#i've choreographed the same fight scene over and over and over again

[squirshie]

i want to talk about the house fucking fic but i fear in doing so i would ruin the experience of reading it

[qilingxiong]

九龍城寨之圍城 | Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

I've rewatched this movie more than once, since seeing it in theatres back in August, and each time was just as good as the first if not better. Given that, I now have many thoughts so I'm subjecting y'all to listening to why you should watch it:

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (九龍城寨之圍城 or gau2 lung4 sing4 zaai6 zi1 wai4 sing4) is a martial arts action/crime film directed by Soi Cheang. It is an adaptation of the manhua City of Darkness by Andy Seto, and its source novel of the same name by Yuyi. The film's cast has established Hong Kong names folded in with newer-generation actors, starring Raymond Lam, Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, Richie Jen, Terrance Lau, Philip Ng, German Cheung, and Tony Wu (Aaron Kwok gets a cameo role, too).

At a broad glance, the movie follows several major triads in 1980s Hong Kong and their power struggle to control the Kowloon Walled City (a densely populated urban enclave, which for decades evaded direct governance by either the British colonial or Chinese powers in the area). We're introduced to the KWC and the triads' major players through the eyes of Chan Lok-Kwan (Raymond Lam), a man fleeing Vietnam and attempting to make a life for himself in HK. He winds up seeking refuge in the KWC, and comes to call both the city and the people he meets in it a home worth defending.

The narrative itself is not the most complex, but if you enjoy '80s Hong Kong films in these genres, it's solid fare and a harkening back to that decade. All the major themes like brotherhood (and brotherhood vs blood), vengeance, and struggle with conflicting loyalties are there, alongside an internal search for identity and belonging within Hong Kong. But the highlight in it is that the plot connects feast after feast of utterly stunning fight choreography, made all the more impressive by the fact that, according to Louis Koo, quite a few major cast members had never filmed this kind of action before. All their training was done just for TotW, and oh, does it pay off. I can't make good gifs, so you'll have to watch and see for yourself. It's not action for action's sake, either; listening to the head stunt choreographer discuss how different characters' fighting styles were crafted shows off how fight scenes aren't breaks in the story, they tell the story, and deepen our understanding of the characters.

The setting of the Kowloon Walled City truly makes the action in TotW stand out. It's a unique space to stage all these major fights, as the KWC's buildings at the time were packed together close enough to resemble a singular block from the outside. Once inside, it's a stacked, dark maze of uneven paths, stairs, and rickety roofs, with electrical and television cabling snaking over/around/through everything. Fight scenes in these streets feel thrillingly claustrophobic, with lots of acrobatics and near-dodges as characters navigate these tight alleys of the KWC. Each impact as a character goes flying into a wall, or is launched down a flight of stairs or onto a roof, is wonderfully visceral to watch.

All credit and hopefully awards are due to the production and set design teams for their work, in crafting this environment for the story and its fights. The visual/spatial representation of the KWC is the film's other glorious highlight, alongside the choreography. Whole streets of the KWC were recreated for this, filled with every mundane, period-accurate detail from the lives of ordinary people who would have lived there. It's impossible to catch all the intricacies put into making the KWC come to life again onscreen, just from watching the film. Shots like the credits sequence offer close-ups of harder-to-see details, and videos like a tour of the KWC set by Terrance Lau, acting as his character Shin, show off things from the drinks in the fridge at the corner store to the scribbled writing on the walls by the public taps. This film was designed with a drive to faithfully represent what the Kowloon Walled City had been like, how it looked when it was lived in, and they achieved it to an incredible degree.

That dedication extends to more than just the sets, though. The emotional core of TotW revolves around the KWC's inhabitants, and how they were the ones who made the city what it was, a home for about 35,000 people at a time. The film doesn't treat the KWC as just an eye-catching location to stage some fights; its characters might be fictional and overloaded with jianghu powers, but it goes out of its way to show how ordinary people might have lived, worked, and socialized within the historic city. It shows off why, despite its (not unwarranted) dark reputation, so many chose to live in a place that was once the densest urban center on the planet.

And this brings us to the acting, because the cast all do a very good job bringing their characters to life as the heart of the KWC. Louis Koo is fucking fantastic and arguably the scene stealer of the film as Cyclone, the triad leader in current charge of the KWC. He's grumpy, magnetic, and dangerous when he must be, but he also cares so very, very deeply about the inhabitants within his jurisdiction. Terrance Lau's Shin acts as his charismatic and capable right hand man, as well as protégé to Cyclone, befriending Chan Lok-Kwan and helping him become accustomed to life in the KWC. These two, along with the snarky Twelfth Master (Tony Wu) and the masked + imposing AV (German Cheung) become a quartet with great chemistry and friendship, the next generation to watch over and protect the Kowloon Walled City. Outside the KWC cast, antagonist figures like Sammo Hung, Philip Ng, and Richie Jen's characters are intimidating and compelling as threats to the city, and the lives people have etched out within its walls.

All of these things put together, and Twilight of the Warriors is a deeply fun, enjoyable, and rewatchable film (so good, in fact, that Hong Kong has submitted it as its nomination for the 2025 Oscars). The movie doesn't lose its emotional throughline in the promise of an action-packed ride it fully delivers on, and it uses its narrative, setting, and choreography to pay tribute to an earlier era of Hong Kong, as well as highlight + humanize a piece of the region's history that might not be quite as well known to some.

(The Kowloon Walled City was demolished and its inhabitants relocated in 1993. The area where it once stood is now a park, with some historic buildings preserved. If you're curious about people in the KWC before demolition, City Of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City (1993) by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot is a collection of photographs and first-hand recountings from residents, recording their lives and stories. I'm in the midst of reading it right now.)

If anything I've said has piqued your interest whatsoever, I say to give Twilight of the Warriors a try, if you have a free two hours to spare. Something in it will be worth it for you. And if I've failed to convince you with any of this, or you need one more push, here's the trailer for the film:

And if I did manage to actually get anyone to seek out this movie, please tell me! I'd love to know your thoughts.

[shehungthemoon]

Just dumping my Ina Paha thoughts here. 🙃

First of all I did NOT know it was the 100th episode going into this, so i was very confused watching the montage at the end lol

I also had to click out and make sure I didn't click the wrong episode when the Pilot started playing at the beginning. When I heard Danny's voice on the phone instead of Hesse's I swear I got whiplash

It's filmed so well (bar where they reshot the pilot where Steve gets Danny on the phone instead of a dead dad, in which they literally forgot to put the same filter over the scene to make the stitching coherent) and I absolutely love the camera work they did with the white-room and the video projections. It felt very much a level above normal network television cinematography, especially the parts where Steve's going in and out of the hallucinations.

Steve finally FINALLY killing Wo-Fat was so cathartic, it should have happened ages ago but I'm willing to look past all the dumb ways he survived just to allow this incredible ending to his story.

Ina Paha gave me Kono doing... this. I owe Grace Park my whole life. Pls costuming department put her in hot pink again 💗

yes, it was a Steve episode. but Danny REALLY shone, first as the only resident Actual Detective figuring out what happened to Steve by the tire-tracks, rampaging through the compound steadily and efficiently and knocking people off without a pause, and then in Steve's mind shooting Hesse's kneecaps off?!?!?! That was CRAZY and probably not suppose to be as hot as it was and definitely made me want an ex-mobster AU immediately. Basically I have a competency kink and really like badass!danny shit 😊

Seeing Chin's long hair again made me swoon

My jaw dropped when I saw Jenna! I think it's really interesting that Steve still thinks of her so much, and I was surprised that she showed up in both the actual dreams and the montage. I definitely underestimated how much she impacted Steve's life, it seems, and I hate that we'll never hear him address that and we'll only know about it inadvertently like this.

(hand over the heart for how lori got like. one team shot. poor girlie.)

⭐I took the montage at the end as being flashbacks and memories that Steve was having as he left the compound. Looking at it through that lens certainly makes one unwell.

Obligatory squeal for Adam appearing just to save the day :))) look below to see the love of my life! :)))))) ⬇⬇⬇

Of course, the obligatory mcdanno bullet(s). It writes itself! The way Danny said Steve's name so small and broken when he found him. The way they look at each other on the ground, the pain their faces. I need an official apology statement from Scott and Alex for it. Can we talk about what flashes by during the montage at the end? (IMO it being Steve's memories.) So much Danny.

The first thing is Danny and Steve's first meeting. Jfc. The showrunners milk it SO MUCH and who's complaining

The big, rocking hug. The hands clasping underground. Gracie of course. And then Danny collapsing from the bioweapon, which to be honest I was NOT expecting to see at all--it felt like a genuinely strange choice to include in there and it really ONLY makes sense if you go along with all that being what Steve's remembering. Even then, I was surprised to see it, so basically this is Hawaii Five-Oh making mcdanno gayer than even I was wanting them to be. Steve still thinks about that? From so long ago? Even with so many other close calls in between then and now? Good fucking lord ok then loverboy that's WILD. Canon accepted ig this show is just pure whump.

Danny goes through all of this just days after losing his brother and killing Reyes. JFC can we please address that. I need a 30k introspection fic to let me into this man's mind rn.

The Wo Fat v.s. Steve fight at the end was INCREDIBLE. I would love to give the choreographer's hand a shake, it's some of the best work I've seen on television in a long time. It was impressive for a procedural like this. It was long and physical and you truly didn't know what the outcome was going to be; it everything that their built-up relationship deserved for a conclusion. It also happening with a Steve coming off of hours of torture and drugging was crazy (guess we finally know who would win a PVP if they were both at full strength!). That being said I was really impressed with Wo Fat's capabilities and physical prowess, I was not expecting it to be so even and close to the line. I actually jumped when Steve LIFTED him up into the lighting fixture. We do not talk about Steve's (Alex's???) raw upper-body strength enough.

Anyway. Electricity in the water play. The physicality hell that this gif below is ⬇. Fire extinguishers and loaded needles. Crazy martial arts. Chair and buckets (holy shit did y'all see the force with which Wo Fat SHOT that bucket?????) flying. All's fair. I loved it.

The shot going right through the forehead, clean. I don't know how to put into words why that's so monumental to me but it is.

The mystery bad lady was SO intriguing, I wish we got more from her... How does she know Wo Fat? Why was she entrusted with all that information on him and Steve and especially Doris? Absolutely where did she come from, what was her name? Why did I have a huge huge hot crush on her? All important questions. (Goes to show that h50 CAN give us some more genuine badass, not just there to date someone women characters, just explicitly choose not to. I'm holding out for Ellie to remain platonic so hard right now.)

Almost forgot Danny in that black Hawaiian shirt. Will be whimpering over that image forever. The whole episode I was trying to focus on the underlining betrayal mystery they were laying out but every time my brain started working too hard Scott with his stupid waist and those flower patterns just started flashing into my head

Again, are you seeing this:

I'm unwell and so so happy.

H50 you're a gem when you want to be.

[ah-schwoopsie]

Cinderella's Castle part 4!

Bryce's dress is so pretty! The costume designers and makers did such a fantastic job!! Bless you Rebecca Carr 💕

'You're beaten.'

Crumb lunging at Curt-Guard.

I get that Curt is the fight choreographer but he did such a great job fighting Sir Hop-A-Lot! The big steps into the puppet. Beautiful.

Crumb: Yeah, what's he want?

Jeff's British accent. 'thats a fucking demon!'

Crumb knows all the loopholes. Just to get belly rubs.

The beautiful craftsmanship of these puppets!! When Crumb leaps at Stepmother and she fights him off. Even though Joey has let go, his legs still swing realistically, his ears bob and oh my his tail!! Angela is able to subtly but effectively get her hands under his arm and move it just a little bit. Oh my!! Also the fantastic joy of getting to see Joey step back and look at Bryce with his hands on his face. And him praying whilst Crumb dies. Oh I've missed Starkids puppets! I will forever have Joey's grin as February kisses Bug playing in my head (Starship).

The Prince being a foot guy. Tadius Lord-Give-Me-Strength hand gesture as he goes to ready the wanking couch.

The Narrators 'yeah-nah, nah yeah?' immediately after.

El-lah

We need more of triumphant and ego driven Ella.

Putrice's 'yum, yum!' oh no, where have we heard that before?

Okay as stepmother cuts off Ella's leg. Think back to the opening scene (not the Narrator, the butchers). Stepmother says she'll have to cut off Ella's legs and if the butcher has a bone saw, does he not? Her referring back to the pigs as she cuts off her legs.

Angela's voice during Watch.

Ragweed yeah me too. I also can't wait to see the close up of this scene so I can see the details on Ragweed and Joey's puppeteering of him. His hand work looks so good. So much personality in those hand movements.

Kim's character continuing to rub her burned foot and also hobble out on it. Ah I love it.

Tadius panicking so hard when the shoe fits Putrice. It has dawned on him that he wouldn't actually take one of those Ashmore girls over the Prince.

I do love a good villains reprise of all their songs.

Stepmother and Rancilda on the stairs during the wedding is such a mood. The crowd getting a small fright when Lauren screams and gets up.

They changed so quickly into their puppets!!

The leds behind Putrice and the Prince as she rips off his head go red. Ah the details.

Putrice asking 'are you proud of me now mum?' and stepmothers next word being 'yes!' and Putrice opens her mouth in a smile. Then stepmother continues, meaning either she ignored or didn't listen to Putrice. As Putrice realises this she looks down in defeat or shame. Sooo good. The castle in the corner turns red as Stepmother talks of slaughter. As does the text saying 'The Castle'

As Ella appears on the stairs, bathed in green light, it cuts back to the stage and the same mote of light shown in the plane of the At End of Time, lights up in green also.

Bryce's HAIR!!!

You're beaten!

Once again, Rancilda didn't deserve to die! I get that Ella wouldn't have become Queen if she was alive but still she's good! At least she was able to escape her mother, for a bit, before she died.

Angela's puppetry as stepmother dies! She growls and opens the jaw more to one side and I just yeeesss. I also can't imagine getting up with the puppet on her back is easy.

Get it Tadius. He knew exactly what he was doing when he killed the King.

Ella's being slightly taken aback when Tadius swings his hips in Trappings of Starlight.

Crumb dancing with everyone else on the ground.

Lord Hop-A-Lot deserves it all. Same as Sir Crumb.

Omg James cradling Lord Hop-A-Lot's head as Jon detaches him from his shoes ! I ship Random Towns person with Lord Hop-A-Lot!

It is in character but everyone coming over to Bryce right as the Narrator starts Castle on the Hill (Reprise)! As Bryce takes off the crown Joey puts a hand on her back so kindly and they hug :')

They practically all give some sort of physical 'holy shit you did so good!' to each other. Curt has his hands together and motions at Lauren as she approaches, then turns to do the same to Joey as he reaches out to him. Mariah and Angela hug in the other side of the stage. Before that Kim and Mariah do finger guns at each other as James, Jon and Angela huddle in the back.

Lauren certainly knows exactly when her cue is because she literally just gets there in time. There is no pause between her getting in place and her first move. That's how good she is!!!

Mary Kate Wiles as an understudy! I would've loved to see her in this. So if anyone has any behind the scenes footage of her acting in this please share!!!

I can't tell who that is to the very left when the camera pans over he (?) stays quite close to the curtains. I'm sure he just likely had to go run off to do another cue.

Aaahhh this musical is so good!!!

Thank you Starkid 💕

[ironladders]

have you seen the mk cage match movie and if so, what are your thoughts on it

funny you ask this because i JUST watched that movie today, so my thoughts on it are very fresh

overall, cage match is a fun movie and entertaining enough if you have a spare 80ish minutes to watch something. i enjoyed the animation style, plot-wise it's easy to follow, the fight scenes were well-choreographed, the soundtrack was reflective of the 80s vibes they had going on, and all of the voice-acting is great (in my non-professional opinion).

i also really like the designs, they're super nice!

at the same time, because i'm so deep into mortal kombat lore, it's like... really easy for me to nitpick a bunch of stuff about this movie and how it handled some characters + plot elements.

johnny was fine; he's the same as always, so there's not really much new to say about him. i enjoyed how they kept his personality of being a cocky guy but also having a strong sense of good and justice within him, and the backstory they gave him in this film really elevates that. chuck was also a pleasant surprise. i went into this only having seen clips of him that made me assume he was just going to be a wimp the entire time, but watching his development throughout was really fun.

where my main conflict with this film lies is how it handles ashrah and sareena. the latter got the worst of it, imo—the character assassination this film did to sareena is crazy. i get that in 80 minutes you can only cover so much, and that the focus is meant to be on johnny, but i think there's aspects of these characters that could have been dealt with better than they were. i ended cage match unsure of how to feel about its ashrah, and extremely disappointed in its sareena.

(major spoilers under the cut, if you haven't seen cage match yet and want to watch it maybe come back to this after doing that. & obviously don’t let my personal griefs discourage you from watching or sour your opinion on the movie lmao)

kia and jataaka were not bad, to be honest. they've never really had a major role in previous mortal kombat games, and the only times they really showed up before is to do quan chi's bidding and then be defeated. there's not much to them as characters outside of that. if anything, i like that quan chi was not in this movie at all, letting them shine on their own. it sucks that they both die, and in an ideal world they'd get more depth, but them even existing & having cool scenes is a nice contrast to how they got off-screened by ashrah in mk1.

my only real complaint about those two is that they both basically got taken out the same way. kia was run over by a bus (which... seriously? she's a literal demon with all these powers and dies likethat?), and then later on chuck drives his truck into jataaka, sending her flying into the NoHo sign. i dunno, maybe it's meant to be a gag, but i was more annoyed by it than anything.

again, though: my biggest hang-ups are on ashrah and sareena.

cage match's ashrah is a mixed bag, in my opinion. the core of her character is still there: she's a demon that was formerly part of the brotherhood of shadow but left to seek redemption and become human. i also like that it's shown she's working with the white lotus society/forces of light, similar to how she always has in the games. them also having her use her classic spin move was nice to see, and i've already mentioned that i like her design.

my issue is that she doesn't get datusha until the very end of the movie. and when she finally does, the whole thing with datusha purifying her soul is not mentioned At All. datusha's just a random ass sword that glows, and as far as i can tell there's no indication that its lore even exists in this movie.

before she gets datusha, ashrah was just fighting hand-to-hand against everyone, but her absolution has always extremely tied to datusha, which begs the question: if she was working on becoming human, HOW was she supposedly doing that without datusha? in both deception and mk1, ashrah is being led to believe that her kriss is what is helping her cleanse herself of being a demon. that's her entire story. you cannot have ashrah chasing her absolution without datusha, and if you are going to separate them then there needs to be an explanation for how ashrah is purifying herself.

but... there isn't. when it's revealed in the third act that ashrah is a demon, chuck is a little wary and asks her if that's true. ashrah tells him that yes, she is a demon, but she's working on becoming human.

EXPLAIN, ASHRAH. HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT???? TELL US!!

i feel like this is... easily fixable too? ashrah's main involvement in this plot is that she's trying to stop a ritual that'll bring shinnok to earthrealm from happening, and datusha is one of the three key things needed for that ritual. instead of just having her chase after whoever has the scroll with the summoning spell, ashrah could have also had datusha on her and been a target for the brotherhood of shadow. this would give her reason to be working under raiden (like... maybe after escaping she could've sought protection from the white lotus society), made her even more important to the plot, AND kept her lore intact. they don't even need to dive deep into datusha's lore if they wanted to keep this friendly to viewers unfamiliar with mortal kombat, just have her mention that datusha's magic is helping make her more human. that's it.

i dunno, it's just... ashrah in cage match is super fun, she does some cool stuff, but that whole aspect could've been handled better. like she has way less screentime in mortal kombat 1's story mode, and yet at least there they didn't leave out anything important to who ashrah is.

anyways, onto sareena. or, should i say: the oc they gave sareena's name and appearance to.

i don't... understand why she is characterized the way she is in cage match. but it sucks. sareena has existed since 1997, and in all the years she's been around her character has always been good demon. not bad, Good. so that's why i'm really annoyed with how sareena has handled in cage match. you know how i mentioned with ashrah, the core of her character is still there, even if i have my hangups with how cage match executed some things like the lack of datusha?? well, sareena's even worse. she's egregiously out of character and it makes me so mad. i get that these movies all exist in their own universe and things are bound to change, but i don't have to like said changes if it completely messes up the entirety of a character's lore.

in all previous iterations of her, sareena has been a demon that unwillingly served quan chi + shinnok, and was eager to escape them and the netherrealm the first chance she got. any time she has been working for evil, it's when she is being forced into it. never willing. so why the fuck was she actually a bad person in this film??? quan chi is out of the picture, and shinnok only appears after being successfully summoned. in addition, they're in earthrealm the entire time, so nothing from the netherrealm could be influencing sareena's actions. cage match, for some reason, took a look at how she has always been a good person that just struggles with being a demon, and went nah. let's make her evil with no redeeming qualities.

like... her role should have either been kia/jataaka, quan chi, or a random ass oc. all of the complexity and tragedy that makes up sareena's character is nonexistent in cage match, instead being replaced with a one-dimensional villain. her motivations are entirely centered around shinnok and the netherrealm, completely contradicting all of her previous lore. and i know that they can keep the main aspects of these characters intact, as seen with johnny and ashrah.

i'm also annoyed because this movie is the first actual time we see ashrah and sareena interact, and it's when sareena is her worst iteration yet. so their interactions in this film aren't even worth referencing when discussing their relationship because they did a completely overhaul with sareena's lore, in a bad way.

if sareena was actually adapted properly, she would not be willingly doing everything she does in cage match. the real sareena would've jumped in joy at the chance to be stuck in earthrealm, away from shinnok and the netherrealm, and if anything she'd be helping our heroes stop the ritual to bring him to earthrealm. if the film seriously needed her to be leading this cult and be behind everything that happens, that would still suck but the least that could've been done is made it clear that she's somehow being influenced by shinnok/the netherrealm.

ugh it makes me so sad because LOOK AT HER!!!! SHE'S GORGEOUS, THE FLUFFY HAIR IS EVERYTHING!!! BUT PERSONALITY WISE THIS IS THE MOST AWFUL DIRECTION THEY COULD'VE GONE WITH HER!!!!!!

i personally believe what happened is that whoever wrote cage match needed another villain so they looked up netherrealm inhabitants, saw a picture of sareena, and went "done!" while not bothering to actually look into sareena as a character. or maybe not, who knows. either way, this is the bad place for sareena fans lmao.

anyways i think i've aired out all my grievences with this movie. i think if i wasn't a mortal kombat fan and/or didn't know much about these characters, i wouldn't care about this stuff at all and just gone "it was a nice movie!! :)" because objectively it is! and again, i had fun with most of it! however unfortunately i care about these characters very much so when they're done dirty it's just. eugh.

also i feel like there should've been more gore than there was #idk

[pynkhues]

Hi Sophie, so sorry if this is a double ask but I can’t tell if tumblr ate my first one…I was wondering if you would be comfortable sharing anything about your writing process (for both original projects and fics). Do you outline? Or is it more freeform with a general idea of where you’re going?

Hi! I'm so glad that you re-sent it, because it's not a double in my inbox. I'm more than happy to share about my writing process! I've been writing for a long time, and I think I might like talking about actually writing things more than I like actually talking about the finished story, haha.

My process is pretty much the same for both fic and for original works, and in that, I do a lot of wriitng in my head before I start actually even 'officially' writing it. To the point where I'll usually have a pretty strong sense of what the underlying idea of the story is, where I want the emotional anchor of the story to be, and often have roughly choreographed a few climactic sequences in my head in a way that gives it not necessarily structure or an outline, but a general shape.

So in writing Ungodly Hour for instance, I knew that I was interested in this sense of perception as the underlying idea of the story - Lestat's perception of himself and what happened to him, Louis' perception of what happened to Lestat, Daniel's potential perception of Lestat through the interview.

Then I knew I wanted the emotional anchor to be in Lestat telling Louis what happened with Magnus, and this collision of those perceptions, because I just found that like - - exciting creatively, and I had these scenes in my head - weirdly, the gallery one was quite formded for me, then the dressing room blowjob, then the fight (although I re-wrote the fight quite a few times).

So I had all that in my head when I actually started to write it, and at that point, my process really becomes a matter of asking 'Why?' I ask that constantly when I'm writing, because at the end of the day, writing is just cause and effect. One of the best bits of writing advice I ever got was that your story is always 'And so this happens' or 'But this happens', never, ever 'And then this happens'. Good scenes are built on the backs of the ones that came before them, so they need to have purpose for there to be any payoff.

As a result, anything that feels either instinctual or appealing to me, I end up asking it well, why, or how, or what needs to happen to make this feel right? I find that usually steers me in the best direction, and it helps me to especially get into a character's head, or even sometimes the context of the story overall.

In terms of the actual writing though, - this sounds so wanky, haha - but I generally say I'm a bit of a painter when it comes to writing. I like to lay a base coat and then build from there. I'll usually start with scenes that are fairly skeletal with what's effectively placeholder dialogue that evokes the vibe of the final dialogue that I'd like, just so I know what emotional beats I'm wanting (and these can and do change), and so that I have a full story on the page, and then I go back over and over again and build it up and up and up.

I'm kind of at that base coat skeleton stage with the reunion fic now, so to give you a sense (and please don't judge, like I said, this is basically a skeleton of a scene with some placeholder dialogue!) it'll usually look a bit like this:

So yeah, it'll start pretty thin, but it'll be what I know I want it to be, and sometimes I'll keep parts of it, but usually it's entirely re-written by the time I post or it gets published.

Things often fall into place late too. As I've gotten more experienced as a writer, I think I'm better at trusting my instincts? Like in Ungodly Hour, the gallery scene was the first thing I wrote in full, and I think I even posted here that I almost cut it several times. It was so fully formed for me, and I knew on a gut level that it belonged in the story, and more than that, needed to be the opening scene, but I didn't really get how it folded in until later in the writing process when it just clicked that it not just established the themes of the story, but placed Louis in a rawer emotional state to be entering this particular night with Lestat.

So yeah, I build up ideas basically, haha.

[goldenlaurelleaveswrites]

I've Got These Friends...

3. Childhood Memory

I've Got These Friends... (AO3)

Nadine - age 8

Luka - age 8

Juleka - age 6

______________________________________________________

“Alright, everyone. We’re going to move on to act three, scene five now,” the director called before turning to her. “Nadine, they still haven’t fixed the leak in the greenroom, so I’ll get you to watch from the audience for today. It’s good for you to see how we choreograph a fight anyways, never too early to start learning…” he said, trailing off as he look back towards the theatre doors. 

“Yes, M. Aubert,” she said. Clutching her script—her first real stage script—in hand, she made her way to the downstage steps that led down into the audience and made herself comfortable in one of the seats. She flipped open her script to the beginning of act one, and began rereading the lines her maman had helped her highlight. 

 “Alright everyone, while we’re waiting we can review our motivations for this scene.”

“Shouldn’t we work on another scene until she gets here?” Leslie, one of the actors playing a guard, asked. 

“She should be here any minute, she’s never late but she’s always close-” 

M. Aubert was interrupted by a door slamming open. She jumped in her seat, almost dropping her script as she turned to peek over the back of the seat she was sitting in. 

“We’re ‘ere,” a woman with a long, thick braid and bright red glasses called as she strode through the door, hefting a long bag with her. Her voice boomed and carried across the room in that magical way she still hadn’t gotten yet. “Just had a bit o’ a hiccup with the sitter,” the woman continued as she marched down the aisle with a muffled clanging sound. 

M. Aubert grinned, his moustache twitching. “You always know how to make an entrance, Anarka.”

“Good. Just got te get the lad an’ lass settled,” the woman said as she continued down the aisle. She ducked back into her seat as the woman came closer. Her maman and papa had told her it was rude to stare. But that didn’t stop her from peeking between the cracks in the seat. “’An we can get started.”

“The pipe in the greenroom hasn’t been fixed yet, but they can sit in the audience with Nadine.” She straightened up as soon as M. Aubert said her name, and turned to see him nodding his head in her direction. 

“Right, get stretching then, the lot o’ ye. I’ll be up in a titch,” the woman with the booming voice, so much louder now that she was closer, called. The clanging sound was getting louder too. And then it stopped. “Ye must be Nadine, then.” 

She turned to look up into the woman’s face. She had bright blue eyes, and jewelry as colourful as her glasses. “Yes, madame,” she said as politely and as professionally as she could. The way she spoke to all the adults on set. 

The woman burst out laughing. “None o’ that. Anarka, or Captain if ye must.” 

“Y-yes ma- Captain.” 

The corners of the Captains eyes crinkled sash smiled. “This is me b’y, Luka,” the Captain said, gesturing a little behind her to where a boy stood. He had the same blue eyes as the Captain, and messy black hair. “An’ me lass, Juleka” the Captain added, gesturing to the girl who was trailing after the boy, clutching one of his hands in hers.  “Now,” the Captain said, turning to look at Luka and Juleka, “mind yer manners. Don’t interrupt ‘less it’s an emergency, and stay offstage while the swords are out." Luka nodded solemnly, and the Captain laughed. “There’s a good lad, go one, make a friend,” she said as she ruffled his hair. 

“Ma,” Luka protested, but his maman just laughed before turning and heading towards the stage. Then Luka turned to look at her again. “Your name is Nadine?” She nodded. “Your parents couldn’t find a sitter either?” 

“No. I’m in the show,” she said, holding up her script. 

“Oh… so how come you’re not on stage?” 

“I’m not in any of the fight scenes.”

“Oh… that’s too bad. Ma always says swordplay is fun.” 

“I know,” she sighed. “But one day I’ll be old enough to be in one!” She paused. “Do you… want to sit down?” she asked, gesturing to the empty seats at the end of the row.

Luka nodded. “C’mon, Jules,” he said to his sister, tugging on their joined hands. She smiled at his sister as he helped her climb into one of the seats, but Juleka ducked her head and immediately opened the colouring book she had been holding in her other hand. 

“I like your bats,” she said, pointing to the open page where a bunch of bats had been coloured in with purple crayon. Juleka mumbled something she couldn’t hear. 

“She says thank you.” She looked up from the page to Luka. “Jules is shy.”

“Thanks ok,” she said, tightening her grip on her script. “I’m shy too, sometimes.” Luka smiled at that. “So do you act too?” 

Luka shook his head. “No, I like music though. I play guitar and the fiddle and violin.” 

“That’s a lot! I only play piano.” 

“I like music. I’ve been playing since I could hold an instrument. Do you like piano?” 

“Yeah, it’s fine. My acting coach said it’s a good thing to know.” 

“Acting coach?”

“She teaches me how to act and helps me get ready for roles.” 

“Do you act a lot?” 

She nodded. “I’ve been in ads on tv, and I was in a movie. But I didn’t have any lines. This is my first time doing stage acting though. It’s…” she hadn’t told anyone. Not even her parents. But Luka… he seemed nice. Like a friend. “It’s kinda scary.” 

Luka nodded. “It looks scary. But you like it.” He didn’t ask it. He just said it. “What else do you like doing?” 

Her script was still in her hands, but she hadn’t looked at it once since Luka had asked her to show it to him. They had been too busy talking. The more she talked to him, the more if felt like she had known him forever. His sister was nice too, even if she only mumbled her responses to her questions and Luka had to translate. But Juleka had smiled at her when she complimented the purple ribbon in her hair. And that had felt like winning a prize. 

She didn’t have many friends. The other kids at the parties her parents sometimes had to take her to weren’t very nice. And at school, her classmates weren’t mean. They were nice. But most weren’t interested in acting. Her teachers told her she was too serious. But she didn’t know how to change that. 

But Luka didn’t seem to care. 

“Luka?” she looked down at her script, and clutched it tightly in her hands. “Can we be friends?”

“You sound nice.”  

“What?” 

“Your song. It sounds nice. You sound like a friend.”

“So… are we friends?” 

Luka nodded. 

“You’re kinda funny,” she giggled.

“He’s weird.” The words took her by surprise. It took her a second to realize who had said them-

“Jules!” Luka protested, his ears going pink. “I am not!” 

Luka looked up at her as she continued to giggle. “I like funny. And I think I like weird, too.”

[semi-sketchy]

I did it. I'm done with the Final Horizon.

The side stories...alright did anyone else run into issues where voice lines would randomly not play or was that just me? I had to keep reloading saves because it would glitch and be dead silent for like 10 seconds until the next audio file came up.

I heard lots of people didn't really like the writing in this update, but it really was just more of the same from Frontiers. Nothing scenes with poor character voice. Yeah, there were bad lines, but base game had those, too. The cyber corruption Sonic's friends go through is also just as meaningless here as it was in base game.

The biggest part I didn't like was how much this felt like an afterthought, which is because it WAS an afterthought. I didn't think the base ending was spectacular, but it also felt more in line with how the rest of the story was built.

Here, the first cutscene literally just tries to undo the Rhea island scene and everything is so tacked on. Sonic's friends face cyber corruption from interacting with cyberspace? But they're also TRAPPED in cyberspace, so why is this any different to what they've been doing? Weren't they technically helping Sonic get the Emeralds on the other islands, hence getting Emerald rewards for quests?

It's just a lot of fluff masking this basic "earn the respect of the Ancient's pilots to get a new super form that can deal with The End" and...alright. I've never been concerned over power scaling. You don't NEED to go bigger and better every time, all you have to do is make me care about the stakes and you have a good narrative. That final battle made regular Super Sonic look like a pussy so Hyper Sonic Super Sonic 2 could look so much more powerful. And I know why. This is the exact thing Ian Flynn said he wanted, only he skirted around the no Hyper decision by just changing Sonic's eye color.

But really, you have invincible Super Sonic here, WINCING and getting his hands YANKED AROUND by the cyber energy.

TWO ISLANDS AGO he was swinging a giant sword.

But now, he can't even DENT the boss without this power up. This either makes Super Sonic look weak or this stupidly easy titan tied to a rock mightier than a god.

The Sonic X reference though wasn't lost on me and I admit, I thought it was cool. Even if Super Sonic with blue eyes is a bit uncanny.

The fight itself though is...not very well choreographed. I lost my first attempt and still kinda fumbled around because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Seriously, when was quick cyloop EVER useful in one of these fights? And now I'm required to do it twice with the penalty of failing being forced to redo the Supreme fight AGAIN?

This is a case where Sonic's friends would've been helpful. I know, I know, I got sick of "THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT" very quickly, but a little thing like "Sever that connection!" or "It's down! Get the gun!" would've helped.

Though, I liked the fight alright and it certainly had the spectacle Supreme lacked.

New music was good, though! The vocal theme for I'm With You is 10x better than Dear Father and I LOVED the I'm Here remix.

Overall, I'm...conflicted. I don't think I liked the update? Really I'm trying to recall having fun with it at any point. There were a few cool moments, the Cyclone having that fuck u laser from SA2 was definitely one, but there wasn't a high point, it was just baseline and lower.

It really upset me at a few points and I couldn't even get performatively angry, it broke me and I was just sad, though I kept going. I think I've grown numb to the bullshit. Really, this was just more of Frontiers with some added jank and difficulty.

The worst parts were challenges 2 and 5. Aside from that, there's not really difficulty as much as bullshit and cheap design. Even my brother came in and asked why they stuck this platform you have to glide to at an angle that causes you to slide off. I rage quit 4-H because they ask you to do PRECISE platforming on tiny angled boxes. With physics that make that near impossible. That's bullshit design and not a difficulty issue.

Also, who thought the rescuing animal objectives were a good idea? ESPECIALLY IN 4-H. There's a glitch where when Sonic gets the animal to safety, he stays stuck in carrying mode which means low jump, no boost, double jump, homing attack, you're basically dead in the water. It goes away at certain points, so maybe this was intentional, but also, seriously?

This was a FREE CONTENT UPDATE that they announced a month before it got pushed out, so why was it rushed so badly that the physics sliders don't even work properly for the extra characters?

At the end of the day though, replaying base Frontiers right before this and running into the EXACT same problems made me realize that it's just more of the same. Base Frontiers has some big faults and pretty BS design, it's just dialed up to 11 here.

I don't want to play Frontiers again, much less this update.

[fff777]

reaction to wayv on my youth showcase tour ep 1 - poppin love dance practice behind

yangdery huggles

this is a small thing but the subtitle box looks different compared to previous wayv videos. did they get a different editor? or are they trying something new?

what else is new

hendery: pat yangyang: pop yangdery kinda sus today

eating while practising. you gotta do what you gotta do TAT

ten asking detailed questions about the gestures

i haven't watched as many wayv dance behind the scenes videos but i feel like i've seen wayv work with a few different choreographers so far, compared to dream who mostly works with that same dance trainer

more yangdery shenanigans

ok

ten keeps on crashing into yangyang lol

they are just all jokes today

lol sicheng

i know this dance move...but from what

ten's shirt: if it's too loud, you're too old guess i am, big guy

i'm wondering if hendery likes playing with yangyang because hendery was the youngest in a big family but now he finally has someone younger to play with

what now hendery. is this entire post just gonna be yangdery? maybe so

we saw that in addition to the main dance instructor, there were two other dancers, who would help in teaching the dance to smaller groups. so i guess that's how groups are able to learn complex choreographies in shorter time, which makes sense. i just haven't seen as many videos with multiple dance trainers (or they just get edited out).

man loves the camera

kun: name bib time!!! he really is that meme of that friend you have who takes care of everything at the airport while you're just head empty lmao. anyway i guess they wear name bibs so that it's easier to see who's who on camera recordings.

yangyang @ dejun: you're even helping him take off his jacket yangyang: should we take this (the shirt) off too? hendery: *tugging on pants*

sicheng's "i made a mistake teehee" face

fighting over who made mistakes again lol. these guys are brual

alright. alright, guys

trying to make sicheng sing poppin love without looking at the lyrics?

the guys tried to get sicheng to sing by himself but of course, no such luck ^^;;

yangyang: 你的出現總是意外~

yangyang running away as soon as they're dismissed

[sailorsol]

So. I am a member of Saber Guild, a Lucasfilms approved lightsaber choreo group. I've been doing it for two years now, and have helped choreograph several fights both big and small. I'm nowhere near an expert, but I spend a lot of time around people swinging sabers, from beginners to fairly talented people with various martial arts backgrounds they've incorporated into their style.

What I really noticed in the finale of the Ahsoka show was just how uncomfortable Rosario seemed with her sabers. She lacked a lot of fluidity of someone who has practiced a lot. I should probably rewatch the fight with Hayden to really get into it, because Hayden and Ewan spent just so much time practicing that their fighting is so smooth. And I think Rosario just didn't get that insane amount of practice they did.

Like, you mention using stunt doubles, but that entire fight at the end of RotS was Ewan and Hayden. At full speed. Which is *insane* and speaks of so many hours of practice. But a detail I loved in the Kenobi show was when we first saw Obi-Wan pick up his saber again after ten years, how clumsy and uncomfortable he seemed. Until that moment he was fighting the troopers in the Fortress and you see it coming back to him and you finally get his infamous Soresu stance and Saber twirl.

Fights don't have to be fast to look good. Rey and Kylo's fight at the end of The Last Jedi isn't particularly fast, and it is actually a lot of just hacking and swinging, which makes sense for Rey who has never used a Saber and is used to fighting with a staff, and Kylo who values strength over style. Vader is the same way, which is the juxtaposition with how Anakin fought. He valued strength, hence the Djem So, but he also liked being flashy.

They've also changed the way they do the lightsaber choreo since the prequels. It used to be the hilt and a relatively small and light shaft. These days they use the stunt sabers we use for our performances, which generally have a 1" pvc blade with some actual weight to it. And the blades light up, which is how we ended up with the awesome scene in Kenobi with Vader's face cast half in blue and half in red, because the SFX folks finally realized glowy laser swords would, well, glow. And I don't recall if they had that in Ahsoka. But I remember after the fight with the night troopers and she turns her sabers off, you can almost see the transition between her holding sabers with blades to holding empty hilts and how Rosario handled them differently.

I don't much care if the fights are slow or fast, i want character accurate fights. The difference between Luke fighting Vader in ESB versus RotJ, versus him in The Mandalorian. You see his progression and comfort with the Saber grow.

Age should not play a huge factor either, especially for a character like Ahsoka. Qui-Gon and Dooku were both older than that, but you can tell Liam Neeson and Christopher Lee felt comfortable with swords.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you are showing me a character with ~50 years of Saber experience, who could keep up with Vader in his prime, who beat Maul at 17, who could take on multiple Inquisitors at once, and she doesn't look comfortable handling those sabers? Maybe you do need a stunt double, or just to have the actress practice spinning them around a lot more until they feel comfortable.

Fans don’t know what they want: Star Wars edition

Don’t know if I’ll make this a recurring type of post but just something I always think of when watching series that’s been on for a long time from Marvel to Pokémon to Dragon Ball etc

So I finished the live-action Ahsoka show and overall I thought it was pretty solid, the thing was I have the benefit of watching most of Rebels and the Clone Wars so my connection to these characters is different from someone who’s never watched them or not a lot as this series was very much a follow-up of Rebels with the Ahsoka clone wars connection as the connecting aspect

Not going to talk too much about the show as it’s still new as I’m posting this

But one thing I kept seeing online and even since the sequel movies was that the lightsaber fights have been slow and boring etc…

And while I agree in a certain sense that they don’t look as fast as animation or the prequels

The problem is that one of the big complaints of the prequel movies was how they were using lightsabers back then

Like people hated how flashy and speedy they were swinging their lightsabers

And I think that has shaped how they have done Star Wars since episode 7/the sequels aired

The basis of the action standard has been the original trilogy and the closest real-world equivalent in sword fights

Where sword fights aren’t about the flash and the blades are mostly heavy let alone how sharp and deadly they are so when there’s a sword fight it’s not about the clashing etc It’s about if you get one hit it’s over

So ever since I’ve noticed that they treated the lightsabers more like heavier swords vs these lighter laser blades

But now whether it’s from the prequel kids and enjoyers are now more of the vocal majority or the choreography hasn’t been the best but now people are calling out that the modern lightsaber fights have been slow and boring

So fans went from don’t make the fights like the prequels to make the fights more like the prequels hence fans don't know what they want

Even if it's more than preferences and audience changes over time

For myself, I’m mixed

Like I think there’s definitely a balance, as you can say that some moments in the prequels they were spinning that deadly blade super casually, and those extra moves showed some openings making people act like oh there was the kill shot, but also light sabers aren’t swords, like lightsabers have the inherent benefit of having the clashing and being able to swing more casually given their size, cut metal and other things, and let alone using the force as an excuse for the movements

I understand the want or need for realism in products such as Star Wars it helps keep things grounded and believable but there’s also the fantasy aspect that I do think needs to be embraced more as yes the choreography of the lightsabers needs to be seen as swords so we have a concept for what’s going on but you also have to be creative with it in a way that shows a lightsaber isn’t just a glow stick sword

I think in some cases it’s a choreography thing as without spoiling too much Ahsoka herself isn’t as fast in her series compared to her in animation, part of the reason is that she’s older and they even comment on that as she’s like 50 in the show and was like 16 in the clone wars a pretty big difference but it’s also they aren’t choosing to make Ahsoka acrobatic or fast since they want Rosario Dawson to actually be the character they even have a moment showing that Ahsoka was faster when younger, and they have moments that give that sense of speed and such but mostly lightsaber fights are just sword fights now

I think there’s definitely some work around like the light trail effect of the light sabers is practically gone now and I think that added will give a better sense of speed and effect

And if you’re going to choreograph essentially a sword fight then get stunt doubles or whoever to help make it feel faster and more fluid, and have fun with camera direction to get more excitement from the critics that think it's boring

Overall it’s funny to me that people used to hate (some still do) the prequels but in terms of things like action people now would prefer that to what we have now

And I do think the rise in things like anime has raised standards for how to perceive action as there has now been some anime influence in even things like Creed 3

Not my most formatted post but oh well

[ancientstone]

Have you watched the black butler musicials? If so, are they worth watching?

I have! If you can watch them then I recommend! Though personally I found the first two a bit forgettable, I constantly jump back and forth over whether Lycoris or Tango are my favourites!

As a brief rundown:

Musical 1: Kuroshitsuji - That Butler, Friendship

Original story focusing on a pair of original characters who come to England from Japan. Ciel and Sebastian don't really *do* much in this musical, apart from react and run around. I've not felt the need to go back and re-watch it. I don't remember much of the music tbh. Yuya Matsushita plays Sebastian - He's not my favourite actor for the role, but he does well.

Musical 2: Kuroshitsuji - The Most Beutiful DEATH in the World

Original story with original grim reaper characters (Alan and Eric, who are fan favourites who then went on to have cameos in the manga), with elements of the Jack the Ripper arc superimposed on top of it (Viscount Druitt, that *dress* scene). Better than the first. Not perfect, not the best writing in places either if memory serves me correct, but the music is decent ("black and white" and "checkmate" come from this musical). Yuya Matsushita plays Sebastian again in this. He also released the song "hallucination" (from the musical) as part of an album of his own music.

Musical 3: Kuroshitsuji: Lycoris that Blazes the Earth

The Jack the Ripper arc and the first to properly follow the manga. I feel like once the musicals picked up on the actual source material they really began to knuckle down on quality. The songs are killer (*dum dum tis*) and Akane Liv as Madam Red?? 100000/10, cry every time she sings. There are two versions of this musical, the 2014 version which has Yuya Matsushita as Sebastian (his last time in this role), and the 2015 version with Yuta Furukawa as Sebby. Furukawa is, in my opinion, the best version of Sebastian and he really nails it. Fun fact: the actor who plays Ciel stays the same in these two versions!

Musical 4: Kuroshitsuji: Noah's Ark Circus

Follows the....Well, Noah's Ark Circus arc!

Do I cry every time we get to the end and Joker's song? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. Again, because it can sink it's teeth into the source material, the musical really thrives. The music is great (I personally prefer the songs in the second act of the show), the acting is great (omg, the actor to Doll KILLS ME every time), I love all the circus-elements incorporated into it. Baron Kelvin is creepy as heck. Yuta Furukawa kills it as usual. This is also Reo Uchikawa's first stint as Ciel as well, and he does a good job.

It is worth mentioning, because we can be critical of things we like, that Prince Soma and Agni appear in this musical, played by two Japanese actors. It's hard to tell by the stage lighting, but they have darkened their skin for the role.

Musical 5: Kuroshitsuji: Tango on the Campania

Follows the Campania/Luxury Liner arc.

The musical rushes a bit at the beginning, but considering all they have to get through, it's kinda understandable. The songs are great, in fact, they're some of my favourite in the entire kuro musical collection, and I love the way the opening song keeps coming back around. By the end it really feels like you've just *been* through something, y'know?

The flashback scene with Ciel (Reo Uchikawa again for the last time) and Sebastian (Yuta Furukawa's last go in the Sebastian role) are to die for! You know you've done a good job playing a part when Yana Toboso starts using your poses and mannerisms in the actual manga! I also love the way the bizarre dolls are used and choreographed around the stage, and how they do the last scene with Sebby and Ciel on the boat fighting off the hoard.

ALSO LIZZIE! The actress nails it, and her song is 10/10!

Musical 6: Kuroshitsuji: The Public School's Secret

Came out this year following the boarding school arc. Haven't seen it. Toshiki Tateishi plays Sebastian, and Eito Konishi plays Ciel.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 9: Reflections and Moving Forward

And we have reached the end of our Kung Fu journey. If you haven't seen where we began, here's a handy guide to the previous posts:

Part 1: The Characters

Part 2: The Pilot

Part 3: The Mythology

Part 4: The Story Map

Part 5: Act I

Part 6: Act II

Part 7: Act III

Part 8: The Finale

Before I start with the lessons I learned and my other reflections, I want to thank @flailingbloo for all of her help and support in this endeavor. Without her to talk to and commiserate with, I would probably have gotten stuck in Act II forever and everything I've written would've been riddled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. So my eternal gratitude to flailingbloo. And now, we begin:

Lessons.

Going into this writing exercise, I already knew it was going to be hard. Writing stories is time-consuming, it's nerve-wracking, and it takes a lot of research...and patience. Writing, especially for television, is also not a solitary task. I mean, sure, the writing itself needs to be done alone--but everything that comes before, during, and after the writing needs input from so many people.

Although I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of complaints about how The CW's Kung Fu was handled and written, I do have a lot of respect for the work that the writers put into their scripts. And I do appreciate all that they have done to have a show like this produced.

Doing this rewrite, I learned that it's really important to make the main character likeable. Like, every episode I broke down, I had to ask myself: is Nicky likeable here? Is she someone who viewers would want to root for? Like, for me she is, but only people who read what I wrote can say for sure. My perspective is now a bit skewered because I have bias.

Second, story maps are very helpful. There were times, especially during Part 6 (where I wrote breakdowns for Episodes 6 to 9) where I kept getting road-blocked by where I want the story to go. So I went back to the story map over and over again, to remind myself--where does the story itself need to go? How do I help the characters get to the point where they're ready for what needs to happen? (This is also where flailingbloo helped the most for me. Like, she really reminded me why I was doing this rewrite in the first place. Because I care about Nicky and the show. I wouldn't have funneled so much of my time and effort into this if I didn't.)

Another thing I learned, or rather re-learned, is the art of letting go. I created the character of Stanley to recur throughout the series as a reminder of who Nicky was and who she is becoming. And then I finished writing the first act without even mentioning him. By the second act, I was ready to use him finally--but, after multiple false starts, I realized Stanley was one of the reasons why I was having a hard time pushing Nicky's story forward. Because I kept trying to go back to the past. So I decided in the writing of the second act to shelve Stanley completely, only to find him popping up in the second to last episode in a, at least I hope, more organic way.

The last thing I learned in this exercise was that, whenever a new character needs to come in, I have to look at my existing characters first to see if any one of them can fulfill the role I needed for the story. Like, creating new villains for Nicky was fun, sure--but, at the same time, I realized that there were already existing villains that could recur. Like the Triad, who played villains in two more episodes after the pilot; and Henry's martial arts class at the community center became the source of two existing storylines from the actual show.

Reflections.

Do I think what my rewrite is better than the show? To me, yes. But, again, I am very biased. That said, I am proud of how I utilized the characters that the show created and didn't really give much importance to. Dennis, when he was introduced, felt like a rich character that could provide a very different point-of-view from the Shen siblings--but he was mostly relegated to being eye-candy. And I thought I gave him more meat by making him more involved in Althea's sexual harassment storyline, while also involving him in Nicky's stories.

That said, I also realize that I wasn't able to play up Nicky and Evan's past relationship as I was writing the episodic breakdowns. I was able to give them a lot of opportunities to explore their chemistry together, as I did with Nicky and Henry, but I kind of dropped the ball as a writer on guiding those planted moments into something more significant. Granted, I only wrote breakdowns and not actual scripts. Maybe I could've explored the romance angle more with a little sprinkle of direction and dialogue.

As I went deeper into the rewrite, I do see how easy it is to fall in love with characters as you write them. It's very easy to trap yourself into wanting villains to be more well-rounded. I keep having to remind myself that I don't have to redeem everyone. Just Nicky. Which became harder and harder as I went further and further into the story.

Another thing that became difficult as I went on? Keeping the mythology from just bursting open. That's how Henry, as I wrote him, evolved into becoming the son of a guardian--just so there's a reason for him to be so invested in Nicky's quest, while also having someone who can explain things to our main character. I'm actually really proud of that evolution.

All that said, I also have to recognize that I rewrote the show with the benefit of hindsight and the lack of budget constraints. In the real show, there's a group of writers who each have their own ideas of what the show should be. (This is where a head writer--not a show runner--would come in handy, so they could reel in the story to what needs to be told.) With more writers comes more chances for inconsistencies to happen. (And this is where a script supervisor, or a writing assistant, could come in handy.) And then there's production notes and budget. Not to mention, you know, the whole pandemic that's still happening. I didn't have to think about those things while doing this rewrite.

So, again, I want to give the writers kudos to actually producing scripts. I hope they haven't lost their minds--or their will to write--just because there are people like me who nitpick at everything. That's what people who love things do. We nitpick because we care.

Moving forward.

I do plan to stick with the real show for Season 2. I hope it's planned better. I hope they get researchers (plural!) and a writing assistant to help in the writing room. I hope the writers would sit down with the cast to discuss and develop the characters more. And I really hope they hire a better fight choreographer and fight director for the second season. (Like, rehire the people who choreographed and filmed the flashback scene in... Episode 11? The one with Nicky's maternal grandmother and Pei-Ling's own mother?)

I hope that the Nicky-Henry relationship gets explored realistically, and if a potential new love interest is ordered, they get introduced in a way that isn't antagonistic. Make them more well-rounded characters too, please. Make us want to root for their success. And while I think Nicky doesn't have an iota of chemistry with Evan, I do like Evan himself as a character. So I hope they get him more involved in future storylines--as an outsider looking in, sure, but also as an honorary member of the Shen family.

With regards to the Shen family, I do hope that we get to explore their relationships and dreams more before the show drops the reveal about Mei-Xue's daughter. I want Althea to have a cohesive storyline that doesn't pause for no reason. I want Ryan to explore being Asian AND gay as a first-generation Asian-American. And give the Shen siblings some recurring friends. They don't have to be semi-regulars (unless there's a story that can be explored) but let's not keep the Shens in a bubble. It was weird in the first season. Especially for Althea whose friends only showed up for her bachelorette party and never again. Not even when she was panicking about wedding preparations, which, considering how rich Dennis's parents were? They wouldn't let Althea be in charge of anything. They would hire a Chinese wedding coordinator. And an expensive and hard-to-book one at that. They donated an entire hospital wing, for crying out loud.

I want Jin to have an actual character, and not just be the supportive dad who loves his kids very much (admittedly my own rewrite also made this same mistake). And I want Mei-Li to be consistent as a character. Like, no more surprise twists about being the descendant of a legendary warrior without proper foreshadowing and plot-planting please.

Dennis shouldn't just be eye-candy. The same applies to Kerwin. Sure, I get that shirtless men are a must in a CW series, but please give their characters some meat too. Dennis's nerd-side was never showcased in the show, and Kerwin had that poor little rich boy background that didn't get explored either. Because the show was too busy keeping him and Zhi-Lan tearing each others' clothes off--when they're not tearing other people down.

Also, don't drop the ball on the tease that Bian-Ge is now everywhere. If I understood correctly, Bian-Ge is Kung Fu's version of Qi. If yes, then I hope they treat it respectfully as a force of nature--and not just the source of magic. The flowers from Bian-Ge itself can be magical, sure, I have no problem with a fictional flower being a McGuffin.

Finally, I hope the show also explores other Asian communities and cultures. Like, Kung Fu is great--but imagine if Nicky had to face someone who is versed in Silat Melayu? Or someone who uses Arnis? Someone who practices Kalaripayattu or Lathi Khela? Or Kuntao? Imagine Nicky having to use Wing Chun against someone who uses Karate or Krav-Maga? Asia is a big continent and there are so many different types of martial arts found from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Kung-Fu is an umbrella term, so it'll be great to see the different styles found under it.

... This went long again. Sorry about that. Funny thing is, when I started this whole rewriting plan? I thought it would take three posts, tops. And look at us now. Nine posts deep, and it seems I still haven't run out of things to say. So I'm cutting myself off before I completely wear out my welcome.

But if you've read all my Kung Fu posts, please do reach out. Let's discuss the show and what it can do to produce a better second season.

[gffa]

(i hope it's okay to send you random ass questions! you always give really intersting and thoughtful answers so it's difficult not to :D) i've always seen anakin's and obi-wan's padawan-master relationship as anakin idolizing the person who's taking him in (somewhat similar to what would happen if someone lived with their childhood celebrity crush) and then growing up to emancipate himself, see obi-wan as a human being, being given space to become more independent, until they grow to see each

other as equals. i'm wondering if it's just my shippy ass speaking though because anakin does say that obi-wan is the closest he has to a father, and obi-wan calls him a brother. i always disregard these instances because anakin sounds like he's trying to deliberately rile up obi in the first one to me (something in his tone, i think?) and my queer ass feels like "you were my brother" was only added to "no homo" the "i loved you". but i'm really curious about how other people read theirrelationship pre-clone wars. do you think anakin as a child viewed obi-wan as a father figure? (or, horrible thought, sheev?) is it, like, canon compliant to just ignore the dialogue i mentioned above? idk i think the tl;dr here is that i don't really think much about their master-padawan relationship because i ship them in tcw era but it's at the back of my mind and i'm interested in how you view it?i think i mentioned my ass at least twice in my ask and i want to apologize

It is always okay to send me random ass questions!  And to mention your ass as many times as you want!  Especially if you’re going to say such kind things, you’re very sweet to do so.  ♥It took me awhile to put into words a lot of what I felt with their dynamic for a long time, why it didn’t ping the father/son parallels to me in ways other ships did, despite that I could see why others felt that way.  If someone feels like that’s their dynamic, I absolutely get it and I will happily talk to them about the characters on that level only, god knows I’ve had pairings that fall strictly into that category myself.Anakin does say, at two different points, that Obi-Wan was like a father to him--in Attack of the Clones and during the unfinished TCW episodes.  And it took me a long while to realize why it just never quite clicked for me, but it’s largely because both times Obi-Wan doesn’t really respond to that and their dynamic never really reflects that in any way we see.  They never act like father and son with each other, even as a Master and Padawan, they’re much more of a team who complement each other, they each learn from each other, they each give and take.  The very first thing we learn about Obi-Wan and Anakin’s dynamic in AOTC is that Obi-Wan is rescued by Anakin just as often as we can imagine a Master would rescue their Padawan.  (”I haven't felt you this tense... since we fell into that nest of gundarks.” "You fell into that nightmare, Master, and I rescued you, remember?”)During Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan says, “You were my brother!” which, lol, that’s never really struck me as being strictly familial, like brothers-in-arms are absolutely a thing and are often very shippy/subtexty.So, you have those three moments of (questionable) framing as a familial thing, which, hey, fair enough!  But it’s also weighed against a mountain of the two of them actually ACTING like an old married couple.  The beginning of Revenge of the Sith is like thirty minutes of pure banter on the way to Grievous’ flagship and once they’re onboard it just keeps going.  (”No loose wire jokes.” “Did I say anything?” “He's trying.” “I didn't say anything!”)(”This time we will do it together.” “I was about to say that.”)  Mixed in with a whole lot of, “Leave him!”  “His fate will be the same as ours!”You also have it weighed against things like Nick Gillard specifically choreographing their fight like a boyfriend/girlfriend fight where Obi-Wan doesn’t want to hurt Anakin, doesn’t want to have this fight.  You have it weighed against that scene were Obi-Wan tells Anakin he’s proud of him and the look on Anakin’s face has no straight explanation that has ever satisfied me.You have it weighed against the ROTS novel--that George line-edited himself!--that says, “Blade-to-blade, they were identical. After thousands of hours in lightsaber sparring, they knew each other better than brothers, more intimately than lovers; they were complementary halves of a single warrior.“And all of that is before we get into some of the supplementary canon stuff because we’ll be here all day if I start quoting Wild Space again.So much of their relationship isn’t textually explicitly about being romantic, but it sure is framed in a way that’s very easy (and sometimes difficult not to!) put in that frame to contrast it at the very least, to still be defined by that framework. “More intimately than lovers” (or the infamous “Obi-Wan woke up staring at what he was pretty sure was Anakin’s butt” scene in the ROTS novel again) may play at contrasting against the idea, but it’s also still framing their relationship in romantic terms, even as it does so.  It’s hard not to think of them as romantic when you’re specifically using the term “lovers” to describe them, no matter what direction you take the metaphor in.Even during the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic, when we see them interacting for more than five seconds at a time while Anakin is young, Obi-Wan is pretty clearly not his father, he rather directly refutes that point when asked.  He is Anakin’s teacher and every line he says or doesn’t respond to reflect that.  Anakin tries to put it into that context sometimes--and my headcanon is basically, “Why does he do that when their relationship doesn’t actually feel at all like a father/son one to me?  OH FUCK YOU FOR PROBABLY PUTTING THE IDEA IN HIS HEAD, PALPATINE.”  Because he would know that Anakin wants that figure--but is obviously not getting it if he’s coming to Palpatine, yet another indication that, no, Obi-Wan/Anakin doesn’t really work like that--and so would drive a wedge between him and Obi-Wan over it.But really what got me into going from “Ehhh, I don’t ship that at all.” when I started out (I know!  I was fairly against the idea of shipping them when I really dove deep into Star Wars about two years ago!) to “Oh, wow, okay, that is super shippy and NOW I JUST WANT THEM TO KISS.” is that we got to see their relationship go from teacher/student to peers while watching The Clone Wars. We see them regularly banter like an old married couple, we see them each depending on the other in a way that’s about two people who are on an even field, we see that their dynamic isn’t left behind as they both move forward, but instead continues to grow.They’re given such narrative importance and emotional weight and, sure, a lot of it comes down to personal interpretation of chemistry--some people are going to see their banter as subtexty, some people are going to see it as familial, both are right for the person doing the interpreting--but a lot of the framing devices and the very consistent lack of actually giving weight to the father/son thing in my eyes means that I can very easily ship them and those lines don’t bother me.  They don’t hold much weight and even the characters themselves barely seem to think in those terms, it doesn’t really bear out for me.Personally, I don’t really ship them much pre-TCW, but I definitely think Anakin had some Certain Feelings as a teenager that Obi-Wan very firmly shut down at the time and so Anakin just kind of sat on them and buried them and it rather explains a lot of why he’s so willing to believe that Obi-Wan and Padme would have an affair behind his back despite that they hardly interact at all--because Anakin wants them both, because Anakin sees them both in a romantic light, OF COURSE they would see each other in a romantic light, too!  This is backed up for me by bb!Anakin in the comic not really looking at him like a father figure, but like you said, a celebrity crush, that sense of OH MY GOD HE’S THE BEST is positively star-struck.I think you can ignore the dialogue about father figures if you want, but that you don’t really need to.  I think it’s Anakin parroting someone else’s words (as he does throughout Revenge of the Sith, there are at least four major points where he’s just literally repeating Palpatine almost word for word) in a way that doesn’t hold water when it comes to how they actually interact.  You can tell me all day long that they’re just father and son figures, but when there’s so little in the actual dynamic between them that speaks to me of that, it’s not going to mean much to me.  But there is a whole lot of them behaving like how my favorite Old Married Couples act and so, yeah, I’m going to head in that direction instead!

[57plusthree]

Hiya so sorry if this sounds like I'm asking incredibly too much but can you tell me what you think are the best animated scenes in the entire series? Besides Super Broly of course cause that's just too beautiful. The only moments that immediately come to my mind for every part is the Krillin v Goku, ChiChi v Goku, that part you reblogged with Vegeta shooting a ki blast in the saiyan saga, Cell v Goku, some parts or Kid Buu vs SSJ2 Goku, parts of Baby Vegeta v SSJ4 Goku, SSJB Goku and Trunks v Goku Black and Zamasu, Vegito V Zamasu and Goku with Co v Jiren. Sorry again if this is asking for way too much, feel free to skip this even if it is! I just have been reeling over db as whole this past week and I've been having conflicting thoughts.

You're good! I like receiving super detailed asks tbh <3

Disclaimer: I haven't actually watched the anime all the way through, so I probably do not have as solid a grasp on where all the good animation is lol. That being said, I think I can at least say I've seen most of the well known fights as well as just... random stuff. I've also seen some of the movies (DBS Broly, Dead Zone, World’s Strongest, Tree of Might, Lord Slug, and Super Android 13) as well as the Future Trunks and Bardock specials. In other words, I have a feeling that in answering this, I'm gonna miss things, sorry.

That being said, you've given me the perfect opportunity to talk about a few specific scenes in DB animation that I think about a lot, so thanks! This is gonna be a long answer cause I can’t actually talk about anything without going off for a billion years apparently. Sorry ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

So. First of all, I want to describe what I think of when I think is "good animation". Generally speaking, I judge animation to be “good” kinda like this:

Context. because I’m just Like That and can’t enjoy something if my suspension of disbelief is challenged lol. But this also means what a scene is setting out to do and what it communicates. There’s things you can do with cuts, speed changes, tempo, etc that can really sell and add layers to animation

Creativity. Probably speaks for itself. If an animation does something unique or creative, I like it a lot. I like seeing things I haven’t seen before and being surprised

Basic animation principles. You know... timing, impact, etc. If you’ve seen any posts on animation, you probably have a general idea of what this means. I’m not trained in animation, but I’ve animated a little and have looked at the usual guides and videos

Cinematography: Just like how you can’t separate comic quality from paneling and dialogue, I believe you can judge animation similarly to how you judge live action, because how the animation is framed is also a conscious decision in how its drawn and thusly animated

Brain go bbbrrrrr. Cause sometimes I just like stuff and it’s hard to explain why. We can’t be objective about everything, it’s quite literally impossible

This also means that not all of the best animated scenes in DB are action scenes to me. Character acting and so on are important too. 

Okay now on to me talking about stuff. There are lots of really well animated parts throughout the whole series including all the scenes you mentioned, so I’m going to limit myself to uh... Not as many as I could name. Let’s go!

Piccolo jr. ripping his arm off

You know how I mentioned character acting being really important in a scene? Yeah. Honestly this whole fight is my favorite in the series not just because of its choreo and intuitive combat, but also because of the character-focused sections like this one. It’s raw. It’s gritty. The incredible, pushed-to-the-limits expressions Piccolo makes and how they framed the scene are incredible. Even the usage of color is on point! 11/10 easily.

(This gif’s of them fighting but as said, the combat during this is also fantastic. Also shout out to Goku’s meteor combo. I watch that almost every day.)

Goku vs Ginger, Nikki, and Sancho (Dead Zone)

Hi I think the first two DB movies are some of the best ones actually.

In my opinion, fights where we can see the limb movement > fights where we can’t see the limb movement, so the early DBZ films have a leg up over the later ones. Goku does some really well choreographed and animated dodging when it’s just Ginger and Nikki in particular, with impeccable character acting on top. Shout out to when he gets his hair cut.

This is also where I’ll mention what I like to call injury choreography, which is a part of a fight scene that I think is very important but not talked about a lot. This refers to how taking injuries is framed during a fight, such as how the impact feels and how the injury was choreographed. This is just as important to an animated fight scene as it would be a live action fight scene, and so I count it when I think of what the “best” animation is in the series. There’s really good injury choreo in the first two DBZ movies in particular, and I’d recommend everyone watch them.

The Whole DBS Broly Movie

Because it is.

Whenever UI Goku is on screen

Yeah I haven’t even watched Super but I know gorgeous animation when I see it. I don’t think there’s a single DB fan alive that can make a valid argument against UI being stunning, let alone anyone who thinks it isn’t jaw dropping. I also don’t think there’s much I could say that hasn’t already been said, i just thought it was worth listing because. Yo.

Goku vs. The Goons from World’s Strongest

Okay I saved this one for last because I have the most to say about it. World’s Strongest is a movie I have conflicted feelings over, but one thing I am NOT conflicted on is the scene where Goku confronts the two remaining lackeys of Dr. Wheelo. To see which parts I’m going to talk about, click here and go to about 0:45.

I won’t do a full breakdown, but I am very impressed with this scene. Besides having amazing choreo (the injury choreo in particular for both Goku and the goons is????? incredible I love it), it also answers the a question that I believe to be important to the whole franchise’s animation: how do you convey speed when characters are supposed to be moving too fast for the eye to register?

These scenes answer that question with: Comparison.

Man, Goku looks great in this still doesn’t he? Anyway, what I mean by comparison is that this scene takes Goku’s actions and uses either creative shot comp or interspersing of something happening simultaneously to inform the audience of how fast he’s going. The parts that do this are:

The initial stare down scene. In it, we basically blink and Goku’s smacked this guy in the face with his elbow. It uses shot composition and timing to show that Goku went really damn fast when he hit this guy. The usage of establishing shots in particular made me “oooh”.

Everything from 2:12-2:33. To put a blanket summary over it, everything happening in those seconds happens in the span of how long it takes the guy Goku punched to fly into the wall and collapse into the rubble. The animators interspersed shots of that with the rest of the fight in order to convey how fast Goku was moving using kaioken. That’s bonkers ridiculous fast

I believe that good animation can convey the meaning of a scene clearly, but a great animation can convey not just that but subconscious information that viewers can enjoy on repeat watches. That’s what this scene did for me and it blew my whole mind. 

Go Goku go go--

Alright I’m cutting myself off there. One day I am going to just rip apart this scene by the seems, and maybe do the same with other scenes, because I may not be trained in animation but damn if I don’t have a lot of thoughts rattling around in my skull.

Thanks again for the ask!