#legit happened to me several times about ToM

[radaverse]

Do you ever feel EXTREMELY self conscious about your own work or something 💀

artist moment

[oh-my-damn]

Hi mod! Because you are one of the most level headed people here and your opinions are always well thoughtful, what is your take on what is going in now (in real time as we can see) ? I was skeptical but all this follows and stories and pics .. i dont know anymore.. its hard for Me to think that He would marry her with the points of view she and her besties have … (its about CE btw)

Welp I'm not gonna lie, it's all looking very, very strange

However, I do think there is a real possibility they are going for the Tom Brady celebration and that Chris is throwing a bash afterwards. I see it like this: Chris has a very, very parasocial relationship to Tom Brady (much like we do to him) and has always been super super invested and crazy about him (even to the point where he was ASKED about how he felt about Tom being a Trump supporter in a fucking interview. And Chris was disappointed but still loved him. It's absolutely a parasocial relationship)

Considering the many, many parties he throws in general for random reasons, I find it very very probable that he would throw a bash at his house after the game today, where Tom Brady will be present for the first time as a spectator, and they have said in articles it's going to be "a huge celebration of Tom Brady."

Now, why would some of his co-stars be there? Even the ones who aren't super football enthusiasts? (Renner is easy, he's gone to games with Chris before, but RDJ and Hemmy is more strange)

I honestly think they saw it as a chance of press and a reunion. They've all said before how hard it is for them to get together now. They're all on break from working which means none of them have any other engagements to keep them away. They also have no other ways of getting press in the media, other than feeding articles etc. Going to the game, getting photographed etc is a great way to get some press during this off time. And then afterwards a party with their old pals as a reunion, perhaps even staying in Boston for a few days to hang out etc, since no one is working currently. I don't find it far-fetched that Hemmy and RDJ would go for that, considering how close they all were/are.

Hemmy bringing his mom is also curious to me - we didn't see his wife, but his mom. Interesting.

As for the vendor/MUA/hairstylist thing; one of them posted the story WITH A GOAT which was cut out when it was shared on here (🙄 for obvious reasons. Certain blogs on here are trolls and legit just looking to rile you up, please stop believing them) and others are coming because I do believe it's going to be a big, big event. I do believe there will be a lot of celebs showing up, like Wimbledon, in order to get some press and attention. They can't promote their works so this is a great way to get their names out there.

I also think it would be odd if the OG's would come now, to the game (if thats the case) when the "wedding" was supposed to happen soon. Why would they go like two weeks before only to go back home and then come back? That's weird. Unless they actually got married already this weekend, in which case the whole MUA/vendors/hairstylist thing makes no sense. It also doesn't make sense they would go so soon or late to the wedding, depending on when you think it would be. Do we honestly think he's throwing a massive 500 people wedding on a week day?? (lets put aside that if thats the case then he's clearly not the person he's put himself up to be because no "grounded down to earth" person would throw a massive wedding spanning over several days like that)

I don't know man. The entire thing is weird.

Not to mention this is all coming right after we found out he in fact DID NOT go on the Bermuda trip and the proof has been out there all along. And yet "sources" came and said they had seen them there. Even if these sources were remotely close to him, how would they not know of the picture posted of him on that private account that went publicly for a VERY short time yesterday (just enough for the fandom to find that post)

It's all fucking weird.

Technically, we haven't seen them within the same vicinity since the Ghosted premiere. They haven't spoken on it or posted anything, either, other than her picture of Dodger which was during the winter.

It's odd all around. I have no idea what to make of it.

But if he does marry her or already did bla bla bla, it says a lot about him. Not just because she's a racist who associates with racists, but also because of how young she looks. It says a lot about him if he's not just attracted to her but chose to marry her.

If they did, I give it 5 years. Tops. Once she's served her breeding bunny purpose it'll fall apart.

[houseofbrat]

I'm just wondering what things M will accuse H of because I think the divorce battle will be messier than the Depp/Heard fiasco.

Physical abuse/domestic violence and anger management issues. She’s been laying the groundwork since the engagement in 2017.

2017 - First Tom Markle made the comment shortly after the engagement was announced about how he made Harry promise not to hurt Meghan. It was a really strange one-off comment that raised a lot of flags.

2018 - Next the whole estrangement from Tom. Yes, it was “because” he talked to the press and she’s deeply concerned for her privacy but Meghan can easily flip it to “they made me cut you off and threatened me if I didn’t.”

2019 - “not many people have asked me if I’m okay”. Sure, it was in the context of motherhood and postpartum depression, but how easy it’d be to spin it as “people knew about Harry’s temper and no one cared what he was doing to me.”

2020 - There was the whole thing in Finding Freedom about how Meghan’s the only person who can calm Harry down when he gets raging angry because everyone else is fearful of him. She’s scared of him too but she loves him and can put her fear aside to help him.

2021 - Then the Oprah interview, where she said the royals took her passport, keys, identification papers, and refused to allow her to make her own money. Both are classic signs of abusers, making their victims totally dependent on them.

2022 - Then there was their time spent in the UK around The Queen’s passing prior to the funeral - Meghan’s cronies have pretty much said that Meghan felt like a trapped hostage because she wasn’t allowed to go out anywhere and had to stay at FC.

Even more recently, there’s been gossip on Reddit that a) Harry had been forcibly removed from the household and involuntarily sent to rehab and b) something happened to Archie at school that prompted CPS investigations. Obviously it’s Reddit and take with a hefty dose of salt but the thing about Meghan and narcs is that they’ll take any sort of gossip as long as they can spin it to work in their favor.

And finally the threat about not having signed a NDA and finding her old journals in one of the interviews. It more or less suggests she witnessed or experienced something unsavory. She can absolutely spin that to mean Harry’s temper (or the tempers of other royals).

1. The rumors I saw on Reddit regarding rehab didn’t seem legit. Seems more like Meghan trying to start rumors to make him look bad. Which, again, falls under the “tell me they’re acrimoniously separating without telling me they’re acrimoniously separated” variety. 

2. I’ve read the specific comments about Archie and the person who shared that gossip was very clear that CPS was not called. It was Archie’s school who realized that they weren’t “equipped” to handle a small child with such severe anxiety and attachment issues. The school has a person working with Meghan and Harry to help Archie get better. CPS wasn’t involved in that stage. However, if Meghan and Harry--although, it was commented that Meghan seemed to be more of the problem with her control freak issues--don’t work to improve things, CPS could be contacted in the future. Just hasn’t happened yet.

3. The one-off Thomas Markle comment allegedly originated because Meghan told her mother, Doria, that she was divorcing Trevor because he got “physical” with her. Doria told Thomas. That was one of Meghan’s lies to get out of that marriage and move on. 

4. No one is going to believe Meghan saying the BRF forced her to cut off her own family. It’s just not believable at this point, particularly after the Oprah interview. 

5. The big problem with Meghan is that she can’t keep track of her lies. She just keeps putting out more when the best option would be to keep her mouth shut. Just like what she does with pr, she’s way past the point of over-saturation. People do not care for her in the US. The only ones who do are her crazy squad members. She is a niche market that has over sold herself by the truckload. 

I don’t worry too much about any physical abuse or domestic violence accusations because she’s too dumb to pull it off right now. Also, there are too many witnesses in her household. How many nannies do the kids have? In any kind of legal investigation, they would be questioned extensively. Those nannies & other staff could, in fact, give a lot of information to charge her for domestic abuse, if the rumors are true about her yelling, tantrums, throwing objects, and hitting Harry. 

Oh, and let’s not forget about all the rumored recordings of her behavior that exist. I have no doubt that at least one of those will hit the internet post-announcement.

[destinyc1020]

Claire towers over them, that’s why I never understand why anyone makes a big deal about the two inch difference between them. If you wanna talk about short and tall, when he stands next to Claire that’s the big difference. Not him and Z. Also, people really need to stop acting like 5’8 is short.

LOL well, Claire is just super TALL for a woman, and even for a MAN!😅 At 6'4, that's super tall even for a man imo. To me, any man 5'11 or taller is considered pretty "tall" to me. 5'11 is tall for a woman to me in fact. I'm only 5'5 though, so it's not hard to "tower" over me hahaha. 😅🤣

Btw, I believe Tom is 5'7?🤔 I believe he's mentioned this several times before in interviews himself. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I've also seen him in person, so what he says seems legit.

Either way, TZ's height difference isn't that big to me when they're both in flats. It is only very noticeable when Z is in heels. 🤷🏾‍♀️

But there are PLENTY of men who date TALL models all the time and are actually SHORT men themselves. I don't have to pull out picture receipts...I'm sure you all have seen this many times before. I've even done a collage on my blog before of tall women dating short men.

Overall... It's not a big deal to me? My older sister is about an inch or so taller than her hubby.

Sometimes that happens??

Bottom Line: You fall in love with an individual..... whether they are 6'5 or 5'2 LOL. 😅

[smolvenger]

💜👎🏻and 💻 for the asks! 😁

Hello there! Thank you so much, it does mean a lot!🥺🥺 I love talking about my own writing because I’m obsessive about my own writing (I will legit get so into it that hours pass)

💜- three favorite lines

(Warning, me being a Will hater below. You have been warned. Just fast forward to the rest)

My three favorite lines that I’ve written on this blog/account and the fics associated with this (not including the stuff on @likesomekindofcheese) are

1. The Opening Line of Stella of Essex or The Vicar’s Wife Betrayed (my fix-it fic of The Essex Serpent where it’s told from Stella Ransome’s POV)

“My husband fingered another woman against a tree.”

The “tree” scene happens in the book and I am not 100% sure if it happens in the TV adaptation. But I thought it was a nice, punchy first line for a series to open with the cheating and then rewind in the fic and go through Stella’s early life and her falling in love and marrying Will…knowing the whole time that he’s eventually going to cheat on her. I love using Dramatic Irony like that in stories- reading and writing!

2. This passage from the first chapter of The Twelve Days which is Prince Hal or Henry V/Reader being in an arranged marriage. Reader is tossed into it and is secretly dreading being married off to a powerful man she knows little about.

“Besides, the more cynical side of your brain thought, you were being brought in as no more than a glorified broodmare for England”

I just am proud of “glorified broodmare for England” in terms of describing a Queen Consort.

3. This is from the second chapter of Miss Narracott and The Captain.

“Ain’t nothin’ that makes foolish men quiver like seeing a woman happy on her own terms!”

Just the part of me that’s into feminism discourse loves it and I like it’s the reader’s mother encouraging her to go after whatever makes her happy instead of trying to please others.

👎🏻- if you could change something in one of your works, what would you change and why?

Good question! I have several, but if we are sticking with one, I wish both the first chapter of The Twelve Days and I Say Nothing That Frightens Me was more detailed and got into things. Because at the time I was in a rush to write both and get them just done and posted because I crave getting things done and getting attention for it. But then there is a bit of a shock when the latter chapters have more details and descriptions in them!

💻- three works of yours that are must reads

1. Definitely The Twelve Days series- the arranged marriage between Hal and Reader! Because I love building a relationship and working in the confines of a different time period.

2. The Cure for Virginity (so far, of the “Tom’s Characters” fics I’ve written my most successful! And I’m proud of it 🥰)

3. It’s a tie and here is my reasoning

(Will hate below. Don’t like that then don’t read the next two paragraphs and go the stuff below)

Alternative One: Stella of Essex or The Vicar’s Wife Betrayed felt the most like my own book rather than a run of the mill fanfic, but I know it was very ballsy of me because 1) it’s not a Reader fic like I usually do and 2) I take a loved character (Will) and actually discuss and deconstruct how destructive his canon action of cheating on his wife actually is and he (as well as Cora too) actually is punished and held accountable for it! But I get that it’s spicy and controversial.

So I understand why it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But that fic was my coping mechanism for my trigger about cheating and being traumatized by The Essex Serpent. That fic is like my baby- you insult it, you insult me.

(Will girlies and Lust Viarettes I offer you this cake as a peace offering)

Understanding that, It leaves the alternative choice!

Alternative Two: Summer in Majorca! Jonathan Pine with some fluff moments, angst, some humor I threw in, and even an attempt at smut at the end😁

(Hopefully these links work😭)

Link to The First Chapter of The Twelve Days

Link to Miss Narracott and The Captain Chapter Two

The Cure for Virginity

Stella of Essex Masterlist

Summer in Majorca

Thanks for asking and letting me monologue!

[esotheria-sims]

This one's for @princesspiratecat, who wished Rosalind could have a bunch of beautiful babies with all of my best-looking BaCC sims. Ros knows her birth control ABCs (erm, most of the time, anyway), so there's little chance of something like that actually happening in the BACC... but that's not to say we can't have some fun in CAS, ay? 😉

So I decided to do a little experiment in genetics in which I took Rosalind and had her have some fictitious babies with every adult male sim currently residing in Wyvern's Bay (because in my book, all my sims are my 'best-looking sims' - can you tell I'm totally not biased? 😄).

I got the spawns the classic way, by rolling the pacifier in CAS. They all got cosmetic makeovers (makeup, clothes, haircuts) but the genetics and features they rolled weren't changed. The pics also aren’t edited aside from some basic brightening/contrast. All for fairness’ sake!

Can you guess who the father is for each set of siblings? 😉 Answers & rambly musings under the cut!

1. Rosalind + Feanor Moonfeather. An easy one to guess, considering the girl got her father's characteristic ears, his eye and hair color, and his straight nose. From mom she got the lips, the skintone, and maybe the jawline too, though I can't be sure about that one. The guy has the same mouth-jaw-nose configuration as his sister and the same skintone, but unlike his sister, he got mom's blue eyes and human ears. Overall a pretty good blend of the parents on both of them, A+, would be totally stoked if Feanor & Rosalind's actual kid from the BACC looked like either of them (personal preference leans towards the girl).

2. Rosalind + Tom Wagamese. While Rosalind & Tom are both gorgeous sims individually, I've found that their genes aren't the easiest ones to mix; took me several rolls to get the kids shown here. Girlie seems to be a carbon copy of Tom aside from the blue eyes and possibly the jawline, which would explain why her mouth was at such an odd position relative to the rest of her face (I had to lower it a click or two which is the only* time I've cheated during this experiment). The bro got more of Rosalind in him, most notably the nose and the rounded jaw (great for beards, looks kinda meh bare), as well as the lighter tan skin which I also cheated to get because Rosalind's skintone apparently isn't geneticized. Both of them seem to have gotten Tom's full lips, and ofc his raven hair. Final verdict: pretty spawns with great potential, but would probably need further tweaking in BS if added to the game.

3. Rosalind + Gabriel Blackbird. Another easy guess thanks to the telltale white hair (which, for the record, I didn't cheat to get because my game actually recognizes Timebomb as a legit genetic color). Here, both sibling got dad's coloring (skin&hair) and (most of) mom's facial features. We can see Rosalind's elegantly hooked nose and upturned mouth on both of them, and they both have her blue eyes, though I messed around with FX makeup and gave the girl's eyes a violetish undertone as a nod to her father. Speaking of her father, she also seems to have gotten Gabriel's sharp cheekbones, whereas the brother ended up being a full-on copy of Rosalind feature-wise (and in fact looks a lot like Rosalind's canon son, Phillip!) Again, A+ genetic blend on these two and I'm totally not trying to figure out how to get Rosalind to boink Gabriel in canon so they'd get an oops baby...

[enigma-absolute]

10, 17, and 18 for the Eddsworld asks! >:3c

10. What do you think is the funniest joke in the series?

Damn, that’s a GOOD question. So much so that I had look back on a couple eddisodes to make me think, but here’s my response.

I think it’s in the comics.

Not that the show doesn’t have some great jokes, but the funniest of them for me are within the comics. Specifically with Edd’s last era prior to Space Face releasing, and a little into the start of Legacy. They were how I got into Eddsworld in the first place.

A good chunk of my improvised humour was learned from Edd’s ability to make anything a visual or linguistic pun. I get more of a chuckle out of stuff such as ‘immature cheese’, ‘wrapper in my pocket’, ‘Dr Names’ and that one arc of Matt getting an honest-to-god date.

That being said, I loved seeing Tom getting spun around and yeeted by that tank in the Moviemakers montage. Also, from the end of said montage:

Laurel: I wonder what happened to all those space cats... Edd: Well, do you see that tiny speck up in the sky? Laurel: Yeah? Edd: That isn’t them. They’re dead.

Edd’s delivery of that line legit makes me crack a grin and chuckle.

17. Which Eddsworld character do you relate to the most, and why?

Again, good question.

After thinking on it a bit, I think it’d still be Edd, and not just because he’s my favourite.

In the classic era, he’s the artist/animator, the one who initiates the initiative of the episodes and is simultaneously DONE with his friends’ antics AND eggs them on further.

Sounds like my kind of guy.

(Actually, on a writer’s note, Edd taking the initiative for adventures is what I think has been missing from much of Legacy AND Beyond’s writing. He took the initiative to go to Atlantis when Matt lost the fridge keys, and when Tom bought that film camera with all their life savings, he took the initiative of making a film instead of just relying on a 2008 YouTube clickbait video Tom made. His friends started it, sure, but EDD was the one who kept saying ‘alright, let’s go get this stuff done’ AND DID IT.)

(I think I could write a whole thing on how this is really the show’s Writing Engine, and how it started to vanish circa Hammer and Fail Part Two and Space Face, but that’s another day. Or time. Or ask. Speaking of writing…)

18. If you could write an episode, what would it be about?

Oh BOY. Buckle up, I’ve got several ideas swirling in my head and I’m about to pitch them - hell, if any of you think they have standing power, hit me up and we can figure out a way to team up and make them exist!

Suction Cup Man vs Tord’s Giant Robot. It’s a more fully fleshed-out version of the voice-acting post I did for a skit a while back, and I’m unashamed to say that it’s a roughly copied plot of SCM 2 (including references to it and all).

Suction Cup Man gets captured by a mystery man from the future to take down some jerk’s giant robot in the present. Cut to The End Part Two with Tord gloating in the giant robot, and it all goes to chaos from here.

Fun fact about this one: I’ve already handwritten most of the script’s first draft, and have three different endings planned out, but I’m not sure which one would be best for the skit. They’re all good in their own ways, but whilst I had the initial idea to PrynceJJayden of twitter fame, I’m not sure if he’d be accepting of script pitches from other people at this point in time. On top of that, I don’t know if his VA talent who does Tord (@/The_Rey_Rey on twitter) would be keen to do that sort of thing too.

PowerEdd 2: The Devious Drenchings of Doctor H2O. (Formerly titled The Eddvengers, but considering there’s an AU with that name already, this seems more appropriate.)

When a freak science experiment near the antiques store strikes the lads, Edd’s superhero powers return, and this time Tom and Matt join with their own. But their enemy isn’t an evil director or an old friend, but some maniac with a drinking water tank on his head and a desire to sink London into his New Atlantis.

If the name ‘Doctor H2O’ sounds familiar to some of you, he was actually a villain character Edd Gould created! You can find an uncoloured drawing of him from Edd’s old tumblr from about 2011.

This story idea also has some meat to it - lore pages on how their powers worked, old script bits, writing ideas - with the intention of becoming an audio drama as so not to stress out animators. I still have the notebook I scrawled the idea out in from years ago, and I even had some concept art from current-day EW animator Fran Pun!

Unfortunately, as much as the more influential people behind the first attempt had resources, fame and means to make it, this one fell onto the back burner due to unclear plot beats (my fault), no scheduling (this was just a bad habit in general from said people) and one of my co-writers just… not going anywhere with it. Some jokes from him felt a little forced. Gratefully though, I still have the intro scene script somewhere in my drives, and I think it holds up. I’d love to come back to this one someday.

Miniseries: Through the Time Machine

Saloonatics had the Wild West, WTFuture gave us time travel, so what if we went back and forth in time to find our favourite lads having adventures in other points of history?

Before Penguins of Madagascar was my first fandom experience, Phineas and Ferb was my first Fan experience, even just from mostly flash games online and watching the episodes in pieces on YouTube. But what I remembered most was a miniseries of specials where the formula for the show was translated into different time periods and story genres to give a unique flavouring to the stories.

So come on, imagine: Eddsworld Caveman episode. Eddsworld pirates episode. Eddsworld Medieval episode. Even an Eddsworld Y2K Futurism… future… episode. (Look, all I’m saying is that the aesthetic could SLAP.)

Would there be an overarching plot? Not really, they could just be for fun! And I’d love to throw my hat in the ring to try it out. It’d be so much fun!

[crhinge]

Breaking Down The Classic Rom-Com

I feel like I haven’t written a fun post in a hot sec so lets talk about one of my favorite subjects: Rom Coms

According to wikipedia, a Rom Com, also known as Romantic Comedy, is “a subgenre of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles.��� In the past, Romantic Comedies have also been called “Chick Flicks” but I think this is devaluing of both women and  the romantic comedy genre. 

The other day, I woke up to find that the most wholesome rom-com couple of all time reunited: Matty & Jenna (Aka Mark Ruffalo & Jennifer Garner). This got me thinking about the beauty of the Rom-Com and how unappreciated they can be. It has been years since we have seen a rom-com with the cultural impact of 13 Going on 30, and I would like to petition for more of them after a sad and painful year. 

I can already hear the millions (in my head this blog is extremely popular) of comments “What about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before?!?” “What about The Kissing Booth?!?” And too that I say, "Good Riddance!” If you’re rating your rom coms on a TATBILB scale, or even WORSE The Kissing booth, I feel sorry for you. Truly I do. So let's dive into the best Rom Coms of all time, but first... 

What makes a Rom-Com good? Well let's start with a relatable as hell main character. I am talking a girl (sometimes guy), who has many flaws, but the audience can see themselves within her/him. Let's use Jenna Rink from 13 Going On 30 as an example. Well, she's literally a 13 year old in a 30 year olds body, but don’t we all still have a preteen hiding inside of all of us? She is 100% willing to be herself at every step, even if that means dancing thriller all alone. She touches on all of our insecurities, while teaching us how to break down our walls. 

Rom-Coms also need characters to make realistic choices. This does not mean that the movie itself is realistic, but rather than you can understand the choices the characters make. Again, 13 going on 30 does a fabulous job of this. Obviously, Jenna traveling in time because of wishing powder is not realistic, but the choices that her and her past self make are. Due to the insecurities of her childhood and a need to feel included, relevant, and powerful Jenna pushes important people out of her life, which happens to so many people in the real world. These decisions force her to miss out on the love of her life, and ultimately, the story ends sadly: the love of her life marries someone else and she is left with tears, wishing powder, and an old doll house. That is until she is able to travel back in time and change the course of her life. 

Lastly, Every classic Rom-Com couple needs to have chemistry. There. I said it. Hollywood loves just casting random famous actors without giving them a proper chemistry read. One great example of this is Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel in Safe Haven. Both fun, famous, Hollywood actors who have zero chemistry. Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner had more chemistry throwing back Razzles than those two did during an intimate sex scene. 

Alright, now that we have broken down the requirements of a Romantic Comedy, let's jump into the best and worst of all time.

Best: When Harry Met Sally. 9/10. A classic. A tale as old as time. Both Sally & Harry are very flawed, yet relatable characters. Sally is too picky and particular, while Harry is a player. They both suck at relationships, but make rational decisions based on their motivations. We all have friends like these two and their chemistry is on point, both on a friendship and romantic level. They bounce off of one another splendidly. 

Worst: Sleepless in Seattle. 1/10 I know, this is a strong take, but this is a terrible movie about a stalker. Meg Ryan (I don’t even remember her character's name) is the stupidest most unrelatable character I have seen in a long time. She is extremely unlovable, cheats on her SO emotionally, and flies across the country to stalk a man that she has never met before. And then you’re telling me that Tom hanks FALLS FOR HER? Nope. No. I refuse to except this. Plus, their chemistry in this is pretty mediocre (You’ve Got Mail is Way Better) and we only get to see them together once. 

Best: 10 Things I Hate About You. 8/10. I was tempted to leave all high School Rom-Coms off this list, but Heath Ledger is my exception. Talk about likability. Kat is a strong, powerful, independent woman who learns how to be more vulnerable while still being a feminist badass. We all wanted to be Kat growing up. Meanwhile Heath Ledger is the classic bad boy with a soft side, and who wasn’’t into that? Both characters grow into new people throughout the movie making them relatable, complex, and realistic. Not to mention the angel that is Joseph Gordon Levitt, who keeps the audience up beat and smiling throughout the course of this Shakespeare tale

Best: My Big fat Greek Wedding. 10/10.  Have you seen this film recently? Because it is an absolute DELIGHT and so relatable. It dives into the difficulty of family expectation and cultures merging. It also has the cutest proposal of all time with a realistic couple that fights for one another on a daily basis. You laugh. You cry. You get a dynamic cast with wonderful chemistry. You feel invested in the family and the relationship. Just a joyful wonderful film.

Worst: Something Borrowed. 0/10. If you’ve never seen this movie, don’t. Ginnifer Goodwin sleeps with her best friends fiancé and we’re supposed to be okay with it because she liked him first. Hard pass. And she ignores John Krazinski who is right in front of her. She is unlikable, unreliable, and makes dumb decisions that no one else would. 

Best: He’s just not that into you. 9/10  I will go to bat for this movie. It follows several realistic storylines in a Love Actually manor, except they actual seem legit. A woman realizing her boyfriend is never going to marry her. A girl facing the fact that maybe some guys just aren’t that into her, and she isn’t an exception to the rule. A man slowly making the decision to cheat on his wife as they are growing apart. A woman realizing that she is worth way more than her bastard husband. A woman realizing that the person she’s sleeping with will never leave his wife for her. It's compelling, has realistic characters that we can relate to, and still warms your heart in the end. 

Best: The Big Sick. 8/10. Okay to be fair, this is based on a true story so it automatically has realistic characters and decisions. Maybe I should leave this off of the list, but I wish this film got the recognition it deserves. Two lovable main characters who make mistakes that are understandable. Wonderful chemistry between Kumail and his girlfriend as well as her family. 

Best: About Time. 11/10 This is hands down the best Rom-Com of all time and Potentially the best film of all time as well. If you don’t cry in this movie you do not have a heart or soul. The characters are SO insanely likable and adorable.It touches on the importance of family and valuing time and how little of it we have. The chemistry within the whole cast is palpable, and we can all relate to at least one character, whether it is the protagonist Tim, his wife Mary, his sister Kit-Kat, or his father. 

Well it is important to point out the obvious here: this list is lacking diversity in a huge way. All but one of these movies follow a cis, straight, white couple, and that is extremely concerning. People have attempted to make more diverse rom-coms over the past few years, but they all seem to be lacking one of the three core components of what makes a rom-com great: Relatable, realistic, and great chemistry. For example. Crazy Rich Asians was a fantastic film, but the high level of wealth that Nick Young comes from, made his character difficult to relate to, and I’m sorry but the chemistry just wasn’t there for me. Always Be My Maybe’s characters fell flat and it’s not a film I would want to watch more than once. Love Simon made some huge waves for LGBTQ representation in the media, but that ending kiss was unrealistic along with his friends reaction to fining out he was lying, which left the movie anti-climactic by the end. 

Now, the most recent film on this list was made in 2017. And before that 2013. So where have all the Rom Coms gone? Why don’t we see more of them. There are a few Rom Coms that could be contenders on the “Best” list from the last couple of years that include a small amount of diversity: 

Yesterday 7/10. The big question here is does this count as a romantic comedy? The love story isn’t the main plot, but is definitely a large sub-plot. This movie features an interracial couple and is highly re-watchable. The main characters are entertaining, relatable, and have pretty good chemistry. We will see if it stands the test of time. 

The Broken Hearts Gallery 7/10. This movie has gotten NO recognition. The main character, Lucy, is an extremely likable 20 something, not unlike our Ginnifer Goodwin in He’s Just not that Into You. The plot is fun and predictable but keeps you watching. I don’t know if this one will stay on my list long, but it’s definitely up there. 

But here is my challenge to Hollywood: create some new, beautiful Rom Coms that celebrate diversity but that don’t throw away the relatable, realistic, and high chemistry characters that we are just waiting to fall in love with. It’s got like 16 ideas up my sleeve, so just give me a call Hollywood. 

[amarylliasky]

I have a lot of thoughts about the new Spider-Man movie..

MAJOR SPOILERS for Spider-Man No Way Home under the cut!!!

I still can’t decide whether I loved it or hated it.

I know I hated the end, but I think the majority of the movie was pretty good (Aside from the whole May dying thing).

I just really wish there was some other way they could have done the end.

One of the main reasons I fell in love with this version of Spider-Man was because he was so different from the previous ones. I remember watching Civil war in theatre’s and becoming absolutely endeared with Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character. He was everything I liked about Spider-Man rolled into one. He was funny, a bit immature, talked way too much, a complete dork, and wasn’t played by someone in their 20’s or 30’s.

Not only that, but the way he was introduced was phenomenal. I couldn’t believe that one of my all time favorite characters was finally a part of this big universe that I had been growing up with already. And to top it all off was his mentor being Tony Stark. Something that had been done in cartoons and comics but had yet to make it to the big screen and it was there. From then on, I was an even bigger Spider-Man fan and avid fan of Irondad and Spiderson as well.

Of course, Endgame robbed us of that last bit, but there’s always fan content.

But then Far from home happened. And the end was huge and disastrous.

And now we have No Way Home.

The overall theme of this movie was much different then the first, or even the second. Automatically I felt a sense of dread for the characters. (Of course, my dad looked up the movie beforehand and spoiled me with May’s death). But y’know, I was surprisingly ok with May’s death compared to what happened at the end.

Anyway, I was enjoying it, and then we had all the interactions with the classic villains and the other Spider-Men, and it was a good time.

But then the end slapped me in the face.

I was not okay. For several days.

The whole time I was internally screaming “no”. I legit cried at the goodbye scene. I was also internally screaming at him to say something when he was talking to her later. Anyway, by the end of the movie, I cannot stress how not ok I was.

I think the biggest thing for me was that they built up his character with his entire journey throughout the mcu. And in the end of this movie they just. took it away. They spent years developing him as a character. Growing his relationship with MJ, Ned, Happy, Tony, heck, he’s on a first name basis with some of the avengers! And following along throughout the years, it was easy for me to think that he was a part of something bigger than any other Spider-Man has been. So at the end of it all, when they took it all away, and no one even knows he existed, it left me feeling….kinda empty tbh.

After the initial shock, confusion, and general heartbreak wore off, I was left feeling kinda…meh. Like, after everything, they just went and stripped this poor kid of his entire life. I’m only a little older than him and to imagine someone my age going through that…feels bad man.

I understand the writers reason behind it. With Tom potentially quitting, they needed to leave Peter at a place in his life where at that point, we knew where he was going. There would be no set up for another movie, no cliffhangers or unanswered questions, no doubt as to where he was headed. A place they felt comfortable leaving this character and story for the unforeseeable future. Because at this point, we know the story. Peter would continue to be Spider-Man while working at the Daily Bugle to pay for rent and whatever else he has going on. He might go work for this universe’s Doc Ock or maybe go to college, but the choice is left to our imagination and all we know about this character. Yet still, it’s got to be one of the most heartbreaking ending I’ve ever seen.

At this point, he’s no longer the one who’s so much different from every other variation of Spider-Man that we’ve seen. He’s now one among the many Peter Parker’s in the universe. He no longer has the support of friends, family, or other superheroes. No fancy tech or people to call upon when he’s in trouble. And no guidance from people much more experienced than he is. And that hurts.

But I think, in the grand scheme of things, what hurts the most about it is that Tony’s entire legacy is gone. It never existed. I mean, sure, he could have left all his tech and suits to say, Spider-Man. But that’s highly unlikely considering how little the Avengers, Pepper, Happy, and even Tony would have known about Peter without, well, Peter. I think what’s more likely is that Tony left it all to Pepper, and eventually Morgan. Spider-Man is just another superhero to those that knew him. And Peter is nonexistent to those that knew him.

In the end, Peter Parker is just how he’s always been. Someone going through life, not really sure where it leads. On his own, maybe finding some romance or friendships along the way, maybe even mentoring some young spiders himself. But ultimately, a loner. He’s just the person behind the mask of Spider-Man. The only thing that seems to matter to him or the world.

His story is one we know and love. And, for better or worse, whether we see it further or not, Peter Parker, Spider-Man, has a new life. He has a fresh start and endless possibilities.

[agrumina]

So had some Reddnook thoughts so have some headcanons

Or: how my Redd and Tom are.

Content warning for mentions of abuse in Redd’s past and mentions of relationship problems

-Tom… has a canon past so we won’t talk about it too much. I just think he and Sable had a puppy romance (and maybe even tried to get in a more serious one in adulthood) and they were each other first kiss

-Redd had a pretty bad past. Abusive mother, disappeared dad. He had his share of betrayals and toxic relationships, both platonic and romantic.

-Redd actually wanted to become an artist. But his mother’s discouragement, growing up in a toxic enviroment and not being able to afford going to certain schools made him go “Guess no art career for me lmao!”

-He and Tom met in the city. They shared an apartment to save money. For Tom it was love at first sight, Redd took a bit longer.

-The first was one to confess, surprise surprise… was Tom! And Redd at first thought of some sort of bad-taste prank. After he realized that no, he was serious, they began a relationship

-Their relationship was not full-out abusive, but not perfect and “Omg relationship goals” neither. They had times here they almost seemed like they came out from a cheesy movie and others where they argued just for the littlest thing. There were times where Redd spoke over and/or for Tom despite the latter not asking and actually being annoyed by it (and they often argued about it). Tom also learned to not ask “too many questions”.

-In human version they got a matching tattoo (that Tom covered years later). Redd’s idea, but they didn’t do it until he was sure Tom was 100% on board about it.

-Despite their relationship not being 100% perfect, Redd actually wanted a future with Tom. 

Tom did too. Problem is, both of them had VERY different plans.

-You see, Tom wanted to work honestly. He knew it was gonna be hard, but he knew it would have been worth it.

Redd actually wanted to start scamming people and get that “easy money”.

-So one day Redd is like “So hear me out…” and proposes the whole scamming thing. But Tom is like “Okay listen I’d do anything for you but that?? No. No sir. Not gonna happen”. Redd tries to insist but this is one of the things Tom doesn’t want to change his idea, no matter how much Redd insists and how much he tells him it’s “Easy money”

-After that, their relationship became ever more sour and starts to deteriorate.

-The “accident” is that, after a really bad argument, Redd disappeared with all the money. He ran away. Yes, a part of it was because of trauma and not being capable of handling someone who genuily loved him. But a big part was just him being petty, wanting to break up and a “revenge”. Only years later he realized that uh, that wasn’t cool, but it was too late.

-Tom got traumatized. And not in the “Ah he just had a yucky day” way. Legit traumatized. He knew that their relationship wasn’t going in the best direction but he didn’t expect THAT.

For years even just THE MENTION of Redd “shut” him down. He had several trust issues. He tried to have other romantic relationships but they just didn’t work out. Over the years he also realized that their relationship wasn’t as perfect as he thought. 

-Tom has gotten over him, kinda. To even his own surprise when he saw Redd on the island his reaction was more of annoyance than panic.

-They could come back together but… not so easily. They would have to talk A LOT first and start as just friends. Tom really got hurt by the whole thing so he would take a bit longer to accept “re-trying”.

[phantombandit-films]

Why ‘War of the Worlds’ (2005) is a underrated masterpiece.

‘War of the Worlds’ was released in 2005, it is directed by the film god that is Steven Spielberg (Jaws, E.T.) and written by Josh Friedman (Terminator: Dark Fate, Avatar 2) and David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible) 

Cast:  - Tom Cruise as Ray Farrier. - Justin Chatwin as Robbie Farrier. - Dakota Fanning as Rachel Farrier. - Miranda Otto as Mary Ann. -Tim Robbins as Harlan Ogilvy. - Ann Robinson as Grandmother.  - Gene Barry as Grandfather. 

First lets start with some history of ‘The War of the Worlds’ - The 2005 film is based off the novel of the same name which was written by H.G. Wells between 1895 and 1897, it then was then made into a series by Pearson’s Magazine in 1897 in the UK, Cosmopolitan in the US. Then becoming a hardback novel in 1898, it is one of the earliest written pieces to tell a story of conflict between Martians and man and so its one of the most commented on pieces of science fiction. 

It has been adapted and developed several times over many decades in many medias, the ones that come to mind are the famous 1938 dramatic radio reading that was directed and starred Orson Welles that actually caused public panic to those who listened in and didn’t know that the Martian invasion was fiction, its said that up to a million people ran out of their homes in terror.  (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama) )

The 1953 ‘The War of the Worlds’ film adaptation, which was produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin. It also starred Gene Barry (who played Dr. Clayton Forrester) and Ann Robinson (who played Sylvia Van Buren) who can also been seen at the end of the 2005 film, they play the grandparents of Robbie and Rachel which I think is a sweet little cameo to see for those who loved the 1953 film.  Ann Robinson also revived her role as Sylvia Van Buren in two other films and three episodes of ‘The War of the Worlds’ tv series in 1988. 

In 1978 the most well known musical album by Jeff Wayne was produced and based off the story of ‘War of the Worlds’ this album included the voices of Richard Burton and David Essex.

This was then turned into a concert musical which tours annually through out the UK and Europe, the concert includes live performers such as Carrie Hope Fletcher but also a 3D hologram of Liam Neeson. It also includes a mix of computer animation, pyrotechnics and a big mechanical tripod that comes out on stage and lights up and can fire its heat-ray. 

(Source: Birmingham Mail.)

There have also been several Tv series, the two newest being the 2019 BBC version staring Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson and Full Monty’s Robert Carlyle, that has a Edwardian setting and follows closely to the novel. 

The other being the FOX 2019 adaptation that is set in present day Europe but I found this version didn’t really go off the novel, and was frustrated with the lack of the famous Tripods.  (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds) 

As a kid I would watch the 1953 film with my mum all the time as its one of her favourites and I do really like it, but then 2005 rolled around and in comes Steven Spielberg’s version. To be fair it was probably 2006 when I finally saw it, I was nine years old at the time and I remember my dad bringing home the DVD that someone at work had lent him. I don’t remember watching it but I do remember having nightmares for a month after, only for a month though.  Many years later when I was half way through high school and getting more and more into film my dad then bought the DVD from Woolworth's before it shut down, the DVD didn’t have a case only a see through CD case so I think it only cost him something like 50p. So I re-watched and again I don’t really remember this but all of a sudden I was hooked, and it climbed to the second spot on my favourite movies list where it still sits today. Honestly if you asked anyone I was friends with at that time they will tell you just how obsessed I was with it.  

I have many scenes that I love in this film the first being the rise of the first tripod, but there are two that I geek out over every time. 

The first scene being the one in the basement at Robbie and Rachel’s house, the scene starts off with Ray asleep in a chair. He starts to stir when when a blue flash of light on his face, but then jolts up right at a load whooshing noise followed by closely by Robbie shooting up from just below the camera. I love the way that Robbie appears sort of fits with the sound that’s heard, also the whole mood of the scene which is pitch black with this blue flashing light every now and then. The fact that you’re just as clueless as the characters as well, you find out what’s happening when they find out.  Also the way that Rachel appears behind the basement stairs, which will appear again near the end of the movie in a much more damaged basement which shows just how much their world has changed in just a short few days.  The sound design in this movie as well is something that I love, I love when the sound in a film alone can creep you out. The tripod sound is one of my favourite sounds to exist, like if I heard that from outside I would be so creeped out and scared.  At this moment in time Robbie and Rachel have no idea what is hunting them or what Ray has seen, Imagine running from something and seeing something completely destroy the whole of your neighbourhood yet not knowing what it looks like. This is what runs through my mind when I heart Rachel cry “Is it them, Is it them?!”  Then the next morning when Ray goes upstairs and see’s that the house is just completely destroyed by an aeroplane that has crashed down in the middle of the the housing estate. This Boeing 747 was a out of use plane and the production crew bought it for $60,000 which then cost them $200,000 to transport, it was then broken into pieces and houses were built around it. Which just shows how far some movie productions will go to make a film look more legit. (We love practical effects in this house.) This scene is still set up at Universal Studios Hollywood and can be seen on the Studio tour. 

(Basement and Plane crash scene.)

My second favourite scene, which is one of my all time top favourite scene ever with no surprise is the dock scene.  The speeding train that’s on fire is absolute stunning in every sense but for me the scene starts when the music starts.  ‘If I ruled the world, everyday would be the first day of spring.’ But i’m really glued to the screen when Rachel starts to follow the birds coming in from the river to in land, she follows them up to the hill where she notices the tree’s on the top are moving weirdly. “The tree’s are funny.” She then reaches out and grabs onto Rays hand who was talking to a friend.  Robbie turns to the hill as the camera slowly comes back and shows Robbie also turning to look at where Ray is looking. (Just remembering that this is the first time Robbie and Rachel ever see the tripods.) 

The camera then shows us what the family is looking at to reveal a tripod stood on the top of the hill, it then moves one of its legs which crushes a tree and makes everyone else look back. Obviously chaos ensues from this point on, everyone running trying to get onto the ferry to get away from the impending doom, unfortunately we learn that no where, not even on the water is safe. As a tripod comes up from out of the water and attacks the ferry, the family manage to escape and get to land on the other side of the ferry. They stop for a moment to catch their breath as people are being picked out of the water below them, they turn as a old air raid alarm is heard on the other side of the hill and we see tripods coming over another hill that was filled with people and using their head rays to wipe them all out, we also see in the distance a lighting storm indicating more Martions are still coming to earth. The scene is like a depiction of all the stages of the attack.  (Dock attack scene.)

I mean all the action scenes in this movie are just so beautiful and amazing, but did we expect any less from Spielberg? And the CGI and practical are all done extremely well and fitted together to make a scene look as real as possible. One of the art directors that worked on this film, Doug J. Meerdink who has also worked on Jurassic Park: III, Cloverfield and Jurassic World. 

I was looking up some trivia on IMDB for this movie and found that there was a deleted scene that is called the ‘Camelot’ scene. This scene is supposed to take place between the attack on the ferry and the battle on the hill, it involves Ray, Rachel and Robbie walking through an abandoned housing estate that’s named Camelot, when a pack of tripods start walking near by.  One of the tripods breaks off and the family has to take cover behind a SUV, they watch helplessly from behind as the tripod reaches into the house and grabs people from the houses. This scene has never been released but apparently it was fully finished, VFX and all but then taken out a few weeks before post production was wrapped up.  There is only one official video from this scene that was in the actual trailer for the film, and it’s only a shot of the family hiding behind the SUV. 

The only other shot from the scene is this landscape shot of a CGI tripod. 

There are also photos of the set designers setting up the miniature of the housing estate to shoot this scene, the rest are fan arts of how the scene maybe looked/ played out.  (Source)

I really hope that one day Steven releases this scene, or for some anniversary adds it into an extended version of the film like we’ve seen for other films. Because I would love that so much! It seems like such an incredible scene, and to see the tripods up this close again would be so cool! 

One of the trailers that was released for this film doesn’t have any of the film shots it in, It takes place in a normal neighbourhood where people are just going about their normal nightly routine when suddenly over the hill there are all these brilliant flashing lights, everyone's just coming out of their houses in their pj’s and standing in the street marvelling at this sight in front of them. Then we see explosions and suddenly heat rays are blowing up the tress on the street which then goes into the title.  I just love this, a trailer that doesn’t give anything away from the movie but creeps you out enough to be invested.  (Trailer.)

All in all it’s just an very visually pleasing film, it feels real enough to give you a sense of fear for the characters and for yourself. I also love that Steven stayed true to the source material,more truer than some of the other adaptations and also added in his own little Easter eggs.  The sounds, the aesthetic, the colours just everything comes together so beautifully. I think its a very underrated movie that deserves so much more love.

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

I’m finishing up a custom Funko Jonathan Pine from The Night Manager for @hippodameia8527 and I needed something to watch while I worked on it the other night, but I also don’t really want to stream or download anything for several more days because we’re closer to our data cap than I’d like...and what do you know, I already had the first two episodes of The Night Manager because I downloaded them literal years ago and never got around to watching them.

so far I have only a few main thoughts, and the main one is, watching this has actually...made me more excited about the Loki show? because--we’re getting something like this, kind of! I mean obviously there’s no guarantee the script or directing/editing choices will be at all similar, but like...it’s an entire show, with Loki as the main character, played by somebody who really cares about this character and who is really fucking good at conveying an incredible amount of emotion through pretty subtle expressions. we’ve already seen that a lot in the MCU and he didn’t even have that much screen time, and now he’s going to have a whole bunch of it. and--the thing about The Night Manager is, it really plays to his strengths in these areas, like there’s one scene where he realizes he’s been given some incriminating and therefore very dangerous documents, and the whole tenor of the scene changes through not much more than the way he goes still and his breathing hitches a little. even in just the first two episodes, too, there were a lot of tight closeups, because he can actually carry those, unlike some actors who just kinda make you want to look away from the camera in secondhand embarrassment?

so what’s striking to me about The Night Manager is that the people making it recognized his pretty extraordinary talent for subtlety and leaned on it, and even if the Loki show doesn’t take advantage of those skills to the same extent, it’s still...I mean, he’s the star. the show’s riding on him. the showrunners have every reason to recognize those strengths and bank on them. and just by virtue of Tom being Tom and how much he did with a comparatively tiny amount of screen time in the MCU--or, say, how he managed to convey a shitload of emotion in the Ragnarok scene with Odin despite having been given zero lines--we’re basically guaranteed to get that again here, only a lot more of it just because he’ll have so many more opportunities to show what Loki’s feeling. I’m sure I won’t be thrilled with every little thing that happens in the show, but I think I can be pretty confident that Tom at least has played Loki with nuance and care, and...that’s important, you know?

anyway.

other thoughts basically boil down to:

I’m a bad person because I watched Pine get beat up and then later when another dude threatened to torture him but I was pretty sure from reading episode synopses that no such thing ever actually happens, my reaction was legit disappointment

Elizabeth Debicki is one of the love interests in this and so far I mostly enjoy that she is Very Tall, in fact she is an entire inch taller than Tom which is very very funny to me, but more important in this case is that she also played Ayesha in GotG2 (and will do so again in GotG3, according to IMDB), and although this was kind of a waste because a) all that gold facepaint made all her people look virtually identical and b) she was barely a character, the fact that her character and Tom’s character are paired off in TNM makes me want something with Ayesha and Loki because I just think that kind of thing is fun.

hey past me? yeah, hi, I would just like to ask WHY DID YOU ONLY DOWNLOAD THE FIRST TWO EPISODES, THANKS A LOT FOR THAT

[dawnwave16]

Don’t call me Angel

It was an unspoken rule among the Angels that they looked after each other even if they didn't necessarily like one another. This wasn't to say that they all knew each other, only those they either trained with or those they had had missions with. Sometimes though an Angel would go missing and the Bosley in charge of that Angel would call for help.

Marinette had been trained to be an Angel for as long as she could remember. While her parents now ran a very successful bakery, they hadn't started that way. Tom Dupain was a Bosley that had been born when his mother, Gina, – an Angel from the Italian branch – had retired having fallen pregnant thanks to a job gone wrong. She had picked up her role within the agency again when Tom had reached an age where he could be trained as a Bosley, however, this time she had been working as a Bosley as she didn't want to keep fighting like she had been. Sabine was an Angel from the Chinese branch that had fallen for Tom while he was working as her Bosley. When he had received a promotion and had been stationed in France the Agency agreed that they needed a low profile especially after the Calisto mess had happened.

When Marinette had been born, Sabine had taken a step back from active duty much like Gina had and she now concentrated on doing quite a bit of the work that needed to be done behind the scenes. Marinette had turned out to be a prodigy when it came to fighting. Even before she had started to receive any training in martial arts, she was fully prepared to put herself between a bully and his or her intended victim. Due to this Sabine had started to train her much earlier then the Agency had ever anticipated and had lead to them searching other countries for other girls like Marinette. They had found quite a few and had started training them, hiding the truth from the parents under guises of gymnastics classes among other things. They didn't do full contact missions or ones where they would be in any danger but they did do surveillance type missions where they could use the supposed innocence of their age to get away with being where they shouldn't be.

When Marinette was twelve she was alerted to the fact that an older Angel had gone missing and that her son's name had popped up on the roster for her school. Thus Marinette's mission of keeping an eye on Chloe was made all the more complicated. When Marinette had come back into her room and found the Ladybug Miraculous she had sworn in several languages and alerted her parents. Tikki had been upset with that until she had seen Sabine's sub-dermal tattoo that marked her as an Angel. Tikki had worked with a Bosley before so she knew about the Agency and had agreed that the standard 'no-one can know' rule didn't apply in this case. Tom and Sabine hadn't been happy about their daughter becoming Ladybug but they also knew they had given her everything she needed in order to be the best she could be in her new role.

After a year had passed and Marinette was still struggling to find out who Hawkmoth was on top of maintaining her other two missions, they knew they had to call for backup. Marinette wasn't happy about this as she saw it as a failure on her part but she admitted that she needed help. Her supposed crush on Adrien had gotten her no closer to finding out what had happened to Angel Emilie Agreste. She had been into the Agreste Mansion enough to have been able to get a strong signal from her tracker but she hadn't been able to sneak away while she was there to investigate any further.

When Marinette arrived at school and heard the news about a girl who was supposedly Ladybug's best friend, she was suspicious. That got worse with everything that Marinette heard throughout the day, how could everyone be swallowing up all of the new girls lies so easily? A trip home at lunchtime to do some research had shown her that the new girl was in the same position as Marinette. She was a trainee Angel from the Italian branch. A deeper search also proved that what the girl had been saying really was lies and that made Marinette suspicious. An Angel would often bend the truth or outright lie to get close to their target but never at the level Lila and Marinette were at. A talk with her mother had Marinette determined to be careful around Lila as well as a plan forming to make everything feel more legit.

It was due to this that Marinette was deliberately antagonistic towards Lila after lunch, calling out her lies and generally making a pest of herself. She felt a little bad about it all but she knew that it was needed. When Lila got Akumatized then vanished for a while Marinette checked on her through the angel network and found that she would be back soon.

She pretended to be accepting when Lila came back then slipped off to the girls' bathroom and waited. True to form Lila had come stalking in and made a speech of how if Marinette wasn't with her she was against her and that they were now at war. Before Lila could stalk out Marinette had grabbed Lila's wrist and put a finger over her mouth to keep her quiet. Lila had been indignant but as soon as Marinette was sure there was no-one around she had removed her finger and started talking.

She had revealed the plan the Bosley's had made as well as shown Lila the sub-dermal mark that she had received a month prior. Lila had been stunned as she was yet to get her mark but she knew that Marinette was right and the two of them had agreed to meet up later that night. During that night time meeting, the two girls had hatched a plan to expose how bullying and intimidation was being swept under the carpet by the school board. Lila would play the manipulative bully with Marinette being her chosen target and they would meet up once a month to discuss their progress.

To say Marinette had been disgusted by how quickly her class had turned on her would be an understatement. Even Lila had been sickened by the results her actions were achieving and she had been the one to instigate some of them. It was ironic that by falling for Lila's schemes Alya, Jeluka and Sabrina had all managed to get themselves removed from the list of potential Angels. By the end of the school year, Lila and Marinette had managed to gather so much evidence that the school board would have no choice but to react.

That couldn't have been more perfectly timed as Chloe got Akumatized into Miricle Queen and Hawkmoth and Mayura had finally been drawn out into the open. Lila had been using the Mouse Miraculous at the time and had been amazed to see Marinette fight as Dragonbug but had made sure to sneak into the car that Hawkmoth had put Mayura into. Multopo had kept in contact with Marinette through the miraculous and had been astonished to see that their suspicion of Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth was true.

She had stayed hidden by climbing into Nathalie's pocket and had found Hawkmoth's lair that way. It had taken Marinette five minutes to excuse herself from the mass gathering getting Andre's ice-cream but when she had finally managed to sneak in as Ladybug she came bearing a few gadgets that her mother had made. She had also grabbed the horse miraculous so that they had a way to escape quickly if needed. A quick consultation between Multopo and Ladybug made the decision to not include Chat Noir a fairly easy one. Ladybug still had the dragon miraculous around her neck as a precaution but the two of them were sure it wouldn't be needed.

They two worked as quickly as they could to dismantle all of Hawkmoth's traps before he knew they were there. Multopo then moved over to where they could see a cryo-tube only to recoil in shock. They had just found Emilie Agreste and from what they could see she needed proper medical care and soon. Who knew what she was in the cryo-tube in the first place, or for how long. Ladybug frowned for a minute then she nodded slightly. Moving as quickly as she could she used a set of hand signals to let Multopo know to sneak up behind Mayura while she did the same thing to Hawkmoth.

A quick application of one of the new knock out mints to their necks and both adults were out cold on the floor allowing Ladybug and Multopo to remove Hawkmoth and Mayura's miraculous and search the house for anything miraculous related. As Ladybug had been made the Guardian during the Miricle Queen battle, everything that Multopo found was quickly handed over to her, and she placed it into a backpack that she had brought from home as a precaution. Ten minutes after they started it was all over. A couple of Bosley's arrived and took Gabriel and Nathalie away while another went to fetch Adrien. A second-team arrived and took Emilie away to a secure facility to get her checked over. As for Multopo and Ladybug, they lend back against a wall and sighed. All that was left to do was to deal with their class.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The summer passed quickly enough for most of Caline Bustier's class. Some of them had decided to meet up and spend some time together but the majority of them had travelled out of Paris for their holidays as their parents decided they needed a break. This meant that they were all in high spirits as they checked the class rosters and went to their assigned classroom. Those that had been in Mlle Bustier's class were very confused as to why they had been unable to find her name on the class lists but they shrugged it off pretty quickly when they saw that other than the teacher, their class was unchanged.

The chatter rose in volume as they greeted each other and started swapping stories of what they had done, who they had seen and where they had been. Alya was very eager to share her theories about why Hawkmoth hadn't been seen since Miricle Queen and how she was convinced that that meant that he was a parent who had travelled. Nino rolled his eyes as he listened to her prattle on as he'd heard it all before but he didn't stop her. When Adrien walked in the class noticed that he was wearing a shirt with a cat dressed as Loki on it and they were surprised. That lead to him admitting that his mother had been found and quietly placed in intensive care and how his father had been arrested along with Nathalie. He was thrilled as he explained that his long term bodyguard was his guardian until his mother was well enough to take over his care.

The chatter had died out in stunned surprise as Lila and Marinette walked in talking to each other in low voices but the two girls ignored the class as they walked to the back and sat down. Alya was about to make a scene of it when a stern-looking woman walked in. She had brought the class to order and promptly berated them for their actions during the previous school year. She had then explained that Lila had been brought in to help expose bad teaching habits and flaws within the school system and how the board had been horrified by the classes actions. As of that moment, the class would have to attend a couple of lectures on bullying as well as counselling sessions. Marinette's part in Lila's actions was also explained when the class had tried to complain.

It took a while for things to settle into the new normal. Marinette forgave them but she didn't go back to going out of her way to help them. In fact, she had bluntly said that she no longer trusted them as she once had so while they were all on friendly terms they weren't as close as they once had been.

It took a long time for Alya to realise that Hawkmoth hadn't attacked in ages and that Ladybug and Chat Noir hadn't been seen in quite a while either. She did a couple of posts about it but with no new content, the blog slowly faded into obscurity. Those that had lived through Hawkmoths reign slowly remembered what it was like to feel emotions freely but eventually even that returned to normal.

As for Marinette and Lila? Well, who knows what they were up to anymore, after all an Angels work was never done.

[thejudgingtrash]

Last but not least: PJO hot takes part IV!

Alright my dudes. I think we’re still in this game for one final round. Anyway here’s wonderwall. And Part 1//Part 2//Part 3!

Percy had actually knowledge about the Greek myths. He didn’t waddle in blindly. Where did y’all even get that?

The new possible Irish myth saga will be PJO 3.0 aka Magnus Chase 2.0 aka The Kane Chronicles 1.2.

Riordan already got the names of gods of that possible saga wrong

Riordan‘s Asian characters only know bitch or bland mode, huh

Stop babying Annabeth for fucks sake. Seriously

How the fuck did Sally afford several private schools for Percy when they were poor as fuck? I guess Gabe had to have a some somewhat decent job but then again playing poker/being a gambler and stealing from your stepson ain’t a cute move

Hazel should’ve been Thanatos‘ kid. To break the classic 12 Olympian mold (yeah Hades/Pluto technically isn’t one but he’s still team major gods) and also to throw the damned Hitler/Pluto aesthetics away

Did any of the kids break their limps or get permanently disabled at some point? Or do they just... die (and mostly stay dead)? I forgot

Where can the kids at Camp Half-Blood actually sneak off to fuck? Percy is legit the only one to claim his own shit as his love bunker. The rest is just fucked I guess or has first hand traumatic pre-college experiences

”Percy cursed“. Literally why, Riordan. Let the kid say fuck. He has earned the rights to do so a long time ago

Did I mention that people lack of basic reading skills in earlier takes? Anyway. Here’s another reminder!

Tbh the gods are egotistical fucks and have killed people for the fuck of it. I don’t see Poseidon being even close to okay with Sally marrying Gabe or Paul

I still don’t understand why Frazel is a thing

Most of you don’t understand how movie production works but that’s okay. Just know that everything inside your head will never be realized and there will be drastic cuts and additions to the books (again)

The electronics not working thing doesn’t even make any goddamn sense? Hermes is the god of the Internet. Does this mean that demigods can use the web just fine but simply can’t call each other? This really came back to bite Riordan in the ass now did it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use old means of communication once you’re trying to reach more important/godly people or electronics fail in an accute situation?

Turning everyone heteroflexible creates the image that you’re simply liking a character for the fact that they are LGBTQ and not the character itself, just saying. More representation sure, but that itself isn’t a personality trait and shouldn’t be the main focus of a character unless it’s really defining in the story line (Nico‘s arc partially for example)

Tbh, HOO should’ve been aged up mentor Percabeth protecting CHB, with the rest of the gang fucking up Greece with aged Reyna + Nico perhaps. I might post an outline on that AU someday (someone should remind me about that tho)

On one hand you have in depth discussions and people diving into the matter and talking about every nook and cranny and on the other hand people are more then just fine with stereotyping and deflecting. Whut. Okay

Why are people shipping the lie that is Jasper/Jasiper

Stop romanticizing the gods

Dark!Percy is just a cheap way for you to turn Percy into an overpowered asshole and that’s that tea

Being in a relationship isn’t a personality trait, my dear shippers

Riordan‘s timeline is off because the coke rush didn’t last that long

The wasted potential of everything past PJO makes me want to cry

Percy’s fatal flaw isn’t stupid, Riordan just didn’t flesh it out properly which is why there were no real repercussions. A fatal flaw is supposed to be hindering you and not a compliment

The fact that adult people still can’t take jokes about their favorite characters is fucking insane part II

Why the fuck did the Stolls get tossed aside? Bruh. The potential? The stigma as a Hermes kid? They trying to redeem their cabins honor? Imagine one of them as a prophecy kid in HOO (and they’d switch and swap to confuse everyone)? Yes??

Every single one of you that essentially is team poc!Percy because he had a rough upbringing deserves to get slapped. Poverty, abuse, a single parent, etc. doesn’t equate to being poc?!?!? Smells racist just saying

Turning Hazel into Nico‘s sister was cheap af

Stop romanticizing and down playing the myth aspect. Tragedy is essential and will haunt demigods. Thank you, next

Also stop babying Percy

Let’s be honest none of those fuckers make it to college

Annabeth Chase is fucking WHITE part II. She’s not biracial, she’s not ”exotic“, she’s certainly not fucking black. She’s white with a little hint of a tan. That still makes her white. Do you really want to turn her into Ariana Grande 2.0? A fucking botched orange? This is your Annabeth aesthetic? Artists get it fucking right unless you state that you portray her as [spraytan headcanon] which is still fucking cheap let’s be real. Orange Annabeth isn’t part of the kulture

Regardless of the reception of the PJO movies, I’ll never forgive you people for letting Logan Lerman aka the OG white boy™ flop. Throw Tom “lipless but okay booty“ Holland and Timothée ”I missed a few meals“ Chalamet the fuck away!

Tbh a less romanticized version of the camps would’ve been more interesting. I’m still put off by CJ (and also the fact that CHB is a summer camp), but had there been more fights and actual deaths that had happened around the camps due to training, etc. you would’ve understood immediately why demigods dipped before the age of 18. The antithetical nature of sweet summer camp and people dying left and right would’ve been amplified

Did Reyna at some point in time even have the time to breath with all of the shit that went down? Her life is simply 24/7 stressful. I get that she wanted to bounce and no longer be in a tiring and demanding position but the hunters ain’t it sis

It’s okay to admit that fanon artwork or fanfics don’t deserve the webspace they are wasting. But phrase that probably in a nicer way

PJO Calypso wasn’t annoying. HOO & TOA Calypso on the other hand...

Alex Pettyfer would’ve been a better Luke Castellan but Jake Abel did an okay job

Percy isn’t an idiot. You are one for believing so

Riordan corrected the stance that Muslims don’t shower during Ramadan (literally how in the fuck did he come up with that in the first place?!) in upcoming MC books. Can he use the same energy to rewrite HOO tho??

Luke’s portrayals in SoM and TTC were straight up trash

Historically accurate PJO would’ve been everything

Monsters can detect demigods by smell. Camo wouldn’t do jack shit ffs

Jason is still bland and making jokes/pointing that out is more than okay

Omfg accept the fact that characters can have multiple facets all good and bad. Reducing them to one specific trait makes them boring and bland. Also it stereotypes

Getting mad over the fact that Clarisse has a boyfriend is still fucking insane

Not everyone needs to be a fanfic writer or an artist, a theorist or someone that analyzes everything phrase by phrase. As long as you’re in the fandom to enjoy works & discussions and remain on the saner side of the spectrum you’re good. You’re valid. Don’t forget that.

Not wanting to stay in a fandom and merely enjoying some of the fruits/benefits as in art/fics/headcanons is also super valid

PJO Reddit, Tumblr, IG and Twitter are a cesspool of chaotic mess and straight up trash but Tumblr > Reddit >>>>>> IG >>>>>> Twitter

Tbh: just try to enjoy a decent book series. It’s all not that deep

[greycappedjester]

I just finished the second book! It's so good! I know it's an old topic, I mean you're on the 4th book now, but how much power does Suga have to control a basilisk! I wouldn't be surprised if he passed out/slept most of the day after that. Is it wrong or did he throw the basilisk at himself in the end? ("Suga stared back, unconsciously mouthing a command under his breath. The basilisk struck down.") Just ... What if someone found out Suga's secret ahead of time? No more happy end?

Ooooh, good question! For regular snakes, I don’t think Suga has any control (at least that’s how it seemed to work for Harry during the first book at the zoo). That’s why--in my story, at least--Slytherin did the spell to make sure his ancestors could have control. But, he was also suffering under a lot of delusions so....

So, in the second book, Suga was still suffering under the weight of unconsciously controlling the basilisk the entire book even if he didn’t know it. If the basilisk was revived immediately and wasn’t suffering from practical starvation, I actually think Suga would have had a much harder time controlling it since the basilisk would have been able to more consciously fight back (which Slytherin didn’t predict). The basilisk still couldn’t directly disobey; but, any amount of mental pressure to keep Suga from making an order would be extreme. At the current state of the book, even severely weakened, Suga had a hard time holding up a constant order of stay still--especially, since it was against the basilisk’s natural instinct to fight back. An order rather than a suggestion is probably the rough equivalent to constantly holding up a powerful spell like Imperius with the added difficulty of making it work on an entirely different, very magical creature. In canon, Tom Riddle was supposed to be one of the best Occulumens and Leglimens and actually knew about the basilisk and even then the basilisk seemed to be struggling somewhat (with the apparently accidental death of Myrtle and the whole thing with why the heck did the second book take an entire book when legit it’s a basilisk that could’ve murdered like everyone practically instantly). 

....anyway, yeah, Suga was exhausted for probably about a month after the second book.

Okay, what if someone found out Suga’s secret ahead of time A.K.A. why Akaashi is the unsung hero of the second book. So, as it actually went, the admittedly extremely reckless group decided to a.) trust Suga immediately and b.) fight a basilisk themselves where they all miraculously lived. If it didn’t go like that, I think a few main options could have happened (all of which Akaashi saw and tried like crazy to avoid): 

-”The No Sorting Hat Option”: The Investigators Club, Crows, and Trio could have all found out, confronted the basilisk and they all die....which awkward.

-”Someone Discovers Suga’s The Heir Option A”: Pretty much anyone less crazily trusting than all of them would have definitely outed Suga as the Heir or at least made sure the school board (i.e. Ministry) knew. Which with his family background could have easily meant all his family (because really what kind of fourteen year old would be working alone) would have been sent to Azkaban or worse. I’d like to say not Suga because he’d be a minor but also everything about Harry Potter gives me like 0 faith in a fair and honest trial in that universe or even a trial at all. 

-”Someone Discovers Suga’s The Heir Option B”: Of course, all of that in Option A is also a significant danger/threat so if Suga was outed publicly, the entire school could also have been openly attacked by a very enraged basilisk then...a lot of death.

-”Someone Discovers its a Basilisk But Not About Suga Option”: Hogwarts shuts down, likely a number of deaths without Suga there to take control and a crazy basilisk on the lose. Also, low key why Akaashi knew Oikawa was going to be petrified and didn’t stop it.

-”No One Finds Out Anything Ever/ Until Oikawa is De-Petrified Option”: Daichi is definitely dead after that long, really he wasn’t in a magic coma like Ginny so he’d have woken up eventually and definitely seen a basilisk stare. RIP Daichi, that’s what you get for asking out your crush. 

So....basically, the option that actually happened was one in a million and entirely organized by Akaashi who was a (very quiet) nervous wreck the entire time. He defiantly almost drugged Bokuto to keep him out of it if not for the fact that everything would absolutely have gone terrible without those exact people there. Akaashi specifically set up Hinata to get the diary, Bokuto to always carry the hat to get to Iwaizumi, and a crazy amount of smaller things on a one in a million possibility for everyone to live. In my opinion, he’s absolutely the MVP of the second book.

[incorrectstarcoquotes]

Incorrect Starco Quotes Guy’s Quick Recaps (S1)

This thing @seddm​ did looked like fun so I thought I would give it my own go. Renamed it just in case it’s more than one sentence. 

Star Comes To Earth - A magical princess is sent away by her parents so she doesn’t break all of their nice things and meet a fourteen year old version of me that people like a lot more. And I start a bunch of blog posts about how they’re compliments, not opposites.

Party With a Pony - Jenny Slate reprises her role from Parks and Recreation to piss off Marco, and soon, the entire audience! We also had to introduce those dimensional scissors ASAP even though we won’t use them until several episodes later.

Matchmaker - Star thinks playing wingman is easier than the American public school system. Seems legit.

School Spirit - Star brings Texas high school football spirit to California.

Monster Arm - Star and Marco both mess up and learn that talking about being bullied is better than getting revenge. Janna makes the first “I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going” joke. And the fandom NEVER SHUTS THE FUCK UP about the return of a minor character in an okay episode.

The Other Exchange Student - Rob Paulsen plays two (three?) characters and Star gets jealous that she’s not Marco’s number one exchange student.

Cheer Up Star - An unnecessary framing device is the best way to let you know that Marco cares about Star’s feelings.

Quest Buy - A trip to a interdimensional department store is the best way to show Star and Marco’s teamwork in a fun episode.

Diaz Family Vacation - Dude, Marco’s parents totally had sex in that cave.

Brittney’s Party - Star crashes a party and Marco learns that Jackie looks great in tight jeans.

Mewberty - Star going through puberty breaks Marco’s heart for a second, but not in the way you think.

Pixtopia - Daron Nefcy shows the world why she didn’t want to put Alfonso and Ferguson in the show and what “mandated by the network” means.

Lobster Claws - The show slowly starts to tell us what the main theme might be and all it took was several fires.

Sleep Spells - Turns out Marco keeps track of who saves who and Star keeps track of Marco’s everything (if you know what I mean. nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more).

Blood Moon Ball - Tom does something wrong and fans on tumblr spend five years trying to convince me that he didn’t, and even if he did, it’s okay. Marco learns a lesson about respect in one evening that most men never learn.

Fortune Cookies - A lunch date leads to the introduction of the main villain.

Freeze Day - Jim Gaffigan teaches Marco to throw his hat over the wall. All it took was for Star to freeze all of time for all of existence to get Marco to throw his hat over the wall and commit to doing something.

Royal Pain - Star learns that being a bunch of fun all the time isn’t a bunch of fun all the time, and I start to think that maybe once upon a time River and Moon were the beta Star and Marco.

St. Olga Reform School For Wayward Princesses - Marco undermines Star’s greatest fears to save Ponyhead of all people.

Mewnipendence Day - Marco tries giving Star a way out of celebrating her kingdom’s problematic history.

The Banagic Incident - The fans lose their shit over Star getting upset at this one thing. I’m serious. That’s what happened. I was there.

Interdimensional Field Trip - Skullnick gains confidence and learns about body positivity and the show does absolutely nothing with it.

Marco Grows a Beard - Star learns one of the most important lessons of the show, “Screw magic, I’m just gonna kick your ass!”

Storm the Castle - a deeply traumatic experience is the best way to learn how much Star and Marco mean to each other. Wait, no it isn’t! Surprise!