#maybe if i make an 80's Version of this i can go with that idea... hm....... might fit better too... we'll have to see don't quote me

[todayisafridaynight]

'tumblr if you snipe the quality of another post of mine im going to break into your cellar and ruin all of your wine' translation: click for better quality

80's version

[queeranotkira]

Death Note Killer Within Gameplay Theories (post your ideas in the comments)

What sort of gameplay do you think Death Note Killer Within will feature? Reddit has theorized that it will be Persona-esque in nature (I've never played it though personally). I doubt you’ll be playing as Light Yagami, that’s too redundant, so likely a custom character.

Maybe it'll be a visual novel format with multiple endings/routes? Or more Telltale-esque where *all* of your individual choices majorly impact the story development and events during gameplay?

Do you think the setting will still take place in the early 2000's because even the latest one-shot acknowledged it would be infinitely harder for Kira to kill in this modern digital landscape, what with search algorithms and AI and social media already profiling criminals? Although there are definitely still ways to effectively conceal your online presence, it probably wouldn't be as fun in a gameplay format. Murder mystery games (see Higurashi) are best if set in the 80's/90's/early 2000's.

Playing as Kira and killing criminals/FBI agents/cops and trying to minimize suspicion all while you navigate maintaining a façade of normalcy as a high school student? Choosing who to trust amongst your friend group and who to select as loyal followers? Figuring out who to kill and when to kill amongst your allies if there's a possibility of them betraying you or other meddling people you know? If it's people you're personally acquainted with the stakes and risks rise and you run the likelihood of being found out (like a superior version of Yandere simulator).

Creating an army of controlled "zombies" to do your bidding for 23 days or less in ways that don't shed suspicion upon you. Figuring out which ways to go about disposing of the criminals you've profiled. A suspicion meter that could be influenced by your action, inaction, and interactions and which people you choose to kill. Kira Game has trust and suspicion meters as well. A Danganronpa style debate mode where you attempt to vouch for your innocence or frame someone else.

Figuring out ways to bribe your shinigami to make him more cooperative. You run a risk of the shinigami killing you if his boredom meter exceeds a certain limit. A mode where you try to appeal to your accomplice Misa-esque girlfriend by taking her on fake dates to butter her up to you.

Trying to eliminate fellow notebook users all with the end goal of claiming L's position and power for yourself? Having other notebook users trying to usurp your position as Kira or change the public's perception of Kira's influence and goal, tarnishing his image. Having a criminal organization find out Kira's identity and target him and his family because they know the notebook is being used against them and want it for themselves?

Having a family member find out that you're Kira and the unique barriers that would pose.

Certain modes where you have to figure out how to use the Death Note to achieve a specific outlined goal.

Or like the Kira Game it could also give you the option to play as L to track down Kira? Dispatch and coordinate FBI agents? Even work alongside Wammy's House alumni and your successors to corner him? A psychological mind battle/debate mode? Also a fansevice mode when playing as L where you can select from a series of homoerotic methods to keep Kira under surveillance (including chaining him to you).

Maybe you'll have the option to play as a random student at Wammy's House if they were to become Kira. I'd personally love it if there were a route/option where you could play as Mello if he were to stumble upon the notebook. Mello wouldn’t use the notebook out of a sense of justice, but might get roped into thinking he could assist L indirectly by cleaning up scummy people. Near suspects he’s doing killings but Mello can’t kill him because of his successor status, so he has to find creative ways to conceal evidence of his doings from him before he reports it to L, all while fighting to maintain his position as second best at Wammy’s House.

Or playing as Mello directly after he leaves Wammy's House and helping him rise in the ranks as a top dog mafioso, taking down rival gangs and gaining the favor of Rod Ross using the help of the notebook. Even enlisting Matt to aid him in the process. You either play as Mello or play against him if his criminal org decides to target you and kidnap a family member. Even an option where Mello goes up against the original L, being Kira as his successor, trying to kill him to take his place.

The possibilities are endless!

[tacticalhimbo]

Happy Valentine's Day @monarch-boo ! I come to you courtesy of @gtafest , and as a fellow Gay Tony lover, to bring you this sweet treat!

I loved all of your prompts, and hope I did this one in particular some justice! <3

WORDS: 1.1K FANDOM(S): Grand Theft Auto 5/Online WARNINGS: Brief Mentions of Drugs and Alcohol (No Substance Abuse)

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Let me know if you’d like a more permanent copy of this, too! I’m always happy to provide a PDF version of the writings I do!

[NEOCITIES MIRROR]

With this new nightclub schtick in Los Santos, Tony figured he had it good. Sure, the person fronting the operation was a complete enigma that frankly confused the shit out of him–half the time it was hard to tell if they were pleased or pissed about a sale–but they were effective with what they did. So much so that it was no surprise when they’d mentioned creating a partnership with the El Rubio. Because of course they would! What could possibly go wrong when offering your services to one of the–if not the–most notorious drug traffickers out there?! Surely nothing important, not when you were casually working behind his back to plan the heist of the century by taking advantage of a very thin alliance.

If he were honest–and he was–Tony despised the idea. It was much too reminiscent of… everything that went wrong in Liberty City. Sure, most of that was his fault, but it was still nerve wracking. And the bubbling anxiety was only made worse when his business partner invited him along to the island getaway.

“Kid, are you sure–”

They simply tilted their head and shrugged their shoulders, turning their palms up as if to ask what was the worst that could happen. Tony’s arms crossed across his chest.

“I’m just saying, getting into bed with these kinda guys–fun as it is–only comes back around. You’re sure you can manage keeping the act up?”

An affirmative nod. Tony’s eyes couldn’t help but roll as he threw up his hands.

“Alright, fine. But I’ve already told you: I’m not good with a gun. If shit hits the fan, don’t expect me to take any shots.”

[...]

And that was how Tony ended up standing on the compound’s veranda, sun setting on the island coast as a few guards stood silently by the door. Tired eyes found the energy to bounce along the courtyard below, watching as his business partner putzed around with the Madrazo kid and his pack of lovely ladies. Patrolling guards seemed to ignore the festivities for the most part, sparing brief glances before continuing their rounds. Partygoers of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds danced to the blaring beats. Just beneath it all, Tony could hear the door to his side open, and out stepped the man of the hour.

“Oh, hey! Surprised you are not down there enjoying the party. Seems more your style.” 

“If it were the height of the ‘80s, maybe.” Tony laughed. There was a bitter edge to it, though it was almost sentimental. Still, he played it off as a simple jest. “Not exactly my style now.”

“Ah, I see.” El Rubio stepped forward, waving his guards inside. They gave each other an uncertain glance, but did as told. “Still drink?”

A curious glance; a subdued shiver seeing that they were truly alone now. Well, at least if he died here it wouldn’t be embarrassing on account of there being one sole witness. Maybe two. Surely there had to be snipers somewhere. He squinted over the rims of his sunglasses toward the setting sun, subtly checking the horizon. Nothing… damn, either they were good or this guy was way too confident.

“Course I still drink.” He grinned. It wasn’t confidence; it was business. Selling the visage of confidence to stand on his own feet. And, thankfully, it worked. At least it’d seemed to. 

If it didn’t, El Rubio didn’t make it clear from the way he’d simply stepped over toward the corner of the veranda, gesturing for Tony to follow. Leading him ever so casually to the set of patio furniture and bringing his attention to the fancy bottle and glasses that awaited them. Bourgeoix, a relatively popular choice in Los Santos, but this one seemed... richer? At least where cognac was concerned. Upon closer inspection, as the two found themselves seated, it was richer–aged. Sourced directly from the French commune of Châtellerault in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and not some manufacturing plant that claimed it was 'tous originaux.'

“Fit for a Prince.” The casual repetition of the company slogan created pause. If one listened closely, they could swear there was a lingering sense of… something within El Rubio’s voice. Something much too intimate for Tony to let himself linger on. Especially when accompanied by that sly grin and knowing twinkle in his eyes.

So he simply glanced at his current companion, letting an awkward laugh slip. “I get it, very funny. Well, this ‘prince’ appreciates the gesture. This is an original bottle, no?”

El Rubio nodded as he poured them each a glass, raising his toward the setting sunlight once setting the bottle down to admire the vibrant color. “Of course it is! All the fucking money in the world from the business I do; why would I waste it on cheap shit?”

Another fit of uncertain, though concurrent, laughter. Laughter which was quickly drowned by the other’s chattering. There was an odd pleasantry to their idle chatter once the alcohol carried any lingering anxieties out to the shimmering sea below. It flowed away like the deep amber of the cognac sloshed into their glasses, transferred from bottle to mouth with hardly any care in the world for the luxurious price tag that accompanied it. Tony eased right back into his chipper state of mind, quick to jump into the conversations El Rubio presented. They laughed, they sighed, they found themselves reminiscing on the days of hard drugs and incessant clubbing, as well as those beyond that. About the quaint, relaxing days. Those that El Rubio–who Tony learned was actually named Juan Strickler in this moment–spent idly golfing whilst visiting the Madrazos. Those that Tony spent wishing for something more to come out of his miserable little life; it did come, of course, and chased his happy little ass all the way to Los Santos…

And now, to Cayo Perico, where the irony was suddenly not lost on the cartel head. Hours passed, the sun set, and the party below went on with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Rather, things were just getting started by the sound of it.

“Say,” El Rubio began, leaning on the elbow that rest on the table between them. “You dance?”

Tony peered over the edge of his glass, brow cocking as he’d swore he caught another sign in his companion’s expression. Rather than run away from it, he leaned into it. Mirrored the gesture of resting on the table as he set the glass down. “Of course I dance. Wouldn’t have gotten into the nightclub business if I didn’t appreciate the art of it.”

A grin. “So, let’s dance.” An offered hand, which Tony boldly took.

[tartrat]

2025 week two songs review

i forgot to do last weeks lol, i'll get around to it. This is a good week

Vogue: April's back! Love that the mentioned her by name in the teaser. This time shes left the 80s behind and is now in the 90s lol. She does look a bit more mature in this one, probably to reflect that the song is a 90s song as opposed to IWDWS being 80's. Even with how the store she's in has changed now selling more cds. wonder if any other coaches will appear in the background like they did. I kinda want to draw April now. They have temporarily privated the preview lol, probably because it said it was the ballroom version by accident.

Vogue (Ballroom): At first i thought the lighting looked weird but then i watched it again and it looked normal. Do we know who the dancer is? i'm guessing either one of the choreographers or its someone whos apart of a collab. I know nothing about the vogue style of dance, but this looks like its going to be sore on the arms. I find it weird when there's an actual human in the games because i'm so used to seeing the regular coaches that when the likes of Ava Max or annother real person show up, it throws me off.

Something I Can Feel: They said on twitter that this one incorporates sign language into it as the singer is deaf. It's really cool to look at, dance looks fun as well. At first i thought that this could be the forgotten queen before the events of human, but the more that i look at it the more it looks like the dancer is performing to an audience. Its nice when we get songs like this. I also really like the jump they do, its just satisfying to me.

Yeah!: This ones so funny to me for some reason. Like he's trying to be serious, but he isn't and comes off as more cute than anything. Looks really fun though. Love how he goes into the ddr machine for the chorus. The more i watch it the more adorable the dancer looks and the more he looks like Tyler from Sk8er boi, maybe it is him but we probably won't know until Just Dance tells us his name or posts a meme tomorrow. Can't wait to get the gold move to get a YEAH on YEAH!

ranking:

1 Something I Can Feel.

2 Yeah

3 Both Vogues

Last week i felt that they chose the most random points to cut the previews off at, where as this week it feels like they chose the right parts to end so you still get a good idea. This is a fun week

I love how the coaches that have been returning get updated looks. Like lady citrus from last week is so vibrant and The bride's original look is so clean looking now. Even April, who first appeared last year, now looks like shes adapted to the change of the 90s. Honestly i really like how coaches have been returning as it makes them feel like actual characters. Its also really funny when they bring the most random coach back like did anyone know that Captain Crimson was the coach from Jump in the line before it was mentioned in his lore video, then you go and check and it is the same guy, only more ravaged.

They still haven't updated the 2025 playlist wth this week's and last week's songs.

[dimalink]

Vi Aliens – white visual look Vi and space

It is vertical space shooter. About aliens. Based on science fiction tv-series. Such as Visitors 80s years. So, I am, personally, a fan of style 80s. Vhs tapes. For example.

Space shooters – rather typical game genre in videogames. Age of 80s and 90s, at least. When games were two dimensional. Side view or top down view. All of that, always, was very interesting. Some planet. Or space. Aliens can be very different. Cyborgs. Or some creatures. It was, always, big interest to get to know - what is next. What it will be a next level.

I remember very well a visual side of Ufo sausages, so white color. So, pure white light. At the background of black space. Ufo sausages - white. Crystal white. And space is black. And, only, stars shines with a white light.

These kind of Ufo sausage were shown very good in tv series Visitors 80s years. There were, even, a fragment when a big Ufo sausage is waving above a city. It was a vey big by its size. And, mainly, design of space ships – interesting theme. Star Gate Sg1, also, good to remember.

So, here it is my design. With impressions after that things. And, so, white color. As a part of design. White or little gray. Few, a little, very a little. Letter V. Latin V. Just like Visitors. But, in my case there is no meaning. Simple visual effect. Latin Vi. Vi Aliens. They are Vi. Should be like this. Science fiction. Action. Space shooter.

I, also, remember some white space in videogame Dead Space. There are scenes with so white color. And space. White corridor and space. Door of the space ship is opening. And, something like, white corridor. Black space above. And, so, white corridor. Something like a tube. But, at the top - it is black space.

And at the low – white as a surface of space ship. Monsters, there are in those places. I remember it very good. So, I decide to make with white color solution, also, a game. So, it is about impression. In part of visual ideas.

Egypt ships. It is theme of science fiction and Egypt. It is, also, can happens. It is Star Gate Sg1. Pyramids are something like flying in space. Maybe even part of ideas goes after Star Wars. Retro episodes. It is, also, interesting sci-fi action. Let`s take this triangle big ship, for example.

New in this vertical shooter. It is bonus system. Several bonus. They have a numbers. Digits. It is so little cubes. With size 15 x 15 pixels. They are flying in space. So, cubes. As Nes games. You pick up one of them and get something interesting. Bonus.

Digit 1 – it restores life. You again with 100 precent of life.

Digit 2 – it is triple laser.

Digit 3 – It is Side C laser.

Picking up these squares, you restore health. Or get upgrade.

And, here we will have 4 bosses. And 1 megaboss. Logic of behavior it will be little another. With compare with previous game (Free Linear Space). Bosses here – it is a big size alien ships. They are big and have their own path on the game screen. Which is on repeat. And, some of them, have a random element. Go to one side or another – random selection. And there are - that moves by certain path. As on rails. So, also, they are exists in this game too.

Basic Pascal version 1.17 "BLOCK" – most newest version. In this version there are 4 new games! Platform Ball, Cabin Pilot, Free Blocker, Free Bee. And even more retro games! It is a pack of retro games with modern versions of Basic and Pascal.

It is now in development new version Basic Pascal pack games. This game will be included in a new version.

Basic Pascal: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/packs/basicpascal/index_eng.html Website: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/home_eng.html Itchio: https://dimalink.itch.io/basic-pascal

[toaarcan]

I mentioned in my Bold New Moebius post the other day that Miles is one of my favourite Archie Sonic characters, so I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on that.

Bear in mind that the more I talk here, the more likely I am to go into pure "I made it the fuck up" territory, because he was a very underutilised character in canon, and that means I'm going to be doing some heavy interpreting and stretching. This is how he appears to me, after all.

The obvious first point (one I even made in the previous post) is that he's a Starscream-type, and that's one of my favourite villainous archetypes. Some little shit of a bad guy who sits there going "I could do better" and often has kind of a point, because the main villains they're working for tend to be a bit... dim.

Miles usually working for Scourge is a prime example of this. He's a genius, and Scourge is... not. Remotely. They work in very different ways, Scourge being loud and explosive and prone to self-sabotage, while Miles is more sneaky and subtle.

But what gives Miles so much potential is actually something unexpected: His fear.

Miles is often regarded as a coward, and I used to hate this. After all, being afraid of Super Scourge is a fairly reasonable stance to take. At the same time, framing Miles as someone who talks a big game but is kind of a wimp when cornered does fit as an inversion of Tails' lacking confidence and braver centre.

But the main reason I think this is actually a fairly good trait for a villain is that it compounds with his intellect.

If Miles is a genius who really, really doesn't want to get punched in his smug face, then he should be very cautious in his schemes. He has the intelligence to make his plans in such a way that he's always safe. His plans have contingencies. His contingencies have contingencies. Even if you thwart and foil the first six layers, maybe the seventh will catch you out. Even if you stop him from achieving his objective, he's already escaped.

Miles isn't a villain who can show up every few weeks with another crazy scheme and get foiled. He's the sort of villain that only shows up rarely, but when he does, strap the fuck in, because even getting close to stopping him is going to be a challenge.

And despite the Sonic series' propensity for genius antagonists, none of them have ever really tried the "Master planner" angle. The most genius plan we've seen from other villains in Archie is Mogul going "I'm immortal and you're not, so I'm just gonna wait until you 80 and then win."

Finitevus is a genius, but while his plans are good, they're not hugely intricate. He tends to resolve his problems by way of overwhelming force, and his ultimate goal is worldwide genocide by way of burning the entire planet to the ground.

Eggman... look, as much as I dislike Ian Flynn's version of Eggman, whom I find an incredibly confused character, I do think he's got a good point about Eggman being a fuckup. The SEGA game version of Eggman is the guy who responded to one Gizoid going into murder-mode and nearly killing him by immediately building another one, which then proceeded to go into murder-mode and nearly kill him. He constantly unleashes other threats that he cannot control (Chaos, Shadow, Emerl, Gemerl, Dark Gaia, Zavok) and then acts surprised when it blows up in his face.

The guy is a scientific and mechanical genius with the foresight and planning skill of a cranefly. It's weirder when his plans don't backfire on him.

And that means there's a niche! There's a type of villain that Miles can fill, a character who uses his intelligence not for the creation of doomsday weapons, but to concoct a plan that will take every last scrap of Sonic and co.'s determination to overcome. Additionally, Miles has another trait that works in his favour: Who he's a counterpart to. After all, in Archie, Tails has a grand destiny and unmatched power that is simply... never used. For anything. Gallagher introduced the idea, and Penders waffled on about it and dragged it out and changed his mind about what it was meant to be, and then Flynn ended it in a really weaksauce way.

So basically, Tails had a big role to play, and ended up fulfilling his destiny about three times, and with the final one it was mostly done for him, by a machine, that he was being used to power, but he was mostly unconscious, and he had help from Shadow. And then Flynn said he lost all of his powers except flight off-screen, but it was never shown and that's intensely lame so I ignore that part and so should you.

But... Miles is an evil counterpart to Tails, and the antiverse appears to have just as many Emeralds (or Beryls) as the Prime one has. There's no reason Miles can't also be a Chosen One. In fact, it stands to reason that he is one. And while Tails briefly had all the power of all the Chaos Emeralds in the universe, and gave it up... what would a villain do with that kind of power? Certainly nothing good.

On Moebius, the Great Harmony is a doomsday prophecy, and Miles is at its centre. And that feeds into another one of my favourite villain tropes, "The Chosen One exists and it is explicitly a bad thing."

And we'll round this out with another villain trope example, because Miles is an absolutely amazing candidate for the Villainous Breakdown.

I love it when a bad guy reaches the end of their rope and just fucking loses it. Maybe they start begging for the mercy they never showed others, maybe they lose control and just start viciously attacking everything in sight, determined to take the hero down with them. Whatever form it takes, it can be immensely satisfying.

And Miles, a genius schemer who really, really does not want to get the crap kicked out of him, would play out this trope beautifully.

Now if only they'd actually done something with him in Archie. Or maybe it's a blessing in disguise that they didn't, given the standards most Archie villains were at by the end-stages of the preboot.

[roniarose]

Guardians 3 thought dump

Aaaah i actually liked an MCU movie for once

The Guardians were kind of the perfect team to go up against that type of villain, a team thats taken two movies to learn and are still in some ways learning that their differences and flaws are what makes them a family, up against someone who sees those flaws as a failure to be discarded. All of the Guardians spend a lot of time across all three films trying to escape how others view them, so this antagonist really feels like the perfect choice to culminate the trilogy

Also man the russos took a fat wet shit all over gamoras arc and james gunn still managed to salvage it and make it work, I was fucking terrified the whole movie that they were gonna end up together when thats literally impossible with this gamora, But gamora calls out quill immediately in this, and tells him thats shes not that person he so desperately wants. Peter still at least has the arc that he was meant to have regardless of gamoras fridging, where he needed to realize that hes projecting what he needs from other people onto those people, especially gamora. The movie still hints that they COULD end up being together, they just both need to spend time becoming more actualized versions of themselves. And peter needs to resolve more of his emotional baggage and sexism.

Its funny because from the way 2 ended its really obvious that gunn had planned for them to be together in 3 but that basically got ruined when she got tossed into the infinity stone pit. :/ i’m glad gunn was smart enough to realize that trying to redo 2 movies worth of relationship buildup across one movie was a bad idea

Lets see what else

Oh, hey Nathan fillion, long time no see! I’m glad you finally got to be in a story about a ragtag found family in space that didn’t end up getting canned, and i think the fight you did in the building that looked like a middle school science textbook illustration rocked, 10/10 keep rocking the Michelin man fit

I like that Adam Warlock is a big dumb idiot man that carries a pet around and listens to king crimson because its super obvious gunn had no clue what to do with him but had to have him there because the mcu continues to be an ever expanding nightmare mess. 10/10 no notes

Obviously the i am groot reveal was cute, and also a kind of cycle break that didn’t feel forced or like it had extra gravitas added to it, the reveal that the audience is part of the family now just gets to be a simple little moment

I love that nebula gets to be relatively more relaxed in this movie on the whole, she honestly deserves it, let her sip her lil sodie pop.

I loved Draxs lil dad moment in the third act as well, and how it ends up forcing nebula to learn that emotional intelligence is just as vital to have a practical intelligence. Up until that point she really underestimated him and a lot of the rest of the team because she had been taught by thanos a lot of the same things our villain believed, that theres only one kind of way to be, and that only perfection and results matter. She ends up learning through the guardians and drax that we each of our own individual strengths and perceived flaws, and that real perfection is in the culmination of those forces in our lives. I thought it was nice :)

The last thing i can think of is that I liked how a series defined musically by track from the 70’s and 80’s ends off with a track from the 2000’s. A way of communicating subtly our characters aren’t trapped in their past anymore. Great stuff

Anyways thats what i got atm, if you stumbled on this and are wanting more mcu stuff, sorry to disappoint, this is prolly the last mcu thing i’m checking in for unless something reveals itself to be more interesting in the future. I wanna try and talk more about other things tho, so maybe you will like those posts!

Testing this out

[scarlet--wiccan]

“time-god Tommy” doesn’t feel like a fan-theory thing to me. Whatever collected edition of the YA I read first (I’m sure lots of other people did too) talked about how the concept behind tommy was someone who had as much potential as Billy but didn’t really use it (I’m badly paraphrasing but I know it was something along those lines). Between that and all the in-universe concerns about how powerful Wanda’s kids could be I feel like that’s always kind of been like, almost canon. Not necessarily as a “time god” but something at least on par with Billy’s reality warping/demiurge status. Of course there were various fan theories (the demiurge is only them combined, Tommy is destructive where Billy is creative, time god/space god stuff) but ultimately it seems like they were thinking about op Tommy since the beginning

It hasn’t really been portrayed well (nor has the David/tommy relationship which I care about infinitely more than power levels or feats :/ ) but I feel like. Nothing really has from YA except Kate? Billy’s power and status is super unclear too with the utopian parallel retcon. If they’re going to address any of these issues (except d/t that can and maybe should happen in an x book) it would be in a new YA or SW book. My hope is that SW returns after SW&Q and they give at least an arc to Tommy (and/or Billy and/or David)’s development

For one thing, if it's not in the text, then it's not canon. Heinberg's early scripts and pitch documents get passed around a lot in this fandom, but there is A) a lot that was obviously changed between those early drafts and the final version, and B) several notes that are just weird or in bad taste. I don't think it makes sense to put stock in those documents.

The idea of Tommy having greater powers than we've seen is completely within reason, and I think it's something that should be explored for both him and Pietro, especially after all of the retcons and new developments that have happened to the Maximoff family. Orlando has teased that he's going to expand on Pietro's and explore his abilities in SW&Q, so I'm looking forward to more on that front. And I've said this a million times already, but I do think that the Demiurge thing needs to be recontextualized and redefined, and if they wanted to pull from those 80s and 90s storylines about Wanda's babies to do it, that's great, too!

I called out the "time" thing specifically as fanon, and fanservice, because it is. That was a very specific and recognizable reference to fanon, which it sounds like you're aware of.

[devonsrugbyexgirlfriend]

Jess Watches // Sun 26 May // Day 242 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Sweet Kaaram Coffee (with mum) 1x03 A Different Beat

The women experience a blast from the past and a shock from the present.

I wonder what happened between Kaveri and her school romance. Does she see her past relationship through rose-tinted glasses or was it really that magical? Maybe an idealized version of history to help cope with her present.

Frasier (with mum) 6x11 Good Samaritan

Driving home one night, anticipating his son Freddie's visit, he stops to help a woman stuck in the rain--and discovers that she's a sex worker.

Always be kind and help other people when you can. It's basic human decency. And ofc Frasier wanted some grand recognition smh.

Upload 3x02 Strawberry

Nathan and Nora struggle to make their relationship work, while Ingrid tries to make the best of her second shot at love.

Several highlights: Luke tenderly sculpting Nathan's head out of clay 👨, Nathan and Luke 80's-themed wrestling 🤼, a.i. school 👩🏿‍🏫, the many teated cow 🐄, Luke swapping out memories with cartoons 🐲, Ingrid whispering mean things in her angel's ear 🥵.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo Ep 4 The Strife of the Three Brothers

Dong Geu-ra-mi seeks legal advice from Young-woo when her father unknowingly agrees to take on a massive debt. Kwon Min-woo broods in resentment.

Dong to the Geu to the Ra-mi is an excellent best friend. Being the most helpful and supportive at all times. Seeing how affectionately Junho looks at YoungWoo and suggesting date ideas with a wink. Fist bumping her mum in quiet celebration of the court case going their way. The best of besties.

[background-noise-headache]

Thinking about a Steddie 'Beauty and the Beast' AU

In this Steve is the beast/prince, and Eddie is Belle. Still 80's era in my head.

Instead of 'Belle' being admired for her beauty but other-ed for her interest in reading and fantasy, Eddie is other-ed both for choosing to present himself as a metal head and for being unwaveringly vocal about his interests and beliefs.

Gaston is Jason Carver, but it's prejudice that motivates Jason's harassment.

With Steve, the curse has transformed his appearance to something monstrous. I picturing more Beelzebub from Good Omens and less werewolf, mostly because the Upside Down's 'aesthetic' is mostly centered around decay and grime. So Steve, constantly covered in grime no matter how much he showers, covered in puffy red sores. Maybe black veins and eyes like Geralt from The Witcher?

The curse forces him to stay within one location. In my version of this AU, it's his house but it could also be the Upside Down in different AU. From the outside the house looks perfectly normal but on the inside it looks run down like the Creel house.

The curse also made the entire town forget he even exists.

I haven't decided if everyone aware of the upside down has been cursed to forget Steve too, or altered their memories to believe he's dead, or if they're also stuck inside Steve's house with their bodies transformed.

I don't like the idea of them being transformed into household objects to serve Steve. Instead I imagine them transformed into animals-- think dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, etc. depending on their personalities. Or, transformed into toys/dolls (I'm reading Porcelain Steve by alittleoff on AO3, it's good) that can move.

It's really up to how angsty or comedic you want to make the story. The tragedy of Steve feeling abandoned, maybe not knowing that the party has been cursed to forget him or believe he's dead? Or the found family vibes of Steve always being the babysitter who happily takes care of his found family no matter what?

In Beauty and the Beast, the prince is cursed because he's selfish and cruel. But it's not as though the Upside Down has ever needed a reason to make anyone's life hell. However, if you want some character arc like that, you could go with pre-season 1 Steve.

Or, Steve's character arc is about learning to trust someone and open up to them, and believe that he's genuinely loved.

How does Eddie get stuck in Steve's house? I personally like the idea of Eddie running from Jason and friends and slipping into Steve's backyard to hide, and then breaking into the house because Jason is getting too close.

(come on, no one in this fandom believes Wayne would ever leave Eddie behind. He'd sooner die trying to save Eddie and his freedom)

The original Beauty in the Beast fairy-tales are about Belle's purity and moral strength, how she's offered the opportunity to leave with the promise of returning and chooses to come back anyway.

And the Disney version is about both characters opening their hearts to accept the other-- though in Belle's case it's about accepting Beast's flaws and appearance while being charmed by his personal growth, and Beast learning to be kinder and less selfish, to the point where he lets Belle go with no demand for her to return because he values her happiness over his own.

My version is also about acceptance, but specifically how Steddie canonically have these preconceived notions about who the other. They have to learn to look past stereotypes and personas and recognize that someone's inner world is more complex than you'll ever know. It's about allowing yourself to be your most honest self with someone else.

[gosiksmallspace]

get to know me

Tagged by the amazing @godotismissingx, thank you so much! ❤️

do you make your bed?

Yes, every day. I keep a pile of clothes on it during the day (the pile moves to the chair at night). It’s just easier to put stuff on it when it’s made.

what's your favourite number?

7. Or 9. Not sure. I like the shape of these two.

what is your job?

I will answer that as soon as I get one.

If you could go back to school would you?

To high school yes. I had a great group of friends and it was fun. 

I wouldn’t go back to middle school though. People there were awful there.

can you parallel park?

In theory yes, but in practice better not.

a job you had that would surprise people?

The most exciting thing I did and I got money for was to stand in the forest at 3 AM as a field game supervisor. I told people to make equations with matches. Good times. Even if I got bitten by bugs. Not sure how surprising that is. 

do you think aliens are real?

I don't rule out this possibility. I just think that we are not worth it to be visited. And they probably don’t want us visiting them. If we can’t take care of our situations and planet, why bother theirs?

can you drive a manual car?

Automat is not really popular in here. We mostly have manuals that I can and do drive. 

what's your guilty pleasure?

I love crime shows.

tattoos?

None.  

favourite colour?

I love colors in general, especially vivid ones. And pastels too. Choosing a favorite is hard. 

Maybe greenish-blue? Or orange. 

favourite type of music?

Depends. Mostly 2000-2015 pop. Also some 80s and 90s classics. K-pop too. And versions of the popular songs played on violin.

do you like puzzles?

Love it. I wish I had more space for them.

any phobias?

Bugs. Graphic images of bugs. Where you can see all their parts. Ugh.

Also, I really hate when something is done to eyes. Like the idea of the finger touching and eye or eye operation scares me.

favorite childhood sport?

I was into baseball because of the anime Diamond an Ace lol

do you talk to yourself?

All the time. It’s motivating. And helps to set a plan for what to do next. Or just commenting on the situation.

what movie(s) do you adore?

The best of the best: The Merciless. It’s my whole personality for the last few years 🤣🤣🤣

coffee or tea?

Tea. Hot one, iced one, black, fruity, with sugar, with honey, with raspberry syrup. All are good.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

A doctor or police officer. I wanted a job that would help people or bring justice. I had a really idealistic mindset as a child. And then you learn that world isn’t exactly that simple.

Tagging: @daxianme, @yardmargs, @frayed-at-the-seams, @inashoe, @chaos0pikachu, @katierosefun, @sofarraway, @try-again-bissh, @bobafvcks, @aphilosopherchair

[honda-hatch]

On Invincible "vs." The Boys

A ramble that is 100% subjective and in no way objective

It's kinda goofy how these two properties got melded together by the cultural zeitgeist that swept both of them up at similar times. Both were on Amazon, both were violent, both were seen as parodies of the current trend of superhero media (which, depending on who you ask, was starting its current downward slide in 2020 between the pandemic damaging theatre-going on top of 2019's Endgame).

Now, both Invincible and the Boys were originally post-9/11 comics, but frankly, I have no idea if these two would have been compared in their original release timeframe (with Invincible starting in 2003(?) and The Boys in 2006(?)). Now, the The Boys started in mid 2019 and Invincible in 2021, yet you'll still see memes of both used here and there (even if the Boys has three seasons and Invincible is only coming up on its second now), and I'll still see people trying to compare them, as if they're similar.

See, I never really saw it that way. The Boys (both versions of it, despite their differences) is a satire of comic book superheroes. Garth Ennis infamously hated them, and post-9/11 was full of jaded comics and media (particularly horror movies). Even if we were far from the comical violence of 80s action and horror, post-9/11 is when realistic violence and torture porn came into vogue. In my opinion, the comic is terrible. Nobody is particularly likable, it's jaded to the extreme, and is filled with lots of sexual violence, and a borderline pointless resolution. I watched and enjoyed the first two seasons of the show, but I never felt compelled to watch the third after seeing that they were going to be messing with compound V and everything (much like they did in the original comic). Now I'm not denouncing the show as overall bad because they made a creative decision or whatever, it just made me ponder why I opted to tear through all of the Invincible comics in three days instead of watching The Boys season 3.

I think, oftentimes, extended satire can kinda lose sight of what its doing. Either it just becomes self-parodying or just kinda burns itself out. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think intense genre satire works better when its in a limited form, whether it be a limited series, a movie, or a oneshot issue/episode. It allows itself to covers everything it wants, make all the jokes it needs to, without requiring a greater investment.

I'm not saying that's a surefire way for things to work, of course. I'm barely a creative. Maybe I'm just spewing bullshit. But it does connect to why I enjoy Invincible so much in comparison to it.

Now, the Invincible comics are far from perfect. I am, admittedly, a Robert Kirkman fan, but I can't understand how he managed to write so many incredibly poor female characters in the series. There are plenty of flashes of brilliance (namely stuff like Eve's origin and a lot of Monster Girl material, but I digress),yet overall, the female characters come off as foolish and overly vulnerable, which is especially ridiculous in Eve's case. Still, Mark and his father are riveting characters. They make mistakes, they learn from them, they grow, and they have complete arcs. The comics do a great job slowly expanding the universe into something that feels like it could be expanded upon, and yet, it doesn't *need* to, and has a great ending. Even having an ending is an achievement for many pieces of serialized material, and Invincible's left me genuinely content.

The show, so far, is measurably better than the comic, with Kirkman seemingly growing from his previous experiences (or perhaps just having a clever writing room that knows how to polish his material well). Women are actually three-dimensional, and not just through breaking character! What a revelation. But the real wonder of it all is the fact that Invincible remained what it was, even in the current era: a more mature superhero story.

It's not really a satire overall. It pokes fun, parodies classic heroes, sure. But Mark's story is genuinely one of becoming an incredible superhero. Yeah, there's blood, there's gore, etc, etc. But ultimately, Mark's story is about becoming stronger to save people. Not just his whole planet, but the universe.

There is a more genuine tone to The Boys TV series. There is an idea of taking down The Man that seeks to screw over the commonfolk, but revenge takes center stage most of the time. The same idea of revenge that Ennis wanted to inflict back in 2006. Yeah, its more obvious that the human characters (or Hughie, at the very least) are more "Heroic" than most of the actual "Heroes." But that can only be displayed so many times over and over. I have no doubt that season 3 of the Boys is at least good, if not iconic, but I just find it easier these days to invest myself that have a more genuine core. I don't mind re-experiencing Mark's story because of that genuine story

Sure, both have an interesting "EVIL SUPERMAN" character (side note: 99% of the Invincible cast could instantly body homelander. Folks who think lasers are OP have not consumed Invincible). But as a good friend likes to point out, Omniman is more like "if Superman's dad was evil." Even if what made Omniman iconic to the public was his beatdown of Mark, that's just the starting point for an incredible character, one who does an excellent job of representing the story's message of hope. Homelander is interesting, but I can't find a lot of his stuff as compelling. I know its funny and cool to have so much of his freakishness culminate in perversion and cruelty, but eh. Omniman just works better for me.

I'm crazy, I'm nuts, I'm crazy, this isn't well-reseacrhed, yadda yadda. Shut up, I'm rambling about why I don't care to continue watching the Boys but I'm so jazzed about Invincible. I'll save genuine critical writing for my damn grad courses.

Anyway, this is probably all pretty dumb. Maybe I just get tired of self-referential humor. And like I said, there are great satires. But that's not what I'm rambling about right now. Fuck it

I want Mark's gloves

[bigyikes97]

At the advent of this new Mermaid Era ushered in by the upcoming disney movie, I would love to point out that mainstream movie makers are DEFINITELY sleeping on the potential of mermen. Not even kidding. Do you know how fast i'd go see a movie about beautiful man sirens????? theater would be sold OUT!!

I'm saying it jokingly but ALSO--

we MUST take back fairy tales from patriarchy and make beautiful male creatures a thing!!! Why should there only be beautiful women/fish creatures???? Why have i never seen a single merman ever other than king triton?? It's a legitimate question!!!

(not shading the new movie, I'm stoked for it, but on the larger themes of mermaids and most mythical creatures in general) it DEFINITELY ties into patriarchal ideas of a woman being expected to leave behind everything for a man--such as her family home, her job, her hobbies, even her last name!! Or to be "brought in from the wild" and "civilized" or "tamed". Or depicted as the embodiment of 'wild' feminine power unharnessed from the bonds of social norms as a great evil, a danger and a stalking kind of familiar-yet-other, alien, relegated to the role of a beautiful, mystical and unknowable creature that must be wooed and caught. Or, in the case of mermaids, being voiceless and naïve in a complicated and LITERAL "man's world"?? Honestly!! 😤 Fairy tales, though beloved, are ground 0 of patriarchy indoctrination, and we must turn the tables!!

It's time for more gorgeous male mermaids!!!!!!! 👏👏👏👏 and to destigmatize their depiction in media!!!! 👏👏👏👏 Free the mermaids from their patriarchal origins, and add mermen in the mix for a truly egalitarian and exciting playing field!! This will elevate the mermaids we know and love as well, as they're not alone in their fishy struggles! Give me a merman who throws away everything--his royal status, his voice, his authority!--to be with the lady he loves, even to silently learning an entirely new world and customs to be with her...it's strange if you think of a man doing it, right? THAT'S A PROBLEM!! It devalues the sacrifice and mutes the struggles of the woman.

We must unmute that struggle, dispel that stigma and show what a noble and beautiful thing it is to sacrifice your own status and even your voice for a loved one. Maybe it's easy to think of Ariel giving up her voice since about 80% of spoken lines in the last decade of movies were taken by men. How earth shaking it would be for a man to give up his voice for a woman! How much more touching and poignant does the story become when we understand the power of the voice as a vehicle of meaningful agency--and how much more do we understand the grave injustices inflicted against the voiceless women of the stories that shape our societies!!! We've taken a step towards equality.

A sacrifice of that magnitude should never be taken for granted based on gender, or on anything. It is a true sacrifice, and we should portray it in this unexpected way to catch attention and show the equal lengths to which partners should be willing to go for each other.

I mean, look how well this could work!! FOR EXAMPLE. (here we move into my ~personal~ ideals starring the lovely Cha Hak Yeon, what a king)

Exhibit A: this lovely guy, who already moves like he's underwater and is mermaid-shaped:

CAN SING LIKE A SIREN:

Has the 'evaluating and curious about a new world' look:

the 'innocent and loyal' Ariel look (he even has the wide eyes and squishy cheeks of the cartoon version!)

even the surfacing-mermaid hair flip!!

So. I humbly present my case. MORE MALE MERMAIDS!!!! It could TOTALLY work!!! Undo the patriarchy deeply rooted in fairy tale creatures!! By evening the field with gorgeous mystical man creatures!!! We have the same economic buying power that shaped the Korean flower boy revolution of the 1990's!!

And we can do it again too!!! 😤 😤 😤 Let's goooo 😤😤😤

[yanagrebenyuk]

If riverdale ends with everyone ending up in a new version of the town where they’ve succeeded in “bending towards justice”, erasing everything from the previous seasons so they can all live happily in new!Riverdale, would that be a satisfying ending for you? It certainly won’t for me, but unfortunately that seems to be the direction we’re headed… and I don’t like it :/ invalidating the first 6 seasons of your show makes the entire show pointless.

This whole season lowkey feels like a waste so far - there’s no plot progression! All we’re doing is slogging through things we as the audience already know (I don’t need to see why Varchie doesn’t work for the 80 billionth time, or watch Kevin struggle to come out when he’s always been out and proud, or watch Cheryl torture herself by being with Archie when we all know she’s a lesbian). Why bother investing in these new relationships like Kevin & Clay, Jeronica, or Cheryl & Toni if none of this is going to matter… unless it is going to matter beyond the 50’s, in which case the previous 6 seasons get thrown out the window and we disregard everything these characters have gone through, their lives and families, and all of their development. Making the last season of your show an AU is just a godawful choice. It’s fun for maybe an episode or two, but it certainly shouldn’t be more than half the season! We’re only 3 episodes in and it’s already tired, laughably irrelevant, and blatantly mocking fans and the relationships we’ve all come to love.

I like the idea of the characters in the '50s (most of them at least) not being weighed down by the pain and the trauma of the last six seasons. But you are right, that works when it is something like Rivervale for a few episodes. It doesn't hit the same way in the final season — especially when it looks like most of it will be set in the '50s.

The only way I feel like it won't fall flat for me is if they return to the present day with their memories. Specifically, though, I think they would need to regain their memories in the '50s and spend a good chunk of time in the know before they get to the present vs too much time as these new versions of themselves.

I think in an ideal world this '50s storyline could be compelling if it shapes the characters we already spent so much time with. Like if Betty and Archie still find their way back to one another proving that they are meant to be in any universe. Or Cheryl and Toni getting their happily ever after which helps them get back together in the present without all the big obstacles still at play.

Long story short, I do agree with all of your points. We have only seen 3 episodes out of 20 but it feels too ambitious for a season that needs to wrap things up. The only thing from the '50s that we actually need (in my opinion) is Clay. Take him and leave everything else.

[signalwatch]

Tarzan Watch: Greystoke - the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

this is the most pretentious possible Tarzan poster

Watched:  04/10/2023

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Director:  Hugh Hudson

I can only imagine what the pitch meeting was for this movie, and I can totally see how it happened.  

In 1981, Hugh Hudson had directed Chariots of Fire, a movie that was a smash hit about pasty British guys running foot races and worrying about religion.  Like, you couldn't escape the movie, which I watched on TV once when I was sick as a kid and immediately erased from my memory.  But it was a big @#$%ing deal when adults went to the cinema.  

I'm sure it's great.  But it was an unlikely hit, and won Best Picture.  Career made for somebody.

So when the director of the footrace movie comes to you and says "we're gonna do Tarzan.  But now it's a prestige costume drama about how Tarzan is, in fact, a very sad ape man.  He is not a super-human living among men, continually pursued by hot women and fighting weird alien threats and large animals.  Instead, he's a kind of skinny French guy who does stuff you've seen apes do at the zoo.  But, you know, it's quite sad" I guess you trust and give that guy a sack of cash to give it a go.

A bunch of other people had seen this movie, and had more or less ape-blocked me from seeing it over the years as every time I said "I've not seen this, but I'd like to" I'd be told "No.  It is not good."  And I was like "okay, fair enough."  But tonight that didn't work, and I settled in for 2 hours and 15 minutes of sad Tarzan.

Look, at the end of the day, someone needed to realize a grown man imitating an ape is not what Tarzan is, exactly.  Or that this would be a good thing to see on screen when it did happen.  I don't know if they thought they were getting the magic on camera by having Christopher Lambert oop every time he felt an emotion, or basically having him play an ape who occasionally mutters short sentences.  Frankly, this Tarzan seems positively ready for an institution, and so it makes for an utterly unbuyable love story between John Greystoke and Jane Porter, but it's the sexy 80's, so you know they're gonna bang.  And, indeed, they do.

I've read the first Tarzan book, seen a few other Tarzan movies and read (and re-read) a Marvel comics adaptation of the first part of the first novel a fair bit, and you kind of realize the quick pitch version of the Greystokes winding up in Africa and their time there before things go sideways is more crucial than this movie thought.  Add in that this movie really, really struggles with whether Tarzan is a feral person or has the astonishing intellect of the Tarzan of the novel in order to hew closer to a very 1980's story about man and nature, man's nature and nurture, and lacking basic reasoning skills in early 20th Century Scotland.

I can maybe get with a "but what if Tarzan really happened?" angle, but you're in a constant state of "yes, but..." regression that more or less flatlines at baby John Clayton dead in the jungle two days after his discovery by Kala.  So you have to maybe accept even more, but more nuanced, absurdities than even the original novel doles out in order to buy the film.  The casting of Lambert is odd, in part because he's not exactly Johnny Weismuller, and it's difficult to believe this guy survived in the jungle against apes and leopards. But it's the fact that when Tarzan is home, he's both utterly alien to himself and the world around him, but no one seems to notice?  As he's all but flinging poo, people are just jabbering away at him.  

What's oddest is that because Lambert is fairly successful at becoming an ape(mentally), it feels as if there's no inner world to Tarzan in some ways.  We have no idea if he understands anything said to him, or the complexity of his predicament.  He self soothes by ooping and rolling around.  It's incredibly weird that the movie doesn't seem to think this is a problem.  Or maybe it's an unsolvable problem?  There's just a peculiar distance between the characters and the viewer, all of them - not just Clayton, that it's a bit odd.  

All of that is, in it's way... kind of passable.  But the movie is also morbidly predictable.  Maybe it's the era, or maybe it's that they treat Tarzan more like a cub in Born Free than a human character, but you know this shit ends with Tarzan seeing his kindly grandfather/ benefactor croaking and the demands of the world becoming too much so he wanders back into the jungle to sweeping orchestral music before our ape man ever leaves the jungle.  You know Jane will stand there impassiveley while Tarzan chooses a swift death in the jungle over endless food, luxury and sex with an actual human.  You know the noble Belgian will try to get him back to the jungle when, frankly, he's probably gonna get killed after living soft for a year.

I am sure this felt mind-blowingly clever as they were making it, but the end result is a sad man making monkey noises for 90 minutes, and then running away.  And that's maybe not what people were thinking of when they showed up to see a Tarzan flick with a budget.   

Jamie mentioned the movie felt weirdly disjointed, and upon review...  yeah.  It kinda was.  The movie can feel like it's borrowing from movies you already know, but doesn't do much with those storylines, so it's like these barely realized vignettes.  Like - the entire storyline of Jane having a suitor goes nowhere and doesn't really do what it's intended to do - ie: show Jane how Tarzan is more noble than the nobleman.  She doesn't see him beat the young helper guy.  She doesn't see Tarzan save the day.  She just dumps the guy for reasons that are vague (I mean, except wanting to live in a sweet mansion).  That's just an example.  The movie kind of does a lot of this.

It's a shame, because there's maybe a path for a Tarzan movie that tries to ground itself a bit more.  But the 1980's was probably the last decade to tell a story about Tarzan without culture's need to navigate and acknowledge Europe's fuckery in colonial Africa.  I think now you'd need to set the story post WWII or something and be careful.  ERB's original prose isn't quite as racist as you'd expect, but it's certainly a product of its time (ie: it's still racist, just not as nut punchingly straightforwardly racist as other things you'll stumble over).  

I kinda liked the 2016 Tarzan, because (a) the casting was rock solid (b) 3rd reel animal rampage and (c) making Lord Greystoke here anti-Colonial and giving a convincing argument for his desire to return home.  It's got issues, and I wanted more monkey-business, but it was all right.  That said - it was still mostly a reminder:  oh my god.  This is really hard now.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally watched it.  It made excellent use of Andie McDowall's frankly stunning hair.  Rick Baker's ape suits were everything I'd read about.  The set and locations look phenomenal.  There were genuine moments of hope for me that this might be better than expected.    

https://ift.tt/m9dawB2

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/2mAZjzG

[asktheghosthost]

On the topic before but as a tangeant.

In 2014 they announced a something wicked this way comes remake.

And i was HYPED! it is one of my favorite books! And the movie in the 80's is great! But the story deserves to be broyght back to bring more attettion and awareness.

And it pissed me off for 11 years that theya re remaking classics who are always in the mainstream. They would fast pass the green light dor alladin, the little mermaid, beauty and the beast remakes and make them.in a few years, while other classics that deserve a second change,not because they are bad, but because at the time of their release they were overlooked, to rot.

But now i stop and think, no, no other version of the 80's swtwc will do.

Because disney 80's where dark. They did show many scare and creepy with no second thought!

But even if we disregard the too dark of 80, what about now? It won't be dark enough to do justice to the book! Maybe in the 2000's they could still pull it.

But disney is taming and "cleaning" EVERYTHING!

God it hurts!

I hate the "live action" (it's like 90% CGI, c'mon) remake trend. It's so lazy, and they keep botching ideas that could be a neat change because it's always done half-assed. Like, you'll have some really great casting choices, but then make things as soulless looking as possible. I don't get it. Mainly, I'm always disappointed they don't pick stories that could use it. They play it super safe with movies that were already hits so they can copy and paste.

You know what could be cool? The Chronicles of Prydain. Don't remake The Black Cauldron shot for shot. Go back to the source material, have the filmmakers sit at a table and read all of the books, and rework the basis for The Black Cauldron from the ground up. Make it a series on Disney+. But that would take time and a lot of effort and it's not an intellectual property that's universally beloved by Disney fans, so they won't do it. They'll just keep sitting on the rights for it so no one else can try. AAGH!

Anyway, I was going to talk about something in the parks that was mentioned here and in the last ask, because it's a rant I've gone on with my husband a lot. There very much is a clear drive to make attractions as tame as possible. And this kind of thing has happened before. The Fantasyland dark rides have a history of tweaking to find the right tone, but there's been a very noticeable move to make things as G rated as they can, and I think it can be detrimental to the experience.

A big example of this is the Little Mermaid dark ride. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and likable. But they very deliberately omitted any peril. No fight with Ursula. No hypnotized Eric. It just weirdly cuts to the end. Snow Whites Scary Adventures is now Enchanted Wish, which sounds like a bad direct to video sequel. Mission Breakout is way less scary than Tower of Terror, despite being essentially the same. My beloved Dinosaur will be gone soon. And I'm someone who actually likes Tiana's Bayou Adventure, but it really feels like something, some bit of "oomph" or adventure needs to be in that Dig and Little Deeper and the lift hill section. Maybe a chase from the gators or the frog hunters? Just some little bit of extra excitement to match the tone of the drop. Say what you will about Eisner, but the dude tried new things, and wanted to appeal to older kids/tweens/teens. Maybe something like Alien Encounter was too intense, at least for Magic Kingdom, but a good balance can be found. People want to experience the world of the films at the parks, but the parks make it way tamer than the films. I don't really have a great answer for this, I just wanted to vent. Yes, it's a park for families, but families are made up of all kinds of people. Some kids are going to love "it's a small world," and some kids are going to favor Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I'm just asking for variety, instead of this really sanitized shift that seems to be playing out.