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jeminie-rising · 1 month ago

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A Silent Christmas

[ Inumaki Toge x Reader ]

link to AO3: [ A Silent Christmas by JEMINIE ]

summary: "If he can't have Christmas at the Inumaki Clan then let's bring it to him!"

or, Toge gets called in from the Inumaki Clan for the holidays while the others, quite family-less, decide that trying to bring Christmas spirit to their friend is better than spending it doing normal Christmas activities in Tokyo.

warnings: a little tiny angst, more fluff, toge and reader being complete idiots in love, no smut!, toge thinks he’s not deserving :(, angst with comfort, afab!reader, they're both so in love but can't admit to it (yet), Toge says more than just rice ball ingredients, there might be slight mischaracterisations, found family, Christmas carolling, Not actually unrequited love (they just shy).

characters: inumaki toge, The Inumaki Clan, Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuuji, Kugisaki Nobara, Zen'in Maki, Panda, slight Satoru Gojo, mentioned Yuta Okkotsu

word count: 5,117

authors note: hii! i am absolutely new to JJK. Literally only started it but I had this inspiration from a Christmas song for Inumaki and I got so excited to write about it even if I still haven't finished watching it. So I apologise already if there are mischaracterisations!! I swear I will review this after I finish it to polish it up.

Other than that, as usual, enjoy and happy holidays!

Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me, when those blue snowflakes start falling. –Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley

Because of the negative feelings throughout the year, sorcerers don’t exactly have days off, even during holiday season. But fortunately for the students of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College (with the name so long to distract the general public from having the word ‘curse’ in it) they were, in fact, just students. That means, they at least would get days off from their academic life.

“Finally winter break!” Yuuji screamed in cheer the moment he stepped out of the building and into the snow.

Nobara, with a hand on her hip and the other holding a hot pocket, joined in the cheer for the breaks, “we should all go do something!”

Megumi wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as the two but he too relished in finally having more time to practice his shadows techniques. You, on the other hand, were torn.

“Won’t you guys go back to your families for the break?” You asked fidgeting onto your long long scarf. You lost your family not so long ago. This would be your first Christmas without them. Surprisingly, it wasn’t because of any curses, just a tragic car accident. Goes to show that the world was filled with evil spirits, and sometimes they hid in plain sight as drunken drivers.

Itadori sat up from his newly formed snow angel, the cold didn’t seem to bother him as much as it did you. Maybe the flow of his cursed energy helped in that matter.

But it was Megumi who answered her first, “I don’t have parents, and my sister —well, if I visit her or not it won’t make any difference.”

His tone was not that of a traumatised teenager who clearly has gone through too much, he rather spoke casually of it.

Kugisaki shrugged her shoulders and decided to not explain herself further, “same here.”

You didn’t have to wait for Itadori’s answer. He too, just lost his last family member not so long ago. That was how you two became so close after all, he once showed a side of him that seemingly did not show others.

“You’re speaking of families?” A new voice interrupted them.

The second years walked out of the building too, seemingly just having ended their last class as well. Panda, the most outgoing of the three, was the one to greet with a question, curiosity in his voice. But as Panda was the one who talked, your attention was already on Inumaki. The boy stood quietly by Panda’s side –the two seemed to be two peas in a pod.

Perhaps because Maki was quite the introverted herself, but you’ve never seen him be as clingy to anyone else other than Panda. Perhaps the mysterious fourth second year, but he hasn’t been around since you arrived at this school.

“We were just making plans for the break since everyone seems to be staying around for the break,” Itadori explained, patting away the snow from his uniform.

Maki observed the first years, she didn’t have to ask, she herself wouldn’t and didn’t have any family to go to for the holidays. Having no missions assigned either she sighed and, uncharacteristically decided to join in on her own.

“If Maki is going, I am too!” Panda clapped his paws together, a fluff sound came from it. Made you wonder if those fluffy paws were the same ones that could punch through a wall during training.

With a smile, your gaze fell, once again, on Inumaki, hopeful he’d join in, as Panda did. You didn’t feel the need to shy your stare as everyone was awaiting for his answer too. Salmon. You hoped.

A few beats passed before the surprised look on his eyes turned down apologetically. From his hidden lips, one of his ingredients fell out, and it was not one you wanted.

“Bonito flakes…” he said, putting his hands together and bowing his head. “Tuna tuna…”

“Your family called you in?” Panda said in surprise, “When were you going to tell me?”

The boy couldn’t even reply before Maki interjected, “that seems logical. Every clan has their traditions, as one only Cursed Speech User, Toge must have been called to go back home for the holidays.”

“Salmon.”

Maki must have known this, you thought. You knew of her past, superficially. You knew she came from one of the three biggest clans of this world of sorcerers. So she must understand the responsibilities of a clan member, especially of Toge as the sole known inheritor of the Snake Eyes and Fangs.

Of course you were more than grateful to spend your holidays with wonderful friends, but you had to admit you weren’t as happy as you were earlier on the prospect of it, knowing that the one you secretly wished to spend it with, couldn’t be there. And both Nobara and Panda seemed to have taken notice. Sure you didn’t try to hide your disappointment, but after a few months around you, they knew better.

“When will you be leaving?” Panda asked your unspoken question.

“Tuna,” he answered quite immediately. His departure seemed to have been planned for a while now.

“So soon?” Itadori fully pouted as he neared towards his shorter upperclassman.

This gained him a pat on the head as Inumaki giggled. Aw, maybe I should have made my disappointment obvious too. You thought, as envy for Inumaki’s pat ran through you. A sigh left your mouth as it formed a condensed cloud in front of you.

Inumaki’s eyes fell on you for just a few moments, but you were sure he gave you a smile hidden behind his collar. Your upperclassman was quite the limited person. With rice ball ingredients as his vocabulary and half of the face covered by his collar, it wasn’t a surprise you were intimidated by him at first. It took a speaking giant panda to comfort you and reassure you of his situation to finally understand him better.

“Tuna mayo,” he said, already stepping away from the group, a hand up to wave. He must have had to go prepare his stuff, you thought, as he walked his way to his dormitory.

“It’s quite a pity Toge won’t be with us for Christmas,” Itadori sighed as soon as he left.

“It’s not like he will be celebrating it anyways,” Maki said. “From what I know, the Inumakis have an end of the year tradition to just dinner together quietly –something to not make the bearers of the Cursed Speech feel left out– it’s not like he will have an actual Christmas up there.”

The others hummed in silence, it was you who broke it as you spoke your thoughts mindlessly, “it would be nice if we could bring Christmas to him.”

“Let’s do it then!” Itadori cheered, his enthusiasm back on track. The others only blinked at him. “Come on! How can we make him pass Christmas without Christmas –[name] is right, we should bring Christmas to him!”

“Clans are quite secluded from society, they have their own little towns,” Panda explained, “it will be hard to get to him, let alone get in without being invited.”

“He’s right, Inumaki clan may not be one of the Big Threes, but they’re not going to let us in just because we popped up…” Megumi continued. “Plus the Inumaki clan is an outlaw clan –they will be far more alert than the rest.”

“Outlaw?” You asked confused, “Inumaki-senpai is a criminal?”

“Not quite,” Maki shook her head. “Cursed speech is a very powerful cursed technique. Even among kind hearted people like Toge it is dangerous, the most minimal of words and one may get very hurt –that’s why he really limits his vocabulary to ingredients. Won’t even say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in fear he might hurt someone.”

“So the entire clan is considered an outlaw based on their cursed technique? I thought the Jujustu world needed powerful sorcerers to fight curses?” You felt more confused by the second.

“The Higher Ups are quite complicated people,” Maki grumbled, knowing quite well how personal it actually gets for them. “Perhaps because the Gojo Clan is part of the Big Three, that’s why they don’t bat an eye at Gojo, but I know they must be biting their nails behind his back as they can’t have full control over him right now. The Inumaki clan, because of their inherited techniques, would prove to be an even more fearsome problem to deal with in terms of control and hierarchy power.”

“Yeah, Toge is a special case,” Panda explained at the end. “He is the only Cursed Speech user left. In a world where his kind has been nearly wiped out of existence –he was born.”

“That’s quite…” you couldn’t find the exact words to say. Devastating? Heartbreaking? Allarming?

“Bullshit!” Itadori exclaimed.

You couldn’t help but agree. It was bullshit. You already knew how isolating it must be for Inumaki to live such a life with such limited vocabulary, who knew he also had to experience such sorrow with the events that were happening with his clan –his family.

“Then it’s decided!” Nobara clapped, “We are going to bring Christmas to Inumaki-senpai!”

They were all there when they said their farewell to the silver-haired boy. As a man of few words he learnt to read and express through the heart, and sure he wasn’t hoping for them to shed tears, but a bit sad for his absence was a little bit expected. Instead, he somehow felt like they were all quite excited too. Was it possible that they were happy for him to leave?

How was it that the group were planning on doing such a feat, was still not sure.

“I heard from a little bird that some other birdies were planning to save another bird from its nest,” Gojo spoke as he waved goodbye to the car that took Toge away from their school.

The others looked at their teacher.

“If you’re speaking to birds now, then you should get checked up, sensei. Even among sorcerers that’s quite weird,” Nobara shook her head.

Itadori wished he could laugh but he didn’t want to get them caught with their plans, “Yeah, sensei. You’re giving a beat to Mei Mei.”

Gojo didn’t want to bust them, in fact part of him wished he could join them. But he had better plans for the holidays –not better, but definitely more important, that required his presence. Instead, he left them with some vague points.

“Well if any bird does wish to enter another bird’s nest, one bird must really consider doing so during the eve of Christmas. A very handsome blue-eyed bird heard that the imprisoned bird will be having their dinner at the eve, so everyone in the nest must be very busy to notice anyone climbing the tree.”

After a beat of silence, he greeted them with his own farewell, “I’ll be waiting for your Christmas cards!”

Everyone waited until he was quite far for him to hear them before speaking. Megumi was the first to break the silence, “he is so weird.”

That, he definitely was. But they all loved him for the little help. Because when they found themselves at the gates of the Inumaki clan, there were definitely no guards around. It was your first time there, and although you’ve been on many a mission already, you felt as nervous as you usually do when you go on curse hunting. You were not sure what you were expecting, your school was on the top of some mountains, in the middle of nowhere, of course the clan of some old family of sorcerers was going to be as secluded and old too.

The Inumaki Clan, as outlaws, surely did not look like the part. Well-kept bonsai and plants decorated the property. Each rock seemed deliberately placed to perfectly harmonise with the rest. The walls that outlined the estate were quite intimidating and the only entrance seemed to be the main gate. Fortunately for them, they were trained sorcerers and could handle a little hop of the walls.

Another stroke of luck was the lack of alarm systems. Not that it should be surprising given the traditional look of the place. Some cameras and cables would ruin the entire experience. You could imagine that normally there would be guards going around, but just as Gojo-sensei said, not a soul was present roaming around.

Despite the place seemingly being deserted, you and the others were still crunched down behind bushes and in the shadows. Everyone took the situation quite more seriously than their normal missions. Nobara did not speak a word of how she wanted to get home early for her skin care. Itadori made no jokes. Even Megumi, who one would think would find this entire situation stupid, called for one of his divine dogs to pick up Inumaki’s scent.

Not that it was needed. Every minka in the horizon was closed and no light shone through the windows except for one. The big one that led to the main road had lights and shadows flickering throughout the entire house. It didn’t take them long to reach it, but now it was a work of how to find their Inumaki among the rest of them.

✦•······················��✦•······················•✦

Toge was still in his room when the others were already celebrating, in their own quiet way, in the gathering room. He knew this event was reserved only for him –they had it every year since he was born. A way for his family to show solidarity to him –the only cursed speech user in existence– and be quiet. But Toge didn’t exactly enjoy that, he preferred it when everyone was blatantly chatty and lively around him. He adored his classmates, Panda and Yuuta, the company of the two was always guaranteed to have some interesting lively conversation. Maki, in her own way, always ended up filling the silence for him. He loved listening to her rants about her family and her plans to get stronger and better –an inspiration.

Even his teachers, all so chatty –his favourite had to be Gojo. His soul was so spirited and child-like, despite the burden of such a powerful and dangerous cursed technique. He admired him, and often wished he could be as carefree as him. Maybe one day he will find a way to control his powers at will and be more like him. Unapologetically himself despite the burden of potent cursed technique.

Megumi was quite the taciturn one, but when the new freshmen came around, he opened up quite a bit and it turned out to be nice speaking with him. The three new freshmen were also good company for Toge. Nobara never stopped talking. Even if he could, Toge wasn’t sure if he could let a word in. While Itadori was, without question, the most positive and enthusiastic one out of any person he has ever met, it was a joy to be able to have a conversation with him. And you? You were all of that packed up in a little package.

Speaking to you brought Toge a joy he could not begin to express. You were chatty, a yapper, no dull moment could be present. But there were rare moments where silence reigned between you two, and it was the kind of silence that was not demanded like that Christmas Eve, but the kind that rested like a pillow below your neck under the bright blue sky.

How he wished he could bask in that, instead of the eerie cold wind from his window. With one look out of the window, and a wish upon a star, he let himself believe for a moment in those Disney-like beliefs you often told him about. All the fairytale-like stories you often dreamt for, and he wished he could give you. But how could he swoon you with a duet song if he could not even say “hello” without being scared of hurting you?

He swore he saw one of the stars twinkle and that made him chuckle a little. Maybe, just for that night, his wish would come true.

However, that seemed to not be the case.

Maybe it was due to the sense of security he felt within the confines of the Inumaki Clan’s property but he shouldn’t have let down his guard. As he suddenly, he felt the presence of not one, but multiple sorcerers surrounding the house. He swore he recognised them, but it couldn’t have been right. Besides, their energy also felt too faint to get a proper read on.

With a quiet and swift jump from his window he landed on the garden that gave view from his window. He didn’t want to cause a commotion for the clan. He knew that being outlaws, this incident might cause them more trouble than anything. If he could, he was going to handle this by himself and, in the true spirit of the Inumaki tradition, quietly.

He really wished he wasn’t there that night. He wished to just spend that evening listening to some Christmas songs while his friends and family chatted around him. He wished to watch one of the cheesy hallmark movies you adored for the Christmas season where he could clearly guess how it would end up like. He wished he didn’t have to fight intruders. But, perhaps with standards so low, he at least wished he didn’t have to fight wearing a Montsuki, instead of his usual uniform.

He walked closer to where he could feel the faint energy of the closest sorcerer. His footsteps were just as quiet as he was. His movement, if not for the rustling of the long wardrobe he wore, light and faint. But he was not worried, if this was an ambush, it wasn’t from the smartest of individuals. He didn’t even have to heighten his senses to feel the presence of someone behind the rose bush. The slight rustling of the leaves only made him tilt his head.

“Come out.”

The moment he saw your head budding out of the bush, he wasn’t sure what to feel first. He was happy, surprised, aghast and at the same time he cursed himself and wished he didn’t use his speech technique on you. But how could have he known?

He had so much to say, so many emotions. So much of everything whenever you were around, but as usual, it was only his widened eyes and his limited vocabulary that could express his everything.

“K-kelp?!”

“Surprise…!” you said bashfully, stepping out of the bushes and closer to him. You weren’t sure on how to handle the situation. You had plans with the others once you’d find him, to surprise him all together. You could swear you tried your best to lower your cursed energy to hide yourself, until the others would reach you. But you weren’t expecting he’d use his cursed speech on you to ruin said surprise.

“Well, it was supposed to be–” you stopped yourself. He still hasn't discovered the others. You might yet surprise him with everyone else. But not that Toge was thinking of that anymore. He did sense the presence of more sorcerers earlier, but that thought was fast gone from his mind. Each of his senses were now focused on how the warm lights from his house warmed up your face, how the melody of your voice sounded better than any Christmas carolling, and how the faint scent of your perfume reached his nose –the hot chocolate you probably drank on the way there.

“It was supposed to be a surprise… me, visiting you. I hope that my intrusion isn’t a bother… of course I am not expecting to attend your dinner,” you giggled nervously at the thought of meeting his family, “just wanted to bring you some Christmas spirit!”

You rambled on as Inumaki only listened with a smile. It was only then that he realised he didn’t have the usual cover he used to hide the sheepish smile he wore whenever you talked to him. He quickly shook his head to bring himself down to Earth. Hopefully you’d think the blush forming on his face would be from the cold and snow that was starting to fall down on you.

“Mustard leaf?” He asked.

It wasn’t too long that you started to learn his ingredients, but you were certainly getting the hang of it. At least you were doing better than Nobara, that’s for sure.

“Oh, t-thank you but I’m okay, I really don’t want to impose on your event… I merely wanted to wish you a happy Christmas.”

At that, even your charmest smiles couldn’t hypnotize him from your statement, “Tuna��?”

“Uh–” you were caught, but you tried to pass it off with a laugh. “Yeah, you’re right I could have just texted… but you know, words carry more weight in person, don’t you think?”

Of course he did. He was the master of words after all. His smallest tiniest words could affect anyone who heard him speak. Choice of words, tone, volume, pitch, frequency; those were all things he was hyper-aware of. So it was not a wonder he still hasn’t confessed his feelings to you when Panda kept pushing the two of you since the day you met.

“Salmon,” was, once again, all he could say.

He looked up at the sky, partly because if he looked at you for one more second, he feared he might not hold himself up anymore, and another was in search of the star earlier. If his wish really did come true to have you there, then maybe he could wish again to have his cursed speech removed for just a few minutes. Just enough to be able to say everything he ever wanted to say.

Please twinkling star, I beg of you.

“Merry Christmas, Inumaki-senpai.”

Toge looked down again, and upon seeing your shy smile and blushing cheeks, he cursed himself once again. How dared he pray to a star in the sky, when he had one right in front of him. Toge thought for a while, calculated all his risks, all the possible scenarios, the weight of the words he picked, all the self-inflicted tortures he would endure if he messed up. But decided it was worth risking it.

“Merry Christmas, [name].”

Perhaps you didn’t receive an actual gift from Toge, but hearing him say your name was quite possibly the best gift you could have ever asked for. Needless to say, Toge too thought the same. Having you there was much more than a gift, if not a Christmas miracle in itself. The little gasp that left your lips was only the icing to the cake.

“T-Tog–”

“Hey! Say my name too!” Panda sprouted from nowhere. Following him, the rest of the students of Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College.

“Me too! Me too!” Itadori jumped up and down.

Nobara jumped with him with more vigor, “Me first!!”

Megumi and Maki calmly came out of the shadows too, silently hoping for their name to be spoken too.

Despite being interrupted, you couldn’t help but giggle at the group. Until you realised that they were all there, “How long have you guys been eavesdropping?”

“A while,” Maki quickly admitted. “We started betting who would actually conf–”

“We only didn’t want to interrupt,” Panda interjected. Yet his words did not match the fact that he was technically the one who interrupted them first.

Inumaki, though still a little bit stunned, was slowly growing more and more fond of his friends. He observed them with love and warmth filling him up. Their loud presence filled in the silence that deafened him previously. Like a bright warm light on that dark winter night.

“Tuna mayo?” Inumaki asked.

“Oh right,” Panda grabbed everyone and pulled them in a hug, “guys, one, two, three–”

“Surprise Toge!” Everyone exclaimed together in chorus.

It was a far cry from the actual surprise they wished they could have given him. But it mattered not to Inumaki, as his heart was starting to feel so full of love that it held no more space for the tears that came out instead.

Inumaki was already quite content with their presence, and nothing could have prepared him for the santa hats they all wore at once as Panda counted once again. All broke in a chorus of, not quite in tune, but lovely nonetheless singing.

“We wish you a merry Christmas, We wish you a merry Christmas, We wish you a merry Christmas, And a happy new year

Good tidings we bring, To you and your kin, Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year!”

Itadori quite enjoyed prolonging the last note with his jazzy hands.

“Mentaiko!” Toge laughed for a bit before asking them, “Tuna?”

“Oh it was [name]’s idea,” Nobara explained.

Panda, quite suggestively, added, “She wanted to bring Christmas to you~”

Inumaki could only see you blushing. He was quite aware of your feelings for him. He wasn’t stupid, and he definitely was not blind. But it still surprised him how adorable you looked when someone would almost catch your little ‘secret’ crush on him.

Panda only mentioned it once or twice before in privacy to Toge. First to ask what his type was and, the few more times after, was to point out how curious it was that you categorised into his type. However, Toge never admitted out loud his feelings for you, not to you nor to anyone else. Not that he was hiding it, but he was content with selfishly keeping it for himself. He would have told Panda, after pushing on the topic so much, but he never directly asked and he never had a reason to say. Besides, there were no words in his available vocabulary that allowed him to express the big emotions he held for you as he wished he could.

“We don’t exactly have presents though…” You admitted to him quite sad about it. “We didn’t have time to prepare anything except for the caroling.”

“We actually weren’t even sure we’d make it this far,” Megumi pointed out.

“Speak to yourself, I always knew we’d make it,” Nobara nodded proudly.

Inumaki laughed, “Bonito flakes!”

“Well, for the gift, we do have it,” Maki pointed out.

Inumaki looked at his classmate and tilted his head, “tuna?”

She did not reply, though with a friendly, yet quite powerful, push on your back, you found yourself in front of Toge. Who already put his hands forward on instinct, in case you tripped.

“Maki-senpai?!” You groaned looking back at her.

She only shrugged.

You didn’t want to look at Toge anymore. You were quite aware that you haven’t been the most nimble person with your secret. But at this point, things were starting to turn out a bit too forward for your liking.

Toge tapped your shoulder, a silent demand for your attention. He was not bothered by the presence of an audience, this was quite evident. And both of these were, again, too forward for your poor heart to deal with. You couldn’t ignore him though, not even if you wanted to. I mean, how could one ignore their crush?

You slowly turned back to look at him, only to find him smiling at you. His teeth visible, his tattoos by each side of his pretty smile almost framing it. How sweet was it to be able to see his entire face apart from the quick glances during missions. All her nervousness quickly melted away.

“Salmon!”

“Y-you’re welcome,” you cleared your throat. It was only a lump left from your nerves, but Inumaki was quick to bring out his throat medicine. A small cough was nothing to take lightly for him. “Oh, no thank you. I am quite alright.”

“Mustard leaf?”

“Yes, don’t worry!” You reassured him.

Inumaki was starting to worry you were getting cold, along with everyone else. He was about to offer you all to come in, but you were quicker to talk.

“We should get going anyways… don’t want to keep you further from your family thing.”

Toge wanted to object, he was shaking his head already when Megumi added, “Yeah, we bothered you enough.”

“Bonit–”

“You look so good in that Montsuki, senpai, you’ll have to tell me what store it is from when you come back from the holidays!” Nobara was already stepping away.

You couldn’t help but agree. You wished you had the guts to say it first, but you didn’t want to look like you were trying to flirt and shoot your shot. Toge could only hope you did.

“Merry Christmas again, senpai!” Itadori sprinkled around the few snow on the floor with his hands as he greeted him farewell once again.

Maki was nearly already walking away when you were waving at him. That was his last straw, he would feel bad about this later on, but he also felt quite desperate enough to resort to this.

“Wait…” he begged, in his softest tone and barely a whisper.

They heard it though, because everyone stopped on their tracks compelled by his command. Not that he wanted to command them, he merely wished they’d stay. He only wished for one last thing. A few more minutes.

He took the few steps that he needed to place himself in front of you. By then, he could feel the power of his words already fading from everyone. Perhaps it was the volume he used or the tone, but he was glad it didn’t last long. He never wanted to use his powers on his friends, he vowed never to do it. But this one time, he only needed to express what he couldn’t in the months he spent.

Maybe he wasn’t going to be able to truly say everything that is in his heart at the moment. But if not during Christmas then, when else? His bravery might be coming hidden behind the surge of the holidays, and the promise of a new year, but it was bravery nonetheless.

His words may be limited but his actions were not, because in a swift pull of the arm you found yourself in the warmth of his arms, and in your ears you heard yet more non-ingredient words from him.

“Thank you, [name].”

Your heart warmed up, enough to get you home in the snow unbothered that night. It might not have been the exact feelings that you wished he expressed, but hey! There was still new year’s eve for that.

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del-sol-diminutives · 1 year ago

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Review: The World of Sylvanian Families The Official Guide

This book is relatively new; it debuted around Christmas, 2023. It’s 110 pages, hardbound, and written with children in mind, but with value for adult collectors.

You can find some sample pictures of the interior on Amazon, but I wanted to talk a bit about what they do and don’t include, so you can decide for yourself if it’s a worthwhile addition to your own collection.

The book contains a story of the origin of Sylvania, which is heartwarming and sweet, with cute illustrations. The illustrations are the only time some of the vintage families appear in the book.

It also contains a section on the families themselves, including photos of the figures, their names, and the description of each member that you would usually find on the bottom of the box.

(Please forgive this photo’s strange lighting; the weather changed while I was writing.)

The most popular families get their own page and the Chocolate rabbits actually have a two-page spread. The families included are:

the Chocolate Rabbits

the Walnut Squirrels

the Persian Cats (the Persians)

the Huskies (the Huskys)

the Fennec Foxes (the Fennecs)

the Milk Rabbits (the Periwinkles)

the Ponies (the Manelys, plus Bella Chestnut and Giselle Silver)

the Bears (this is the Petite family of bears)

the Hedgehogs (the Brambles)

the Koalas (the Outbacks)

the Highbranch Giraffes

the Penguins (the Waddles)

the Snow Rabbits

the Toy Poodles (the Cakebreads)

the Sheep (the Dales)

the Maple Cats

the Pookie Pandas

the Marshmallow Mice

the Caramel Dogs

the Midnight Cats

the Kangaroos (the Hoppers)

the Yellow Labradors (the Fentons)

the Red Deer (the Buckleys)

the Reindeer (the Snowdrifts)

the Tuxedo Cats (the Marlowes)

the Bubblebrook Elephants

the Goats (the Brightfields)

and the Splashy Otters

The older brothers and sisters have their own page called “In The Town”, separate from the families. Interestingly, this includes Lionel Grand, who I hadn’t considered to be an older sibling. I might have to check his figure now.

The book also includes maps of Sylvanian Village, Sylvania Town, Seabreeze Cape, and Sylvanian Land, the amusement park for the babies. I think this is a fine bit of inspiration for designing your own layouts.

The book also includes descriptions of the seasons and Sylvanian holidays, including both Christmas and Easter.

In the back is a short timeline of Sylvanian Families history.

It is necessarily incomplete, given the target audience and the amount they’d probably have to pack into a book if they weren’t being general. Unfortunately it does not contain the full information on each of the various families and when they were released. There is definitely still room for a collector’s book for adults that includes information on the vintage families and sets.

Finally, the last page in the book is a delightful encapsulation of Sylvanian Families values.

I think this is a wonderful addition and a perfect capstone to the book, and I am very happy with owning it. I do hope that someday there will be a book for adult collectors, with the same kind of aesthetic, but with the full details we would love to have.

#sylvanian families #calico critters #book review #the world of sylvanian families

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theygotlost · 10 months ago

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ok hopefully my phone doesnt die while i write this review of kung fu panda 4

bottom line is dont watch it its not good. all rhe dialogue is bad. as in both the actual words written in the script and the way the actors deliver their lines. there isnt a single sentence that doesnt come out extremely awkward and stilted. even jack black sounds like he doesnt want to be there and the thing about jack black is that wherever he is hes always happy to be there.

also i hope we can track down the person who decided awkwafina should be in every animated kids movie ever from now on and have them shot. and then also kill awkwafina i hate the sound of her voice more than anything.

honestly the movie is just really boring. its mostly expository dialogue for a majaority of the runtime and then the big fight at the end was pretty cool and i forgot that i hated the movie for a second cause at least it was entertaining.

i know this movie is literally for babies but the jokes are all EXTREMELY unfunny and feel a million times dumber. sometimes movies for kids can still be witty and genuinely funny to watch as an adult but this movies sense of humor was for 6 year olds and nobody else

somethings i liked:

there was PANGOLIN voiced by ke huy quan which would have been awesome if he was actually a good character

po's goose dad and bryan cranston panda dad were kind of yaoi. no they werent who said that

tai lung was resurrected to serve cunt for 30 seconds and then died again

#MY FINAL MESSAGE TO THE WORLD GOODBYE

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nerdieforpedro · 10 months ago

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Fare Well

For @wannab-urs Hozier Song Drabble Challenge

Dieter Bravo x plus size female reader (Sweet Pea)

This fic is for those 18+ MDNI

Word Count: about 1.8k (Yeah so…I went past Drabble 👀)

Summary: Dieter has been working so hard. He still has an issue that might be because of his mind. What can he do about it? Do anything else.

Warnings: unhealthy coping, sexual dysfunction, sex work, teasing, pet names, sexual activity (actual and implied I think? I should know. 🙃)

Notes: I listened to this song 5 times in a row because I didn’t really listen to Hozier (now I do). The color this fic is purple or violet, whichever you wanna say it. 💜 I bolded lyrics I was able to put in the fic. 🤗 Thanks to Gin for giving me two Dieter fics to write back to back. ☺️ That little trash panda is always so giving.

Main Masterlist / Dieter Bravo Masterlist / Writing Challenge

Tapping his foot on his hardwood floors, Dieter Bravo is in an all too familiar place. He’s been purposely busy. Keeping occupied except for when he’s completely exhausted has kept him out of trouble, even in the tabloids. People are saying he’s changed for the better. He knows he’s keeping clean, keeping in the straight and narrow.

Bravo has run into a snag on his progress.

The last few paintings had done well in gallery showing, even selling for double than asking price, his last movie was well reviewed. These are both very good things, wonderful. He’s happy, proud even. Bravo is having plenty of sex, mountains of it. In his head. Reality has played out much differently. All this work he’s doing, he hasn’t been able to chase a different high. One he’s used to replace the drugs. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find people to have sex with. He’s been more careful about it, not something he’s been concerned about prior to his new leaf. In doing so, acts he’d normally attempt weight more heavily on his mind and keep little Dee from swelling when needed. Bravo knows the rumor that might be going around but it’s not true! Since his mind is clearer, he actually thinks about who he’s having sex with more and little D isn’t always on board. You know, one of those words his therapist mentioned – cognitive dissonance except it’s happening with his partner in pleasure little D. Big D when he’s feeling in the mood.

He knows he could just go to one of those discreate clubs, seek his needs out there, but he always assumed he wouldn’t need one. The Oscar Winner keeps looking for different projects, in his studio trying out new paints, trying to learn the saxophone (it was a bad idea, but sounded great at three in the morning when he called his assistant and told him what to buy), he then went to a spin class and damn near passed out after fifteen minutes and tried a cooking class but was kicked out for causing an oil fire.

Nothing was working so he called and asked to stop by, check the place out. The owner of course said that was fine – he’s Dieter Bravo, they’d love to have him. Dieter told the owner,

“I’ll take any high. Any glazin’ of the eyes. Any solitary pleasure that masks my sorrow. No drugs though, I’m not willing to backslide over it.”

The owner said they understood and had the perfect person for him.

So now Dieter waits in this room. It’s an array of different purples well violets since this is a more classy place. He wanted to undress to his boxers but was told by the front desk to leave them on. He did remove his shoes, socks and jacket, but otherwise he’s dressed. Simple black slacks and a white button-down shirt that had bellowing sleeves with a deep v-cut exposing his chest down to his sternum. He felt like dressing up a bit but still kept it simple, most of the clientele were in suits and dresses that Dieter saw. Soft guitar music played in the background, he closed his eyes as he waited curious who they might have matched him with based on what he asked for.

Dieter heard the clicking of heels first. Then smelled a deep woodsy fragrance, it approached slowly, matching the pace of the heels. They stopped in front of him and he caught hints of citrus and a flower. Using his aquiline nose to sniff closer to the source, feeling body heat radiating from whoever was in front of him. “It’s faint but you smell like a sweet pea.” He released a deep breath he’d been building from taking in and trying to identify the different components of their scent.

“Welcome Mr. Bravo. I hope my fragrance invokes pleasant memories. I’m told you want to rid yourself of sorrow. Correct?” The voice embraced him as soft fingers coiled around his neck, thumbs pressing into his chin.

“Yes, please. I need to forget, just for a bit. Then I might be able to get my body to function properly. Everything is fine, great even.” He kept his eyes closed and he felt them. Lips on his forehead, warm and plush. They lingered, “Can I touch you, please?” No answer was given as hands left his neck and were placed on each side of a torso. His palms roamed slowly tracing the lace that wrapped the body he had in his hands.

The lips left his forehead and he was tempted to reach for them, but kept his eyes closed, he would wait, trying to keep his breathing even. “Is this alright Mr. Bravo or do you want someone who might-“Dieter wildly shook his head.

“Don’t you go anywhere Sweet Pea. Stay right here with me. Just like this. Maybe more. Can I look at you?” He pulled the body toward him, sniffing more. “Call me Dieter. Mr. Bravo is the one having issues with his little D.” He made himself chuckle knowing what a stupid joke it was. Fingertips graced his cheek and tipped his chin upward.

“Look at me Dieter. How do you want me to drown your sorrows tonight? I usually go by Violet due to the room, but I like Sweet Pea when you say it. It makes me sound cute.” The giggle from this celestial being has Dieter wondering if she’ll still giggle if he’s buried between her legs. He wouldn’t need to come up for air, just search for what would be his reward: her moans and his tongue squeezed by her pelvic muscles. His palms ran around to her back, feeling the different rolls of her body.

“I want to see if I’m going to go into a coma from drowning in your nectar Sweet Pea. Can I be your first casualty? If I was going to go, I’d want to be surrounded by thick thighs and a woman’s cries I offer her.” Slipping her left heel off, Sweet Pea places her leg on the bed beside Dieter’s right leg. His hand slowly makes its way across the curve of her wide ass to her thigh, his large fingers dipping into the small holes of the fishnets, tugging on them. “Let me show you gorgeous.”

Smiling, Sweet Pea gives his lips a quick peck before bending to reach between his legs, “Seems just the thought is enough Dieter. Why come to me? I’m sure you’ve got many offers, especially if you’re asking like that.” She lowers her leg and stands back up, turning her back to him but looking over her shoulder to meet his eyes. The glint in them makes her lick her lips, she could ask him to do it, just to see if he will. Given how desperate he is, he might. He won’t say it, but his body betrays him, he said that ‘little D’ was having trouble but that didn’t seem to be the case at all from what she felt. Maybe it’s the scents, the atmosphere and that what happens here will remain here until he comes back. She crosses the room and drops her black thong, stepping out of it and her other heel, sitting on a violet velvet loveseat with her legs open wide. “This is what you want right Dieter?” Her elbows are on her knees with one hand beckoning him. “Come to me, but undress and crawl.”

Bravo doesn’t want control right now, nor does he want to think. He just wants to act, to perform. In this moment, he isn’t thinking about how lonely he is or how his career could crumble on some whim of culture or random video. There’s only this purple room he can melt into as he removes his clothes, making himself bare to Sweet Pea. Dieter’s actually hard, dripping onto her carpet as he lowers himself onto the floor on all fours. His knees are burning as he makes his way across the padded carpet. It’s worth his goal though, into her tender folds. “You like to see a man work, huh Sweet Pea? That’s more than fine.” Halfway there, his bobbing swollen cock made a mess of the carpet and his belly. Upon reaching her, he placed his hands on her knees and looked up to her, balancing himself on his knees so little D was at full attention. He wanted to show her what she’d been able to bring out of him so far. Something changed though, he was smiling but Violet recognized it. She used her fingers to rub circles into his biceps and shoulders before tracing the pronounced vein on his neck.

“You adorable man. This isn’t what you want. At least not now. You can’t seem to decide between the two Dieter.” Fingers run through his hair, and he knows she’s right but couldn’t she had said so after he’d had his fill, hear her cries?

“You’re not wrong, but I still need this. Need you.” He dipped his head to nibble on her thigh and she hummed but pushed his head back. In standing, she also helped him to his feet and brought him back to the bed, removing her lace corset and climbed on the bed.

“From behind, I’m not going to have your tears dripping where I can watch while you fuck me.” Now Sweet Pea was on all fours and Dieter’s sorrow returned. It was inescapable, but he wanted to see her face. He could block it off, just for a short while he tried to get the sunshine.

“No, I need to see how your face changes as you take me.” Crawling across the bed behind her, he pulled her back flush to his chest and turned her chin over her shoulder, capturing her lips. Slipping his tongue in, the warmth felt good. He hadn’t had it in months, he didn’t know why now, in this place with her, but he’d accept it. All of it. “Pleasure to mask my sorrow is why I’m here, Sweet Pea. Have me bask in the sun.”

Their kiss broke as Sweet Pea turned to put her arms around his shoulders, kissing his forehead once again as Dieter laid back on the bed, she fell forward as he took her hair out of the high ponytail it had been in. Her hair fell around her face, her wet folds grazed his shaft and he moaned. “I’ll be your dawn until the light shines on you Dieter.”

Coming unbound, feeling elated and devastated when he had to leave, Dieter had been able to bury his sorrow in pleasure for a time. Another appointment was made for later in the week. To quote Bravo, “I’ll deny me none while I’m allowed because I wouldn’t fare well.”

Bad ideas that Dieter could use: @katw474 @readingiskeepingmegoing @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @megamindsecretlair @pamasaur @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @sp00kymulderr @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @titlee78 @tinytinymenace @magpiepillsjunior @soft-girl-musings @morallyinept @rhoorl @survivingandenduring @missladym1981 @yorksgirl @heareball @laurfilijames @maggiemayhemnj

#pedro pascal characters #fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #dieter bravo fics #dieter bravo fanfic #dieter bravo fanfiction #dieter bravo #dieter bravo smut #dieter bravo x plus size reader #hozier songs #Hozier Song Drabble Challenge #Gin made me do it #a Nerdie fic

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justanotherwriter140 · 11 months ago

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Kung Fu Panda 4 - The Movie

The last really, really long discussion post (for now).

Major spoilers ahead!

This review is full of spoilers, so please refrain from reading through it until you've watched KFP4. I would highly suggest doing so, as I want everyone to form their own opinions without my influence. The movie has its flaws (some of which admittedly being a bit distracting), but it's a fun film that has things to offer.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a fun movie (take that as you will) that takes its audience on an action-packed, surprisingly funny, yet relatively contained adventure on which Po doesn't really do much. It's an inconsequential, safe sequel that doesn't really hurt the franchise but adds close to nothing.

I had a good time watching the movie. It was obviously produced with its theater experience in mind and the action scenes especially reflected that priority. The humor was actually funny sometimes and I enjoyed Po and Zhen's dynamic. During the film, I was able to put most (most!) of my grievances aside and take the movie for what it is. I've discovered that the best way to watch KFP4 is with low expectations and an open mind.

I have a lot of things to say about KFP4, both complaints and compliments (though the former might be taking the forefront in this review), and I hope this review can help those of you who have seen the movie organize your thoughts. I've been having a lot of trouble with that specific aspect of things myself. Those who get it get it.

With that said, let's get into my full review of KFP4! I've been waiting for nearly 2 years to write this and I'm so excited to share every single thought.

I'm going to follow the format of my first discussion post and curate a bulleted list of my thoughts, followed by an analysis of each of these points. Keep in mind that everything I say is IMO and this is more of a rant post than anything else.

Here are my main points:

The Furious Five's role is comically minuscule in the context of the film. Their actions are inconsequential and add nothing to the plot (a confirmed last-minute add), and they have 30~ seconds of screen time. Shifu is also largely irrelevant.

Mr. Ping and Li's presence has little to no effect on the movie (though I won't complain too much because they were pretty fun to watch and this movie has bigger problems). In almost any scenario, I am adamantly against having characters present that don't add anything to the narrative; however, Mr. Ping is an exception. I love Mr. Ping. James Hong is a gem.

Zhen's screen time is not utilized well and her character is underdeveloped. She definitely wasn't annoying, but I didn't find her either compelling or funny enough to warrant the screen time she was given, especially considering it wasn't used to establish a backstory/strong motives. This makes me feel bad for the character because the movie kind of screwed her out of any substantial development.

The Chameleon, while complimented greatly by Viola Davis, is an underwhelming villain. Viola Davis is amazing in this film and I would suggest watching it for her performance if for nothing else, but the Chameleon is underwhelming considering the super cool concept behind the character.

The film feels very rushed. Apologies to those who disagree, but I think the pacing is atrocious and the final fight is anticlimactic. The movie felt like a word-vomit with no discernible intermissions that stops abruptly when the film ends.

I felt as though Po didn't change/grow as a person and the audience never had a chance to either bond with or relate to his character. His internal struggle is kept to a minimum and we don't spend a moment alone with him as an audience, which is disorienting and distracting. Watching the film felt like running into an old friend at the store who's too in a rush to have a real conversation.

The action scenes were strong with few exceptions. Creative art direction was utilized and I thought the martial arts choreography was entertaining and dynamic. I love the color palette of the film and many scenes were very impressive visually.

With my main points established, I do believe it's ranting time. Strap in, folks.

Let's start strong with the Furious Five: I'm gutted. Chagrined, despondent, crestfallen, etc.

The lack of the Furious Five negatively affects KFP4 so much, because not only does their absence hurt the atmospheric integrity of KFP as a franchise, it also forces KFP4 to bring in a slew of different characters—all while still noncommittally including the FF at the very end because I believe the marketing team required it—that clog up the cast a bit. It all goes to show how important strong, established side characters are.

The Furious Five are side characters, but the role of "side character" does not equate to being irrelevant, expendable, or exchangeable. I recognize that the Furious Five aren't super developed as characters beyond a handful of lines that allude to traits sprinkled sparingly among the members; however, I believe that the tiny bits of development we have been given have proved impactful in the past. Tigress's development in KFP2 is a prime example of how much narratively conscious changes (however small they may be) can positively affect these movies.

Because of limited runtimes, the Furious Five often operate as more of a singular unit than five individuals. Even so, I don't think discarding them is valid. They're so important to the KFP universe (to Po's universe!) and not having them with him feels so wrong. The Furious Five are fully integral to the heart of Kung Fu Panda, which is why I believe a lot of those who have seen the new movie have expressed something feeling "off" or something being missing.

I agree with this sentiment. To me, KFP4 didn't feel like a KFP movie. I don't need a Furious Five spin-off movie and I can be fully content with a KFP5 centered around Po's journey as an individual as was intended from the beginning, but he can't carry an entire movie on his back. As strong as he is in every sense of the word, he is only one character. He's the centerpiece of the franchise, but a centerpiece can only go so far without the rest of the design, so to speak.

For me, the Furious Five's absence is one of this film's biggest faults. It's huge and glaring. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, either, because the friends with whom I saw the film refused to talk about any other aspect of the movie after seeing it. Seeing them at the end was better than nothing, of course, but it was a disappointing culmination after eight years of waiting.

That all is to say I feel robbed. Despite all of this, though, I understand that there were reasons why the Furious Five weren't included in the movie. I don't believe the production team would exclude the Furious Five unless they weren't given a choice.

Shifu and Po's dynamic continues to be thoroughly delightful but their interactions are short and simplified. I would have loved to see more of them in this film, especially considering the extreme relevance of teacher-student relationships in KFP4. I (somewhat) digress, though, because the idea of Shifu having to live at the Jade Palace with only Po for an extended period of time is hilarious enough on its own. Maybe that's what the short film is about!

The comedy is odd but has some jokes that stand out. Po maintains a healthy relationship with his inner sass, which I think makes him more fun to watch and kind of eradicates the man-child verdict. Some jokes don't land, of course, but I genuinely thought KFP4 had some funny moments. Mr. Ping was consistently awesome and Po had some good lines sprinkled throughout the film.

As for Mr. Ping, he and Li Shan are the subjects of the film's B-plot as they follow Po to Juniper City out of shared concern for their son's safety. In my mind, they don't add anything to the story that couldn't have been brought about by other characters, but they had their moments of being entertaining. I enjoyed their silliness and thought they had a cute dynamic if nothing else.

Speaking of other characters, I want to discuss KFP4's deuteragonist and why I genuinely feel bad about the way her character was treated.

I want to let it be known that I'm still not on board with Po passing the Dragon Warrior torch to another character. While I agree that his arc is now calling for him to have a student, I disagree with the notion of him retiring from his DW role.

As I stated in my first discussion post:

Didn’t the initial significance and nuance of the title come from the fact that there is only one person who can be the Dragon Warrior, because the concept of the “Dragon Warrior” isn’t so much a title as it is Po himself? The universe (Oogway) must choose the Dragon Warrior because they are a singular being of legend. It is one person, and that person is Po. Wasn’t the point of the first film that the title ultimately doesn’t really matter because there is no “secret ingredient,” so to speak? The title doesn’t actually give Po anything. “It’s just you,” Po says, and that was the resolution.

When it comes to Zhen as a character, contrary to what I predicted I would think of her, I thought she was okay. While I was still a bit distracted by how out-of-place her design looks, I wasn't truly annoyed by her at any point and she and Po had some cute moments. Even so, I think their relationship could have been a bit more refined and developed.

While it's evident that Po and Zhen are meant to have a teacher-student/mentor-apprentice dynamic, I think their relationship feels half-baked. There were parallels that contradicted one another and ended up being confusing come the film's conclusion, and the nature of their relationship seems to vacillate depending on the scene. Additionally, the strength of their bond goes from zero to one hundred within thirty-ish minutes and left me with a bit of whiplash.

We're shown that Po and Zhen care about one another, but we're never shown why. They have a brief conversation during which they bond over being orphans, and Zhen says at one point, "You're actually a good guy," but that's it. This obvious lack of development is a bit disorienting because we're later led to believe that Zhen and Po care very deeply for one another when there's almost nothing to back it up.

A scene that sticks out to me when discussing this is when Zhen attack-hugs Po in a way that explicitly mirrors Tigress's hug from KFP2. This happens around the beginning of the third act, and while it had the potential to be an endearing moment, I think it fell flat.

The impact of Tigress's hug was brought on by her character's hardcore nature and reputation of being heartless, further strengthened with the knowledge that she was hugging Po (which was obviously way outside her comfort zone) as a show of companionship and fundamental understanding. Tigress hugged Po because he needed someone to recognize his strive for closure.

Zhen's hug had little to no impact because she had no reason to do it and it didn't indicate growth. She hugs Po because she's sorry for betraying him and doesn't want him to be killed by the Chameleon, but neither of these things are newly-established via this hug; we have already gathered by now that Zhen regrets betraying Po and doesn't want him to get hurt.

The hug is far from the movie's weakest point, but I think it's unnecessary given the context. I'm big on hugs in movies (an underutilized form of platonic affection, in my opinion), but it didn't fit here. I don't hate it, and I see it as an honest effort to bring emotionality to Po and Zhen's relationship, but it seems arbitrary.

Zhen and Po's relationship has a lot of potential and I'd be open to seeing more of them in the future, but I think some more thoughtful development needs to occur before I can humor it further. Even so, I can see myself featuring Zhen in some future post-KFP4 one-shots—sparingly, of course, because we have a lot of Furious Five content to compensate for.

Overall, they had a cute dynamic and some sweet moments but I'm not attached. I'm on board with Po having a student but I think their relationship needs a lot more development, something that this film unfortunately didn't give them time to either accomplish or earn.

Now, onto the Chameleon!

The concept of the Chameleon's character is admittedly super interesting. She's the deuteragonist's fastidious mother figure who feels that Zhen owes her a debt and as a result holds her to an impossible standard. That dynamic had the potential to be so interesting but I didn't think it was explored at all. There is no indication of Zhen having any internal conflict about fighting the Chameleon, no emotional complexity between them at all; it's disappointing because I think it would've added a bit of earnestness to the film.

Additionally, the idea of a shape-shifting villain is versatile. A shape-shifting villain gives those telling the story a lot of room to experiment with the protagonist and different ways in which the main character can be challenged and tested. It's yet another good idea utilized poorly. Just one idea: the Chameleon could have disguised herself as one (or several) of Po's family, friends, etc. and brought to fruition a new arc with his character (seeing as he arguably doesn't have one in this film), but she only disguises herself as Zhen very briefly in the movie.

Furthermore, the Chameleon completely relies on the powers of previous villains to pose any sort of threat to the main characters. She summons Po's former nemeses from the Spirit Realm (despite there being little logic in doing so considering Kai's literal evisceration) and takes their kung fu abilities for herself.

An excerpt from my first KFP4 discussion post that I think is relevant to the point I'm trying to make:

I don’t think it would be in the best interest of anyone if the past villains were to come back in any way that’s not a flashback (even then, I’m not sure I’d see the point). In all honesty, I thought that the whole point of the villains was that they died and stayed dead. They were defeated by Po once and for all as a testament to the idea of establishing Po's character growth and journey as a person through the bad things he’s able to overcome. It’d be highly contradictory to the messages of the other films if these villains were to suddenly come back.

While there was an honest effort made to portray the Chameleon as intimidating, I never felt as though any of the characters were endangered by either her or her army of lizard henchman. She's a visually appealing character (aside from her eyes, which I thought more resembled those of a gecko than a chameleon) and I greatly enjoyed Davis's performance, but overall I don't see the Chameleon as a notable villain.

The return of Tai Lung (had he been on his own) had the makings to be an excellent story, especially considering the importance of teacher-student dynamics in KFP4. To see him interacting with Shifu would have been incredible and could have led to further closure on Tai Lung's end (because I think that's kind of what the team was going for anyway), but it didn't happen.

It was nice to see Ian McShane reprise his role, but I wish Tai Lung's characterization had been more reminiscent of the way he was in the first film and more complimentary of his overall character arc. Tai Lung isn't a one-dimensional villain with a singular goal and motivation, and I couldn't help but feel as though the complexity of his character was simplified for the sake of KFP4's narrative.

Tai Lung's presence in KFP4 may be odd, but Shen and Kai's appearances are even more so. Kai, if I remember correctly, was fully obliterated by Po, reduced to literal particles on screen (which is kind of wild now that I think about it). Shen being in the Spirit Realm makes sense all things considered; however, Po and Li had no visible reaction to his presence, which seemed a bit unlikely considering Shen's deeds. This plot hole can likely be attributed to the fact that Shen and Kai's cameos (to my knowledge) were last-minute additions to the movie.

I have to talk about the pacing. I have to. I'm sorry, bear with me.

To me, the film's pacing is erratic and disconcerting. While I can appreciate a quick-moving narrative that doesn't dawdle on storylines that aren't interesting/important, KFP4 kind of flings itself too far in the opposite direction and ends up being frighteningly fast-paced. Once the credits began, I felt like I had been holding my breath for the entire movie.

KFP4 is confusing because while the runtime is standard for a KFP movie, it feels incredibly short. At the same time, the film's story moves at a breakneck speed and leaves little time for heart and development. These things culminate into a barreling boulder of a movie that simply doesn't have time to let its characters, story, or audience take a breath.

A fast pace is not inherently negative, but I don't think it worked in the favor of KFP4. The KFP franchise has always been very emotionally grounded (and just very grounded in general), so to see a film in which emotion/heart takes an aggressive backseat in comparison to action and comedy is jarring. While I think it's unreasonable for fans to expect the same emotional integrity as the original films to be present in the current and upcoming ones, I still think there's room for Po to grow and I felt as though the notion of him developing further was brushed aside in this film.

As for Po's growth, I felt it was nearly nonexistent. The previous trilogy wrapped up his character's journey beautifully and I know that KFP4 was bound to struggle with this particular aspect of making another KFP film; however, just because the strongest pillars of Po's character are established doesn't serve as a valid excuse to reverse his development and repeat what he learned in KFP3.

In KFP3, Po learned firsthand that he is capable of spreading wisdom and teaching kung fu. He also learns that he is constantly growing and that change is inevitable; there is always something more to learn.

"If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now."

"I don't want to be anything more, I like who I am!"

In KFP4, Po pushes against this narrative despite fully accepting it in KFP3, actively reversing crucial parts of his character development achieved in the latter. KFP3 was non-ambiguously about learning to cope with change and responsibility, and I can't help but feel like KFP4 is simply copying this message while not adding anything to it.

Additionally, I felt that KFP4's Po generally felt less personal than he has in the past. In every KFP movie up to the franchise's most recent addition, I felt very connected to Po as an audience member. I felt like I was truly seeing the world of KFP through his eyes. I consider this to be one of the franchise's most impressive feats; it's incredibly difficult to build a universe around a character without making the audience feel limited to one perspective and one part of the world.

With KFP4, I felt both limited and disconnected. The world didn't feel as vast and all-encompassing as it has in the past and Po didn't seem fully like himself. This could be me nitpicking (as I'm prone to do), but I can't recall a single moment in the movie in which Po was alone on screen. Scenes like these are crucial for me because I see them as a meet-cute between the character and the audience, a moment for us to cross the bridge into their world in a way that's silent and intuitive. These little bonding moments are absolutely integral to feeling connected to a character.

Po's dream sequence in the first KFP movie is one of the best examples of this. It presents his aspirations, alludes to his way of life up to the point of the movie, and showcases his personality. During Po's dream sequence, the audience is quite literally inside Po's mind; we're there with him, seeing what he sees, subsequently feeling what he feels. Po is a dreamer at heart and makes the audience feel like dreamers, too.

In KFP4, I felt like I little to no point of reference when it comes to how Po was feeling. I didn't feel immersed in him and his world.

I know I've been very "doom and gloom" throughout this post, which is an exhausting mindset for everyone involved. I want to end my critique with something positive because I think some praise is deserved. Let's just say the movie could have been a lot worse, the details of which I'm sure you're all well aware.

Congratulations, you've reached the end! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read this unnecessarily long and detailed review. As long as I help someone translate their conflicted feelings into coherent thoughts, I'll call it a win.

KFP4 has its flaws and there are a lot of aspects that I dislike, but the I greatly admire and respect the hard work put into the film by those of the crew who put their efforts forward and tried their best to make it work. This does not at all excuse my issues with the movie, but it's worth saying.

As for the future of the series, I only hope that the next installment is more considerate of the franchise's origins and why Po's story is being told in the first place. I fully believe that another sequel could be good (even great!), but only given a strong, passionate crew with a great understanding of the characters and world (and I wouldn't be averse to some previous directors returning, just to put it out there).

Thanks again to those who took the time to read this crazy excuse for a movie review. Feel free to either disagree with me or add things in the replies/reblogs, I'm always looking for more thoughts to think.

Until next time!

#kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda #dreamworks animation #kfp #kfp 4 #movie review #i'll add the actual picture of the furious five's cameo when i can get ahold of one of decent quality #my time has come #so i didn't love it #but it is what it is #free the five #perhaps i treated kfp3 too harshly #don't get me wrong the movie had good qualities and i can tell a lot of work went into it #a lot of missed potential imo #a lot of characters done dirty #i didn't even mention the score but i thought it was just okay #i wasn't wowed #i know close to nothing about composing though so i should probably just not even go there #credits were the best part both cinematically and musically #i feel mean but i'm not going to be dishonest #bc obviously you all simply must know how i feel about the silly panda movie #a more detailed version of the grievances i have w the dragon warrior plot can be found in my og discussion post if anyone's interested #as well as my thoughts on bringing back old villains #might make some edits to this in the future but this is all i have to say for now #doesn't hurt my love for the og trilogy but i'm still upset #alas we move on #kfp4 is not canon idc fight me

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violetsandshrikes · 2 years ago

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Since sharing this post about a usful AI used to compile and graph research papers, I've realised I have a few other resources I can share with people!

Note: I haven't had a chance to use every single one of these. A group of post-grad students has been slowly compiling an online list, and these are some I've picked out that are free (or should be free and also have paid versions). However, other students using them have all verified them as safe.

Inciteful (Using Citations to Explore Academic Literature | Inciteful.xyz) – similar to connectedpapers + researchrabbit. Also allows you to connect two papers and see how they are linked. Currently free.

Spinbot (Spinbot - Article Spinning, Text Rewriting, Content Creation Tool.) – article spinner + paraphraser. Useful for difficult articles/papers. Currently free (ad version).

Elicit (Elicit: The AI Research Assistant) – AI research assistant, creates workflow. Mainly for lit reviews. Finds relevant papers, summarises + analyses them, finds criticism of them. Free (?)

Natural Reader (AI Voices - NaturalReader Home (naturalreaders.com)) – text to speech. Native speakers. Usually pretty reliable, grain of salt. Free + paid versions.

Otter AI (Otter.ai - Voice Meeting Notes & Real-time Transcription) – takes notes and transcribes video calls. Pretty accurate. Warn people Otter is entering call or it is terrifying. Free + paid versions.

Paper Panda (🐼 PaperPanda — Access millions of research papers in one click) – get research papers free. Chrome extension. Free.

Docsity (About us - Docsity Corporate) – get documents from university students globally. Useful for notes.

Desmos (Desmos | Let's learn together.) – online free graphing calculator. Free (?)

Core (CORE – Aggregating the world’s open access research papers) – open access research paper aggregation.

Writefull (Writefull X: AI applied to academic writing) – Academic AI. Paraphrasing, title generator, abstract generator, apparently ChatGPT detector now. Free.

Photopea (Photopea | Online Photo Editor) – Photoshop copy but run free and online. Same tools. Free.

Draw IO (Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software) – Flowchart/diagram maker. Free + paid versions.

Weava (Weava Highlighter - Free Research Tool for PDFs & Webpages (weavatools.com)) – Highlight + annotate webpages and pdfs. Free + paid versions.

Unsplash (Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash) – free to use images.

Storyset (Storyset | Customize, animate and download illustration for free) – open source illustrations. Free.

Undraw (unDraw - Open source illustrations for any idea) – open source illustrations. Free.

8mb Video (8mb.video: online compressor FREE) – video compression (to under 8mb). Free.

Just Beam It (JustBeamIt - file transfer made easy) – basically airdrop files quickly and easily between devices. Free.

Jimpl (Online photo metadata and EXIF data viewer | Jimpl) – upload photos to see metadata. Can also remove metadata from images to obscure sensitive information. Free.

TL Draw (tldraw) – web drawing application. Free.

Have I Been Pwned (Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach) – lets you know if information has been taken in a data breach. If so, change passwords. Free.

If you guys have any feedback about these sites (good or bad), feel free to add on in reblogs or flick me a message and I can add! Same thing with any broken links or additions.

#free resources #academia #<- tag i was originally using for this stuff #useful websites #katie rambles

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thesoccerenthusiast · 1 month ago

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Big, Long Video Game Review: I Played Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time...

One of my first-ever games I got on the PlayStation when I was a kid was Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves.

I can't remember if it was technically my game or my brother's game, but either way, that was one of the first games I had. Along with Jak and Daxter, my love for platforming was born from these games. When I got older — and got a PlayStation Now subscription as a full-fledged adult — I finally got a chance to play the other games: Sly 1 (Thievius Raccoonus), Sly 3 (Honor Among Thieves) and, finally, Sly 4 (Thieves in Time).

I had seen a lot of YouTube videos and reviews over the years of the infamous Sly 4. Of course, it didn't take a genius to figure out that a lot was different: the art style, the graphics, the mission-types and the developer.

The reviews were mainly negative about the game, but I'm the type of person that doesn't want to judge something unless I've played it myself. So I began to forget all of the reviews I read and jumped into the game.

Let's rip the band-aid off... I loved it.

I'm sure that may come as a shock to folks in the Sly Cooper Community, because a wide majority absolutely despise this game. But, I really enjoyed it. Of course, there are some things that are head-scratch worth (hi, Penelope and Murray's writing), but overall, I enjoyed the story, I absolutely adored the ancestors and the graphics were truly something to behold.

So, if you're intrigued, take a look at my favorite things, my not-so-favorite things and my overall thoughts on the game!

Thumbs Up: The Ancestors

In Sly 3, I didn't really care for the new playable characters. Nothing thrilled me about Penelope, up until her boss-battle with LeFwee, the Panda King's movement and firework controls were just annoying, the Guru was alright but the controls were kind of janky and Dimitri's missions were groan-worthy. But, in Sly 4, I really enjoyed playing as the ancestors.

The best ancestor, in my opinion, is Tennessee "Kid" Cooper. His gun mechanic is really good and actually pretty solid from a game-play point of view. The crack shot was a fun tool and I enjoyed the puzzles you had to do with it. My second favorite was Riochi Cooper. His moves were pretty standard and the special ninja jump move wasn't anything to write home about, but his lines were so good and I really enjoyed his stealth-slam technique with the ninja stars.

I'd give the next spot to Sir Galleth Cooper. I wish you got to use the sword more, but his high jump was fun when having to overcome the obstacles in the hub world and on missions. At the end of the game, Galleth's section where he has to get Tennessee's cane back was my favorite to play. Fourth, I'd give it to Bob Cooper. The ability to climb on ice was a lot of fun in the hub world. Although his movement was a bit heavy.

Last but not least, Salim Al-Kupar. His ability to speed-climb the poles wasn't super unique, because if you put the thief costume on Sly, he can climb up the poles with the ability to slow down time. The other costumes didn't give Sly the same abilities as the ancestors, so that knocks some points off Salim. Although his lines were great. "Ugh... again with the climbing?"

Go take a nap, Salim.

The best part about the ancestors is that they all have a personality. They're not stagnant. You have a hot-headed Galleth, a wise ninja with Riochi, a cocky know-it-all with Tennessee, a grumpy ol' Salim and an excited Bob.

How can you not love Riochi's conversation with Murray when they're at the Geisha house? Or Tennessee's first meeting with Sly, when he thinks the latter is 'funnin' on his family name? Or how about Bob's cutscenes where he's playing with Bentley's technology?

Their personalities are great, and I will not stand for any ancestor slander!

Thumbs Up: The Platforming

Gosh, I miss good-old-fashioned platformers. Sly Cooper has always been a game based on platforming. Of course, this was most evident in Sly 1. But, Sly 4 really returns to a big platforming focus. There isn't a lot of mini-games — sans the training segment with Bob Cooper.

It even seems like Bentley's hacking has been toned down a bit. You really increase the hacking missions when you want to 100 percent the game, as the masks are hidden in the 'arcade' machine.

Doing the platforming in Riochi's sushi shop, Madame Geisha's house, Tennessee's mission where he gets his gun back and Galleth's missions overall, were a lot of fun. My favorite hub-world to find masks was Galleth, as the different towers had a lot of platforming variants. It was a lot of fun.

Thumbs Up: The Clue Bottles and Treasures

They're back! I gotta be honest, the fact that this game has clue bottles and treasure immediately shoots it up on my Sly Cooper rankings — those are at the end, stay tuned!

The clue bottles were always my favorite part of Sly 2, and you have to get them in Sly 1 to get much-needed power ups for upcoming missions. Having them back in Sly 4 was a great decision by Sanzaru. And, they were hard to find! I remember really struggling in the Old West for it to be literally on top of a rock. Prehistoric times also provided a bit of a challenge, along with Arabia. Really well done by the creators to put them in tough spots.

And the treasures were awesome. I remember it taking me a while — i.e. merry ol' England — to figure out that you needed the Samurai suit to blast the doors. The fact that you have to go back and use the costumes to get the treasures is great, too. Really a nice touch for those who want to 100 percent the game.

The masks were a good addition too. I really didn't like that there were some in the arcade game, but at least it gave the game a purpose (unlike the random ping-pong table). I also just hated the Bentley missions where he was a shooter, so that might be a 'me' criticism. But, the masks were a good add, and I liked that they were in mission levels, too. Well done, Sanzaru.

Thumbs Up: The Costumes Have a Purpose

In Sly 3, you got costumes to basically walk in front of guards and then talk to them. First and foremost, I'm glad that this game got rid of the thought-bubble 'challenges' where you have to pick the next piece of dialogue. That was exhausting in Sly 3.

Anyway, the costumes have a real purpose in Sly 4. In Japan, you get a Samurai suit that is flame-resistant and can launch fireball attacks back. In the Old West, you get a jailbird costume that is probably lowest on my list: you get to walk on a ball and use the ball to move cages and stuff. In the Prehistoric times, you get a sabertooth tiger suit that allows you cyclone pounce on enemies. In England, you get an archer's outfit, equipped with a bow. Finally, in Arabia, you get a thief costume with a giant sword and the ability to slow down time.

My favorite costume is probably the archer costume, as it's the most practical. Going back to other time periods and finding buckets of arrows is a treat. We'll just ignore that it took me seven tries to get the bottle of Merlin's Magic with the shooting game.

Thumbs Up: Carmelita's Inclusion

OK, obviously the bellydancing mission wasn't the best — whoever thought of that should be stoned, frankly — but other than that, I really enjoyed Carmelita in this game.

Although, quick criticism out of the way: I didn't care for Grey DeLisle voicing Carmelita in this game. I love Grey, and am a huge fan of her performances as Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kimiko in Xiaolin Showdown and so many more, but her Carmelita was... meh. I would say it's better than Sly 2's performance, but not better than Sly 1 or Sly 3.

But anyway, I loved her inclusion. The mission where she had to take down the three-headed mechanical dragon was great, and the writing between her and Galleth was so smooth. I loved how Sly got jealous. I've seen a lot of people say that Sly calling Galleth "sir goof" was out of character, since he's always respected the ancestors. While that respect is true, I don't think it's out of character. He's the jealous type, our little thieving raccoon. Carmelita was pushing his buttons and gamers already saw that Sly had an annoyance with the hot-headed Galleth.

The mission where she teamed up with Tennessee to rescue the Cooper Gang out of prison was really good too. I liked the back-and-forth between Carmelita for the shooting and Tennessee for the platforming. *Chef's kiss*

The ending of the game had a scene where you can see how much Sly and Carmelita care for each other, and then when Carmelita does her own search for Sly? Man, it's so good. Carmelita's character was really solid in Sly 4, in my opinion.

Thumbs Up: The Animated Cut Scenes & Chapter Scenes

Were the comic-book style animations in Sly 1, 2 and 3 amazing? Absolutely. Was the animated scenes in Sly 4 also really good? Yes.

I loved the art style. I can understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. The cut-scenes in the game were also really smooth. I thought some were unnecessary — take Riochi's sushi shop, where there's a cutscene when he opens the last door, you take a few steps and turn on the lights and then it's another cutscene — but for the most part, I thought they were done well.

And while the cutscenes in Murray and Riochi's mission inside Madame Geisha's house were funny — Riochi had the best facial expressions, as shown above — they interrupted the game play in the sense of buttons had to be hit as soon as a cutscene ended. Other than that, I loved it.

Thumbs Up: The Hub Worlds & Design In General

Gosh, this game is gorgeous. I mean, its graphics are really something. My favorite level is definitely Feudal Japan, with Medieval England being a close second. The way the moonlight shines enough for you to see details around the level, but also keep the stealthy-nighttime setting is perfection.

Even the daytime levels look great. The clean, sleekness of the Prehistoric times level is a nice touch and the Old West looks and feels like... the old West! Arabia is beautiful, with all the vibrant colors. Also, we can't forget the Paris rooftops. I love the continuity of keeping Paris in these games.

I'll also add the music in this section. Peter McConnell is back doing the soundtrack and I think he had a lot of fun with using different time periods and cultures for the music in these levels. The Medieval England soundtrack is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

*********

Alright, now it's time for the things I didn't particularly care for.

Thumbs Down: The F'ing Loading Screens

The waits with the loading screen were loooooooong. Coming from a Sly 1, 2 and 3 that didn't have this issue, this was a rough transition. Platformers of this time didn't have loading screens like this. Granted, I've never played Ratchet and Clank (that's next), but the Jak series never had these issues. It was a total shame to see Sly have such long, drawn out loading screens.

Thumbs Down: Murray's Character "Arc"

Sly and Bentley were characters that underwent some massive development in the first three games. But, out of everyone in the Cooper Gang, Murray had the best story in the trilogy.

He went from being the 'fat guy' of the bunch who only wanted snacks in Sly 1, and was generally a nuisance in that game, to being "The Murray" in Sly 2. Opening up Sly 2 with this newfound confidence was a big positive to Murray's character. You got to see that confidence throughout the entire game — even after being an experiment to the Contessa. At the end of the game, Murray helps Bentley. And moving to the third game, you see him leaving the gang and grappling with guilt over his friend's injury.

His journey in the third game is really special. He vows to live a peaceful life with meditation and training by his guru. However, Bentley gets hurt by Don Octavio, and 'The Murray' returns. "I'm going to floss my teeth with your spine." Murray is back and better than ever. In the third game, he really grows.

And in the fourth game? He's back to the 'fat guy' who loves snacks and can punch things. The Sanzaru writers give him this weird character arc, if you want to call it that. He can't climb up an ice wall... so they bring the ice-climbing Bob Cooper in. All of a sudden, Murray feels useless and is depressed — Bentley even tells him to come back for a snack at the safe house. At the end of the level, Murray is the hero, beating The Grizz all on his own. Everyone gives him praise. Murray says he's been a screw up. Bentley goes on this monologue about how everyone makes mistakes. Yawn.

Murray has the least exciting missions, in my opinion, in Sly 4, and that's really a shame considering how useful he was in Sly 3. Who can forget the mission where he gets his beloved van back? The Geisha mission was funny, don't get me wrong, but Murray seemed like the character that Sanzaru didn't know what to do with. That's a shame.

Thumbs Down: The Boss Fights

Talk about yawn. The boss fights weren't anything to write home about. In terms of difficulty, The Grizz was probably the toughest — and I only say that because of the ice blocks and the limited time you have to hit Grizz with them.

El Jefe was a fine boss fight but, again, not very tough. Toothpick was annoying, and everyone rolled their eyes by the second, third and fourth time he yelled, "Who turned on that blasted whistle!?" Grizz was already mentioned, but the whole 'I want to be a figure skater' was ... weird. It came out of nowhere. Penelope — uh, ahem, the Black Knight — was a snoozefest. Miss Decibel provided some challenge with the thief costume, but was otherwise another easy boss.

And don't even get me started on the joke that was the Le Paradox 'boss' fight at the end. Talk about easy.

The Bosses backstories were fun enough — particularly how Decibel was making fake lineage papers for Le Paradox, or how an Eastern European thug like Toothpick loved the old West — but the fights? Pretty darn lame.

Here's how I rank the boss fights in terms of difficulty: (1) The Grizz, (2) El Jefe, (3) Miss Decibel, (4) Penelope/The Black Knight, (5) Toothpick and (6) Le Paradox.

Thumbs Down: Penelope... To an Extent.

Penelope turning against the Cooper Gang isn't that shocking — and it wasn't a bad move by Sanzaru in Sly 4.

OK, let me give you a second to catch your breath.

Listen, Penelope is prone to doing this. She is a liar when you first meet her, after all. She claims to want to bring down the Black Barron and help the Cooper Gang, and then she's revealed to be the Black Barron. She ditches that life and joins the Cooper Gang. Eventually, she falls for Bentley and the rest is history.

Then, in Sly 4, you find out that Bentley and Penelope were making a time machine and suddenly, she disappeared. I don't mind this twist. It's a nice twist in the game and it sets you up for another betrayal by the RC specialist.

Before we get to the actual revelation of the betrayal, the game kind of spoils it that Penelope is the Black Knight. First off, "Black Barron" and "Black Knight" are pretty similar monikers. But also, during one of the load screens, it's shoved in your face that "Penelope once disguised herself as a the Black Barron." I don't know about anyone else, but i felt like I got this loading screen a bunch during the Medieval England level... before the revelation.

Now, let's talk about the revelation. The scene plays out that she hops out of the Black Knight machinery to get some air. Bentley, doing some maneuvering in the ceiling rafters, sees her. She goes into this ramble:

"If only Bentley hadn't been brainwashed by Cooper's 'honorable thief' nonsense, we could have made billions in weapon design! The two most brilliant minds on the planet working together? We could have owned the world! No matter. Once Cooper's out of the way, he'll see things my way. Poor Bentley, he's kinda cute when he's being dumb."

I don't hate this! This is actually really good! I've seen on Reddit that it's about a year between Sly 3 and Sly 4. Penelope probably had an idea in her head that she and Bentley were going to make a time machine and really cash in. That didn't happen. She got frustrated and she left. Not the way I would have done it, but it's not out of character for Penelope. She literally disguised herself as a grown man to get her way and be in a flying tournament.

But here's where the issue lies. When she and Bentley are speaking during the boss fight, there is a major contradiction. Take a look below.

The big issue: Bentley calls out Penelope for leaving him and joining Le Paradox for the money. And Penelope tells him, "No, you're not listening. He's just a means to an end." Uh... yeah, that's literally exactly what Bentley said. Le Paradox being a means to an end means that he is a cash cow to Penelope.

And Bentley hit it on the spot. Le Paradox was going to dump Penelope, whether she succeeded against the Cooper Gang or not. At the end, when Le Paradox describes the new machine he uses for time travel, he says, "Look at this, my marvelous contraption: The Time Tunnel. Something else I had your little friend Penelope develop before her unfortunate failure."

Cyrille Le Paradox only sees Penelope as someone who makes stuff for him. That's it. Who knows if he was even going to pay her.

Needless to say, the one line of dialogue about being a "means to an end" could have been taken out, and I wouldn't have hated this decision by Sanzaru. But, with the addition, it creates more headache than necessary.

Thumbs Down: The Never-Ending Talking

Some of the things that the characters say is pretty funny. I think there's a line where Tennessee says that getting in the thick of a fight is more fun than square-dancing with a donkey. But the talking is never-ending, even in the run of play. This is a game about stealth. It's not about listening to the characters talk every 10 seconds.

Also, let's add this note in this section: Sly is way too cocky in this game. And his lack of seriousness can get annoying. When he comes face-to-face with Le Paradox for the first time in Arabia, his first words to him are, "And may you always stay downwind."

There's been so much that has happened up until this point... and the first thing that Sly can do is make fun of Le Paradox for being a skunk?

Even in the boss fights, the talking is just too much. "I don't know what's scarier: El Jefe, or his bad jokes." "Hey Penelope! I think I saw some rust spots!" And let's not forget the 80 million times you hear this phrase: "Here comes the Grizz!"

Final Thoughts on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

This game is not perfect, but I think a lot of things were done right with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.

I really love the look of the game, from the graphics to the cutscenes to the designs of the ancestors and the locations. The story is pretty compelling for the most part and I love the idea of Cyrille Le Paradox wanting to erase the Cooper's from history because Sly's dad cucked his dad — thief-wise, that is.

The writing could use some work. Undoubtedly. But I'm playing Sly 4 for the game play and a compelling story, and I got that. I really enjoyed this game, despite the rough ending and lame Le Paradox boss fight.

I don't blame Sanzaru for the cliffhanger as Sony really screwed over franchises during the 2010s. Evidently the creators were expected to at least have a DLC to solve the 'Sly in Egypt' issue, but the promise was broken.

I enjoyed the game. I would definitely enjoy replaying it. I hope we do, one day, get a Sly 5 to figure out how to get our thieving Raccoon out of Egypt.

I would give Sly Cooper (4): Thieves in Time... a score of 4.5/5.

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grayzeppelin281 · 10 months ago

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Kung Fu Panda 4 Review, by GrayZeppelin

Eight years later.

2016 to 2024

It is so good to see the Dragon Warrior again after eight years, willing to anticipate what Po has been up to after General Kai's defeat. This review contains spoilers, so I hope most of the audience watched the film like me, and I would like to share my opinions about Kung Fu Panda 4. For those who have not seen it, I suggest you look away immediately! Otherwise, if you want to know what the big deal is about, then knock yourself out.

Now, depending on the taste of what I watched, I will list the likes and flaws that caught my eye. Okay, here it goes.

— It's so good to be home.

The first thirty minutes of it feel like you have returned to the Valley of Peace, seeing your old friends again. From there, with a slight disappointment, that would have had the film include the tale with old school side characters who are now absent — The Furious Five. After Po clarifies with the fans in the Valley of Peace, we understand that the Five began to do their missions (each one) despite the film needing to expand new characters in the play.

Okay. New characters! I'll mention the fox Zhen and the sorceress villain, the Chameleon.

— First things first. The Hall of Heroes update.

The corsac fox blending in the Jade Palace is an interesting one, which she was from being a thief as Zhen could do the stealing skills for a living. We get to see her in the Jade Palace stealing the antiques at the Hall of Heroes, where you can see a few statues you remember old characters from the past three films (my favorite one is Master Storming Ox). One of the items that I did not leave my eyes on is the weapon I recognized from the first film, where Tai Lung kicked the sword, and Shifu caught it and sent the blade to the marble floor — the Dagger of Deng Wa.

(Drags! There's our favorite weapon right in front of our noses the whole damn time! Holy shit!)

I wrote my fanfic about the blade that, in my version, served with evil creatures past by the badger sorcerer whom I named Deng Wa, using the ancient weapon (dagger-ax) from the old dynasty as if the blade passed through generations forged into different ones before a wielder before the last made one character that turned on his brother to despise Oogway — my favorite villain General Kai, who deserves more attention than Tai Lung and Lord Shen.

— My favorite pot is there! The Urn of Whispering Warriors!

(And for the love of spirits, guys! Give Tenshu and his pack a break, will you?! Gosh dang it!)

Okay. I wrote lore from my fic series about the wolves who served with the warlord Tenshu before he and his army of a thousand men defeated the horde of darkness before many fell. All of whom they died fighting returned with a vengeance to vanquish every foe before the rest of the souls were freed and went to the Spirit Realm; only nine wolves stayed with their souls cremated in the pot that Tenshu wished for him and his pack to be summoned once more when needed. The rest of the tale will be put to the side as I am off-topic and should write about KFP 4.

— Now, where was I? Oh, yes! Zhen.

The fox looked great, indeed, but the character would have gotten much more into deep complexities. The story briefly shows her past life as a thief for years because Zhen had no other choice but to starve or steal yuans for food to survive. Zhen's background story needs to explain further what caused her to be the only child without her parents. What exactly happened to them? What made her obey with the Chameleon?

Alright. I have too many thoughts about the new villain. Amanda Waller! I mean. . . The Chameleon! Oh, my. A shape-shifting sorceress who can turn into any form, like the old bad guys from the past three movies? Whoa. . . This shape-shifting trick sounds like Po would have been scared to see the old enemies again when the sorceress could have gotten her advantage and terrorized him.

— Three villains (The Trinity)

I loved seeing Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai return, so I witnessed their arrival before the Spirit Warriors. (To be honest, I praised the Jade Slayer's return because he remains the underrated character throughout the franchise.) Now, if you hope villains will have a reunion, your expectations will not be that hopeful, even if you want to anticipate the impacts with familiar characters. Let me explain.

Did you expect Tai Lung to come back? That's good for you because his appearance is nostalgic, which, in my experience, being an old KFP fan for years, has made me miss Tai Lung since 2008. There is a slight redemption for him as if you would like to know if he admitted that Oogway was right about Po as the Dragon Warrior. It was good to see him again, but his redemption arc was not satisfying after the film. Shifu would have known about his son's arrival at that time but often stayed at Jade Palace and waited for Po to choose his new successor. Quite a bummer if you would have loved to see them two reunited, but those damages will occur to them after Tai Lung was rejected, fragmenting Tai Lung's core into a thousand pieces. But I am sure he now lives in the Spirit Realm and no longer mind the title.

Did you expect Lord Shen and General Kai's return? Great, but there are significant disappointments. One: They don't speak. And two: They briefly appear like a minute or more. These two would have gotten more meaning when Lord Shen could have spoken to Po about the last time the panda mentioned the past to let go, and Kai would have talked before seeing Po as a respectable warrior. I would have wished the three dead villains to do something for Po by defeating the Chameleon as a team. Otherwise, I am certain a few of you would like me to see what they could do — similar to the No Way Home reference.

— Bow controversy.

The bow part could have been better for the three villains to speak with Po. With this scene, knowing that there is much fuss about only one thing that bothers many, I am concerned about what many of you thought about Shen, who "bowed" him. How could Li Shan celebrate his son's victory while the peacock was down there? Why did the scene not show Li's reaction to seeing Lord Shen alive (but still dead)? As an old KFP fan, this felt strangely like an insult because many pandas were taken and executed, but most of them, like Li, survived the genocide. This part must explain why the late Lord Shen bestowed Po for a good reason. Could Oogway or other dead masters like Master Thundering Rhino prove him about Po? What exactly did Shen become the "Spirit Warrior" after being crushed to death by his cannon — the Kung Fu killer? How could the honorable dead warriors allow the genocidal peacock lord to be in the Spirit Realm after he murdered Master Thundering Rhino?

If, by any means, wanting to bring back Shen (which a few people loved, but not for everyone), DreamWorks better have a good reason for him to be there. If it were redemption, that would be a big no-no after what he did to the pandas. Us fanfic writers love bringing him back (I am hoping to decide what to do with Shen finishing his arc from my series in the meantime), but as the same goes for whatever reason you want him in your story, ask yourself about it. If it is before or during KFP 2, you could do it. If he is dead, and you plan to resurrect him from the dead, writing his next arc is tricky and beyond complications.

Most of his former army of wolves would know if Shen appeared but thank the heavens because neither emerged. I would have wanted to see Wolf Boss in Juniper City for whatever he could do for work or a change of heart if Po recognized him right away somewhere in one of the alleyways. Or Soothsayer, because she only appeared in Gongmen City the last time. A little reunion thing for Shen could have been shown, but that would never have happened either way because I think, in my theory, Soothsayer is in the Spirit Realm with him and his late parents.

— Okay. About the new villain.

I liked the Chameleon. Her appearance is marvelous, her size being "small" before she could shift to any form. I have to spill the beans about her villainous role, which most of you know about the character's lack of depth. Compared to what General Kai was capable of, to claim qi from all the masters, we know she wanted to steal their skills to dominate the Realm as she did to the old foes before the Spirit Warriors. There's a major downside to that one. Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai have their tragic backstories; she does not have one. The only lack of writing is where Chameleon talks to Po about temples. She tried to be a student, but no one wanted her because she was small.

Small? Are you effing kidding me? Would you like to have a therapy and talk with Mantis about it? Because I do not doubt that anyone can become a kung fu master of any size. Where in the heck did that lazy writing come from?

If she was that small but refused to be a kung fu master, where is her backstory? Where did it end her from a curious character to a villainous sorceress? This story could have shown what exactly happened to the Chameleon; her reason for not being accepted made her turn against those who did not want her in the first place before advancing her way to steal every master's skill. A villain without a background story is a red flag right there.

I found a video for the Chameleon to fix her character as a tragic one. She deserves more screen time and digging into her past. Write this writing lesson suggestion.

Every villain needs a background story. PERIOD.

youtube

Look at what happened to three baddies. And hey! Look at what happened to Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender (animation one)! I would really love to write about that, but it will take thousands of words for me to convince you why you should care about Zuko. Mostly, everyone knows about him, and we feel bad to see Zuko as a broken prince!

— Fathers!!

Oh yes. Mr. Ping and Li Shan! The good old-timers who look after their son Po. Every parent's job is to ensure nothing happens to the child, and we all see what Li and Ping are worried about Po. They go to him because it is the right thing for fathers to protect their son. While many try to kill off Po, Mr. Ping and Li Shan will be the ones who die while protecting him. Talk about the fathers of the year!

They did not die, so good heavens. Li Shan remains improving as a fighter but still has much time to enhance. As for Mr. Ping, you know he would do better to ensure Po is safe and always be there with him and Li Shan. They would have gotten a Double-Dad Defense scenario when dressing up the armor.

— Kung Fu fighting.

I like it a lot. Lots of flows we saw. There is no further explanation after we saw the awesomeness and Chameleon's shape-shifting abilities to mimic every master's skills. Wolf bite! OWW! That's gonna leave a mark. Now, Po is a victim of his butt being bitten. Ask Marty from Madagascar. He has a story about it.

— Peach seed.

Oh, my. I had high expectations to see what would happen to Grandmaster Shifu. I almost predicted it as far as many of us would see him disappear as Oogway did. I remember feeling nostalgic when I saw Shifu give Po a peach seed, which reminded me of Oogway's farewell. Well. . . Maybe KFP 5 will happen to Shifu? Who knows?

If only DreamWorks leads in the right direction where Po will be in charge of defending the Realm as the Spiritual Leader while Zhen takes the role as the new Dragon Warrior, The Furious Five deserve more screentime because we care about side characters, not wasteful, not ignored. Since you made Puss in Boots doing his thing, why won't you create a story about the Furious Five if they are absent from KFP 4? If you are making another villain, please create the background story to make more sense instead of plot holes one stone at a time. Do better. Returning old villains was good, but it felt like bait to see Tai Lung speak and fight back, and Lord Shen and General Kai did not, especially not doing anything at all.

Sighs.

The Valley of Peace had more buildings. What exactly happened to not replicating those in the past three films? Budget wise.

Last but not least!

— Stingray!

I am concerned about what comes next to see dolphins in the future (which I hope not) after the Stingray becomes the first aqua mammal to appear. I'll give it an average. It's likable, but I am confused at the same time.

A few jokes are great, but does comedy need to be there? 70 percent comedy? There are good ones and some flaws, and a few serious scenes don't need to put laughing moments to lighten up. Since KFP 2, there has been comedy halfway through, and dark moments have taken over, thanks to Shen. KFP 4 should have gotten that opportunity for Chameleon to be the serious one instead of pushing someone to the stairs. She would have done something worse instead of being a joke. I love the Chameleon, but the writing is. . .

I am lost at it.

I will give the film a fair 6/10.

KFP 4 should have used 2 to 3 hours if you are fleshing out most possibilities. Like dead old foes to do something rather than doing nothing and wasting their arc (Tai Lung deserves redemption because he believes Oogway is right about Po. Kai should deserve more after accepting his defeat and would have hung out with Oogway in the Spirit Realm, teasing each other like in the old times. What about Shen? Perhaps not, but he would do some favors for Po. The peacock's redemption arc is unnecessary). The Chameleon would have gotten her background story to expand because it was a crime not to show her beginning before she became a sorceress. Put a 2-D reference to fill her tragic story about her. Make the audience care more about the characters and the story instead of rushing and leaving plot holes. Zhen? Of course. Show us why we care about her when she becomes Po's friend.

One last thing. As if the film has changed for children and the new generation to like it, Kung Fu Panda remains for all ages, old and young. As an old fan of Kung Fu Panda since 2008, I will unveil my first feeling after the first time I saw Kung Fu Panda 4, with all the high expectations going downhill to the grave.

"Disappointed."

That is all I have to write about that.

(I'll be turning off the notifications, so don't bother nudging me because I am mostly inactive here on Tumblr.)

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nikox400x · 11 months ago

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KFP 4: The true hell behind the cameras ft. The Co-director of KFP4

I know I already made my review to this thing, and believe me when I say that I didn't want to talk anymore about this dawn movie (For call it something). But the reason for this statement is something that I cannot ignore, so hold on to your seat because what you are going to read is not a mission impossible movie, this really happened in the same Dreamworks studios.

The devil has different names depending on the religion;

-In the Catholic religion he is called Satan.

-In Islam he's Iblís.

-In Buddhism it's Mara.

But in the world of kung fu panda, the devil has a human name, Mike Mitchell.

Context? Three days ago, as a result of all the protests about the poor narrative quality of the film, the KFP's reddit community was able to find someone from within the production of the film, a witness who could corroborate everything that we assumed was happening within that studio.

This person is no one else but the co-director of kfp4, Stephanie Ma Stine. One of the main people who, along with a large part of the team of animators who love this saga too, fought and fought throughout the production so that the film was not completely destroyed from the beginning.

This woman was contacted by a discord channel to answer some questions that the community was asking in the company of the administrators of the discord group of the kung fu panda fandom, at first this woman seemed frustrated by something that I am going to explain, The entire conversation was recorded and uploaded to YouTube to expose the nauseating experience that Stephanie had to endure during the production of this film.

To begin with, she had almost no power within the production because she was considered someone new to her job and the disgusting bosses at Dreamworks had no better idea than to give all creative control to Mike.

Dreamworks gave a time limit for the duration of the film, later you will know why. This guy didn't have the slightest idea how to direct such a short movie, much less if it was a kung fu panda movie, since the guy treated kung fu panda like a chinese version of the minions, obviously because he didn't give a shit about franchise and he just wanted something that would make people laugh (But his humor and the scriptwriters's was so bad that even it would insult ilumination itself) although not even the children could find this humor funny.

What kind of humor? Well, you know; fart humor, jokes with a childish tone, random chases that contribute nothing to the plot, jokes about annoying and invincible children, jokes without charisma, generation Z humor, random hits, etc...

And like any sane person would do, Stephanie tried to give it that serious but parodic and heartfelt tone that the first triology had, but obviously they barely listened to her because she was considered new. So she had to resort to encouraging people passionate about the saga within the studio to insist on adding things that would improve the plot. Most of the time when they insisted on improving the quality of the script it ended in a roll of eyes from the higher ups within the production as if trying to tell them; "Damn stupid people, so much bother for a children's saga that is only used to make easy money"

The problem transcended for a long time as more and more absurd ideas came out of the writing team, some of them that even destroyed the logic of the world they were building, all of this was translated into a long and nightmarish trench war between those who love the saga and the psychopaths who only cared about money.

So, what happened next? Well, the movie came out and fans (and non-fans) were disappointed because the movie seems like a draft made by people who didn't seem to speak the same language during the artistic decisiones in the movie. Exactly, because of all this conflict between those who agreed with Stephanie and those who listened to Mike.

And in the end, it was Stephanie who had to politely come forward in front of the disappointed people to give these professionally humiliating explanations, and what did Mike do on his part? Bury his head like an ostrich and do not listen to the criticism that he generated for their horrible decisions.

youtube

(Stephanie's user is called storyduke)

This is the conversation between her and the administrators of the discord group, pause the video calmly and read on your own if you need it, for prove I haven't invented anything of this to defame Mike or something like this. All this comes from the person who was by his side during all production.

In order not to overwhelm you because the video is very long, I leave you a summary of what she said below. I will mainly use the comment of this reddit user called Mystic3012 who explains all this quite well (My comments will be marked in red):

Early on, KFP4 was considered to be live action-animation hybrid, and featured humans (WTF?!). I posted concept art of the human Chameleon (then, The Collector, even though we already have Kai the Collector) vs Po. Seems like Zhen would've been human too. They'd have come from Hu-man City (Wow, how originally -_-), apparently... To add insult to injury, one of these versions had Po, the protagonist, stuck in a BOX for 20 MINUTES. (20 minutes... no words for this. And no, you're not reading wrong, HUMANS IN KUNG FU PANDA. If it hadn't been for Stephanie, this is what they would have given us. Thanks Stephanie, guys)

Mike Mitchell, the director, had total creative freedom. Hence, him + the studio leadership wanting laughs and a more joke-y vibe led to the overall tone, like the F5's comical side missions. Jack Black called him the "comedy guy"(I want to think jack Black is another victim here and he simply couldn't do nothing because his contract does not allow it), while Stephanie brought "things deeper" and "more heart".

Additionally, it was Mitchell who insisted against fleshing out the Chameleon's backstory "What a surprise...right guys?". Apparently, Chameleon and Zhen had ZERO backstory in early versions. By the time the crew pushed him enough to change his mind, they were too far along in animating to add anything but the Chameleon's few lines.

The runtime was a studio mandate since they believed children can't watch a longer film + maximize profits (You motherfu...).

TV shows are non-canon, as they are under separate film and television divisions that are "rivals".

Lord Shen, General Kai, and the Furious Five were VERY last minute additions to the point that their animation rigs were "made of sticks and glue"(The 3D models were so poorly made due to lack of time that if they made original animations, they would directly break, they had to reuse animations from the first, second, third movie and from the Christmas short for the credits. The animations of Crane and Shen's feathers, according to her, were bugged a lot and the wings tended to separate from the body or bend in unrealistic ways during animation tests). Hence, no plot relevance (e.g. not redeemed properly) and inability to bring back their actors, as much as some of the crew advocated for their return. Furthermore, there's a thing where actors are brought in for voice roles with X amount of money, and exponential increases for sequels. Apparently, a single line from Jolie would've cost $20 million (Easy Angelina!! XD. They could have simply changed the actress who played her like for example the one who play her in Secrets of the Scroll or the one of Legend of Awessomless, this was simply used as an excuse not to add them to the film), so you can imagine why the Five were absent...

Not everyone who dies goes to the Spirit Realm. It's not a definite rule behind-the-scenes, but it's vaguely agreed upon that only kung fu practitioners can pass on. It was also Mitchell's idea that all 3 villains were indeed sent to the Realm and that the Chameleon only wanted master VILLAINS summoned. [Pretty sure that retcons Lord Shen but alas-]

Pelican is named Chip, and a female. The fish in her beak is Fish.

Calvin Tsang, Head of Story, directed "a short film for KFP 4". Though, DreamWorks gave him a low budget but apparently he pulled enough favours for it to work out, with Stephanie describing it as "amazing, seriously" and shows "how strong of a director's voice he has".

Future spin-offs uncertain. DreamWorks has dissolved most, if not all, of its TV division.

Though, Mitchell was very vocal about a F5 spinoff. Execs are aware of the fans' demand for it (Wow thank you...-_-, just don't ruin it again).

Shifu's staff lacks its golden piece since it has been repaired following his mastery of Chi, per production designer Paul Duncan. (Same man responsible for bringing back the Dagger of Deng Wa with his attention to detail) (Niceee)

Universal mandated for a tentpole film like KFP4 to have "stars" hired for voicework.

For the record, Stephanie wanted for KFP4 to "stay truer to KFP1 and KFP 2" but was dismissed as a nobody by the crew (Basically what I said before, Mike and a good part of his team are anything but respectful of other people's works).

Case in point, she wanted Tai Lung being brought back to be done right. She pitched for Po/Shifu to have a vision of the Chameleon kidnapping Shifu, prompting Po to go on a quest to stop her. Shifu gets kidnapped anyway due to the Chameleon's manipulations, and he's hence present to say goodbye to Tai Lung. The execs loved it but "someone axed it" (That person better not know their identity because the fans cling to Tai Lung, I don't think they'll laugh much at this 😅). For those who've seen the film, the vision was reduced to Po's dream enroute to Juniper City.

Another example of Stephanie's intervention, she fought for Zhen to be redeemed ONSCREEN after betraying Po, much to the writers' refusal (These people don't even respect their own characters). She was supposed to swoop in out of nowhere to fight the Chameleon for a bit and disappears quickly again. She also ensured that her redemption scene wasn't just dialogue and had action going on. (She admits to Po and Zhen's underbaked relationship not supplementing this scene enough though.)

The writers seemed to HATE comments "poking holes at the story" (And then what do they want us to call that; "purposely destroy the canon of history because of its inaccuracy?" On top of bad in their own job, they're crybabies).

Zhen is a Corsac Fox as its the Asian fox with distinctive facial features.

Nico Marlet, renowned concept artist, only worked on the film for a week, left, and refused to come back (I don't even know if I want to know why, just imagine it).

Many crewmembers pitched ideas for Zhen's family's backstory but all were discarded (They can't even develop their own character, I'll call that technique "Work? What is that? it is eatable? XD").

By the way, the thing about humans was no joke.

(Conceptual art made by Luca Pisanu)

Original reddit forum:

Guys, that's it, how not to write a movie. I think you can already imagine my opinion, it is a complete shame what they tried to do with this saga but at least she was able to save it from being completely ruined. I sincerely ask you all to spread this information, I will leave you a link to the original reddit thread for your inspection. And I'm just saying one thing: I hope they fire Mike Mitchell and all his damn inept scriptwriters, and I hope we never see them again in another production of this saga. And of course, to the executives at Dreamworks: Stick your finger up your ass and don't touch what you don't know how to touch.

Don't be silent about these things, because you know what will happen? That they will do the same thing again with the fifth film because they see that the method works, in addition to the fact that they will also exploit their workers for nothing for such a mediocre product (Because yes, they also exploited them to finish the finale on time). Let this not happen again guys, please I ask you.

#kung fu panda #dreamworks #kung fu panda 4 #notmykfp4 #mike mitchell #Youtube

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