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finndoesntwantthis · 2 years ago

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Something I'm realizing about Inner Circle and JAS. This might be a little bit long and I apologize in advance for that, but I hope you'll still read, because I'd like to get your take and find your opinions interesting and good.

Here goes. Though I'm not fans of Jericho and Hager, the reason Inner Circle worked when they started out as a heel faction is because they had chemistry and got heel heat for the right reasons. Even with Jericho being the leader and world champion, the focus wasn't just on him. The others got their moments to shine, each guy had qualities to them that made them stand out. They had something in them that was likable and would have people root for them, even though they were heels. When Jericho cut that promo introducing them as a group, he put each guy over and they looked like a credible threat as a group. Sammy in particular still came across as a likable character, despite being the cocky, annoying heel type. He didn't have the go away heat he has now. And Santana and Ortiz were the main reason I was here for Inner Circle.

Also Inner Circle would frequently get their comeuppance and take losses and their feuds didn't drag out for so long. MJF and Wardlow's involvement led to them becoming babyface fan favorites and serving as the perfect foil to The Pinnacle. They did so great with making Sammy a breakout star and everything leading up to his babyface turn. I feel like that will always be his best run. This is what they should be doing for Daniel right now, but sadly, that doesn't seem likely. So, at least Inner Circle had some character development and redeeming qualities to them.

JAS on the other hand has no redeeming qualities or character development at all, there's no salvaging it at this point. To be honest, I feel like this group was doomed from the start. Especially when Jericho cut the promo introducing them, which he didn't even make any effort to put the other guys over, he just made it about himself. Even now when BCC should be focusing on Regal, they still find a way to have JAS involved and they don't even have anything to do with it. At this rate, I'll be on my death bed and BCC and JAS will still be at it.

Hiiiiiii yes hello I love this entire message!!!

Okay so yes I agree completely with how you feel about Inner Circle at the beginning. To me it always seemed like it was made to create stars out of indie guys and Jericho was a VERY easy segue into that. It was more fun because they lost more evenly, and Inner Circle felt more about how the group felt about each other, rather than just being Jericho and his lackeys. They took their time with building any kind of break up heat and it didn’t come until everyone was an actual equal star.

JAS very much feels like it’s an ego thing for Jericho. On top of that, there’s no reason for Sammy to still be with him, or for Tay or Anna to be there. Not just cause I love Dark Order (RIP) but Anna was becoming a huge star on her own, as a focal point of that group, and Tay was so more liked as Anna’s bff/tag team partner. Being in this group is doing nothing for them.

And then there’s 2.0!!! THEYRE SO FUNNY ON THEIR OWN!!!! They could have gone the acclaimed way and built themselves into huge stars because they’re so Fucking funny in a way that literally no other duo is. Right now they’re the only people I wanna hear from in JAS because I just love hearing them talk.

Daniel should have been allowed to turn already, he’s ready to be a star and we should be watching a series of him against Jericho, or even trials to join Bryan and BCC cause he can hold his own if they would just let him.

JAS is just expired. Jericho is in over exposed territory and he needs to take a break. Like absence makes the heart grow fonder, and while I no longer like jericho for other non-wrestling reasons (trumper ugh) if he took a break for a couple months, and then maybe came back as some kind of lone wolf, it would be better. Or he could just retire!!! Idk!!! Not likely but!!!!!!! Preferred over the same old crap he keeps giving, that’s not helping anyone young.

#free daniel and free 2.0 and free the girlies from jericho!!!!!#ask #anon #inner circle #JAS #chris jericho #aew

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illuminatedquill · 3 years ago

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Extracurricular, An Analysis

Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri

“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as it’s accomplice.” - Tom Robbins

You know the story. You’ve heard it before, right?

Boy meets girl.

Girl finds out that boy is running a side protection business for prostitutes.

Girl decides to blackmail boy into letting her join his business.

Classic high school criminal shenanigans ensue leading them into more dangerous situations where they are forced to make desperate decisions to stay alive.

Oh, and they fall in love along the way.

Oh? You haven’t heard this one before? Then let me introduce you to this delightful kdrama called Extracurricular.

I watched this one while waiting for the newest Hometown Cha Cha Cha episodes to drop and ended up binging the whole series in two days. There are many remarkable parts of this series: it’s a crime drama, first and foremost, that showcases high school teenagers caught in a cycle of violence and crime, abandoned by the society and adults that are supposed to be protecting them. There are no clear good guys and bad guys in this drama; everyone is cast in shades of grey. Our main leads, Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri, run the prostitution business, and are both from broken family backgrounds. Their actions are morally questionable at best, but the top tier performances from Kim Dong Hee (you might remember him from Itaewon Class) and Park Ju Hyun make you cheer for them anyway. You want them to have a happy ending, despite the horrible things they do. The audience is always reminded that despite how clever they are in staying ahead, their actions have consequences, and they’re just high school kids. The drama never pulls it punches.

But, weirdly enough, it’s also a love story. And that’s the part the really sticks with me until now. (The chemistry between the main leads is absolute dynamite and I could watch ten episodes of them just verbally sparring with each other. They don’t even kiss. They’re that fantastic when together on screen.)

I’m writing this because this is undoubtedly one of my all time favorite kdramas and I have a lot of feelings about our main pairing, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri. I can’t call them a couple (wait, didn’t I just say they fall in love) because their relationship can’t be labelled simply as that. Think of it as something similar to the main leads in My Ahjussi. Two people who should have become soulmates, yet met at the wrong time.

This kdrama is not particularly happy, and while I do encourage people to watch this, I am warning that the subject matter is extremely dark. If you’re sensitive to scenes depicting sexual assault, graphic violence, or anything in that zip code you’ll want to steer clear.

Also, I’ll be diving into spoiler territory in this analysis. So if you want to go in clean, then stop reading here.

Still here? Awesome. Let’s dive deep into the messy, amazing pairing that is Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri. First, let’s do a brief character background on our two main leads, starting with Ji-soo.

Oh Ji-soo is one half of our main pairing and this story starts with him. He lives by himself and has been essentially abandoned by his only parents; his father is a failed businessman who gambles whatever money he acquires on scams and his mother ran away. His apartment is small, sparse, but functional. He owns only a few outfits aside from his school uniform. The only unique item he owns is a pet hermit crab that he takes care of. His life outside of school is non-existent; he has no friends, no one to hang out with and do typical high school teenager activities with. He takes care of himself and lives only for himself and his “dream”: to graduate, attend college, get married, and have kids like a normal person.

But to do that, he needs a large amount of money. He has no other financial means to do so (his father is largely absent, as is his mother), so he decides, at some point, to start up this protection business for prostitutes. The drama doesn’t go into detail about the how and why he came to this conclusion that this was the best way to make a lot of money in a short amount of time, so you’ll have to suspend your disbelief from the get go. Considering the themes of the story (how youths abandoned by society tend to act out in extreme ways to make it in this world), it’s not hard to believe his desperation would drive him to make such a decision.

Ji-soo, despite his shady business, is actually a decent person. There’s a streak of humanity that exists inside him that refuses to go out, despite the increasingly dark and bleak events that start to overtake his life. He’s attached to his hermit crab, cares for his “employees” outside of them being tools to make him money, and doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. He goes above and beyond what’s required to help out people at the risk of his own life (in particular, Gyu-ri, and we’ll get into that shortly).

What we learn from the first few episodes is that Oh Ji-soo is extremely smart and methodical in how he approaches his life. At school, he is known as a model student - quiet, top of the class in terms of grades, doesn’t draw any attention to himself, always follows along with what the teachers ask of him. Only his homeroom teacher, Mr. Cho, seems to consider his quiet style of existence to be concerning and tries to make him less socially awkward by pairing him up with another student in a new extracurricular club. This leads to the introduction of Bae Gyu-ri, Ji-soo’s longtime crush and future partner-in-crime.

Meet Bae Gyu-ri, the other half of our dynamic duo. Her introduction into the story kickstarts the entire plot, as one of her earliest actions leads to a domino effect that spells increasing doom and tragedy for our main leads. She messes with Ji-soo’s operation at a critical moment and she spends the rest of the drama doing her best to make up for the consequences that follow.

In my personal opinion, she is probably the best main female lead I’ve ever seen in a kdrama. Hands down, no other character exists (currently) that rivals her sheer cunning, wit, and badassery. Gyu-ri is Crazy, capital C, and is the chaos to Ji-soo’s control; the fire to his ice. Despite being the direct cause of half the events that happen to Ji-soo in the drama, he can’t help but need her because of what she offers. They make an incredible team. Her competitiveness, her need to win no matter the odds, helps them survive time and time again.

Gyu-ri is from the opposite end of the spectrum of Ji-soo; he’s dirt poor and she’s insanely rich (always nice to see a reversal of typical kdrama tropes). Her mother and father run a successful entertainment company. Gyu-ri is popular at school, friends with seemingly everybody, pretty, cheerful and gets along well with her teachers. Ji-soo, and the audience, believe from the beginning that she has the perfect life. It’s not hard to believe that she’s just involving herself in Ji-soo’s business because she’s bored and needs an outlet, at first.

We soon learn otherwise. Gyu-ri has more in common with Ji-soo than he initially realizes, in that they’re both trapped in circumstances beyond their control - it’s just that Gyu-ri’s cage is gilded, whereas his is not. Her parents are strict and have her life planned out for her, all without her consent or input, leaving her feeling frustrated and powerless despite her rich lifestyle. A suicide attempt hasn’t done much to change her parents attitude towards her, only serving to further their control over her life.

So, when she learns of Ji-soo’s operation she immediately seeks to angle her way into it. First, she tries to rip him off, believing that he’s an evil “pimp” and thus deserves it. But after spending some time with him, she changes her mind last second and decides to help him out instead.

And, now, let’s get into their relationship, which is one of the best (if not the best) aspect in the entire series.

I need to be upfront about something: the relationship between Ji-soo and Gyu-ri is not exactly healthy. I wouldn’t describe it as toxic - the circumstances surrounding them aren’t exactly the best environment to encourage open and honest communication - but it’s definitely not what should be considered ideal, especially for young adults, and especially for young adults who are dabbling in crime instead of studying.

So, why do I love them so much? If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that I loathe toxic relationships in kdramas, so I understand if you think I’m coming off as hypocritical here. Why do I like Oh Ji-soo and Bae Gyu-ri when I didn’t like, for example from recent history, (oh boy, here I go again on my Nevertheless BS) Park Jae-eon and Yu Na-bi?

First, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are way cooler than Jae-eon and Na-bi ever could be. They run a criminal enterprise that involves having a high amount of intelligence, cunning, and daring to do so. Do Jae-eon and Na-bi run a criminal enterprise as a side business? No, they don’t, because they’re boring art students.

Secondly, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri actually progress in their relationship and change their views as they learn from each other. Now, granted, that progress isn’t towards becoming better versions of each other - quite the opposite. But at least they have progress. Jae-eon and Na-bi stayed in the same stupid cycle for the whole series and then decided that it was better staying that way as opposed to trying for something else.

Last, but certainly not least, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are actually interesting to watch for me. The chemistry between Park Ju Hyun and Kim Dong Hee is explosive and they way they spar, exchange looks, and just generally exist around each other on screen is something I can watch forever. I’ve said this before but Han So Hee and Song Kang’s on screen chemistry, outside of their intimate scenes, really didn’t impress me.

Okay, back to Extracurricular. This relationship, man. It’s all I can think about (other than HomeCha’s Du-sik and Hye-jin, but that’s another post). Ji-soo and Gyu-ri are so good together.

I’ve noted before that Ji-soo is methodical in how he approaches his life; he plans out everything ahead, and rigs any situation as much as he can in his favor. It’s brilliant, but when a crisis happens, he doesn’t know how to deal with it effectively. He panics and flounders; becomes indecisive at a time when clear, decisive action is required.

Enter Gyu-ri. She quickly becomes the partner he never knew he needed. When there’s a situation, she becomes invaluable in her quick thinking and wit, coming up with solutions on the fly. It’s not perfect, but it keeps them just one small step ahead of whatever is coming their way.

The only thing preventing them from becoming unstoppable is the lack of communication and trust they have with each other. A lot of that has to do with how Gyu-ri entered Ji-soo’s business - she blackmailed him first, and, when that failed, she strong armed her way into getting him to accept her help. It’s implied in the drama that Ji-soo has had a crush on Gyu-ri for a while (since ninth grade, I believe) and in the first episode he actually gets the chance to spend time with her outside of school on a sort of quasi-date.

It goes sideways pretty quickly because of some shenanigans from his business, but not before she gets to know him and says some pretty touching words regarding his situation. Poor guy is head over heels - even after finding out that she’s the one blackmailing him, his feelings are only dampened, not extinguished. When he catches a glimpse of her family’s situation, he gains a deeper understanding of her and why she acts the way she does. Even more importantly, Ji-soo treats her the same after finding out this information which, to someone like Gyu-ri, means more than if he comforted her about it.

If you want to see a physical representation of how he feels, other than paying attention to his actions, you can see it in him keeping mementos from Gyu-ri. She has an interesting habit of folding bags into origami shapes and giving it to him. Even after the blackmail reveal, you can see that he continues to keep these in a container on his desk. It’s really cute that he keeps these, when it probably doesn’t even matter that much to Gyu-ri.

Towards the end of the drama, Ji-soo prepares to turn himself in to prevent Gyu-ri from being implicated in the crimes they committed. And it costs him almost everything to protect her. Ji-soo, the quiet, nerdy kid, puts himself on the line time and time again to protect Gyu-ri, knowing that it puts his life and his dream at risk to do so. And all for what? For some girl that he thinks doesn’t even like him in return?

Well, let’s talk about that. Because I’ve seen some comments that Gyu-ri was only using Ji-soo for her own selfish gain. And I can agree that was how it was at the beginning for her; she definitely was only interested in acquiring money, like Ji-soo was, in order to achieve her own goal of being free from her parents.

But, oh man, that is not what is motivating her at the end.

It’s actually pointed out relatively early by some of her friends that it’s obvious that she likes Ji-soo more than he likes her. Understandably Ji-soo is keeping her at arms length from him given the whole recent blackmailing, so it would make sense that it looks that way.

Further questioning reveals what she likes the most about him:

“It’s not like I’m crazy about him. He’s fun. And amusing. He’s smart. And there’s a certain charm he has. He also has a wolfish side to him. But he thinks he’s a puppy.”

- Bae Gyu-ri

But, as she gets to know Ji-soo better, you can certainly see that she starts to fall hard for him. As a cover story for why they hang out so much together during and after school, Gyu-ri states to everyone that they’re dating. The reactions across the school definitely imply that this is a shocking development, which means that Gyu-ri hasn’t dated anyone before. So why Ji-soo other than the reasons she herself states?

He challenges her, just as she challenges him. Gyu-ri may be the more dynamic, quick thinking of the pair but Ji-soo is every inch her intellectual equal - just in different ways. She doesn’t seem to be the type to be easily impressed, but you can tell that she’s definitely impressed by Ji-soo’s operation and how thoroughly set up it is. When Ji-soo is frustrated at the beginning by his setbacks, he blows up at another student (knocks him out in a crazy punch) and immediately walks over to Gyu-ri afterwards (who saw the whole thing) to inform her that she is now his partner in crime.

The look in her eyes, and the small smirk she has speaks volumes about her attraction to him in that scene. Smoldering.

And, oh yes, she’s prone to jealousy. Another classmate, Min-hee, gives Ji-soo a present out of the blue (it was supposed to be for her boyfriend, Ki-tae, but that’s another sub-plot) - all within view of Gyu-ri. It’s hilarious how she tries to brush it off. Later, for plot reasons, Ji-soo has to spend more time with Min-hee which only furthers Gyu-ri’s annoyance.

And her motivations stop being entirely about the money and more towards helping preserve the dream that she and Ji-soo share about being free. There’s a scene in episode 8 where it’s revealed that, due to a business partnership with a local gang (set up by none other than Gyu-ri herself in a desperate move), Ji-soo would have to drop out of school permanently to work on their behalf. Gyu-ri overhears this and, despite badly needing the gang’s help in sustaining their own business, immediately terminates the partnership.

All because it would interfere with Ji-soo’s dream.

Man, if that isn’t love.

In the following episode, Gyu-ri, and later on Ji-soo, is kidnapped by the same gang in retaliation for terminating their partnership. Ji-soo comes to her rescue but Gyu-ri is already almost free (again, she’s really, really badass) and is demanding that they bring Ji-soo to her instead of running for her life.

Surviving this latest attempt puts the two in a reflective, vulnerable mood and Gyu-ri asks Ji-soo why he keeps saving her. Ji-soo asks later on why she keeps risking her life to be with him. They don’t say the answer in words but in an almost kiss (yeah, you read that right - almost).

And then, if you aren’t already convinced, Ji-soo crosses his one last remaining line in an effort to keep Gyu-ri safe; he accidentally pushes a fellow classmate down some steps and, instead of helping her, leaves her to die after grabbing the evidence she has on him and Gyu-ri.

Extracurricular pulls off quite the magic trick here, hiding this well done love story in the middle of a serious crime drama.

The real tragedy is that Ji-soo thinks that Gyu-ri views this whole business, and by extension his life, as one big game. It’s something that she takes offense at, visibly becoming upset when he says that.

But even if that were true, he should be assured since Gyu-ri doesn’t like to lose.

As they hurtle towards the end and face up to the consequences of their actions, Ji-soo and Gyu-ri undoubtedly lose sight of their original goals and dreams. They do some fairly horrible things to stay alive and ahead of the police who are close on their trail. You can’t really blame them for doing what they did; in the face of a society that has abandoned them, what they’re doing is a logical outcome to gain what they want so desperately and deserve so much: the chance to be free to live like normal, care-free people.

I can’t say for certain that they achieve that. The drama is serious in consequences and, at the end, the net around them is drawing tighter and tighter. I won’t spoil the ending scene for you, because I highly encourage you watch this drama yourself but I will say this: Ji-soo and Gyu-ri seem stuck in an impossible situation with nowhere to go, and no one to help them, with a clock ticking down towards either death or discovery by the police.

But, all the same, I’m always the optimist. They’ve gotten through situations like this before and they can certainly do so again. Maybe not as bad as this one, but not too far out of their league. And, like I mentioned before, Gyu-ri doesn’t like to lose. Especially when it comes to Ji-soo.

Their relationship is truly dangerous, as Ji-soo himself notes. Them being together is the source of their problems; they’re too much alike now, as opposed to the beginning of the drama where he stated that they’re too different. Their love is the kind of love where both of them are willing to burn the whole world down if it means keeping each other safe.

I’m a real sucker for those kind of love stories. No one’s a hero here. They’re just kids in high school, doing the best with what they know.

Who are we to judge what is right and wrong? Especially when the one committing the acts are high school kids who don’t know any better and just want to save each other?

Do we have that right?

Do they really deserve that punishment? Shouldn’t we be pointing fingers at the society that forced them to act this way?

Extracurricular really makes you think about that. Is it really so outlandish and terrible what Ji-soo and Gyu-ri do to survive when the adults who are supposed to be protecting them, teaching them better, have failed in their duty?

Maybe they really did win at the end. Not so much in succeeding in their goals but in gaining something that not even regular people are likely to find - a partner, a soulmate, someone who will stand by you no matter what.

If you do watch the ending, and are not an optimist like I am, then all I can say is this: whatever happened, they were together at the end.

They were together.

#extracurricular netflix #human class #netflix #kdrama #oh jisoo #bae gyuri #park joo hyun #park ju hyun #kim dong hee

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seqka711 · 3 years ago

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Ranking the six main boy/girl ships in Yu-Gi-Oh from best to worst!

Not all main girl ships are created equally, I'm afraid. Let's take a look at each ship and see what's up! (Except Sevens because as I mentioned in a previous post, I am way too far behind to comment on anything in that show.)

First up is Anzu and Yugi! And YES I do ship them! However, I don't ship Atem and Anzu. Anzu was friends with Yugi, and started to see him in a different light when Atem started showing up. However, those changing feelings also started to influence her feelings about Yugi as well. We saw that in Duelist Kingdom. Then in season 2 when she realizes they're two separate people, she gets really confused! Anzu doesn't know how to feel anymore! Then Atem and Yugi are both playing wingman for each other, so that's not helping matters. I don't really ship Atem and Anzu because Atem just doesn't seem super interested in their date. I know he had other things on his mind, but if they wanted me to ship it, now was the time to show off some chemistry and they didn't.

We saw in GX that Yugi grows up to look just like Atem and he also grows more confident over the course of the series. After the end of Duel Monsters, I think they're both too hurt by Atem's passing to be digging on each other. But, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and I feel like she's gonna come back from the states and have some heart-pounding feelings when she sees him again. And Yugi's feelings didn't change, they were just put on the back burner. So hopefully when they meet back up, sparks are gonna fly! At least, I hope so. <3

Next up is Asuka and Judai! When I watched their first duel, I was 100% on board with this ship. They were cute, they had great banter, it was a fair fight. I loved it! But over the course of the series, I started losing interest in their relationship, fast. By the end of season 2 I was pretty convinced they had abandoned Asuka x Judai for Asuka x Manjoume, and honestly, I was 100% on board with that, I love a good romcom couple and those two have dysfunctional romcom energy. Plus they had evil power couple vibes when they were running the Society of Light together, so I thought for sure they were gonna have Manjoume and Asuka be better friends post possession.

Then season 3 came a long and I was like "woah, they DID do that on purpose! I was right!" when we saw the Judai x Johan x Yubel love triangle they spent the entire season on. Asuka and Manjoume were of course relegated to background characters, as was everyone who wasn't a transfer student. And then the series ended with a pretty definitive Judai x Yubel ending and I was like "cool I like it".

But then season 4 made me question everything by making it clear that Asuka was still crushing on Judai?!?! Uhhh.... what? You haven't mentioned this crush in OVER TWO YEARS ASUKA. You've both changed so much! I thought the whole point was "she had a fleeting crush on him in year 1, but people change and so do our feelings"! I thought they had her fall out of love with him on purpose!! You're telling me the writers just wanted us to ASSUME she was still in love with him this whole time?!

I honestly love the whole "had a crush on him, now that I know him better, he's an amazing friend but I don't like him that way anymore" dynamic and they RUINED IT so bad. And for what? To say "well they fought the whole time, but now look! They can tag duel together!" Well, jokes on them, because a few episodes later Judai and Johan will show off some of the tightest teamwork in the show and I'll have to throw Asuka x Judai in the trash. </3`

Yusei x Aki!!!!!! AHHHHHH I LOVE THEM. Their first duel is very romantic in my opinion. Yusei lives to help people, and it's actually a flaw of his that he'll help people no matter the cost. Usually that's sort of a "who cares" flaw in a protagonist, but for Yusei, it adds a lot of depth to his character. The reason he helps people even at the cost of himself is because he feels enormously guilty due to his parents' involvement in Zero Reverse, and he feels like he owes the world (but especially Satellite) everything. Yusei tried to go to jail in Kiryu's stead, but failed, and I think that only compounded his guilt even more.

Then, when Yusei sees the chance to help Aki, he does it. He's scared of her, but he rallies his courage to face her so that he can help her. And it's only natural that Aki would fall hopelessly in love with him after he continually put himself at risk over and over again JUST to help her. I love the episode where she rescues him from being kidnapped and then accompanies him on a riding duel. I think it hits me harder because it reminds me of how much I want to drive a motorcycle but can't because of reasons I won't go into. But part of her desire to learn to riding duel is because she wants to feel the same things Yusei feels. And that's so cute!

Unfortunately, I do have a certain headcanon that gets in the way of my shipping desires. I won't get into the whole headcanon, but I think Yusei might have ended up time travelling back in time to fix Zero Reverse and prevent Zone's future. And Aki wouldn't have come with him because we see her in the flashforward. Yusei is still giving her strength though. And I like to think that maybe a much older Yusei was able to help a much younger Aki control her powers and not enter a cult in the new timeline. And if my headcanon isn't true, then GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES GUYS. <3

On the one hand, I love Kotori x Yuma. They’re so adorable! Not only is Kotori surprisingly self-aware of her crush (usually the YGO girls love to deny it) but Yuma clearly treats her differently from the rest of his friends, even though he doesn’t know why (yet). Kotori’s confession at the end of the show is SO CUTE AND ADORABLE and Yuma accepts and I love it!

But… I can’t love it as much as I WANT to love it. Kotori’s character, especially in Zexal II is kind of boring. I liked her a lot in Zexal I actually. I thought it was fine to have a character not duel as long as she was doing something else. In season 1 she occasionally gets shit done. Or she’s there for comic relief like when she’s riding the duel coaster. Or arguing with Orbital 7. It wasn’t much, but it was something. In season 2, she’s a total non-entity. I thought the duel where she gets possessed was very funny, but I almost wish that her getting possessed by a Barian was played for drama rather than laughs.

I think what could have been cool is either a) after she can hear Astral, her and Astral team up for a duel or b) when watching Yuma she started to memorize his strategies. Or both. Or neither, just get this girl something to do BESIDES watch Yuma! In the end, my love for how adorable these two are is always somewhat soured by Kotori’s squandered potential. <3

Speaking of squandered potential, Yuzu and Yuya are next on the list. I love these two A TON! I’ll be perfectly honest and admit my biases here, I am NOT the biggest fan of Arc-V. The show had a lot of problems, and I’m harsher on it than most.

But one thing I really did like about the beginning of the show was Yuzu! She was independent, driven and her dueling was getting better as the show progressed. Just like Kotori, she became a non-entity in the latter seasons. However, I ship Yuya x Yuzu more than I ship Yuma x Kotori because Yuya was always keeping Yuzu in mind during the latter seasons. So it still felt like the ship was in focus, whereas with Kotori x Yuma, the ship kind of disappeared since more important things were going on. For Yuya, nothing was more important than getting Yuzu back, so really I had no choice BUT to ship it. How could I not? It was so sweet! She was his whole world! I wish we got more scenes with the two of them together though. Them never tag dueling is a crime against humanity. Also its total BS that only Yuya and Yuzu got to come back, but whatever, I guess. I was happy that the two of them reunited and even HAPPIER that the show was finally over. <3

Last and basically least, Yusaku x Aoi. Or Playmaker x Blue Maiden. I’ll be honest, I don’t ship this at all. The show doesn’t go through any effort to get us invested in their so-called “relationship” and if I had watched this show on its own, unaware of the series’ tropes, I wouldn’t have assumed they were a “ship” at all. With Judai x Asuka, I actually liked the fake out (at least until S4 when I wondered whether or not the fake out was actually on purpose or if the writers are just morons) but with Yusaku x Aoi I get frustrated because it wouldn’t have been that hard to GIVE them some chemistry. They’re both interesting characters, and I think Aoi and Yusaku could have had an interesting dynamic if Aoi had learned Playmaker’s identity a lot sooner.

What I think the show should have done was have Aoi discover Playmaker and Soulburner’s identity at the same time they discovered each other. Then have Aqua come into the fold a lot earlier. Trios are popular in fiction for a reason, and I think Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi would have been an excellent trio. Specifically, with both Yusaku and Aoi being so reserved, their relationship would be very understated. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means that the writers would have to put more focus on the little things. Like, maybe after a while of being friends, Yusaku sits next to her in class. That would be a small thing for other people, but for those two, that’s huge! I could also see there being a fun episode where Ai tries to trick them into going on a date but fails spectacularly. The two of them end up spending time together to foil the plan. That could be really cute! LITERALLY ANYTHING is better than NOTHING.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t ship this because the writers thought they could get me to ship it just by having boy meets girl and then having them shake hands over a hundred episodes later. And no. I refuse. I need a LITTLE more than that, please and thank you. </3

That was a very long post! All in all, 4/6 ain’t bad at all! Or maybe it’s more like a 3.5 since I only gave Kotori and Yuma a small heart? It doesn’t really matter, I’m a multishipper. At my heart and soul, I’ll ship anything. Like I said I don’t ship Judai and Asuka, but I totally have shippy fanart of them on my phone, lol. It’s more like… which of these ships would I defend in court and which ships do I only like because I’m trash that’ll ship anything?

Oh, I guess I did title this as a ranking... Well, I'm sure you can figure out my most and least favourites by how much I used caps lock, so it should be fine.

Give me ANY Yu-Gi-Oh ship (straight, gay or in between) and I’ll dissect it like I did these six.

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gemsofgreece · 4 years ago

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Hello, may I request some comedy/light drama etc. recs from the golden age of Greek TV?

Okay, then *cracks knuckles*

(For anyone who didn’t read the first answered ask, the “golden age” of Greek TV is 1990 - 2010)

I don’t know if you are the Anon who had asked the 2010 onward shows because they didn’t mind the subtitles. If you definitely need subtitles, I am afraid there are only two shows you can watch right now:

Είσαι το Ταίρι Μου (You’re My Soulmate)

Romantic comedy / light drama (2001 - 2002). Vicky and Stella are two very different friends who are Greek immigrants in Australia. Vicky is stunning and men go crazy for her but she has many insecurities. Stella is not conventionally attractive but she allows nothing to bring her down. They both fall for the same handsome rich Greek, Nikos. It’s no brainer who wins - Nikos is a womanizer and falls immediately for Vicky. The interesting part is what happens next - when Vicky’s insecurities make her come up with a crazy plan / prank that will unleash hell over these three, Nikos’ entire family and a couple of friends living in Athens and change their lives forever...and everyone will then get what they deserve... or what they are brave enough to claim. Overall just a hilarious and clever comedy, with great acting and memorable characters you end up loving and an ending that isn’t a cliche. Here’s the link to watch with english subtitles.

Στο Παρά Πέντε (In the Nick of Time)

Mystery / Crime Comedy / Light drama (2005 - 2007) One of the two most famous Greek comedies. Five totally different people happen to be witnesses to the murder of a politician. Before he dies, the politician asks them to find who did it and take revenge for this and other crimes they have committed. These five unassuming people become friends and start solving the mystery together like hilariously amateur detectives. In time, they will find out that there’s something more that unites them besides their friendship...and maybe not everything happens accidentally. Here’s the link to watch with english subtitles. This one is being subtitled right now.

So bad news: only two shows with English subtitles. Good news: They are the best of the best, so no problem.

But if subtitles are not necessary, let’s proceed with the rest I love in no particular order:

10 Λεπτά Κήρυγμα (10 Minutes of Scolding)

Comedy (2000 - 2003). The life of Leonidas Alivizatos, an untamed only child with divorced parents. The story is basically the endless ways Leonidas find to escape the limitations his parents put to him and the shenanigans he does with his best friend Telis and his girlfriend Marilena that drive his family crazy. Fun fact: My generation, we all had at some point a crush on Leonidas...right?

Singles

Romantic Dramedy (2004 - 2008). The show has four seasons although it’s the first one that mostly had a lasting impression on me. The story revolves around the social, professional and romantic lives of six young single people: Maro, a sensitive hopeless romantic, Rania, an angry cynic who hates relationships, Lila, a sex crazed cheerful woman, Orestes, an average I’d say young man who has his eyes on Maro though, Arthuros, Orestes’ best friend and a socially awkward man with a dark family past and Loukas, a divorced father who seems to be quite the catch. There’s something special about the first season, it had an atmosphere, a style that I loved. The music was great too. I still remember the episode with the Reaper nightmares and that green light. In the following seasons, half of the cast changed. Y’all Greeks here do you remember the title song? I love it.

youtube

Δεληγιάννειο Παρθεναγωγείο (Deligiannis School for Girls)

Comedy, Drama (2007 - 2008). Summer 1939. The events of the series evolve at the last period of the Greek Regime, the Greco-Italian War and the Nazi Invasion of Greece. Mimis Metaxas in the headmaster of the School and trapped in a miserable marriage. His father-in-law invites Agape, his niece, to teach at the school. Mimis falls desperately in love with Agape but of course he keeps it a secret. Agape is a free-spirited woman and it is soon clear that she is a Communist (or at least leaning toward left ideals) and Mimis tries to balance his job as the Headmaster of the school, his sad marriage, his love and the historical events happening in the country with his need to keep Agape protected at all costs and under full secrecy.

Κωνσταντίνου και Ελένης (Constantine and Helen’s)

Comedy (1998 - 2000). Okay, this is officially the best Greek comedy to date. After it ended in 2000, it has been on TV repeatedly and continuously to this day. For twenty years non-stop. It still has bigger viewership than new current shows. An old aristocratic childless man writes two wills right before his death in which he gives his big residence. The one will is for Constantine, his aloof and conservative nephew who is a professor of Byzantine History in the University. The other will is for Helen, the only daughter of his beloved poor gardener who is a potty mouthed waitress. Constantine and Helen arrive at the house the same day and they are both determined to inherit the house and they can’t wait until the court date. The story revolves around everything they do to get rid of each other and their friends who are just as crazy as they are. There’s an interesting story about this show: they had done some tests and pilots and they were convinced that nobody was going to watch their show so the show became low budget and the actors were free to go batshit crazy. This ended up creating this hilarious masterpiece that is being rewatched by million Greeks to this day.

Οι Μεν και οι Δε (Them and the others)

Comedy (1993 - 1996). Dionysis Dagas, a famous lawyer who defends criminals lives with his wife Vana, an aristocratic lazy woman, in their apartment in Kolonaki. In the apartment right next to them Timos and Nana Stamatis come to live, unemployed and a jewelry artist respectively. Timos and Nana attempt numerous times to take money from frugal Dionysis and in general a big war starts between them as snobby Dagas are the exact opposite of the hippy Stamatis.

Σαββατογεννημένες (Born on Saturday)

Comedy (2003 - 2004). A sexist and all around horrible man named Savvas wins 7 million Euros at the lottery and as he learns it he has a car crash and loses his memory. His three ex-wives, the Greek language teacher Keti, the actress Bia and the tourist shop owner Soula, all very different and hating the guts of each other and Savvas, team up to find the lottery ticket before Savvas' memory recovers. But in order to achieve that, they have to act a lot and they have to take care of incapacitated Savvas themselves.

Το Καφέ της Χαράς (Chara's cafe)

Romantic comedy (2003 - 2006 and 2019 - now). Chara Chaska, an Athenian unmarried mother decides to start anew and takes her daughter with her to go live somewhere close to nature. They go to a village in Mountainous Arcadia, named Kolokotronitsi. What Chara doesn't know is that the village is extremely traditional and backwards and governed by the conservative and misogynist mayor Periandros Popotas. Popotas and the villagers will start a big war against the newcomer, especially when they find out she wants to open a modern lounge cafe and is not married. Chara has only few supporters there but soon she will also have the interest of her biggest enemy. The show has been revived since last year, as the continuation of what happens many years later but I haven't been watching.

Dolce Vita

Romantic comedy (1995 - 1997). Christina Markatou is the mature rich widow of a tomato factory owner and now she runs it on her own. Christina visits her daughter Dorita in Italy where she studies and upon her return to Greece she unexpectedly has a one night stand with young Antonis Kaloudis. What they both don't know is that Antonis is Dorita's fiance and travels to Greece to meet her family. After the initial shock, Antonis realises he prefers the mother but Christina tries to resist. The love though is too strong. Christina begins seeing Antonis, full of regrets and self-loathing, and tries to hide the affair from her daughter, the nosy housemaid Aspasia and the absolute terror that her mother-in-law is, Olga Markatou. Is there any chance for happiness?

Εγκλήματα (Crimes)

Black comedy (1998 - 2000). Alekos and Flora have always been in love but never got together and got married to evil Soso and kindly Achilles respectively instead. Alekos finds Flora and they start an affair. Soso finds out about the affair quickly and tries repeatedly to kill Alekos. All the crazy things that happen start from all of Soso's murderous attempts and affect the lives of the aforementioned as well as their close relatives who are as crazy as the main characters. Will Soso achieve her biggest ambition to become utterly evil and kill Alekos and whomever else stands in her way?

Σ' αγαπώ, μ' αγαπάς (I love you, you love me)

Domestic comedy (2000 - 2002). The hilariously realistic life of a couple, Dimitra and Thodoris (the actors play with their real names). The actors had such great chemistry that they were chosen as the voice actors for Greek Marlin and Dory in Finding Nemo (also with great success).

So, these are my favourites but there are many others I like or that are very popular but not my cup of tea. Any other Greek is welcome to recommend their own faves.

#greece #tv shows #tv series #greek #greek tv #greek shows #greek language #anon #ask #mail

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jeremy-ken-anderson · 4 years ago

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Monster Hunter Movie

Spoilers Will Be Present.

There are a lot of things one can say about the badness of the film.

To me there are two basic issues, which interconnect: Tone and Respect.

At the core of things the studio and director considered their own brands more important than the brand of their source material. This is an understandable mistake to make when you’re thinking business - after all how would you survive as a brand if you granted primacy to other brands all the time? - but concessions must be made or else you’re just appropriating the aesthetics.

That’s what happened here. And it’s half of what made the movie a bad movie.

I went in expecting it to be real bad and as a result I was only mildly disappointed in some missed opportunities as opposed to legit incensed the way some MH bloggers are. But I do not blame them for being angry.

The plot, basically, is: Some army folks include Artemis, who you probably know is the main character because a) she’s the captain b) she’s Milla Jovovich and c) she’s the character you played as in the movie crossover event in MH World two weeks prior. They’re looking for Bravo Team when they get sucked into a dimensional rift and dropped in the land of Monster Hunter. So far so Isekai.

They encounter a Black Diablos which doesn’t act much like the monster from the games. Also a hunter played by Tony Jaa fires a paint bomb warning shot at them - It’s unclear whether he was trying to get them to leave or just thought the paint bomb would let them know they were in mortal danger.

The Black Diablos kills one of them and they run into some rocky terrain to escape.

This turns out to be the nest of roughly a thousand Nerscylla - horrible spider monsters. These kill everyone else over the course of an 11-minute, uh, tribute to Starship Troopers I guess we’ll call it. Artemis survives. There’s a 20-second sequence I thought was very good as a scene but belonged in a non-MH film, where she escapes the nest where she just watched eggs on her buddy burst with baby Nerscylla and then suddenly rips off her army gear to check herself for eggs in this frenzied panic. Seemed like both a smart thing to do and a reasonable trauma response to expect from someone.

But it shouldn’t have happened at all.

Backing it up, the 11 minutes before it shouldn’t have happened.

Nerscylla isn’t a pack hunter. They don’t grow in gigantic broods. But more than that the whole scene was...mean-spirited, and ugly.

Something that is important to understand about Monster Hunter as a franchise is that the seriousness of the stakes - the town is always under attack, or some ancient species of monster has awoken, or some new deviant mutation is driving smaller monsters into settled areas - is always, ALWAYS tempered by a fundamental directorial optimism. I think this film may be the first Monster Hunter thing where anyone dies and we see it happening. There have certainly been characters who mourned or wanted vengeance (more in the manga than the games) but that’s always something that happened before what we’re watching, and that’s really important to the tone.

Jovovich also has absurd plot armor, which, frankly, would have been fine - possibly even admirable - if they’d been adhering to the “nobody dies on screen” rule. Having someone get blasted across the landscape and get knocked out for a bit...as a player I’d have found this hilarious. As it is, there’s definitely a “why is this lady still alive” vibe that keeps cropping up because the movie’s taken a lot of time telling us that people in its setting are fragile chunks of meat that can be torn asunder at any moment.

Anyway, after all this trauma she encounters Tony Jaa and they fight. Why? Probably because he’s a martial artist and they wanted to get some mileage out of that fact. This is extremely dumb. Again, the only place where I’ve seen anything more than casual ribbing between humanoids in anything MH is the manga, and even there it didn’t come to blows. And within the context of this film these people have no reason to think the other’s an enemy and two extremely deadly reasons - the nearby monsters - to work together. Both have been presented as smart enough to know this. But fight scene. Long, stupid fight scene.

The fight nearly becomes fatal, and they realize it’s dumb. There’s another 5-10 minutes of bonding. This is fine! Jovovich and Jaa have decent chemistry (never aimed at romance, which is kind of refreshing) and there’s a really cute Demon Mode reference and also a product placement that turns out later to be a pretty cool linguistic joke (she gives him chocolate, calls it chocolate, he later uses the word chocolate to mean tasty).

They have a plan to get Nerscylla venom and use it to hurt Diablos, maybe paralyze or put it to sleep, so they can get across the dunes it’s guarding toward Jaa’s team and the dimensional storm Jovovich came through from.

The venom doesn’t visibly have any effect, which makes the whole planning thing feel wasteful.

Also, everyone’s use of the basic Alloy and Bone set of weapons gives people who’ve played MH the impression that none of these hunters have successfully hunted any monsters ever. One of the core points with the games is the loop of fighting monsters, carving them up, and using their parts to make weapons and armor you use against other monsters. But more than that, the presence of monster-armor on your npc fellow hunters in camp makes the world feel lived in, makes the people feel like part of the ecosystem.

So with a bunch of needless gore, they kill the Diablos. I actually was kind of excited that she carved a piece off of it - ah, she was going to make armor or weapons out of this near-bulletproof monster’s hide! No, she made a pallet to carry Tony Jaa, who got hurt in the fight. Then when he can walk they leave the big ol’ scale behind. OK.

Did I mention Ron Perlman’s in this film? Well he is, and while it’s a good visual match to have him as The Admiral he’s also - like the film at large - not optimistic enough. The character he’s playing is an old warrior who’s survived tons of battles and laughs in the face of danger. Perlman’s rendition is moody and serious, which once there are fight scenes is a mismatch with his fighting style.

Like I said way up top, there’s a willingness to use the aesthetics of the beloved franchise. Just not the themes. They aren’t willing to present things from a Monster Hunter Franchise perspective, because these gritty, brutal worlds are the brand of this director. When the franchise he was working with was Resident Evil, gritty, gory brutality was a brand match and the resulting film was one of the better video game movies out there (yes, I know that’s not a high bar). Here, it led to a movie with a lot of visually beautiful work but a tone that seems directly disrespectful to its source material.

So that’s a problem.

I said the tone made one of the two big problems. The other would be an issue even if I knew nothing about Monster Hunter, which is a series of structural flaws in the direction - mostly around the pacing of the film.

Army opener, fine. Trying to set up rapport. Diablos fight, too long. Nerscylla scene, WAY too long. Jaa-Jovovich fight, WAY too long. Bonding scene, fine. Planning to fight Diablos, too long. Diablos fight, fine. Jaa’s desert near-death experience, too long (didn’t need to happen at all). Jungle region, a little long but not bad. Rathalos encounter, fine. Ship scene, exposition dump, long and also boring. Rathalos fight...

The Rathalos burns two hunters to death on screen. See above, this is bothersome. It’s also chucking people across the landscape. Jovovich gets tossed into a portal back to earth.

Also off a cliff. We’re back to the “how’s she alive?” problem. She gets rescued by the army, they start to take her for treatment, the helicopter is attacked by the Rathalos.

For a tonal mismatch this is probably the best scene. I think this idea, very Reign of Fire, is what the director really wanted from the film. MH monsters in NYC, Lagiacrus attacking surfers from underwater, all that. We couldn’t afford those sets, so we get a dragon attacking army toys in a desert.

Dragon wins. I honestly appreciated the sale of how a dragon could win this engagement. I think the direction and editing successfully created a scene where the army losing the fight felt plausible.

Of course, this makes Jovovich and Jaa taking it down feel a bit much, but okay.

And we finish with what amounts to a tease of the idea of a series. I don’t get the sense that this is a genuine appeal. I think the “idea of more fights” is the ending. It doesn’t work, mind you, but this has become a kind of trope for one way to end a video game movie.

The thing I like least about this trope is that to hype up the audience the characters in the film all seem suddenly excited to be engaging in the activity we’ve been shown to be terrifying and deadly for the whole film. NOW they think it’s fun.

And that’s an extra layer of disappointment, because it indicates that we could have been having fun this whole time, if the director weren’t obsessed with brutality.

#monster hunter movie #review #it's bad!

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 4 years ago

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Sweaters Any Fucking Fic Challenge Masterlist

Anyone that joined in my first challenge, THANK YOU for making this everything that it was. Everyone's hard work and stories were just incredible, the prompts really made into something special, and I'm just blown away with how incredible all of it came out. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! Below you will find all the fics entered.

All the writers on this list are so talented with there characters. I highly suggest looking at there Masterlists and exploring some of there other pieces. I am so pleased with everyone who participated, and I hope you all enjoy the hard work and love they all put into these pieces.

Why Are You Awake Right Now? written by @evans713 Chris x Y/N. You must resist the temptation to call Chris. No matter what, you even recruited the help of your best friend to keep you away. But of course, You can't sleep, and it's getting so hard to keep yourself occupied. This was so good! I was held in so much suspense the entire time.

Bucky and The Bed (5) written by @that-damn-girl Bucky Barnes x Y/N. You and Bucky are stranded in the middle of a snowy nowhere when there is an ‘electronic blackout’ during your mission. With no back ups or any way to contact your team, you take refuge from the worsening weather in the only small house you find in miles. Not to mention, with no power, Bucky has become your personal heater and there’s only one bed.

The Lockscreen (Drabble) written by @stuckonjbbarnes Steve x Stella (OC) Steve asks for his phone back from Stella while they (Bucky as well) are all hanging out. Stella finds Steves background quite amusing, but there is payback as well. Very Cute preview to stuckonjbbarnes upcoming fic.

Piss Baby written by @lielullabye Steve x 10percent Reader. Steve apparently has a bit of a jealous side when it comes to you. Especially when your enjoying yourself while hanging out with Thor. Will this come between your friendship? Really love her 10 percent reader Masterlist and everyone should go check out the dynamics between these two.

On The Run written by @iwritethingstoo Dark!Gambit/Remy LeBeau x Kimi (OC) Kimi made a choice, and that was to stay with Remy although Hunted by the X-Men. Once a decision is made, she has to return for something valuable left behind. But can it be retrieved before all hell with the X-Men break loose? Really awesome! action packed and a damn good time.

Logan's Peace written by just-marvel-fanfics Logan Howlett (Wolverine) x Dr. Marabel Roche (OC). Logan has himself a little slice of paradise, a safe haven. But it is a place, or is it a person? To watch these two interact is a true treasure and absolutely adored these two. Note- Sadly this blog had to be deactivated. But she did write this story specifically for me, it will stay on this list. It was a marvelous piece of writing, showing us her personal characters.

Morning Lovin' written by @donutloverxo Ransom Drysdale x Y/N You have to head into work, but Ransom has other plans for you. Unfortunately your life isn't one of luxery like his is. But he has ways to have you change your mind.

Bad Things written by @nellblazer Dark!Biker Bucky x Y/N Bucky is in a Mood. When life seems pretty basic, everyday, in you walk in search of your dumbass biker brother. Bucky can't help notice you right away and takes a liking to you. He knows who he wants now. So good, and gotta say I fell hard for Bucky in this fic.

Hurt written by @just-the-hiddles Sir Thomas Sharpe x Clara Appleton (OC) Clara never thought her life would be that exciting. That was until Sir Thomas Sharpe appeared in her father’s office and set her life on a different path. This one had me guessing to the end! SURPRISE ENDING! Loved the twists and turns!

Alpine? written by @buckeroonie323 Bucky Barnes x Y/N Bucky, with the help of Sam, if preparing a surprise for you. So you MUST STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN. So hanging out in the living room, you happen to see sweet Alpine... with a whole new look. This was so sweet and I loved how adoring Bucky was.

Nothing Hard About It written by @yespolkadotkitty Geralt x Jaskier. Geralt sends Jaskier down to retrieve an item needed to deal with a quest. While the bard is occupied, Geralt deals with some thoughts racing through his mind. Or tries to. Really loved how they were portrayed, and such a great read.

Almost Forever (3/3) written by @what-just-happened-bro Loki x Jesse (OC) Years after the snap and the Avengers decide to take one more chance at it, one more shot at stopping the mad Titan Thanos Snap. If they can retrieve all the stones, is it possible? Jesse is challenged with old faces, old feelings, and maybe they can save the world. Bring back all that was lost. This was such a stunning conclusion. With lots of surprises to be had. Main Story Masterlist found Note- Sadly this original story was on another Blog that had gotten shut down. Should Satan rewrite it on her new account, I will be re-adding to the list. But her Masterlist should absolutely checked out as she is recovering fics lost and writing new ones. A writer with multiple talents, there a bit for everyone.

I Think I have Been In Love With You for Years- Part 1 Part 2 written by @deboryanne Peter Parker x spiderwoman Y/N. Peter and You are on a mission that has a slight hiccup. Afterward, you are dealing with a whole new issue, and this isn't quite as easy as being able to just swing away to safety with your Spidey web. So good, and Love the chemistry these two characters have.

To Loose and You'll Lose It Prologue: Well Fuck Me written by @what-is-your-plan-today and @icanfeelastormbrewing Jake Jensen x Stella Stevenson (OC) Clay and the team is all set to bust up a Children's Sex Traffic Operation with the help of an inside woman. Moving forward, it's time to welcome her to the team. Excellent co-written story, honestly this story has a bit of everything, and you're left with just wanting more.

Broken-hearted written by @nekoannie-chan Steve Rogers x You. Steve and You have a wonderful 2-year-old daughter, Sarah. But the snap takes her away, and you both must rebuild from this tragic loss. If there's a chance to fix it, he has to take that chance, right? So good and really love the angst built into this fic. Shows the characters immense strength.

Merchant of Death written by @chris-evans-indian-fanfic Mob Thanos and You. Feared and Respected, a giver to the less fortunate, Thanos has made a name for himself. But that doesn't much matter to you when he's brought into your emergency room. He though can't get enough of you and sets out to make you his. Can you fall in love with a Mobster and still have your values? This was such a great read, incredible from beginning to end. You felt for both the main characters and that ending. Oof! Stunned me. Everyone should go read this fic.

Annoying Your Neighbors 101: A Guide Book By Steve Rogers written by @fandomsandxfiles-writes Steve Rogers x You Going undercover with teammate and friend Steve, you both go to investigate mysterious circumstances in a seemingly nice neighborhood. Your cover? Newlyweds just settling down. Can you two catch the culprit, or are you two catching feelings instead? Damn! I absolutely loved and adored this piece. So damn good.

On The Run written by @donutloverxo. Steve Rogers x You. You are married to Steve and come to the realization that things are not always picture-perfect. Then comes a time where Steve is accused of helping a terrorist as well as refusing to sign the accords. You both go on the run, and learn the truth, he was helping his best friend Bucky, who was wrongfully accused. Being on the run means you all have to share close quarters. You and Steve have to get a bit creative at times to be together. Really wonderfully written and I just love the multitude of feelings this reader goes through. SMUT.

Tempest written by @stargazingfangirl18. Ransom Drysdale x You. Non Con/Dark. Read at your own risk. Knives out spoilers. Ransom returns home late after Harlan's party, and he isn't himself. Anger and Malice simmer in him, and he turns those frustrations out on you. Once he had his hands on you, there is no getting away. I have a dark soul, and this spoke to me. I loved it, it was exciting, a little scary and Ransom was a force to be reckoned with.

Blood Roses written by @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho Dark!Steve Rogers x You. You dont know who you are, but Steve is your devoted husband making sure to remind you as well as take care of you. Or so you thought. But things are suspicious and the further you dig into the clues, the more the truth comes out.

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candicewright · 4 years ago

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Kindly requesting that analysis on wangxian being peak romance and how it compares to queerbaiting please 🙏 🙏 🙏

Hello, anon! I am very genuinely happy that my rambling thoughts interest you in any way (because I have a lot of thoughts) so here is my analysis as promised. It is veeeery long (almost 2k), sorry about that but I’ve really been looking forward to talking about this for a very long time. In the end, it isn’t so much about how Wangxian is peak romance and more about the censorship and how it compares to queerbaiting, I may have to do another post about that later on. Without much further ado, here it is!

The Untamed’s tasteful censorship vs. BBC Merlin’s queerbaiting and why I prefer one over the other.

I know most people follow this blog for Merlin and believe me when I say that I love this show more than I can say because it has quite literally changed my life. But The Untamed has opened my mind to a whole new world (insert Aladdin’s A Whole New World here) and it has given me a lot of perspective on a lot of things.

I often joke with my friends saying that my first consideration when choosing a new show to watch is saying “is it gay?” which is not far from the truth, but it’s also not the complete story. What I mean is that I ask myself “does this show have a relationship that I think is worth getting invested in?”. Yes, t usually happens that those are not heterosexual romances, but what can I say, I’m queer and I like my emotional support fictional characters to be so too. This is the exact reasoning that led me to Merlin. I saw a couple of videos about them on youtube and immediately found their dynamic compelling and their story beautifully tragic. But like with most shows these days, the writers failed (among other things) to make their relationship explicit. This has happened with every show I watched after Merlin too; The Witcher, Sherlock and Good Omens being the most notable ones.

You can argue if they are or are not queerbaiting, I at least think Good Omens isn’t, but again, it is pretty subjective.

But i had grown so accustomed to this type of media that I fully went into The Untamed expecting something similar.

And oh boy was I wrong.

Now, the case of The Untamed is a curious one because it is supposed to be a love story between two men due to being based on a BL novel, but because of censorship, it had to be very toned down. I found this out right before actually watching the show while doing some preliminary research and while it did change my thought on what I was getting into I truly thought they would just erase the entire relationship and try to hide it behind straight relationships like in most other shows I had watched.

But that was absolutely not the case, to my endless relief and joy.

But how? How did they get away with censoring all the explicit aspects of a romantic relationship while still managing to tell a wonderful love story? And how does this compare to the queerbaiting of a show like Merlin?

Warning: I will be using different parts of both shows and probably some of the MDZS novel to illustrate my point, so there will be spoilers.

The initial accidental chemistry + innuendos vs. The establishment of the very clear enemies to friends to lovers trope

I’m going to use Merlin to compare and contrast this because it’s what I know best and the other show I've given a lot of thought to.

Merthur and Wangxian are both similar and different dynamics in the way they’re written and it was one of the things that drew me into The Untamed in the first place. Both stories begin with our main duo meeting and instantly disliking each other, ending up in a fight. And while they both set the story up to lead to a more intimate bond being created between the pairs, there’s something very different from the start.

Merthur is deliberately set up to be a close friendship and all innuendos and chemistry are accidental (in my opinion and only at the start). Let me explain.

The concept for Merlin clearly started with the idea of how the story would change if Merlin was a young boy arriving in Camelot instead of an old powerful sorcerer. Then they made the main plot to be his destiny/friendship with the young and arrogant Prince Arthur. I truly believe that the first innuendos were not what they intended and that all chemistry and sexual tension between the characters comes courtesy of Colin and Bradley and how undeniably good they look on screen together. Fans then started speculating (as we always do) and then the production team decided to run with it, making it almost a recurring joke when it shouldn’t have been. Had they treated that developing relationship seriously like what they were hinting it was, the show would have been very different.

The Untamed on the other hand, is everything but accidental. What they’re doing is deliberately establishing the enemies to friends to lovers trope from the very beginning. It’s not an accident that during their first fight on the roof of the Cloud Recesses Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji that women would find his true character very disappointing and that no one would want to marry him. he says so several times in fact and this is clearly both to highlight the change in their relationship as well as to say that Lan Wangji is not at all interested in the opinion of any female (or anyone besides Wei Wuxian for that matter). This is the same stuff we see in mainstream straight romances: one of the characters saying something to the effect of “who would want to date them?” only to end up involved with the other at the end of the story.

You could argue that Merlin does something similar with the conversation between Merlin and Kilgharrah where Merlin is affronted by the idea of having to help Arthur where he says “There must be another Arthur because this one’s an idiot...If someone wants to kill him, they can go right ahead. In fact, I’ll give them a hand.” but the difference between these two is that Merlin is hiding behind the guise of destiny and friendship to make these parallels while Wangxian is deliberately and clearly in a romantic context.

The deliberate continuation of the subtext vs. The suggestion of something more

The accidental nature of the subtext doesn’t last long and in true BBC fashion, it turns into full-on queerbaiting real fast. Again, you can argue endlessly about when the deliberately suggestive comments start, but by the end of the show, we know for a fact the entire production staff and even the staff were aware of the effect and reception their show was having. This was no longer an innocent mistake on people reading too much into it, it was a very purposeful narrative that they were pushing without ever truly committing to it. This is what got fans going crazy over “poetry” or lines like “you’re the only friend I have and I couldn’t bear to lose you”. These are all very intentional choices they made to keep their devoted fanbase interested and while we’re all very thankful for this material it really keeps us wondering what it could have been if they had taken that extra step.

The Untamed can’t take that step because of the censorship laws, but it’s still much more daring than Merlin ever was. While Merlin keeps the soulmate aspect of the Merthur relationship a suggestion, The Untamed outright says it, which was baffling to me. It even does it at a pint where the first kiss happened in the novel, which you would think makes it less romantic. But that's absolutely not the case because of both the non-consensual nature of that original kiss and because of how heartbreakingly beautiful the replacement scene is. Not only that, but they also keep all the elements you could expect to see in any pre-relationship stage of a developing romance story: endless amounts of mutual pining, not-really-unrequited love, jealousy, panicking at the sight of your crush (yes I’m looking at you 15-year-old Lan Wangji) and even some fun in vino veritas moments. They even have a son together! It doesn’t get more clear than that!

This is all the way the show has of suggesting something more without outright saying (even though it’s a pretty not subtle way of suggesting it).

Merlin, on the other hand, keeps trying to deny the romantic nature of the Merthur dynamic, which brings me to my next point.

The introduction of a female love interest as an excuse vs. The awareness that the audience understands the relationship in the way it's meant to be

Now, this one really bugs me, because of all the ways they could have done this they truly chose the worst and destroyed Gwen’s character in the process.

In my opinion, the writers could have done a few different things. They could have fully developed the Merthur relationship as a romantic one while keeping Gwen’s role as a queen and creating a much more satisfying character arch for her, maybe even getting her together with Morgana or Lancelot. They could have focused on the Awen romance and therefore lowered the suggestions of romance between Merlin and Arthur, once again creating a much more enjoyable subplot for Gwen, though it could have also meant sacrificing the very powerful bond between the main characters. They could have even taken advantage of Gwen’s crush on Merlin in the first season and gone on the full-on polyamory direction! That would have been much better! Instead, they halfassed the romance between Arthur and Gwen and made it just...meh. Not that Angel and Bradley didn’t do a great job, it was more of a writing problem than a them problem.

The Untamed (despite the rumours and possibilities of a Wen Qing/Wei Wuxian relationship) decided to just run with the not really platonic relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, making them the complete focus of the story while still upholding the censorship laws. What I think the biggest difference between the two shows is, is that one runs on assuming the audience is stupid while the other one assumes the audience is smart.

Let me explain once more.

The Merlin writers clearly thought that by introducing Gwen as the love interest to Arthur he would just become what? Magically straight? As if we hadn’t seen the last four seasons of sexual tension between him and Merlin? The audience was not fooled for the most part, but some people did fall for this, coming with the argument “But he’s married to Gwen so he’s straight!” as if being gay or straight are the only two possibilities but oh well.

The Untamed does quite the opposite. It relies on the fact that the audience is going to catch onto the romantic aspect of the narrative without them actively saying anything because we are Not Dumb. It also does something that I think is quite beautiful which is leaving it up for interpretation as far as whether it’s platonic or not and even more touching is the way the story has resonated with the ace community (that is according to what I’ve seen, please do correct me if I’m wrong) by focusing on their emotional and intellectual connection instead of in their physical and sexual one.

This is why, in the end, I prefer what I call The Untamed’s tasteful censorship over Merlin and other shows’ blatant queerbaiting.

I feel the need after all of this to state that Merlin is still my favorite show of all time and that this is not by any means me saying that Merlin is absolute trash or something like that. There’s also a lot more that I think can be said in this conversation, so please feel free to tell me what you think and if you’ve ever encountered something similar to this.

Also, if I made any mistakes or wrong points, please don’t be shy about telling me!

I hope this rant was at least somewhat interesting and that you found it satisfactory, anon!

#mdzs/cql meta #merlin meta #the untamed #cql #wangxian #bbc merlin #merthur #merlin bbc #ask response #i have a lot of feelings #someone stop me #long post

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be-dazzled · 5 years ago

Photo

#SIYC

Gray Fullbuster, Juvia Lockser FFnet link: click here Tumblr link: explore here Genre: Multi-chapter, Romance, Comedy Rating: M for Sensitive Content and Language

Summary: Gray Fullbuster is a player both in love and in life. He plays Professional Basketball and is being groomed to be in line with Basketball Legends Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. There’s just one problem, Gray Fullbuster is a play-ah. His life is a giant mess of crazy parties, waking up with random women and waking up in random women’s apartments. Just living the life.

The opinion of the public on him is waning. To save the million-dollar endorsements in the verge of disappearing, Gray needs to change his image. Therefore, Gray Fullbuster, Fiore Knight’s Team Captain and Most Valuable Player, will be in the next season of “My Star Can Dance”.

There’s another problem: it seems like his star isn’t that bright since his partner, one of Fiore’s prominent ballerinas, doesn’t know him? His billboard is hanging in front of her dancing school! And it was a good billboard since all he was wearing was his six-pack and an Aztec bandana. How come she didn’t notice?

...

You the one that I dream about all day You the one that I think about always You are the one so I make sure I behave My love is your love, your love is my love

– You Da One, Rihanna

…

It’s been a week or so since the weekend they spent at Juvia’s hometown. She had her mother to thank for the awkward morning following the paper bag incident and what was or were inside it. Juvia just couldn’t face Gray after that because all she could think about was the paper bag full of protection sitting atop her counter. Juvia had her mother to blame for turning her into some kind of a deprived woman who hadn’t had sex in ten years.

Everything just reminded her that she was indeed a woman who hand’s had sex in… she forgot how long. Like when Hoopster was in a one-on-one basketball game with Juvia’s father. Gray’s dark gray shirt clung to his toned abdomen and Juvia could only keep herself from sinfully tracing what they called the ‘happy trail’. When Gray took off his already wet shirt, Juvia swore her mouth ran dry. If she was a man, her blood rushed to that one place.

All she could think about was feeling Gray’s skin against her fingertips.

So, Juvia decided it would be better for her, her heart and her hormones not see Gray for the meantime; just until she got over him and his undeniably delicious body. It was impossible: one, not to see him because of the dance show, and two, it’s hard to get over that godly body of his.

Juvia, stop. Your mother catching you ogling the Hoopster was enough – embarrassing enough.

A polite knock pulled Juvia’s attention toward the twin wooden doors that spitted out the man of her thoughts recently. He had his casual clothes on – plain white tee and faded denim jeans. Nothing said casual more than his raven hair swept under his Fiore Knights bull cap. When their eyes met, the corner of Gray’s mouth tipped. He looked ready to run towards her and pull her in the tightest embrace. Juvia was sure all she wanted was to fall into his arms. However, someone else demanded her attention.

“Finally, Mr. Gray is here.”

Juvia twitched at the moniker. How many times did she ask her friend never to call Hoopster by the name of one of the sexiest main leads in erotic literature? Because she could easily see Christian Grey in Gray Fullbuster. That goes without saying, her inner goddess was clapping back at her – Ms. Juvia Steel.

A single snap of Levy’s small and slender fingers pulled her away from her ‘Fifty Shades of Gray Fullbuster’ sexy dreams.

“You should really stop drooling over Gray so much if you want to keep your dignity intact, Juvia.” Levy scolded.

“I’m not drooling over anyone.” Juvia denied, trying to sound non-defensive by masking her blushing with disinterest.

Gray approached the two, shaking Levy’s hand while pulling Juvia closer against him. He leaned in to plant a soft peck on Juvia’s left cheek and the ballerina almost jumped in surprise. For a second, she thought Gray would kiss her on the lips, right in front of Shrimp. She almost had a heart-attack.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” Juvia sheepishly replied.

Gray hadn’t released her yet. Rather, he kept her hand clasped in his and maintained their position. He had his back on Levy so he took the chance to say something he wanted to tell Juvia since they came back from her hometown.

“I really miss you.”

Juvia smiled, her gaze saying the same, that she really missed him too. Now that they were a couple, they managed to have conversation through their love-stricken eyes.

“Is there something going on between you two?”

“Yes/No.”

The couple answered in unison, albeit differently.

Which made the assistant show-writer even more suspicious.

It wasn’t like Juvia was trying to hide their relationship or anything. She told Gray it was better to keep it from the public so that they could enjoy their relationship in private. It was hard not to be able to hug or kiss each other at a whim but because of the show, Gray and Juvia was catapulted to fame. Since then, Gray and Juvia became public figures. Gray was used to the attention. He already had a large number of following – basketball fanatic or otherwise. But Juvia wasn’t. She wasn’t used to the limelight.

However, Juvia knew this little secret wouldn’t last that long. It was going to come out one way or the other. So, she decided she was going to tell Shrimp about everything. She was her best friend, after all. Levy knew all about the Gray-spell Juvia was under in High School. She’d sit her best friend later. For now, she’d like to keep Shrimp wandering.

“Really? ‘Cause you guys appear to be so–”

“–So, what’s the next challenge?”

Juvia quickly changed the subject when Levy was about to attempt to ask further. She knew how crazy it drove her best-friend and she’d like to keep it that way for a little while.

“Oh, that’s right!”

Excitement was written all over the assistant show-writer’s face.

“This week you are going to dance the tango.”

“Tango?”

“Yes! And guess who suggested it.” Levy didn’t even give Juvia the time to breathe when she announced, “it’s Aquarius!”

The name breathed life to the fan-girl in Juvia. Gray could only cover his ears from all the fan-girl screaming. As the Hoopster watched his girlfriend and her friend jumped around in circle, he realized how it was for Julian Lockser. This was a girl thing he apparently wasn’t a part of.

“She’s so blown away by your chemistry that she wanted to see you two in a more sensual dance.”

The word made Juvia stop dead in her jumping, which made the whole celebratory jumping awkward. Levy was left hopping on her own.

“Sensual?”

The memory of the bag of “protection” Olivia brought came haunting her again.

…

Social dancing wasn’t Juvia’s cup of tea. She was a ballerina through and through. So, the producers of the show hired a coach to teach Gray and Juvia one of the most intimate and fiery dances for couples – the Tango.

Lyon Vastia was one of Magnolia’s top dancers. He met with today’s hottest dance loveteam – Gruvia, as their fans fondly call them on tweetit. Juvia heard about him. They ran within same circle but it was the first time she met him face to face. Juvia, however, had other pressing concern, such as Levy’s announcement.

“Aquarius said she will be visiting you guys during training.”

The ballerina wasn’t sure if the radical heartbeat was due to excitement, pressure, or nerves. Probably, all of the above. Yet, she was thankful. All these fantasies she had about Gray, his hair between her fingers and abs under her fingertips, flown out the window. She couldn’t even care less about this Lyon guy who was apparently trying to catch her attention.

“We’ll have the team take video footage too.” Levy informed.

“I guess we should jump into it then.” Lyon started.

Juvia couldn’t agree more.

The ballroom instructor started their stretching. He was quite handsy with Juvia, which earned an obviously indiscreet hiss from Fiore Knight’s MVP. Juvia could tell her boyfriend did not like this Lyon guy one bit.

…

Gray narrowed his midnight blue eyes at the dance coach with the funny bluish-silver hair. At first, he thought the coach was gay or something. He had never met a guy who was as limber as that Lyon guy. But with the way he was holding and looking at Juvia, Gray was convinced otherwise.

The green-eyed monster stomped over where Lyon was teaching the ballerina basic steps in Tango. Wasn’t this handsy Lyon supposed to be teaching him? Among the three of them, Gray wasn’t the professional dancer.

“I think I got it.” Gray proclaimed as he insinuated himself between the two and took what was rightfully his.

The Hoopster tried to remember where Lyon placed his hands on Juvia. He placed his open palm at the small of Juvia’s back and enclosed one hand in his. Jealousy blocked his view; he didn’t notice Juvia suddenly blushing at the contact. But looking into her blue stunned eyes, Gray became worried.

“You nervous?” He started a conversation.

“A little.” Juvia responded.

But Gray could recognize the tension on her worried eyes.

“We’ll gonna do fine. Better even.”

Little did he know, Aquarius wasn’t the reason why Juvia was all red and tensed.

“Hey, guys. I’m still here.”

Lyon tried to catch the couple’s attention but Gray enjoyed ignoring him.

…

Juvia’s mind was in a mess and it was in a contest with her heart. Her heartbeat was erratic and she knew exactly why – Gray was standing in front of her, smiling with that sinfully sexy smile of his, holding her with heat that penetrated through her skin and entire being.

When it was Lyon’s hands on her, her body had no reaction. Her mind was still on the fact that she needed to impress her childhood dance hero yet again. But when it was Gray, when it was that raven-haired Hoopster who stood inches away from her, when it was his hands that pulled her closer against him, her whole body was electrified.

“You nervous?”

“A little.” Juvia couldn’t fully comprehend the question. She lost her voice for a moment before she responded. Her mind was still focused on Gray’s lips.

“We’ll gonna do fine.”

At the back of her mind, Olivia’s voice was telling her to just go for it.

“Better even.”

Juvia wondered, were they talking about the dance or…

“Hey guys, I’m still here.”

Lyon’s presence made her realize that yes, it was about the dance.

Focus, Juvia!

…

Juvia called for a time-out. She needed a break from Gray’s electrifying touch. It was definitely reminding her that she was twenty five and she was a woman. But above all, that she was a professional. So, in order to regain her senses and composure, Juvia needed to step away from that gorgeous distraction.

Juvia got a tumbler full of water from the dispenser. She dabbed a towel all over her face and placed it around her neck. Juvia watched the bustle inside her studio. On one end, there was a group of men and women in black shirts with the word ‘crew’ printed at the back. Then, there was Shrimp, leading a discussion with a circle of writers. She scribbled on her notes every now and then. At the other end, not too far from where the dance coach was resting, there was her boyfriend – Gray Fullbuster. She watched him take out a towel from his duffle and bury his face on it. Then he sat on the floor with legs spread open. He unceremoniously downed the water from his own tumbler.

Juvia saw the Hoopster threw what clearly was a dirty look. The recipient was the unsuspecting dance coach. A cute little snicker escaped the ballerina’s lips and a smile painted itself on her face. She found it amusing. Gray was a full grown man; Juvia was reminded of that fact with the way he held her, kissed her and the way he made her feel that only Gray could make her feel. Sometimes, however, she was reminded of how they first met. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise if the Hoopster – her Hoopster – acted like a child; just like how Gray was acting jealous of the new dance coach.

She also found it cute how Gray would throw himself at and in between Juvia and Lyon, purposely but discreetly, especially when the dance coach got unnecessarily close. He’d use his body and block Lyon’s alleged advances. He would say he got the step when he obviously has not. Gray was acting so possessive he ended up as the female partner with Lyon taking the lead. The ballerina mentally noted Gray’s fall from glory and promised herself to tease the Hoopster about it, endlessly.

“Hey Juvs!”

Juvia knew that shriek even if she had her back from it.

“Aquarius is in the building.”

Juvia sprayed the water out before she could swallow it. Good thing Levy was in a good distance. Otherwise, she would have taken a second shower.

“I’m sorry, what?!”

Juvia heard it the first time but her ears couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah.” Levy refused to repeat it. “She’s coming right up here.”

Juvia didn’t know what to do. She wanted to scold herself but that she couldn’t even do. Her mind went totally dark. Panic rooted her on the floor until the door finally spitted out Magnolia’s Prima Ballerina.

“So are you just gonna stand there?”

Juvia jumped at the low voice. She managed to turn around and face the owner.

“Go say hi.” Gray suggested.

But before Juvia could utter another word, her ballet hero already approached them.

“Magnolia’s favorite dance couple.” Aquarius addressed them. “Gruvia, right?” She probably recognized the surprise in Juvia’s eyes when she explained, “I read the news and I’m on tweetit too.”

Aquarius’ heels tapped on the wooden floor as she approached the couple. Confidence put a slight bounce on her steps. She gave them a once-over; one that made Juvia’s heartbeat triple. But Magnolia’s Prima Ballerina and the show’s Head Judge was not trying to be intimidating. The friendly smile on Aquarius’ thin lips said so.

The sight stunned Juvia for a second, not able to believe her own eyes. But lo and behold, it was her childhood dance hero, in the flesh.

“Welcome, Ms. Aquarius.” It was Gray who extended his hand towards the guest and placed a soft peck at the back of her palm.

“Oh, Mr. Fullbuster, always the charmer.” Aquarius giggled.

Only when Aquarius’ expectant eyes landed on Juvia did she remember her manners. She almost kissed her hand when she realized that wasn’t how you do it.

“Ms. Aquarius, it’s such an honor.” When Juvia was able to compose herself, she managed to spit out coherent words.

Juvia didn’t actually hear what her dance hero said but the latter’s lips read ‘lovely’.

Aquarius looked around the studio. There was an air about Aquarius that reminded Juvia of the older version of herself – Olivia Lockser.

“Lovely studio.” That one Juvia heard but the Prima Ballerina’s back was still at her.

She wasn’t judging my studio, was she?

A sudden want to impress Juvia’s dance hero hit her.

“Ms. Aquarius!” The dance instructor emerged from behind Gray. “We haven’t been introduced but I am Lyon Vastia,” He extended his arm to receive the hand of the Prima Ballerina. “I’m the tango instructor. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” But instead of shaking her hand, Lyon repeated what Gray did earlier.

Chivalry wasn’t dead in this generation.

Aquarius answered him with a timid smile of modesty. Then, she asked him for an update as to the dance challenge. Lyon Vastia gave her the rundown, only good words to say about the couple. Aquarius looked pretty happy about it. She spun around and turned to Juvia with eager eyes and satisfied smile.

Juvia wasn’t sure what to do so her returned smile appeared rather awkward.

“Do you two have any idea why I picked Tango?”

It was the childish Hoopster who answered, “’Cause my chest would look good in that deep V polo shirt?”

Aquarius began to giggle as if something clever was said.

“No, Mr. Fullbuster. Although that’s one of the reasons.” She teased back.

Juvia should really start jumping in the conversation but she couldn’t seem to find the right timing.

“I suggested Tango because you two have no idea how your chemistry is overflowing.” Aquarius’ suspicious blue eyes jumped between Gray and Juvia. Then, an idea made the corner of her mouth tip. “It’s so overflowing I’m beginning to think this isn’t just for TV.” A lone eyebrow teased a little.

Juvia gave out a nervous laugh – one which raised some brows around the room and felt like required some explanation. But thanks to the male crew carrying an on-standby handheld broadcast camcorder, Juvia was saved by the bell.

“Ms. Aquarius, we’re ready for you.”

“Alright.” Aquarius quickly replied. Then, she excused herself from the group. She walked across the room and towards the interview set-up. A crewmember put on her lapel and asked her to sit on the comfortable armchair.

The Prima Ballerina easily talked into the camera as if she was giving an interview. Gray and Juvia went over to watch. They both agreed that the fifty-year old ballerina looked good both on and off screen.

“When you dance, you don’t just move with your body.” Aquarius said in ease like she was used to being on camera. “You move with your mind, your heart and your soul.”

Juvia’s amused eyes were glued on the Prima Ballerina and every word that came out of Aquarius’s mouth fascinated Juvia. But there was something she said that caught the young ballerina’s attention.

“That’s why they said that dancing is like making love.”

Now, where did she hear that before?

...

Writer’s Corner: Hello there, loves! So, as you all know, I forgot my laptop at the city I work in. Because of the Corona Virus plaguing the world today, our region declared a community quarantine, which means I can’t travel so freely. Hence, the new photo header. Also, I hope everyone is doing okay despite this pandemic scare. I hope you guys stay at home and be healthy. Lastly, please look forward for my Gruvia Week entries this 2020. Love you!

#gray x juvia #gruvia #she's in your court #siyc #gruvia au #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #gruvia isn't dead #gruvia forever #modern gruvia #writeblr #gruvia fanfiction #gruvia fanfic #gruvia modern au

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co-mixed · 5 years ago

Text

Storm/Gambit

Probably the most popular shipping question is whether or not you support any non-canon ships. I never actually thought about that much, until recently. I’m mostly a canon ship supporter: regardless of whether or not I like a couple, if it’s canon, I’ll see it for what it is. Of course there are cases, when I wish things went differently, and honestly, there were some Marvel break ups I took harder than I should have. But I’m so used to Marvel Universe by now, that its never ending movement doesn’t worry me anymore (if anything, “Dawn of X” only loosens the stakes). Anyway, the point here is that I’m in the zone of total canon acceptance with Marvel. That said, I caught myself coming back to one particular non-canon ship that kind of stuck with me. I know there is a fair share of people who’d like that to happen, and I guess I’m one of them.

Storm and Gambit.

Before all the Rogue/Gambit fans get a chance to argue, I wanna clarify, that they were the endgame from their first shared scene, and that shows. I remember reading up on their story what was it�� about 17 years ago, and it couldn’t be more obvious. Honestly, it’s not easy to picture them with anyone else (we’ve seen how they do without one another). Besides, the difficulties of their journey only made it more clear. I just think that marriage is not the best idea for them, because I never wanted them to join the pantheon of COUPLES. You know, like Sue and Reed, Jessica and Luke.

But this is not about them. This is about Ororo and Remy, because in-between on again off again Rogue romance, and all the dramatic love stories Storm went through, it would’ve been interesting to see a fun adventurous relationship between these two. What comes to mind is actually Rhett’s quote from “Gone with the Wind”

- Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?

Background

The main argument against this romance is that Storm and Gambit meet under confusing circumstances i.e. he saves her when she’s reverted to her pre-teen years. This happens in Uncanny X-men #265-267

Nanny reverses ‘Roro back to childhood, removing all memories of her adulthood. However, Storm breaks away and hides in Cairo, Illinois. Meanwhile, Shadow King is after her (isn’t he always?). When he lures Storm into a mansion, with the help of his hounds, they attack her, but she jumps out of the window into an outdoor pool. She is pulled out of the water by Gambit. They run away to her hideout.

They stick together, since Remy is also on Shadow King’s radar now, battle him, and run away to New Orleans. There they spend some time doing the Robin Hood thing up until Nanny catches Gambit. Storm rescues him, also growing up to her teens.

Before you get any ideas, I have to mention that right away Gambit knew who Storm was. Yes, you could say that he took care of her, but you can easily say the opposite. They still have a fantastic dynamic, where they easily play off each other’s phrases (but that’s Claremont for you, right?). And normally Ororo’s all “I shall meet you at the monorail”, but her kid self is way less dramatic.

The two have a lot in common, and they have fun in general. Storm even feels like she finally belongs somewhere. And later, she is the one to sponsor Remy’s acceptance to the team.

To sum it up, with this storyline there is potential, and I have no idea where they were going with that originally. Let’s try and figure this out.

After Storm’s unfortunate (but ultimately successful) trip to Genosha (she was kidnapped along with New Mutants and turned into a mutate, but grew back up), she goes back to leading the X-men. Before that though, we get this panel:

New Mutants #97

That’s she actually gets Gambit to join the team, even if just for a while. And we assume they already familiar enough, since when she’s uneasy about whether or not she’s made right choices as a leader, Remy is the one to give her a pep talk. Okay, that’s a completely “friend” thing to do, and I pretty much see no chemistry here. Except for, you know, the fact that one of Gambit’s mutant abilities is to be irresistible.

X-Treme X-men

During X-Treme X-men series ‘Ro and Remy spend plenty of time together, even considering that his and Rogue relationship gets pretty serious, and Storm has a lot going on. But let’s not skip anything important.

Originally in this Claremont’s run, Storm forms a team to go after Destiny’s journals. Of course Rogue is on the roster, which kinda means that eventually Gambit will show up too. That he indeed does. At some point, around issue 4 or 5, the team has to go help out Gambit, because surprise, he’s accused of a murder. That’s pretty much when we see where both ladies’ beliefs are. Rogue doesn’t for a second buy the fact that Remy would kill (even a mafia leader), Storm, on the other hand, doesn’t have much faith in the guy. So yeah, Rogue is goin all true love, while Storm lacks trust. At this point that’s not out of character for her, because the whole operation runs of lack of said trust.

Not to feel too bad for her though, around the same time ‘Roro gets a lot of attention from Bishop, and starts seeing Davis Cameron. A lot is going on in this book, but team Gambit/Storm gets two unforgettable moments.

in X-Treme X-men #4:

And in X-Treme X-men #32

Yes, I know that both times the writers here have to remind us (and him) that Rogue is his soulmate. In this department it would be hard to compete with her really. And I wouldn’t want Storm to. After all Rogue literally saved Remy from death twice in this run only, and there was a hint of resentment in him, but it doesn’t really go anywhere, just dissolves as many other stray phrases.

Either way, Storm and Gambit, they are friends, and we get some good moments out of two of them, when they’re together they seem to have a great chemistry.

Storm 2014 #9

What would I want them to be?

They would never qualify for a serious relationship by any of my standards. Basically, they are too much alike in a sense that he, for the most part, lives the life she would want to. Free of responsibilities like not letting the whole order of nature get out of control. But they still are pretty interesting together, it’s easy for them to understand each other, and talk things through, even though we get only glimpses of that. They are always honest with each other, so they would’ve made a pair that won’t ever have to deal with couples therapy. Also, it’s always jokes and flirting with them, even when they’re both in a relationship, hell, even when she was married.

When they need support, they’re there for each other:

X-men Vol 1 #326

X-men Gold #6

But at the end of the day it’s always gonna be Rogue for him, and now he’s in the ever after zone really (or in a way in a narrative limbo).

As for her… I guess I’ll have to make a whole new in-depth analysis of her ‘ship choices to determine that (she has a lot to choose from).

With the comics anything can happen, so I should probably say that we’ll see where it ends up.

#marvel #marvel comics #marvel community #storm #ororo munroe #remy lebeau #gambit #storm xmen #x-men #marvel couples #marvel content #comicships #marvel analysis #long reads

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that-shamrock-vibe · 6 years ago

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Movie Review: Venom (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a week after the film is released worldwide, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

Critics vs Consumer:

Alright, so I touched upon this briefly in my non-spoiler review, but I am actually quite disgusted at these critics and alleged “fake reviews” that are determined to tear this movie down until everyone hates it. I get that Venom comes out at the same time as Lady Gaga’s A Star is Born, but both are completely different movies in terms of genre and story so there shouldn’t be any type of competition.

As I mentioned the comparisons to both Jim Carrey’s Liar Liar and Halle Berry’s Catwoman are absurd. First of all the movie is carried mostly by Tom Hardy’s acting which both the aforementioned movies failed on and also, while I understand the one scene in this movie at the restaurant could be compared to Catwoman, it’s not in any way as random or senseless, in fact it is quite funny and organic to the story.

I also do not see why the public puts so much stock in what critics have to say about movies, they are just people who happen to have most likely studied movies. The main point of movies are to entertain and that opinion belongs to the individual not to a few snide individuals.

Characters:

As always my plan is to go into a character analysis of all the main players based on my fondness for them and also what they contributed.

Eddie Brock/Venom:

Tom Hardy was a fantastic choice for this role; not only did I find Eddie relatable as a reporter, studying media myself I do feel were I to pursue journalism this is how I would tackle it, but also just Hardy’s personality in general resonated so well here.

It was great to see Hardy in a movie as himself for a change rather than having some sort of mask obscuring his face...mostly obviously, but also Hardy proved apt at action sequences. I genuinely yelped with joy at the scene when he’s originally escaping the Life Foundation with the symbiote and yes while the hallway fight scene was very strategic in its editing so you couldn’t tell if it was Hardy or a stunt double jumping off the wall, it was still brilliant and I haven’t seen a comic-book movie do a continuing hallway scene like that since Iron Man 2 with Black Widow. Atomic Blonde is still the best when it comes to continuing hallway fights.

Eddie’s life in the beginning of the movie was also rather organic from having a fiancée to formerly being a reporter at the Daily Globe which are both comics-accurate, although I am surprised by the number of people that believe Eddie has worked for the Daily Bugle and I put that down to the 90s animated series which, for simplicity I am guessing, had Peter and Eddie working in the same place so that Eddie getting fired would spur his vendetta against Peter.

Speaking of the animated series, yes this does compare somewhat to the animated series with how the character of Venom behaves however I still rate Hardy’s version of the character higher than both that version and definitely Topher Grace’s interpretation. In fact if this version of Venom was in Spider-Man 3, it may have saved the movie.

Now I mentioned comedy, and from the minute Venom started talking as a disembodied voice, I was sold on the comedy; it is somewhat in poor taste to make a villain who is known to eat people a comedic character but this is where I think the movie could have excelled if the writing and directing was better.

I would have loved more exposition into the symbiotes; we had brief descriptions of their biology and behaviour from both Carlton Drake and Dora Skirth on separate occasions, however I would have loved them to explore an adaptive personality of the symbiotes. For instance, it would have made perfect sense for Venom and Eddie to pick-up and mimic traits of the other; Eddie became comfortable with Venom eating people towards the end, so if the movie had explored the fact that Venom’s language and personality switch was a result of being bonded with Eddie, because he did touch upon that towards the end when Eddie asked Venom why he decided to save the planet and Venom responded “Because of you” but they didn’t fully develop the symbiotic bond enough on an emotional level to warrant that one moment paying off to mainstream audiences. I could be spitballing ideas completely in the dark but I do believe that was the intention of the symbiote-human bond.

Having said that, this was a completely comic-book accurate portrayal of Venom, from the look to the personality. I loved during the scene where the SWAT team is cornering Eddie and he and Venom mimic the SWAT team’s actions of “Mask! Copy!”. Originally when I saw that in a promo clip I did not understand why they said that but now seeing the whole scene it does make sense and is very funny.

My favourite scene is possibly when Eddie first becomes aware of Venom and he makes the elaborate assumption that he has a brain tumour, it’s just the delivery of the line which made it so funny. But that whole motorcycle chase was brilliant and demonstrated Venom’s power wonderfully, even healing Eddie’s broken leg when taking over his body fully.

Also I loved how much of a wingman Venom was to Eddie because it did make sense the symbiote would want Eddie to be happy because it keeps him as a symbiote happy; happy host happy parasite, but Venom being the one who prompted Eddie to apologize and attempt to get back with Anne was a very friendly thing to do in exchange for obviously inhabiting his body.

Another great moment with the two is when Venom tried getting Eddie to jump out the window of his old work building and then in the next scene Eddie is waiting by the lift and all Venom can say is “Pussy” was hilarious.

The one thing that doesn’t make sense to me is the lack of explanation in Venom seemingly leaving Eddie after destroying the rocket containing Riot, but then in the next scene he and Venom are reunited with no explanation. It is simply Venom saying goodbye in one scene and then supposedly a day or two later they’re back in business...no explanation is given!

Anne Weying:

Michelle Williams could have very easily just been the stereotypical MJ damsel character in this movie, fortunately she was far from being a damsel. Deciding to essentially start off the movie by breaking up the main character and their love interest was an interesting move because it led to a continuation of Eddie pining after her and eventually at least being on a civil level.

I think her reaction to meeting Venom was quite genuine, freaking out at the site of Venom about to eat that guard and then Eddie taking control to try and explain was a very realistic moment. Being able to be at least friends with Eddie allowed for her to care about him without obvious romantic entanglement getting in the way. Although the fact that Venom then tried to harm Dr. Dan partially because it feels Eddie and Anne should be together made things slightly complicated.

During that hospital scene when the symbiote is forced to leave Eddie’s body and inhabits a dog in order to try and reconnect with Eddie was also interesting, not only because Anne proved herself a very capable woman with her ability to “handle weird shit” but also the fact she identified Venom had merged with the dog and the two, I am guessing, decided to merge to save their mutual friend was also rather savvy of a character pegged as the stereotypical love interest.

Speaking of She-Venom, this is possibly the scene that has caused the most uproar with this movie which, in my opinion is slightly unjustified but also understandable as it goes back to that lack of symbiote exposition. As I said, if the writers had made it so it was explained that Venom had grown to care about what happens to Eddie and looking out for his wellbeing or that it had felt what Anne feels for Eddie which led to that kiss then it would have made a lot more sense, and in my opinion took away from what was an awesome moment in the first appearance in film or television of She-Venom.

Also Michelle Williams played a blinder in an interview when stating that she was “ready to play She-Venom” but not specifically stating that part of her character would appear in this movie.

I do hope, if there is a sequel, that Eddie and Anne do end up back together because not only do I believe their chemistry but also Dr. Dan just didn’t do much for me.

Carlton Drake/Riot:

In terms of this being a “dated” comic-book movie, the villain was definitely a large part of that. Riz Ahmed very much gave a Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor or Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom type of villain as Carlton Drake. That’s not necersarrily a bad thing and both those villains had their pluses but it was just another businessman in a suit at the end of the day.

I did like the running like of “Have a nice life” first used by Drake to Eddie as a precursor to him destroying Brock’s career to the point he couldn’t even use his name in print anymore. Then at the end of the movie when Venom says the same to Riot just before the rocket explodes with him in it it further supports my annoyance of wishing the movie definitively explored the fact the symbiote and host were becoming more like each other.

Speaking of Riot, while I liked the character and the fact he was essentially a living weapon, I do think it was a missed opportunity not to make Scream the main villain symbiote. Not only is she an agent of the Life Foundation in the comics but her host Donna Diego was already in the movie as that homeless woman Eddie was friends with. Also it would have been nice to have a female villain in the Spider-verse as so far we’ve only ever seen male villains in any Spider-Man movie.

But also on Riot’s origin, the fact it took him so long to get from Malaysia to San Francisco with no exposition as to whether or not he’s been learning about Earth and instead just going from person to person, starting off with “Jameson” by the way which is a brilliant Easter-Egg for John Jameson III who is the son of famous Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson Jr, but not even showing us the fact he knew his kin were at the Life Foundation which is why he went there and chose Drake as his host. It just screams (ironically) missed opportunity.

Once symbiosis was achieved though, it did seem like Riot as a character was in control and Drake was just the vehicle being used. I do think, while Drake wanted Venom back under his control it was the fact Riot who demanded Venom to return to the homeworld that made it seem like Riot was the true villain of the movie.

I am actually glad they killed both Drake and Riot at the end of the movie, usually in Marvel movies it does annoy me they can’t keep a villain longer than a movie but both Drake and Riot had served their purpose so it was time for them to go.

Dora Skirth:

This role was interesting because, at first, her role plays a lot like Nebula in the first Guardians of the Galaxy in that she is the somewhat loyal right-hand of the main villain, there Ronan here Drake. However the fact they did not show any true villainous qualities in Dr. Skirth’s character and instead just made her a scientist who knows when she oversteps natural boundaries was a very fleshed out character.

It is also interesting that most of the background characters in this movie are created for the movie yet still managed to make an impression. I do feel her character was very believable in terms of working for the villain but trying to go behind his back to the movie’s hero is a real-life thing of working for someone you know is corrupt but being too scared of what may happen if they find out you’re trying to stitch them up.

Dr. Dan Lewis:

Alright so I have made it sound like I am not a fan of this character but that is only really in relation to him getting in the way of Eddie and Anne. I know in the comics the two are exes but I wanted to see more of them together in the movie.

I will say I did like that, once he got his head around the situation, he was ready to fight the symbiote by using the MRI machine. Granted it was not in a concealed room and Venom escaped through the air vent but it was still a very cool scene watching Eddie and Venom be separated.

I know he is still with Anne at the end of the movie but especially after that kiss between Eddie/Venom/Anne you would think she would have at least told him because in his defense he does seem like a cool guy, he’s okay with Eddie as Anne’s ex still hanging around so he may be understanding of the situation?

Mrs. Chen:

I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to my favourite minor character Mrs. Chen who owned the bodega Eddie frequented. Not only did she remind me of Delmar who owns the grocers in Spider-Man: Homecoming in terms of how the movie’s main character interacted with them, but also she was not shy to say her piece.

I also liked the fact that, even though we knew it was coming from the trailers, that scene of Eddie/Venom eating that thug at the end was foreshadowed towards the start of the film.

Ensemble:

Then in terms of the others, really there’s only the Life Foundation’s head of security and Donna Diego but while they both made an impression they didn’t take away from the main characters, if anything they aided them which is the right role to be in.

Post-Credits:

So there are two end-credits scenes that play after the most god-awful rap by Eminem I’ve ever heard, the first is relevant to the movie and the second is the big waste of time they make you sit through the entirety of the credits for. I have issues with both but for different reasons.

The mid-credits scene shows Eddie arriving at San Quentin Prison for an interview, the best thing about this is San Quentin Prison is the same prison Scott Lang was released from in the first Ant-Man movie. But he is there to do an interview with none other than Cletus Kassidy who in the comics is the first host of Carnage.

Now I had named who I thought would be great for this role during my fan-casting frenzy for Sony’s Universe of Marvel Character...but with the three suggestions I put forward, none of them were Woody Harrelson. I am not happy with this reveal, yes I knew Harrelson was cast in the movie but had no idea it was in this role. Not only is Harrelson 16 years older than Hardy so playing Carnage who is supposedly Venom’s “son” seems weird, but also that blood red wig, while fitting for the character, looked ridiculous on Woody Harrelson. I still think they should have gone with Will Poulter, but hopefully Woody Harrelson will surprise me in the sequel, I do still like the actor I just don’t think he’s the right fit.

The very end-credits scene is a promo for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which has no relevance to this movie what so ever other than the fact they’re both Spider-Man related. I just think this was a bad PR stunt to have a movie that is already being hated by some people immediately followed by an upcoming movie debuting Miles Morales...why not just have a trailer at the start of the movie? It still looked good and showed how Miles Morales meets Peter Parker but I do not understand why they showed it.

Overall I have to say this was a good Venom movie but not a great one and also I do think the 90s/naughties comparisons are apt as the movie does have that feel, but that isn’t a bad thing when you’re talking about a PG-13/12a rated movie about a supervillain who is known to eat people. Give it the higher rating and you may get what you want.

So that’s my spoiler review of Venom, again sorry for the delay but I am still curious how you guys feel about the movie. I am aware this movie has divided a lot of people but I for one would welcome more of Tom Hardy and this movie. Post your comments and check out more Marvel Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

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hazyheel · 6 years ago

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Monday Night Raw 2/18/19 Review

Well this show had a lot of ups and downs. Several of the matches did very well, but there was not a lot of plot progression. Still, the debut of several of the main event NXT stars created an exciting atmosphere throughout the night.

We started out with a pretty basic promo from Triple H, putting over Sasha Banks, Bayley, Finn Balor and Kofi Kingston. Weirdly, he put over Becky Lynch for attacking Charlotte and Ronda Rousey, acting like he is just one of the fans who thinks that Becky is super cool. He also talked about how D Generation X is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, including Chyna. He then announced a couple new faces from NXT that are coming to the main roster, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa. Then Triple H hypes up the crowd for the next match. The promo was not bad, even if Trips did stumble a bit when talking about NXT, but it just felt unnecessary. The results of last night’s show could’ve been revealed throughout Raw, and I think a surprise debut from the NXT superstars would’ve been more fun. I am pretty sure he was only really out there to officially announce that D Generation X was gonna be in the Hall of Fame, so I kinda get that. Glad to see that Chyna is finally in the Hall of Fame though.

Grade: C-. It was a harmless segment but it did not really need to be included. Raw can just start out with a match sometimes, and given that it was a fun stipulation match, that would have been refreshing.

So then we went right into the next match, a tables match between Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman. This is a logical continuation of their feud given how the No Disqualification match ended. Early on it was very bluntly explained that Strowman has a rib injury, so naturally Corbin worked them over during the match. Corbin had a weird strategy during the match of getting rid of tables. Maybe that was a character thing to show that he is a dick and wanted to punish Strowman more, but I just saw it as stupid. There was a cool spot where Strowman Irish whipped Corbin towards a table in the corner, and he did the slide out of the ring and close line move, which was a cool application of the move. But in the finish of the match, Corbin tried that same trick, but Strowman caught him and put him through the table for the win. After the match, Paul Heyman was coming out for his segment, and Braun grabbed him. Heyman looked like he was about to piss his pants, but Braun ended up letting him go. It was nice to see that Braun wasn’t forgetting his history with Heyman.

Grade: B-. The match was surprisingly fun, even if it was just a bit of a rehash of last night’s match. It made sense for the feud, there was a clean finish, stupid hardcore fun. I’m sure that they will have at least one more match before transitioning into their respective Wrestlemania feuds, which is a drag, but this seemed like it was the best part of their incredibly long feud so far.

Into Paul Heyman’s promo, he was a bit frazzled by Strowman’s attack. He talked about how everyone was jealous of Brock Lesnar, and then showed a video package of Brock being dominant, because he grew up on a farm I guess? That was a weird bit. Heyman flaunted Brock’s accomplishments, and said that Seth Rollins couldn’t come close to beating him. Finn Balor then interrupted, with his new Intercontinental Championship. And I guess Heyman’s promo was over

Grade: C. No new information from this segment, but it seems like there will be a running series talking about Brock Lesnar’s accomplishments in the WWE, so that could be interesting, but he didn’t have any new points and he was quickly cut off.

Balor then started talking about how proud he was to be holding the Intercontinental Championship, but he got interrupted by Lio Rush quickly. Rush said that Bobby Lashley deserved to be the champion, given that he wasn’t even pinned. Bobby Lashley then attacked Balor from behind, and the two beat him down, and Ricochet came out for the save. The brawl turned into a tag match. Rush and Ricochet had a great sequence to open up the match, and it is clear that Rush will have a storyline where he is desparate to please Lashley. A lot of the match was the faces completely dominating Rush, lest we forget that he is a cruiserweight. The finish of the match was very well done, with Lashley chasing Ricochet around the ring, only to be ambushed by a shotgun dropkick from Balor. Ricochet then hit his 630 senton on Rush for the win.

Grade: B. Another surprisingly good match. Ricochet and Finn Balor have great chemistry with Lio, and even Bobby Lashley was wrestling well tonight. There were some great spots, fun tag team fundamentals, and it was a fresh match. I would’ve preferred Ricochet in a singles match for his debut, but he definitely was the star of this match. I am kinda confused about why Rush and Lashley are still together, but I think that this is the kind of story where, eventually, Rush gets abused too much and leave Lashley. So I am okay with this for now.

Backstage, Drew McIntyre confronts Triple H about wanting in on the Wrestlemania main event, and he wants Rollins. Dean Ambrose then shows up and slapped McIntyre, challenging him. The match was booked.

After a quick video package recapping the Raw Women’s Championship scene, we came to another tag match. Lucha House Party, consisting of Gran Metalik and Lince Durado, against Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins. There was a bit of a miscommunication with in the LHP early on, but the match was going pretty well. But the match ended very abruptly, with Durado pinning Hawkins after a hurricanrana.

Grade D. The action was good, but it ended very quick and it seems to have no storyline relevance, so it is hard to care. Plus it was not given any time.

Immediately following the match, Charly interviewed Heavy Machinery, who were hitting their catchphrases, before getting interrupted by Lacy Evans. She did a catwalk, and then Heavy Machinery did a similar catwalk to their entrance music of loud construction noises. It was funny, but nothing else really happened during this.

Grade: D+. It seemed like WWE had a good grasp of Heavy Machinery for a while, but then lost it, and Lacey Evans feels like she will get lost in the shuffle if she actually joins the women’s division right now. So even though this segment was pointless, I am going to give WWE the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are building their characters because their respective divisions are too crowded right now. Still, does not save it from a bad grade.

Backstage, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are discussing their match, when the Glorious Ones confront them about why they are getting a match with the champions. They do not really get an answer before the Revival interrupt and try to intimidate the old #DIY. The segment ended just as quickly as it began, and we jumped to entrances. The match was very good from the start, really recreating their old magic from their NXT Days. Awesome double team moves, quick tags, classic tag wrestling. WWE is really playing up these teams’ rivalry from NXT, which is something they always should have done. In the final stages of the match, Gargano hit a superkick to Dash on the outside, before hitting a slingshot spear to Dawson in the ring, tagging in Ciampa, and the pair hit the superkick and running knee combo for the win.

Grade: B+. Think of this as a weak B+. The match was very good, not their best but still quite exciting. And I would love to see these guys in more matches together. The reason why it is weak is because the Revival just won the belts last week, and they are already losing in a non-title match. That is not a good look, even if this is the debut of Gargano and Ciampa. I couldn’t bring myself to lower the score after a questionable booking decision given the quality of the match. Still, this was a very good debut for the two Champions in NXT, and could even be building to a triple threat tag team match with these two teams and the Glorious ones.

Backstage, Charly interviews Finn Balor and Ricochet. Finn quickly puts over Ricochet, and Ricochet talks about how being on Raw was always his dream. How nice to see. Kevin Owen’s then had another little promo, where he really just seemed like a normal dad. I do not know what his character will be like when he actually returns, but it should be interesting.

The new Women’s Tag Team Champions, the Boss and Hug connection, came out to a chorus of You Deserve It chants. And they really do. They are out to cut a promo about how they made history as the first every Women’s Tag Team Champions. They talk about how their relationship has been a rollercoaster, how they couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than each other. They say that they will defend them wherever there are challengers, even NXT. But as they finished up, Nia Jax and Tamina came out to confront them. Nia quickly tries to sow seeds of doubt in the champions’ partnership, and says that Sasha always loses championships on her first defense. They brawl a little bit, but the Boss and Hug Connection come out on top.

Grade: B. It is still very emotional to see the Women’s Tag Team Championships on Raw, and now we have a clear view of the first challengers to the Boss and Hug Connection. Nia has really been doing well with her heel character, even with Tamina was a partner, so I want to see how this feud will continue down the line.

Next up, we had Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre. They started out fast and furious. and looked like they were gonna have a good match, but McIntyre quickly hit a Claymore, before waiting for Ambrose to get up and hitting another one.

Grade: D-. I think that McIntyre and Strowman are on a colliison course for Wrestlemania. So they are both are in filler feuds until that comes to fruition. I assume that this is just a throwaway match meant to bury Ambrose, which it did. I just didn’t care, and I am sure that it does not matter.

We cut back to more of the Brock Lesnar accomplishment package, where Heyman just listed all of Brock’s wins since he broke the streak. No real reason that we had to split the package up, but whatever. Backstage, Charly interviewed Seth Rollins, where he continues to say that he will win the match, and he does not care about what happens to him during the match. Ambrose then approaches him in the back, and scolds Rollins for not helping him. Rollins asks if Ambrose has lost his mind, because they are not friends. Ambrose stares at him for a while, and says eh, before walking away. har dee har.

Elias was out complaining that he is being disrespected and interrupted. He was about to sing a song, but Aleister Black’s music hit. Good match, stiff hits. These guys definitely have chemistry. Black won with a Black Mass.

Grade C-. While the action was fine, Black didn’t get in nearly enough offense. Easily the least impressive debut of the night. I expected this to be a dominant display of Black’s striking, but instead it felt like any other match. WWE needs to step up their game when it comes to this booking.

And in the main event, in an Elimination Chamber rematch, was Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott for the Raw Women’s Championship. Ruby Riott got a jobber entrance. However, this match is much closer given that the rest of the Riott Squad is in Ruby’s corner. Rousey was selling a lot to Ruby, eating a rough looking senton. Riott even hit the Riot Kick, but Rousey was able to kick out. As Rousey ascended to the top rope, the Riott squad distracted her and Ruby was able to hit a Riott Kick off the top for another near fall. Ruby then went to the top rope for a senton, but Rousey countered into the arm bar, only for the Riott Squad to pull Ruby out of the ring. Ronda then hit a shaky looking crossbody to Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan on the outside. After Rousey hit an Alabama slam into the turnbuckle on Riott, she then locked in the arm bar to retain the championship.

Grade: C+. The match was okay, but the result was never in question. While these two did put together a good match, it was an odd choice to have a rematch right after Rousey basically buried Riott the night before, and to also have Rousey kick out of two riot kicks. This match did not really forward the story on the road to the main event, but it was still an alright match.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Tables Match; Ricochet’s debut; DIY vs. The Revival

Cons: Dean Ambrose’s burial; Aleister Black not getting enough offense; a couple pointless matches and promos

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notnicky · 6 years ago

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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - SPOILER FREE Movie Review

So, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything on here. I’d blame it on college but really I think it’s just because I’m so lazy. I’m working on that and hopefully, this summer will give me some time to get stuff done. Anyways, here I am, and I’m about to talk about the movie I have so patiently waited THREE years for - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Unfortunately, this movie isn’t out everywhere yet, so I’ll keep this review spoiler FREE, and maybe I’ll get myself to write a spoiler-filled review once this movie is out worldwide. Bear with me, this is long.

1. Cinematography

My absolute favorite thing about this film was the incredible cinematography thanks to Oscar Faura and JA Bayona. Almost all the shots in this film are ones I’d like to hang up on my wall. The scenes on the island are breathtaking, but the cinematography in the second half is on a whole different level. The brilliant use of light and shadows by Faura adds so much to the gothic/horror tone that the second half possesses. The visuals together with the score, courtesy of Michael Giacchino (which I will talk about later), create a striking effect that will be sure to scare the living shit out of you, and sometimes make you feel emotions you didn’t think you could feel in a Jurassic movie. The cinematography in this film is unlike any other Jurassic film, and I say that in the best way possible.

2. Music

Michael Giacchino’s score is absolutely gorgeous. At times, it was the reason why I couldn’t stop my heart from aching, and other times, it was the reason why I couldn’t stop my heart from beating uncontrollably. The music during emotional scenes would be the main factor in me sobbing out loud, and the music during tense scenes would be the reason why I would jump out of my seat. The power that Giacchino’s score has over this film is truly incredible, always being the reason as to why I felt specific emotions during different plot points throughout the movie.

3. Story

I can’t delve too much into this because I don’t want to enter spoiler territory, but I really enjoyed the story.

All I’ve heard over the past week was “why do people keep going back to save the dinosaurs, just let them die” and “why do we need another Jurassic film?”, and this really frustrates me. This might be because I’ve developed a specific emotional attachment to these animals, but I personally believe that every human being in this franchise is responsible for keeping these animals alive. They brought them back to life, despite none of the dinosaurs wanting to (at least I doubt it), and exploited them for their own gain, so I don’t believe that humans deserve an easy way out of the mess they created in the first place and the dinosaurs certainly don’t deserve to die when they didn’t ask for this shitshow in the first place. The core of Fallen Kingdom explores the ethics behind this choice, which is precisely why I love it so much.

I know a lot of people think the plot is useless and repetitive, but along with what I previously said, there is so much left to explore about this ethical dilemma. It is incredibly nuanced, interesting, and relevant. Fallen Kingdom shows us the reason why we can’t just leave these animals to die. It explores guilt, empathy, and redemption. But then again, I have a strong personal opinion and I love ethical dilemmas, so I am heavily biased.

in addition to the core of the movie, there is a plot twist later on that I really loved. I thought it seemed like a natural progression for the franchise, and it opened a lot of new doors for the story to continue through. Although I loved it, plenty thought it was stupid and unneeded, but to each their own.

Despite this, I understand the reasoning behind why some people think it’s a stupid idea to go back to the island in the first place, which I will discuss when I look at the pacing of the movie.

4. Characters

We know that in Jurassic World, Claire started out as cold and calculated and as the events of the movie unfold, she begins to change, as her actions started to become more in sync with her morals. In Fallen Kingdom, Claire has started her own foundation that is dedicated to protecting these dinosaurs she once exploited for money. Though I do wish that we got to see more of how this change developed during the time between Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom, the way her character has changed for the better and how that change makes her the driving force of this movie is one of my favorite things about it. Seeing Claire having the passion that she lacked in Jurassic World was something that made me love her even more than I already did. Although we don’t see how this 180-degree change develops, we definitely get to see how it influences her actions and choices throughout the movie. Bryce Dallas Howard does a wonderful job at really showing us this profound change in Claire, making us feel for Claire and truly believe that she has a passion for saving these prehistoric creatures.

As for Owen, he is more or less unchanged by the events of Jurassic World, so his character development is much less, or maybe even non-existent, in comparison to Claire. The one thing I can point out is that perhaps his decision to go back to the island and save Blue is an indication of trying to face his problems, rather than simply running away from them.

For those who know me, I live for Claire and Owen’s relationship. Fallen Kingdom builds on their relationship and puts Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt’s natural chemistry to good use. I have always loved that these two characters are polar opposites but work very well as a team, and I was glad to see that dynamic again, although, I wish there could have been more time spent on further elaborating and developing this dynamic, but that’s mostly due to problems with the pacing of the movie.

Maisie, Maisie, Maisie. She is the heart of this film. All the Jurassic movies have had kids in them, but for the most part, they aren’t hugely significant. Maisie changes the game. No more can be said without entering spoiler territory, so I’ll stop there. BUT, Isabella Sermon is INCREDIBLE as Maisie, I am so surprised this was her first ever acting gig.

As for the supporting characters, I really loved Zia and Franklin, played by the wonderful Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith. The brother-sister relationship the two have off-screen translates very well on-screen and makes for some really fun interactions between these characters. Franklin serves as comic relief in a lot of scenes, and I think the skills he brings to the team are underappreciated. Zia is a badass, however, Pineda’s performance is the reason why and not and so much the story that is written for her.

The villains are a little too “I’m evil!” but for the most part enjoyable. Toby Jones seems to be the villain in every movie I watch so he’s pretty good at doing that. I don’t want to specify certain actors since I’m not sure if its common knowledge that they are villains, but I think the performances by the villans are good, apart from, as I said earlier, sometimes being a bit too cartoonishly evil.

For the cameos... Ian Malcolm is back, but not for a whole lot, which I think is a shame. Jeff Goldblum is excellent and shines in his scenes, despite not being in the film for very long. Dr. Wu appears yet again, and the one big problem that I have with this movie is how underused he is. His character understands that what he is doing is a whole other level of fucked up but he understands how these dinosaurs work as well as the consequences of what he does. I really wished that his character was more significant because his opinions reflect a big part of the ethical dilemma that the movie explores.

5. Dinosaurs

There are a lot of them and they look incredible. The animatronic Blue, Indoraptor, and T-Rex breathe a whole new life into these dinosaurs, making them feel more like characters rather than just animals for us to be in awe of. My favorite has got to be the Stygimoloch, as it plays quite a significant role in a couple parts of the movie, and also, it's so adorable. OH and I think dinosaurs are really smart, people are dumb, and so maybe people should be extinct, not the dinosaurs.

6. Pacing

Now, this is the biggest problem I have with the movie. From the very start of the movie, AFTER the beautiful opening sequence, that is, everything seemed to be moving at warp speed. There was always something going on and it was just non-stop, not giving the audience a chance to breathe and take in whatever they just watched. There are a lot of character building moments that are ruined by the lack of time the audience gets to process them, making them much less impactful than they could have been if the film had slowed down for just a few minutes. Whenever something significant would happen, it immediately became insignificant because something else would happen not long after.

The part of the film that takes place on the island moves way too fast, and I really wish they stayed on the island a bit longer, especially considering this is supposed to be the last time we will ever see Isla Nublar. The lack of time we spend there takes away from what should be an extremely significant and emotional plot point not just for Fallen Kingdom, but for the entire Jurassic franchise.

As I mentioned in the “story” portion of this post, the movie explores the reasons as to why we can’t just let the dinosaurs die. Although the movie does look at empathy, guilt, and redemption, it does so through the characters, as if we should already know these characters well enough to know why they are motivated to go and save these dinosaurs. For someone like me who is familiar with these characters and previous characters in the franchise, it is easy for me to understand their motivations. However, the film doesn’t give enough time for the casual viewer to empathize with these dinosaurs and help them understand why these characters feel a responsibility for these creatures’ fates. Again, this has to do with pacing, since with a lot of things happening from the get-go, there aren’t enough opportunities for the story to build and give viewers this understanding. I think the lack of build-up toward the decision to go back to Isla Nublar to save the dinosaurs is the main reason why many people don’t understand why this movie had to happen at all.

IN CONCLUSION, I really really did love this movie. I’ve seen it twice now and it was better the second time around because my over-excitement for the movie as a whole and for some specific aspects didn’t get in the way and I was able to focus on a lot more things, allowing me to enjoy it even more. To end things, I really need to send my biggest thanks to JA Bayona for his excellent addition to the Jurassic franchise. Whenever people talked about Jurassic Park, they’d always talk about how terrified they were when they saw the T-Rex on screen for the first time. The first time I saw Jurassic Park, I had already seen big scary monsters in the cinema, so the movie never really scared me the way it did some people. However, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom made me feel so terrified at times that I could finally understand where these people were coming from when they talk about being terrified by Jurassic. So thank you JA for scaring me into a true Jurassic experience. Despite major problems with pacing, the film is beautiful when it comes to the visuals and sound, has a really interesting plot, as well as characters that I really love. I know this movie has been met with mixed reviews, and that really bothers me, but I loved it and I hope you at least give it a shot because it certainly deserves a fighting chance.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom gets 4/5 baby Blue’s

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superiorbiscuits · 6 years ago

Photo

“It’s 1907, you’ve never seen a leg before.”

Have you ever had a role that you just totally loved?

This is gonna be a long post about my summer choreographing a community theater production of Oklahoma! and performing as Dream Laurey (and ensemble). A LOT of it is me reiterating some of the compliments I received and I know it seems super braggy and it probably is, but I want to write down the happy things, not the sad ones. I want to remember the good times, and I’ve found over the course of my life that those are harder to remember.

So last summer, when I was choreographing (and an ensemble member in) Annie for this same community theater group (which I talked about here), about three weeks before opening night I heard tell from the guy playing Daddy Warbacks, who I’ll call D, that the next summer he’d be directing Oklahoma! He had directed our show in 2016, and I was excited that he’d be directing again. I was unfamiliar with Oklahoma (the story of how I’m unfamiliar with most musicals is long and emotional, so that’s for another time) so when I got home from rehearsal that night I immediately read the plot summary on Wikipedia and came away dreaming of two things:

1. I really want to choreograph it, because choreographing the Dream Ballet sounded AWESOME

2. I also really really want to play Dream Laurey

That dream festered for the better part of a year. I got the choreographer gig last year at the last minute, but I figured if they were to ask me to do it this year, it’d be around February/March. Well February came and went, and nothing. Sometime in March I was talking to a woman I’ll call K. K takes contemporary and hip hop dance classes with me off and on, and both her mother and older brother have been in every musical I’ve been in. She told me they had offered her the job of stage manager, and a couple weeks later she told me she’d accepted. She then talked about productions meetings they’d started to have, and strongly hinted that the group’s long-time choreographer was back that summer.

I honestly wasn’t hurt. That choreographer is 1. good at choreographing, 2. had been choreographing for this group for several years, and 3. is about ten years older than me. I knew there was a strong possibility that she would return, and they would go with her rather than me. I was disappointed, but not at all surprised. I resigned myself to the hope that I could be Dream Laurey, and comforting myself with the fact that I wouldn’t be as stressed as I was last summer (when, I should note, I was working 16 less hours a week than I do now).

Well, literally one week before auditions I got an email from D with the subject line “Choreographer for Oklahoma” and my heart started POUNDING. Sure enough, I open it to read that the long-time choreographer was supposed to do the show, but had to suddenly drop out to deal with personal family stuff. My thoughts were: oh my gosh, that’s so much work, this is so last minute, I’m working so much at my job omg, but of course I have do this, I’ll hate myself if I don’t.

And also, wow why was God giving me this incredible gift? (The circumstances of how I got the choreographer gig last summer were eerily similar)

I attended my first production meeting a few days later, to which the rest of the production team were excited to see me and vocalized how happy they were that I was on board once again (most of the team was involved in one way or another last summer too). The next day was the first audition and K came over to where I was doing dance stuff before we started to say that on the news that the other choreographer had to drop out, I was the first name that came up. So I wasn’t D’s first pick, but I was his second, and that was pretty cool.

Auditions happened, we got a killer principal cast and D allowed me to cast myself as Dream Laurey. We also got a Dream Curly, a guy I didn’t know at all I’ll call J (pictured above), who was not a dancer and had never been in a play before. But he seemed to pick up the dances fast enough during auditions that I cast him in the role.

The next week we settled how long the Dream Ballet would be, because we had to cut some of it. But I came with my proposed cuts, which were a few sections that I honestly thought were superfluous, and D agreed, and let me keep the rest so the Dream Ballet went from ~13 minutes to 10.

And then my panic set in. Here’s the list of things that were “firsts” for me in this show, as both a choreographer and a dancer/performer.

First time choreographing a ballet pas de deux

First time teaching a ballet pas de deux

First time dancing a ballet pas de deux

All the same as the above three, but contemporary instead of ballet

First time choreographing a dramatic dance

First time choreographing a fight

First time performing a romantic role

First stage kiss

First time playing the main character (albeit for only ten minutes, but STILL)

First time performing a dramatic role (other than tiny, minor characters)

First featured role in a musical

Additionally, neither the ballet nor the contemporary pas de deux could have any lifts, cause I know how much I weight and I’m not gonna force any guy to pick me up unless he’s a fricking powerlifter.

So yeah, all of the above = panic.

But I got to work. Rehearsals were... an adventure. I didn’t have nearly as many dance rehearsals allotted to me as I did last year, and really struggled at times with the workload. But the production team was fantastic to work with, we had a good cast, and like a couples weeks before opening night things finally fell enough into place that I realized it wasn’t going to be a disaster and started truly enjoying myself. ALSO I roped in a 16 year-old who’s been in these musicals forever to be my dance captain, which she CRUSHED (like seriously, she helped so so much), and her and another girl were good enough dancers that I was able to dump a lot of choreography on them and they picked it up in no time (like, they danced so much we credited them as “featured dancers” in the program)

The non-Dream Ballet dances were good. Not as fantastically-amazing as I wanted them to be, but good. The Dream Ballet?

I was so nervous each night. Especially opening night, I was petrified. But I had two amazing scene partners in Dream Curly, and Jud. J calmed himself beforehand by going over the choreograph, I calmed myself by stretching, and giving J a fist bump just before going to our places. Four shows, no major mistakes. Although, the second and third nights I got sweat in my eyes real bad halfway through. I tried to fight it at first, but then I realized I was dancing the sad part anyway, so I just let myself cry a tear or two. The last show I like, legit cried as a combo of sweat in my eyes, being super in character (who like, would understandably cry in that circumstance), and being so sad at it being my last time dancing the role.

I don’t really know how it went, honestly. I think it went well enough that I am satisfied. I have videos from the last few rehearsals, but each performance FELT better than the rehearsals. But people’s reception.... well here are a few highlights of the comments I received, as well as just little random tidbits.

1. First off is SEVERAL people told me I made them cry. The first and most significant was D, who announced it when we were doing a LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW. Like, he interrupted me talking about the Dream Ballet to say “it makes me cry every night” and then there’s like three seconds of silence cause I DIDN’T KNOW THAT AND DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO RESPOND. Another significant one was the woman who played Laurey (also pictured above) (who was always super nice about sharing the role with me and such an encouragement) (Also I’ll came her P).

2. K’s Dad, who has seen at least a decade’s worth of shows put on by this community theater group, told me that this show’s choreo was the best he’d seen. Also K’s boyfriend (whom I had never met before) came up to tell me how amazing the Dream Ballet was.

3. One of our backstage tech ladies (who CRUSHED it, and has been involved in these shows for like a decade) told me her cousin’s girlfriend said “I’ve never seen a ballet before, but if it’s anything like that Dream Ballet I’ll totally go see one” which like DANG what a compliment omg.

4. Not so much a compliment, but our assistant stage manager (I’ll call M) signed on to her job just after auditions, so she wasn’t involved in casting. We knew each other from previous shows though. ANYWAY we got through TWO MONTHS of rehearsals, and were hanging out at Wendy’s after our second-to-last show and I made some comment about J being a friend of P who she brought to auditions and our assistant stage manager was like “I have all this time thought J was your boyfriend.” I was super confused, so i asked for clarification and she was like “yeah I definitely thought y’all were dating and you brought him so that he could play Dream Curly with you.” So like, I guess we had good stage chemistry?

5. ALSO SOMEWHAT RELATED: The first part of the Dream Ballet is the 3-minute ballet pas de deux between myself and Dream Curly, which ends with us kissing and then him running offstage. We rehearsed the Dream Ballet in little tidbits here and there, so the first time most of the cast + crew saw it all together was like a week and a half before we opened, so we were already at the theater, and most of the cast was backstage in the wings waiting for their entrances. And one of my friends in the cast told me all the younger girls (like preteens and early teens) were straining to see and asking each other “are Merilee and J actually kissing?!” Which like, idk it makes me laugh

6. ALSO related: I went to talk to K and M before one performance and they were like “HEY we were talking about the Dream Ballet and how it just appeared, completely finished one day? How did that happen?” Cause they hadn’t realized all the little rehearsals I’d done with people prior to that day.

7. Three little girls came up to me after a performance to get my autograph and two of them excitedly told me about how they were taking ballet classes and they were ADORABLE.

8. One of the preteens in the cast (who has been in these shows for years and her mom does tech backstage) ‘s dad came up to me after the last show and told how well I danced and what a great job I did with the choreography and then was like “you should dance at weddings! You should have people pay you money to come and have a little stage their wedding reception and dance and people can watch you!” and it was just... I could tell he was very well meaning, but like, dude what a weird thing to say.

9. An older guy (who played Abernathy when we did Guys and Dolls in 2015) told me he’d seen Oklahoma many many times in his life, but that ours was the best Dream Ballet he’d ever seen.

10. A friend of mine (we were in Guys and Dolls together, but mainly we just talk cause we both love the McElroys) told me at his birthday party like two weeks after he came and saw the show that the Dream Ballet was far and away the best part of the show.

11. This is something a friend of mine (who was Ms Hannigan in Annie last year and Mammy Yokum in Lil Abner the year before that) posted on my FB like, a week after we closed:

Like what a SWEETHEART.

12. This was something someone commented on a photo a friend posted of us from the show. I do not know this person AT ALL:

13. At a party at D’s house after our Friday night show I was sitting on the porch talking with some of the cast and crew and parents (it was chill and nice) and D and the guy that played Curly were talking about how they had both been in several productions of different shows, the first being when they were in high school, and D said “I guess everyone just has that one show from high school that they’ll do over and over again” and I kinda sighed and was like “I don’t have one since Guys and Dolls in 2015 was my first musical” and D apparently didn’t know that cause he stopped and was like “YOU’RE KIDDING” and I was like nah man, I didn’t start doing musicals until I was 21 and this is my 4th musical and he was so surprised (he was in Guys and Dolls that year, played Nathan Detroit)

14. I also talked to him after our closing show, thanking him for letting me do this and what a dream come true it was (well, I tried to tell him but I started crying) and he said I did a really wonderful job not just with the choreo and dancing but with the acting and I was like “thanks, that’s what I was most nervous about, since I’ve never played a romantic role, or a dramatic role at all” and he like, couldn’t believe it, because I had done such a great job.

15. The final, most incredible thing. During the above conversation, D told me that should he ever be in need of a choreographer in the future (and the likelyhood is that yes, he will be) that I will be the FIRST PERSON HE CALLS. Which if you remember, I was not the first person he called this summer. I still can’t totally process what an amazing compliment that was, but I’m so immensely grateful.

So yeah, long and braggy post, but I really just, want to remember this.

I had so much FUN in this role. I didn’t talk much about that, but man it was so great being Dream Laurey. It’s an experience I won’t soon forget <3

#personal #long post #mer choreographs a musical #hot hot hottie

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7hrrecuitmentuk · 3 years ago

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