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hotjaneaustenmenpoll · 8 months ago

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Semi-Final Two

Propaganda...

Mr Knightley (2009):

Johnny Lee Miller as Knightley is JUST SO. I mean the way he says "if I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more" IS JUUUST. The dance scene. The tentative shy smiles. The fact you can see in his eyes the entire time " I am completely in love with this woman. She'll never love me back BUT I DO NOT CARE I'LL LOVE HER FROM A DISTANCE ANYWAY" IS JUUUUUUST

We need to appreciate Mr Knightley more for both his snark and for those soft eyes just so full of love for Emma

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I was just going to send in the actual dance but the little panic he has when Emma says she knows his secret is just soo charming. There was some thread on twitter a few years ago about how a romcom man's most important quality is knowing how to look at a woman and JLM is just the master of it in this Emma

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I really feel like the pictures say it all. He stands there, head tilted to one side. He is listening to you. His posture is relaxed. His gaze open, frank, candid. He's not trying at all. He just is.And that's why he is Knightley.

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Some propaganda, not just for Jonny Lee Miller, but the general interpretation of 09 Knightley. I have some excerpts here from my review of the 09 adaptation:

What I really think is great about the 2009 interpretation of Mr. Knightley is what an easy and comforting presence he is, without being apologetic when he scolds Emma. I think this is communicated especially well by how often we are actually shown Mr. Knightley taking his almost-daily walks to Hartfield, how smoothly he comes and goes, and how happy Emma is every time she sees him coming up the path (usually, just at the perfect moment when she needs something to put her back to rights.)

Here is Emma, feeling lonely after Miss Taylor's wedding. And in the background, walking up to Hartfield--there's Knightley. He's always been there for her, and he always will be.

And also this Mr. Knightley is as understated as ever, but I wanna highlight this outfit and why I love it: This is Knightley’s first appearance in the series and it’s the perfect establishing shot that shows the viewer everything they need to know about Emma and Knightley’s relationship and how it has always been. He sort of materializes, out of focus in the background, but Emma immediately knows he’s there. And to accentuate how much Knightley is part of her home and scenery, his clothes (similar shades of pale tan, white and minty green to the wall behind him) almost camouflage him and make him seem at one with the moulding of her home.

Additionally, Jonny Lee Miller captures Knightley’s playful qualities, and his exasperation is so endearing

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I can’t be the only one tickled by this Knightley’s frustration with Emma! JLM FTW!

Jonny Lee Miller is mesmerizing in any role he inhabits. It’s 2009 Knightly all the way.

no but can you actually go vote for mr knightley he was FOUNDATIONAL for 16 year old me my favourite portrayal of my favourite austen man cannot fall at this hurdle!!!

He is my ultimate Austen Dream Man, I'm with him until the end. Honestly this adaptation is my very favorite of them all (P&P 1995 is a VERY close second) because it made me fall in love with Emma as a story? Honestly no other adaptation or indeed even my reading of the book made me love it quite as much. My crush on JLM goes back to 1995 and I do think he is one of the better actors of his generation - his range alone is just impeccable. The fact that he can go from Sick Boy to Mr. Knightley to Sherlock to Jordan Chase is really something. Of all the actors I know, his range is the most impressive. But i love how bright and sunny this adaptation is. The colors, it is as vibrant as Emma should be! The Kate Beckinsale Emma is dark and terrifying to me, not at all suitable an adaptation. I like the Paltrow Emma a lot, but it's got the same issue the 2005 P&P has for me -- it's just too short. This is tonally just right, and the casting is lovely, and JLM is just at his dashing best. His face is so expressive, he is so capable of communicating so much without saying a word. His open jealousy of Frank Churchill is delightful to watch. His face when Emma tells him his secret is out at the ball! JLM is maybe the most underrated actor of his generation and I LOVE that he has been multiple Austen heroes. I maintain that in a future adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, an older JLM would make an EXCELLENT Mr. Bennet. He would convey the right amount of grumpy but fond beautifully.

Look. Do people realize JLM hates wearing period clothing AND hates dancing? And yet in Emma he's sashaying around in pink jackets looking amazing and is THAT convincing? That's called BRILLIANT ACTING!!

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A tiny bit of Mr Knightley 2009 propaganda but I love that they put in that bit from the book where he looks like he's going to kiss Emma's hand when he's saying goodbye but then he hesitates and doesn't and I just...it's such a tiny detail but conveys so much!

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It’s the only Emma adaptation that really hits the romance notes well. Knightley’s crowning moment of awesome really feels like it (when he rescues Harriet from humiliation) and his subsequent dancing with Emma does make you feel a shift in their relations. Love this adaptation. - This Knightley and Emma in particular are equals. They quarrel, not because he’s telling her off, but because they can have an argument because they know each other, trust each other and care about each others opinions, and there is never a sense of domination of one over the other. This adds so much fire to the romance, and it’s so unusual for a romance of that era (or even one written today!!). - Emma is rich, clever and beautiful and as powerful as a woman of her age and situation could be at the time and she married Knightley for no other reason but because he’s her best friend and his company for the rest of her life will enrich her. - He even leaves his house to move in with her!

Captain Wentworth (1995):

Ciaran Hinds has that perfect ruggedness yet friendliness to his face that makes him the perfect charming Wentworth. And all of the longing that he manages to convey in his eyes is so hot.

Wentworth may be angry/resentful with Anne but in general he is charming and the best friend you could ever have. Ciaran gets the pleasant parts of his character and brings them out, while keeping a guarded coolness (protective camouflage) with Anne.

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I dunno if this counts as propaganda or not, but Ciaran Hinds has a face that looks like it was jackhammered out of a shale cliff.

If a line like 'I am half agony...half hope' comes out of a face like that you know that man has a soul for poetry.

I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.

This is propaganda for the next round because I need my boy to be a finalist! But this letter is all the persuasion I need to know that he is a winner

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Ciarán Hinds in this is a whole other level of "a good man" He makes Anne's decision at the end so much more perfect.

#hotjaneaustenmenpoll #semi finals #mr knightley #captain wentworth #emma 2009 #persuasion 1995 #Emma #persuasion #jane austen #ciaran hinds #jonny lee miller

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sgiandubh · 10 months ago

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@outlanderskin :"For those who have doubts: just research a little about Caitríona's dating history. See how she treated Dave and James and how she talked about them in interviews. See how she wrote about the Irish boyfriend she had in Paris in that article. Compare all of this to the impersonal way she treats or talks about Tony. Bingo🙃"

Good point 👌

Dear Good Point Anon,

You know, it's really serendipitous, as I have just finished a weeklong deep dive in very, very old press articles on (or at least mentioning) S and C, who clearly had a life before OL, thinking it would be nice to put some of my archive work skills to good service.

I think @outlanderskin was referring to C's New York Times article I reviewed and analyzed last summer, but I just found way better: a very long report in the Irish Independent's Sunday issue of July 11, 2004, focused on the next generation of Irish supermodels. Of which there could be only one, at that time: C, who dominates Roxanne Parker's 'Through Thick and Thin".

I am sorry, there is no link available to my knowledge, so we'll have to work with these very poor xerox scans:

I took the liberty of generously using my dreaded highlighter and, for the people who need to translate this post with Google, I am now taking my time to type what I find damn interesting in this almost twenty-year old article:

'If Ireland ever has a hope of having its own supermodel, then Caitriona Balfe is it. Sitting in the Pink Pony Café on Ludlow Street in New York, Caitriona swirls a wad of bread into her carrot and coriander soup while informing me that her musician boyfriend just brought her a breakfast-in-bed of cream eclairs and coffee a little over an hour ago. But that doesn't stop Caitriona from finishing her lunch and chasing it with a large cocoa-dusted cappuccino. Ebony-tressed and ivory-skinned, Caitriona clip-clops down the cobbled street after we leave the cafe, heading towards her apartment in Chinatown with Dave Mailone (sic!), the boyfriend, in tow.'

This reads, in 2024, like an interview with a more benevolent C clone from a totally different planet, indeed. A young, carefree, in love and hysterically funny C, who apparently had no problem heavily dishing out happy tidbits of her private life to her home country's press. A C also very much reminiscing anyone with a brain of the 2013-2018 bantering C, as this quote shows:

Again, you'll have to indulge me retyping it, Anon (tedious, I know - but helpful). She is remembering her real breakthrough, in November 2002, at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, in New York:

That was the most I've ever been paid for a show. I've got 18,000 euros for one day's work! They made me get a spray tan before the show, and I was still the whitest and the least well-endowed girl in the entire show! So what did she have to wear on the big day? `Not a whole lot! I think I described my outfit on the day as something Wilma Flintstone would wear on her honeymoon night. There wasn't a whole lot to it and it had bits of fur hanging off it.'

And, for good measure, we even have a (admittedly, awful) picture with the season's fiancé, with whom things did not end well:

I know, it looks like a Pravda pic, circa 1957 and I am honestly sorry. But it's still very clear. And, which is more important, very eloquent.

Anon and reader, you draw your own conclusions on this. I know where I stand. The only guy C has similar pics taken with and released in the press or on social media is the peasant some love to bash every single day in here. Their problem, not mine.

Yes, of course Mordor will yell and hiss. Of course they will throw rotten tomatoes at the blunt knife and scream THIS IS OLD. But hey, do you have any better than this poor (but oh, so endearingly authentic) picture or than any given S&C pic before the fucking EFH and IFH, when she gradually started to turn into today's Reclusive, Restrained and Rarefied Greta Garbo wannabe?

Oh, and please: don't give me the 'he's shy' or the paperwork crap again. Her public persona has drastically changed, and not for the better. It's plain to see and there are reasons for this.

Who's to blame? This question is so wrong, in so many ways.

The question should be 'what's to blame?'

I'll stop here, Anon and I hope it was somewhat useful. Thank you for dropping by.

#anon #fandom #shitshow

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littlemisstfc · 2 months ago

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Transformers One: Is It Good Or Nah?

Hello, hola、こんにちは。So…it’s been 84 years since I’ve last written on this side of the Hundred Acre Woods. For that, I do deeply apologize for my absence aksksksjsjsj. Anyways…so the Transformers franchise, in terms of the movies, has a very shaky history.

We all know the Transformers movies; it’s pretty known by now that the movies are just a rollercoaster of quality. For every Bumblebee, there will always be a Revenge of The Fallen. When it comes to me specifically, I have a very complicated relationship with this aspect of the franchise for a better part of my life. The original G1 movie is okay. The first movie is alright, ROTF is Satan’s spawn, DOTM is good, AOE is a chaotic mess that I both hate and love, and the less said about TLK, the better. Then, a miracle happened in the form of Bumblebee (2018) and it sets the path of redemption for these movies. It continues with Rise of The Beasts and while it’s an 8/10 movie for me, it’s still a great movie that continues the momentum. Now, it brings us to today.

I wanna bring this up before talking about Transformers One because you will not believe me when I say that this movie is EVEN BETTER THAN LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE FILM SERIES. YES, IT OUTDID EVEN THE GREATEST TRANSFORMERS MOVIES BY A FREAKING LANDSLIDE. JUST…how did we even get a movie like this? The fact that it exists is truly the most mind boggling, yet pleasant surprise so far in the series to date. Words cannot describe the experience I have gone through at this moment. Just…what did we do to get something this incredible and this damn good. Amazing is an understatement; Transformers One is easily the best Transformers movie to date.

The way it gives us genuinely some of the best moments in Transformers history is an indicator of the majesty they wanted to make. Sure, no movie is truly perfect. However, for this one, the amount of things to discuss and think about is something that rivals even the most complex media such as Earthspark and Animated. So what am I doing here standing around for? Let's talk about a movie about two bros chilling in an Energon mine, five feet apart cause they’re not gay! :D

For this review…I’m going to give this movie’s pacing the respect it deserves (due to how crucial it is to the story) by highlighting the most important details I want to talk about in order. After we get the nitpicks and other good stuff out of the way, I’m so excited to unleash all the inner brainworks in my head at the moment. So let’s goooooo.

3, 2, 1, Pingu.

(Also, I will be going into spoilers, so Sparknotes version: it’s a rare 10/10. ✨)

The Good, The Bad, and The Badassitron

Let’s go get the nitpicks out of the way. I say nitpicks because they thankfully don’t drag down the movie for me. First things first: I wish that the main trio of Decepticons (Doritoscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave’s boobs) play a much bigger role here. I felt like how we got from Starscream in charge to now all of sudden loyal to Megatron after having the crap beaten out of him is where the movie could benefit from a few minutes more to the runtime. To me, their loyalty to Megatron by the end is something that needs to be earned. However, like I said, it didn’t bring the movie down for me because they’re not the focus here, The focus is on Megatron’s relationship with Optimus. We’ll get there when we get there. Bee’s fine for what he is, but I feel like he can be cut out of the movie and replaced with someone else. The story would be as it is, like he really doesn’t have much of a reason to be here. However, like I said, he’s fine for what he is. The only other nitpick I have is that it’s weird that the Quintessons have little to no direct involvement in the main conflict, since it’s their rule that led to this mess in the first place. However, since we’re getting two more movies, I’m curious to see how this is gonna play out in the future. Anyways, that’s all I have to say about the issues I have with the movie, so let’s get to the good stuff…EVERYTHING ELSE.

Oh my god, the music score? Easily among my favorite scores in Transformers media to date. The way it not only incorporates music from shows such as Transformers Prime so beautifully, but it gives the world so much life and majesty that is straight out of a Biblical epic. The ending song at the credits reminds me so much of On My Soul, just what an utter bop. Of course, I also need to mention the biggest highlight of this movie…the animation. Oh my god, this movie is utterly gorgeous. Not only are the settings so vibrant and brimming with life and personality, but I absolutely adore the facial expressions on the characters. I’m glad that it’s emotive enough to not fall into the Uncanny Valley, and the characters felt so real. I especially love Orion’s facial expressions, because of how well they convey his growing heartbreak and loss of innocence over the course of the story that we’ll discuss later here. Overall, the music and animation are good enough reasons why you need to see this movie on the big screen. Just…MMMMMMM. Delicious food.

The characters are also really likable and enduring. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like Badassitron going in, but honestly, he’s a Bumblebee done well. He has plenty of funny moments and jokes, and I like how they don’t have him make quips during the more serious moments here and there. He is the comic relief done right. I’m pleasantly surprised by how they handle Elita’s character. At first, based on the promos, she seems to be the Ultra Serious Girlboss who girlbosses her way into the Elita One we all know and love. However, as it turns out, it’s revealed that she’s a neurotic, yet well meaning dork and I love that for her akskssk. I especially love how her relationship with Orion develops over time as they went to find the One Piece. She went from being irritated with his tendency to cause mischief at work and ignoring protocols to warming up to him because of his resilience and optimism (no pun intended) of their people being freed. Honestly, it’s so refreshing to see a flawed, yet likable Elita here and she’s perhaps one of my favorite iterations so far. Moving on, and oh man…where do we even begin with our good buddy Sentinel Prime. Not only is he one of the evil ass motherfuckers in the franchise so far, but he is a fantastic main villain. Just seeing this despicable bastard manipulate his way into power makes you love to hate him, he’s also pretty funny, and the way he poses a threat to our heroes provides enough interesting groundwork for the conflict between two of our main amigos. Also, shoutout to Jon Hamm. He did an excellent job at portraying Sentinel as this smug, arrogant little bitch. Just, amazing. And speaking of portrayals, the entire voice cast did an amazing job here. You can tell how much they clearly respect the characters they’re portraying while also breathing new life into them. This is what animation studios need to do; hire actors that suit the characters well DAMMIT. Other positives I have is the amount of neat cameos of our favorite blorbos in the background, the comedic timing is excellent thanks to the voice actors’ deliveries and banter with each other, and in spite of the darker tone the more it progresses, it also has a very cozy, fun feel to it due to one of the movie’s main central themes. And speaking of themes…this is where we will end the section here.

Now…I am saving the best for last. What I mean by that is that there are two characters that manage to be my favorite aspect of the movie overall. So…let’s go talk about them.

A Tale of Two Friends:

I’m struggling to use the right words to describe how I feel about Orion and Megatron. To me…they’re the true standouts in the movie for me. Their relationship is portrayed with so much care and gravity that they both felt like real people. Not only are they both likable and charming, but seeing their relationship break apart over the course of the movie is hauntingly beautiful and tragic. Trust me, it’s not the shipper speaking here. It’s so refreshing to see them together in the big screen for the first time since The Last Knight, but it’s also so interesting seeing them in a different light than what other Transformers media did. I’m starting in the order of the movie because the movie’s pacing is perfect. Every scene connects to each other perfectly and it makes room for the wild ride we’re in for.

First, let’s start with Orion.

We start the movie off with Orion breaking into the Iaconian Hall of Records and search for anything on the status of the One Piece. Then, he gets caught by some guards and a chase ensues. Right away, we get a good idea of his mischievous, yet curious personality and his determination to discover more about the surface world. He won’t take no for an answer and while it does lead to him getting in trouble often, it’s genuinely admirable to see him have the initiative to make the best of his situation in life. Then, right before he gets caught, Megatron comes in with a cart that serves as a distraction for Orion to slip away and they both head to work.

Right off the bat, we see that Megatron is the more relaxed, more cautious out of the two. He tries his best to stay out of trouble and to keep his good ol unhinged buddy alive due to his wacky shenanigans. At the same time, he also has the same kind of energy he shares with Orion in that they both keep their heads up in spite of their circumstances. Adding to the layers is Orion bringing him the Fallen sticker, which is how we get a good idea of how much they care for each other. True, they have their own frustrations with each other. Megatron is frustrated by Orion’s tendency to get in trouble, along with not recognizing his discomfort with some of the things he drags him into such as the Iacon 5000, and Orion is frustrated by Megatron keeping his head down to avoid trouble. However, they always have each other’s back and they are each other’s equals.

We also see that they’re both kindhearted people who will stand up for the little guy through risking their lives to save Jazz from the collapsing Energon mine, even though it resulted in Elita being demoted. From the start, their desire to make their world a better place is set in stone there. This is furthered strengthened by Orion standing up for Elita by flipping off Darkwing and both him and Megatron needing some milk afterwards. Also, quick side note: Orion’s sass and dynamics with the other characters is so damn refreshing. I love how he literally has no chill in speaking what’s on his mind, and I especially adore how he interacts with Elita. Pure malewife material aksksksz.

Back on track, he then drags Megatron into the Iacon 5000 so that they can prove themselves to be just as worthy as the upper class racers in the game. As they fly through the race track with mere jet packs, their fellow miners cheer for them and they were pretty close to finishing in first place had it not been for the combo of an injury Megatron got and the first place winner coming in. I’m not gonna reveal who won the race, but let me say that who won it is a pleasant surprise. Anyways, this earned the attention of Sentinel Prime and he went down to their recovery ward to personally congratulate them on their boldness in participating. He even offers them a nice ol place in his crib, which they might've accepted if Darkwing didn’t throw them down into Undertale due to his jealousy and anger. Throughout this scene, we see Orion and Megatron being validated by the Prime they’ve admired for so long for breaking out of the status quo and it lays the foundation for later on. Eventually, they met Bee, found the map to the One Piece, and ventured into the surface world while accidentally dragging Elita along for the ride. Pretty landscapes and peril later, they end up in the cave where the bodies of de Primes are at. They wake up Alpha Trion and he reveals the bitter truth:

Uh oh, it turns out Sentinel Prime is a LIAR and that he betrayed the Primes in order to be in charge of the Cybertronian population. Here…we see the innocent viewpoints of Orion and Megatron shattered permanently from here on out. While Orion reacts with anger as he should, Megatron is utterly furious with this horrific revelation. The Prime he has admired for so long, the Prime who just gave him an opportunity to move upwards just minutes ago…turns out to be a cowardly, spineless fraud that took away their autonomy to having basically a crucial organ in their bodies and to make choices for themselves. It isn’t helped by Sentinel giving up the Energon (that they risked their lives in mining for) to the very evil overlords that are responsible for their people being this way for so many generations.

What happens back in the cave is one of three excellent scenes that is borderline uncomfortable due to how realistic it is. We see Megatron essentially having a mental breakdown from finding out his life is a lie and Sentinel is a big stinker. When Orion tries to calm him down, he finally vents to him about his frustrations with Orion’s tendency to cause trouble over the years and calls him out for not thinking before acting on his impulses. It also helps that we see his patience starting to be worn thin earlier in the recovery ward and when Darkwing threw them both in the Undertale. Then, he finishes his breakdown with one simple, yet effective confession: he doesn’t want to just take Sentinel down…he wants to kill him. To say that hearing Megatron say this left me and the theater in shock is a massive understatement. It genuinely caught me off guard, but in a good way. We finally saw Megatron at his breaking point: his entire life, including being worked to death, has been for nothing. It’s a great scene because it’s an argument where you understand both perspectives here. You understand Orion’s bewilderment at Megatron’s unhinged behavior and wanting him to take a deep breath so he can clear his head while you also understand Megatron finally having enough of being a doormat for too long and Orion putting his own wants before others. Neither side is right and wrong, and I appreciate how Orion’s and Megatron’s emotions are valid here. From this point on, all hell breaks loose.

After they gain their T-cogs and the recording to cancel Sentinel on Twitter by Alpha Trion, the main amigos enjoy the euphoria of transforming for the first time. However…we see Megatron enjoying the euphoria of having the T-cog too much. After fighting off one of Sentinel’s soldiers, he forcibly takes the callout post and vows to make Sentinel pay for his crimes. When Orion tries to protest, Megatron coldly tells him to step aside or else there’ll be a problem between them. Orion’s expression here is why I love his facial expressions the most as mentioned earlier. You can see all the thoughts he’s having right now, especially the shock of seeing his best friend giving into his darker thoughts expressed back at the cave. Now, the coin is flipped. Orion is the sensible, level headed one of the two while Megatron is the impulsive, stubborn one that he always scolds Orion for being so in earlier scenes.

As they make their way back home, they ended up captured by some Decepticons and are being interrogated by Starscream and his band of mean girls. When Megatron walks away from the interrogation nonchalantly, Starscream tries to assert himself as the leader. However, it ended up breaking into a fight that quickly went HOLY FUCKING SHIT, HE NEEDS SOME MILK when Megatron overpowers him. We see a horrified Orion in the crowd and they can only look at each other. Their friendship will never be the same after that…especially now that Megatron finally got a taste of power that’s been denied to him all his life. I know that this is probably gonna be a point of contention for some people with how Megatron’s turn to the Dark Side is portrayed here, so let me provide this perspective:

How long did Megatron have these thoughts?

Given presumably how many times he had to bust Orion out of trouble, and having to keep quiet just to stay alive, you have to wonder how long he kept quiet about his frustrations and hidden rage at the circumstances of his life. From that angle, giving into his intrusive thoughts is inevitable. He just needed the push to act on them. Essentially…the poor guy needed therapy, and sadly, there are no therapists on Cybertron. 😔

Eventually, Megs and Badassitron got captured along with Starscream and several other Decepticons by Airachnid. It’s now up to Orion and Elita to team up with the remaining Decepticons left and YOU GOTTA HELP US. Here, we see Orion finally realize how badly he screwed up for not understanding how his actions affected the people he cares about over the years. It got through his head that he didn’t appreciate Megatron’s patience and willingness to protect him from the consequences. While he means well, he doesn’t realize how selfish he’s also being with the things he does in his overactive ways. Upon realizing this, he takes responsibility for the amigos being in this mess…a mess that happened because of him. That was his mistake. He is now left with no choice but to go forward and make things right by his friend and the people they love. Then…we get another one incredible scene and that is Elita’s pep talk to him.

While it starts off a bit comedic due to how this is clearly Elita’s first time with cheering someone up and Orion pointing it out, it then leads to her expressing how she always admire his optimism towards a better future for their kind and his refusal to back down in the face of struggle. It’s the embodiment of the movie’s most important message: having hope even when the odds are against you. That fact that we have such a strong theme in a turbulent era we’re in at the moment is why this scene works so well. Change starts with one person, and then becomes bigger and stronger when they continue to fight against injustice and inspire others to do the same. Thus, Elita’s pep talk gave Orion the drive to get back up and keep moving forward by teaming up with the Decepticons, go back to Iacon, and free their buddies. The theme is furthered strengthened by Orion rallying the other miners into helping him, as he now has the power to make things better for his people.

Quick side note, but Elita is an interesting foil to Megatron’s in terms of how they react to Orion’s unhinged sassy king energy. While she’s also annoyed by his tendency to get in trouble a lot, she has also admire his ability to remain optimistic even with their shitty conditions. Once he takes responsibility for his decisions, she softens up towards him and she remains his dearest friend by the end. In contrast, by the time he has apologized for his mistakes, it’s too late for Megatron. It’s clear that these two are what shaped Orion into Optimus, for better and for worst.

Meanwhile, Megatron gets tortured by Sentinel after repeatedly defying him. Then, he gets the Decepticon symbol carved painfully into his chest by the blue son of a bitch. That essentially became the straw that broke the camel’s back and it ultimately drove Megatron into a point of no return. After the other main amigos rescued the other amigos and a ROBOT FIGHT occurs, Megatron now has the opportunity to finally show Sentinel that his day of reckoning has come. Now, he must die. However, after putting the callout post on Twitter, Orion realizes what his bestie is about to do and tries to stop him. However, Megatron quickly overpowers him and prepares the final blow to Sentinel. Then…what happened next left me and the entire theater in stunned silence for a good few minutes up until one point. At first, I thought to myself:

“Ain’t no way he’s gonna do this. There’s no way they’re bold enough to have Megatron do this.”

But then…it happened. The shot from the fusion cannon meant for Sentinel ended up hitting Orion instead, sending him flying near the entrance to the planet’s core and hanging on for dear life. The moment he cries out to Megatron for help…I bursted into tears right there. His innocent perspective has been destroyed permanently, and he’s now a broken shell of his formerly spunky self. To add more salt to the wound, Megatron reaches for him…only for him to declare that he’s done saving him from trouble after one too many times. Then, he sent him falling into the core. Megatron has crossed the line, and with eyes now red with hate and pain, he finally killed Sentinel in front of a now devoted group of followers who will obey his every word. He has now become the person he has sworn to destroy…

As that’s going on, Orion’s broken, lifeless body is gently brought down inside of the core and it’s revealed that he is the one who is destined to receive the One Piece…aka, the Matrix of Leadership. Thus, he is now reborn as the Optimus Prime we all know and love. The use of a theme from the G1 movie is the cherry on top of an utterly haunting, yet powerful scene that needs to be seen on the big screen.

After he has risen and put an end to Megatron’s madness, he decides that the best option for them both is banishing Megatron and his followers from Iacon. The fact that he chose this option instead of simply killing his former best friend really speaks a lot about not only his character, but also how much their relationship has essentially been ruined by how different they are in terms of wanting change. Alas, Megatron goes off into the sunset with his followers and Optimus is left there…mourning the death of their once great bond. When it showed a memory of how they met afterwards, it made me sobbed uncontrollably. At this point, you’re left with one question:

Will they ever go back to where they were at before?

Thus, we end on a bittersweet ending…an ending of two former friends who were torn apart by the sins of the fathers and the aftermath of said sins. All there’s left to do is wait and hope that everything will be okay soon.

Overall…Orion and Megatron are what makes the movie for me. Their chemistry, their character development, and the phenomenal performances of Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry are what makes them the most layered, most complex iterations of the characters respectively.

Conclusion: IT’S SO GOOD, YOU GUYS.

Words cannot describe how Transformers One is a phenomenal love letter to the franchise I hold very dear to my heart since I was a kid. Overall, this is a fantastic movie that you will love.

It has phenomenal characters, gorgeous animation, an amazing score, and a powerful story of how you have the power to change the world and make it better. For the very first time since Cyberverse, I award the very rare 10/10 to this film.

Please check it out. I applaud everyone involved in this project for making it a beautiful work of art for the fans. It is indeed more than meets the eye.

#transformers #transformers: one #transformers one #transformers: one spoilers #tf: one #tf:one spoilers #tf: one spoilers #spoilers #val talks

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cardicoven · 9 months ago

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hi!! could you share any of your experiences interacting with persephone? or how has it felt to communicate with her? or even just fun anecdotes. ive given her an offering and im so happy to worship her... but god theres so little info or people talking about her!!!

Hey! So thanks for the lovely question, its great to hear that your reaching out to Persephone and are looking into worshipping her. I've been working with Persephone for around 3 years, giving weekly (often daily) offering and have maintained an altar space for her throughout that time. I say this not to boast or seem all knowing on the topic but to give some small context on my practice with her. Like many others my practice and worship of Persephone varies with the seasons, I feel her most strongly in Spring and Summer. During this time when light her candle I feel her presence, almost in that way when a Parent/Mentor/Guardian looks in your direction and you feel their eyes on you. When I leave offering during these months, I often experience feedback sometimes emotional, rarely I'll hear an affirmation, 'Thank you' or 'how thoughtful' kinda thing. When I call for her assistance in ritual I feel her behind me, sometimes guiding my hand, or I'll smell/taste something she advises for the ritual, only for the feeling to pass when I lay my hands on the herb/oil/item suggested. When it comes to divination she a dedicated card in my Tarot the 10 of Pentacles (which in my deck is the Pomegranate 10 of Crops, I use the Bottanical Deck link) and in my experience she's always happy to make it appear when she has something to say during Divination. In Autumn and Winter my experiences with her is very different, she feels distant, less patient, she's in the Underworld and has stuff to do. I don't feel her when I light my candles or leave small offerings. Only when I Invoke her and ask for her help in ritual do I feel her presence, its powerful, not stern per se but business esc, she's there to help and her time is not to be wasted. During this time I only invoke her when I really need her, most often in death work, or partially important banishings/protections and I always have a sizable offering at this time. That's not to say Persephone is not comforting or compassionate towards me in the colder months, her attention is elsewhere, and her responsibilities are with the dead.

That's all little heavy so here's a fun Anecdote. A few Years ago, myself and some witchy friends had a Party, there was plenty of drinking and debauchery (we were celebrating a friends bad break up). During a lull in the evening we pulled some cards and did some Tarot, nothing serious just good fun freaking out a few non-witchy friends, nevertheless Persephone had a word or two to share on the breakup, and while I don't remember much of it, it consisted of pointing out the Guys flaws and highlighting my friends strengths. After we put the cards away my friend asked how she should thank Persephone for her insight, I said leave her a wee offering, pour a shot out for her outside. My friend did so and said the following 'Thank for your wisdom Lady Pomegranate', before going back inside and passing out. I guess it's the thought that's counts.

Just gonna finish this off with a small list of recommended Reading since Anon is just starting out, and hopefully it might be useful. I'll link to Goodreads, but you should be able to find copies of these online somewhere if you try to. o Persephone's Pathway by Jennifer Heather: link : a wonderful exploration of Persephone from a modern pagan perspective but not without flaw. (my review) o Greek Religion by Walter Burkert: link : Currently making my way through this, it's academic and a heavy read but so far enlightening. o Old Stones, New Temples by Drew Campbell: link : an older book about Hellenic reconstructionism, reading it atm, so far its heavy but good. o Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts: link : On my reading list, 'This volume presents a case for how and why people in archaic and classical Greece worshipped Underworld gods.' o Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS: link : I haven't got around to this yet but it's comes highly recommended. Hope this helps, and thanks again for the ask.

#persephone #persephone deity #persephone goddess #persephone devotee #paganism #witchblr #witchcraft

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a-fox-studies · 5 months ago

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Hi! I struggle with how to study efficiently. Any study tips you can give? Thank you! you're an inspiration <3

Hihi! Thankyou for the compliment :)

I'm disabled, so my study techniques have changed a lot over the years, so I'll give you both — when I was able-bodied and what I do rn.

(able bodied)

Reviewing lecture notes

📝 So the first thing I do is, review the day's lectures after coming home before doing any other leisurely activities. I come home, eat something, then look through the topics that have been done for the day, and make sure I understand everything. I don't STUDY it, but only read through.

Posing deadlines for myself:

⏳ I do this for a few days until a significant amount of portion is done, and THEN I start studying. I finish one chapter per day, or if it is a huge one, split it for two or three days. I usually pose a deadline for myself — if i have 5 hours to complete this part, and it has 25 pages, so i need to complete 5 pages in one hour, which is 1 page every 12 minutes. I know this is very specific but giving specific deadlines for myself help me complete things faster. And breaking up big chapters like this also make em less intimidating.

Pomodoro:

🕑 I used a 60-10 pomodoro, give and take a few minutes — and it worked because when I was able bodied, I could focus for longer periods of time without any difficulty.

Making notes: Is it required?

✒️ One important thing to think of while taking notes is— do you really need to take seperate notes in order to study, or is reading from the textbook enough for you? Personally, my textbooks have information that's spread through pages and I like my study material to be concise and to the point. I zone out really quickly while reading from the textbook because the information is EVERYWHERE. Abd also the lack of color makes it boring lol. This is why i make seperate notes. If you have no problem with reading from the textbook or any other printed material, I think making notes would be a waste of time.

Physical vs Digital notes:

⌨️ I extensively take physical notes. I love writing down information, color coding them, and highlighting key points. The colors help me visualize the page during the exam, and sometimes I remember an answer only because it was written in a different color than the rest of the page.

I know people who take digital notes, but that doesn't work for me because again, I zone out while reading things from a screen XD. But there are a lot of advantages like easy portability, better organization etc.

(disabled)

Start early

📝 I start studying from the first day. Since my health fluctuates a lot, I don't know when I will go down with a flare and not be able to study. So I start early and try to be ahead of the lecturers so even if I take a few days off, I'm not lagging behind.

Pomodoro:

🕑 Sitting for a long time messes up my hips, so I use a 20-5 pomodoro. I study for 20 minutes and then walk around for 5, stretching a little etc.

Posing deadlines:

⏳I make a schedule but not a very harsh one. Because I need to make it flexible as my health fluctuates a lot. So I usually assign study days for two days, then take a day off, so that I don't get burntout easily. I usually start with assignments the day it is assigned, so that I can do a little everyday and complete it before the due date without tiring myself out.

Making notes:

✒️ Even if I am disabled, I take notes (this does not apply to everyone, I'm just giving my experience). I've tried taking digital notes, and although the stylus and/or typing is much easier on my hand, I allow myself the pleasure of taking physical notes whenever I have the energy to. Because I genuinely cannot study from digital notes lol. I color code my physical notes so I can remember and recall information easily, and it also makes any topic less boring :D

These are all the tips that I use(d), I hope they help you anon!

#foxtalks #studyblr #studyspo #study tips #tips #study #note taking #study motivation #study inspo #productivity #studying

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bittersweetresilience · 11 months ago

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sunny's year half year in review

because i am all about that self celebration 👏

achievements

🏅 joined a fandom 🏅 got married (🌖) 🏅 made friends (🏮🌺🌋🍜🍀🕊️🦌🧬💤🦎🦭☄️✍️🪨🪶🦚💝🎞️🪄🍞) 🏅 learned new things (📸🪡📑) 🏅 sunnyscrambles

creations

an ongoing amélie dissertation in sentitwin soulmate au. next chapter will be posted on new year's day and will feature art from @moonieratty!

félix and amélie webweaves. my favorites that i've made! all literature is from my graham de vanily reading lists.

ladynoir amv. so many episodes in this. my storage space...

multifandom webweave. the first one i made and still very important to me!

i entered a feverish haze after @nemaliwrites's remixes introduced me to a softer world and the result was Feelings.

my favorite fic i wrote this year. mind the trigger warnings.

recommendations

running in the shadow

i cannot describe how much this fic means to me. i left hundreds of messages during my liveread and i wept all through my comment and my reblog and still it's not nearly enough. it's one of my favorite gifts, one of my favorite fics, and one of my favorite works of art i've ever seen. thank you to @wackus-bonkus-maximus for being a role model, an inspiration, and my first fandom friend.

i love you (for senti-mental reasons)

as the head of the as time goes by pr team, i would be remiss not to recommend something from this series! félix in this universe makes me turn into dynamite. second recommendation is betcha on land (they understand). i'm a big fan of @redundant-lava, you see.

i know there's been pain this year (but it's time to let it go)

what's there not to like about @ninadove's sentitwins? her christmas fic blew me away. i love her creative costume designs, her references to classics and video games, and her accompanying fic art. honorable mentions to la nuit, tous les chats sont gris and everything i did (i did for you).

bon voyage

one of the original highlights of my summer. the dream sequence in chapter four blew my mind. the way this fic was planned to end drives me nuts in the best way.

bell the cat

the single most amazing fantasy au i've read. i'm regularly awed by how incredible it is, and awed by @heartfulselkie's writing, art, and person in general. if i learned how to bind books, this would be at the top of my list. i keep saying it because it's true.

thirteen

our monthly dosage of pain, exquisite backstory exploration, and gorgeous @anna-scribbles prose. i'm always a sucker for pre-canon and this is The fic for adrien pre-canon fans. christmas félix will make me explode.

a rose by any other name

i love everything @asukiess makes but shoutout to loveybug au for being such a fun and creative time for the lovesquare fandom. this fic also comes with the loveyvelours art of all time. the other day i started thinking about kuro neko unprompted. autumn is in my brain...

phoenix félix

this isn't a fic, but i'll never miss a chance to scream about art by @luckychatons. phoenix félix is immortalized in my discord profile picture. i'm blessed to receive secret félix doodles and catsona designs on the down low!

moonie

just scroll through their entire art account. everything they make is an eye feast, and they haven't even posted the half of it. my partner and creative inspiration. the moon to my sun. buy them a coffee for always supporting dead girls club.

#🌃#all of the friends... all of them #decipher my emoji game and win a prize #miraculous ladybug #mostly #no need to interact with this post if you were tagged i just want you to know i genuinely adore your work and wish to #shout it off the rooftops at all times #my self indulgent post turned into a friend gushing post which i think is a pretty accurate yearly summary 🤣

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archduchessofnowhere · 1 year ago

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BOOK REVIEW: Sisis Weg by Martina Winkelhofer

Empress Elisabeth took a break from court life and dared to escape her assigned role, something that no woman of her time, certainly not of her rank, was allowed to do. Until the death of her eldest daughter, Elisabeth was a product of her environment: the good daughter, the devoted wife, the submissive daughter-in-law. She tried to live up to expectations even in her darkest hours, until her body and psyche sounded the alarm. She knew that in this environment the wounds would not heal. She allowed herself long journeys and stays away from the imperial court, and it did not take long for her transformation to begin: from fragile emperor's wife to self-confident empress. From a woman determined by others to a woman determined by herself.

There are already literally dozens of books about Sisi, and most of them have nothing new to say. So when yet another book written by an author that claims they're presenting "the real story" behind the Sisi myth appears, one is naturally distrustful. But only reading the preview of this book made me realize that historian Martina Winkelhofer actually had something new to say about Elisabeth. This book has been in my TBR for the past two years, and tired of waiting for a translation I just went ahead and used an automatic translator to read it. And guess what: this is one of the best books about Empress Elisabeth that exists.

Martina Winkelhofer's biography starts with Elisabeth's birth and finishes with her return to Vienna in 1862, after being away from court for two years. Something that distinguishes her from other Sisi authors is that instead of presenting a novel-like narrative about the empress' life, she adresses on the text the different sources that we have available, and isn't afraid to state frankly that there are thing we simply lack enough information to know for certain. Speaking of sources, she draws almost entirely from primary sources, and not just letters, but also court protocol documents, which brings the Viennese court to life in a way no other book about Elisabeth I've read before achieved.

This is also the Sisi biography with the most sympathetic and balanced depiction of Archduchess Sophie I've ever read, presenting the complex relationship between mother and daughter-in-law without vilifying either woman. Not only Winkelhofer adresses the problem regarding the sources (Elisabeth's statements about her mother-in-law come from after Sophie's death, and Sophie's correspondance and diary entries avoid mentioning any conflicts or quarrels within the imperial family), but also she understands both that Elisabeth was a very young girl who lacked the skills to understand court schemes and was deeply intimidated by the hierarchy at court - and therefore, by her mother-in-law, and that Sophie ultimately had no ill intentions towards her daughter-in-law, but simply couldn't understand why Elisabeth couldn't fulfill her role as empress as tradition demanded.

Another of my favorite things about this book is the attention Winkelhofer paid to Elisabeth's staff. The working and living conditions of her servants is often highlighted. There is a whole chapter focused on Elisabeth's secretary Leopold Bayer, a bourgeois man that was responsible of controlling and organizing the empress' household and was so effective at his job that years after his retirement his system still worked perfectly. Perhaps if you want to read only about Sisi you'll find this chapter, as well as all the other instances in which Winkelhofer focuses on the staff, uninteresting and disruptive, but I loved it. So many authors seem to think that the people responsible for cleaning, cooking and keeping royal households running weren't glamorous enough to deserve even a mention, so it was very refreshing to see how here it was an important part of the text.

To be honest, my biggest complain about this book is that it ended. This biography finishes when Elisabeth returns to Vienna in 1862; Winkelhofer is going to release the second part of her biography in October, but I wish she had just released it as a single-volume book, because if there is a historical woman you can get away with writing a 600+ pages long book is Elisabeth. And while the book is well sourced (over 500 footnotes!!!), she often made more general claims about the general lives of the aristocracy with no citations. Since Winkelhofer has written books specifically about the lives of the aristocracy before I trust she knows her stuff, I just wish she had referenced further literature on the matter. Also because I'm a Queen Marie of the Two Sicilies girlie, it disappointed me that Winkelhofer didn't mention her two weeks stay in Vienna in 1859, nor how her role during the Siege of Gaeta was one of the things that stressed her sister during 1860.

Overall this is a fantastic book that paints a complex and interesting picture of how the child Elise became in the young Sisi and then in the Empress Elisabeth. Let's hope that an English translation is happening soon!

#my new clown hope is that the english translation is going to combine the two volumes into one #book review #historian: martina winkelhofer #empress elisabeth of austria

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bropunzeling · 3 months ago

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15 & 49 for the writing meme if you haven’t gotten those!

15. How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

lmao oh boy. i think like, big top line thing is figuring out what i want from the scene -- sometimes just "hey this [physical act/kink/5 second interaction i had imagined in my head] is hot" and sometimes it's the "this porn is about being abandoned by god" meme. then like. idk. i often just kinda get into the zone when writing sex scenes? like i know where i wanna go and i just. go. no editing no looking back no brakes. just power through until it's done. big things i always highlight are touch/sensation/physicality (more so than what people are seeing?) bc like. idk. going at it through how does this feel does so much of the descriptive work for you, and also neatly ties into emotional states and where you want their hearts to get to! and as far as realism goes -- it's romance fiction. if things go nicer than they would irl or people come at the same time who cares??? that said i DO love a lil bit of sex comedy, like limbs going the wrong places or having to adjust or saying mean things until it all syncs up lol. most of the time i want sex scenes to have big feelings and that includes joyful ridiculousness :)

49. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

people are nice to me 99.9% of the time which is so great but i DID have one person make a super unhinged comment on the fic i posted on my wedding day essentially saying (a) the fic contained cheating (which i would dispute) and (b) that it was weird for me to post a fic of that nature on my wedding day and ngl my finger was QUICK on the delete button trigger. but again 99.9% of the time people are really lovely and generous!!! (i do have some Thoughts about how fandom in the last couple years has resulted in the normalization of behaving rudely to strangers because they make something you like and you feel entitled to it but that is for. NOT tumblr lol)

#ask meme

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seriouslysam8 · 1 year ago

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A Little Ramble - Probably a Rant

I feel the need to say something for a very small percentage of people. Because most of my readers and reviewers are wonderful and I love them so much and I want to give you big, big, big hugs. You guys are amazing and you're the reason I can update consistently.

I get there are people upset with the way I write Hermione out of stories and how I cast her into the background. If you love Hermione, then my stories are not for you. She will never be a main character or even a side character. I will never write her POV. If that upsets you, there is an x in the corner. Utilize it.

I'll only talk about Brumous. This story is really a story about Harry and Sirius. It's about them finding the family they desperately needed for the past fourteen years. It's about Sirius learning to overcome his demons and step up as the godfather he was always supposed to be. It's about Harry learning to rely and accept help from others and learn what a family truly is. The main relationship, the main characters in this story are really Harry and Sirius.

This is not a story about Hermione. This isn't really even a story about Hinny or Remadora or Ron or anybody else. Yes, Hinny and Remadora are the main pairings in this story but Ginny and Remus are really the side POVs in this story. They do not always have a POV every chapter they do not drive the main plot forward, nor are they the center of it. That belongs to Harry and Sirius.

There is really no reason Hermione needs to be in the story. She holds no value, to be quite honest, as she doesn't have a purpose in this story like she does in the books. I'm not writing a character for the sake of writing them, especially when I dislike the character. I don't bash her, I don't make her look bad, I just push her into the background because she's not important to the storyline.

There are plenty of stories where Hermione is a main character, where she gets a POV, where she saves the day with her Mary Sue intellect. That's GREAT! I'm glad there's a bunch of stories people can read about what they like. But there also needs to be stories for people who don't want to read about her. THAT'S GREAT TOO.

The beauty of fandom is that we can find stories for whatever we want. Hinny, Remadora, Jily, Drarry, Wolfstar, Dramoine, Romione, Panville, the list goes on and on and on! There's so many stories that have a wide variety of main characters too! You want to read about Harry: yep, there's that! You want to read about Remus: oh, yeah, there's a bunch of those too. You want Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Neville, James, Lily, Sirius, whoever the fuck you want, YEP THERE ARE THOSE STORIES OUT THERE. HP is a massive fandom with so many talented authors and art and just people in general. You can legit find whatever you want to read. If you don't, you write it yourself!

You want to know what I want to read but couldn't really find so I started to write myself? A story where Sirius lives and he's like a dad to Harry. A story where Hinny had more time together before shit hit the fan. A story where Harry and Ron have an amazing bromance. A story where Harry dealt with his childhood trauma and started trusting adults around him to help him. Finally, a story where Hermione wasn't the focal point and always solving all the issues.

So, please, don't call me disrespectful for pushing Hermione in the background. Don't tell me I ignore Ginny's faults while highlighting Hermione's. Don't tell me that you're disappointed in my writing because Hermione isn't a focal point. Because at the end of the day, this is my story. This is what I want to write. I'm not pandering to what you want. Just because you're disappointed in me or whatever doesn't mean I'm going to change my entire story to make you happy. Because I won't. I don't care. I especially don't care if you're some anonymous person leaving a review since I'm just going to delete your review and move on. Yes, I do delete guest reviews that annoy me. Yes, I block people on Tumblr who want to hound me on my stance with Hermione. I do it because I can and I want to and that's my choice in order to make the fandom experience I want to have.

So, while you're annoyed with my representation of Hermione in MY stories, I'm equally annoyed with you when you can't just let me write MY STORIES the way I want to. I write for free. You want me to write Hermione in some great positive light, then fucking pay me. Otherwise, just leave me alone. Nobody is forcing you to read my stories.

At the end of the day, people can read and write what they want to. If you don't like my opinions on my Tumblr, block me. I'm fine with that. If you don't like the way I portray characters, don't read my stories. I'm okay with that. I found my little niche and I'm happy. I make it very clear what I like and don't like so you know exactly what to expect in stories from me. So, find your niche and the authors who write exactly what you like and be happy.

I am tired of people constantly trying to convince me Hermione is a great character (save your breath because you won't change my mind) or people being rude and telling me my opinion about her is wrong (it's not since we're all allowed to have opinions because they're OPINIONS and not FACTS) or people calling me a Hermione basher (I'm not bashing anyone in my stories - except maybe, maybe Snape a teeny tiny bit but he's a fucking cockwombling asshole and I will not apologize for that. I cannot stop from constantly portraying him in a negative light. Okay, I'm guilty of that.) I'm really tired of answering asks about Hermione or having to explain my reasoning on why I don't like her. I just don't, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. People can like whoever they want to. I shouldn't have to constantly justify my opinion.

I dislike Wolfstar because I don't think it makes sense with canon and I hate the fandom versions of their characters. I do not read Wolfstar stories, I do not follow Wolfstar blogs, I do not bother people who love Wolfstar. They can read and love whatever they like. Good for you! That's amazing. I'll never argue with you about Wolfstar. Because that's your opinion and what you like.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, you don't need to read my stories or follow my Tumblr or bother me if my stance on Hermione bothers you that much. In words of Elsa, let it go!

I've ranted enough but it's just been something that's bothering me for awhile and I'm tired of deleting reviews, asks, or blocking tumblrs.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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theuntitledblog · 3 months ago

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WWE SummerSlam (2024) - REVIEW

I used to look forward to the annual SummerSlam event ever since I started watching WWE following SummerSlam 1996. That event, much like this one, also featured a stunning betrayal in one of its pivotal matches when Paul Bearer betrayed the Undertaker for Mankind. So SummerSlam played a significant part in discovering my love for wrestling, I even bought VHS tapes of SummerSlam 1988, 89, 90, 91, and 92 as I retrospectively discovered that era of wrestling. SummerSlam 1996-8 remained highlight events during my time of watching WWE but with the exception of perhaps the 2000 and 2002 event, SummerSlam to me never quite felt as important again compared to the other Big 4 events of WWE.

Perhaps part of the issue is that SummerSlam lacks a unique concept; Royal Rumble and Survivor Series have always been built around a particular match type while WrestleMania has always been the biggest spectacle of the sport. SummerSlam has had moments over the years but to me at least it just hasn't felt quite as important to the other 3 ... maybe that's just me, I don't know. The point I'm trying to make is that the 2024 SummerSlam was the first time in as long as I can remember that the event did feel that it had that same gravitas as the other Big 4 events. This is a show that didn't have a diverse card in terms of match type; there were no tag team matches, triple threat, cage, ladder or any other creative match that other events have utilised. This was a stadium show with 7 singles matches that all had a long-term story at its centre and whose outcomes would redraw the map of the main roster. OK, sure, the match outcomes were generally what I predicted, but while watching the event, there were moments where I doubted those outcomes as the in-ring drama drew me in. SummerSlam 2024, for me, has been the best event PLE since WrestleMania 40 and even then, maybe slightly better in some respects.

MATCH 1 - WWE Women's Championship: Liv Morgan (champion) vs. Rhea Ripley

SummerSlam got off to a very strong start with this opening match, which was never going to struggle in terms of story, but when it came to the in-ring action? I wasn't sure, but that doubt was more about Liv Morgan than Rhea Ripley. There's no question that the Liv Morgan of recent years couldn't be more different than the way she was during her time with The Riott Squad, but even then there's been something about her that hasn't always convinced despite defeating Ronda Rousey for her first World title. Her scrappy style in the ring, the constant underdog presentation didn't help the feeling that she was often punching above her weight when stepping into the ring with the likes of the Four Horsewomen, Asuka and even Rhea Ripley. However, since returning at the 2024 Royal Rumble, things have felt felt very different with her. She had a strong showing in the Rumble and Elimination Chamber, and the post-WrestleMania storyline between Morgan and the Judgment Day has been an unexpected hit. She's looked convincing in the ring, the storyline with Dominik has been captivating week after week and this is by far the best program she's featured in where she looks strong.

So, going back to my doubts regarding the in-ring action for their match at SummerSlam? I needn't have worried. This was a fantastic match from start to finish that thankfully, didn't feel like a complete mis-match. Rhea Ripley got to show off her superior strength and looked superb and Liv Morgan likewise worked in some good offense and felt like a threat with a clever injury angle that I honestly couldn't tell was real or not judging by Ripley's excellent selling. But this was a match where you sensed something was going to happen, but you just weren't sure what exactly. In the end, it was exactly what this match needed, and while Morgan got the major win, the post-match betrayal with Dominik will absolutely be what this match is most remembered for thanks to tolheir performances, the crowd reactions and even the commentators. It's an outstanding start to SummerSlam in a match that delivered more than I could've hoped for.

****

MATCH 2 - Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (champion) vs. Bron Breakker

How do you follow an outstanding opening match? By being something different. This was an interesting match as firstly, this was pretty much the only match on the card that came down to the in-ring action alone. The second thing was that out of all the matches on the card, this is the one I would've changed to maybe a Triple Threat Match and include the likes of Jey Uso or Ilja Dragunov rather than just duplicate the previous PLE. That's not to suggest that this match was bad because it wasn't, but by the end of the night this was the one that I had pretty much forgotten about. It was a short match that cut to the chase by having a dominant Bron Breakker win his first Intercontinental title. It certainly made sense although it didn't offer up any surprises and seemed to realize that they couldn't outdo the match beforehand. I'm excited by what's to come with Breakker as champion but I still kinda felt that their match at Money at the Bank was the better one and I'm not sure what was achieved by delaying it till here. I guess that's why I'm the fan and not the booker.

***

MATCH 3 - United States Championship: Logan Paul (champion) vs. L.A Knight

The rise in the popularity of L.A. Knight has genuinely surprised me and seemed to come out of nowhere following his feud with the late Bray Wyatt. I'm certainly no hater of Knight, but I'd be lying if I said I was a big fan or that his matches were something I particularly looked forward to. But if the match with A.J Styles at WrestleMania proved anything is that he can put on a show and deliver some fun, if not classic, matches. On the other side, you have Logan Paul, who I've stated before is so much better in the ring than he has any right to be. The decision to put the US title on Paul was a controversial one, and I had hoped it might boost the profile of a title that's never felt as prestigious compared to the Intercontinental title. I don't know if they achieved that, although Knight's victory here was a genuine feel-good moment and a just reward for a star whose stock has been steadily rising. The match wasn't the best on the card, but it benefitted from a good story coming in, plus Paul makes for such a dislikeable heel that I was really rooting for Knight here. It was a physical back and forth clash with Paul really showing the consequence of the physicality. A super plex spot looked scary as Paul seemed to struggle to get into the right position on the way down, and it made me and my friend wince. But this was the right result that rightfully rewarded Knight, who I think is an ideal choice to try to elevate this title. I just hope they build upon this moment.

*** 1/2

MATCH 4 - Women's Championship: Bayley (champion) vs. Nia Jax

Nia Jax is clearly enjoying what has been her best run since returning to WWE. She has looked better, been given better storylines, and most of all, she's been impressive in the ring and has put on some great matches with the likes of Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch. Her triumph in the Queen of the Ring tournament was the right decision and has given Nia a well-deserved push into a position that she probably should have reached earlier. Bayley likewise has also had a good run since the Royal Rumble which included a major title win at WrestleMania and a solid reign as champion even if the reign itself hasn't been as quite as memorable as her heel run as champion with Sasha Banks by her side. I liked the Damage Contrl angle and felt that the group didn't go over as much as they probably should have but her Royal Rumble and World Title win at WrestleMania seemed to come out of nowhere and was a recognition for what has been an outstanding career. But you definitely got the feeling that this was Jax's time and while the crowd disappointingly didn't seem to be into parts of this which admittedly didn't have strongest story of the two women's matches on the card. The match itself was pretty good in itself, where both came out looking strong, and the crowd did wake up following the powerbomb spot on Jax. The Tiffany Stratton dynamic with Jax will intrigue going forward, but the only question mark for me is where does Bayley go from here?

***

MATCH 5 - CM Punk vs. Drew Mcintyre with Seth Rollins as the Special Guest Referee

Things couldn't have gone worse for CM Punk at the Royal Rumble. One of the most anticipated in-ring returns in recent memory for a star with so much baggage and drama hanging over him, and it ends with a major injury. In any other circumstance, this would've been a disaster, yet WWE managed to create one of the most compelling storylines and bitterest of feuds in as long as I can remember. This was perhaps the most anticipated match on the card and where one of the major participants hadn't wrestled in nearly 7 months! It's testament to the quality of the change from the McMahon era to the Levesque era of WWE that a match like this can be so anticipated and main event worthy.

I don't know whether Seth Rollins was really needed but I don't think his presence hurt things either especially since it's a reasonable assumption that Rollins vs. Punk is one of the next major feuds to come. I really liked how they built up the tension as much as possible with Rollins delaying ringing the bell while both Punk and McIntyre looked ready to tear each other apart. The match was very physical and was just oozing storytelling throughout and the crowd absolutely loved it. A big thumbs up for the call back to the conclusion of the main event of SummerSlam 1997 as well. I sometimes wonder whether matches like this work as well for a live audience especially when the more story driven moments and exchanges in the ring can only be heard by the viewers at home. Whatever the answer is, what doesn't change is that the in-ring action was good, CM Punk looked great in the ring, the match was filled with compelling drama and delivered on the night.

****

MATCH 6 - World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (champion) vs. Gunther

No other superstar has risen to the top faster or thrived more during the Triple H era of WWE than Gunther. What he lacks in visual flair is more than compensated by his ring presence as a dominant heel in hard hitting matches. Not since Brock Lesnar has a superstar felt as legitimate in the ring as Gunther and it's crystal clear just how much he's valued by WWE in the way he's been booked since arriving on the main roster. His record breaking run as Intercontinental champion is legend in itself and his only pinfall loss felt like the natural next step for what felt was an inevitable run as a World champion. I'm a huge Gunther fan so this is a big moment as a fan but the only downside is that this comes at the expense (sort of) of Damian Priest whom I equally felt was finally coming into his own as champion. It's fitting therefore that two of the biggest rising stars in WWE right now put on the best match of the night.

Did it have the best storyline of the night going in? No however the build-up was helped by some personal jibes from Gunther in the last couple of weeks all the while WWE has been promoting the story of Damian Priest's wrestling career that has helped give things a more personal edge. The brawls they've engaged in on Raw have certainly helped bring a little more heat to the match which made the hard hitting action land even harder. Priest and Gunther looked more than a match for each other with both landing heavy moves including chops which drew blood from The Ring General himself. There were moments where I thought that this might end in a more conventional manner but at the same time there was that sense, given the progression of the night, that more drama might be on the way and in that respect I was not disappointed. Finn Balor's betrayal has been a long time coming and completed the implosion of the Judgment Day which turned out to be one of the biggest takeaways from SummerSlam 2024. This is a match that has redrawn Monday Night Raw considerably while at the same time elevating everyone involved. This has injected new life into the Judgement Day storyline, set up Priest and Balor on a path for what could be a career making feud and and of course elevated Gunther into the main event scene as World champion. This for me was the best match of the night in terms of in-ring action and while maybe the drama of the opening match was tough to beat, in terms of long term consequences this could be even more far reaching.

****

MAIN EVENT - WWE Undisputed Championship: COdy Rhodes (champion) vs. Solo Sikoa

I've got to be honest that I never saw this coming. It's strange to think that for so long we were so focused on the Bloodline storyline with Roman Reigns as Undisputed Champion that we didn't really stop to consider what might happen afterwards. Did anyone really expect to see Solo Sikoa as the next leader of the Bloodline or in the main event for the Undisputed title? I certainly didn't and credit is due for making this new line-up of the Bloodline as credible a threat as possible with the introduction of some new faces that has generally been a success. It's taken some time but with patience and some key victories at Backlash and Money in the Bank, Solo Sikoa for me looks comfortable in this spot and to be fair he and Cody Rhodes put on a very fine match to close the show.

But ... like some of the latter matches of Roman Reign's run as champion, this sadly fell prey to a sense of predictability. The Bloodline rules stipulation that was put in rather last minute was a mistake for me in that it essentially sign posted what we should expect. It's not like this hasn't worked before and I'm not suggesting that this spoiled things, but given the ending of the still rather recent WrestleMania, it just felt too similar and worse too was that the crowd were in on it and waiting. The crowd therefore never seemed too into this match despite the efforts that Rhodes and Sikoa were putting because they knew the match wasn't going to end before that moment occurred. Roman Reign's return stole the show in that match and was the biggest talking point of the main event, not Cody and not Solo which is a shame because they put on a good show.

*** 1/2

OVERALL

I thought this was an incredible SummerSlam and probably best one I've seen in many years. I was surprised how this was a single's match only card but the storylines leading into each of them more than made up for it. Were the results to be expected generally? Yes however the drama involved within each made this event feel like an important one especially in how they've redrawn the dynamics of both Raw and Smackdown going forward.

FAVOURITE MATCH - Damian Priest vs. Gunther

LEAST FAVOURITE MATCH - Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker

FAVOURITE MOMENT - Dominik betrays Rhea Ripley

LEAST FAVOURITE MOMENT - The scary looking superplex during L.A Knight vs. Logan Paul.

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS - Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley

COULD’VE BEEN BETTER - Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker

UNSUNG HERO - Jelly Roll

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iuliacaesar · 4 months ago

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72 Seasons album opinion + my experience at M72 Tour in Madrid

72 Seasons is the eleventh studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on April 14, 2023. This album marks the band's first full-length release since 2016's "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct," as a collaborative effort between the band members and producer Greg Fidelman, who also worked on their previous album.

In this album we can observe a great growth in the band's music production, as we can appreciate Metallica's signature sound, blending thrash metal with elements of hard rock and progressive metal. It features heavy riffs, complex arrangements and powerful vocals, which show a vast development and maturity of their musical skills. From the first track, titled as the album, to the last one, Inamorata, we can notice the great energy transmitted with their powerful intros.

This album also has a meaning. The title "72 Seasons" refers to the first 18 years of a person's life, a period that significantly shapes who they become. The album delves into themes of childhood, personal growth, and the lasting impact of early experiences. I believe this also has a symbolic meaning that shows the transformation Metallica has had through the years.

The album generally received positive reviews from critics, who mostly praised James Hetfield's lyrics and vocal performance but criticized the album's song length and some repetitive song parts.

72 Seasons received three nominations at the 66th Grammy Awards, winning Best Metal Performance for the title track 72 Seasons.

In my view, 72 Seasons had influence from their previous album mentioned before, because they already have a firm model of song structure, with similar riffs, rhythms and vocals.

My favorite songs in this album are 72 Seasons, Screaming Suicide and Shadows Follow. Overall I enjoy this album because of their mature and perfect technique when playing their instruments and vocals, they have great harmony and strength. I would give this album a 9, only because of the repetitive parts in some songs. However in live these songs don't feel long at all, on contrary, they feel short.

On November 28, 2022, Metallica announced the album's title, release date, tracklist and a promotional tour of North America and Europe, featuring Pantera, Five Finger Death Punch and Architects among others, titled the M72 World Tour, and I had the honor to assist the M72 Tour in Madrid, at the Civitas Metropolitano Stadium. The concert lasted 3 hours divided on two days, 12th and 14th July 2024.

Both concerts had amazing visuals on stage screens for those who couldn’t see the members close enough, but even so I felt so close to them, because they really were playing for the crowd, giving a very comfortable and friendly environment. I’d like to highlight that both events started with the song The Ecstasy of Gold from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a moment that reminded me of Enter Sandman live in Moscow in 1991, the first video I saw from Metallica when I was 7 and moreover the largest concert in metal history. But we must not forget that the most important thing is how beautifully and dedicatedly they performed both concerts, which consisted in five songs from 72 Seasons, Ride the Lighting and Metallica, four songs from the Master of Puppets album, two songs from Reload, …And Justice for All, Kill ‘Em All and Death Magnetic, the unexpected song King of Nothing from the Load album and my personal favorite of the night, Moth Into Flame from Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.

This concert is something I'll never experience again, and I must say, 12th and 14th July 2024 will be forever the happiest days of my life, that’s why I’m writing this.

I hope you guys enjoyed my article and I’ll look forward to bring some more :) Also don’t forget to like and follow me on my socials.

much love xoxo

pd: photos aren't mine because my phone camera is shitty :( they're from their official Instagram (@metallica).

#metal #metallica #m72 tour #72 seasons #madrid spain #madrid #papa het #robert trujillo #lars ulrich #kirk hammett #metalhead

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inkedwingss · 7 months ago

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I've never read anything quite like Fever Dream. I couldn't understand a lot of it as I read, although I do understand the characters and plot overall. In each moment, did you understand what was happening? What did you find profound? What did you like best artistically about it, and were there any big philosophical statements?

What a cool, exciting ask! I love this book, I wrote a 6-page essay about it for college at the time and I was never able to read it again because of how strong the experience was for me (I want to preserve the memory).

Latin America's magical realism is not about introducing some fantasy features into the ordinary, is more about the mystical experience of reality itself, the haunting mysteries or inexplicable events of life. They exaggerate the surreal, "magical" aspect to highlight the main issue. I will share more about that in the end.

What I like about Fever Dream the most is its originality. Once you start the book, you have to feel lost. That's the whole point. Schweblin is so bold, she actually doesn't want you to "understand what is going on", she invites you into the MC's feverish dream, and for that to happen you literally have to let go of any expectations and let the story unfold at its own pace. I honestly will recommend this book to any writer who is willing to take the (eco)horror path.

But it's not just about that. Personally, this book got to me because of the "rescue distance" concept — a better translation of the original title. As someone who lost a baby, the whole paranoia that comes from sensing danger, but being blind to it at the same time, drove me almost mad. I ate that book in one afternoon — and I'm a slow reader. Couldn't stop turning pages. It was too similar to my personal experience of foreseeing death, knowing that something was just about to happen, and not being able to avoid it at all. Very cathartic, per se.

But to talk more directly about the book, I will use my own words from a few years back, and if you don't want spoilers, don't read it:

"In the end, the loose thread remains. The feeling of loss is inevitable. All the danger and sense of paranoia culminated in a whirlwind of unstoppable events, engulfing the reader in a tachycardic, spiralling route; and he lands with the certainty that something very important was left behind: the essential and irreplaceable — perhaps, life itself. It's like returning from a trip without your luggage, empty-handed. Maybe this loose thread is the sensation of the entire humanity when confronted with its impotence in the face of a scenario of constant catastrophe, of destruction that disintegrates everything around: the web being woven as one lives, without being able to deviate from the tracks or turn back. The inevitability of evil — are we like Amanda, doing our best to protect those we love, and always losing what matters most? What similarity would we have with David, tying everything in his room (p.136), trying to connect the loose thread of this unreachable distance that can no longer be calculated? He may be trying to connect with what little remains, that which seems solid, in search of connecting then with something familiar; something that sustains a world that seems to be in free fall, heading nowhere. And this world — this same world of mutations, poisoned mist, dead ducks buried in the backyard, of silence that devoured all things, this world of Schweblin's magical realism — this is our own world."

I might upload my reviews and essays one day if I ever have enough energy and time to open a substack or something (they are too long). Latin American literature is fire! I'm glad you have this book a chance :) and thanks again for the ask!

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otomiyaa · 11 months ago

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Top 23 of 2023

Top 23 of 2023 on Tumblr is out and it made me remember something....!!! For those who also remember, I started this game last year and I just thought it would be nice to do it again. For reference, my post is ofc long gone, but here's Mia's~~

Tagging: @ticklygiggles & Everyone who wants to do it lol

Part 1: Fandom Faves

01. Favorite new fandoms of the year: Red, White & Royal Blue, Honkai Star Rail

02. Favorite new ships since this year: Henry x Alex (RWRB) Sampo x Gepard (HSR), Ballister x Ambrosius (Nimona)

03. Favorite anime/TV shows of the year: Atarashii Joushi wa Do Tennen, Our Flag Means Death Season 2, Niehime to Kemono no Ou

04. Favorite movies of the year: Red White and Royal Blue, Nimona

05. Favorite characters of the year: Furina!!!! (Genshin Impact), also Gepard Landau (Honkai Star Rail), Miguel O'Hara (Across the Spiderverse), and a big honorable mention to the Fontaine gang in Genshin Impact (especially Freminet and Neuvillette)!

06. Favorite soundtrack of the year: Genshin Impact - Fontaine soundtrack and the Our Flag Means Death Season 2 soundtrack

07. Favorite book/manga/comic of the year: The Work Love Balance manhwa, and RWRB which is older but I discovered it thanks to the movie coming out.

08. Favorite games of the year: Genshin Impact, still my fav^^

09. Highlight of this year to remember: Bowuigi trending as a ship.

Part 2: Community Review

10. Favorite Tumblr moments of 2023: Tickletober with the very own list Mia and I created, and even though it was a negative thing at first - getting swarmed with kind words from you guys after I lost my blog. I'm a mere humble person but you guys seriously made me feel a little important for a moment there ^///^

11. Favorite fan art of the year: Hard to say, but I'll say this sampard piece I got from Val baby for my bday, and this Ukatake commission by @dokidoki-muffin, this spiderdads commission by @giulscomix, and this Ittorou commission by @chibimochii have also stolen my heart!

And ofc all other commissions of this year (the bowuigi one fs;ijogij; and miguel one omggg, the pokemon commission so CUTE). And *wiggles fingers* I have more on the way....

12. Favorite fic of the year: Hard to say but I've been enjoying a lot of the Tickletober works specifically by @lovelynim and @ticklygiggles, and also this Nimona fic by @bambinella has become a fav, and all RWRB fics by @kourtniwritesagain!!!!! I still need to reblog them here.

13. Favorite ask game of the year: I can't remember which ones I played, but I remember there was a time I had reblogged "post your anonymous confessions" or something, and it resulted in the most interesting asks and conversations with you guys^^ I liked that.

14. My top achievements as a writer/artist/creator/blogger: If I'll be around in a year, this won't be 'writer' but 'blogger', but for this one as a writer, it'll again be completing all 31 days of tickletober right on schedule despite a minor intervention.. :"D

15. My own best fic/post of the year: I have no idea! But if I ask AO3, it answers that my best fic of this year is my bowuigi fic mahahaha (based on kudos btw).

16. My most underappreciated fic/post of the year: Let's give that award to these 2 poor Tickletober fics (which I enjoyed writing a lot) that were not reblogged by anyone meaning they are no longer on Tumblr since my account loss:

Day 21: Horns/Fangs | Sariphi x Leonhart, King of Beasts (Niehime to Kemono no Ou)

Day 23: Party | Momose x Shirosaki (Atarashii Joushi wa Do Tennen)

17. A post of mine that got more popularity than expected: My comeback post! The comments, likes and even reblogs, I couldn't have ever imagined.

18. Something I changed on my blog since this year: You tell me 😂 No but besides the whole blog change, another change is that I got over my embarrassment and was brave enough to commission a couple of artists this year. Me and my money are now in a happy place!

Part 3: Next Year

19. Something I didn’t post this year but would like to do next year: A fic recommendations/faves post (from other writers). Wonder if I'll ever get to it, since my reading and fic reblogging is already not what I like it to be, meaning that every fic I reblog would probably belong on that list lol. But alright, I'd like to make a faves of the faves list then.

20. Goals for next year: Read more...!!! Read more books, more manga, more webtoons, more tickle fics. I love them, so I should read more! My truest ambition.

21. 2024 releases I look forward to the most: Every single update for Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, and also: Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Inside Out 2, Deadpool 3, Venom 3, Kimi ni Todoke S3, and Beastars Final Season!

22. Something else I look forward to next year: Traveling to Japan with my boyfriend! Also: receiving more tickles cuz why not. And last but not least, seeing Taylor Swift live at the Eras Tour in Amsterdam!

Part 4: Spreading Love

23. Shoutouts to people who made my 2023 a better year: I know, and you might know, I didn't do so well last time since I tagged a bunch of friends but also forgot to mention some... not because I didn't care about them but because I am a flopper. So to prevent this embarrassment I won't mention any names this time.

I especially would like to thank everyone who is still around, who is reading this, who followed my new blog. To be honest, on my old blog I felt flattered to have so many followers but I was also aware it was the effect of being active for 7 years in a ton of fandoms, and that it didn't say anything about the accurate number of people appreciating what I was posting.

But to be at already almost 500 followers on this blog? Where I only post shit? Now that's a compliment I will gladly accept. Thank you to all of you for the support!

Last but not least, special shoutout to the friends I talk to on Discord sooo much now, you know who you are!

Question list for copy paste below!

Part 1: Fandom Faves

01. Favorite new fandoms of the year

02. Favorite new ships since this year

03. Favorite anime/TV shows of the year

04. Favorite movies of the year

05. Favorite characters of the year

06. Favorite soundtrack of the year

07. Favorite book/manga/comic of the year

08. Favorite games of the year

09. Highlight of this year to remember

Part 2: Community Review

10. Favorite Tumblr moments of 2023

11. Favorite fan art of the year

12. Favorite fic of the year

13. Favorite ask game of the year

14. My top achievements as a writer/artist/creator/blogger

15. My own best fic/post of the year

16. My most underappreciated fic/post of the year

17. A post of mine that got more popularity than expected

18. Something I changed on my blog since this year

Part 3: Next Year

19. Something I didn’t post this year but would like to do next year

20. Goals for next year

21. 2024 releases I look forward to the most

22. Something else I look forward to next year

Part 4: Spreading Love

23. Shoutouts to people who made my 2023 a better year

#top 23 of 2023 #tag game #personal

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fostersffff · 1 year ago

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The Big Gundam Watch, Part 12: Mobile Suit Gundam F91

Back when I started doing these write-ups, I was pretty certain I was just going to ignore F91. Reading up on it at the time, it was clearly an odd duck: it’s a standalone movie in the Universal Century timeline that takes place 30 years after Char’s Counterattack and 30 years before Victory Gundam, so outside of the manga-only continuation Crossbone Gundam, it didn’t seem worth checking out. But as I and found myself enjoying more and more of the Gundam franchise, I figured I should check it out anyway, especially since the F91 and the Crossbone Gundam are really cool designs.

As it turns out, I really like F91! Unfortunately, this is in spite of some major flaws, mostly stemming from the fact that it feels like a TV series they had to condense into a two hour movie... which it turns out is literally what happened:

So with that put out right at the start, let's get into it:

THE STUFF I LIKED:

I promise I won't start every entry like this, but with the knowledge that this was originally going to be a TV series, I think "the gang" they introduce is perfect. Seabook, Cecily, Seabook's Little Sister, Grumpy Techie, Normal Kid, Team Mom Punk Girl, Seabook's Cowardly Rival, a bunch of kids like the White Base Babies/Shinta and Qum, a literal actual baby- that's a Burger King Kids Club right there, perfectly suited to TV hijinks. Of course, you can't do a lot of goofy, ZZ-esque hijinks in a two hour movie, but they manage to slip some stuff in, and in isolation I thought they were mostly pretty fun.

I'm also really fond of the actual crew of the Space Ark, because they collectively remind me of my favorite version of Bright Noa; people way out of their depth and doing their best with way too much responsibility while being relentless dogged by Federation war hawks who- in a pleasant contrast to War in the Pocket- are maybe the scummiest bastards they've ever been.

With those two things mentioned; I don’t think it’s much of a secret that F91 was almost certainly an attempt at soft-rebooting Gundam. I think it was a noble attempt; unlike Wing, which I regularly derided as “the Universal Century again, but with arbitrary differences”, the differences here feel more considered. For example: Seabook is an amalgamation of Amuro, Kamille, and Judau, Cecily Fairchild is F91’s equivalent of Sayla Mass, but also, she also fulfills the role of a grown-up Mineva Zabi, and the F91 itself is actually pretty special compared to all of its contemporary mobile suits because of Seabook's mom's quirked-up design.

Visually, I really love this movie. I'm not very good at describing visual stuff, so I tend to avoid saying much more than "it's good" or "it's bad", but this movie uses a lot of unusual colors and lighting compared to what came before. Like, I would describe the most commonly reoccurring color in this movie's palette as "periwinkle", and this shot from the first conversation between Cecily and Iron Mask really highlights how important lighting is in this animated feature, which is not something I typically think about when watching animation.

Speaking of: it's crazy to think Unicorn's Riddhe Marcenas was never The Biggest Cuck in Gundam, because Iron Mask has been occupying that position since 1991. Not just literally, but every single word he says and action he takes is just barely not seething. Explicitly mentioning he came to terms with the guy his wife ran off with right before murdering him with psychic powers just to make her sad is peak Cuck Behavior.

Way back in my Hathaway review, I talked about how much I liked the scene of Hathaway and Gigi having to navigate a mobile suit firefight on foot, and for how good that was, F91 actually outdoes that movie. Like, not even 10 minutes in do we get the scene of the baby's mother getting instantly killed by a shell casing, and this is before the fighting starts in earnest.

I pointed this out in a separate post but man do I love the space rescue from Final Fantasy VIII, so finding out that (barring this movie having taken it from something else itself) F91 was the origin of this was a genuinely delightful way to end the movie. Also, even without that comparison, there's is something powerfully romantic about the visual of clinging to your loved one in the endless, uncaring vacuum of space.

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS:

For all the things this movie must have cut, there's an equal number of things it didn't and just rammed in there anyway, like the subplot with Annamarie and Zabine. In a ~50 episode TV series, they could have stretched her growing resentment towards Cecily, defection from the Vanguard, and ultimate clash with Zabine over like 10 episodes, and her death at his hands and his cold dismissal would've had way more impact than it did over the course of 10 minutes.

I mentioned before, Cecily is both a "what if" of an older Mineva Zabi as she appeared in the Zeta/ZZ, which also makes her the blueprint for Mineva Zabi as she actually appears in Unicorn. The flaw here is the Ronah family: unlike the Zabis, who rose to power and infamy with cloak and dagger, the Ronah family just... exists? And they have enough power and resources to form a fighting force as threatening to the firmly entrenched (but arguably stagnant/in-decline) Federation as the Crossbone Vanguard? It'd be easier to handwave if F91 took place, like, 100 years after CCA, but with only 30 years it's just bizarre.

Also not to let Cecily off scot-free, it's very not flattering how easily she fell for the absolute monarchy meme. Like, ok, she's 17 and definitely in over her head, but when Seabook came to rescue her I still don't understand why she was like "no, it's too late, they already convinced me facism is based".

Wiki diving on this subject indicates the Ronah family is basically a new money family that bought an old money name to sound more important, which is delicious, and even sort of ties in with Iron Mask being a Cyber-Newtype, but that's not really present in the movie. Never a good thing when I have to wiki dive to understand something better.

Speaking of this movie only taking place 30 years after CCA: this is not at all the fault of F91, because at the time it was made nothing had else had really been written to have happened aftere Char's Counterattack, but it's very weird to see people who should know better be like "there used to be these people called 'Newtypes', and a special kind of mobile suit called a 'Gundam'".

The Bugs are comically stupid. If I were being charitable, I could chalk this up to Iron Mask being a seething cuck and wanting to be as cruel as possible to the people he's killing, but the idea that self-propelled heat seeking sawblades are a more viable method of mass killing than the gas attacks in Zeta is bananas. (I wrote this right after watching F91, and now that I've had the chance to think back on Zeta- specifically how the first colony we see that got hit with the Titans' gas attack was still uninhabitable years later- I can kind of see the rationale behind the Bugs, but they're still very dumb)

Most of the mech designs in this are pretty great, but I gotta say I'm super disappointed with the Rafflesia. I kept waiting for it to bloom into a dope-ass Qubeley/Kshatriya lookin' thing but it was just the Final Weapon from Mega Man X4.

I mentioned I liked the mobile suit designs, but the Crossbone Vanguard in general is not beating the Star Wars allegations.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

I aspire to own the BEAUTIFUL LIFE TOMINO jacket in the way that other guys with different brain problems than me aspire to own the jacket from Drive.

There was a bunch of stuff in this movie I thought was very funny, intentionally or otherwise:

Despite how horrifying the scene gets, the War Museum fight kicking off with the curator announcing/revealing that the name of the museum is "Roy's War Museum" killed me.

Seabook jumping off the maintenance platform and audibly shattering his knees is incredibly fucking funny.

However, Seabook's mom hopping on a moped and immediately eating shit is maybe the single funniest scene in any Gundam media ever.

You're right, random citizen attending the Crossbone Vanguard propaganda rally: beam flags ARE awesome!

This sentence is just a literal observation of what's literally happening in the scene. Like, thinking about it, most attacks on colonies from space in the Universal Century would necessarily come from what would technically be considered "underground" because of how they're designed, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound poetic. Tomino strikes again!

I've talked about SPEEN before, but it has literally never been SPEEN-ier than F91. Like, here's over a full minute of So Much Fucking Spinning (with the dub audio, where they added in sound effects for everything that's spinning for some reason):

If you don't count the numerous manga follow ups: lol, lmao

IN CONCLUSION:

In an alternate universe where F91 had the chance to be the TV show it was intended to be, I think it would have been successful in trying to soft reboot Gundam. There's a ton of stuff I really like about this, but the execution is lacking because of course it is, and judging it as is without considering hypotheticals, I'd probably put it about on par or just a hair above Char's Counterattack. It has almost the exact same pacing problems I had with that movie, but because it's effectively a clean slate and a single, unconnected, complete narrative, it winds up being a less frustrating watch.

Next up: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory! This one is a coin flip, because I don't think I've ever heard a single complementary thing about this outside of Cima Garahau's design and the fact that it's a beautiful 90's anime OVA, but it takes place in a timeframe (smack between 0079 and Zeta) that is just so rich with potential that even if it's bad, it should at the very least be interesting.

#Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam #F91 #Gundam F91 #Mobile Suit Gundam F91 #The Big Gundam Watch #anime #blu-ray #long post

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anjumbai · 4 months ago

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Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

“I was so absorbed in things I couldn’t change, I forgot about the most important thing.”

I read this in Sylhet and I forgot to take a highlighter for this one, I guess. I couldn’t highlight any of the lines that resonated with me or any that I found to be very cool. Which is pretty odd since I will go as far as stop reading if I don’t have a highlighter to highlight an amazing line. Who knows what I did in Sylhet except drown in my thoughts and drown in the flood.

There’s not much to say about this book except that I read the sequel to this one first and I’m glad the writer keeps finding more creative and fun situations for the characters to be in. That’s what fiction is all about I guess. Create some characters and put them in situations and see how they react. That’s how life is too I suppose. Find yourself in situations, react, and repeat until you’ve found a better version of yourself that you can be at peace with.

“If you could go back in time, who would you meet?” I really love this question. It’s right at the start of the book, and it makes you wonder. I’ll just answer it. I’ll go back in time and meet my friend named Hamim. He was my best friend from playgroup to class 2 and I still think about how he is doing. I’ve found most of my friends from my childhood school yet I couldn’t find a glimpse of him no matter how hard I looked. I hope you’re doing well, Hamim. Are you still fat? I miss walking and chatting with our arms on each other’s shoulders. I miss you, man. Hope you’re doing well.

This book is a really good introductory step for our main characters. I loved the short stories with different characters. The first chapter, ‘The Lovers’, was a bit underwhelming in my opinion and I don’t find it to be a good opener for a book like this. But that’s only because I read the sequel first and a lot of people might disagree, those who understand order. The second chapter, ‘Husband and Wife’, is probably my favorite of the book. It’s simply such a heavy subject matter. Dementia is crazy scary and I can’t imagine forgetting the people I love. Even though life gets hazy and you forget people you once would give the world for- there’s always that one corner in your mind that remembers them. It’s like losing that corner. The very corners that are like the pillars of the foundation your mind has made over the years. It’s basically losing yourself. And how dreadful must it be to witness your loved ones go through that. Imagine your mother forgot you

The third chapter on the other hand felt very personal. It was a story about two sisters, one running away to live her life and the other chasing after her, also her dream. Is freedom really in running away? Or maybe it’s in facing what you are running away. You go against the tide known as fear and uncertainty and you choose things for yourself. How beautiful is that? Yeah it hit home because I have a brother of my own. I can never understand him and vice versa. But I think if we did something together, we’d get along despite our differences and maybe he’s always just one car crash away. Anyways, good chapter. Memorable.

‘Mother and Child’ was spoiled for me simply because I read the sequel first. There’s this one part of the book where someone from the future, a teenage girl, is found sitting on the time travel chair. And I could just tell it was Miki. I think that ruined so much of the anticipation and the hope and the beauty of that moment. I can’t imagine how significant this moment would be for me if I had just read the book in order. But as the start of this review or whatever goes, can’t focus on things I can’t change.

If you couldn’t change the present, would you still travel back to it? Would you? I know I wouldn’t. Probably because nostalgia is a double-edged sword, and wallowing in my sorrows makes me an uncivilized human being. I don’t want to live in that state, but I believe my answer would change along with some time. I’ll let myself marinade for the time being.

It’s been so long since I’ve actually written something. Honestly, I enjoy writing. I’m just living an unhealthy life and let’s just say my country isn’t in the best state either. I always use these books to talk about my thoughts and how I’m doing. That’s a little bit self-centered and I think that’s okay. It’ll be a while before I read the next release, I just have so many amazing books to finish. But yeah, I think it’s an amazing read-through-your-journey book. A great travelling companion because I read half of it in a train on my way to Sylhet. A solid 6.5/10. I enjoyed the sequel too, and I think the book will keep getting better over time. I’d like to see how it ends, because the main characters of the book constantly evolve.

Books are amazing. Also, I’m re-reading Oyasumi Punpun. Anticipate a long post for it. Or not, it’ll just be my thoughts.

Thank you.

#book #book review #bookish #japanese #japan #before the coffee gets cold #toshikazu kawaguchi #review

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