#man wall-e's a weird film. yeah i love the first third of the film but they lost me as soon as they got into the space station

[clownkiwi]

OH WAIT i just realized the original plan they had for the last 2/3rds of the film wouldve been. a lil bit more ableist, because the aliens in the original films treatment were just revealed to be what humans would turn out into years later (green, see-through gel blobs)

[hollybell51]

Connections

Series masterlist, masterpost

Thomas x fem!Reader Maze Runner (2009 novel - James Dashner, 2014 film - Wes Ball)

Word count: 1944 (whoo!)

Summary: you’re used to the boys who come up in the box being a little weird at first, but something about this one is oddly... familiar. And he feels it too. 

Content: canon-typical amnesia, light angst, Thomas just being Thomas, teenaged-romance-typical cringiness, you get the gist. 

Notes: starts in Thomas’s POV (but alternates between his and yours cause I love a good dual perspective) so obviously it’s a little weird since he initially doesn’t know you, so I didn’t wanna jump straight into the “you” etc. It’s in third person for this reason (”she” “her” etc), although everything from the second paragraph onwards is second person as per usual. You gotta just ignore that bit and take it as necessary backing for the main thing cause I wasn’t 100% sure on how to do it, but this made sense in my head. 

I just got my wisdom teeth out so I’m stuck in a hospital with not all too much to do just eating custard, soup and jelly. My friend did come and visit me so that was pretty great, but multiplayer minecraft isn’t working :( Also why are all nurses ever so freaking pretty I genuinely don’t understand. Is being pretty something that happens to you at nurse school? Do they only allow pretty people into nurse school? It’s a mystery, truly. Either way, this, reading the book my friend brought me and annotating my English book are pretty much all I have to do other than watching stuff so yeah... 

Unrelated, but I love a good sweaty confused sad angry lost annoyed little man and he does it so well

The boy looked up, shielding his eyes from the light to see a girl crouched at the top of the box, smiling down at him. There was something about her, he thought, that seemed to compel him to keep looking at her slightly messy (y/h/c) hair, her bright (y/e/c) eyes that seem to be sharing some kind of joke with him. 

You reached a hand down, and he got up off the floor, taking it. Your skin was warm and you had a strong grip. You helped him out of the box, smiling at his no doubt stunned expression as he looked around, taking in the massive stone walls and what appeared to be a farm tended by about 20 – no, more – people who couldn’t have been much older than he was. And somehow, amid all the strangeness, your hand in his was familiar.

“Hello, Greenie,” you said – damn, you even had a nice voice, the kind that made him believe that everything was ok. “I’m (Y/N).”

“I’m…” the boy trailed off. He didn’t know what his name was. How could that be? Surely he had a name. But as he racked his brains, the only thing that came to him was that you were called (Y/N), and that everything was going to be fine as long as you were beside him. “What is this place?”

“This is the Glade.” You gestured around, encompassing the whole farm in a sweep of your arm. “And don’t worry about your name, it’ll come back later. It’s the one thing they let you keep.”

“They?” Everything was getting weirder by the second. 

“I’ll explain later. First, let me show you around.”

~

The Greenie asked a lot of questions. Like, a lot. It was odd, you felt like you knew him, like you’d seen him before, and you kept almost grabbing his hand. You did your best to answer his questions, but eventually you stopped. To tell the truth, as bad as it sounded even to you, you couldn’t really be bothered anymore. He’d find his feet before too long. 

“Greenie,” you said, turning to him, “I’m gonna need you to just be patient. You’ll pick it all up eventually, but enough questions, ok?”

“Yeah,” he answered ruefully, “ok.”

He was cute, you supposed, with dark brown hair cut short, a muscular build, and bright green eyes. Nice face, if only he’d stop looking so confused all the time. You couldn’t blame him, not really. A little wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows every time he frowned, and you caught yourself almost reaching up and smoothing it away several times. You realised you were staring at him and looked away quickly, continuing the tour.

 You had a bonfire that night, as was tradition every month when a new Greenie arrived. You sat back, watching as he challenged Gally to a fight (bad idea) which you somehow found endearing and normal, like that was the way it should be. Maybe he just had the kind of vibe of someone who wouldn’t back down, people who were upstarts tended to have a certain look about them. At least, that was what you told yourself as he froze, stood still for a moment then shouted,

“Thomas! I remember my name, I’m Thomas!”

After that, everyone patted him on the back, his disagreement with Gally completely forgotten.

“So, Thomas,” you said as you approached, looking up at him, “what do you think?”

“I don’t know,” he frowned, that little wrinkle showing itself once more. You took his hand, leading him to where you usually sat with Newt, away from all the clamour. You both found that while the vigour and headiness of being around the others could be fun, it was also tiring at times. 

“Thomas, huh?” Newt said, offering him a jar of Gally’s god-awful moonshine.

Thomas took a mouthful, but spat it out pretty fast. “What is that stuff?” he asked, revolted.

“No idea,” Newt answered, taking the jar back.

“You know,” you decided, slinging an arm across Thomas’s shoulders, “I like you Greenie.”

~

 “(Y/N)!” Thomas ran up to you, his face sweaty.

“What’s up, Greenie?” You straightened, leaning on your shovel. It had been a week since Thomas’ arrival, and he was settling in pretty well apart from the odd disagreement and his unfortunate condition of too much curiosity. You hadn’t seen him around too much, your work as a gardener and his constant stream of odd jobs and trials of the different occupations had seen to that, but you’d found that you had an easy rapport with him on the day that he’d been beside you tending to the vegetable patch and when you were eating (he’d sat with you most for most meals after that first night, which you weren’t too fussed about. Besides, he brought Chuck with him and the little kid was always fun to be around). Even if he could be a little annoying with all his questions and occasionally slipped into a morose bout of heavy brooding (“I’m not brooding,” he’d protested when you’d poked him and told him to stop it, “I’m just… thinking.”), you liked the comfortable back and forth between you, and being around him felt… right. 

Now, he looked near frantic as he stood panting before you, his eyes wild. “I remembered something. From before the Maze.”

“What?” Your mind spun. That never happened, ever. Maybe it was a dream and he’d gotten confused, maybe he’d hit his head. Still, you could indulge him. “What did you remember?”

Thomas glanced around, then jerked his head towards the Deadheads. Against your better judgement, you followed him into the fringes of the trees.

~

The memories swirled around Thomas’s head, disjointed and confused, but still memories. He remembered you, how you’d been with him before the Maze, how close you were. A flash of white hallway, disabled security cameras and sneaking into each other’s rooms at night. He remembered your lips on his, the way your body felt under his hands.

He reached the edge of the Deadheads, and you stopped, resting your weight on one leg and placing a hand on your hip. “Alright Greenie,” you said – Thomas wished you’d use his name, “what did you remember?”

“I remembered us, you and me, before we came here,” he said quietly, not quite sure how to tell you what he knew. Would you think he was crazy, delusional? That he was just a stupid boy with a crush – because yeah, he liked you, definitely did – on the only girl he’d seen in… He supposed he’d known girls before whatever strange memory block that started at waking up in the elevator – Box, as you’d called it. That was another strange thing about this place, he thought, you were the only girl, and nobody apparently knew why. Either way, he didn’t want you to think he was silly or mad. 

He forged on. “I felt like I knew you even before you told me your name, when I woke up.”

You frowned, chewing the inside of your cheek. You really were adorable when you were thinking. “What about us, what did you remember about me and you, Thomas?”

He took a deep breath, looking around again. “I just remember sneaking through hallways with you, and…”

“And what? Just spit it out already!” You were getting impatient.

“Ok, this is going to sound super weird,” he looked around again and you crossed your arms. “We were…” He stopped. He couldn’t say it, he couldn’t face the raised eyebrow as you tried to hide your look of incredulity and then pity that would inevitably flash across your face. 

“Are you going to share this wonderful pearl of wisdom with me or not?” The sarcasm in your voice jolted him back to another time, hiding outside in the cold, you sitting on his lap, his jumper wrapped around you both. You were saying something about the weather. “Thomas?” you asked, a hint of concern in your voice.

“(Y/N),” he said, placing a hand on your shoulder, “before the Maze, you and I were together.”

“Together?” you asked, “Like, you knew me?” 

He thought he caught a faint flash of apprehension, hope, even, dart across your face. “Yeah, I remember you, we used to sneak into each other’s rooms and outside, and you’d hack the security system, so we wouldn’t get caught.” He smiled at the memory.

“Thomas what…?” A crease appeared between your brows, and you were tilting your head to the side slightly. “What do you mean? How do you know?” Your frown deepened, even more unsure as you gestured to the space between you and him. “Were we… a couple?” 

Thomas released a breath, secretly relieved you’d been the one to say it. “Yeah, yeah we were. (Y/N), trust me, I remember, and I know these are memories.” On an impulse, he took your hand, holding it tightly. “I feel like I know you, and everything about you is familiar. Sometimes when you do or say something, I get a flashback…”

“What do you mean a flashback? What of?” you interrupted, and he realised he wasn’t really making sense.

Thomas tried to talk slowly. “Like before, when you were being sarcastic, I remembered us, sitting outside at night and it was freezing cold, so you were sitting on my lap and we had this jumper wrapped around us, and I must have said something about it being cold because you were being sarcastic about the weather and…”

“Thomas stop,” you said, and he looked at your beautiful clear eyes, so full of emotion.

“(Y/N),” he almost whispered.

“No,” you said, searching his face, “Thomas, I really like you, I do, and I feel like I’ve known you before as well, but this is crazy!”

“No,” he protested, “this is what I remember!”

“I know,” your eyes were sparkling with unshed tears, “I know it’s what you remember, but how are we supposed to trust that whoever took our memories, and someone definitely took our memories, how do we know that they didn’t plant fake ones?”

“I know what I feel towards you is real, (Y/N), I just know it, right here.” He placed a hand on his solar plexus, still not breaking eye contact.

“I…” You stopped, looking at the ground then back at him. “Ok,” you said, “and if I trust this? If I trust that your memories are real, that we’re not going crazy? Then what?”

“Then…” It was his turn to trail off, raising his hand from your shoulder to your cheek, gently wiping a tear from your face with his thumb. He leaned down slightly, tilting his head to the side. Hesitantly, you stretched up to meet him halfway, your lips brushing his softly. You gave a sharp little intake of breath, and Thomas stopped, pulling away again.

“Sorry, I…” he swallowed, “I understand if you don’t want…”

You cut him off by way of kissing him, hard. Thomas gave a grunt of surprise, then wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you closer. It was right, this was how it was supposed to be. You held in his embrace, fitted against his body like you were the last piece in a puzzle. Because you were, you were the last piece in his puzzle. 

Thomas broke away first, looking down at you still held in his arms.

“That was…” you said, looking puzzled, “That felt really familiar.”

“Do you believe me?” He asked, and you nodded thoughtfully.

“Yes, Greenie,” – he rolled his eyes at that – “yes, I think I do.”

[ztufs]

10 Animations (and games) that made my life a little better

So for my first post I’d like to just share my appreciation for 10 animations I really felt a connection to, whether they were emotional, out of fascination or just pure amazement. I have no “rules” for what kind of animations they’re gonna be, aside from them being animated (Shocker I know). 

So yeah, I hope yall enjoy this list, and leave a comment about some of the animations that left you with a smile on your face!

#1- Wall-e

I’m gonna start of this list with my favourite animated movie (or just movie in general): Wall-e. It’s no secret that Pixar makes great animations, and I know I’m not the only one who loves this movie. What really captures my attention is the feeling of soltitude and ambience shown throughout the first act of the movie, until Eve arrives. What I find great about this part is how much “show don’t tell” is used, to describe to us, the viewers, about the post-apocalyptic world. 

Being that the main character almost never speaks, repeating alot of words or lines when he actually does, makes it super duper cool how the animators used visual storytelling to show us how the world has gone to shit, as well as Wall-e’s expressions and sounds to pinpoint exactly how he feels. 

If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly reccomend it!

#2- Ori and the Blind Forest

For my second pick I chose one of my favourite games, name is in the title.For me, this game has everything: Awesome music, tight gameplay, a flubtastic story, and smooth animation. Playing this game really felt like going on a journey through a MAGICAL world, where anything could happen! Even though this game was the source of alot, and I mean ALOT, of ragequits, it still brought me back every time. The art in this game is fenomenal, and combined with the animation I really feel it when Ori, the game’s main character, flies through the world, up and down walls and through changing environments. 

Also Managing those difficult jumps feels really satisfying!

#3- Death Parade

There are alot of animes out there (yes I’m a weeabo), but there’s a few that I’ve really enjoyed, Death parade is one of them. It’s opening might trick you to think you’re gonna watch a friendly, happy-go-lucky show about different people living in purgatory, but you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s dark themes and how it tackles different topics about human pshychology with a touch of humor and warmth really got to me. I felt a connection with the main character in a way I haven’t with any other characters in anime, and the realization about the main characters fate (no spoilers), really worked for me. 

#4- Night in the Woods

I really love this game. I don’t know if it’s the overall great stylized aesthetics, the great, great music, the amount of clever, funny voicelines given to the characters, the characters themselves, showing multitudes of different personalities and charisma, the general story of the game, the oh-so-smooth animation or the underlying themes of friendship, anxiety and an existential crisis that grips me. I might have a clue though. 

This game really delves into the greater questions about life in a really humorous and philosophical way, and i loved every step of the journey. It has really worked as an inspiration for me when it comes to creativity and life itself.

#5- Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (trailer)

I’m just gonna throw this out here first to clearify: As of the date I wrote this list, the full movie wasn’t out, so I had just the trailer to go by.

Ok, I’m not gonna lie. The moment I saw the trailer for the spider-verse movie my mind. Was. Blown. The animation in this video is perfect. It’s the amazing mix between cycadelic cartoon meeting animation. The colors are vibrant, the animation is smooth as butter, and the textures really capture the comic-feel of everything. Along with me being a Spider-man fanboy I really love the whole concept of the spider-verse, and I can’t wait for this movie to come out

I hope Spider-pig is in it.

#6- Animator vs. Animation (the whole series)

If you watch alot of animations on youtube, you’re bound to come by one of these videos. Made by Alan Becker, Animator vs Animation is a series about an animator (You don’t say), who has to fight his own animated stickman. The genious about these videos is how it’s animated. The animator uses different tools in the animation program, as well as the computer and even phone, to really make it seem that he’s fighting with a virtual stickman. Getting better and better for each video, you can really see how different principles of animation are applied, to make for a really cool untraditional “stick-man fight”.

The series is pretty funny and shows you how creative and meta you can get with animation. Just don’t come to me if your pc is attacked by a small stickman.

#7- Angry Birds - Piggy Tales (The first two seasons)

NOW BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS BLOG IN DISAPPOINTMENT AND ANGER, let me just say that there’s a special reason as to why I chose this, out of all things.

There was a period in my life where I was going through some rough things, and I spent a lot of time cooped up in the hospital. As I didn’t have a lot to do, phone games became my rescue, one of them being angry birds. I remember getting 3 stars on every stage (get on my level noobs), and having fun watching the different animations the creators of angrybirds made. 

That being said, Piggy Tales is actually a funny short show, made on computer to resemble clay and stop-motion animation, making use of physical humor and slapstick. The animation is pretty smooth and funny, where different kinds of settings are explored each time. 

Be aware though, as the third season shifts from clay-like animation to more refined animation. This might be off putting for those who found the clay-style appealing.

Piggy Tales are short but many, so if you wanna kill some time, this might be a good time-assassin. 

#8- When Marnie was there

I had to include a Ghibli film here, I mean come on! Which one was the question though, but I was kinda allready set on one in particular. “When Marnie was there” is my favourite Ghibli film. I feel like it really connected with the movie in a weird beautiful way. The themes I saw and experienced throughout the movie, might not have been the same as the ones the writers and producers saw. opr me though, I felt like the movie really showed what it can feel like to be alone. Along with beautiful music and composition of scenery, the movie really grabbed me from the get-go and didn’t release me until the credits started rolling. What I was left with was a feeling of solitude, but at the same time I felt grateful for having friends and family, and for being part of this journey we call life. 

Conclusion: Anime makes you feel feelings. 

#9- Sly Cooper (trailer)

As with the Spider-verse, this is only a trailer, since the movie has been either cancelled or suspended for a long time.

The Sly Cooper games were the first games I ever played on a home console, so they have a big place in my nerd-soul. So when a movie was announced, I was well on my way to the cinnemas, even before the trailer was released. When I saw the trailer though, I was overwhelmed with just pure good-feels. The character-designs had changed to give them a more natural look, but it worked really well in my opinion.

As for the dialogue, the voiceactors were the same as the ones I grew up with, aside from the main character, Sly, but I let that slide since the new voice actor, Ian James Corlett pulled off Sly’s charcter pretty good! The animation of him jumping, sliding and running through the city also matched the way it felt playing the game, and doing those exact same actions.

If the movie ever comes out, I’ll be the first in line by any sacrifice necessary.

#10- Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin

To finish of this list I thought I’d share a piece of nostalgia! Though It’s been a long time since I last saw it, this movie was a big part of my childhood! Now don’t make fun of me for choosing a kids movie for this list, I still think this movie has a great story and music, along with the animation and background-paintings. Besides, making fun of me makes me sad, and I’m a big boy so I’m not supposed to cry. 

This movie really excels at showing how vivid our imagination can be. Every scary location in the movie is shown at the end to be a reimagined version of reality, emphasizing just how much a kids imagination changes the world around them. 

So yeah! Thanks for reading through my list of 10 animated things that really made for the raisin in the sausage (It’s a norwegian saying so don’t feel confused). 

I don’t know what this list says about me as a person, but it is what it is. I also hope you found some of the stuff on this list intriguing, and that you might wanna check it out. 

Welp, that’s it for me! 

Ztufs out!