#my fic is giving me a bombastic side eye rn

[cornishpixiez]

so. mid90s and skate kitchen are some of my all-time favorite films and i might have started a wolfstar comic series based on them 🧍 um. yea.

here are some reference pictures i’m itching to draw

[rafaelafranzen]

Avoiding tumblr for months paid off

I wasn’t spoiled on anything significant in Kingsman: The Golden Circle that wasn’t in the trailer. And actually fairly surprised that some of the things I saw that were leaked didn’t make it into the final cut of the film. 

I just watched the movie on my birthday, wearing a Ginger Ale inspired outfit, no less. These are my totally unfiltered thoughts. Thank you @hurryeyes and @cephalxin for being my partners in crime today! (embarrassing photos of us with the film posters and such at the end of the cut)  

(Look at how good I am at concealing my emotions rn because I don’t wanna spoil y’all but I’m simultaneously screaming and dying inside please come and talk to me about it I have so many feels)

The only thing I can say that is spoiler free: if you already were a Kingsman fan it’s totally worth multiple watches. This movie, overall, did not disappoint!

Needless to say MASSIVE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT. 

Also note: I am an unpopular opinions person and I won’t mince my words! Anyone in the fandom is welcome to try and convince me otherwise of whatever I write here. I’ll probably expand on individual thought bites as I rewatch the film.

Generally: There was a LOT of action for people that enjoy that kind of thing, but it sort of made the movie a little too mass-market blockbuster to my liking. I liked it when it was a tightly curated British film. Now it’s kind of a little too bombastic. At least it fits the American nature of the film? The opening action/car driving scene was a little overblown. 

The film’s parody of the American political situation and hard hitting questions on the morality of Duterte’s drug war were not something I expected to go hand in hand. What a nuanced and humourous reading  it was! Really made you think. And laugh. And nod in agreement of “I wish, yeah I wish...”

On Harry:

I’m now headcanoning Harry as Aro-ace. I’ll still have a place in my heart reserved for homoromantic Harry but the aromantic interpretation fits SO WELL with his character in The Golden Circle it’s hard to see him otherwise now. I mean, he said he had nothing flash before his eyes before death so nonchalantly. Not a hint of woe is me. He never made a huge deal about the fact that he had no relationships, just regretted he didn’t take enough time to connect with people. I’ll take aro representation wherever I can find it. It’s important. 

Related: I liked how they didn’t make Harry have a moment where he “had one specific relationship he didn’t pursue because of Kingsman and he regretted it”. That would have been horribly cliche.

Also I’m really pleased that they made Harry’s headshot have real memory loss / PTSD consequences, and they made it emotional + funny + a proper plot point. I got my wish - if Harry didn’t stay dead I wanted them to at least retcon it in a way that wasn’t flippant, and they did it well enough for me to give it a (not even begrudging) pass even though I was previously in the #letharrystaydead camp. 

I was a bit annoyed they put him in the trailer though. They totally robbed us of the shock of discovering he was still alive for ourselves. 

Merlin really, really cares for Harry. It’s obviously a one sided relationship and that unrequited love is such a ripe point to milk for angst for all us Merlahad shippers. That moment where he stopped Harry from being drowned? He cared. Merlin taking offense at Harry NOT KNOWING HIS FAVOURITE SONG? Priceless.

Speaking of ships - There was something for every shipper to twist into making “their own” in this movie. Us Merlahad shippers had our interrogation, post-drowning, the bar scene, and landmine scenes to work off. Hartwin had similar, plus the hug and the martini scene. Cheggsy shippers could pretty much rewrite the whole damn movie to their whim if they needed to. Percilot shippers - uhm. Sorry. Not every ship then. 

Also someone please send me fic (crack or not) of Harry/Elton for shit and giggles please. I’m sure there’ll be some by the end of this week. 

Here be a long ranty bit about Merlin:

You endear us to this man, letting us see his drunken vulnerability, his emotional side (towards Harry) and him in DAT DAPPER ASF SUIT with the “feeling good” line. Him being possessive about his new blade, him being selfless, and then you take him away from us with a bang. How dare you Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, how dare you. 

Also it’s a double whammy for us Merlahad shippers: you take Harry away from us in the first movie and now you swapped his death for Merlin’s? Did you specifically aim to torture us?

But equally: what a spectacular death. It would have been exactly the way Merlin wanted to go - with a great show of unashamed bravado, sacrificing himself for the mission by providing a neat distraction that took out almost all the enemies in one fell swoop. He got to show off his nice new blade, his singing ability in a swan song and pyrotechnics - his favourite -  all at once! It was all incredibly Scottish, almost Braveheart-like. What a way to die! I couldn’t have asked for his death to be better written. They even had Harry and Eggsy had a brief pause for silence before the gunshots continued- they treated it with sensitivity and emotion. They addressed it with a dedication to him later. There was a proper sense of closure. 

As much as Merlin was my favourite character (and will continue to be in the foreseeable future), he should stay dead. Retconning this would be a complete waste of overrationalization and just plain ridiculous. I expected him to get revived because I recall seeing leaked photos of him way back in full Scottish regalia and a kilt for Eggsys wedding or something? I’m kind of glad they didn’t do that, actually. 

Also speaking of deaths - I refuse to believe Roxy’s dead. You don’t give her any action scenes, give her some bullshit intellectual “feed Eggsy intel for making a good impression for his dinner w/ Tilde’s parents”, and then kill her without any significant character use or development? NOT COOL. She survived it. Someone picked her horribly injured self up. She’s hidden somewhere. I don’t care. SHE AINT DEAD TO ME. 

On Statesman & Poppy

They had a female agent already at the table before Ginger Ale stepped up! Also bless Ginger, she’s right up there with Merlin and Harry as my favourite characters now - she’s such a badass. That smirk and complete confidence she had as Agent Whiskey accosted her after being revived and then hitting him with “I’m going to make you get emotionally fucked again, soz” was amazing. The fact that she could out-hack Merlin on the door was a lovely touch. She really could stand toe to toe with him on all matters and I really want to see more of her as Agent Whiskey in future movies. 

I bet people expected much more of Channing Tatum as Tequila in this movie but he spent most of it doing nothing, hah. I didn’t care much for him so that was just fine with me. Champagne  was great - like a friendly uncle who you look forward to visiting. Whiskey wasn’t shabby either, though I didn’t quite like how predictable him double-crossing the duo was. 

Julianne Moore did some great acting as Poppy. Even if the psychopath nature was cliche, she milked that fake saccharine sweet-crazy combo so intently it lent itself to the parodic nature of the Kingsman franchise really well. It was a kind of purposeful overplay. I liked it! 

On the future of the franchise:

I hate to say it but they tied up this movie a little too well. Eggsy didn’t have super significant character development in this one so he felt way less compelling. If they were to focus on him in future movies the plot would be incredibly predictable. Tilde being kidnapped in the first 30 mins of the movie? You bet. 

As much as I’d love to be proven wrong and see more of the Kingsman, I (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) would rather they make a Statesman film showing Ginger’s progression into an agent on fieldwork. I’ll defend my love of British characters to my last breath but this is really the most logical, compelling direction I feel the franchise could take. I’d totally still see the next one whatever the plot was though.  That’s all for now but I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts pinging around my head soon enough. Now, PHOTOS!

Hey, cinemas, newsflash: PLEASE GIVE US WALL POSTERS. It’s really hard to take group photos with floor posters. 

Me, loving my techies

Us before the film

vs 

Us, after the film

I have so many feelings about this movie please talk to me, even if you’ve never spoken to me before and are just a random who found this on the Kingsman tag. @betweentimeand42 I expect you’ll want to yell a lot of things in my direction - now you can!