#re cap season 3 episode 1

[leveloneandup]

What were your first impressions of one another? C: My first impresion of Tobin was that she was kind of cliquey. She had her friends and... T: Wow. C: Actually, on an old episode of The RE—CAP Show, Lauren Cheney talked to us about this because they were the new kids and they had no new friends and when other people became friends with me, she was kind of rude. T: But who was the first person that, like, you know, was nice, showed you kindness on the team? C: (Ignoring Tobin's question) And you know what else I remember? 2012 Olympics, you said, 'Sometimes, Christen, you have to do things that you don't like to do.' And I was like, 'This chick's dead to me.' T: Okay, I think there's like a whole other story of... C: And I don't know what it was but I just was like, 'No.' T: And somehow, I was on your rooming list, at the top. C: Okay, that is getting cut from the show. Moving on! T: So there must have been something there.

[cecilysass]

The Penultimate Partner Episode: Analyzing the Second-to-Last Episodes of Seasons 3-7

So I was thinking about the show’s tendency to do an episode that is explicitly about the Partnership—about the deep abiding bonds between Mulder and Scully—right before the season finale.

This doesn’t seem to happen in season 1 and 2 (the penultimate episodes are Roland and Our Town, respectively, which don’t seem to play the same role). And something different is happening in season 8 and 9, so I don't think they fit as well.

But during the show’s peak popularity, seasons 3-7, the second-to-last episode seems to be setting up baseline emotional stakes for whatever plotline is about to hit. These episodes are giving us the state of the partnership, reminding us how devoted they are to one another. They also tend to have to do with one or both partners having a distorted perception on reality that requires the other partner's intervention in some way. I’m calling them the Penultimate Partner episodes.

So can we look at the themes of each of these Partnership episodes and see development over time? I think yes. It’s gonna be long. I rewatched them all, so buckle up.

Season 3: Wetwired - partnership as trust Season 4: Demons - partnership as loyalty Season 5: Folie a Deux - partnership as shared madness Season 6: Field Trip - partnership as touchstones Season 7: Je Souhaite - partnership as happiness

Season 3: Wetwired  (right before Talitha Cumi)

This episode, like several in the Penultimate Partner episode category, involves a X-file that distorts perception. Because Scully can’t trust her own senses due to the mind control, she also can’t trust Mulder, calling into question the key tenet of their partnership. (And by season three, they have definitely established trust as the bedrock.)

Her gradual mistrust of Mulder in this episode is tense and painful; you can see on her face how much she argues with herself about it even as her mind is tricking her. Others who fall victim to this mind control phenomenon wind up murdering their romantic partner, but in the end of the episode, when they’re discussing what happened in the hospital, they both seem pretty unsurprised that Scully’s paranoia focused on Mulder. They both know, late season three, how crucial trust is between them. They understand that it’s Scully’s worst fear that Mulder would betray her. It’s not even news to them.

What Mulder’s worst fear might be is also hinted at, although it’s unsaid. He’s furious that her life is put at risk by the mysterious informant. When Mulder believes Scully may be dead and he’s going to identify her body, his reaction is chilling. He seems to completely shut down emotionally, not even showing any reaction to the Gunmen. Tellingly, when he is offered a choice between getting answers and going to ID Scully’s body, he doesn’t hesitate—he chooses Scully. (Sometimes people claim Mulder doesn’t show this kind of commitment to her until much later, even until Home Again in season 10, so it’s interesting to see it so unequivocal here.)   

I want to say that Scully’s anxiety about trusting Mulder in this episode is foreshadowing aspects of the cancer arc in the next season, but I don’t think that’s really what’s happening. This episode seems more like an entirely season 3 cap to the Anasazi / Blessing Way / Paperclip storyline, especially the murder of Melissa. Scully’s paranoia calls back Mulder’s in Anasazi, and Scully explicitly blames Mulder for her sister’s murder when she’s drawn a gun on him. Even just the fact that we're there with Maggie, who has a picture of Melissa displayed prominently, tells me that loss is supposed to be on both partners' minds. (Actually, the interaction between Mulder, Scully and Maggie is pretty amazing in this scene; they’re an emotionally complex trio who seem to be communicating on some other level. I love how when Mulder and Maggie are talking to freaked-out Scully they almost sound strangely unreal, almost like they really are speaking falsely. It allows us to imagine the scene as it looks from Scully’s point-of-view, as a massive betrayal.)

Wetwired is, technically, a mytharc episode, as this whole mind control thing seems to tie back into X and the Syndicate. Personally I think the episode’s ending, emphasizing the mytharc-related plot and X’s involvement and whatever tf was happening there, was a little misguided. For my tastes they would have done better to play up the more personal, character-based themes a little more. But I also think this episode was the first real Penultimate Partner episode, and it was setting some patterns that were going to be expanded on.

Season 4: Demons (before Gethsemane)

From the cold open, we can already tell this is already a more personal episode than Wetwired. Mulder is the one having perception problems now; he wakes from a disturbing dream, covered in blood, muddled memory. This is also technically a mytharc episode, but much more concerned with direct impact on character than Wetwired was. 

Scully instantly rushes to Mulder’s aid—walks right into his shower, for heaven’s sake—and absolutely never wavers in loyalty to him, even when he looks real, real guilty and a "rational" person would be suspicious. She is in fierce, must-protect-Mulder mode throughout this entire episode, from the moment she shows up palpating his head with her hands to her back-off behavior with the cops to her badass cold “I know what you do” comment to Dr. Goldstein. She also helps Mulder see through his distorted perception, telling him "this is not the way to the truth" as he holds a gun on her.

In this Penultimate Partner episode, we see something more than simple trust going on, although there’s trust, too. Maybe the word is loyalty or devotion. We see Mulder coming apart and Scully completely and utterly devoted to him. It’s actually very clear foreshadowing for the following week’s episode, Gethsemane. Mulder isn’t stable, and he needs Scully to keep him from “los[ing] his course,” as she says in Demons’ end narration. Gethsemane will follow up on the Mulder losing-his-course idea, and also will explore the idea that Scully’s bottomless support of Mulder isn’t always good for her. (This idea is voiced especially by Bill.) 

There are some ways in which this episode is a neat little bookend to Wetwired. In Wetwired, Scully flees to her mother’s house, desperate and paranoid; in Demons, Mulder, similarly unhinged, seeks out his mother at her house. In Wetwired, Scully sees things that aren’t there, and in Demons, it’s definitely implied that Mulder may be seeing things in his past that weren’t actually there. In Wetwired, Scully pulls a gun on Mulder, and in Demons, Mulder pulls one on Scully. 

I adore this episode, even though it’s definitely vulnerable to the critique that Mulder acts like a self-obsessed loon and Scully a hopeless enabler lol. Especially because it comes before the Gethsemane / Redux three parter, I wish the episode would have explicitly connected his behavior to the cancer arc, as I feel like that would have made his wild choices seem more understandable. If he felt like he needed to find answers faster because he knew Scully’s time was running out and he saw it all tied together with her fate, then we would get why he was acting so rashly. It would also tie more nicely into Gethsemane, which misleads the audience into thinking Mulder has killed himself, in part, because he believes she’s been given cancer to make him believe. But again, I love this episode. Scully showing up and putting that blanket around Mulder when he’s shaking. Her hugging him at the end when he’s desolate on the floor. This shows a partnership that’s been through Paper Hearts and Memento Mori—that’s moved beyond trust alone.

Season 5: Folie a Deux (before The End)

This is another episode about perception—about one partner seeing things the other can’t. Unlike in Wetwired or Demons, however, in this episode the altered perception actually represents the real truth, something everyone else fails to understand. The episode plays around with the tropes of earlier episodes like Wetwired, at first encouraging us to think that it's a delusion that Pincus is a monster, but then convincing us, through Mulder’s eyes, that the delusion is actually reality.  

As other people have observed, this episode ends up being a nice little metaphor for the whole show: Mulder knowing what no one else does, being ostracized and considered insane, asking Scully to find evidence to corroborate him and ultimately convincing her to believe him and see what he sees. Their partnership is, quite precisely, a madness shared by two. 

It’s a monster of the week, not a mytharc, so there’s no distraction of elaborate mytharc plot, just characters and monster. And this is a Vince Gilligan operation, so our focus is definitely on character. From the first scene with Mulder and Scully, we sense that we’re going to be talking about the partnership. Skinner gives them an assignment in Chicago that Mulder doesn’t think is worth it, and he complains in a particularly self-centered way to Scully, which she observes (“You’re saying I a lot.”) The episode is going to be very explicit that while Mulder might be monster boy, they are in this unhinged partnership situation together. Another important moment comes later, when Scully is calling the perp crazy for thinking he saw a monster, and Mulder says, “Well, I saw it, too.” Scully’s careful about-face after that, her delicate avoidance of implying she thinks Mulder is actually crazy, is part of the dance they’re doing at this late season five stage of their partnership. She doesn’t quite believe him, but she doesn’t knee-jerk not believe him either. 

And the foreshadowing of what’s to come in this one, whoo boy. Most obviously, we must acknowledge that 1013 knew exactly what they were doing when Mulder tells Scully “you’re my one in five billion.” A mere seven days from now, a mysterious beautiful ex who believes his theories is going to show up to immediately cast doubt on that claim. And this episode is also toying with the question of whether Scully actually does always back Mulder up when it’s important, when she has to accept she saw something illogical. At the end, does she tell Skinner she actually saw a giant bug in Mulder’s hospital room? We don’t know, but I think it’s implied she doesn’t. That’s all presaging what will happen in The Beginning coming off of Fight the Future. It’s Scully’s little way of resisting the madness, but it also hurts Mulder and damages the partnership, which will be a problem in season six. 

Season 6: Field Trip (before Biogenesis)

Full disclosure: this is my favorite episode. So I’m going to make some big claims about it. This is the ultimate Penultimate Partner episode—the one that best knits together what it wants to say about their partnership and what it wants to establish for the finale. It's a monster-of-the-week episode (another Vince Gilligan ep, with John Shiban) but refers to the mytharc often. It’s also one of the best episodes about their partnership, period. 

This is yet another episode about distorted perception. This time, however, under the influence of a giant mushroom, both partners are unable to perceive clearly, to determine what is real and what is a lie. And when they’re confused, they critically turn to one another to help them see what the truth is.

Coming off of season six, the partnership is rocky. Mulder is frustrated that after so many theories of his have borne out, he still can’t get the benefit of the doubt from Scully, something he explicitly says in the dialogue here. Scully has felt like she’s not been trusted or heard, like Mulder has turned to others (Diana Fowley, for example) rather than his partner.

This is an episode about how they absolutely need one another to be able to make sense of the world—that individually each of their points-of-view are not enough. In Mulder’s hallucination, Scully accepts his claims about alien life forms too completely, not applying enough skepticism, not pushing back against him. In Scully’s hallucination, a world without Mulder, everyone is unacceptably unquestioning of the status quo, refusing to dig deeper, lacking Mulder’s critical acumen and drive. Neither partner likes the feeling of being unopposed, and it makes both of them suspicious about the hallucination’s reality. They may think they want their own view to prevail, but they need one another to be a whole person.

The theme of what’s real and what’s not – and needing one another to discern the truth–is exactly what is picked up and developed further in the Biogenesis-Sixth Extinction-Amor Fati arc that follows this. Scully’s skepticism has to stretch to incorporate more of Mulder’s worldview to make sense of what she sees in the Ivory Coast, and of course, Mulder calls on Scully’s worldview to see through his misleading dream world in Amor Fati. In fact, you could argue Field Trip is really about the idea that Mulder and Scully are one another’s touchstones—the people they need to know what’s right and real. 

Incidentally, this episode also plays around with some of season 6’s other subtextual throughlines: Mulder and Scully’s anxieties about possibly entering a non-platonic relationship, their unease about what a normal, domestic life might even be for them. For the entire episode they’re directly compared and juxtaposed with the Schiffs, a young married couple who died on Brown Mountain. The Schiffs are a tall man and a redheaded woman. They even die hallucinating lying together on a hotel bed after she asked him to “hold her” (although I do seriously doubt 1013 was intentionally foreshadowing a full year ahead). The last shot is of Mulder reaching out to take Scully’s hand across the ambulance, suggesting a kind of partnership beyond just, you know, partnership. Which takes us to the next season.  

Season 7: Je Souhaite (before Requiem)

Truthfully, I don’t think this episode fits quite as well in the Penultimate Partner category. It doesn’t share some of the same traits as these other episodes—it’s not quite as notably about perception, for instance—and it’s not fundamentally about the partnership in the same way. But it does end up commenting on their partnership (even their relationship, really) as part of its theme, so I think we can include it—especially because its position right before Requiem ends up being important. 

Je Souhaite (btw, written and directed by Vince Gilligan) has a bit of an unsettled feeling to it because it was kind of treading water, waiting to see what happened with DD and the series. Nothing too monumental could happen with the partnership or the plot because it wasn’t clear to anyone what would happen next with the show: whether it would end or continue, whether DD would be involved or not.

So we have a story about Mulder and Scully making peace with not having a significant impact on the world—e.g. not bringing about world peace, not introducing invisible bodies to science. Instead, they are content to delightfully share a beer and comment that they have made one another “pretty happy” (as Scully says about Mulder). Through the jinni character, they seem to take the lesson that they can enjoy being with one another, accept the simple happiness that their relationship brings them. Rather than wish for success that comes too easily, they take joy in the little things with one another.

Comparing this episode to the Penultimate Partner episodes that come before, we can really see how Mulder and Scully’s dynamic has evolved by season seven. We have a Scully who is much more open to supernatural phenomena, for example, and whose skepticism seems more like a reflex or a defense mechanism now. Scully’s move towards belief is partially reflected in the plot of the episode: the X-file here really isn’t even science fiction. It is just straight up fantasy or magical realism. Aside from Scully's brief mention of a disease to explain what happened to the mouthless man in the cold open, no plausible scientific explanation for the jinni's long life or wishes is really even floated.

Scully is delighted by the discovery of the invisible body, and Mulder is visibly delighted by her delight. He’s also frustrated by her retreat into doubt when the body disappears, of course. But even the reversal into her old skepticism is half-hearted, as she soon after she's engaging in discussion with Mulder about what his final wish was. This is consistent with the overall blurring of the old hardline believer-skeptic dynamic we see in season 7. It’s also peeking ahead to Scully’s coming role as resident basement believer in season 8. 

The last scene, with the beers and Caddyshack, is meant to be a callback to djinni Jenn’s comment that she wishes she could “live my life moment by moment... enjoying it for what it is instead of... instead of worrying about what it isn't.” Mulder, we see, is taking a cue from her. (And good for him, as we almost never see these characters do this. Except on rare baseball-related occasions.)

However, this episode’s position right before Requiem—and right before the events of season 8—ends up giving this scene a real bittersweet bite. We know, after Requiem, that they were probably a romantic couple at this time. We know, after Requiem, that this time is going to be their last happy time together for a long while. Later in season 8, we learn that one lingering wish of Scully’s in season 7 is that she wanted to conceive a child with Mulder. And of course we know, after Requiem, that she gets her wish—but with a vicious catch, with a terrible side effect, much like what happens with the jinni’s wishes. 

So that’s my academic thesis on that. I know others have pointed out the existence of this type of episode before. What did I miss? Do you think I am wrong to leave out seasons 1, 2, 8, and 9? Why do we think these episodes focus so much on distorted perception? Interested to hear others’ thoughts (if they make it through this lol).

[eggz505]

Okay. Lads. Jamie just put on their thinking cap and has an idea she wants to share. Hear me out here. I was re-watching Double Life, as one does, and I made a few connections.

1) This one is a stretch. But .Grian mentioned this "being his game. He can change the rules." And said something along the lines of a ritual of goathorns and amethyst. He could be referencing making a watcher like portal symbol whatever that thingy is called. The two L shapes with the dots making a portal shape. The L shapes would be the goat horns and the Amythest could be made into block that LOOK like they're portal blocks.

2) this is the better one. Grian spends, for the most part, The whole series OBSESSING over BigB and wanting to go against his own gimmick with the soulbonds to go after BigB (this is something I fawn over religiously. It has STUCK in my mind for AGES and I never knew why. Finally paying off oml) In the latest season, Secret Life BigB is doing the WEIRDEST things to the point people are theorizing that the watchers have recruited/shown great interest in BigB. This seems coincidental at face value but grian didnt just obsess over him as a bit, he spent the WHOLE SEASON being weirdly in love with BigB and BigB is spending this WHOLE SEASON doing weird things. Watcher level weird things. Ergo? I think Grian took a liking to BigB because of himself bring a Watcher which caused him to gravitate toward BigB, because BigB was either dormant as an already aligned Watcher, was newly recruited as a Watcher, or the Watchers first started to show interest in BigB in Double Life.

3) I just came up with this but in support of BigB being a Watcher I think the timeline really lines up. Double Life is the first time Grian obsesses over another player which struck me as uncanny. In Limited Life, the series that followed, what did BigB do? Watch. Other. Players. He was a nosey neighbour. PEARLESCENTMOON teamed with him that season. Pearl was there when Grian got recruited, what is BigB got recruited during Limited Life? He watched other players the whole season, he had a lookout tower, Grian gravitated towards him as an ally during the season. Now in Secret Life? Grian goes to see BigB EVERY. EPISODE. It is ritualistic. Like his "episodes wont be complete without seeing what weird things BigB is up to".

Okay. I am Jamie and I am taking off my tinfoil cone of a theory/thinking cap. I am fixated on the idea of BigB being with the watchers. I dont know if his intention is to REPLACE Grian or to have Grian be more involved in his Watcher duties/shenanigans, or if hes supposed to be like a trade offer from the watchers?? It could be that Grian liked BigB in double life and the watchers were like. :o "We could use that." But I am a sucker for the Life Series and the lore that other fans come up with. I am so shit at drawing but I can write like Alexander Hamilton, so let me know who wants more theories :D

TLDR: I think Grian made Watcher-esque references in Double Life. I think BigB has been a subject of Interest for the Watchers since Double Life. I think BigB was doing Watcher like things in Limited Life, either because he was recruited BY the Watchers in Limited Life, or in Double Life, or at the least he was being heavily influenced. I am a sucker for the Watcher!BigB headcanons fans are making. Thank you and good day. Jamie out.

[litsnobconfessions]

Date: January 23, 2025

Day: 23

Content Watched: Avatar: The Last Airbender S3E17-21

Year: 2005-2008

Rating: TV-Y7-FV

Run Time: 115 minutes

I know it's been threee days, but if you forgot what happened, it's okay! Because The Ember Island Players are here to remind us! 

Did I really stop ATLA at the end of season 3 and watch all three HTTYD movies just to have a thin excuse for needing a recap? Yes. Yes, I did. I am not sorry.

There's really not much to say about "The Ember Island Players" because it's all been said before. It is probably the best re-cap episode I have ever seen, possibly the best re-cap episode ever made. 

I will say that on this watch, I noticed that literally half of the episode centers on season 1, and I do think that is entirely to set up the joke of everyone hating the way they're portrayed except for Toph. I also noticed that they managed to get character development into this episode! Character development which, unlike "The Beach," is actually applicable to the overarcing plot and is clearly part of larger patterns! (Yeah, I'll stop talking about "The Beach..." eventually....)

I also think the stage effects are pretty cool? Like, I know Sokka says this in the show, but seriously, I kind of wish I could see this play in real life (even if it is long enough to have two intermissions) just for the effects. And I am contractually obligated to mention that Aang being played by a woman reminds me of the role of Peter Pan and feels very appropriate.

But enough of that, let's talk about the finale!

Actually no, let's circle back around to that character development issue. Because we need to talk about Azula. I feel like the finale is the ultimate proof that Azula is underdeveloped. I do like seeing Azula slowly unravel, but I can't help but think it would have been more satisfying if there had been more leading up to this. I'm not saying that it doesn't make sense. I'm just saying it could have been better.

For example, she's hallucinating her mother! When did that start happening? It definitely brings into question the line about her mother calling her a monster, which I've heard people bring up to argue she's a nuanced character. Except how do we know that her mother actually said that? How do we know it wasn't a hallucination? Or, for that matter, as my husband pointed out to me that she could be lying. She's a good enough liar to fool Toph, after all. Her mother could be a hallucination due to her guilt. Or entirely unrelated. But we. Don't. Know. If anything, I think this line reveals how lacking in nuance she is.

Furthermore, I have to wonder if they would have even bothered to have her lose it if there was another way they could have Zuko take her one on one. I mean, I love the final agni kai. It's the perfect culmination of Zuko's arc, and it is gorgeous to watch and to listen to. But it's important, for his arc, that he face her alone, and as Katara points out, he's already said he's not good enough. So we get this moment where he says she's different, and he gets to battle her one-on-one. But why couldn't it be both? Why couldn't this be development for Azula and an explanation for the final battle. Well, because we never see her again. The last shot of Azula is of her tied to a grate, literally spitting fire. 

I feel like the reaction to this is going to be that it's in the comics. But you shouldn't have to read the comics to find out what happened to a major character after the battle. Obviously they aren't leaving her tied to the grate. Is she in prison? A mental institution? Does she also have her bending taken away? Why does she suddenly not matter? Answer: because she's a villain.

The truth is, none of the villains get a lot of development, other than Zuko, and he turns into a good guy. And yes, I love Zuko. He's got one of my all-time favorite repemption arcs, and my favorite arc of ATLA, but it doesn't change the fact the other bad guys are just kind of bad guys for the sake of being bad guys. And no, it's not a terrible thing to have villains who are evil for the sake of being evil, but again, in a work so full of life, so filled with all these amazing character arcs, it feels negectful to have villains without more nuance.

Even the endings to the other character arcs feel like they're only there to serve the purpose of the good guy story. Mai and Ty Lee are let out of prison. But this also serves the purpose of Zuko getting the girl and us finding out what became of the other Kyoshi warriors. We see Ozai in prison. But this, too, is centered on Zuko and his search for his mother. Zuko's arc with Azula ends with their battle. So, it seems, and thus her character doesn't even get the closure of what they did with her after the battle.

With that rant out of the way, I do love the final agni kai. It's my favorite scene in the finale, as well as my favorite bit of animation in the finale, and my favorite musical piece in the finale. In fact, the music was what really got to me this time. Because there are different tracks for the different battles, and you can tell. What's interesting is that the music over Aang and Ozai's battle is much bigger and louder, so when you cut back to Zuko and Azula, it's like this hush has fallen over the plaza where they're fighting. Even the fire sounds are muted.

One of the things I really like about the final agni kai is Zuko's fighting style. We've seen him take Iroh's advice about learning from all four nations to heart, and we see him use elements of all four bending styles in this fight. It's fitting since he is Aang's foil, and Aang, obviously, also uses all four styles. But my husband also pointed out to me that Sokka learns weapons associated with all the nations--boomerang, fan, staff, and sword. So it's kind of cool that all the boys have this elemental balance in their fighting.

But what about the girls? Well, all the girls have specializations--Katara is a bloodbender, Toph is a metalbender, Azula is a lightningbender, and Ty Lee is a chi blocker. Even Mai and Suki seem pretty specialized with their specific weapons and martial arts styles, that are less common than usual.

I like how much the characters have grown and where they are with each other in the end. Sokka's come a long way since wanting to eat Momo, and Toph has come a long way from thinking Sokka is useless to fighting alongside him as an equal in battle (in fact, the scene where they're about to die together is probably more intense for me than when Zuko takes the lighting hit for Katara.)

I do like that Aang found a peaceful way to take out the villain. I like this for his arc because it was important to him not to take a life if he didn't have to. And I know people take issue with that line at the end about how he's never taken a life, when he has in battle. But I think Aang is very aware of when he does and doesn't take life, and he doesn't want to become the person who enters a battle with the intention of killing.

But also, I think it's nice to have kids' media where compassion reigns. There's a reason I love the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, which, as I said yesterday, does the same thing. And I know some people are also upset about the cop-out that Aang kind of learns energy bending in an instant from the lionturtle, but I feel like this is kind of what happened with his firebending. He went up the hill with Zuko, danced with some dragons, came down, and started firebending. 

On a final animation note, I really like the contrast with blue and red. Obviously we have the colors competing in Zuko and Azula's battle, as her fire is famously blue--even the flames around the fire lord's throne are blue when she's sitting on it. But we have the same color scheme with Aang and Ozai's battle, particularly at the end, when Aang takes away Ozai's bending.

Well, that's the end of ATLA. But not the end of war stories, which just seems to be the theme for January. Tomorrow, we'll visit one much closer to home.

[bourbon-ontherocks]

hi 👀 306 was last week but I still wanted to address a couple of things… mainly roxane’s last scene, ouch, she deserved a better exit than parroting the writers’ memo on [gros canard]’s failings 😩 c’est faible. feels like they should’ve axed the scene (it was clear enough they’d break up, anyway) and simply confirmed she left with the voicemail about her sister dropping off the keys. (btw--did we know she had a sister before you mentioned that detail in fic, or was it another of your predictions??)

big fan of the attic scene though, and daphné & [gros canard]’s synchronized "gilles 🙄😵" lol. plot-wise, however, I’d like to know who would put multiple acid tablets in a bottle they’re not drinking, because 1) big waste of money for a student population, 2) it’s probably not the most efficient way to take lsd (les résidus au fond de la bouteille !!!), 3) que fait le bde ? shouldn’t they at least pretend to care about safety when there’s a party in the dorms?

and I’ll admit it was kinda fun to see [gros canard] using his ~"just broke up" privileges to dunk on morgane’s relationship history. the guy woke up and chose violence 😭😂😭 ça va qu’elle le prend bien…

bref. that’s all for me on this one!! brb ✌️

Oh hi anon, it's so good to see you back!! 😘

I tend to disagree with you re Roxane's break-up scene, because let's remember that we are obsessed. We can list all of Adam's misdemeanors in the blink of an eye. The casual viewer can't. So this last fact in itself justifies Roxane's monologue reminding us what a terrible boyfriend he's been. And also, even though it all wasn't fresh news for me, I must say I appreciated hearing them all together and I appreciated even more Adam having all of this said to his face. And Roxane's conclusion "Et tu penses que ça fait de toi un type bien" poooooooow elle tire à balles réelles et ça fait du bien !!!! So yea basically I loved that scene because he deserved it. Period. 😂

And yes, Roxane mentioned her sister in 206!!! ("et pour l'anniversaire de ma soeur, tu as pu te libérer ?" while Adam is cursing Morgane for not capping the ketchup bottle) Now did I mention her sister in PQENCEL, well I'm afraid that's another occurrence of Local HPI anon knows my own fic better than I do lol!

(oh wait no, I mentioned her in the 303 fic, didn't I?)

The attic scene was funny-ish, granted, but it's entirely thanks to Gilles' inability to correctly answer multiple-choice questions! Ok full disclaimer, I'm kinda meh about this episode, I don't understand why so many people, cast members included, claim that it's the season's best, but also I must say that for me, the episode is completely doomed because of some infuriating stuff that happens in the finale 😭

Agreed that there's some very generous dealers on this campus, last time I checked open bars didn't include full bottles of LSD, but hey what do I know, my student years are far behind (also BDEs have never been worried about safety, come on 😅)(but this makes me think of the Palmashow's HPI spinoff "BDE" lol I bet it would have made this ep more interesting)

(speaking of the Palmashow parody, Morgane finding the victim's daughter behind the screen that *happened to be here* reminded me so much of fake Morgane finding the killer behind the curtain lol)

"the guy woke up and chose violence 😭😂😭 ça va qu’elle le prend bien…" -> true, perhaps it was a bit harsh to tell her that, but honestly the return of the flirty bickering felt so refreshing!!!! 😍 And I'd dare to think that maybe that's also the reason she takes it well while she has all the reasons to be hurt by him reminding her that she always gets dumped, because he's FINALLY risking a joke at her after all those weeks of silent treatment and closed face and angry looks, my boy is making amends and holding a timid Olive branch and she couldn't be more relieved....

... which makes the three months window proposal absolutely frustrating!!! I *hated* this part (I mean, before I watched the finale and understood what hating an episode's ending really meant lol *crying laughter*), because even though Adam needs some time to heal (understandable), and is a total control freak who shows up early on dates and probably needs to know his schedule six months in advance, this is like peak non-romance. Where's the passion? The spontaneity? I'd have accepted this scene if we'd seen him showing up at Morgane's door barely a week later and telling her that he, in fact, cannot wait, but this... UGH!

My theory is that he wanted to wait long enough to be sure about his feelings for Morgane (which would explain why he's so enthusiastic to date her in the next ep, unless he's that dtf haha), make sure it wasn't a phase or a fantasy due to being stuck in a relationship, and that's probably the only theory I can accept because it's vaguely romantic at least, and also I need to believe that his feelings are real, which is something that tends to be hinted at in 307-308 imo, so there's that consistency at least...

Speaking of consistency!!! I know I'm just hurting myself at this point but I wanted to make a quick check on the timeline... Surprisingly the show actually manages to speak the truth, Timothée did spend 4 months with the team (he arrived in the summer, two months later around September/October - remember that the months were mixed up in 303-304 - he starts dating Morgane for two months, and here we are!). So WHY would they instantly ruin that effort with the most random line this show's ever delivered:

"Et bah moi, je me suis séparée de Ludo il y a neuf mois..."

GIRRRRRRRRL, you spent two months on a couch after your breakup. Then, admitting that 205 to 208 happened in like a week which is in itself a ridiculous assumption, you left the PJ for six months. And here we are, four months later, as dutifully reminded by Timothée. And I didn't even extrapolate here, I just took point blank the elements that the show gave me.

2 + 6 + 4 = TWELVE FUCKING MONTHS BARE MINIMUM. Was it that hard to follow up? Jesus Christ.

And since I'm on the inconsistency chapter, the way TIBER is written on Morgane and Adam's wrists suggests that it's Morgane who was holding the pen because of the letters' orientation, but in this case she wrote on her left wrist. While she's left-handed. Too bad, huh?

Other honorable mentions include:

Adam playing a Columbo bit on the university's dean re the silver scalpel

"C'est doux en fait. On dirait du mouton" -> this one goes straight in the top ten show's best lines 🤣🤣🤣

The LSD trip scene being WAY too sexual, this is pornography 😆

I know it's fleeting and not properly framed, but did you see the only interesting part of that re-doing the house montage in the end? THIS:

No I will not accept any other theory, this is the handprint. I will justify it further with this shot from 304:

While the handprint is not visible, probably due to the light and filming angle, it's the same spot as above, which ties in with where Morgane landed in the dance scene, and also it's interesting to note that she put a little candle in front of it 🕯️🥹

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Finally saw the season premiere of The Mandalorian.

More first/gut/spoiler reaction thoughts under the cut. I might have more thoughtful thoughts tomorrow (or never) but these are just my initial impressions. My opinions only, don't @ me.

that cannot be how jon dave favloni decided to explain away din's Season 3 goal. YOU DIDN'T THINK PEOPLE WOULD HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SCENES THEY KNOW NEVER HAPPENED IN SEASON 2?????????????

did no one vet this fucking planet or was the armored gator part of the ritual please someone fucking explain this shit to me like i'm five.

i see them gendered visors and i will never have peace (i understand from a design perspective but it's the 21st century, we should be moving away from this already)

WHERE IS THE "DIN DJARIN GETS A SHARD OF MANDALORE FROM A JAWA" ADVENTURE JON DAVE FAVLONI YOU CAN'T JUST THROW THIS SHIT AT US AND THINK IT'S OKAY

how did the jawa get their hands on it anyway how did it get off mandalore who went to mandalore

i am weak for space whales i am weak for all whales but that's just about it because i never watched Rebels

Nevarro is Disnehyland. Nevarro is Space Renn Faire. Nevarro lost everything that made that city/world so fucking interesting. They fucking gentrified it.

i get genres and i saw a wonderful glimpse of it in the confrontation with the pirates... the pirates fucking ruined the vibes tho. how dare.

actual serious thought: the whole thing with IG-11 is actually fucking grotesque and disgusting and I can't believe Jon Dave Favloni thought this was a good fucking idea. it's so gross. i can't get over it, especially when IG reverted to default programming and went after Grogu like it's Season 1 all over again.

it's fucking gross. it's so gross. what the fuck.

pirate designs were cool. the dialogue was not. who voices that pirate king. i swear i know that VA

Jon Dave Favloni out here fitting 3 whole episodes into 30 fucking minutes by cramming in a short scene with Bo-Katan and explaining why she's sitting around all depressed and alone with a droid standing watch outside

this is not a good look for mandalorians in general. i'm not getting the best impression here. getting strong Monty Python english peasants vibes. they'll follow just about anyone with a crackling black sword.

3 whole episodes into 30 fucking minutes Jon Dave Favloni have you ever heard of pacing. talk to the ghibli people. they know when to let a story take a deep, deep breath.

Episode 2 better slow down a bit and fucking tell a fucking story I swear.

the Volume was really strong in this one. I actually never paid too much attention to what effect Volume was having on these shows but when I started studying the screen caps for my most recent art post, it because pretty obvious what was going on and now I can't fucking unsee this shit

Episode 2 had better be better because omigod I feel like I've been clowned on. how old am i. what the hell even was this episode. who was it made for. what even are the stakes here.

re comparisons to Andor: no, i don't want this show to be exactly like Andor. we don't need every star wars show to be so steeped in politics and social commentary and have such a tense grim tone. what i wish is that every star wars show is handled with the same care and respect Andor's people show both to the star wars and to the fans and watchers. maybe that's why Andor consistently had the smallest audiences but the majority of the tweets, comments, and posts i've seen really appreciated what the show was doing. you can have a fun space western and also have some thoughtful commentary on diaspora and post-war societies! you can eat your cake if you just try!

that's it, that's the first reactions post

[phantom-le6]

Ramble of the month November 2023: 90’s MCU phase 4 – The Secret Wars, the Defenders and putting French and Saunders in a comic book film

As we come into the first of our last two monthly rambles for 2023, I’ve decided to go back to unveiling more of my alternate superhero film franchises.  I could go for more topical issues, but those will likely stress me out if I go too in-depth on them, and by sheer happenstance, episodes I’m presently reviewing from the last season of Star Trek: Voyager will cover these a bit.  So, that being the case, I figure I might as well close out 2024 by going for subjects I can enjoy talking about instead of anything winding me up.

By now, I’m sure anyone reading these rambles on a regular basis will know the drill, but for any new readers, let’s recap.  At the moment, I’m showcasing two hypothetical superhero film universes.  One is a DC film universe where Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was the launch point instead of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, the other is a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that begins from 1992 instead of 2008.  The change in time period means Marvel would have all their film rights still to hand (those weren’t sold until 1995), and a lot of casting and story choices would change because the source material would be different.  To complete the re-cap, let’s check out the titles of films in the first three phases and do a quick plot summary.

Phase 1:

1992: Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man

1993: Thor, Spider-Man, Ant-Man & The Wasp

1994: Captain America: Fantastic Four 2, Iron Man 2

1995: X-Men, Avengers, Daredevil

Phase 2:

1996: Spider-Man 2, Thor: Land of Enchantment, Silver Surfer

1997: Hulk vs Wolverine, Fantastic Four: Doomsday, Iron Man 3

1998: Captain America: Society of Serpents, Daredevil 2, X-Men 2

1999: Avengers 2, Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange

Phase 3:

2000: Fantastic Four: World War III, Thor: Ragnarök, Daredevil 3

2001: Hulk: Rise of the Leader, X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, Avengers: Under Siege

2002: Doctor Strange 2, The Captain, Spider-Man 4

2003: Captain Britain, Fantastic Four: Enter the Negative Zone, Ghost Rider

Phase 1, as most could probably surmise, is very much about establishing the MCU and its characters.  The Fantastic Four are done first to mirror their points of distinction from other superhero groups that hold true in the comics, with the Avengers and X-Men coming later on.  Phase 2 then expands and develops those characters and brings about an early mantle change, with Tony Stark going down the route of alcoholism as in the comics and Rhodey having to become Iron Man, again as in the comics.  We also see the death of Gwen Stacy, having built up to Norman Osborn becoming the Green Goblin in the films instead of rushing that arc in one film.  Phase 3 then brings out a lot more of the third-film-loss trope we know from the real MCU.  At the same time, we also get a lot of new characters introduced, bringing us to the slate for Phase 4.

Phase 4:

2004: Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Secret Wars: Part I

2005: Excalibur, Defenders, Ghost Rider 2

2006: X-Factor, Secret Wars: Part II, Heroes For Hire

2007: Namor the Submariner, Doctor Strange 3, Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin

With this phase, you can see we’re really trying a lot more new titles compared to past phases.  This is because much of the cast of the MCU to date is tied up in the events of the two Secret Wars films, thereby leaving a lot of room for other characters and teams to be given the spotlight.  How does this all pan out in practice?  Well, let’s start looking at the films of phase 4, beginning with Black Panther…

Black Panther (2004) Directed by Tim Story

T'Challa/Black Panther = Chadwick Boseman

Shuri = Tatyana Ali

Ramonda = Alfre Woodard

T'Chaka = Courtney B. Vance

W'Kabi = Chiwetel Ejiofor

Okoye = Nia Long

Zuri = Joseph Marcell

Ulysses Klaue/Klaw = Andy Serkis

M'Baku = Idris Elba

As those who read my August ramble will know, my alternative MCU introduces the Black Panther via the Fantastic Four film World War III, in homage to the comics version of the character having the same debut.  However, just as the real MCU version went on to a solo film after getting his cinematic debut, so too does this version of T’Challa.  I’ve kept Chadwick Boseman in the main role as he could still play an adult King T’Challa back in 2004.  The same can’t be said for Letitia Wright with Shuri, and some other roles would also need shifting around, hence the case above.  The only other actor from the real MCU to retain their casting is Andy Serkis as Klaw.  As for the plot, it’s strictly T’Challa versus Klaw for him murdering T’Challa’s father years earlier, so there’s less focus on challenge rites in this film.

I’ve also retained the real MCU’s depiction of M’Baku as a voice of dissent to T’Challa’s rule, but with the full intention of taking him full villain at a later point.  As for why no Killmonger, I wanted to build up to him and not use up all of T’Challa’s most notable foes in one film.  For direction, I felt it was important that it still be a Black person in the director’s chair, so from the directors active at this time, I picked Tim Story, the man who directed Fox’s Fantastic Four films.  The first of those wasn’t too bad, and with a better studio to work with, I bet Story could do a good job on a property like Black Panther.

Captain Marvel (2004) Directed by Roland Emmerich

Mar-Vell/Captain Marvel = Jude Law

Yon-Rogg = Colin Salmon

Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel = Melissa Joan Hart

Ronan The Accuser = Ray Stevenson

Zarek = Avery Brooks

Talos = Dominic West

Emperor Dorek VII = Ray Winstone

Empress R'klll = Teri Hatcher

Now for the comic book neophytes wondering why Carol Danvers isn’t Captain Marvel, this is one of those plot-points that is only supported by a more recent selection of Marvel’s comic-book lore.  The original Captain Marvel within Marvel’s source material was the Kree character named Mar-Vell, who was gender-flipped and played by Annette Benning in the 2019 Captain Marvel film, leaving Jude Law to play the villainous Kree Yon-Rogg.  Carol Danvers was first turned into Ms Marvel following events in the original Captain Marvel comics, only to cease using the title after loosing her original powers to the mutant known as Rogue.  Following adventures with the X-Men, Carol Danvers gained new powers and joined a group of space pirates called the Starjammers as Binary.  Later, she came back to Earth and went back to her old Ms Marvel codename, then her old Air Force callsign of Warbird, before finally becoming Captain Marvel.

Now while I can’t say precisely when Carol became CM in the comics, I do know it’s sometime in the 2010’s, so a 2004 film won’t support her being the first Captain Marvel.  Instead, this film goes back to the early comics and makes Mar-Vell the original title-holder, telling a fairly simple first contact story with Carol as the audience POV character.  Rather than go for any obvious film actress of this time period, I decided it would be cool to see Melissa Joan Hart take on the role of Carol Danvers opposite Jude Law.  We then have a mix of great actors, including Trek alumni in the form of Avery Brooks (DS9’s Captain Sisko).  As we’re going down a first contact route without any Trek overtones, I opted for Independence Day’s Roland Emmerich to helm this one.

Secret Wars Part I (2004) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Steve Rogers/Captain America = Brad Pitt

Thor = Dolph Lundgren

Janet Van Dyne/Wasp = Catherine Zeta Jones

Clint Barton/Hawkeye = Kevin Costner

Vision = Casper Van Dien

Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff = Kate Beckinsale

Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff = Robert Sean Leonard

James Rhodes/Iron Man II = Samuel L Jackson

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk = Lucy Lawless

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic = Tom Hanks

Johnny Storm/Human Torch = David Spade

Ben Grimm/Thing = Bryan Cranston

Crystal = Dina Meyer

Storm/Ororo Monroe = Halle Berry

Polaris/Lorna Dane = Jeri Ryan

Havok/Alex Summers = Kevin Bacon

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Peter Rasputin/Colossus = Henry Cavill

Remi LeBeau/Gambit = Zachary Levi

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

Beyonder = Ian McShane

Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom = Goran Višnjić

Wizard/Bentley Whitford = Alan Rukk

Trapster/Pete Petruski = Eddie Jemison

Sandman/Flint Marko = Dwayne Johnson

Titania/Mary MacPherson = Amy Christine Dumas

Electro/Max Dillon = Eddie Cahill

Lizard/Dr Curt Connors = Dylan Baker

Magneto = Ian McKellan

Calisto = Carrie-Anne Moss

Sunder = Kevin Nash

Sabretooth = Tyler Mane

Pyro = Hugh Jackman

Mentallo/Marvin Flumm = Brad Dourif

So, what is Secret Wars?  Well, there’s been at least three instances of stories with this title in Marvel’s history, at least going by the comics.  The original was a mini-series in the mid-1980’s, where a being known as the Beyonder created a planet called Battleworld from pieces of other planets (including a suburb of Denver, Colorado for reasons I can’t totally fathom).  He then transported a selection of Marvel’s heroes and villains to Battleworld and offered to grant whichever side won whatever they desired.  Despite a brief usurpation of the Beyonder’s powers by Doom, the heroes apparently won and returned home.  The second story was Secret Wars II, in which the Beyonder went to Earth and assumed human form in an effort to further his understanding of life in our universe.  Frustrated by what he learned, the Beyonder almost destroyed reality.

More recently, around 2015, there was a new Secret Wars which was similar to the first mini-series, but involved some kind of multiversal crossover, the apparent idea being to amalgamate some of Marvel’s other comic book continuities like the Ultimates comics with the main Marvel comics continuity.  For this film and its sequel, I’d be looking to do an adaptation of the original, but with greater emphasis on the war aspect.  In this case, the Beyonder pulls off the same creation of Battleworld, but like the adaptation of the story in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, he gives the super-villains a little head-start to better challenge the heroes.

Now the bulk of the cast for this film is carried over from past MCU films in my alternative continuity, but there are a few new characters in the mix.  In particular, Colossus and Gambit make their first MCU appearances, having both joined Storm’s band of X-Men since the events of Fall of the Mutants in the last phase, with Colossus being a returning former student whereas Gambit is a total newcomer.  I chose Cavill for Colossus because he can look the part and is capable of doing other accents than his own, while Zachary Levi gets the role of Gambit due to being a native of Louisiana, not to mention he once played Fandrall the Dashing in Thor: The Dark World.  As such, I can easily see Levi modifying his hair and accent just slightly to pull off a perfect Gambit.

On the villain side, the Frightful Four, Lizard, Electro and Mentallo are all new additions, the last character being part of Magneto’s Brotherhood for this film.  Indeed, as Magneto ends up among the heroes to start with, Mentallo and Calisto set up a mutant-ruled fiefdom on Battleworld in this film, and for Magneto, the question asked of his character is whether he’ll tear it down or try to take it over.  As the films will also be taking the war part more seriously, don’t expect the heroes to all walk ok by the end.  This is also why Steven Spielberg gets to direct; who better than the director of Saving Private Ryan to handle superheroes having to get into a war?

Excalibur (2005): Directed by Christopher Nolan

Brian Braddock Jr./Captain Britain = Jamie Bamber

Betsy Braddock/Psylocke = Lena Headey

Meggan = Sienna Miller

Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler = Daniel Brühl

Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat = Selma Blair

Banshee/Sean Cassidy = Liam Neeson

Courtney Ross = Rosamund Pike

DI Dai Thomas = Mark Lewis Jones

Detective Kate Fraser = Kate Winslet

Dr Moira Mactaggert = Olivia Williams

Mojo = Jim Carrey

Major Domo = Hugh Laurie

Spiral = Eva Green

Gatecrasher = Dawn French

Yap (voice-acting) = Jennifer Saunders

Scatterbrain = Clémence Poésy

Thug = Donal Logue

Ferro = Jason Isaacs

China Doll = Miranda Richardson

Longshot = Ben Foster

Alison Blaire/Dazzler = Julia Styles

Having given Captain Britain a solo film and scattered the X-Men in the last phase, the timing would then be right in this phase to bring about the British off-shoot of the X-Men that is Excalibur.  As this MCU has yet to uncork any time-travel for its films, we substitute Rachel Summers of the original Excalibur comics for Brian Braddock’s twin sister Psylocke in the film version.  At the same time, while Banshee does appear in the film, he’s taken out early and is then kept to the side-lines.

However, the plot still tries to echo the original Excalibur graphic novel; the interdimensional tyrant Mojo is hunting someone, and uses Gatecrasher and her group, known as Technet, to grab them.  With Rachel Summers not being used, Mojoverse native and rebel hero Longshot is instead the target, along with his mutant girlfriend Dazzler.  When the hunt spills over to Britain, Captain Britain, his sister and his girlfriend team up with Nightcrawler and Shadowcat of the X-Men on an inter-dimensional rescue mission, and thus Excalibur is born.

Casting-wise, everyone down as far as Detective Kate Fraser is reprising from past films.  From Dr Moira MacTaggart on down, the cast is new to this film.  Much like with Captain Britain’s solo film, I’d want a lot of British talent to be involved, which accounts for most of the casting choices.  However, since a lot of the characters come from another dimension, there can be more flexibility regarding accents.  This accounts for why the likes of Jim Carrey, Donal Logue, Ben Foster and Julia Styles enter into the film.  I also cast French and Saunders here, though in a somewhat atypical fashion.  Here, Dawn French would likely be in either a mo-cap suit or heavy make-up to play Gatecrasher, whereas Jennifer Saunders would be voicing a small talking creature named Yap, who is usually clinging to Gatecrasher’s shoulder.  Add in the likes of Hugh Laurie and Miranda Richardson, both alumni of the Blackadder sit-coms, and we have some real British comedy gold in the line-up.

Direction-wise, it’s back to Christopher Nolan to keep the film British behind the scenes as well as in front of camera.

Defenders (2005) Directed by Sam Raimi

Dr Stephen Strange = Johnny Depp

Namor McKenzie/The Submariner = Christian Bale

Bruce Banner/Hulk = John Cusack

Silver Surfer = David Wenham

Valkyrie = Diane Kruger

Kyle Richmond/Nighthawk = Josh Duhamel

Patsy Walker/Hellcat = Mena Suvari

Wong = Will Yun Lee

Clea = Keira Knightley

Yandroth = Sullivan Stapleton

The original Defenders comics revolved around a superhero “non-team” that would unite when the need arose, but lacked a standing headquarters, charter, etc. like the Avengers had.  This made the group something of a haven for the outsiders who formed it, namely Doctor Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, with the Silver Surfer becoming an honourary founding member later on.  The team also gained a few more dedicated members in the forms of the Asgardian Valkyrie, wealthy industrialist Kyle Richmond, and superhero fan girl turned superhero Hellcat.  This film basically shows the Defenders forming against Doctor Strange’s one-time foe Yandroth, in part because Yandroth unleashes some chaos while many other heroes are missing due to the events of Secret Wars.

Only the top four Defenders, plus Wong and Clea, are retained from past films in this MCU.  The rest of the cast are new additions, but really, it’s combining the likes of Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, John Cusack and David Wenham into the core of the team that’s the real excitement.  Mind you, the rest of the cast are all well-known and highly skilled actors as well.  Direction-wise, I figured that since Strange and Yandroth are both on the mystic horror side of the Marvel world, a horror director of note like Sam Raimi would be good.

Ghost Rider 2 (2005) Directed by Tim Burton

Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider = Connor Trinneer

Roxanne Simpson = Jessica Alba

Mephistopheles = Jeffery Combs

Orb/Drake Shannon = Michael Rooker

Blackout/Ray Carrigan = Johnny Whitworth

Karen Stirling = Jamie Alexander

Cynthia Randolph = Kirsten Dunst

Senator Stirling = Tim Robbins

Mark Crane = Nicholas Cage

Closing out 2005’s portion of this alternate MCU is a sequel for Johnny Blaze’s iteration of Ghost Rider, with Tim Burton back at the helm for obvious reasons.  Only the top three roles are retained from film 1, while the rest is fresh casting.  Story-wise, it’s a bit of a mash-up of a few different elements from the original Ghost Rider run into a single narrative.  Following the events of film 1, Blaze is living a bit of a drifter’s existence as he tries to deal with the demon spirit within him always taking over.  His girlfriend Roxanne is searching for him, and her scenes in the film are basically a kind of “will-she-won’t-she” break from the A-plot.

Said A-Plot is that a small town is being terrorised by a cult that has claimed the life of the son of a prominent senator.  When Blaze arrives, it isn’t long before his flaming alter ego is up to his fiery skull in their business, resulting in cult leader Mark Crane making a deal with Mephistopheles to imbue two of his henchmen with demonic powers.  Also caught in the mix are the senator’s daughter and a visiting reporter, each of whom is attracted to Johnny and reacts differently when he becomes the Ghost Rider.

X-Factor (2006) Directed by LeVar Burton

Cyclops/Scott Summers = Patrick Swayze

Jean Grey = Milla Jovovich

Warren Worthington III/Death/Archangel = Neil Patrick Harris

Beast/Hank McCoy = Alec Baldwin

Robert Drake/Iceman = Michael Weatherley

Angelica Jones = Lindsey Lohan

Xi'an Coy Manh = Katie Leung

Julio Richter = Alfonso Herrera

En Sabar Nur/Apocalypse = Faran Tahir

Plague/Pestilence = Gates McFadden

Caliban/Death = Joe Pantoliano

Autumn Rolfson/Famine = Bryce Dallas Howard

War = Joel Kinnaman

Raven Darkholme/Mystique = Connie Nielsen

As 2006 begins, we get another X-Men off-shoot, this time focusing on the original X-Men as the comics reckon things becoming X-Factor.  The team is given some very different origins this time round, but it’s still the classic team membership fans of the original X-Factor comics know.  In the film, Warren has lost his wings following injuries sustained in the events of the X-Men: Fall of the Mutants film.  Consequently, he is duped into becoming part of the Horsemen of Apocalypse as the mutant known as Apocalypse rises to attack humanity.  The rest of the X-Men alumni (Cyclops, Jean, Iceman and Beast) band together with encouragement from a government operative who is really the mutant shape-shifter Mystique, plus a trio of X-students currently in the team’s charge.

After the five mutants of X-Factor, we get mostly new characters to this MCU and thus a lot of new faces.  In terms of character selection, that’s mostly about trying to honour the comics when it comes to the Horsemen, since only the 90’s animated series has ever done so with these villains.  The whole original idea of the Horsemen was to evoke their biblical counter-parts, so anything not doing that isn’t doing the job right, at least not for the team’s original incarnation.  Plague and Caliban, as former members of the Morlocks, are reprised roles from X-Men: Fall of the Mutants, while Famine and War come into the film new.  As for working in Mystique, that’s someone we’ll certainly see in future films.  Direction-wise, I like calling on Trek alumni to direct given some of the thematic overlaps between X-lore and Trek, hence my selection of Levar Burton.

Secret Wars Part II (2006) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Steve Rogers/Captain America = Brad Pitt

Thor = Dolph Lundgren

Janet Van Dyne/Wasp = Catherine Zeta Jones

Clint Barton/Hawkeye = Kevin Costner

Vision = Casper Van Dien

Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff = Kate Beckinsale

James Rhodes/Iron Man II = Samuel L Jackson

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk = Lucy Lawless

Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic = Tom Hanks

Johnny Storm/Human Torch = David Spade

Ben Grimm/Thing = Bryan Cranston

Crystal = Dina Meyer

Storm/Ororo Monroe = Halle Berry

Polaris/Lorna Dane = Jeri Ryan

Wolverine/Logan = Tom Cruise

Peter Rasputin/Colossus = Henry Cavill

Remi LeBeau/Gambit = Zachary Levi

Peter Parker/Spider-Man = Wil Weaton

Beyonder = Ian McShane

Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom = Goran Višnjić

Wizard/Bentley Whitford = Alan Rukk

Sandman/Flint Marko = Dwayne Johnson

Titania/Mary MacPherson = Amy Christine Dumas

Electro/Max Dillon = Eddie Cahill

Lizard/Dr Curt Connors = Dylan Baker

Magneto = Ian McKellan

Calisto = Carrie-Anne Moss

Sabretooth = Tyler Mane

Pyro = Hugh Jackman

Mentallo/Marvin Flumm = Brad Dourif

Zsaji = Eva Mendes

By the time Spielberg brings us part 2 of Secret Wars, we’ve lost Quicksilver, ideals are getting blurred and our heroes are struggling, which isn’t helped by Doom managing to usurp the powers of the Beyonder.  When this brings an unexpected peace to Battleworld, the heroes face the question of whether or not they should try and challenge Doom, assuming they can.  The film will also honour the original comics by making it the origin of the Venom symbiote, something no adaptation has ever done.  The one other change is the incorporation of the alien one-shot character Zsaji from the original Secret Wars, though in keeping with taking the war more seriously, she has a stronger role than just being a random healer and would-be love interest to Johnny Storm or Colossus.

Heroes For Hire (2006) Directed by Paul McGuigan

Luke Cage = Tyrese Gibson

Danny Rand/Iron Fist = Neil Jackson

Shang Chi = Garrett Wang

Misty Knight = Rosario Dawson

Colleen Wing = Olivia Munn

Jessica Jones = Christina Ricci

Willis Stryker = Bokeem Woodbine

Harold Meachum = Bill Pullman

Davos/Steel Serpent = Kevin Durand

Batroc = Georges St-Pierre

Scimitar = Jason Mamoa

Clay Quartermain = Patrick Wilson

Daisy Dugan = Hayley Atwell

Zebidiah Killgrave/Purple Man = Tom McCamus

Most of the characters Marvel and Netflix put in the Defenders streaming show would originally have been members of, or been acquainted with, the little-known Heroes for Hire group, primarily formed in the comics by Luke Cage, Iron First and Misty Knight.  This film works in a few more street-level members, including Shang-Chi, Colleen Wing and Jessica Jones.  The team consists of various for-hire vigilantes and volunteers who are trying to keep the streets of New York safe following the apparent retirement of Daredevil.  When an enclave of organised criminals attempts to eliminate them, SHIELD agents Quartermain and Dugan reach out to unite the heroes into a team.

This is a new film and new cast, with some roles leaping readily to mind while others have taken a bit more thought to select.  Again, I’ve gone for at least one Trek alumni by picking Garrett Wang of Voyager fame to play Shang-Chi, and I’ve also looked to sci-fi series Mutant X for another bit of casting.  Tom McCamus, who played Mason Eckhart in that show, takes up the role of Killgrave for this film, though the character appears only in flashbacks, as I feel that’s sufficient for the film’s plot to showcase where Jessica is mentally and emotionally as the team comes together.  Direction-wise, I picked Paul McGuigan based on the work he did on the film Lucky Number Slevin.

Namor The Submariner (2007) Directed by Gore Verbinski

Namor McKenzie/The Submariner = Christian Bale

General Krang = Tim Curry

Lady Dorma = Katie Holmes

Vashti = Naseeruddin Shah

Attuma = Danny Hutson

Llyra = Rachel Leigh Cook

Dr Walter Newell/Stingray = Rider Strong

Kicking off the 2007 films that conclude this MCU’s phase four is a solo entry for Namor the Sub-Mariner, who like Black Panther got his introduction via Fantastic Four: World War III in recognition of his first Marvel appearance (the character previously having existed under the company’s pre-1960’s name of Timely Comics).  Having also appeared in the Defenders film earlier in this phase, this solo film has Namor return to Atlantis to find his throne under threat by a coup, involving the Nemurian Llyra and a traitor from within his imperial court.  The film includes at least two other characters who have betrayed or openly opposed Namor in the comics to keep fans guessing and work in a little defiance of expectation.  The film also works in another undersea superhero in the form of Stingray to give audiences a POV character for delving into Namor’s world.

Namor, Krang and Lady Dorma are reprised roles for this film, while the rest of the cast is new.  For direction, I decided to look into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise for directors with experience of filming anything at sea with fantastical elements, and based on this chose Gore Verbinski as he directed the entire original trilogy of that franchise.

Doctor Strange 3 (2007) Directed by Sam Raimi

Dr Stephen Strange = Johnny Depp

Wong = Will Yun Lee

Clea = Keira Knightley

Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo = Doug E. Doug

Valkyrie = Diane Kruger

Baron Karl Mordo = Michael Dorn

Dormammu = Bernard Hill

Umar = Ruth Wilson

Dweller-In-Darkness = Colin Firth

In this third and final solo film for Doctor Strange, our title hero tries to help his fellow Defender Valkyrie acclimate to life on Earth, and is also visited by fellow sorcerer Brother Voodoo.  The time he devotes to his guests puts a strain on his romantic relationship with Clea, but when Baron Mordo returns with the backing of Dormammu once more, battle takes precedence.  However, the battle is not all it seems, as Dormammu’s sister Umar and the mysterious Dweller-In-Darkness are lurking in the shadows.  By the film’s end, someone will have to be sacrificed to keep Earth safe from a grave mystic peril.

A lot of the casting is retained from prior films, but Brother Voodoo, Umar and DID are all new roles.  Ruth Wilson and Colin Firth are both chosen for the gravitas their villain roles need, while Doug E. Doug is my choice for Brother Voodoo based on the more serious moments he had at times when playing Sanka in Cool Runnings.  For direction, I think it’s a good idea to stick with Sam Raimi on this one to keep things consistent with the Defenders film that precedes this one.

Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin (2007) Directed by Jon Favreau

Tony Stark/Iron Man = Tom Selleck

James Rhodes/Iron Man II/War Machine = Samuel L. Jackson

Justin Hammer = Christopher Lee

Bethany Cabe = Julia Roberts

The Mandarin/Xin Xhang = Chow Yun-Fat

Arthur Parks/Living Laser = Josh Dallas

Whitney Frost/Madame Masque = Alice Eve

Boris Bullski/Titanium Man = Alan Tudyk

Douglas Scott/Razorfist = Joe Manganiello

Kathy Dare = Cameron Diaz

So, let’s recap what we’ve had by way of Iron Man lore in this alternate MCU.  The first two IM films are directed by Steven Spielberg with Tom Selleck playing Iron Man, dealing with similar story arcs to the first two films of the real MCU, prior to forming the Avengers in a team-up film under director Andrew Davis.  IM3 then shows Stark fall victim to his alcoholism and Samuel L Jackson’s Rhodey taking up the Iron Man mantle, with Sam Raimi directing.  After that, Rhodey’s Iron Man features in a second Avengers film under Davis and the Secret Wars two-parter with Spielberg.  Here, we get the director of the real MCU’s first two Iron Man movies on hand to guide a film showcasing the comeback trail of Tony Stark and James Rhodes becoming War Machine, all to face Iron Man’s arch-foe the Mandarin.

For this film, a lot of things are different.  First, while the Mandarin has his proper ten rings from the comics, he is still developed beyond a stereotype, being presented as a Chinese businessman first and foremost who is using alien tech rings to try and conquer what his corporate efforts cannot.  He avoids some of his comic counterpart’s more flamboyant attire, but nonetheless has a fondness for China’s dynastic era and opposes its modern-day government.  Second, we’re done with Happy and Pepper, and while Bethany Cabe is retained from IM3, we also include the insane stalker girlfriend Kathy Dare for the purpose of misdirecting the fans.  After all, if we’re not doing it with the Mandarin, we might as well do it somewhere.

And that concludes our look into phase 4 of our alternate MCU.  Next month, we’ll check phase 4 of the alternate DC movie universe.  Until then, ta-ta for now.

[austronauts]

i am returning with yet another brainrot episode [dodges booing and tomatoes being thrown] of me annotating mitch youtube content.

this podcast episode with connor was ADORABLE and revealed a side of him that we rarely ever see otherwise SO...it has made my mitch hyperfixation at LEAST 5x worse. I say this so i can warn you to listen at your own peril (i say listen rather than watch bc mitch is like..in 240p the whole time and at certain points looks SO BLURRY he looks like an impressionist painting of a twink. how very renoir of him tbh). 

I also recognize this video is long af (honestly i didnt know mitch knew this many words....very impressed) so i’m time-stamping every part that im annotating...... also this post got so long so i’m sorry. i KNOW i always say this but it’s bc im genuinely always surprised by my own verbose ass.,.,,,,.,,,,.,.,,,,, WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY IM JUST LIKE MITCH FR I NEED TO STOP YAPPING (morgan rielly voice: “just never shuts up”) 

1:35: mitch apparently loves oysters? honestly adding this only because it’s so cute when his face scrunches up and he throws his head back to laugh at 2:12 (also why is connor’s water glass so dirty what is HAPPENING)

3:21: mitch marner, self-proclaimed coffee aficionado and BEST coffee maker on the leafs, does not know what a chemex is. the look of blank confusion. i know what you are. a fraud who would rather be drinking capri suns and chocolate milk.

3:45: ok now we understand WHY mitch is always wearing a redbull hat (when he’s not wearing his recent assortment of ridiculous hat acquisitions like that powder blue hat with the HUGE BRIM or the orange prada bucket hat) - redbull just sends mitch HATS ON HATS ON HATS that he’s not even allowed to share as part of his agreement. i am now, in fact, asking redbull to send him EVEN MORE HATS so he’s less tempted to wear those hats he’s been wearing this off-season. redbull should just absolutely bury him in hats until he is no longer even visible. he’s not that big so it really shouldn’t take that many hats!!! that’s what i call a hat trick. that’s what i call cap space [booing from audience intensifies]

6:25: WHY is a CONNOR CARRICK MITCH MARNER PODCAST HOW I FIND OUT THAT PK SUBBAN AND LINDSEY VONN WERE ENGAGED?!?!! WHAT IN THE SPORTS ROYALTY?

7:14: just connor gassing mitch up and then chirping him for looking like a newborn foal when he entered the league (mitch then chirps himself for what he looked like with his shirt off lmao - it always surprises me how self-aware he seems to be and how comfortable he seems to be with himself? genuinely endearing tbh)

9:34: mitch talking about how formative visiting the children’s hospital in london (with christian dvorak) 1-2x a week was for him and the “legacy” he wants to build as a hockey player. like. as a cynical human i understand that this podcast is meant to be a fluff piece that’s beneficial for mitch’s reputation/brand, but as a human human i cannot help but be touched by how sincere mitch is about this. and more importantly, he’s shown it with his actions re: the genuine friendship he had with hayden, who mitch met during these hospital visits. 

11:54: hearing about mitch’s contract issues from mitch’s POV is pretty interesting, and i believe this is the most extensively he’s ever spoken about it? it makes so much sense that mitch’s biggest priority was not wanting to miss training camp and pre-season. and that he had ZERO intention of leaving the leafs. im forever genuinely flabbergasted by that contingent of leafs fans who thinks mitch was the one in the room negotiating with kyle/the leafs and playing games to squeeze every last dollar out of them? like DO THEY KNOW MITCH? THE TWITCH STREAMER? my. brother in christ, this guy does not even know what an encyclopedia is. my brother in christ, this guy called his finnish teammate “finlish.”  ANYWAY, he talks pretty openly about the impact the contract negotiations and pressure had on him mentally

17:40: connor: what is your favorite part of being a toronto maple leaf? mitch: my friends 🥺

19:54: mitch talking about how he just likes to check in “on his guys” and connor pointing out that whenever he gets an assist or a goal in a game, he still gets texts from mitch. WHICH IS. SO SWEET. as someone who is absolutely fucking terrible at keeping in touch with people i am JUST. SORRY TO BE A SAP BUT THATS SO SWEET OF HIM? WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!! IM GOING TO EAT HIM!!!!!!

20:30: THIS IS THE BEST PART LOWKEY - THE NIKE SHOES STORY DODOHFODHOSHSODASODHFAIDHFLWJEFKDLJKSAS. IF U WATCH NOTHING ELSE PLEASE WATCH THIS. THE DAY CONNOR GOT MOVED FROM THE LEAFS AND WAS SAD MITCH JUST SHOWED UP WITH A GIANT PILE OF SHOES TO GIVE CONNOR AND CONNOR HAD TO BE LIKE “MITCH? I AM MOVING? I CANNOT TAKE ALL THESE SHOES???” THIS IS THE MOST MITCH MARNER STORY I HAVE EVER HEARD I CANNOT LIKE IVE SAID THIS BEFORE BUT IF I READ IT IN A FIC I WOULDVE BEEN LIKE “LMAOOO THIS AUTHOR NAILED MY HEADCANON OF MITCH BUT IRL MITCH WOULD NEVER DO THAT” BUT NO! HE DOES! HE HAS! the fairy godmother only gave cinderella one pair of glass slippers but mitch marner will show up at your doorstep with 10+ pairs of emotional support nikes that he’s been trying to give you for MONTHS because he loves you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

24:45: Mitch talking about how the award he’d want to win the most is the Selke - and given how great Mitch has been this past season offensively AND defensively AND on the PP AND on the PK??? give minch the selke send tweet. 

28:30: when Mitch was drafted by London he was 5′6″ and 125lbs DLKDLKSJA HE WAS fucking TEENSY! please! i 100% could have carried him around in a fanny pack with my wallet and keys and a granola bar and the 3-4 random crumpled receipts from walgreens

30:16: “whenever people ask me what it was like playing with mitchy, i always tell them he has the ability to rubiks’ cube the game.” i LOVE This and i will be using this expression from now on, even though i have never solved a rubik’s cube and never will!

46:20: I would say this is the 2nd really meaty part of this podcast? It’s where Connor and Mitch talk about Mitch’s draft day experience. When Mitch talks about how NERVOUS he was when Toronto went up to draft their 4th pick i started laughing because if you watch the 2015 draft video you can SEE JUST HOW PETRIFIED AND TERRIFIED AND CLOSE TO SHITTING HIMSELF THEN THROWING UP THEN FAINTING AND DISINTEGRATING INTO A PILE OF DRIED UP LEAVES MITCH LOOKS LMAO. like that boy was on the brink of death. also, really interesting details behind Phoenix Coyotes drafting Dylan at third right before Mitch here!

51:47: The 3rd meaty (auston-y :---))))) ) part of this podcast: Mitch talking about THE BABCOCK INCIDENT where babcock made mitch grade his teammates on work ethic. Mitch talks about it with a lot of levity and positivity tbh but hearing mitch even joke and laugh about it makes me sad because it clearly was a really awful experience for him to go through as a rookie. knowing how close mitch was and is to those 3 guys at the bottom - tyler bozak, naz, JVR (his recent italian escapade buddy) - is definitely comforting tho. BOOING BABCOCK FOREVER FOR THIS TBH. like WHAT were you aiming to get out of this and why the hell would you ever put a ROOKIE in this impossible situation?

55:46: THE FINAL MEATY PART OF THIS PODCAST: THE MATT MARTIN SECTION. honestlyyyyY. just watch this part from beginning to end pls because mitch clearly loves and treasures matt SO much and there’s SO much here that will make you want to gnaw gnaw gnaw chew chew chew scream ferally and SUE connor carrick for your upper body injury (heart hurts)... but anyway, a few highlights: 

Mitch calling Marty a protector, a big brother, and “how big of a mentor he was to me” - i WILL CRY!!!!!!! I WILL!!!!! THATS MY FAVE LEAFS SHIP RIGHT THERE 

“He was all for me shooting a puck off his leg or his ass.”  every other time Mitch opens his mouth he says something that makes me go “wait ..what did he say?” and have to re-listen. this is one of those moments

the FUNNIEST story about how connor and matt almost fought when they played for different teams because matt found connor so annoying. i won’t spoil the details but i - i def cackled out loud

“you just felt 2 feet taller with matt around” 🥺🥺🥺 ok that’s fine tHATS FINE 

OH GOD. THE worst part: Mitch talks about how Matt and Syd would always invite him over and make sure Mitch never felt alone his rookie year, and how this experience of feeling included and loved by Matt shaped the kind of teammate/friend Mitch tries to be aka making sure his home and heart are always open to his teammates. I....I’M. Y’ALL. HOLD MY HAND AND STAY WITH ME BECAUSE LIKE - think about the way bogo (esp when his family was away during covid) and justin lived with mitch and how the leafs all clearly love mitch so much and how mitch says he always tries to be the positive energy guy for his team AND I JUST .  LETHAL PSYCHIC DAMAGE SUFFERED FROM THIS PART OF THE PODCAST TBH BRAIN JUST LEAKIN OUT THROUGH MY EARHOLES AS I CRAWL INTO A CORNER. Matt Martin drop your location right now and square up because i will fight you right now for what you’ve done. how DARE you and mitch marner, 2 rich white men i absolutely do not know, make me want to be a better kinder person....i...pretend i do not see it...i pretend i do not feel it.

1:02:58: Yes this podcast is over an hour long and i watched all of it ahahahah1!! haHA! anyway, mitch thanking the frontline workers - very sincere and endearing and mitch-y (aka causing little brain blips of complete confusion - like why did he call the UPS... “ups”? is this a canadian thing? also him thanking the WIFI PEOPLE FJDLKDJLDDSDSSDAKJLDDFLFJFKJLDSJLDKFAJL lmfaofjldjDDKS lmfaofofoofofOFOFO okay)

But seriously the entire podcast is extremely endearing and it’s still the off-season so please do watch the whole thing if you have a chance! then come yell with me about it u know i love to yell 

[fruitydiaz-archived]

eddie’s hair throughout eddie begins

[Image description: 8 gifs of Eddie Diaz from 9-1-1 season 3 episode 15, Eddie Begins.

ID 1: A flashback scene of Eddie at home with his family after his discharge from the army. Eddie’s hair is long and combed back.

ID 2: A shot of Eddie at Christopher’s school for show and tell. His hair is gelled and brushed flat against his head.

ID 3: At the fire station testing the radios. Eddie’s hair is brushed up and out of his face.

ID 4: A flashback scene from Eddie and Shannon’s house in Texas, when they’re arguing about Eddie re-enlisting. Eddie’s hair looks fuller and is brushed up.

ID 5: In the hospital after Christopher is born. Eddie’s wearing a green army cap.

ID 6: A flashback scene of Eddie waking up in the medical tent after the helicopter crash. His hair is messy, falling over loosely his forehead.

ID 7: Outside on the farm looking for the lost child. Eddie’s hair is combed and neatly parted to the side.

ID 8: After Eddie swims free from the collapsed well, stumbling into the crowd of search team members. Bobby and Buck help hold Eddie up from the side, Hen from behind. Eddie’s hair is wet against his forehead.

/end ID.]

[leveloneandup]

T: Obviously, the way that I've always gone in my career is, let's let my body try to do as much work as it can. You know, I believe in my body's ability to heal on its own. Somebody gave me hope that I can make the Olympics so I said, 'Look, I'd love to go for it.' Actually, I didn't say that. I think I had to be a little convinced of it because it was a very tight timeline and I truly believed that I wouldn't have been able to do it. C: Yeah. I think we should pause there. Because I remember this as very, actually, interesting and it was when I started to see how you and I were a little bit different in terms of our mentality even though we have so much in common. C: I remember when we were having conversations about whether or not you could try for the Olympics. I thought, you absolutely go for it. No reason not to. You try. And you thought, 'I only want to do it if I can do it and be the way that I need to be.' T: Yeah, for sure and there's always been this part of my career that I have just such a high level that I hold myself to in terms of football. I didn't want to just go to the Olympics. I wanted to go to the Olympics and I wanted to be the type of player, I wanted to play the type of football that I believe is within me, and I wanted to win another Olympic gold medal. Those are my standards. If there was any possiblity that I wasn't going to be able to get to that level at that time, in my mind, I'm like, 'No. I don't want to do it.' I'd rather just focus on giving myself a little bit more time thinking about the World Cup and working towards that. C: Yeah. And it's such a beautiful perspective because through it all, you can actually think of the team, and you can think of others, and you can think of the game of football. And with myself, I only thought about what value you could get. I said to you, 'Try and fail because what a more beautiful story. There couldn't be a more beautiful opportunity to learn than if you give it your all and you don't make it.' I could only see the value for you and you can always hold the value for the game and for your team and for the sport and how you want to leave it at the same time. T: Yeah, I think that was a new introduction to this whole thing, was that idea of trying and it's not something I was necessarily comfortable with but I got on board with it, and yeah.

🎥: The RE—CAP Show | Season 3, Episode 1

[darkmatternova]

So here is the first, in (hopefully) a series of re drawn screen caps from star command! This is from the episode “NOS-4-A2″ in season 1, I really love the animation in this episode, its so fluid and fun ( plus warp and Mira are in it >.>)! 

I’m pretty happy with how the background came out, however I can see there is room for growth as far as Mira goes, I feel like her face didn’t come out as expressive ( or it could be a stared at this for 3 days straight) HOWEVER i haven't drawn Buzz in forever and I like how he came out!! 

:The WIP

https://darkmatternova.tumblr.com/post/666261845690269696/ive-had-the-idea-of-re-drawing-some-scenes-from

[greatwyrmgold]

At the risk of pissing of another mouthy Original RWBY fan, a post about Ice Queendom's last episode.

Ozpin: Did you notice any unusual power that helped you defeat the Nightmare? Ruby: Yeah, the power of friendship! Ozpin: I meant something more chosen-one-ey. Like, something using your eyes? Ruby: ...do you not use your eyes when you fight, Professor? Because that sounds rad, but also really hard. Ozpin: [sip] Ozpin: Well, good job.

Ozpin: Why do you hide your ears behind a bow? We have an anti-discrimination policy here at Beacon. Blake: Have those actually stopped people from discriminating against faunus? Ozpin: ...I guess you'd know more about that than me. [sip] Ozpin: We're trying to fix it, though. If you'd just— Blake: It's not that easy. I want a chance for people to judge me on the content of my character before they see my ears. Ozpin: Well, figured I'd ask. Blake: ... Ozpin: By the way, I know you're from the White Fang.

Every time Blake and Weiss talk about their pasts and promise to do better than their forebears makes me think about how Monochrome is a way more interesting ship than White Rose and Bumblebee combined. Like, obviously the latter two have more support, in the source material and especially the fandom, but they don't have that much substance. The conflict between the Schnee family and the White Fang, emblematic of that between humanity and faunus more generally, gives so much meat to the relationship between them.

It feels like Weiss's racism flaw is just gone, kinda like it was after Volume 1 of Original RWBY. A bit annoying, but Weiss's issues were the primary focus of this entire season. (And it's a bit less ominous in the epilogue of one season than it would be in the prologue of another. And she still acts more coldly than she did in Original's "Best Day Ever," so she didn't just lose all her flaws between seasons and become a whole new character.)

Speaking of O!R's BDE, the food fight in that episode felt way more indulgent and pointless when it was our re-introduction to Beacon than it does as a fun way to cap off the season. I've said this before, but the Ice Queendom team has done a great job restructuring RWBY. Whether you want to say Monty Oum was a better animator than he was a writer or blame it on Ice Queendom having years of hindsight on their side, it's true.

Speaking of structure...Ice Queendom spends a lot of time setting up stuff for future volumes that didn't and couldn't pay off in this season. Maybe it's just a brand thing, making it easier for people to get into RWBY without rewatching a whole volume's worth of stuff, but they also skipped a couple of things that are important but easy to establish later (Pyrrha's Semblance, for instance). So it feels like they are, at least, preparing for the possibility of a second season/sequel/whatever being greenlit.

My assumption is that the team would want to have the next few seasons focus on Blake, Yang, and Ruby the way this season focused on Yang. But also, once Beacon gets Grimm'd it's gonna be hard to sneak in big episodic plots about random things bedeviling our characters, and there's only two volumes before then. So I figure, either the second semester is getting trisected, Ruby's gets the Volume 4 season, or she's just getting skipped. Oobleck didn't worry about her character development on the Mountain Glenn camping trip, why should IQ? (Or whatever it ends up being called.)

I figure volume 2 would make a pretty good Blake one and 3 a good Yang one. There's a big conflict with White Fang members at the climax of volume 2, and Yang's obviously a pretty big deal in volume 3. But I can't imagine what those conflicts might look like. If someone had told me someone would remake Volume 1 of RWBY but make it about Weiss's inner conflict, I wouldn't have guessed "dream Grimm".

I hope a second season gets greenlit so I get to find out!

Also: Was Ren's ponytail always that long?

[sethc00l1gu3ss]

A BFDI Story

It all started with one object... FLOWER!

She was the first because she was a plant.

The second was snowball.. and then the rest came by..

And suddenly, there were 20 objects! Having fun and stuff..

Until... A talking box fell from the sky!

He said "They're building the island of luxury, it's called... Dream Island". Suddenly, they were battling for Dream Island.. The first contest was a balancing bridge contest. Alliances formed, people fell, and then, Leafy and Pin remained, choosing the teams. Flower got out next episode, and it went on till 2 years later...

When Firey won Dream Island, but in a turn of events, Firey doesn't let her BFF Leafy in, because of ONE thing she did last episode, Leafy doesn't understand why the heck she's not allowed in for that ONE reason, so she calls The Announcer, and then she bought Dream Island, when they found out it was her who bought Dream Island, they try to crush her, when suddenly Firey flies off with Leafy, and from then on, Leafy is hated.

Soon after, the second season starts with everyone chasing Leafy, Leafy uses her special power to teleport anywhere on a map to get away, then they compete again, until the seasons cancelled so we don't get a winner..

3 years later, the 3rd season finally starts, which they aren't competing for anything this season, just hanging out, but then, Pencil realizes Ruby forgot to remove the lens cap, then Bubble eats gumdrops, Ruby shows the votes of BFDIA 6 if it wasn't cancelled, and then is chased by Pencil, Pencil then is falling down, Ruby jumps down and dies, they catch pencil, then Ice Cube sacrifices themselves, saving Woody from being on fire, then they recover their friends, Tennis Ball got a new invention, a Wall Teleporter! They let the viewers vote instead, and then, IDFB 2 is delayed 6+ years...

1 year later, a new season starts! there are new hosts, Four and X! 5 episodes later, Golfball and Tennis Ball get annoyed with Four, so they multiply him by zero, using Donut. Donut is now the host, Avoid the twinkle of contagion, BFB 7, BFB 8, BFB 9, X is back, they play Basketball, BFB 10, Oh, Fours back, now we see inside the E.X.I.T. Leafy rejoins, people impersonate, then get X's treasure, now lava is coming, the land is burnt, now there's someone called "Two" they split BFB, now it's time for the Final Fourteen, X is back, build a tower, help X's aloe vera grow, cool X down, give someone a gift, find out who stole the diary....

Firey and Leafy talk, Firey stole the diary... they re-unite!

Purple Face escapes, get Four out of jail, Cake at Stake hosted by Purple Face, throw a party, get a totem, who's this new contestant? eliminate him, get out of the oven, THE ANNOUNCERS BACK??!!! Four sinks into the ground..

Do all the challenges again, the eliminated contestants are released, The Announcer wastes the budget, the quality is down, Flower fixes it, Flower wins BFB! Four is back!

TPOT TIME!!! Get up to the tower, Death P.A.C.T. Again loses, Pie is out! Build the tallest stack, the Strongest Team on Earth, loses, Foldy is out now!

[givemetherapyimawritingtravesty]

Masterlist

Y’all have been asking and finally... It’s here! I have compiled all I could find, pretty much all SW related but I have got some other Wolfstar in the works! ;)

Nightmares Mini Series Masterlist Post

Dream Vacation - SW Coops Smut

HE MOVED IN - SW Coops fluff

Why Loup - SW Coops

Apple Picking - SW Coops Fluff

Trick or Treating with the Little Brothers - SW Coops Fall Fluff and Stuff

Apple Pie Baking and… a Proposal? - SW Coops FLUFF

100 Followers?! (O’knutzy)

Hockey Isn’t Everything Pt.1

Hockey Isn’t Everything Pt. 2

Hockey Isn’t Everything Pt. 3

Hockey Isn’t everything Pt. 4 Admissions Essay

Unofficial HIE blurb - Reg and Finals Stress

MORE Unofficial HIE - Post Finals Reg gets Cuddles (aka Black Brother Cuddles )

RS Candy Hearts Fest Playlist/Fic list

Asks:

Loops borrows some PJs from Cap

Re gets Sick

Dumo + Sirius

Sirius gets benched

Overworked Sirius

#HotGuyOnTheBench (jealous Cap)

Coops on Vacation

Dumo helping with a nightmare 1

Dumo helping with a nightmare 2

James has a panic attack

Sick Remus (the lost ask)

First Snow of the Season

THAT Night pt. 1

THAT Night pt. 2

Jegulus during the first war

BAMF Reg w/ GOOD Friends

SW Ace! Reg

One of Leo’s Bad Days (Mopey Lo)

O’knutzy Picnic

O’knutzy Adoption

Meeting Arabella

Arabella no one asked for (first night)

Sirius walks in with Hickies

Leo and Arabella Baking

Leo reading the team Fanfic (descriptions)

In the Bedroom (follow-up to Leo reading Fanfic)

Sirius coming to practice with hickies

Leo hides being sick

Bad Habits Die Hard

Talker and Loop Friendship <3

Disability Pride Month ask Feat. O'knutzy

Disability Pride Month ask continuation

Sirius Drinking to Cope Pre-Coops

Coops Mental Health - Sirius has an anxiety episode

Jegulus - Reassurances

Toxic Masculinity who? We don't know him. It's Christmas! (fic exchange)

Coops with baby Harry

Just in Case (Regulus' letter to James)

Tipsy Loops (Remus' birthday)

Heavy Workouts and Hasty Words

Fake Feelings? (fake dating prompt for V)

Scandals, Salvia Sunshine, and Second Chances (wolfstar au WIP)

Murder Mystery Drabbles - Fun Fair

Murder Mystery Drabbles - Hogwarts Edition

Nothing Ever Makes Sense (College AU / RA Remus, Wolfstar and Jegulus) WIP coming soon-ish!?

Smutty Saturday - Jegulus

Several Sentence Sunday - Jegulus(continuation)

Smutty Saturday Compilation (They Finished- I mean I completed writing it)

Twitter Mishap with a Happy Ending

*Please let me know if any of these don’t work and I’ll try to get it fixed

**To be updated periodically when I get out new content, but I think this is all of it for the moment :)

[maxbegone]

hi! i just wanted to say that I’m really enjoying your top 10 set and I’m (nervously 👀) looking forward to seeing the last two , but I wanted to know what your top 10 episodes were? They’re all so good it’s so hard to choose!

thank you anon! it's been a lot of fun, and there were definitely a few surprises on that list. as for my own top ten, it's a little hard. my top five is pretty easy, but here we go:

1. in the unlikely event of an emergency - i hold this episode so close to my heart and consider it one of the most beautiful episodes of television I’ve ever seen. gwyn is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters on the show, and tk's experience losing her so suddenly and dealing with that subsequent grief hits very close to home. i'm going to cherish this episode for a very long time.

2. push - what is there to say about push that hasn't already been said? it's a perfect cap to the first arc of the season, and was my favorite episode of lone star up until 3.08. it's just beautiful all around, and my only complaint is that this is the only episode we got with andrea this season. i miss mama reyes.

3. saving grace - i love me some judd and grace, and this episode by far is one of the most magnificent. heart eyes all around, tommy leveling judd in the past and in the present, pushing him to say introduce himself to grace, the three of them and charles (who i miss dearly) being a family, and the 126 coming together to support judd in the hospital. never not crying.

4. riddle of the sphynx - i think this one is pretty self explanatory. we have carlos learning to take a step back while tk takes a step forward in his sobriety, carlos learning what it means to be in love with an addict, hard conversations, and a moment of, once again, reassurance that tarlos is endgame. shout out to wes from the icarly reboot who played cooper and made me scream when he first appeared on screen.

5. bad call - i mean obviously the first carlos-centric episode has to be on the list! every single bit of this episode was perfection; we got our first glimpse at detective reyes, learned a little more about his realtionship with gabriel, the first instance of tnt being badasses (and also absolutely fucking done with these kidnappers), and, of course, "hi baby, hi baby."

6. the big heat - alexa, play fever by elvis presley. i mean. i mean. clearly. on my first watch i was being thrown back and forth on who was on whose side, which is probably what the writers wanted, and ultimately did not expect raymond to be the culprit or gabriel and owen to team up like they did. so many twists and turns, so much yelling, our first on screen "i love you." and, of course, that ending when tommy gets home. oof.

7. red vs blue - nostalgia ep, my beloved! despite the fact that i have a v small, v playful, grudge with tk/ronen choosing #2 for his jersey in honor of derek jeter because i'm a mets fan, this episode makes me wish i was still playing softball. all of the 126 is competitive, we knew that from catan, but my god was this a whole other level. and then there's nailed it nancy followed immediately by the phone call that had every single person screaming at the screen in shock. man, oh man. 8. displaced - the first instance of paramedic siblings being paramedic siblings as well as the first time the 126 really made nancy she part of the group. that tribute to tim was everything. (re: let's continue to have episode 7 of every season feature something for nancy, thanks! but maybe not episode 8 be where we hurt tk). we also had owen and gwyn sincerely breaking my heart in this episode because they just love each other so deeply at the end of the day, along with, if i'm correct, the first instance where owen actually showcased his anger. also, that mri scene. damn, tk. 9. a bright and cloudless morning - don't yell at me for how low on the list this is, but classics took over! this was, hands down, lone star's best season finale. it was epic all around, and i'm so happy everyone wound up ok. i was genuinely nervous for wyatt and judd there for a while. the prominence of owen's grief and guilt with 9/11, gwyn coming to him just like she came to tk when he needed her, the sequence of the 126 getting owen out of the rubble as he saw faces of the 252 and nypd. i had chills the entire time, and especially during that shot of paul and tommy passing owen's helmet down the line. that, for some reason, gets me more than anything else. and of course — the proposal. i've watched it too many times to count, honestly, and i'll keep doing it for the continuation of the hiatus.

10. prince albert in a can - give me all the carlos and grace teamwork! this is what we needed! carlos boxing to up in here by dmx made me scream, sure, because wow, but watching these two team up and figure out what went down on a call they were both so clearly blaming themselves for was incredible. and ask literally anyone, i jumped up and down and screamed "there she is, there's mom!" the second athena was on screen. god's plan, bitch.

honorable mention to hold the line, in which this was the first time i met the 118. i watched the episode again during my first og watch and it felt like i was visiting the 126 with them. such a great episode, i don't care what anyone says. get those crews back together!

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

i’m an idiot. i screw everything up.

Titans 3.03

still here, still doing this. these reviews take a fair bit of time that i cobble together across days (like, ten minute chunks during breaks, etc) and i tend to struggle to keep up with episodes as they come out. this means that by the time i’m done with one, most of my stuff is jossed (or geoffed in this case? idk) or outdated and the post sinks like a stone into oblivion. so! i’m going to change things up a bit with this one and write as i see the episode rather than collecting my thoughts later. in my experience with spn, that was a faster way to get them done. 

anyway. let’s see how it goes! *shadowboxes*

SPOILERS ahead.

1. an auspicious start with some grave-digging!

digging up a grave and breaking open a coffin is some serious, back-breaking work--that dick did it on his own, likely straight after that fight with red hood, is a testament to the sheer intensity, stamina and discipline that he’s capable of. like, we like to joke about dick cooking cauliflower crust pizzas and making gar and rachel spar and memorise sun tzu--and despair at the obvious consequences of some of bruce’s parenting skills--but imagine crime-fighting almost daily without any superpowers, performing some of the most intense parkour in bulky, uncomfortable armour, doing detective work, pushing through every last barrier of exhaustion and then getting up to repeat it all over again the next day. dick probably thought he was going extra-easy on rachel and gar.

1.5. then again, dick probably had a hundred different easier ways to confirm whether jason was still buried or not, from using equipment to merely asking connor to have a quick look with his x-ray vision. but, no, he’s too caught up in confusion and terror, not really having come to terms with jason’s death in the first place, leave alone the possibility that he could be alive after all. he can’t possibly let the others know until he’s confirmed it himself, even if it means digging all through the night until his arms are jelly, thinking over and over again about jason’s eyes, jason’s voice, from behind that red mask. 

... besides, dick has good reason to believe that he could’ve been hallucinating. wouldn’t be his first psychotic episode, after all.

that just imbues this sweaty, desperate, fingers-scrabbling-in-gravedirt scene with that much more poignancy, and a fair bit of bone-chilling terror. dick is horrified to realise that jason’s grave is empty, but a part of him is also probably relieved.

1.75 (... also it’s curious that we’re never shown any of the team asking to see jason’s grave after they come to wayne manor. i guess it’s because the writers--and the audience--know that jason is actually alive, but these people don’t know that. i don’t know if it’s sad or infuriating or both that they’re barely shown mourning him.)

2. oh GOD the sheer TENSION in kory saying, “i don’t want to say it, but--” and dick quickly interrupting, “it was jason. i saw him,” and hank giving him this loaded sidelong glance. i love how dick’s precarious mental health from last season is still this big elephant in the room but at least nobody’s blowing up in his face and questioning his every decision yet

2.25. i love the relative matter-of-factness with which they’re discussing a possible resurrection. and, of course, ra’s al ghul is brought up and quickly dismissed

(still wouldn’t put it past this show to bring him up at the very last second as the real real mastermind)

2.5. “maybe they can bring donna back” OH KORY

2.75. didn’t they have this same conversation about killing/not killing rose last season? man, the og titans make me tired.

and i don’t know if it’s just hank, but there’s a definite in-group/out-group vibe going on with the og titans, where they’re not only ready to consider killing anybody who threatens the group but makes it difficult for new people to fit in. donna and kory got along well with each other, but the dynamics between hank/donna/dawn and gar/rachel/rose were somewhat strained, and with jason, they were really fucking terrible. it makes sense when you think about how the titans started and how they broke up the first time--both were fairly disruptive events, i’d imagine, in that they probably got together to break away from their mentors and strike out on their own, and when they split up, it was the first time they felt directly responsible for the loss of an innocent life.

but the titans that dick is leading now is explicitly about mentoring a young generation of heroes, about second chances and found family. dick definitely wants to reach out to him first, and i have a feeling he’s going to be forced to make some sort of terrible Choice later on in this episode. 

2.8. (honestly tho, this also seems like hank struggling with his own guilt re: jason; if red hood is not the kid that he failed, it’d be easier to fight him.)

3.

HANK NO

4. honestly this season is already ticking off so many things on my wishlist, but i really wish dick would sit down with the newer members of his team and trust them with important information the same time that he’s telling them to the other members. gar searching for help and reassurance from a man who just dumped all of his responsibilities on his son overnight and went AWOL is a sad sight

4.25. has it only been just 48 hours????? wow! jason’s definitely been planning the red hood gig for a long time now...

5. ezekiel, my man! shady looking guy gets into your cab without a destination in mind... no problem, get right in! said guy gets a call to go to the observatory when he’s barely even looked out of the window so far at gotham... yep, a damn tourist! i want more ezekiel in this show.

5.25. (of course jason has upturned table lamps all along the floor... we have to *gritted teeth* balance the TEAL with the ORANGE don’t we?)

5.5. “dick’s a fucking psycho--he could be following you right now.” hank... has no objection to that lol

5.25. hank, hank... this is bad-decision-palooza. i can’t imagine that hank actually thought that jason was reaching out to him for help, given that the last time hank and jason had any substantial interaction hank had been one of the people accusing jason of sabotaging the team. but for him to go seek out jason and go along with his demands without any backup, weapons or equipment? not the best idea he’s ever come up with.

(add to that getting into the swimming pool of a condemned gym... oh yuck.)

((yes, i have enough self-restraint to not cap his ass.))

(((cap his ass! HA!)))

5.5. do you think jason has bugs/monitoring equipment planted in wayne manor to monitor the titans, or remote access to the cave’s systems? wouldn’t put it past him.

6. oh man, hank came back before dick and the others could meet ezekiel! this is TRAGIC

6.25. i mean, it’s plot-convenient that connor was able to give so much information about the bomb from just looking at it once, but i also like to think it’s the luthor-side of him coming to the fore. it also reminds me of that (in)famous scene from the new52 run of Nightwing comics, where a bomb was attached to nightwing’s heart and luthor disabled it by killing nightwing (temporarily). it’s a neat little callback. 

6.55. “where i come from, you go after family? there’s no mercy.” BUT THAT’S THE PROBLEM ISN’T IT

6.75. i mean, dick’s making sense: this is a game, and they need to get it off playing out on jason’s terms. but having a member of his team in his face, doubting his reasoning and every decision? a very familiar sight. 

6.8. krypto with an a+ sense of humour? also a very familiar sight.

7. wayne enterprises... providing the military with... bombs that can be implanted in humans? a BIIIIG yikes. i guess it’s not too many steps above developing clandestine intra-dermal trackers and implanting them in your own sons, and bruce probably thought they could be used as part of negotiation tactics, but still... YIKES.

7.5. on the other hand, conner being asked to build a deactivation advice seems part of a growth arc that started from last season... he knows so much, but part of growing is learning, and part of learning is using what you know to create something new.

8. oh man, my heart broke at hank going “i’m an idiot... i screw everything up.” like. for him to go like this, after being brought down to such a low last season? struggling with pain and addiction and his relationship with the love of his life? it’s so sad.

9. oh, oh, oh! ronnie from schitt’s creek! i love her!

9.5. “one of jason’s minions” took his body out of the morgue... how deliciously morbid that he planned out his own death like this!

10. TALK TO HANK, DICK

honestly, tho, i’m quite impressed with dick here. trying to think beyond just the most alarming part of the crisis at hand, keeping his cool, delegating tasks, frequently touching base with different members of his team... well done. 

10.25.... whoops, spoke too soon. i’m genuinely confused here, tho. where did the van full of gold bars come from? why did they stop there and get out? how did dawn even know about this?

on the other hand, it’s cool to know dove has bulletproof feathers!

10.5. eh... curran walters isn’t really selling red hood’s menace to me so far. but then again, if titans version of red hood is vulnerable-kid-with-father-issues-trying-to-overcompensate, then yeah! yeah, it makes sense. 

11. “when bats have sex, they gotta have something to hang from” OH GOD HANK

... because i want smiley!gar on my blog :)

11.5. awww. i feel sorry for hank but NONE of these fuckers deserve gar except maybe kory

12. ohhh FUCK! look at jason being exactly one step ahead of the titans at every turn. nice.

no really, i love the building stakes and the building mystery - i feel like the deathstroke arc from last season should’ve been more like this. the flashbacks about jericho and rose came too late and after too much build up, which resulted in a very underwhelming and confusing season throughline.

13. HANK AND DIIIIIICCCKKK

“you’re doing your best by me. always have.” WAILING HERE

it also kills me to think that hank thinks that his imminent death is because of his failure to keep the team together (when he was clearly struggling with his own issues and was spiralling towards rock-bottom) and his fear that he will once again be the cause of the team falling apart. 

also:

14. “i grew up... you can, too. you just have to face your fear.”

yep, got scarecrow’s grubby little fingerprints aaaaalllll over this. 

14.25. nightwing’s got specialised batarangs! yay! (somehow i can’t see this universe’s dick calling them “wingdings”)

15. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

oh man, that was devastating. well done, show. fuck, well done, jason.

this is going to bring up all sorts of “if onlys” for the team. i can’t wait for some fucking aftermath.