#maybe he just wants exclusive reality tv

[beastsovrevelation]

Friendly reminder that Vincent pretended Lilith's his date, to sneak her into Adriel's fortress. I guess, Adriel likes drama. Why else would he let the hierarchs of his chuch bring dates over to his house?

+Vincent brings his "girlfriend" to the dungeons because... You decide.

[starkwlkr]

Omfg I need like early on in the relationship between Hugh and marvel!reader where their relationship isn’t public and their papparazzi of them on set together coz they’re visiting eachother and everyone’s thinking xmen X mcu when in reality it’s just them together dating

no spoilers! | hugh jackman

an: ok since their first son was born in 2000 (it’s canon idk what date but it’s canon now lol) and the mcu started in 2008 I’m going to change a few things JUST TINY THINGS like the mcu being in development early on and marvel actress!reader being casted in the early 2000s. does that make sense?? idk this is fanfiction

2005

Getting a call from Marvel was something you never expected. Like many people, you grew up reading the comics and watching the tv shows. But now you had the chance of a lifetime. You were being offered a role in the first movie in the Marvel cinematic universe.

After having a meeting with the marvel executives and your manager, you were asked to keep the news of your casting a secret. The media was already wondering who was going to portray what heroes on the big screen and your name was being thrown around.

While your relationship was still a secret, you often visited Hugh on set of X-Men with Alex and Reese. You tried to keep your little family from the media as much a possible. You would watch Hugh get into his costume and do his stunts. You were always amazed at how much fun it would be to portray a superhero and now you were finally going to be able to.

A few months after you met with Marvel, you found out you were pregnant with your third baby. A girl. Thankfully you weren’t set to film yet since the film was still in development. When it was finally time to film ‘Iron Man’, you were more than ready. Your kids were a bit older so they finally got to watch you beat up bad guys like their dad did.

It was during the filming of ‘Iron Man 2’ when your secret was finally revealed to the world. You didn’t really know how it even happened . . . Your guess was that paparazzi somehow snuck in. Hugh was always careful when visiting you on set. Rumors were already circulating on the internet about a potential X-Men and Avengers team up. It didn’t help that Hugh was sporting his signature Wolverine hair when he visited the set. At least the kids weren’t with you.

“You look much better than me,” Hugh looked at your costume. He couldn’t stop staring, it was starting to make you weak in the knees. “at least you get comfortable suits. Remember the black suits from X-Men? The most uncomfortable shit ever.”

“The kids thought you looked cool.” You reminded him.

“Okay, that makes me feel better.”

As you and Hugh talked, some paparazzi were secretly taking photos. All they could think about was how well they were going to get paid for the exclusive photos. The X-Men joining the mcu? That was big news!

When the photos were published on every magazine, you couldn’t help but laugh. What a way to reveal your relationship. You definitely didn’t want to share the news this way, but you also didn’t want to lose your job.

“Maybe in a few years it’ll come true. You, me, X-Men and the Avengers.” He told you, giving you your morning coffee. The kids were still sleeping so you and Hugh took advantage of the quiet morning. You set the magazine down on the table and drank the coffee.

“It would be nice. Imagine what the kids will think. Mom and dad beating up the bad guys together,” you smiled at him. He took the opportunity to give you a kiss. As he pulled away, you whispered to him. “or it could be me kicking the wolverine’s ass.”

You and Hugh’s characters wouldn’t share the screen until 2024 when Deadpool & Wolverine premiered. Your kids were more than excited to see their parents fighting together.

@kellyxo1 @barnes70stark @ru-kru @flyestvenustrap @evasmlp

[greenunoreversecard]

HEYYEYHEY CAN I REQUEST LLOYD (ninjago) HEADCANONS PLEASEEEE (ty :3)

A/N: Ofc!I'll do general character ones, as well as x reader ones :) hope ye likey likey:pp

Lloyd, The Greenest and Geekest mf.

General character headcanons:

Half Japanese half Chinese

His hair is box blonde dye and you cannot change my mind.

Left handed

Severely dyslexic and hands off all scroll reading and just reading oriented tasks to kai.

Def gen z vibes. Like, the others give off more inbetween z and millenial, so they dont always get his humor. And sometimes he uses that to his advantage and "Speaks in code" (uses as much slang as possible)

Has LED lights in his room set to forest green.

Has given himself a smiley face tattoo.

Cried over a dead goose once.

OK, just to preface i see cole as a stoner of Sorts and uses the excuse "it gets me closer to my element"

With that in mind cole let lloyd try it and now sometimes when he is told to unwind, of feels like he needs to take a chill pill he and Cole spark up

in the beginning of his leader ship role, he used to Say;"kick ass and take names" and if things went wrong he had the fuck it we ball mindset, but got better with time. There are still times they wing it, though.

if he isnt in his gi he almost exclusively wears his pajamas (aka a Hoodie, tshirt and sweats)

Vv tired, and now has a raging addiction to energy drinks due to his lack of Sleep.

He used to eat worms as a kid bc he Thought he it was evil.

Has a eyebrow piercing, and wants a tongue piercing.

Wears "reading" glasses, that he should technically wear all the time because he can't see up close and has a astigmatism,, but he says yolo. Zane then make him contacts after he almost ran into a moving blade and got his head severed.

Adhd and OCD, as well as the normal line up (anxiety, depression, cptsd)

Lloyd in a relationship:

Hes very distant in the beginning, it'll take time to warm up to you.

He tends to be orage cat vibes.

On the cat trend, he gets close for a bit Before becoming distant. Going through waves of affection, kinda.

He hasn't had like, any good relationships in his life so he tries to "protect" himself when he feels he gets to close to you, and so he pulls away.

He does the fuckboy face when your sad bc it makes you laugh, as well as That weird dice roll

He actually does the face/dice roll combo whenever he Sees you as he walks over, it's an inside joke now

primary giving love language: acts of service and quality time

Primary receiving love language: gifts and words of affirmation. But physical touch is also high up there.

Also, not expensive gifts. He hates those. Give him a stick you saw on a walk that made you think of him. He'll cherish it forever. And maybe cry.

He will cry.

will make noises at you and expects a noise in response or he'll be sad.

Also randomly bites you. He's a nommer

also sends you memes throughout the day.

As well as random pictures with the caption;"BABY LOK THIS IS S. US IF WE WHERE *insert whatever item here*

Called you babe, baby, love, shitface, asshole.

Expect kind and loving gentle bullying.

Doesnt know how to express his emotions to just expect him to come up to you, lightly shake your shoulders and aggressively say;"I love you bitch.i ain't Evea gon stop lovin you. Bitchhhhhhh" (vine reference)

Sends you .5 of everyone, himself included. He's addicted to Taking them. You will not get out of it.

Also sometimes just walks around in nyas stilettos for fun.

You two have fashion shows.

You also take over the Living room sometimes and build giant ass forts to watch shitty reality tv in and make fun oF The people

Overall, once he realizes you won't leave he's the most funniest loving chaotic guy.

But expect it to take a hot minute for him to realsie this

give him time,, but also have some deep talks..

Let him vent

and for the love of God don't hurt the baby's heart.

Expect inside jokes

[insidekatmind]

Meet my sister P.1-Jude Bellingham

Part.2, Part.3, Part.4

plot: Federico Valverde wants to introduce his younger sister to Jude, his teammate. He hoped that something romantic would be born between them seeing that their characters were perfect together but things take a different turn

Federico Valverde had planned everything carefully. The dinner was set in a private room at one of Madrid's most exclusive restaurants. As a protective older brother, he had always had one goal in mind: to see his sister Y/N with someone who could truly match her energy. And Jude Bellingham seemed like the perfect candidate—at least on paper. Young, talented, ambitious.

But reality often has a way of derailing plans, and that evening was destined to be unforgettable for very different reasons than Federico had imagined.

---

You were seated at the table, impeccable as always. Your black dress, sleek and elegant yet bold, caught everyone’s attention. Your loose, glossy hair framed your face perfectly, and your radiant smile lit up the room. You were used to having everyone at your feet, but tonight, you were there only because your brother had insisted.

When Federico had asked you to meet Jude, you’d agreed out of curiosity. After all, you were intrigued to meet the so-called “phenomenon” he always talked about. But the moment the guy entered the room, with his air of confidence and slightly arrogant smirk, something inside you sparked—not admiration, but irritation mixed with a touch of challenge.

Jude sat down next to Federico without even glancing in your direction, which only added to your annoyance.

“Well, it seems someone forgot their manners,” you said, breaking the ice with your trademark sarcasm.

Jude finally looked up at you, his piercing eyes scanning you with a mix of curiosity and arrogance. “Ah, sorry. You’re the famous Y/N? Guess the descriptions were a bit exaggerated.”

Federico cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. “Jude, that’s my sister. Maybe start with something less provocative?”

But you weren’t the type to back down. “And you must be Jude, the prodigy. Funny, you seemed taller on TV.”

Federico put a hand over his face. “Great. You two are going to get along just fine.”

---

Dinner continued with a constant exchange of jabs between you and Jude. You couldn’t stop provoking each other, and though every word was laced with venom, there was a palpable energy between you.

“So, Jude,” you began, your tone sweet but dripping with irony, “what’s it like living in Vinicius’s shadow? Must be hard being second best.”

He raised an eyebrow, his smug grin making you want to throw your glass of wine in his face. “Interesting, coming from someone who calls herself an actress, singer, and model. You know what they say: those who do too many things don’t do any of them well.”

Federico coughed awkwardly, trying to intervene. “Okay, maybe we can talk about something less… heated?”

But you ignored your brother, fixing Jude with a smile that was both a challenge and a promise of revenge. “Oh, don’t worry, Jude. I’m a multifaceted artist. You, on the other hand? You just chase a ball around. But I’m sure it serves some purpose, right?”

“Yeah,” he shot back without missing a beat. “To make more money than you’ve ever seen.”

Federico sighed, throwing his hands up. “I give up. I’m going to the bathroom, and when I come back, I want you two to act like civilized human beings.”

The moment Federico left the room, you and Jude locked eyes, the fire of disdain burning brightly between you. Then he leaned slightly toward you, that infuriating smirk still on his lips.

“You’re not used to someone standing up to you, are you?”

“I’m not used to someone trying this hard,” you retorted, crossing your arms.

“You’re funny,” he said, his tone almost admiring. “Especially for someone who probably spends more time choosing Instagram filters than living in the real world.”

You laughed, the sound sweet but dripping with sarcasm. “And you’re predictable. Let me guess: you’ve got a line of girls worshiping you and an ego that takes up more space than your talent.”

“You like to talk, huh?” Jude leaned back in his chair, watching you with a challenging expression. “But I bet behind all this theatrics is someone who can’t stand not being the center of attention.”

You leaned closer to him, your eyes blazing with determination. “And I bet behind all this arrogance is just a boy who’s scared of never being enough.”

For a moment, there was silence, and then Jude’s grin widened. “You know what? I like you. You’re annoying, but at least you’re not boring.”

“Too bad I can’t say the same about you,” you shot back, but there was a spark in your eyes that you couldn’t deny.

Federico returned just then, looking at you both suspiciously. “Okay, what happened while I was gone? Did you two decide to call a truce?”

“Not exactly,” you and Jude replied in unison.

Federico sighed. “I knew this was a terrible idea.”

---

That night, you couldn’t have imagined that the spark of hatred between you and Jude would grow into something far more complicated. But in that moment, the only thing you knew for sure was that Jude Bellingham was the first person who had truly challenged you—and that intrigued you more than you cared to admit.

[ray-winters]

I am about to get a lil sappy here, but…I remember when I was in middle school, I was in private Catholic schooling, and I was dealing with the fact that I knew I was gay. I knew this was “wrong” because that’s what I was taught, so I suppressed it and tried so hard not to be. I told myself I’d do what my uncle did, which was push it down, marry a woman, and have kids like I was “supposed” to.

I remember specifically one day, I was home alone, and I knew I couldn’t keep it in for much longer. Jurassic Park was on my TV (weird detail to remember but I do) and I was sobbing on the couch pleading to God to just make it go away, and to make me straight. I didn’t even care if it made me an asshole and changed my personality I just wanted to be straight. I remember thinking it’d be easier to straight up just die than to live the rest of my life this way. Keep in mind this was around 2007-2008, gay marriage wasn’t even close to a reality, I had no positive gay rep that I knew of on TV or in movies, and again, private Catholic school so I was surrounded by homophobia. I didn’t come out for about 3 more years from this point.

I give this depressing backstory so that I can say-

I just woke up next to my husband, he is in the kitchen making us coffee, we have been together for 10 years, happily married for 1.5, and our only plans today are to play video games and then go do a performance of SCREAM’D together. I truly don’t think I’ve ever felt more fulfilled in who I am or what I’m doing in life. I have a great group of friends around me, I feel love & support from people from all across the world. I have truly made a genuine effort to create and portray queer characters almost exclusively and hopefully in doing so given people some representation that maybe they’re searching for. I’m 29 now, and if I could go back and tell 15 year old Ray that everything was gonna work out in its own way and in its own time, I would.

I know it’s cliche, but it does get better. It just takes time. And sometimes, you’ve got to make it better yourself. If you’re struggling, if you’re in a religious school, if you’re in a conservative area, I just want you to know that I know it’s tough rn to keep the faith; but it’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. It might just take a little bit of time. Find likeminded people, whether it’s irl or on the internet, there’s a community of people for everyone. There is a world of love & acceptance out there for you, you’ll find it 💙

[moonshynecybin]

thinking about FCO Rosquez at their first PR-forced public dinner (like a week or two after the announcement, Wednesday or Thursday night) and how their conversation is supposed to go when Marc was dying to talk to Valentino all winter (still has a string of unanswered texts in his phone) but now he’s closed off and Valentino wants to make this work but can’t have them fight in public or be silent for an entire hour, do we think they find a middle ground or Vale just talk about random things on his own or they somehow ignore everything and are able to tell each other about their winter or subjects that have nothing to do with MotoGP or—

court mandated date night nooooo poor marc :(

this is so nuts to think about... like even outside the insane emotional reality of getting outed and the violence of public scrutiny and like. marc having (once again !) his ability to control his own narrative ripped away from him by his association with valentino— which is his LEAST favorite thing (i do think he blames himself for the photos though... like maybe if i wasnt such a whore we wouldnt be in this mess :((( which. marc buddy naur.) on TOP of that he is having a romantic candellit dinner with his ex situationship that he is still in love with. one million points lightning damage. so everyone is extremely strung out at this shitty little date night table (michelin restaurant lbr) and marc has justtttt gone dark on his whatsapp thread with valentino. maybe he is trying to maybe exert some control over his life here in small ways... put up SOME walls in clumsy self protective fashion...

but VALE is like okay. so if this thing between us is public he doesnt want it or want me. interesting. okay im cool im fine im good np who cares i hate him anyway (girl.) and he's also um. kind of reeling from the abrupt reversal of the status quo here tbh. marc has never played hard to get ever ever not once in his entire life. no self preservation on that man 5ever. he's literally always been there giving vale flattering attention and being in love with him !!! so vale is kind of off-balance here being met with some version of the marc marquez freezeout, not sure how to react but missing marc's attention. and he chooses to compensate as he does with most roadblocks in his life: full charm offensive. (he also, in some selfless and tender corner in the back of his mind that he is trying to ignore, just really and truly knows marc is FREAKED and misses seeing him laugh. he wants the evil jajajas.... he will do anything for the evil jajajas....) so he is trying. SO hard to get him to crack a smile. lowkey causing a scene in the restaurant by being such a clown... but marc isnt really biting. is still responding, like they ARE having a conversation, but its nothing like it used to be. clearly he is just being polite. smiles twice ALL night—all wan and pale and beautiful and so clearly exhausted—and vale's mouth gets all dry and his ribcage feels like its going to implode. and of course in response to this he is like wow. my heartburn is going crazy. damn. [chugging wine].

like looking to real life, as awkward as rosquez have been in their years of estrangement, they have always had to share space. for 6 years in that paddock ! that's a lot of years of small talk ! they can have and will do it if necessary... so as the night drags i think marc talks about riding and the season to fill in the gaps... goes home and gives himself a list of regimented rules to stick to when interacting with valentino (i see him texting exclusively the PR thread more as his classically unpracticed self protection style than like. a deliberate fuck you to that end. i cant drunk booty call vale if karen from PR is also there type stuff). that being said, eventually i do think he makes elaborate excuses to BEND these rules bc he still wants valentino's attention. and also his tongue in his mouth. hes like okay! i am only kissing valentino in front of tv cameras if we both podium! and then they DONT share a podium and hes like. okay! it would be WEIRD if i didnt kiss vale after i podiumed even if he didnt! because thats what i would do if we were actually together! [starts jogging across the paddock like a dick-seeking missile.]

[aeligsido]

[WM — September 2024] Prompt 23 — Pensieve.

Rating: G.

TW: none.

Characters: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Lily Evans Potter, Tom Riddle; heavy mention of the Black family in general.

Additional Tags: reality tv show au; the Black have a reality tv show; press; media article; implied prongsfoot in the article; implied James/Lily/Sirius/Remus in the fic; it is very much a thing in this au tbh; a bit of domesticity.

Summary: Sirius Black Returns: A Black Lives Exclusive!

Words count: 691.

A/N: Heya! I got the idea of this au some time ago and decided to have a bit of fun here eheh. I hope you like it! 💕

@wolfstarmicrofic

read on ao3.

-

SIRIUS BLACK RETURNS: A BLACK LIVES EXCLUSIVE!

Black Lives, the most watched reality TV show first in the UK, then in the world, from Pensieve Production, is well-known, and so is the family the show follows. The Blacks, from the late English nobility, started this project almost fifteen years ago, and it had since been going strong. The shows followed closely Walburga and Orion Black (or as many call them, THE power couple), beloved Alphard Black, Cygnus and Druella Black, as well as frequent apparition from Lucrecia née Black now Prewett and her husband Ignatius. Other usuals guest stars were Arcturus Black, the family patriarch, and the five family children: Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, Sirius, and Regulus, whom the show started centering itself on.

Andromeda created the scandal nine years ago when, then aged eighteen, she renounced her family to marry a commoner. (Since then, she gave birth to an adorable daughter!) Four years later — and thus five years from now — the heir of the family himself, Sirius Black, stopped appearing on the show. The family at the time told us the sixteen years-old wanted to focus on both his studies and mental health and as such, was taking a much-needed break. Of course, multiple theories spawned following this statement — but need for it no more!

Just this morning, Pensieve Production announced Sirius Black’s return in an upcoming, special, exclusive season!

“It is with great joy that we are welcoming Sirius back with us,” states Tom Riddle, the Blacks’ manager. “We missed him during those years, but we know how important it was for him. And now, he will, if he wishes so, tell you more about it himself!”

We got more details about this exclusive season as well:

“We will follow Sirius and his brother Regulus on a vacation across the Mediterranean,” announced Riddle — to the glee of quite a lot of us, I would assume! “They will be joined by a few friends, some of which are quite familiar to our long-time viewers.”

Some of those friends are already confirmed. As such, we will greet James Potter (Sirius Black’s long-term best friend, and maybe more), as well as Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and a young lady somes could have forgotten but who appeared a few times in Sirius' last season on the show, Mary Macdonald.

Riddle teased—

“What are you reading?”

Remus startles, his phone almost falling out of his hands; Sirius, thankfully, catches it. Not thankfully, he starts reading the article — and groans rather unnecessarily, if anyone asks Remus.

“How many times did I tell you not to read those?”

“It was in my recommendations?” he tries innocently.

Sirius sends him an unimpressed look.

“James!” he hollers, and then waits; from somewhere on the ground floor of their house, James hollers right back.

“Yes?”

“We need to keep Remus away from Internet!”

“Hey!” he protests, but Sirius just drops a kiss into his hair with a smirk and no answer.

“Okay!” unhelpfully agrees James; it would be it if Lily hadn’t appeared in the doorway, then, a pile of her favorite fluffy towels in her arms.

“What for?”

Sirius waves Remus's phone as if its answer enough. Lily reaches for it, checks the screen, and sighs.

“Oh, Remus,” she says with a soft, concerned tone he hates having directed at him.

“I just wanted to read a few comments,” he mutters.

“It’s my first time and even I know it’s a bad idea,” she notes, handing the phone back to Sirius. They exchange a look, and she nods decidedly before leaving again.

“Easy to say, everyone loves her,” Remus mutters some more. He has grown disaccoutumed of the show and all it entails over the years, perhaps. He’s feeling almost anxious now.

Sirius drops on the bed beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders and embracing him protectively.

“And we love you,” he reminds him softly.

Remus burrows himself against his chest, feeling Sirius’ heartbeat under his ear. “Yeah, I know. I love you too.”

“Good.” Sirius kisses his hair again, tender and fond, and Remus wants to bottle it and drink it every time he feels down.

[multishipper-baby]

Once again asking abt ur eakwynn visions

what are their tastes? in food, fashion, genres, and music?

Eak has a pretty wide palate, but generally he likes his food to be 1) spicy and 2) very meaty. To him, a meal without meat is no meal at all lol. Owynn on the other hand can be pretty picky about his food... He has an aversion to certain textures and can't handle strong flavors, so he tends to gravitate towards a small selection of safe foods and just kind of eats those almost exclusively. Sometimes he'll steal stuff from Eak's plate to try it out, with mixed results.

I don't think Eak really cares that much about fashion tbh- he mostly wears clothes that are practical and unobtrusive without caring too much about anything else, although he does try to maintain a sort of jock vibe? Unless it's a special occasion; because if you give this man any opportunity to dress as a cowboy or wear a cowboy hat, he'll take it, no questions asked. Also! The silly long shoes are very important to me. He can be a little bit campy sometimes... As a treat.

Owynn meanwhile really cares about his appearance! He always tries to stand out at least a little, and enjoys keeping an asymmetrical vibe whenever possible. I don't think he's into fashion in the sense that he follows trends, though- he likes doing his own thing. In fact, I think if anyone assumed he was trying to fit into any type of trend (like idk, scene or something) he'd be offended by people thinking he's unoriginal or a poser lmao. He's a weird guy.

With genre, I assume you mean movies/TV/etc, since you include music separately, and in that... Eak canonically likes watching telenovelas, so there's that. Owynn thinks they're stupid as shit, but enjoys watching them anyway because he finds the overdramatic twists and turns funny. Maybe they'd watch reality shows too, for the same appeal? They're also into police dramas like Criminal Minds and Dexter, especially when they lean more into the thriller or horror side of things. Or just watch straight up horror movies/TV shows. Nonfiction, but Eak also likes watching sports sometimes- most of those don't appeal to Owynn, except for boxing and wrestling. He likes a little violence in his life... Plus shirtless men fighting = sexy. So yeah, one category where their likes actually overlap a lot, for once.

As for music... I actually don't know what kind of music Eak would like 🤔 He gives me the vibes of a guy who has a disorganized playlist with a bunch of random songs from different genres with no rhyme or reason. Probably some rock, definitely some country, unsure of what else. Owynn meanwhile listens mostly to commercial music, since it's the sort of thing he wants to make so he'll succeed- mostly pop and rock and rock pop, with some R&B for flavor. He also listens to rap but he can't rap for shit so, rip. And eventually Eak gets him listening to country by sheer virtue of playing him every single country song under the sun until he finds a few he likes.

[indefenseofkara]

MWII Operator Headcanons: Kortac edition

Hello! It’s time for my Kortac headcanons! I’m doing the base operators that came with the game (except Oni because he’s a playstation exclusive so I can’t play him.) Like before, all images are screenshots from my game.

“Fender” Takacs

momma's boy, in the positive sense

can be loud and rambunctious, easy to view as a "mans man"

but very respectful of women and doesn't tolerate any of that "locker room talk"

the whole "mystery dad" thing has maybe gotten out of control

and when he's drunk he might let slip that he thinks his dad is someone like Reagan or maybe Elvis

or a time traveler. Seriously

“König”

I like the cleft pallet head canon

definitely a guy who crafts

there's already a ton of fan ideas about him, I don't really have anything to add

“Calisto” Allard

thinks she's better than you, but she's right

honestly one of those people who is good at everything and it's just not fair

refuses to look unkempt. No messy buns, no old t-shirts. Even her lounging around or doing chores clothes are high quality and well coordinated

still coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t straight

Darnell “Hutch” Hutchinson

competitive to a fault

seriously, just say "bet I can (blank) better than you" and he's ready to go

really good singing voice, a deep baritone

I think he has sisters. idk why, it just feels right

he’s actually the most meta character because he worked with the Call of Duty Endowment, which implies CoD exists within the world of CoD

Kim “Horangi” Hong-jin

has attempted to bet on the fact that he's a terrible gambler

it did not work

because he is a terrible gambler

can really hold a grudge

dyed his hair blue one time and kinda wants to do it again

likes to paint his nails

Rozlin “Roze” Helms

I like to think that she put Graves in his place a couple times when in Shadow company

like can you even imagine? He'd say some sexist remark and then say "not you/you're different/you don't count" or some "boys will be boys" nonsense

as if Roze isn't ready to throw down on behalf of any and all women in the fucking world

has been the "only woman" or the "first woman" in organizations for so long, and she's sick of it

maybe that’s one reason why she split from shadow company?

Sami “Zero” Zakaria

his call sign is the answer to the question "how much sexual attraction do you feel?"

(I'm trying to say he's ace)

yeah he had his rich party boy days, but that was more of a performance; a persona molded by societal expectations

when not in the battle field he's surprisingly chill

cannot stand low quality alcohol

Declan “Conor” MacConor

this mf-er blinked in my first screenshot of him

will play up the accent to get laid. No shame

if people get annoyed by his filthy mouth he talks about how cursing is a part of his ~culture~

guilty pleasure: reality tv

Tor “Aksel” Eriksen

serious about sunscreen. He's Scandinavian and has scars and tattoos. Gotta protect that skin

definitely owns a motorcycle

probably part of a heavy metal band at some point

he’s one of those guys who will wear shorts and sandals when it’s snowing and tell everyone “it’s not even that cold!”

Salvatrice “Stiletto” Muselli

biggest issue with her scar is that it makes it hard to do covert/undercover work

due to working on anti-drug task forces, she always carries narcan

has definitely threatened to castrate someone. Like holding a knife to their sack and everything

pretty good at giving herself manicures

she’s my fave, tbh

Thanks for reading! You can find my Specgru headcanons here. 

[garbagequeer]

Can you help me im so confused how archie (and everyone listening to him) had those memories for his poem i thought everyone but betty and jughead forgot 😭

bobbyjean asked: Wait a second were those the good memories. the serial killer gene and jason’s corpse. and archie playing football in leopold and loeb juvenile detention center……

well imo you can work with different theories so like

they dont remember these things as things they lived themselves but they remember them as things tabitha showed them the first time they saw the riverdale memories (so like if they'd watched themselves go through these things in tv but not as if they happened irl for them)

goodbye riverdale is back to jughead's narration and jughead is unreliable he's just making shit up (this also goes with the theory that what jughead showed betty was not real but was a fabrication he made up for her as her dying wish was to relive those days with everyone as they were + the fake reality had plot holes because to be fair jughead was like 86 when he died he cant keep track of who remembers the serial killer genes and who doesn't he's busy)

narrator jughead seems to be in control of this episode more than he was before (we see him corporeally and there's 2 jugheads in the end) so the characters' lives have been rewritten to fit the narrative jughead wanted to tell so they remember because he does too and the story belongs to him and not to them (to me jughead is always afraid of abandonment and change so he keeps his stories ones where his friends don't leave or grow + he has been shown to find it hard to come up with anything other than stories about his friends in riverdale in s5 and as bunker/god jughead). for me this also fits with the idea of the characters and angel tabitha trying to break free and narrator/god jughead(s) not allowing it -> town won

they loved these memories they love cults and killing and corpses and gay juvie. the bad memories were like archie not getting his high school diploma or something

from a doylist pov (boring) this meant nothing about the story and was just an homage to their most iconic moments in the show for the audience and the crew. you could twist this a bit to be meta and make something up about the characters behaving as characters and talking willingly to an audience because they exist only in our eyes if you wanted

which are all fun ideas to consider and theyre not mutually exclusive (like it could be jughead taking over the narrative but it could be in a world he makes up just for betty so all the other characters are in the real sweet hereafter but betty went to purgatory pop's because she does remember it all and this prevented her from being able to leave it behind. also archie for sure would remember some of gay juvie he loved the gay parts of gay juvie he told me. and fangs probably had god times at the cult i mean he dated human kevin maybe a love for cults is what they had in common)

to me it stood out as a moment where i was like oh jughead is lying to us for sure. awesome. one last jughead lying to us and trapping us in the cycle forever for the road yippee

[ariel-seagull-wings]

CINEMA'S GOOD FATHERS

@thealmightyemprex @makingboneboy @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @amalthea9 @princesssarisa @bixiebeet @spengnitzed @inevitablemoment @angelixgutz @softlytowardthesun @tamisdava2 @inevitablemoment @theselfshippingwitch

So, the main reason I am so drawn to fiction is that it presents, not as it is, but a way in which it could be better: rather that being content in reproducing the problems in reality, it imagine:

"Alright, so that is what is wrong with humanity and the world right now. Let's make an effort to imagine how to get rid of the wrongs, and show that happier alternatives can exist."

Case in point: the role of father's in society.

We live in a society that is sexist, so we were acustome to think that all the effort in raising and educating children to become functional adults is exclusively of the mother, while the father's should only make the bare minimum, enjoy only the fun aspects of interacting with the child, or even don't be present in their child's life at all, so we tend to treat father's abandoning their children as a given, rather than act shocked or indignated (like likely most would act if the situation was reversed and the mother was the one doing it).

Sometimes that would even be treated as heroic too: how many times we heard stories of man who go to die fight in wars, while their wives stayed at home, pregnant, with no guarantee that their husband would return alive to meet their children, and heard this situation be treated as a beautiful story, rather than something sad!

In a lot of fiction (movies and TV shows), this backwards kind of tought was usually seen as the norm: people usually went to watch movies and shows waiting for the father to be some deadbeat character who either does the bare minimum or even nothing, sometimes constantly complaining about how having children ruined "their lives", while mother characters have to carry the pressure of being the voice of reason.

And if the father was portrayed as decent and present, that would be received with just a shrug and the comment of: "Whatever, he is just doing his basic obligation."

But actually, going to how started this text, since the role of fiction is to present a world that can be better than what we have, when making an effort, we can actually examples of GOOD fathers, who don't think than being a father is just making the baby and putting his surname on the birth certificate, but actually goes trough the effort of being always present, learning from trials and mistake, doing sacrifices to take care of his children, loving and being proud of their child even if not always agreeing with them and having to deal with family conflicts.

Those characters are GREAT, and should be more praised, so we encourage more man with children to be more like then, instead of comforming in doing the bare minimum and being seen as dumb.

And maybe, they can inspired more writers to create father figures like them, instead of constantly reproducing the Absent or Dumb Dad tropes as a norm.

Here are GOOD examples of father's in film who I want to highlight.

Gepetto from Disney's Pinocchio (1940)

Going back to the year of 1940: the whole movies starts because Gepetto wished for a child. He was poor, and single, and yet this didn't stopped him from creating a little puppet boy and begging for a star to turn the puppet into a living person. The night that the star (the Blue Fairy) concedes the wish to give life to Pinocchio, Gepetto is at first surprised, but fully embraces the now living puppet as his son. In his first day as a parent, Gepetto makes a mistake of sending Pinocchio alone to school, and the puppet boy is manipulated by two strangers to go into more dangerous paths. What Gepetto does? He waits the whole night, without eating, and decides to go in search of his son, even sailing the sea and getting swalowed by a whale on the way!

You can feel his sadness when he thinks that he will never find Pinocchio again, the joy at the moment that the two are reunited, not even letting the weirdness of the donkey tail and ears disconcetrate him, the fear for their lives when they set fire inside Monstro, the grief when his son apparently dies saving his life, and his renewed hope when Pinocchio is ressurected and turned into a flesh and blood boy.

Gepetto longed for a child, and moved heavens, land and sea to make that dream come true. It wasn't easy, yet he never expected to be easy, and he never gave up in frustration. This is what makes him such an inspirational father figure.

Guido Orefice from Life Is Beautiful (1999)

This movie may be unpopular in America, but in Brazil: most of us love it! I atribute this to the fact that in Brazil, humour historically was a very important way to cope with misery and opression, so we indentified with the lenghts in which the italian jewish man Guido Orefice used his sense of humour to protect his son when the two were turned prisoners of the Concentration Camps: deep down, Guido knows that he will likely die. He is not a fool who thinks that all is alright, and soon it will be like nothing happened. But he doesn't want to sucumb to despair: he wants to fight for his son to live, and his way to do so is making sure that little Giosue believes that they are in a game of imagination. All the time he hides the little boy from guards, makes sure that he has enough to eat, keeps him close, and finds way to comunicate with Dora, his wife and Giosue's mother, to encourage her to also fight to continue alive. When he is caught by a nazi soldier, searching for his wife disguised as a woman, the last moment we see Guido alive, is him smiling and winking at a hidden Giosue: he is walking to his death, happy, because he knows his son is safe and will be free!

Guido Orefice teaches us a lesson that there are more ways that father's can sacrifice themselves for their children, while still being present and participant in their lives.

Nurullah from The Breadwinner (2018)

"When I was young, Parvana, I knew what peace felt like, here in the city. Children went to school, women went to university. All day empires forgot about us, for a while at least."

A wise, well-learned former schoolteacher, who lost his leg in the Soviet-Afgan war, and whose young son Suleiman died when mistaking a bomb by a toy, Nurullah struggles to make ends meet for his family. He becomes a peddler, selling his family’s non-essential belongings and valuables (most notably a dress that his daughter Parvana never wore) in the street in order to bring food to the table. Despite of this, he maintains a cheerful outlook on life and works to pass down his knowledge to his children, to whom he teaches the history of their country in the form of stories.

After his arrest by the Taliban, his daughter Parvana takes up the mantle of breadwiner under the disguise of a boy named Otesh, and tells stories like Nurullah does to keep everyone's spirits up.

The climax of the film is when Parvana goes to the place where Nurullah is imprisoned, where a shooting is happening, to rescue him.

Nurullah can be astute, tricking a Taliban soldier who was harasshing Parvana to think that she is already engaged to another fiancee. But in reality, he wants his daughter to have a childhood, to play with other children and go to school, and hopes that someday she will graduate, have a profession, and know a world of peace. The only reason he becomes absent is due to being unfairly imprisoned, but when he has the chance to choose, he is always there for his family.

Ebi from Persepolis (2007)

Based on the real life father of cartoonist and film director Marjane Satrapi, Ebi at first starts as someone who is underestimated by his young daughter.

The family lives trough the political turmoil of Iran between the 1970s and 90s, and Marjane at first sees other people's fathers and uncle as strong figures because they directly dealt with persecution, imprisonment, torture and death.

As the years pass, and Marjane sees the ways both Ebi and her mother Tadji find to try helping people more directly involved in activism, while still working to keep a sense of estability for the family, she comes to understand that her father is one of the strongest people she will ever know.

While all this happens, Ebi doesn't forgets his humanity and vulnerability: he encourages his daughter to be resilient when he and Tadji sent her to take refuge in Austria, so she can survive the war between Iran and Iraq, while also crying to be separated from her.

He could have flaws, like a bit of pride, but they never overcome Ebi's love for his daughter, and his convictions for what is right.

Goofy from the Goof Troop franchise (1992-2002)

"There are times you drive me, shall we say, bananas

And your mind is missin', no offense, a screw (none taken)

Still, whatever mess I land in

Who is always understandin'

Nobody else but you

So your jokes are all, let's face it, prehistoric

And your music sounds like monkeys in a zoo

But when life becomes distressin'

Who will I be SOS-in'

If you're having trouble guessing, here's a clue"

Goofy's name means that he is bumbling, but there is something that makes his bumbling personality standout from your typical bumbling character: usually, bumbling characters are hopeless idiots who don't care for anything or anyone around.

Goofy is the oposite: he cares for others, specially to be a good, present father to his son, Max. He may comit misunderstandings, be a bit impulsive, and his son may find him embarassing, but there is no denial that Goofy never regrets having a son: he really, really LOVES being a father, and will give up anything if it means the chance to share moments with Max.

Maurice from Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Maurice is a bumbling inventor who sometimes has his had on the clouds. But his passion for his work never comes above for his love for his daughter, Belle. He is always supportive of her, just like she is always supportive of him. When she takes his place in the Castle of the Beast, Maurice gets desperate. He runs to the town's tavern to beg for help, but his cries are mocked as madness. This makes him give up? Nope! He goes walking alone trough the woods, facing a snowstorm that makes him ill, determined to rescue Belle!

No wonder Belle is always determined to make everything to save her father's life: we are constantly shown that Maurice values her, and will even sacrifice his health for her. Their reunion, when she takes care of his health after finding him passed out in the snow, is one of the most touching moments in film!

Fa Zhou from Mulan (1998)

What I find touching by Fa Zhou is that while he has strong belief in traditions, and has expectations that his daughter follows them, we were soon shown that his love for Mulan could go above those expectations: when Mulan returns from a failed meeting with the matchmaker, she is very embarassed, fearing his disapointment, but rather than reprimanding her, Fa Zhou comforts her, comparing her to a flower that will soon bloon.

There is a conflict between then when Fa Zhou thinks that he should sacrifice himself in a war for the concept honor, yet is clear that their fight is painfull for both of them, and Fa Zhou shows regret for their fight when Mulan takes his place in the Army.

When Mulan returns, bringing victory presents from the War hoping that will honor the family, Fa Zhou doesn't care for honor anymore: he ignores the gifts, and goes to hug Mulan, glad that she returned home alive!

How can't someone not be touched when Fa Zhou that his greatest gifts are having Mulan as his daughter?

Pacha from The Emperour's New Groove (2000)

That man can embrace the world: he is a loving husband to his wife Chicha, a good father to his biological children, the trusted leader of his village, and even assumes the role of being the moral guide to Emperour Kuzco, teaching him to care for other people's well being and calling his selfshiness out!

Basically: he is the father, brother and husband that everyone dreams to have.

Stoick from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise (2010-19)

Stoick's arc is incredible to watch: he starts as someone who is sad, stuborn and emotionally distant, grieving the disappearance of his wife and dealing with the fact that his son Hiccup is not what he expects a viking to be. As the two movies and TV show progresses, we see Stoick grow, learning how to comunicate with his son, understanding his different point of view, and accepting him as an equal partner in leading their village, by working together trough their different methods of solving problems.

A father doesn't need to be perfect, but is important that they become conscious that they are flawed, and can always learn to be better, specially with the help of their children's perspective.

Searcher Clade from Strange World (2022)

The botanist and farmer Searcher was abandoned by his father, the explorer Jaeger Clade, when he was young, because of their differing dreams in life clashing.

Because of that, Searcher goes to great lenghts to be a good father to his son Ethan. However, his trauma of abandoment causes problems in their relationship when Ethan grows interested to become a explorer: Searcher fears that his son will abandon him, like his father did.

As their journey trough the subterranean world of Pando progresses, Searcher learns to accept that while present for his son, he can also comit mistakes as a parent, and apologizes for trying to force Ethan to follow his path as a farmer, like his father once tried to force him to become a explorer.

Searcher tells about his fears, and learns to accept that Ethan will forge a different path for himself, but will never abandon him.

He also finds his father Jaeger, and gets to call out how much he hurt him, before the two can slowly start to reconcile.

Strange World is a great movie about how different generations can both enter in conflict, yet learn from each other's perspectives, and explores both flawed ways of parenting, and alternatives for father's to become better.

Is a shame that the studio Disney didn't promoted the movie, and let it go under most people's radar.

[batteriesandflashlights]

only got 4 ntbts episodes left i'm gonna scream and cry and etc.

some thoughts on some episodes i watched since last time i did a post like this. under the cut because i typed a lot and also this has a target audience of pretty much exclusively the guy who got me into the show. thanks so much btw i'm obsessed

a spoiler but i'm not gonna say the context or even what episode it was. matt is a manipulative little sneak and i love him. hate him. love him.

The bit in The Blindside when Matt is rambling about the transphobia in Mrs. Doubtfire while Jay is going behind his back and hiding the nintendo 64 from him. Accurate depiction of my brain

The bit in The Big Time when Kevin Smith shows up. JAW DROP (<- view askewniverse fan)

The end of The Bank felt like ascending out of reality and then getting punched in the face. Loved it. I'd post a clip but it requires the whole rest of the episode for it to make sense

funny how my stance earlier today was "i'm fine with mattjay but i don't ship it" but after The Burger. Matt wanting to kiss Jay is like 60% of the episode premise and I'm not joking come the fuck on. I was gonna let platonic bros be platonic bros but the show is forcing my hand. Matt thinks he found a way to grant wishes and the first thing he asks for is being able to go back to the plan that relies on him and Jay kissing. Get real

the reality show esque editing in that episode was a lot of fun, would be annoying if they kept it but just for that one it was good

🎶 If you're a guy 💙 or you're a girl 💗 or maybe you're something different 🤍 (no not different they don't like different) ❌ it has to be a ✨genderless burger experience✨............ *SNEEZE*

Jay's acting was way too good in The Boost. like I can't explain it but he was so good especially at acting tired. So me

The Boost felt like a really fast episode (fitting since it's about a speedrun) but I'm not sure if it actually felt fast or if it was just me watching an episode straight through without pausing and unpausing a million times like I did with The Burger

the amount of times i say "MATT NOOOO" while watching this...

sometimes ntbts episodes are like. here's the episode (22 minutes) and here's the same episode if Matt told the truth / was upfront about his thoughts from the start (5 minutes) this is about The Buddy. I don't mean this as a negative

THE BOOK WAS SUCH A FUN EPISODE i don't wanna risk spoiling it for anyone but yeah. the special effects were shockingly good for a small tv production like this. the acting was also significantly good (referring to one bit in particular) but you don't need a budget for that. The Book got me giggling and kicking my feet

^ i got spoiled on it cuz i saw fanart and some comments on said fanart and i kinda wish i got to experience it with no expectations but whatever it's water under the bridge. i enjoyed the episode regardless

Of course I loved The Book. It's a halloween special. They did their intro in the style of Treehouse of Horror. Yippee

The intros to each episode are always so good I love them

Is Jared getting more acknowledgement in these episodes or am I just noticing it more

Is there a subtitled version available anywhere? I mean, not for me, I get what they're saying just fine 99% of the time, but I was thinking about getting into making subtitles for things and I might start with this show if no one else has done it

[damnfandomproblems]

Rounding up a few asks regarding Fandom Problem #5724 and ensuing replies.

Anon: (replying to this ask)

you are engaging with the fiction in a purely diegetic sense without thinking about how it interacts with reality. yes, vulcans are not autistic. but Spock was written by human writers, based on their experiences in exclusively human culture. Spock is not autistic in the canon of star trek, but it is absurd to claim that he was not inspired by, nor is metaphorical for, autistic experiences. also, what does Dan Olson's character have to do with the validity of that hypothesis?

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

Anon:

Response to the headcanons asks. The issue I personally have is when people claim their "character X is autistic" headcanon is canon. There's this TV show where one character is thought to be autistic by a lot of people in the fandom. He is not autistic in canon. People just think he is due to certain traits of his. Which would be fine, except if anyone ever says they find the character annoying, or they dislike some of these traits of this character, these fans jump up and call you ableist. By all means, have your headcanons, but you don't get to make accusations against people just because they dislike things about a character that you identify with.

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

Anon:

Hi, the "Spock is Human and Vulcan" anon that I think I started the whole ableism argument thing here. I realized I didn't explain that last part very well and want to clear it up. The ask was a rant about how the submitter omitted facts about Spock's heritage in order to justify why he can't be autistic, which to me came off as both racist and ableist (because intersectionality! You can be multiple things lmao). Disagreeing over headcanons is valid, but when you use racist and ableist arguments to do so, then it starts to be a problem. And I question why some people get so upset about neurodivergent fans seeing themselves within a character. Also, perhaps we should bring back the term "allegory". I'm not actually an expert on autism so I'm not going to diagnose Spock or make headcanons, but, I can acknowledge that he can be an allegory for autism because of the traits he exhibits, his behaviors, and challenges he faces, which people, and especially autistic people, can relate to. It's like how Jadzia is a transgender allegory because of the way in which her species and culture works, even if she herself isn't transgender. Once again, it shouldn't be used against fans who do headcanon a certain way, but idk maybe it can clear up confusion?

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

Anon: (replying to this ask)

Autism can be a huge part of peoples' identity, but that OOP person said "leave labels out of it" because that's literally what people are doing with characters: labeling them as this or that. Categorizing them. As autistic, or as anything. Surely that's obvious? "Label" isn't being used as a dirty or reductive word here. I'm bi and the word "bi" is still a label. It's a way to quickly explain what I am without having to wax poetic. Stop reading in bad faith. From your responses to these asks, it's happening a lot.

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

Anon: (replying to this ask)

I don't wanna make it seem like I'm taking an harmless joke post super seriously and I'm not really saying this AT that anon, but it just reminds me of a thing that's been bugging me, the fandom trend of going "what if actually the minority group were the MAJORITY group! ^^" (i.e. "everyone is neurodivergent" "everyone is queer" etc) Just 'cause it's kind of like. Missing the point? "A (relatively) small group of people struggle / are discriminated against because they're not understood or society was built without taking their needs into account, who largely confide in each other because they're able to find common understanding, which they often can't find elsewhere." If things were "reversed" the same issues would still exist, it doesn't actually fix or improve anything. Speaking as someone who IS queer and neurodivergent.

[insanityclause]

Zoe Saldana stars in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"SOURCE: MARVEL

That’s not to say Marvel — along with all studios and streamers — doesn’t face some hurdles going forward. But the nature of those obstacles for Marvel are frankly pretty obvious; it’s mostly things Marvel has overcome before; and regardless of those issues and the need to address them, Marvel is still actually doing pretty good right now even amid the problems they’ve had.

So let’s just unpack what’s really going wrong, and what it means for Marvel Studios.

The situation with actor Jonathan Majors — the star of several Marvel films and streaming shows, as the MCU’s time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror — is that he faces multiple accusations of abuse, and is scheduled to stand trial for one recent case. After that case was initially reported, other accusations surfaced, as did previous public statements from years ago by performers who asserted accusations of abuse were already circulating about Majors.

So yes, Marvel will almost certainly recast Kang. Lucky for Marvel, the character literally exists across a near-infinite number of alternate realities where he takes different forms and changes appearance. Likewise, Marvel has had to recast characters in the past, just like lots of other franchise or TV/streaming series. This isn’t brain surgery, and the framing of this issue as something that could sink Marvel’s whole future plans is frankly nonsense.

Just one great example, Marvel could offer the role to John Boyega (who I’d argue should’ve been the top candidate for the role in the first place). Or maybe Denzel Washington as an iteration of Kang who sat out the in-fighting and collective efforts of the rest of the Kangs and grew older and wiser as he made his plans to take over. Or maybe Ray Fisher could be offered the role, if Marvel wants to poke DC and WBD while scoring a great casting option.

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Or perhaps Marvel could offer the role to Leslie Odom Jr., Lakeith Stanfield, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Daveed Diggs, Stephan James, or any number of other fantastic casting choices to take over the role of Kang in the MCU.

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The point is, the worst part of the situation with John Majors is if the allegations are true and women suffered this abuse while Hollywood ignored it. The casting “problem” is small potatoes by comparison, and is easy to solve.

So let’s look at the financials now, since a central claim to the “Marvel is in trouble” narrative is that the studio is struggling at the box office while streaming is an unpopular mess.

At the box office, it’s true Marvel hit a high point with their back to back releases of the two-part Avengers conclusion to the Infinity Saga. The $2.79 billion from Endgame and $2 billion from Infinity War elevated the final global gross for all 22 films in that saga to more than $20 billion, for a per-film average of around $935 million.

In 2018 and 2019, the MCU put up the following numbers: Black Panther hit $1.34 billion, then Infinity War topped $2 billion, then Captain Marvel scored $1.1 billion, and then Endgame took $2.79 billion. Ant-Man and the Wasp at $622 is the only MCU film in those 24 months that failed to top $1 billion.

Since the Infinity Saga ended, Marvel’s releases have taken north of $8.1 billion across 10 movies so far, with a Multiverse Saga per film average of about $815 million. The difference between $815 million and $935 million is not insignificant, but nor is it disastrous, and it’s certainly not hard to understand why it’s happening.

The 2018 and 2019 slates for the Infinity Saga benefited from a decade of build-up, and it was those last four (out of five total) blockbusters topping $1-2 billion each that provided the final heft and resulted in an even higher per film average. We are only in the first half of the Multiverse Saga to date, and so far we haven’t had a single Avengers movie in this new saga, while as noted the Infinity Saga ended with a one-two Avengers punch good for more than $2 million per film.

And then the fact of the Covid pandemic alone accounts for most of the rest of the downturn in Marvel Studios’ average box office performance. Even during the Covid pandemic, when films were flopping or going straight to streaming/PVOD, Marvel’s three releases that performed “badly” due to the global health crisis still managed to finish between $379.7 million on the lowest end and $432 million. That’s better than the DCEU can perform even after theaters reopened and box office started its climb back toward something resembling “normal” — at least for the right films, since 2023 has been a roller coaster ride for theatrical.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed earlier this year and wound up the weakest performer of that franchise at $476 million, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 scored blockbuster results with $845.5 million.

Indeed, Vol. 3 is currently the fourth-highest grossing movie of 2023, both domestically and worldwide. And for the record, as disappointing as its box office was, 2023 has been so cruel to theatrical releases that Quantumania is still a top-10 box office performer.

We’ve seen one would-be blockbuster tentpole after another face-plant or otherwise disappoint, and often when a tentpole has managed a healthy box office performance it’s at a more moderate level than expected or typically enjoyed by the given franchise and/or its prior financial trajectory.

Other than Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, nothing else truly put up top-tier results this year. Fast X topped $700 million, but is fourth film in a row from the series to suffer a decline from its predecessor’s box office gross, and the lowest box office for the franchise since 2011’s Fast Five, so it’s a mixed bag there.

Besides that, 2023 saw three films in the $500-600 millions range, four in $400 millions territory, and a couple of $300 millions.

The makeup of the top 10 this year looks like this: Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Little Mermaid, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Elemental, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Notice, there are three Marvel superhero movies in the top 10. Yes, one of them underperformed, but the point is that it seems silly to talk as if audience are in any widespread or large scale way turning away from superhero cinema, or that Marvel is somehow reeling from a downfall and have lost control.

The Marvels is currently tracking toward a shockingly low debut this weekend, with most projections pointing to a $130-$150 million global opening. Without at least average holds, the film could struggle to get past $300-400 million. On the other hand, I think tracking has proven pretty unreliable these days, and I believe a significant part of these disappointing numbers is the fact a lot of people are confusing this film with being another new Disney+ Marvel show, or think it is coming to Disney+ as a film soon. There’s also the general 2023 ongoing curse to consider.

But regardless, The Marvels should’ve been a home run sequel. While we can point to the unethical shenanigans and toxic behavior of fans and of certain organized hateful online voices obsessed with attacking women-driven movies or shows, if this film flops or underperforms rather than merely suffering a downward adjustment consistent with the genre overall (which would mean a box office for The Marvels in the $700 million range, I’d say), then it’s entirely fair to call it a big stumble for the studio.

The large-scale tainting of superhero cinema by the DCEU’s overarching failure the past several years (eight films in a row across five years, all failing to reach $400 million and averaging in the roughly $250 million range) coinciding with the Covid pandemic and theatrical downturn, coupled with a leveling off — not uncontrolled free-fall or any other hyperbolic situation — of Marvel’s must-see “event” status in the aftermath of their 11-year Infinity Saga’s conclusion (and lack of any Avengers team-ups for four years and counting) has no doubt reduced the dominance of the superhero genre and audience’s previous high-level anticipation.

But that sort of heightened “event” status is impossible for any franchise or genre to maintain, and no serious person expected the genre or any one studio’s piece of it to be some perpetual ever-increasing profit machine

Neither Marvel nor the genre in general need to treat the usual ebb and flow of primacy in entertainment as if it’s some major crisis threatening the existence and profitability of the studio or genre. That’s just the natural clickbait mentality driving entertainment journalism. We should be able to report on and assess such situations without resort to exaggerated portrayals for melodramatic purposes, nor parrot claims from those with obvious incentives and ulterior motives behind any of that sort of hyperbolic claims. We know better, but that doesn’t mean the profession behaves better, and so we get clickbait and studio drama delivered up like silly reality TV, and everyone pretends not to recognize it as the nonsense it usually is.

Marvel has to recast a major lead actor, something we’ve seen plenty of times by studios and projects, including literally by Marvel themselves on more than one occasion. Marvel’s first two films of 2023 grossed a combined $1.3 billion in box office. Even if The Marvels only does about half the box office of Captain Marvel — a vastly bigger drop than the Ant-Man franchise experienced, but let’s just use a 50% dramatic decrease to make the larger point — the MCU will have grossed a total of about $2.45 billion for 2023, an average of $815 million per film.

If that figure sounds familiar, it’s because I mentioned it earlier since it’s the per-film average for the MCU ever since the end of the Infinity Saga. Marvel settled back a bit from the high per-film average of $935 million, and for four years we’ve consistently seen this same new average level of performance for their films. Again, not insignificant as a drop, but in context it’s easier to understand and recognize as not a sudden emergency situation, and I suspect most studios would be happy if they could average north of $800 million per film on average every year.

And let’s face it, once the latest Avengers movies hit the radar, we’ll see the average per film gross go up during those years, just like always, and in the long run if the two scheduled Avengers movies play at the $2 billion level, that will actually result in an increase in the final average per-film gross for the Multiverse Saga, just as those huge Avengers box office grosses at the end of Infinity Saga seriously raised the saga’s per-film average.

This is all fairly predictable, within an obvious margin of error but not frankly too far of deviation. Which doesn’t negate the fact of the downturn in average performances, but rather puts it into less histrionic perspective as solvable problems for a still overwhelmingly successful studio that’s seeing per film averages still far superior to what any other studio can claim.

On streaming, where audience trends and preferences have likewise evolved during the Covid era, Marvel

First we got the ABC broadcast series: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Inhumans. Want to take a moment to recall how did those all fair with audiences and critics?

Then came Netflix's slate, with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, and The Punisher — half of those got mostly good or great reviews, a couple got mixed to negative reviews, and along the way different seasons of a given show had their ups and downs. Many fans and reviewers bemoaned the general lack of tie-in to the cinematic releases, a point that's amusing in light of how the same reviewers and fans completely reversed course a few years later to bemoan the fact the newer MCU shows often try to tie in to the MCU.

So next up are The Runaways and Cloak and Dagger, shows with younger casts and less direct connection to the rest of the MCU, but both were short lived and appeared on two different streaming services.

Which brings us to the MCU shows on Disney+, overseen by Marvel Studios itself and consisting of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If...?, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Secret Invasion.

While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and What If...? received mixed reactions, WandaVision and Loki got generally good to great reviews, as did Hawkeye and Moon Knight.

Ms. Marvel likewise received strong positive reviews, aside from resentful fans mostly motivated by racism or sexism who bashed the show (the same way angry bigoted fans harassed Brie Larson and tried to manipulate online reviews for Captain Marvel, and to this day engage in bizarre conspiracy theories pretending movies with women leads are secretly propped up by studios buying up tickets), and the same mob of boys and men perpetually upset that everything isn’t just a mirror reflecting themselves were incensed that She-Hulk dared make fun of them for being immature, bigoted, and all-around goofy.

Granted, She-Hulk did often have what looked like rushed and unfinished CGI, but it was also still miles ahead of most TV CGI and it didn’t detract from the entertainment value of the show and was generally fine. (Yes, plenty of folks just didn’t enjoy these shows, and I’m sure it’s entirely a coincidence that for many of them it always happens to be women-led shows that bother them or are declared “meh”).

Secret Wars is the most recent new MCU show (besides a new season of Loki), and it got mixed reviews that lean mostly positive but still point to trouble in the decision-making to develop the series, questions about

The point of all of this is, Marvel’s had a lot of superhero shows for a long time during the reign of the MCU, and the shows have tended to mostly get good or great reviews, while often suffering complaints of inconsistency in tie-ins vs stand-alone abilities, or iffy VFX, or questions about who is in charge and why certain decisions were made. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s a broken record of reality at this point, the sort that gets mentioned as if it’s a new development any time someone is pushing the latest version of the “sky is falling” narrative.

Not that there aren’t issues needing solutions. The budgets are too high, and Marvel — like many streamers — is discovering it’s simply not sustainable to spend $20 million or more per episode with rushed production schedules and increasingly unreasonable demands on VFX workers.

But the shows themselves are so far working and working pretty well, if you aren’t focused entirely on social media debates and media exaggerations. Most every MCU show on Disney+ has enjoyed positive reception from critics and viewers, enjoying good (and sometimes record-setting) viewership. Fixing the problems for the Marvel streaming plans is not really any more difficult than fixing the theatrical issues, because it’s easy to identify the problems, easy to see where the problems arose, and easy to see what is necessary to end those problems.

Nobody foresaw the Covid pandemic (or at least the extent of it) or the utterly shameful, failed public health response it elicited from governments and organizations that are paid and entrusted to prevent or deal with such crises. Marvel was caught off guard like every studio, Marvel suffered the same box office downturn as every studio, Marvel leaned into streaming like every studio, and Marvel is now having to make adjustments to adapt to the still-evolving environment theatrically and in streaming.

So media and fans and others in Hollywood pretending this is some shocking, Marvel-specific situation are making disingenuous claims, and they should know better. Most probably do, but the truth is more boring than doomsaying — and with everything else in the world falling apart, clickbait and hyperbole are the best way to get attention for entertainment news during a drought (caused by few new films/shows releasing, and the likelihood of strikes dragging into next year because studios put money toward bonuses, yachts, and private jets rather than pay artists, writers, and performers living wages from a fair share of the revenue they generate).

Marvel will recast Kang, they’ll reduce the number of shows and films in production at a given time, they’ll get budgets under control and allow more time for VFX work, and they’ll refocus on the approaches and measures that worked so well in the past to determine which projects to greenlight and how to return to the sense of a big shared world the Avengers have to team up to save.

Luckily, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four reboots around the corner, Marvel has a couple of big teams with lots of potential for precisely the sort of storytelling Marvel does best at the blockbuster level. They could even simply move toward a post-Secret Wars setup that lets Fantastic Four, X-Men, and a handful of other existing popular franchises carry the Marvel brand forward for a while.

We will also probably see the temporary return of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson reprise their popular MCU roles for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and/or Avengers: Secret Wars.

And looking at the upcoming slate, it’s not hard to see there’s plenty of reason to feel confident Marvel will continue to enjoy success, even if it’s at a slightly moderated level due to the myriad factors we’ve discussed, including the idea that superhero genre films are settling into a more consistent long-term level of popularity and performance from now on.

The next four years brings Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, Blade, Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars, and at some point thereafter Armor Wars and the X-Men. Of these films, the two Avengers movies are likely to be blockbuster hits, as is Deadpool 3. Captain America: Brave New World is an established franchise, lacking the original series lead but with a continuing cast and brand that I think are enough to avoid any significant downturn in box office, even if we see some drop from the peak levels of the Infinity Saga.

Blade and Thunderbolts are the riskier properties here, but the former is a previously successful cinematic brand and the latter is a team-up movie including some recognizable characters and stars. Still, this is where we might see more underperformances. Fantastic Four could likewise either perform at a blockbuster levels, or might wind up in the $700 million range, but as a key property getting lots of attention and must-work oversight, I think it’ll avoid being a problem.

Armor Wars as an extension of the Iron Man movies — and possibly/probably coming after we see Robert Downey Jr. again in some Avengers action — should perform well, and X-Men is a known successful brand getting an MCU reboot and polish as a big team franchise including younger cast members, so I think it’ll at least be capable of playing at the Guardians of the Galaxy level, if done right.

This isn’t a debacle, it’s not doomsday, and Marvel isn’t in disarray. The internal difficulties they’ve faced are frankly typical and easy to identify and solve, as much as everything else we’ve discussed here. The bottom line is this: we’ve seen Marvel Studios kick off with a big hit in Iron Man and an outright flop with The Incredible Hulk, after which Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor performed at okay levels but didn’t set the box office on fire by any stretch.

We got the original Avengers movie off the strength of Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and to really help put this into perspective I’ll point out the average per film box office of Phase One was $634 million. Phase Two’s per film average was $876 million.

Marvel worked hard to build what they created, and it’s a tremendous historic success full of ups and downs that so far have ultimately maintained an impressive level of successful across a large slate of films and series. To look at this history, this math, and think Marvel Studios is in deep trouble, struggling, or never really was very good to begin with, is unreasonable and contrary to the data and any serious considerations.

[lunar-years]

Now youve got me thinking about Jamie having essentially a public breakdown and his Dad has convinced him that he is good at only 2 things- football and being objectified, so he flees doing the thing he loves to go on that show in the desperate hope that it'll make him feel something

I’ve been enlightened by these tags:

That this is apparently just a thing actual footballers have actually done (which, literally what on earth 😂). Just goes to show that I do not follow sports nor reality tv.

Anyway—in my head, which loves to read everything into nothing and exclusively watches this show for the characters, it’s more along the lines of what you said re: Jamie having a breakdown. Also I think it’s interesting that he literally blocked Keeley’s number?! Almost like he desperately wanted to reach out and talk to her but he convinced himself it would be a bad idea (either because of Roy or because of his general inability to ask for help or maybe because she might have told him the truth and that scared him) so he blocked her number and literally had no friends and no one to talk to and then just. Left. Again, thinking thoughts…

[hyperfashionist]

A Spoiltastic Journey

through the Entire Space: 1999 Canon

up to "Odysseus Wept"

Preface

Go straight to Story 1: Eternity Unleashed

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Me:

SPACE: 1999 WAS A FLAWED BUT ULTIMATELY UNDERRATED TV SERIES THAT EXPLORED HUMAN NATURE THROUGH MAGICAL WORLDBUILDING IN A SPACE-AGE GOTHIC UNIVERSE AND ITS 2000s REVIVAL IN THE POWYS MEDIA BOOKS MIRRORS THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL

I have just speed-skimmed the final three Space: 1999 novels in the Powysverse, including Odysseus Wept, the canonical end to the original characters' storyline, and the end of the book series altogether since it went permanently out of print last month.

I have thoughts.

Pull up a chair, bring a packed lunch. Maybe a sleeping bag.

But hyperfashionist, you say, what is Space: 1999?

It was a syndicated TV series by Gerry Anderson that first aired in 1975 and lasted for two seasons of 24 episodes each.

The premise of the story is this: Moonbase Alpha is a self-sufficient settlement, on the Moon (funnily enough), inhabited by 311 scientists. On September 13th, 1999, nuclear waste stored on the moon blows up and hurls the Moon out of Earth's orbit, and the Moonbase and its inhabitants are forced to blunder through the universe in a "playing pool with planets" situation, continually looking for a habitable planet to settle on, and whingeing because they can't go home.

In 2001, the series was revived in book form by Powys Media and the story was written and rewritten into a chronology ending with the novel "Odysseus Wept", published in Spring of 2023.

In an alternate universe, Big Finish recorded several episodes, both original and new, as audio dramas. Being officially licensed, these can reasonably be classified as canon, albeit canon outside the more internally-consistent Powysverse.

Exclusive! hyperfashionist speaks out

It is time for me to break my decades-long silence on this matter and tell everyone the absolutely real and true history of Moonbase Alpha, from the exclusive point of view of me, an inhabitant of the base whenever reality gets too much, which is most of the time. The Moonbase is my happy place.

This is not a respectable closet to come out of, so I'm putting all my faith in your ability to refrain from kinkshaming. Recreational cannibalism was one thing, but I'm aware that I'm truly sticking my neck out here.

The very best critic to consult on Space: 1999 (or anything, really) is John Kenneth Muir, because he actually observes the material he's reviewing, not the material he assumes he's reviewing. Additionally, he is the author of two of the three best Powys novels in my opinion, and we'll be discussing those as they come up.

What This Review Series Will Include

Spoilers. Lots of them.

The TV series has been off air for some four decades now. The Powys book series is out of print, is not available in electronic format through any legitimate channels, is not held in any libraries, and is extremely rare on the aftermarket because it was printed on-demand. At this point I might as well spoil away. I'll put all the spoilers under a cut, but you have been warned.

What This Review Series Will Not Include

Haggling over realism, at least not scientific realism

You may have noticed that the show's premise is wildly unrealistic on its face. Yes it is. I don't care.

You may also notice that the unrealism of the show just caroms on and on, from nuttiness to outlandishness and back again. I still don't care.

Okay, some explanation

Not that it matters, but there is an explanation for why this show takes a passing glance at the laws of physics and decides it wants no truck with them. Originally, the show was meant to represent the origin myths of a later civilization descended from the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha. That's why it's not worried about portraying stuff that's physically impossible to the point of being ludicrous - that stuff is not the point of the story.

The point of the story, as JKM explains, is to build a world, pull you into it, and make you feel what it might be like to be part of that world. It succeeds or fails according to whether or not you feel compelled by it.

The TV series accomplished this primarily through production design, as JKM's linked article explains. The Powys books that succeed, succeed by a combination of plot and characterization.

It's all subjective, of course, and not everybody has the receptors for it, just like not everybody can smell freesias. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Any Truck With The Whinge Wars About Year 1 versus Year 2

There is a famous and never-ending dispute between the devotees of the first series (Year 1) and the second (Year 2). It's usually the first thing anyone talks about. It's boring. I'm not going to argue about it. It's a matter of taste.

Okay, some explanation

There are good reasons why people have this strong preference for Year 1. When the second series began, several major characters had disappeared with no explanation. Additionally, the genre, production design, pace, and tone of the show had radically changed. This upset a lot of people, and they never really got over it. Not to mention that there is at least as much to criticize about Year 2 as there is about Year 1.

There's also a lot right with both seasons, which is why I bother to watch it.

I should add that I had the opposite experience to most viewers. Where I lived, Space: 1999 replaced the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show in its regular timeslot, and I was disappointed and skipped the first episode.

The following week, rather than complain that it wasn't Bugs Bunny/Road Runner, I tried watching Space: 1999 and was hooked.

The twist was, the first season I saw was Year 2. Year 1 was shown *after* that, and lo and behold *my* favourite characters had disappeared without explanation, and the genre, production design, pace, and tone of the show had radically changed - but in the opposite direction from how most people experienced it. I was disappointed and confused, but I lived with it. It was my show for a reason - it was worth watching. More than that, it was the highlight of my week.

The Bottom Line

De gustibus non est disputandum.

I actually like Space: 1999. Actually I love it. I loved it when I was a little kid, and I love it now I'm a grownup. I know it's got enormous flaws and is often cringey and ludicrous and I will probably burst into flames of embarrassment numerous times during this review series.

I still love it.

I love it WITH its flaws, not in spite of them.

You can't explain love. You can only surrender to its power.

Next Episode

Tomorrow we'll be discussing the first story in the chronology according to Powys Media, which is Eternity Unleashed by William Latham.

It's going to be a very short discussion because I don't have the book, may never have the book, and most certainly won't be able to get the book before tomorrow unless this post is seen by someone out there who can help me.

Nevertheless, I can still find a couple of things to say, so that's where we're going to start.

Go to Story 1: Eternity Unleashed