#it's a shame he has so little screen time but his character is really cool and worth every second!

[lyselkatz]

- I'll keep the sword. I'll buy you a drink another day!

Zhân YúnFei 展雲飛

Bamboo: Resilience and Humility

Dubbed "the pretty ex" by many (quite rightly since Zhào WénHào and Chéng Yì were both in The Lost Tomb 2 and Immortal Samsara)

He's really Lî XiàngYí's 知己 (literally "to know self", intimate friend, often translated as soulmate) who understands him and accepts his changes, telling Lî LiánHua that "he is good the way he is now" and never trying to make him return to the person he was ten year prior.

...☕?/commission

[angelmichelangelo]

my initial thoughts of tales of the teenage mutant ninjas turtles below the cut, don’t read if you’ve not already watched the show cos SPOILERS!!

off the bat i think this show is really good fun and overall i think i can say i enjoyed it! the style is good, the writing is just as easy and as realistic as the movie. each of the turtles do shine here in their own individual way. but alas if do have my gripes i wanted to share.

not so sure if anything that actually happens in this series is… even canon? maybe im just dumb but with the whole “leo making a comic book” and “raph dramatising a story for a school project” thing it’s not so clear as to whether the events in the series with bishop and the east river 3 are even real ?? kinda disappointing if not cos that’s honestly just as lame as “and it was all a dream!!” kind of endings you find in like. middle school creative writing homework.

also. just gonna say this now. splinter. if they couldn’t have gotten jackie chan back or gotten someone that at least sounds like him, i kind of wish they’d removed him entirely from the plot because raph doing the voice over for him in the entire second half of the series was. OOF. it really pulled me from the immersion especially when there was some really strong character moments from him, but it’s… raph? speaking in a gruff voice ?? for some reason? not sure what happened with jackie chan and whether they wrote all his scenes BEFORE they maybe realised he wasn’t coming back to voice him but… yeah. could have just gotten another va and made a gag that he had a cold or something rather than… whatever that whole thing was. i didn’t like it, sorry. pulled me out of the stronger moments for that character which was a shame.

i really liked the whole separated storyline. tmnt rarely does that and it plays no favourites in getting each of the boys to shine individually within their own arcs and play out their own strengths and weaknesses and their brothers own strengths !! and then a little reunion at the factory, especially raph and leo’s hug. very precious :D

but then… the second half of the series is that.. again?? feels kind of a waste of time to redo what we JUST saw. turtles separated (this time with a mutanimal) and have to think like the others to get out of a tough spot and then boom huggy happy reunion time. which brings us to like 2 whole episodes out of 12 where the turtles actually are all on screen interacting with one another…

i had the same issue with mutant mayhem that, whilst they are good characters in a group and alone, there’s never any like. closer interactions. aside from like, the leo raph hug or when raph gives mikey a noogie affectionately in the first episode, there’s never like any one to one interactions that makes it feel all that more believable to me. don’t get me wrong, ive been asking for a mikey centric episode where he gets to shine for YEARS now and we finally got it!! but in the words of rise donnie… something they feel more like roommates rather than brothers just because their interactions are so sparse and far between. that’s just how i feel so take it with a pinch of salt.

i feel like they tempered the whole leo april thing which, for me, isn’t really a big deal. she’s more like an sister to the guys in my opinion but if you were hoping for more of what we got in the movie, then only expect like. one or two moments where it reminds you leo has a crush on her before they’re acting like just friends again.

bishop was really cool! i loved her design and backstory!! they’re bringing in the EPF which i LOVE!! this franchise seems to swing heavily towards the whole anti-mutant thing which is always fun for me. love seeing the boys chased off or shunned especially since they’re known to the public (even if i… don’t super love that plot but here we are) so even if the whole bishop thing.. wasn’t canon?? im hoping they bring her back somehow.

the whole “humans have mutations too” thing was actually really clever, with rod and his different coloured eyes, i wish they did more with that!! i think i would have rather had an entire 12 episode series about bishop and her robots rather than the random mutant pearl heist just cos the bishop storyline felt more important. that way we could have done the whole separated storyline AND have the boys actually fighting together again.

even if i complained about the second half it was still really written and a lot of fun! donnie’s episode with wingnut and leatherhead was so good, maybe my favourite episode out of the lot, as well as mikey trapped in the bodega. im not hating on the show, i did actually enjoy it i promise lol

i think going into the show, i had an inkling that as far as plot was concerned, it wasn’t going to push itself out too far. often times when you have a tv series bridging between one movie and the next, you’re saving all your serious stuff for the thing people are most likely to see, which is the sequel, rather than the 12 episode series. if they were to add casey or shredder or Krang or put leo through an actual window as per tradition, and casual fans hadn’t watched the series but sat down to watch the second movie, they’d be confused as hell and it wouldn’t do as good. marvel do it too, where it’s just to fill a gap for a time being without any serious plot or arc. so i kinda had that anticipation going forward into watching the show and i guess i was right. so if you’re expecting your big leo trauma moment, know they’re probably saving it for the movie instead where more people are likely to watch it.

i really love the animation, the style, the voice acting. (though im just gonna say this in like the kindest way possible. mikey’s va needs to work on the fact that he delivers some lines like he’s reading straight off the page. im not a professional but it stood out to me a few times and that’s just my humble opinion. i do think he suits the character so so well though and i wish him all the best going forward as our michelangelo!) whether we ever see brady noon as raphael again is a nother story lol

overall, as a tmnt fan, it delivered. it was fun and punchy and honestly worth the watch if you’re thinking about delving into another series. it’s not rise nor any of the previous iterations and i think sometimes you gotta just step back and view it with a fresh pair of eyes, because in all honestly i came off the back of watching all the rise episodes in like 2 days to then watching this, so i was making a few unfair comparisons throughout, none of which i think were obvious in my above points but. yeah. i didn’t hate it!! I thought it was funny and silly and well crafted by people that genuinely understands the characters in this.

now im just looking forward to the sequel :D

[mirpuzzle]

I've been really curious about this, who are your top ten Yu-Gi-Oh characters?

Hello! 🌷 Usually, I only have a few favorites. So, aside from the first three, the rest is constantly changing. I'll try to put them in order (all under the cut).

♡. 10 ── Carly Nagisa (5Ds)

What's not to love about her? She's funny, pretty, and a complete mess of a person. She gets in all sorts of trouble, all because she's trying to make a living. I like it when she gets screen time.

♡. 9 ── Noa Kaiba (DM)

He was my favorite as a kid, so I still have a special place in my heart for him. His story made me cry. He did not deserve that. He only wanted others to understand him. You're valid, Noa.

♡. 8 ── Yusei Fudo (5Ds)

It's rare for me to favor a protagonist. That's how you know he's good. This man is a blessing to Yugioh. He has a natural charisma that's impossible to ignore. He's perfect.

♡. 7 ── Bandit Keith (DM)

...I think. I have mixed feelings toward him. I don't even know why he's on this list. I keep going to him in games where Kotsuzuka is not there. So, that must mean I like him, right? I'm confused.

Cross Duel showed me he can be really nice to you if you help him win. I appreciate how he helps other duelists fortify their decks, using the themes they originally had instead of giving them a completely new deck. He cares.

While there's no excuse for what he did to Kotsuzuka and the boys, the fact that, behind that 'bad guy' front, there's a sad, broken man makes me feel bad for him. He deserves to heal.

♡. 6 ── Ryou Bakura (DM)

The anime doesn't do him justice. The more I learn about him through other fans and Duel Links, the more I like him. He's a precious cream puff who likes spooky stuff and is treated terribly by almost everyone. He deserves better (friends).

♡. 5 ── Divine (5Ds)

This man is terrible in every way, and that's the point. I hate that his character was designed to be hated. He gets no backstory, no redemption arc, no nothing. He's just there to be blamed for every bad thing that's ever happened. I pity him. He's the worst. I love this guy.

♡. 4 ── Thief King Bakura (DM)

PLEASE give this guy a break. He has gone through enough. The way he pulled himself back up after all that tragedy is impressive. Imagine how one skillful Thief became a Pharaoh's major threat. A Thief who brings up important moral questions that society seems to ignore (deliberately). He deserves to be heard.

♡. 3 ── Kiyoshi Takaido & Satake (DM)

They share third place because I can't have one without the other. I automatically started loving them because they're close friends with Kotsuzuka. I like that they care about him. These guys have so much potential to explore, and it's a shame we see so little of them.

They're not 'Keith's lackeys'. They're duelists in their own right. They have ambitions and aspirations. They just didn't get to be in the spotlight.

♡. 2 ── Yami Bakura (DM)

Sometimes switches places with Takaido and Satake but usually stays in second place. He's wickedly perfect. From his gorgeous design to how he pretends everything is part of his plan, even though he's literally dissipating into nothingness. He has the nerve to make empty threats that he never carries out. And I love him for that. No one can deny that he looks cool when he shows how evil™️ he is.

There's something beautiful about this ancient evil spirit dedicating his existence to fulfill his objective - all while showing us that he can enjoy normal human activities, like playing games. The complexity of his character captivates me. You can study him for hours, and it will still take you a while to figure him out due to his confusing lore. I like reading what other fans have to say about him.

The way he makes others suffer causes me to have mixed feelings. Sure, I love angst. I just wish there were some feelings involved.

Seeing him make enemies with almost everyone he crosses paths with makes me think he wants to keep everyone away, and that's sad. I want him to care about someone other than himself. I want someone to care about him.

♡. 1 ── Ghost Kotsuzuka (DM)

Yes, that one guy who's known for using Zombie-Type monsters. That short, spooky 15-year-old who walks around hunched over pretending to be a ghost, not realizing he's too cute to be scary. That naive boy who trusted the wrong person and then was unlucky enough to cross paths with the main antagonist. He's my favorite.

I love him. The way his eyes light up when he talks about the things he likes is adorable. I could listen to him gush about ghosts for hours.

His character tends to be frustratingly misinterpreted and overlooked. It's sad that some people think of him as nothing more than collateral damage to Yami Bakura's 'mischief'. He deserves better than that.

When you see past his 'side antagonist' role, you realize he's a precious little guy who's trying his best. Behind that ghostly, mischievous smile, there's a lost youth looking for guidance from a 'big bro' figure he can look up to, whether he realizes this or not.

Despite the differences in his characterization between the manga, anime, and games, one thing remains consistent. He grows into someone who wants to prove he can duel by himself.

But what does he get? Nothing but pain. Betrayed, deceived, ending up dead or lost in the darkness, condemned in almost every canon, with only his sentient Duel Links data to remember him by.

He only wanted to duel.

---------------------ꕥ

I'll stop here. Otherwise, I'll be talking about Kotsuzuka for hours. Thank you so much for the ask! ♡ Sorry that it took a while. I was struggling to organize what I wanted to say for some of the characters, and I wanted to add some art :3

Keep in mind that I've only seen Duel Monsters and the first half of 5Ds, so there are many characters I don't know yet.

[pbear]

Ranking The Black Bulls

I am so high after finishing the Black Clover anime which is why I'm making this. This is definitely a personal list and I just want a way for me to talk about these characters because I do love all of them.

Also, some spoilers.

16. Nacht and his demons

Little screen time and he’s extremely suspicious. Also if you keep going around being condescending to everyone I won’t like you.

I do not know his backstory which could definitely explain things but based on what he gets in the anime, I don’t care for him.

Pros are that he’s a pretty asshole and his tiny demons are cute.

15. Liebe

Lack of screen time gets you closer to the bottom.

That backstory was making me tear up though.

He gained anti-magic but how??? It kind of just happened.

He has a place in the found family whether he likes it or not.

14. Gordon Agrippa

I like that he just wants friends despite everyone thinking he’s creepy and being part of a family that studies curses.

He gets forgotten a lot :(

Actually a character who comes to have a healthy relationship with his family

He is shown to be kind of a stalker though which docks points. There's people being unreasonably scared of you and then there's keeping journals on everyone in the squad and making dolls of each of them.

13. Zora Ideale

Gets almost no character development after his introduction. They have forgotten this man which is a shame because he was introduced as a very interesting and menacing person.

His relationship with his father is very sweet

Sassy

Zora, you will succumb to the found family.

12. Henry Legolant

Him going from a possible ghost to a true member of the Black Bulls is great. I love that the squad finds a way for him to be around them even with his curse

He’s very nice too.

Doesn’t get a lot after the Elven Invasion arc. All you see is him occasionally sitting in a box.

His magic is so epic when it gets used. I love the Raging Black Bull Formation.

11. Vanessa Enoteca

Doesn’t actually get too much to do after the Forest of Witches arc.

I love that she’s basically the squad’s big sister.

Her magic and the red thread of fate are super cool although Rouge kind of becomes her main power.

10. Grey

I really enjoyed the episodes that focused on her a lot and how she wants to overcome her shyness for the rest of the Black Bulls.

Her backstory is fairly basic but the reveal that she met Gauche beforehand and he saved her was so good. I already loved them and now I love them even more.

Also, Grey, Gordon, and Gauche are absolutely a trio. Them defending the base from the Eye of the Midnight Sun was great.

9. Secre Swallowtail

Her plot with Lumiere is very sweet and gets you to like her very quickly.

Lumiere helping her develop her magic that she thinks is useless is something I love too.

I like that she’s an example that your magic is what you make of it. What it becomes is so cool and actually very useful.

The fact that even after her seal is undone, she still chills as a bird on Asta's head.

Also, I think it's interesting that Luck is the one who came up with the name Nero and she agreed to it back in the earlier episodes.

8. Gauche Adlai

This man would be ten times more attractive without his sister complex. Fortunately, his gag isn’t his only character aspect (although it’s a fairly big one).

I actually thought he was going to be super unimportant and then he got his own arc early on which shocked me.

It was nice that he began wanting to protect more people than just Marie. I actually started to enjoy it when he showed up.

His magic is cool and powerful. I think it was one of the first magic types introduced that wasn't more elemental. I want to know how he got the magic item in his eye.

Berates everyone but is literally just as insane as the rest of them.

7. Charmy Pappitson

Slow clap for her magic literally being a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Her sheep cooks are cute too.

Obsessed with food (same) and I thought it might be a gag that makes her annoying, but she has other aspects that make her interesting and she’s a side character so I’m not asking that she be incredibly deep.

Her crush on Yuno is funny and I love that her magic is actually super strong when she tries. I never thought one of the crush situations would be Rill -> Charmy -> Yuno

6. Noelle Silva

Seeing her growth from the start of the series is amazing.

Tsundere but manages to not be super annoying with it.

Her spells are awesome and every time she learns a new one you want to cheer for her.

Valkyrie Armor is so pretty.

5. Asta

The fact that he inspires everyone around him is incredible.

I think that he’s the final piece of the Black Bulls that pulls them together and brings them from a band of hooligans to a true found family.

Has a surprising number of girls in love with him. Yet he is only dedicated to Sister Lily which I do find funny.

He does a great job at being a protagonist you want to root for which is important in a show like this. Everyone likes him so how can you not like him?

4. Finral Roulacase

There is something to be said about characters that are still nice even though the world keeps throwing things at them.

Finral’s family was never nice to him yet he still came out a kind person and that’s beautiful. The fact that he still cares for Langris really shows that.

Although he tends to run away from his problems, he works to face them as the series goes on and become stronger to fight alongside his friends.

I love his hairstyle change so much for some reason. He's so cute.

3. Yami Sukehiro

The man who adopted like thirteen kids.

I really enjoyed how his experience as a foreigner led him to create a squad that wouldn’t be bound by status or discrimination.

He literally picks up new members randomly off the street.

Despite being seemingly irresponsible compared to other Captains, he cares for his squad and wants them to be better and surpass their limits. He also knows what they are capable of and what they can handle.

2. Magna Swing

He's one of the most passionate of the Black Bulls and that makes him stand out despite him not being the strongest.

He does have magic but a lot of the time his abilities pale in comparison to the others’.

Even then, he tries to get stronger and I love that about him.

I also really like that his fire magic has a baseball theme. It makes it more unique because fire magic is so common.

I love watching him and Luck be dumbasses with each other.

More attractive with his hair down during the Elven Invasion.

Luck Voltia

Easy favorite. I cannot explain why exactly but he is my favorite.

I eat up any screen time he gets.

Luck: *murders someone in a fight*

Me: I love you so much

He’s crazy in wanting to fight almost everyone that comes his way but it’s shown that he is smart in battle too.

I like how everyone else has a case for their grimoire and he just straps it to his chest.

[agentnico]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) review

I have now officially lost my IMAX vorjeneteee! First time experiencing a film in IMAX at the BFI theatre and holy Moses that’s one big screen! The perfect way to get immersed in Chris Hemsworth flexing his prosthetic nose!

Plot: Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by the Immortan Joe. As the two tyrants fight for dominance, Furiosa soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home.

Mad Max: Fury Road is easily one of the most spectacular action films of the 21st century. Shame that back when it came out in cinemas I opted to go see Pitch Perfect 2 instead. Look, my film tastes back then we’re not as refined nor was I so cultured in…..okay yeah, my film taste was crap. I opted to go watch some youngsters sing acapella instead of witnessing Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron wanting to literally kill one another for 2 hours in glorious form. I’ve of course since fixed my ways and discovered and appreciated Fury Road for what it was. The maddening chaotic post-apocalyptic world built from the mind of George Miller, the visuals are truly impressive, especially due to 80% of it being actual practical effects, so seeing the cars flying about left and right and characters defying physics, with Junkie XL’s energetic score and so many cool characters throughout - it’s pure awesomeness. The only weakness really is that there’s hardly a plot. Like half of the movie is a chase and the other half is a race. Essentially if you boil it down to the basics. Not much narrative substance so to speak.

Luckily Furiosa ends up being that kind of prequel/spin-off that actually enhances and improves on the Fury Road experience. There’s so much more story in Furiosa, but not only does it focus on its titular heroes, but it also fleshes out the villains from the original film as well as featuring set pieces that would be highly recognisable to the Mad Max fans. I’m not even simply referring to Fury Road here. There’s a few Easter Eggs that fall reference to the 2015 Mad Max game, which by the way is a highly entertaining play through and a very unique open-world game that doesn’t get enough love. So naturally I was pleased to see a lot of material from that game being made canon now, from the appearances of characters like Scaborus Scrotus and Chumbucket to the film debut of the Gastown location, which is only referenced in Fury Road but has been brought to life in the game. And now we get to see it in full glory in film form. Right, I’m not an obsessive video game or anything but I did have a little fanboy excitement seep through during this film.

The movie solely relied on dialogue focused on world-building, and the villain of Chris Hemsworth’s character, Dementus, was better than I’d expected. Honestly from the trailers I was afraid if he was going to be too cartoony, and also I’m still recovering from whatever the fudge Thor: Love & Thunder was, however the way Hemsworth mixes in the humor he’s known for with his rage and wit was a welcome sight. He’s still a dangerous character, standing up to Immortan Joe as well as destroying Furiosa’s childhood and leaving her with nothing but vengeance. Honestly not going to lie, this may be Hemsworth’s best performance ever. Truly with this and Bad Times at the El Royale Chris Hemsworth truly proves that he’s a fantastic actor when it comes to playing antagonists. He’s highly entertaining but also leaves a lasting impression as a truly sadistic character. Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa was alright, however not going to lie, I do feel the movie missed a trick by not bringing back Theron. Chances are Theron probably did not want to come back after having a terrible time filming Fury Road, but she was so powerful as that character, and with Taylor-Joy she simply didn’t reach that same level of intensity and anger expected from the character. I did enjoy her interactions with Tom Burke though. The way the two immediately worked together to fend off the raiders on the War Rig was reminiscent of the way Theron and Tom Hardy did in Fury Road, doing its predecessor justice. Burke played the role perfectly and their goals and motivations were rightly aligned with each other, eventually falling in love with one another, which gave Furiosa even more motivation on her hell-bent journey of enacting revenge on Dementus. Again, there’s so much story in this story, and it filled a lot of gaps in the Mad Max lore.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, dialogue, characters and set pieces, the main issue I had was the movie’s misuse of color-grading and CGI. While Fury Road set the standard for practical effects with minimal uses of CGI, making scenes come to life through real explosions and harsh red color-grading, Furiosa suffered from lack of both. The color-grading was too clean for me as it relied on softer colors, a downgrade from its predecessor eight years ago, and there were more moments that I could see the CGI at work — and it wasn’t done well. In fact at times the backgrounds of scenes looked so fake it was jarring and really broke the immersion. Again, I was watching this on the giant IMAX screen, so the level of detail was both great in enjoying most of the film, but also made the weaker visuals stick out like a sore thumb. Also Junkie XL’s Fury Road score is a true orchestral masterpiece. The levels of epicness it reaches is superb, so I was highly disappointed with what he did this time around. Aside from a couple of moments, the music score is an uninspired collection of booms and drum beats that left zero emotion.

Furiosa is a fantastic cinematic experience and is the second time this year where a desert setting makes for a superb film. Chris Hemsworth is the stand out and the story is rich in depth and scale, even if it does end up a bit too bloated. It does falter in the technical side with the obvious CGI and the weaker music score, bit overall this makes me want to see Miller continue making these Mad Max flicks, though judging by the box office results that may now be a pie dream. But let’s enjoy what we have - lady and gentlemens, start your engines!

Overall score: 8/10

[dirtytransmasc]

hey there, cool blog <3 I love reading your takes on things

so I wanted to ask your take on larycent and what you think we’ll see in season 2

(wrote this whole thing out and then my computer died before I could post it. my first attempt at this was much better. this is cruel and unusual punishment, this whole thing is now infused with anger. not towards you, just in general.)

I should first start off by saying, thank you, I'm so happy you like reading my stuff, second off, I'll say I may be one of the worst people to ask, cause Larys is one of those characters I hate so much, plot be damned, he could choke on one of his stupid flowers within the first 5 minutes of season 2 and I couldn't give less of a shit. I'm not typically like that with characters, I tend to try and give a character enough grace to care about their place in plot, but Larys just makes me that angry. despite this, I will try to be appropriately opinionated and give you a proper answer lol.

from a story point of view their dynamic is fascinating. here's this guy with such little standing (compared to her as queen) who wields so much power against her. it starts out when she is young and alone, he spots this weakness and befriends her, giving her information, gives her company she so longs for, slowly spinning this web around her. then as she gets older, he becomes a sort of confidant, biding his time, until he finds the right moment to strike. he bends her words, given in great trust and secrecy, most likely not the first dangerous secret they've shared, and uses it to 'justify' (he didn't need her command to do it, he just waited to do it in a way that he could hold her accountable for it) killing his father and brother. this gives him power, he can use this against her, to keep her close. he's piled up blackmail at this point, he's got her bound in his web of secrets, she can't leave.

she knows he's dangerous now, she has to keep him close, or he could hurt her, her kids, her image, the people around her.

the other thing is, he gets off on it all. he gets off on bringing her to his level, by stripping her of her agency as queen so that way they are equals.

then by some means, he gets her to give herself up in a sexual manner. he had already been doing this, in a way; I vaguely remember some sort of statement or interview from Matthew Needham about how Larys gets off on bringing her down, on filling her with shame and guilt, on making her feel dirty. so getting her to truthfully give herself up to him for whether it be to keep him satisfied (I'll come back to this point in a second) or for information, gives him the ultimate gratification.

he was like a parasite, taking and taking and taking from her until he was satisfied. she couldn't get rid of him, as he posed a threat to her and others, she couldn't ignore him because then he would act out and be a threat. he had to be kept satisfied. she had to give him a purpose, a use, an outlet to feel like he had power. like a dog, if he was left to himself, he would grow bored and unruly, she had to offer herself to keep him entertained.

both Olivia and Matthew played this dynamic out so well. Matthew played Larys so slimey and gross and just irksome, I was uncomfortable whenever he was on screen. Olivia played Alicent's discomfort and forced compliance so well, I just felt insanely bad the whole time.

it really built Larys up as this thinly veiled evil, he could be... well behaved and friendly, he could be useful, he could be an ally of sorts, all for a price, and if that price went unpaid or he felt undervalued, he could quickly become something so downright awful. he could be something downright evil if he wanted to really, that he was willing to bend words and step on toes (ironically) to get what he wanted and show off his power.

it also built up Alicent, adding onto her list of horrors in life, and putting her in this power limbo. she was queen, yet she was felled by this nobleman, brought down to his level if not lower. while some (*ahem* team black stans *cough cough*) saught to demonize her for her suffering, it really led me to sympathize with her more than before. she had suffered this mans sick and twisted game since she was a child, and he shows no signs of stopping. she's always stepping around fear, knowing the monster she let into her chambers, unable to get him out.

so, outside of the fact that I hate to see my girl suffering so horrible, I can't say I love their dynamic, but I don't hate it... its like, so horrible but so interesting, and I hate it not because it's poorly done or unnecessary, it just makes me feel gross and horrible. 10/10 characterization, 10/10 portrayal, 10/10 plot building -100/10 making me feel nice lmao.

onto predictions: I think she's going to attempt to stand up to him and fail. at the end of season 1 we see her lose Viserys (abuser number 1) and stand up to Otto (abuser number 2) finally putting him in his place after years of biting her tongue to him, acting against him (ordering Aegon be brought to her, that the crowning of aegon/treatment of Rhaenyra be under her command, etc,). I think she'll attempt to continue this pattern and stand up to Larys, who has been nothing but an aching wound in her side.

its only then that he will truly show how evil he can be. he will show his anger, his wrath, the power he holds over her head. he has years of blackmail against her, he will make this evident. it wouldn't surprise me if we get a scene paralleling Daemon and Rhaenyra and the choking scene, if even if only slightly. he will do something to make her keep him at her side. I think he will be the first to bring true horror to our girl. we have seen fear, strife, anxiety, worry, and disbelief, but we have not seen horror. truthfully, I think he's the only one I believe capable of doing that to her.

he is happy to remain sat loyally at her feet (again, the irony) so long as she respects him and lets him use her to get off when he pleases, so after his little show of power, when he instills fear into her once more, he will lie back down like a good little parasitic inside man, while she waits in fear, forever caught in his web. it brings this new air of sick and twisted to it all; his true self has been revealed, he can no longer be looked at with any level of incapacity or harmlessness (not that he really could before, but I don't really know how to describe what I'm thinking of in any other way), yet he reverts back to his normal self. he may be more assertive of his power over her, his word may have a sharper edge to them, but he will still play his role as her obedient servant, while she suffers the stresses of it all.

its this forced 'trust' Alicent is forced to reenter that will keep him at her side up until the end of it (I believe they separate when he is to smuggle Maelor out of the city, but I'm not sure if/when Maelor will be brought into the city, so we'll see how that goes) and I think that dynamic will be equally awful as it is interesting to watch play out.

[asleepinawell]

assorted dawntrail thoughts below in no particular order. they range all over the place

loved the first half of the msq story. super fun, cool areas, interesting npcs, paced out pretty nicely. traveling around meeting/helping people and learning about cultures is what the wol thrives on and that is their type of vacation imo. shard of azem behavior

wuk lamat is one of my fave characters in the whole series. himbos stay winning. the amount of (usually bigoted) hate she's getting just makes me like her more. people seem mad that the wol wasn't the main character but i prefer it that way. they are there to help people!

erenville 😢. enjoyed his parts and man i felt so bad for him in the last area

krile finally got more time on screen but it did feel like her main bit was crunched in at the end kinda

alpacas 💯💯💯💯💯💯

overall the scions got a lot less screen time which was mostly fine. one thing I'd really been hoping for in dt was that y'shtola would finally get the focused arc that almost all the other scions have (krile was the other odd one out until now). and boy did the opposite of that happen. i don't know why they made the choice to basically not include her at all but it sucked. estinien was the other one who got almost no screentime but he had a whole xpac about him already. so yeah, that was my biggest negative overall. sometimes i wonder if there's some writers who don't like her or if the fact many fans hate her influences the focus on her. she's my favorite character in the whole game so, yeah, disappointed

second half of the msq. hmmm. shaaloani felt like a filler area and was meh though i got a laugh because of course they put dinosaurs in the wild west area. it did feel a little "wooooo cowboys!!! and oh native americans maybe exist, moving on". I'm not going to make any comments about cultural sensitivity stuff in dt since i think there are other people better qualified to examine that, but this part did feel like everything not yeehaw cowboys was an afterthought

the sphene part of the story confused me, as in i was confused why they went with that. it felt so much like the amaurot story which... we've already done? yeah there were some differences but it had the same vibes and themes. it was fine? just a weird choice. wish zoraal ja had had a little more going on beyond daddy issues for someone we spent a lot of time dealing with. i felt like i didn't even know what his relationship with his father was like. there was some piece of story tying into his motivation and past that was missing. sphene was more interesting though i wish they hadn't gone the route of 'she was programmed to do this so you can't dissuade her' and kept it more as her choice. i'm not saying i wanted her to be 'evil' just that it makes her more interesting if she's acting with free will

las vegas as the last zone lmao. kinda bummed the area stays dark now. like yes it makes sense for the story but it's now a much less visually interesting area to run around and that's a shame. it would have been fun to fly through and now it's just bland and empty

gulool ja should NOT be in charge of a city, he should NOT be at the club, he should be playing tag with ga bu in the park and living his best life. I'm taking him into protective custody

VERMEDICA ii

cities! tulliyolal is great! they did a really nice job of making it feel alive and bustling. it will probably be my main city to hang out in for the xpac because... solution 9... just was not a fan. it feels huge and empty and has elevator music. i like cyberpunk bi lighting but it just isn't enough to save it for me. ah well. neither of them can replace radz in my heart but i didn't expect them to

dungeons. they were all pretty and i liked how they incorporated little events into them like zoraal ja blocking a path. i wasn't crazy about most of the boss fights. they're definitely harder than ew mechanics but it was more that i didn't find them intuitive. I'm sure I'll learn them eventually but the types of mechanics in them just weren't fun ones to me. also i do them all duty support and while it seems like they've broadened the ai abilities for the npcs they also added a ton more aoe and line marker mechanics and those SUCK with npcs because the npcs will run to a predefined location with theirs regardless of what you do and they sometimes wait to do this until the extremely last second. so you move to be somewhere safe and oh no alisaie what are you doing *dead*. this happened a bunch in dead ends and mothercrystal (urianger..... you know what you did) and i was hoping they'd make less of those situations but no they made MORE. so in addition to learning the mechanics you also have to learn where the npcs are going to run. once you know you know but it's frustrating the first time through when your own buddies are killing you

trials. the first one was fine. second one i Did Not Enjoy (also hope that a wipe in the second half only sets you back to phase 2 start because the cs....). third one i really liked though i still have no clue what happened in that one part. you know which part. fortunately a healer survived it to lb3 us so we didn't wipe. i don't even want to imagine what the ex of that will be like. it was a nice ending trial

i was having a harder time than usual seeing mechanics in dungeons through my own ability effects (old and new) for most of the boss fights and i figured it was just me but some of my friends reported the same issue. not 100% sure what is going on there. i only have my own effects on and i really don't want to turn them down but :(

two of my favorite cute little moments: 1) when wuk lamat was despairing that zoraal ja brought back the fancy alpaca and then apologized to her own alpaca and told it it was great and it did a little step towards her to encourage her 😭. i just loved the alpacas okay. 2) vrtra showing up! and then azdaja doing a tiny roar!! crying yelling throwing up etc

i did all the side quests as i went and I'm glad i did. especially in the first half they felt like they added to the whole learning about new people main story and there were some fun ones. i had to catch a hyper cat in solution 9... that's my sort of quest

I've only done the magical dps role quest so far. comparing notes with someone who did a different one it seems like the role quests are very silly storywise this time. it wasn't the most exciting story but i liked my npc buddy and the final duty wasn't bad

job gear looks fantastic except for poor pld who is cursed to be a shiny knight forever. gnb coat is superb. blm wins though i think. cat staff!

i had to turn off shout chat when i got to solution 9 because i guess that's where all the cool kids hang out to talk about how much they hate the game they're paying to play. i haven't switched it back on and am enjoying blissful silence

i swear we've seen that world traveling key thing before???? it looked so familiar. also looked ascian which would make sense. they should not have left it with my son he is going to make a blue raspberry slushie in it or something horrible. please give it to an adult

i haven't been looking at too much in the way of interviews or speculation about the raid series, but my guess is it will involve the ascian(s) who were on whichever shard alexandria is. my crack theory is one of them is, uh, duedaf...duedalus...dudeathon........ whatever i'll get it eventually, because the constellation from their stone is an upside down triangle like the ones on the robot faces. big if true. a friend told me there was something that might have looked like part of an ascian sigil in sphene's outfit decoration but i wouldn't have recognized it on sight

pct is great. hanmer time! i am not a 'serious' gamer and i am so pleased to have a new job with a not serious aesthetic. vpr i am trying very hard to like but so far the gameplay style hasn't vibed for me

have i mentioned i love the alpacas? the ear wiggles!!!!!!!!

i probably forgot a ton of stuff but those are my rambles for now

[34saveme34]

thinking about 3 and him making friends

I don't know how everyone handles him but 4 is definitely not the only one who cares about him

also I wish they showed it more but Meggy definitely considers 3 a friend

Mario also cares about 3 in his own way

He gets along well with Bob when they both want to

he can be nice to Boopkins

we don't see him with Melony which is a shame, they should touch on that more ugh

but yea like Idk the idea that 3 is isolated in 4's grasp to justify the idea that 4 could be abusive-

Sure, he revolves around 4 but it's not really fully his fault, they're cosmically assigned as a pair so like, the fuck can he do but make the most of it?

Like I'll say, he's definitely not fully integrated in the friendgroup and he still has a lot to work on in that regard but he's far from having only 4 as his friend

I think it's just rather that HE thinks that but like he doesn't even know if he should cuz his stupid ass is constantly scared, got them trust issues

You know who has that problem though but doesn't appear a lot so we don't think about it too much? Kaizo. Bro only really knew Saiko and like, that's all we really know of him besides like being irresponsible as hell

but we didn't really like, see him bounce off with anybody else

3-Meggy bouncing off works, similarly to how honestly 4-Meggy works, it's the competitive shittalking kicking in with both, although we saw less of it, since the 34 dynamic really took over

I bet Kaizo could have a great dynamic with someone other than Saiko but he doesn't get enough screen time for that

anyways I'm still fucked over the whole 34 thing. There's so much of them. I don't know, if their whole gay little thing is gonna forever stay a bit and nothing more, it's- gonna get boring real quick

like you can try and dangle the treat in front of us, the animals, but at some point after waiting for it long enough, we'll grow bored.

But really, it feels like such an odd writing decision to focus on them so much if they're just meant to be a bit and they don't want to progress their relationship further. Like it's not like that's what people prefer. Sure, there's a minority who would want only that forever but then it's just pleasing a tiny crowd which could drive others away. It just feels like it wouldn't worth going through so much trouble with them all for that

Like if they just wanted to keep it a silly bit, they shouldn't. focus on it so much. Like, logically if they put so much emphasis on them and tease the hell out of us with things like the end of wotfi23, forced hold hands, elevator, the god damn titanic scene, squidbob34, Perfect, them bitches always being next to each other, like you'll find them mostly next to each other in most scenes they're present in

like, logically, LOGICALLY, this shit's supposed to become more than a god damn bit. Why would you put so much in a ship, the actual like, majority of your fanbase doesn't really care as much about (see: that one youtube ship popularity poll on another yt channel) and some (although a minority) even despise and call the idea of making it canon the end of the world

I am just, you know, left wondering, what the hell is it for- if not for them to make it fuckin canon at some point?

Honestly, I think I said it before, maybe not publically but I'd find it really fun if wotfi24 somehow drove them to be canon

not like as an arc thing, just a fun thing yknow.

but then again, this pair has been a thing for a really long time now

like it makes you think about like, what would even be grand enough to match them, the anticipation that is if those 2 could ever get together, what could match that?

Or would it become like the Puzzlevision movie where it's like, it's fine but still kind of weak. Like sure, but, eh, I expected it to be more cool and like making the wait worthy

then again it would be really funny if they didn't make them canon on camera, we'd just see kiss them in the background while other characters get focus. Like Idk, maybe some random characters we don't see enough, getting together in 3's cafe and like. In the background we see 4 walk over to the counter and very clearly kiss 3 and then them talking. But like they aren't the focus so imagine people actually missing it LJLKLFFL

imagine being a shipper, missing the scene and then losing your shit when people post screenshots of them kissing and you have to go back and check and lose your shit even more

Idk I'm just rambling at this point

[wirewitchviolet]

Does anyone actually like the whole "this total loser is the chosen one" thing?

You start playing some new game. Immediately, you are introduced to the protagonist. He's a total deadbeat loser idiot who has no greater ambition in life beyond playing games/becoming a cool rock star somehow without learning to play an instrument or form a band/watching some TV show. But through just the absolute sheer dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time, he gets The Thing, that lets him do main character in a video game stuff. Much to the frustration of this cool competent badass woman who's actively invested in saving the world and has a concrete plan to do it. Our accidental hero can't be bothered to care about any of that, and any time she's talking he either tunes out completely or sexually harasses her. Then once she eventually gives up trying to explain him he says something like "now here's the part where I do my thing!" and you jump into the action of doing 3 hit combos to enemies or whatever.

I hate that character. I can't stand him. His presence makes me not even want to touch a game, which is a real shame because I swear the paragraph above describes like... half of them. Also most shonen anime come to think, the bulk of superhero media, and a surprising amount of fantasy stuff.

Now, I understand why we have that guy. The thinking is, he's "relatable." We're making a not particularly challenging piece of escapist media, we're assuming most people who are going to be interested are losers who just sit on their couch all day, and we're also assuming they're at-least-mildly-creepy dudes even when demographic info suggests a given genre/medium appeals primarily to women.

Does anyone actually want that, though? I'm not some pathetic dude on a couch, so I probably wouldn't get the "he's just like me!" factor regardless, but like, I remember being a small child and having media constantly cram some annoying piece of garbage kid into everything for me to "relate to" and I was never able to stand any of them either.

Like if I'm watching Transformers the Movie as a kid, I am just rolling my eyes every time we have the dorky little kid going fishing or trying to use power armor, and for that matter as an adult I'm not too big on the pink girly one playing babysitter and being flirty. I'd be cool just giving all that screen time over to Kupp and Grimlock thanks.

And really, it always seems like a huge insult to whoever you're trying to give a relatable stand-in to. Some deadbeat loser who'd just be sitting on the couch watching TV if he didn't get a magic yo-yo or whatever isn't exactly an aspirational sort of character. Even if that's where you'd picture yourself at the start of the cool action narrative, if it were you, you'd want to get your act together and live up to the heroic role you fell into, right?

Like, recently I've been marathoning through Farscape for like the 5th time because a friend had never seen it, and there's a show where the protagonist is just a big fish out of water nerd in a crazy setting constantly making obscure pop culture references that absolutely nobody else is possibly going to have the context for, and I can sure as hell personally relate to that! But the key difference is, he doesn't suck. He does his best to adapt to situations and show compassion and actually learn how stuff he doesn't get works, so he's, you know, likeable. He's not some complete loser who only gets by because he has the spoon of destiny or whatever.

Actually come to think of it, I'm really combining two separate media trends I can't stand here. Loser protagonists get on my nerves even when they aren't the chosen one, and even when they aren't a total loser, I kinda hate chosen one narratives too.

Like... have you ever played a Bethesda game? They always want to do this whole bit where you come from the humblest of roots and go on to save the world or whatever, but they just cannot for the life of them wait until you've actually started accomplishing cool stuff before everyone starts in with the totally over the top hero worship. Just, "behold! This stranger to our lands has picked up the empty soda can and tossed it in the recycling bin! Truly such a feat of heroics means this is no mere mortal before us, but the great one foretold in legend!"

Like, can we please just have narratives where the protagonist is a decent person, who accomplishes things by virtue of actual competence and/or determination, and any respect or admiration they might receive is actually properly earned? Is that too much to ask? And if that IS too much to ask from a protagonist, can we at least stop treating members of the supporting cast who pick the slack up like total garbage?

And speaking of getting treated like garbage/the concept of supporting, I still don't know how I'm going to get through the winter with a roof over my head.

[zephtheduck]

Stuff I've heard at school: Part 15

He didn't lose a braincell he lost the entire brain

So throughout the game he kept going 'you don't want my chunky dick?'

I do not care about your bowl movements

No one cares about your asshole

Strawberry twink

He would taste like strawberry mochi

It would look like someone exploded

P1: Those tasted like my gandmas house

P2: why are you eating your grandmas house

P1: "My grandpas not dead. The other one is, but this one isn't"

P2: "Give him time"

Teacher: yeah that's right! lower your head in shame! lower! lower!

Student, doing a walk of shame for overdue work: any lower than this and I'll be crawling!

Quebec French just, SOUNDS like they're cursing you out

This guy's hiding the fact that he, like, ties a kite to his phone

I was just going to say he has really child bearing hips

P1: "Debrah (a rifle gun) would be happy"

P2: "What's debrahs beef with me"

P1: "She doesn't like you because you've used her one too many times lol"

P2: "…is that a terrorist joke?"

P1: "yeah"

P2: "haha okay cool just checking hahaha"

Please lets refrain from calling teachers twinks

P1: "Guatamala"

P2: "That says Gujrat"

P1: "Guatamalaaa"

P2: "I guess I'm guatamalan now? lol"

P1: "Yeah you're guava"

P1, to P3: Yeah, well, I'm not Indian P2, distracted by his phone: You mean Indigenous P1, gesturing to P3, who is Indian: No I mean Indian P2, not looking up: Yeah, the proper term is Indigenous P1, aggressively gesturing to P3, who is waving awkwardly: No, I mean INDIAN P2, finally looking up: OHH! I thought you were talking about Indigenous 'Indian'! My bad, my bad.

what the hap just fuckened

P1: "Drank perfumes?"

P2: "What?"

P1: "All I heard was you went to bath and body works to drink perfume"

Do you know how balls deep I need to be in a story to be effectively begging my screen to kill off a character?

That is the sauciest look I've ever seen someone give me

Because when they're going out to no-mans land that what they're thinking, 'I want a really nice tank, very visually pleasing tank, I don't want that Mark One'

"Yo, FUCK him I'd smash his mom"

+ "Yeah and after we're done I'm going to look him dead in the eye and say 'I fucked your mom'"

P1: "Thank you for violating my (oc) characters"

P2, in an uncomfortably eager voice: "I can violate them even more if you want"

"It's the cummie water from school" sips "oh yeah, that is cum"

"Where did you get these genes from"

*looks down at his jeans* "Old Navy?"

"and he goes 'My body is my resume!' and takes his shirt off, and I showed it to my manager because I had no idea what to say"

They literally pickled a baby! (in reference to Ares mythology)

You can either be gay or funny, choose one

I identify as out of this-world

The G in LGBT stands for God

OoOoh, I don't know what I did, but I am learning SO MUCH.

Dionysus is his tumor then!

This is my tumor, he's a drunken little shit who we decided to banish to earth for a while

Blowjobs, for anyone who isn't a sex worker, should be called blowhobbies

What do you call two Jewish stoner in a car? A gas chamber

It's not because you're a rabbit, it's bc you're black!

I inhaled a piece of cheese and it won't get UNINHAILED *coughing*

Who needs their liver anyway

We're the testicles

Why did you give me that look? You look like a child seeing their father for the first time after getting the milk

UM NO. I think that's YOU little miss toe-socks

Even your writing looks dyslexic

Lycan we're both failing math, I don't need this right now.

Reverse racism, but not like, in a racist way

Wow, you even SOUND dyslexic

[anhed-nia]

I have way too much shit to do over the next few days starting tonight, so yesterday I decided to stay on the couch and have cramps and vegetate and watch all the lady movies I've been sleeping on.

EILEEN is pretty much what I expected, it's good but not great and a little pretentious, but the character study with Thomasin McKenzie is really cool. Or maybe I just thought that because she reminded me so much of a close friend of mine that I just decided the movie was about my friend and it was more fun that way.

THE ASSISTANT was also about what I expected, good but not great and sort of predictable--although I like how it plays like a thriller even though what's happening is sadly mundane and unsurprising. That approach works pretty well for this movie.

THE SOUVENIR is not a masterpiece but very strong, and disturbing. One critic called it a type of horror film. Years ago I was in a version of the awful relationship at the heart of this movie, and although that guy didn't have the excuse of [SPOILER REDACTED], all of his behavior and its effects on me were basically the same. It could have literally been him on the screen. My viewing experience was pretty tainted by unpleasant, shameful flashbacks and although I'm confident in saying it's a good movie, it's hard for me to imagine what it's like to watch it if you don't connect it directly to your own biography. I'll just never know what it's like as a pure work of art.

The funny thing about THE SOUVENIR is that it has this weird Rotten Tomatoes ratio were the audience score is really low, I wonder what that's about. Maybe it's just one of those things where general audiences are more resistant to being Very Bummed Out than film critics and aficionados. Or maybe it's that dumb thing where audiences find the choices of the victimized protagonist too hard to relate to because of the media they've been trained on. I often notice this in discussions about horror movies where the characters are motivated by fear, hysteria, dissociation, incomprehension, and other totally normal responses to extreme experience, and shallow unimaginative viewers go "UGH why did she do THAT, THAT'S not what I WOULD DO," and not only is it exactly what they would do in an incomprehensible situation, but their basis of comparison is not even "rational behavior"; their basis of comparison is the behavior you see in THE BOURNE IDENTITY or something where the hero does everything perfectly all the time and because certain viewers are strongly pursuaded by inhuman perfection, they think that's the standard everyone should be meeting, that's what they think is "realistic". It's stupid and ignorant and egotistical, and it's actually part of my secret criteria for who I can and cannot be friends with.

But anyway that's kind of what THE SOUVENIR PART II is about, which has high ratings for both critics and audience. It is a better movie, to some degree, but it was extra fascinating to me because as the protagonist uses her senior film school project to do a post mortem on her awful relationship, she is confronted with the fact that nobody quite gets what the story is about because none of her cast or crew have been in her shoes and they find the whole thing unconvincing. They don't get why the heroine subjects herself to abuse, or how to humanize the guy who seems like a total monster. You know, why is she so weak, he's "obviously" bad, what is the logic of this situation? All this black and white, judgmental thinking from people who are lucky enough not to have had to live through such a thing. The truth is that the abusive relationships are sort of absurdist in nature, they don't play by the normal rules, even the laws of time and space bend around this black hole you're being sucked into, which the heroine finds out as she's trying to put scenes in order. Strong stuff.

THE SOUVENIR PART II reminded me of this great rant Joe Bob Briggs has about "strong female protagonists" that basically amounts to the idea that characters should be whoever they need to be to serve the story. They're not exemplars of some ideal state of existence for us all to emulate--I mean unless they are, but that's under fairly specific conditions. His example is always Laurie Strode, who is typically upheld as a Strong Female Protagonist even though she doesn't become that thing until years down the road; in the meantime, she is a completely normal person with anxieties and phobias and insecurities and perfectly rational responses to Michael Myers. And that's what makes her so relatable, not her perfection, but her humanity.

[EDIT: Pardon me if the tone of this is a little alien to this blog. I don't even know if it definitely is, or if anyone cares, but I couldn't figure out where to put this post because I don't post much autobiographical material here anymore and I try to make the content of this blog reasonably appropriate for colleagues to see in both tone and content (like this feels both too intimate and too casual to me). But, I also try to keep all my movie information over here, so this is what I picked. I'm sure this doesn't bother anyone but me, but I have to justify my own rule-breaking to myself in order to feel better, so there.]

[candy-fae]

HELLO CARLIE I am here to get u to talk about batman stuff

What got u into batman and why is the riddler ur fav? I am hella curious and i don't remember if we talked abt it!

-Chris! (@worldtravelercv)

LET ME BEAM YOU BACK TO THE RIPE YEAR OF 2004!! I am fresh to the world, 4 years old. I know what Batman is, because I have three older brothers. But I only watched live action silly Jim carry villains, and the colors and Tim burtony city were what stuck. Cool. Neat.

Fast forward. 200000007? Probably. BOOMERANG. I grew up without cable, and the internet for a while. Didn't get a phone until I was 14. so, late at night, while I'm watching the brand new box tv, what comes across my screen?

Well at that time certainly not robot chicken. The theme song was scary. So, the 2004 Batman reruns catch my attention on boomerang, and BOY did they hold it! Feral joker. Penguin being a greedy little criminal. And the Batman. Everything was dark, and angular, and when there was color it was BRIGHT. but it was used so well it made things seem intentional and wacky.

That's actually my favorite version of Bruce. I'm not really a batfam fan at all haha. Hard to keep track of the robins for me. But he was animated like a shadow, or a vampire, and was sharp like a villains design. Kevin Conroy has the best Bman voice, but this guy was my OG and a different spin on the hero's I'd seen so far.

the best version of everything is the the version we were exposed to as kids.

And I loved it! Penguin was definitely my favorite, and I'm actually not a big fan of the Batman 2004's Riddler lol. Just not my style, but INTERESTING. story wise sorta reminds me of the fox gothams Riddler.

He's different, very much so. We get NOTHING of Fox riddlers story before we see him which. Is usually such a big part of his character haha. He doesn't have the same "I'm better than you" energy either that I'm use to. But you know who's got it down just about right?

Arkham Eddie. I played the game at a friends house once, and he explained to me how Riddler progressively learns to outsmart you through the entire series.

He's like an underdog villain, who has SO much potential, but is sparingly used, because he's hard to write, and I hate that haha

To write a good, Compelling Riddler, you have to be smart enough to make, and solve, a complicated obstruction. He's never a toll bridge for the Batman, he's ALWAYS a speed bump. At first. Then he's a boulder, then a mountain, until you can't ignore him anymore, then he's not something you can keep beating up, you actually have to outfox him, and he's aware of it.

He's a good villain because super intelligent people often see things from all angles, and to keep a guy who's called the world's greatest detective on his toes guessing, is pretty impressive for a guy we don't get to see too much. And I think it's a shame.

Personality wise, I think he's funny. Like, accidentally. Have you ever played the Arkham games? HOURS of failing that stupid race track to the sound of him taunting you makes it very full filing to finally catch him, but I WOULDN'T know. That jerk.

At current though, zero year is my favorite. Greg Capullo has such a good understanding of drawing movement and lots of Eddie pictures portray so much action in a still frame, it's crazy, but, now you've got me rambling.

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven rewatch, episode ten - The Hand You’re Dealt

This is a great episode, even if the end is kinda depressing. But there’s not one but two separate Troubles, with interesting characters behind them and a tricky investigation to figure out what’s going on. PLUS, it’s a great Duke episode; I love his conversation with Vanessa (“Everything’s illegal somewhere”) and the way he tries to help her; AND all of his snark with Nathan is fabulous.

Also love Duke’s, “nobody was cool in high school, not even me,” comment - even if I don’t believe him ;)

Some details about the plot bother me though, little things that don’t quite line up, like the phone conversation the Principal has before she gets in her car, or Vanessa sulking around in the police station; I get that these things are designed to build the mystery or whatever, but I’m not quite sure they work.

And then there’s Nathan - last episode he was willing to shoot someone who looked like Audrey, simply on the basis that he could feel her (or rather couldn’t) - ie he risked his friend’s life on the theory that his being able to feel is specific to Audrey and that therefore the person standing in front of him was not her. This week he’s poking himself with forks and leaning on fence posts to check that same theory; it seems slightly the wrong way around. I know some of the earlier episodes were originally planned in a different order, I wonder if that’s the case here too. (I guess it would have to have changed fairly early in the process though, for Eleanor and Julia’s plotlines to make sense.)

Audrey and Julia are really cute with their cocktails.

Given what we later learn about the Colorado Kid and the day he died, I really don’t understand how Eleanor can have been at his autopsy.

I like Duke and Vanessa, it’s a shame she wasn’t in a few more episodes - plus Haven could definitely use all the counsellors it can get!

I love that moment when they throw the barbeque in the pool and it looks like nothing’s going to happen - bit awkward if you’ve ruined someone else’s burgers for nothing XD

Why is Vanessa able to remember some of what happened on the day the Colorado Kid died? It would be interesting if Duke got some of those memories back too.

I love how Nathan follows Audrey’s lead when she decides to wind Matt up, even if he does look kind of horrified when Matt blows himself up.

Love that the irrelevance of fate is one of the few things Duke and Nathan are prepared to agree about.

Also such a shame Julia didn’t stick around; having her as ME and an ally for Audrey and Nathan could have been really cool. Potential love interest maybe for Duke, or at least someone else like him who is a local but has also spent a lot of time away (and is back in town only reluctantly). The four of them working together on the Troubles, could have been a really nice dynamic for a while.

My final thought though - Vanessa’s 1980s vision of how the Colorado Kid was going to die isn’t born out by what actually happens when we eventually see it on screen in season five; so … maybe fate can be changed afterall?

[moveslikeanape]

i actually don't play disney magic kingdoms myself, it's just not really my type of game, but i've seen some gameplay of it and read a lot of the little dialogue from it online and it's always seemed really charming and cute! so it really is too bad we might never get to see tarzan characters added to it. i do play disney dreamlight valley on the switch, which is sort of a life sim game like animal crossing but with disney/pixar characters all living together, and a lot more of a story to it with quests you get to do for everyone. it's a lot newer and doesn't have nearly as many characters in it, but a recent update added a jungle biome that would've been perfect for tarzan and jane. i know they'll probably never be added, but if they were then they could live together in the treehouse and we could see how tarzan would feel about living in the valley among so many other humans! there would be so many new things that jane could teach him about.

i recently started collecting lorcana cards after seeing one of rapunzel wearing a green dress, which i found really cool because that was what she had in so much of her concept art! i was also pretty excited to be able to get cards from the emperor's new groove, the great mouse detective, treasure planet, and hercules. i bet they could make some beautiful cards for tarzan... but yeah, that copyright issue is incredibly frustrating. some of my favorite movies may be a bit overlooked or underrepresented by disney, but at least they don't have the legal problem that tarzan has. i guess with once upon a studio they must've wanted to really go all out to make sure every single walt disney animation studios feature could be included! i'm grateful they did, because it would've been a huge shame to see tarzan not even allowed into the special 100th anniversary short. the new movie "wish" also has a tribute to past WDAS films during the credits, where gold-colored drawings of characters from each movie appeared across the screen in chronological order. strangely they actually left out a handful of movies including the black cauldron, but they did include tarzan!

also, i'm sure you already knew about this haha, but just the other day i came across an article from a few years ago where several of the people who worked on tarzan were interviewed and talked about the production. and i learned for the first time that it was originally planned as a direct-to-video movie which would stick closer to the source material with tarzan going to england. i'm obviously very glad that that didn't happen and we got the movie we have now instead. -🌟

Sorry, was out of town for the weekend visiting family.

That's fair about Magic Kingdoms not being your type of game. I think the only real reason I play it is because it's something I can play casually and more of less keep up with, with out it taking too much time.

What I've seen of Dreamlight Valley looks like so much fun! And that would be amazing to see Tarzan and Jane in that game. Probably will never happen, but we can dream!

Ooo, I haven't seen that Rapunzel one, will have to look it up. I've always loved the concept art. So insane to think there's actually even Treasure Planet art in them!!!

Sadly we may never get Tarzan in Lorcana, but I found this artist during the Disemeber challenge on instagram, and he's actually done art for Lorcana. Looks like it was just the one card, Chief Bogo (which he's posted if you go though his stuff). May not be official, but at least here's a Christmas themed idea of what could be if they included Tarzan

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OMG, I never expected any reference to Tarzan in Wish!! I haven't seen it yet (live in a small town, starting to think we may not even get it in our theatre), but now I'm even more excited to see it!

Oh wow, I actually didn't know that! That's so interesting (definitely so grateful they didn't go that route though). Would have been interesting to see how close Disney would get to the source material… don't know if you've ever read the books, but there's a lot of not so family friendly stuff. Also would have been such a waste, given the quality of D2V animation, would have been such a shame to only get Tarzan & Jane quality animation.

[lazerv4]

Thoughts on The Boys Season 4

Just my raw thoughts not a review or anything

The Boys is finally back after an extended break (I know we got Gen V in the middle but idk) and is here to finally show us what is going on with our favorite group of edgy vigilantes and the answer is not very much and what is there is kind of disappointing.

Season 4 is a mess, an ugly, brash and thoughtless disaster of random plotlines that I wish were better handled but as a set up season for the 5th and final installment it suffers greatly. 

Butcher who is performed phenomenally as always by Karl Urban gets a very interesting dynamic with a fellow comrade Kessler played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan doing a really good job as the guest this season (not to the extent of Jensen Ackles did last season as Soldier Boy but that is literally impossible to top) and is one of the more fascinating characters until it’s revealed he is just a hallucination and a lot of his potential is squandered. Hughie (Jack Quaid) for his part is almost entirely disconnected from the story till the incredibly controversial and disgusting with Tech Knight and some not very well handled parts with Erin Moriarty’s Starlight were their romance seems threatened and gives poor Annie a completely lackluster season between that and her underexplored Planned Parenthood-esque storyline. Frenchie and Kimiko get the worst this season as both their plots come out of nowhere and are dropped randomly so I’m gonna do the same, sorry Karen (Fukuhara) you were great but they gave you trash. And last but not least MM (who got a surprising transformation, good on you Laz (heh) Alonso) has an interesting will he wont he type story about if he will stay in the game or leave for his family and his own health which I hope continues into Season 5.

Now the bad guys which will frankly be shorter, Starr as Homelander is the same as always, a good performance that is kind of losing it’s luster a little but it still has a funny and terrifying aura when properly utilized and I’m really looking forward to his Donal Trump era next season.  Chance Crawford’s Deep and Nathan Mitchell´s Black Noir (version 2) start a funny and dumb partnership now that Noir can talk and they lightened up the mood significantly when they were on screen even if they are both horrible people. Jessie T. Usher is the stand out this season as A-Train gets an atonement arc that made him really endearing and frankly my favorite character this season which seems so bizarre when they show opens trying to convince you he is the biggest piece of shit but man has the guy grown, he is still a cocky asshole but he now tries to be a decent and even sometimes just a straight up good person and I really do hope he makes it out of this. And finally the newcomers Sister Sage and Firecracker portrayed bySusan Heyward and Valorie Curry respectively are a great addition to the cast both in being a cynical egomaniac that works behind the scenes and a new hate sponge that does everything despicable you can think of, specially with both of them being original creations they were implemented with great care and attention that just worked well with the dynamic of the show.

And now the neutral characters I guess? Caludia Doumit’s Victoria Newman suffers a lot from lack of commitment and bad character writing this season which is such a shame now knowing (for obvious reasons) that this is her last season while Ryan (who is supposed to be like 13 but Cameron Crovetti looks way older than he even is) gets something similar to MM with a will he wont he but poorly executed in comparison and it just kind of makes me dislike the character a lot.

There were other cool characters and cameos like Giancarlo Esposito finally coming back to play Stan Endgar but at the same time we got Maddie Philips struggling to act even with a character as one note as Cate is in this show.

The Boys season 4 was a big mix bag let down but it still has some redeeming qualities, hopefully a lot of it’s issues have more to do with the fact that it’s a set up season and less with the writers not knowing what to do anymore.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep18: Darkling

Oh no, it's this one. I'm just gonna say it, this one is straight up bad. Whoever thought: gee, let's do Jekyll and Hyde meets Lolita, starring the Doctor and Kes! What the actual hell???

We could have had a nice episode about Kes gaining more independence and having a nice little romance, that wasn't about the Doctor, or any male character, having a creepy Humbert Humbert-like obsession with her, but no. We just can't have nice things, I guess, because the entire Voyager writers room apparently had a creepy obsession with Kes. Just leave her alone, jfc!!!

It starts out normal enough- they're on another planet with a pretty matte painting, and a cool rustic bar set, and Kes is actually part of the away mission, working on transporting medical supplies with a hot young alien guy, and they clearly like each other. Kes and Neelix apparently broke up offscreen at some point before this, which is a majorly big plot point to have happen off screen! What the hell?! During the break up on the holodeck in 'Warlord', Kes was possessed, so that wasn't really her breaking up with him- the actual break up had to have happened later, when she was herself again. Ending that relationship is a huge deal for both them, and it's total cheat to not even show it, since how they handled that would be a big defining moment for both their characters. It's just plain lazy writing! Show us the breakup, you cowards!!!

But anyway, Kes is no longer wearing her little girlish jumper dresses- she's in a velour catsuit, to show us she's grown up now. It is at least cuter than said jumper dresses, and at least it doesn't include a corset and boob padding, but still, I kind of wish they'd have given her something more like the longer, looser dress she wore for a scene when she was possessed by the warlord. It felt a little much to have her clothes go from infantilized to sexualized in one go. The alien pilot Kes has been working with, Zahir, seems to like it though, and he and Kes get very close, to the point that they're staying out till 3am kissing, and that he asks her to come with him on his ship when he leaves. Kes considers it seriously, and talks it over with the Captain, who's supportive of whatever she decides. She gets nothing but crap about it from the Doctor though.

The Doctor's attitude toward Kes's relationship with her new alien boyfriend is so jealous and judgemental, even before he puts in his new personality subroutines. He basically slut shames her for liking Zahir, and tells her she needs to take a cold shower. He also guilts her for spending time with Zahir instead of him, implying that she should have been helping the Doctor with his little side project of trying to add new personality subroutines to his program, even though that's not in any way part of her job. He patronizes her with the 'I'm just looking out for you' tack, but he's clearly being very selfish and manipulative in how he's treating her. Thankfully, Kes stands up for herself, and tells him that she's a grown up, and that her relationships aren't anyone's business but hers (you go girl!!) and that she's still capable of doing her job.

Even though the Doctor is supposed to be the Dr. Jekyll version in this story, his behavior toward Kes is already messed up and icky before his Mr. Hyde counterpart even shows up. Especially comparing it to Janeway and Tuvok, who also have a protective, parental relationship with Kes, the difference is clear- they're interested in Kes's wellbeing, but that includes respecting her choices and realizing they have to let go and let her make her own decisions, even if it means leaving them. The Doctor does not, and I feel like the whole plot of accidentally adding evil subroutines to his program is just a cover to make the regular Doctor's behavior seem not so bad by comparison. (It' s still bad, though.)

The Doctor's new subroutines make him act truly heinous to B'Elanna when she comes in with a food allergy, and she's rightfully pissed that he's been messing with his program without even consulting her. She's incredibly lenient with him, and says she'll come back to fix his program when she gets done in engineering later. (Tbh I think B'Elanna should and would have given him a lecture and fixed it right then and there- having the only Doctor on board sexually harassing patients is a 100% unacceptable situation, for any length of time, and no woman would be like 'that's fine for a few hours!' Like, honestly, what the hell?!)

So, of course, in that time, the evil subroutines take hold, and the Doctor literally transforms into Mr. Hyde- his eyes suddenly have dark contacts (of evil), messed up hair (of evil), he holds his jaw in an underbite (of evil), and speaks low and hoarsely (in the voice of evil). There's a lot of teeth nashing and growling and handwringing, and it's very, very over the top. Maybe the director told him to act it that way, but it's just plain bad. He goes on a rampage (of evil) and pushes Kes's boyfriend over a cliff (he's okay though!), and attacks B'Elanna. He knocks her out and paralyzes her with hyposprays, and threatens to torture her if she doesn't help him get rid of the Doctor's original personality, which she tells him is impossible, and refuses to help, even if she could. (The Doctor's terrible overacting is the only thing that keeps the scene from being even more disturbing than it already is, why is it even here?? Why did we need that?? A scene like that with an actual villainous character is one thing, since it reveals some kind of character info, but with a character who's one of our heroes?!? It's just gross, and very much undermines the trust and affection the audience has built up for him, regardless of the excuse. It just feels weird and violence fetishy, honestly.)

When B'Elanna won't help him, the Doctor decides to go to the holodeck to ask his little holo characters he based his new subroutines on for help, because that makes sense! (It does not.) We get a scene of him stalking through the halls looking hunched over and underbite-y, and clearly evil, with none of the passing crewmembers noticing anything amiss. (Really??) We get yet another needlessly creepy scene of him following an unsuspecting ensign into a turbolift, eyeing her with evil intent, and I found myself wondering why all the crewmembers he's turned on so far have to be women. Then Tom enters the turbolift, and the Doctor backs off from whatever evil plan he had, and turns away from Tom, deflecting as Tom chats to him, and we get the picture that yes, indeed, the Doctor's evil plans seem to be reserved for women, and only include men who come between him and a woman he desires. Holy misogyny Batman!!! Major yikes!!! Why would they write that?! Why would they do that to his character?! Idek.

So Kes comes to see the Doctor, and the computer tells her he's on the holodeck. When she gets there, she finds all of his historical figure characters glitching, having been tampered with by the Doctor, which, for some reason, she finds super scary- she looks like she's going to puke, but it's not even that scary?? They're just holo characters, and he didn't program them to look like they've been killed like real people, they're just like, reapeating motions over and over- why is that so disturbing?? It's not even half as bad as what he did to B'Elanna, idk why this is supposed to horrify us after that.

The Doctor kidnaps Kes, and takes her to the planet, where he's trying to get a ship to take her away. He spouts a lot of edgelord crap about how evil is the most essential thing in the universe, but Kes tries to reason with him, and explain that nothing could work without kindness and cooperation. Evil!Doctor is pretty easily confused by Kes's argument, but he gets angry again when the guy he was gonna get the shuttle from tells him that Voyager realized what he'd done, and is blocking ships from leaving the planet. He takes Kes out to the cliffside, where the Voyager crew track them down. Kes makes an impassioned appeal to the Doctor, telling him all his craziness has really been an attempt to protect her (still yikes!!!) and so he really must still be good at heart. Evil!Doctor realizes he has no way out, with everyone on his tail, so he jumps off the cliff with Kes, in classic 'if I can't have you, no one will!' fashion. Luckily, Voyager manages to beam them up mid-fall, and the Doctor's evil subroutines somehow magically disappear when he rematerializes on Voyager! (WHAT?!?!?)

In the last scene, B'Elanna says she's erased all traces of his evil version, and once again, she lets him off way too easily. She should and would have ordered him to ask her before messing with his program in the future, and he should have apologized to her, and assured her he would never do it again, since doing so literally just caused him to try to kill several people, including her! But all we get is a cutesy little scene where B'Elanna and Kes both just let him off the hook with barely more than a finger wag- in fact, he ends up being rewarded for his bad behavior with the outcome he wanted: Kes staying with him. He recites the Hippocratic Oath, as if to reassure us he's really good, but it feels like a weird tacked on ending for an episode that wanted to play with being dark and edgy, without actually taking responsibility for it. Either the bad Doctor was entirely a separate entity from the real Doctor, so there was no character revealing element to this useless episode, or the evil was coming from his real personality, which is even more disturbing, because it's saying that he actually is a terrible person underneath.

There was absolutely no good outcome for this storyline, and it totally streamrolled Kes's story to boot. All the build up of her romance, and her questioning if she should go with him, was waved away at the end, where she just says, yeah, I'm gonna stay here with my friends where it's safe! Despite the fact that one of her so-called friends just treated her like crap, and then tried to kill her! What?! I actually think the idea they had earlier, of her going on a short mission with him and then coming back to Voyager again before they got too far away, was actually a good idea, and it would have been more interesting if she'd done that, since they seemed to have a connection, and Kes loves to explore, and she's already lived a third of her life on Voyager by now. But no, she doesn't even get a scene to say goodbye to this guy, because clearly, her growing and maturing and forming new relationships is so much less important than a story about a middle aged white man being a possessive jerk. Arg!!!

Tl;dr: A poorly thought out story that ignored Kes's development in favor of making the Doctor a creepy asshole, for no reason. Probably the episode that finally made me really dislike the Doctor. Not a successful effort.