#lackluster climax and ending

[noirtek]

i read gone to see the river man many many moons ago after seeing it get essentially worshipped on horror subreddits and god did that book suck. i’m still stuck thinking about how much that book sucked

[queerdiazs]

tease tidbit tuesday 🫧

bet yall forgot i moonlight as a writer lmao

Buck, red-faced with his brows knit so close together they’re nearly one, snarls his lip in disgust. He doesn’t say anything and instead cups his palms around Abbie Jean’s elbows, pulling her carefully up out of the pool and passing her off to a paramedic. Once she’s wrapped in a blanket and shuttled off, he turns to stare back down at Eddie.  (Buck is so hot when he’s pissed off, holy shit.)  Eddie offers a smile. It isn’t received well.  Shaking his head, Buck reaches down and knots his hand in the front of Eddie’s t-shirt. He hauls Eddie all the way up and out of the water, and Eddie would be impressed and probably turned on if Buck didn’t look like he’s ready to tear the whole world apart. 

tagged by @loveyouanyway and @wikiangela, mwah

tagging @spagheddiediaz, @jeeyuns, @neverevan, @exhuastedpigeon, @actualalligator, @honestlydarkprincess, @rogerzsteven, @underwaterninja13, @devirnis, and @monsterrae1 if any of you have something you want to share!

[jess-the-vampire]

Philip's death didn't really work for me.

I see quite lot of people saying it's meant to be poetic, and its meant to be lackluster by taking him from high and mighty to pathetic and a mess.

But that's not what bothers me, what bothers me, is set up with no payoff.

And also confusing consistency.

Caleb got a decent focus these last two episodes, his story with philip is alluded to and slightly dived into, and with philip seeing him and having such heavy focus on his conflicting feelings towards his brother you'd kinda expect his ending to involve him to an extent?

Whether that be him going insane or being trapped with his worst memories for the rest of his life about caleb. It feels more thematic, more painful, to watch him suffer with what he did, that he killed his brother for nothing.

But caleb isn't even mentioned in this finale, he had nothing to do with Philip's death, he's not even shown at all.

And then on top of this, Philip supposibly is killed via rain and being stomped to death......but he survived being mega blasted into a wall by a God child via goo.

So he can survive that? But not being stomped? It's not as if there's no goo remains of him left, king even mentions him being between his toes.

Like I just can't buy this actually killing him when this didn't work the last time they tried it. If a God slamming him into a wall didn't work, how is a few normal people doing it better?

And somehow he turned into young Philip? Which, I don't know how he can do that, could he do that this whole time? ( his powers are really weird to me)

I dunno man, its not like he didn't get what was coming to him, but this doesn't fit with what the show was building towards, nor does it make sense?

The main reason most people thought trapping him forever was a good idea was because he'd suffer longer and because he could never come back or reform.

But like, not only was this more merciful then he deserved (even tho him begging for his life and trying to trick luz was interesting), but this ending doesn't really sound like something he couldn't recover from.

He's such a good villian that felt like he deserved a bigger climatic death that was an climax to all the bad deeds he did, like everything came to bite him since he hurt his brother.

But we just didn't get that, its like when we had so much interesting conversations about him wanting to go home to earth and his anxiety regarding it.......but then it never comes up when he's actually ON earth from him.

I dont even wanna be mean, cause I know what the crew faced, but this isn't something that I think can be entirely put on the cut either. At the end of the day, the team chose this to be how they took belos out.

And its just underwhelming.

Hes the villian. But he's a GOOD villian, with an interesting backstory, and I can't say this ending fits what we had set up for him.

If it works for you, great.

But not for me.

I was fine with him going out being pathetic and everything like a bug, its just that it feels like we were setting up something much more personal then we got, and the fact I don't buy that this would genuinely kill him is the cherry on top.

I'll have time to mull it over so maybe my thoughts could change, but right now, I'm getting strong Toffee flashbacks.

There is still great stuff in this finale, but I don't think his ending was one of them.

[super-paper]

Like I feel like 90% of my problems with 423 (Izuku) could have easily been fixed if Hori had actually stayed true to Izuku's character as someone driven by his empathy for others. Naturally I would have still been extremely upset with Tenko's death, yeah, but I think I would have at least been able to gradually process it and eventually accept it if Hori had actually depicted Izuku as like... actually reacting to the fact that he's killing Tenko and actually attempting to grapple with the weight of taking his life. Any reaction that might come after this chapter is simply too late to undo the damage.

Blood+ is an excellent example of a well done "I had no choice but to kill you" villain death: In this series, The hero (Saya) is ultimately forced to fight and kill her villain (Diva), but the core of her character-- her kindness-- is never sacrificed. It's enhanced by the tragedy of it all, of her being forced to end a life when she sincerely didn't want to. Even though Diva did terrible and unforgivable things, the first thing Saya does when she sees her crumbling is to rush forward and comfort her despite her own injuries, and to express intense anguish over not being able to help her. This cements why Saya is the hero of this story. I haven't watched Blood+ in over ten years, but the final moment between these two is something that has stuck with me all this time-- this is how you write a powerful ending between your kind/empathetic MC and the villain they were ultimately forced to kill.

Comparatively, everything about Izuku and Tenko's resolution feels completely numb. Izuku's lackluster nonreaction to everything he learned about Tenko in the vestige world. His complete lack of distress when Tenko's abuser swallowed him up and took over his body again. Him not expressing any concern for Tenko's safety once AFO resurfaced. Him continuing to beat on Tenko's body as it crumbled without any internal conflict or hesitation.

All of it sacrifices the very foundation of Izuku's character-- him being moved to act out of EMPATHY for others, not out of a desire to simply "beat the villain". The climax of Izuku's long awaited "rising" chapter is ultimately about him punching someone rather than saving someone, which also betrays the core of his character (yes, it's also about how he inspires others by doing his best but can you honestly say him rushing forward to punch TomurAFO to death was "doing his best as a hero". What was supposed to be the cumulation of Izuku's arc ends up being completely surface level/lacking sincerity and instead reads like Hori is just going through the motions).

The boy from chapter 1 whose body moved on its own after seeing someone in pain was ultimately more heroic than the boy from chapter 423, and that's one of the many reasons why people should be upset with this chapter and what it's done to Izuku's character/arc.

[thecourtsknight]

So. Side Order, huh?

I've been chewing on my thoughts over this for a good few days now. Want to spit them out somewhere. Vague-ish spoilers ahead.

I want to preface this with saying that I love Splatoon, I've been playing it since 1, really dropped off near the end of 2. Nintendo made Octo Expansion for me, they released it on my birthday and I love it so fucking much.

Side Order is fun, but lacking criminally in content.

You can argue Roguelites are like this in general, its the core princible to replay them over and over again and as someone who enjoys Roguelites, I agree!

However, a key thing that good roguelites do is continously give you a reason to keep playing- whether that be addictive gameplay or, usually, good story and lacing that in with difficulty that becomes the players goal to lessen- It rewards the player for being curious, experimental and above all else persistant.

I am fully aware that difficulty, due to Splatoon's target audience, in something like a roguelite was never going to be an easy thing to balance let alone pull off but having the main plot resolve itself once you hit the top of the tower was, in my opinion, the first of its blunders.

I feel as if the Splatoon developers know how much the lore and worldbuilding of these games matter to players. Side Order was advertised in very similar veins to Octo Expansion. The trailers had mystery and intrigue with clear connections to the well recieved and loved Octo Expansion to the point of having the same protagonist among other simularities.

They were clearly teasing this to be a successor of SOME capacity to Octo Expansion. And even as I went into this expecting it to be nothing like OE in terms of it's personal weight, I wasn't expecting something so short.

Classically, in roguelites that focus on story, you would gain story beats the more you replay. And techincally you gain this with the keys gathered from each fully cleared palette. But usually your story rewards in roguelites come from clearing or attempting runs and rewards:

With Side Order's story being resolved the MOMENT you step onto floor 30 with no real context unless you've intentionally avoided the top or have genuinely been slowed by its difficult (which I assume is what the devs intended) makes it's climax feel fast paced and lackluster- undeserved, even.

And, yes, I am fully aware that when you climb the tower agani after the credits role, you begin gain more lore about whats going on. But with the actual, main threat neutralized in every possible way it feels as if this lore should've been offered to us much sooner and much more spread out for a better pay off.

It's story feels like its being told out of order and, in my personal opinion, the themes and actual telling methods of Side Order we're a largely missed opportunity to tell something a bit more indepth. Climbing a tower that gives you essentially nothing until you reach floor 30 (which in my experience takes about 35-40 minutes) only to recieve about two scentences of lore is incredibly tiring and feels dissastifying when the main plot is already over.

It's lack of variation in level design, tasks and chips doesn't help with the climb each time if you're looking for the lore or just to 100% either. And you can argue this is a roguelite problem, but Splatoon's scenario's for a tower climb are pitifully small and you will start to seem repeat almost immediatly on your second or third run.

I also feel like it relies far too heavily on the player knowing and caring about Octo Expansion. I'm not saying that I think it was a bad idea to have most of what's going on in Side Order happening because of Octo Expansion's events. Hell, I was happy when they were very blatently showing this early on.

But it does very little with its ties to Octo Expansion, making Side Order feel like its constantly struggling to be its own thing away from the original DLC.

I think I can almost see what they wanted to go for here, and its frustrating, it felt close to something at least telling a decent story.

Every single little beat I've gotten has helped me understand more and more what they were going for, but since the main conflict is already resolved I find it hard to be excited and more frustrated that I wasn't given these during my initial playthrough.

I feel as though the roguelite formula was an interesting idea that they polished the best of their ability and to make work both for casual and experience players- but I think thats where the problem comes in.

With Side Order being the same price as Octo Expansion and offering very little in terms of replayability and most especially for me, story, the whole thing ends up feeling like a muddled mess that would've worked better had the roguelite aspect perhaps been dropped in general for a general tower climb.

Missed opportunies feel like they decorate Side Order in a way that leaves me fairly disappointed.

I think, overall, Side Order is a fun time that can be enjoyed but the way it was implimented into the gameplay formula was largely a mistake, especially coupled with the marketing of this being something more indepth with its story when it's not, and I can absolutely understand why I'm seeing a lot of disappointment for it.

[nicnacsnonsense]

I had always assumed that s5 of Angel had them going to work at Wolfram & Hart because they knew it was the last season. Perhaps foolishly so, given how rushed and lackluster the build up to the series finale was, but it makes sense. W&H are introduced as a major antagonist in the very first episode of the show, and they’ve been there causing trouble to some degree or other for most of the series, so ending the show with a season of Angel Investigations actually going metaphorically inside the belly of the beast so we can lead up to one last big confrontation with them works. And I just can’t imagine why you would have them decide to work for W&H if you weren’t trying to build to that climax.

But apparently I just don’t have the imaginative chops that the Angel writers did, because apparently that’s exactly what they were doing. I’m reading this old interview from David Fury and he’s talking about s5 being the new format of the show, like this was some kind of soft reboot and this was just what they were going to do with the show now? Fucking weird, I hate that.

[themattress]

The Stars Saga

It really do be like:

I make no secret of the fact that I despise the Sailor Stars anime series. In addition to being the worst and most unfaithful adaptation of the corresponding manga arc, which is saying something given how the Infinity and Dream arcs were done, even on its own merits it's a badly written series that ends the whole 90s anime on a whimper. Chibiusa is written out offscreen and we never get the Sailor Quartet. The Sailor Starlights are all unlikable retreads of the already contentious Outer Senshi of S, they hog way too much screentime and plot importance, and the change to make them biologically male who transform into female Senshi makes no sense. The Usagi/Mamoru drama plot is pointless and the Usagi/Seiya relationship is more toxic than even the writers seemed to realize. All of the main characters are at their most Flanderized and it feels like they've scarcely developed since R at the earliest or S at the latest. Shadow Galactica is a lame-ass joke of a villainous group with the most bumbling minions and goofiest Monsters-of-the-Week partaking in an episodic formula that has already been stretched to its limits and feels terrible to waste the final season on. And the climax is bad: Princess Kakyuu is killed off shortly after being introduced without even getting to fight, all the Inner Senshi die in one blow, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune reach new levels of character assassination, a combination of factors utterly ruin Sailor Galaxia as a villain and Chibi Chibi as a character, and the admittedly well-animated final battle ends on the most lackluster, bullshit conclusion possible. Everyone gets revived and then it just feels like the status quo will go on. No change, no impact. Oh, and did I mention that this all occurs on Earth? That we never go to the fucking stars!? It is such a let-down!

The Stars arc of the manga and Cosmos film adaptation, however, is the exact opposite. This story arc is a truly epic send-off that masterfully ties all of the previous arcs together, feels like the logical culmination of the main characters' development across the series, and has an unforgettable climax in space that changes everything. With characters dying left and right, Magical Girls that are evil, and the threat of the heroine's hope being extinguished by all the darkness she is faced with, it feels like Puella Magi Madoka Magica before that was even a thing, especially in how it concludes. It's some of Naoko Takeuchi's most ambitious writing.

It's funny; for many years, Sailor Stars was never dubbed into English. Well, now it has been...but I would still recommend giving it a pass. Just watch Sailor Moon Cosmos instead.

[dracophile]

Haunted Mansion Old vs. New

Saw The Haunted Mansion today at the theater. It's pretty good! They maybe have a few too many characters we don't get to know as well in favor of focusing on the main character (I get why, but tbh a lot of the others seemed to have more interesting backstories so I kind of wish they'd maybe combined one of them into the main character), but they had a lot of fun one liners, easter eggs, and good story. Everything makes relative sense

I say this in comparison to the 2003 movie we watched before to remind ourselves how that one went, and show it to my nephew who had never seen it. The new one is honestly a VAST improvement. Watching the old one just made me realize how dumb Eddie Murphy and his family was, especially the wife.

Like, Eddie Murphy was typical workaholic dad from your 90s to 2000s build, like Robin Williams in Hook or Jim Carey in Liar Liar. Kids are...Kids. But the wife? Woman gets a call from a creepy voice asking for only her to come view the house when she and her husband are both realtors? That should've been an immediate click of the phone, that is some serial killer shit. Puts up with her husband? Questionable. Like even he can't really justify why he keeps putting work first and like...that kind of takes away his motivation for everything too. But, house is creepy and covered in cobwebs with a cemetery in the back? Oh, but the architecture! Can't find find her husband and the "charming" master of the house keeps looking at her with googly eyes, telling her tragic tales from a hundred years ago like he was there, and remarking on his lost love? Red flags everywhere, but she still follows him to the attic!

The man has to come out and directly say he thinks she's the reincarnation of his lover and reveal he's a ghost before realizing something is wrong. And she's just kind of...blah. Her character is just "the lady to be fought over who is also a mother and a realtor".

Also, the story didn't make much sense as to why they had ghosts from all over the world and history in this one mansion, hand-waving it as being just a magnet for them--yet to be honest you only ever really see them in the graveyard, for like less than five minutes. The only ghosts used as characters are originals who are just a maid and a footman, none of the ones from the ride, and no other ghosts besides the butler work against the family. Instead you get a bunch of zombies in the crypt, I'm guessing because they worked so well in Pirates of the Caribbean. But because there are hardly any ghosts, you don't see a whole lot of allusions to the ride either besides the graveyard and the climax is a little lackluster, with the butler literally being dragged to hell after admitting he killed his master's lover because she wasn't good enough via a giant fire serpent that we never see in the ride. I mean, zombies weren't in the original Pirates ride, but they are at least explicitly zombie PIRATES and they work it into the setting fairly well. Explicitly showing heaven and hell at the end and moving on the ghosts was kind of jarring but also it's over really fast for being the supposed final boss. And begs the question why he never was taken before--the curse is never really explained. The new lays out why the ghosts are there, why they are trapped, and has a showdown between an army of ghosts and the protagonists, which works a lot. Looking at it compared to the new one, it's obvious they put a lot more thought into the 2023 version.

New one makes a lot more sense in the story, with them having just kept summoning ghosts trying to find one specific one, and accidentally summoning an evil spirit. The antagonist makes sense, the ghosts are front and center to the story, including just the shear number, the effects are nice, there's lots of visual easter eggs for fans and cameos, and death and the afterlife are prominent in the story while still being relatively inclusive and kid friendly (though some of the jokes are darker, I wouldn't say they were inappropriate. There is a lot of reference to murder though. Surprisingly no hanging bodies like the first though!). It falters a little here and there,including one part of the climax being a little eh for me, but I won't spoil it and it's still better than the 2003 one. I will say I wish they did more with the camera idea because I'm a sucker for Fatal Frame type scenarios and it felt like they dropped it too soon. Oh, but they made Madame Leota a Russian medium/spiritualist who catered to royalty and dressed like a noble rather than using "g*psy" a whole bunch and playing into that stereotype, so that was nice. Every blah moment is balanced with something I really like, so it's all pretty good.

I had no idea Jared Leto was playing the Hatbox Ghost, but you never actually see Leto himself so...eh. Not my first choice, but he does a good job with the voice, I will give him that...begrudgingly. Just hope he didn't do any method acting for this one.

Basically I think it's worth the watch if you want some family friendly ghost stuff and a popcorn flick with a decent amount of heart too it. Could it have been better? Well yeah, but so can most things. Maybe I'll do something more detailed another day but if you like Disney and like the haunted mansion ride, I don't think you'd be disappointed with this one.

[pjsk-story-summaries]

On This Holy Night, I Sing Event Story Summary

TL;DR: Wonderlands x Showtime prepare for the second round of the show contest. They decide on a Christmas theme to match the holiday season. However, the largest and grandest stage in the park, the Phoenix Stage, is doing the same. The troupe goes to spy on their rehearsal, only to be spotted by their diva, Seiyurin Sakurako. She doesn't see the Wonder Stage as a threat and tells them off.

However, after seeing Seiyurin's skill, Nene begins doubting her own singing abilities. The others think she's fine, but Nene can't shake the feeling. Rui believes the only thing holding her back is her fear of making mistakes after her failed middle school show.

No matter how much she practices, Nene can't seem to get over it. Emu asks about the old Nene to try and remind her of the way she used to be. This conversation leads Nene to watching some old recordings back home. Though the her from back then lacked skill, her sheer happiness to be doing shows was enough to make the performance moving. Nene realizes all she has to do is sing from the heart. The next day, she apologizes for making everyone worry and asks to sing in the SEKAI. They also meet MEIKO, a new addition to the cast.

The show went very well. Seiyurin came to watch and ended up enjoying it greatly, much to her horror. When Nene sang the final song, it began to snow for real. Seiyurin started crying and declared the Wonder Stage to be worthy rivals.

Though the Phoenix Stage remains in first place overall, the Wonder Stage managed to win that round. Everything now rests on the final show.

Fan translation (Arvon Oven) / Official English YouTube Upload / Song (Nijiiro Stories) 2DMV

Chapter 1: Wonderlands x Showtime plan their next show for the contest. Currently, they're ranked third, so this one has to be incredible. Rui suggests doing a Christmas show to match the holiday season. The musical, A Merry Christmas, would follow the story of a lonely orphanage girl helping out Santa's apprentice on Christmas night. Tsukasa and Nene will both play protagonist roles. Though Nene's a bit surprised by it, everyone else is excited for her to play the heroine.

Chapter 2: Rui finishes the script when Emu comes running in, announcing that the Phoenix Stage will also be putting on a Christmas musical. The group goes to spy on their practice to see what they're up against. The troupe, stage, and audience are all much bigger than their own. They also have an incredibly talented lead singer.

Before Wonderlands x Showtime can leave, the diva notices them. She introduces herself as Seiyurin Sakurako, the best performer in Phoenix Wonderland. She's seen some of their shows before, and while she finds their direction good, everything else was lackluster. Tsukasa immediately defends both his stage and Nene. Nene tries joining as well. She leaves, and Wonderlands x Showtime returns to their own stage.

Chapter 3: Though Tsukasa and Nene are both wound up, Rui and Emu remind them the ultimate goal is a good show for the audience. Nene practices the song for the climax. Though it's good, she feels as though Seiyurin's voice is leagues above her own. Rui notices something is wrong, but doesn't think there is much of a difference between her and Seiyurin. Nene stays behind to practice more anyways.

Back in her room, Nene remembers the immediate aftermath of her failed show from middle school. She'd come to practice the next day, only to find the rest of the troupe gossiping about how she let them all down. Nene doesn't want that to happen again.

Chapter 4: The rest of the troupe is worried about Nene. Rui calls her over to hear her sing. He thinks the only problem is that she's being too careful with how she expresses herself. She just needs to relax. Nene realizes her fear from the past is what's holding her back now. Rui suggests trying to sing like she used to, but Nene isn't sure how.

After practice, Miku pops in to say hi and invite them to a Christmas show in SEKAI with a brand-new member. However, Nene declines and goes home. On her way out, she runs into Seiyurin, who antagonizes her further.

Chapter 5: With only a week until the show, Wonderlands x Showtime begin full dress rehearsals. The show is great, but Nene is still anxious about her singing. Remembering Rui's advice about remembering, Emu runs over to Nene and asks about her past.

Nene reveals that she had gone to see a play with Rui as a kid that was so incredible, it made her want to do that, too. Emu gets the feeling- she felt the same after watching shows on the Wonder Stage with her grandpa. Tsukasa talks about his similar experience with Saki and shows, too. Nene remembers singing so much it was annoying her family, but she had fun.

Chapter 6: Back home, Nene asks for some recordings of her old plays. Her skill was way off, but she was having so much fun doing it, it couldn't help but make Nene smile. She realizes then that constantly fearing mistakes isn't the right play. She just has to have fun. Nene decides to practice her song again.

Chapter 7: The rest of the troupe waits for Nene to arrive at the stage. Miku pops in to say hi, along with the newcomer, MEIKO. Just then, Nene arrives and apologizes for making them all worry, and for turning down Miku's show yesterday. She asks if she can sing for everyone over there.

KAITO and Len finish setting up the show. They need four members to sing the opening, so KAITO invites Rui to sing with Nene, MEIKO, and himself. Nene was finally able to sing from her heart.

Chapter 8: The show begins. Seiyurin had snuck into the audience to watch, impressed by their growth but still confident her stage will win. A bit with a guard (Rui) chasing Santa's apprentice (Tsukasa) on stage makes her laugh, much to her horror.

At the climax, the girl (Nene) gifts a young girl (Emu) a teddy bear. Even though the girl never got a present, the thanks she had received made her extremely happy. Nene begins her song. Rui goes to start the snow machine, but to everyone's surprise, it begins snowing for real. After the show, Seiyurin approaches Nene and starts crying. She declares the Wonder Stage worthy rivals and runs off.

A few weeks after the show, Wonderlands x Showtime receives the scoring tallies. Though Phoenix Stage is still in first place overall, their show was the top of that round. The final show will be the true determining factor. Nene thanks everyone for their support, joking that she's gotten her own Christmas gift early. Looking at her smile, everyone else agrees.

[invinciblerodent]

as I'm slowly tying up loose ends in my first playthrough (to FINALLY get to play the endgame already lol), I'm growing just a tiny bit sad here that Halsin doesn't really have an act 3 quest. like at all. not even nominally.

sure, his is a central quest of act 2, and pretty much the entirety of his romance is smushed into act 3, so I get how from a gameplay perspective it would probably have felt a bit oversaturated by him if there had also been a personal quest there. especially on top of him being a potential victim for Orin. but still, the way it all is now, the whole arc, it does feel to me a touch... lackluster, emotionally (which I'm sure the Halsin girlies have been saying for months).

Act 3 completes so many great emotional arcs. The reason it's taking me so bloody long to complete everything is because each big quest is... kind of emotionally exhausting. Practically everything you do, it fundamentally rocks someone's whole world, and after each quest, I need a nap to cope.

meanwhile Halsin is just.... chilling. He's there. He's... good. Wants to go to the forest, but otherwise, he's fine.

...... I'm afraid there's no way around it. I'm gonna have to get him kidnapped.

if you can't get organically grown emotional climax, homemade is fine I guess.

[lilysundragon]

I'm so torn on the new Alkaloid MV/song for so many reasons but primarily I think my issue stems from the idea that it's trying to do two things at once and not really succeeding with either.

It needs to be Tatsumi's climax song. In this department, I think the song's sound is perfect this is exactly what I imagine a Tatsumi center would sound like. I've always thought that Tatsumi was a bit underrated as a singer and this song proves why his voice is great. It's also just flat out a fun song.

In additon to being Tatsumi's climax song, however Undying Holy Love also has to be a Halloween song and here's where it fumbles a bit. I think it's fine that it doesn't sound exactly like a Halloween song, my problem is that the MV doesn't suit Tatsumi.

Crazy Anthem, Parallel Maze, Bye Bye Buddy, and Love Me Monster all fit their units to a tee, concluding their arcs by putting an emphasis on the visuals within their MV. Crazy Anthem contains tons of references to past Crazy:B songs, Parallel Maze is a look into the progress Ra*bits has made, Bye Bye Buddy is a big final hurrah for Double Face, and Love Me Monster is reclaiming "monster" for the twins, a part of themselves that they've been struggling with throughout !!. I'm not going to comment on Fine's Climax because I am admittedly not very familiar with them.

Because Undying Holy Love has to be a Halloween song, I don't feel like it has any big significance to Tatsumi - at least, not in the visuals. Translations for the song aren't up yet so maybe I'm dead wrong, but just watching the MV I don't get the vibe of Tatsumi Climax. None of the MV seems to hold any significance to him, it's just a normal Halloween MV. If this had released last year alongside Helter Spider or Ghostic Treat House I wouldn't bat an eye. In fact, I'd be really delighted by it. In light of the other Climax songs, however, I feel like it's very lackluster.

I won't get into detail about my grievances with the Climax events but as a quick aside... Some of them feel like huge, impactful events (Crazy:B, Ra*bits, and Double Face were the best at feeling distinct from a normal event) but as we've continued, they've felt less special. To me, this feels like a disservice to Tatsumi who has such an interesting story and has grown so much over the last three years. By splitting the event into both our Halloween event and Tatsumi's Climax event, it feels like the team has split their focus too much and has in the end come up with something that is neither Alkaloid Halloween or Tatsumi Climax.

I could eat my words when the story gets released, but to me it feels like HappyEle should've picked one or the other, either commit to Alkaloid Halloween or to concluding Tatsumi's story and giving us an MV that is in line with the others. That's just my two cents on it, tho.

Song's still an absolute banger.

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

For the ask game!

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

💕 there are different things I really like about a lot of my fics, but honestly it's Blood Wisdom. Even though I've written 71k (!!) more of the story since Blood Wisdom and I think grown as a writer a lot since then... it's Blood Wisdom. One of the reasons that I started to write Strange Wonders was because I just thought that the ending of Dracula was lackluster. It's fine, but it starts off this Very strong psychological drama between Jonathan and Dracula and the way it ends... You might as well have car chase music playing tbh. Dracula doesn't speak past October 3rd. He's a total non-character in his own climax. It's cool that Jonathan kills him, but you're not in Jonathan's head in anyway... I wanted to end it as a psychological drama between Jonathan and Dracula and it was just really really satisfying to me to write. You know when things are just going great and you're sitting at your laptop and it's like you're in an elevated state of being and your energy is up bc you're writing it and it's like you're in your story and you start to feel the emotions you're writing for your characters? That's really what it was like for me to write Jonathan and Dracula's last verbal exchange. Like there's a line in that story where Mina says that Jonathan left the study in an agitated state and went out for a walk after he wrote his ending, and I included that because I left my living room in an agitated state and took a walk after I wrote that scene as well. I had just the best time.

And even though I would say New Woman has really given me the most valuable practice at adaptational plotting, Blood Wisdom was really the first successful time I had to sit down with a plotting problem and figure out "hey, I need these story beats from this moment. What do I need to do to get myself there?" It was a big moment of proving to myself that I could do that sort of a thing, and even though the story was only under 30k at that point in time it meant a lot to me that I had written a longer story with a beginning, middle and end.

🥳 The year was 2010, I was 10 years old and was very guilty telling fanfiction.net that I was 13 years old so that I could read James and Sarah fan fiction for PBS's American Revolution cartoon Liberty's Kids... I decided I wanted to write James and Sarah fanfiction myself and spent an afternoon writing maybe a page before I accidentally deleted everything and never started again because I was so discouraged. The next fanfic I would write and actually publish would be a BBC Sherlock fic in 2016. 🤣

I think my reasons are the same as anyone else's really. I get inspired by fiction and want to fill in the gaps. While this is not true for all of the fanfiction that I've written, I definitely tend to write my best work when I want to see something happen in a story that I don't get to see.

🦈 I've only ever written one scene with Lucy in it but I don't think she'll prove very difficult to write for. The character that I struggled with the most was probably Van Helsing. I know that Uncommon Horrors and the Resilience of the Dawn were in fact supposed to be one fic, but I switched perspective because I was like God damn I can't be in his head 24/7 anymore this is killing me. Just in terms of doing a pastiche of how Stoker has him talk. It's all right when he's just saying dialogue, but when the entire description of everything, dialogue and thought and all that has to be in that style as well... it was challenging. But I do like some of the lines that I wrote as Van Helsing. I am moderately satisfied with the end product but a lot of blood sweat and tears came before it lol.

Thanks friend!

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

Review Speed-Round of the Bad Boys series (minus Ride or Die because I have not seen that yet):

I’m just gonna review them as a worst to best ranking, so that’s how that is gonna go. Speed round reviews behind the cut because my ramblings about the third one is a very chunky paragraph, lol.

3. Bad Boys 2. It’s not a terrible movie by any means, but it suffers from a few more issues than the first 1995 film had. It’s a 2000’s film, so it’s gonna have the typical and over-the-top at times vulgar jokes. Then of course we have to make the best female character be a damsel in distress. The villain is also a typical greasy loser who just so happened to be a mob boss with a ton of money from transporting a bunch of ecstasy from multiple parts of the world, and Miami just so happened to be one of the places he tries taking over. Not to mention that this film had a bukkake of explosions and buildings getting destroyed. Less is more. give this film a 15/20. It’s saved by the good acting and the humor that comes from Martin Lawerence, and Captain Howard and the other police and former SEAL men are the best supporting cast.

2. Bad Boys 1995: A good start to this franchise. My only problems with this is once again, the lackluster female supporting cast. Juli the minute she’s doing something good, it’s overshadowed by the fact that she became a damsel in the last half of the movie. The villain is also a typical 90’s mustache twirling gangster, I don’t even remember his name. Or the name of the Bad Boys 2 villain. In fact in my opinion, Bad Boys For Life made a more memorable villain, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Once again, a lot of it is made up with the humor and chemistry between Mike and Marcus as well as Captain Howard. Also, excessive explosions, courtesy of Michael Bay. I give this a 17/20.

1. Bad Boys for Life. In my opinion, it’s a near perfect third sequel. It deconstructs the character Mike Lowry, who is a typical macho man Casanova guy that lets his dick do the talking and thinking for him when around a hot girl or some strippers. Him hopping in bed with La Bruja bit him in the end severely, as the contents of his balls nearly beat him to death at the climax. Marcus is at his best here too, being a good balance of comedic and serious. The serious moments from Marcus are my favorite moments. The moments where he’s praying to god that Mike makes it after getting shot four times in his torso, grieving Captain Howard’s death, and finding out that Mike had a “damn, did not use protection” baby with La Bruja. The villain is fantastic. In fact, the biggest flaw in the previous two Bad Boys films is fixed here. The female characters felt like they served a purpose other than being a damsel or a victim. The main villain is one of Mike’s old flings, and the supporting cast are just as badass as the duo. If I talked about this more, this speed round review would ironically be long (lol as if it isn’t already long) so I’ll stop there. It’s a great movie, I’d recommend watching the first movie and then skipping to this one. 19/20. This film does jump the shark, admittedly, but I’ll see if Ride or Die is just as good a this movie, is decent, or just as bad as Bad Boys 2.

TL:DR, I want more female villains as diabolical, vengeful, and dangerous like La Bruja. In fact, might make a new female villain character based off of her. Give Bad Boys 2 a skip, it’s a mix of good humor from the 1995 film mixed with vulgar try-hard 2000’s humor mixed with a weak forgettable villain. Bad Boys 1995 is a classic and has flaws, but is still otherwise enjoyable and aged fairly well. Bad Boys For Life is the rare good third sequel that is a great mix of action, drama, and the franchise’s usual humor.

I love action movies.

[lorekeeper-backset]

I'm super late to the party on this but it occurs to me that part of the reason the Prequels are so lackluster in a vacuum and need the Clone Wars animated series is because despite being called Star Wars only two of the three movies actually show the war and only the beginning and end of it respectively. The Clone Wars don't even start until the climax of Attack of the Clones, we spend half the movie not at war.

[the-corner-window]

Endwalker: A Retrospective (1/2)

Final Fantasy XIV's most recent expansion "Endwalker" has been a big point of conversation within the community for some time since its release back on December 3rd, 2021. It released to high critical acclaim as the summation of a ten year long saga within one of the most popular MMORPGs available on the market today. I want to look back at the long walk to the end before we blaze a new trail unto the dawn. As someone who's logged several thousand hours over the course of my journey throughout Etheirys I've finished many quests, ran a majority of the content (excluding Ultimates, in due time...), and met a wide range of folks sinking time into one of my favorite games. First off, we dive right into the Main Scenario Questline, hereon referred to as the "MSQ". Most of anything the expansion entails requires you to have conquered the arduous journey the game lays out before you. The production quality of the MSQ is well above where it started, and the increase in quality of the cinematic direction, the voice acting, and the narrative intrigue have all played into making Endwalker truly feel like the culmination of all that came before it. The emotional beats hit hard in some spots, and there's a good mix of light-heartedness in between momentous crescendos that act as a sort of palate cleanser to keep things from becoming strenuous or overbearing for an expansion story the length of a standalone single player RPG. I want to refrain from going into much detail in consideration of those players that have yet to complete the MSQ, but there were a few scenes that actually choked me up, and I'm not typically one to get emotional consuming media. Though that can be said for the base Endwalker MSQ, or the "6.0" content, there was something lackluster about the narrative that followed the climax that felt weaker in comparison. The quality is still there, and in some ways they showcased more of what I hope we get to experience in Dawntrail, however nothing about the more isolated adventure really had me buzzing off the same high as some of the previous post-patch story content such as within Shadowbringers or Heavensward. I do hope that we see some payoff in content down the line, perhaps in the next expansion or even further out, but as of now it felt like getting a lukewarm brownie as a dessert after eating a perfectly seasoned steak. That may seem a bit harsh, but I did still enjoy the brownie. On the topic of the endgame however, I must admit I'm speaking in near isolation since I was a much more casual player before Endwalker released. The encounters ranging from Extreme Trials to Savage Raiding feel really solid, if a bit intense at times. Raiding has been my primary focus in the game for nearly 2 years at this point aside from MSQ completion and it's been fun, but frustrating. Having done some of the more mid-tier content in Stormblood and Shadowbringers such as Eureka, Bozja, and Ishgardian Restoration, the options available to me in the post-patches of Endwalker seemed to amount to either Savage Raiding or using a spreadsheet to upgrade my Island Sanctuary which isn't my favorite kind of content by any means. I had no real drive to push through the new Criterion Dungeons since there was nothing they offered that I felt worth the hassle of pursuing, and Deep Dungeons have never been my favorite content so I've gotten little time in with the new Eureka Orthos. In the end, here just weeks away from Dawntrail's release, my biggest drive to log in is getting my alternative Jobs I've neglected up to the current max level, meeting new people through the more social aspects of the game such as visiting player-run venues, and running PvP activities to finish off my Series.