#ok obviously we still have great movies now

[pubprob]

sometime in the past few decades movies stopped being movies

whatever happened to throwing a dart at a board and coming up with the most random plots that no one else could ever think of? what happened to weird kids and disgraced scientists needing to come up with 1.21 jig-o-wots (not how it's pronounced btw) to power their time machines? what happened to saving a town by dancing? what happened to stealing the declaration of independence? what happened to dinosaur fossils and wax mannequins coming to life? what happened to towns of anthropomorphic chickens being attacked by aliens in want of acorns? what happened to mean girls getting hit by a bus while storming out of a school left in shambles by teen drama?

what happened to cinema?

[deeplyshalllow]

Hi,

I absolutely love your posts on Fiyeraba scenes in the Wicked movie! I wanted to ask and this is just a thought I had but do you think Fiyero heals Elphaba with his acceptance of her appearance and as a person, because her major trauma stems from her father's rejection at her birth cause you hear "take it away" at many points throughout pivotal moments. Now that I think about it, her friendship with Glinda could be represented as a version of Elphaba's dynamic with Nessa where the sisters love each other but Nessa never protects Elphaba the way she does.

What are your thoughts on this?

Keep up the great content!!! 😃

Firstly, I am so sorry it's taken me this long to reply! It's been on my to do list all week but Pre Christmas and work and the need to also write a 3500 word essay on the Lion Cub scene, has made it hard for me to find the time to write a proper answer.

Short answer: I agree.

Long answer: I think Elphaba is hugely damaged by the way her father treats her. I think she has been othered all her life, including by the people who should love her and she so desperately loves. And a lot of this presents itself both in doing anything for them, even when it personally hurts her, and almost deliberately making sure everyone else sees her as a person as "ugly" as her green skin. Because, if she does that, she doesn't end up finding other people whom she loves who don't love her back or betray her, as she says in the Lion Cub scene, she sees it as an issue that she "cares so much".

There's actually three people at Shiz who really challenge Elphaba's view of the world.

Firstly, Doctor Dillamond, who shows her kindness and also regards her as a friend. But it is important to note that he is also othered, Elphaba's fight for the Animals is to some degree because she sees herself in them, she wants them to be able to fit in in a way she never has had. She empathises and her bond with Doctor Dillamond is stronger because they both share similar problems.

Galinda and Fiyero are the first, I think, to get Elphaba out of her shell. They are the ones who love her for who she is, nothing to do with her green skin, and yes, I do think it's healing. She's let down her mask of defensiveness and discovered that people do like her for what's underneath! There is a moment in the movie, when everyone is cheering Elphaba off at the train station where I thought "ok, they could just end the story here and it's the most heartwarming, happy ending for Elphaba" and obviously it's tragic that this is never to be.

Interestingly, I think Elphaba initially regards Morrible and the Wizard as people who see her for who she is too. Morrible because she's very motherly and values Elphaba when she wants to use her for her power (especially in the movie), and the Wizard because Elphaba has grown up believing him in an almost God like way - being so sure he will understand and know best. So that it is ultimately them that betray her hits her very hard.

Which leads to Defying Gravity and Act 2. Where, unfortunately, a lot of this healing for Elphaba is reversed. She's betrayed by Morrible, the Wizard (and to an extent Glinda) when she's condemned as a Wicked Witch, people still judge her for the colour of her skin. She does fight to do what is right, but she does it while sacrificing herself, what she wants, who she loves, what will make her happy - what she had been doing her entire pre Shiz years for Nessa.

There are so many heartbreaking lines in act two where we see how hurt Elphaba is by losing people she trusted or cared about:

"Boq, it's just me, I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Nessa, I have done everything I could for you but it has never been enough and it never will be"

"Don't you think I wish I could? That I could go back to the time when I believed you really were wonderful? The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? Nobody believed in you more than I did."

"Fiyero, not you too," (though obviously this one gets very quickly resolved)

"I can't believe you would sink this low! To use my sister's death as a trap to capture me?!"

So, when we get to As Long As You're Mine, and the scene afterwards, I think Fiyero does attempt heal her, and I do think it does good, but there's also this line:

Elphaba: I wish I could be beautiful... for you. Fiyero: Elphaba... Elphaba: Don't tell me that I am, you don't need to lie to me.

Elphaba's wounds cut deep. And, if I'm honest, I'm not sure she's ever going to be fully healed.

I do think the end of the show, Elphaba passing the task of helping Oz onto Glinda, of being able to go with Fiyero and live a life for themselves is a way to heal. She's given so much of herself to her cause, because she doesn't really value herself as a person, Fiyero - who loves her for who she is and will do anything for her including laying down his life, lets her finally do something for herself that makes her happy. And likewise Glinda, though she doesn't necessarily know it, carrying on her legacy, means Elphaba no longer has to worry about leaving the fight - she knows Oz is in safe hands.

Through the two people she loved the most, by the finale Elphaba might finally be able to heal.

Also, as I have nowhere else to put it: I think her father's treatment of Nessa also fucks Nessa up. I know they're going to change it for the movie, as it's seen as ablest (and I don't want to say it's not as I have a friend who literally has a Doctorate in disability history who sees it as ablest too) but I've always seen the fact that Nessa thinks her chair as a curse as an attitude driven by her father. Her father, in blaming Elphaba for Nessa's disability and coddling Nessa because of it, has always made Nessa feel like it's her defining trait and it's something wrong with her. This has led Nessa to both treat Elphaba as if she owes her something, but also believe her life would be perfect if she could walk - a belief that is brutally smashed in Act 2 when she is given the ability to walk.

[foundtherightwords]

🏛 👑⚔️"Gladiator II" thoughts 🏛 👑⚔️

Before I start, I have to say that (and please don't throw me into the Colosseum for this) I think the first "Gladiator" is just okay. A solid epic historical/action flick, sure, but to me it's no more than that. And... well, "Gladiator II" is more or less the same, but with a less tight script and therefore less emotional resonance.

It's my biggest issue with the movie. The spectacles are great and the action sequences are solid, but I'm not interested in any of the characters (with the exception of the emperors and Macrinus.) They're all very one-note. To be fair, Acacius doesn't require a lot of dimensions and Pedro did a good job with the character, but Lucius and Lucilla... meh. For a movie that is 148 minutes long, it feels oddly rushed; I felt like I never had the time to get to know the characters or become invested in their fates.

On to the good parts: like I said, the emperors and Macrinus. The review that says Denzel is acting on another level and Joe is the only one that comes close to matching him is spot-on. Out of all the characters, Geta and Macrinus are the only two with some depth. Denzel is amazing, affable and gregarious one minute and then chilling and menacing the next. As for Geta, maybe I'm just biased, but it's so easy to make him one-dimensional too, except Joe imbued the character with nuance and subtlety, so although we don't get to spend a lot of time with them, we understand these two emperors and their dynamic very well. Fred also did great with Caracalla - in fact, if his character wasn't so deranged and erratic and Fred didn't play that to perfection, Geta wouldn't stand out as the sane one as much as he did. They really were the perfect double act.

OK, so those are my spoiler-free thoughts. If you haven't seen the movie, click away now! It's going to be all spoilers from here! This is your last warning! (Oh and I'll start posting my Geta fic next Tuesday. Here's a preview; if you want to be tagged, drop me a comment!)

Now if you don't mind spoilers, read on...

When we found out that Ridley Scott had done a switcheroo and made Geta the elder brother (interestingly, the subtitle at my theater has Caracalla as the elder, which suggests the translator did more historical research than Sir Ridley and his writer!), I guessed that the movie would still follow a bit of historical facts with Macrinus manipulates Caracalla into killing Geta (OK, the bit about Macrinus manipulating Caracalla is not historical, but Caracalla killing Geta is), and then Macrinus would kill Caracalla to take the throne. Well...

And Geta's death is... my God. I gasped out loud in the theater. The head afterward was a bit goofy, but I can't say it's not effective. Poor Joe. Not only his characters always get killed, they often get killed in the gnarliest ways too.

I'm very annoyed at those early reports saying that the emperors have about 20-30 minutes of screen time though. It's more like 10! This video?

That's basically all of Joe's scenes! (Fred gets more, obviously, but not by much.)

And again, I wish they would stop using cut scenes as promo (like with AQPD1), because this still?

Never happens.

The final fight between Lucius and Macrinus is weirdly anti-climactic. Macrinus is never set up as a great fighter anyway, so there is no tension in Lucius facing him.

Also, I know I complain a lot about the lack of historical accuracies, but the ending particularly annoys me because it makes it seem like Rome is finally getting better, except it wasn't! After the terrible reign of Caracalla, we get the even worse reign of Elagabalus, and then Severus Alexander, which is basically the calm before the storm that is the Crisis of the Third Century. So if Sir Ridley is doing "Gladiator III", I'd like to see how he wriggles his way out of that!

[softtdaisy]

🌲 save us for later l pierre gasly

summary. Christmas could have been great. if pierre didn't forget to tell his parents you broke. and you didn't have to pretend you were still together.

words count. 2,434

a/n. ok I'm totally obsessed with this one and I really hope you will love it as much as I do🫶

a very angsty Christmas l masterlist

“I can’t believe you did that.” 

You heard Pierre sigh by your side, like he was already tired of this situation.

Like it wasn’t his fault if you were there today. What a joke.

“You don’t even try to understand.” he added, still focused on the road to not look at you. You noticed he was gripping the wheel so hard his joints were white. Or how he was biting his lips so badly, a habit you helped him to cease doing but apparently he didn’t stop, it was almost bleeding. 

But you couldn’t care less. Because this was so typical of Pierre: putting the blame on you by saying you didn’t want to hear his explanation.

“Oh.” you laughed nervously, turning to look at him. “Maybe you’re right.” you took a break long enough for him to frown, wondering if you really agreed with him. He knew for sure that during your past arguments, none of you would flinch this easily. 

“I really can’t fucking understand how you could lie to your parents and pretend we are still together, Pierre.” 

“What was I supposed to do?

“Tell the fucking truth.” you replied, slamming your hand on the dashboard. 

This was absolutely not how you planned your Christmas’ eve. 

Well, to be honest, you didn’t plan much. Your parents were away for the holiday and you were just going to eat some homemade food in front of a christmas movie. Nothing much but a well appreciated evening.

For sure, you didn’t plan on spending it with your ex-boyfriend and his family.

Pierre suddenly drove on the sideway and stopped there, getting some horns from annoyed drivers. You looked at him with confusion, he wasn’t the reckless driver type. Obviously. It was his habit to scare you when you shared the car.

He stopped the car and turned to you. “I fucked up, ok? I know that. On so many levels.” you rolled your eyes at this and held back any bad comments. “But everything went fast after our breakup. I haven't seen them since this summer and I couldn’t announce that we broke off our engagement through the phone. When my mom said they were waiting for us tonight, I didn’t have the heart to ruin their christmas. You can blame me for lying. But don’t fucking blame me for protecting my parents for god sake!”

Pierre was right. You knew it. 

It was something you’ve always kinda admired about him: how his family would always go first. You couldn’t count the number of hours you waited for him in the hotel room, ready to go out and celebrate, while he was on the phone with his parents or his brothers. For sure, you would be a liar to blame him for something you’ve always encouraged him to do.

Especially considering that you accepted to play pretend tonight for the sake of protecting them, too. 

When Pierre called you tonight, you didn’t answer. When he texted you, you barely read the message.

When he knocked on your door, you didn’t have any other choice than to open.

And when he told you, you needed to come with him at his parents’ place to act like a couple even though you’ve been apart for three months now because he still hasn't told them about you…well you laughed. Nervously. And argued a lot.

Then you realised you didn’t want to be the bad person in this narrative. What was one night in a whole life?

You sighed, still looking at Pierre. He still hasn’t moved, waiting for an answer from you. You got lost in each other’s eyes.

And that was the thing that convinced you to come. The fact that he was ready to bring you back home if you really didn’t want to accompany him.

“Fine.” you sat back normally. “You could have told them I wasn’t available.” 

You heard Pierre laugh softly. “You still want to have the last word I see.”

Most of the ride went quietly after that. Pierre put on some music and you answered most of your texts. You only started to talk again ten minutes before you arrived to make sure you had the same ideas in mind. No break up, you were still planning your wedding and happy as before. And the reason you didn’t see his family in so long was simply a lack of time from both of you. 

“And…” Pierre started once he was parked in front of his family house. You frowned, wondering what you could have potentially forgotten. You memorised everything and it wouldn’t be that hard to pretend after a three year relationship.

But then it hit you when he took the box out of his pocket. “I almost forgot it at home but it’s here.” 

You remember when Pierre proposed to you. 

You went to Greece during the summer break, last year. One night, while you were walking around the city, you found a place that was recreating Mamma Mia and invited everyone to sing and have fun. And so you went there, singing Abba the whole night. At some point during the night, after a kiss that lasted longer than it should in public, Pierre looked at you with a big smile and said “I want to marry you.” You laughed, thinking he was joking. But he wasn’t. “I meant it. Would you marry me?” and this time you started to cry, nodding so hard you had a neckache. 

You later learnt that Pierre had imagined a whole different scenario for the proposal. But it spoke with his heart and did it when it felt perfectly right.

And tonight, you were putting back the ring you worshipped with your whole heart. “It feels weird.” you whispered. 

Pierre didn’t answer and simply left the car. It was hard for him too. Acting like he didn’t lose the woman of his life over stupid decisions.

“Vous voilà! Je suis tellement contente de vous voir.” (oh there you are! I’m so happy to see you)

Before you even got the chance to prepare yourself in front of the door, Pierre’s mom opened it and took you both in her arms. You couldn’t lie, it felt good to see her and feel just as appreciated as before. Like nothing changed. And it was the truth, somehow. For his mom, nothing has changed. You were still her son’s fiancé, the one she almost saw as a daughter.

You looked at them, the way she kept touching his face to see any changes. And, what she told you one day, if he had any scars from races he tried to hide from her. You had this weird feeling of being home. Like you were right where you belong. For a second, you were back a year ago, when everything was perfectly fine. 

But then it hit you when Pierre took your hand to bring you inside to see everyone. It always felt natural when you were holding hands. In one of your birthday cards, you told him he must be your soulmate simply because your hands seemed to be held by the other. 

Tonight, it didn’t feel natural. It was hesitant. Pierre wasn’t confident about closing his fingers on yours and you could feel it.

Everybody seemed so happy to see. They all see you as an official member of their family. And it would be lying to say you weren’t happy to be by their side too. 

It helped that you didn’t see much of them for months. You spend the first two hours of the night talking with everyone but Pierre. Asking about their life, their own family, their friends… you had many things to learn. And you avoided some questions. That was one of the rules you established with Pierre. Pretend that the wedding was a big secret you couldn’t tell a thing about. For the rest, you just made the truth prettier.

Sure, you started a new job. But you didn’t admit it was a full time one because you didn’t go to the races anymore.

Yes, your pet was doing so fine. You just had to find the right pictures that would show your new apartment. 

No, you still haven’t decided where you would spend the winter break with Pierre. Because you weren’t going on any holiday anymore. At least, not together.

The dinner was a little harder to live. Because you sat next to Pierre, like it was planned. Like it has always been. And this time, compared to the whole drive, you felt more trapped. Because you couldn’t roll your eyes at what he was saying, or avoid his hand when he tried to touch you. Everyone would notice that and understand that something was wrong. You had to be careful.

So careful that, at some point during the evening, you even forgot why you were acting like that. You got lost in his stories about races you went to and especially those you miss after your breakup. You laughed at his joke, sympathised with his bad moments and cheered at the podium you missed.

You remember that day, or night actually for you. You didn’t watch the end of the season after your separation but you still had the notifications from the official account. So you knew the results. And when you learnt that Pierre had secured a second place on the podium, you almost called him. It was still a natural reflex: this desire of celebrating with your loved one.

But you didn’t. You didn’t even send him a text. And for one good reason: the last text you got from him was simply “Je suis désolé” (i am sorry) and you couldn’t handle the pain of going through the pain again. 

There had been hard times these past months where you almost forgive Pierre for breaking your engagement. There had been many times where you still wanted to call him and insult him for breaking up just because he woke up one day and realised this was maybe not what he wanted for his future.

What was this? This has been the question you’ve asked yourself many, many times. Was it your couple, your wedding or just you? You had no idea. Pierre couldn’t even explain it himself. He just knew that it wouldn’t be fair to keep pretending he was happy in a life he learnt to despise.

And it was now, sitting by his side, that you realised you had overcome all these mixed feelings. You felt alright. Not good, because the wound was still wide open. But you had accepted it. You would never marry Pierre. And you didn’t want to anymore.

After he finished telling the story of the last race of the season and the battle of champagne he had with Charles, while everyone was talking together, Pierre turned to you. You both got lost in each other's eyes. And you were convinced his little smile was a soft thank you. For being here, for lying, for…being happy. 

Because it hadn’t been easy months for Pierre either. Many times he woke up, thinking he had made the worst decision of his life. And some morning, he still wonders if he didn’t lose you for nothing. And those questions weren’t created by some insecurities about his happiness because he knew that he felt happier without this weight on his shoulder. But because he was scared he had ruined you. He would have accepted to be miserable for the rest of his life over this stupid. But he couldn’t accept hurting you forever.

But tonight, you both realised that maybe, things were going better for the both of you. And maybe, that night, was the one you both needed to start healing.

This helps the rest of the night go smoothly. You played games together, laughed together without thinking about the lie you were telling everyone. Even the drive back home felt natural, you talked about his family a lot. He even asked about yours. It was a whole different from the outward journey earlier. 

Pierre insisted on walking to your door with you. “It wasn’t that bad, right?” you couldn’t help but smile at him. He had this kind of unserious almost flirty tone like he needed to prove to himself and to you that he was right, in the end. It wasn’t such a terrible thing to do. 

You crossed your arms on your chest, a way to protect your heart from opening itself again. “No it wasn’t. You’re right.” he shrugged like it wasn’t such a surprise and you immediately hit him in the chest. You both laughed and oh how it felt good to be this lighthearted again for a few minutes. 

It meant more than you imagined that you were standing in front of your door, with your ex-fiancé in front of you. When you could already be in the bed but rather got lost in his eyes. Because you knew exactly what this moment was. And deep down, you weren’t ready to let it go.

You could hear Pierre talk before he even opened his mouth. “We were good together, huh?” you tried to not focus on his glossy eyes or the way he was playing with his fingers. 

“Yeah, we were.” you smiled, containing your own tears from falling. “It was good while it lasted.” 

Pierre crossed the few steps between you. You closed your eyes when you felt his lips on your forehead. Such a kind and sweet attention you remember he had when you started dating. When, for the first time maybe in his life, he wanted to take things slow to make them last. But this time, there were no other moments to share. And you had to watch him leave your place.

For the last time. 

You finally put the key in the door, taking your time to not close this chapter of your life too fast. “Eh!” you jumped, turning around immediately and saw Pierre holding the elevator’s door open. “You know I'll still love you, right?”

“I do.” you tried to ignore this weird feeling in your stomach, not waiting to think about the fact you ended up saying the two words you would never say to him. “Me too.” 

There lies the truth. You loved each other. Still. 

But you couldn’t be together anymore.

And so when you finally opened the front door and got inside. When Pierre finally let the elevator closed on him and brought him back to his car. You both knew what it meant.

[restinslices]

If it's alright with you, can you write the lin kuei trio with a s/o, who is a detective tracking down a serial killer who is going to target s/o and the lin kuei trio's reaction to it.

I can confidently say I have never gotten a request like this

Handle it or he's handling it 

It's as simple as that 

Did Bi-Han let his own father die? Yes. But for whatever reason he didn't fuck with him 

I'm assuming he fucks with you though, so the thought of someone hunting you down is not something he's very fond of 

I don't think he'd have any strong feelings about you being a detective. Not everyone can be out and about fighting people from other realms. Some people gotta do some protective work for the smaller people 

So you being a detective is whatever to him

When you say you're hunting down a serial killer, I don't think he'd have any strong emotions either. He just assumes you'll catch them soon. His faith is pretty high 

When it's revealed the serial killer is hunting you, that obviously becomes a big problem 

A problem he has to solve 

If you're like “No Bi-Han! I got it! Let me find them and end this!” he'll consider giving you a set amount of time before he handles it 

Doesn't know how he's gonna track this unknown person down but his faith in himself is stupidly high 

If you find them and lock whoever up then great for you 

If the agreed time passes and they're still on the loose, he becomes Batman. Get out the way. He got it 

No point in protesting either. Just sit at home and let him figure it out 

He becomes the annoying boss in police movies. Y'all know what I mean 

Definitely finds the person eventually and finishes the job for you 

Hooray?

Honestly I think all the brothers are a “handle it or I'll handle it” case 

Thoughts on you being a detective are positive. I think he can see how difficult that certain job would be 

He's fighting with his fists. You're using your brain. You're both helping people. 

He admires it lowkey 

You're hunting down a serial killer now? Ok. Be safe-

What do you mean you're a target now?

He kinda saw it coming but it's still unfortunate 

He'd understand still wanting to lead this case and he applauds standing your ground, but he's also worried because ya know, you could be killed 

He'd try to assist but at some point he would really want you to let someone else handle it 

By someone else, he means him 

He's a trained assassin. He can probably hunt this guy faster than you can 

Has more patience than Bi-Han but if a lot of time passes and they're not handled, then he'll step in 

He probably would've warned you beforehand that this was something that would happen but as we can see, you either didn't listen or still slipped up 

It's not that he thinks you can't handle it… kinda. 

You're just not moving quick enough 

I think he’d be nice enough to remind you he has faith in you but would vocalize his concerns when it comes to you still working on this case 

Whether or not you decide to drop it is up to you, but he’s definitely not 

Thoughts on you being a detective I think are also positive

He thinks you're doing a good thing

The Lin Kuei can't help everyone. They do more bigger things 

So you helping civilians is great to him. It's a good cause 

I think he'd also enjoy hearing about your cases and chiming in whenever 

Hunting down a serial killer? Well, he guesses someone has to do it 

He'd be confident enough in your abilities to catch this person 

But then you're the next target

I think honestly all the brothers would have a similar reaction. So much so, I don't think there'd be much of a change. I probably could've written this in one paragraph 

He could possibility be the most cooperative when it comes to letting you handle it

Gives you the most time to figure it out and tries to help out as a partner 

Doesn’t wanna step on your toes but if you’re taking too long, he’s gonna do his own investigating 

Probably asks Kuai Liang for assistance 

I’m not saying any of them would find this person in days time, but they certainly believe they will 

Worried about your safety as you could imagine, so he wants you to sit this one out 

He’s probably conflicted, like what I said with Kuai Liang. One part is like “yeah, you gotta find this person!” And the other is like “you need to sit down so you’ll be safe”

Probably prefers for you to do all your investigating at home. Any leads you have you’ll either follow together, he’ll follow it, or someone else will 

I think all the brothers will want to help as much as they could and would wanna handle this serial killer. And by handle, I don’t mean letting them go to prison. You can get out of that if you play your cards right 

The only real difference is how much they let you help after they find out you’re a target 

Bi-Han is like “I gave you time. You’re done. I got it”. Kuai Liang is “I knew this would happen and I know you wanna stand your ground, but maybe take a step down” and Tomas is “I get it so let me help”

This is kinda boo boo. Also I hate their little moodboards I made. It’s sickening

[billie-reportingbadnews2you]

Not that change you can borrow/ a Billie Eilish fanfic

Warnings: swearing, throwing glass, crying, slamming into walls

summary: ever since billie started working on her new album, she spent less and less time with you, talking to you less and less more, but smiling more as if she was happier without you, you felt you were loosing her but when you brought the subject up she brushed it off as bieng tired, but you have decided to do something about it, what is it?

You were drifting off to sleep on the couch, watching billies documentaries on Disney plus, it was around 3 am, your eyes were incredibly heavy, you had made some food for yourself and billie, you always re-assured her that dinner would be ready when she got back and you also said you would be there, as you were about to give up and sleep, you heard the front door open, you heard scooting and the low sigh of your girlfriend, you rubbed your eyes that were slightly red and felt plumpy and swollen, you went up to billie and gave her a hug "your back!" she was on the phone "Haha yea sounds great this weekend!" she hung up and met your eyes with a tired smile and hugged you back softly "hey babe" she stretched her arms wide while yawing "hey i made dinner" she stopped in her track, than continuing and grabbing a glass "oh yea thanks babe, we picked up taco bell on the way ill have it tomorrow" she said while obviously distracted by her phone pouring milk into her glass almost missing it, you smile faded, "hey is that a new shirt?" she looked up from her phone the dim light, revealing her curious face, she looked down "oh this yea, me and finneas went shopping, he got it for me awesome right?, speaking of finneas, me, him and our studio director are going out for dinner this weekend" you frowned looking at the table top and started to fiddle with your finger "b-billie what about out date?" she almost choked on her milk "shit sorry baby i completely forgot about that, next week ok?" she gave you a quick peck on the forehead before going upstairs still staring down at her phone, " night babe". you let out a sad sign and cleaned her cup and wiped down the bench, you heard billie yell for the stairs "hey babe ill make you breakfast tomorrow" this put a slight smile on your face, a couple minutes later you started to walk up the stairs completely drowned in your own tiredness, you opened the door to your bedroom, seeing billie fast asleep you get into bed and get in a cuddly position, you snuggled into her neck but she pushed your head away and turned away, you were a bit shocked so you just turned around, you didnt know why she had gotten so distant, you silently cried yourself to sleep and billie snored and but her legs on your stomach making you uncomfortable but you fell asleep soon….

You woke up to the light of your windows piercing your eyes, you thought your billie was home so you put on your dressing gown and ran down stairs 'BABE HOW ABOUT WE GO TO THE MOVIE-" you were met with a plate of food and a note "hey babe sorry i had to leave early here's some food, i wont be back until this weekend im staying at the studio, if i need anything ill text you love you" you eyes began to water you looked on the plate to see a MacDonalds burger and fries dried up and soggy, you looked in the trash can seeing the uber eats bag, you began to cry, you would've loved a call or even just a little bowl of cereal , now you had to cancel your reservations, an prepare to be alone for a week, your heart was slowly breaking, as the nights got longer and your crys got harder to control, every single message you sent billie was left on delivered, you missed her, but did she miss you?

after a whole week of loneliness, just like before at 3am you heard billie enter the house, you approached her you pushed you forward and just went straight into the room while on the phone and before you could say anything SLAM!, she closed the door, you figured she was just sleepy, but you just ended up ugly crying really badly, you used up about 3 tissue boxes, what happened to the love of your life? her face is more glower when shes not with you, is she losing feelings?

You slowly walked into your room with billie passed out again, you went onto her phone too see the hundreds of messages from you on delivered, but you went onto her and finneas messages and they were endless, i mean you get that she texts her brother alot but why not you, shes with him all day and she cant even reply to you, a pit full sorrow engulfed your lungs, silently choking on your tears, you slumped downstairs and grabbed a blanket, you figured you'd sleep on the couch, you blanket smelled like her which made you cry even harder, within no time you were passed out, you woke up the next day to see the bedroom door open you have a little bit of hope she stayed but just as you imagined she was gone, she left a note, you frantically ran towards it hoping for good, news "hey Y/n im goin out again, see ya this saturday" now you were really pissed, she called you by your name? didnt even say 'i love you' and just said bye?. she even forgot about the date you re-scheduled, you choked down your tears and watched a movie, you gave up on dinner and waiting for her, but you were triggered by the door opening, the tv screen dimming the room as you see your girlfriend, walk towards the kitchen "hey babe" you couldn't even reply, you started crying like a idiot, she walked over to you her eyes staring at her phone patting your back, "eat your food properly don't choke" you wiped your tears, broken at the fact that billie assumed you were choking becuase she was on the bloody phone all the time, you slapped it out of her hands, she looked like a clueless cat "BABE WHAT THE FU-" her eyes met your bloodshot watery eyes, "oh my god whats wrong?" you have, had it "YOU WANNA KNOW WHATS FUCKING WRONG" her face went pale, attempting to comfort you by rubbing you shoulders you swatted them aggressively, "YOU BARELY TALK TO ME, YOU DONT LOOK AT ME, YOU DONT KEEP YOUR PROMISES, DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME" her frightened face turned into a angry one "WILL YOU STOP BIENG RUDE, IM TRYING TO DO MY WORK AND I AM EXHAUSTED, AND ALL I WANA DO IS SLEEP OKAY, IVE APOLOGIZED" she was really turning it on you , without a second to loose, you slapped her making her green hair fly in the air, she slightly smirked and charged at you your back crashing into the wall with a thud, "WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING DRAMATIC" her nails pierced your skin, eventually you got out of her grip grabbing a glass and throwing it at the wall, you were aiming for the wall but also wanted to kinda hit Billie she ducked and ran at you, you ran upstairs, and side stepped her into going into your bedroom you locked it, you knew very well that she would get out so you have about 2 minutes to do something, you ran down stairs and grabbed her keys you heard the door fly open "Y/N GET YOUR FUCKING ASS BACK HERE!!!!" you made a run for it and ran to your car door you could see billie zooming out of the house, you turned the car on and hit the acceleration pedal, you looked at the rearview mirror seeing billie on two knees crying as you left "IM SORRY BABY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, COME BACK" she said while pacing as you drove off….

a couple weeks later you had settled into an apartment, your ex's album had dropped, you saw an ad about her song "Chihiro" in the interview she said "this song expresses my love for somebody who means the world to me, i didn't show them what they deserved and i got what i deserved but whatever happens i still love them" you shut your laptop trying not to cry you knew it was for the better, you opened your phone to see hundreds of missed calls and voice messages from her and thousands of texts messages, you simply blocked her, should have you just let her off?

[signed-sapphire]

Okayyyy rewatched Wish

Here are my notes

Valentino wasn’t as annoying as people say. Sure, he did nothing for the plot and could’ve been removed entirely, but he didn’t make near as many butt jokes as people say he did

The lead-ins for all the songs were great. Certain media (Hazbin, for example) just jump into the songs

Magnifico??? Didn’t touch the pages??? So why would he be corrupted? Why does Amaya know of obsidian oil? Don’t you just skim the pages to release the evil?

Dahlia was amazing

“At the very least break the hold it has on him” Amaya? Didn’t you found this kingdom with thin? Wouldn’t you know?

Also Amaya was very sidelined. Where’s her backstory?

Asha’s magic wand mishaps were… corny at best

Why did they make Dario high all the time? He’s not stupid. I feel like they made him try to be like Fred from Big Hero 6 but failed

“Nine zillyboo, twenty alphabet!” Val, buddy. No.

DAHLIA. MATE. TRUE LOVE’S KISS CAN BRUNG HIM BACK I swear, it feels like the directors were switched

The spider-carriage thing. I feel like that could’ve been a Disney reference instead

Gabo was still my favorite out of the teens. Bazeema was sweet too

Also. Halzeema moments were actually in canon.

Sabino did not act 100 at all.

Crushing wishes did nothing to people except make them sad for .2 seconds

Asha’s drawing, her magic wand, none of that was important to the actual plot

I feel like the horses could’ve been Disney references too

Why did the roof open? That was never explained

Mag’s hair needed to be messier. Evil Magnifico? Crazy hair

How did he hear them from all the way down there

Mag’s really out there beating up a minor

The curse rope green things were not scary at all

Was Simon just in the forest the entire time?

The Magnifico getting sucked inside his staff… I feel that could’ve been a play to Dr. Facilier somehow

The stars raining down were beautiful

Was Star’s nose tap a reference to something?

The people’s talking… idk how I felt about that

WE 👏 SHOULD’VE 👏 SEEN 👏 SAKINA’S 👏 WISH

Another half-assed apology. First Namaari, now you. At least Simon’s was an actual apology. Wait. More of it goes on.

Ok his apology isn’t too bad

How did the staff get all the way down there?

Changed my opinion, Amaya deserved to tell Mag off

Did Mag’s curse break once he was in the mirror? Why did he act sad all of a sudden?

I’ve heard Asha’s movements weren’t finalized until later, but her movements seem pretty fluent

Clumsy and energetic, sure, but besides from the mouth drooping part, she wasn’t that quirky

Which. Could be a bad thing. She didn’t really have much of a personality

I like the Peter Pan building a flying machine idea

Zootopia ref

DARIO. SHUT UP

Why does everyone suddenly understand Star

But off-topic they were so cute

“It” I guess

Why refer to Star as an it

“They” was too woke for the Disney execs? Why, you had a one-second offhand comment about a water cousin who’s nonbinary!

That Cinderella-reference thing… wasn’t slow enough to be a dress transformation. So I’m fine with her not having a different dress. I mean obviously I would’ve loved it but idk

SHOW DON’T TELL, DISNEY

STOP TELLING

“I understand you well enough” I DON’T! HOW ARE THEY TELLING YOU

Some of Valentino’s jokes were funny. Sue me

I liked the Tinkerbell and Mikey Mouse reference at the end

The storybook was a nice callback

The credits should’ve been moving. Also CHOOSE BAYMAX TO REPRESENT BIG HERO 6. WHY HAVE VILLAINS LIKE MALEFICENT THERE

Overall. Not as bad as people are making it out to be. But definitely not worthy to be Disney’s 100

I’d say… 7/10. The backgrounds did look watercolor, but the shading seemed off in places. Especially Sakina. There was major improvement to be done, but with the hell the execs were giving (and the proven creativity of the concept art) I feel this movie is getting too much hate. Critiques and criticism are fine. But don’t blame the writers for getting rid of Starboy. Yes, it could’ve been better. But it’s Disney. And the creators tried their best to pour their love into a movie that they didn’t have a full say in.

[ahsokasupremacy]

Alright, here are my Top Ten funniest guesses (+1 that I bet nobody ELSE will guess) for who Inquisitor Marrok actually is!

You are most welcome to correct me or let me know who YOU think is most probable.

And just to challenge myself, I’m NOT putting Ezra. Because that would be too obvious.

1. Barriss Offee

I’m serious when I say that this is probably the most likely.

We know that she is a very important character in Ahsoka’s life, the writers could be trying to mislead us into thinking that the Force User is a man when really we have no confirmation that they are. Plus Dave Filoni has said in interviews that he refused to have the character make cameos just because he wanted to save her for later. Also, many people already speculated that Barriss became an Inquisitor after Order 66, explaining the double-sided Inquisitor lightsaber.

2. Darth Maul

Their build is a little too skinny for Darth Maul, and also wow, he must really be getting up there. And also, he died in Rebels. But when has that really ever stopped Disney from resurrecting him? I just think they should keep bringing him back. For the bit. I want the opening scroll for the upcoming Daisy Ridley movie to contain the words “Somehow, Darth Maul returned…”

3. Bo Katan

I highly doubt this because her character arc on the Mandalorian is already concluded, but I can kinda see her doing this as like, a side gig. Homegirl is probably broke from paying off Mandalore’s restoration fees. She’s not a Force User unfortunately, but when has that ever stopped her? I like to believe that Bo Katan simply woke up one day and decided to be Force Sensitive and it all kinda worked out for her somehow.

4. Lux Bonteri

If this is the option David Filoni is going with, BOOO. Yet another character who isn’t Force Sensitive. If you really think about it, Dave Filoni probably wants to include someone with an important history with Ahsoka, someone close to her that she held dear and that betrayed her and that she still has lingering feelings for.

Well actually that person is Barriss, and yknow, she kinda went MIA. Sooo the next best thing we could get is Lux, I guess!

5. Anakin (Force Ghost)

Daaaad, what are you doing here?

Well, the ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda told him to fuck off and get a job. So here he is. He’s putting in the work! He’s logging onto his Zoom! Ahsoka is gonna be sooo surprised when he finally takes off the mask and reveals it was him along. Just you wait! It’s gonna be so funny!

6. Korkie Kryze

Now we’re really starting to get big brained here.

In Legends, we have Jacen Solo. In the sequels, we have Kylo Ren.

But in the Brand New Republic era? Hark, a new villain arises. Korkie is embittered about being left behind and forgotten by his biological parents, Satine and Obi-Wan. And now he is out for revenge against all the Force Users and Mandalorians who abandoned him. Mwahahaha. We should’ve known he would turn out like this, he’s a ginger after all.

7. Ventress

This would technically make Dark Disciple non-canon? But I don't think Dave Filoni cares, considering he hilariously made the Ahsoka novel non-canon. Ventress is obviously very powerful and capable of dual-wielding and she would make a great candidate for an Inquisitor. Plus her and Morgan Elsbeth are both former Nightsisters so points for rapport.

8. Anakin’s Evil Clone

Hey, I mean Palpatine HAD to start somewhere, right? He didn’t just create Snoke without practice. I like to think he tried making a second Anakin at first, only to discover that Clonakin was a huge pain in the ass and doesn’t wanna follow orders just sit on the couch all day eating the space equivalent of Hot Cheetos.

9. Cal Kestis but he’s evil now

This one pretty much goes against everything we know about Cal but hey, I’ll take a live action Cal cameo any day now. I’ve been on the frontlines defending my babygirl Anakin since day one, don’t even try to lecture me about the ethics of stanning Darksider Cal.

9. Mara Jade

OK no more messing around!! I'm serious this time!

EVERYONE LISTEN CLOSELY!

I think the reason why Dave hasn't made any references to Eli, or Ar'alani, or Vahnya must be because he grew up on the 80s Legends trilogy (not the canon trilogy). Whenever Thrawn is mentioned, there is a direct reference to Heir to the Empire. The same novel where Mara Jade is introduced as the Hand of the Emperor. Coincidence? I think not! Obviously, this must be part of Dave Filoni's master plan to softlaunch the upcoming top secret Thrawn series adaptation.

10. Starkiller

My only real proof is that his name (Marek, Marrok) kinda sounds similar?

Making Starkiller canon would create a whole bunch of problems for the Star Wars timeline. I think his origin story is too Mary Sue-y for even Dave Filoni to try and integrate into current canon.

However, it would be interesting to see a showdown between Anakin's two former apprentices. Interesting, but unlikely.

And finally, for my last guess, I will tell you exactly who Marrok REALLY is. Kathleen Kennedy told me personally, so don't get mad at me! She said it, not me!

11. Luuke (the clone Palpatine made out of Luke's dismembered hand)

This is the ONLY correct answer.

Us Timothy Zahn enjoyers know that this was really Luuke all along. I told you, Snoke isn't the first clone that Palpatine made! I imagine he had a lot of downtime and got bored and decided to fuck around, and that's how we got Luuke.

And yes, I would cast Sebastian Stan to play him because I'm petty AF.

[rebelsafoot]

asking wbout the lore behind your descdants au. Please

OK SECOND MOVIE TIME!! featuring the rat grinders !

Obviously the rat grinders are the other evil group from the island, kipperlilly is uma and everyone else is her gay little crew (except not buddy dawn, he's one of the hero's sorry king).

so kipperlilly has always hated the bad kids as she did in fantasy high, and she's pissed that they got this opportunity and no one else did so she's just kind of Bitter and Seething.

all of the bad kids (now including adaine and fabian and ayda) are having a great time at the academy except fig, who's feeling guilty abt the whole love potion thing and also kind of misses being evil just a little bit and is having trouble relating to gilear and feels like her whole reason for coming to the academy doesn't matter anymore. so she leaves back to evil island

this one kind of follows the plot of the second movie mostly, everyone realizes she left, ayda, fabian, and adaine make everyone take them to the island to try and bring her back, they fight with the rat grinders and all of that just kind of how they did in the movie. but we Do still have kristen's campaign for student body president instead of eevie making dresses.

the main difference is instead of kipperlilly using the love potion on ayda like uma did in the movie she Does use a spell to make ayda announce her student president because i know aguefort would still have the student president have a weirdly large amount of power at the school.

so kipperlilly is like "Bring down the island barrier" but fig breaks the spell and reveals that kristen actually won the vote. kipperlilly teleports away and it is a Happily Ever After. Until the third movie.

[smoshsfavoritepizzaplace]

I feel like I've been inspired heavily by The Twilight Zone and The Choose Your Own Adventure Series.

I thought it be cool for this to be in two parts from both Shayne and Court's perspective.

Alright, here goes...

It is Halloween Night and Shourtney are playing with a Ouija board and everything seems to be going according to schedule. Shayne being ever the skeptic, while Courtney is on an adrenaline rush from the whole experience, that is until it is time for them both to go to sleep.

When they awake they are both in for quite the shocker, this is where it gets trippy.

Shayne - Wakes up back in 2019! He looks exactly the same as he did back then, back in his old apartment, but he is Shayne from the present, and worst of all Courts not there.

Courtney - Wakes up in 2024, think everything is ok? Not so fast, this isn't our regular Court, this is them from 2019! Luckily they know just the person to turn to in times of crisis, all they need to do is just turn over on their side and he's right there... WHAT?

How did this happen?

Why did this happen?

Why is Shayne getting a text about shooting The Goldbergs?

Why is there a diamond ring on Court's left hand?

Overall, I want to keep this grounded and just be a wild escapade of the dream world for both of them, heavily influenced by their past up until present day. I wouldn't mind a supernatural aspect to it, but I just feel like that can get overblown too much, ya know?

I'm still deciding if I want it to be a Ouija board or a scary movie that incites all this chaos, and if I want it to be 2018 or 2019 for Shayne depending on whenever their relationship started.

I decided to have current day Shayne go back in time because I believe Court fell first and he fell harder. Given what Court said about being down bad for their coworker while doing Chanse's drag makeup.

Shayne gets to go back in time with all the knowledge of the present, while this version of Court gets to live out their fantasy which we all know becomes reality. Without having to deal with the mental gymnastics and nerves.

Now I wish I could write this, but unfortunately I can't write to save my life unless it is a term paper for college.

So, I am offering this idea for any creative writers out there who want to take a crack at it!

Some of my personal favorites :

@veecastillooc

@undercover-bro

@missflufffanfics

@winterxgardener

Obviously there is no pressure or anything like that. I just have been sitting on this idea for some time and I thought it would be cool to put it out there and see what comes of it.

If it were up to me and I could actually put pen to paper I'd love to make a couple of chapters. Either with or without the supernatural element, regardless it is open to interpretation!

Thanks for letting me showcase my idea, trying to be better about not letting my nerves get the better of me! They are just random ideas at the end of the day that I've jotted down here and there.

Why not give it a go?

🙏👋

I’m not saying this just to say it, but I genuinely enjoy this idea. I do think a scary movie would be a better cause of this bc it’s more shourtney coded than an ouija board. They both love movies (idk how they feel about horror specifically) but I can see them watching that more. I also feel like 2018 might be the move bc we don’t know when they started dating, but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t 2018. So it would make more sense, imo, of it being Courtney’s dream and not reality and her not being there with Shayne. But other than that, I could see this being a really great concept. Like I said, I don’t read fics but I would give this one a chance. And I would say to try writing it yourself, I feel if you really put your mind to it then you can create this if you really want to. But if you can’t, someone please get to writing this ASAP !

[imagintheworldaway]

Moral of the story PT2

the long awaited sequel !

read part one here!

requests are open

Scrolling TikTok was usually a bit of a break for me. I had just finished filming a video with Lux and I was taking a break before I had a shower to scrub off my makeup and have a little self care evening. Everything was sweetly mind-numbing until a clip caught my eye. I turned up the volume as I saw an original clip from Harry and Is Vegas wedding. It was the clip of us leaving the chapel, me in my short baby doll white dress and veil longer than my actual dress, and Harry in a tieless suit with his top buttons undone. We were only teens in this clip, back when it was us two against the world. The clip cut and I saw Harry on screen. “It’s the hardest thing to talk about really” He said and then it cut to Ethan. “They were so in love, we were jealous, not only was it great content but it was so real” the screen then cut back to Harry. “What happened?” a voice said from behind the camera. “I don't know, she obviously wasn't happy, it broke my heart, i loved her, and she just threw it all the way, like it was nothing, like, how can you be so horrible, cruel, i-” Harry had started rambling before catching his tongue and the clip swapped back to SImon “she truly broke his heart, it hurt all of us” he said looking into the camera. And that's where the clip ended, and my rage started. Yes I asked for the divorce, but how was he not happy? How can he lie about me like that? None of them ever reached out to me, asking if I was ok, how the hell dare they. It had been over three years, the divorce was over and done with, we had talked through it so many times, we had talked to our friends, addressed the fans, even appeared together a handful of times in different videos. I thought we were all finally in a good place again. Obviously I was wrong.

The day was as bleak as my mood. I felt bad for anyone that saw me as I was contemplating murder right now. All I could see was red, and there was only one man I was going to aim this anger at. I had rang Talia and she had told me that the boys were filming at a studio I was all too familiar with. It was only a short walk from where I lived, I quickly turned my anger into determination as I mapped the streets in my head and my muscle memory almost flew me to the warehouse. I stormed through the door, I couldn’t care less if they were in the middle of a shoot. I had a score to settle. 

I stormed through, past the crew, people tried to stop me but no one had the chance. I stopped abruptly on the set but not quite in front of the cameras. They were shooting some type of game show but my rage just intensified when I saw my target. “You fucking arsehole” I shouted, my fists balled at my sides as I stood staring down my target. Everyone went silent and looked at me, most faces in pure shock to even see me. “Say something you twat, or did you say it all in your stupid fucking documentary” I spat in Harry’s direction. “Uh- I-“ he stuttered. I just stood there, staring daggers.

No one said anything, just watched like an old western movie, two people in a standoff. “I’m not leaving until I have answers, so keep staring” I said through gritted teeth. “Uh take five everyone” I heard Kon say somewhere to my left. Everyone stayed still for a moment, no one wanting to move first, before the crew started busying themselves and the other boys just stood there stunned. I waited as Harry took his time to walk over to me. “Can we do this outside? '' he said, not looking at me. “So chat shit about me to the entire world but can’t sort it in front of your mates, spineless dick” I snapped, “oh and none of you are off the hook either” i spat pointing my finger at all the boys. I grabbed Harry's forearm, spinning around and walking to the door. 

“Y/N I-“ he started before crumpling under my stare. “You what Harry? Thought you’d save yourself by slandering me?” I said “look at me, Atleast give me that” I said my voice faltering. “I thought we were cool, i thought you understood, i thought we had all figured this out” i had pleaded with him. “I didn't mean for it to come off like that” he sighed, “then what? How did you mean for it to come off, cause I've had so much hate already, I don't know if I can go through all of this again "I said, slinking back into myself a little. “Come on, I love you Y/N” he said, his voice strained as he reached for my arm. I jerked back, almost instinctively for a moment, seeing the hurt wash across his face as I let my emotions run free. “No, no, no. You do not deserve to say that to me” I seethed, starting to feel the tears prick at the corner of my eyes. “You hurt me” I spat, pointing my finger accusingly at Harry. He looked lost like a little puppy, and if I was still the woman he had married, I would have crumbled, apologised, and comforted him, telling him it was ok and we can forget this ever happened. But this time I cannot forget. “And you didn't hurt me?” he quipped back. “I never said i didn’t, the difference is you care so much about what your friends and fans think about you, about us, that it's easier to slander me just to make yourself out to be the good guy” the tears had slowed down now, but i can already guarantee my makeup is fully fucked. 

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I gathered myself. “I loved you Harry, so fucking much. I thought you were it for me, you were my forever, but this, it turned so toxic, it turned into pleasing everyone but ourselves. And the fact that you still can't see that all these years later. Well, you need to let go, "I said, trying to get through to him. “And then what? I lose you forever?” He sounded so desperate and so unsure. “I don't know, but you need to let go, neither of us can grow if you don't” I almost pleaded with him. “Fine, i’ll try, but this won't happen overnight,” he sighed. “I know that, but please, if you really do still love me, try” it wasn’t a lot, but for now, these words will have to do. I quickly composed myself, turning back to a stoic version of myself, putting my guard back up “Just know, if you ever pull anything like that again, i will air all of our dirty laundry”

[inthegoodbooks]

the hobbit (review)

Right, I know I am a million years late here (ok, more like 87) but jesus fucking christ I loved this book. I’ve been a fan of the Lord of the Rings films since I first saw them with my dad back in the early noughties but having never sat through an entire The Hobbit movie (soz) I didn’t know that much about the story of this one tbh. I knew there was a dragon? Some treasure? A group of dwarves and maybe one of them is gay and totally into Bilbo? (That may have been more tumblr’s version of events but I was willing to believe it and - guess what - still willing to believe it tbh.)

Some of my preconceived notions of course were accurate (ok, all of them) but what I didn’t anticipate was just how much I would bloody love it. Tolkien’s style gets a lot of praise, understandably so, but I wasn’t aware of just how much it would gel with me. Its almost satire-like humour was flawless, and it really gave me the impression of someone sitting me down to tell me a bedtime story; of course, this was exactly how these books were initially intended and it shows. But it works. I am totally of the opinion that this would make a fabulous audiobook, and I can’t wait to check them out in a couple of years once I’ve done my first proper read-through.

My favourite thing about this were the introductions we get to all of the different creatures, races and creeds in Middle Earth. The elves, goblins (orcs in later works) and eagles in particular were an absolute joy to read and get to know. Legoloas’ character in the films was always my favourite (my big queer crush on Orlando Bloom in a blonde wig may have had an influence there but we’re not here to talk about that…) so it was super fun to get to know some of the elves in this novel. I love the idea that the elves were fully just living their lives with Bilbo kicking about all invisible, making no noise whatsoever. The things he must have been privy to… I digress…

The eagles were a great introduction too. My partner and I watched The Return of the King on the night I finished this and I was so delighted to fully appreciate their significance at the end. A dear co-worker of mine (and HUGE Tolkien fan) has said they play an even more interesting role in The Silmarillion so I am really looking forward to reading that once I’m done with the original trilogy.

Everything in me wants to binge them now, but I have some big reading plans over the next few months so I am planning on doing one a month. Considering I read this in two days, I don’t think that is beyond the possibility of belief.

Well done Tolkien, you have impressed. 5 stars, obviously.

[moltengoldveins]

ALRIGHT LISTEN UP. I am ill. I am tired. And I have an Idea.

As we all know, the two most autistic movies on the planet are Top Gun: Maverick and Pacific Rim. Obviously. I’m sure there are more neurodivergent movies out there but those are the Autism Movies specifically. Plane go zoom = big robot punch, training for suicide mission = finding drift partner to destroy the breach, fatherly admiral dying of health complications = brotherly admiral dying of- you get the idea.

SO. I propose a film. A way for Warner bros or whoever else greenlit the PacRim sequel to redeem themselves. A Top Gun: Maverick- inspired movie about the squads of fighter jets that fought the third Kaiju. Not the first! Not the second! But the third.

PacRim says the second kaiju came six months after the first. It’s implied by Geiszler that the kaiju come regularly, increasing in frequency mathematically, meaning the third would have probably showed up at most six months after the second, twelve months in. that being said, Raleigh names a couple of kaiju in that first little segment, so it’s more likely that it came earlier, and that there were more kaiju before the Jaegers got their act together. The timing is unclear.

Stacker says the first jaegers were built in thirteen months. That’s seven whole months after the first where the first line of defense against these things would have been fighter jets, like we see in the opening scenes, and Raleigh says that the drift technology was inspired by “DARPA Jet Fighter Neural Systems” meaning that, CANONICALLY, fighter pilots were probably the first drift-compatible pairs of military personnel to fight the Kaiju, before the Jaegers even got out of the drawing room.

so, I propose a timeline: it is twelveish months into this war. (You could even put it on some holiday, make the anniversary of the first kaiju a big event.) When the third kaiju appears. Maybe it’s not the Actual Third, sure, but it’s spiritually the third. It’s right before the Mark 1 Jaegers are finished; funding is limited everywhere but ESPECIALLY in the branches of the military that are gonna be made obsolete by the Jaeger program, ie. The fighter pilots. Drift pairs are being picked off left and right to run Jaeger tests; those who won’t ’change with the times’ are being called ‘old fashioned’ or ‘washed up.’ The pilots who are training at this point are splitting their efforts between Jaeger sim time and flight time; none of them are really equipped to fight a Kaiju in a jet right now, but that’s ok. The Mark 1s are three weeks from completion. They don’t need fighter pilots.

Then the third Kaiju emerges, one month off-schedule, and suddenly everyone NEEDS FIGHTER PILOTS.

Literally can you imagine how cool this movie would be? (Obv the plot would be less blatantly inspired by Maverick but I’m going for the Vibes here):

You are a fighter pilot. Your partner died in a training exercise years ago; it took a while, but you’re comfortable with your new drift partner-once-rival. You’ve flown together for years doing espionage, raids, anything and everything. When he stepped back from active duty to become an admiral, he started using his leeway to keep you in the game, get you new drift partners, keep you in the air. Your former partner’s son wants to follow in your footsteps. His mother begged you to keep him out of the drift. You made a call, and it ruined your relationship with the kid, but you can still fly. You can still put your brain in the hands of someone else and soar. For a few hours out of the month, you feel a million feet tall.

Then a god walks out of the sea, and you are very, very small. You’re halfway across the world; you can’t be there in time. But you watch good men, men you know, men you trained with, go down in fiery blips as a Thing, A Great Abomination, A Hand Of God, crushes LA like a styrofoam plate. The government scrambles for a way to defeat it, and they’ve got some Big Thing in the works but in the meantime, they land on… kids. Fresh pilots, paired up with combat sessions and dance competitions and Mario Kart tournaments, shipped bright-eyed and baby-faced to your doorstep so you can train them to fight god and… lose. To fight god and lose. the odds are terrible. You know that. They know that.

Your partner’s kid is in the first class they send you. You have to teach him to fight a hurricane with a tiny piece of metal and his mind, which really just means you have to teach him to die standing. It looks like you might be on track, it looks like he has time to find a drift partner, it looks like you might be able to repair things and that disaster might not fall: it’s only three weeks till the Jaegers are finished, and the next kaiju isn’t expected for another month.

Then the hurricane arrives off-schedule, and you have to fight god yourself, or die trying.

CAN YALL EVEN IMAGINE. The sheer Tension of juggling political expectations with personal relationships and the Breath Of A Demon blowing down their necks at every opportunity. The acknowledgment that no, nobody has any ideas what these things are, nor do they have a plan on how to kill them without massive loss of human life. The third act darkest hour where everyone’s’ relationship problems hit rock bottom and you go “well it can’t get any worse” and then it does because BOOM KAIJU. The final stand as planes are getting picked off. The jets pulling off the impossible and taking the kaiju down, just as the first Mark 1 (barely holding together on duct tape and prayer, piloted by a young Stacker Pentecost) stumbles its way out of the docking bay.

the bittersweet realization at the end that they won, yeah, but they’re still obsolete now. They still pale in comparison to the power of the New Best Thing. They still aren’t Jaegers, so if they want to stay in the game, they have to become Jaeger pilots.

THIS WOULD BE AN AMAZING MOVIE. IS ANYONE LISTENING. AM INASNE OOR WOULD THIIS BE SO COOLL ASHFFHGKGKLS—

[zalrb]

I Took My Mom to See Gladiator II so, she took me to see Wicked. My Review:

OK. I'll start with the obvious: epic way to end Part I. They closed out on a complete banger. Cynthia was phenomenal, her rendition of "Defying Gravity" was stunning (I say this like I'm an expert when I saw the musical once years ago). I had chills. I can totally understand how and why some people ended up crying/teary-eyed. The direction, the cinematography, it all worked together for a flawless ending. That was 10/10, no notes.

Elphaba and Glinda's dance was also very touching, and was the second most emotionally resonant part of the movie for me (no, I didn't record the movie, it's just already on streaming sites with relatively not-too-shitty quality and horrible subtitles)

(honestly, subtext was basically text)

Now, if those two sequences + Popular were the entire movie then I would be like, it was brilliant as a whole. As it is, they're not. So, I left the theatre being like, those were three really great moments in an otherwise pretty standard movie that, for me, teetered on being boring, but that is to be expected when, for the most part, I'm not a person who likes musicals onscreen (I kind of ended up chuckling to myself during "The Wizard and I" because I was like, you sang all of that, ran around and now look, you're in a field how far outside of Shiz, and you have to run back to school, Elphaba).

But, I know, I know, it needed to be epic! Larger than life! We need to see the scope and scale of what she was feeling! I get it.

An anon said Wicked was like Barbie but stuck the landing better when it came to the messaging. I can see that. Was the messaging easily digestible? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. With everything that's going on in, you know, society, and Elphaba also being played by a Black actress, I can understand why the movie would strike a chord with people. Elphaba, who genuinely wants to enact change and Glinda, who, well...

It's timely.

Writing-wise, I still struggled with her as a character, though.

In my opinion, Glinda is the more dynamically written character, while Elphaba carries the emotional weight --- which honestly, I think is more a testament to Cynthia than the writing. Obviously, we get interiority with Elphaba through her songs, but "Defying Gravity", as much as Cynthia really made us feel what Elphaba would be feeling in that moment, it illuminated, why for me, it felt like writing-wise, Elphaba got lost in her own movie.

Something has changed within me Something is not the same

Like yes, technically, there is a shift and a change. We see that emotionally, like with these lyrics:

And if I'm flying solo At least I'm flying free

Because, we see at the party, when she's "flying solo", how alone she feels and how sad that makes her

compared to the end where she's celebratory about being on her own side

However, do I feel like we actually see in the writing how she got from Point A to Point B? Mmm, I don't know.

At the beginning, "The Wizard and I" is about her personal stakes, it's about wanting to be loved, wanting to fit in and then when she reaches the Emerald City for her heart's desire to be granted, it's not about her personal stakes, it's about the greater good i.e. the animals because she learns of their subjugation.

And yes, in the beginning of the movie, when Madame Morrible is encouraging of her power and says it's a pathway to The Wizard, it's the first time she's felt like her power can be a source of hope and good, only to realize at the end of the movie, that the wizard wants to instrumentalize this power to further the oppression of animals, which is a heartbreaking realization; believing that a system is there to help only to realize it's corrupt and then choosing to stand against the corruption is an arc, I get that, but this all feels thematic and conceptual, and ironically, Elphaba feels like a tool for the message rather than a character, and I think it's because she's written as pretty passive and fairly consistent.

I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game

Like I don't think we ever see her play by the rules of someone else's game?

The only thing I can think of is when Morrible tells her to harness her emotion so it can translate to power and the end she chooses to unleash her emotion because it's the source of her power; that doesn't really work for me though because harnessing something isn't the same thing as suppressing it, it's making use of it.

With the exception of her unwittingly creating the flying monkeys when she's already in the Emerald City, it's not as if she's learning that what she's been taught at Shiz has been used, from Day One, to further the wizard's agenda and she had an inkling that something was off but didn't quite question it because she's finally being accepted only to learn why everything felt off and choosing to stand against it.

Maybe it's because when Dr. Dillamond is arrested and she asks if they're going to be silent and when she's told to sit down, she does, but again, once she sits down, she isn't silent,

and then her powers put everyone to sleep and she helps Fiyero free the lion cub.

And I'm not saying that Elphaba should've done all of the things I mentioned above, I'm just not really sure what the shift in perspective is meant to be. No one thought that when she learns the truth in the Emerald City that she would waver even for a second because she never has wavered her

Too long I've been afraid of Losing love I guess I've lost Well, if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost

OK, and the thing with this, is we see that Elphaba is put upon; we see her father berate her, we see her classmates scorn her, we see her sister shun her, and we see that she's unhappy but it's not like we see an active desperation to be liked or loved --- Glinda wants to be a sorceress and she stalks Morrible, she sees Elphaba hold her textbooks, which prompts jealousy. With Elphaba, for these lyrics to be in a song that indicates a significant shift in perspective for her, I'm still unclear on what the shift is, what point A was to get to point B. Is it that she allowed her father to mistreat her for so long in an effort to entreat the possibility of his love and now she is no longer afraid of being unloved? That doesn't quite work for me because that's still quite passive (it would work better in a book and this kind of made me want to read the book, which I've heard is quite different from the musical). Like, when she dances alone, it's through a conversation between Fiyero and Glinda that we get Elphaba's interiority i.e. "She doesn't care what anyone else thinks." "Of course she does, she's just pretends not to" (paraphrasing) whereas Glinda is active.

She is also fairly consistent but there are various points throughout the movie where she is presented with a crossroads, whether big or small; she could knowingly humiliate Elphaba with the hat or she could let it go,

she chooses to humiliate her;

she could let Elphaba weather the humiliation alone or she can stand beside her,

she chooses to befriend her -- that feels like the beginning of change;

she is friends with Elphaba, vowing to make her popular, which feels like a genuine albeit misguided attempt to be a friend, going down the path she started at the party:

and then, when alone --- "But just not quite as popular as me", so that complicates the growth we think we saw in her.

She could let Elphaba have her moment when the wizard invites her to the city, she kind of does, but when Elphaba invites her to join, we aren't sure how genuine her support is but it is genuine support!

Until it really matters.

Because she could choose to help fight the system with Elphaba or uphold the system with the wizard, she chooses the latter.

She is a character who is presented with various moral dilemmas and makes a series of choices, which then makes her active, and that makes her feel like she's written as a lead character and not simply as a central main idea or theme.

I don't know if I'm making sense and I'm sure anons will let me know, so I'll move on.

Besides "Defying Gravity", my favourite Cynthia moment is definitely her crying at the dance, she exuded such emotion during that scene. Outside of those two moments, I'm not going to lie, I wasn't particularly moved because it just felt like this face

all the time? That isn't to suggest that Cynthia didn't communicate emotion throughout the movie. As I said, she breathed life into the writing, but I think I expected more because I know she can do more and in the scenes mentioned she does do more. And the response could be that Elphaba plays things close to her chest and she has few moments of genuine expression, which is also why "Defying Gravity" is pivotal because, as Cynthia says, she gets bigger and bigger and comes more and more into her own, but rather than feeling as though Elphaba was playing things close to her chest and suppressing her emotions, it kind of just felt pouty.

I think Ariana was competent. I didn't think she was bad but I didn't think she was great either, she was believable, she did her job. I think my favourite comedic moment of hers is when she dramatically collapses onto the bed.

It was cool seeing Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel do their cameos.

My favourite character was Pfannee.

Fiyero was funny to me because he literally did not need to be there since his romantic entanglements with Glinda and Elphaba seem perfunctory and almost shoehorned in, because I found that the movie put more weight in the romantic subtext between Glinda and Elphaba. It is funny that as of late, Jonathan Bailey finds himself in a love triangle in which he is obnoxiously terrible at concealing his true feelings.

That's all for my review, of course I am open to discussions and to answering questions any of you may have :)

[comicaurora]

there's a tl;dr at the end if you're a coward who's too scared to read my glorious essay

wassup my name is destruktow i got in an argument with tumblr user flishthedragon (over discord) on the topic of aurora being an isekai (we were watching anime (they made me watch serial experiment lain (it was decent but i am too stupid for it)) and i brought up isekai) and i am convinced you bastards in the notes of when they posted my ramblings have no clue what an isekai is because an isekai is not defined by said isekai guy previously existing in the "real" world (despite that making up the majority of isekai stories) and let me tell you that i Have Not read past like the big robot thing (despite tumblr user flishthedragon being very adamant that i do so) so i have no clue if this still holds up to canon but as of right now we have no confirmation as to where jeffrey (canon name kendal i think but i call him jeffrey due to him looking like a jeffrey) originated from outside of "yeah jeffrey is like. this dude's empty body becoming sentient" which is bullshit so even by the bad definition everyone in the notes was pushing it's still not confirmed to not be an isekai and

*i pause to take a breath. as i breathe, you glance at my shirt. it has an image of popular comic strip character Garfield along with his adopted sibling/punching bag Odie and sugar daddy Jon Arbuckle. you appreciate said shirt*

also is space jam an isekai? it's absolutely an isekai dude lmao i love space jam that movie's great

okay back on topic so isekai originates from ancient japanese literature such as the story of Urashima Tarō, fisherman guy who saved a turtle and got to go to fishland for a week (my apologies to the urashima tarō fans out there my only exposure to this man is that they put him in battle cats and that was pretty cool, he's a decent black/angel tank that manages to not be outclassed by ramen and nono) and holy shit look at that you don't have to die to be isekai (no one was saying this but at least two of you were thinking it don't lie) and while reincarnation stories are not inherently isekai they can be viewed as isekai stories in certain contexts and those stay in the same world that's crazy

omniscient reader is also an isekai btw (if you finish it it's actually not but if you don't read like 500 chapters you can't prove me wrong and if you do i get someone to talk to about omniscient reader)

so obviously jeffrey exists (was summoned (technically)) for the purposes of getting vaush (that's not his name but it sounds like vaush and i used to be a vaush fan so we're going with it)'s soul back (has a goal given to him by a god) and he gets a companion (whether she is hot or not may depend on your taste and/or sexuality. me personally she is not hot) and he has big fucked up powers (real) BUT he keeps the memories of the previous host! wow! but screw you that's also an isekai thing i'm reading trash of the count's family and it does that (you suck stop typing stop trying to disprove me it won't work) and his existence prior, as i have mentioned, is disputable (he may or may not have existed. retaining your memories from previous life is not necessary) and his journey is fucking identical to various other isekai franchises you learn how shit works alongside him that's how isekai works you doubters in the notes

tl;dr: you can't prove it's not an isekai (author please do not confirm/deny it becomes much less funny if you do so) and it's infinitely easier to think of it as a typical isekai with all the isekai tropes so gg ez i win

[manicpixieyandere]

FNaF DBD Chapter Speculation

Characters and Cosmetics

As we're sure you've heard, FNaF is coming to DBD after YEARS of being requested! We thought it'd be fun to look at who the potential characters coming to the game could be, and their cosmetics as well (that's the real fun part).

First, who do we think is gonna be added to the game?

Considering this crossover didn't get green lit until the success of the movie, we're gonna say it's all movie based.

Safest bet is:

Killer- The Yellow Rabbit

Survivors- Mike and Vanessa

They make the most sense, they're the main antagonist and protagonists of the movie respectively. Obviously excluding Abby, but we doubt they'd ever add her. There are no little kid survivors in DBD.

Now onto potential cosmetics!

This is mainly just stuff we'd like to see based on previous games as there isn't much cosmetic options present in the movie. Mixing the games and the movie is a smart idea to entice and excite fans of the franchise anyway!

The Yellow Rabbit:

Springtrap

Alright this one was obvious. Of course they're gonna do this. How could they not?

Freddy Fazbear

It is an interesting dilemma that the name sake of the franchise is so unimportant. So it wouldn't be surprising if Freddy got a skin. The skins are still canon to the Entity's realm as well, so fret not.

Clown Springtrap

Probably his most iconic costume from the AR game! But maybe we are biased, clown characters are always the best.

Mike Schmidt:

Game accurate purple shirt

You know the look, look at that pelvic thrust!

PURPLE GUY?!

In the same vein we got the iconic guy who is purple but isn't actually purple guy.

Foxy Bully

The event that started it all. Maybe? Probably not actually. But it certainly was a messy event! Both for the lore and William's business!

Vanessa Afton Shelly:

Ok just gonna put in now that we are extremely biased for Vanessa. Besides the DCA, she is our favorite character from the games and movie! Security Breach was an amazing concept that was unfortunately executed poorly. It's a shame Vanessa and Vanny never really got their chance to shine.

Game Accurate Security Guard

Game Vanessa, what more is there to say? White girl jumpscare!

Vanny

Now it'd be hard to give her the full suit, players would think she's a killer. But maybe they could give her a mask, similar to Cassie's in Ruin. This mask would just be a head only accessory. Mainly meant to go on the game accurate outfit.

Rainbow Hair And Pronouns

In the AR game when Vanessa was going by "Ness" she was described as having rainbow hair streaks. It is a shame this was never in the game. Please girl, come slay. Kill that old man William with your pronouns, hair dye, and definitely lesbianism.

Charlie Emily:

Another separate character costume. Charlie was the very first female protagonist in the FNaF franchise and really the first in depth fleshed out character we ever got. So fuck of course she deserves a spot! The original novel trilogy is what led to so much of the lore we have today. Sure the novels had their weird moments, but Charlie was a stand out amazing character. We miss novel Charlie, this would be a great way to bring her back!

That's all we've got for character and cosmetic ideas! We assume the map(s) will just be an indoor pizzeria layout of some kind. But as someone who fucking hates indoor DBD maps it'll be a pipe dream they add an outdoor Fall Fest map to tease The Secret Of the Mimic. That'll never happen though so ignore that and chug salt.