#i really like the original baron scene. i really like how they did it...

[straightyuri]

I love acting like baron isn't scary as if the original scene didn't make me go WHAT THE FUCK?? But they're cute... they're like a little girl in a horror movie to me. It would be so good at standing at the end of a hall motionlessly

[space-mango-company]

Stranger | Chapter 5

← CHAPTER 4 | ✦

TW: Descriptions of Violence, Mentions of Cannibalism

Tags: Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen x Atreides!Reader, Arranged Marriage, POV Second Person, No use of y/n, Original Characters, Canon What Canon

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Not proofread!! Holy moly. Here it is, folks. The scene that inspired this whole fic. I had fun writing this so I really hope you enjoy it. Once again, I appreciate everyone who likes, comments, and/or leaves kudos so much. I really started this fic for myself but good golly, that dopamine rush whenever I get a notif might be more addicting than spice. I'm glad to be part of the bald man brigade.

Also, I can't believe I'm only now questioning why I decided to write this in the second person? I guess maybe I thought this fic would be a lot shorter and not that deep, lol. At this point 'y/n' probably has enough personality to just be a straight-up OC. It's funnier because I don't even find second-person or y/n fics any more engaging either. I always detach myself by giving 'y/n' her own name and only seeing her as a character in the fic.

ANYWAY, sorry to ramble. Stay safe and have a good one, ya weirdos.

You step out into the dark cul-de-sac of the guest hall, illuminated only by the large suspensor lamp in the middle. Feyd-Rautha looks you up and down, seemingly entranced by how the dim light casts his shadow on your modest dress. Atreides green, he recognized.

"Trying to sneak into my rooms again?" you say arms crossed, leaning on your door. "I didn't appreciate the last time, by the way."

"It's my house," he says cooly, "and I did knock this time."

You stare at him indifferently.

"Quite the display from you yesterday morning, using The Voice on me." His voice low and raspy, "I should have you drawn and quartered."

You scoff in his face. "You almost choked me to death. Are you trying to start a war?"

He takes a step closer and his face is inches from yours, you can feel his breath on your cheek, "I didn't think I'd like you this much, little hawk."

"What do you want, Feyd-Rautha?" you had no patience for him right now.

"Ah," he steps back, a dark smile on his face, "I've been waiting to hear my name from your tongue." His hand reaches for your lips. "I've grown quite tired of 'na-Baron'."

You grab his wrist before he can touch you. "If you're only here to toy with me, I would rather be left alone to prepare for bed." You release his hand and turn to open your door.

Feyd-Rautha props an arm against the doorway to block you. "We're to be married in three days," he says, "and I just can't seem to bring myself to let go of my 'harpies', as you called them." He meets your gaze. "You said you'd kill them. Did you mean that?"

You look up at him with steely eyes. He towered over you but your heart felt no fear, "Yes."

His coy smile returns. "Good. Come to my training hall tomorrow," he says, walking away.

"What?" you call after him.

"Dress to fight," he says over his shoulder. "I want to see what you can do, Atreides."

You needed no help from Zora in putting on a loose shirt and long pants. The plain beige outfit certainly wasn't as elegant as the dresses you had been wearing so far. But it was comfortable and you could fight in it, which was all that mattered. Still, you look yourself in the mirror. The soft, airy fabrics draped over your figure well but perhaps you were not in the best shape as you once were. Your muscle mass is much less than your brother's and he wasn't particularly built himself. You admit you did wane off your training sessions with Gurney and Paul leading up to your departure from Caladan. Nevertheless, you were still a skilled warrior. Another secret you've been keeping from the Harkonnens.

You were 14 when you started learning the blade. Watching Paul, 2 years your senior, practice with the Atreides Warmaster lit a fire in you. You didn't hesitate to pester your father to let you train with them and of course, there was nothing he could deny his darling daughter. You were a fierce and determined student. Gurney Halleck was a man you genuinely believed to be one of the best fighters in the Imperium, along with Duncan Idaho. Gurney would train you and Paul on even days. On odd days, your mother would teach you the Weirding Way. These lessons, much like the rest of your mother's teachings, your father wanted to know nothing about. After becoming decently adept at Prana-Bindu and gaining almost complete physical control of your body, Lady Jessica insisted that you also be skilled in the Bene Gesserit style of combat.

You were far from mastery in either but the combination of both trainings made you a formidable fighter. Despite this, you could never seem to beat your brother in a sparring match. A fact that frustrated you to no end, though you appreciated that Paul never went easy on you. You'd always blame it on him having trained for longer than you have. But in truth, you knew there had just always been something special about him.

"Are you ready, my lady?" Zora's soft voice wakes you from your thoughts.

"Hm? Right. Yes, let's go." You quickly tie your hair out of the way and grab your father's dagger from atop your dresser.

There was no fanfare when you entered the hall. On one end, the na-Baron's concubines sat chained on the steps of the shallow recessed pit in their leathers, their glares piercing through you. Your eyes linger on them as Feyd-Rautha and his Warmaster greet you.

"I was starting to think my lady bride was bluffing," Feyd-Rautha says as you approach him. The older man beside him offers you a polite bow.

"Perhaps she wasn't so keen on your brutish games," you bite back. "Your lord uncle won't be joining us?"

"No," Feyd-Rautha crosses his arms, "but he'll be hearing about your victory. Or your demise."

"Right. Well, I assume you'll be releasing them from those chains," you nod towards his pets "Not sure why they're necessary."

"Oh, trust me, little hawk. They're necessary." Feyd-Rautha motions to a servant.

"Your blade and shield, my lady," they bow, presenting you with a knife and a small device you recognize as a Holtzman shield.

"I've brought my own," you unsheath your father's dagger. You contemplate taking the shield but remembering that the na-Baron forwent it during his gladiator fight, you decide to do so as well. "They've no weapons anyway, the shield seems pointless."

Feyd-Rautha shrugs, "If you insist."

You take a deep breath, "Let's get this over with."

You lightly stretch as you walk down the steps of the shallow pit to stand opposite the na-Baron's concubines. You had come into this on the pretense of righteousness. For Iassa, you told yourself. But you've known her a mere two days. A part of you wanted to show off. You were good and you knew it. You could probably kill anyone in this room, even Feyd-Rautha. You craved the respect of the people here: the Harkonnens, the people of Geidi Prime. You figured this was one way to get it.

Feyd-Rautha walks around the pit to one of his concubines and kneels to whisper something in her ear. You assume a fighting stance when he moves to release her from the chains. When you meet her eyes, they are filled with feral bloodlust.

Suddenly, you weren't so bold. The veil of courage you have maintained since you arrived, even when Feyd-Rautha had your neck in his grip, is torn apart when you face this woman. You could tell no part of her would hesitate to rip your throat out with her bare teeth. You were almost relieved they were unarmed, but you weren't sure if that would make them any less lethal.

Fear grew in your chest and you had less than a moment to recite the Litany in your head before the concubine lunged at you.

You crouch down in time and slash at her abdomen as she approaches you. You turn to face her on the other side of the pit and she wastes no time in attacking you again. She attempts to grab your armed hand but you take hold of her wrist first and move to pin it behind her back. Quickly, your blade drags across her throat and she falls to your feet.

The kill has not yet registered in your mind but your heart is racing. You can almost hear your blood coursing through your veins. You held your arms outstretched, your eyes focused ahead, ready for the next one.

Across the pit, Feyd-Rautha licks his lips, smiling as he releases his second concubine. This time, you walk toward her while she moves to attack you. You clock her head with the pommel of your dagger and knock her a few steps back. She reaches a hand to wipe the blood beginning to drip out of her nose. After examining it, she snarls and bares her sharp teeth at you. Your mind is blank now. She dodges your first slash then manages to land a blow to your jaw. You seethe from the pain. You spit out the mixture of blood and saliva filling your mouth. The anger at the hit drives you to rush at her. Seeing an opening, you duck down to her waist and stab her twice. As she falls to her knees, the look of determination doesn't leave her eyes until the very last moment.

When you turn around, Feyd-Rautha has already released the last concubine. The ruthless scream she lets out disorients you. She pounces and knocks you over. She straddles you and pins your arms to the ground, your blade sliding inches away. She screams again in your face at the death of her sisters. You wedge your right knee between you and her abdomen, the only thing keeping her teeth from reaching your throat. You grunt as you struggle to free your hands. In your periphery, you see Feyd-Rautha, wielding his own blade, take a step into the pit.

"GET BACK," you roar, and he is powerless to refuse.

You turn back to your opponent still on top of you and you butt her head with your own. She loosens her grip and you kick her off to hastily crawl to your weapon. When she reorients herself and attempts to grab you again, you hook a knee under her arm and flip the both of you over. With your weight on her chest and both your knees pinning her arms down, she thrashes underneath you, claws digging into your right ankle. You take your blade in both hands and her screaming is silenced when you sink your knife deep into her heart.

When you rise, the room is quiet. Your chest heaves. The stark white ceiling lights don't help the lightheadedness that begins to wash over you in the post-adrenaline rush. Feyd-Rautha says something from behind you but his speech is garbled as you reel from the thrill of what just transpired. You were electrified. You almost... wanted more.

Then, the realization of the revolting scene you are in settles upon you and you are knocked off your high. You look at the leather-clad bodies scattered around you, the grotesque way they lay on the floor, the red blood pooling around them made brighter by the sterile grayness of the room. You did this.

A hand on your shoulder snaps you out of it. In reflex, you turn and raise your blade at the offender.

Feyd-Rautha holds his hands up, "Whoa, easy, Atreides. Trying to kill me? Don't want to start a war, do you?"

You yield your weapon. Your eyes dodge his as you look to your feet and try to steady your breathing.

"Enjoy your first taste of blood?" Feyd-Rautha says, the look in his eyes indecipherable to you. He raises a hand and swipes his thumb on your cheek. It comes away covered in crimson.

You gasp and reach for your face with your own hand. You don't even know if it's your blood or theirs, or when it got on you. Your heart pounded, unable to decide whether you were repulsed or proud.

"Look at you," he says licking the red off his finger. You could not help but stare at him through the strands of your hair that had come undone in the fighting. "You're beautiful like this," his hand reaches for your face again.

"No," you say low and quiet when you swat his hand away, "you're sick." You didn't know if you meant him or yourself. You calmly turn to leave. No one stops you when you make your way up the shallow steps of the pit. As you pass Iassa—no, Zora—by the doorway, you tell her flatly, "Prepare a bath."

You had never taken a life before. Today, you took three. You were glad you didn't know their names. You decided you'd never find out.

After Zora pours a final pitcher of hot water into the bath, you tell her, "You may go. I'll dress myself later, thank you."

She bows and makes her way out of your rooms.

In your solitude, you bring your knees to your chest. You had been quick to wipe the blood off your cheek before you even reached your quarters. Now, you cup the water into your hands and rub it into your face, the slight sting of the heat comforting you.

He was a cruel man, your betrothed. This is what you've decided. Having you kill the concubines he claimed to want to keep so much. But wasn't it you who threatened to kill them? He started it, you argue with yourself, when he had Iassa killed. You felt like a child.

When you used to hear of Feyd-Rautha's exploits, you had to mask your disgust. And yet now, you had killed so easily in that pit as he had in the arena. What was this place doing to you?

When you left Caladan, Paul had never killed anyone either. You wonder if he ever does, would he feel the same exhilaration you did when you slit that first concubine's throat. No. Your brother was fierce but, like your father, he had a good heart. You beat him by three. You hoped it would stay that way.

You think about your future here, marrying Feyd-Rautha. Producing heir after heir under the Baron's watchful eye. You were a broodmare. Despite all your fancy training and education. Despite your little demonstration earlier. It was the bitter truth.

You missed home. You missed walking along the beach at night with your father. You missed your mother's gentle hands brushing your hair. You missed the banter and teasing with your brother. You missed Gurney, and Duncan, and the cold breeze on your balcony, and getting to roam free and going anywhere you pleased. When the tears come, you sink deep into the bath so they might fade away in the water.

← CHAPTER 4 | ✦

Taglist: @torchbearerkyle @austinswhitewolf @dreamlandcreations @emeraldsgirl @strawberryfieldsforevermore @bornslippys @vexis-world @aoi-targaryen @alexandrainlove @mamawiggers1980 @sstardussty @aboutthenabaron

[yogurtisgoodsposts]

I am ranking all the predator(And the avps) movies i have watched!

WARNINGS SPOILERS

____________

1: Predator 2 is my favorite(pls don't judge). I really like Mike as a main character in this movie and he was quite different from the other main characters in other Predator movies. His actor did a good job and i liked the other humans characters. This movie was a bit more brutal and a bit scary in some scenes, like when the skinned people where hanging in the ceiling. City Hunter or as i call him "Ghost"(bc he was invisible very ofen) looked very cool with and with out mask, i liked how he had different patterns on his face and it was a bit fun to see him mimic the kids voice in this movie and how he used some human words. I wonder if he was a newly blooded Yautja or if he was on his first hunt. We also got to see a bit more of their code in this movie, like how Ghost didn't kill a pregnant woman or the child with the fake gun. The only bit I didn't really like was the sex scene Infront of the window(I am uncomfortable with it) but my favorite scene is in the end after Mike killed Ghost and we can see other Yautjas in the end like Greyback(my bbg).

2: Predator Killer of Killers. I loved this movie. The animation reminded me of spider verse, blue eye Samurai and Arcane. The stories where great and i was very excited the whole time as i was watching. My favorite character was Kenji bc he was entertaining in a way i can't really describe. I like his story very much and how his fighting style is(all of the characters where very great tho) and my favorite Yautja in this was probably Baron(the pilot) or Grandel king. I thought Baron was actually very cool bc how different he looked and i saw a TikTok who gave me the idea that he could have been disabled and thats why he hunted using his ship and how he had no dreads and a fake eye. We get to see how different the Yautja culture is and we can hear them speak their own language which just makes this more cool! The designs of everything in this movie is also beautiful.

3: Prey. I find this movie very interesting. It shows us that Yautjas has been observing us and hunting us for generations. I really like Naru as a character, she had a lot of plot armor for sure(almost every human has it in these movies) but she was also smart. I like how we get to see the main character struggle with things thorough the movie and a bit of their daily life. It shows that she does have flaws through the story but she overcomes them. I really like the Yautja in this movie. Feral(as he is called) is probably one of my favorite Yautja designs of this franchise. It shows that Yautjas have different cultural clothing, he wears a lot of bones like the Yautjas from KoK and that could mean he is from that clan. The movie also shows a bit of the Yautja code that they don't hunt injured prey if they themselves have not injured it. The thing i Don't like in this story is how they change the history of the Flintlock that was given to Naru, bc i really like th og story of it(Originally it was Mike who got it from Greyback in Predator 2 who got it in a comic by a French Pirate called Alidon).

4: Predator. This movie is actually a great to getting into this whole franchise. I thought this movie was very great at first and then i got to know it was a kind of a propaganda movie of most movies that was made in 1980's after the USA lost to Vietnam in the cold war(Yk how some movies about big strong American guys), it contains elements that have been interpreted as reflecting the political climate of the time, particularly regarding the US involvement in Central America and the concept of toxic masculinity. The movie shows big army men getting into a forest but they met a even bigger and stronger thing that they can't stop by pure force and fire arms. Dutch survived only bc he outsmarted the Jungle hunter and he would not have been able to fight it.

5: Alien vs predator. This story is also very interesting. I like our main character Lex and i like her dynamic with the Yautja Scar(i used to ship them before i even knew what shipping was). I like how it opens a lot of new lore to both the Alien and Predator franchise and that they are in the same univers and how a lot more different alien species can exist in this univers. The movie is cool and its really interesting about the Yautjas that they send out young hunters to get blooded and it opens also a bit more about their culture. I find the concept that we humans worshiped Yautjas and even willingly offered ourselves so they could get their hunt. I like the designs on the Yautjas and i think my favorite out of the three was Celtic. The xenonmorph queen looked amazing and was intimidating but the scene where she laid eggs was very freaky. I liked how near the end when Scar took off his own mask and marked Lex and how they kinda just looked at each other. It was very sad when he died.

6: Predators. Tbh i kinda forgot about what happened and the names of the humans. I liked our main guy and his personality. My favorite scene is where the character Danny trejo played was actually dead and how the others could just hear him whisper "Help me." And how the main girl shoots him but then she heard his whisper again and then we know it was a recording of him begging. I like the Yautjas in this movie. Somebody told me that they where bad bloods and i find that interesting. Their designs were all cool and i think my favorite was the Yautja who was tide up and later tried to help our main character(also that fact that they said "The enemy of my enemy" line which was also in AVP).

7: Alien vs Predator 2. I am sorry. I think i actually just zoned out during the parts with the humans. I like The Yautja that was called Wolf. I think he was like a elite hunter. I also liked the predaline and her design. The story felt a bit rushed and it was not fun to see Wolf die☹️

8: The Predator. What is there to say? I didn't understand the plot, wtf was the thing about Autism and that it was "The next step in evolution"????? I like the concept of a Yautja trying to help humans and hybrid Yautjas but the fact that Fugitive Predator crashed on earth to help them and then just decided to skinn some humans direct when landing is weird(i know that they probably tried to fight him). I could only brother to learn Nebraskas name and remember it bc he was my favourite character of the humans. He was funny and not that annoying. I like the design for Fugitive and tbh i think Assassin predators design was one of the coolest designs, he kinda looks like a ugly dog that you still like. My favorite part of the movie was the scenes with The Lobotomized hunting Hound. He was very cute and i like in the end how we can see him in the background just watching the sun and chilling as the characters have a mini funeral for the loonise(Rip Gaylord/Nebraska)

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These are just my opinions so you guys don't get offended by them.

[keefechambers]

drop the rabban/piter ship manifesto Please

okay okay okay okay okay all right here we go

point the first: dave bautista and david dastmalchian are hot and therefore we are fully justified in wanting to smash them together like ken dolls

point the second: the 2021 scenes

rabban and piter never interact on page in the original books but denis made the choice to have them in scenes together because narratively they kind of fit as opposite sides of the spectrum of house harkonnen and that is fun. their canonical film scene having the vibe of "this fucking guy" on both of their parts fits the characters and belies a necessary amount of shared history, which is interesting.

plus, things that were deleted: bautista describes a scene where rabban is essentially trying to intimidate piter (i'd guess after their sauna scene with vlad). dastmalchian says there was a short scene of piter and rabban together where he's torturing a prisoner. this is probably the same scene. torturing a prisoner in proximity is basically a date for a mentat i think.

the choice to extend their screentime (even if for the pragmatic reason of not having to cast feyd until he'd have more than a minute of screentime and because denis loves his daves) creates a dynamic that is really cool! the slavering, entitled, shrieking manchild of house harkonnen and the coolly sadistic mentat? it's very hot to think about.

(please see this fanart for a summation of that Vibe)

point the third: narrative functions.

isn't it hot when foils kiss?

within the realm of dune, not speaking to the prequels/graphic novels, just the first book, rabban and piter essentially function as the top tier of baron harkonnen's operation - they are equal opposites, like real actual narrative foils. piter is a mentat and assassin and therefore serves a more subtle, back-end function while rabban is front-facing; he's the older of the nephews, he's a count and he's been ruling arrakis for a while.

the baron literally has an evil plan that involves taking back arrakis, installing piter as the ruler and then killing him and putting feyd in his place. when piter dies, he just does the same plan but with rabban. he treats them as interchangeable despite how different they are. they're at the top of vlad's list of "guys everyone fucking hates" together!

piter is also power-hungry. it makes sense that he'd see the most susceptible to manipulation harkonnen as an appealing target to sink his claws into. piter would absolutely treat rabban like a meat shield against the baron and, conversely, i think rabban would try to use piter to figure out how to keep his uncle happy. neither would succeed, but they would absolutely get wrapped up in each other trying.

additionally, they can't kill each other. neither of them have that boundary with anyone else, and could murderfuck their way through giedi prime, arrakis and lankiveil and the baron probably wouldn't care. but piter can't kill his boss's nephew, even the stupid one, and rabban can't damage his uncle's property. so even if they did hate each other, they would kind of be trapped in this state of flux where they couldn't do anything about it, anyway, so why not just fuck about it?

plus, with piter being a spice addict and rabban nominally in control of arrakis, there's a certain amount of poetry in the idea of piter being attracted to the source of his vices.

i conclude the manifesto with this excerpt from the novel:

like the baron thinks rabban is afraid of him but he's actually angry at him? come on.

[peppershark]

WOLFER --- The real California history behind the Tomione Fic

Convict Lake Camp (OwensValleyHistory.com)

When I was a kid, my family frequently visited Bishop, California. I can still feel the light-headed enchantment of hopping out of the van at a relative's green, creek-watered ranch shadowed by towering granite faces of the High Sierras. The dusty road and sage-sharp aroma propelled my imagination two hundred years into the past.

Wolfer is set in 1890 Bishop Creek, and while some of the location names are changed to fit the story, the town really had ranching barons like the Sacred 28 families, churches which exerted certain levels of social power with the well-to-do folk, boarding houses for mill workers and on-farm worker housing for fruit pickers and cowboys--or perhaps the odd wolfer.

It's amazing what you can dig up when you're procrastinating working on your WIP, lol. I did a lot of initial research while writing a Gingerrose fic set in post Civil War Bishop Creek.

Here are some things I found.

Main Street, Bishop Creek 1880 (OwensValleyHistory.com)

In Chapter 1, Tom rides down Main Street to the marshal's office (played by a grudging Severus Snape) and runs into Hermione.

Way off into the upper right you can see the steeple of the First Baptist Church on Main Street.

East Line Street, Bishop Creek (OwensValleyHistory.com)

Tom chases Hermione to Line Street, where he pushes her up against the Brown's Machine Shed, which is of course re-named to fit Lavender Brown's family.

(OwensValleyHistory.com)

Check out that snow! Sitting at 4,000 feet of elevation in the foothills of the East Sierras, the snow can get quite voluminous.

W.D. Roberts Ranch, Round Valley (OwensValleyHistory.com)

The ranch near the dry saltbeds of Owens Lake where Draco visits Harry, (by way of Mad Eye Moody) might have looked like this.

Cerro Gordo photo taken some time between 1871 - 1879 (OwensValleyHistory.com

We get a brief glimpse of the Cerro Gordo silver mine when Draco and Harry ride off into the sunset together for a night of wild debauchery. The brothels and bawdy houses within these sprawling mining towns would have perhaps been some of the only public places for late 19th-century gays to be themselves. Miss Lola's was among the more famous, and I'm struggling to find the website where I originally learned this this but I believe she hosted queer sex workers and provided space for an early LGBTQ+ scene.

The silver mine itself brought together a richly diverse group of fortune seekers. I accessed California census documents and found that while Bishop Creek was mostly white, Cerro Gordo had a much more diverse population (interestingly all marked with 'I', even Latinx names).

I did a phone interview with the Inyo Historical Society and chatted for an hour with a local historian, telling him I was getting context for a novel. (He didn't need to know that my novel was also a fanfic, hahaha.) The historian told me the mine had Mexican, Black, Chinese, and Indigenous populations working as miners, teamsters (people who drive wagons), cooks, brick masons, farm laborers and all kinds of interesting jobs related to running the mine.

Main Street in Bishop Creek, 1878 (OwensValleyHistory.com

One thing that sticks out in my mind from the conversation with the historian is how the white and Mexican ranchers demolished the irrigation canals the Numuu Indigenous tribes had dug to create a green landscape in Owens Valley. Native Americans have been 'farming' America's landscape for thousands of years in a low-impact way. In Chapter 4, Tom muses on this detail as he's setting a wolf trap on Rosier's ranch.

Perhaps the most illuminating account of the region comes from Sarah Winnemucca, daughter of Chief Truckee (after whom the town is named). Sarah travelled as an advocate for Indigenous rights and cataloged her experience and the story of white settler colonization in her book, Life Among the Pauites: Their Wrongs and Claims which you can read for free here.

Thank you for diving into California history with me!

Read Wolfer here.

[yzafre]

Rise Magic Watch - Lair Games, Breaking Purple, Reparin' the Baron, Air Turtle

Despite being fantastic episodes, neither Lair Games nor Breaking Purple had any magic. ((I did notice the guy talking to Repo in Breaking Purple is the brooch dude from Operation: Normal, though.))

Well. I suppose that depends on how seriously you take the "mind-brothers" scenes, considering "Ninja Mind Meld" is a thing the Hamato clan can do.

Reparin' the Baron, though.... I've been waiting for this.

So, before we get talking about Draxum's powers, let's cover some other things.

First, what's up with the moon-phase iconography the talking heads use?

Very stylized, but its all over the border of their little display. And like, I knowwww it's probably just cause they needed to make it look vaguely mystical and lunar stuff is good for that.

But we're here to over-analyze things! So I will point out that this does have a bit of that circle-magic template we've seen around going on, just with the unique lunar-styling. Is this moon-magic unique to the talking heads? Is it older? More anchored/powerful? Inquiring minds want to know.

There's also a bit of info about Hidden City society - the talking heads decree three crimes against yokai that Draxum commited:

Unlawful genetic manipulation

Unleashing Dark Mystic forces in an effort to destroy humanity

Damaging the cloak of secrecy that has kept [them] safe for eons

Not sure if these are codified as actual laws, or just being decreed by these seeming beings of authority, but it tells us some interesting things about their values.

First - they have rules against genetic manipulation, or at least its a taboo. Given some of the implications we get near the end of the series about the origins of yokai, that's.... interesting.

Next, that fact that there are branches of mystics considered and acknowledged as Dark - and Shredder's armor counts. Also that these heads knew about what went down - presumably to late to do anything. Which, considering that fight seemed to go on for hours.... hm. I guess Mayhem didn't bother reporting back - or he did, and they just decided to leave it up to the turtles. Which. Hm.

Next, they're talking to those mercenaries that showed up in the first episode - or bounty hunters as Draxum refers to them in this episode.

So... Draxum probably didn't provide they're gear, rather it's an arsenal they've built up themselves. Which! In this case I'm going to assume that the containment-sphere they grabbed Mayhem in repels all Mystic Energy (like the shimmer around the train, the barrier on the cell in Draxum's lab) rather than just teleporting - useful if you're bringing in dangerous bounties.

By and large, these guys use the exact same moves, with the exact same effects as last time.

Even the slow morphing transformation is the same - much different from the whirl-wind style we see with the cloaking brooches. I'm really trying to figure out how the two methods are functionally different. This method certainly looks more painful.

Although! There is one difference between what we see here versus in Mystic Mayhem! I don't know if you remember, but in the first episode they did a sort of... honestly it looked like some kind of fusion dance, before they transformed.

Not so, here!

Instead, the light sparks off from where they've got some kind of gem embedded in the armor. Those are not present in the original designs.

I'll be real though, even I can't consider this anything other than a retcon to better fit the way they developed the series. But if you want to incorporate "transformation through fusion dance" into your fan-works... technically its in the text.

We get pretty typical magic from the boys. Although!

I think this is the first time we see this kind of team-attack? Honestly I remember there being more team-attacks than what I've noticed thus far.

Now. On to Draxum.

Alright. So. Draxum can generate vines spontaneously. You might be able to get away with saying he buried his remaining seeds in the floor-boards of his apartment, but there's not other explanation for the scene at Alberto land.

So... why the seed-pods?

Couple possibilities:

Energy conservation. We see here that Draxum is struggling to make vines after having his life force drained by the Dark Armor - so his ability to make vines is directly connected to his internal source of energy. And if you're a Warring Warrior Scientist, you probably want to make that energy last as long as possible. So, if you could store vines and/or mystic energy away ahead of time.... There's a couple possibilities with this idea: that manipulating vines is much less energy-intensive than summoning them, that maybe he's pre-creating vines on off-days and storing them away, that he's somehow enhancing them with his alchemy.... Lots of ideas.

Variety. What we specifically see here is vine manipulation. This is very different from the arm-protections or golems we've seen him used. If I had to say, I'd say that vine summoning and manipulation is his inherent ability, and anything else we see him use is extended purely through alchemy.

There's no way to confirm this... but it fits the evidence.

In any case, Draxum is now integrated into the human world... and gets to commentate on the next bit of trouble we're looking at.

The Arch of... Aquinon? Maybe? Difficult to make out, for me. It's so fitting that Draxum knows exactly what this is - besides him just being deep into all the Mystic bullshit, you just KNOW he looked into this as a possibility for creating his warriors.

Also, the fact that this (admittedly very rich) random dude could just... buy this thing, is very funny to me in context of that "cloak of secrecy" the talking heads talked about in Reparin' the Baron. I think they're a biiiit out of touch on how much the worlds are blurring.

Pretty straight-forward artifact. People go through, get possessed and transformed. The weird bits:

It can make its own cheerleader section?

The little eye on top of the gate seems to open as soon as the "battle" begins - that's also when the players went from shambling zombies to possessed horror movie villain

Also... when they're defeated, rather than the electricity building up to a blinding flash and rushing away from them, it instead... shatters their demon forms? It's a very different effect than we've seen anywhere so far.

Why was this made. Like is there just commonly yokai who go on power trips and want to make dark armies?

I find it funny that the nature of an action show - heroes need to face bad guys - means that we... basically just keep seeing the seedy side of the Mystic world. Like there's probably a pretty normal society somewhere? Sunita has a family, Hueso's kid goes to school... but we sure don't see it, and it just makes the Hidden City seem dominated by the underworld.

[mask131]

Why the Time Bandits remake makes me feel an angry despair (1)

I announced it before: I am mounting my high horses for this matter.

"Time Bandits" is a children fantasy movie by Terry Gilliam, released in 1981. It is one of those "almost Monty-Python-movies" thanks to two other Monty Python actors joining Gilliam's project: John Cleese, playing Robin Hood, and Michael Palin playing a poor guy who keeps being reincarnated throughout history and always has the worst love life. This movie is part of the "Imagination Trilogy" of Gilliam, meant to represent the "childhood imagination" - alongside the dark movie "Brazil", for "adult imagination", and Gilliam's adaptation of the Adventures of the Baron Münchausen, for "old man imagination".

I love Time Bandits. It isn't just that I love, I adore it. This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it was such a huge part of my childhood it literaly shaped my imagination in many, many ways. It is still to this day one of my favorite movies, with such a unique feeling I couldn't find anywhere else but in other Gilliam-related or Python-related movies.

It is one of these rare things where I can say I am really a huge fan. I bought the Criterion Collection DVD, I bought the official script-book, I went online to find alternate versions of the scripts which contained deleted scenes NOT in the official script-book...

I even chose this movie as the subject of my presentation for my high school diploma, doing a full analysis of it that gave me a very good grade. I am really in love with this piece.

NOW if you haven't heard about it, a trailer was released for an Apple + series of (10 episodes I think?). "2024 Time Bandits". A remake by Taika Waititi (among others but he is the main guy behind this).

I had heard of this project a long time ago because Waititi's desire to do something Time Bandits related has been around since his glory days with "What we do in the shadows". He kept speaking about how much he loved Time Bandits and how he wanted to do something related to it.

... I never realized he meant doing a remake a it. Time Bandits has so much potential for sequels or prequels or alternate takes or whatever cinematic terminology you have.

Now, that being said, I don't mind a remake. Waititi has proven to have good ideas and cool projects, and he seemed to really be a fan of the original - plus it was a project he had been dragging for quite some times, so I had still some interests and hopes...

... and then the trailer came out. And I saw it. And...

... You know it will be the first time in my life I will turn into one of those angry Internet ranters mad about a remake of their favorite thing. Never in my life before I was involved on a personal level with disliking a remake but OH BOY here I am.

There are so many things BAD with this trailer. Not wrong. BAD. I don't dislike all about the trailer... But I dislike most of it, and I don't just "dislike" it as in "Oh yeah, they could have done better", no, we are talking about a "I DESPISE this".

Honestly it looks like the people behind this series considered everything that made Time Bandits unique and powerful and cool and weird... and decided to remove it to make it bland, flat and... a sort of flavorless, mass-marketable Americanized modern vaguely super-hero like movie (did Waititi's experience on the Thor movies screwed his imagination THAT badly?)

I literaly do not understand how someone so hellbent and so dedicated to Time Bandits could create a product that looks like was designed by people who only vaguely heard of the original movie's plot. Because the people who made this series clearly did NOT understood the heart, soul or goal or the movie.

I heard something about Terry Gilliam being hired as an executive producer, coming on the set for a planned three months, but leaving abruptly after only three days and never returning. And people concluded that it was because he was pissed off. Seeing the trailer, I am inclined to believe he was.

[graysonwildemere]

original template from @girlnextvore! I did it for my girl Pearl, probably one of the few kindred to get less kinky and horny lmao

I was doing a playlist writeup recently, specifically writing about Unsweetened Lemonade by Amélie Farren, and the original post partially inspired what I wrote about how how her relationship with intimacy and her body has changed not just due to the embrace itself, but her "upbringing" with her sire after. It ended up getting much, much longer than I intended but I attached it below with her full playlist anyway.

CW for blood bond-typical ethical issues, toxic/abusive relationships, etc.

Pearl was in no way a consensualist when she was first embraced into the Path of Cathari. She probably leaned more alleycat if left to her own devices, but would go along with whatever her sire, Eddie, felt like doing on a given night. Pretending to be some poor, drunk college girl that needed a little help finding her way home tended to be a pretty easy way to lure one or a few assholes into a dark alleyway, whether just for herself or where Eddie and the others were waiting. Even alone, she no longer had anything to fear from kine men; her body is a Swiss army knife of tools, from her disciplines to her fangs that kept her fed and kept her safe, kept her positioned as Eddie's right hand.

At that time, Pearl was in a relationship with Eddie and strongly blood-bonded to him. Coercion was baked into every aspect of their relationship. It was the late 1960s and 70s, a time when "free love" dominated the countercultural ethos, but for women, that liberation often came with strings attached. Eddie preached indulging every temptation, but his narcissism and jealousy dictated her life, in and outside of the bedroom.

Even after breaking free of him and the Sabbat, it's really colored her sexual relationships with other kindred just as much, if not more than her own fear and paranoia has. Some of it is in relatively minor ways, like the specific process of her embrace turning her off from any sort of bondage or restraints. She hooked up with one of the wannabe-Barons of Washington DC in a recent session, and despite it being the one way she can fully enjoy sex anymore, there is still that fear of the blood bond, fear of being hurt, fear of anyone holding too much power over her that she has to quash down the entire time.

Pearl only became a consensualist after leaving Eddie and the Cathari, having been with them for 46 years. It wasn’t an immediate or deliberate choice, but for the first time in her existence, she was truly, completely on her own, trying to figure out how to be a person again. The last time she’d felt like a person was when she was 19, sneaking out of her parents' house to go to Woodstock before her second year of university classes began.

I think a lot about the very first time I played out Pearl feeding in-game. She has a one-dot herd that is basically three people she's met at local queer bars and has developed friends-with-benefits relationships with, and while she'd never say that she has a favorite, her favorite is probably Di (Diane), a bartender who knows just about as much about music as Pearl does. During the scene, Pearl was a little on edge, sitting at four hunger but still trying to keep things light, chatting and flirting with Di, but fairly early on, Di cut through the act, telling her in slightly kinder terms to stop stalling and just do it. Up until then she’d been all smiles but when Di said that, it just drops. The mood felt immediately different, because Pearl doesn’t really like hooking up in some storage closet at the bar; she doesn’t like treating it like it’s purely transactional.

It doesn't really help that her herd are all the type of people she probably would've tried pursuing an actual relationship with when she was alive.

Despite everything, the Embrace remains empowering in certain ways. These nights, she deals more with kindred than kine, and while she's physically no match for almost all of them, she is difficult to lie to and hard to hide from. But none of that changes her basic need to eat. Acting as a gofer for two wannabe-Barons means doing so far more often than she used to, and her options for doing so safely, with some semblance of consent, are limited.

Pearl tells herself that what she has with her herd isn’t transactional, that putting in the effort to find people she genuinely likes makes it different. But deep down, she knows it’s not.

[cleolinda]

Weekend links

My posts

I don’t know why, but losing an hour with Daylight Savings is hitting me hard; my eyelids feel glued shut. ONWARD. 

On Patreon: Someone was outside my house and was apparently watching my mom take the dog out and knocked on my front door at 3 am. This is true. I have no idea what the fuck or why. (I actually do not think they were there to watch us.) We are looking into the whole Ring/Nest camera thing. 

This is why I said Tree Removal Guy did not know what he was getting into.��Somebody in our damn hedges at the witching hour knocking softly (so it wasn’t a walrus) on the front door--yeah, I’m freaked out, but at a certain point, where I live is Just Like That. 

Reblogs of interest

The Hot & Vintage Movie Women Poll: Round 1 is brutal and it won’t get any easier from here. The earliest polls in the round have started to close, and [FEWER THAN HALF OF ROUND 1 IS UP, IF YOUR FAVORITE HAS NOT SHOWN UP YET THEY WILL. THESE ARE NOT THE FINALISTS. PROVE THAT TUMBLR CAN READ] some of the contestants moving forward include BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO Maude Fealy, Diana Rigg, Lalita Pawar, Musidora, Asta Nielsen, Angela Lansbury, Lupe Velez, Eartha Kitt, Alla Nazimova, Anna May Wong, Lauren Bacall, Sharmila Tagore, Theda Bara, and Nancy Kwan. DOZENS of polls are still open or have not even been posted yet, please refer to hotvintagepoll’s Ladies 1 tag or the archive view of it.

I chipped in on some reblog propaganda here and there (I tried, Edwige), but I really went in for Ingrid Bergman, to whom I have a slight and questionable resemblance. She tears it up in Gaslight--here is the scene where she turns the tables on her gaslighting (origin of the word!) husband. 

Meanwhile: 

AI is stealing from AI and I hope they steal each other’s dicks off.

The New Twilight Series Will Be Animated, God Help Us All

Submit your stories (by which I mean “short true-ish anecdotes,” not “creative writing.” That’s for Are You Scared) for Too Many Spirits, home of the Meatball Story.

For Hire: Ghost Hunter

Extremely good Labyrinth analysis, but also, “goblin prom” took me out

Behold, the default object!

A Saw heritage post

Lucy the orphan-generating coal baron cat

A dandy lion

Video

Chocolate Guy has learned how to make packing tape

Cream cheese pottery: “this is the chocolate guy’s wario”

“Blue Monday” in Mid Evil Times

Improving your balance with hybridcalisthenics

Genderfluid hijab styles

Him face came around again

hhhkh. nngn. mmah. nah. aaaa. aa.

The sacred texts

“However you think this story will end is wrong”

Haiku Bot speaks

Those are his hooves

Personal tag of the week

International Women's Day.

[lloydfrontera]

hmmm do ya think arcos and marbella use 'my son' for ksh!lloyd because to still have a connection to the original lloyd/acknowledge that this lloyd is not the original but still our son?

yes! that's exactly it imo!

they know this is not their lloyd, this is not the son they raised, but he's kind and he's good and they love him very much, so that's their son now. finders keepers.

i think postcanon they would have the most difficulty calling him 'lloyd' out of everyone but i don't really think it would be that big of an issue. partially because i think lloyd would understand why they would struggle to use their son's name for him, when he doesn't even look like him anymore, and he wouldn't resent them for it nor would they hold it against him. but also because i think in its place they would start using endearments like 'my son' or 'my dear' and there would be so much love packed into their words lloyd would never doubt for one second that they mean it.

i do think he would be a bit overwhelmed by it at first tho. he's so easy to fluster by sincere compliments in the novel that i think being constantly showered with affection like that would have him cringing out of his skin while also hoarding and clutching every word close to his chest.

there's this really cute scene in the novel (that ofc the comic skipped 🙄) that really encapsulates what i mean

"Yes, I see," the baron said as he gazed at Lloyd. "Um, but why are you looking at me like that?" "Whew, how should I say it? I just think that I am blessed to have you as my son." “...” "Haha, did I make you uncomfortable?" "Um, it's not that, but, well, yes, you are making me uncomfortable," Lloyd said. "And you saying it right at my face makes my stomach churn." Lloyd scratched the back of his head. He did throw a pitch to start another project to the baron, but such praise made his face flush red. But the baron continued to send gazes of confidence to Lloyd despite the latter's evident expression of discomfort. Lloyd was perturbed. Just then, he wondered if there still remained in his heart Suho Kim, the discouraged boy sitting cramped in a small room rental. Lloyd eventually broke into embarrassed laughter.

this happens several times btw. like. lloyd gets so embarrassed by how earnest arcos and marbella are about how much they love him, but at the same time, he can't help but crave and appreciate it. and i think that would carry over later on, even if the layer of guilt he had for deceiving them about his identity is gone.

so. yeah :3

[l0ve-f0rever]

you..

you ACTUALLY LIKE the original?

Like GENUINELY????

How?

The characters had NO development or personality for that matter, and practically everyone forgot the og ever even existed, that's how forgettable it was! Peach tea girl was just called tea girl, which is an objectively horrible name, and cyborg ciderman was just... bad.

I mean!

The tropes were SO obvious you could tell what would happen from MILES away. and how was tea girl ALWAYS the damsel? She has. Powers. for god's sake! just LET HER BE USEFUL PLEASE.

don't even get me started on matcha boy aka shitty matcha man. Instead of being a sweetheart who took his job seriously he was literally just Ciderman's doormat???? Like??? it was all just 'yes ciderman ok ciderman whatever you say ciderman' like WHO THE HELL CARES????? also why???? can ciderman not tie his own fucking laces or something? also matchaboy was wayy too much of a useless idiot.

AND. and. THE COMEDY WASN'T EVEN FUNNY. the only time I smiled watching the og ciderman was when it ended, and I knew I would never have to be subjected to it again.

Are you kidding me? Like ccmn2 doesn’t suffer from the same problems.

Sure, I can admit Peach Tea Girl really bloomed in later adaptations, but the other characters have zero personality at all in ccmn2 (at least the mainline series!) You were clearly too consumed by your hatred for the original franchise that you could not see Ciderman’s struggle with morality! Matcha Boy slowly overcoming his subservient nature and learning to stand up for himself! Anyways, tropes aren’t even a bad thing, and Cyborg Ciderman has some very clever subversions if you take the time to notice them!

And, for the record, the comedy is incredible. You’re clearly just too intellectually challenged to understand it.

Even if you don’t agree with me, you can’t tell me that Season 2 Episode 7 doesn’t beat out anything Cyborg Ciderman Number Two has to offer. You can’t tell me that scene where Baron Cola’s Mento bomb is set to go off in a minute, meaning Cyborg Ciderman must either choose to save Peach Tea Girl or the citizens of Rootburg isn’t one of the most beautiful pieces of art ever created. Did you even see Ciderman’s expression as he had to come to terms with just how far he’d go for Peach Tea? His realization that he just couldn’t do what was right? Luckily, Mr. Mint ended up collaborating with Cyborg Ciderman to save the citizens and create Mint Soda, sold at your local convenience store for only 100 yen, but the point still stands!

Did you not see the way that after the battle, Cyborg Ciderman went back to Cider HQ and chugged soda until he got a sugar crash and was too exhausted to move? The way Peach Tea Girl walked in, as she always did, and simply put a blanket over his sleeping form? That scene… it beat out anything Cyborg Ciderman No. 2 had to offer.

But anyways, why am I even entertaining you when I could be talking about our beautiful angel goddess Teruhashi? You should stop wasting your time arguing for an obviously inferior reboot that could not capture the genius of the original, and spend your time praying to Her instead!

[dk-wren]

Buddy Daddies Week - Ep. 5-8 Rewatch

Welcome to Day 4 of my Buddy Daddies anniversary week! For today, I continue my rewatch of the series and present to you some of my thoughts from episodes 5-8! Enjoy!

No notes, only matching side-eye

Can I just give some credit to Miri? Because even though it was quite reckless of her to secretly follow Kazuki and she more or less got lost, Miri was able to retrace her steps to a certain extent back to Yadorigi

Also, sorry if I was slow on this, but when Kazuki is looking for Miri at the park, the little girl he thinks is Miri is wearing a similar orange sweater. However, during this day, Miri is seen wearing her green sweater, which I feel just goes to show how little sleep Kazuki was running off of

Why did Kyutaro open the door right after Ogino left? He clearly was not expecting Miri, so was he expecting trouble from Ogino? Also, what would have happened if Rei took care of Miri in their apartment and Kazuki was still at Yadorigi when Ogino arrived? What then?!

Like I wrote during my ep. 4 thoughts, this moment of the music instantly cutting for when Kyutaro tells Miri what Rei’s job is always cracks me up. Perhaps it is partially due to pacing, but it's just the sudden shift in Kyutaro giving a lengthy explanation into Kazuki’s job, with accompanying music, to him flat out saying “Middle Eastern Oil Baron” and no further explanation is given (besides Miri’s confused reaction)

“You really like them?” I don’t know why exactly, but I’ve always read this line not as Kyutaro being curious and trying to get more answers from Miri, but just outright judgmental. Like Kyutaro is trying to remain polite and neutral by using “them” instead of “fools” or “idiots”

When watching the ending scene beforehand, when Kyutaro says to Rei that he of all people should know what the consequences are for betraying the organization, I always interpreted this to mean Rei had suffered some of those consequences while growing up and after he originally left the organization. But after this rewatch, I’m starting to wonder if it is because he might have had a role in handing out those consequences (as seen in ep. 8)?

ZOO EPISODE!!!

The banter during the end of the opening scene is so funny. Rei’s telling Kazuki to do his best and he’s gonna do just fine taking care of Miri and Kazuki’s first like, aw, thanks for the compliment, and then instantly realizes and turns around to tell Rei he better help out too

Miri did not need to stick her tongue out at Kazuki but she did, and that was absolutely the final straw that broke Kazuki

Again, gotta give credit to Hinata and Kotori cause they easily could have stayed behind with the rest of the class, but immediately decided to stick with Miri and look after her

Another reason to use these screenshots that I have saved? Yes I will take advantage of this opportunity to share them again

For me it’s the fact that Rei and Kazuki could have easily hidden behind one of the trees to keep a close eye on Miri and her friends, yet (I’m assuming Kazuki) decided no, they are going to cram into one of the small playhouses. Both of them are!

I don’t necessarily know if this is the first time, but I appreciate how after seeing Miri on her own with her friends, Rei and Kazuki can have a more or less serious talk, at least one without teasing each other

I know Kazuki is more than a little fed up with Rei and the amount he helps out with Miri/around the house, but I appreciate how Kazuki doesn’t really fight back or argue with Rei when he says that he is trying his best. I know it’s been pointed out before, but it really just goes to show how much Kazuki acknowledges that Rei is trying, even if Kazuki's expectations are a bit higher

I know this isn’t the point of the scene, but LOOK AT MIRI! LOOK AT THE WAY SHE’S HOLDING ONTO REI! LOOK AT THE WAY SHE’S LOOKING AT REI! There is nothing but love in those eyes.

I don’t actually know how true this is, but growing up, my mom would always tell me that I had to blow dry my hair really well so I wouldn’t get sick. So a) it was sorta funny to see that come up in this episode, and b) I love how towards the beginning of the episode, when Miri announces she finished in the bathroom, Kazuki asks if she dried her hair well, while here, you can clearly tell her hair is still wet and Miri is sick the following morning. I know she had been out in the rain (which is another thing I was told by parents, if I stayed out in the rain too long or got too wet/cold I’d get sick), but it was funny seeing this small, potential connection.

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but the attention to detail of Miri progressively getting redder (i.e. hotter) as events escalates. Incredible!

Kazuki’s line at Yuzuko’s grave, “Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten” is so freaking loaded! “I haven’t forgotten” can be interpreted in so many ways, two of which being he didn’t forget to come visit her and he didn’t forget what he did (and why he’s unwilling to allow himself to change)

Every time I watch this scene, my mind goes back to one of my high school English teachers talking about weather symbolism in Shakespeare. And my mind just goes rain!!! Sadness, grief, ah it’s all connected. (And then the sun comes out when Kazuki has the epiphany he can change/be happy without forgetting Yuzuko?!)

Can I please add to the echo chamber of how soft Rei looks with his hand protectively over Miri’s?! This is where Rei belongs! Not with the organization and certainly not with his father!

And now we begin with the Rei focused episode

So you’re telling me…Rei walked all the way from their apartment to the mansion? That is definitely one way to prove his stamina and willpower to the Boss.

I cannot get over Kazuki and Miri’s coordinating outfits! So cute!

Could just be the framing, but with the audience getting to know Rei as he opens up more emotionally and in accepting his role as co-papa to Miri, I love how there is the slightest change in facial expressions (such as Rei’s eyes widening in shock) that the audience can pick up on, but for Shigeki, and being so unattached and uninvolved in Rei’s life (which given their background together, isn’t necessarily a bad thing), it takes some time for him to notice the change in Rei’s attitude

Random thought that keeps me up at night: what was the last straw for Rei? What made him finally say “no more” and run away? Were their previous attempts? And why do I have a full story in my head as to what led up to Rei running away, but probably won’t have the time to write out?

During their phone call, I like to think Rei isn’t really responding to Kazuki’s questions because he doesn’t want to think about their implications or have to think any longer about his father’s demands, along with just wanting to hear the voice of his daughter and partner. He’s in a place that is likely filled with countless memories of pain and trauma, and yet he cannot fully escape it yet. So, even though we see Rei still wearing more of a frown, I bet it’s comforting to hear the voices of the two people he loves the most (oops don’t tell Shigeki that) while there alone.

In a pretty twisted way, it’s crazy how Satoru is the man that both taught Rei how to be an assassin while growing up and kinda the man to teach Rei that he can fight to protect the ones he loved

Moment of appreciation for the sound design of this moment, like come on! Satoru’s final words, along with a sort of rushing wind sound to convey the fall, Rei’s gasp followed by a moment of silence before hearing the impact, followed by a few more seconds of silence. So effective in my opinion!

And now, let me gush over the symbolism of this image! Rei facing the city/city lights, but distinctly separated from it, like how he was raised at Suwa Manor and likely only got a taste of normal life after leaving or when Kazuki entered his life, causing him to still feel like an outside. The distance between Rei and the city because of the water creating a clear separation, really reminds me of the metaphor Rei brings up in ep. 11 about being a boy looking through the window looking at something he thought he would never get. And the fact that his back is turned toward the light, as if admitting his defeat and that he belongs with his father in the darkness of that world. And later, Kazuki comes in their car, bringing even more light into Rei’s world, and pulling him into it.

Another detail that I just love, on the table full of food, there’s two bottles of drinks: one being a wine, presumably for Rei and Kazuki, and another bottle of what I presumed to be apple cider. That way, Miri gets to be a part of the fun and have a bubbly drink too.

And what a cute ending with Rei blowing out the candles, followed by the credits, and that’s it, no post-credit scene

I know today was another lengthy post, so I appreciate your support and time reading it!

We're halfway through the week and I cannot wait to share what I have planned for the next three days, especially tomorrow if all goes according to plan!

-Dakota Wren

[battlekidx2]

Rise of the TMNT First Time Watch Thoughts

Rise is a series I didn’t get into right when it came out. It was released very soon after my favorite tmnt cartoon, 2012, had ended and I was going through a major transition in my life. 

I watched the first few episodes, but my schedule was jam packed and I fell off of watching it rather quickly. I still wanted to give it a shot but later when more episodes were released and I could binge it because I felt that this show deserved more than a fleeting shot. But I didn’t really get around to watching it in full until recently.

I do want to say right off the bat that the backlash against this incarnation when it was first announced was ridiculous. The show hadn’t even aired and people were rallying to cancel it. You can’t judge the quality of something before seeing it and changing something from past iterations isn’t necessarily a bad thing even if it is an adaptation. 

My rule for adaptations is that what’s most important for new iterations is that they understand the heart of the series and characters that they are adapting and I would say that Rise clearly understood the heart of its characters and series but it just chose to adapt it in a different way. And in my opinion that’s great.

And I’m not going to pretend that all the changes worked for me. Some changes just didn’t mesh with me personally and I found myself preferring certain iterations of the characters and their dynamics/arguments from past iterations more. It’s just a matter of personal preference.

I have spoilers below the cut but I want to say that if you haven't watched it I really recommend giving it a shot!

I want to get into my full actual thoughts on the series now that that’s out of the way.

While Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles is a great series, it got off to a bit of a rocky start. The first half of season one, while fun and full of amazing action scenes, wasn’t the type of start to absolutely grip me like the first seasons of 2012 and 2003. It did, however, manage to set itself apart from the other iterations of the turtles and firmly establish the unique personalities of these versions of the turtles, Splinter, and April O’Neil. 

The show clearly had some issues finding its footing at first and I think one of the major issues was that the show itself had trouble figuring out how exactly to implement the changes it made to the lore and characters from past incarnations into the first season, which led to pacing issues and some mixed characterization that took a while to get used to from characters such as Splinter (he gets a lot better later on and I really grew to like him but at first I wasn’t that fond of him). 

But, while I didn’t personally love the first season as much as other iterations of the teenage mutant ninja turtles due to this slow start, once it established its lore and changes and firmly knew what it wanted to be the show really took off and could reach great heights in a way completely unique from the other interpretations. 

This shift occurs about halfway through the first season with “The Evil League of Mutants” when the origins of Splinter and the Turtles and their connection with Baron Draxum finally get revealed (in a really good musical number I might add). This is where I really started to get invested in the new lore of this series and the changes the show made to the characters and backstory.

This is when everything that was slowly and sometimes awkwardly established started to come together and form a much clearer picture of what this series was trying to do. Those disparate pieces that felt a bit strange such as the new characters of Baron Draxum and Big Mama, the idea of the yokai, and the very different and at times kind of perplexing iteration of the foot clan finally interacted to hint at an endgame for this season and it worked much better than I anticipated.

I also was glad we finally got some development for Splinter, his relationship to the turtles, and his backstory. Up until this point he didn’t really work that well for me and the lack of any meaningful interactions between him and the turtles was a bit off putting, but starting with this episode so much new information was revealed about him that vastly improved the character and endeared me to him.

This continued development for Splinter leads to some of my favorite moments from the series.

For example, one of my favorite moments from the first season is when Splinter tricks Donnie and Mikey into going to a demolition derby with him. When Donnie discovers that Splinter lied he gets really upset and believes that Splinter didn’t really want to spend time with him.

It’s made clear leading up to this point that Donnie is really effected by the lack of attention and affection Splinter gives him and before now it was mostly said in a joking way that didn’t betray just how deeply it hurt him but he finally lets it out in a rare moment of vulnerability. And in response Splinter calls Donatello by his actual name for the first time in the series and apologizes. There’s a real and authentic moment of connection that wouldn’t have hit the way it did if Splinter wasn’t characterized the way he was early on. (I also absolutely love rise's version of Donnie.)

It’s not something that necessarily makes him more likable earlier in the series but that characterization early on makes his development and eventual connection with his sons heartwarming. 

The season’s momentum doesn’t stop with “The Evil League of Mutant” or Splinter’s development. It keeps building until it finally reaches the finale, which is a great culmination of all that came before, and ends with the shredder finally being formally introduced into the series and things feeling really dire for the turtles. 

This version of the shredder took him in a completely different direction from all the ones that came before and took a big swing by making him a man merged with a demon. One that’s thousands of years old that the Hamato clan was staked with keeping contained forever.

While this version of the shredder doesn’t have the depth of 2012 or the menace of 2003 they managed to build him up in a way that made his threat feel palpable. The desperation to keep the foot from collecting the dark armor paired with the revelations about the Hamato clan’s duty made it so that the inevitable confrontation felt like one that must be avoided at all costs.

This connection to the Hamato clan brought in an interesting conflict between duty and family for Splinter that we hadn't gotten to see before. When the turtles are captured Splinter is pulled in two different directions one that upholds his duty and one that preserves his family. Splinter eventually chooses his sons over his duty. (This carries over into the second season when they managed to combine the two and become their best selves as warriors and family.)

Another really fascinating aspect of the finale that I haven’t touched upon is how it subverts expectations by having Baron Draxum simply be a stepping stone for the shredder’s release. Up until this point Baron Draxum had been the closest thing to a big bad the series had. We had followed his plan step by step and believed he was the one pulling the strings only for the rug to be pulled out from under him at the last second when the turtles believed they had won.

This led to a cliffhanger that had me on the edge of my seat. It really felt like this was another turning point in the series like “Evil League of Mutants” had been…

But I don’t really feel like the second season carried that momentum over as well as it could have. The battle with the shredder wasn’t the tour de force I expected or the turning point in tone I anticipated. And there are things that were set up in the first season that, when finally seen, felt like anti-climaxes. This is most notable to me in the season premiere and the episode “Goyles, Goyles, Goyles” when we finally see the day that Splinter and the turtles were mutated.

With the premiere it was a weird split between things I absolutely adored– Leo finally displaying his excellent planning and leadership skills– and things I felt were anti-climactic compared to the build-up– the turtles’ fight with Shredder. 

I feel like the Leo stuff is self explanatory. Everyone knows that Leo is traditionally the leader of the turtles and up until this point Leo didn’t show much of that or have any significant development outside of a few select moments, but this was the episode that really showed his potential. 

It wasn’t just his ingenious plan that was really enjoyable to see come together, but also the fact that he knew his brothers well enough to trust in their skills and know exactly how they would be able to fend off and find the shredder. 

As a longtime fan of the turtles I loved this development. I had really enjoyed this version of Leo before now, but this was the moment that won me over to this version of him.

But the way the show handled the face off with the shredder didn’t really work for me. The biggest reason was that most of it happened off screen and then when we did get to see what was going on it was to show that the shredder was weak to tickling. 

After all that build up for the shredder and what a threat he will pose the way it went fell flat, especially considering how the first season finale ended with the turtles thinking they beat the shredder only for a much more powerful version to emerge from the smoke to face them down.

The ending with Big Mama set up some very interesting possibilities that I was excited to see come to fruition in the future (and eventually lead to a phenomenal season 2 finale) but it and Leo’s arc didn’t negate the disappointment I felt with how the shredder and his showdown with the turtles was handled.

Goyles, Goyles, Goyles felt like an intentional anti-climax, but even with that obvious intent it still fell flat for me. This moment was one of my favorite reveals of the first season. The way it was revealed in song by Draxum and his henchmen and the amazing still animation reflecting the words was a real turning point in just how much I enjoyed this series as I said above. And when we finally got to see exactly what happened… it was almost all a joke.

And this type of subversion is very common in Rise. It usually works better for me though because there isn’t as much build up and excitement towards them like there was for the shredder fight and the Draxum and the turtles backstory. 

In fact, there are plenty of moments in this series where this type of subversion works really well for me. In the season one finale the random reveal that the turtles cracked Splinter’s teapot as children and never told him being an important plot point was one that worked really well for me. 

The biggest difference between those subversions is that the one in the finale didn’t magically solve things or completely dampen the more dramatic and emotional moments. The teapot reveal didn’t retroactively make Splinter’s decision to put his sons above his ancestral duty any less meaningful and it didn’t magically save the day like they expected it to. It allowed things to still carry the weight they were meant to while still being funny and unexpected.

The show goes back to problem of the week episodes and as a result does fall into a few of the pacing and tonal issues that plagued the first season, but they were overall stronger and more fun episodes here than they were in season 1 due to the fact that there is a larger cast to bounce the characters off of and a lot more locations to explore. This allowed for some really interesting and unexpected character pairings that made some of the most entertaining episodes of the show.

The episodes centered on April and Splinter are a particular favorite of mine in season 2. 

I wasn’t expecting how much I would adore their dynamic, but it was easily one of my favorites in the entire show. I really liked Splinter’s unwavering faith in April and how they came together to better each other. 

Splinter very rarely has this type of relationship in any of the other shows. He’s mostly the one lifting others up and giving them wisdom and is rarely the one getting support in this type of way. April is able to interact with Splinter’s past in a way the turtles in this show can’t and it allows him to re-establish a connection to who he was in a healthier way than he had prior to her coming into his life.

It’s a great mutual relationship that finds a unique spin to what their dynamic usually is in turtles canon.

Now it’s time to talk about the final few episodes of season 2. These episodes showcase all the best aspects of the Rise show. They take what the series does differently from all the other interpretations and run with them, really showing what the show can do at its height.

These episodes gave me the shredder showdown I was hoping to see in the premiere. He posed the type of threat he had in many of the other shredder incarnations and served the turtles losses that they struggled to bounce back from.

This is the type of enemy shredder should be and the way they had this tie into Splinter’s past was amazing and moving.

The episode where the Baron Draxum sent the Turtles into Splinter’s mind was one of the most emotionally poignant episodes, showing the pain and emptiness of Splinter’s life before he mutated. It puts Splinter’s life before and after the turtles into stark contrast.

Splinter isn’t alone like he felt like he was before and he found a new family after the loss of his mother that gave him the strength and courage to accept the duty he had rejected because of the loss it brought him.

Splinter has grown from the character I was most disappointed with to one of my favorites of the series and this episode really hammered home just how great the writing for him in this series has been.

Splinter isn’t the only one that gets an increase in focus, April also gets some spotlight and a unique and unexpected role in this finale.

April’s growth from human ally to the turtles to a member of their family was amazing to watch. Having that bond that had been cultivated over the course of the two seasons that culminates in these episodes where she becomes an honorary member of the Hamato clan, fusing with Karai and teaching the turtles the way of their ancestors, was such an interesting change from past iterations of the character.

It really felt like her arc and relationship to the turtles was coming full circle when April was the one to talk Raph out of his despair. It really hammered home how far all of them have come and just how much a part of this family April is.

April’s talk to Raph leads into a great moment where the brothers unlock their mystic powers through their connection and trust in one another. They aren’t alone in this struggle or the fight with Shredder. It doesn’t come down to just one of them but their whole family. 

The heart of the turtles and their various series, at least to me, has always been the Hamato family and their bond with one another and this moment shows just how much this show understands that.

There’s just so much about this finale to gush about but there were two minor issues I had. Those are the reveal of Cassandra Jones and Splinter naming Leo the leader.

Cassandra Jones felt like a last minute reveal. The series made a few jokes about Cassandra being called unnamed foot soldier yet had her as a recurring character so it felt obvious that she was going to be a legacy character in some way but having her be Casey Jones felt odd. 

I don’t really know a better way of putting it. I’m not mad or anything and I don’t believe the show butchered Casey like I’ve seen some people say (especially considering how they brought Casey Jones into the movie), but it felt like the most out of left field choice rise had made up until this point. (I do want to say that I feel like this could have turned into a very interesting interpretation of the character if the show was allowed to continue and flesh this decision out.)

And Leo being named leader was especially rushed considering just earlier in the finale (parts 2 and 3) the show really felt like it solidified Raph as the leader. He was the one who was able to make the tough calls and he was the one who learned to trust his brothers in a way he needed to be the best leader he could be.

Leo only really had the second season premiere to set up the idea that he would make a great leader and strategist if he really applied himself but that thread felt like it was dropped for the rest of the season and had no real buildup within the finale unlike Raph’s leadership skills.

These didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the episodes especially considering that they were such a small part of the finale and they were both fixed/expanded on in the movie.

Speaking of the movie. It was absolutely phenomenal. 

This movie focuses on Leo and his journey into growing into a leadership role for the team with the Kraang as the turtles’ adversaries. 

Right off the bat this movie is considerably darker than the main series with the opening alone showing blood and the deaths of both Mikey and Leo. It immediately shatters any possibility of past conveniences present in the series like the Kraang being ticklish or the turtles escaping due to incompetent sidekicks. 

There’s a palpable danger established by this shift in tone that carries on throughout the movie and creates actual tension and stakes to the sacrifices made later on. 

I can also say with full confidence that this is easily the most intimidating the Kraang have ever been in turtles canon. 

While the Kraang have been threats in some of the series and even beaten the turtles more than once I never felt like they were the overwhelming threat they are here. That the turtles were completely outmatched.

This amazing update of the kraang and the threat they pose is paired with a great arc for Leo where he has to confront the more immature and impulsive side of him that has been ever present in the series up until this point.

These flaws had been addressed at varying points throughout the series proper but they were never treated anywhere near as seriously as they are here. 

And it addresses these shortcomings through Rise’s interpretation of the classic Raph and Leo conflict.

Raph and Leo are almost always the two brothers that come into conflict the most often in every iteration of the turtles. Their ways of thinking are incompatible in ways that make it hard for them to see eye to eye. This was something the main series of Rise didn’t really address. For the most part the brothers got along well and any conflicts they did have were either resolved or ended on a joke which fit with what the series was trying to do with them before this point.

I’ve heard a few complaints about this because the conflict between Leo and Raph is something the movie makes it seem like is a recurring problem for them when in reality Leo and Raph don’t really get into any real serious arguments/conflicts throughout the series. In fact, Raph almost never gets angry the way he does at the beginning. Rise Raph’s anger is almost always aimed at himself rather than others. 

And I can understand that to a degree because these aspects weren’t really established in the series but I don’t think either of these inconsistencies really hurt the movie and are in fact explained rather well within the context and time frame given. The conflict itself is well written and has the two coming to an actual understanding that feels organic to both characters.

The movie’s take on Leo and Raph’s conflict has the two switching places from their usual roles. Leo is the impulsive brother that does care deeply about his brothers but makes mistakes due to his personal flaws that gets them in trouble, while doubting/going against the older brother’s wishes/orders. Raph is the older, more responsible brother with the weight of his brothers lives on his shoulders because of his position as the de facto leader of their family (at least before the season 2 finale).

It’s not necessarily a completely unique take on the conflict since the roles are simply reversed with a few tweaks to better fit their characters but it plays out in a way that makes Leo’s arc and journey of growing into his leadership role very impactful in a way that separates itself from 2003 and 2012 Leonardos.

Leo’s arc culminates in such an amazing and heartbreaking sacrifice that, while it obviously didn’t last, was the moment from Rise that hit me the hardest.

The way the movie managed to really hammer home the weight of Leo’s decision and the growth of his character in that moment through everyone’s reactions, the music, and the stunning animation and coloring was incredible.

Outside of Leo’s fantastic arc and the Kraang the animation is absolutely stunning. There’s a reason the fight with the Kraang leader was all over the place after this movie released. The animation for Rise has always been fantastic and here is no exception. I don’t really think I can add anything to this point that hasn’t already been said by anyone who has seen the film.

Honestly if you haven’t seen it yet you should definitely give it a shot.

I’m just really disappointed this movie is probably the last we’ll see of Rise of the Tmnt because from my experience watching the series for the first time this show just continually got better. It introduced and hinted at so many elements from past iterations of the turtles near the end that I really wanted to see their take on.

Overall I think Rise is a really fun series that has amazing highs and a finale and movie that are legitimately great but it is a bit inconsistent in terms of pacing and tone with a rocky start and contains some changes to the characters that didn’t work completely for me personally. 

At its best this show easily stands toe to toe with the heights of the previous series. And in many ways those heights are completely unique from all the other iterations because of how much it twists the previously established lore and characters to make them its own.

After watching this series I can completely understand why so many people love this iteration of the turtles and I do consider the show great. I will definitely re-visit many of these episodes and the movie time and time again.

Extra Thoughts

What is it with tmnt series and dark futures? There’s Same as it Never Was, Mutant Apocalypse, The Rise Movie, The Last Ronin, etc. The brothers can never catch a break and get a nice happy ending can they?

I really love this version of Donnie and I think he's the character that worked best for me in this series. Donatello has always been my favorite turtle and in early iterations of the turtles I was a bit disappointed with how underutilized he was in the series. The episodes focused on him were great, but until 2012 Donatello was easily the most underappreciated turtle with the least amount of focus and screen time of the four. 2012 and Rise finally gave him the attention and focus I always wanted.

I kind of feel bad for saying this but I prefer Rafael and Leonardo’s conflict in the 2003 show, 2012 show, and 2007 TMNT movie to their conflict in this series. I also prefer the Character interpretations of Rafael where he’s the hothead. Where he chafes under Leo’s leadership and is forced to grow and mature so that he can handle his anger in better, more productive ways. I’m not saying this version of Rafael is bad or that Leo and Raph’s conflict isn’t complex, just that I personally prefer different versions of these things. And I completely understand that that’s personal preference. I think that this iteration will definitely work really well for other people and I think that’s great.

I really enjoy this version of Mikey and I'm disappointed he is given significantly less focus than any of the other turtles in this series. All the rest of the turtles get episodes dedicated solely to them and their struggles even April gets more individual focus than Mikey in season 2. I think Mikey is a great character to bounce off of but I was disappointed he never really got much time in the spotlight.

While the lore grew to become one of my favorite things about the series, not all of it worked for me. It was actually mostly the mystic pizza joint and some of the yokai that didn’t work for me because Big Mama, The hidden city, Draxum, the battle nexus, and the shredder/foot all grew on me whereas that part didn’t. I think this had more to do with the fact that the episodes centered on this part of the world were my least favorite in the series than anything else.

This series made the interesting decision to move away from the more grounded tone of past turtles incarnations. The turtles, at least in the shows, had progressively gotten more and more grounded in “reality” with even Donnie’s inventions, while still being incredible, reflecting the limited resources they would realistically have when living in the sewers. This series abandons any tether it might have had to reality and has the turtles out in broad daylight with only hoodies/tops to hide in, Donnie's inventions are even grander than before, and there's a whole hidden city where the turtles can be normal. They also immediately get mystic power and rarely interact with street level crime like their past incarnations. In some ways this worked and made the series immediately recognizable and stand out from its predecessors but in others it made them feel very disconnected from their roots and what made them so relatable in the first place which unfortunately alienated some people.

This ended up working really well for me after things started to come together and I think it’s a bit unfortunate that this will be a roadblock for people getting into the series.

The backlash the character designs got is something that I never really understood. Each turtle looks completely unique and for most of them you can grasp aspects of their personality and what they like by looking at them. This is a mark of good character design.

[howsitduud]

Ranking Every Single Piece of Media I Watched/Played/Read in 2024 Part 2

This is part 2 to this post. I'm not explaining the premise of this list again. This is ranked from worst to best. Let's-a-go.

Rye Lane - 7/10 - I didn’t like it nearly as much as other people, mostly because I’m just biased against rom coms, but this is one of the best-made rom coms I’ve seen. I love all the cool touches and cinematography they add, like Yas’ play or Love Gu’Actually. It does dip into tired rom com tropes by the end, but I still had a blast with this movie.

Robot Dreams - 7/10 - Cute little animated movie about this gay ass dog and robot. The story went in a way I wasn’t expecting, and that ending in particular hit me emotionally. Funnily enough, this has a similar plot to Past Lives, but did it a hundred times better. That’s embarrassing.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - 7/10 - Pretty fun movie and that’s about it. The human plot wasn’t too interesting, but Jia and Trapper were cool characters, but the Kaiju action is where this movie shines, especially the suplex. It’s fun, it looks pretty good, it has good action, it’s about what you expect from a Monsterverse movie.

Ponyo - 7/10 - What a delightful little movie. Its lack of plot is carried by an insanely fun world and charming as hell protagonist. The animation and music are also great, as per tradition with a Ghibli movie. It’s not one of their best, but still worth watching if you haven’t.

Ouija: Origin of Evil - 7/10 - Who’d thought that a movie about a Ouija board would be really good? This movie has plenty of really cool filmmaking, writing, and acting that lets it earn every single scary moment it pulls off. I highly recommend this movie, and as a plus, you don’t need to watch the first to get context!

The Cat Returns - 7/10 - I wanna fuck the Baron. I know the animation is great and the story is super simple, but super fun and all the characters are memorable and it’s probably one of the funnier Ghibli movies, but who cares about all that when I can just fantasize about marrying a fictional cat?

Love Lies Bleeding - 7/10 - I LOVE LESBIANS! Aside from that, this movie is pretty fun, well acted, and the plot is the definition of “never let em know your next move.” Basically, it’s exactly like Drive-Away Dolls, but actually good.

Niel Gaimen’s Norse Mythology - 7/10 - Tumblr superstar Mr. Gaiman strikes again. This is a well-written, fun collection of tales of Loki’s bizarre adventures. I especially like how the last 3 stories led into each other, but I wish that more of the stories did that.

Jackie Brown - 7/10 - While not as fun or action-packed as other Tarantino movies, this is still a well-acted, well-written crime drama. Shoutout to Pam Grier and Sam Jackson for acting their asses off and shoutout to the ending for sucking eggs.

The Secret World of Arrietty - 7/10 - This is one of my partner’s favorite Ghibli movies, so I legally can’t say anything bad about it. Luckily I don’t have to, since this is a really solid movie. I love Arrietty as a protagonist, Haru is a funny villain, and this movie is just overall really cozy. I want to live in that tiny dollhouse holy shit.

Pearl - 7/10 - I think I watched these out of order since I saw this before X but oh well. I expected this movie to have good acting and a lot of tense, gorey scenes, but I didn’t expect it to be as pretty as it was. The color palette and aesthetic of this movie is unnerving in itself and I love it.

Deadpool & Wolverine - 7/10 - This is a really fun, campy, gorey as hell entry into the Deadpool trilogy and a good way to introduce him to the MCU as a whole. The Fox cameos were handled well, Hugh Jackman’s performance was really good for a movie like this, but with how hyped up it was and how great Deadpool 2 is, I was expecting a lot more.

DnD: Honor Among Thieves - 7/10 - Super fun, but not super deep movie. This scratches the itch that the other DnD movies didn’t where I wanted to see cool magical stuff with a bunch of likable characters. There are plenty of emotional moments to get you invested with the gang too, even if the comedy took me out of the movie entirely.

Furiosa - 7/10 - I’ve only seen 2 Mad Max movies so far, but I’m already a fan. The action is awesome, the cinematography is great, and I love the worldbuilding here. If the characters were better (Furiosa and Dementus were great though), then this movie would be as good as Fury Road.

The Wind Rises - 8/10 - I didn’t really get invested in this movie at first, but once the fire over Tokyo happens, this movie really grows on me. The animation and sound design of the planes are beautiful, the love story is so heartbreaking and well-told, and Stanley Tucci as Caproni is a 10/10 performance. Watch the English dub if you haven’t, it’s so good.

Anatomy of a Fall - 8/10 - Yeah, this movie has amazing writing and acting and a great plot where you slowly but surely unravel a mysterious case where there’s no single one person you can truly trust, but what the hell is up with the prosecutor and why was he such a bitch? Miles Edgeworth lookin ass headass

Mean Girls - 8/10 - Why do y’all hate this movie so much, it’s so fun. I’m normally against remakes of movies that don’t need it, but the script retooling and the musical numbers really help this movie stand apart from the original. Oh, yeah and Renee Rapp is amazing, but you already knew that.

MLPEG: Sunset’s Backstage Pass - 8/10 - This is the good shit. I love time loop stories, and Sunset going through the same concert over and over is a fun premise where she learns to give Pinkie a proper date night. Also the Dazzlings returning is better than the second coming of Christ.

Super Mario Land 2 - 8/10 - This game is just so charming. It controls pretty floaty and is nearly incomprehensible when played on actual hardware, but I love everything else about it. The sprites are beautiful, even for a Gameboy game, the worlds and bosses have so much personality, and the Carrot powerup is so fun. For the last 2D Mario game for 12 years, it’s a pretty good one.

The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs - 8/10 - This is such a fun play. It’s about a lady who got abandoned by a guy getting back at him by crossdressing and fucking with him, and it’s great. Most of the characters are interesting, it’s pretty funny despite its age, and I can fix Don Juan.

Civil War - 8/10 - This movie’s marketing basically made it destined to be controversial, but I thought it was pretty good. The characters and acting are incredibly good, the visuals and camerawork are incredible, and the apolitical nature helps us focus on how traumatizing a war can be. ‘Nuff said, really.

MLPEG: Forgotten Friendship - 8/10 - Yeah, these shorts peaked with the first one. Kinda sad, but this is a great story. The plot is interesting and tense, Sunset and Trixie being friends is pretty cool, and Sunset going back to Equestria and making up with Celestia is just chef’s kiss. Easily the best EG content since Rainbow Rocks.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - 8/10 - This counts as Ghibli, right? If so, what an incredible first movie for them. The animation is stunning, the characters range from ok but underbaked to one of my personal favorite Ghibli protags, and I love Teto so much. He’s baby.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes - 8/10 - Apparently all you need to create one of the most creative sci-fi movies of the 2020s is just a GoPro filming your friends nonstop for 70 minutes. The time travel and single-shot gimmick are great and the characters are all fun. Kinda wanted it to be longer tho…

Mary and Max - 8/10 - A very sweet, wholesome movie with a heartbreaking ending. I love the motif of the only dialogue in the movie being through characters’ letters and I especially love the look of the movie. One of the finest stop motion-animated movies

MLP: The Best Gift Ever - 8/10 - What a delightful time. Unlike Rainbow Roadtrip, the longer runtime doesn’t drag, but it gives everyone plenty of screentime with some great moments, like Rarity’s interactions with Pistachio, Applejack and Fluttershy outing Flim and Flam, and literally everything Discord does and says.

Only Yesterday - 8/10 - Guys, I think Isao Takahata is good at making movies. I love all of Taeko’s flashbacks and how they inform her decisions and mindsets going into her adult life visiting the countryside. I only wish the other characters outside of her were stronger and I also wish Tara Strong was in the movie more.

Penny’s Big Breakaway - 8/10 - This game is just super sillie. My favorite thing in games is when they have cool movement tech and this game is 80% cool movement tech. Penny controls super well, the art style is fun, the secrets are fun to find, and the characters are really charming. If the boss fights didn’t suck eggs then I would call this game a masterpiece.

The Fall Guy - 8/10 - David Leitch might be one of the best newer directors working right now. Between this, Bullet Train, and Deadpool 2, I’d say that he really knows his stuff when it comes to action-comedies, and it’s a shame this movie didn’t do that well. Maybe it can have a new life on streaming or VOD, because this movie is great.

Die Hard - 8/10 - I finally watched it this Christmas, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. The action and the sneaking around scenes are really good, but the true highlight here is how great of characters John McClane and Hans Gruber are. Especially Hans; Alan Rickman worked wonders.

Clue - 8/10 - I love pulpy-ass murder mysteries, and this scratches that itch perfectly. It has such an insane and fun mystery to follow throughout, the characters are funny and well acted, and there are so many quotable lines. I also love how they made 3 endings that they shipped to different theaters all at once. I wish I could be that much of an agent of chaos.

Inside Out 2 - 8/10 - It’s nowhere near as funny, interesting, or creative as the first movie, but it’s still really damn good. The new emotions are all great and super fun, the old emotions have enough good character writing to not be stale, and it’s still emotional as hell and fun as hell. Lance Slashblade is what the people who made Ralph Breaks the Internet thought they were making.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - 8/10 - Not a super deep or complex game, but such a fun one. The shooting’s great, but the framing device of an old cowboy telling tales with you playing out the tales as he tells them is just perfect. I also didn’t know that Dwight Eisenhower was such a twink.

Memoir of a Snail - 8/10 - Same story as Mary and Max, honestly. Another beautifully animated stop-motion movie with a great story and heart to it. It’s a lot more somber than Mary and Max, but that just means that the emotions hit even harder. Also gay son snail daughter

Orion and the Dark - 8/10 - One of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen. This movie excels with its creative animation and incredible script by Charlie Kaufman. Dark, Orion, and Hypatia are all great characters and it's a shame that this movie didn’t get the marketing it needed to be popular. It deserves all the popularity, more than Kung Fu Panda 4, that’s for sure.

The Chalice of the Gods - 8/10 - Oh, we are so back. I don’t know what there is to say about this book that isn’t obvious. It’s really fun and there are some great character moments, especially towards the end with the fight with Geras. Shoutout to my boy Elisson, he’s done nothing wrong.

The Zone of Interest - 8/10 - The first hour of this movie is a perfect experience, with visceral sound design and haunting directing making me feel deeply uncomfortable and genuinely depressed at what’s really going on beyond the wall. The next 40 minutes or so are really boring and tedious, with none of the same spunk the first hour had, save for the ending. That first hour is so good that it carries the movie, and it deserves all the praise it gets.

Super Mario Party Jamboree - 8/10 - I don’t usually rate party games this highly, so that’s how you know this is a great one! It feels the most like a celebration of every single Mario Party that came before it, with plenty of modes and minigames outside of the regular party mode. Plus you can finally play as Pauline so that shot it up like 5 spots for me.

Amphibia - 8/10 - Another Disney Channel banger. I don’t like it nearly as much as its sister show, the Owl House, but I still loved the characters, setting, and the overall plot had me invested, even though I knew most of the big spoilers going in. I could’ve used more Hop Pop centric episodes, though.

The Boys S4 - 8/10 - One of the only things reaffirming my love of comic book adaptations is still great. Aside from some weak plotlines, it’s still as funny, biting, well-acted and well-written as ever. Stronger than the last season and it’s setting up for an amazing final season.

Wicked - 8/10 - I saw the original musical when I was a kid, and this movie translated the first act pretty well. Yeah, the lighting and the CGI is pretty ugly, but the practical sets stood out as incredibly pretty. Oh yeah, and the singing and the songs were exceptionally pretty, as is expected from a musical. This should’ve been called Wicked Act I instead of Part I. Are they stupid?

Asura’s Wrath - 8/10 - On a storytelling, writing, and character perspective, it is easily one of the best on this entire list. Asura is an incredible character, the story is gripping, and the action is insane, especially when you factor in the DLC. As a game, though… it’s alright, I guess. I’m not a fan of the hack-and-slash segments and the QTEs are fun, but I wish that there were more of those and less mindless button mashing.

The Office - 8/10 - Yeah, that’s right! I finally got around to watching one of the most critically acclaimed sitcoms of all time, and I really enjoyed it. There are some characters I wound up hating by the end and I especially didn’t enjoy seasons 1,8, and 9 that much, but it’s overall a funny show. maybe a lil overrated ok byeeeeeeeee

Fun Home - 8/10 - What a fucking book. The way Alison’s prose is realized through incredibly verbose, but still thought-provoking and stimulating text accompanied by beautiful artwork is just a sight to behold. I haven’t found a slime tutorial of it, but I hope the musical lives up to this standard.

Sorry to Bother You - 8/10 - I love a good, weird-ass movie. I couldn’t predict any single part of this movie’s plot, from the caller revolution to Patton Oswald white person voice to the horse people to the hilarious ending. There are some scenes that don’t fit the tone or vibes at all, but it’s still a great time that I think about a lot.

Invincible S2 - 8/10 - I mean, what’d you expect from Invincible? It’s not as good as the first season and that mid-season break definitely soured this show in my eyes, but I still loved every bit of it. The Mark/Nolan plot is still gripping, the side characters really shined this season, and the animation is beautiful. Oh yeah, and the Atom Eve special was also good.

Dykes to Watch Out For - 9/10 - A fun as hell, emotional as hell comic strip series by the Bechdel test lady herself. Most of the characters are great and super well written, and it puts a whole new light on LGBT issues dating all the way back to the 80s. I found Moe to be a bad protag at first, but seeing people on Twitter act exactly like her on a daily basis, I think she was properly done.

I’m in Love with the Villainess - 9/10 - The age of male loser anime is dead. Long live the age of female loser anime. This anime is just a blast from start to finish. Most of the characters and worldbuilding are nice, but Rae and Clare’s romance is the star of the show here. Rae just like me fr

Angel Hare - 9/10 - I am not an analog horror person, but goddamn I clicked so hard with Angel Hare. I’m not sure whether or not we can call this “horror” at all, but I loved all the characters, I love the style and the visuals, and I especially loved the messages and the themes, especially in seasons 2 and 3.

Killers of the Flower Moon - 9/10 - What a movie. I love Scorcese and all his best movies, but I didn’t believe he had this kind of story inside of him. A story that’s complex and pays respects to Native American history and culture so well, with performances that go beyond typical Scorcese directing and have a shit ton of nuance to them. Lily Gladstone deserved an Oscar goddamnit.

Dungeon Meshi S1 - 9/10 - This anime is so fun. The story and setting are intense and cool with how it deals with life and death, but the characters are the highlights here. All the main cast are memorable, likable, and have their moments to shine throughout the season. I’m rooting for Farcille all the way, babyyyyy.

Princess Peach: Showtime - 9/10 - This is a game I was so excited for this year and it fuckin delivered. I absolutely adore the art style of this game and how it incorporates elements from live theater. The gameplay (besides the Detective parts) is also a ton of fun. Turns out this was the Barbie game I needed in my life.

My Adventures with Superman S2 - 9/10 - Now this is my kind of Superman. I love everything about this show, from the writing to the animation to the characters to the action, it’s all so well done. It is kinda derivative of other cartoons, but that’s not enough to make me prefer this version of Superman over most others across fiction.

Transformers One - 9/10 - After watching all of the live action Transformers movies this year, I’d almost forgotten what a real Transformers movie is like. Yes, the humor doesn’t really work. Yes, B is unlikable as hell. I don’t care. This movie excels in just how perfect the story, twists, and characters are. This is exactly the Transformers movie I’ve always wanted.

Princess Mononoke - 9/10 - What if Pocahontas was actually good and subversive and had a ton of meaning? This movie is dark in all the best ways, with the inherent goodness of Ashitaka’s character creating some genuinely emotional and beautiful scenes. But god, we can cut like 15 minutes off the ending, yall.

Dune Part Two - 9/10 - My favorite Dune movie so far. It has the extraordinary filmmaking that the first Villeneuve Dune had, but this part has an exciting and interesting plot throughout. There are some great action setpieces, charming characters, and that ending is just beautiful. Plus, this is the orangest movie of all time, which was for me specifically and I appreciate that.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 9/10 - If this is how all the Fire Emblem games are, then I have missed out on some good shit. The characters and story are fun, but the gameplay is so incredibly engaging and compelling (outside the minigames in the monastery). Also, Edelgard is the best character. You can’t convince me otherwise.

The Bear - 9/10 - Damn this show is just as good as everyone says it is. The editing and camerawork are both great, but the characters are the highlights here. Carmie has a great personal story, Sydney and Richie have great episodes, and most of the side characters are memorable and fantastic. Except for fucking Claire Bear.

Look Back - 9/10 - How is this movie even real? How can you pack such an incredibly rich, heartbreaking story coupled with gorgeous animation and incredible character writing and only have it clock under an hour. Please watch this movie above any others on this list. If this doesn’t get nominated for Best Animated Feature I will shit myself.

Twisted - 9/10 - How have I not watched Twisted up until this year? This musical is so funny, so emotional, and the songs fuck hard. How is Take Off Your Clothes one of the best villain songs of all time? How did this even happen? Why did the Aladdin movie neglect such an important character like Prince Achmed? DISNEY YOU HACKS

Godzilla Minus One - 9/10 - The best Godzilla film I’ve seen so far. Obviously, Godzilla was the highlight, being an absolute menace who is just incredible to watch tear through Japan, but the human conflicts with Shikishima, Tachibana, and Noriko were really compelling. I wish Noriko didn’t miraculously come back from the dead at the end, but it’s a small blemish on an otherwise perfect kaiju movie.

Grave of the Fireflies - 9/10 - Jesus fucking Christ. This movie is so beautiful and so devastating in so many ways. The animation is gorgeous, the story is heartbreaking, and Seiko and Setsuko are some of my favorite protagonists in any Ghibli film. But seriously, fuck this movie for making me feel these kinds of emotions.

Undertale - 9/10 - I don’t even need to explain why this game is so good. It can get repetitive going back to get different endings, but the writing, combat, and characters make it so that it’s never boring. It’s currently one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Also, that Alphys and Undyne date was the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.

X-Men ‘97 - 9/10 - I’ve never seen the original cartoon from ‘92, but if it’s anything like this show, I’ll be in for a treat. The animation is stunning, especially during the action scenes, and it adapts the X-Men comics in an incredible way. The rest of the modern Marvel movies should take some notes.

Poor Things - 9/10 - The best of the Best Picture nominees this year. It’s funny, creative, visually gorgeous, and Bella carries the movie in terms of emotional moments. It’s so fun seeing her figure out the world in her own, unique, risque way. Yorgos hasn’t missed once and this is no exception.

Fallout: New Vegas - 9/10 - If this game didn’t crash so much, it’d be a 10/10 easily. But the bugginess of the game and the fact that there were no options to get places quickly if you haven’t discovered them makes it so that I don’t think this is the masterpiece other people think it is. With that said, it’s still Fallout: New Vegas. The combat is fun, the characters are great, and the world is just spectacular. No wonder other trans women love this game so much.

The Wild Robot - 10/10 - You know, Dreamworks, I don’t know went to quit ya. What a masterful experience watching this movie was. The animation is godlike, the score incredible, and Roz’s journey throughout the movie being something I just instantly clicked with. I’m ok with the bad sequels if that means they pay for more movies like this.

Blue Eye Samurai S1 - 10/10 - Easily one of my favorite shows ever now. The animation is beautiful, the action is gory and creative, the characters range from super compelling to super endearing, especially Mizu, and the writing is some of the best I’ve seen from a Netflix show. I hope the next season is good, if it ever comes out, which isn’t a guarantee knowing Netflix.

ok bye

[the-great-ladyg]

Hi hi!! How about 4, 6 and 8 for whoever you'd like?

Hi Ghosty! So nice to see your ask! :D For this one I'll have Rabban since I'm having a massive brainrot over him (I totally blame Dave and Denis for this)

4. who was your first favorite character when you initially got into your f/o’s source content? was it your f/o from the very beginning?

If we talk about the book, I think I really didn't have a favorite character, maybe Leto since he seemed pretty nice when compared to other characters.

For the movies, it was definitely Leto because ✨Oscar Isaac✨, he's got too much charisma in only 5-10 minutes of screentime. As for Rabban, I've got to say I was disappointed that he appeared so little, I expected a bit more of him (thank you Dune part 2 for listening to my prayers).

6. if your f/o is from a series, which episode/movie/game/book of their source content is your favorite?

I think I'm between the book "House Atreides" and "Dune Part 2", the novel doesn't have many moments from Rabban but those are enough, you can understand he's cruel and impulsive, and his family doesn't appreciate him (I don't like when Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson write cruelty, it seems cartoonish, and I think that's what they did to him on "House Harkonnen", like a no cartoon villain).

For "Dune Part 2", there are a couple more scenes for Rabban, as well as it portrays other aspect the novels fail to pay attention, and that is familial rejection. Both his father and uncle rejected him as heir, Rabban does his best to live up to expectations but no one, specially the Baron and Feyd, believes he's capable of anything (just check that scene at the beginning, he's so desperate for approval and he gets none).

8. are there any scenes/chapters/moments your f/o is in that you skip when you revisit their source content?

He barely has any moments on Dune, so for the movies I don't have any, for the novel might be his death, but definitely most of his chapters on "House Harkonnen", I really hate how cartoonish Brian and Kevin made him and how they try to set up important events that are referenced on the original novel like his father's murder, for me it looks forced and fake

Yeah, I edited it because I'm dumb and got confused over the questions </3

[funfettiheart]

I saw Spies are forever in London and it was SO GOOD and I have many Thoughts TM about it.

All of the new actors did an INCREDIBLE job with the roles (my faves were Obioma Ugoala as Agent Mega, Emily Ooi as Barb and who could forget Dean John-Wilson as the Deadliest Man). They all brought something a bit different to the roles whilst being just excellent versions of the characters. Claire Hall's Mama Mega was hysterical. She really had the nosy mother walk DOWN. Jak Malones Baron Von Nazi was hilariously wimpy and dramatic (and I'm glad they didnt do the chant in Not So Bad). Evelyn Hoskins was so good at playing Tatiana and made up for the lack of non singing time. You dont get to see a lot of Oliver Ormson's Agent Carver but when he IS on stage he is delightfully smarmy and British. I didn't even know there would be a different cast when I got my ticket so honestly I was blown away by how great everyone did. Joey and Brian were great partially reprising some of their original roles too.

The vocal performances were top notch, honestly beating the original in a bunch of places. And the accents were way better lol. They were hitting crazy notes and using fun vocal techniques (once again OMG Barb) and it really made the show feel like it was improving on the older version! The lounge singer (Emily Proudlock) aaaaaaaaaa. She was incredibly talented and so gorgeous in that red dress.

Other than that it was an amazing experience to see live and I really, really hope they release a new song recording with all the new cast because they were just 10/10. They were singing their hearts out and really embodied the characters so well. I'd love to see them maybe do a full version (maybe even a proshot pretty please) with full costumes and fight scenes and everything!

Overall it was wild spontaniously going to see one of my favourite musicals in London (Shoutout to Mermaid Elle for driving for SIX WHOLE HOURS). I had a whale of a time and recommend it 100% if they ever do another showing!