#man his voice actor is SO GOOD though (as is Cole's)

[blackmosscupcakes]

Last night it was Solas's turn to suffer from Events. Unintentionally on my part I just made choices that led to nonstop war flashbacks for him. I'm not sure I'd RECOMMEND playing this series in reverse order as I am apparently doing, but it's certainly extremely interesting playing Inquisition for the first time after Veilguard.

Honestly I just end up screenshotting like 2/3 of his dialogue so I can send it to my husband like 👀👀👀👀👀

[rainbow-flavoured-skittles]

the first instalment for the bruise childhood friends au, mostly setting the scene before we get into all the shenanigans and fluff. Jay and Cole are about 8-9 here. cross posted to Ao3

------

Jay hummed quietly while his dad talked with the adults. They were at another event — Jay didn’t care to remember which, they were all the same to him. Get in the car with the driver, arrive at the destination, don’t bother Dad while he talks with the grown-ups. Maybe play a game or read a book, but don’t be loud. Today was no different.

“—I think that it will go well,” his dad said. 

The man he was talking with raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yes, if all goes according to plan it’ll be a hit.”

“I would hope so,” the other man said. “I’ve invested too much time and money into this for it to fail.”

“Of course.”

Jay continued to sit in the corner, but he was bored. Just as always. But surely he would only need to wait a bit longer, and then he and Dad could go out for dinner. He was starting to get hungry. Really hungry. Jay decided to take the chance. 

He walked up to Cliff Gordon and pulled his sleeve. “Dad?” he said. “I’m getting hungry,”

“Not right now, Jay. I’m talking with Mr. Brookstone here.” Jay’s dad turned to the other man. “My apologies, he gets a bit restless,” he gave a dry chuckle. 

Mr. Brookstone laughed. “That’s alright. My son is the same,”

Jay’s dad looked down at him. “Jay, why don’t you go wander around for a bit? You can go buy a snack,” he placed a couple coins into Jay’s hand. Score!

“Okay, Dad.” Jay said. 

Dad turned back to Mr. Brookstone. “Now, where were we?”

That was Jay’s cue to leave. He turned and went out the big fancy door they’d come in through, then went down the hallway. There had definitely been a vending machine somewhere.

When Jay finally found it, he was shocked by all the options. “Wow,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “So many choices.”

“Yeah,” a voice from behind said. 

Jay squeaked and spun around to see another kid, probably his age. 

“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the kid frowned. 

“You just surprised me.”

The kid shrugged. “Why’re you here? Didn’t think the audience was allowed backstage,” he uses a lot of big words, Jay thought. 

“My dad works here,” Jay said. At least, he was pretty sure Dad worked here. Though he hadn’t been in this building before, so who knew?

“Same,”

“Your dad’s an actor too?” Jay asked. 

The boy shuffled a bit, like he didn’t like this conversation. That was okay, Jay didn’t really like it either. “He’s a singer,” he finally said. 

“A singer? Like The Fold?” They were a band that Jay’s dad worked with before. He remembered them because one of the members gave him a lollipop. 

“Yeah, kinda. He’s a Royal Blacksmith,” 

Jay had not heard of them before, though that wasn’t surprising. He hadn’t heard of a lot of people. “Sounds cool,” he decided on saying.

“I guess,” he said. 

This kid seems lonely, Jay thought. Like me. 

That makes us the same. Couldn’t hurt to be friends, right?

Jay held out his hand. “I’m Jay Gordon,” he said. “We’re friends now. What’s your name?”

“Cole Hence,” the other boy said.

“Great!” Jay smiled. “I’ve got some money. Wanna share chips or something?”

“Yes, please,” Cole said shyly. 

Jay turned back to the vending machine. “‘Kay, what d’you want?”

“Anything’s fine,”

“Gummy bears?” 

Cole hummed. “Yeah, sure,”

Very, very, carefully, Jay inserted the coins into the slot. Then he pressed the little number pad. 0-4-6, he typed. The packet of candy fell out. “Got it!” Jay said cheerfully. He held their prize up. 

“There’s a table,” Cole pulled Jay’s arm. “We can sit there.”

“Why’s there a random table?” Jay wondered. 

Cole only shrugged in response as they sat down. 

Jay tore open the pack and passed it to Cole. “So which one is your favourite flavour?” He asked. 

“Strawberry,” Cole said. “Yours?”

Jay thought for a moment. All of them were pretty good, in his opinion. “I can’t decide,” he said. “They’re all too good!”

“That’s true,” Cole agreed. “But I still think strawberry is the best.”

“I think real strawberries are better,” Jay took another gummy. 

“That’s also true,”

By now, they had finished the pack. There hadn’t been a lot inside. 

Cole looked at the empty packet, then at Jay. “Do you want to go exploring?” He asked. “I don’t know when your dad will be done working, but mine won’t be for a while.”

Jay’s dad wouldn’t be finished working for a while, if the way he sent Jay off was anything to go by. “Mine too,” he said. 

Cole smiled a little at that. “Great!” He said. “We can keep talking then,”

“And exploring,” Jay reminded him. “I want to explore.”

“Yeah!”

“Where shall we go first, captain?” Jay put on a fancy accent, like the ones that he saw on TV.

“Hmmmm,” Cole looked around. “The balcony? It’s where fancy people sit!”

“I thought balconies were for standing,”

“I dunno,” Cole shrugged. “That’s just what my mom told me,”

“It does sound cool, though,” Jay said. “And I want to pretend to be a fancy person,”

“‘Kay,” Cole said. “This way,” he lead them up a flight of stairs — they were so pretty! Who thought even the stairs needed to be decorated? Jay wondered.

He decided to ask Cole about that. Cole seemed to know a lot about this place. “Hey, Cole?”

Cole turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

“How come everything here is so fancy?”

“Because it just is, I guess.” 

A lot of things just were, Jay thought. Like how Dad just never had time to play with him, or how Mom wasn’t around, or even how his classmates didn’t like him.

“We’re here,” Cole said, snapping Jay out of his thoughts. He looked around. The stage was very far in front of them, and he could see the giant speakers too. Jay felt very small compared to this room. 

“It’s huge,” he said in awe. 

Cole grinned. “Yeah, it is.”

“You can see the entire theatre from here!”

Cole considered that. “Well, maybe not the entire theatre,” he said. “But definitely a lot of it.”

Jay laughed. “It’s so cool!”

“When they’re performing, the entire stage lights up,” Cole pointed at the lights. “They even change colour.”

“You’ve seen it?”

“Yeah. My dad performs here a lot,”

“That must be fun,” Jay said. 

“Sometimes,”

“So, do you—“ Jay was cut off by a loud “JASON EDWARD GORDON! WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Oh! I’m in here, Dad!” Jay called out. 

Dad marched in looking angry. “Jay, what are you doing in here? I’ve been looking for you!”

“I was exploring,” Jay said softly.

That did not seem to be an excuse for Dad. “You were supposed to get some food and then come back,” he scolded.

“Sorry,” Jay mumbled. 

Cole was still frozen near the railing. “Um, sir?” He squeaked. “It wasn’t Jay’s fault. I’m the one who thought of coming up here,”

His expression softened at that. “And who are you, lad?”

“Cole Hence, sir. My dad works here,”

Jay’s dad frowned. “And your dad is..?”

“Lou Brookstone.”

“Ah,” Dad looked around and shook his head. “I was talking to your father earlier. He’s in the main lobby right now, waiting for you as well. I can bring you there to meet him.”

“Okay,”

Now Dad was looking at Jay. “Jay, next time you wander off you need to tell me,” he had a strict look on his face. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,”

“Good. Come on, let’s go meet Mr. Brookstone,” Jay’s dad marched the two of them out the door and into the elevator, then to the main lobby. 

“Dad!” Cole ran up to Mr. Brookstone. 

“Hello, Cole. Where have you been?” Mr. Brookstone looked mildly confused. 

“I was exploring with Jay,” Cole pointed at Jay, who waved awkwardly. 

“That’s nice,” Mr. Brookstone said tiredly. He patted Cole on the head. 

Jay’s dad looked uncomfortable, and he cleared his throat. “Ahem,” he coughed. “It’s getting late, and we still need to get home. We’ll meet again next week as planned, yes?” His smile was very strained. 

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Brookstone said, like he was just realising how late it was. “Come on, Cole. Let’s go,” he pushed Cole in the direction of the door. 

“Bye!” Cole waved cheerfully, undeterred by his dad’s sour mood. 

Jay waved back. “I’ll see you next week! I’ll bring games and everything!” 

Dad looked at Jay. He didn’t seem as angry anymore. “It’s good that you’re making friends,” he commented. 

“Really?” Jay looked up. 

“Yes,” Cliff said. “We have to get home now, and you still need to eat dinner and shower. So hurry up,” he walked out the door, Jay following closely behind. 

I made a friend! Jay smiled at that thought. And I get to see him again next week! Maybe getting dragged to his dad’s meets wasn’t so bad after all. 

[la-hoire]

Where do you sit in the camp of 'Roy was being somewhat genuine at Cole's funeral' camp? Because damn I just finished the game and I refuse to believe the man is THAT much of a good actor he'd slip in a voice crack lmao

(Props to Adam J Harrington for it though)

Tbfh I feel like Adam J Harrington accidentally made that noise after saying that whole speech and Team Bondi just went with it because that was probably their best take lmfao

But just looking at Roy, I think to an extent he felt a little bad about how this whole thing ended because I’m sure he did think Cole was a good detective and had potential. Plus that whole affair with Elsa and watching Cole act more and more like a dick probably made Roy think Cole would end up just being another dirty cop like him down the road, meaning they’d probably be besties.

Also Roy strikes me as the type of person who will do the least amount of work as long as he can get away with it so even if Monroe sent him, how would anyone even check if he really did his job? Homeboy could’ve just gone to the Blue Room and grabbed a drink and be paid for it (or not gone at all) but he still chose to actually warn Cole. If he wanted him dead, he could’ve just not said anything and nobody would know.

At the very least, I genuinely think Roy felt that Cole’s death was a waste and wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to happen but also wouldn’t go out of his way to prevent.

(Plus I think Roy was a good cop at one point but just got fucked up the longer he worked in Vice and saw how corrupt the LAPD was so maybe that was the decent part left in him actually feeling grief idk)

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Stage Fright

It's impossible to discuss Alfred Hitchcock’s STAGE FRIGHT (1950, TCM) without getting into the ending, so if you’ve never seen it or heard much about it and want to maintain your innocence on the subject STOP READING NOW.

And now the rest of you still reading can join me in laughing at the ones who stopped.

Just joking. But let’s get on with the discussion.

Acting student Eve Gill (Jane Wyman) has a crush on a man (Richard Todd) who tells her, in flashback, he’s been having an affair with an actress (Marlene Dietrich) who’s just murdered her husband. In attempting to cover up for her, Todd claims to have made himself the chief suspect, so Wyman hides him with her father’s (Alastair Sim) help and masquerades as Dietrich’s maid to try to get the goods on her.

Hitchcock always said his mistake in STAGE FRIGHT was opening the film with a flashback that lies. More recent critics (and those pesky French) have hailed the device as a witty subversion of genre expectations. I think it could indeed work that way in another movie. I think if one set up the characters properly, discovering the plucky young woman and her eccentric father had gone to a great deal of bother to protect a guilty man would make for a solid post-modern detective thriller. But here the characters aren’t set up at all before the flashback starts. The film opens on Wyman driving Todd to get away from the police as he tells her his story (which includes seeing Wyman in an acting class at RADA doing a scene from high comedy, and that may be a bigger crime than the story’s murder). It all feels too abrupt, and it seems to take forever to get to know the characters.

Of course, in Wyman’s case there isn’t much of a character to get to know. Hitchcock wanted a star, and he was working at Warner Bros., and she was their top female star at the time. But though she had done good work in lots of other films. she’s all wrong for the role. Eve has to be implusive and energetic and, above all, innocent. When she realizes she’s falling in love with the detective (Michael Wilding) on the case, she needs to be winsome and vulnerable.  The younger Wyman could have played that, but after years of fighting to get anywhere at Warner Bros. she’s about as winsome as a Mac truck. It’s like watching Norma Shearer trying vainly to become Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Juliet. The business has kicked all the necessary elements of those characters right out of her. The film drags whenever she’s on screen, which is a lot. Wilding is charming in their love scenes, but he might as well be playing to a brick wall. Fortunately, there are some wonderful British character actors on the periphery: Sim, Sybil Thorndike, Miles Malleson, Kay Walsh and Joyce Grenfell as the lady with the lovely duckies.

And, of course, there’s Dietrich. The woman is a holy wonder, one of the screen’s supreme technicians. When Wyman doesn’t move her face for fear of betraying her age, she projects almost nothing. Dietrich’s face may be even more frozen, but she knows how to move her head, her eyes — it’s almost cellular. Watch the way she holds her feet performing Cole Porter’s “The Laziest Girl in Town,” and you’ll realize what an amazing artist she was. She knows how to write the script with her voice and her body. In the midst of a poorly constructed screenplay, she creates a compelling character who draws you in. When the film has to cut from her final closeup (which is almost breathtaking) to get to the rather clumsy denouement, it’s hard to care what happens to anybody else.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

adventure time wizard city liveblog

 well here we go

my last adventure time liveblog, i havent actually done one of these in MANY years... probably not since 2014

this takes place at the same time as obsidian?

DID-- DID CHOOSE GOOSE JUST DIE

DID BUFO JUST KILL CHOOSE GOOSE

yeah i know that’s bufo, they only made it enormously obvious, tsk tsk

@spaceacepearl​ joked about us seeing choose goose get sent to hell but i diDNT EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN

This music is i assume by one of the many musical artists Adam Muto listed on twitter, it rocks. It’s not as hardcore as Obsidian’s intro, but it’s suitably chill for the scene. 

“get offa my bus kid”

Those wizards in the left and far right groups appear to be new! 

OH MY GOD--

HELP?????? NEW PROFILE PIC TIME

HAHAHAHAH

THE MUSICAL CON DID ME GOOD, I DID REALLY LOUD AUDIBLE LAUGHTER

i bet hanna and co had fun making these signs

my favourite is the cat with “FAMILIARS HAVE RIGHTS”

cadorka..... wow

We’re not even four minutes into the ep and peppermint butler has already killed someone in front of a large group of witnesses

“this smells of DARK MAGIC” “yall kids know thats illegal right” peps watches the other kids nod before later joining in, LOL

i cant believe pep started the great gum wars and got killed by golb

SOMEONE has been playing Overwatch... 

i-- i still cant believe choose goose is fucking dead

how long was he stuck in hell for, or was that recent to together again after new death showed up 

i have to admit im not a big fan of spader, too perfect, and not in that funny way either. i hope they give him some characteristics that make him stand out. 

im getting flashbacks to OK KO and Owl House here...

Cadebra using music is a reference to Abracadaniel’s love of interpretetive dance in Play Date. 

“they only laugh because youre different” “i know” “SO STOP BEING DIFFERENT” oh my god it’s like talking to my own parents cadebra is actually... a LOT like me, less in her hyperactivity but more in her nonchalant enthusiasm and almost acceptance of the inevitable bullying because it means more time in people’s consciousness

ahhh - it’s quietly revealed here that she is responsible and a skilled magician, she is just bored of magic! i like that she parents abracadaniel instead of being downtrodden by his ramblings. 

PEP NO--- oh i see the problem, he hasn’t got his Bug Milk... sorry Martin Olsen fans, no Hunson today. At least we get one more Phil Face for the road! 

candy people in their natural habitat

Ahhh that’s Doctor Calidoneus! The voice actor was at the recent Distant Lands panel alongside Pep and Blaine’s actors. 

“pretty sure hes just trashcandy” - i like you, sassy antler lady

the mystery of how he gets clothes

and once again spader is proving to be the most irritating distant lands character of the lot, there is no subversion here. where is the subversion?  

NANI

what is going on here? are pep and peppermint the same person or not? im sure they must be, but there is something going on here with peppermint butler’s soul being trapped in the body of his child self who hasn’t got the same memories. 

OH, HYNDEN WALCH DID A NEW LINE yes this is what im here for, special over 

peppermint butler cursed himself... of course he did - Shado was correct!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

ROCK STUDENT, BLESSED ROCK STUDENT, WAS THAT POOR GUY WHO LOOKS LIKE A JAWBREAKER

love the reference to astral plane, of course pep cant astrally project because cursed pep is still inside of him 

wow, blaine, wow

they have a crush

LITTLE DUDE! COLE SANCHEZ!

i love the dynamic between cadebra and abracadaniel, imo so far it’s the heart of the special. im not really gripped by peppermint butler’s school troubles. i imagine someone else probably will be but i want to run past that shit as far as possible. 

TRDGFYGHJH

WE

WE MADE  A PREDICTION THAT WAS JUST LIKE THIS

PEPPERMINT BUTLER GETTING TURNED INTO THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF PEPPER MINT BUTT LURE WAS IN THE WIZARD CITY PREDICTIONS ART DRAW THAT HASNT BEEN POSTED YET

ILL SHOW YOU WHEN NICK POSTS THE VIDEO and then ill tell you who made the prediction because i... think it was nick himself, insanity 

who plagiarized finn’s signature???

turns out pep really DID take over wizard city!!!!

i love this band

i understand your pain peps

you probably have a bit too much in common with your mother, and i imagine it isn’t easy being turned into a kid and not being able to do stuff that came so easy. you’re disappointing yourself! (he’s literally disappointing himself)

I’m less than halfway through the special, what the fuck. I wasn’t wrong when I said Wizard City had a lot on its plate. It’s noit that I’ve been particularly gripped up to this point, though to be fair I didn’t pause at all during the other specials barring Obsidian. 

that... that poor kid is still a rock

and then the preview happened and bufo casually revealed to the audience that, yes, he killed choose goose

i dont know whats happening with pep but it seems he needs to be exorcised of... pep. which is a shame. i hope they learn to coexist. 

i have to say the background work in this special is really good! like, really damn good. 

WH

WHAT

DID SPADER JUST DIE

IS THIS WHY PEOPLE THINK PEPBUT KILLED HIM 

oh thats right - abracadaniel is cadebra’s uncle! this must be abracadniels sister. sorry, folks, he doesn’t fuck. 

Where are they? Is this anywhere near Wizard City? It’s an unpopulated prewar wasteland. 

THESE ARE JUST HUMANS

OF COURSE SHE WANTS TO PERFORM TO MILQUETOAST HUMANS

my child

is this an art style choice or did they get the people from that one studio to make this

HANNA FINALLY GETS TO FULFIL HER DREAM OF INSERTING KANEDA INTO ADVENTURE TIME

the red jacket he wears and his head pill shape is a big kaneda reference actually, which i suppose makes sense considering he’s a rival to our protagonist, but it’s a bit on the nose

bufo killed one of his own students? but why????

“MY UNCLE’S A COP”

“no one likes a rat”

i actually really like blaine, though im confused. did their VA change halfway through the special?

HOW NATURAL, NO WASTE, IT IS AN ENDLESS CHAIN

did doctor caledonius steal the trophy,,,? 

EVIL SNAIL EVIL SNAIL

MONMSTER HUNJTER DISCOVERY NOISE, this time it’s a tetsucabra

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I HAVE QUESTIONS

god i wish this is what this special was about, i miss adventure time

these remind me of the comics with their art style :) i wonder who designed them? the one on the right with pb and pep, in particular, very comics-y. 

fdgfhgf because he’s like 500

“pep can be kind of a jerk but he wouldn’t kill anyone”

sorry, cadebra, i have news for you

is doctor calednoius the true villain? if bufo’s out of the picture, she MUST be, 

ANTS

oh no, he might gbe stuck in wizard city :( 

HELP

the writing on the wall...

SPADER LITERALLY FUCKING DIED OH YM JESUS CHRIST

PEPPERMINT BUTLER’S OWN CULT????

THIS IS JUST OK KO NOW

okay im not surprised all the teachers at wizard city are cultists in worship of peps, maybe they killed spader and bufo because they bullied peps T_T

wait no, they thought spader had the potential, but sadly not

HE FUCKING KILLED HIMSELF

sorry, i was distracted by the pretty dope fight sequence and now the special is over????

fucking jesse, hes probably at least partly responsible for the cult nonsense

This credits art is by Maya Petersen!!!! Holy shit it’s adorable!

LRETGFDRGTFGMHGFHFG

LEAF MAN

DO YOU THINK THEY PUT HIM IN RETROSPECTIVELY

DO YOU THINK MAYA PETERSEN DREW THIS AND ADAM PUT IT IN THE EP RETROSPECTIVELY

HE LIVES

MAYBE THIS IS WHY CHOOSE GOOSE WENT TO HELL

okay, it’s over :) 

first thoughts out of the way: not a big fan of this special. it’s like watching a completely different show. it’s not got the PZSHAHH of the normal wizard city stuff and there weren’t a lot of funny jokes or even hearty moments in the thing. 

it suffers from a lack of invested character interactions, much like BMO did. there was not a single main cast member in the whole thing! and like i said before, much of peppermint butler’s character in the show is based on his very sweet relationship to his mother, princess bubblegum, so when they showed a single (hilarious) photo of them together it made me sad we didn’t get any scenes with them together. it would have STOLEN this episode. and they teased the hunson golf photo, and death!!! and jake appeared in a photo T_T last jake appearance. 

it also suffers because Peppermint Butler is clearly not himself, imo he was way more entertaining in the Together Again special, where we seem him back to his “normal” self. 

i dont think peps being a dark wizard was something to “kill off” exactly. i wonder what was going on there? was that actually peps, or was that a spirit he cursed himself with based on himself? we at least know in the future he does become a dark wizard again, and even princess :) this special didn’t answer those questions but lol. 

THE GOOD STUFF, because yes, there was a lot of good stuff! 

God, I’m with Aracle and Maya on this - I LOVE Cadebra and her relationship to Pep. I wish she was even in more of this - I would love to watch the adventures of Cadebra and Pepbut in their first year of school, like in the end credits.

That, imo, is where the heart of the special lay - Peppermint Butler’s attempts to impress himself, versus Cadebra’s self acceptance and desire to follow her dreams of being a goofy goober, no matter what other people thought of her. 

It turned out that Cadebra is a responsible student and family member. I really liked that. Her scenes with Abracadaniel were, somehow, my favourite in the entire special! 

I like that theres a lot of cool magic towards the end of this special, and a lot of HORRIFYING DEATH. It wouldn’t be adventure time if you didn’t randomly kill off child characters. Poor Spader, I hated you but damn, what a grim fate. 

I like that Bufo and Caledonius had this crush/hatred thing going on, but they were part of the same cult in the end. 

I didn’t like the giant peps scene at the end, the monster was extremely milquetoast compared to the madness we usually get in AT. Obsidian, for example, had the awesome Larvo design. Nemesis had some INSANE dark magic!!!!  I wish they drew more from that episode. 

Considering how much Steve Little appears in this special, I do feel bad for Mace (little Peps). He said he would have really benefitted from coaching, but recieved none. He had to re-record his lines 3 times! Judging from his description of events, Wizard City was a hard time for him. 

The wizard school did remind me, heavily, of both The Owl House and OK KO. Personally I was hoping AT would offer me something more insane, but I do love both of those shows, and I know Wizard City was on a really tight schedule. 

I think they should have spent less time on the school bullying plot, and skipped straight to MURDER. 

We did have a cold opening, not on par with Together Again’s at all, but damn!

I am wondering where I would put this in the watch list? I do think it should sit after Obsidian as the third special. The intro scene makes it clear this takes place at the same time as Obsidian!!!

Well, that was it, the last ep of AT for the next few years at least T_T

i think together again was the better finale, definitely. but wizard city feels pretty detached from AT for me, despite the familiar characters it tonally isn’t like the show other than the awesome brutal death scenes. I thought the last 11 minutes was easily the best in the special! Which, honestly, is how it should be, though I do wish it gripped me more. Maybe I’m just not the target audience for Wizard City? It feels like something I would find very compelling if I was a bit younger! 

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with Refinery29

Against my better judgement, and at the risk of losing any semblance of journalistic objectivity, I start my conversation with Joshua Jackson by effusively telling him what a dream come true it is to be talking to him. See, like many millennial women who grew up watching the late ‘90s and early 2000s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, Jackson’s Pacey Witter means a lot to me. Pacey is one of the rare fictional teen boys of my youth whose adolescent charisma, romantic appeal, and general boyfriend aptitude hold up all these years later (unlike The O.C’s Seth Cohen or Gossip Girl’s Chuck Bass) and that is due in large part to the wit, vulnerability, and care Jackson brought to the character.

It’s the same intention he’s afforded all of his famous roles — Peter Bishop in Fringe, Cole Lockhart in The Affair, and even as a 14-year-old in his first acting gig as sweet-faced heartthrob Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks. Now, Jackson, 43, has matured into a solid supporting actor (with memorable turns in Little Fires Everywhere and When They See Us) and as a leading man who can draw you into a story with just his voice (Jackson’s latest project is narrating the psychological thriller and Canadian Audible original, Oracle, one of the over 12,000 titles available today on Audible.ca’s the Plus Catalogue) or find humanity in the most sinister men (he’s currently playing a sociopath with a god complex in Dr. Death). His magnetic pull is as evident as it was when he was the guy you rooted for in a show named after another guy’s creek. Jackson has never seemed to mind the fact that so many people still bring up Pacey decades later, and that’s part of why as an adult, he’s one of the few childhood crushes I still have on a pedestal. I tell him just a tiny slice of this, and Jackson graciously sits up straighter and promises to bring his A-game to our Zoom exchange. Jackson is in what appears to be an office, flanked by mess, like a true work-from-home Dad. He and his wife, fellow actor Jodie Turner-Smith, welcomed a daughter in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, and he tells me that fatherhood and marriage are the best decisions he has ever made. Jackson and Turner-Smith are a rare Hollywood couple who choose to let us in on their love, but not obnoxiously — just through flirty Instagram comments and cheeky tweets. Their pairing is part of Jackson’s enduring appeal. It’s nice to think that Pacey Witter grew up to be a doting dad and adoring husband, even if his wife’s name is Jodie, not Joey.

Jackson is an animated conversationalist, leaning into the camera to emphasize his points — especially when the topic of diversity comes up. White celebs don’t get asked about racism in Hollywood the way their counterparts of colour do, and when they do, they’re usually hesitant at best, and unequipped at worst, to tackle these conversations. Jackson is neither. He’s open, willing, and eager to discuss systemic inequality in the industry he’s grown up in. It’s the bare minimum a straight white man in Hollywood can do, and Jackson seems to know this. When he ventures briefly into trying to explain to me, a Black woman, the perils of being Black, female, and online, he catches himself and jokes that of course, I don’t need him to tell me the racism that happens in the comment section of his wife’s Instagram. The self-deprecating delivery is one I’m familiar with from watching Jackson onscreen for most of my life, and seeing it in person (virtually) renders me almost unable to form sentences. Jackson’s charm is disarming, but his relaxed Canadian energy is so relatable, I manage to maintain my professionalism long enough to get through our conversation. Refinery29: Your voice has been in my head for a few days because I've been listening to Canadian Audible Original, Oracle. What drew you to this project and especially the medium of audio storytelling?

Joshua Jackson: The book itself is such a page turner. I also love the idea of those old radio plays. It's like a hybrid between the beauty of reading a book on the page where your imagination does all of it. We craft a little bit of the world, but because this is a noir thriller married with this metaphysical world, there's a lot of dark and creepy places that your imagination gets to fill in for yourself.

I'm noticing a trend in some of the roles you've been taking on lately, with this and Dr. Death, these stories are very dark and creepy. But so many people still think of you as Pacey Witter, or as Charlie Conway, the prototypical good guys of our youth. Are you deliberately trying to kill Pacey and Charlie?

JJ: I'm not trying to kill anybody — except on screen [laughs]. It's funny, I didn't really think of these two things as companion pieces, but I won't deny that there may be something subconscious in this anxiety, stress-filled year that we've all just had. That may be what I was trying to work out was some of that stress, because that's the beauty of my job. Instead of therapy, I just get someone to pay me to say somebody else's words. So, yeah, that could be a thing [but] the thought process that went into them both was very different. Even though this is a dark story, [lead character, police psychic] Nate Russo is still the hero. [Dr. Death’s] Christopher Duntsch very much is not at all. I can't pretend to know my own mind well enough to be able to tell you exactly how [these two roles] happened, but it happened.

That might be something that you should work through with an actual therapist. JJ: Exactly. Yeah, maybe real therapy is on the docket for me [laughs].

So I was listening to Oracle and you're doing these various creepy voices — I’m sorry the word “creepy” keeps coming up.

JJ: Are you trying to tell me something? You know what? I wanted to skip straight to the creepy old man phase of my career. So, it sounds like I'm doing a good job.

You're doing amazing, sweetie [laughs]. So, I was thinking you must be really good at bedtime stories with your daughter doing all these voices. Or is she still too young for that?

JJ: No! She's all the way into books. Story time is my favourite part of the day because it gives me the opportunity to have that time with her just one-on-one. Her favorite book right now is a book called Bedtime Bonnet. Every night I bring out three books, and she gets to pick one. The other two shift a little bit, but Bedtime Bonnet is every single night.

I love that. Since you're married to a Black woman, you know a thing or two about bonnets. JJ: ​​Yeah, well I'm getting my bonnet education. And I'm getting my silk sheet education. I'm behind the curve, but I'm figuring it out [laughs].

You said in an interview recently that you are now at the age where the best roles for men are. And I wonder if you can expand on that and whether you think of the fact that the same cannot be said for the majority of women actors in their 40s?

JJ: What's great about the age that I'm at now as a man is that, generally speaking, the characters — even if they're not the central character of this show — are well fleshed out. They're being written from a personal perspective, usually from a writer who has enough lived experience and wants to tell the story of a whole character. Whereas when you're younger — and obviously I was very lucky with some of the characters that I was able to play  – you're the son or the boyfriend, or you're a very two-dimensional character. It's gotten better, but still a lot like you're either the precocious child or you're the brooding one. I will say that while I would agree with you to a certain point for women, I think that this is probably the best era to be a not 25-year-old-woman in certainly the entirety of my career. And it is also the best time to be a Black woman inside of the industry. There's still more opportunity for a 40-year-old white man than there is for a 40-year-old white woman, but it is better now than it has ever been. The roles that women are able to inhabit and occupy and the opportunities that are out there have multiplied. If I started my career in playing two-dimensional roles to get the three-dimensional roles, most women started their career in three-dimensional roles and end up at “wife” or “mom.” And that's just not the case anymore. There's just a lot of broadly diverse stories being told that centre women. So you're right, but in the last five years, six years I would say, there has really been a pretty significant shift.

And I think that shift is happening because who's behind the camera is also changing. JJ: Right? Who holds the purse strings. That's big. Who gets to green light the show to begin with? You have to have a variety of different faces inside of that room. And then, who's behind the camera. What is the actual perspective that we're telling the story from? The male gaze thing is very real. Dr. Death had three female directors. The central character of Dr. Death is an outrageously toxic male figure. Who knows more about toxic male BS than women? Particularly women who are in a predominantly male work environment. So these directors had a very specific take and came at it with a clarity that potentially a man wouldn't see, because we have blind spots about ourselves. We're in a space where there's a recognition that we've told a very narrow band of what's available in stories. There's so many stories to be told and it's okay for us to broaden out from another white cop.

I hope that momentum continues. Okay, I have to tell you something: I’m a little obsessed with your wife, Jodie Turner-Smith. JJ: Me too. As you should be! I love how loudly and publicly you both love on each other. But I need you to set the scene for me. When you are leaving flirty Instagram comments, and she's tweeting thirsty things about you, are you in the same room? Do you know that the other one is tweeting? What's happening?

JJ: We're rarely in the same room [writing] the thirsty comments because that usually just gets said to each other. But, look, if either of us misses a comment, you better believe at night, there's a, "Hey, did you see what I wrote?" One, she's very easy to love out loud and two, she's phenomenal. And I have to say, the love and support that is coming my direction has been a revelation in my life. I've said this often, and it just is the truth: If you ever needed to test whether or not you had chosen the right partner in life, just have a baby at the beginning of a pandemic and then spend a year and a half together. And then you know. And then you absolutely know. I didn't get married until fairly late in the game. I didn't have a baby till very late in the game and they're the two best choices I've ever made in my life.

I'm just going to embarrass you now by reading one of Jodie's thirsty comments to you. She tweeted, “Objectifying my husband on the internet is my kink. I thought you guys knew this by now,” with a gif that said "No shame." JJ: [laughs] That sounds about right.

She's not the only one though. There's this whole thirst for Joshua Jackson corner of the internet. And it feels like there's been a bit of a heartthrob resurgence for you now at your big age. How do you feel about that?

JJ: I hadn't really put too much thought into it, but I am happy that my wife is thirsty for me. What about the rest of us? JJ: That's great for y'all, but it's most important that my wife is thirsty for me. Good answer. You're good at this husband thing. You recently revealed that Jodie proposed to you. Then it became this big story, and people were so surprised by it. How did you feel about the response? JJ: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give context to this story. So I accidentally threw my wife under the bus because that story was told quickly and it didn't give the full context and holy Jesus, the internet is racist and misogynist. So yes, we were in Nicaragua on a beautiful moonlit night, it could not possibly have been more romantic. And yes, my wife did propose to me and yes, I did say yes, but what I didn't say in that interview was there was a caveat, which is that I'm still old school enough that I said, "This is a yes, but you have to give me the opportunity [to do it too]." She has a biological father and a stepdad, who's the man who raised her. [I said], ‘You have to give me the opportunity to ask both of those men for your hand in marriage.’ And then, ‘I would like the opportunity to re-propose those to you and do it the old fashioned way down on bended knee.’ So, that's actually how the story ended up.

So, there were two proposals. I do feel like that is important context. JJ: Yes, two proposals. And also for anybody who is freaked out by a woman claiming her own space, shut the fuck up. Good God, you cannot believe the things people were leaving my wife on Instagram. She did it. I said ‘yes.’ We're happy. That's it. That's all you need to know. That has been a real education for me as a white man, truly. The way people get in her comments and the ignorance and ugliness that comes her way is truly shocking. And it has been a necessary, but an unpleasant education in just the way people relate to Black bodies in general, but Black female bodies in specific. It is not okay. We have a long way to go. Jodie is such an inspiration because it seems like she handles it in stride. She handles it all with humour and with grace. JJ: She does. And look, I think it's like a golden cage, the concept of the strong Black woman. I would wish for my wife that she would not have to rise above with such amazing strength and grace, above the ugliness that people throw at her on a day to day. I am impressed with her that she does it, but I would wish that that would not be the armour that she has to put on every morning to just navigate being alive. That's a word. That's a word, Joshua Jackson.

The 13-year-old in me needs to ask this. We are in the era of reboots. If they touched Dawson's Creek — which is a masterpiece that should not be touched — but if they did, what would you want it to look like? JJ: I think it should look a lot like it looked the first time. To me, what was great about that story was it was set in a not cool place. It wasn't New York, it wasn't LA, it wasn't London. It wasn't like these were kids who were on the cutting edge of culture, but they were kids just dealing with each other and they were also very smart and capable of expressing themselves. It's something that I loved at that age performing it. And I think that is the reason it has lived on.  We have these very reductive ideas of what you're capable of at 16, 17, 18. And my experience of myself at that point was not as a two-dimensional jock or nerd or pretty girl. You are living potentially an even more full life at that point because everything's just so heightened. [Dawson’s Creek] never talked down to the people that it was portraying. That's one of the things that I loved about it as a book nerd growing up. The vocabulary of Dawson's Creek was always above my level and that was refreshing. To go back to the “diversity” conversation, you can't really make a show with six white leads anymore and that’s a good thing. But I also don't know how I feel about taking a thing, rebooting it, and just throwing Black characters in there. 

JJ: I hear that. And there's certain contexts in which it doesn't work unless you're making it a thing about race, right? If you watch Bridgerton, obviously you're living inside of a fantasy world, and so you're bringing Black characters into this traditionally white space and what would historically be a white space. And now you are able to have a conversation about myth-making and inclusion and who gets to say what and who gets to act how. So that's interesting, but I don’t think you’re just throwing in a Black character if you changed Joey to a Black woman [or] Pacey to a Black man. What you're doing is you're enriching the character. Let's say one of those characters is white and one of those characters is Black. Now, there's a whole rich conversation to be had between these two kids, the political times that we live in, the cultural flow that is going through all of us right now. I think that makes a better story. All these conversations around comic books in particular like, "Well, that's a white character." It's like, Man, shut up. What are you talking about? It is a comic book character! Joey and Pacey don't have to be white. Dawson and Jen don't have to be white. And this is what we were talking about a little bit earlier. We get better the broader our perspective is, both as humans, but also in the entertainment industry. So if you went back to a story like [Dawson’s Creek], what was important in that show was class not race, which I think is true for a lot of small Northeastern towns. They are very white. But if you brought race into that as well, you don't diminish the amount of the stories that you can tell. You enrich the tapestry of that show. So I think that would be a great idea.

Make Pacey Witter a Black man in 2021 is what I just heard from you. JJ: Hashtag ‘Make Pacey Witter A Black Man’. There we go!

[partyinthemysterymachine]

Do you have music headcanons for silent hill protagonists?

I feel like Harry Mason likes 50’ -70’ songs, specially jazz and blues (maybe he likes Sinatra idk) while James likes Reddit sad man music, there’s no way this dude doesn’t like at least one Radiohead song.

I don’t have more headcanons </3

i'm actually straight up cackling, my hc are the OPPOSITE! (well, sorta.)

i've tagged James to like a lot of oldies with a cutoff of maybe around mid-80s? he can be a liiiiittle bit of a "new music is trash >:(" kind of person. Frank influenced his music tastes a lot, always had the oldies station on in the car, would turn it on at home, and well, all the vinyls at home, too.

For Reasons*, James has a particular fondness for Sherry Baby by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons ( https://youtu.be/Uybtn6ebG0I ) (SORRY, THE NEW TUMBLR POST MECHANIC DOESN'T LET ME PROPERLY FUCKIN ADD LINKS TO TEXT DGLKDGFLKFGLKG), and is just a Four Seasons fan in general; as well as The Ink Spots, Billy Joel, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Four Tops, Otis Redding, big band stuff, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, The Eagles (sorta), Frank Sinatra (to an extent, he liked The Rat Pack stuff better), Nat King Cole, The Beatles (it’s complicated), Bobby Darin, a smattering of other crooners and types of artists, etc etc…….

.. but he’s not much a fan of Barry White LOL. (sorry Mary :\ ) he really doesn’t like baritone or bass voices in general, though. he finds them eerie. (loser’s missing out tbh) tho i think too you're right about jazz! he's just..... kinda picky about what kind, i think. dude's pretty picky :\ i also think blues are a hit or miss with him. now, HARRY..

Harry is also an oldies appreciator, can appreciate the blues quite a bit, and his music tastes can goes way back and all OVER the place! he and James share a few favorite artists, but uh……. our boy Harry here likes to rock the fuck out!! LOL

Harry’s been a HUGE fan of Rancid since he started listening to them probably around 1995?? big fan of jam bands too, including Counting Crows (yeah) and CBDB! other artists he likes are Neil Diamond, Jonathan Coulton, The Grateful Dead, Meat Loaf, Brown Bird, Tom Rosenthal, Selena (it’s complicated……), Cyndi Lauper, Scorpions, Celine Dion (it’s complicated), Stealers Wheel, Seals and Crofts (it’s complicated), Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce, Electric Light Orchestra, 16 Horsepower, Dio, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Sonny & Cher..

.. among others! he likes some Motown (and honestly, James does too!! Motown fucks) and a few Spanish artists, like Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Mercedes Sosa, Antonio Aguilar.. aaaand some others he can’t name. (thanks, Jodi and family!)

quite a few artists are Complicated Relationships for various reasons (such as Jodi..) and others, eh.. Life Experiences.

Harry IS a car-jammer and lip sync-er. catch that fuckin weirdo drumming the steering wheel and air guitaring. catch Heather trying to jimmy the child lock on the door and leap out into traffic

Harry actually really loves karaoke as well! .. watching more than singing. you’d have to get him a liiiiiittle blitzed to encourage him to get up there. there’s a 70/30 chance he’d just want to sing something completely stupid tho, like Re: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton. ( https://youtu.be/IIlITc1nkk8 ) his singing voice/style is awfully fucking cute of him; i sure will say that….. (because idiot writing brain might not like me giving some fine details away to the general public yet.. 

.. and if you know, then you know, and SSSHHHHHHH.)

it has to be said, tho: for as extroverted as this man is, and how much everyone - as well as he - jokes that he should’ve been an actor, he the MASSIVE amounts of stage fright can really hold a person back….. and besides. it would’ve disrupted the timeline; he’d’ve just been so good, he’d’ve put Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise; hell, even Georgie Clooney! out of work.. ssssssoooooooo he was just being courteous. that’s all. .. yeah.

JAMES and karaoke, tho….. heahsdfhehrhghdgh IT’S COMPLICATED DON’T FUCKING LOOK AT HIM [drives into a large body of water]

i think he had a wee little fantasy about being in a barbershop quartet :| that’s what growing up on oldies/big bands/crooners will do to a person. it’s unknown if he can sing, or much less understand how to keep a beat. it wasn’t anything big enough to actually want to pursue, per say.. just one of those types of little daydreams :)

i’m actually working on playlists for them!! they’re intended to be their “mixtapes” - what you’d typically find them listening to in the car. i’d actually kind of forgotten about them until this ask……….. ahah oops…. well shit i’ll just have to get back to it huh??

thank you so much for the ask!!!! :)!!! that was such a sweet little morning surprise, bless, hope u have a good one and stay healthy and safe!! xoxo 💖🙏🥚🥚💖🥚💖🥚

*GOOMT

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Ninjago the Island!!! 🏝🏝🏝

So, gotta be honest... this is not a Blind reaction thing, I actually watched it in French first so I know most of the stuff already 😅 It's entertaining, it got great animation, but nothing more than that in my opinion 🤷‍♀️

Still there is stuff I liked or I want to point out, and finally I'm seeing the English version so I can actually understand what the HECK they are saying 🤩

Alright, nothing else to say, here we go!

UNCHARTED

I haven't actually seen anything Clutch Powers related before Ninjago, is he always like this? I love that he is a jerk honestly, just wondering 😂

Press F for respect for intern Dwaine (at least he seems to like being... used?)

Clutch: It's just a bunch of rocks! It's not alive!

Totem: I'm about to end this man's whole career

Wait, Misako is part of the explorers club? ... that would have come in handy in season 11 to get the scroll of Forbitten Spinjitzu from the club instead of begging uncle Powers for it... *sighs* I don't mind plot holes in Ninjago like most fans I think, but if you wanna make Misako relevant again at least pay attention to the details 😅

Wow, after the end of season 13 I would've thought Wu was going to go through a midlife crisis, not Misako 😂😂

Oww, everytime I hear I get 😢 Bless your soul Kirby, always in our hearts 🖤🖤🖤

Well hello Brian

Always nice to see you 😊

Twitchy Tim must have been pretty interesting to voice 🤔 I like him enough, he's fun and all, maybe not at the level of the characters we got last season

Okay, the place is called the STORM belt, there are LIGHTNINGS, and the sand of the beach is BLUE. Are we gonna address any of these similarities to our Bluebell here or not? 😅

Wait, Tim was giving a hot air balloon tour, does that mean other people where with him? What of them? Are they dead? Did he let them die on the island?... am I reading too much into this? Probably 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Alright, the part of the boats? SO COOL 🤩🤩 I literally can't say anything bad about the animation at this point

Why did they think leaving Kai, Jay and Cole on one boat was going to be a good idea 😂 Also Zane just randomly doing sick tricks on his vehicle, love that nindroid

I'm guessing Nya is keeping her water abilities for her season 🤷‍♀️

Yep, yep, this is why the creators try to keep Pixal out of the adventures, with her everything is way too cool and easy to access to 😎😎

Twitchy Tim: There are statues that become alive!!

Lloyd:... so it's a season 2 stone army ripoff, we've seen worse

It's a cute episode overall 👍

THE KEEPERS OF THE AMULET

OKAY THE INTRO IS SO FREAKING COOL 🤩🤩🤩🤩

So Twitchy Tim has temporarily taken over Jay's role of spazzing out and complain about worse case scenarios... in another occasion they might have bonded over this, maybe 😂

Okay, survival position? MOOD

Nya: DRAGOOON 😱

Me: DRAGOOOOOOON 😍😍😍

Why am I not surprised that Jay was the one that named him Zippy? 💙 Also HE'S SO CUTE 💕💕💕 Love how in every adventure, we always get very different types of dragon in this show 👌 I'm a simple person, I see a dragon... 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Oh-oh, it's the "Lloyd's done with this crap"'s face

This means serious business... am I that used to LEGO characters that this way of crossing arms on the chest looks almost normal to me? 😅

Soooo, Master of the Mountain clearly gave Cole too much development... because now he got demoted to "the one who is always hungry" 🤦‍♀️ I'm all for Cole's endearing love for cakes, which is super relatable, but if you're gonna push it on his fun side, at least be coherent 🙃

Is it just me or it feels like the writing of this special was made by someone different from the one of season 13? Like, it's not bad, just less engaging and witty. For now. Maybe I'm being premature 🤷‍♀️

New way of nerfing powers, we got... weird, sucking power totem thingies... OKAY

My gosh I really can't say anything about the animation, look at that! It's all cinematic with such a light! YES!! 🤩

I'M SORRY

WHY ARE WE LOOKING OVER THIS??? IT LOOKS LIKE COLE'S LAVA PUNCHES BUT THEY ARE JAY LIGHTNING FEET??? IT'S A GREAT IDEA AND I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT AGAIN??? WHY ARE WE IGNORING THIS??? 💙💙💙💙

So they at least addressed that lightning isn't a Jay's thing only anymore 😅

Alright, Jay having a mental breakdown because of a bridge because it always breaks, that's the Bluebell I know and love 😂😂 Nya telling him to keep moving was cute too 💙❤💙❤

Okay, I'm sorry but this really bothers me, what kind of lightning can instantly knock out the MASTER OF LIGHTNING??? Like, my gosh, really??? I hope they give us an explanation, like it's some sort of special lightning, because this really doesn't sit right with me. Jay is lightning proof, we've seen it in Skybound, we've seen it in Sons of Garmadon, I DON'T BELIEVE HE WOULD JUST BE KNOCKED OUT LIKE THAT 😡😡😡

Soooooo, storm amulet? Being one with the lightning? Is that the reason why Jay got to be the sacrifice? 😅

THE GIFT OF JAY

Alright, I am kinda looking forward for this one, what did Bluebell actually say or do to get him into trouble this time 😂😂

Oh, he just... introduced himself... well that was underwhelming

SENSEI👏YOU👏ARE👏A👏FREAKING👏GOD👏STOP👏GETTING👏KIDNAPPED👏BY👏RANDOM👏VILLAINS👏

Bring ooooon Lloyd Grills 💪

Okay I did like the little speech, definitely resonates with how Lloyd survived this long even though everything wanted him to give up, even his father... I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING 😭

Jay out there making the real questions 😂

Awwww Edna used to call him gift of Jay? I can totally see it, so cute 💙💙 Makes even more sense if Libber actually left Jay at the Walkers' door...

Pff, Jay made the connection I would've done honestly 🤷‍♀️ Like, him being the master of lightning really didn't give these dudes any impression or inspiration? Any cool idea, full Road of El Dorado style? 🙃🙃

Lloyd out there abusing of the animation budget 💚💚💚

Somehow these ninja never actual sneak in, it's always a huge mess everyone knows about beforehand 😂 It's familiar though, I'm used to it and happy with it 👍

I might not be the biggest Misako fan, but you know what I am a fan of?

LEGO HUGS 😍😍😍😍😍

Dang it uncle Powers, you just got here to make a mess did you 😅

Not the first person of the fandom to say this, but Jay looks absolutely lovely with that flower crown 🌺🌺🌺

Oh poor greenie

Lloyd just has the worst luck 😓

Jay: Why would I be the gift?

Kai: Yeah who would want Jay?

Nya: Huh, me?? 😡

Got some very good Jaya for this little special, can't complain 💙❤💙❤

I mean, not matter how big of a snake Wojira might turn out to be, we've already seen the biggest and the second biggest snake of all so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Whoa, at last... IT WAS THE FIRST SPINJITZU MASTER THAT HAD SOMETHING HE SHOULD'VE TOLD WU A LONG TIME AGO!! 😱 Wu, you got pulled a Wu, how does it feel? 😂

Again, Jay freaking out, kinda my jam it's too funny 💙💙

Wow Kai way to be hominous offscreen 👏👏 I miss talking about my flame babe, this really isn't his time 🤷‍♀️

THE TOOTH OF WOJIRA

So when I first watched this I was genuinely, really excited about knowing the truth behind all this. It turned out very different from what I first thought, but at least in this case it's okay (besides I was pushing with the lightning meaning just to see Libber again 😅😅😅)

I feel like the guys get their powers stolen or blocked so much it takes them a minute to remember "Oh wait I can literally burn my way out" 🤷‍♀️

SPINJITZU YAY 🤩

I... forgot that Misako knows how to fight 😅 She knows how to do spinjitzu too if I remember correctly...

NYA BEING LIKE "OUT OF THE WAY IMMA SAVE MY BOYFRIEND AGAIN" ❤💙❤💙

Gotta love how they were all crazy worried about Jay, like, this is something that never changes through the show. They really care so so much for each other 💕💕💕

Ooohhhh, okay, so Wojira does seem to be the main villain of next season according to the story. I remember Tommy saying that we needed to have faith and this is probably why. The special was okay, nothing too much, and hopefully that too much we will see in Nya's season 😍😍😍

What the- pff, I didn't notice this the first time 😂

At this point I can't tell if that one short with the chicken of the movie carried a hate or a love for chickens in the actual show 😂😂

Nice to see Jay standing up for himself at least for a little while 💪 Also Lloyd being "He's our trouble", aww family 💜

THERE IT IS

MY BRUISE HEART IS SOARING 🖤💙🖤💙

Gotta give props to the voice actors, voicing an explanation while fighting must be pretty hard! WE ARE BLESSED WITH AN AMAZING CAST!!! 🤩🤩🤩

And there he is, our favorite jerk... shaved Ronin 😂 He does look a little weird, but it's fair, new animation and all. Not the weirdest until now 🤷‍♀️

I genuinely had to make a mental check to see where we are with Ronin now, like, he started as a villain, then a partner, he betrayed us, became an ally, he hunted the ninja, then joined them, that timeline was erased, he was around in SoG and... wow this man is chaotic 😂😂

Yaaaay, Twitchy's last minute redemption act! Lloyd is too good at motivational speeches 👏👏

A bit of Lava OTP/BrOTP

Cause it's good for the heart ❤🖤❤🖤

Okay, Scooby doo reference, why not? Also honestly, I'm confident Ronin has seen A LOT of jails and prisons... probably won't stay behind bars for long 😅

Mammatus: sorry for imprisoning you and almost killing your friend

Kai: no biggie, that's how we make friends in this show

Alright the "And Clutch Powers" gag made me chuckle 😂 ... wait where is he- DANG IT UNCLE POWERS

Okay, this is the last time I say it I promise, but I mean. I MEAN

THE ANIMATION GUYS 😍😍😍

Aaaaand sensei you jinxed it 😅 But you apparently awakened Nya's season so I'm gonna forgive you on this one 😉

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are a few little details that bothered me a little, and it wasn't as exciting as I maybe hoped it was going to be, but it was fine. Enjoyable still. These characters make me like the show, even when it got nothing too impactful 🤷‍♀️

But I got triggered about that lightning thing with Jay 😅 I guess I'll just fanfic whatever I had in mind...

Don't have to repeat myself about the animation *chef's kiss*

The writing was really less engaging, a little normal in a way? Idk just a feeling. Nice to see Ronin again though, I really like him. And nice to see Jay freaking out, I really like that too 😂

To be honest I wanted to put down my thoughts on this one because I REALLY wanna do the same with Nya's season 🤩🤩 I already know that Maya is gonna be there and I am so HAPPY already!!! 💙💙💙

So that's it from me! Thank you for reading me ranting, see you next season! 😊

[nyotamalfoy]

“Unexpected.” - Part 1 Cillian Murphy x fem!Reader

Requested by @fifty-shadesof-tommyshelby

Summary: (Y/N) gets a chance to go to the sets of her favourite series, Peaky Blinders, but the day doesn’t go as planned. 

Warning: mention of death

Part 2 can be found here

‘It’s just a birthday, he’s a busy man. He’ll come by later, I guess…’  (Y/N) tried to console herself as her uncle, Neil, hadn’t come to visit her on her birthday like he did every year.   

Neil was her closest and only family after her parents died in a plane crash. She could always rely on him and talk to him about anything and everything. He was (Y/N)’s best friend. But, he was a costume designer and therefore, a very busy man. Neil had told her in a recent phone call that he wouldn’t be able to make it for her birthday because of work. Speaking of work, he had been hired as the costume designer for her favourite Netflix series of all times, Peaky Blinders.   

(Y/N) had been ecstatic when she found out and almost begged him to let her come to the sets with him. She loved the cast and wanted a chance to meet them. In particular, she wanted to meet Cillian Murphy. She had been his fan since she saw him on Batman Begins. Actually, that would be an understatement, she was basically in love with him and had accepted the fact that it was just a celebrity crush which she could do nothing about.   

Coming back to the point, (Y/N) was a bit sad when Neil said he couldn’t make it but was hurt when he didn’t even call. It wasn’t like him to miss her birthday.  As she was laying on her bed, tired after a chaotic day of celebrating her turning a year older, she heard a creak from outside her room.   

She shot up straight and got out of her bed, walking towards her door, grabbing one of her textbooks from her study table to use as a weapon on the way – great choice, (Y/N). A textbook? Seriously?   

Opening her door as quietly as she could, she stepped out into the hallway, trembling, with the textbook held above her shoulder, ready to strike someone.  

(Y/N) gasped as she felt someone poke her shoulder from behind and turned around, smashing the bundle of maths problems on the side of their face.   

“Ah!” She heard a familiar voice wince as she fumbled around for the switch to turn on the lights.  

“Uncle Neil?” (Y/N) called out, looking at him in surprise as the lights came on. “You scared me to death, you prat!” She grinned, walked up to him and slapped his upper arm before hugging him.   

“Why a textbook, though?” He said, rubbing the side of his face as they pulled away. “A bloody heavy one too.” She felt a bit guilty, but he was the one that snuck in her house, so she laughed at his expense.  

They both laughed and talked for a while, having walked into the kitchen, sitting on the barstools with cups of coffee and biscuits in front of them. He still hadn’t wished her ‘happy birthday’ but she let that slide knowing he was a bit absent minded at times and meant no ill-will. Just as she thought this, he suddenly stopped speaking and his eyes widened as he looked at her.  “I almost forgot!” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a lanyard with an ID card attached. “Happy birthday!”   

“Finally! I was beginning to think that you actually forgot.” She took the lanyard and hugged him saying a quiet but excited ‘thank you’ before sitting back.  

(Y/N) looked at the lanyard confusedly at first but when she turned the ID card, her eyes widened as she read the words written on it, and she froze. She read it, then read it again just to confirm. On it, it said in bold print letters:  

VISITOR’S PASS - PEAKY BLINDERS  

“AHHHH!” She screamed in excitement and hugged a laughing Neil with such force that he would have definitely fallen if he was still sitting on the bar stool.    

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do I look okay?”   

“You look gorgeous, (Y/N). Let’s go now, we don’t want to be late now do we.” Neil urged her to get out of the house but couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he saw her skipping down the driveway in excitement.   

After three hours of driving and Neil answering (Y/N)’s questions about the set and cast and everything in between, they finally reached.   

“Let’s go!” (Y/N) pulled Neil to the entrance as they got out of the car. The guard standing in front of the door checked their identification and smiled when he saw (Y/N) grinning, flashing her visitor pass to him. Neil chuckled as he led her down to the sets. 

He dropped off his gear in the room assigned to him and checked the time.   

“Okay, they’ll be coming in any minute now,” Neil started and went on to tell her of all the rules and things she needed to take care of. She listened obediently even though she could barely contain her excitement.   

Some minutes later, the actors and actresses arrived in short intervals of each other.   

“Oh, hello! Who’s this pretty lady, Neil?”   

“Helen, meet (Y/N), my niece, and (Y/N), this is-” Neil was cut off by (Y/N).  

“Helen McCrory, I know, I’m a big fan, ma’am!” (Y/N) gushed about everything she loved about her acting without sounding too creepy or cringy and Neil was thankful for her staying composed and not jumping on her.  

Helen found, for whatever reason, she was enjoying talking to (Y/N). They talked for a while before being interrupted by the Cole brothers. They were slowly joined by almost all the cast members including Paul and Tom but not Cillian, all of whom had taken a liking to (Y/N) immediately due to her friendly and excited demeanour. Neil watched on in amazement at how she managed to win all their hearts in less than 20 minutes and that thought couldn’t keep a smile off his face.  

“What’s going on here?” A voice (Y/N) knew all too well made an appearance. She snapped her head to the source of the voice and froze. She was standing in the same vicinity of the man she had the biggest crush on, the one and only Cillian Murphy.   

“Neil was just introducing his lovely niece here.” Sophie gestured to (Y/N) and smiled at her.   

“We have work to do so can we focus on that, please.” As Cillian said this, he had an annoyed and frustrated expression on his face. “We don’t have time for visitors right now.”  

The cast members looked at each other in surprise because Cillian never acted this way; he was always the nicest, most kind person on the set.   

After (Y/N)’s initial shock dissipated, she had the biggest of smiles on her faces which was now tinged with hurt, hearing Cillian say that. The cast surrounding her looked at her and gave her sympathetic smiles, some hugs and promises to meet after shoot as they started walking away.  

“You should leave before you break something or ruin a scene,” Cillian said before walking ahead of the everyone who had turned to look at them when they saw him approach (Y/N).   

Everyone was shocked, to say the least. They could clearly see that something was troubling him but they sure as hell didn’t appreciate the way he was treating their new-found friend. Looking at (Y/N), they could see the hurt in her expression clearly with the way she was looking down, lips trembling.  

(Y/N) had never felt such a sharp pain in her heart as she did now. Cillian’s words had cut through her like a hot knife, leaving her with no choice but to go as far away from him as possible.   

So, once everyone had left to continue on with their work, with a heavy heart and tears threatening to fill her eyes, she ran. She left the sets and kept running until she felt sudden stabbing pain in her leg.   

Great, this day is just going so well. She thought to herself as she sat on a nearby bench and pulled the sharp stone out of her sole which had pierced through her sandals, leaving her foot bloody. Her tears fell then, like white hot metal down her face.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Neil felt like it was all his fault; he was the one that brought her here with the promise of her meeting her crush. He never would have imagined that Cillian would act the way he did. He went to his room on the sets, hoping to find (Y/N) there so he could speak to her.   

“Hey, (Y/N)?” Neil knocked on the door before opening it. He looked around for the familiar head of (Y/H/C) hair but dread filled him when he didn’t see anyone. Picking up his mobile phone, he dialled her number and a bit of relief touched him when he heard her familiar ringtone somewhere around the sets.   

He walked out to where everyone else had gathered and looked around for (Y/N). His hopes quickly vanished when he saw her bag on the floor near a wall in which her phone was ringing.  

“Has anyone seen (Y/N)?” Neil asked the cast members as they all turned to look at him with concerned expressions.  

“Wasn’t she with you?” Helen inquired as she too looked around hoping to see a glimpse of her.  

“No, she ran off. I thought she’d go to my room but there’s no one there.” Neil ran a hand through his hair, guilt coursing through his veins.   

They asked the guard at the gate if he had seen (Y/N) and he told them that she had ran out about 2 hours ago.  

As everyone spread out, some by foot, some by cars and bikes, Cillian was left alone with his thoughts.   

Earlier that day, he’d gotten into a bad fight with his brother over some family issue. Then, he had to deal with idiots in the traffic while driving to the sets. Lastly, he had spilt his much-needed coffee on himself meaning that he had to go back home, change, buy another coffee and then come onto the set 20 minutes late. He’d had a very testing day but his patience broke when the producer met him at the entrance and told him off for being late to the set.  

To add fuel to the fire, no one was even ready to shoot as they were all standing around someone happily chatting away. He snapped then. Telling off an unsuspecting fan, his good friend Neil’s cousin at that.   

Cillian was almost 100% sure that he was the one that scared her away with his rude behaviour and that killed him as he realised this. She had looked so happy with that big grin on her face that he had successfully managed to wipe off with a few hurtful words.   

He put his face in his hands as he sat on his chair. Cillian only had one string of thoughts going around his mind: This is my fault. I have to find her and apologise. She didn’t deserve this.

[jawsofhakkontranscript]

Developer notes - Character descriptions

Each character with a speaking role (no matter how small) has a "bio" - a summary intended mainly for the voice acting crew. These notes include some details that a director should have in mind when choosing an actor for the role. The "age range" does not reflect the actual age of a character, but rather how young or old their voice should sound. It’s also originally given in hexadecimal system, so I added the conversion to decimal. 

Without further ado, here are all the character profiles from the Jaws of Hakkon DLC, sorted by factions they belong to.

Stone-Bear Hold

Avvar Augur

Gender: Male

Character description: The Augur is an important figure in a village of people called the Avvar “barbarians” in the wilderness. He’s a magic-worker, a councilor, and an intermediary between the real world and the spirits. He can be a bit “otherworldly” as a result. He’s a smart man, unexpectedly jolly for his solemn position.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Thane Svarah Sun-Hair

Gender: Female

Character description: Thane (leader) of a hold of “barbarians” called the Avvar, a proud, independent people who live by hunting and trading in the wild. Tall and wiry, she is still strong despite her age. She’s a fair and observant woman who can judge the moods of her hold and the other hold they trade with in the blink of an eye. Smart, pragmatic, and not afraid to hit things or make hard decisions.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)2D = (dec)45

~

Storvacker

Gender: Female

Character description: This is a bear. Like literally a bear. I’m adding this because I need lines in the conversations where people talk to the bear, and the bear grunts or growls, but unless there is an actor who does like an AWESOME impression of a bear, I’m assuming we are using existing bear-audio.

Accent: Grizzly or Northern Brown

Race: Bear

Age range: (hex)14 = (dec)20

~

Arena Master = Arrken Feldsen

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar man in charge of an arena where his people train and fight in rituals. Brisk, Loves fighting - loves the theory, the practice, the philosophical arguments about honor and when to fight - loves it all. Gets a bit bloodthirsty when cheering on the fights.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age Range: (hex)23 = (dec)35

~

Skald = Fullna Hethsdotten

Gender: Female

Character description: A skald (a bard and a keeper of oral histories) among the Avvar, a tribe of “barbarians” in the mountains. Proud of her people’s history, protective of her clan’s reputation. Aware she’s a bit young for a bard, so takes the role seriously and a bit self-conciously.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Parve

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar villager. Finds himself in a climbing race to settle a dispute with another villager.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Hask

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar villager. Finds himself in a climbing race to settle a dispute with another villager.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Mountain climber = Runa Lyrsdotten

Gender: Female

Character description: A young Avvar with a passion for climbing the highest slopes around your mountain home. Cheery, energetic, and absolutely fearless.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)14 = (dec)20

~

Linna

Gender: Female

Character description: A fisherwoman wondering about her cousin.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Conspiracy Guy = Helsdim Rolfsen

Gender: Male

Character description: Helsdim Rolfsen is an Avvar trader. His work takes him outside his small mountainside village and he has an appreciation for the greater world as a result. He takes pride in the fact that he’s literate, a rarity among the Avvar, and is very into “alternate history”. (He’s a bit of a conspiracy nut, in other words, but a harmless one.) Helsdim longs to see more of the world, but he’s stuck in his little hometown village.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

The Exile = Sigrid Gulsdotten

Gender: Female

Character description: An Avvar = a clan of tough mountain-dwelling people who the rest of the countries consider barbarians. She exiled herself to the woods outside her village because she thinks she’s made a mistake who brought shame on her clan. A bit dour but fiercely loyal to her people.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Master of the Hunt

Gender: Male

Character description: Avvar Master of the Hunt, Old, seasoned, and blunt. Slow to give out praise, but sincere when he does.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)3C = (dec)60

~

Gyda Myrdotten

Gender: Female

Character description: Woman in charge of burying the dead. Sly, clever. Can seem unsympathetic, but is truly dedicated to her work and following traditions properly.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Finn = Finn Caldansen

Gender: Male

Character description: A kind young man who was injured while helping a friend. Sad over the death of his father.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)12 = (dec)18

~

Arvid Rolfsen

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar fisherman, old enough to be past most posturing and bragging, proud to be part of Stone-Bear Hold and unimpressed with the evil Hakkon worshippers.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Friendly Avvar Male = Einar, fisherman working with Arvid

Gender: Male

Character description: Friendly Avvar talking to his friends.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)14 = (dec)20

~

Friendly Avvar Female = unnamed fisherwoman working with Arvid

Gender: Female

Character description: Friendly Avvar talking to her friends.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Avvar Guardsman 01

Gender: Male

Character description: A guard for a small village. Strong, watchful.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Avvar Guardsman 02

Gender: Male

Character description: A guard for a small village. Easygoing.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Avvar Crafter 01

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar villager. You craft goods and mend things.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Avvar Hunter 01

Gender: Female

Character description: A hunter who provides for her small village. Sharp-eyed, capable.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Avvar Hunter 02

Gender: Female

Character description: A hunter who provides for her small village. Experienced, capable.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Scout 01

Gender: Male

Character description: An Avvar scout. Good at his job. Cares for his clan of close-knit people.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Scout 02

Gender: Female

Character description: An Avvar scout. Good at her job. Cares for his clan of close-knit people.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Avvar Villager 01

Gender: Female

Character description: A hard-working Avvar villager.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Avvar Villager 02

Gender: Male

Character description: A hard-working Avvar villager.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Jaws of Hakkon

Gurd Harofsen

Gender: Male

Character description: Powerful, proud, menacing Avvar warrior. Heads a group calling themselves the Jaws of Hakkon. He serves a powerful warrior-god, and plans to voluntarily give up his own life in order to be a vessel for this god. A thug and a bully.

Speech pattern: He is chanting with a specific rhythm in his main conversation. See conversation-file notes.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Hakkon Beastmaster

Gender: Male

Character description: An evil member of a warrior cult who has kidnapped a bear for nefarious purposes. Your basic loud yelling bad guy.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Hakkonite Bully

Gender: Female

Character description: An angry thug who fights for the Jaws of Hakkon. She is trying to bully some non-warriors from a different hold, and reacts angrily as soon as she sees the Inquisitor.

Accent: North British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Hakkon Warrior 01

Gender: Male

Character description: A barbarian warrior.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Hakkon Warrior 02

Gender: Female

Character description: A barbarian warrior.

Accent: Light North Country

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

First Inquisition

Inquisitor Ameridan

Gender: Male

Character description: A man in early middle age, an intelligent and seasoned warrior. He is somber and serious, driven by a duty he never asked for.

Accent: Welsh

Race: Elf

Age range: (hex)28 = (dec)40

~

Telana

Gender: Female

Character description: This is a spirit that touched Inquisitor Ameridan’s wife, Telana, and speaks with her memories. She is a spirit of compassion, just like Cole, and has much of the same empathy and “talking as though in someone else’s head” that Cole does. Unlike Cole, she is clearly and obviously a spirit, tired and worn away from centuries of waiting for someone to tell her story to.

In life, Telana was a Dalish elf (hence request for Welsh accent).

Accent: Welsh

Race: Elf (Spirit)

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Second Inquisition and associates

Professor Bram Kenric

Gender: Male

Character description: A professor from Starkhaven who is bright, enthusiastic, and a little absent-minded. He’s the one whose theories pulled the Inquisition out here on the hunt for the Last Inquisitor, Ameridan (who vanished 800 years ago), and while he’s a little out of his element here in the wild, he is determined to see this through.

He’s innocent and naive, generally speaking, and may have a slight crush on Scout Harding (who he calls “Lady Harding”).

Accent: Scottish

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Colette

Gender: Female

Character description: An eager research assistant for Professor Kenric. She has a driven, A-type personality. As an elf, she’s faced some prejudice at the University.

Accent: French

Race: Elf

Age range: (hex)14 = (dec)20

~

Lieutenant Farrow

Gender: Male

Character description: Professional Inquisition soldier. Very good at his job.

Accent: British

Race: Elf

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Camp Researcher Male

Gender: Male

Character description: Man at research camp.

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Camp Researcher Female

Gender: Female

Character description: Woman at research camp.

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Havard-Pierre d’Amortisan

Gender: Male

Character description: A baron who researches dangerous animals. Intrigued by a mysterious animal that no one has ever seen. Speaks in a Lovecraft/Edwaridan-Horror-Story type manner.

Accent: French

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)2D = (dec)45

~

Dunwich

Gender: Male

Character description: Long-suffering assistant to Havard-Pierre d’Amortisan (a baron who studies dangerous creatures.) Dry, butler-like. Think Alfred from Batman.

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Grandin

Gender: Male

Character description: Young soldier whose friend has been murdered. Now possessed by a spirit//demon

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)19 = (dec)25

~

Forward Camp Soldier 2

Gender: Male

Character description: An Inquisition soldier.

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

~

Forward Camp Soldier 3

Gender: Male

Character description: An Inquisition soldier.

Accent: British

Race: Human

Age range: (hex)1E = (dec)30

[common-blackbird]

Started!

This is my Inquisitor (so overjoyed you can be a qunari), her name is the default Herah and I decided I’m going to approach this game by staying true to a character and not looking to do everything and be on everyone’s good side u_u

I want to make a good background for her so i’m not telling anything. Yet. I’ll just say she’s a qunari mercenary and prefers using two-handed weapons.

Highlights from today:

Studying history does pay off! This was a reference to the famous book in environmental history - Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. So proud i recognised it x)

Also i don’t have a good shot of solas but he cracks me up so much.. The guy has a posture of the typical retired grandpa (the only thing missing is to have him walk with his hands on his back). And there’s a scene where the party sees the rift and there’s the inquisitor facing it, cassandra bracing herself and solas... just standing like an old man

On a side note, Cassandra is so gorgeous and good and i already love her, i just keep taking shots of her TAT

As for varric, it’s so different than from da2, this is so much more “official” and you can see he’s the same as ever, but you’re not hawke, hawke’s not here, the gang’s not here and there’s nothing casual about the whole situation T-T

And lastly, my inquisitor has a horse now, i didn’t know that was possible in the game ;__;

played some more...

Let  me start with.... The advisors! (+ cassandra... or is she also an advisor too?)

What a bunch. I love Cassandra’s and Leliana’s faith having a crisis bc they believe that Inquisitor is the Herald of Andraste and the way they deal with it. It’s really interesting. Leliana is completely opposite than what she was in origins and i’m surprised it doesn’t bother me at all! I love seeing this whole darker side that was only hinted at in origins, though it’s also sad when i think how she used to be. I wonder how she’s gonna overcome her doubting of faith. 

Josephine is a delight. I keep using her for almost every war table mission for now. She radiates capability. She reminds me of those bureaucrats that are super nice and helpful and chill and even if you’re doing everything wrong she’ll just smile and say “it’s ok, we can fix it” and then goes and fixes everything herself (and you feel this insane amount of gratitude you send a whole separate email to thank her for her patience and help )

As for Cullen... It’s interesting... I got impression from what i saw in the fandom that he’s supposed to have had his allegiance changed and him rejecting the templars should have been him ultimately siding with the mages (or at least being anti-templar(?)), and that turning point that could have been a great way to show his character development during the game. Which i agree, only... i did not get that impression from the game so far at all. I mean, so far everything that i can remember him saying is totally smth he’d say in da2... He didn’t leave kirkwall bc of his disappointment with the templar order, he doesn’t seem to have any issues with the templars except those who go full war mode instead of trying to balance the situation. And it’s a really chaotic situtation, i love how they did it.

This line was amazing, i wish there was a special cutscene for that.

I’m loving the way they made this huge religious organisation in crisis have a complete collapse with the death of a key figure. I love the concept of inquisition and problems that it poses. I love you can see everyone’s reasoning and doubts reflect their background, but also see why inquisition can be understood as another power-grasping organisation trying to topple the templars, the mages and the chantry. Everything is divided. We got templars leaving the chantry, seekers leaving the chantry(?), rebel mages, loyal mages, rebel mages gone rouge, templars gone rouge, and suddenly there’s another organisation forming that you can totally believe is just another powerhungry force trying to get the piece of the cake by taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the sudden lack of the religious authority. (and only we know we’re The Good Guys). I love that we have characters who need to believe in the greater plan, characters who question the greater plan, and characters who want to utilise the power of belief and characters who don’t care for divine plans. The chaos is real and it feels real. I love that the centre figure of the whole holy business is a heretic of another culture. For the chantry this is the lose-lose situation (unless the inquisitor becomes religious by the end of the game). Which is why this line works so well. 

Ok, now shorter updates:

Red Jenny! I know it’s not her actual name but it is in my head. Where’s that box i delivered ages ago >_> Anyways, she makes my brain work on 150% capacity. I can understand what she means only after i go over it for 5 times.

Forgive me but oh my god, i can’t believe that i can recognise one voice actor and now i have another mental image whenever he speaks. Like, he’s really good at bringing out a new character, but when he gets more casual he sounds like kanan jarrus from star wars rebels and i’m just “what are you doing here, space dad” ;__; Hopefully it’ll get old and i’ll be enjoying more iron bull. he seems nice...

Vivienne on the other hand is like a reverse Josephine(?) She seems insanely capable but hates customer service, however somehow she likes you very much and will do everything you need for reasons you can’t fathom. Have a screenshot. So classy. I already feel humbled.

and lastly, BREAKING NEWS: aveline finally hired carver ;__;

Tbh Kirkwall is still a mystery and i have so many questions but i don’t think i’ll get any answers... If a powervacuum of the divine cause this much chaos, how’s kirkwall faring without a new viscount? Like, yeah, aveline can keep in check, but umm it’s in a very vulnerable state which makes it a good target for any invasion... didn’t sebastian promise bloodshed?

That’s all for now, bc otherwise i’ll start writing an essay on cassandra.

We befriended a bear in the hinterlands!

lets start with this cool shot

so, i have been to the mages and to the templars and... i sided with the templars.... First i was all for mages since they offered negotiations while the seeker just walked away, but then it turned out that was a trap, there’s also tevinter mages there (which is a red flag for my inquisitor) and then there’s some time magic involved (which is a big no for me), and i just walked out. Felt bad for the mages but my inquisitor comes from a culture where mages have their tongues cut so...

Also this guy deserves a medal for putting up with corrupted superiors and annoying nobles.

And i met cole ;__; Where are Rhys and Evangeline ;___;

the templar mission was ok i guess... I was surprised that red lyrium was apparently circulating around for some time, not sure if that means since meredith or even before. I love the stories of corruption tho and to imagine what it’s like to be trapped in this organisation that just keeps breaking everything it stands for

As for the important mages, i’ve Dorian twice since i bailed out on him in Redcliffe :I I love the guy, he seems arrogant yet so kind (like, no one would have carried that annoying priest and yet he did, after he ran from his own people to warn us after i ditched him in Redcliffe? man ;A;) Every time i go with “ok the inquisitor fears tevinter and distrusts this rando who just popped in” i am marinating in guilt.

and then we fight some mages and die several times but we succeed and we meet the bad guy...

Is it an unpopular opinion to say that i like him as a villain so far? i saw so many jokes on his incompetency. Idk, i like that part where he said that he reached the fade in someone’s name, it makes me think he’s not just power-hungry person(?) who’s just evil,but was originally serving someone, and he said that the gods were either gone or corrupted and he spent hundreds of years thinking what to do with whatever happened so he seems like he knows what he’s doing and maybe(!just maybe) he is trying to fix things that are wrong but we can’t see that? And of course he hates the inquisitor, he has to redo his stuff all over again, i’d hate the inquisitor too. im probably looking too much into it. My wish is that, if he’s evil, he became so gradually, but originally had good intentions? Or there’s more to things going on that we just don’t know and he does... Maybe this was his tragic attempt to fix things but he would ultimately fail and be branded as a villain etc etc. I’m getting carried away

If it turns out he’s just evil for the sake of being evil then feel free to tell me so now so i don’t embarrass myself further with plotting myself lol.

A side note, is he the Architect? Or the same? In DA2 he says he’s a tevinter magister, right? and he ceased to be a human. Also in DA2 it seemed like he was the boss, and here he said he reached in the name of someone (probably more important than him). But what is the Architect then?

And with that we reach the skyhold.

in skyhold

I didn’t know you meet hawke so soon ;__; i thought that was like, somewere more to the end of the game, since the big decision and all. But the mission is already opened and i am going to procrastinate on it until i finish every side mission :<

Also he is so sad ;__; i understand, but at the same time... all that humour now bitter sarcasm :’(

(also, very shallow remark, but i really really prefer his looks in da2 than here... it’s like they softened him. He’s more...oh god idk bearish(???) than hawkish(????) you know what i mean? the nose isn’t as sharp anymore, the beard is... what is it with the beard... anyways i get the game has its limits so it’s fine. it’s fine! fine.)

then there was the fight that i remember since twitter >:D

It’s what made me want to play dragon age and i finally reached it T-T so good! I love how you can see the both sides and everything they say is true but they’re so angry at themselves they’re taking it out on each other TAT

Cassandra later says Hawke probably wouldn’t have joined the inquisition even if she found him, and i wonder now if that’s true... At first i thought, nah, Hawke has too much of a hero complex, he would feel too responsible to just say no. Besides, he’s with the inquisition now (tho i can’t find him anywhere anymore!). But at the same time, the way da2 ends was such an iconic walking away from everything, and not taking into account the hocus-pocus rift stuff, i can imagine him refusing, especially seeing how bitter he is now. It’s also a question of how much would have cassandra told him i guess. idk, what do you think? Would he lead or nah?

another person i want to find but can’t in skyhold are the templars with ser barris. i can use them on war table missions but otherwise they’re non-existant? i forgot to talk to him back in haven but now i wonder if it was even possible and if he was even available there, since he isn’t here. I spent hours just running around skyhold looking for the guy :(

and then everything becomes unimportant bc aaaaa!! she! is the arcanist! Dagna! im so happy and proud(?) she went and reached her goals x)

anyways that’s all for now, laters

some random updates:

so i did the halamshiral and gave up to my “stick to the character” mode, and nothing went my way, but that’s life. Met morrigan! i almost forgot she appears lol. And, despite also jumping on the wagon of give-morrigan-better-clothes train, i have to admit seeing her in her old clothes was a relief after that dress at the ball. It’s not the way the dressed looked, but the way she moved in it... god im shallow

i also initially didn’t like morrigan being at orlais court of all places, but after the conversation that’s supposed to explain why she’s there i’m kinda ok with it. I mean, i still need some more info. Wouldn’t Tevinter be better? she’d practically become a magister overnight if she got this good in the game so fast. It’s also unconvincing how everyone knows everything in orlais but somehow nobody connected that the random kid that has no bakcground whatsoever with morrigan who keeps checking on him? But at skyhold she’s just “hey i have a kid, he’s no trouble, right?”  but hey, it’s morrigan. She can do anything. I’ll just have another story idea in my head.

Then there was news of the new divine that could be either cassandra or leliana and i don’t honestly know whom to choose. I’d prefer leliana over cassandra simply bc cassandra is more of a military mind, while the position of the divine would be more political. But lately every mission with leliana was spy spy, kill kill... Do we really want that for a religious leader? On the other hand, it would nicely round up her story from origins to inquisition... But cassandra is more of a public figure than leliana is...

when cassandra said:

“I want to respect the tradition, but not fear change. I want to right the past wrongs, but not avenge them. And I have no idea if wanting any of them makes them right.”

great moment. She’s usually so convinced and rash, i forget she’s more doubtful and open minded than what she looks like. Everything about cassandra is different from the impression she gives ;__; I love her so so so so much. (when she says she considers the inquisitor her friend i melted, next time varric pulls up the “seeker has no friends” joke, my heart will no longer be breaking).

I did a bunch of personal missions. Some were cool, some were ????. Also there were war table missions with zevran, that was cool. Also i love the codex entries in skyhold. The archery competition with varric banned? Dancing lessons failing bc lace harding is on the move all the time? Perfect.

And i met chargers, i like them, and aaah that staff-bow from the trailer is such a cool idea ;A;

What i don’t get with bull’s chargers is - they’re a mercenary group right? But isn’t swordselling seen as the complete misunderstanding of the qun? I get only bull is qunari, but he’s the leader of them? How is that not frowned upon?

And lastly, i don’t think i’ve said this, but i love that they added codex entries in the loading screens. love it.

update

After months of procrastination, i have faced my fears and have met alistair. it was very anticlimatic beating 11 level monsters when i was level 21...

but.. ALISTAIR TAT He’s changed... but not changed... but changed! Like, his personality is the same, but he’s more serious, doesn’t run from responsibilities, isn’t as bitter as hawke (also, why do i get impression that i am supposed to get the impression that they’re friends? they’ve met like, once, and talked for less than a minute.. whatevs. let’s pretend they’ve met again when on the run), i really love the inquisition alistair ;;__;;

Also, i managed to get that awkward demon baby family reunion :D

 know that morrigan says the vaguest generic thing “i told him his father was a good man” bc of various world states, but i also think she’s come a long way not to mock alistair, and then when he notices that she didn’t use the opportunity he mentions that the kid changed her and she’s like “pfft, yea right, you wish”....

... when she was the one who said that in the first place ;;__;;

Awwww :> I love that they bicker but softly. Kids have grown up :’) Anyways, when will alistair start paying alimony

The only weird one is Leliana bc when morrigan was introduced she was like “danger danger” (smth i’d sooner think alistair would do), and when alistair is (supposedly) in skyhold, Leli doesn’t even mention him, only hawke.  bruh, what were they to you, you almost died together ;;__;;

oh i also slayed a dragon.  I didn’t even want to fight that dragon. It was a hillarious feat of inquisitor, solas, cole and blackwall, all on level 21, having to chug all the health potions right at the beginning while fighting a dragon that was... level 13, after which i just let go of controls and suddenly everyone was hella good at fighting and slayed it (only cole needed revival several times).  

And, befitting the wild-dream feel that it had, when i got back to skyhold and visited companions, suddenly i was drinking pelin with iron bull, and he’s reminiscing on that fight with the dragon and i’m like

it was awful and you weren’t even there.

i forgot to update

but last time i was playing i finished the hawke/alistair sacrifice and all the torture i went through with deciding whom to sacrifice vanished bc frankly, at one moment, i wanted to sacrifice both of them, but in the end it was much more easier to sacrifice hawke bc inquisition hawke just didn’t feel like hawke to me, while alistair improved since the origins!

and now i remembered why i didn’t update, in the same day cassandra rejected me so i was sad and didn’t continue playing since then (i think last time i played it was around easter?)

new update

BLACKWALL!! or should i say Thom Rainier? Wow, what an arc! It was also so fun bc i was all strict mode, picking the third option, telling him his life is in inquisitor’s hands and all that, but in the end i set him free. He’s so good, a true knight T-T

Also i romanced sera. we’ll see how that goes.

Also, fave point in the game so far, i wanted, for so long, to sit at that val roeayoux (can’t spell) cafe and finally did it with cole’s personal mission. THANK YOU COLE YOU TRULY CAN READ PEOPLE’S MINDS.

another interesting thing was that after specialising as a reaver, cassandra said that drinking dragon blood makes you grow scales and become mad. Iron Bull said that inquisitor smells better bc dragon blood and that qunari generally smell better than humans. So i’m guessing qunari have fractions of dragon in them? ok...

and now i started that mission with morrigan and the puzzles are killing me lol, i am this 👌 close to just go chase calpernia and give up on a well of sorrows.

[five0mcdanno]

Every time I pop into the tag all I see is people talking about the stuff they hated about the finale and they seem to be finding more and more things to hate. So instead I'm making a list of everything I loved about to put a little light into the tag. Feel free to add with your favorite bits!

McDanno

Steve just leaving behind the very hard to get in contact with and very important contact because Danny is in trouble and he’s more important than anything

Danny calling Steve because there’s a very aggressive tail behind and he needs Steve’s help now.

Steve pulling in literally every single person and vehicle in the HPD to find Danny! LITERALLY EVERYONE WITH A BADGE IS OUT LOOKING FOR DANNY! STEVEN!!

The look on Steve’s face when he gets the video of Danny from Daiyu Mei and she tells him not to make the same mistake as he did with his father.

“I HAVE THE PERSON THAT YOU CARE ABOUT MOST IN THIS WORLD”

Steve not even hesitating to follow the instructions and give the cypher for Danny.

Everything look and the sound of his voice when he’s freaking the fuck out about Danny in her hands

The soft way he talks to Danny when he finds him bleeding. He’s just so damn comforting and encouraging and soft even though he’s freaking out

STEVE CRADLING DANNY IN HIS LAP IN THE BACK SEAT OF THE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

STEVE HOLDING HIS HAND WHILE HE SITS BY HIS HOSPITAL BED

“WHY’D YOU STOP HOLDING MY HAND”

Danny trying to relax Steve by telling he’s okay and he didn’t go anywhere.

Steve only leaving because Danny said it’s okay.

DANNY ADMITTING THAT HE LOVES HAWAII BECAUSE OF STEVE

STEVE’S FACE WHILE HE HUGS DANNY

DANNY’S TEXT

I’M SCREAMING!!!!!!!!!!!!

The team goodbyes

Seriously they were amazing

As soon as Lou said "you saved my life when you met me” I burst into tears and they didn’t stop until Catherine showed up. 

Every single one of their goodbyes were utterly beautiful and amazing and my heart burst. I’m gonna cry again.

Tani saying no when Steve told her to behave. So on point lol

The Junior/Steve goodbye forehead touch was so damn touching. Oh my god

Tani giving Noelani a hug after her goodbye and Noelani thanking Steve for believing in her

Adam thanking him for always seeing the good in him and giving him a second change 

Quinn thanking him for giving her a chance and giving her a family

Steve telling Lincoln to hold down the fort for him. We just met Lincoln but I trust him with this. And so does Steve.

Danno whump

I love whump and I love Danno whump and this episode was a gift from the whump gods. Checked off sooooo many of my favorite tropes

BAMF Danno

Did you see Danny pull himself up and climp up that chain like the fucking Green Arrow and break the chain off and then kill everyone in that whole fucking house?!?! MY BOI IS A BADASS!!!!!!

Lincoln Cole

We just met this man and I already love him. He’s strong, brave, loyal, respectful. I trust him to hold down Five-0 until Steve and Danny return (Steve from his journey and Danny from his injury). 

I like Lincoln. Wish we could have had more time with him.

James Marsters and Mark Dacascos

These two incredible actors!!! We got them back!! 

I loved the flashbacks with them. I think it definitely added more substance to the events of the pilot and I loved it.

John McGarrett

Always doing whatever he can/need to in order to protect his son. My heart can’t handle it.

The final shootout between the team and Daiyu Mei

FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!

Did you see Lincoln take that guy out!?!!! I SCREAMED!!

The parallel to the pilot shootout with the use of the dock

I felt my heart stop when the shipping container almost crushed Steve!

The final conversation with Daiyu Mei and Steve was so interesting. Her saying he’s just like his father. I kept thinking “GOOD! HIS DAD WAS A GOOD MAN AND SO IS STEVE! IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE AN INSULT?”

Tell me your favorite bits from the finale! What did you like? What made you cry or smile or flail? Let’s talk about happy stuff!

[random-imagines-blog]

Empty Handed {Cole Sprouse x Reader One Shot}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 3631 Summary: While you’re feeling a bit lost, you run into Cole. Old memories are brought up and things move forward.

You always seemed to be lost in your own head these days. As much as you wanted to just shut down your social media pages, you just couldn’t. The negativity on there was astounding, and the little bit of positivity you saw from your friends postings, where they were happy and beautiful and successful, wasn’t really seeming worth it anymore. It had been a struggle to leave your phone at home and go out and try to enjoy doing something, but you somehow managed it, leaving it on the charger. Though this meant that you couldn’t obsess over the comments left under your pictures, it also meant that you had no distractions from the thoughts in your head. No music to accompany you on your late evening stroll, no review sites for you to find somewhere good to pick up dinner - only your instincts and the mind-numbing repetitiveness of your own in-securities. Your feet seized the control, and led you on your way tonight, rather than an app that tracked your steps or showed you the least busy streets.

The blue hour came, the time when everything looked a bit cold and bleak. When the sky was truly a brilliant blue, before the black settled in. The street lights and the neon signs on the windows of shop-fronts, restaurants and clubs stood out more now than they did during the day. How many times have you stopped to admire this time of night? Never once because you were locked in the asylum that was called Your Phone.

You looked into the windows to keep yourself company, looking at couples eating in the fancy restaurants, the stores shutting down for the night. The blaring music of a gay dance club hit your ears and you were almost tempted to go in - just because the sound was so nice, not because you were looking for anyone. But you kept walking and found it strange how much you were enjoying the night. You could feel the air in your lungs more than you had before, you could appreciate the atmosphere. On the corner of the street ahead was a diner, the lights looking inviting. It wasn’t the destination that you had in mind, but once you caught sight of it, it was the destination that you were going to.

It seemed like it was just emptying out. There were a couple of booths still cluttered with dirty dishes, and the waitresses and waiters working hard on getting them clean before another rush. By the looks of the place, and the 24/7 sign on the door, they were awaiting the drunk club crowd. But there was still quite a while to go before that would happen, so you felt comfortable walking inside.

“Be with you in a sec, hun,” A pretty waitress said with a wink. You smiled back and picked out a booth in her section, close by to where she was cleaning. When she came by, you ordered your favorite hot drink and then decided that a late night sandwich was in order, and got one of those as well. It was a rather nice place, not kitschy like other diners out there. You’d have to remember it when you decided to be social once more. You were slowly getting back to that point - building up trust is hard,  especially when people are cruel.

“We gotta stop meeting up like this,” A familiar voice said. You didn’t have to look up to see who it was, you’d heard the voice plenty of times coming from your TV screen. But you looked up anyways, tucking your hair behind your ear for a better view. Cole Sprouse, with his dyed hair pushed behind a baseball cap, since his most popular character was well known for a beanie. The actor got into the booth across from you, picked up the small specials menu that was on each table and perused it.

“Are you stalking me?” You asked, looking around to see if anyone else noticed who was in here. If they saw him as anyone other than a young man come in to be a customer, they must not have cared. The waitress came back around with your drink, started off by offering Cole a drink and then took his order. Work as usual, nothing out of the ordinary.

“Normally I’m one having to ask that question,” Cole said with a grin. “I saw you from the window while I was walking by. And I realized that it’s been a little while.”

“Well, thanks for remembering me,” You laughed, but then quieted down a little. “Do I put out those desperate and lonely vibes so much that you noticed them from outside?”

“Not at all,” He shook his head. “Okay, maybe a little bit of the lonely vibes. I saw you order and figured you were here alone.”

“So you were watching me?”

“It’s a nice change to watch someone for once, rather than have everyone watch me,” He winked cryptically. You were reminded of the first time that you two had met, and how he had been this charming even then.

“Riverdale, right,” You nodded. “KJ Apa coming by anytime soon? You gotta introduce me, I only really watch the show for him.”

“Oh, ha ha.” Cole laughed sarcastically. The waitress came back around with his coffee and he started to pour the sugar in. “Just like how you auditioned for Suite Life because of Dylan?”

“Obviously.”

-

This was not how you wanted to spend a Saturday morning. Sure, being on the set of a Disney show was a little bit cool, but auditioning was something that you hated. The whole process of it was annoying - but it was something that you were good at, apparently. You were in the top five for a guest spot on The Suite Life on Deck. You were here to do your last audition with the actual Sprouse twins. You had to keep your impulse of squealing under control. That was another reason why you didn’t want to be here - you had a major crush on Cole Sprouse and knew you were going to fudge up the audition with him being there. It was going to be a major embarrassment - so much so that you didn’t even tell your friends you were going to be here. You tried to back out of it because you would rather them not know you exist rather than humiliate yourself, but your parents had marched you through those doors this morning and were standing guard to make sure you didn’t make a run for it.

In the middle of your audition, you did it. You messed up. You ended up combining two of your lines in a way that didn’t make sense, and you found it impossible to make eye contact with either twin. The cast director called for a cut, thanked you for your time, then announced a fifteen minute break for everyone. Feeling overwhelmingly warm, you retired over to the catering area, at the very least taking advantage of the free snacks and beverages that were put out.

“You seem like you don’t want to be here,” A voice said from behind you. Thinking that it was a set of the crew come to yell at you for stealing snacks, you shoved a couple more cookies into your pocket before turning around, getting ready to apologize. But it wasn’t a crew member - it was Cole Sprouse. You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand to make sure there were no crumbs there, first and foremost.

“It’s not that,” You told them. “Well, it’s partly that, but you and your brother just make me.. I don’t know, nervous.”

“No offense but it’s going to be hard to become an actor if you get nervous around celebrities,” He grinned and walked up beside you, picking up a couple of cookies for himself.

“Good thing I don’t really want to become an actor then,” You laughed hollowly. “It’s my parents dream, not mine. And I just kind of wanted to meet Dylan.”

“Oh,” Cole said, frowning. Perhaps he wasn’t impressed by you trying to play it cool? God, you were such an awkward dork. “Well here, don’t leave empty handed anyway.”

He passed you a small stack of papers. You furrowed your eyebrows and slowly took them, reading over the front. It was the script that you had just read from, and Cole had not only signed it but put his email address on the cover in sharpie. “I was going to tell you to email me so I can give you some tips but...”

“Oh, I see.” You licked your lips, feeling like an even bigger dork now. “If I decide to get into acting, I’ll do that.”

“Cool,” The blonde boy said with a grin and a nod.

-

You did email him after that, and he did email you back. You carried on a secret correspondence for a couple of years, getting a message about once a month. You never told any of your friends about it though, even as they gushed on about how cute Cole and Dylan were. You didn’t tell them that you auditioned for the show either. They would have gotten mad at you for messing up your audition.

“I’ve heard the rumors about you and Betty,” You said, raising an eyebrow. You made a fist as if you were holding an invisible microphone and held it to his face. “Come on, the world wants to know!”

Cole cracked up at that, chuckling then leaned into it. “You all should know better than to listen to stupid celebrity gossip.”

“You’ve heard it here first folks,” You brought the microphone back to yourself. “Cole Sprouse is still on the market.”

“You’ve got your own audience now?” Cole asked, resting his elbow on the table then leaned his head against his hand, looking bored and oh so perfectly disheveled.

“Eh - the government spies on everyone, I might as well make it entertaining,” You shrugged. “You look a little down, though. Why are you out tonight?”

“Just felt a bit cooped up lately,” He said, yawning. He raised his coffee to his lips and took a big slurp of it, making you smile at the sound. “Sick of everyone I know.”

“Wow, thanks.” You snorted. He laughed back at your sound, setting the cup back down. The two of you were just full of unappealing noises tonight.

“Not you, obviously. Never you.”

“Well - actually thanks. I guess I needed that.” You looked out the window, seeing a couple of people pass by. You could hear them laughing at talking at the same time, just enjoying themselves. Nothing at all like you and the miserable actor sitting in this restaurant. “Do you want to come over or something tonight?”

The question came out of you before you really realized that it was what you were thinking. Being out in public like this probably wasn’t ideal for him. Another reason you dropped out of the acting life.

“Are you throwing a party or something?” He asked.

“God no. You know I hate parties.”

-

Everybody was going to be there, so of course, you had to be there. That was the reasoning that your dorm-mate at NYU claimed as she she helped you to do your hair and pick out an outfit. You would much rather have stayed in and studied, but then again, you didn’t have all that many friends here and this was a good opportunity to make more. So you agreed.

It was just like parties always seemed in the movies - full of trust fund kids, alcohol and sex. You weren’t all that interested in any of the three, but your roommate put a bottle of beer in your hand and disappeared to go off with her own friends, leaving you on your own. You didn’t even know exactly where you were, or how to get back to your dorm from here, but hey - the University experience right? You left the kitchen area of the fraternity house and ventured into the living room to see - even more sex. The couch was being treated as a bed, and you felt bad for whoever was going to have to clean this up.

You kept walking until you found the door to the outside. It was lively out here, but at least you felt like you could breathe without the air being filled with alcohol and weed fumes.

“Where’s the table of snacks when you need it?” A voice said. You couldn’t tell if it was talking to you or to someone else, so you stood still, watching the action of idiots pushing each other into the pool. “That is you, y/n right? Or this is really embarrassing.”

Since your name was brought up, you looked at where the voice was coming from and saw Cole there. You still emailed about once a month, and you both knew that each other went here but it never went further than that. This is the first time that you laid eyes on him as an actual person since that audition years ago.

“Whoa, hey!” You said, a little surprised. “Yeah, I could use a handful of cookies right now, that’s for sure.”

“We should go try and raid the kitchen, you in?” He asked, giving you a devilish grin. He almost reminded you of Peter Pan with that particular look.

“Anything is better than this,” You said, setting the unopened beer onto the closest table. You weren’t much of a drinker, and you wanted to be able to coordinate your way back to your dorm after this, so the beer wasn’t appealing tonight.

You two got split up in the kitchen though, due to the crowds. Cole had some friends who managed to pull him away from you without the chance to say goodbye. Instead you just waved awkwardly and tried to find your dorm-mate to tell her that you were leaving. You found her, and had a hard time convincing her to come back with you. “I only just got here, come on,” She whined.

“You can come back after! I just need you to show me the way.” You pouted, and she finally agreed, linking her arm with you and taking you out front.

“Hey, are you taking off?” Cole caught up with you once you were close to the street. Your roommate stopped in her tracks, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“Yeah, I’m not that into parties,” You shrugged.

“Don’t leave empty handed,” He said, tossing you a box of cookies that he had found in the kitchen.

-

Cole agreed to come to your place when you finished your drinks and your food. You took half of your sandwich to go, and carried the styrofoam packet in your hand as you two walked down the street. It was dark now, the street lights all turned on, lighting up the city almost as much as it was during the day. The two of you remained quiet as you walked, your steps aligning almost perfectly, keeping the same rhythm.

“This is me,” You said, stopping at your place. You unlocked all the doors then let him in, turning on the lights as you went. You were glad that you kept the place tidy, or else you really might have regretted this.

“I like it,” Cole said, looking around your place without the slightest bit of shame. He went through the knick-knacks, the bookshelf, even peeked into your fridge.

“Help yourself to a drink or something. Or I can put the coffee on,” You offered.

“I’ll just have some water,” He said, grabbing the water filter out of the fridge and poured himself some into a glass. You sat down on your couch as he did that, and started up Netflix. You didn’t know if you were going to watch something or not, but you enjoyed having background noise.

“Any preference?” You called out.

“Anything that has nothing to do with me,” He said from the kitchen. You laughed and went through the action section, deciding on one of the many Fast and the Furious movies. At the very least, the driving scenes were good times for conversation.

Cole eventually joined you on the couch, plopping himself down with a bag of baby carrots and his water. He really had gone through your fridge and helped himself, but you didn’t mind. Being a single person living in an apartment, sometimes food went to waste because you couldn’t eat it fast enough.

“If you keep that up, I might just have to kiss you,” Cole said, snapping you out of your thoughts. You tilted your head in confusion. That was very out of the blue. “You keep staring at my lips,” He stated.

“Actually, I was noticing you helping yourself to my vegetables, but whatever helps you sleep at night,” You grabbed a pillow and wrapped your arms around it as a sort of safety measure. Was he going to kiss you? Did he say that because he wanted to?

“You’re more than welcome to come back to mine and eat whatever you want,” Cole said, apparently not sensing your mood since he kept it casual. You looked over at him and watched as he threw a carrot into the air, then caught it between his teeth. You separated yourself from the pillow for fifteen seconds to give him applause. “We live pretty close to each other.”

“Does that mean I’ll be having to deal with you more often?” You joked, hoping it wasn’t too mean. He shrugged, and threw up another carrot - this one he missed and it ended up hitting his chin then sliding down his shirt.

“Yeah, probably,” He said, making the idiotic move of putting his hand down the neckline of his shirt to try to dig it out. You rolled your eyes before just making the move to lift his shirt up at the bottom to see it was stuck on his belly button. “This is why you almost made valedictorian.”

“Yeah, understanding gravity definitely had a hand in that,” You giggled. “So what was it that you were saying about kissing?”

“I don’t know, sounds like something a cool character would say.”

“So not one of yours then?” You teased, since he didn’t seem to mind it. He got a good laugh out of that, scooping the carrot off of his belly and popped it into his mouth. “Since when do you try to be like made up characters? You’ve been pretty good at sticking to who you are.”

“I guess,” He said, looking back towards the television so you could take in the full sight of his profile. “Did you really never realize that I had a crush on you for years? I take back the valedictorian comment.”

“Oh ha ha, we’re such jokers,” You said sarcastically. That one was a bit too personal for your tastes.

“No, really. You think I just gave my email out to everyone who auditioned?”

“I thought I was just so bad that you really felt the need to give me tips,” You pointed out.

“I only said that because I thought you liked Dylan.”

“I’ve literally never spoken to your brother,” You said, continuing to look at him. You were waiting for a telltale grin or smirk. “I only said that because some teen magazine told me to make guys jealous by liking their friend or brother or something.”

“And then I snuck out of the party with my friends to get a box of cookies for you at a party...” Cole reminded.

“You bought those? I thought you stole them from the kitchen...”

“You really are clueless.”

The two of you remained silent for a while. You clutched the pillow close to your chest, Cole stared forward, absent-mindedly shoveling carrots into his mouth, and the movie went on with it’s girls in bikinis, fast cars and horrible one-liners.

“So you’re just going to leave me here empty-handed?” You asked after a couple more minutes of that. Cole looked like he was deep in thought about something, and had suddenly remembered that you really were there. He turned to look at you, and you felt like he really was looking. Your messy hair, your casual street clothes, your lack of make up. But you didn’t feel ashamed about any of that, since there wasn’t any judgment in his gaze.

“Do I ever?” He asked finally.

“No, you’ve been pretty consistent,” You said, licking your lips in anticipation. His hand found its way to your cheek, where you could feel how cold it was from what he had been eating. It sent a little shiver down your spine but it was a good feeling. You liked it. He didn’t move the pillow away from you in an effort to get closer, he respected your space, which was also a nice change from the grabby guys you have dated before.

The first kiss between you and Cole, the first of many, was very sweet, and very soft. It was quick, but it lingered, his lower lip just slightly touching your upper as you both inhaled.

“By tradition, one of us should be leaving now,” He breathed out.

“Don’t you dare, Sprouse.”

[gaynobara]

My mk21 thoughts *SPOILERS*

- it needed a longer run time. the last half of the movie felt rushed, and it was due to a lack of screentime. they needed it to be longer to tell their vision. the pacing felt off towards the end and a lot of scenes felt rushed, especially sonya's arcana scene. yes, there was build up to it, but we never got to see her master her arcana.

what I didn't like

- kung lao's death was done poorly. liu kang was right there?????? could've saved him???

- goro got bodied and it sucks because he's wasted potential (mileena isn't, given that shang tsung made multiple clones of her (in the games, at least) so another clone could take her place)

- mileena's outfit was bland. I like how bi han and hanzo still look like sub zero and scorpion but she doesn't look like mileena aside from the mouth. her clothing is more revealing and purple/pink in the games; that's who mileena is. I don't see her wearing this version of her costume

- shang tsung was underutilized. he deserved more screentime himself but I don't blame the crew for the short run time

- kabal's voice was so weird, but that's a personal opinion more

- some of the editing could've been better but I can understand that the studio was rushing them

- jax and raiden felt more like side characters :( I do think they have great casting, but I wish we saw more of them.

what I did like

- aside from that, I liked everything else. I always knew ludi would kill it as liu kang, and he really did. and of course, I love the praise hiroyuki sanada, joe taslim, and max huang are getting as hanzo, bi han, and kung lao. they all absolutely deserve it.

- I love bi han in this movie (though it sucks we didn't get to see sareena before his passing and becoming noob saibot); he's perfect. he actually feels scary and like a force to be reckoned with. his design, personality, the way he carries himself... joe was taking no prisoners. but, I wish they would've alluded to quan chi, or even shang tsung forcing bi han to kill hanzo's family, because I think it speaks volumes on their hatred towards each other and bi han's morals. I don't want to think he'd actually kill a child

- this movie also had the best harumi and satoshi scenes yet. they did a little building with hanzo and his wife, and I don't think I've seen the games do so other than "well his wife and kid died". yes, they're his main motivation (at least in the recent games) but we never got to see him interact with them aside from more niche mk content! I love seeing a happy family like that, but there's a subtle eeriness in that opening scene because you know what's going to happen

- sonya in this movie!!!!!! she wasn't a bitch this time. the recent games like to think she is, but you can be tough without being a shitty person to be around. I love her compassion for her teammates, especially jax!!! sonya was perfectly casted here as well, and I think jessica should influence future designs for sonya going forward. I love everything about sonya, though her arcana was a little too quick to master, but that's not a character gripe really. she was so good here!!!!!!

- liu kang and kung lao!!!!! seeing kung lao not get disrespected by most of the cast is refreshing. his fatality was badass and I love the shot of him getting blood sprayed onto his face. they're beasts I'm glad they had a scene of both of them fucking with kano. they had perfect designs (love the little bun kung lao has), two actual martial artists playing them, and a great dynamic. I wish we got to here the turkey sounds liu makes when he bicycle kicked kabal though!

- also, I really did like kano here. he was fucking hilarious. josh lawson is a funny guy irl but he didn't play around with kano! he was the funniest character, though everyone had their moments. I do have criticism towards kano's arcana being his eye, but aside from that I love his character here

- the references! I loved seeing nightwolf, hopefully we see more of him...

- I love the way kabal moved, it looked cool and fluid. they did well with that!

- I actually like cole young! I don't care much for his wife or daughter though his daughter was more compelling. he had some of the best lines that actually made me laugh. I think lewis tan deserves this big role and it's been exciting seeing him get more spotlight! cole wasn't a mary sue like people thought, I thought too, and I'm glad they tried to show him as a down to earth, beat up, but loving and kind of sarcastic family man.

in conclusion: sonya, bi han, hanzo, and the monks were my favorites. the actors all did AMAZING. I will say this, this movie isn't for people who don't care for or even like mortal kombat. I don't have nostalgia glasses for the original movie, so I can say I enjoy both of them equally. both have their pros and cons, but I love them both :)

[jackdaniel69nice]

Ninjago OC’s

I don’t really make ocs unless it’s plot specific but here are a few I have because it’s oc day I guess (this got so long I’m sorry)

Side Characters

Brody Grey and the Oppenheimer gang

Description: mid 20s, tip-dyed black hair (color is subject to change but he likes red), likes to wear tie-dye and anything from the 80s, average adult male height, Gay

Personality: overdramatic but with a rational head, energetic and likes to tease, gives good advice and father figure I guess?, love of reading and writing, can be flirty and cocky at times

Backstory: Was disowned by his parents when he came out and has had to make it on his own, Theater major at the Oppenheimer and successful too, was Cole’s roomate (they didn’t get along at first)

Plot Purpose: Cole-centric backstory exploration, Brody and co. reveal a lot about Cole’s past to the other ninja (more about the emo depressed grieving version in the pilots) and helps him come to terms with it, Also tell them you’re gay Cole, yeesh. The other friends are important to expanding the other ninja like Alex (non-binary, quiet, goth, Violinist) helps Jay deal with that he’s trans and coming out of the closet, Persila (bi, short blond, actor, excitable conspericy theorist and fandom queen) Probably figures out Jay is Cliff Gordon’s son, Melissa (lesbian, singer, Mom, sweet thing but easy to anger and holds a grudge) Was the first one Cole latched onto in the group because she reminded him so much of his mom [there are other things too with Nya and Kai and Zane but I don’t feel like elaborating more now], ANYWAY Jay takes Cole to see a musical and recognizes Brody (who he hasn’t been in contact with since he left) and they talk after the show leading down the road of all Cole’s old college friends meeting the ninja

Random Facts: He’s dating Vinnie and NO ONE CAN STOP ME, he’s sorta supposed to be Cole’s foil (where Cole is blasting My Chemical Romance and AC/DC he’s blasting Boogie Box High and SOS Band), he’s a mash of all the other ninjas personality’s not gonna lie

Tony Tabloid

Description: 12-14ish, shorter side but gets a major growth spurt when older, short black/brown hair, missing tooth, classic news boy hat that’s to big for him

Personality: Bright young boy with plenty of street smarts, will talk your ear off, full of himself and would fight anyone or anything no matter their size, very energetic but with a cool attitude

Backstory: Orphan at Walker’s Home (Jay’s rich and built an orphanage cause he’s nice like that) in Ninjago city, was on the street since young age, ex-thief, turned around at Walker’s though and now is head of the Ninjago city newspaper delivery (probably knows Nelson)

Plot Purpose: All the ninja seem to have a child that gives them advice at one point or another so here’s Jay’s, Jay has the rights to the Star Fairer enterprise (unknown to the other ninja) and when Lloyd mentions they should make new movies but can’t he goes about making it happen, he makes it all seem like he’s uninvolved but somehow gets them vip passes to see the movie in action (he says it’s from his ex-acting career connections), Tony is playing the younger version of Fritz’s son (our main character) in flashbacks, Jay is the one who got him his “gig”, he ends up revealing a lot of stuff Jay would rather keep hidden and probably almost dies doing something stupid and Jay has to save him

Random facts: Tabloid obviously isn’t his real last name (not sure wheather he chose it himself or people just started calling him that) it’s obviously related to his work, speaking of work he wants to become a journalist or reporter when he grows up, Jay gave him one of his smile buttons and he put it on his hat, I like to think in the future he gets adopted by Brody and Vinnie

Fievel Schmidt

Jay’s old friend, knew him before he transitioned, I mostly only use him in movie!verse BUT..., in show his mother is a mecahnic who buys parts from Ed and Edna, boyfriend ran off so she’s a single mom, the walkers always take a weekly trip into ninjago city to trade and sell so she’s a regular, Edna takes Jay and Fieval to the arcade and does grocery shopping, unfortunately his mom got seriously injured and can’t do mechanics anymore so they lose touch, plump and short, very sweet boy

Next Master of Sound

I feel like everyone forgot Jacob died in season 4 so here’s a reminder, he never had any children so it went to a random kid, little girl, Long black hair, she accidentally killed her parents when she caused their house in her small village to collapse from crying and activating her powers, selectively mute from fear of her own voice, Cole adopts her, becomes a next gen ninja I guess?, the only time she uses her power is when she sings (which Cole taught her to do)

*Witch doctor, Percy

Male, Lives in the Departed Realm, takes care of it sorta?, knows good magic, hangs out with whisps, helps the ninja (usually Cole) get home by telling them about a portal

Old Man

Grocery market clerk from ignacia, payed off hospital bills for Kai (14) after Nya (10) had an allergic reaction to perfume, Kai had work for him moving veggies and such for several months (got to keep some food though)

Snake Fam

Venomari lesbian who lives in the woods with her wife and 3 adopted kids (one is human), she (her kids) rescue one the ninja and bring them home to heal up so they can go save the others

Tagalong

Jay’s cat he had growing up...Not gonna talk about her right now [if you know, you know]

Villains

Felicia Blake

Scientist obsessed with trying to understand magic and elemental powers, thinks she can figure out how to channel elemental power like the First Spinjitzu Master did, very confident, only concerned with progress and no concern for individual life, ends up capturing Jay and experimenting on him :(

*Ali

Referenced in the Amulet of Ali which channels pure evil/dark magic, was the first sorcerer ever and basically made magic, was banished to the realm of madness and gained power there bringing back his learnings to ninjago, he wrote the book of spells which clouse and and garmadon studied under Chen (which is how garm knew the realm would give him power), Probably killed by Libber (previous EM of lightning) who sacrificed herself to stop him [but did she really kill him?!], Clouse gets the amulet from Borg Tower which boosts his power and now him and Jay have to duke it out like their previous versions did

???

Someone had to make Mr. E, I wonder who?, Jay took Echo back to Cliff’s flat to live after skybound and fixed him up, he might of done a few to many upgrades though and someone saw this as an opportunity, he was attacked while Jay was away and barely got away hiding in the secret room, unfortunately Jays blueprints were stolen (unknown to him) and the rest destroyed, Jay took Echo to the his parents but after seeing Mr. E he’s worried, now someone is throwing out new nindroids based on his designs and they are still searching for Echo, this mystery person plans to build an even stronger nindroid army to sell, prove they are a worthy inventor, and maybe take down the ninja along the way [do partially sentient multicolored nindroids based on the ninja count as ocs?]

*subject to my whims and could change to fill similar plots

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 4/23/21: MORTAL KOMBAT, DEMON SLAYER, TOGETHER TOGETHER, STREET GANG, SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS

Ugh. Trying to maintain this column as a weekly entity during the final few weeks of the longest Oscar season ever has been really hard, and I’m not sure that will change once the Oscars are over either, because I look at the number of movies being released both theatrically and streaming over the next few weeks, and it makes my head hurt. Sorry for the kvetching, it just is what it is.

There are two big theatrical releases this weekend, Warner Bros’ MORTAL KOMBAT and DEMON SLAYER THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN from FUNImation Entertainment, both which have already been released internationally. I also probably won’t be able to watch or review either before this column gets posted.

Mortal Kombat seems like the easiest sell being that it’s based on the popular Midway Games video game franchise introduced in the early ‘90s that led to a series of films, books, comics and you name it. It was a very popular fighting game that had over a dozen iterations including one in which MK characters fought against DC superheroes.

The very first Mortal Kombat movies opened in 1995, right amidst MK-mania, and it was directed by one Paul W.S. Anderson, his very first movie in a long line of video game-related movies, including a number of Resident Evil and the recent Monster Hunter. There are a lot of people who love those games, and yes, even people who love that and other movies, but to others, who may have been too old to get into the games when they came out, the whole thing about different fighters fighting each other just looks kind of studio. Even though I’m interested to see what producer James Wan brings to this reboot, I just don’t have much interest otherwise.

Unfortunately, and this is pretty daunting, Warner Bros. wasn’t sending out screeners to critics until Wednesday with a review embargo for Thursday night at 7pm, which is never a good sign, and yet, it continues Warner Bros. continuing the trend of being one of the only studios that screeners EVERY movie to film critics rather than just making them pay to see it on Thursday night or Friday. I hope to watch it and maybe add something Thursday night, time-permitting. Not sure you heard but the Oscars are Sunday.

As far as box office, Mortal Kombat opens on Friday but also premieres on HBO Max, and I’m not sure there will be as much urge to see MK on the largest screen possible, as there was with Godzilla vs. Kong. Because of that, I think the cap for this one over the three-day weekend is about $10 million but not much more and probably more frontloaded to Friday than we’ve seen in some time.

Mini-Review: As you can imagine from my statement above, I don’t hold the Mortal Kombat games or other iterations in any particular high esteem, so I’m basically jumping into this movie, directed by Simon McQuoid, just as a movie and not necessarily as a video game movie.

It starts off promising enough like a samurai movie with a flashback where we watch Hiroyuki Sanada’s hero sees his wife and son be killed by Joe Taslim’s character that will later become Sub-Zero. The general principle seems to be that there’s a world where people from other worlds fight each other to gain complete control. The hero is Lewis Tan’s MMA fighter Cole Young, presumably a popular character from the game? He is also soon attacked by Sub-Zero presumably because he’s marked with a dragon tattoo that deems him a champion of these fights, but he needs to find someone named Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to help him get to the “Mortal Kombat.” At the same time, he meets the movie’s most entertaining character, Kane,

played by Australian actor Josh Lawson, mainly because he swears constantly and cracks wise -- he’s a bit like Wolverine, actually, and he’s actually the best part of the movie.

Otherwise, everyone and everything is always so deadly serious that everyone else we meet just doesn’t have much impact, because frankly, none of these names or characters mean jack shit to me. Sure, some of them sound vaguely familiar but I was more interested in the great Asian actors who turn up including Tadanobu Asano’s Lord Raiden, who is gonna claim Earth if its champions lose at Mortal Kombat. And Sub-Zero basically just shows up and tries to kill everyone.

As with far too many action movies, the action itself is great, the writing and acting not so much.

As it goes along, things become more epic and fantasy-driven but that also makes the dialogue seem even worse. Similarly, the fight choreography is pretty great, but the movie still leans way too heavily on visual FX to keep it more interesting for anyone not too interested in MMA… like myself. When all else fails, they can show off Sub-Zero’s cool ice powers every chance possible as well as the other’s powers, but some of them (like Lord Raiden) just made me think of this as a rip-off of the great Big Trouble in Little China.

The thing is I’m not a fan of the video game nor of MMA, so Mortal Kombat really doesn’t have much to offer me. The whole thing just seems very silly, just like almost everything from the ‘90s. (How’s THAT for a bad take?)

That said, I thought the final battle was great, and I enjoyed some of the gorier aspects of the fights, too, and it all leads to my favorite part, which is the three-way fight between Cole, Sub-Zero, and… actually I’m not sure if it’s a spoiler or not, but it’s a pretty cool fight that almost makes up for some of the dumber characters introduced earlier on. (LIke that guy with four arms. I know he’s a character in the games, but I didn’t even care enough to look up his name.)

It’s perfectly fine that they decided to go Rated R with the movie since most of the nostalgia for this movie and franchise will be towards older guys, but at times, the CG blood is so hinky it feels like the decision to go R-rated was made well after it was filmed.

Even though I went in with the lowest of expectations, I still found most of Mortal Kombat kinda trite and boring, maybe something I’d appreciate more as a teenager but not so much as a grown adult. But what do you expect for a movie based on a video game that’s just a bunch of “cool fights”?

Rating: 5.5/10

And yet, Demon Slayer could be the surprise breakout of the weekend, considering the theatrical success FUNimation has had with theatrical releases of the My Hero Academia movies into theaters in 2018 and 2020, and the hugely successful Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, which grossed $31 million domestically after a surprise $20.2 million in its first five days in roughly 1,200 movies. In fact, it made $7 million its opening Wednesday in January 2019, and FUNimation is hoping that Demon Slayer will have a similar success by opening it for a single day (Thursday) in IMAX theaters before Mortal Kombat takes over on Friday.

Demon Slayer has already grossed $383.7 million internationally compared to Mortal Kombat’s $10.7 million, and you cannot ignore the huge popularity that anime has seen over the past few decades. In fact, a bunch of screenings for Demon Slayer in NYC have already sold out, although you have to bear in mind that these are 25% capacity theaters. Even so, I still think this can make $4 to 5 million on Thursday and another $7 to 8 million over the weekend, depending on the number of theaters. Yes, it will be quite frontloaded, and I’m not sure what the cap is on theaters and how that will affect how it does over the weekend, but expect a big Thursday and a more moderate weekend but one that might give both Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong a run for the top of the box office.

Also hitting theaters before streaming on Netflix (on April 30) is THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, the new animated movie produced by Chris Miller and Philip Lord, following their Oscar win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a little weird to open a new animated movies, presumably in select theaters, when such a hugely anticipated animated movie like Demon Slayer is opening, but Netflix won’t

The movie itself is directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, and it involves a family named the Mitchells, whose eldest daughter Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is leaving home for college, so her father (voiced by Danny McBride) decides that he’s going to drive her there and use it as the chance for a cross-country family trip. Meanwhile, it’s set up how the world becomes overrun with robots when a tech giant creates a new personal assistant.

I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this even though I’m generally a fan of all of Lord/Miller’s animated movies including both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movies. It took me a little time to get into the family and the general premise. In some ways it reminded me of Edgar Wright’s The World’s End where it’s trying to merge these two disparate genres, but when they actually merge, it just doesn’t work as well as it may have seemed on paper. That worry is soon expunged, because Rianda finds ways to integrate the two ideas over time.

On the trip, the Mitchells run into their perfect family neighbors, the Poseys -- voiced by Krissy Teigen, John Legend and Charlyne Yi -- and you’d think they might be a bigger part of the movie then they actually are. I’m not sure I would have liked doing the family-vs.-family thing so soon after last year’s Croods movie, but I did love the dynamics of the Mitchells being a very relatable imperfect family with Danny McBride being particularly great voicing the family patriarch. It even has a really touching Pixar’s Up moment of Katie’s father watching old home movies of them together when she was younger.

In general, the filmmakers have assembled a pretty amazing voice cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett. Actually the weirdest voice choice is Katie’s younger brother Aaron, voiced by Rianda himself, and it sounds like a strange older man trying to be a kid, so it doesn’t work as well as others.

What I genuinely liked about Mitchells vs. the Machines is that it doesn’t go out of its way to talk down to overly sensitive kiddies or skimp on the action while also including elements that parents will enjoy as well, and to me, that’s the ideal of a family film.

While some might feel that The Mitchells vs. the Machines is fairly standard animated fare, it ends up being a fun cross between National Lampoon’s Vacation (cleaned up for the kiddies) with Will Smith’s I, Robot, actually, and yet, it somehow does work. It’s a shame that it’s really not getting a theatrical release except to be awards-eligible.

Next, we have two really great movies I saw at Sundance this year and really enjoyed immensely…

So as I mentioned, I first saw Nikole Beckwith’s TOGETHER TOGETHER (Bleecker Street), starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, at Sundance, and it was one of my favorite movies there with Helms playing a middle-aged single guy named Matt, who hires the much-younger Anna (Harrison) to be his surrogate, because he wants a baby. It’s a tough relationship thrown together due to each of their respective necessities.

Part of what drives the movie is how different Matt and Anna are, him being quite inappropriate with his suggestions and requests but not really having a working knowledge of female anatomy, pregnancy, delivery etc, but being really eager to raise a child and having the money that Anna clearly does not.

While I was familiar with Helms from The Office, The Hangover, etc. I really didn’t know Patti Harrison at all. Apparently, she’s a stand-up comic who hasn’t done a ton of acting, comedic or otherwise. That’s pretty amazing when you watch this movie and see her dry sardonic wit playing well against Helms’ generally lovable doofus. What I also didn’t realize and frankly, I don’t really see this as something even worth mentioning, is that she’s a trans woman playing a clearly CIS part, and she kills it. I certainly wouldn’t have known nor did it really affect my enjoyment of the movie, yet it still seems like such a brave statement on the part of the director and Harrison herself. The thing is that Harrison isn't just a terrific actress in her own right, but she brings out aspects of Helms that I never thought I would ever possibly see. (If it isn't obvious, I'm not the biggest fan of Helms.)

The movie has a great sense of humor, as it gets the most out of this awkward duo and then throws so many great supporting actors into the cast around them that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy the laughs. There’s the testy Sonogram tech, played by Sufe Bradshaw from Veep, who tries to maintain her composure and bite her tongue, but you can tell she’s having none of it. Others who show up, including Tig Notero, Norah Dunn and Fred Melamed. Just when you least expect it, Anna Conkle from Pen15, shows up as one of those delivery gurus that make the two of them feel even more awkward.

What’s nice is that this never turns into the typical meet cute rom-com that some might be expecting, as Beckwith’s film is more about friendship and companionship and being there for another, and the lack of that romantic spark even as chemistry develops between them is what makes this film so enjoyably unique. Beckwith’s sense of humor combined with her dynamic duo stars makes Together Together the best comedy about pregnancy probably since Knocked Up.

Another great Sundance movie and actually one of my two favorite recent documentaries AND one of the best movies I’ve seen this year is… you know what? I haven’t done this for a while so this is this week’s “CHOSEN ONE”!! (Fanfare)

(Photo courtesy: Robert Fuhring/Courtesy Sesame Workshop)

Marilyn (Mad Hot Ballroom) Agrilo’s STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET (Screen Media/HBO Documentaries) is a fantastic doc about the long-running and popular PBS kids show that’s every bit as good as Morgan Neville’s Mr. Rogers doc, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Which was robbed of an Oscar nomination a few years back.

Let me make something clear on the day I’m writing this, April 21, 2021, that this is my favorite movie of the year, the only one I’ve already given a 10/10, and the end of the year might come around, and I have a feeling it will still be my #1.

You see, I was raised a Sesame Street kid. It’s not like I didn’t read or play outside or not get the attention of my parents or family, but there was so much of my happy, young life that I could attribute to my time watching Sesame Street, and when you watch Marily Agrilo’s amazing doc, it all comes rushing back. There is stuff in this movie that I haven’t seen in maybe 50 years but that I clearly remember laughing at, and there’s stuff that got into the mind of a young Ed that influenced my love of humor and music and just outright insanity. Sure, I loved The Muppet Show, too, but it was a different experience, so to watch a movie about the show with all sorts of stuff I had never seen or knew, that’s what makes Street Gang such a brilliant documentary, and easily one of the best we’ll see this year. Of that I have no doubt.

From the very origins of the show with Joan Cooney developing a show that will be entertaining and educational to the kids being plopped down in front of the TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s, so they can learn something, it’s just 1:46 of straight-up wonderment.

Besides getting to see a lot of the beloved actors/characters from the show and many of the surviving players like Carol Spinney aka Big Bird/Oscar, you can see how this show tried to create something that wasn’t just constantly advertising to young minds.

More than anything, the show is a love letter to the bromance between Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and you get to see so many of their bits and outtakes that make their Muppets like Burt and Ernie and Grover and, of course, Kermit, so beloved by kids that even cynical adults like myself would revert childhood just thinking about them. Then on top of that there’s the wonderful music and songs of Christopher Cerf and Joe Raposo and others, songs that would permeate the mainstream populace and be remembered for decades.

The movie is just a tribute to the joy of childhood and learning to love and sing and dance and just have fun and not worry about the world. I’m not sure if kids these days have anything like that.

It also gets quite sad, and I’m not embarrassed to say that in the sequence that covers the death of Mr. Hooper, I was outright bawling, and a few minutes later, when Jim Henson dies in 1990, I completely lost it. That’s how much this show meant to me and to so many people over the decades, and Brava to Ms. Agrilo for creating just the perfect document to everything that Sesame Street brought to so many people’s lives. This is easily the best documentary this year, and woe be to any Academy that doesn’t remember it at year’s end.

The other fantastic doc out this week, though I actually got to see it last year, is Lisa Rovner’s SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS (Metrograph Pictures), which will play at the Metrograph, both on demand and part of its Digital Live Screenings (available to join for just $5 a month!). This is an endlessly fascinating doc that looks at the women of electronic music and the early days of synthesizers and synthesis and some of the female pioneers. It’s narrated by Laurie Anderson, which couldn’t be the more perfect combination.

The movie covers the likes of Suzanne Cianni; Forbidden Planet composers Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the first all-electronic score for that movie; the amazing Wendy Carlos, who electronically scored one of my favorite movies of all time, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange; Delia Derbyshire, who was also the subject of Caroline Catz’s short, Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes, which tragically, I missed when it premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March. Derbyshire was also famous for creating the iconic theme to “Doctor Who” while working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the '60s. Others who appear in the movie, either via archival footage or more recent interviews are Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Spiegel, who I was less familiar with.

The point is that as someone who was a fantastic for electronic music and synthesizers from a very early age and for someone who feels he’s very familiar with all angles of music, I learned a lot from watching Rovner’s film, and I enjoyed it just as much a second time, because the footage assembled proves what amazing work these women were doing and rarely if ever getting the credit for what they brought to electronic music, something that still resonates with the kids today who love things like EDM.

An endlessly fascinating film with so much great music and footage, Sisters with Transistors can be watched exclusively through the Metrograph’s Live Screening series, so don’t miss it!

Hitting Shudder this week is Chris Baugh’s BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (Shudder), which I didn’t get a chance to watch before writing this week’s column, but Shudder in general has been knocking it out of the park with the amazing horror movies it’s been releasing on a weekly basis. This one involves a quarelling father and son on a road who must survive the night when they awaken an ancient Irish vampire.

Also hitting theaters and streamers and digital this week:

THE MARIJUANA CONSPIRACY (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

MY WONDERFUL WANDA (Zeitgeist Films)

WET SEASON (Strand Releasing)

CRESTONE (Utopia)

VANQUISH (Lionsgate)

BLOODTHIRSTY (Brainstorm)

SASQUATCH (Hulu)

SHADOW AND BONE (Netflix)

And that wraps up this week. Next week? No idea… I know there’s stuff coming out but I probably won’t think about it until after THE OSCARS!!!! On Sunday.