#liveblogging!legacies

[icy-watch]

Wait? You can't? Well there go my Saturday morning plans...

[machoestofmen]

About to have a go at Harrow the Ninth now; when I was reading Gideon the Ninth, one thing I noticed really helped set the mood for me was to have some of the Legacy of Kain series' soundtracks going, especially from Soul Reaver and Defiance. Some tracks of note:

There are a few others as well, but this should be enough for now. Alright, time to read.

[thegreatyin]

rip my heart out and shoot it, why don't you???

at least it makes for a great mantlepiece item!

[simplydm]

Impulse referencing a series he wasn’t even in is peak skizzleman fangirl behavior

[milton-national]

just finished s2e6

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Just realized how many times Maxo's ass has been lore relevant

[radiantlyrey]

So I liveblogged TRON: Legacy on BlueSky over the last two nights...

So here is that liveblog! Enjoy!!

Rewatching one of my fave movies—TRON: Legacy. Love how the city settings at the bookends are just *transparently* Vancouver. Also enjoyed the deliberate echoes between ‘89 Flynn and Clu later in the film.

Also cannot BELIEVE they cast CILLIAN MURPHY as Ed Jr.!!!! And then just—utterly FAILED to use him for a direct sequel!!!!! UGH.

Love to see a Bruce Boxleitner in my TRON films, too!!!! Since he apparently isn’t going to be in No.3 this fall….. (am I salty about this? maybe just a LITTLE BIT.)

Alan has to have IMMEDIATELY clocked that that dog was Sam’s Marvin. Hence his immediate lookup of things on his tablet. Also his obvious amusement at the end of the scene.

Sam Flynn is a very generic white boy protagonist, but Garrett Hedlund plays him with this subtle undercurrent of grief that honestly elevates Sam as a character.

Favorite detail: Sam is on a first name basis with the impound lot attendant. LOVE THAT.

(Also yes I think I’m gonna liveblog the movie, bc why not)

Contrast in the next scene between Alan’s hope and Sam’s cynicism. Interesting, but also [look at] Sam’s face when Alan mentions the page from the arcade. He doesn’t WANT to be cynical, not completely.

Wouldn’t be a TRON film without a Journey song… Choice of “Separate Ways” seems very apt, especially the lyrics we hear. Like. Damn, what a good choice. Even kind of foreshadowing with the chorus! Amazing.

And then “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)”!! Just two VERY GOOD song choices. Anyway. Flynn’s subroom office. (With Lora’s laser, I might add. Add “utter lack of Cindy Morgan” to my list of petty grievances towards Disney.)

As neat as the laser animation is here—‘82’s was cooler.

I do seriously regret not going to see this film in IMAX when it came out. Maybe they’ll do a rerelease or something??

LOVE the subtle and unexplained worldbuilding of “this program has no disc; another stray.” This does get explained in the Uprising animated show, but just leaving it at that in the film leaves you asking questions.

While I do on the one hand like the moody sort of Blade Runner aesthetic of the Legacy Grid, I have to say I like the crazy colors of the Encom Grid way more.

I do feel like the only purpose of the Siren programs here is to Be Sexy, which, yes, I do put as a mark against this film. Like. Yay for more female characters!! Wish they actually had… character, tho.

The Actual Light Lines on the costumes are amazing btw. Love that. Just. There were so many cool things about this film (the music, for one) and I am still salty that all it got at the Oscars were sound noms.

This movie runs on Rule of Cool most of the time and I love it.

Someone on tumblr said Clu sits like a Skyrim jarl and….. like. They weren’t wrong.

I love how Awkward Sam is in the disc game, it’s honestly hilarious.

Also Jeff Bridges gave an interview recently [saying] that Clu basically looked like Bill Maher and….. he ain’t wrong.

Love the whole scene on the throne ship. Sam’s relief turning to suspicion turning to horror. Clu playing up his resemblance to Flynn, for the sake of bringing up Sam’s hopes only to drop them down and grind them in the dirt. It’s SO GOOD.

And like. At this point Sam doesn’t know that his dad’s alive. He’s angry and ready to fight and it’s great. (Also love that he assumes the lightcycle baton is a lightsaber. Lol.)

God. Remember when vfx in movies were actually GOOD. Because they did shit like previz and storyboards. Like. This lightcycle scene is dark, but it’s lit well enough that none of the details get lost. It’s great.

And now here comes my best girl!!!!! I love Quorra so much, she is very much my favorite character in this movie, I have written SO MUCH fanfic about her.

(I actually wrote a whole novel-length fic that diverges from the movie just before Quorra rescues Sam. Sam is injured and captured by Clu, and Quorra and Flynn have to rescue him. I really like that fic, I think I did a good job with it.)

I am such a sucker for family reunion scenes and this one with Flynn and Sam is no exception.

The food in Flynn['s] hideout is interesting. My headcanon is that it’s just repurposed energy (and also that it took Flynn a WHILE before he figured out how to do that).

Ahh the infamously awkward “biodigital jazz, man!” line.

Also I know they made Tron (my man Tron!!!!) shorter bc his body double was shorter (also Rinzler…) but it is hilarious that Tron just kind of…… shrunk. Lol.

Quorra’s so awkward as well and I love her for it. Just. Walking away in the middle of a conversation. Laughing at the wrong time. She’s great.

These dark scenes are so well lit. Like. Exceptionally so. Where did we go wrong the in last 15 years???

Aaaaand now, the best part of this movie, because Michael Sheen is here and ready to SLAY. also Daft Punk is here too and ready to drop a hot track or two.

Like, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde and Jeff Bridges are putting in good drama performances, but Sheen is CLEARLY having the best time out of all of them. He’s great, and his Ziggy Stardust getup is great too.

Clu in Flynn’s hideout. The cold blue lighting here makes Clu look a little less real/human (this is even more evident later on the Rectifier, which I argue was a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers). It’s such a good scene tho, a lot of weighty stuff for Clu’s character.

I love that Quorra has a sword. Makes her even cooler in my eyes.

Also this fight sequence is so damn cool (tho a little heavy on the flashing lights). Esp. once Flynn shows up and the whole lighting changes and stuff. (Also Zuse’s Chaplin-esque dance at the end is hilarious.)

“You’re messing with my zen thing, man!” is an amazing line and actually works in a way biodigital jazz did not.

(Also I completely refuse to believe Flynn did not know Quorra was an Iso before messing with her code. It’s slightly implied here he didn’t, which just seems ridiculous to me.)

I like how Flynn understands that Clu’s imperfections and flaws are his own, rather than blaming everything all on his creation.

(One thing I enjoyed about writing that AU fic I mentioned above is that I got to keep certain characters—like Zuse—alive. I don’t have an idea for a sequel at this point, but those characters will be there if I do.)

Also I see the sort of gentle flirtation happening with Sam and Quorra and I like it. I don’t ship it, but it’s cute because Sam clearly drinks his Respect Women juice.

Okay. It’s getting late; I am going to resume this thread and this movie tomorrow. Sorry for clogging y’all’s feeds with my natter about TRON.

And we’re back!! Time for the last 35 minutes of TRON: Legacy!!!

Quorra’s sacrifice here is interesting. She’s hoping to distract Clu long enough to let Sam and Flynn escape through the Portal. Also Clu’s taunting her here is awful (and I mean that in the best way).

And now comes Clu’s speech, where the deaging vfx look their worst, but I think (as I mentioned last night) that is somewhat deliberate. Up to his most recent scenes, Clu was largely lit with warm colors, making his “resemblance” to Flynn a little easier to believe…

…but as his lighting transitions to cooler colors, the resemblance becomes more uncanny, and he looks much less human.

Love Sam’s earnestness in insisting he’s not going home without Flynn. He’s done with the cynicism that colored his scene with Alan; he’s ready to hope again.

Was that a Wilhelm scream as we see the tail end of Sam’s not-shown fight? Love it.

Rinzler surviving that kick off the lift because of course. That dude is ridiculous sometimes.

And now into the last action sequence—the aerial dogfight on the flight to the Portal. Again, despite how dark everything is, you can still tell what’s happening!! What a concept!!!!!!!

Also love how utterly uncanny the Sea of Simulation looks, with the voxel-y texture of the waves. I do rather desperately wish there was some Color to it, tho!!

And then—Flynn recognizes Tron, and Rinzler realizes who he is and— “I fight for the Users”—!!!!!!!!!!! That line makes me want to cheer every time I hear it. I do hate that Tron wasn’t properly in this movie that has his name on it, but it’s almost worth it for that moment when Rinzler remembers.

Arrival at the Portal—only Clu’s gotten there first. And I do love this conversation between Flynn and Clu, and Flynn’s trying to apologize, but Clu—by his nature, being a moment of Flynn’s whole being suspended in time—doesn’t understand, and doesn’t want to. And it’s tragic and I LOVE IT. UGHHH

One last uncanny look at Clu as he struggles for the Portal—and he truly looks inhuman here, thanks to the distortion of the Portal’s effects. And Flynn takes that last, most desperate option and then—reality fades in.

I do like that flashback as Flynn watches Sam and Quorra depart. Like. Beautiful.

So many things left hanging in these last scenes. What were Sam’s plans for the Grid, by saving it on that memory card? His plans for Encom? What would Quorra get up to in the User world? And unless Ares surprises me A Whole Fucking Lot, WE’LL NEVER KNOW. FUCK.

Again: transparently Vancouver here. Don’t care. Quorra drinking in the sunrise, paired with this gorgeous music, is a beautiful and fitting end.

And that’s a movie!!!! I love this movie so much; I have so many things to say about it, even fourteen years later. And god knows it’s helped me write a TON of fanfic, and is still giving me ideas to this day.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me in this thread of chatter. I’m gonna enjoy the fuck out of these end credits songs, because Daft Punk’s score—which I hardly MENTIONED!!! and which is EXCELLENT!!!—is gorgeous af and SHOULD HAVE netted them an Oscar nom. Ah well. Good night, y’all!!!!

[freakinator]

oh my god minute and zam dying together and now zam watching through mapiccs eyes

[thosegothsims]

hiiiiiii yall i didnt mean to disappear life just got busy and i didnt have the time or energy to dedicate to my sims stuff </3 but hopefully as the new year comes around i will get back to playing!! i miss the graves and the bereys

[r0semultiverse]

“Tape recorders & Manila folders” LMAOO now that was a reference (or she’s related to someone who worked at the Magnus institute)

Skin turned into butterflies?? Insect phobia? Also curious about the zombies one vaguely mentioned earlier in passing too.

“Every case about being buried alive or meat or whatever” WHO ARE YOU RELATED TO FROM 20+ YEARS AGO CELIA CMON NOW!

oxfordpeoplestrust.org is also not a real web site that I could find anyway

HILLTOP?!?!

Hilltop center branch sure is a name, wonder what happened during the 6 months! 👀

Wtf happened to Derek Chambers??

That’s one suspicious walk-in applicant... wonder who that is. Knows the hilltop center better than anyone.

A pot with a shouting human face??? Weird.

A friend who wants to volunteer? Also damn, C Clayton is either incompetent or dead! 👀

​Why are these 2 so cheerful?? That is very strange. I don’t think he’s on sabbatical. Lmao

Just bringing in all the creepy cryptid people now, aren’t ya? Though I’d also do that shit if I was understaffed so eh. 🤷‍♀️

“All for a good cause,” it sounds like they’re a hive mind collective of some sort to me.

Oh, they are bringing these items in to sell?? Ahh okay. Also, I feel like C Clayton is definitely dead & these creatures took his keys.

They’re like lemmings or something, holy shit. Also is this a pawn shop I just realized?? Oh a charity shop! Someone just merked a bunch of these guys, holy fuck!! 👀 These are some secret cryptid hunters, gods damn!

Celia: “The voice threw me.” “Do you know who voices Chester?” “Just thought I recognized it for a moment.”

CELIA HOW DO YOU KNOW HIS VOICE?!?! HELLO?? WHO EXACTLY ARE YOU??

AN EMAIL FROM JON?!?! WHAT?!?!!!!

CLAUS?? WHO? GWEN HAS EYES EVERYWHERE HUH?? REALLY LIVING UP TO THE BOUCHARD NAME!

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

And Tomoyo just whips it out immediately, because she knew he was going to bring it up in this conversation. Not even as a seer, because she can't do that anymore - just because she knows him so well.

AND OH THAT FINAL PANEL, WITH KUROGANE REFLECTED IN TOMOYO’S EYES. AMAZING. BEAUTIFUL. 

Also the SECOND funniest way to tie the theme of doubles into Kurogane’s plot - there are just… two of him when reflected in someone’s eyes. 

I WILL TAKE IT. THANK YOU CLAMP.

The fact that Kurogane is surprised to see it is SUCH a nice touch. Even though he had a copy of it for such a long time, this is the ACTUAL link to his family. This is the ACTUAL symbol of his past and everything his family legacy means. It's not just a memory anymore - it's sitting right here in front of him, carefully wrapped up and cared for all this time.

It's the final stage in Kurogane's backstory coming back around. It's the continuation of the exact conversation they had in this exact room about this exact sword all those years ago. It's Kurogane finally returning home, not to be with Tomoyo as he once thought, but to continue the promise he made to his family all those years ago, and to take down the man who slaughtered everyone he loved.

It's, once again, everything coming full circle.

Proof that Tomoyo is the best: SHE EVEN PROVIDED THE FLASHBACKS TO THE EXACT SCENE I WENT LOOKING FOR.

THANK YOU TOMOYO, MY BELOVED. If I did not just hunt this down moments ago this would have been the EXACT context I needed.

That aside, Tomoyo pulling a “So I kept it” is infinitely funny to me and this is such a good turn of events. 

It turns out that Kurogane’s mother foresaw certain future events and ALSO prepared for them ahead of time. 

Or at least that would fit the pattern of every other seer we have in the series. It’s possible she didn’t foresee anything at all and she just talked to Tomoyo as a general precaution, but either way! Here we are!

[icy-watch]

Cole Jr!

[agnesandhilda]

shounen mangakas love making their protagonists child soldiers employed by an institution that is supposed to be at least kind of correct even though they're using child soldiers

[the-big-nope]

AGRUPNIN!!!!

[front-facing-pokemon]

[mabaris]

forgot the name of corypheus’s prison and called it “sashimi tower”