#like from what i remember and just rewatched... it would've made sense had they like... idk actually gone there

[teenitrash]

I just finished my rewatch of AOT and one thing I noticed is how different Connie is after Sasha died (or just Season 4 in general)

We know him to be an idiot and a joker even in serious situations, like in Season 3 where he made a joke even though the rest of the Survey Corps was literally dead (honestly he was so real for that. I, too, use humour to cope lmao) and then Sasha hit his head as a result.

Obviously, all of the younger main characters had drastic character development after Season 3 and it makes sense because of what they've been through. For example, Armin spoke up more and wasn't as timid as he used to be. Jean's leadership skills really showed itself in Season 4 and he became less of an asshole.

So yeah, they all changed quite a bit, but in my opinion, Connie changed more obviously because it sort of went in a "negative" direction. Him changing is not bad but because he became a little more aggressive (something we don't really see in S1 - S3) and he lost most of his joking nature (something we DO see in S1 - S3), it was more noticeable to me.

He became more angry or defensive in certain situations and he kind of lost his joking nature after Sasha died. It's not a bad thing at all BUT this just shows us how much Sasha meant to him and how much of an impact she had in his life, just as he did in hers. He really meant it when he said they were like twins and that she was his other half that died. The only joke I remember him making and the only time he ever laughed throughout the entirety of Season 4 is when Annie was stuffing her face with pie and that's it. Here are 2 examples of when Connie got really aggressive that, for me, felt out of character for him compared to Season 1 - 3:

When Onyonkapon released them from their cell and Connie's first response was to choke him against the wall and shout at him. It doesn't ONLY have to do with Sasha's death, but I feel like if Sasha were here, he wouldn't react as aggressively

Same here where he demanded that they feed Falco to his mom and even went as far as kidnapping him. If Armin and Gabi hadn't shown up the next day, there would be a higher chance that Connie would've made his mother the Jaw Titan. Even when they were camping in the forest, Connie started talking to himself, saying that he misses Sasha

I'm not entirely sure about the reason behind Connie's character development, but Sasha was definitely a huge part of it. Even if he didn't become angrier because of her death, it was definitely that that made him joke around a lot less and made him become more serious

[anadrym]

Extended Author's Notes for Left Behind Ch1.

(I'm really gonna try to do these for this one because I have so much to say about it.)

Work title is from "Still Here" from the League of Legends 2024 Cinematic. Absolutely love that song. Got into a car accident while listening to it and I STILL like it.

Chapter title is from "Going Down Fighting" by Phlotilla and Andrea Wasse, from the Old Guard soundtrack. Another really good song.

Vi is 26 in this chapter and Caitlyn is 25 (That age difference is according to their wiki stats).

I'm so proud of some of the wording in this chapter. I think it's kinda cool to use really poetic language during such a horrific scene.

As I said in the original AN, this is set post-Arcane S2, but there are some changes. In LOL, Caitlyn is the Sheriff, so I've kept that for a lot of my fics, including this one. I didn't change it because I think it makes her more of a target, which is what drives a lot of this chapter.

Vi is right. If they had left immediately, they probably would've made it. But neither of them could've left Tobias behind.

I haven't seen any of the Purge movies, BUT a few years ago I went on a 10-house tour of Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, and the Purge House was the only one I made it through with my eyes open the whole time. The scenes at the manor are loosely based on that.

The vandalized portrait was such a strong visual to me, I was scrawling notes about it down in the middle of the night.

One of y'all noted that Vi still has Tobias' wedding ring at the end of this chapter. That's important. :)

If you re-read the fight in Caitlyn's bedroom, you can see the part where Vi gets hit. The guy with the meat cleaver backhands her (empty hand) and then hits her in the gut (meat cleaver hand). In the next paragraph, the blade is bloody. I'm super proud of this, because it's Vi's POV and she didn't realize, but I wanted to make sure it was in there as a kinda rewatch bonus.

"But Vi's head is starting to spin from the - stress? adrenaline? fear?" Actually, babe, it's blood loss. :)

And then the "stitch in her side, the kind that comes with too much running" - I was trying so hard to make sure Vi wouldn't notice that she was seriously injured until it was too late.

I don't know if it came across, but the line "Your dad --" is Vi immediately thinking that Tobias can help (he's probably the only doctor she trusts) and then realizing/remembering that he's gone.

Even if both Vi and Caitlyn had managed to escape Piltover, Vi's injury would have been deadly - either from blood loss or infection.

The line "for me" is kind of a reference to some of my other works. Whenever Caitlyn says it to Vi, Vi caves. Here, Vi tries an Uno Reverse and it doesn't work, because Caitlyn won't leave her to die.

Not willingly, at least. >:)

I did receive questions on the political implications and ramifications of this attack. They will be discussed, but in a background sense. This is for two reasons: 1. I am not good at writing political stuff. 2. One of the things that really stuck with me was a comment from one of the crew behind the show that basically said that neither Vi nor Jinx ever wanted to be in the middle of all of this. They never wanted to be symbols or leaders or someone's legacy. They just wanted to live their lives. So this work is going to be more focused on Caitlyn and Vi and their relationship, with all the political upheaval mess happening in the background.

[samsblades]

What is it about Mary that you like? Just out of curiosity from someone who doesn't like her (no judgement that you do though)

to answer this fully i would most likely want to rewatch every episode that she is in so i could give better formulated thoughts and character analysis because i have a SHIT memory but i will explain as best i can because i do not have time for that LOL this post is really long btw :)

i think she is a fascinating character first of all. the sammary parallels :,) wants to leave hunting, but forced back into it because of her family. wants normalcy, but forced to commit horribly violating and incestuous acts in order to save the man she loves. of course it's awful that she makes the decision knowing how it will affect her children (i think??? don't remember the details but i think i saw this somewhere?) but she was so young and afraid and the man she loved was dying in front of her. i think a lot of people hate her for that (and many other reasons) but this is a show and fandom where other characters aren't hated for making bad or harmful decisions that hurt their family (aka mostly dean :)) and obviously i love sam. he's not perfect, i can't expect mary to be perfect either!!

and then when she's brought back to life, her worst nightmares come true basically!! she was living in her personal heaven where she should have stayed. it was not a mercy to her to bring her back. she has missed her sons entire lives, and now they are stuck exactly where she would have done anything to keep them from. the last thing she wanted was for her sons to be in the hunting life. they are also wildly codependent, have horrible coping skills, are angry and sad and broken. dean is controlling and abusive to sam. i cannot even begin to imagine how completely and utterly disorienting and hurtful and difficult this would be for her. not to mention, she's in a whole different era that adds another hugely confusing element to this.

i think a lot of people dislike her for leaving, for joining the british men of letters, and for not being the perfect mother figure for dean. that "i'm not just your mother," and "i was never a kid," scene gets to people and i find it misogynistic to get angry at her for that. because she's right. i wish female characters would stop being reduced to just being a mother and that being their only job and merit and that they are the worst ever for not being a perfect mom. she is her own person.

it's true that dean is right too!! he was never a child, but it is not mary's fault, nor her responsibility to fix that or somehow make up for it. she did not ask to be brought back to life and her only role in life is not just dean's mom. yes, it is part of her role and identity, and at some point, she becomes more comfortable being a mother figure for him in a way that he would've liked at that time. but this was not that long after she was brought back. at that time she must've been incredibly conflicted and upset and confused and battling so hard to reconcile what her children are now versus what she wanted for them and how she was living in heaven.

not the boys fault that they turned out this way, and i'm not saying they're doing something wrong for not ending up where she would've liked for them!! i think all parents have to face their children not ending up or being exactly what they wanted, but i think that it's still valid for mary to be upset about it because where they ended up was such a dangerous and harmful life for them both. to me it didn't seem like she was mad at them or upset they didn't end up perfect or whatever, just that she knows they probably had suffered a lot by being in the hunting life.

so to me, it made perfect sense that mary needed space from sam and dean. of course she did. what she came back to life to was horrible and must've been such a mess and horror to reconcile with. and it made perfect sense that she joined the british men of letters! she (and sam) could not have known that they were going to start killing off american hunters. they had every reason to believe that pulling off the mission they were presented with was 100% a good thing. mary saw an opportunity to rid her children's lives of monsters and the accompanying horrors and hardships of being hunters.

and again with the demon deal she made with azazel, i don't think she could've fully known the weight of it. she was manipulated into making that deal! and i think the angels and demons and god and all that would have still found a way to have made sam and dean's lives hell and all that.

and eventually, mary becomes closer to sam and dean. she does what she can to protect them and be there for them. she is not perfect and shouldn't have to be. sam and dean literally suck lmao, why can't she without being so hated???

she is a badass and considering her circumstances, did a pretty damn good job helping people and figuring things out for herself when she was forced into such a foreign world. she's witty and funny and kind and crass and loyal and caring and snarky and so so strong. she survived being trapped in the apocalypse world with lucifer, she saved herself and jack and refused to abandon the people of that world. she took charge when needed, she showed compassion and strength and independence and individuality and took risks and chances. she is so fucking hot and sexy and every woman ever should be allowed to suck sometimes and not be a perfect mom and a killer and fighter and individual person <333

i really admire her and i'm sure i'm overlooking other flaws or reasons not to like her, but there's lots of reasons not to like pretty much every character in this show. and i tend to think lots of people dislike her for stupid reasons LOL (not saying that's you my sweets!! just something i've noticed!) i think she deserves more grace and love and forgiveness but of course these are all my opinions and takes on her character!! i really appreciate that she was soft with sam and told him he didn't have to bear the weight of everything all the time. she saw how tired he was :,)

i think overall i find her to be a really interesting character, a strong character, a character to who goes against the status quo of the show, and also, yeah!!! i'm super gay and think she's super hot and sexy muah <333 i love her a lot, kisses to mary. she deserved better and probably not to be brought back to life LOLLL she did not get to rest in peace :D the whole circumstances of her being brought back to life actually makes me really upset because she was brought back as like. a literal favor for dean.... wdym... the implications.... welcome to the family is hell show!!

[imthepunchlord]

So, awhile back, you mentioned that for your miraculous rewrite, you were considering turning some of the akumas into their villains, so out of curiosity which akumas do you think could works as their own villains?

Teeeechnically spoilers, though the fic isn't coming that soon and I guess this wouldn't really give away too many details and not everything is for sure...

Honestly, most of them, so far, are a handful of the season 1 akumas. I can't think of any akumas from s2 that stood out to me as potential villains to stand on their own, and I stopped watching around s3 so any akumas post s2 I either don't remember or just haven't seen.

Horrificator I'd vote to be a mythical creature, as in hindsight, it's kinda icky that the plus size girl is the only one with a monstrous akuma out of all girls (that I know of).

So Horrificator instead may work better to be her own thing, and be an intro to other types of magic out there than just the Miraculous.

Darkblade I feel could've been his own thing, could've tied him to the Arthurian legends (maybe he has a corrupted Excalibur), or could've been tied to the Catacombs, which I don't think Miraculous has covered yet, and he could've had a magical sword that animates suits of armor. And if Chloe was to have an arc, could work off him targeting her family as he seeks to be the mayor.

Mime I could see possibility in being his own villain, the ability to mime could be it's own sort of magic and could be fun; but I do also think he was one of the better akumas in s1, having a good balance of being powerful but having limits, and a good set up for him becoming one. So he could go either way.

Pharaoh I'd lean being his own villain. Rewatching it recently, he was a very awkward akuma as he wasn't working off Jalil himself, he was like he was the actual pharaoh revived, talking about how he clashed with a Ladybug hero 5000 years ago and I'm like...

Does this mean the Butterfly also has the power of letting old souls possess people in the present? Or is Jalil just LARPing as an akuma? Idk. It was just really awkward so he's be an akuma I'd vote to just go ahead and be his own thing. And it can work off classic mummies being enemies.

The last one off the top of my head is Volpina. I'm of the belief that Lila either should've come to Paris already having the Fox, or she did actually buy the Fox Miraculous from the jewelry store. This also goes in hand that I don't think Fu should've had 16-17 Miraculous with him (depending if you think he does have the Rabbit or not as that seems kinda up in the air). It actually makes much more sense that he lost more than just 2 or 3 given the chaos, and it better works off him sending out the very two Gabriel wanted if Fu had more limited options on what he could do.

This also could've had Volpina nicely reveal to the heroes that there are more Miraculous out there than the initial 3 they knew about. This also would've made Lila work more naturally as a threat if she had a Miraculous and was playing hero, competing with the other heroes for glory, and coming to side with Gabriel later. A lot better than her spending s2 sulking in her room.

There could be others, but off the top of my head, these are the major ones.

[milfbrainrot]

a couple of thoughts abt representation tm in arcane particularly for disability in season 2

with the disclaimer i spent most of this season sobbing too hard to take in what was going on and i have not rewatched season 1 since it dropped. so i honestly could be off with a lot of this and admittedly some is more reaching on things that don't matter much.

anyway i was a littel disappointed with a few things.

1. the speech to viktor about how he was always trying to fix things jayce never saw as broken. that's sweet! and i get the sentiment. and honestly if viktor had grown up in an accessible society it probably would've hit differently... but viktor is disabled in ways that are understandable to want to "fix" partICULARLY when he was like... actively dying from health issues if i'm remembering right? the reality just is that if i could fix some of my issues i would. it doesn't make me as a person broken, and maybe that's what jayce was getting at--that viktor maybe couldn't focus enough on his own strengths, and maybe in the past viktor had been told that he had no worth due to his physical health and that was a motivator idk. but to me it kiiiinda missed the mark because... viktor's body was still something that made him struggle in ways it was understandable to want to improve on from his own perspective and it isn't rly wrong to want to do that to an extent lol. ig he just went overboard.

2. idk how jinx's psychosis works but it felt a little less thought out this season. was it trauma induced? is it genetic schizophrenia or something similar? it does seem like her hallucinations pop up during times of stress consistently or when thinking about her traumas which... she is surrounded by. but i feel we got less of them in season 2 maybe. maybe that makes sense because i imagine less stress would improve those symptoms to an extent during the happier moments. it just felt a little less present than in season 1, and we never seemed to get ANY obvious symptoms demonstrated in the AU episode. she did still suffer trauma there so i imagine if it wasn't genetic she would still have some issues, though maybe not as severe. and y'know, things were going better so again less stress = less severe symptoms or the bridged societies meant she could get effective treatment. and generally her symptoms weren't as relevant i guess in some ways. there were so many timeskips it's not like she couldn't have been struggling off screen. just confused about it, and probably would not even BE thinking about this in all honesty had the writers not had vi call jinx a psycho. what was that writing choice. ableist weirdness aside i feel like that isn't even really a word it makes sense for arcane to have in some ways ???????

3. ishaaaaaaaaa. i initially thought she was mute but it seems like she might be deaf too if you read into some things like looking at lips. she did actually have some good personality traits and such so i don't feel like she was totally plot devicey, but unfortunate that she died as the deaf/mute character. i do wonder if her not speaking was almost a device for jinx to be able to project onto her more or something but i do choose to take it as thoughtful representation.

4. i guess there is maybe something to be said about salo and others getting magically healed by viktor but again as a person with some pretty difficult health issues i would also go to a weird culty healer if i had the chance lol, just something that came to mind. and maybe this is part of jayce's speech since viktor's drive to heal the world tm maybe went overboard.

ANYWAY it is not all inherently bad and there is balance: we left off with cait missing an eye and we still have sevika who's an amputee, so it isn't like... a total case of "fuck the disabled characters in particular." and of course with the limited runtime and resources i can't fault the writers too bad for shortcuts to hit the right plot beats. compared to the care season 1 was able to get with some of this stuff tho it just was a noticeable difference to me.

[monsterblogging]

So I rewatched Pacific Rim: The Black to refresh myself on how bad it was, and once again I am just kind of in awe at how god-awful it is.

The Black very literally takes the magic out of Pacific Rim. You know how "drift hangover" refers to a persistent psychic connection between pilot and jaeger? Welp, here "drift hangover" is used to refer to a headache after drifting. Ghost drifting (you know, when pilots get psychic with each other) is turned into ghost piloting, which is when a pilot drifts with the memory of another pilot. Like, it's understandable if most people don't clock the mysticism and animism underpinning Guillermo del Toro's vision of Pacific Rim, but this is a very deliberate effort to erase where humans can just have funky psychic shit happen to them sometimes.

The Black doesn't really seem to understand how drifting works. Two characters have a heated argument without falling out of alignment. Another character functionally has a mind-reading ray. There's no real comprehension of what drift compatibility is and how it works.

The child soldiers are younger than ever. Taylor looks like he was maybe twelve at most when he was taking his pilot's test. Like. Actual twelve year olds are getting certified as jaeger pilots in this world. And this is framed as a good and desirable thing. Literally what the fuck.

The Black calls Horizon Brave "Horizon Bravo," and claims it's a Mark IV jaeger. If you have literally any access to any information about Horizon Brave at all, you know it's a Mark I jaeger.

The jaeger piloted by the children (Atlas Destroyer) is claimed to be a Mark III jaeger, yet uses the type of fuel cells introduced in Uprising. Like it was a whole fucking plot point that Lady Danger was a nuclear jaeger. Literally all they would've had to do was make Atlas Destroyer a Mark VI. It would have been fine.

Atlas Destroyer has a bunch of features Mark IIIs definitely didn't have. Remember how Raleigh and Yancy needed a crew to help them into their drivesuits? Atlas Destroyer just automatically tosses 'em on itself. Remember how Lady Danger's AI mostly just gave status updates? Atlas Destroyer's AI holds entire conversations. Again, you could've just made it a Mark VI, show.

And speaking of Atlas Destroyer's AI, for some goddamn reason the PPDC gave her an emotion chip. Because it's not hard enough to be a pilot already, now your jaeger gets to have anxiety.

The Black claims that Trespasser "smashed the Australian wall in the first attack." This is wrong on every conceivable level. Trespasser attacked San Francisco in the first attack, in 2013. The first kaiju to attack Sydney was Scissure, in 2014. The kaiju what smashed the wall was Mutavore, in 2025.

There is one queer-coded character. He is murdered in gory fashion.

There is one Indigenous-coded character who studies kaiju and their biology. He is depicted being into New Agey woo and wrongly believing that the kaiju he raised can love him. He dies when one of his kaiju eats him.

A major antagonist is depicted as a ruthless man who will kidnap, mindwipe, exploit, and even murder children. Then the show attempts to give him a redemption arc and we're supposed to actually care.

The PPDC refused to let the children's father retrieve them and the other survivors left behind in "the Black." (Read: Australia after the PPDC literally bombed it from space after a bunch of breaches started opening all over it.) Yeah, the PPDC can bomb an entire continent from space, but they can't spare a goddamn rescue helicopter.

Despite all of this and the aforementioned child soldiers, the PPDC is framed as the good guys and the only respite from the horrors of the Black; getting to the Sydney shatterdome is an unambiguously happy ending.

Early on we're lead to think that the PPDC might be getting its hands dirty with kaiju genetic experiments/bioweapon development. Later on we learn that it's the local kaiju cultists doing it. Now come on, which suspect actually makes sense here; the PPDC who can afford to build a killsat, or the kaiju cultists who apparently can't even afford a sterile room to perform a blood transfusion in?

The kaiju cultists are pretty obviously inspired by far right conspiracy theories about evil cults, rather than the actual behaviors of actual cults.

The kaiju sisters recruit by kidnapping women, turning them into kaiju hybrids, and forcing them into their hivemind. For some reason they kill all men. Despite this they are really obsessed with the idea that the half-kaiju smol, who for all appearances is a boy, is going to be their kaiju messiah. It really doesn't make sense, but then again, what can we expect from a slapdash job of far right conspiracy theories?

By the way, this is the PPDC banner literally hanging from the PPDC training center, in the show that is very firm in insisting that THE PPDC IS THE GOOD GUYS WHO PROTECT YOU:

[wesleycrushers]

Hey, I need the lore on the Wil Wheaton national TV fiasco. I'm intrigued.

I apologize for letting this sit in my inbox for a hot minute, being an adult with responsibilities and stuff is stupid 😒 (especially when you have an uncontrolled chronic illness on top of it, but anywho)

my time has finally come

okay I lied just a little because it wasn't technically Wil Wheaton that made fun of me, but you'll get what I mean in a moment

So about ten(ish) years ago, Wil had a short lived series on Syfy called the Wil Wheaton Project and for those unfamiliar, he would basically discuss the geek news of the week (like, I know Gotham was airing at the same time, so he would often talk about the latest episode) and there were sketches and guest stars and things of that nature.

But, let me give you some context on me ten years ago, so I can really paint the picture of how batshit this was for me. So, I would've been around 19, maybe 20, at that time, and I had just watched Next Gen for the first time and instantly fell in love (it was actually the first star trek series I had seen, and it's what got me into it). But, not only did I love the show and characters as a whole, I was OBSESSED with Wesley in particular (and Data, but that's not relevant to this story), and at that point in my life I was so much worse than I am now in the sense that, when I was fixated on a certain character, I was FIXATED. Which made me want to look up what Wil was doing in the present day. (it certainly didn't help that i developed a brief little crush on adult Wil). Like, I bought and read his book, I watched and rewatched every movie of his I could get my hands on (Toy Soldiers and Stand By Me in particular were practically playing on a loop), I would rewatch the Wesley episodes like. It was bad lol

So, when I found out he was going to have a new show on Syfy, ofc I was super thrilled and my ass was SEATED from day one when it first premiered. I would faithfully watch it every single week while live tweeting. But, obviously the only episode I ever missed live ended up being the one where I was mentioned lmao I can't remember exactly why I couldn't watch it right away, it's been ten years lol But, I think I was just out or something so I had my DVR set. Normally I would've just watched it the second I got home, but my Mom really enjoyed it as well so I promised I would save it until the next night so we could watch together. As soon as I said good night to her, I logged onto twitter and. all these random people were tweeting me and retweeting a couple of my tweets and I was like "????" I used twitter a lot back then, but I still like. my following was very modest, and I was only involved in one (1) fandom on there, so things like that did not happen to me. And what's worse, the first few people that tweeted at me didn't really explain why?

BUT THEN. I got to one that I still remember it to this day both because it's when I was sort of clued in to what had happened and also because the tweet itself was kinda funny to me. It said something like "just watched the wil wheaton project and immediately had to run to twitter to see if you're real, I'm so glad you are. Have a good evening!" and that's when the adrenaline kicked in. I saw a few more tweets mention the Wil Wheaton Project so at this point I'm literally shaking lmao and I ran into my Mom's room to show her and to freak out a little so she's like "alright, let's go watch it"

And we're watching it, and everything's normal, Wil's just talking about the nerdy stuff that happened that week and I'm just getting more confused as to what I had to do with this BUT THEN

(as a sidenote, they obviously showed my twitter username, but I'd rather not repeat it here because I started it when I was a very young teenager and I no longer have access to it and I'm sure there's stuff on there from past me that would get me doxxed and killed on the "we piss on the poor" no nuance website)

Anyway, he had this segment with Skeletor where Skeletor would read mean tweets, and since this was the season 1 finale (which, unfortunately, also turned out to be the series finale), Skeletor was reading tweets disparaging the Wil Wheaton Project. AND THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, MY TWEET POPS UP ON THE SCREEN BEHIND WIL AS HE SAYS SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF, "I happen to know a lot of people like watching the show. For example, [REDACTED] said, 'My Tuesday isn't complete without a new episode of the #WilWProject :)'"

and that's about where I burst into (very excited!) tears lmao my mom had to lovingly shush me because she was trying to hear what was being said but I was too busy crying

So, then Skeletor made comment about how I must be a woman of sophistication before he pulled up another one of my tweets that read, "I love sitting on countertops and I don't know why" and then he said one or two more things making fun of me and my love of sitting on countertops and that was about it lol

But the thing is, those two tweets were not back to back. I was a young millennial on social media, I was posting every damn thought that popped into my head lmao and idk when they started planning out the next week's show and writing the jokes, but there's about a 50% chance that either Wil himself or someone on his team saw some of tweets where I talked about how adorable I thought Wesley was in his uniform 🤦🏻‍♀️ (I like to imagine my absolute nightmare scenario where Wil and maybe a few writers are all sitting around some table and my tweets are just projected onto a screen in the front of the room or something. I don't want to be corrected if that's not what happened, I'd rather just live with that image forever 😂)

Anyway, I can't remember exactly how long it was after that happened, but I believe it was at least a few days, Wil posted on his website that unfortunately, the show had been canceled. Except he titled that particular post with "if you like sitting on countertops..." which was so bittersweet for me. Like, I was obviously super bummed his show hadn't made it but it was so exciting that I wasn't just a blip on his radar, like I was still a part of the running gag! And, as I said, it's been a decade since this happened but I still think of it at least once a year on the anniversary, if not more often, because it was legit one of the top 5 moments of my life lol

I've always hoped that I would get to go to a convention or something and meet him so I could be like "I'm the countertop girl!" but sadly, especially with COVID, that hasn't happened yet. Perhaps someday :)

[littlealeta]

Migration + Mooned Review

Before I start this review, I'll just have you know that the director who made this also made a movie called Ernest and Celestine. Pretty obscure film, but it was one of the very few films I actually gave a 9 out of 10. Now, granted, I was young back when I first watched it and I could think differently now, but I'm just saying.

Which is why it's pretty amazing how Migration is actually quite the step down from Ernest and Celestine. It's still a decent movie, but it isn't anything to write home about.

Story

If you thought the Mario movie was simplistic, I'd say the Mario movie had a bit more going on than this one. On one hand, it's a basic adventure film and on the other hand, things happen that don't make sense. Like how the plot of the film gets started by Mack turning a 180 and deciding to migrate. The mallards get caught by these giant birds that they think want to eat them, but actually don't. During action moments, the birds would be screaming but nobody is alerted. And then the film loses its footing toward the end when they introduce a villain who wants to cook the birds. Nothing really special to say about the story. It's that weak.

Characters

The characters have their charmingly quirky moments, but like the story, they don't really feel meaningful. Mack is your average overprotective parent for some unexplained reason, the mother (forgot her name) is just a mother. Characters like the pigeon, parrot, and the uncle didn't really do much and probably shouldn't have been there in the first place. I do think the thin story hurts the characters somewhat. I do like Gwen, Dax, and the uncle personality-wise but I wish they were in a better story.

Overall

Clearly a movie made for children and I'm sure slice-of-life fans would like it, but it's no Despicable Me (another simple film by Illumination that would appeal to both adults and kids). Nothing much special, that's why this review is so short. It's cute, but it's not going to stick in my head after a while. I think it would've done better as a short or it could've used some more drafting in order to structure the story better.

I give Migration 6.1 bells out of 10.

Mooned

I always wanted to know what happened to Vector on the Moon, but idk, man. Like Migration, it just seemed like it was made to entertain the kids. Vector is not as cool as he once was in the film, and jog my memory, but I don't remember his suits having abilities besides flying? (And I just recently rewatched the first film). It's good for a laugh, but that's about it. Maybe it didn't really need to be made.

4.1 bells out of 10.

Both films have .1. Ain't that interesting?

[innitmarvellous]

I finally finished Inside No. 9 after not watching an episode for ages. I had stopped in the middle of S7... Anyway, I took some notes about the episodes which are possibly interesting for a rewatch. They're pretty vague, but I'll hide them under the read more link just in case. ^^

Kid/Nap: Not my fave episode, but the double twist was kind of intriguing. Although I guess it would've been possible to expect it.

Wise Owl: Wow, I didn't expect this to get so dark towards the end. I mean, it wasn't a happy episode to begin with, but that 'come upstairs with me' bit... But I liked that he freed himself from the influence of 'Wise Owl' at the end.

Bones of St Nicholas: Didn't like this one too much tbh. It was a nice spooky story I guess, but not really what I'd expect from IN9 idk

Mother's Ruin: I'm glad I didn't watch this while I was eating something, lol. Idk, but I did quite like it. Lots of surprises (although I knew that it wasn't their mothers ghost talking lol)

Friday 13 (no, I can't remember that title and I'm not sorry xD): The first part was pretty funny, although really anxiety-inducing. That stuff about various annoying things happening when you just quickly need to do something happens in my dreams all the time and I hate it, lol. Well, the reveal of what it really was about was alright too. But I KNEW that something would happen in the end after all. I knew it.

Love is a Stranger: looking back it was so obvious what was going on, but it was a great misdirection, so I was nevertheless shocked when I realises the truth. Probably tells a story about prejudice and how it makes you perceive things and people

3 by 3: idk why, but this one made me really uncomfortable, even though I knew it was an ep of IN9 and not a quizshow. But I thought the twist was a bit too late, too small and if you knew what it was it was easy to pick up on the hints beforehand. I assume the effect would've been greater if watching it blind, but then I would've turned off long before the end of the episode because that was one lame quizshow :D

Last Weekend: HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT ENDING, I think this is the first episode I definitely won't ever rewatch, lol.

Boo to a goose: this one made a big impression on me when I watched it and the social criticism is really important, but I think it loses a bit of its effect the more I think about it. It really is an interesting watch though and I kind of want to rewatch it to pick up on more hints like the ads on the windows etc.

Trolley Problem: I didn't expect the story to take this turn and I found it thrilling to watch (the mind game episodes are always the best ones tbh), but I can't really say much about it. Of course there's the moral thing that 'just doing nothing' doesn't mean you're free of any guilt.

Mulberry Close: I found this one oddly funny? The twist wasn't even that big, but the ending was just great black humour, I'd say.

CTRL ALT ESC: I actually really liked the metaphor, even though I didn't understand it at first. And I didn't expect that he'd actually made his 'escape', so the last minutes were pretty tense. Oh, and the title…I initially confused it with the command used to open the task manager, but that's Ctrl+Shift+Esc. The combination in the title is used to force a switch between the active and a background programmes (iirc), so in a sense…someone needed to use that key combination on him to get his programme aka consciousness to the surface again. Kinda clever, and yet you don't realise it immediately :O

Curse of the Ninth: Oh, I loved the classical music theme! The ending with that use of music (and the way he tricked her lol)! And Reece's character constantly getting Devonshire's name wrong was kinda hilarious to me…maybe because it didn't seem to fit the tone of the episode at all, haha.

Plodding On: They might as well have called this episode 'Steve and Reece say: RPF is fine' lol. It was an unusual episode, but idk, I kinda liked it. That fucking 'Time to say goodbye' clip collage tho…that song always almost makes me cry for some reason, haha.

[banjomelodies]

Spoilers (since I recently rewatched Scaras videos and saw comments about the Nameless Child) (+unintentional Ei rant)

I remember seeing a lot of people question Scaramouches whole thing about holding a grudge on a dying child, but, honestly, as an immortal being that was still learning for the most part at the time, I think it makes sense. He mentions in his character stories that he wasn't aware a human could deteriorate and pass on in a single night. To him, he believed he had so much more time. They had made promises, he cared for that child, showed him the home that once imprisoned him. And if you really think about it.. he didn't really witness death like this until now. He never saw Niwas body, and I don't know if he ever actually saw the bodies of the various workers in Tatarasuna when they finally passed away, as he also mentions that he didn't expect to be flooded with a negative emotion upon witnessing death (though granted, his relationship with the Nameless Child would obviously be drastically different than the random acquaintances of Tatarasuna, so there's just a chance that he really didn't get hit by heavy emotions).

All that he was aware of was that he was alone again. Ei abandoned him, and he only knew that Niwa supposedly ran away and left him alone, and then the child he treated as family left him too. Grief forms in so many different ways, and anger at things around you, or the person who is deceased, can be a common part of it. There's anger at being abandoned, anger about how life suddenly changed.. so many different factors go into it. And instead of being able to handle that anger in better ways, he found himself burning down a building, and attempting to off himself in the flames, and when he lived and tried to keep going with a newfound fear and hatred towards humans who only ever broke his expectations, or had the potential of only hurting him more, he landed in a group that took advantage of and fed that anger.

Scaramouche never had the chance to properly grieve or figure out how to handle emotions that were still new to him at the time. Him having a grudge on Niwa, Ei, and The Nameless Child makes sense, as it's all he knew. There was never anyone there who actually tried to properly help him. In his brain, he was abandoned again, and again, and again, and it eventually just spiraled into a hatred for other people.

I know a lot of people don't usually go for the "I'm going to try to analyze the characters emotions!" route when watching videos about things like this, since, obviously, why would you. But, there are legitimate reasons as to why Scaramouche would be mad at someone for dying, and it's a sucky situation all the way through. But the best thing is, he probably finally got over the anger he had on Niwa and The Nameless Child upon becoming The Wanderer (I don't care what anyone says he doesn't owe Ei any forgiveness - Her situation was straight-up just child abandonment. Which, yeah, sure, she was doing it because she didn't want to control him, and wanted him to live his own life without her interference, but you couldn't just like.. leave him a note explaining that? Check on him once in a while? Hell, even drop him off in civilization that'd love and care for him? You imprisoned him for who knows how long in a domain that probably just felt mind-numbing as everything was always the same until he was finally broken free from it. You say you didn't want to interfere with his life, but then threw him into a situation where his life would've sucked and been non-existent as he could only just stare at walls and trees. Unless she was just gunning on humans to break him out to give him an actual meaningful life, considering he didn't have his strength at the time. But this isn't a Raiden Ei being a shitty mom rant post, so uh!!)

Ignoring my Ei rant for a second. I hope this was. A decent read. Despite how short it is. I always loved analyzing Scaramouche as a character, so making posts about his backstory is very fun.

[andthebubbles]

im back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so this shall be my full rambly review of wicked, as influenced by the very uncomfy seat, my 3.5ish hours of sleep, and the fact that i've only eaten three small things since i woke up... 7 hours ago........... (i started writing this at 8.30pm) (two mini choc chip biscuits (the arnott's ones) and a salmon cake (is that what it's called? i can't remember. it's the frozen one that you just chuck in the microwave for 1.5 mins))

FIYEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO aghhh jb made me like him. like i said in my first post, WOW I WANTED HIM, WTF @ SELF. THE CHARM WAS JUST THAT GOOD. RUDE. (ofc if he had taken his clothes/shirt off, i would've stopped wanting him............. or WOULD I. HMM ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT hmmm part 2?? haha)

i love that his horse talked. it works well for making it make sense re why he goes to elphaba later... or at least i hope it will. (because that made fuck-all sense in the musical lol.) it made excellent sense for the lion cub!! but i thought he should've cared a bit more about dillamond; however i can also see it working the way i did. so... no real complaints

i like their alternate meeting in the forest, heh. i wanna watch that again!!!

ETA: i also liked that he didn't care that she was green skfjgnkfg

ETA ETA: i also liked that they changed it from the musical; he was a bit mean there ("maybe the driver saw green and thought it meant go"); like, for fiyeraba who basically speedran their dating (they didn't date lmfao), ... yeah, fiyero had to be nicer AND perfect from the start. and intrigued by her. not sure what elphaba sees in him though.................. then again if she's like the rest of us............................. lmaoooo

i need fic about fiyero and his horse. talking to his horse. the horse ofc talking back

i NEEEEEED gliyeraba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DID NOT FEEL THIS AFTER WATCHING THE MUSICAL, BUT I REALLY DO FEEL IT AFTER WATCHING THE MOVIE. UMMMM JUST kjsnkjfgnfg the three of them lounging about on glinda's bed, and fiyero is just soooo happy with all of them being together, and basking in the attention, but also basking in THEM, and just happy to be with them. and glinda is like 'yayyyyy' *kicking her feet* and elphie is like, <33333333333 she has proper friends for the first time in her life!!! and they have lots of threesomes. WHERE'S MY OT3

i always need gelphie, ofc. lmao glinda was coming off as real jealous on the train platform when fiyero was simping for elphie, and glinda was like, excuse me?????????????? (glinda being jealous that she was losing elphie to fiyero, ofc, skjfngkjfn)

ETA: i would also like a fix-it fic. MOREEE FIX-IT FICS SO I CAN HAVE MY OT3 LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER ... TOGETHER

still not a fan of fiyeraba. the lion cub scene, yeah that was nice, but then there was face touching and m/f things happening and HGHRHGH can we not

i said this in the other post but omg jb just fucking lit up the screen; SCREEN PRESENCE ON POINT, dancing skjfngkfjg SOOOO good, i loved seeing his flexibility, AND, i loved seeing it HERE where he should be flexible/you can see he DANCES. when you see it with e.g. anthony, lmaoooo it's like 'why can this viscount bend his back so far backwards' skjnfgkgjffgk

also his singing was just pure sex

his stupid lil wave to elphie

i really wanna watch their first meeting scene again

i really wanna watch the whole of Dancing through life again. it was so amazing

another person i thought had really good screen presence was madame morrible. i didn't expect to like her!! she was great. every time she came on screen, mannn

the girls sing realllyyyy well. i like elphie. but, i'm not sure if it's because i'm already a jb fan, but i did feel like he was lighting up the screen as much as he was. that's probably just because i'm a jb fan skjfgnfkjgk

i just smiledddddddd through his bits in Dancing through life!!! man. i know there's a version out there atm on the interwebs, i'm considering getting it just to rewatch certain bits............... the quality is a bit meh though. idk if it's worth it

i LOVED the Wizard and I. that was so lovely. made me smile. Popular was good too, and What is this feeling. actually, the bits in between sometimes were a bit, eeehhh... like i was just waiting for the next song

all the songs were really good haha. the biggest improvement from musical to film was probably Something bad?? that was actually so good now in the film. Sentimental man is still eeehhhh.

the bit with the monkeys and the pain of the transformation is iirc a LOT clearer than what it was on stage. but i think that's understandable because you don't get close-ups there

so, haha, why were there no flying monkeys when elphie and glinda were up on the balcony thing after the hot air balloon had gone down

the hot air balloon and its fiery demise was a very good excuse to continue singing and not have the viewer/me being like, ahhh hellooo? are you not being chased??

Defying gravity, the end part....................................... i mean. i think if i'd never seen the musical, i would've been fine with it. i'm pretty fine with it. i think it's fine. sometimes i think i have too good a memory of the musical, so i start comparing the two, to the film's somewhat!detriment

One short day is even more amazing in the film version. and i liked the og cameos

No one mourns the wicked was good too. i feel like all the songs improved from the musical lol........................ apart from maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Defying gravity. i just like the seamless ending part, not the gaps in it...

fiyero flirting with everyone is EVERYTHING. pan!fiyero!!! <3

anyway if i think off more to add i will eta it here~

ETA: it was so lovely to see jb on the big screen!!!! HE HAS SUCH PRESENCE, i am genuinely considering going to see jurassic world when it comes out now lol

ETA: i LOVE the mood change from One short day to when they go into the wizard's... tower thing... and all the locking doors! ominoussss

the costumes were great btw. highlights were glinda's pink dress (the first one), the costumes that chenoweth and menzel wore, and fiyero's blue outfit with the gold (bronze?) patterns and the boots. aaaaaaaaaaaaagh

ETA: naturally with my hearing (audio processing lmao) i missed everything the horse said... where is the transcript! haha

ETA: i LOVED nessarose and boq's dance!

ETA: ohh!! why did they miss glinda's joke with the wand where she smacks it on her hand and is like "is this thing on??"

ETA: im so sorry why is the last part of the lion cub scene so funny skjfgkjfgkkg pls "you're bleeding" "am i" and then sfgfjgk why does he flinch (that could be a fic!) and then he chickens out from(?) kissing her and just runs off into the fucking woods, halp, where exactly is he taking that cub to safety???? ksjkggk does he know the secret Animal hideout; oh well maybe his horse does!!!

btw shiz is a really nice uni, architecture-wise? and the location. and the water!! and the random dried up ocean (?) out the back lmao

[mayasdeluca]

I rewatched Marinas first meet scene after so long and my God the chills I got from it. What made it even better was that I was watching it with a friend and it was her first time seeing the show. She turned to me after that bar scene and just gave me the biggest smile and was like OMG what was that... are they going to be become something... and all I could say was you have no idea. Suffice it to say, she's now hooked.

But it got me thinking what was it about that first scene because if you just look at it it just seems like a normal scene but idk there's something electric about. Swear to god the hair on my arm stood up watching it after so many years.

I wasn't around the fandom in the beginning when Marina started but damn it makes total sense how and why this fandom started after that first scene.

It's truly such an incredible first meeting scene. Their chemistry is insane and it makes sense why they mention the table read of it so much too because obviously they just had it right from the start and it showed. I really wish we could have seen how it was at the table read too because that would've been amazing!

It really was such a simple scene but the way Danielle and Stefania played it and played off of each other you could just tell it was going to go somewhere or should go somewhere based off the looks they were giving each other and the electric feel it gave. I remember watching it live and thinking that this must be the start of something especially after the episode had focused on Maya and her rough past and how it was a rough start to her being Captain and now finally there may have been some light at the end of the tunnel. Definitely one of my favorite episodes even if some of the flashbacks with Lane are hard to watch.

[notebookmusical]

Okay I'm back! So the musicals I watched were Merrily, The Outsiders and the Notebook! They were all really good and had different things I loved about them. But unfortunately it was kinda out of order or took me a while to watch. The first one I started with was Merrily and my sister fell asleep like 20 minutes in so I turned it off since I always wanna watch with her. The next day I somehow found Outsiders and got really excited so I wanted to watch that..my sister got tired again lol. The next day during some downtime I told my sister to catch up on Merrily so we did and watched Act one. My sister gets tired again. The next day I found a Notebook one! We were drinking cuz I thought it might help her stay awake so I suggested going back to Outsiders cuz we were more familiar with that show and it matched the vibes somewhat. She mostly stayed up until the last 30 minutes which I ended up watching anyway. Then I suggested watching The Notebook cuz she napped earlier so it made sense to watch the longest one compared to finishing Merrily which we did. At this point we still havent finished all of Merrily but I thought I should reply to you by now lol. But I enjoyed them all but they were all different..it would be hard to rank. I'm pretty sure The Outsiders was my favorite but I'm also really familiar with the show at this point..like I've read parts of the script to figure out the differences between the book and movie before watching the show so I knew the dialogue. I will definitely send it to you whenever you're ready for it. So in a way that was a little distracting actually and because of that it felt like the show was going so fast and from song to song but that's cuz I knew it so well already. I felt that with the Notebook only a little, from knowing the plot, but it wasn't like I knew what exact song was coming when..there were some songs I couldn't remember lol. Unfortunately the quality was kinda bad but it got better in Act 2. The act two definitely seemed shorter and faster though..almost like am I missing something or we were already at a certain part so idk. Also it did switch timelines a few times and I guess that makes sense..otherwise they would only be in act 2, but still. I guess I wasn't giving it my full attention or something. Also I did not notice the change to the 1970s at all. I think I wasn't in the mood to watch it either..itbdidnt feel as emotional to me as it could have. Merrily was fun cuz I didn't know what to expect and went in pretty blind but I also got confused with the timeline a little bit. I do love the characters and some songs though and I liked it. I just didn't love it yet I think and I want to. Basically all of them might need a rewatch lol, Outsiders just cuz I like it haha. Idk what's wrong with me but I love them all. I also wanted to mention that Ryan Vasquez was actually a part of the Outsiders musical as the oldest brother before it went to Broadway but I guess he ended up choosing the Notebook but I think that would've been pretty interesting. I think he fits middle Noah very well though.

I can't believe you haven't watched Little shop before! My first introduction was the movie which I love. But I'm not sure what you would think about it. It's also another of those musicals where the age is pretty vague which you mentioned about Mattress lol. I actually put that in the ask that didn't get sent..having no idea you weren't familiar with the show lol. If you don't know the show, do you listen to the cast album first or usually just watch the bootleg? Just curious cuz I always try to find a bootleg first. But it made me wonder what it would be like to listen without context of the show. I would recommend the movie too though.

So I didn't have a chance to go to Wicked which is okay cuz I've already seen it. I'm not going to watch Joker 2 either but I did the Lady Gaga album. At this point idk what my next show is..but hoping for Hamilton. The new Warriors cast album came out too and i'm interested in that but I've never seen the movie. another thing I try to do is watch the movie a musical is based on to compare it as well. I'm not sure when I will get to it though..maybe by Halloween. I hope you have a good time at your shows..that's awesome. Im not sure if Im going to be able to see Back to the future yet. I listened to Brat and my favorites were the same as the ones you mentioned before even hearing it lol. what were your favorites? What else have you been listening to? I listened to The Last Dinner Party finally and Pale Waves this week. I also would recommend Orla Gartland's new album but I think I preferred the first album a little more. Omg well the first album i heard was Color Theory and the first song was Yellow is the Color of her eyes which I love a lot. But yes you can go in order but she also has some unreleased songs from unofficial albums I really love too. I think I'll just recommend a few from each album. Molly Ringwald, Henry, Switzerland, Try, Waiting For Cars, Scorpio Rising, Still Clean, Yellow is the color of her eyes, Circle the Drain, Shotgun, and Fire in the Driveway. Out of the new songs, my favorite is called M. I hope you like them if you do check it out. I will be listening to her and Halseys albums this next week. I think Halsey's vision and the impersonation theme is really cool so I'm also excited for it. I hope you have an awesome weekend!

welcome back 🤍 i always love hearing your thoughts!

i love merrily! i am so excited that we're getting a proshot. i hope you'll give it another go! i am unsurprised that you like the outsiders the most (said affectionately with love) and am really excited to get into it hopefully before the year is over. the notebook my beloved. it's definitely more simple/less ~ flashy ~ than the others, but i love it so much. the first time i saw it i wasn't super emotional about it but then i listened to the cast recording later and wept. and now it's one of my favorite shows (i know, shocker, tumblr user notebookmusical loves the notebook musical). and it definitely hits different in person! i hope you get to see it on tour 🤍

i was actually reading about ryan vasquez earlier because i was trying to find an answer to something (was unsuccessful) and found this — in response to "We hear you had a choice to work on a few Broadway shows, including The Notebook, and The Notebook won. Why was it the winner?", which i think is interesting:

Ryan Vasquez: Since beginning work on The Notebook in 2020, I have been consistently struck by the impact the piece has on people, especially men, who are struggling in alarming ways with regulating emotions and expressing vulnerability right now. The show is many things, but above all, it is profoundly moving. And not just because it's a love story, though the romance is moving in its way. It's a deeply human story about life and loss and love in all its forms, and I wanted to be a part of something that had that impact.

oh i should add little shop to my list of things to listen to this week! i just keep forgetting, honestly! i usually listen to things when i walk my dog or when i'm at work but then sometimes i get distracted/sucked into work or i just end up looping the same album for hours... oops! if i don't know a show well, and if there's a bootleg available, i'll usually just watch the bootleg if i can but lately i've been doing cast recording first, then bootleg if i'm still interested!

i am seeing wicked next month, and i've got my tickets for the wicked movie for the day after thanksgiving! so it will be a very wicked month haha. i haven't listened to warriors yet either; let me know if it's worth listening to! i listened to the new orla gartland!! one of my friends loves her, so it was fun — my favorites were sound of letting go, the hit, and everybody needs a hero. and i have jotted down your recs hehe!

very intrigued to hear your halsey/TGI thoughts! i got to listen to the album early and loved it so much. i think it's probably my second favorite halsey album (badlands is soooo special to me 🤍).

[wannaliveattheholidayinn]

rewatched quite a bit of one day at a time, and i have to say, i think i'm a bit in love with alvareider

[love-byers]

breaking down mike's apology to will

mike goes into will's room on his own and closes the door, he intends on having a private conversation

"thanks by the way."

"for what?"

"for knocking some sense into me i mean i was being a total self pitying idiot."

mike has clearly thought about this a lot since the roller rink day. it was a big day for mike. i encourage you all to rewatch the airport/roller rink scenes knowing A) mike was being a self pitying idiot and B) will was knocking some sense into him during their fight

"i didn't say it."

"you didn't have to."

what will said to mike made him realize he was being a self-pitying idiot, without will having to flat out say it

"which is why you decided to be a douche to her all day? [...] you were! you were! you were rolling your eyes, you were moping, you were barely talking you basically sabotaged the whole day!"

"well she was lying to you, mike! straight to your face ever since you got here! and i've been a total third wheel all day it's been miserable. so sorry if i wasn't- if i wasn't smiling."

[...]

"and us?"

"we're friends! we're. friends."

"well we used to be best friends!"

(tense silence)

mike had been a dick to will all day, right from the second he landed in cali. it's likely that this is because will had been pushing him away over the 6 months and it hurt mike's feelings. so when he gets there, he acts like he doesn't care and pretends to ignore him because he feels bad for himself and want to give will a taste of his own medicine. (it's also because he likes will and doesn't know how to act)

however, mike wheeler is a dumbass and couldn't keep the act up. seeing will mope and not talk got under his skin in a way he couldn't ignore. wills moping. wills not talking to him. it makes mike feel bad. and he lashes out at will because of self pity. self pitying idiot.

will implying they're not best friends anymore made mike realize he'd been a jerk to will for pushing him away when in reality will feels the same way mike does about this. but he's mike wheeler so he self pities more because he realized he was being self pitying

"hey, also, about the- about the last few days-"

mike went right from acknowledging his self pitying behavior to the last few days, aka the time period where he was acting weird. remember, mike went in will's room knowing what he was going to say.

"you don't have to say anything. i was being a total jerk to el..i deserved it."

"no—no you didn't deserve anything."

remember when mike said "which is why you decided to be a douche to her all day?"

will says he was being jerk to el because he thinks that's why mike was being weird. he thinks that's what mike was about to talk about. he thinks this is about el, but it's not. and i know that because:

"listen, the truth is, the last year has been weird, you know?"

mike goes straight from talking about being a self pitying idiot, to the weird past few days, to how weird he's felt since will moved. which means all three of those are connected. mikes behavior was because of how he's felt since will moved. if will didn't cut him off when he said "about the last few days" mike would've explained how his weird behavior is because of how he's felt since will left.

and how has he felt? well:

"and you know, max, and lucas, and dustin, they're- they're great, they're great, it's just...it's hawkins, it's not the same without you."

i was being a self pitying idiot –> i've been weird to you the last few days –> it isn't the same without you and you're different from my other friends 

home isn't the same without will to mike. not only was he hurting because of the move, but will was pulling away and not reaching out so it made everything hurt worse. mike was will-less for a whole six months and felt bad for himself.

"and i feel like maybe i was worrying too much about el...i don't know maybe i feel like i lost you or something. does that make sense?"

let's add to it:

i was being a self pitying idiot –> i've been weird to you the last few days –> it isn't the same without you and you're different from my other friends –> i feel like i've lost you since you moved

we don't need to Prove that mike was being weird because of how he felt after will moved, because he tells us himself

[porcupine-girl]

Hidden Blade thoughts!

IT WAS SO GOOD

YIBO WAS SO GOOD

I would've followed a bit better if I understood more about the political landscape of WWII China, but it wasn't too bad. Definitely one of those movies where I want to go back and rewatch it immediately now that I know what I know from the end.

I will put the rest under a cut because very definitely spoilers.

The entire first half, I was kind of confused and disappointed because Yibo's role was barely a background character? I was like... how did he get second billing? How did he catch the critics' attention?

Then he has the scene in the bathroom with his ex-fiance, and from there suddenly he's the main character of the second half of the movie. It's like Tony Leung got half and he got half LOL And he's so damn good in his half.

I don't particularly like or care about fight scenes, but his were so good?? That first one with the bitchslap, he's just explosive. In the bathroom scene he becomes a ticking time bomb that's just waiting for an excuse to go off, and when he does it's breathtaking. But then he manages to just bottle that energy back up as soon as he's done with one fight, and spends the rest of the movie like that. Like every single scene he was in from there on I was convinced he was about to go off and kill someone or at least maim them - he only winds up doing it a few more times, but anytime he's not being violent you can just feel the violence he's bottling up inside radiating out of him. I can 100% see why the NYT chose the words "simmering" and "mesmerizing."

I will admit I might not have been as transfixed during Yibo & Tony's big fight scene (which, the bts is just a tiny clip of a very long scene) if it weren't for the fact that I'd seen the clip of the truck scene so I knew they both survived, so I spent the entire time holding my breath like how the fuck do they both survive this. Like, it just doesn't seem like the kind of fight where one is gonna let the other walk away. But speaking of that...

Two bits my husband and I did not understand by the end:

If Ye was actually on He’s side the whole time, why did they have the huge fight?? Like that seemed way more than necessary just to continue pretending to be on opposite sides. Sure, Ye couldn't have just let He go or vice-versa, but like they both nearly killed the other multiple times, and tbh the only reason Ye survived that fall is movie magic (it might not be wuxia but it did inherit just a smidge from that genre in terms of this fight scene I think). Why such a knock-down drag-out fight if they're actually on the same side? Surely they could've made less look like more.

Then the much smaller thing: Early on, He buys pastries to pass a note to… his wife? It happens so early when you don’t know who anyone is, by the time they come back to it I couldn’t quite remember what had happened. I think it turned out to be his wife. Anyhow, then later the Japanese guy asks what took him so long and he says he was buying dim sum but then produces the pastries??? Why did he say it was dim sum? Such a weird lie to tell when you've got the pastries to show him (I assume He bought two boxes). And the Japanese guy doesn't comment on it or anything. Were the subtitles just mistranslated or something? IDK my husband thought he heard them say dim sum but obviously he wasn't paying close attention to that detail as they were saying it, that was just in retrospect after he realized it wasn't dim sum, so maybe they said something else and it got mistranslated.

Edit: Mystery solved! @trickybonmot says she heard them say 点心 (dianxin), and according to purpleculture.net (whose dictionary is top-notch and I trust way more than Google), that can mean dessert/pastry OR dim sum! So it’s not exactly mistranslated, they just chose the translation that makes less sense to English-speaking audiences.

Overall, btw, the translation was great. SO much smoother and less awkward than literally any TV show I've watched. They had both Mandarin and English subs up the whole time, even when the characters were speaking Japanese or Shanghainese.

It was very violent and there were a lot of things that were highly disturbing in a "horrors of war" kind of way. Like yes some bits were gory but I think the disturbing outweighed the explicitly gory by far.

The nonlinear narrative has gotten mixed reviews; I think it's the kind of thing where if you like that type of storytelling (which I do!) you'll like it and if you don't you won't. If you're neutral idk what you'll think. There were definitely a few times when I wasn't totally sure when we were, but usually it didn't make things outright not make sense. There are also a few scenes that I'm still not sure why we went back to them, but I bet if I rewatched it those choices would make more sense.

It was definitely communist propaganda, but I don't think that was heavy-handed. They just showed the communists as definitely The Good Guys of the war. Obviously Japan was The Bad Guy, but they kind of just pushed the non-communist Chinese nationalists to one side and ignored them? IDK, again I might not understand the politics or get the references well enough to know how they actually handled it, but it mostly seemed like that side was more ignored than, like, actively portrayed as bad the way the Japanese were. It doesn't actually, like, make any claims about why communism is good or anything, it's more like “communists” just happens to be the name of the good guys in this war. The ideology itself makes like one brief appearance when Ye's ex-fiance talks about laborers, and even then she says maybe I'll marry a laborer or an intellectual and I was like 😬 and how did communism work out for the intellectuals in 20-30 years? Not sure if that was actually a subtle dig on Cheng Er's part or not.

Anyhow I am very excited to talk about the movie with anyone who's seen it, or I can answer questions for anyone who hasn't!