#in that literally scenes and the movie itself didn't go on for too long

[jaggedwolf]

I got dragged along to rewatch spider-verse, have a bunch of opinions

Gwen's parts of the film are still my favorite. I love the way the drums kick in and frantically keep going, the bleeding colors, subway doors opening right into rooms and of course, that her uncle ben death doesn't result from inaction but directly from her own hand - awful and great.

Miles's family stuff still felt repetitive to what was going on in the first film, even if the nuances are different

I love Jefferson though, he's trying his best and does not want to make more lemon bars to fix all the shit Spot and Spider-man broke

I'm also glad that spider-verse him gets his wife's last name because honestly what on earth was that original combo

I am very boring and have no suspension of disbelief about giant catastrophic set-pieces where somehow no one dies, which makes the banter-driven inability to catch Spot before half of Mumbattan Alchemax collapses much less endearing to me. Same for a giant quantum hole in Mumbattan not yet hurting anyone.

Still very fond of Pavitr. He's had it so easy so far! What do you mean being Spider-man is hard! Also the eternally appealing superhero desperation of "I can do both" when first faced with a hard choice

IDK how convincing the second movie's resolution to the "breaking canon events disrupts the universe" problem is going to be. It'll be annoying if they try to say Miguel was merely lying and/or it isn't an actual problem, given that we see Peter B. witness Miguel's world fall apart and that no one disagrees with Miguel saying "we haven't always been lucky" about disrupted canon events -> quantum holes or whatever -> dimension collapsing

The pacing really falls off in the second half of the film. Before then there are a couple of scenes that go on for too long, but man, literally three of the people I watched the film with fell asleep during that chase sequence - it relies on the chaos of a billion spider-men for too long before giving it some structure

The dual reveal of Gwen and Miles in the same bedroom in different universes is sick, whether or not you've already guessed that was the issue. Miles' mom 's reactions to mentions of his dad are well done.

.....Gwen talking to Miles' parents was absolutely unnecessary lmao. Adds nothing to the film, other than trying to beat you over the head with the already implied theme, and also would the parents not be losing their shit?? Wished it had ended with her just eavesdropping on them silently

oh also i liked the stuff they did with gwen and her window reflections - always seeing the other version of herself, huh

Likely a side-effect of the pacing problems but that ending does not at all feel like a solid ending, even accounting for it being the first half of a two-parter.

[chaifootsteps]

I think there's an argument to be made in favor of showing the reality of what Angel deals with on the day to day, both on the gear he wears and the SA he faces from Val.

but these kinds of scenes can very easily be exploitative; used for cheap shock value & end up fetishizing that abuse by presenting it as titillating. it's long happened to female characters where the violence becomes an excuse to show them brutalized or with their clothes ripped off and given how often Angel is sexualized it can just as easily happen to him.

Addict managed to communicate a whole history of sexual abuse committed by Valentino with just a forced kiss and a hard cut to Angel having a breakdown in his room. The scene focused on Angel's emotional distress rather than the act itself, so it avoided objectifying him further and was still effective

this is part of a wider pattern already established by Helluva Boss, where abuse is treated in the least sensitive, most sledgehammer blunt and cartoony way possible.

going by HB, abusers are:

always obvious and easy to spot,

they're complete monsters devoid of any life or interests of their own,

they have no inner lives whatsoever because they only exist to hurt the victim (Stella stays around the house despite not liking Stolas, Crimson wants to force Moxxie into a gay marriage despite being homophobic - to the guy who put his son in prison in the first place!!) - they're inconsistent and unknowable,

they abuse their victim openly in front of others everyone goes along with and tacitly approves of it (Stella's friends happily laugh at her jokes disparaging a demon prince who could kill them all despite knowing he's in earshot)

they cannot be easily stopped even when they have far less power, either in magic or social standing, than the person they're abusing (Stolas and Stella, again)

they hang around long past when they should despite the cast having ample reason to proactively do something to stop them (everyone leaves Crimson alive despite killing all his minions, Stolas knows Stella has ordered a hit on him but probably still lets Octavia spend weekends with her??)

they are fundamentally Bad People. None of the 'good' characters can every be called out for being abusive, what they do is funny - because they are fundamentally Good People. It doesn't matter how many traits Stolas and Stella have in common, he is Good and she is Bad. It also doesn't matter that Stolas sexually coerced someone for a season and a half, neglected his daughter and abused his servants, and barely feels bad about his own infidelity. He is Good so anything he does can be excused. Same with Loona - beating people is bad, but it's OK for her to give her dad a black eye and beat his head in with a picture frame, because she's one of the Good Guys. Same with Blitzo demeaning Moxxie constantly in the workplace - it's funny when he calls Moxxie fat, it's abuse when Mammon does it to Fizz

Abusers are fundamentally Other from Us, and we never need to examine our own behaviors as long as we know we are fundamentally Good.

like how is any of this making the world a better place? or advancing the understanding of abuse? it's an embarassingly dated and in places actively harmful depiction of what abuse is or isn't (I don't even want to get into the bad takes I've seen surrounding Stol/tz and what coercion is or isn't, but you can probably add that to the list too)

if the Angel scenes are as brutal as they sound then the rating should be an 18. I don't entirely blame Viv for that, I know sometimes ratings boards have a weird habit of treating works that have LGBT content as somehow 'more adult' than movies with straight up rape and SA scenes in them (though HH is both, so idk how literal bondage gear didn't up the rating), but I hope against hope there's some kind of trigger warning for this somewhere, and it isn't just dropped on the viewer's lap in order to shock them further with the world's bluntest and most graphic animated scene of SA it can

This. All of this, every word.

[the-meat-machine]

Hi. I'm rereading Playing House to refresh myself on it, and I decided to write some author's commentary as I go along, just for fun. This commentary will contain spoilers for the fic up to chapter 17 (the most recent chapter as of the time of writing).

So, yeah. Chapter 1 commentary, under the cut! (And for the record, I don't expect all the commentary to be as long as this one is; I just have a lot to say about the fic in general in this first one.)

CALIBORN: DIRK. WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PANTS.

Ah, humble beginnings.

When I first started this fic, it was just supposed to be a silly, raunchy ovi fic that I was banging out for fun in between some of my more serious stories. It had a little plot right from the start, but the plot was pretty much entirely just "an egg happens." There wasn't nearly as much stuff about Dirk and Caliborn's relationship as a whole, and DEFINITELY none of the stuff about… well, whatever it is Caliborn is time traveling about in the most recent chapter.

But as I was writing it, I gradually started folding in ideas from a separate Dirkuu relationship study that I was considering writing, and within a few chapters I decided to just merge the two fics into one. Which I think was the right call, in retrospect. I really think the story is a lot more fun this way, and the egg has worked out as a surprisingly good framing device for everything else going on.

But at the time when I was writing this first chapter, I didn't know any of that. This was supposed to be nothing more than a horny egg fic, and the chapter reflects that. It's also much shorter than most of the following chapters. I kinda like how short and punchy it is, actually. I have perhaps become a little too long-winded in some of the later chapters. Actually, that happens almost immediately, as we'll see in the chapter 2 commentary.

Caliborn literally hisses at you. You assume it's supposed to be a threat, but the sight of his tongue winding out from between all those sharp, sharp fangs mostly just makes your dick go doki-doki.

The first appearance of Caliborn's tongue. Dirk's preoccupation with Caliborn's tongue and fangs surely does not mirror the author's.

DIRK: Face it, between your skeletal posterior and my own tragically concave rump, ours is a no-ass household. DIRK: When the ass famine comes, we'll be the first to perish.

This is still one of my favorite lines in the whole fic.

CALIBORN: MAYBE YOU USED THEM TO MANIPULATE THE JADE BITCH. INTO REMOTELY TAMPERING WITH MY TROUSERS. DIRK: Dude. DIRK: What did I tell you about calling my friends bitches? CALIBORN: … CALIBORN: ……….. CALIBORN: …………………………… CALIBORN: THAT EVERY TIME I DO IT. IT MEANS YOU GET TO PICK OUR NEXT MOVIE DURING DATE NIGHT.

Here we also get the first appearance of Dirk attempting to dog-train Caliborn into being a marginally less shitty person. This will come up again with absurdly long-reaching consequences in the Jane chapter.

This line also implies that Dirk considers Jade his friend. That would be a great dynamic to explore. Probably won't happen in this fic, though, alas. Maybe I'll post a deleted scene about it someday.

Also, it may be interesting to note the quantity of punctuation that Caliborn uses. Eleven is a thematic number for the cherubs, and Caliborn frequently repeats things in sets of eleven throughout both Homestuck itself and this fic.

DIRK: What's the magic word? CALIBORN: FUCK YOU! DIRK: Eh, close enough.

Dirk cares far more about Caliborn being rude to his friends than he does about him being rude to Dirk himself. Almost nothing Caliborn does really bothers Dirk on a personal level. This is part of why they're so compatible. It also gives Dirk yet another reason to doubt his own morality. What does it say about him that he's so emotionally unfazed by any of the awful shit this dude says and does? (It says that he has low affective empathy. That's all. Doesn't mean he's a bad person. Try convincing Dirk of that, though.)

CALIBORN: IF YOU DO NOT FIX THIS. YOUR POSITION IN OUR GAME OF "HOUSE" WILL BE IN JEOPARDY.

Ah, House.

My very earliest plans for this fic didn't involve the game of House. All I wanted was to write a silly story about Dirk and Caliborn laying an egg.

The problem with writing anything remotely fluffy about Caliborn, however, is that in canon, he truly and genuinely just wants to fucking kill everyone. He WILL kill Dirk. He WILL kill all of Dirk's friends. This is a core part of his goals. So… how do you get him into a place where he won't just slaughter everyone and be done with it?

In this fic, I've resolved this by giving Caliborn a different game that he's decided he's playing: House. Now he's constrained by a new set of rules--ones that say he has to try to play nice. That he needs to learn assorted domestic skills. And perhaps most importantly, that he can't just fucking murder all of his opponent/partner(?)'s friends--because if he does, he'll lose the game. And Caliborn cannot abide losing a game.

Someday we'll get more about why, exactly, Caliborn has decided to play this game. But for now, all that matters is that he is, and so he's bound by its rules. This turns out to be VERY narratively useful for me.

Not that that's why you've been playing along with his "game", no matter what certain friends of yours might believe. They always do want to think the best of you, and there is absolutely no fucking good explanation for why you would want to shackle yourself to the biggest asshole in Paradox Space. But regardless of your motivations...

Dirk trying really hard here to avoid directly admitting that he's in love with Caliborn, not even in the narration. This will be a running theme.

It occurs to you sometimes that what normal people would actually call this game is "marriage".

Damn, I really just came out and put this right in the first chapter, huh? I mean, it's true though.

CALIBORN: RUB MY BELLY, CUDDLESLUT.

Yeah, so. I started this fic with a scene of Caliborn growing out of his pants and then followed it up immediately with a belly rub scene. I was NOT attempting to be subtle about what kind of fic this is--which is to say, a belly fetish fic. I'm genuinely shocked it's grown to have this much of an audience outside of that community.

The fic HAS grown to encompass a lot more than just the fetish shit, though. I guess by now I'd consider it basically the equivalent of one of those fics that has plenty of plot and character development, but also fairly frequent sex scenes. Except here, half the time instead of sex scenes you just get weirdly lascivious descriptions of how much candy Caliborn is scarfing down. I promise this is hot to some portion of the audience.

DIRK: The fuck have you been eating, dude? CALIBORN: WHY. DIRK: There's like a lump in there. Right here.

And here's the first appearance of the egg! The entire raison d'etre of this fic. Really, what else is there to say about it? It's an egg. It's made of candy. It's inside of Caliborn. Presumably one day it will be outside of Caliborn. One can only hope.

[rascalentertainments]

Wish Granted AU: Star: 🌟

Yeah, I finally got to the boy! Took long enough, huh? 😂 So I dud make a short character inspiration from a reblog chain a few weeks ago, so I'll go more into Star's character here:

So, much like the film itself, Star comes to Earth because of Asha's wish was so powerful, and aids her save Rosas. However, for "Wish Granted", he has no idea how to actually grant her wish. She basically fills him in on what's going on, and agrees to help. But he doesn't really understand why they need help. From his point of view, most of the humans on this part of Earth, and especially in Rosas look happy enough. He's just utterly fascinated with the animals, the trees, Asha, and just experiencing what humans see everyday.

But then he visits the Hamlet (in an animal disguise) when Asha wants to say goodbye to her Saba and mother. Star sees how sick Sabino has gotten, and the fear Sakina has for her daughter going back into danger. The Starboy sees that Asha's wish is entirely to help her family and community. (Its greatly emphasized once he gets to Rosas itself too) He partially understands and gladly accepts the task to help her. Asha can't believe this magical boy is a Star, it should be impossible. But just as her father said, the stars are there to believe in possibility. Star here is the impossible, made possible! Its no wonder his loveable and joyous personality leads her to falling for him! 😆

I took inspiration from this segment of the concept art book where they attempted to give plushie Star some kind of depth and character arc leftover from Starboy. They really tried to give Star something more than just being a toy, and Disney said "nah, a toy is good enough. Kids will love it." So Star's arc will be he starts off naive about the world and thinks everything is perfect. But once he starts seeing more of the people having other emotions other than happiness, he's processing how a human feels this. It hits harder when he actually feels a wish get destroyed, he feels their pain for a while after he connects with them. This is all going to connect to "At All Costs" when finally get that love confession scene! 😉

Now, my favorite part: POWERS!!! Star can shapeshift into different animals he sees, with his telltale sign of him being gold with white fur/hair. (Example image below) He's got a white six pointed star on his parts of his body that glow slightly, even in a human form, its just covered up by his black caped outfit.

I still kind of hate that Disney actually thought Star was too similar Genie just because he changes into animals. Like, what are you talking about? (I actually thought of MK or Beast Boy more than Genie.) Yeah, Genie could do that too, but he also changed costumes, size, shape, face, broke the 4th wall and did impersonations of movie actors of the time. Star didn't do all that. Besides, YOU MADE MAUI CHANGE INTO ANIMALS AND APPROVED OF IT!

Rant aside, He can change into any animal, but only has one human form. That's not only because there's way too many variations of people for him to adapt and he's not at that level of power yet. He mainly choose this particular human form because.... he thought Asha would like it. (He even gets the cape idea after he sees a picture of Magnifico. He just LOVED how that looked) Think of it as a boy trying make himself look better for the girl he has a crush on. 😂 His design is inspired by these three pieces of concept art combined with a dash of a superhero vibe. (Superheroes are hardwired into my brain, I tried my best NOT to do that! 😂)

Star can make animals talk, at least for a limited time, like when be has his big introduction song and the forest animals are his band. Animals are naturally attracted to Star, because he literally radiates pure joy and love. Those little critters just adore him! Think of this scene here:

One last thing to add is that once he's on Earth, and gets into Rosas, thus is when he gets the most attached to the planet. He has a big family with the stars, but he really wanted to be where the people are. He wants to see them dancing, ect...Meeting great people didn't just end with Asha, but also meeting the 7 Teens. He learns about their wishes as one desires, while confused on Simon's sleepiness/sadness. He actually attempts to heal Simon and can gain a new power. Star is not sure on how to react to Dahlia, who doesn't seem to have a wish. She seems happy cooking for the king (whom she has a crush on) and queen, no questions asked. Although, Dahlia does seem particularly curious about Star, even before finding out his magical side. She even tries to tell him to give up on granting Asha's wish, but he's definitely not doing that. 😂

When he meets the King and Queen, let's just say there's going to be a lot of angst/comedy with that. But when he has the mini stand off with Amaya. OH BOY, he's going to understand way more heavy emotions after meeting her...

(Star in this version is voiced by Jeremy Jordan, because he's a musical and VA legend! Plus he sounds so fun in every role he's in!)

Aaaand, that does it for Star! I mentioned in another post how when you look into his eyes, you can see microscopic galaxies or mini stars in eyes, like you can see the universe in his eyes! (When it gets to the At All Costs song, Asha can be seen in his eyes like she becomes part his universe) Any other bits will be revealed later, but I wanted to flesh the guy out here! He's a lot of fun to write and draw!

Now next up are the King, Queen and their ferocious yet spoiled pet Lynx! 😉

@signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @chillwildwave @lazytitans-world @emillyverse @annymation @kstarsarts @uva124

[dumbassalex]

Ok, as someone who sorta defended The Crow 2024 reboot, and now that i've seen it, i have thoughts about it and i wanna share them... (More under the cut, spoilers ahead)

So firstly i liked the action, it was clear and you could see what's going on and the gore in those scenes was good, so no real issues with the action scenes. I really dug the soundtrack, the songs they chose to play were good and something i'd listen to.

I also like that Shelly had more screentime and got to be more of a character, that was fun and FKA twigs played her well in my opinion. Bill Skarsgard gave a good performance, as basicly always, with his Eric too.

Now my biggest issues is with the story itself, and especialy the pacing, it was SO slow, we spent like half the movie on Eric and Shelly while watching the villians look for Shelly, while also barely any real time has passed for Eric and Shelly, or at least it didn't feel like much of a time has at all passed between Eric and Shelly running away and being murdered.

And even once the couple gets killed by the villians, it takes us like another third of the movie for Eric to really become the Crow, for most of the movie he's just Eric with healing powers, and only becomes The Crow right before the opera scene, whitch is way too long for something based on a comic that's mostly just Eric being The Crow and hunting Shellys killers.

Another thing i dislike is the villians and their story, the original idea for the villians was just a group of street criminals coming across Eric and Shelly on a random day in the rain as their car broke down and deciding on a whim to do what they did, that was the tragedy, that it was random, senseless and didn't have to happen if a single thing happened differently. And changing it to a group of rich people hunting Shelly specificaly due to an incriminating video is such an odd change, along with the change to give the main villian superpowers.

Another thing that i feel like is a big difference between the comic and the movie is that the movie is very literal and very open about Eric coming from the death, healing super fast and there being supernatural entities and superpowers, while in the comics it was all more lowkey with Eric not feeling pain and healing slower than what the movies show, with his walking around wounded and scarred, the crow talking being in his head, same for the skeleton cowboy and the vision of the white horse that was a metaphor for the conflict of the story, it was a random senseless act that Eric had no control over yet he couldn't leave it be and blames himself for what happened.

In the movie it's a literal thing that happened to child Eric and doesn't set up his character arc and personal conflict of not blaming himself and moving on. Whitch was WHY he came back for revenge, because he was angry, blamed himself and couldn't move on, something he was only able to do at the end when he died at Shellys grave.

Whitch brings another change i disliked, the ending, the original ending of the comics is about Eric finaly being at peace and being able to move on and die, joining Shelly in the afterlife. But in the movie the reason he keeps going on is from pure love (somehow he felt such love after such short time) that can waver and make him loose his powers until making a deal for Shelly soul and becoming The Crow, bringing Shelly back to life while Eric stays dead. That just kinda misses the point, there wasn't no coming back and living again, it was about Eric having to come to peace and move on, it was a bittersweet ending but it was fitting the story and the themes, but just like the white horse methaphor, the movie ignores that.

So all in all, as a movie it's alright, but as a Crow adaptation it's overall kinda awfull in most ways. If you enjoyed the movie, good for you, but i personaly didn't really like it as a Crow adaptation and think it could've been much better. One thing i will give the movie for sure tho, is that it skipped Shellys assault, something i think wasn't entirely neccecary to motivate Eric to do what he did.

[astronicht]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

@birdylion tagged me, thanks!

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

48 apparently. I started moving stuff over from ff.net pretty late it looks like, 2014-ish.

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

465,791

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Various! In my heart I sort of consider myself currently a mix of mdzs and F1 rpf main, hockey rpf almost main. None of these stances reflect reality <3 I most recently posted moto gp rpf, mdzs, and hockey rpf-- so hey wait maybe I'm not totally off-base.

The WIPs I'm most active in right now are, amusingly, Stranger Things and Stargate Atlantis, with mdzs making itself known on the back burner.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

WHO IS WINNING IN THE THUNDERDOME TODAY

the field meets the wood - mdzs, wangxian. The one where Lan Wangji is kidnapped by salt merchants, and Wei Wuxian unmakes them with historical math. I think this is the best prose writing I've ever done and I'm thrilled that it's currently outpacing the other usual suspects.

pro bono - mdzs, wangxian. The vampire AU I wrote as a joke based on a thread for a few friends. Due to a couple shipwrecks and banishments, WWX and LWJ get stranded in the Italian Renaissance; Lan Wangji is also a vampire; don't worry about it. If (1) is my best prose this is the overall storytelling I'm most satisfied with.

2:08 AM, softly - mdzs, wangxian modern AU. About coming home after a bad night out to find someone you most want to see. Prose is kinda weak, alas, but I get why it's up here.

swinger of birches - mdzs, wangxian Practical Magic AU. Coolest writing experience I will probably ever have. I wrote this live, via tweets, over the course of a month. I had a little staging document but i was only two or three tweets ahead at any given time. It felt like-- oral storytelling, or something.

somnophilia in the time of vampires - mdzs, wangxian, sequel to pro bono. Pretty much entirely pwp. I set it in the same inn that Anne Rice set a scene in Cry to Heaven, as a little joke for myself.

What's interesting is that every single one of these was written either directly for someone, or because someone wanted something. I love filling a need.

5. do you respond to comments?

Yeah, some, though it's totally random which ones I get to.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

salt and vinegar, vinegar and salt (hockey rpf) is literally tagged "hopeful ending" so it's not too bad, but it's not meant to be perfectly happy.

scurvy (mdzs, wangxian) and the fic it follows (floodplain (silt)) I wrote very purposefully to not end with a sense of ease. I care about these characters I lot, and they tend to get softened down in fanon after a while. I love them in the parts of canon when they're miserable and cruel and unable to get better, too. And I needed to write that, I guess.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

haha probably swinger of birches (see question 1). It's a romance movie fusion, which helps, but it also leans into the "second chances to have everything you thought you lost in the war" of the canon. Plus the "hey what if we DIDN'T pass on the generational trauma" that is the absolute heart of mdzs.

8. do you get hate on fics?

Once got a serial TERF commenter who was going around. Weakling.

9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?

That's my wheelhouse, baby, that's what I'm most comfortable writing and what I like. I've covered a lot, but idk what the themes are. Except maybe the intimacy of sex in the bathroom/in the shower. I write a passable amount of kink, I guess? I also write a passable amount of lesbian sex. this is because i'm gay.

10. do you write crossovers?

No. I do AUs a lot, including AUs set in another fictional universe, but I don't like crossovers. They make my teeth itch.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Hope not!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah! I have blanket permission for translations, so long as they link back to the original (and with a strong preference that they're on ao3). Someone did my wangxian lesbian scific AU in Spanish, which is cool as hell.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah! Well! Okay they're not POSTED but that's mostly my fault. I learned to co-write with @dulosis. phillyverse will take the world by storm! geoverse will be our white whale and THEN take the world by storm! we have a batshit number of words of chatfic from back when I was more active in mdzs. Frankly some of my favorite writing.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

in the pines, the wangxian semi-pro-dom modern AU fic. I accidentally lived out the final scene in real life with a tinder hookup (NOT what you're thinking. I took her out to eat after one of the hookups, and I was not considering fic plots at the time), and it feels kinda bad now to try to write the wangxian version of something that actually meant a lot to me (because i am both a lesbian and NOT good at casual). I think she only reads Star Wars fic if anything, but what if she found it, you know?

Also this one hockey rpf fic that was like, very much about Leon renewing his passport and the deal with living on a continent you didn't grow up on, but also-- kind of did. That's only in the gdocs tho.

16. What are your writing strengths?

You'll know the atmospheric humidity in any given scene.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Goddamn dialogue.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

A few. I've seen a very small number of good fics where bilingual folks are doing neat cultural/diaspora stuff with it, especially in modao with chinese diaspora writers. That's cool as hell, but also not my lane. I've also seen people in hockey rpf do some neat stuff with this with, say, Leon Draisaitl, especially in the context of a non-German pov character learning some German. But in those cases, the best simulation of hearing a German sentence you don't understand is written with dialogue in English interspersed with blanks.

Instead of just writing out full sentences of dialogue in a different lang from the prose, I love being conscious of what language the characters are speaking in. I am much more interested in playing with that, and I can do that best in English. If my characters are switching between languages I switch up the English diction a bit; I remember how names will come up in sentences differently, I think about how something would sound to whisper. For untranslatable things, or stuff that sounds weird in English, I just use the word in the language, in the English sentence, and that's that. I love having to abide by the limitations and abilities of Chinese or Italian or whatever; I love knowing how dialect will affect communication.

The only time a full line of dialogue in a foreign language makes sense is if the pov character doesn't understand it. But it's very unlikely that the pov character will BOTH a) not speak a language at all, necessitating that it shows up in another language from the prose, and b) the pov character can actually ID every single word clearly enough that it makes sense to write it out. So largely I'm personally uninterested in it, because outside of some narrow applications (most of which aren't my purview) it doesn't do much.

That said, Mr Fruits Baske Sohma Shigure speaking random french is perfect. What a terrible man. Love him.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Probably Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm not sure.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

harsh! harsh! overall, maybe pro bono (wangxian vampire AU). today. tomorrow it will change.

I'm tagging anyone who wants to play!

[los-ninos-tortugas]

I’d love your thoughts on…Bayverse tmnt.

This has languished in my inbox for far too long. Quite honestly I was gonna try to come up with some sort of funny meme answer to this and drew up completely blank so instead I'm gonna do sincerity,

It's... it's bad but I still kinda love it? In a weird way? These movies give me weird emotions because I did genuinely enjoy watching them but I'm also very aware that there's... Stuff going on. I've definitely taken my fair share of pot shots at these movies in the past because it's funny, But after seeing this behind the scenes video I do think there's something kind of interesting to talk about; how much thought went into this... for it to still come out pretty mid. Which probably sounds a little mean, and not for nothing I do commend the crews insistence on using a practical set and effects where they could because honestly yeah, it does look awesome. And overall I do think the movies have pretty impressive visuals and the action sequences are a lot of fun but I don't think those things can really save these movies from the weaknesses that just come out of the script itself.

Now I'm not gonna lie it's been a hot minute since I watched these movies so I'm kinda going off my memory here. Could I have taken the time to rewatch them before answering this? Probably. But I didn't so here we go.

The Turtles:

I actually don't really hate their designs? I have a very vivid memory of people making a big stink about how they looked when the first movie came out back in 2014, although back then I wasn't a fan so it all just kinda went over my head. I'm still not a fan of them having lips as opposed to beaks but that's really the only part where I kinda draw the line. I weirdly kinda liked that they tower over all the humans and that their physicality matches just how strong they are in this movie. Their first fight scene is so chaotic because you can't see them yet (again, their ability to sneak around so effectively in spite of their size also adds to the impression they make) but enemies are just flying. Karai is quickly losing control of the situation, Foot Clan grunts are getting thrown into the walls and cracking the subway tile with the force with which they're thrown. The way the scene builds the anticipation for the reveal is really well done in my opinion. Do the turtles look like teenagers? No. Absolutely not. And admittedly this did give me a little bit of cognitive dissonance because I kinda kept forgetting that they are kids with the exception of a few scenes. But they do look like mutants so points for that I guess. And it's pretty cool to see what elements from these turtles seemed to end up carrying over to Rise and Mutant Mayhem. Stuff like the tech on Donnie's shell and his glasses. Raph's bandana, and the turtles wearing more clothes overall. The fact that they're purpose made science experiments this time rather than the result of an accident. Like as much as Bayverse gets kinda treated like the black sheep of the turtle iterations it would be unfair to say it had zero influence on what came after.

These turtles in particular are also really riding the coattails of the superhero movie genre back before we all got tired of it. I feel like unlike a lot of the other iterations-- and while TMNT does kinda fall under the superhero umbrella from their comic origins they also kind of originated their own specific subgenre within that that has a very specific... TMNT-ness to it if you know what I mean (i.e. street sharks, battle toads, gargoyles if you really squint)-- these versions of the turtles are more like straight up superheroes than any other version. They're literally bulletproof, they have super strength, speed, and agility. They can survive in hostile environments that would otherwise kill normal humans- really they might as well have slapped capes on them. There's also this weird cartoony-ness to them. Like they specifically operate on cartoon logic while the rest of the world still operates on regular real world logic. It does take me out of it a bit when it does happen.

As far as personalities go (and this is where my memory gets a bit foggy so bear with me here) Raph and Donnie stand out to me the most and I think that's because they both end up being really empathetic characters. The first movie actually kinda becomes Raph's movie and he gets a lot of screentime and character development. The second movie is definitely a bit more Leo focused but I think it's split a little more evenly overall between all of them. But Raph and Donnie are definitely my favorites in this version. Leo is a bit bland in my opinion. At least compared with other versions I've seen. Maybe on another rewatch I would reassess that but for now he just seems like he's kinda there. He's the leader and that's his job. (Again, the BTS video does more to explore his personality than I think the movies really do, so it's like, how did all this thought go into this for it to still not show through?) I feel like the writers just didn't know what to do with Mikey. He gets a bit more development and character in the second movie (the line delivery on the "we aren't monsters" scene comes to mind. Real gut punch every time) but in the first one he's unfortunately just kind of annoying.

Master Splinter:

Oh is Splinter here? Coulda fooled me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, his one purpose is to provide exposition and then exit the plot as quickly as possible when he is no longer useful. Yes he gets critically injured in the first movie and I feel like it's supposed to raise the stakes- it does not. I do not care about him even a little.

April O'Neil:

Okay I'm conflicted because I love Megan Fox and I really think she tried her best with what she was given to work with. The movie almost did a good- there was kind of a weird but self aware joke about April wanting to be a real journalist and pursue more hard hitting stories but the news network very obviously hired her to put her on television to objectify her and have her do puff pieces and boost their ratings because she's attractive. And I'm like "wow that's actually some really self aware commentary on how Megan Fox has been treated by the industry and by Michael Bay in particular it's really cool that they put that in a movie produced by him- oh nevermind there it is they're objectifying her for the rest of the movie." Which is really unfortunate because the way she plays this kind of more manic and slightly unhinged version of April who is maybe not super socially aware is very funny (cue April slapping a conspiracy board and presenting it as serious evidence to her boss). I think her having a connection to the turtles pre-mutation is a pretty cool play on their origin since usually after being dropped in the sewer they cease to have any connection to the kid that bought them from the pet store. But having April and the turtles remember each other is honestly kinda sweet. (Along with the fact that she gave them their names.)

Casey Jones;

Fuck that guy. That's not Casey Jones because Casey Jones is not a goddamn cop.

Vern:

Exists.

The Bad Guys:

Eric Sacks: Okay I haven't seen anyone else point this out but it's driving me nuts. Has anyone else noticed that this guy's origin story is just The Karate Kid but if he turned out evil? Like he tells the story and I literally had to pause the movie because it blew my mind that they just Did That. I was just going "that's just the plot of The Karate Kid. He just explained the plot of The Karate Kid in this movie as his origin story, they just stole it. AND IT"S THE FUCKING JAIDEN SMITH VERSION NO LESS WTF???" Like is it just me? Am I crazy? They fucking did this earnestly and it's driving me up the goddamn wall.

The Shredder: Motivations, what are those? Crime? Money? I guess? If someone could tell me what the hell this man's actual motivations and goals were in this movie I'd appreciate it because I have no idea. This character has zero personality, I can remember zero of his lines, his costume is dope as hell. I don't understand why he's here except that maybe the writers were contractually obligated to put him in the movie. He's literally The bad guy in all the turtleverse how is he so goddamn unmemorable in this movie??? And in the second one? Sir I feel like you should have more of a reaction to finding out extradimensional aliens are real than going "Okay we work for this guy now." and then proceed to tear apart the fabric of reality for him based on like a two minute conversation. What were you hoping to get out of this arrangement, I know the movie probably said it but like everything else that has to do with the antagonists I cannot remember.

Karai: Is here. I guess. Also just way too cool with learning that mutants and aliens are a thing, never reacts to anything. I'm sure she has lines in these movies, could I tell you anything she said or anything she did that would be indicitave of her having a character or a personality? Nope. She exists to be a henchwoman and that's about it.

Bebop and Rocksteady: Probably the only memorable villains in all of these movies, and that's only because they're funny.

General Krang: Why did they even bother dude. Disappointment.

Honestly after writing this I might go rewatch these movies, because this has just reminded me that their whole deal is kind of wild to be honest. And I probably could go on even more but this has already gotten pretty long. Thanks for the ask and I'm sorry it took so so long. But it was fun to do this kind of break down, and I kinda wanna do more in the future with other tmnt stuff, idk I'll see where that goes or not.

Thanks for reading <3

[rebloggedsunsox]

HOLD IT!!!

SPOILERS FOR THE FNAF MOVIE UNDER THE CUT!!! PLEASE GO WATCH THE MOVIE IF YOU HAVEN'T AND WANT TO BEFORE READING!! This is your given warning!

Thoughts I'm scrambling together as fast as I can just off the top of my head. Im back from the cinemas, and I first off can't say anything other than wow.

~

That post I made earlier about waiting a week to talk about it? I lied I'm talking now I can't not talk about it I can't wait the brainrot is far too strong LMAO so heres my ramble.

• The movie actually didn't feel out of place or too mashed together with series and new content at all. Some choices were definitely confusing from a game and lore background knowledge standpoint, but in its own universe and continuity it didn't hinder the overall quality of the movie. Still an extremely enjoyable time that didn't leave me frustrated or unsatisfied! And s big mention also to the fact that I went to see it with 2 friends - one who knew the lore like me, and one who didn't. The latter loved it as much as the former and I, no problems in understanding either! Lots of questions on what we knew afterwards, but no complaints all around!

• I think it's really good that they blatantly established that the animatronics, as kids and not when they were controlled by Afton, were just that: kids. They liked pictures and play and never wanted to hurt their new friend Abby. Golden Freddy is definitely a seperate problem that I'll get into, but they were all so cute together it warmed my heart so much :']]

• Mike was played very well by his actor (except for that one scene with Vanessa and the dry delivered "What are you scared of?" line), and I did grow to enjoy his character in the end. Definitely took me a while to get there though. I don't think his emotional connection with Abby was established very well in the beginning, but I think it was still remedied enough to be satisfying after everything had happened.

• The Balloon Boy bit was hilarious. He absolutely is that goddamn creepy, and they somehow MADE HIM CREEPIER in the film! I'm glad that he didn't end up posing an actual threat and stamping over the terror of the main 5, but I was definitely considering it in the back of my mind.

• Wow. Golden Freddy was intense. All the way through. From the phenomenal work of the child actor who played him throughout most of the movie, to the TERRIFYING animatronic who made its mark without even being in the movie that long? Wow. I'm definitely still confused about where the movie was trying to take the plot point of Golden Freddy's existence since a lot was left out and not really explained, but again, overall didn't make understanding the movie much harder. Just leaves me curious as to why they went with what they did. That scene at the very very end of Golden Freddy closing the door on Afton convulsing in the back room? Chilling. That actor played the part perfectly.

• CAMEOS!!!! Claps and cheers for Cory and the very brief Employees cameo! My theatre erupted into screams so loud that when MatPat was on screen in the diner, I kid you not I have 0 idea what he even said. Gonna have to rewatch it and see for myself. My friend who had no idea who he was got jumpscared by the theatre crowd itself and it was very, very funny.

• THE SONG!!! THE song for the end credits!!!! I broke out into singing so fast man, literally the best feeling and a wonderful way to bring the movie home right back to those who had been waiting for it for so long.

• The animatronics were incredible. Just amazing. All practical effects, fully built they were for most of that, right? Regardless, they really took my breath away in that movie. From their movements to expressions to their funny "haha uhoh robot moment" scenes. So so awesome.

• Vanessa's whole deal was probably where I was left the most confused. My whole crowd audibly gasped when she outright said that William was her father. So, the problem that I came to was,,,, basically all of it. Vanessa was told, by Afton, to make sure that Mike never found out what was happening at the pizzeria and to kill him if he got to close. Why hire him there then? Because he wanted to kill him himself? In order to get him to take Abby there to kill her? But non of that would have been something he was going to make happen if not by chance like how it did! She had no problem with Abby being there and playing with the animatronics one moment, and then made Mike ensure she was never going back the next. And the whole "I wont be much use to you if I go with you" said by Vanessa. I was assuming it was a Vanny mind control type sitch, but literally nothing happened? They argued, she shot him, he strangled her, he stabbed her, basically end of confrontation between them. She didn't do anything to hurt Abby or Mike at all? And her somehow knowing about Mike believing his dreams could change the past. Her connection was to Afton, not really the kids, right? Someone please tell me how they interpreted that whole thing, I really couldn't nail it down. Again, weirdly didn't damage my experience much? I guess I'm just used to some things not being understandable within the fnaf lore, huh. Im also just not hugely invested in Vanny/Vanessa's deal in the games either, so maybe that's why lol.

• Abby handing Bonnie the heart, and then Bonnie showing it to the others was the single sweetest thing oh my god. So adorable.

• It's me on the mirror. Glitching in the training video to show Golden Freddy. Mwah chef's kiss. Don't really know how the Its Me bit ties into this version of the lore but I really don't mind. The callouts made me giggle.

• That whole scene with the men trashing the place and getting murdered was madness. The tension was so thick, I love the atmosphere and how they really nailed it where it mattered in that part of the movie. The girl(Max?) Getting literally chomped in half was so unexpected. Poor Max, I can't believe she got roped into it. Also the???? Auntie said nothing about the disappearance of any of them either??? What???? Im only just realising that???? Why was she at all those court discussions with the lawyer again????

• No Honk Freddy's Nose bit. How dare they.

I'm gonna be thinking about this a lot, but thats all the points I have to make right now! I'll definitely comb over all my thoughts again, maybe post about them some more, we'll see. Really good all round, can't wait to watch it again when I get my hands on a copy of it!!! Id love to hear everyone elses thoughts on it too, and the possibility of a sequel? Thank you for reading!!

[krikeymate]

I feel like all my anonymous requests are really depressing cause I’m just a lil angst goblin.

I was reading a fic where Sam was getting beat up cause if the rumours about her and I was thinking about how the deaths of the Bailey family would play into that conspiracist narrative. I was especially thinking about ethan’s death I mean even if you just look at the scream fandom there are pages and pages on Ethan who really didn’t have that much of an impact but…SHOCKER, he’s white, male and conventionally attractive so it’s literally impossible to escape him (no hate or anything but cmon fandom let the other characters shine) anyways I got so side tracked there. I can imagine Ethan being really glorified and fawned over by people in the scream universe itself in was way that actual serial killers were because people thought they were attractive (ew). Upon hearing that Tara was the one to kill ethan (i know it was technically Kirby but they did it together) I think the conspiracists would go insane and can you imagine a scene where Tara and Sam are just walking together before they both get jumped but Tara is the target of this attack and Sam is just held down unable to do anything while she has to watch tara get brutally attacked.

Well, Tara is my whump blorbo. There's a place for angst in our lives, because it's not about the pain at all, it's about the aftermath. It's about the being picked up, and the softness and the love and the support. It's about being reminded that no matter what we go through, there is a brighter side to be found and there are people who will help you reach it and sit in the sun with you. Anyway, none of that here.

~

Ethan Landry. Sweet, dorky, Ethan. He couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag, people say. Soft, and shy, and smiled awkwardly at girls. Always nervous, but tried his best. Murdered. They tried to say he attacked them, that he wanted to kill them, that he was a savage monster. Who would fall for such a lie? He didn't even like horror movies, he was shaky around blood.

Samantha Carpenter is to blame, they know. It's heavily debated as to whether she attacked her sister last year, or whether it was simply a home invasion and she took the opportunity to make it something more, to sate her blood lust. But Richie was innocent, they all agree on that. A wonderful man who was guilty only of loving the wrong woman. That poor teenager, the best friend of her sister's... well of course Samantha decided she had to go, she wanted her sister to herself.

And it works! Because here they are, a year later, and it's the sister who does the deed, who thrusts the knife into Ethan's mouth, who twists it, slices it open. He'd had a crush on her, sources say. She used it to lead him to his doom. It was deliberate, pre-planned, it had to have been. Why else would he follow her there? Tara Carpenter may have been innocent, once upon a time, but not anymore. She's spent too long in her sister's clutches, corrupted, ruined. Just look at how passionately she defends her, as if she were innocent, as if the truth wasn't out there.

We should help her, some say, get her away from her sister, imagine what she could tell us, what she could reveal! She needs to pay, say others, she's just as guilty as her sister, it's too late for her.

No one agrees on how to stop this madness.

~

Sam's walking Tara home from her evening class. It feels a little surreal. A month ago, Tara would never have agreed to this, Sam had been desperate to do this. And here they are, Sam's hand attached to her sister's as Tara waves it around in the air, complaining about the professor. (She's not sure what she's talking about, but she's just happy to see Tara this animated).

They're turning the corner when they bump into someone... someone's. There's a couple of guys in hoodies, with surgical masks on their face. "Oops, sorry!" Tara smiles up at them, pulling Sam to move around them. They step back into her path, and Sam begins to feel nervous. Tara's hand tightening around hers tells her she feels the same.

Sam steps backwards, but before she has a chance to speak, arms wrap around her from behind and she's yanked away from Tara, as her sister is shoved to the floor.

"Hey what the fu-" Sam manages, before a hand is covering her mouth, jaw wrenched closed as her head is forced backwards against someone's chest. More arms appear to grip at her own and hold her back.

Tara is thrown to the floor, and a boot kicks out at her arm, stepping on her wrist as she tries to reach into her pocket. The figure looming over her bends down to reach into her jacket, and pulls out the taser she was reaching for. Scoffing, he hands it to one of his companions.

"What did we ever do to you," she growls, breathing deep to push down her fear. "It's not what you did to us," he says with conviction, "it's what you've done to others. What you'll do again!"

Sam kicks out and tries to speak, understanding setting in. Someone punches her in the stomach.

"We haven't done anything!" Tara yells, watching her sister get hurt. She tries to get up off the floor only to be kicked down again with a boot to the chest. "Just leave us alone!"

"But you have!" The one holding Sam shouts. "You killed Ethan! She-" he shakes Sam, "killed Richie and all those others." "They were innocent and you killed them," another pipes up. A chorus of agreement follows, and for the first time, the girls begin to notice just how many people are surrounding them. 6... 7, no, there's more further back, hiding in the shadows... watching. Some of them have their phones out, recording.

"You're going to pay for what you've done," the one looming over Tara declares.

"It was self-de-" he kicks her in the jaw, her head snapping to the side and smacking back against the pavement. He pulls her up from the floor, hands fisting her jacket and slams her back into anothers waiting arms.

Sam struggles against the numerous arms holding her back, unable to move. Her head is pinned, her jaw is clamped shut, tears begin to fall.

The ringleader leans in close to Tara's face, eyes meeting her dazed ones. "Your sister seems upset. Is it real, or just another act? Is she even capable of caring? I mean, she wanted you for a reason, right?"

"Fuck you," Tara snarls back. He grins, rewarding her with a backhand. "It doesn't have to be this way, Tara," he speaks, voice softening in faux-compassion. He cups her chin. "Just tell us the truth, tell everyone what she did, what she made you do, and it can all be over.

"She didn't make me do anything!"

"So you admit it, you killed Ethan in cold blood?" His voice is frantic, delighted.

"Ethan was a sadistic little fuck who got what he deserved." Tara finds herself thrown back to the floor. "He was a nice boy who never hurt anyone!" the one who threw her shouts, kicking her.

Tired of Sam's struggling, the one holding the taser moves closer, releasing it into her stomach. She groans, body twitching. Her legs give way beneath her, held up only by the formless figures clutching at her. They drop her to the floor and a boot presses down on her back. Sam is stuck, unable to convince her body to move, prongs digging in painfully from their place stuck between her skin and the pavement. She can do nothing but watch as the two figures assault her sister, kicking her, watching them pull her onto her back to hurt her some more.

"Stop, please, please stop," Sam begs. She's ignored.

It's only the sirens closing in that make it stop, dark figures scattering. She manages to drag herself forward, limbs slow to respond and shaky. "Tara," she cries. Her sister doesn't respond, still and bleeding.

[chiffaust]

if you're still taking requests can i req grabbing onto the other's hand out of nervousness + himeru :3

— 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘾𝘼𝙉 𝙃𝙊𝙇𝘿 𝙈𝙔 𝙃𝘼𝙉𝘿. HiMERU

prompt 12 grabbing onto the other's hand out of nervousness

content himeru flirts with you, he calls you darling n dear once or twice, might be ooc, horror movie date?

(n.) — too long long for you himerups. enjoy this you sick fucks... (derogatory)(affectionately)

HiMERU wasn't exactly sure what is he signing himself up for when he decides to agree on letting you take him out on a date — especially so out of the blue like this.

He trusts you, but he sees just how much you've been hanging out with Rinne these past few days; he can't help but worry that you two had made some sort of bet behind his back and is currently trying to pull a prank on him or something.

So imagine his surprise when you suddenly pulled out a pair of tickets to a cinema the very next day — not just any movie, it was a ticket to a horror one, to be fact.

HiMERU sighed deeply, shaking his head slightly. He was absolutely sure that Rinne had actually made you do this.

"... Please don't hesitate to tell HiMERU if Amagi has been harassing you lately. HiMERU will make sure to deal with him accordingly for you, my dear." He said, his voice looming with annoyance at the mere thought of that idiotic red hair. Just the mere thought of his hair is enough to drive HiMERU near insanity.

"He didn't convince me to do this! I can handle scary stuff, y'know!" You huffed angrily, pouting at your boyfriend for even thinking that Rinne was the reason behind you buying tickets to a horror movie with your own hard-earned money.

"Hm, really...?" HiMERU pondered, now reminiscing the memories he can recollect from that one time you both went into the haunted house together.

"As far as HiMERU can remember, the last time we went inside a haunted house together, you—"

"Shutupshutupshutup! I've changed! I'm not a scardey cat anymore!" You instantly shut him up, your face flushing red from embarrassment as he reminds you of a memory you desperately wish to forget.

HiMERU couldn't help but chuckle at your reaction and gently tucked a strand of hair behind your ears with such a soft look on his face.

"Of course, dear. HiMERU was only messing around with you, he believes that you've truly changed." HiMERU said, smiling fondly at you as he gently caresses your cheek lovingly.

"H-HiMERU...?" You chuckled sheepishly at the sudden affection, feeling your own heartbeat picking up as it beats right out of your chest. You are sure that even he could see just how flustered you are from your face right now.

"... But HiMERU never said for the worst or for the better."

"HiMERU—!!"

"Fufu, of course, he is just joking. Please forgive HiMERU, he simply cannot help but tease you sometimes. You are just too cute."

... And what happened to the cute interactions between you two just now? What happened to that. Why are you two watching a horror movie after particularly flirting with each other?

It is your idea, yes — but you didn't think it'd spook you out this much. This movie is going to be the death of you literally.

You turned to look at HiMERU and he didn't seem too fazed at all — especially during the scene that made you jump in your seat. He seems... Too nonchalant.

Him not being fazed by any of it is kind of scary than the whole movie itself, honestly.

You gripped the armrest, looking back at the screen with such a nervous look on your face while it remains pale. It was so obvious to HiMERU that you were scared.

Normally, he would've comforted you, but this was your idea — it was your decision to decide on watching a horror movie.

Shortly after that, a jumpscare appeared on the screen, it must've spooked you so badly since you were now holding onto his hand tightly as you backed further into the seat, completely shaken by it.

HiMERU chuckled lightly before squeezing your hand firmly, looking at you with a smile on his face.

"And you said you aren't a scardey cat anymore?" He asks, chuckling quietly at your reactions.

"Shut up..." You mutter out of embarrassment more than anything as you sink further down onto your seat, your hand still placed in a tight grip on top of his.

He chuckled once more, finding all of your actions to be so endearingly cute he can't even be mad anymore, but it's not like he was in the first place.

"It's alright, dear. You can hold my hand for as long as you want to."

[fuckyeahfightlock]

My scary movie today was from New Zealand! Written by, directed by, and starring Tom Sainsbury (Taskmaster NZ), Loop Track is a tense wilderness/isolation horror I mostly enjoyed.

Ian is a shifty? anxious? weird? guy hiking into the bush in the wrong clothes, wearing the wrong footwear, carrying a (suspiciously?) very heavy backpack. What's his deal? we wonder. And we keep on wondering--Ian is quiet and closed off, doesn't say a lot--even as he begins a 9-hour hike to the first "hut" (really more like a cabin) on the Loop Track.

(Based on the title and knowing it was about hikers, I thought this must be a time loop movie, but it turns out the New Zealand word for "trail" is "track," so it had nothing to do with what I was thinking was an audio loop or similar; but no, the title is referencing a literal loop track.)

Ian meets up with some other hikers against his will--an influencer couple very interested in The Vibes, Monica and Austin; and an overconfident, tech-bro type with expensive gear (a $300 flashlight is ludicrous even in NZ dollars) and an inflated sense of self, Nicky--and they find themselves sharing the huts at night and doing some of the hike together. Ian wonders if something in the bush is watching them, and he doesn't sleep. Nicky drinks untreated creek water and ends up with "a bit of a dick-y tummy" (of course), but also gives Ian a sleeping pill and might have murdered some girls whose packs they find in a hut; Monica and Austin keep trying to leave Ian and Nicky behind--at one point they break off to hike a different branch of the track and make empty promises to meet Ian and Nicky at the next hut.

The group grow suspicious of each other, motives are questioned, and everyone suddenly remembers these are strangers in the bush, not friends on a camping trip. The movie kept me guessing the whole time--the viewer never has more information than the characters do--and I really wasn't sure where it was all going. The writing and acting are top notch, and there is a lot of story in a short run time--it felt like a longer movie, but didn't drag. I won't spoil it in plain sight because I do recommend it (with reservations), it's a very well-crafted movie and if you love that edgy feeling of not knowing what the fuck is going on here, and/or a daylight, wilderness, and/or isolation horror, you should definitely invest the 95 minutes to watch it.

[spoilers for the final twist, and my critique thereof, under the cut]

So here's the spoiler. Ian's not carrying a dismembered body in his backpack; Nicky isn't a murderer; Monica and Austin aren't as stupid as they seem. There actually IS something watching/following them. By the time they find out, it's really too late; they are picked off one by one in the course of about five minutes of film time. The problem with the movie is that the monster, once it's revealed, is not scary. I even found it comical, wishing all the while that I didn't; I wanted the story to work! Everything about the movie was tense and scary and even the scenes with the monster were scary. . .it's just that the monster itself was not.

The monster is an 8 foot tall, black kiwi-type flightless bird. All we ever see of it are its feet/claws, which are heavy and overarticulated, like a dinosaur's, not a bird's. And its face, despite its soulless eyes and uncanny sounds and three-foot long sword of a beak (with teeth inside), is not horrifying. It's just a big damn bird. That can't even fly.

Worst of all, it doesn't move like a bird, or a dinosaur, or a monster. It moves like a puppet or a guy in a costume. Because it's a puppet or a guy in a costume. I was so distracted by the ineptness of putting this monster on screen. You know I always prefer practical effects, but in this case, CGI would have been a much better choice. Too bad, because everything else, as I said, was so good. Even the very last scene of final girl Ian trope-ily arriving to the locked car for which he has no keys, then limping out onto the highway bleeding and half-dressed, where a car stops and he delivers the most upsetting (resigned, almost guilty), "help." I have ever heard in a horror movie, is a so much more satisfying scene than the reveal of, and fights with, this stupid huge bird that's really a guy in a costume.

[followmetoyourdoom]

I've just finished watching the new Megamind movie and *sighs* thoughts below

I'll try to start with the positives - the Doom Syndicate without comparing them to the Doom Syndicate from either the game/s or the concept art were okay, decent even. Lady Doppler's outfit in motion makes a lot of sense and her powers are cool. Pierre Pressure is okay. Nighty-Knight is funny, I liked that he wanted the teddy bear and kept that throughout, plus he had cool powers. Behemoth was my favourite, seemed like he had layers to him, and not just bc he was made out of molton lava.

There was a very cute heartfelt scene between Keiko and Megamind about him being her inspiration to try to be a good kid, bc if he can go from a bad guy to a good guy, maybe a bad kid can be a good kid. It was very sweet and it's a good message to give kids.

Some scenes felt very in character - Megamind not knowing how to look after himself without Minion, Roxanne trying to help. There were also a lot of good one liners that made me snort or giggle.

The end picked up, I did like the absolutely pointless plan to put the city on the moon, that is exactly the sort of idiotic in-character plan that Megamind would make - the Doom Syndicate going along with it eeeeh less happy about, makes them seem just as idiotic, but then they sort of were in this.

Now, the not so good. The timeline is completely fucked, why change when it was set? Also setting it two days after the first movie was A Choice. It was even more of A Choice to have the city set post the statue unveiling which didn't seem like it would only be two days down the line at all.

The beginning felt too long and drawn out and not much actually happened? Roxanne was almost completely out of character - why the sudden existential crisis bc some kid has followers? Roxanne loves solving the stories and working out the truth, she didn't need a new job! And speaking of the kid, oh my god, her initial scene is incredibly annoying. I did grow to like her (due to the aforementioned heartfelt scene) but it was an uphill battle.

There were aspects of Lady Doppler's character that seemed... interesting shall we say, given they had decided to combine all of the women in the original Doom Syndicate into one person, it was very jarring and I'm not sure they pulled it off. I would have preferred to see OG Lady Doppler and either Rockatoo or Hot Flash (or a combo of those two perhaps). I just don't think that having a black woman be immediately catty towards the first woman she sees is a good choice. Give variety by having more than just one female villain and let them be their own characters.

Minion's name change, which I refuse to enforce, was stupid - they could at least have made it make more sense in canon. Maybe Minion wanted a name more fitting of his new position, something less evil sounding. But no, it was an in universe copyright thing. Stupid. And speaking of Minion, the relationship between him and Megamind oh my god where did that go? Megamind literally just learnt the lesson about valuing him as more than just a minion, as a friend. And they just threw that away immediately. Megamind and Roxanne's relationship seemed a little off as well, not as much as I've heard some reviewers saying, but enough to make me go :/ And then we have his past with the Doom Syndicate - founding member, yeah sure, but OG leader? Nah, not this twink. This twink couldn't lead his way out of a cardboard box.

I think I'm more disappointed than I expected to be, bc I went in with low expectations, I went in knowing the animation was bad (and looking past it bc low budget, they did the best they could), I went in knowing the voices were different, I went in knowing they had this stupid influencer storyline, but I thought the writing other than that would be at the same level as the first movie as it was the original writers. And some was at that level, but only in bits and pieces. It was incredibly inconsistent, both with OG lore and itself, and just seemed to throw away OG character development from the first movie in favour of re-doing it in this movie.

I wish they had more time to polish this, I wish they could have gotten a bigger budget, I wish they didn't have to include the influencer storyline to appeal to kids, I wish they didn't have to change Minion's name. I wish I wasn't as disappointed.

[the-blissful-one]

The Barbie Movie

So there has been a few days since the premiere, I have a few thoughts. Spoiler alert, for anyone who hasn't watched it. Also, long post alert!

I really liked the movie. It was funny and witty, and they way they just did things was really smart. I think it was smart to go with actors that are in the 30-40 age range instead of people in their twenties. It wouldn't have been the same and since this was a movie for adults mainly....it just made us relate to the characters more.

It was funny to see the intentional bad editing when Ken crashes into the waves and flips in the air. It really set the universe that these are just dolls that get played with...and that explains the sometimes weird movements and positions.

I also think it was great that the movie was more of a satire-movie of other movie tropes and Barbie itself. Had they taken themselves "serious", it wouldn't have been as funny or enjoyable. Like the chasing scene in the offices. It's clearly a hit to chasing scenes in other movies where they can literally reach other, but it has to look intense and hard. Plus when a movie or a tv-show is self aware, It's immdielty a ten points for me (as long as they dont oversue it).

What my problem with the movie was...or perhaps something I would have done differently is the speech of the mother about what women have to do to look attractive. I think the movie could have gone without it, but then I do think it would be a "backlash" of why they didn't talk about it. I think it would have been fine if they touched onto the issues, but the speech was a little too long and just weird to point out that it was only on women.

It was also a speech only about looks. Like feminism in the west (especially in the states) have taken a turn for the worse. We still need feminism in other parts of the world, where women need rights. Right to talk, right to wear what they want and not get beaten when they don't wear a head piece, where they can be independent and doesn't get promised away. Where newborn girls don't get killed just because they are a girl.

And the movie decided to point it light toward beauty standards. Why not point out real feminist problems and situations. It was just so shallow. I don't deny that men have put a lot of these standard in place, but women have too. I think now days, in the west at leas- women put more pressure on women. And women also put pressure on men. Why touch on the topic and not cover the whole problem???

It was very radical tiktok feminism in the move. If that is a way to explain it. I thought it was little unnatural how the teenager just unloaded onto Barbie when they fist met. I think it was because when my friends and I grew up and played with the dolls, they were just dolls with cool clothing and funny houses. It was just play. We knew we didn't look like that, but we didn't care. I think the whole barbie promotes bad beauty standards did comes from adults watching themselves not look like Babrie and then projected that. I am glad we have Barbies in different shapes and sizes, but acknowledging were it the dissatisfaction with the doll came from wouldn't have taken anything away from the message.

Through the movie, we see different types of Barbies, one in a wheelchair, one obese, all of them in different professions. Which I think it's fine and Barbie has all of these sides with her. But the Ken's were all like Calvin Klein models, had all six pack, were tall and just conventional attractive and the movie only shines a light on how women have too look to be attractive to be "respected".

Like, the pressure on boys to look a attractive, is immensely high. I think it's just as high as on women, just in a different direction. It doesn't need to be a competition on who has it worse. That is why i think the speech-scene was executed badly. She talked about that women have too look like this, but not too much, they have to be good at this, but not too got. Which are true, but when you have half of the cast already as a "victim" to beauty standards; it was just weird.

That kind of also falls into my next point. I have already seen that the obese barbie have gotten some backlash. I think it's fine that they had both her and the barbie in the wheelchair. But I think this was also executed badly too. If they wanted to sell the message that Barbie could look and be like anyone. Why only have one doll that has that body type or those physical handicaps. It just kind of stuck out like a sore thumb in a way. And it also just got highlighted because all of the Kens looked like models. Why not have an obese Ken. Or a Ken in a wheelchair. Or more than just one obese barbie. Why not have a few and let them to their thing as background characters- and then we see that Barbie can be anyone. We just see that they included those character because they had to. I think if it wasn't for the raise of the (toxic) body positivity movement now; they wouldn't have included an so overweight barbie. They kind of just did it because they felt like they needed to. I do hate when movies and tv-shows only have certain kind of character because they want woke-points instead of just telling a good story.

Another thing I turned my nose up at was when Barbie wanted to apologise for how she had treated Ken. She was met with resistance from the others (the mother, daughter and some of the others dolls). This is was I mean with the tiktok- feminism. It pushes the agenda that women can't do anything wrong and that self reflection aren't important. That women cant do anything wrong so why apologise when you have treated someone badly. They wanted to push that a women can do anything and are strong and powerful; but apologising to a man is a big NO NO. Like WTF. That is just childish. I'm glad that Barbie did apologise either way, but that message is just wrong. Growing up, also means that you need to see when you are the bad guy in someone else's story and then take action to fix whatever that is. Not say i'm perfect and then expect everyone else to not get hurt by you.

I did like that all of the Kens came together and was just all bros with each other at the end of the movie. That they weren't scared to hold hands and give a lil kiss during the Ken-song. It was nice. I did like the Kens as characters. It did really go well with the climax of the movie where both Barbie and Ken discovered that they could grown without being "defined" by each other...especially for Ken. I still wish they ended up together as close friends or something. I think we can still show characters growing and evolving, while they still chose to be surrounded by people who love and care for them. We see this tope in American movies a lot, where the protagonist decide to be alone and go out on adventure alone because that is apparently the only way to show independence. Not that independent is something you can be regardless of who you chooses to spend your time with. Did that makes sense...??? It's more on how it's shown in media that steers the characters action.

Overall, it was a very fun movie to watch and I will definitely watch it again. I just think a few things could have been though over twice or executed better. It was refreshing to see that most of the production just wanted to put out a good piece out there with a kind of tongue in cheek and self awake humour. I'm glad it wasn't anything more than that, but still tackled a few topics that both young and older adults can understand and relate to. Plus, it can be enjoyed by both poeple who had barbie dear to their hearts and people that doesn't relate too much towards the doll...and if people have a good time watching it; that is all that matters.

You are Kenough!

Nobody cares about my meaning, but at least this is my two cents on it. Enjoy your day and thanks for reading .

[fishylife]

I watched this documentary series on the making of Creation of the Gods. These are just my reactions to it and not a synopsis.

Episode 1

It's cool seeing just how many people were involved in the making of this movie(s)

The writer Ran Jia'nan was saying that they had to cut out stuff from the story that might not have made sense (to a wider audience) or perhaps was not so relevant to the main plot, and the example she used was that when Ji Chang threw up the bits of Bo Yikao that he had eaten, those pieces became rabbits. After a long time of mulling it over they decided to cut that from the story.

The actors had to learn to ride horses, combat, archery.

Training montage!!!!!

Most of those chosen had not performed professionally so they needed to train in acting and performing too.

Their first lesson was in drums. Not sure how to put it into words, but basically the teacher said that drums are an instrument that can match our pulse, and that in battle, the rhythm at which we fight is the rhythm of our pulse. That's kind of hype, they look cool.

Second lesson was combat but they also had to work out a lot too.

Third lesson was horseback riding.

Rad that one of their trainers is like, a cowboy lol.

Not only did they train in horse riding, but horse riding while fighting.

Fourth lesson was culture/history class, including a classical Chinese education. Probably to give them a deeper appreciation and understanding of the characters and story.

Wuershan was more focused on whether the actors could relate to their characters.

Ji Fa's clothes look so good.

The scenes when Ji Fa was riding back home in the end of the first movie were filmed in Xinjiang. Those scenes were sooo good.

I appreciate that Wuershan wanted a very foxlike Daji and had Naran study fox behaviour. She watched fox videos but also went to the zoo to watch foxes :3

Speaking of Naran, I think she trained to be fluent in Mandarin for this movie which is so amazing :3

Daji's appearance right after she is possessed by the demon is so...wow. The long hair, the flowing robes. She didn't die in those clothes, but as the fox it's like, a little primitive. She's wearing very basic robes. She is not the original Daji, that's for sure.

The guys pumping in preparation for the dance scene :P

The dance performance was shot in one go! :3

They're literally rewatching and admiring their muscles here lol

Episode 2

The concept art is so cool. Wuershan emphasized the good vs evil battle so the one with the very clear yin-yang outline probably emphasized that the best.

The process by which they decided on the aesthetic for this movie series was interesting. Investiture of the Gods is based on a very ancient time, but the novel itself was written in the Ming Dynasty. Add to that the mythical elements that should in theory transcend time. What do you get? In the end, they went for a 70% 水陸畫 style (which is an artistic style and not a time period) and 30% 殷商 (which refers to the Yin and Shang dynasties), plus a bit of Song Dynasty 山水 art style (which I guess is referring to that style of landscape/nature art).

Wuershan really liked a mural that was in Yongle Gong and wanted the aesthetics of the movie to emulate that style.

Concept art for the outfits. According to Wuershan, in the Shang Dynasty, white was considered a regal colour.

Empress Jiang and her family were from the east, by the ocean, so that was why they wore blue.

The duke from the south was thought to have come from a hot place, so that was why he wore red robes.

The northerners wore gray, as their lands were thought to be kind of...vast and gray.

Then lastly the folks from the west, including Ji Chang, wore yellow, though here of course it looks more like a muted yellow, a brown. Anything too bright and it would remind people too much of an emperor.

So the team put effort into fleshing out the world, even though we only saw a bit of it (at least in the first movie). But it kind of shows how ambitious Wuershan is about making this an "epic" movie series, not in the sense that it's super great, but in the sense that this is a big world with a lot going on. Even though this movie wasn't even that long, I did feel that sense of magnitude, that there were a lot of things going on even if we were just focused on the top.

Bo Yikao <3

Hell yeah Yang Jian in front of the blue screen

It's interesting that Wuershan is so involved in every aspect of the movie. He was discussing clothing materials with Tim Yip. He is the director, but I think he's just really passionate about the world he's building and he wants it to be as immersive as possible.

Naran's interpretations of her outfits was interesting. When she was still the real Su Daji, she was dressed in furs, and it gave a feeling of being protected and loved by her family. When she was possess by the fox demon, she wore a very thin purple outfit. She wore it while in the dead of winter, and it would give people a feeling that something was off. Then she wore a bright red outfit when she was dancing and it represented ambition. In the last scene of the first movie when Daji revived Yin Shou, Daji wore another very thin dress, this time in pink. Naran felt that at that time, Daji sincerely cared for Yin Shou (whether it was "love" or not is another question), so she would have been sad at seeing him dead. And so Naran associated pink with sadness.

Kris Phillips was raving about Tim Yip's outfits for Yin Shou in this part :P

Oh this is cool I think they are sculpting Lei Zhenzi here.

And other monsters.

The concept artist Siji said that he appreciated that the concept artists were given enough time to develop and create the concept art.

I didn't even realize the fox demon had different forms. Siji was explaining that initially, the fox demon was more ghost-like, and only began to develop a form after eating enough people.

Hell yeah more monsters

So we move on to the set and Wuershan puts just as much detail into building the set, which is very understandable. If your set is lame then it doesn't matter how beautiful your costumes are tbh. They went so far as to discuss the patterns of the beams, and what kinds of visual motifs would be on them.

Tim Yip was explaining how some of the structures they came up with would never have existed in history. But they did it for the aesthetics lol.

For some of the fight scenes, they did the storyboard by animating it in 3d because it would be easier to work with. In the example shown, the camera was constantly rotating around the character so I imagine that it would have been difficult to explain the constant motion of the camera with a normal drawn storyboard.

We got to the animation of Lei Zhenzi. The animator did a 360 view of what he would look like, and then another view where he would be carrying Ji Chang on his back, which he pointed out probably would not work if the wings were also on his back.

It looks like the entire movie was created in that Previz 3d animation system. Which makes sense. There's a lot that goes into filming and you might as well get a feel for the scenes, so that you can see if they actually deliver the intended impact.

Wu Yibei who I think is a special effects producer was talking about Lei Zhenzi. Basically it was really important for them to get all of the details of Lei Zhenzi right because he was going to be an important character in the second and third movies, and would interact with actors, would have feelings, etc.

This is super cool, this seems to be concept art for how Lei Zhenzi would have grown, how his wings would have developed as he grew up from a baby to an adult.

I saw this from another video that interviewed a special effects advisor for the movie. Douglas Smith had mentioned that Wuershan didn't really want Lei Zhenzi to be like a bird or a bat, and in the end, they settled for more of a fish feeling to Lei Zhenzi. Wuershan says this too in this documentary series.

Other than the physics of Lei Zhenzi's flight, I thought it was neat that Wuershan and the animators were discussing how his lightning powers would look like.

Wuershan had called up Han Pengyi and asked him if he'd wanted to be China's Andy Serkis lol. Han Pengyi served as the motion capture actor for Lei Zhenzi.

Oh wow Wuershan and Han Pengyi actually met Serkis and got to ask him about motion capture acting :o

So apparently when they animated Lei Zhenzi they hadn't really animated him blinking so Douglas Smith and team were figuring out how they could make use of other skin around Lei Zhenzi's eyes to express certain emotions.

Episode 3

Wow the craftspeople are carving the parts of the set by hand.

Look at this!!! Even just the concept art is amazing.

Wuershan did a lot of studying on the Lord of the Rings and consulted people who worked on that which is cool.

There was a discussion where Wuershan was discussing how the Lord of the Rings used more practical effects (in this case having a bunch of extras actually fighting in a battle) whereas by the time the Hobbit came around, they didn't consider this option anymore.

They spent a lot of time explaining how they came to film Shen Gong Bao's scene in which his head came apart from his body.

This was super blurry so I'm not going to screencap it but Ji Chang's actor Li Xuejian said "兒子演得不錯" and Wuershan patted Yu Shi's head in a 'did you hear that?' kind of way Yu Shi was all like humble like "noooo i'm not" hehe.

Apparently it was Father's day so Yu Shi wished Wuershan and Wang Yu a Happy Father's day lol.

They were trying to shoot a shot of five of the warriors on horseback jumping over a hurdle, while the horses were blindfolded. I'm not sure why the horses were blindfolded tbh but it was difficult because of that and the fact that they wanted the horses to jump together. Looked awesome though. And they got fistbump from one of the trainers for getting it done in two takes.

Taking care of the horses after a hard day's work.

Yu Shi explained that when they first started learning to ride horses, they were paired with any horse. After they got the hang of it, they were paired with a specific horse so that they could build a good relationship, and the actors would have to care for that horse too.

Ji Fa's character especially had a special relationship with his horse because he was a gift from his family and a symbol of home. And we saw them filming the scene near the end of the first movie where his horse was trying to get him to wake up so that they could go home.

Archery was something that challenged Yu Shi a lot so he practised it a lot and watched videos of archers.

Check out this diagram lol. I think they were trying to explain the setting to Gordy Haab who worked on the music.

We saw Gordy checking out Chinese artifacts and listening to Chinese music. Yu Fei who was a music producer said that he had a good deal of interest in the culture.

It looks like they're having some musicians play outside at one of the sites? I'm not sure if they were actually playing though.

The male bass singers were very cool. Are they throat singing?

Looks like they're playing scenes from the movie on the screen

Me, an ex-oboist, doing the Dicaprio pointing meme to these oboists

Wuershan is a fan of Penderecki. I don't know this composer so I had to look him up.

Wuershan delivering flowers to the various cast members :3

What a fun series!!!! I have some other behind the scenes videos to watch relating to this movie so I am excited :3

[martysgachaworld]

[Just a rambling, nothing else. Part 1]

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING⚠️ MENTION OF: DR!GS, 0VERD0S3, S3XU4L HARASSMENT, S3XU4L 4BUS3, +18 THINGS. If sensitive DNI!!!

Other warning: this post is really long AND contains spoilers for the series

...ok, so. Just gonna do a rambling about a character. Probably the best one I've ever got the chance to know and see in action.

Angel Dust from the series "Hazbin Hotel".

Let's start from who he is.

This is Angel Dust, a pornstar in Hell. When he was alive, he was in an Italian mafious family. He died in 1947 due to an overdose of PCP, or how people call it, Angel Dust, the drug where he took his star name, his real name is Anthony.

As I said- he basically works as a s3x w0rker for Valentino, one of the Vees, three overlords that control different medias. Vox controls Tv medias, Velvette controls social medias, and Valentino sadly...controls the p0rn industry.

Who's Valentino?

It's this guy, that for facility I'll call Val. Oh, don't be fooled by this silly face he does here which I chose bc I didn't have better screenshots because he's an abuser and a manipulative person. Idk how, but he manipulated Angel into signing a soul contract.

Which means that Valentino literally owns Angel.

Angel's life is full of Valentino's abusive behavior, treating worse than shit and like if he was only an object for his own pleasure. Not only. He makes Angel do really, really, REALLY rough shootings for his "films", basically making people use him roughly over and over and over. I can also guess that Valentino is also bipolar, from the voicemail scene in episode 2, "Radio Killed the Video Star": one message is sweet, the next one is threatening, one is sweet, one is threatening, sweet, threatening.

Sweet, threatening.

Every day in Angel's life is full of Valentino's abuses: mental, emotional, physical...and also s3xual, making Angel's afterlife...a REAL Hell. For forget everything, he uses drugs to destroy himself...but not just for that.

Luckily he has his friends at the Hazbin Hotel, who want to help him a lot...especially him,

Husk

Who's Husk?

He's this guy here, the hotel's bartender, an ex-overlord who's soul is owned by Alastor. At first him and Angel are mostly frenemies, Angel annoys Husk and he gets mad...but in episode 4, everything changes. Hearing and listening to Angel opening up, he changes and softens up, offering himself to help Angel and to listen to him.

Now that I summarized the whole situation in the series, I can talk about the feelings and the scenes that hit me the most of this character.

Episode 2: Radio Killed the Video Star

"Oh!- uh- nothing- my boss, Val, he's freaked out about the news too"

Charlie saw the message from Val that arrived on Angel's phone. Angel said that lie for hide the abuse he suffers everyday from Charlie.

"You actually think you can change? Addict trash like you doesn't change...I'll see you soon, baby"

Angel just lets himself surrender at Val's abusive behavior and Val's smoke that gets out of the phone, giving up and letting himself go in the smoke, surrendering at the abuse.

Episode 4: Masquerade

This scene was taken from a movies of his, he wasn't pretending here. He was seriously scared and panicking, he putted his mask on when that other guy appeared in the scene.

"Val...I didn't know anything"

The way he immediately started to explain everything before he gets hit by Valentino just talks itself

"When I say you better get that fucking CUNT...OUT OF MY STUDIO...you say?"

The look in his eyes when Val touched his cheek is just screaming "Help me, I'm scared"

"Now, you're gonna go get rid of her, and then you're filming all night! Get me?!"

This is a mix of feelings: fear, despair...but also rage and hate.

"...yes, Val"

The fear in his eyes and his voice...poor baby...

This was a part one for this analysis of Angel Dust's character and scenes because I don't have enough space for other frames, sorry- but! I'll do a part two of this :)

For now I hope you enjoyed reading this-

[chloecherrysip]

As you might have gathered from my frenzied posts yesterday, ya girl saw the Mario Movie for the second time on Thursday, and I have some additional thoughts! I already rambled on about the brothers' reunion AT LENGTH but let's actually talk about some other things (but also still a LITTLE BIT about that here too because I literally cannot be stopped).

Most importantly, I feel like I have had a big change of heart about the movie - in a good way! :)

So I had bought this Thursday ticket first before I made the really impulsive decision to go to a midnight showing on Tuesday, and I kept the ticket because I wanted to see what I would think a second time (and there were obviously some favorite moments that I really wanted to watch again). But I came out of the first showing so conflicted that I was like: "Am I even going to have that much fun at a second showing? Will I be a little bored sometimes?" (Plus, I was having the worst headache yesterday and just not in the best mood in general lolol)

And it was so, so MAGICAL

I think my first viewing experience was weird because 1) I was anxious and way overhyped 2) It was late at night and I was TIRED and 3) I found myself SO distracted throughout the movie because my brain was busy trying to redefine expectations as things went on, to the point that the whole end battle was extremely fuzzy to me because it was just SO DIFFERENT from what I'd been thinking it would be and my sleepy brain didn't know how to reconcile it. This time, I went in knowing exactly what the movie was going to be and what I could expect, and I just??? had the best time imaginable??? I was SO happy the whole way through?????? Literally enthralled and delighted and smiling to the point that my face hurt all over again???

Like, just to be clear, the problems I've already gone on about are still problems at the end of the day -- but truthfully, I care about them a lot less now. At the end of the day, this movie is beautiful, has heart, and keeps you interested, and just having gotten that out of a mario movie after all this time is really special to me. I do genuinely think that if you felt conflicted and disappointed after your first viewing, you should watch the movie again and see how you feel a second time around, because shedding all those expectations and going in without all that hanging over me just made for an absolutely wonderful experience that I'll remember for a long time!

Part of that too is the crowd I saw it with! At my midnight screening, there were obviously no kids and everyone was a little subdued. This time, there was a good number of kids, and man, they were having such a good time. The dad/daughter duo sitting beside me laughed SO many times and it was delightful (she was SO excited at the Mario Kart stuff).

And there was APPLAUSE at the end! That by itself is always a magical experience to me at the movies when people clap at the end because it's just such a pure expression of happiness (since there's no live performance and the clapping is to no one's benefit, lol). And then as I was walking out, there were these little boys excitedly talking about how the movie was a "5/5!!!" for them and....man, I don't know. The universe likes to give gentle reminders that sometimes things are just Not That Deep and it's okay to be a little less cynical and a little more generous. (But I will still complain a LITTLE below, haha.)

ANYWAY, THAT'S ENOUGH MUSING, HERE ARE SPECIFIC THOUGHTS:

The significance of the Nintendo logo sequence being retro Mario and Luigi together at the very beginning :) :) :)

Didn't even realize the first time that Mario doesn't just instinctively stick his arm out in front of Luigi protectively during the dog scene, he ALSO does it when Spike stands up from the table, even though Spike's only focused on Mario at that point!!!! Something I really wanted from the Brooklyn scenes was to see that protectiveness and care in Mario's body language for Luigi right from the start, and they do SUCH a good job at that, like more than I could have hoped for. It's a reflex for him! When there's even the slightest whiff of danger, you can see Mario's thought process go straight to "keep Luigi behind me, make sure he stays safe" and I loveeee

Luigi is such a mama's boy! ❤️❤️❤️ Bragging about her liking their commercial so genuinely! They also have a cute, subtle moment when he's trying to get some food at the dinner table and everyone's talking over him/not listening but his mom brings him a bowl and gives him a little, soft pat on the shoulder, it is adorable.

(Also Luigi getting swept up in the moment and dropping the "mic" but it's his phone and he breaks it continues to be just...such a good character moment. He is so wonderful throughout the beginning of the movie and I just want so much more of him in the sequel, please ;; )

JUST THE FAMILY STUFF IN GENERAL IS GOOD AND SURPRISINGLY SUBTLE AND REALISTIC????

Like, they could have gone REALLY broad with it and just made their parents horrible people if they wanted to do a "Mario has Dad Issues" plot but like, it's very clear that there's a LOT of love and care in that household! Along with a healthy dose of dysfunction, of course, but that's every family, haha. And honestly, their dad reminds me of my dad, who is a wonderful person BUT can also make really insensitive comments without realizing or just simply be really judgmental if one of his kids makes a choice he wouldn't personally make. It's still weird that they actually have a big family in this version of canon (if they live in the Mushroom Kingdom at the end of the movie, do they still go back and visit home all the time? Is it tough to be literally a world away from your parents??? I AM INTRIGUED BY THAT) but I can get behind it, haha.

In one of my other posts, I wrote that it looked like Mario and Luigi were the babies of the family, but there actually is a much younger kid at the dinner table, I realized - i think it's a little girl in a baseball cap who's maybe 7 or 8? Probably their cousin? She seemed very, VERY bored with everything going on. Also, for a split-second at the end, you can see her recording what's happening with her phone/taking a selfie XD I want to know more about this mystery kid and Mario and Luigi's relationship with them, haha.

Also, to go back a little, that construction site parkour scene had a lot more to it than I remembered! Mario doesn't just open the gates for Luigi - he also knocks down a ladder for him, throws down a piece of material for him to be able to run over a gap, and I think some other things too. Back to my original point about how no matter what's going on or how caught up he is, what his brother needs is always such a critical part of his thought process ❤️

I LOVED THE MARIO AND PEACH STUFF SO MUCH MORE THIS TIME???? There still isn't enough by far, but I was just so much fonder of their little moments. The "you're just trying to make me feel better" "is it working?" "a little, yeah" exchange was CUTE. Also, I kind of adore that Mario improves but doesn't ACTUALLY finish the training course (which feels realistic in such a short timeframe) but Peach sees that he's really trying and that's all she needed to know, that he was serious and had the determination to give it his all. :)

ALSO I love when Mario looks very nervous right before his fight with DK but he and Peach lock eyes and she gives him a determined smile and nod and that helps him.

(ALSO x 2, when Bowser breaks out of the ice at the wedding, Mario and Peach are holding hands very sweetly!!! I want to know what they were saying to each other at that point! She was probably SO relieved to see that he was alive and all right, ahhhh)

PEACH'S WEDDING DRESS IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING, MAYBE A CONTROVERSIAL OPINION BUT THE ODYSSEY DRESS COULD NEVER!!!

I have ALWAYS loved the idea of Peach's eventual wedding dress having pink elements throughout (even in the veil!!) because it's her signature and this dress DID and I was so endlessly delighted, can't WAIT to see all the details more in super high quality screenshots

ALSO THE WEDDING SCENE IS GENERAL IS SO GOOD??? I TRULY THINK THE WAY THEY STRUCTURED THIS SCENE AND PEACH'S CAPTURE WAS INCREDIBLY SMART???

I knew it was basically a foregone conclusion that Peach would be taken captive at some point because that is SO iconic, but I truly thought they would play it out more traditionally where Mario comes to her rescue. And the fact that they don't even go NEAR that idea, Mario doesn't even KNOW anything about what's going on her and she's on her own with Toad, and she just!!! handles the situation!!! she takes Bowser out (temporarily) and does everything she can to save the prisoners and I just loved that they were able to have it both ways while still letting her be TRULY badass instead of just paying lip service to the idea without ever following through

THE FINAL BATTLE IN BROOKLYN...HIT SO MUCH HARDER FOR ME THIS TIME...AND NOW I LOVE IT

I was just so bewildered the first time I saw the movie by the twist but this time, i was 100% IN THE MOMENT and let me tell you, Mario being all bruised and scared and then seeing himself and Luigi on the cracked television...my goodness, I genuinely teared up. I'm tearing up now thinking about it!!

IN GENERAL: THE WAY THEY BALANCE BOWSER'S HUMOR WITH SOME EXTREMELY MENACING, SCARY STUFF IS SO GOOD

I love that you're laughing at him and then suddenly, he just does something CRUEL and TERRIFYING and ESSENTIALLY PSYCHOPATHIC (even the little things like intentionally crushing Kamek's hands in the piano and making him keep them there!!) and you're scared of all him all over again

I know, I know, I already spoke about Mario and Luigi's reunion AT LENGTH, but I got one more thing -> it is genuinely SUCH a relief that Illumination did not go for the cheap "wow how embarrassing when men show emotion!" joke. in fact, not only did they avoid any joke like that, they went as far in the other direction as I think you could possibly go????? Like, seriously, I wanted FEELINGS here and the fact that it even blew ME away how tender and loving their whole exchange is really says something!!! I WILL LITERALLY TALK ABOUT THE FACE HOLDING AND THE FOREHEAD TOUCHING FOREVER, THEY ARE THE SWEETEST BROTHERS OF ALL TIIIME

Finally, I am STUPID because I genuinely walked away from the movie the first time with the impression that the worlds were permanently merged together at the end??? But after reading other people's summations of the ending, that's clearly not the case and Mario and Luigi just live in the Mushroom Kingdom now, whoops, haha. (I would be interested to know how far in the future that scene is!! I assume it would take some time to make that decision and that they weren't like "yeah, let's just immediately leave behind everything we've ever known and our whole family for a place we've spent a couple of days in" lol)

And also a quick list of some things that I'm still annoyed about because, well, it can't ALL be good:

The 80's music didn't bother me originally BUT it's starting to come to light now that the soundtrack is out that there are full, finished, AMAZING tracks that just aren't in the movie and it's pretty clear they sync up really well with those scenes???? SO IT DEFINITELY SEEMS LIKE THE ORIGINAL INTENTION WAS TO NOT HAVE ANY OUTSIDE MUSIC BUT SOMEONE HIGHER UP DID SOME MEDDLING AND GOT THEM ADDED AND THAT IS INFURIATING. And you can totally tell!!! WE NEED A VERSION OF THE MOVIE WITH ALL THE ORIGINAL TRACKS PUT BACK IN FOR SURE

It continues to feel like there are whole scenes/parts of scenes just missing from the movie! FOR INSTANCE: it seems like a MAJOR plothole that Toad was captured alongside Peach but then he's just...walking around freely? Able to get her a bouquet with the ice flower??? I feel like something was missed there. I really do wonder if there's like 10-20 minutes of footage/potential footage that was mercilessly cut for time. Will we ever see some of it (maybe on the blu-ray)? Will it be lost to time/Nintendo's vault forever? SOMEONE LEAK THE FORBIDDEN SCENES :(

Speaking of, RIP "I'm not afraid! I'll do anything for my brother!" I WILL ALWAYS MOURN YOU AND LOVE YOU AND WONDER WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAID IN THE MOVIE

Guys. The slow motion. WE GET IT. It's funny the first couple of times, but by the fifth time, it's SO OLD.

Also, I continue to desperately wish that the Luigi rescue at the end felt more earned. It's SO good but it needs one more beat! One more realization! One more character moment! SOMETHING! :( :( :( :(

I had ANOTHER idea about how they could have sold this more and even tied it back to an earlier moment in the movie. When the scene cuts to Luigi in the dumpster watching Mario fight, frame what he's seeing so that it reminds him of being babies on the playground again, but now Mario's where Luigi was!!! And Bowser's the bully!!! And his brother needs him just as much as Luigi needed Mario back then!!!! You wouldn't even need any dialogue - just let the shot LINGER on Luigi and give us a tiny bit of that flashback intercut one more time alongside his changing expressions! It would be SO simple but I think it'd be effective AND give that earlier flashback more reason to be there in the first place (as adorable as it is).

OK I'VE TALKED ENOUGH