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popculturebuffet · 5 months ago

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Pride Month: Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all my children now and welcome back to pride month which once again was way shorter than planned for this blog. I might do some extra queer reviews. It was still a good pride month: I finally got a bi pride shirt

My sister came out as trans, and in general it was a pretty good month. And whlie I've only gotten the previous review and another out, there's always time for queer content. But what I have gotten to this month thanks to kev's been great and today we cap off pride month with a spot of horror, something I honestly don't expect from Kevin. While he did have me do all of Evil Dead, it's the only horror franchise he expected and the blackening was my pitch. So with a busy schedule I haven't really gotten to dip into the big franchises i've wanted to cover. So when Kev asked me to do so, I took the sudden blessing to review a film from one of my franchises and a film this queer whose lead's role in this both ended his career but ultimately brought him peace later on.

Now I get most of you going to this are nightmare fans: you followed the tag etc. But since some readers may be less familiar like Kevin or my good friend @jess-the-vampire who watched the film with me, a brief primer: Nightmare on Elm Street was a 1984 film from horror legend Wes Craven, the film that made his career, put New Line Cinema on the map, and created one of the greatest horror icons of all time in Freddy Kruger, while injecting much needed new life into the slasher genre.

So naturally New Line wanted a sequel. Craven hadn't, already not liking the twist ended forcefully slapped onto the original nightmare where "Oops nancy didn't win after all", was still offered the chair which he turned down as he didn't like the scripts concept of Freddy going into the real world, feeling it'd dilute the character or the exploding bird that has nothing to do with the plot we'll circle back to later, from a script written by two faced motherfucker Howard Chaskin. We'll circle back to why he is later, but you should know up front he's a two faced mother fucker

So directing duties fell to Jack Shoulder of Alone in The Dark (The other one) and The Hidden Fame. Jack Shoulder.nt. For now he was a good director, and new line needed one. He also had no idea what the fuck he was doing, having to do a ton of effects shots he had no idea how to pull off. Thankfully riding shot gun was Kevin Yeager, creator of my favorite killer in all of horror.

Yes it's him who brought my baby way older than me boy to life, with the help of don mancini and brad dourif of course, but he created the real life doll and deserves as much credit as his fellow legends.

So Nightmare 2 came out and it did MONSTEROUS numbers. On a 3 million dollar budget , it made 30 MILLION. Ten time sit's budget. So New Line was still doing good but the mixed reception both for legit reasons (A switch up from the original, having nothing to do with the original per wes craven's wishes to not use any of the characters from the first, and Freddy in the real world) and the gay panic around the film. Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is one of the gayest slasher movies sisnce gay came to gay town, so let's get into WHY it's so gay, why it adds a lot to the film, the impact it had on it' star, and how the film itself is as a whole under the cut. All night long.

You've Got the Body, But I've Got the Brains

Before we can get into this movie's queerness, let's look at the film itself. If you haven't seen nightmare on elm street, please do it's excellent. One of horror's best despite a goofy bit here or there that clashes with the tone and some truly mind numblingly dumb parenting, which as you'll soon see is standard for the franchise and the one thing this sequel decided to esclate.

For those who haven't, the film followed Nancy Thompson, an average teen who is soon stalked in her sleep along with her friends by Freddy Kruger. As the film gradually reveals Freddy was a child murderer who got off on a technicality, so the local parents all burned him alive. He came back from the dead as a vengeful ghost demon man, brought back by dream demons that look like sperm who we as a fandom like to pretend don't exist. I won't go deep into his stalking of Nancy and her friends as like I said this sequel wasn't allowed to use them and i'd like to cover the original at some point. For now the bottom line is freddy was seemingly defeated, came back to strike nancy, but she somehow surivived as confirmed by this film, having been told by urban legend to have "gone crazy" after he boyfriend was hacked up to bhits.. which is a.. less than accurate version of what happened to glenn.

So the film opens up 5 years later: Nancy is a sequel non entity who left a diary we never saw her writing behind, and her house has been moved into by the walsh family. Our lead is Jesse, played by the incomprable mark patton, an average teen who opens the film as that awkward kid in the back of the bus, can relate

This is naturally a nightmare as Freddy's back for his revenge.... by possesing a teen who has nothing to do with nancy or his murder to get a body to. .become a living god with all his dream powers? Then take his revenge. The title makes only marginally more sense than why do this overcomplicated plan and "why didn't he do it last time", but Englund's still at the top of his game and the film really likes to do terrifying closeupfs of freddy's eyes, just both just starring at you. The makeup here is REALLY good and really horrifying.

So Jesse's stuck on the bus when it locks him and two giggling girls inside, who shriek when they get parked atop a cliff. The horror for this one uses more abstract art for i'ts inspriation, this using a very narrow cliff and a later one using salvador dahli's "Persitance of Memory" as it's base , swapping clocks for "everything jesse owns".

Jesse's been having nightmares since they moved and woke up scremaing each time. But this is `1985 so his family just ignores it and hopes it'll go away. His family consits of his hard ass dad, his mom and his sister, none of whoms names I care to remember. Played by Clu Galagher, Hope Lange and Christie Clarke respectively. All do a decent job but their mostly here as props: his mom worries about him, his hard ass dad is a grumpy dick constantly, and his sister is there to almost die later and get scared.

At School things are a mixed bag for Jesse: ON the one hand he has a sort of girlfriend in Lisa Webber, played by ken meyers, a rich girl who drives him to school every day and hangs out with him a lot and he soon gets a friend/possible partner? in Grady, a rough and tumble jock played to douchey but loveable perfection by Ron Rusler. Grady dosen't like Jesse at first for reasons and the two get into a wrestling match where Grady pulls Jesse's pants down exposing mark patton's ass for all to savor (Patton was 26 at the time, though it's still VERY werid to have this scene with a teenager and in general). On the bad end is Coach Schinder, your standard coach played by Marshall Bell who may or may not be a sexual predator but probably is, woh makes him do pushups, run laps and generally is just the worst.

The pushups do bond our new brochachos and honestly had Freddy not got involved i'm pretty sure he , Lisa and Jesse would be a throuple. Or he and jesse would be a couple at least. I mean they did pull each other's pants down. That has to be some form of second base. I'm only 5 years in to being a Man loving men and I still don't get all the mechanics. Don't get them all with women either. I'm a bi mess.

Jesse's dreams only intesify though, and we get some cool bits like the dali refrence, freddy opening his brains to show jesse , and the boiler room appearing in the walsh basement, Freddy's layer in life and in death. I also love the use of heat as a common denominator in freddy's possessions and dreams here: Given fire ended him, it works VERY nicely as a theme for the guy, from a furnace to jesse's stuff melting to an exploding bird.

Okay time to finally circle back to the exploding bird which dosen't work in any way shape or form but is still funny. First off as PushingUpRoses pointed out and Jess helpfully reminded me, birds tend to get a raw deal in horror with thier deaths not mattering as much or tommy wiseau becoming one

The recent film The Watchers at least corrected this as the bird Dakota Fannig was escorting before the woods kidnapped her is kept with her the whole film, survivies the film (Not saying if Dakota and co do or not, watch it it's pretty good if with a wobbly third act), and while not a major presence is still a nice visual calling card for the film.

Bird Ethics aside, the point is one of the walsh birds murders the other, attacks Grumpy Ass Dad Man, and then explodes

So Grumpy Ass Dad man naturally assumes.. Jesse did it. Despite a cherry bomb not working that way and Jesse being as shocked as anyone. Your son did not shove a payload of explosives up a bird's ass good sir. What are you on. Jesse storms away and Grumpy Ass Dad Man wants to fight him. He also got defensive earlier about not telling Jesse they live in a murder house after grady spills the beans.

Things progress and Patton.. is a fucking marvel in this film. Seroiusly his facial acting is top notch and the guy can scream like no one else, making me sad what happened after the film, circling back to THAT in a bit, all teh sadder. There's a deep sadness to jesse, an awkard teen struggling with his possible sexuality (Subtext Patton portrays greatly), a monster trying to literally tear his way out of him, and confusoin about what' sin him, all while no one really helps him: Lisa continuly assures him it was "just a dream", which it is not as Freddy's glove ends up outside at one point and things soon escalate to the point it couldn't possibly be, his dad thinks he's on drugs, and his mom just.. worreis a bit. Grady isn't super helpful, partly because he's a macho weirdo who asks if he's mounted Lisa yet and .. well i'll let him tell us why he's grounded.

We get no context for this and that just makes it all the more hilaroiusly batshit. Rob Russler is fantastic.

We feel that same powerlesness nancy felt: just as the first film was a metaphor for how adults often let teens down by not listening to them as threats claw at them, here it's how Adults and one's peers can often be unhelpful against internal struggle: Jesse is slowly loosing control of himself, possibly loosing his mind as far as he knows, and has this .. thing stalking him in his dreams.. but like Nancy no one can accept the truth. The subtext jesse is closested, either gay or bisexual (possibly pan) onlly adds to it: in a time as homophobic as the 80's staying in the closet isn't a choice: it's the only way for someone Jesse's age without the money to live on his own to survive. His dad is already an asshole man, he'd be even worse if he find out Jesse liked going inside literal assholes. Patton spends the film with a dour look, on the verge of cracking and only getting worse as Freddy takes more than more control.

The possesion element.. is great. It is mildly troubling iwth the gay subtext: having Jesse's fear of his queerness be repreesnted by a serial killer wasn't a good idea.. but the film still works regardless of that, in part because Freddy could represent Jesse's fears of being gay: all the sterotypes, horrible things said about gay people manfested into a gross abomination with a blood lust. All of poor jessee's shame over who he is, shame he never should've had but society forced on him, making him into this beast. Granted it's hurt a bit by his sorta girlfriend later getting jesse to expel him with the power of love, but given the film end son a nother cliffhanger, with freddy not defeated if seperated from Jesse, more on that later, it says to me at least that you can't defeat wh oyou are.. only oyu can fight your own self doubt and accept it.

Eventually Freddy gets to the murdering: Jesse wonders out in a fuege state and an underated aspect of nightmare 2 is it's dreamlike quality: like the original, the film has this dreamlike atmosphere, but goes farther with it: things lke a snake suddenly appearing on jesse, the bird exploding or jesse going to a gay bar gay bar are all left vauge: was he dreaming? is he sleepwalking? how much happened and how much was a dream? With the film not relying on the series iconic dream kills, it allows it to really play with things. Did ANY of this happen by the end? For a slasher. it's ambitious, brilliant and a joy to watch.

So he winds up at a gay bar gay bar gay bar. Or a leather bar. Either way i'd want to go. His coach finds him there then.. makes him run laps. Beofre he can get to child predator stuff though, Freddy does what jess called "pulling a matilda on him" as he suddenly has telekensisis kyle and whips the coache's bear ass before whipping him to death.

This dosen't help as next night after some more stuff we can gloss over, Jesse overs over his sister.. wtih glove in hand. Freddy nearly killed her and jesse is left a begging wreck. He tries to get Kim to undrestand at her dope pool party, but she only wants to fuck it out of him and freddy's tounge showing up tells Jesse that's not an option. He goes to grady who in the bluntest line tells jesse when he says something wants my body "Yeah she's female and waiting at the cabana and you want to sleep with me"> Which yes, yes he does but that's not the point.

Tragically.. Grady dies after Freddy claws his way out of Jesse in the film' sbest sequence and best kill. Rusler nails it with Grady's sheer fear nad begging being horrifying as nothing can save him and the sleeper awakens and slashes Grady to death. The horror in this flim is underated: even I underated it first time I watched it but on second watch while the film dosen't have as many jaw dropping set pieces as the first

Jesse goes to lisa.. but freddy kills her fish, sets a lamp on fire and emerges. This leads to the infamous pool party scene after a really tense underated scene of Freddy stalking Lisa in the cabana.

This scene was one of the main reasons Craven didn't want to do the film, feeling this exposed how short englund was. And first watch I found it goofy as hell... but on second.. it sinks in what freddy's really doing chasing the teens: he's playing with them. The same way he does in his dreams. I do admit, Freddy in the real world isn't AS terrifying on concept.. but the film finds a way to make it so with something I missed the first time: FREDDY IS STILL A GOD HERE. By coming to our world the way he did, he apparently kept his powers. He can still teleport to a degreee, makes the pool boil over, the gates too hot to touch. He may not be able to shapeshift, though in fairness he only shifted his arms in the first one so he may not have been able to period yet, but his fire powers more than make up for it, a jet of flame interuppting as he iconicaly declares

Yes the setting itself is a bit cheeesy.. but ti works. Freddy isn't chasing them because he's devolved or has less methods, he could probably burn them all. .h'es chasing them.. because he's a sadistic bastard. Always has been, always will be. He didn't HAVE to puree Glen

But he likes making a sport of it. His kills in the first.. are all horrifically ironic, if more subtle than he would be from 3 onward. I hate to spoil them for those new to the franchise, hi kevin, but it's needed for comparisons sake: he dragged tina's corpse across the celing, hung up rod in his prison cell with his own bedsheets and ... whatever it is your looking at right now. While this was all revenge there's no illusions that freddy isn't a sadistic bastard who makes a spectacle of his victims. He's smart enough in cases that aren't blood fountain to make it look plausable to the folks who find the corpses, as being widely known would make it harder to do this (as shown by Freddy Vs Jason), even with the wilfull ignorance of Elm Street's parents already helping a ton.. but he likes to drag it out. He likes to make it as horrific as possible. The films after this emphasise this with him finding some way to twist both their fondest dreams and greatest nightmares into something, from slamming someone who badly wants to be famous into a tv while welcoming her to prime time, bitch, using a pupeteers veins for strings, making an aneroxic eat herself to death or having an invisible karate fight with a karate man because they ran out of budget, this shit is his art.

So while him slashing people with his glove isn't super artful as these. .it fits as the "piece" he's doing here while tearing these teens to pieces.. is getting to kill SO many at once, using his powers to herd them like cattle while he gets to be the butcher. And he hasn't lost his touch as an idiot trying to reason with him like this was a monster movie and no ta guy slashing people with a glove, gets slashed and thrown into a fucking grill. While it clearly took TIME to posses jesse, he didn't HAVE to announce himself during it (That we're aware of) or try and kill his sister. He loved making this poor kid painfully aware that he's taking control and everything Jesse knows and loves will be dead when that happens. He gave him his body back after Grady ONLY to let the poor boy cry and scream in anguish at what Freddy had done with his body and wonder right where Freddy wanted. Freddy.. is a monster, literally and figuratively and this film captures that beautifully. I will say his dream powers are better than "whatever heat related powers the writers want", no question, but given the series later decline to thinks like super freddy and the power glove, it's easy to go back to this one and see the craft putting into making freddy terrifying.

The body possesion thing works too: like I said Jesse is a prisoner in his own body, either trapped deep in his subconcious or again, given Freddy sucks, probably forced to watch. The idea of not being in control of your body is terrifying and Jesse covered in Grady's blood is just horrifying. It's not the same as the original, true.. but it's fantastic all the same.

That said the ending.. is a bit of a disapointment. We get all this build up, even Lisa's Dad shooting him dosen't stop freddy.. and the climax. .is lisa confronting freddy alone at the old steel mill he used, telling Jesse "it's all in his head, he can control it power of love blah blah blah" and Freddy's just .. defeated. Now i'll give the film some slack: while it gets shit for this ending and deserves it, deflating a well crafted terrifying build up with "I love you so you can escape him", this series... seems to suck at endings. I've only seen the first three, so I can't fully say, but i've seen enough reviews of the later ones and heard enough to a least get the sense none of them know how to defeat freddy in a way that's both convincing and sets it up for sequel. Even the first one, as much as I love it, has Nancy luring freddy out and using home alone traps, which is a WAY bigger blow to his dignity than hardrock rooftop poolside vilas ever were. There are exceptoins: 3, New Nightmare and Freddy Vs Jason have and seem to have banger endings. But for the most part it's some convient deus ex machina to beat freddy that either never came up before or is vaugely hinted at. It's why I do lean toward the chucky franchise a bit: while Chucky's never truly beaten for good, the final battles with him always feel climactic and big. Even 3 , the worst of the films i've seen, has chucky get ripped to shreds by an unreaslitic carnival ride. With Freddy.. the scale on him's so big it's hard to find a way to convincingly put his ass down, even temporarily but they never seemed to try that hard either.

It dosen't help they just.. repeat the same "Is it really over HA HA BITCH IT ISN'T IT REALLY ISN'T EXPECT TO NEVER GET CLOSURE ON THIS SCENE" ending as the last one. It does at least have a bit more style as it's Jesse once again getting on a buss, with Tina assuring him thigns are okay and her friend talking about "what a wild party that was" and brushing off people died horribly from a weird claw man which...

Tracks. Then it turns out OH NO FREDDY'S DRIVING THE BUS AGAIN.

THE END

JESSE FUCKING DIED I GUESS

It's the same ending as the last one minus the implication everything was a dream and the horribly fake freddy hand. Now Jesse COULD'VE survivied and just skipped town which given his dad... probably a smart move long term. Nancy was trapped in a speeding car made of freddy Kruger and lived somehow. Like Jesse's ultimate fate, they never really explained how Nancy survived. This film confirms she did as Grady, master of sympathy he is, probably would've mentiond her death too, and the next film has her come back in full, but they never explain HOW, and never touch on Jesse again as the franchise tends to pretend like this flim dosen't exist.

And that's a sad fact of the film: It was an evolutionary dead end. Rewatching it.. it's fantastic. It's not as good as 2 and 3 which have more realistic adult characters who are still useless, but feel like actual people with Nancy's mom being an alcholic, her dad being a hardass if not an asshole man like Jesses, and the jerkass nurse at the mental institute having at least reasons for her distrust of nancy as to defeat a dream man, nancy had to do some sketchy shit. Their not good people, but they come off more as people and not a cardboard cutout, his wife and a bad sterotype of queer people being accused of being pedophiles. The film also has weird shit like the birdsplosion, the snake and drags at times, while Lisa feels VERY underwritten and the ending half assed and lazy. It's not perfect.. but rewatching it let me see the films good sides: it's queer subtext, which we're almost to, is well done for the most part, Mark Patton is fucking amazing as are Robert Englund and Robert Rusler, the effects are fantastic especially on a low budget and the concept is well thought out and creepy. The film is an oddball in the series.. but it's one that tried new things and gave us an atmospheric, creepy and throughly gay horror film. So on that last part

Scream, Queen!

Sooo there's no easy way to do this so i'm just going to come out and say it: This is one of the gayest films I have ever seen

It's why we're here, it's why it's my finale for pride month, it's why Kev had me review it, and it's why for better or worse this film is remembered. It has other layers I mentiond: Mark Patton's performance is, after this rewatch, one of my all time faviorite's in horror, great effects, a trippy atmosphere, and Freddy at some of his most terrifying. But let's be frank: if this film is remembered, it's not because of any of those valid reasons.. but for the simple reason of

Before we even get into metaphor the film has TONS of shirtless scenes of Mark Patton, with most dream scenes having him shirtless or in his underwear. His first meeting with Grady ends with Grady pulling down his pants while they wrestle , exposing his butt to one and all. He goes to a leather bar in his dream. His coach is a pedophile, which is a very harmful sterotype and a very harmful thing to conflate. Grady outright lampshades that Jesse wants to spend the night with him instead of an eager to bone lisa. He says "somethin'gs inside of me". The film is not subtle.

And yet.. it also is? Jesse's metaphor of feeling uncomfortable contsnatly, trying to be who people want by having sex or dating but not being able to, being afraid of what he is and as I mentioned the metaphor of freddy as everything he fears about being an out queer person in a time when they were often blamed for hate crimes against them, to the point For Better or Worse writer Lynn Johnston wrote a whole arc in the strip about a longtime character coming out because a close gay friend of hers died and the police SYMPATHIZED WITH THE MURDERER. Jesse is in a constant gay panic: Is he bi,? is he gay? it's hard to tell because he can't accept himself or what he feels, and like Freddy tends to do, he gloms onto that fear to feed himself.

The film is gay as hell and for 1985 it's a bold statment: looking back it's impossible to not see HOW gay it is and that's a good thing. However HOW the queerness was implimented.. was a very bad thing. And i'm not just talking about the pedophile teacher which is bad and maybe having freddy whip him to death was a bit... much. Then again...

Maybe that ship had sailed for this franchise.

No i'm talking about the fact writer David Chaskin is a two face mother fucker. Told ya we'd circle back. See Shoulder.. had no idea the film was gay.. or claims he dosen't. Given how well directed the film is and how we get a full shot of Mark Patton's glorious ass I will never let you forget about, I have doubts he REALLY didn't know. But given NO ONE at new line caught the subtext till it was out except maybe Robert Englund, it's just as likely he was THAT oblivous and included the random ass shot without question. Also to clarify i'm not sayin ga shot of a man's ass is inherently gay.. but i'm saying it is when he's wrestling anothe rman while trying to also remove HIS pants. Context is king.

See making the film gay.. wasn't a bad idea. Chaskin wanting the mostly hetero teens wawtching to get being gay wasn't bad and the gay teens to feel accepted..was noble. It was how Chaskin handeled the backlash over the film being gay that makes him a monster.

A film this queer naturally got gay panic, not helped with the open homophobia brought about by the AIDS crisis shortly after. So Rather than... admit this was his idea, Chaskin instead blamed Patton.

This.. Was a dick move on so many levels but the biggest was.. patton's sexuality was an open secret. As the only openly queer person in the room, he was an easy target and Chaskin knew it. It saved Chaskin's career but only made what was already a hard time in LA for Patton worse. As I found out via an interview with Plus magazine, Patton already wasn't super happy in LA, having his agents dictate what he wore and unlike his time in new york, not being able to be openly queer as agents were, and I shit you not he really said this and I can sadly fully belivie it, scoping out clubs in west hollywood to tank the careers of people up for parts against their clients. They didn't let him interview with a queer magazine.

So Nightmare had come at an already stressful time for the man, as patton said in the article, which you can find here

“By that point, AIDS was all around me. Everyone I knew was getting sick"

And when it caame to Chaskin's bullshit Mark said

“David would just blame me any time it came up alluding to something along the lines of, ‘Well, he’s a big old fag and he chose to play the part in a big old fag way.’”

This all came to a head with an audition for an abc sitcom, the whole horrifying situation here, which I found about on Patton's wikipedia entry (and might of come up in the film, it has been a bit), is what lead me to the article.

“It was what I would consider my last true hardcore audition,” Patton remembers of nearly getting a part as a gay character on CBS. He was sitting a table with nearly a dozen other men. “They began to ask me if I would be comfortable playing a gay character and telling people I was straight if they began to question my sexuality? I remember looking around that table and I knew every one of those men were gay. All I could think about was how everyone I knew was dying from AIDS and we were having this bullshit conversation. My heart just broke and that was the line for me. I knew I would never be able to do what they were asking, so I walked away from Hollywood and decided to move on to a place where it was totally acceptable to be gay.”

So Mark became an interior decorator and while he was happy life wasn't finished beating the poor man upside the head as he then got diagnosed with AIDS

“I found out on my 40th birthday and three days later I was in the hospital,” Patton says. “But because of the infections I had, they made me take tuberculosis medicine and that didn’t mix with those older HIV meds. There were so many side effects. It was like I was poisoned. ” He pauses for a long moment before he continues. “I almost died there, but thankfully my friends took me to an AIDS health clinic, which saved my life.”

Seriously I can't thank the Plus article enough. So Mark survivied, found love with his husband Hector Morales Moondragon, and now sells art in mexico.

It was in this calm, happy phase of his life, after all this bullshit.. that he FINALLY made piece with the film that had caused him so much strife. He was approached to be interviewed for Never Sleep Again, an exaustive documentary on the Nightmare franchise I highly recommend, and in doing so finally told his side... and as a result with many now knowing he was still alive and still out there, it got him on the convention circuit. Somethign the documentary emphasises, as well as the plus article.. is how cathartic that was for Mark: after years of his film being mocked "The Gay One"... it got embraced as the gay one. The gay community had embraced the film, many being awakened by patton in it, and warmly embraced their scream queen.

Patton is still hanging in there: last year he had to GoFundMe for a liver operation and his health is rough.. but he's alive, in good spirits and well loved: By his husband and his fans. And as one of his fans... I wanted to spotlight Mark's story because i'ts a tragedy.. but it ends in triumph. Mark left a place he wasn't accepted to find love , acceptance and ultimately peace. Chaskin.. never actually apologized, still hasn't and didn't show up in Scream Queen despite mark's best efforts, but fuck him: Patton found peace, people found themselves in this movie, and I personally enjoyed it. The writer sucks but it can't take away from the deft direction or patton's performance. I hope Mark does better and gets to act at least one more time, and I may review his other film swallow next pride. For now stay proud, thanks for reading and to mr patton personally.. thank you.

#nightmare on elm street #freddy's revenge #mark patton #freddy krueger #robert englund #jesse walsh #a nightmare on elm street #lbgtqia #pride month #queer horror #queer #film

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dynmghts · 11 months ago

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TRANSMISSION FROM @beastincidents : 💌 big wet puppy dog eyes TRANSMISSION ENDED / POSITIVITY TRAIN , ACCEPTING .

VIXENNNN it's ur turn now my dude let's do this

what i like about your blog: if anyone tries to tell you that simplicity doesn't fly in tumblr rp anymore, tell them to eat their fucking pants because you don't need to be fancy with fancy graphics and icons and tags and writing to be good. and you are AMAZING. your blog is so easy to navigate, your writing style is phenomenal, and it's so easy to understand what it is you're going for? i appreciate your straightforward writing with your responses for SURE because my silly little brain sometimes gets a little lost otherwise. but seriously. i'll eat whoever says you gotta look cool to be cool.

what i like about your character(s): honestly, i love seeing the way all of your muses interact with each other? not always directly, they don't have to be direct, but like in small instances during a thread where you're explicitly writing one character but mention the other characters inside it - that kind of inclusion! and it's cool to see your specific portrayals interact with each other and expanding on canon. well, what little canon there is for class b. that is an actual travesty (and you're the core reason i think they deserve WAY more screentime than they've gotten. horikoshi at least bring monoma back i beg).

for specific characterisation, i can't go without mentioning your monoma. the silly, the goofy, the myth and legend; he pushes EVERY BUTTON katsuki has in every interaction they have, and it's just. it's so funny. it's like they're destined to never truly get along because of their differences. but then when you keep putting them in situations where they have to, they actually kind of do, mostly out of necessity but because - on katsuki's end, at least - katsuki wants to prove that he can work with monoma despite their clashing. they actually have a complex sort of bond because of that!

that being said, i absolutely want to interact with tokage and ibara more. tokage because she and katsuki went toe-to-toe in the joint training arc, and i'd like to see the two leaders with two very different approaches really learn from each other kinda thing? and ibara, because she's kickass. and katsuki could learn a thing or two from him. namely having patience. (i think the two of them would make some really fun interactions!)

what i like about you in general: vixen PLEASE you are so fun to have on the dash because i think you have an awesome sense of humour, and not to mention i love to see you throw out headcanons that seem very out-of-nowhere, but also make perfect sense for that specific muse? and i know we haven't talked much outside of tumblr either, but the times that we did talk was a lot of fun, and i loved bouncing ideas off of you! overall, 10/10 humour, i think you're a great person to talk to, and i hope to keep writing with you for however long i have katsuki fr

#beastincidents #💥 ⸍ ii. answers.#💥 ⸍ i. out.#/ i would commit arson for u vixen my dude i gotchu

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incorrectdead50squartet · 1 year ago

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FOREVER PRIDE

We talked about the first member of my favorite bi couple, Frankie! Now, let's talk about Jinx!

First, I want to talk about Jinx specifically in the original production. Jinx does actually say love, however, he immediately goes "oh" after that, with a clearly sad tone. Even after that, he says that he always wanted to tell somebody that he loves them. There's a clear lack of words that are used to imply his love's gender, which is something that many queer people experience. I think that he's bi because he truly meant anyone, because he can be in love with anyone.

Also, it's hard for me to talk about Jinx's bisexuality without mentioning Johnnie Ray.

For those of you who don't know who Johnnie Ray was, he was often called the "King of Tears". He sang the song "Cry", which Jinx sings in the musical. "Cry" is unmistakably his most well known song. However, he also sang "The Little White Cloud That Cried" and "Please, Mr. Sun".

Johnnie Ray was also bisexual, and was arrested multiple times for it. He wasn't open about his sexuality to the public, because he would have lost his reputation for it, although critics already didn't like him because he's effeminate. However, he put a lot of implicit messages about being LGBT, as well as being a GNC man, in his songs. The most noteworthy example is "A Sinner Am I". I highly reccomend listening to his other music, because he has some great songs.

"A love like this was never meant for man's imagination/And so I tell myself that I'm involved with mere infatuation"

As for "Cry" itself, that song was originally supposed to be sung by one women to another. However, Johnnie Ray completely changed the meaning of the song. Now, "Cry" is a lament of a man who can't express his emotions, unless through song, because it wasn't expected of him. Therefore, there's quite a bit of significance to Jinx singing the song. We know that he doesn't really talk much, and he's likely the most effeminate of the boys, so hearing him sing "Cry" is so impactful.

I’ve previously mentioned Frankie’s crush on Jinx, but Jinx’s crush on Frankie is so clear. There are some things Frankie can convince him on that not even Sparky can. When you watch the 1993 proshot, especially, you can tell how happy Frankie makes Jinx. Frankie is also the one who helps Jinx, and constantly makes him feel good.

Jinx’s character arc is gaining confidence, and he does. He realizes that he has been in love, and he realizes that his life was hard, but he deserves all of the good things that he got. There’s a reason why “Cry” is the fan favorite song, because he shows so much growth in that three minute song. Jinx is stronger than he thinks, and we get to see him learn about his strengths through an iconic song, made famous by a bi legend.

#forever plaid #jankie #happy pride!#bisexual #forever pride #johnnie ray

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trashyeggroll · 3 years ago

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Why We Don't Need A Xena Anytime Soon

submission from anon under the cut!

anon, one time i asked the tag who they would cast as callisto in the reboot and almost got chased off this site witch pitchforks

i really like all the points you hit on, and i'm here for it--i think xwp is an artifact of its time, and attempts to reframe it in a different context is just... not gonna be the same thing

as a franchise, it's also got so much cultural foundation, look at my mans karl urban in star trek, celeborn is borias in lotr (also feat: blonde karl urban), and so many costume designers/special effects teams that largely did move on to lotr roles, like goddamn

You know for as cool as it would be to see now because they would totally go hard on Xena/Gabrielle...I'm actually glad a XWP reboot hasn't happened yet. Please allow me to explain why. First and foremost, the majority of TV writers do not seem to hold the skills needed to write Xena they way she truly is - she is a VERY violent person so not get that wrong, but she has the ability for good also. She is not going to spend 3-5 episodes being guilted over killing someone if they deserve it and it would better everyone else (see Green Dragon), she will murder them and explains to you for a half an episode why she was right and then move on and it's on you to accept it or not because she's made her peace. She is someone who understands the multiple ways you can hold power over others and yourself and ways to exercise both each day. She's gruff but also has a soft spot in her! She is extremely layered and I don't think again 99% of writers today could do her justice the way Rob and company did her. Secondly, while most pitches assure the upfrontness of Xena and Gabby I feel like that's kind of their one horse being focused on and the series was more than just the one big relationship. You also need to tell us how ancient lore will play in and if you're going more realistic (grittier) or keeping the campy with some light grit nature. Are you going to explore the layers to situations or just have cliche good and bad guys? Are those who are from the original series going to be in the original key or some over the top version? Yeah Callisto is crazed with grief and so she is prepare to murder everyone and anyone but she's not crazy; Xena killed her family and burned down everything she had ("Hercules" Terminator storyline is not cannon to XWP), she's got a right to be upset with her and thus begin her quest to bring her down reputation wise and eventually physically. On the topic of Callisto, and by extension Xena, how many actresses can really balance what Hudson gave us with the crazy eyes but sane tone to what she was saying? I'm not saying it can never be done I'm just saying it's going to be hard to find an actress who can do that line well. The same for whoever would play the iconic title anti-hero because Lucy has become SUCH a legend along with the character I would not envy who has to fill those shoes. At best you have like a handful of actresses now who could probably do this but they will be older actors and we all know they'll want someone who's in their 20s for a reboot because honestly if anyone over 30 was in the role just get Lucy back. Ha It makes me wonder how all the characters would be treated - would Ares be some masognistic villain to show he's bad or would they actually have him clearly horny for Xena yes but it's because he knows she can do things and she happens to be a woman and he likes women so it's a turn on you know? Would Aphrodite be some comedic ditz only or actually allowed moments of emotional intellect where her words save the day? Does Hades always double cross the main characters because he's "the devil" or do they have him like the original where he will work with you if your pitched deal is a good one for him/he owes you a favor? Would the reboot balance both comedy and drama or be one or the other mainly? Would it be action heavy because it's an action genre type show or would they allow for character exploration like the original did at times? The original "Xena: Warrior Princess" balances everything so well that I think it's almost impossible to redo now and have it live up to the original. If they went homage versus reboot that would serve them better I think if they could pull off a repeat of the series. I also don't think it'll happen because while Hollywood loves to copy things now days, so in that respect they'd jump all on it, XWP came out in the mid 90s when shows were kind of doing original content and Hollywood right now especially feels allergic to originality so for all the pitches made to have the series return I don't think it will ever happen really; even if it did

it wouldn't be a network show like the original and that then means things like Showtime or HBO or even SYFY would say no because they're into their own original products and SYFY has the rights to show the original episodes so it's just cheaper for them. Is there room with a homage to improve the series legacy? Sure! We could have an actual good Rift where instead of fighting over kids behaving badly we get Gabrielle having to come to terms hardcore with is Xena someone she really wants to be with when she sees her dark side; take the Green Dragon event again - Gabrielle did not support Xena killing him because of some old debt because she knew it would set Xena back on her redemption path and she really believes theirs other ways than killing so you could have Xena tell her the truth or Gabrielle just feels it and it's like "Is this who I really want to follow? Is she really trying or is this violence who she really is?" and you could drive that into Najara's plot where she's the "good Xena" but Gabby realizes she's doing it for the wrong reason and at least what Xena did helped arguably for awhile so it's the lesser of the evils and they reunite and you can explore how you don't always agree with others but it doesn't mean you can't love them still. It's the old "I don't agree with your choice, but I don't hate you" thing. You could even make it over Callisto and how Gabrielle can understand her rage but say Xena isn't that person now and Callisto says something like "Is she?" when Gabby says she's a good guy who's changed before adding "Or is that just the person she is when you're looking?" and so each time Xena does something questionable Callisto's voice chimes in her head to a point where you reach a Green Dragon situation and Xena still does what she does and Gabby has to come to terms with it. Maybe this is a redo of her spiritual journey minus the Christian visual representations and in the end again she goes back but she understands a bit more of the person she thinks she loves then so she isn't as much of the puppy/desperate to leave girl we first see. That's a way better Rift than rape baby killing people and Xena flipping because Gabrielle wouldn't let her kill what she thought was a helpless child! Could a homage give us an actual battle of the gods if they repeated the Twilight arc? Yes. That plot was pushed into too few episodes for it to be presented the way it fully needed to based on lore. Would an homage now give us in your face, clear as day Xena/Gabrielle? Yep! This is only good though if it's not the only thing the show is brining to the table because there is more LGBT representation out there now so it's not like they would be the go to place like they were in the 90s. Could a homage give us a better ending? 100%! I love what you put out there over all Xena team but that end has issues to say the least; I don't care if you kill Xena, I debate to this day if death isn't her actual redemption for all that's happened, but if you kill her be in the Greece area and for a plot we've seen coming for awhile or whatever the series end season has been on not some random new story that's set thousands of miles away! 😡 So yeah I'm not saying a "reboot" doesn't have merit or a place in TV future I'm just saying the original did a lot so well it's going to be hard for a homage to really do the legacy justice without true care for the product. You can't just hire any old random group of staff members to do a series like this and have it be what it was...the original was so well done because the crew cared - from the stunt teams to the writers and actors, they literally put all their hopes and dreams into this and it shows the passion. Xena is not some girl trying to be a male hero - she's jacked physically because she's on a horse most of the time and that works your thighs, she swings a 20lbs sword 90% of the time and if you do that you two would probably have arm muscles, and she's tall because genetics. She's broody not because that's a male only trait, she's broody because some of her actions

are bothering her now and she's not sure how to fix them because people hate her for what she could do and thus don't give her a chance without Gabrielle to hype her up first. Just because society has tried to genderize certain traits because the majority of one sex does them doesn't mean the trait itself is a gender; Xena is not trying to be some stoic male lead you envision now, she's just badass like that because it's who's she always was. The show is not some comedy with beats of drama trying to be cute, it's a drama which at times had comedy because if they didn't laugh at somethings which happened they'd die from stress. Don't get me wrong, personally, I am a fan of a grittier Xena because it might explore even more character aspects but it can't be HBO After Dark levels of just violence and despair either because that's not honest to the source material. If it was all comedy or all drama it would feel like something was missing. You can't just set up a plot like Callisto and have it either fade into the background or be wrapped up in 2 episodes...well maybe you could wrap it up faster than the original did but you'd miss so much and yeah I just don't know if a creative team today could do justice to the original. "Xena: Warrior Princess" is such a lightening in a bottle show and it doesn't get the respect it deserves because most just see the camp and thus tragically miss the level of depth these characters had...they miss the nuance performances some of these actors gave; they down rate it on LGBT scales for being subtext which is to a point fair but when you think of all they achieved during the 90s to show as much as they did...there's couples now which could do more on shows and do less! Forget the LGBT stuff all together even for a moment and remember a white female title lead character's other big love on the series which she literally went to Hell to save was a black man...not a lot of that happening in the 90s folks! They crack comments about the stunts...I'm sorry tell me again how realistic it is on your show that a car flips 20 times after hitting a rock or how it's totally believable instead that 5 bad guys would stand around waiting to jump into a fight with the hero one by one instead of just shooting him. Some people want to dismiss the series a just a lesbian show forgetting how it showed young women you can stand up too and your opinion matters just as much...the series showed women getting sh*t done because women too can get sh*t done. Xena didn't defeat Ares regularly because that's just how the show went, she did it because he thought with his d*ck at times and she used that to her advantage because while she's physically gifted she also knows the value of mental strengths too and she thought her way out of things also. Gabrielle especially was a mental escapist for trouble showing there's more ways than just punching to achieve goals; this was another level of diversity the series offered watchers! XENA is so much better than people give it credit for and I would want any reboot or homage to only come out if it put as much passion into the project as the original did, bare minimum I'm going to need you to show up with 98% care and passion because it's a reboot not a repeat so this allows them to change some things such as being open with X/G but on the whole almost coping the original wouldn't be too bad a path. Again edit some things to go better such as the Rift but yeah the original is a classic for a reason and it's not just because a bunch of lesbians keep talking about it. Xena is 25 years strong because it treated female characters with respect and allowed them to effect things not just stand in scenes and say a line or two to suggest they're tough, it shows a layered anti-hero who you could argue may really be a villain at the end of the day people still aren't sure because the writing was that good and complex and showed the reality of a human being who went through those things and depending on where you stand in relation to them she is one or the other or maybe even a bit of

both...I can't tell you a male or female character like that now that brings that level of debate to them, and it's still strong because the creative team believed in their vision for the characters (instead of going out of their way to no homo the series they got more blatant and just clever in how they hid it so it go on screen without censors shutting them down; instead of dressing Xena up in a dress to show she's a woman they kept her exactly how she is because she is a woman an a piece of clothing does not define her gender)! There's SO much to explore still today with the original and be thankful for and inspire to with it soy yeah if they bring it back I'm going to need them to do it with the right mindset or I'll keep just enjoying my DVDs thank you. Long post I know but it kept coming out the more I wrote until I finished. 🙂

#submission #xwp #xena #long post

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ganon-binary · 3 years ago

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Overwatch Heroes Ranking & Honest Opinions part 3

Part 3 of my ranking and opinions of the playable characters of Overwatch. Last one started a bit negatively but i'll make up for it with this one. Parts 1, 2 and 4.

Mako "Roadhog" Rutledge: 8/10

A great contrast to his best buddy, Junkrat. Rich backstory and great personality, He is the grumpy and cool uncle of this group. Really interested to see what they decide to do with his story, especially if the Junker Queen will actually be in the game. His design is very iconic, from the scary hog mask to his cute pig tattoo. He is my least favorite character gameplay wise, but i'll excuse that bc he is so cool. 8/10, i should eat less pork.

Siebren "Sigma" de Kuiper: 3/10

I'll admit to first liking his origin story, which was beautifully produced. Cosmic horror was something that we didn't have in Overwatch yet so his reveal was super exciting. However as a character, Sigma's design is so problematic. Stigmatizing mentally ill people in 2019 was so low. I think they will "fix" his character in OW2 due to backlash so I'll be looking forward to that. Personality wise, he seems like a lovely man, but I am not happy with his personality in his origin story video. Big scary mentally ill villain? Ugh. In game he can be a bit frustrating. 3/10, put those feet away.

Jack "Soldier: 76" Morrison: 6-/10

He is the generic vigilante character. I really like his backstory involving Ana and Gabriel, those 3 have a really good dynamic. Personality wise he is so generic but i think that was the point? Oh and he is gay i guess.. they could have explored that a bit more even though it's not a really big and important part of his character. Kinda bland in the game, i never play him. 6-/10, good on you, gramps.

Sombra: 9+/10

I don't like her fanon portrayal. I get that she has really funny lines but can we stop acting like she is a gremlin and not an actual threat. I really like her personality and her snarky and belittling comments, she clearly sees herself so much superior than everyone else. She is unapologetically a bastard. That being said, I truly think she cares for other people, maybe not many people, but still some people. Was not a big fan of her "portrayal in the "Searching" comic. I really love her OW1 design, a stealth character being covered in neon LED lights is so funny. Not that big of a fan of her OW2 design though. She is my 3rd most played character and i love her kit, and i am anxiously waiting for her rework. 9+/10, never change you magnificent bastard

Satya "Symmetra" Vaswani: 10/10

This character is so important to me, and i love her a lot. She is the character that got me into Overwatch, so she kinda changed my life lmao. She is such a multi dimensional character and i am eagerly awaiting for her storyline in OW2. She is a really beautiful character, but i think her design could be improved in OW2. She is my 2nd most played character and my controversial opinion is that she deserves another rework, she feels so clunky to play compared to other characters. 10/10, you deserve way more love.

Torbjörn Lindholm: 8/10

The meme man himself, Torbjörn is a surprisingly well written character. Being one of the creators of the omnics, his viewpoint of this whole charade is super interesting. He is a hilarious and nasty old man, with the most memeable voice lines in the game. His OW2 design has such nordic dad vibes, i appreciate it a lot. I almost never play him, but he is very fun. 8/10, don't get caught with your beard in the letterbox.

Lena "Tracer" Oxton: 7/10

Culturally a very iconic character, seeing a lesbian character being the poster girl for one of the biggest games in the world was so cool. She is such a energetic ray of sunshine. She just makes me happy. Really dig her design, they really nailed her vibe. The "London Calling" comics were a waste of comics imo. Nothing else to say, she is funky in and out of the game. 7/10, her death screams sound like Link from The Legend Of Zelda.

Amélie "Widowmaker" Lacroix: 9+/10

Widowmaker really is held back by being called "emotionless", because she is not. Detached of her sentiment is much more accurate way of describing her. She is a really proud and boastful lady with an ego the size of Reinhardt. In my opinion her design fits her, because she is so prideful and she definitely thinks herself as the sexiest being in the world. Nobody can tell her shit. Really interested to see what they will do with her in OW2, but personally i don't think she needs a redemption. She is my most played character with almost 500 hours for her. 9+/10, je ne parle pas français.

Winston: 8/10

A scientist. Everyone loves Winston Overwatch. He is such a really cool dude and he really pulls you into the story in every animated short he is in. Can't believe his siblings killed his dad.. that's brutal, man. I never play him. 8/10, no monkey business.

Hammond "Wrecking Ball": 0/10

Literally such a pointless character, he doesn't need to exist. They could have released Sojourn instead of him. Convinced the only reason he exists is because of the plushies. I hope he gets eaten by a snake in OW2. He is so annoying in the game and i love ruining people's day who play him by playing Sombra. 0/10, go away, snake food.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #roadhog #sigma #soldier: 76 #sombra #symmetra #torbjörn #widowmaker #winston #wrecking ball

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shinaus · 4 years ago

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heya!! ive only just found your blog and i love it. are there any others you could recommend? im new to tumblr but i love anime so any would do :'D

oh my god YES!!! i am always here to gas up my favourite writers and people, so here’s a list of writing blogs based around what i write - bnha and haikyuu!

ps. every piece of writing i’ve chosen is in a sfw format, so once i get a sideblog up and running i’ll likely have other genres/blogs to recc as well 👀

SHINAUS WRITING RECCS

1. first off has always gotta be @bunnyywritings - she’s not only an incredibly talented writer but my dear friend who’s been here Literally since the beginning. she writes for both fandoms amongst many others, so i would definetely check her out!

recc: “dino to the rescue”

+ i am a tsukishima simp first, human second - so this genuinely sends me into orbit to this day. it’s just so soft and sweet, especially getting to see him showing his vulnerabilities. i would empty my bank account to comfort him after a long day and that's all i'll be saying on the matter.

2. next up we have my angel, miss @azucanela - literally one of the sweetest and most supportive people on this EARTH. her blog is seriously so well done and her writing matches that just as well, she also has amazing writing for avatar and legend of korra which i would highly reccommend too!

recc: “late nights”

+ y’all know how i feel about shinso so this is literally like a comfort fic for me at this point, it’s so beautifully written and just has such raw and genuine emotion to it. idk who i’d risk it all for first tbh - him or canela (the answer is canela, but don't tell toshi)

3. my sweet mutual @katsushimaa - yssa is so immensely talented as well as being such a kind person in general. she deserves every bit of appreciation she gets on her work, seriously. also her ongoing haikyuu smau!!! unmatched. there are just endless good things i could say i really just be loving her and her work from a distance cause i'm shy fkdk.

recc: “why are you always holding my hand?”

+ this just hits - truly. sero is such a great character and it makes me so happy seeing him have content, especially with what there is out there being this brilliantly written. i mean listen; this shy, affectionate boy who just wants to love on the reader? i would like this every day all the time from this point forward, it’s just so cute UGH i love it

4. another lovely mutual of mine, @softieshoto - haru is incredible as well as being an absolute sweetheart to bat. from posting just fantastic work to helping me make my banners not too long ago (which i love you her for to this day uwu), such a great person and i rate her work highly hehe.

recc: "bad boys" (a bnha masterlist)

+ god honestly it speaks for itself, just so well done and the consistency with the characters is incredible. plus the bad boy trope is just iconic, the way she depicts each boy in the masterlist is beyond great.

5. is a blog i've followed fairly recently, @cellotonin - honestly i had read the fic i'm about to recc and was completely and utterly sold. like i've already said i live for sero content so for there to be such an amazing piece of writing with well done characters amongst other things is just just *chefs kiss*

recc: “talk too much (until you forget how to breathe)”

+ god, this was just something else. ever since i finished it i think about rereading it constantly (and honestly do). it's so beautiful written, well laid out and the way sero is portrayed just has me downright simping for him. an absolute stellar piece of writing.

and lastly 6. is another really great blog i follow, @shoutaaizawas - who in general has such great work that i love binging and rereading practically on a daily basis. and the way keigo is written is just... yes. everything about it. incredible. masterpieces.

recc: "preening"

+ nothing, and i mean nothing gets me softer than this. the writing is immaculate, the dialogue even more so if possible. keigo getting embarrassed about his bird tendencies is the cutest thing i have ever witnessed to the point my heart was fully soaring and will not come down from orbit. please, no matter how much you may trust my word, read this.

i could list so many more but i would end up spending forever on it, so i hope this helps you find some good content! and to all my mutuals ily <3

#shinaus reccs #hehe #they do be great

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baepsrae · 4 years ago

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Hi ~ sorry to bother you but I was just wondering what are your feelings about sj? I don't know much about them and I only see people either writing them all off as problematic assholes or blindly defending them. You said recently that they're not all bad but you definitely criticise them, so I was wondering what your take is?

Sungmin: loml! He's so talented and funny and pretty like ok can you please calm down king leave something for everyone else!!! He's also really cute and sweet alshsksjsl. He just seems like a genuinely good person tbh. he's just vibing. The PETTINESS of him and saeun on miss trot... Obsessed with his relationship with saeun, they're so good together. they look so in love, and I love how they are just vibin on tiktok!

Truly an underrated legend. Don't don era... truly an iconic look I loved his hair. People say his fashion sense is awful but honestly who else could pull off a mullet and a visor? just look at these looks:

You call it bad fashion sense, I call it innovation. Also his friendship with sunny was always cute to me.

also I know we HATE any "fun" stage where men dress up as women badly, but sungmin was seriously serving looks. before heechul was Gross Predator Confirmed™ a lot of gay kpop stans said fuck suju only heechul and often talked about heechul serving looks in drag.... my man sungmin served much better looks.

heechul wishes he was as a bad of a bitch! Love this man with my whole bisexual heart. subscribe to liu studio on youtube and stream orgel!!! Also he said one of his goals for 2021 is a second solo so TAKE NOTE AND SUPPORT HIM IF HE DOES!

yesung: racist.

ryeowook: ok but vocals! his version of the high notes in it's you... the way he hit them with absolute ease! chefs KISS!! when I was an elf he was second on my bias list, but now it's zhou mi. soft spot for him though.

siwon: homophobic. his friendship with sungmin... I pretend I do not see it.

kyuhyun: kind of a problematic fave? I mean, I don't really keep up with what he's doing because I don't really listen to their new music and I don't really like his solo stuff but... I honestly have a such soft spot for kyu. I like him. I really do! He makes me laugh! and he's really talented like omg his voice 😍 I have conflicting feelings tho... I know that infamous moment with hara on radio star was scripted and he apologised to her. but. it was horrible to see. And It was the start of the witch hunt against hara and... idk. It just feels weird. I'm not blaming him, that would be absolutely out of pocket and the people who I think are obviously much more accountable are netiziens who bullied and harassed her, her abusive ex and the system that let him walk free. but that fact is netiziens hated her after that moment on radio star. I think he's a good person at heart and it was in a script so there was no malice behind what he said... but I think about it a lot. I don't hold it against him or blame him personally, but I often think about it if I think about him for too long. Hindsight is 20/20. I have conflicted feelings. The reason it took me so long to reply is I really want to convey I don't blame him but also we need to acknowledge and analyse what happened here.

Zhou mi: LOVE him. I really do!! Great vibes from him, he seems like a great guy. Truly an icon. Really deserved better and sm absolutely wasted his talent. Rewind and whats your number were the two best solos from any suju member. I love that he vibes with yoongi.

shindong: literally just a sexist and racist loser. get a hobby.

Donghae: again, I have a soft spot. he's ok. great dancer and pretty attractive. he's on thin ice... not for anything specific I just... hmm asqkshsdjsnalkak

eunhyuk: I don't hate him but he doesn't pass the vibe check. tell iu I said get well soon girl!

Heechul: his relationship with momo is gross, we should have known considering how weird he was about sohee. jessica too. I despise him.

Leeteuk: oh god. well here we go. I don't like this man. first of all, known misogynist telling suzy to loose weight?? like? fix ur face before you speak to her!!! he literally gives me fight or flight. last person who should have ever been the leader of a group. I was wary of him because of how the members talked about how he was mean to kyu when he first joined the group, but the fact that he literally admitted that one time sungmin, shindong and eunhyuk were teasing him and it was all fun until he suddenly got annoyed and grabbed eunhyuk by the throat... and not even because eunhyuk specifically pissed him off but because he's the least likely to defend himself and because he knows shindong is bigger than him and sungmin wouldn't fucking hesitate bitch... imagine admitting to that! and then he said eunhyuk was so upset he didn't show up tp work later. I don't blame him! that's scumbag behaviour! that just made me very uncomfortable. Also he was blatantly cold towards and excluded sungmin since his engagement was announced, it was fucking weird. I wasn't surprised at all to find out he was messaging girls who are new to the industry and 13 years younger than him, and apparently he was messaging other younger women as well saying shit like "you should know who I am". I'm not saying he's abusive, idk him like that so that would be a big accusation and out of pocket. but from what I can see there's a pattern of targeting people who are like... more vulnerable than him? and I don't like it.

Past members:

kibum: go girl! give us nothing! interested to see what he brings to masked singer because he like... never sang in suju. glad he's doing stuff and free from sm.

Henry: the violin solo in don't don is iconic! He's racist tho and I don't like him.

hangeng: his solo music is so good. clown mask fucking slaps!!! I'm happy he's happy and I also am relieved that, like sungmin, he's fucking normal and married to a woman the same age as him. Really like him, he passes the vibe check.

Kangin: a terrorist. I despise him. he's not a person he is a list of crimes committed. only think about him when I'm thinking about suju on intimate note talking about how he did NOT pass sungmins vibe check. he's a misogynist and idc about him.

#thanks for indulging me #anon #super junior #woweeee this is a long post #ur not bothering me I'm hyperfixating on the good sj members rn so thanks for giving me an excuse

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inkmyname · 4 years ago

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The comics are OOC BS. There, I said it. I don't care about the shipping. The bigger problem is, I can't believe half the things that these characters are saying or doing, especially Aang and Zuko. It's like 3 seasons of character development just didn't happen. The comic characters are just talking heads who look like the show characters we came to know and love.

Also, romance is literally ATLA's weakest point when they try to shoehorn it in without putting in the hard work to actually develop a romance (ATLA's idea of romance is let's forcefully kiss the female lead twice without consent and never follow up on it on screen!). Like, please gtfo with making a 15yo brown indigenous-coded girl fantasize about having a family with a 12/13yo. It cheapens Katara's character to go from being observant about other people's struggles just because she's so damn compassionate and will never, ever turn her back on anyone who needs her (iconic, truly, we do not deserve her) to "oh shit this whole BS segregationist ideology might affect me personally but I guess I'll be a passive participant in whatever Aang decides because my function as a character has been reduced to supporting and validating his feelings." Please stop making her a trophy and then invalidate her feelings and punish her when she feels sad about being a trophy.

Also, Aang spouting problematic BS about miscegenation like he isn't literally the physical manifestation of all four elements living together in harmony and like the Air Nomads weren't canonically, you know, nomadic and the most accepting of differences (in Rise of Kyoshi and Legend of Korra) and like he didn't have friends from all over the world and like he didn't have an entire character development episode about rigidly holding on to Air Nomad orthodoxy vs identifying the spirit of Air Nomad philosophy as what's important. Nope, that totally didn't happen!

And Zuko! Like Zuko Alone never happened and Earth Kingdom colonials never told him, justifiedly, to fuck off just because he was the literal spawn of the imperialist nutjob responsible for their suffering . Like he didn't live as a poor starving working class refugee for a whole damn season in one of the last strongholds of the Earth Kingdom that was free from colonial influence. Like he never stood up to his father against Fire Nation imperialism and propaganda only to get shot with lightning for his troubles. Like yeah, he's making a good point in the comics about forced family separation but the way he does it comes off as imperialistic like yes there's massive socioeconomic inequality between the colonizers and the colonized but at least they are better off than they were 100+ years ago! There's like no nuance, the kind you'd expect from Zuko post-Ba Sing Se and post-Invasion. Not like Zuko didn't experience socioeconomic inequality in a ship full of refugees eating food unfit for the lowest lifeforms. Not like he didn't work a shitty customer service job with nothing to live for except the drudgery of survival, making sure he had a roof over his head, clothes on his back, and food in his belly. Yeah, that didn't happen at all! Why in the world would you ever reference that in the comics! :)))

It's much more important to artificially manufacture conflict by making our characters OOC and ignoring all of their past characterization so we can have like a bigass but ultimately pointless battle or something, IDK. :)))

Can y'all tell I hate the comics yet?

I just want to point out that in The Promise, Katara is the first person to actually understand the difficult position that Zuko is in, and is literally the ONLY person in the gaang who actually has his back - all the while, poor Zuko is *desperate* for someone to confide in about these new responsibilities he has (let alone the six attempts on his life that happened over the course of only a single year after taking the throne) -

- to the point that he had a nervous breakdown on the battlefield after narrowly avoiding another full-blown war that leaves him in a coma for four days.

Like.

If Katara had to be paired off with someone, then someone please explain to me already why she wasn’t just paired with *Zuko* and serving as ambassador for the Fire Nation / Southern Water Tribe????? All of their chemistry aside, you can CLEARLY see how much ass she would have kicked, not to mention how extremely beneficial that would have been for the dangerously overwhelmed 17-year-old Fire Lord.

And the thing is, if Zutara had been endgame in the show, there actually isn’t a whole lot of the political part of the plot in The Promise that would even have to change, really - except Katara’s role would have been much more important as an ambassador, and the decision to merge the two nations together in a former fire nation colony would have been personal in addition to political. Imo, it would have *enriched* the plot and made it more engaging.

And although a Zutara pairing would have satisfied the majority of fans (MUCH more), another thing is that it still wouldn’t have had a cheesy “happy ever after” feel to it unlike Kataang. It still would have been interesting. While Zuko and Katara would have been imo perfectly matched as a pair, this would have added conflict between Aang (who would still need to learn to let Katara go, for real) and Zuko, and even a little between Aang and Katara, since I can definitely see Aang’s personal hurt feelings keeping him from listening impartially to Katara, and thinking (wrongly) for a while that Zuko is turning Katara against him / bad. It also would have further explained and made much more sense why Zuko (and Katara) would have been SO adamant on the two nations learning to live together, and why Aang very much wasn’t.

It also would have been a much greater moment of truth when Aang decides whether or not to save Zuko’s life on the battlefield in part three. And of course, them having a heart-to-heart in the Jasmine Dragon would have also carried more weight, since all of this heavy personal shit would have also been in the way.

All that having been said, how much more meaningful would this conversation have been if it was taking place between Katara and Zuko, or at least be Katara talking to Aang *about* her and Zuko (do I need to give more reasons why?????? - because I can):

Not to mention uhhhhh

If it was so necessary for him to have a trophy girl after being the hero in the series finale then uhhhh why again was it necessary for it to be Katara??????

tl;dr I will never ever ever ever ever understand why Zutara wasn’t endgame. That is some PRIME golden characterization that they just… uugghh…

It’s not even just about a Zuko x Katara romance, I mean ALL THE WAY AROUND it would have just made SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Instead, we get Aang and Katara making out in every other panel.

#the comics are so ooc #atla #aang #katara #zuko #meta #my meta

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