#i wish that could've just been a movie by itself

[girlbossfrankshepard]

Btw you should listen to the deluxe version of Beyonce's Lion King tie-in album "The Gift" if you haven't already because it's really great

[dracaelus]

Ok guys, look at me *shaking with ghostbat energy*

During the events of Batman fear state, scarecrow finds a way to get into batman's mind and mess around a little. So, naturally, batman asks ghostmaker to enter his mind and check what's going on, you know, as you do

This happens in Batman (2016) #113, if you wanna read the whole thing you can start at Batman #106 or (if you wanna see Khoa's introduction and first appearance in the comics) Batman #102. I'm telling you this because right here at this moment, there's a wonderful, incredible potential for ghostbat fics and I need someone to tap into that, so bear with me

In the actual issue, things get resolved a little faster, but here we have your prompt: Bruce and Khoa exploring Bruce's mind, walking around through all of his memories, trying to get to the one they need and find out what's wrong with his brain (besides the usual).

So we can see Bruce at multiple points of his life

Khoa: you know, I think you could've been an actual cute baby if they'd just given you brown contact lenses

Bruce: don't start

Khoa: I mean it, you had potential. But as things are, you were just a small creepy creature

Khoa: like, what's the deal with all the staring?

Bruce: I was attentive and observing.

Khoa: you were strange and off-putting... Not much different than you are now I guess

Khoa: Oh, he's staring at me now. Can you make him stop? Do they come with an off button?

Bruce: It's just a memory, Khoa, it can't hurt you

Baby!Bruce: •-•

We can have kid!Bruce going to the park with his parents; they send him to play with the other kids and about half an hour later he comes back with some company.

Kid! Bruce: *holding a little kid's hand* Mother, Father. Meet your new son, Tobias.

Martha: What

Kid!Bruce: I adopted him as my brother since you wouldn't give me one by your own volition. He's part of the family now. He's very nice, I think you'll like him.

Tobias: :D

Thomas: How did you even get him-

Martha: *carefully* Look, Bruce. Darling. I know you want a little brother...

Kid!Bruce: I really, really want •-•

Martha: ... really, really want. But you can't just steal a kid like that, that's illegal.

Kid!Bruce: -_-

Kid!Bruce: I shall be a criminal, then.

*in the background*

Khoa: so... you've always been like that, hm?

Bruce: stfu i was six

The comedic potential??? The opportunity to throw all your headcanons into it and call it a day???? C'MON!

And you can take a completely comedic approach to it, but may I present you one more aspect of this little adventure because everything is fun and games until I throw horror at it O_o

So, here's the thing about Scarecrow's plan: he creates an evil/monstrous version of Bruce in his memories. It doesn't appear much so it's hard for me to explain what exactly it is and what it's supposed to do, but it's basically:

Ghostmaker just straight up kills it but yk I think there's more potential to this idea, it can be further explored

I, personally, love the idea of this disturbing version of him being able to manifest itself in multiple memory!bruce versions

So, cute but creepy baby bruce? He's about to get creepier

Baby!Bruce: •-•

Baby!Bruce: *eyes go completely black*

Khoa: yk, Bruce... I'm not a kid specialist, but I think there might be something genuinely wrong with mini-you...

Bruce: Khoa, seriously, I thought the only baby here was my younger self. Could you please stop trembling under the stare of a 1 year old-

Baby!Bruce: *turns his head 360 degrees like a kid in a horror movie and starts coughing black goo*

Bruce: ...

Khoa: see, this is why i never wanted kids.

Also, just as a side note, khoa can also show bruce his own memories

So you can do whatever you want with that information. I just really wish that whole plotline had been longer

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

some wwdits finale thoughts--

i found that okay but wasn't nuts about it. i feel like i would've liked to see it strike a more tender emotional note with most of the characters. (i get the "they never change~!" argument, but i feel like it's somewhat at odds with the show itself, and there have just been so many good earnestly touching moments throughout the years that i definitely wanted more of those here at the end!) wanted more laszlo and nadja and maybe a fond little farewell to their iconic marriage. it kind of shocked me that laszlo, nadja, and colin were left so in the background while guillermo and nandor got so much of the ending. (though i can't complain because i love them dearly and i do think of them as the two main characters of the series, and the characters who changed the most, even if they can't tell they did.)

i did enjoy the ambiguous nandermo of it all (although i wish they would've hugged 😢 they both needed a hug and i needed them to hug, okay), and i especially liked that guillermo "decided to leave" to give the documentary some closure but then immediately came back to be like, "jk, HEY BESTIE!" because guess what! guillermo's life doesn't always have to be sacrifice! guillermo can have what he wants! he can embark upon a new life out in the world AND stay in his weird thing with nandor and his vampire besties! and, i guess, fight crime and do things in the shadows with nandor in their underground lair!

also cute that nandor and guillermo ended up in bed (well, in coffin) together at the end of the episode, just like nadja hypnotized us into imagining as the most perfect ending we could possibly imagine with our simple little human minds! (that's the one us hulu viewers got, anyway!) i did definitely earnestly believe for a second there that they were gonna make out in the coffin instead of what actually happened. le sigh!

random thoughts:

was nadja dolly in this episode (aside from the rosemary's baby hypnosis) and i just forgot from finale brain scramblies? i felt like i was missing her.

feeling like they could've done more with the monster and, idk, tied that to the theme of this season a little more somehow (whatever the theme of this season was). i just feel like something got left hanging there. maybe something to do with laszlo and colin and parenthood and daddy issues.

nandor's continued crush on the guide why?? you know what, i won't stress over it. i'll just cling to the fact that he committed so hard to his life with guillermo that he somehow made the underground lair happen.

wish they'd called back to guillermo's vampire slayer powers more somehow. i just feel like we needed way more of that!

i wish we could've seen seanie and charmaine and the baron and the sire again :'( like maybe they could've thrown a viewing party of the documentary at the end!

also: omg, i want more about the documentary (or documentaries)! who are these maniacs out here making multi-year documentaries about vampires and what role are those documentaries supposed to play in society?? they should've given us at least a little bit more about that! come on!

i think we need a movie to wrap up these loose ends and finally provide a nandermo embrace. a movie and six seasons and a movie, if you will.

p.s. JACKIE DAYTONA! i am also pretty tickled by the thought that the events of "local news", perhaps the most chaotic and deranged episode, happened twice.

p.p.s. NANDERMO BAD GUY FIGHTING SPINOFF PLS!

p.p.p.s. headcanon: nandor and guillermo both watch the finale episode someday and envision the sitcom-marrieds dream sequence as their perfect hypnotized ending. are forced to confront their feelings at last.

[scandinavianfairytale]

Doubt

Pairing: Tony Stark x Millionare Reader

Warnings: A few mentions of sex, but no act itself and a small age gap (7 years) between the reader & Tony 😊

"I think you two would be great together. He works a lot, you work a lot, he's rich, you're rich, he's a nerd, you're a nerd-"

"I get it, Pepper." You stopped your friend who has been trying to set you up with her boss for a few weeks now. She has seen you go through so many boring men that you were rolling your eyes immediately after someone offered a date to you. Experience taught you it will be a dumpster fire.

The last one turned out to be homophobic, ignorant and went into detail how his Christian ex-girlfriend was into public sex. As you listened to him you wondered if it wouldn't have been easier for you to just stay single. So you deleted all the apps and decided that you won't be going on any more dates any time soon.

And now Pepper has been pestering you about her boss.

Tony Stark.

In all honesty, a date with him worried you. He was a billionare, while you just made your first million, and you came from a humble home, still feeling weird and queasy when attending anything remotely fancy. The thought of dating a rich old(er) man confused you. There was a 7 year age gap, which doesn't seem much, but you've been dating guys your own age your entire life. And none of them could've ever imagined being as rich as you. Let alone as Tony Stark.

"Just go out on a date. I'm not asking you to marry him." Pepper pressed. Tony has been driving her insane, working at all hours, meaning that she was also working insane hours. So she figured...maybe if Tony gets a girlfriend, he'll sleep once in a while. And who would be better suited for him than her sharp-tongued and a newly turned millionare friend who was into robots almost as much as he was.

She has been trying for weeks to get you to agree. She didn't worry that much about Tony. If she was to mention a woman, he was on that subject immediately, requesting a date.

You, on the other hand, with your string of very bad dates...you were the tough cookie.

"One date." You stated.

"One date. If you like him, more dates, but for now let's go with one." Pepper smiled.

And then Natasha got involved. The sensual, no holding back friend that also knew Tony was "tasked" with your make-over. Not like in the movies make-over, the kind where she went through your closet and told you what to wear. She pulled out the black dress that was reserved for fancy dinners. Not a first date.

"He's a man. Not like the boys that you have been going out with. You need to pique his interest and you're not going to achieve that wearing those disgusting jeans." Natasha commented as she glanced at the jeans that you were wearing at that moment.

"He's dubbed as the playboy." You conutered.

"That's because playman doesn't exsist. Now go change."

As it turned out, the first date was actually really good. You actually had a good time. Tony picked you up himself and you went to a new art exhibition at the Met, followed by a dinner and a ride home. As you were about to exit his car, Tony took your hand and kissed the back of it.

"Thank you for the lovely time." He said with a smirk.

"Thank you as well. But please, let me get the next one." You smiled back as he let go of your hand.

"Deal. I do hope you forget that you promised to pick the tab."

"I don't forget things, Tony." You smiled before wishing him a good night.

As the weeks went on, you met with him several times. It was always interesting and you spent hours talking and he even made you laugh. You could feel hope and contentment bloom in your chest. That little anticipation whenever he called or texted.

And then it all came crashing down. You noticing that he started getting cold. He was texting less, no face times were requested. It just died down.

"He's busy with work." Pepper told you over the phone. Tony has been holed up in his lab for days, barely getting out of that room.

It's not like you weren't busy as well. You also had a demanding job and a life outside of it. And you understood the fact that he gets sicked into work, you knew from experience, but this was different. It hurt, because you got your hopes up. That he'd be different. And he was, much different than all other guys, but this time around you might've gotten attached. Which has never happened and it made you mad. Mad at yourself for feeling this, mad at him for doing this to you, mad at everything.

"I don't care how busy he is." You responded.

"Just be patient, he has never taken this much time for a woman before."

"That's because he immediately sleeps with them." You rolled your eyes, pacing around your still empty apartment.

"You still haven't slept with him?" Pepper stopped walking.

"Of course not."

"What do you mean of course not?"

"We barely spent 18 hours all together." Saying that aloud made your blood boil. How the hell were you feeling this way after 18 hours.

"You talk everyday, what do you mean it's been 18 hours? And so what?"

"I don't sleep with men I don't know. And if this is how he acts in everyday life, I think it's better I stop seeing him altogether."

"If you gave him a reason to continue trying it'd be for the best."

"If he's not interested in me with what he already knows, sleeping with me is not going to pique his interest. I'm done, Pepper. I'm not the type to sit at home and wait for a man's text. I don't care what his profession or reason is. This isn't me, nor is this my style."

You hung up the phone and angrily stared at the blank walls and the pile of boxes waiting for you to unpack them.

I can't believe that I'm feeling bad because of a man. You groaned before taking off your jumper and started unpacking. You put your phone on silent and threw it in the bedroom, away from your reach. You noticed how much it put you in a bad mood when you saw 0 messages from Tony.

It must've been a couple of hours when the doorbell broke your concentration. You made significant progress as almost all the boxes have been unpacked. In all honesty, you were mildly annoyed that you were abruptly taken out of your flow state as only 2 boxes remained.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Tony asked as you opened your front door, getting startled as you saw him standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"You were not taking my calls. Can I come in?" He didn't wait for your answer and entered your apartment.

"I've been unpacking. And also that's rich coming from the man that has been steadily ignoring me for the past two weeks." You rolled your eyes.

Tony started opening your kitchen cabinets, looking through them. "Do you have any coffee? I could use a cup about now."

"You're not staying that long. And my coffee would be wasted on you." You snatched your speciality coffee from his hands.

"Why are you angry?"

"Because you showed up at my door, entered my apartment without my permission, and are now snopping around my personal things."

"You were angry before that." Tony pointed out and leaned on the windowsill.

"I was annoyed. Now I'm angry and annoyed." You glared at him.

"Okay. Why were you annoyed?"

"Because I feel like you're playing games." You confronted him.

"Regarding?"

"Me."

"I'm not playing games. At least not that I know of. Do you want to play?" Tony smirked and winked at you, making you roll your eyes. "Can you tell me what's got you upset?" He crossed his arms.

"It's been two weeks since we spoke. And then you show up at my place, accusing me of ignoring you."

"I was busy at the lab."

"I understand. I get how quickly you can get sucked up in work, I've been there. But I've never ignored someone I was interested in. A clear deduction from that is that you're not interested in me. Which is fine, but then you don't get to show up at my place, demanding attention. You don't get to act hot and cold and expect me to go along with it. I have an ego too. And also you pride yourself with being direct however you love playing games. There are hundreds of women who would love to play games with you, but I'm not one of them. I take no pride in becoming one of the notches on your belt."

"Great speech, a couple of things, though, if I may correct you." Tony straightened and walked towards you slowly. "I am interested in you. That's a given. How could I not be? Secondly I am direct and as such I can tell you right now that the reason why I was holed up in the lab for two weeks with no contact was because I needed to finish something before focusing on you. I want to spend more time with you. Take a trip or two." He paused for a second. "And have sex with you."

You let out a snort, feeling your face heat up slightly.

"Lots of sex." He was standing right in front of you, staring into your eyes. It made you insanely nervous, making your skin crawl, but in a good way (?).

"You made your point." You found your voicebut you knew it sounded breathless.

"Did I?" Tony asked before tipping your chin up and kissing you.

It was such a good kiss. God, you haven't been kissed this good in such a long time. Your hands pulled at his collar, trying to bring him closer to you, and together, you stumbled backward until his hand extended behind you, slowly pushing you into the kitchen wall and preventing your head colliding with the hard surface.

As you separated to catch a breath, Tony stared at you. "Still doubting my interest?"

"No." You replied firmly before reaching for him again.

Thank you for reading 😊

The GIF doesn't belong to me, belongs to the amazing creator 😊

My first Tony story! 🙌

[beadyeyes]

Alien Romulus review so spoilers because I'm so so disappointed after being told by every one how good it was and how great the effects were (you all lied to me) so so so long so so so so I don't know if it's worth reading

👍 Loved that they kept up the tradition of killing the people who smoke on screen first

👍 Technology design choices were so fun and did what Prometheus failed to do as a PREQUEL. Also failed to do what the movie itself should've done as a SEQUEL and kept notably similar design choices BUT STILL ADVANCE THE TECHNOLOGY?

👎 They made a group of people so unlikable or undeveloped that I didn't care if they lived or died.

👎 The cousins blatant bigotry against Andy came off mostly as racist AND ableist with no good reason whatsoever. Especially since it clearly wasn't justified by his mother's death because the synthetic in question that "caused her death" was justified in saving more lives over the few. His choice to leave his own family behind despite being so torn up about his mom too? And finally his weird breathing and hovering scene with the pregnant sister right after his girlfriend died was lowkey creepy and I hope it wasn't trying to imply he was the one who got her pregnant? Bottom line he deserved it and his death was the only entertaining one. Was that supposed to be on purpose?

👎 The boyfriend was a bland unlikeable character who failed to even be good enough for meat fodder + deserved to die for wasting screen time AND for letting his cousin be a racist dick to Andy despite them needing the for the whole fucking trip to happen. Worthless character.

👎 First facehugger impregnation being a woman. What a spit in the face.

👎 The fact that it was also a woman I didn't even know the name of! But had 1 more second of development than the rest and seemed like she could've been a cool character if the screen time wasn't logged by unlikeable men. Her alien birth scene was so tone deaf to the original horror of the series idk. I get not wanting to repeat the same thing but the worthless guys survived those facehuggers too easily for her to be the gratuitous birth fodder.

👎 Pregnant sister. I don't know how that could've been done differently but yea. Her boob slime was so. 🙄

👎 Her alien wannabe engineer baby thing sucked. It was so corny I laughed outloud I don't know how it could've been done better but making the aliens more humanoid but not in an uncanny way, like a weird trying too hard to be scary way, felt like a disservice to the viewers intelligence? The fact that it was a full sized thing in like 3 seconds too? No offense but wouldn't it be scarier to fight something small and newborn baby like instead of Grown Ass White Man #72

👎 Rooks facetracking shit was so gagworthy and bringing him back wasn't the tribute to the og movie like they wanted it to be. Remember how the big bang theory would make references by just naming randome nerd shit in succession? That's what he was. Just because you have a character come back doesn't mean it fits the theme of the movie you're developing.

👎 Rook's non-ambiguous characterization as evil. Just lame and defeats the complexity of the original character as well as how the synthetics have been developed.

👎 Her name is Rain and that's my name she wishes she was me so bad.

Rain was just so? Such an underdeveloped character who kicked ass and I appreciated her like? Waiting till Andy had seizure to help him out? I don't know. She just had no backstory or substance and Andy's whole character being there to protect her was fucking lame. Seeing her change that at the last bit was like yay development but then Andy gets killed so then it was just whatever.

Andy's character again, being there to protect Rain and not develop on his own. His disabilities being "cured" for most of the movie. Why the accent? Anyways I'm glad he was there because he was the shining star of the whole thing and even that felt a bit too on the nose as if they knew every one else was worthless.

The movie had a few jumpscares and the gore was nothing compared to ANY of the previous movies. Ultimately I felt nothing for the entire hour and half except for when the cousin got slimed, which I laughed. The mix of CGI was strange. 1 out of 10 as fuck! Do you think they're gonna make a sequel?

[xenodile]

okay, slept on it, had some time to think, more coherent thoughts on Alien Romulus, spoilers below

The last second swerve into whole plot referencing Aliens and Alien 4 were by far the weakest parts of the movie, because the movie was at its strongest when it was focusing on Andy and the influence of the corporate programming, and the threat that even a single xenomorph poses.

The facehuggers were the stars, seeing them thaw out of cold storage, skittering around like spiders, the corridor sequence, all of them were phenomenal, and the addition of a single adult xenomorph perfectly accented the threat of a few dozen facehuggers.

The xenomorph itself was excellent as a solitary threat, retaliating even when it was vulnerable, stalking the other characters, the elevator catch, waiting at the door, presenting the xenomorph as a single implacable monster with a goal is so much more compelling than a horde of them charging down a hallway, and lends credence to the set up of the movie in which the station was taken out of commission by essentially a single xenomorph getting loose.

Having the Xenomorph and the Facehuggers present together allows for a much more interesting and complex story as the xenomorph, which we already know is a vicious killing machine, now just tries to catch and keep the humans alive so they can be infested, and it's a bit disappointing that we didn't get more of that, watching the titular monster behave almost like an infatuated stalker as it tries to seize their right moment to strike so it can have more hosts for its brood.

Though on that note, I think it would've been stronger if the one xenomorph from the prologue had persisted instead of being found as a corpse, because then more could've been done with the one character that actually got infested and had the facehugger removed prematurely. It felt like a bit of a waste to have her get grabbed, have the facehugger removed within a few minutes, and yet she still gets infested as if it had been on the whole time. That aspect felt very rushed as if having a chestburster scene was mandatory just because it's an Alien movie. The cocoon scene could've stayed in as is and just had the xenomorph laying dormant in the absence of prey, rather than it being a newborn xenomorph molting within seconds of emerging.

Back to my other point, Andy. Andy was easily the best character, and David Jonsson's performance was incredible. That said, I wished the narrative had focused more on him and his bond with Rain. I think the story would have been much stronger if rather than completely overwriting his personality, the Weyland-Yutani programming merged and conflicted with his existing directive, and he was allowed more agency to be vindictive about his treatment as a damaged synthetic, which is a very clear allegory for being a disabled black man. Sort of letting the Corporate directive be this corrupting influence rather than full on mind control, where he's suddenly able and has greater control, and can actually stand up for himself instead of being coddled and protected by Rain.

Overall the movie is good, it's perfectly serviceable and there's nothing outlandishly bad, but there was a lot of potential in some of the concepts it presents that just weren't properly utilized to its detriment.

[venomized]

VENOM THE LAST DANCE SPOILERS

listen i need to watch it again to form a proper opinion but overall it's definitely my least favorite out of the three. there were some nice moments and a lot of symbrock yeah sure but the ending felt soooo rushed to me and verged on goofy like i could not take that fuck ass maroon 5 song seriously!!!

i loved how they showed eddie being kinda awful and really miserable and i would just have loooooved to see them do something with that!!! i wanted real character growth!!!!! we just get left off on a very unsatisfying place regarding their relationship and eddie's life In My Opinion. like sure they love each other we established that but it doesn't feel like they really got to grow out of the buddy-buddy bickering we got in ltbc and i know tld picks up right where ltbc left us so it's not like i was expecting some huge shift or for them to actually make symbrock canon but MAN I DON'T KNOW give us something at least

anyway the "we've been together for a year?" and the scenes with the family and venom saying eddie would be a good dad etc were all great but i still think we could've gotten more out of the movie. it just felt to me like they were building up to something and then it fucking ended. like what i thought was build up was the fucking climax of the movie. my mouth actually dropped when the title card appeared bc i really did not think they'd end it like that but they DID. THEY DID

although i'm mad as hell about them ending up separated i really liked their goodbye scene tom hardy truly is on another level bc how does he have chemistry with a fucking cgi alien. genuinely thought they were gonna smooch there for a second LMFAO it reminded me a lot of that insane sexually charged tom/austin scene in the bikeriders. crazy!

i'm not gonna talk too much about the plot itself bc i don't really love knull and the whole symbiote hivemind bs the last couple comic runs established so i knew going into it that it wasn't gonna appeal to me all that much but there are like . some inconsistencies lol but tbh the first two are also not all that great plot wise either so i won't hold it against tld too much

lastly i wish they'd have made venom give eddie his suit though, huge missed opportunity

overall i'm just feeling a little bittersweet because it's the last one and i'm sad i didn't love it :( i do need to digest it a little more and hopefully as more people watch it and talk about it i'll be reminded of the good parts and maybe my opinion will change

oh i also spotted a few comic parallels that i thought were pretty cool! eddie laying down venom-less in the middle of rubble and fire like that panel in cates' run, him waking up in the hospital without venom and probably others i can't remember rn lol

but yeah these are just very raw unfiltered thoughts i might change my mind!!! and i will say i am very excited to see people's reactions and what the fandom will make out of what they've given us

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: January 2025

New year, same me.

……….FILM……….

The Substance (2024) Despite not liking horror or needles, I was really excited for this. The premise sounded great and then I sit down and see a 2+ hour runtime and start getting nervous. Did I love everything about this movie? Yes. Do I think they could've done it in an hour thirty or an hour forty-five? Yes. Except the last 20ish minutes; keep that exactly as it is.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) I knew this movie was written for Sylvester Stallone but I didn't realize that almost all of the comedy would stem from Eddie Murphy. Without him (or his stellar wardrobe), I suppose it's just a fairly straightforward crime/detective movie. Just an incredible performance.

The Lighthouse (2019) As someone who also lives where they work and does so in (mostly) isolation, I'm glad I watched this when I didn't have looming deadlines or the urge to get back to work. Anyway love a good fairytale movie and this is a good fairytale movie.

Nosferatu (2024) Watched this shortly after The Lighthouse and while it was fun to see overlapping visuals and themes, I kinda wished it was...weirder? Still so many beautiful scenes and bold performances, but not nearly as unhinged as I was expecting.

……….TELEVISION……….

Laid (Episode 1.01 to 1.08) Fun and funny and, for something that acknowledges the pandemic, really strikes a good balance of feeling contemporary but not immediately dating itself. I'm torn on the ending but it's definitely more hits than misses here.

Skeleton Crew (Episode 1.05 to 1.08) A nice breezy adventure. Perhaps expecting a few more narrative beats or one-off adventures but really I can't complain with what this is: an all-ages entry in the Star Wars universe that stands on its own.

Columbo (Episode 2.06 to 2.08) Some really fun...villains/murderers this season and I love the recurring doctor/vet visits. Peter Falk's comedic timing and charisma are on full display this season.

……….YOUTUBE……….

The Alt-Right Playbook x PhilosophyTube: Doublewrong by Innuedo Studios Don't fall into the trap of meeting a value-driven discussion with facts and logic. It doesn't work. Instead see where your values differ and focus on that. VIDEO

What Now? by Sophie from Mars This came out at exactly the right time (for me, at least). It's not denying the struggles ahead. Instead it's a perspective that sees a way through. Community above all else. VIDEO

Why No One Wins the Fast Fashion Debate by Broey Deschanel A thoughtful look at both the fashion industry and global economics. VIDEO

……….READING……….

The Truth by Terry Pratchett (Page 45 of 442) Always a treat to spend more time in the Discworld and it's been a while since the main character is wholly new. It's refreshing.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Complete) Given how much I love Le Guin's Earthsea series, I was really excited for this. Maybe it was the length, maybe it was that it was sci-fi, but I found it to be a slog. I could feel how groundbreaking this must've been, and appreciate how relevant it still remains, but the long stretches of world-building and describing arctic travel/survival was not for me.

Doctor Strange Vol 1 and 2 by Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo, and more (Complete) I read the Donny Cates run a few years ago and didn't realize this was set before that. While I didn't like that run, I'm digging the visuals and narrative here. Doctor Strange feels a little too...quippy, but that's just because I've always liked the contrast of a very serious lead with a whimsical and unexplained setting. Happy to keep going with this and see how it ties up!

Batman - One Bad Day: Two Face by Mariko Tamaki and Javier Fernandez (Complete) A decent introduction to this series but it didn't really grab me. Great character writing but the...mystery....never really clicked.

Batman - One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze by Gerry Duggan &, Matteo Scalero (Complete) This, on the other hand, really worked for me and delivered everything I want out of a Batman comic: sympathetic villain, Bruce Wayne going undercover out of the costume, plucky Robin, and a cool bat suit. I'd definitely read this one again. Heck Mr. Freeze briefly has a sidekick called Frostbite! This is superhero comics at their best.

……….AUDIO……….

Sunflower by The Beach Boys (1970) Pet Sounds is one of my all-time favourite albums and yet I never really got into much of the other post-surf output from The Beach Boys. After seeing this review I dived in head first and now adore it. It really is a shame that they didn't blow up the same way as the Beatles, given how similar their musical trajectory was.

……….GAMING……….

Mika and the Witch's Mountain (Chibig) I don't really Kickstart video games so this was a gamble. The art direction and characters are great, but quickly realized there's really only one trick to this pony. I was even more frustrated that the trick (flying on a broom) never really clicked for me. There's potential here but it's not quite there yet for me.

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The party is spinning so many plates that it's a marvel none of them have dropped yet. Right now they're investigating a murder tied back to their first session. You can read all about it here.

Wonderland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 crew got back together for a one-shot! We had two character deaths but a lot of loot and XP for those that survived.

And that's it. See you in February!

[koskela-knights]

The Art of Alan Wake 2 book spoilers

Making this its own post becos I'm gonna be a negative on this one :P

To be honest, the art book left more to be desired. There are surprisingly few chapters in it with 165 pages.

Foreword

Characters

Environment

Acknowledgements which is just 1 page with the team names

I have Alan Wake Illuminated (as pdf) which sort of serves as an Art book for the first game and it has about 176 pages and 8 different chapters including: unused material, casting, prototypes...

In the few chapters, there's a small intro text/commentary but besides that, not much extra commentary which I severely missed. I always love reading about the process, seeing the sketches, unused ideas, snippets of dialogue or script, etc. and I kinda hoped/wished they would give us more insights about the whole process again with this art book.

Compared to other art books I've seen and have, it remains lacking in that department.

So what's in the book? There are concept sketches about the characters and environment and some 3d renders but most of it I've already seen on ArtStation and during the live streams. Maybe those livestreams are also a reason they didn't put much commentary into the book? Still, a shame because I don't know if everyone has watched those dev streams + I would really love to know more about the design process of the NPCs. Why did they give Saga this hairstyle, why put in these character details, what made them decide to give Alan a more formal suit...? (just some random questions)

Even having a short description of all the featured characters (like those character cards they did on Insta) would've been a fun addition to give the book more body.

(And as a Koskela fan, I feared I wouldn't get more new BTS material with the art book and sadly I'm right)

Lowkey also surprised to find nothing about Yötön Yö. No script pages or photos or concept art. Again, I really wish we would've seen more about that short movie because it rightly deserves more spotlights and acknowledgement. I think in one of the live streams, they also showed the storyboard for the game? Would've loved to see that for the short movie. Show us the uncut ideas (if I believe they intended it to be even longer than the 30min we got?)

And what about the story itself? It's such a mindfuck and wild ride of a story, I think many fans would've been happy to see more insights about the story and the narrative choices. Alan Wake 1 even shines a light (pun intended) on the story and ideas that were thrown around until it became Alan Wake as we know it.

So yeah, I might've had my hopes too high up (lmao as usual when it comes to Koskela content)?

But in general, I feel they could've done more with the book, showcase more of the thought processes behind such an amazing game. Because truly, the art of this game deserves to be shown and to be elaborated on beyond brief chapter introductions on 1 page and brief descriptors.

Idk if it has to do with the company they collabed with or not? From what I've heard from someone else, the Control artbook was legit and detailed.

[koyue]

Finished uploading all the chapters of Fragments! Normally I struggle with endings, but the ending was actually the first thing I wrote and I really love how it turned out, so if you'd like, please check it out ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

Random trivia for this fic (with spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen and the fic itself) and personal ramblings are all under the cut (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

—

I've been wanting to write a SatoSugu fic for a long time and it was really the ending of JJK that made me start writing it. I actually liked the final chapter because I love that Nobara, Megumi, and Yuji just got a breather with a silly little case, but I was definitely unsatisfied with a lot of the lead-up and I didn't like how we didn't get any proper closure on Gojo (Plus, isn't the world of JJK a lot worse off now? And nobody really talked about it? And Sukuna had some sort of backstory that never became relevant until the last three pages? Plus Yuji found out the truth of his parents offscreen?? Huh???)

So I wrote this to cheer myself up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—

I had fifteen chapters written out before I posted it because originally, I'd done the outline for twenty chapters. Then stuff happened and it somehow ended up being thirty five chapters long. I couldn't decide whose POV I wanted it to be from, so I settled on switching between Gojo's and Geto's POV

—

I loved Riko's character from the get-go and, even though I knew it was going to happen, I was heartbroken when she was killed. So I had to include her in and give her the happy ending she deserved. I like to think she would've been good friends with everyone at Jujutsu High had she lived. I also gave her a water-based cursed technique because a lot of her happier times in JJK seem to revolve around the water (the beach, the aquarium, the river)

—

Somehow this fic turned into a little personal contest to see how many of my favorite characters from JJK I could include. I just wish I could've expanded on Yuki's character since I really liked her too, but I just couldn't figure out how

—

Shoko was supposed to appear at some point, but by then, the story had gone in a whole different direction than what I had drafted, so I had to cut her scenes out because they no longer made sense

—

I made Gojo and Geto childhood best friends just because I love that trope so much. I love the idea of them being reincarnated in a peaceful world where they got to grow up with each other. I'd like to write a oneshot one day set in this universe where they're kids getting into trouble

—

God, I struggled with chapters 29 and 30 and rewrote them several times. Everything sounded a little OOC because there's a lot of emotional vulnerability and neither Gojo nor Geto (especially Gojo) seem like the sort of people who would allow themselves to be that vulnerable with another person, but eventually I came up with something I liked. Plus hey, maybe they're a little more emotionally intelligent in this world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—

I like writing dream scenes. They show up in a lot of the fics I've written and there are a ton in this one. They're not prophetic dreams, but mainly manifestations of the character's fears coupled with past and present memories

—

I'd always planned to include original characters since it's a reincarnation AU, but I didn't plan for Satoko (Gojo's grandmother in this fic) to have such a big role. I made up a whole story of what happened to her during her first life as a member of the Gojo clan, but it was too much and just didn't fit with the rest of the fic, so I had to cut it out. I really wish we could've learned a little more about the previous Six Eyes users in canon (actually, I wish we could've learned a little more about everyone in canon, particularly their families)

—

I wrote most of chapter 31 while listening to the Digimon: The Movie soundtrack (yes, that "so bad it's good" pastiche of three different movies that came out in North America). I'm a Digimon fan myself, so I had to include a few references in the fic

—

The final chapter is my favorite. The idea of the trio somehow seeing Gojo's ghost when they visit his grave is hilarious to me. I also wrote it while listening to "Ao no Sumika/ The First Take" because it's just perfect

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Yes indeed, here we are, at the cusp of MOANA 2's opening weekend.

Gigantic $57m opening Wednesday take, a little below INSIDE OUT 2's $64m opening day take from this past summer. INCREDIBLES 2 ($71m) and LION KING Remake ($77m) still hold the top spots.

Has a curious A- CinemaScore, which WISH also had. Not terrible, but not particularly great for an animated family movie title. Could go either way now because of that. If my shift on Thursday was anything to go by, audiences dug it. Heard two ovations when doing my theater cleans, and some of the crowds seemingly enjoying it. May not go down like WISH did. We'll see. Reviews tended to be generally okay, with many noting that it definitely feels like a patch job of TV show episodes, as it was suspected by some to be.

Does it set a bad precedent for Disney? To just hastily turn something into what it was not meant to be at first, and then crunch the living heck out of the animators (if recent rumblings are to be believed, I mean c'mon they're likely true) at both studios after such a significant overhaul? In this era, MOANA 2 is the only project to have evolved from a halfway-finished Disney+ show. As far as I know, TIANA will remain a TV series. WDAS, to my knowledge, has no other Disney+ shows in the works. That whole rush from all of Disney's film divisions to churn out content-content-content for D+ has slowed to a crawl. ZOOTOPIA 2 was a movie from the word-go, so I don't know about that.

From my perspective, they had an original movie lined up for this fall, and I guess after how badly STRANGE WORLD and WISH went over (the latter, to my eyes, an also obviously rushed product to meet the Disney centennial)... And because they just had to have a new WDAS movie out for Thanksgiving 2024 (annual tradition at this point, only stopped once by COVID, as RAYA left Thanksgiving 2020 for March 2021), they hit the panic button and movie'd MOANA: THE SERIES into MOANA 2... That's my guess, and a lot of Jennifer Lee's stepping down from the studio CCO position was one of the big fallouts of that. A tell-all I'd love to hear. I think the smart thing would've been to take that SNOW WHITE thing and swap that with MOANA 2. It probably still would've been huge anyhow, and SNOW WHITE could've benefited from the holidays if it's a stinker. Maybe not. I know at the end of the day that that juicy opening day take and likely massive weekend gross matters *much more* to Disney in the end... Plus this will probably help make back what the previous two features lost... But I'm that uncool person who thinks of the people actually making these things. I think a spring 2025 debut would've given the filmmakers more time to sort things out. It all seemed very last minute, and that's not cool. Especially amidst the negotiations going on between the Animation Guild and the wider industry.

Also, we could've gotten a complete repeat of 2016, the year both the original MOANA and the original ZOOTOPIA came out... Just back to front this time, MOANA 2 as a March release, and ZOOTOPIA 2 as a November release. But, MOANA 2 will likely make its budget back by the end of next week or the week after. It'll chug to $600m very soon, it'll probably easily surpass the $640m+ take. Unless it's actually really bad, which it doesn't seem to be to most family audiences flocking to this film... So yeah, $600-800m in sight, maybe even a billion. They'll likely greenlight a third movie, as I hear the film itself explicitly sets one up?

Funny how in the WDAS realm, FROZEN and MOANA - two movies from this past decade - get a trilogy before FANTASIA gets a proper third film. FANTASIA almost got a third film, did you know that? FANTASIA 2006 would've contained THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, ONE BY ONE, LORENZO, and DESTINO, but it ultimately did not happen. I feel FANTASIA 2023 would've been the proper way to celebrate Disney's centennial last year, not WISH. I'm sayin', they should make another FANTASIA, don't mind me over here wishing for another FANTASIA movie.

Anyways, big waves ahead for MOANA 2. I'll be curious to see how high this thing goes, pun sorta shamelessly intended.

[hoe-for-daddywise]

I had you in my grip

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x reader

Warning: Death, pain, kissing, possible NSFW content in later chapters, 18+

Word count: 1798

Part one

No God, no religion. The four words that spun spirals around your head now echoing loud within the halls of the church you'd found yourself in on this Sunday morning for your best friends, daughters christening. You pondered on the fact that if there was a God, he was surely judging you right now, whilst the face of his son was staring at you from the sunlit stained glass. As the vicar invited everyone into prayer, you felt like an impostor, noting everyone joined in, knowing the words like a well rehearsed script, their eyes shut and hands together. “Amen”, reverberated off the walls from their unison, understanding their prayer was now fixed, a message to their God. Looking down at your watch you panicked. “shit.” You noticed the Vicar snap his head towards you, disapproval on his face, a small, “sorry” escaped your mouth. Your work meeting was about to take place in 10 minutes and you couldn't be late. Your friend already knew that you had to go to this meeting and that it couldn't be missed. You gave her a small wave and then quickly took off and out of the sacred building. The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind you like God was kicking you out, guilt twanging in your heart that you couldn't stay for your best friend, but relief washing over you. “Hopefully I won't have to come back to one of these until someone dies”, you laugh to yourself as you unlock your car and climb into it.

Thankfully, your workplace was only round the corner so you should make it on time. Slamming your foot on the gas you speed out of the car park and join the road. You flipped down the mirror on the sunvisor and reapply your lipstick, not paying much attention to the road until a beep from your left brings you back, you'd almost gone into the other lane. Panicking, you swing the steering wheel to put you back on track, “shit”, you cursed again, catching a quick glimpse at yourself in the mirror not seeing you smudged red lipstick on your cheek in the almost accident. You wiped it off and had to slam your foot on the break as to not hit the car in front of you. “Damn what is up with me today?” You mutter. A smash was the last thing you heard before your car was being rolled sideways and down the hill on the grass banking. The world was tumbling around you, and before you even had a second to fully register what was happening, it was over everything went black.

It didn't happen like they say movies, your life didn't flash before your eyes over and again like projection, you didn't think about everything you wished you could've done and regrets never came to mind. Your life just came to an end. It was over. Your existence would soon become a shadow of what once was, and your friends and family would probably mourn you in that church you had been in today.

Darkness descended into a realm where the sun is silent and eternal flame burns.

"Welcome, Y/N." A velvet voice bellowed and reverberated back to you, rattling your being. Your eyes snapped open as your hands groped at the cold stone floor beneath your laying form. Standing, you looked for the man who had spoken your name only moments ago but had to strain your eyes as the only light describable was that of which the glow of the fire river touched. A silhouette cascaded and shadowed your much smaller figure, rendering you completely at its mercy.

"Are you the devil? Am I in Hell?" You croaked out and he tutted back at you.

"'No God, no religion', isn't that what you always said, Y/N?"

"Yes but I died, didn't I?"

"That you did." The figure edges forward.

"So, then where am I?"

"You, my dear, are in the world of the unconscious, and I am the fucking king." He stepped into the light as the fire erupted behind him and fell back into itself. His cloak of shadows trailing behind, each penumbra ricocheting off of the other until they came to a sudden stop, flowing around his tall and thin stature. On top of his short black hair sat a golden crown which reflected the fire to the side of you and relayed your own fragile image back to yourself.

"Strange." You declared.

"What is?" He laughed wickedly.

"I've spent my entire existence dismissing - no - refusing that there was a life after death, but"

"This is not life, Y/N". He interrupted. "Your life ended in that car, everything you was in the land of the living serves no purpose here. You are but an empty vessel drifting through space. Lost."

Your stomach dropped at his words, your past self was now rendered insignificant. A solitary tear fell down your cheek. The man lifted his hand up to you, and wiped the stray tear away with his thumb.

"Don't cry. Though you may have been confined here, you do not walk alone." The king whispered softly, a soothing warmth embedded within and your eyes locked. "Other souls reside here, and I will always be close by." A slight smile tucked into at the corner of his lips and disappeared almost instantly, bringing a sense of comfort to your new existence. You offered him a smile back. "Now, please follow Me." He extended his hand out towards you, which you took without even a moments hesitation.

"Where are we going?" You ask as fire from the river spluttering around you almost burnt you.

“Watch out for Phlegethon." He motioned to the fire river. "We are going on a tour."

"Is this some elaborate trick to chuck me into a room where you can torture me?" You laugh nervously.

"Torture? No." He laughed. "That is for later."

You gulped and hoped he was joking. "Do you give tours to everyone? Surely that would take forever."

"No, only to my most special guests." He winks.

It felt like hours had passed as the king takes you around a slither of the realm as he explained it would take a millennium to explore it all. You noted how a lot of it looked the same, more fire, more stone, some rooms here and there. You walked past a few of the other souls who seem to have lost all sense of purpose yet some tried to speak to you but your king would cast them aside, even chucking one into the fire in a rage. He made you aware that until you had spent a significant amount of time here, they would be under the illusion that you were alive and would try to bargain with you. In exchange for what, you didn't dare ask.

"So, I know you're my king but, do you have a name?" You question.

"Noah." His hand tightened around yours.

"Noah?" You laugh. "So not anything like Satan or Asmodeus?"

Noah tilts his head to the side. "Sorry to disappoint you, but this was my given name."

"No, I like it." You smile. "Not threatening, I suppose."

"I don't threaten you?" Noah's face changes as he slams you into a wall, arms either side of you. You shook your head.

"I am the keeper of the damned, the ruler of the underworld, torturer and punisher. I don't threaten you?" Your core burnt at the closeness. His face so close to yours, you couldn't help but note how gorgeous he was.

"No." You couldn't explain it, but there was a glossiness that cast over his eyes that dared you to carry on. "I am not threatened by you."

Noah narrowed his eyes, a flicker of anger passed through his features. "You underestimate the depths of my power, little one." He warned. "Do you not understand the consequences of questioning me? Your suffering is at my command, your mind cannot comprehend the torture I can and will inflict upon you."

"And what torture might that be, Noah?" Flirtation in your voice and a glint of playfulness in your eyes as they glanced between his eyes and his lips.

"Eager to find out, are you?" Noah lifted his hand up to your cheek and before you could even respond his lips were on yours in a heated passion. Your stomach did flips as you responded with the same hunger and your hand found its way into his hair and pulled it slightly, begging for more. He bit your bottom lip hard and drew blood. You moaned through the pain and tasted the copper liquid as your tongues collided in a fiery dance, both fighting to win dominance.

But then, a sudden jolt of pain spread through your chest causing you to break the kiss and gasp out, your eyes wide. "What did you do, Noah?" You ask as you clutch to where your heart would be.

"N-nothing." He retracts as he watches you fall to the floor and scream in pain as another bolt floods through you, an intense feeling you'd never experienced before, it felt like electricity causing through you. Noah kneels down beside you. "I don't understand what's happening! I swear, this isn't my doing." He shouts out, worry tinged in his voice and confusion painted across his face as he reaches out to grab your hand.

"Make it stop." You choke out a sob as you claw at your chest.

"I don't know how!" He scans the area to see if there's anything or any soul doing this to you.

"Fuck!" You scream in agony as another hit pulls you through the darkness.

Your eyes snap open and a breath floods your lungs. Bright light penetrates your eyes causing you to squint.

"We've got her." A woman's voice shouts out from next to you. "Welcome back to the land of the living." You notice the paddles of a defibrillator in her hands. Blinking rapidly, you struggle to make sense of your surroundings as you lay sprawled out on a road with glass and blood surrounding you. Then to the corner of your eyes you notice your car on its side and remember that you'd crashed and ended up in a different world.

"N-Noah?" You croak. "Where's, Noah?"

"Is that your boyfriend? Was he in the car too?"

"No." Had you dreamed all of this? Surely not. It had all seemed so real. Disoriented was an understatement so you tried to sit up.

"Wow wow. Stay laid down, we don't know if you've broken anything. We need to place a neck brace on you and get you on a board."

That was the last thing you remembered before you blacked out.

[ultraericthered]

Disney's Most Hated Villain 10 Years Later

Now when I say "Disney's most hated villain", I don't mean he's the Disney villain that most people hate most, I literally mean he seems to be the villain most hated by Disney themselves. The shots taken at him in Big Hero 6, Frozen Fever, Kingdom Hearts III, Frozen II, and even recently in Once Upon A Studio all seem to suggest that there are some people high up at Disney who just really did not care for this guy, like they blame the ascendance of "twist villains" in Disney movies on him and want to take it out on him, despite how massively successful and popular the movie he was the villain of was and still is. It's just the most preculiar thing. A whole 10 years later and we've finally get another traditional, openly and bombastically evil villain in King Magnifico of Wish, and given how utterly polarizing that movie is turning out to be among all the earliest critics and audience viewers, I have to wonder if he'll now become Disney new punching bag for setting this new course! I swear, there's no pleasing folks these days!

But this post is for some thoughts on him and why I feel a lot of people online still get Hans wrong. He's not the most competently executed and well defined case of a twist villain, nor is he the worst, most bullshit twist villain ever who needed to be excised from the film so Elsa could keep the Big Bad spot. Taking him as he is, Hans is a B grade or C grade Disney villain at most, with lots of character potential even if it doesn't fully come together in the movie itself.

By far the most common and greatest misconception about Hans as a character is the idea that the moment of the reveal that he was an evil villain the entire time, and the very nature of re-establishing and re-contextualizing his character as a villain, is meant to cast him as some devious, manipulative mastermind who was pulling strings for the film's whole present day plot and had ill intent behind his every word and deed, even if that seems contradictory to the character we'd been watching up to that point. This is false. Hans has never mastered the chessboard, only played on it. He had a firmly set goal from the moment he showed up in Arendelle - become its ruler - but he did not have any solid plan on how he was going to make this ambition a reality. So he was winging it the whole movie. I mean, he basically says as much to Anna in that scene yet so many viewers were too distracted by reeling from either shock or confusion over the outing of Hans as the bad guy that they seemed to miss that.

The crux of Hans as an antagonist in the film is that he is a broken soul who grew up miserable and with an absence of love in his life, and it warped him into a high functioning sociopath who can easily detach himself from his heart and emotions, becoming whatever the current circumstance or person he's presently interacting with best requires him to be in the ways that best advance his own interests. He's like the worst possible outcome of what Anna or Elsa could've grown up to be had their childhoods taken an even worse turn. And above all, he is a man of many masks, rarely ever showing his true face. The mask is hollow and flexible, serving as a mirror to whoever Hans is in contact with (His nice, adorkable, and worried moods perfectly match Anna's, his angry and confrontational moods perfectly match Weselton's, his saddened and sympathetic moods perfectly match Elsa's - absolutely none of it is authentic). There's only a select few times we see the mask pulled back and get to see Hans' true face, those times being these moments and shots here:

The first shot is him lowering the phony Prince Charming mask and visibly expressing that he was genuinely charmed to meet Anna. No, he doesn't have any "love at first sight" feelings for her, nor is he at the point where he plans on getting close to her and asking for her hand in marriage - it's simply an amused fondness for this quirky, clumsy Arendelle girl he just conversed with.

This next shot is him looking towards the mountain and realizing Elsa is there. In animation, there's even the briefest hint of a grin as he turns and gives orders afterwards, 'cause he wants to seize and exploit this opportunity to play the big hero for Arendelle. Also worth mentioning is that while Hans has no one he loves, he does treat his horse Sitron well. It's pretty much his only friend.

The infamous split second shot where Hans' eyes dart up towards the chandelier before he jumps to action and turns the soldier's crossbow away from Elsa and to the candelier that drops on Elsa. This is Hans as a Xanatos Speed Chess player shown in practice.

That smarmy, mean-spirited grin that comes over his face as he says the infamous, ever memetic line that reveals his villainy.

The shot when he sees Elsa has broken out of her prison cell. Again, the good guy mask is lowered to show he's not pleased.

THIS SHOT. This is Hans fully unmasked and fully unrestrained.

The last we see of him before he's thrown out of the story.

So what's with all the Hans hate, from Disney fans and Disney itself? TV Tropes' page of Character Perception Evolution states this:

I'm not sure how entirely accurate this is since from what I recall, Hans and the twist of his villainy was getting shit on from very early on. I have to disagree that the twist was not properly foreshadowed or at least not in a way that was substantial enough (aside from those "lowering the mask" parts, all of Hans' lyrics in "Love Is An Open Door" put his intentions and the angle he was playing in plain sight, he immediately flip-flops his position when Anna charges him with looking over Arendelle in the sisters' absence, and right before the reveal he straight up lies by omission to Elsa's face by not telling her that he's currently the leading authority in Arendelle and thus has the power to grant her leniency rather than "persaude the other nobles" to do so), but the execution of the reveal with his sudden shift into a totally different character than the one we'd been watching for the previous two thirds of the film absolutely should've been handled better in execution; he needed to slow it down a bit in between saying that notorious line and snuffing out all the lit fires in the room while expositing in a villainous monologue sort of way. The idea that Elsa should've been the villain rather than Hans and Hans should've been the male love interest instead of Kristoph are simply opinions, and I'm not exactly in agreement with them, more on that in a bit.

I've said it plenty of times before and will repeat: to me, the most crippling weakness of Hans as the villain of this film is that the way he's been designed, the very nature of his sociopathic character who always wears masks, mirrors other characters, and comes up with new moves to advance his interests, rendered it very difficult for us to get a good grasp on who he truly is and feel like we'd really gotten to know him by the time the movie was over. And you could make the argument this isn't a flaw so much as it is a necessary evil in order to make Hans' role in the story work as best as it could...but I feel that argument falls flat when Disney/Pixar later gave us a similar twist villain who did what Hans did but better and even more effectively as a full-fledged character in a much shorter amount of screentime.

Erenesto De La Cruz, like Hans, is first cast in a positive light and set up as a good guy in the story, though we don't meet him in person until the third act of Coco. Like Hans, he's got an amiable personality and fast strikes up a friendly relationship with the main character. Like Hans, he is very evidently not without genuine decent qualities. Like Hans, the reveal of him as a murderous sociopath who is the true villain of the story is a very shocking moment. And like Hans, he's a big factor in the climax and gets dealt a satisfactory karmic comeuppance. But the thing that set Ernesto apart from Hans is that he doesn't wear any masks to conceal he's "secretly evil". He has a public image that conceals this, yes, but for all the time he's on screen and an active agent in the story, he is his authentic self. All of the nicer qualities we see from him aren't made up, they're real parts of who he is...and who he is just also happens to be a vainglorious sociopath devoid of a conscience who will do anything to anyone under any circumstance in order to "seize his moment" and build up a legacy that keeps him the center of attention even long after he's passed away. While he's still under the mistaken belief that Miguel is his great grandson, before he learns he's actually that to Hector, he has him put away and draws a parallel to how he poisoned Hector to death as he does so - he was never at any point in life pretending to be Hector's best friend, "Hector WAS my best friend", as he puts it. And it just ultimately matters less to him than himself and his own self-interested pursuits. That is a truly chilling villainous character who leaves a strong impression after the movie's over despite how little he was on screen. Hans was almost that, but fell short of the mark because we were left with no clear picture of who he was.

Luckily for Hans, he did get other chances to show more character:

In closing, I will still have to defend Hans' position as the story's only true villain. Yes, Disney going all out with Elsa and her powers driven out of control from her fears as the primary antagonist probably would've been the best option, but once they were set on making Elsa much less of a villain than envisioned, someone needed to play the part in order to make the climax happen and it absolutely could not be the Duke of Weselton, a character so comically unpleasant and openly against Elsa and in it for his own interests rather than Arendelle's that there is no way in Frozen Hell that Elsa would ever be convinced by him of anything like Anna being dead from Elsa's own freezing powers. That lie had to come from someone who could convincingly make Elsa believe it because they'd come off so sincere, someone she'd think could have no possible reason to lie to her. It had to be someone like Hans, someone with a heart so frozen cold that he could effortlessly mimic human emotion he didn't really feel. That is a crucial part of the story's climax that, even beyond the danger to Anna's heart, was foreshadowed from the very beginning.

[matt0044]

While it is interesting to bemoan the lack of filler for a chance...

...I'm not sure if that makes for a good conversation about pacing.

See, I often want to just a show based less on what it could be if XYZ external factors were different like how many episode per season.

Can they convey the stories they wish to tell within 26 episodes per season or 13 episode per season? 10 can seem pretty tight and is becoming the norm.

There's also how some shows seem keen to, rightfully, assume that their show will be lucky to make two seasons. Thus there will likely be a sense that a plotline that could've been delegated for a future season but too many are aware of how companies are allergic to paying taxes like "peasents.

Even so.

While we can take Streaming to task for not giving show even the bare minimum of thirteen episodes, what I care about it how well the creative teams manage with the hand they are dealt with.

Can this "eight hour movie" pace itself well?

Can it feel like a chapter book where its it real page-turner?

Does it know what ideas are important to keep?

Can it give itself time for the characters to just be before the next big plot beat?

Can it juggle characterization with plot progression? A lot of stories are actually more about a character's decisions than just things that happen to them.

I get that good pacing is something terribly hard to judge when pacing itself is only noticeable when it's bad, when it jars you out of the immersion of storytelling. But I feel like if we want to appreciate storytelling better, I think we need to actively be more conscious about these sort of things.

[bandedseakraito3o]

I recently read the sherlock gnomes movie novelisation and I have some thoughts.

Okay so there are a few obvious differences between the movie novelisation and the movie itself, most notably the ending, which I'm personally not a big fan of? there's no twist where watson was the one to orchestrate most of the events all along, and while sherlock still has character development by the end of the novelisation, willing to risk his life for watson and understanding what he did wrong, it's not really prompted by much, and it gets rid of the fed-up watson, willing to play sherlock's game to highlight just how he's been underappreciated, which I came to love about his movie version.

Then obviously there's the fact that there are just some things you can't quite translate into writing form without doing it awkwardly; thus the vague descriptions when Sherlock is thinking (since it would probably be pretty hard to describe the change in animation style if they had it at that point). And the lyrics to Irene's song aren't actually outlined, Juliet just gets 'the impression' that she's singing about not needing a man, which gets the point across but lacks detail.

some sequences of events are ordered different, for example the flashback scene to the Natural History Museum fight in the movie is one of the beginning scenes, whereas in the movie novelisation it's after the sewer scene. I'm not sure if that's how they were planning for the movie to be structured originally, but for the novelisation I think it makes sense that way, considering it's watson conveying the information.

then there are some smaller details! for example:

- Ronnie often being referred to with she/her pronouns :)

- the dog in the park scene being named toby (I really like this reference to the lovable toby in sign of the four, although I'm not sure it's quite fitting for the dog they describe) rather than being 'the hound owned by the baskervilles' as it is in the movie.

- lord redbrick's role in the movie is increased, not by a lot, but significantly enough to notice. he's seen to be a lot more hesitant to announce his retirement, continues to hover and micromanage, and randomly has a role in the impromptu play they perform for ronnie, in which lord redbrick basically saves the day? this isn't really something I enjoyed about the movie novelisation, but maybe that's just because I'm not really a lord redbrick fan. they could've at least given lady bluebury a bigger role instead.

- when heading to traitor's gate there's a short scene in which Sherlock and Juliet travel by train, which is dangerous but thrilling. I do kind of wish we could've seen this in the movie, I think it would've been pretty cool if properly animated.

finally, I have some favourite lines:

overall it was pretty alright, but obviously better suited to being a companion to the movie (as it was intended to be) rather than an independent piece of writing

[trainerfangirlsmile]

I went to see the second to last show in the Anastasia The Musical run in Mexico and oh my god:

So first of all, this was the first Mexican production that I ever saw in an established theater as opposed to a tour production (that was the Cats Mexican Tour back in 2019) so I was a little excited about that fact and how it would feel.

I had heard one negative comment about it, mainly how the sets and costumes didn't make justice to the original production (this couldn't have been MORE WRONG they were absolutely breathtaking)

There was a young girl (couldn't be more than 9 y/o) that was asked if she had seen the original movie and her answer was no, which made me think that for a lot of young kids the show could've been their first approach to Anastasia and I think that's beautiful

Now onto the musical itself:

The 3rd call for starting was made by little Anya and her voice was so adorable! She also made the call for starting the 2nd act during intermission

Most of the songs were adapted from the Madrid version rather than from the Latin American Dub of the movie (where the songs were sung by a popular Mexican singer called Thalia) and while at first it slightly disappointed me, it didn't affect the value of the production at all, I found myself vibing to the music all the time

Gleb's actor had a higher-pitched voice than Ramin, which at first surprised me, but he also managed to make a much more awkward Gleb that you could, not root for per-say, but understand him and his motivations from the start? One of my friends knew nothing about the changes in the musical, but this is how they felt about it (also please take into consideration it had been some time since I had last seen a "grand duchess slime tutorial", I may have forgotten some stuff)

Vlad was a delight to see on stage, he was funny and charming, every time he came on stage you knew you would laugh, also he was shorter than Lily's actress, and it made funnier some jokes, we stan an unhinged couple

Dimitri amazed me. He was very tall and had a great singing voice, I was so nervous for the adaption of My Petersburg, but you can imagine my surprise when he made a great rendition of it, also ohmygoshhhh him in In a Crowd of Thousands? I kid you not, his yearning almost made me faint, seriously, he and Anya left almost no space for Jesus and I was over there in the second floor gasping for air when he said "your highness", the chemistry was off the charts

Lily was a riot the whole time she was on stage as well, funny, sarcastic, you named it she had it. Land of Yesterday was one of my favorite choreographies from the original production and it did not disappointed me!

The Dowager Empress had this ring in her voice that kinda reminded me of older Mexican dubs? Which makes no sense considering her age but at the same time it does considering her character, such talent she has! She and Alix's actress also made it more obvious through their short interactions that they weren't in the best of terms which I thought it was a great Easter egg for historical fans

The ensemble was amazing! They were all so incredible to watch, during Quartet at the Ballet, the dancers got such a big applause that it warmed my heart, they were seriously so amazing!

A song I was surprised that shook me emotionally was Stay, I Pray You; I had always enjoyed the song and think it is beautifully written, especially because it reflects how one may feel leaving your country "by choice" (I may be projecting a bit into it) but seeing it live and in my native language just broke me, beautifully done by the cast

Mariana Davila as Anya was such a treat to see live! I wish I had been able to meet her at the stage door, because she was just breathtaking! Her voice was so beautiful and it left me speechless so many times during the 2 ½ hours of the show, I hope she gets so many more roles and that I can keep watching her! Again, her chemistry with Dimitri was amazing and she also looked beautiful in Anya's dresses.

I left this as my last point because I think it was my favorite part but, as I had said before, a lot of the songs were adapted from the Madrid cast which, if I remember correctly, had been adapted from the Spanish Dub of the movie.

A lot of movie fans had voiced their disappointment at not being able to hear songs like Once Upon a December with the original lyrics, and Mariana had said that they had tried to change them to the ones we were used to

Upon starting the show and realizing the new lyrics, I thought, "Well, maybe it was just for some specific shows or dates" and proceeded to enjoy the show

AND THEN COMES THE END OF ACT 1 AND GUYS

Journey To The Past was sang with the exact same lyrics as the Latin American Dub from 1997.

I am not joking when I tell you that the second that I heard "No me falles no..." I looked towards my friends and was already getting my eyes welled up with tears, it was such a flashback to being 5 years old coming home from blockbuster on an early December day and just, gosh, it was too much emotionally, I really cried throughout the whole song

Also, last year, I went on an exchange program, and some of the trips I was able to make were to Paris (since it was really close to were I was studying at the time) and just, seeing the images from Paris was also a reminder that I had been able to make many dreams come true in the last year, including watching this musical

It didn't help that the lights started from the seats towards the stage, it was so poetic, I still feel emotional thinking it and it has been like 23 hours since I experienced this.

Mexico is so talented, I hope we can continue to enjoy these experiences, and not only in the capital city, everyone in all the 32 states deserves to have a magical time