLE OF MY OWN TEARS!!!!!

Im glad you like moons design that much!! 🥺 I STRUGGED WITH HIS DESIGN THE MOST, IM GLAD IT WAS WORTH IT <333 i think you'll like how moon more when i show more about his character! I think you both could use some comfort napping ...

As for y/n! I referenced irl narrators, and ALL of them looked like british guys in suits so i had to make them follow the theme, i tried to incorporate the twins palletes into their colors though!

Im glad you like suns design too!!! He was the first i made :] AND ILL ABSOLUTELY TAKE THAT HUG !!! SUNS ARMS WILL WRAP AROUND YOU 2O TIMES !!!!

Hope you have a great day or night too hun!!! I actually have an arabic exam tmrw and this ask made me feel really nice admist the stress, thank you so much for this i appreciate it, SO SO much <3 have a doodle of the boys!!!

[greedandenby]

TALE OF THE BODY THIEF + VC SPOILERS AHEAD!

Manifesting Charles Melton as Raglan James/David Talbot/Lestat post-body swap. I know he's supposed to be of British and Indian descent BUT. I just saw him in Poker Face and my mind immediately went 💡🤯

He's definitely the manly-man hunk that Lestat describes in the books (down to his actual height irl). And he's got that hot villain himbo vibe that's needed for the character.

I haven't even seen Riverdale or anything else he's done but I don't even care at this point. I'll always see him while reading the books from now on.

[pessimisticshapewithablog]

Bishops of the Old Faith Possible IRL Animal Counterparts

None of these are definitive, just my own interpretation of the Bishops and TOWWs possible real world animal counterparts. These assumptions are based purely on appearances alone save a few.

Narinder

Bobtail Maltese

Chartreux; Russian Blue; British Shorthair

Maltese refering to his grey coloration.

I find it funny that some people could not immediately ID TOWW as a cat. His ears bug me, they're too narrow. Actual cats exist in game so maybe those feature are unique to TOWW.

I specify bobtail because we never see him with a tail, as a god or follower. Cats in this universe have tail, see Forneus, but Narinder doesn't appear to have one. If Aym and Baal are his children then they may have inherited this trait from him too.

These are Narinder's sons. I don't care what massive monster may say in the future. They stole his whole FACE. They inherited his coat color! IDC! Forneus genes didn't stand chance.

Leshy

Bagworm

Specifically a juvenile male that hasn't metamorphosed into a moth/butterfly. Only males leave the "bag". The Bishops are implied to be immortal so, maybe he is trapped in this stage because he literally cannot age and develop into a moth...

It's difficult to determine what species of bagworm he is because of the many species of bagworm and their preferred bag material.  You can see his true face in his 'mouth' when he transforms, if that's a face, that is. There seems to be some eldritch nonsense going with his physiology.

Heket

Madagascar Tomato Frog

Visually she resembles a Madagascar tomato frog, specifically Dyscophus antongilii, with her bright orange-red back and legs with a pale tan underbelly. Tomatoes frogs secrete a gummy toxin that numb the eyes and mouth of predators when grabbed.

Shamura (Shammuramat)

Jumping Spider

Shamura's eye arrangement identifies them as a type of jumping spider, if not by their jumping attacks in combat.

Like leshy, it's hard to determine what specific species of jumping spider they are because of the numerous species and the vagueness of shamura's design. Even then, I speculate that they could a member of the Portia genus of jumpers. Portias are considered to be the most intelligent spider species due to their adaptive learning and hunting tactics, being able to plan ahead.

I might expand on these later, and add Haro and Kallamar(maybe), especially Narinder cause I love cats!

[the-fiction-witch]

Cookies

Media IRL

Character Thomas Brodie Sangster

Couple Thomas X Reader

Rating Sweet

Concept Party Prep

I smiled as I stood in the kitchen humming my little tune as I stirred the batter for my cupcakes, I checked my timer seeing that it only had a few more minutes before the first batch of cookies needed to come out to cool. So of course our kitchen and pretty much the whole house now smelt of delicious baked goods, mostly vanilla being the strong scent and the strawberries I cut up earlier. The sweet sounds of the birds enjoying the bird feeder in the garden as I had the door open, I soon enough heard the unmistakable sound of feet rushing down our stairs eagerly and soon enough Thomas stood holding the door frame excitedly in his red socks, blue jeans and his bulky loose grey shirt his sleeves rolled up where he had been doing laundry last I heard from him.

"Cookies?" He asks excitedly

"Not yet" I told him and his excited smile dropped

"But I did all my chores"

"Very good, And you can have a cookie when they're ready" I laughed "They're not baked yet."

"But I like when they have a slight gooey center"

"Yes and you also like eating raw cookie dough but I'm not having you get salmonella again"

"Ah! For your information, I didn't get salmonella from cookie dough." He complained "It was from that badly cooked scrambled egg from that hotel"

"Still I'd really rather you not get it again we have guests coming this weekend" I remind him as I began filling the cupcake cases

"Why do we have people coming again?" He asks

"Really? You don't know why we're having a party?"

"We're fun people?"

"It's the coronation." I remind him

"Oh yeah"

"How could you forget?"

"Because I have had way more important stuff to do. What do you care?"

"Honestly I don't but it's a bank holiday so, party. And I like parties"

"Any excuse for you to bake and decorate"

"Exactly. I decorate for everything"

"I know. Never owned different cushion covers till I met you. Now we have seasonal pillows. Not even just for the holidays we have a set of cushions that are just winter but not yet Christmas"

"It's the November pillows"

"If you've bought specific coronation pillows for the sofa I'm going to stage an intervention y/n"

"They're not coronation themed. Just… British-themed. I got one with a corgi wearing a rain hat"

"And when are we ever going to use that again?"

"... Early spring when it gets rainy?"

".... Damn it. Fine."

"Yay." I giggled giving him a little kiss and put my cupcakes in the oven taking out the cookies

"Ummmm they do smell good" he smiled coming over already trying to steal one but I have his hand a slap with the spatula

"It's too hot. You'll burn your hand"

"Too hot? I change illuminated light bulbs, I work on still-running motorbikes, and I have on-set pyrotechnics. I can handle a little cookie" he says taking one "ahhhhhh! What the fuck do you have that oven on 2000000!" 

"Serves you right I told you not till they where done" I told him "Besides its nice to have people over to watch it. god knows its a fouer hour ceremony, plus we can all drink at ten am and take the piss out of the fancy ladies funny hats"

"Good point" he says running his hand under cold water "is that why there's like four cases of beer and wine in the garage?"

"all our family and friends are coming I wanted to be prepared" 

[mahalshairyballs]

Oscar was awesome too at his panel, and what an handsome man ❤️

But the panel had a moderator and they usually hog the time, which he did.

They also mostly promoted an original comic book story Oscar is producing and coming out soon. They even brought in two artists for the comic. It looks good, maybe? I'm a bit hesitant about it. They showed a trailer and it looked like a mixt between Moon Knight and Constantine (even the art, the main character looked like 616!Marc with a side of John Constantine, and throw in the biblical lore of Constantine too). And it's the redemption story of a bad cop through mythology elements? Hmmmm

Not sure about it, but I'd give it a try.

.

And then there was only 15 minutes left to the panel for the fans questions. So even though I was pretty early in the queue, I didn't have time to ask my question 😩 and nobody asked a similar question. I wanted to ask it so much ugh >_< maybe he'll go to other conventions who knows

He hinted again at a season 2 or something more with the Marc system coming in the future, but as long as we don't get any official confirmation I'll stay skeptical with my expectations.

He answered often with how much he cares about the character(s) (and he literally said the verbal version of my 'character(s)' to talk about the Marc system, I love him ❤️) and how it's one of the roles that stuck with him/impacted him the most. He said that was why he became one of the producers of the show along the way, how he got so into the stories and the character(s) and wanted to be even more involved ❤️

He said something so great about how comic books are modern myths, and that myths have always been used by people to tell deeper story, and how speculative fiction was even better to tell these stories/shows layers of emotions than regular stories that shows you things literally. I do hope we can find a clip of that answer somewhere online

Someone asked how he prepared/what research he did about DID for the show. And I already knew his answer for that question but it was nice to hear it irl. He said he consulted with mental health professionals and mentioned that one autobiography that became his reference for the show.

Someone else also did tell him that his British accent was perfect (and he was from the UK himself).

Oscar also talked about how much he enjoyed playing Steven because he is 'so honest, so authentically himself', I love how he put it, aw Steven ❤️

I think that was all the questions/answers related to Moon Knight there were at the panel.

And then, as someone else said it, Oscar 'basically called Pedro Pascal a slut', yeah but he called Pedro Pascal his slut. Pedro gets close to everybody but Oscar only wants him ❤️ when is he going to get announced as Frenchie? I'm waiting !

I was pretty close to the stage when the Q&A stopped, and even though they asked us all to wear a face mask in the room for the panel, Oscar when he left touch the hands of everyone he could like a rock star before he left. ❤️

.

I really wish I could've asked him my Jake question, but he was adorable and amazing anyway ❤️ he makes jokes but can also have very deep and interesting answers.

There's no way he won't play the Marc system again, he loves them too much.

Oh and he read comics as a kid, and as seen by his new original comic project, he still likes comic books, so maybe that means he'll read the one I gave him ❤️

[goldenpinof]

thank you for sharing your experience!! it's so nice that he takes the effort to tweak the script a bit depending on where he is, despite some jokes not landing lmao but thank you for the effort dan. i do feel he thrives off the energy of the crowd so he loves it when the audience engages and reacts a lot (in parts that need that reaction). can't wait to see how it'll be different in berlin. also it's sweet that aside from meeting him a big part of why people go to wad is to see friends and the community and being in the same space enjoying the same thing and reacting with and to dan. and i think dan loves seeing that as well. i love living vicariously through you guys as someone who lives in a country that dan won't tour in :( but it's nice to read different experiences and how dan is such a sweetheart in meet and greets and how he really enjoys performing.

i'm so sorry you can't go :( it's a great experience!

i hope Dan understands what kind of people he gathered around himself 😂 we share some opinions and we're willing to listen to each other. yesterday that was such a pleasantly unexpected discovery. you know it's easier to discuss some things online than irl, like political and social systems, sexuality and etc, but we were discussing it after the show and it felt safe to do so. and these conversations will stay with some people for a long time. it's kinda beautiful, we're in the same boat and Dan and Phil are just slightly directing us by planting seeds of major topics in your heads. and then we're free to make research, share our experience and help one another understand something if needed. even when someone leaves the phandom they don't leave it empty-headed. you can obviously outgrow that kind of relationship and find something similar in real life, so you don't need some British white guys to guide your ways. but i bet they still remember what kind of messages those two were trying to convey to them and the world in general. i'm not saying that dnp's opinions and views are always 100% right. hell nah! but sometimes starting a conversation is more important than arguing your rightness. we can joke about it for as long as we want but they really raised us in a way. just like school and your neighbourhood is raising you as well, directly or indirectly.

i think Dan underestimates his power and influence. or likes to think that he's not as powerful as he actually is because then the damage is lesser. he's scared of being wrong and it prevents him from doing the right things immediately. Ukraine was a good example of it, because even if he waited he still fucked up with that tweet. so i get where the fear is coming from and each mistake bites his ass. he is more careful with it now but he still likes to think that he can't do anything. (i'm bringing up Ukraine because he brought it up yesterday. and i'm glad that he keeps doing it. and by doing it he contradicts himself because talking about this war is doing something. it's not over, missiles are falling on cities and killing people, Ukraine loses its towns, gets some towns back – it's happening every day. i just hope that at least 1 person goes home after Dan's show, opens google, updates themselves on the war and shares it within their circle. forgetting is a scary thing, it's like erasing history, only now we're erasing the present).

anyway, can't wait to compare it to Berlin.

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

hey v and emily! thank you for doing this podcast! i really enjoy getting to listen and learn with you. i just finished episode 23 where you mentioned libba bray et al being problematic and my curiosity is piqued. i read all of libba bray's books as they were coming out, so for some of them it's been quite a while. were you referring to book content or irl event(s) or both? i would love to know more if you have the time

V here -- I LOVE Libba's The Diviners series, but it also has a lot of things that could have been handled better if she had put in the research. For example, it's yet another example of the Bury Your Gays trope/the Evil Lesbian trope, and she put significantly less research and work into writing 1920s LES Russian-Jewish culture than she did any other non-WASP culture in the series. Given that it's a series ostensibly ABOUT eugenics in America as a necessary evil of the "American Dream," the fact that she kind of lumped Sam's VERY NOT-WHITE IN THE 1920s experience into being One Of The White Characters drives me nuts. (Also she gets her Yiddish wrong.)

I also don't personally love the AGATB series, because it's just not my flavor of genre fiction, but this blog does a pretty good breakdown of why it doesn't hold up to 2023 standards of responsible representation/inclusion, especially wrt the "heroic" main character being a British colonist in India.

Bray spends two whole paragraphs describing the Indian marketplace. It’s not just for scene setting; she’s using her setting for novelty. The problem is that people are never novel to themselves, nor is their own culture novel to them. So using another culture for novelty means twisting the depiction for the purposes of entertaining outsiders. The result is exoticism.

Are these unforgivable evils? No. And honestly, compared to how A LOT of YA books older than, like, 2017, hold up to 2023 standards, I also personally fully acknowledge that my complaints about The Diviners are more like quibbles than anything with actual weight. It's not like she's Laura Ingalls W*lder. I also do think that there is almost no way to write historical fiction that is both accurate and critical of the structures that upheld the kyriarchy of the past in a way that is still suited to a STORY that is interesting and readable.

But I also think that, particularly with regard to AGATB, Libba was writing outside of her lane -- like... I'm not sure that any white westerner should necessarily be the person trying to tackle a fantasy series in British-occupied India, because our education on that time and place is steeped in Orientalism and even the most woke among us aren't authentic voices of those who suffered massively under that occupation. So IDK. AGATB came out long before We Need Diverse Voices, and you can tell.

With The Diviners, I mostly get frustrated because she clearly put A LOT of attention and care into writing Memphis' Black experience and Ling's Chinese-American experience, but she didn't afford the same research or care to Sam's Jewish experience because she didn't even do enough research to know that his experience WAS racialized (and he would have suffered xenophobia to boot, being a Russian immigrant).

tl;dr, she's not #cancelled -- hell, I write drabbles for The Diviners whenever I get the opportunity! -- but there are some glaring instances of ignorance and privilege in her writing that are a bummer.

[corneliushickey]

‘rhys ifans/ralph fiennes erotic leg massage hypnosis kink thigh wound cunnilingus?? what is HAPPENING... ‘ please please explain this

my friend i wish i could tell you that something other than exactly what i just said was happening but i was being completely straightforward

i was watching the king's man (2021) which i expected to be bad but which exceeded every expectation i had for it by being unbelievably worse

there is a scene where rhys ifans (as rasputin) gives a bad parody of cunnilingus to the scar in ralph fiennes' (as the duke of oxford) thigh. it's played for laughs but it isn't funny. fiennes really commits to the sincere eroticism angle but ifans is doing like... monty python.

i cannot stress enough how much i don't recommend you watch this movie because it is a giant waste of time. i found it a waste of time and i have a crush on rasputin (irl guy), otto hightower (fake guy, rhys ifans with a scraggly beard) and like every other british guy in this movie (ralph fiennes, charles dance, tom hollander). none of this made any of it worth it. it retains none of the charm of the original film or its sequel and makes no meaningful lore contributions. it is badly written, paced, and acted, and i found shola (djimon hounsou's character) to be a really racist trope and also the singular person of color in all two hours and eleven minutes.

i stopped watching it about an hour and ten minutes in because rasputin dies at exactly the halfway mark and i had no interest in watching past that. i’ll be honest with you he might come back? idk i didn’t care enough to google it or to skim through the rest of the movie trying to find out if he does.

that said i've screencaped the entire exchange for you. it is much better this way. under the cut bc this is so image heavy.

i've skipped some set up but they go to a private room and there is a drawn out exchange about fiennes taking off his trousers.

anyway this is what i mean about fiennes leaning into the eroticism... it’s giving “i thought i was a fucking faggot” “you are.... but you’re bisexual” which in some ways is what all of fiennes’ roles give all the time. that’s why i like him so much.

please listen to me when i tell you how much better the screencaps make this than what it actually is. 

if you know about the myth of rasputin's assassination this whole like... i think it's ten minutes? this whole scene is full of "ha! i know that reference"s. but like in a grim weary sigh kind of way.

here’s him eating the cyanide filled almond cake. ha! get it? i know that reference. fiennes is staring at him with a sort of raised brow through this but then ifans like... in a spat of monty python/borat sort of comedy just like crushes the entire half cake into his mouth really violently which i’m not going to screencap bc i can’t watch it without covering my face with both hands. here’s the aftermath.

while taking these screenshots i realized how inconsistent rhys’ eye makeup is? either they didn’t have a script supervisor or they didn’t care. i mean, or they made the change deliberately because these scenes are lit differently. but it’s funnier if we assume the first option.

anyway. here’s the thigh wound cunnilingus. i had to watch this so many times to get these i hope you appreciate it.

there’s slightly more after this but the gist is that ifans hypnotizes fiennes in a fit of ecstasy to reveal his secret intentions to influence the tsar (tom hollander), and then when he has all the information he needs he stops but miraculously fiennes’ leg is actually fixed

if you have hbo max and you want to watch this despite all my warnings not to the time stamps are 0:43:00 to 0:58:33 for the whole exchange, from them arriving at the winter palace to rasputin dying

[starstruckwillows]

swan boat for Marauders era!! or st idm! also, i am saying as much as i can remember ab myself (this is messy)

i'm a little awkward guy LMFAO, i'm usually in the background a lot 💔💔 i get nervous when all the attention is on me irl (online i love it icl) and i'm really oblivious (i thought all my trauma was normal).. i've got mommy AND daddy issues but i've got an okay relationship with both of them?? i listen to a plethora of genres LMAO, atm my favourites are metal an classical music (i heart kpop though, esp skz). i've watched all of those silly sigma male movies like american psycho and fight club, i loved both of them!! i like shows like the walking dead, the last of us , game of thrones, and house of the dragon as well. i've got about 108 books, and my american psycho era went so bad i even bought the book LMAO. i'm currently getting into classic books as well!! currently reading crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky. ALSO, one of my favourite things i wear daily are my glasses cos they've got square rims!! i watch anime, my favourites atm is attack on titan and devilman crybaby. i think i'm a faily monotone person? i don't think i can express excitement very well even if i wanted to 😭😭 i have horrible memory, i lose my phone easily but i find it pretty easily. i'm desentizised to a lot of things on the internet, say a lot of out of pocket stuff, and i've considered therapy a lot these past few weeks. i leave people on delivered (i respond to close friends dw), the longest so far is a year. at the moment my favourite movies are lord of the rings + the hobbit (all movies), american psycho, fight club, MIDSOMMAR!!!, batman 2022 and joker 2019. i bawl my eyes out when im angry, i'm a picky eater, i've got 0 game and the humour of a 13 year old boy, i am obsessed with hannibal (i havent even watched the show), ozzy osbourne, mads mikkelsen, pedro pascal, and tlou. This might seem really bitchy but favourite moments when im hanging out w friends is when we talk absolute shit LMFAO it's always so entertaining. I feel musicin my body and it's so good!! my favourite bands/artists are kittie, deftones, slipknot, black sabbath, metallica, the smiths, LADY GAGA, arctic monkeys, tyler the creator, lana del rey, RAMMSTEIN, korn, mortician, cannibal corpse, the smashing pumpkins, queen, DAVID BOWIE, mötley crüe, and megadeth!! i dont care what my family has to say about me LMAO, i aim to be more successful than them!!! (i probs will be tbh) my least favourite moments with my mum is when we argue and she just doesnt stop!! idc what shes saying its just the fact that she still has stuff to say but what shes doing is repeating the same stuff LMFAO, it's always a bit funny but its annoying cos she just doesnt stop. I'm a lesbian AND PROUD!!! been a lesbian for ages, but i'm so down bad for a lot of famous men and fictional characters. i've read fanfiction ab vecna, pennywise and barney. I used to play the violin, i played the piano a bit at school but i wanna play an electric guitar or drums!! also i'm like 5'1 LMFAO, in my defence i'm half filipino. the other half is australian (british). I lose motivation for things easily, my favourite videogame atm is minecraft, i lack empathy and its really awks when i have to comfort somebody LMAO MOST OF THE TIME I KIND OF STAND THERE AND GIVE THEM SPACE ☹️ my personality type is intp and i'm in slytherin if that means anything SORRY THIS IS SO LONG LMAO also i think im tweaking but thatsnake is really far down???

- 🐍

lesbians who love david bowie, the smiths, minecraft, and fictional men? we are one and the same :)

🦢

i ship you with james potter!!

awkward and background? not if he has anything to say about it. of course, if that's where you need to be sometimes for your own quiet space, he respects that, but he'll never let you be on the sidelines of something you want to be a part of. will listen to all of your music, to impress you, even if it's not his taste. despite popular opinion, james has no actual game, it's all a bluff. the two of you will dance around it for ages before actually going out. dates will be you introducing him to muggle tv and watching his brain implode. and you two are definitely (for some reason) having a war on who can scare the other more from jumping out at random alcoves. he isn't that jumpy though. james does not read, not even for you, but he'll like you to read to him even if he isn't listening to the words so much as your voice.

[peppermintbuttlemon]

“previous anon here. Joseph Quinn cannot go by "Joe Quinn " because there's already someone in SAG with that name. Anything he does , he's listed as Joseph. Yes, his friends and family probably call him Joe but anything to do with his career - it's Joseph. Stop trying to create your own narrative. Also, there were names on that list I'd never heard of so saying that it couldn't be the lesser known "Joe Quinn" is stupid. I don't think Joseph Quinn cares enough about anything/ anyone ( besides himself)to sign his name to something like that, really”

You haven’t given a single proof it’s not British Joseph Quinn…and you are creating an entire narrative based on nothing because you don’t know him personally and you don’t know how people call him irl. The American one is unknown so…

keep being blind

From anon