#she's just like super likeable to the audience

[sixthfinger]

i’m high as balls rn and i read an article abt some plane crash simulation they’re gonna be doing at my local airport featuring volunteer crisis actors and as a result i came up with what i think is the most brilliant idea for like a movie or show or something

[allpiesforourown]

Superstar Luo Binghe au. All the directors beg him to be in their movies because his fame will immediately assure success for anything they make. He’s handsome, charming, dedicated, and most of all, extremely talented. He even does his own stunts!! Women love him, and men who say they hate him will still watch his movies so they can figure out how to be more like him. 

The only weird thing about Binghe as an actor is that he refuses to star in romantic films. He won’t kiss anyone, won’t pretend to date someone on screen, won’t even let another actor take over his role for the scenes he doesn’t want to do. His reason? He’s completely loyal to his husband.

Everyone thinks it’s stupid, obviously. You aren’t “cheating” by pretending to love someone else, it’s literally your job! Luo Binghe still refuses and says even he’s not good enough an actor to make anyone believe he could ever love someone other than Yuan-ge.

His fans hate this mysterious Yuan-ge. Because of his (probably insecure and jealous) spouse, all of Binghe’s fangirls cant see him sweep some y/n character off their feet. It’s even worse because they don’t know anything about this guy. Whenever someone asks to see or learn about Binghe’s husband, the star says he’ll never reveal Yuan-ge to the public, because he’s too beautiful and he doesn’t want everyone falling in love with him. 

People kind of run with the idea that obviously this guy must be a total weirdo who Binghe is embarrassed to be seen with. That has to be the explanation, because no matter how perfect someone is, how can they have such a chokehold on THE LUO BINGHE??

Then, one day, years after Luo Binghe’s initial rise to fame…. He goes on a talkshow. With his husband Shen Yuan. 

Obviously EVERYONE tunes in. No one uses TVs anymore bc of the internet, but just for this show, viewer ratings are the highest theyve ever been. Everyone wants to know what the fuss is all about with this guy to have Luo Binghe so down horrible. 

And Shen Yuan isn’t a weirdo. He’s also not some pretty yesman. He makes jokes that make the audience burst into laughter. He’s opinionated, which is really refreshing when every other celebrity stays neutral on every topic to avoid losing fans. He’s polite, but he’s not a pushover. He’s likeable, but he’s not a try-hard about it. Referencing memes makes him an instant hit with the younger generations, and the calm gentle way he talks makes him a hit with the older ones. All of a sudden everyone is going, okay we see why Luo Binghe is obsessed with him. 

Except… while shen yuan was making jokes and charming everyone, Luo Binghe was at his side, pathetically pawing at his husband for attention. The actor keeps whining every two minutes to be reassured yuan-ge still likes him. Whenever Shen Yuan compliments the host, Binghe looks like he’s about to cry. Whenever Luo Binghe jealously wraps his arms around shen Yuan everyone watching just rolls their eyes. Seeing them together people realize… shen yuan is the one that’s out of Luo Binghe’s league.

In just one hour public opinion goes from ‘no one can be worth binghe acting like that for’ to ‘luo binghe is so annoying, let shen yuan talk!!’ 

The next day someone finds shen yuan’s twitter and it blows up. He has his own fan pages now. There’s no pictures of him online other than the footage from the talkshow, so the fan accounts just post that over and over again. Shen yuan retweets a post about him with the caption “i never realized she was holding a plate of corn in this scene” and everyone loses their mind. Everything he says immediately goes viral bc that’s luo binghe’s attic wife.

People start nagging Binghe to post about Shen Yuan bc theyre so attached after his one and only publicized appearance. Binghe is super possessive, but yuan-ge tells him not to worry, so he relents and posts pictures of him and shen yuan on vacation. They’re together, holding hands… but shen yuan’s face and body are blurred out. It’s HORRIFYING. He looks like an eldritch monster bc luo binghe refuses to let anyone look at his yuan-ge in a swim suit, go away you perverts!! His instragram is now just full of pics of shen yuan where his eyes are blacked out so noone else can see how pretty they are. It’s nightmare fuel

Shen Yuan is unfortunately too unbothered to post pictures of himself. Everyone’s tired of Luo Binghe for “hogging shen yuan all to himself” when Shen Yuan is practically an internet celebrity now. 

People go to watch movies and their theatre conversations sound like this:

“Oh, Luo Binghe’s in this one!”

“Who?”

“You know Shen Yuan’s annoying husband?”

“OH THAT GUY..”

[celaenaeiln]

What's the deal with fanon Tim bc I read some comics with Tim and I've seen him in cartoons but all I see people talk about is "haha coffee addicted nerd who doesn't sleep!" and that just seems weird and wrong. Like my view of Tim has always been "he's a nice and extremely smart guy who sometimes pushes things a bit too far and maybe a bit set in his own ways/Batman's ways" but now I'm not even sure of that because I really haven't read THAT much (mostly seen him in other series) lol

No you're right!! Anon you're so right!!!

What the heck is up with fanon Tim Drake??

The thing about him not sleeping is actually true though

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #937

Batman: Contagion Issue #11

(I agree with Catwoman, Tim is so cute)

So I understand where the coffee addiction in fanon comes from but Tim's not actually addicted to coffee in the comics. I actually don't recall him mentioning coffee at all. At some point he might have but if he did, then those instances are so little in the grand scheme of things it might as well be called negligible if it's trying to be called an addiction.

But more importantly, Tim is so much more than that!! My favorite Tim Drake aspect of him is how sassy and sarcastic he is, it makes him so endearing!!

UGH NO ONE APPRECIATES HOW MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT HE IS!!

Robin (1993) Issue #58

CMON CMON CMON LETS TALK MORE ABOUT THIS!!

Tim, you little shit, you know exactly what they say - cause you did it!!

HIS SELF-SATISFIED SMILE!!!

In all honesty I find Tim the funniest of the entire batfamily to read because he's so-he's so wholesomely quirky in a mean way. That's such as awkward way to describe it but reading his comics, you just can't get enough of them because he's just too funny!

At one point he has a massive fever and stuck underground with a bunch of weird kids and one of the girls is just like "please get better, please get some rest!" as she's wiping away his sweat and Tim has like no breath or energy at this point. But with the last remains of will power, he uses his breath to push one last question between lips.

Robin (1993) Issue #70

And as the audience waits in baited anticipation we get this-

Robin (1993) Issue #70

It's actually a very valid question and shows his detective thinking and yada yada yada but THE COMEDIC GOLD OF HIS TIMING!!

Like his situation and his question there's a massive gap that's almost incomprehensible about it all which is why it's so fantastic!!

The way he sasses batman is top 5 fav moments with him.

Azrael: Agent of the Bat Issue #91

Thanks @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 for finding it again <33

But Tim overall is just like a normal kid. He's what authors tried to do with Stephanie but failed. They were able to make him relatable to the audience because the way he acts, it's so quirky but funny. Yes, he's a boy detective genius but he likes messing with people, he likes solving crime, he likes hanging out with his big brother, he asks for relationship advice, he can get insecure, he can get upset without acting cold, he gets tired, he gets anxious, he's determined, and he's super dorky.

Robin (1993) Issue #25

Like really dorky.

But what I think really defines him is this panel

Robin (1993) Issue #48

This scene is probably what explains him best. Tim is someone who ponders a lot. He thinks constantly all the time whether it's about cases or his personal life, he just goes over the choices he makes constantly because he's just soul-searching alot.

He always means well even if he's awkward about it and he's just a diverse personality overall. The fanon interpretation of his character doesn't really do him any justice because it doesn't address how funny he is or confused or just a likeable, real person in general.

[artist-issues]

Would love to know your thoughts on the Planet of the Apes series, or at least the newest movie!

This is so kind of you, to ask!

I started watching those movies before my formal education. And they're in that teeny little corner of my brain where I just like things, without having examined why I like them. In that teeny little corner, I have my critical thinking and movie analyzation turned off, and I just enjoy things like singing animals even if the movie is objectively bad (I'm looking at you Alpha & Omega 🫠) or Transformers. So yeah, Planet of the Apes falls in there.

I know. I just made a post about how important it is to train your tastes for good stories, and accept no junk food...and then the very next post was like "the future is meaningless but the monkey movie is now" ^^" Look there's a time and place for examining why you like things and I'm just saying I haven't gotten down the list to why I like the monkey movies yet!

Until now! Partly because you're asking, partly because watching the new one made me start to think about what I liked about the first three...because the new one hit me differently. So what I'm getting at is, I'll answer you, but I'm going to be "thinking out loud" and we'll find out what I think of those movies as I type, and it's going to be rambly. Sorry! (Skip to the bottom to read about the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.)

I Miss Caesar

My favorite character in these movies is actually Koba, but Caesar is the heart and soul of them.

There's nothing particularly unique about Caesar as a main character—he's a coming-of-age, great-leader-from-nothing Savior-type character. He doesn’t have many character flaws, he’s the idealist, etc.

But what makes you, the audience, love Caesar so much is that you get to see his story, and the whole driving hook of the movies—“apes with human intelligence”—embodied in him, from the very beginning.

Caesar has two really awesome things going for him. The first is that he is an ape, and you get to see his intelligence and his empathetic, human nature, grow in real-time. The audience is excited to see how he’ll respond to the simplest thing because he’s so believably a super-intelligent ape. You’re like, “ooo, he just noticed that he’s wearing a leash, and the dog is wearing a leash, so how will he respond to that comparison? Ooo, now he’s meeting other apes, is he going to notice that they aren’t as smart as him? Ooo, he just attacked a neighbor, but he’s smarter than the average animal on a rampage, so how will he feel about the moral repercussions of violence?” We want to watch an animal that’s becoming self-aware; it almost doesn’t matter what he’s doing, we’ll watch it, because that’s fascinating. That’s the first thing he has going for him.

But then the second thing he has going for him is that, even if he were human, he’s just a really inspiring, likeable character. If you rewrite Caesar as a human (but somehow keep the equivalent of “gradually becoming self-aware of his uniqueness as a creature” plot point) his story is still really compelling. Think about that scene where he learns what he is, for the first time, point-blank.

Once he learns who he is and what he is, he does not immediately turn bitter, or resent his adoptive father, or even try to change the status quo of his own life. He looks sad, and very contemplative about it, but when he loses his temper and gets taken to the ape sanctuary, he still wants to go back home. He wants to go back to living in an attic, with brief excursions to the woods on a leash. At that point he already knows, on some level, that he’s a super-intelligent freak of nature and could resent Will for making him that way or keeping him a secret. But he doesn’t.

He also shows mercy to Rocket, the bully ape, and makes him super-intelligent.

He also shows signs of being interested in Cornelia, his eventual wife—before she turns super-intelligent. While she’s still significantly stupider, on a whole lower plane of intelligence, than him.

They give him all these little touches, like the fact that he wants to play ball with the other apes immediately when he meets them, instead of being shy, or treating their naked stupid selves like they’re beneath him. Like the fact that he asks Will’s permission before he goes climbing. Like the fact that he gives them all super-human intelligence, instead of keeping that superpower for himself and leveraging it to his own advantage, or gatekeeping it for only the apes who are nice to him.

He’s awesome because he’s got all the protective, trusting, loving, humility of our favorite pets. But then he takes all those pure qualities and combines them with supernatural intelligence, and “noble leader of the pack” traits. So he feels like a wise king, even in the second movie, when, from our perspective, he should just be…a naked ape who talks in broken English and lives in a tree fort.

Probably the best character trait of Caesar’s is that he inherits this “family” mentality from his adoptive father, Will. He thinks that the difference between apes and humans is that apes are loyal and love one another, specifically “like a family.”

And what that means to Caesar is that you would do anything to keep your family safe. Because that’s what Will did. Will only made the serum that started this whole franchise because he was trying to cure his father of Alzheimer’s. Will was always willing to break rules and cheat the system and change the world if it meant he could keep his family safe, and that included Caesar, who was not his blood relation.

So to Caesar, being a family means you would never hurt the people in your family; you can’t hurt them yourself, and you can’t let anyone else hurt them—and you can’t do things that would lead to them getting hurt, like starting a war.

And that’s just really appealing. A noble leader whose whole heart is “family,” but also, he’s this really interesting animal-that-learns-human-empathy.

I was going to talk about Koba, but this is too long, so maybe in another post. Suffice to say, I think the first two movies do a really good job of pacing everything, so that you have plenty of time to fall in love with Caesar, feel like you’ve watched him discover who he is and decide what to do with that in real-time, and then feel fully invested in the world he’s trying to build.

Basically what I’m saying is, I think I just really love Caesar, and so does everyone else who watches him, because he’s really well-done. And Andy Serkis smashes this role out of the park. It’s like my favorite thing he’s ever done. He does it perfectly. And in the fourth movie, I just go into it…already missing Caesar.

War For the Planet of the Apes

I didn’t like this movie as much as the first two. The first two I’ve seen over and over again. But the third one is not as enjoyable.

I think I don’t enjoy it because a lot of it feels like gratuitous misery. I mean, I understand—traditionally, in an epic-scale trilogy, you develop your main characters over the course of the first two movies. They learn who they are, they commit to a mission statement born out of the lessons they’ve learned, and then, in the third movie, that lesson learned gets tested with the “ultimate challenge.”

Well, so, Caesar learned he was the leader of basically a naive species and the founder of a new world—and the lesson he took from that was, “to keep my family safe, I must protect them from hate.” (I know that’s broad, but what I mean by that is, Caesar initially took the apes to the woods when they were “reborn” as their own species to hide them from humans, who would fear and hate what they couldn’t understand. But then he had to protect them from a new form of hatred; the hatred of Koba, and other apes like him, who hated humans so much and hated anyone else being in power so much that he was willing to hurt “family” to satisfy that hatred.

So what’s the ultimate test of “to keep my family safe, I must protect them from hate?” Giving Caesar hate. Caesar is not a hateful character. He’s like the total opposite of that—that’s why he can single-handedly defend the ape species from Hate in general.

But you murder his wife and child in the first part of the movie?

That’ll do it!

Plus, it’s been a long, hard fight and nothing he has done since the “war” against “hate” started seems to be working, so he’s understandably tired even before Blue Eyes and Cornelia die. Then they die. And then the rest of the tribe gets nabbed. And Caesar is ready to focus all his energy on revenge, just like Koba.

So yeah, that’s the correct “ultimate test” of everything Caesar has learned as a character, to put him through in this trilogy. But honestly, it was just too sad to enjoy watching.

And remember how I said that the two things Caesar has going for him as a character that make the movies (which are all about him) so enjoyable are:

He’s a well-written, inspiring character outside of being an ape (we just talked about that side of the 3rd movie, how it’s the conclusion to that character.)

The movies are well-paced so that you’re fascinated by watching an animal become increasingly human-like and empathetic, without losing the best parts of a noble/niave/animal nature

Well. The problem is that, because of the way these movies go, the apes have to become less animal as the story goes on. The whole point is that they’re as smart as humans now. So they’ll make human-like mistakes, and start to come to some of the same “conclusions” as “early man” did.

What I’m saying boils down to, they stop acting so much like believable apes in War for the Planet of the Apes. They talk out loud more often than they pantomime or speak through obvious body language. Heck, Caesar has full on monologues or confrontations with the human villain, the Colonel, in the third movie.

What made his interactions with humans before so appealing to watch was that he would still act like an ape. When he wants the humans to drive him to his old home, he just lays in the back of the car and grunts and taps the window when they’re getting close to make them stop, without explaining himself. Like your dog might, straining at his leash toward home when he wants to be done walking. But we, the audience, like that sort of thing because with Caesar, we know there’s human levels of understanding behind all the appealing animal actions that make us think of our pets.

It’s that sweet savage naivety. It’s that fascinating simplicity meeting human wonder. You like watching Malcolm try to explain why they need to get the generators on, while Caesar just silently looks back and forth from him to the machines, because it’s fun to try and figure out what’s going on in his head. It’s fun to watch how the animal with superhuman intelligence will communicate that he sort of understands what the stranger wants. It’s also fun to see how the new species of superhuman apes will still act like animals with each other.

The whole fact that, even though they’re just as smart and technically non-savage, mentally, as we are, but there’s still a part of the apes that will just follow Koba if he beats Caesar in a fistfight, is fascinating. The fact that Caesar is the most “evolved” of the apes, mentally and emotionally, but when Koba challenges his leadership or insults his love for his family, Caesar will just straight-up start ripping him to pieces with his fists, is fascinating. You keep watching to see what an anthropomorphized animal really looks like, because they make that part so believable.

But in War for the Planet of the Apes, the Apes don’t have that contrast as much. You’re not getting to see civilized, fully-realized human characters share you, the audience’s, fascination with apes who are still figuring out what it means to be empathetic. You’re not watching anthropomorphized animals anymore as much as you’re watching…hairy, superstrong humans. Which brings us toooo…

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Sorry it took so long to get to the part you asked me about 😅

They’re just hairy, superstrong humans in this movie. That’s all. They’re very clearly super-humanly intelligent, they walk less like apes and swing through trees almost not-at-all after the first climbing part of the movie. They talk out loud (even though sign language wasn’t completely abandoned, which I appreciated) even when they’re just talking to themselves. They look more human, in the face. It’s just a joy to watch Koba, and in this movie, Proximus, even though they’re bad guys, because those two characters have the most animal-like faces. So you love to watch their snarly, long snouts and teeth speak human words, in ape-tones.

But the main ape characters all have human-like faces. Too human-like. They look uncanny-valley-y in some shots. (Except Anaya, who I liked best out of the new main three apes.)

And like I said, they have these more-advanced cultures, which just makes them feel more human. It felt like I was watching a movie about, like, a tribe of post-apocalyptic humans meeting the leftovers of civilized humanity. Not anthropomorphized animals meeting the leftovers of civilized humanity.

I kept waiting for the apes to have those fascinating interactions with the human characters. I kept waiting for May to teach something to Noa and the other apes, and for them to get all fascinated and have like, an animal reaction. That never really happened. The closest moment to that was when she switches on the lights in the bunker and the apes whoop and stumble around confusedly. Or when Noa learns to curse. 🫠 Also, the apes don’t have any kind of interesting reaction when May murders the other human of her own kind. They just stand there, looking sort of surprised, while dramatic music plays and May looks stressed. It felt like that should’ve been a moment where the apes realize something profound or scary about humanity (that she’d turn on her own so quickly,) or respond to her like they might an alpha-animal who just killed a challenger, or something like that. But that doesn’t really happen.

The movie was kind of full of moments like that, where it felt like they were building toward something profound…and then concluded on a vague or undecided note. Can humans and apes live side by side? …We don’t know. Was Caesar using apes for his own gain, or was he a noble elder? We don’t know. (Well, we do, but the main characters don’t.) Was May just trying to re-establish a communicating human community, or are she and the other humans out to retake the apes’ world? We don’t know.

Other random notes:

The cinematography was really good. There were moments where I felt like I was standing in the scene, or like I was on a ride at Disney World that believably sprays you in the face with water even though it’s a virtual environment, or pumps the smell of trees into the room to make you feel like you’re there. I don’t know what it was about the way this was shot, but I felt like I could feel the sun, and the wind, and smell the rain, etc. I actually can’t remember the last time a movie made me feel that way, so the cinematography was great. The animation is good, too, despite the uncanny valley ape faces.

I can’t decide if I like Noa. I could tell they were being very protective of the value of slow pacing, and maybe that “feel-like-you’re-inside-the-screen” cinematography was meant to help with this, but I also felt like they were trying to make us feel like we were vicariously on Noa’s long, scary, melancholy adventure with him. It was definitely supposed to be an epic-scale coming-of-age for that ape character.

But I was a little bored. I didn’t need to see him walk from one end of a field of vision to the other every single time he entered a new area. (Especially not when he’s just walking, or worse, sitting on a horse who’s just walking. When he’s an ape. And all you want to do is see him climb and swing and flip.) I also thought the actor did a really good job of emoting, but there were so many scenes of him choking on blood after a hard fall or a fight, or crying, or gazing sadly into the middle distance for a long time. It was like, “I get it. I don’t need so much of this.”

Also, there were things I didn’t care about emotionally that I felt like I should have, in order to empathize with Noa. First off, his father and his father’s death. Noa made lots of anxious expressions and clearly wanted to please his father, I guess…but there wasn’t really an indication that his father was a tough guy to please. Or that they were super close. We didn’t get enough scenes with the father before he died to make us feel emotion that would carry us all the way through Noa’s journey, in my opinion. Even his two best friends—I felt like they were building up to some thematic thing about growing up together, doing everything together, etc. But they didn’t. That sort of went nowhere.

I also felt like the most compelling parts of the movie were when May had not yet revealed herself to be intelligent, and Noa didn’t like her…but they were slowly starting to trust and understand each other. When she stands up and calls his name, that was my favorite part of the movie. Not because it was a great callback to the impactful, iconic “The Animal Spoke” moments of Caesar. But because it was her, a dumb brute, learning to trust and rely on this alien-like creature that was so much smarter than her, and building that dynamic.

It was just that I was missing “animal interacts with human” fascination. But then it turns out they’re both human. Noa is just hairy and strong, and May is not.

Also I didn’t love the whole spin they took to communicate “nature over unnatural progress” with Proximus. I get it. The eagles are symbolic of nature and living in harmony with it. Proximus is symbolic of trying to cheat nature and jump the gun unnaturally. But I’m a Christian. I don’t find anything compelling, inherently, about the idea that it’s “nature” that causes us to “evolve” to what we’re “meant to be.” It also doesn’t even make sense within the context of these movies. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have the reason apes become super intelligent and free be a non-natural drug…and still say that the non-natural drug was a bad choice with world-ending consequences. Which is it? Try to control nature? Or don’t? Because if you don’t, the apes still get treated like dumb brutes and rounded up for experimentation. And Alzheimer’s is never cured. But if you do, yes the brutes get freedom, but all of humanity goes through a brutal virus, your father’s suffering is prolonged, and your girlfriend tells you “some things aren’t meant to be tampered with.”

So like, which is it? Should the vault be opened and shared with the apes? Or should the eagles knock the mean unnatural King Ape off the cliff? I don’t know.

I don’t love that the movie ends with so much of that. But I guess it had to. Thats the logical next step of a series that is about a new species continually growing to be more human, and it’s the next step for setting up the next phase.

So that’s how I felt about all of that! Thanks for asking. Maybe I will talk about Koba someday.

[queerfables]

My impressions of 911, as at the end of 1x04:

So far I like the show a bunch!

I'd heard Buck starts out as a bit of a jerk but so far he's been a likeable one. It helps that there are (very nearly) consequences for his more outrageous behaviour.

I like Abby and Buck for each other but Abby as a character is appallingly under utilised. I feel like her role as a 911 operator underpinned the entire PREMISE of the show and yet it only took one episode for them to realise they didn't know what to do with her. She's also just... not a super compelling character? Maybe she'll get more interesting, I'm mostly mad because I think the concept is really solid but I'm not sold on the execution. The big problem with her personal life is that she doesn't have one, so it drags a bit when we spend so much time with her outside her job. At this stage I'm unsurprised she left after the first season, just because it feels like they don't quite know how to write for her.

I love Athena and oh boy is she doing it tough but I desperately need her to not use her power as a police officer to harass teenage girls. What the girl bullying her daughter did was terrible but she was still waaay out of line.

Related though, something I like about this show so far is that the characters' strengths are also their weaknesses. Buck is impulsive in ways that are good and bad; Abby is caring and empathetic, sometimes to a fault; the passion and assertiveness that makes Athena out of line with her daughter's bully is the same thing that makes her great at standing up to the assholes who deserve it. It's good character building.

I also like that characters are allowed to do shit bad enough to actually warrant censure from higher ups. And then receive appropriate condemnation for their behaviour. Often when shows try to do that kind of story line they go too soft on the characters either by over justifying why their bad behaviour is understandable or by having the consequences be wildly disproportionate to the wrongdoing in a way that makes them feel like the victim. So far 911 seem to be be striking a pretty solid balance on trusting the audience to empathise with the characters even when they do bad things and get called out by the narrative for those things.

I don't think the show has killed any kids yet, which I'm grateful for but also wary about. I'm betting they're saving that up for a real gut punch of an episode. I already cried over the mother in the plane who DIDN'T die?? If there are any big Kids Dying episodes I should watch out for maybe let me know. (I'm already aware of the basics of Bobby's backstory, though)

[fallinginaforrest]

Okay, I'm responding to your answer to my comment on the shayne & buffy post (confusing, I know, I'm sorry 😭) but I'm doing it here because I have too many thoughts lol. There's a couple of cast members I could see as several characters so I wanna know your thoughts! I first thought of Damien as Giles, because they're both into studying spooky stuff and I could see damien as a mentor figure. I could see Arasha and Angela as faith. I feel like they could handle that moral complexity really well. But I can also see Arasha as Anya?? I feel like Amanda could play Cordelia really well 💀 maybe it's just 'cause of her character in the zombies dread series, but I could see her in that kind of a role. I could see ian as Xander, idk why, I could just see him saying some of his lines. (And if we're not sticking with gendered casting) I could see trevor as willow?? They're both sweeties and to me that's enough 🫶. One last one I have is Spencer as Oz because to me they have similar energies. Very 🧍‍♂️ chill guy energy.

I could see the cast as a bunch of different characters tho so I'd love to know what you think!! Sorry this was long btw!! 😭

no don't apologise for the length im LOVING THIS. I'm going to ramble for even longer under the cut about why you're so right.

I absolutely agree with so much of this. Angela as faith actually has rewired my brain chemistry a bit so maybe i need to go and draw that huh! I think she'd be able to handle the depth and moral complexity of faith's arc alarmingly well. I mean. She played Lex Foster and I do think that Lex is a very Faith-Coded character so we have evidence that she'd do astoundingly well in that regard.

Arasha as Anya is perfect. No Notes. Not only because I think Arasha's deadpan delivery and committal to the bit give her this absolutely excellent weird girl energy that would lend itself to playing Anya so fucking well- but also because I want to see my fave be a vengeance demon and kill men. And sometimes that's okay!

Now, while i absolutely agree that Amanda would kill as Cordelia (I think she'd give cordy the underlying heart and earnestness that is necessary for her to not just be the "mean girl" initially and to make the audience like her, perhaps Olivia could play Cordelia?) I also could see Amanda playing Tara really well. Tara has this wisdom and ethereality to her that Amanda also definitely embodies. Amanda's also super spiritual and she draws tarot every day i think?? And I think because their spirituality and their understanding of the world beyond what most people experience is something that is so central to them both, Amanda would play Tara in my opinion.

I'm going to Skate past Ian as Xander because i just fundamentally agree with what you're saying and I think Ian would make Xander 100000% more likeable. Same with Spencer as Oz. So chill. Spencer as oz is actually just. Like. They're the same person.

Trevor as Willow is such an adorable thought. It's also so interesting because he wears a lot of clothes that have like plant life or motifs on them. I think it would make sense to connect him to witchcraft in some capacity. Also he would embody willow's excitement (and to an extent, naivete) really well. I also think Angela could play willow for those same reasons, i think how earnest she is and just how fiercely she loves her friends, i think she could also do willow justice.

Now, Damien as giles is an interesting one! Because i would have put him down as angel perhaps (if only to make the joke that He and shayne are ex-lovers LMAO) but he does also have that sort of deep empathy that Angel carries, as well as the social awkwardness and the Emo tendencies.

May i offer though, as a replacement giles, Tommy? I think tommy would EAT as Giles because of how fucking dry and tired he is. Both of these men are perpetually done with everything.

Anyway teehee maybe i'll draw some of these who knows!!

[cortegiania]

The Borgias is a masterpiece, but Neil Jordan's issue was that he worried too much about making Cesare 'unlikeable'. He tried to present Cesare as a period drama hero whom we should blindly root for, with an illusion of a sob story, even though historically, Cesare was unhinged. As a result, Jordan threw almost every other character under the bus to prop up Cesare, and he had to make Cesare's misdeeds look 'justified'. In contrast, I respect how Fontana handled that aspect because he made Cesare just as off the hook and disturbing as the historical records suggest, without worrying about whether the audience would find him likeable. And yet, the audience still ended up being captivated by Mark Ryder's portrayal of the megalomaniacal Cesare. This is something that Neil Jordan failed to achieve...

Yes, I personally think that was it. It was already evident in season 1 but he could have course corrected anytime and he really didn’t. In fact, he kept pinning on Juan things that are historically/traditionally attributed to Cesare (sleeping with Sancia, killing Lucrezia’s lover, the mistreatment of Caterina Sforza, getting an STD…) and consistently making other characters either caricature villains, dangerously unhinged or too dumb to exist so that Cesare would look like the pinnacle of intelligence and virtue in comparison. Juan is a partial exception to this, but he was still dangerous to be around to the point that Lucrezia had tried to kill him herself, so his death was seen as a liberation by everyone except Rodrigo (who, in turn, was depicted as an old and ailing man who needed to leave Cesare in charge anyway).

Also, his motives to do anything at all were mostly shown to be linked to Lucrezia’s well being and safety, which, okay, I ship them too, but at least try to make it more muddled, more ambiguous? No, Neil always took the super easy way out instead. The most glaring example is the way he made it clear Lucrezia was never in love with Alfonso (another character who completely lacked charisma so that Cesare would look better in comparison) at all. How do you make an outcome tragic if there are virtually no stakes involved and no one on or off screen cares that much if Alfonso dies? How starkly difference would it have been if Alfonso had been the first one we met, annoying yes, but sassy and memorable, and Sancia had been there to grieve him?

It’s like I mentioned in the hashtags I assume you’re responding to, Neil had a vision for a two-hour Borgia movie inspired by The Family but no long term plan, which is why he fumbled a lot. And part of the mess was in having Cesare stuck in this position where he’s always on the edge of becoming a bad man but he never quite does become bad because the showrunner feared that he would lose the audience’s sympathy.

I think there could be a possible explanation in Lucrezia. She’s the most morally ambiguous, yet easy to root for, character on the show; certainly the most interesting. I can somewhat excuse Cesare’a half baked characterisation if I take Lucrezia to be the true protagonist of the show. But that’s giving Neil too much credit, imo.

I often wish the show had been written by Michael Hirst. He wrote morally grey or even straight up unlikable characters that you still would root for long before Game of Thrones made it cool. All of them had done something somewhere on the spectrum of terrible, but you still understood their angle and you felt for them once they inevitably died a horrible death.

[nicksolemnlyswears]

Hii there, I just want to share some toughts with someone who is equally delighted with Han as I am. Here I was rewatching Tokyo Drift since I have such a soft spot for this movie, specially Han in it, and I think besides his likeable cool and collected persona, there is a dark side of him that is often unnoticed by many, I mean, the man turned Tokyo into his own personal playground and laughted at the face of the Yakuza and playing it and Takashi like a violin, it requeries a HUGE amount of balls and boldness to do this (we can also credit that to the "all or nothing" posture/mentality as a reflex to Gisele's "death"), and he can also be very egoisticaly manipulative and keep secrets (lies), you can see by the way Takashi was so angry with him, bc he believed Han was his friend and he could trust him, he is a "chamaleon", and the fact that he decieved and lied about his death for all those years to Dom and the crew, yeah he had a legitimate reason to do it (protect his adoptive daughter) but still show he can do it even to the people that loves him, ALSO, lets not forget in the 6th movie when Giseles "dies", he gets so angry that he mauls the face of a goon untill he is bloody red and literally throws his entire body in the turbine of a plane, which shows that when if comes to the extreme that man can go WILD (even physically), and damn, it shows how rich his character can be and I wish he was more fully explored before, can you imagine an spin off from his Tokyo days or early years?! Ok, end of my rant 😅

i took your rant to another level. please enjoy my deep dive.

you are completely right. han does have a super dark side and i often fall victim of ignoring it. his character is structured in a way that both the people in the movies and the audience fall for his calm and collected persona.

if we go all the way back to the beginning han's character comes from the movie 'better luck tomorrow' where he's essentially a little thug from california who had a smoking problem and stole computer parts to sell. in the end of the movie he and his friends took part in killing a kid and end up burying him in a backyard.

that aside he was a teenager when this happens, shit happens when you are a teenager and usually you learn from it and move on. except next time we see han is in tokyo drift (with about 4 f&f movies that haven't been released). i think it's safe to say he did not move on from it but evolved.

now technically speaking this evolving happened because to adapt this character to the f&f franchise he had to be more likable and chill and not seem like an amateur in order for him to blend in with the toretto crew. in other words he had to have useful qualities and a 'heart of gold'. i'm pretty sure had he been the same as 'blt' he wouldn't have been as well received in the gang.

that gap of him evolving is hidden from us because of the time jump from 'blt' and the dominican republic (which is where he makes his first appearance chronologically). i'm guessing he kept being a thug, jumped from place to place, grew and learned his chameleon ways, (it would be so interesting to see if it's something he developed himself or if someone taught him) and committed a crime that made him run from the country.

it's like you said he's a chameleon and he does it too well. he gets along well with the toretto crew but he also had a whole lot of fun in tokyo with takashi and the yakusa. for fucks sake he owned a club.

'you make choices and you don't look back' is his motto. that's something that someone who's fucked up many times in the past would say.

his chameleon persona is the reason he and gisele got along so well. they are the same. she uses her assets to win and get her way much like he does. in fast five and that other movie with shaw's brother we see gisele using her flirtiness to get info and han doesn't mind one bit because he understand. (not to mention it benefits him in f5 because of the $ in the other one to get his freedom back). which leads to my other point.

he is egotistical! he lives in a world where he needs to constantly watch out for himself and he takes it a step further by putting himself in dangerous situations. purposely! with most of the toretto missions he has something to gain. yes, those are his friends but most importantly they are partners in crime.

gisele and han. they loved each other. i'm not taking that away from them. it's completely reasonable for han to mourn her and beat the guy to death. but also he's so upset because he lost the other person that understood him in that deeper level. we don't know much about their relationship but if he was going to show his true colors to anyone, his whole self, it would've been gisele.

i agree with you that the reason he adapted that 'all or nothing' mentality was due to gisele's death. people react different to a loved ones death. it can explain this regression he did to more dangerous endeavors in tokyo drift. even though gisele didn't even exist in the creators mind. im taking creative liberty here to give han more depth lol.

while he did lie about his death lets not forget he let dom know he was alive with the postcard. i want to believe the whole elle deal kinda gave him a wake up call for all he did in tokyo. he remembered he once wanted to settle down with gisele and maybe taking care of elle made that dream a version of his reality. just because gisele is gone doesn't mean he can't slow down and take it easy.

bottom line, han is not the saint he appears to be. he's dangerous and impulsive and manipulative and egotistical. but it doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad guy. he also shows a lot of good qualities throughout the movies but i'm not getting into them or i'll be here forever.

han lue (seoul-oh) is one of the best well developed and interesting characters in F&F whether is was on purpose or not. i quite like there's mystery behind him.

they always say to watch out for the quiet ones and i agree.

[michameinmicha]

Just in case: there are spoilers for the edelstein-trilogie ending under the cut. (Its not very cohesive just mostly a rant tho.)

Finished smaragdgrün today and i thought i remembered how much the end pissed me off but hoo boy actually reading it made me so much angrier!! Might have to write kerstin gier a very strongly worded letter where i can finally get out all the annoyance that has been accumulating inside me since 2011

I dont care how rushed the ending feels, i dont care about the not super exciting reveal of the count or even that gideon suddenly becomes immortal just to give the audience a twist ending surprise (literally forgot about both of these plot points lol) but the ending of james' story pisses me off so much its ridiculous tbh!

Like you cannot spend three entire books explaining again and again (and again! Really too much actually) how the time travel rules of this universe work and then just completely break them just to give a (not even very likeable) side-character a sappy good ending which disregards everything we have been reading for however many pages and just expect me to accept that??? I will never get over this i will die on this hill (from old age probably... ive never met anyone who would care to fight me on this)

The story really does not need to give james a happy ending but more importantly: if he didnt die and become a ghost he would have never met gwen and therfore she could not have given him the vaccine to save his life so none of this makes any sense and completely breaks the time continuum!!!

If anyone of you ever writes a time travel book please for the love of fuck get an editor who has a single brain cell and can tell you when you fuck up your own logic!!!! Or at least give it to me to read!! How did this get published good god!

Okay im good i needed to get that out. Thanks.

[humanoidtyphoons]

no i got things to say about gun x sword

-genuinely sad the opening did not commit to the bit of silhouettes revealed and remaining silhouettes if the characters had died. ray dying broke my heart but i think he should have remained a silhouette in the opening after his death, but at some point the anime stopped doing that and it’s a real shame bc i thought the way it initially did things was sooo fun

-didn’t expect to like ray so much but he’s a foil to van in a way that gradually became really pleasing. also him thwarting the claw’s plan, even temporarily, was super satisfying!!!

-the claw was such a good villain. trying to suss out why things don’t add up with him, what people say about him vs what he’s doing. meeting him in person, being underwhelmed, baffled, cautious and temporary insane about how things don’t make sense before coming to the conclusion that he’s actually insane so the dissonance is… intentional? he clicks in a way that’s really great to process tbh. like the good intentions he has just don’t work with his logic, he doesn’t seem to realise he killed people when he gives them hugs, and doesn’t really care if people die so long as his dream is fulfilled?

-it’s a little embarrassing to be in denial about his blatant madness, and i should have figured it out sooner, but ngl he flummoxed me for episodes bc people couldn’t hate him and apparently found him so charismatic that they joined his cause??? so i. convinced myself that there was going to be this super complicated reveal that would explain his bizarreness in a convoluted way, that would explain everything… and the simplicity of it being. he’s just insane, actually. so much more effective.

(-knives out glass onion with benoit blanc going “you’re not smart! you’re just stupid!!!” is the closest comparison i think i can get but it’s just… wasn’t satisfying for that movie, (i did like the movie, tho, with nitpicks) whereas gxs… me coming to the realisation about claw… sometimes as the audience, you doing the legwork is what makes the figuring out and making it make sense satisfying??)

-i really like that van wastes no time killing claw in the final episode. bc we’d seen something similar with ray, who also wanted revenge for the death of his wife at claw’s hands. claw talking and being dismissive. we’d seen in the previous episode, van and the claw talking, in which the claw repeatedly calling van an idiot. it was clear that they were never going to get through to each other. so van quickly cuts him in two, and honestly? so fulfilling. so satisfying.

-found myself shipping van/pricilla and joshua/wendy. ofc they didn’t end up together, but i’m super relieved van/wendy didn’t happen either and they remained platonic til the end.

-ngl van kinda inexplicably hating joshua soooo much made me laugh so much! it’s so mean and i love both characters but it’s hilarious

-i kinda do like wendy vs her brother michael and her telling him off bc she explored the planet with van and gained new experiences

-docked a point for the fan service tho

-i’m not… particularly happy about michael once he sleeps with his teammate tbh? idk how i would have written it but… uh… not like that tbh?

-honestly the story is nothing new but the characters are so fun and likeable and that matters more tbh! ngl my attention span wandered at times but when it was good, it was very very good

-but also i liked that van wasn’t solely motivated by revenge. not like ray. ray lived for nothing else but revenge, but van… as cranky as he was, still had connections to the living.

[tearsofthefilmreviews]

REVIEW: LISA FRANKENSTEIN

Lisa Frankenstein is a fantastic debut for Zelda Williams that absolutely delivered, and more, on what I was excited for. Its darkly hilarious and hits the comedy-drama balance right. Has a fantastic atmosphere and lovely visuals, particularly in the costuming and production design; it hits that gothic, late-80s vibe damn well. Kathryn Newton is wonderful as the lead and the film is very well-crafted overall. In particular, the film succeeds in using its premise to such fun, twisted potential. Beyond the analysis I’ll get into below, it is just such a fantastic time you’ll get watching this film, which also feels very fresh in its execution and is releasing in perfect timing for Valentine’s Day. I can’t recommend it more due to the fun factor alone, and the comedic campiness it embodies at times, let alone the actually super well-developed lead characters.

-Lisa-

Lisa is a fantastic character. She’s a socially closed-in, gothic girl in 1989 America, at a time when being different in such a way was seen still as lunacy, as depicted by her mother. Its striking to me that they go on to reference religion later on - when she goes to commit the second murder - as this sets up an allegory that is quite relevant to modern times. She’s an outcast not due to any crimes of her own - she was traumatized by the brutal death of her mother and, at the point of the main exposition of the film’s first act, her worst crime has been breaking a mirror. She is treated as wrong - as different, as bad - and the slightest wrong motion is met with hard pushback. To put it simply, I am saying this can be seen as an allegory for how LGBTQ persons are treated widely even today; they’re seen as “them” by many, and it does not take much looking to see evidence of how the treatment of Lisa reflects this. I also felt strongly about how her mother blamed her for quite literally anything that went wrong; being blamed like that is something that I have known myself, and I am grateful for that being displayed. The mother’s death is the most metaphorical of the bunch, as we see Lisa overcoming the oppression that had kept her down, and coming out of her shell thanks to it; as we clearly see her be more expressive, in words and in her wardrobe choices. She is also clearly in a better place, now that she has more ease of mind…which can be put into the allegory. Dispel the oppression; the bigotry, asinine and pointed hatred - and people can feel free, and express themselves without the stress of a hawk hanging over you.

Lisa leans hard into her life's new direction and revels in the chaos, all while maintaining her likability and coming more and more into her own. It goes to her head as she becomes colder towards Sprouse's character, only to fall for him in the ending. The ending essentially demonstrates how oppressive the society around her is; she's a free spirit, and is not seen as 'compatible' with the pious around her. She dies to be forever with her true love, and to be free from the prejudices of her times that seem to ignore her own trauma.

Obviously, she and The Creature did commit murder and crime on their jourey during the film, but that doesn't take away from this metaphorical read of it, since that's beyond the surface levels. On that surface, Lisa is still a fantastic and very fun character, who really shines thanks to both the script and Newton's excellent portrayal. She’s a flawed character - murders, or plays accomplice in murders of - people who harm her, and on the surface narrative level, faces repercussions. She traumatizes her sister badly, and gets herself in trouble with the law, likely after Taffy ratted her out due to Michael’s murder. Yet, despite the bad she does, which includes the way she acts towards Creature when she goes to see Michael for the sex she desires and later gets from Creature, she is still a character that is both likeable and very strong for the audience to identify with. Her personality, her - what makes her tick, how she thinks - is something a lot of people can connect to in various ways. The rebellious spunk she embodies and displays is powerful, and very socially relevant in modern times. I know that I personally felt touched by her character- not by the blood that was spilled, though that does have thematic significance - but by her. Again, Kathryn Newton brought the vision of the writers to fruition in the best way possible.

Lisa is the type of character that will become iconic, especially amongst a certain crowd.

-The Creature-

I think that this film really does the Frankenstein thing in an interesting way. He died in an awful accident - electrocution, which ironically is what helps him slowly reform - and comes back for a second lease on life, empowered by Lisa’s words and care. He is clearly no simpleton, and Sprouse’s performance absolutely carries so much character, and communicates much emotion without a single spoken word. He acts more on his own towards the film's ending and showcases how far he's come in demonstrating individuality, which ultimately kicks in when he kills Michael out of jealousy. We never get his name, but he doesn't need it to be memorable in his own right; chemistry with Lisa is spot-on throughout. Sprouse adds a lot of fun to the character with his performance, and truly brings the character to life.

-Taffy-

Taffy is a character I wanted to get into because, especially on a more meditative rewatch, I found myself quite interested in her character. Coming off of the new Mean Girls film especially, she feels reminiscent of such a character archetype in her backstabbing attitude. She's the nicest person to Lisa besides Sprouse's character, and is constantly supportive. A particular moment is when she acts defensive of Lisa when Michael talks to her by the lockers, but the action gains a much more sinister energy when you know what she's up to. Meeting and fucking with Michael behind Lisa's back, and trying her best to stop Lisa's affections so that she doesn't get hurt. She even takes advantage of Lisa's sympathy; even as she's spiraling more towards the end, she feels compassion for Taffy, who is emotionally a wreck due to her mother's dissapearance. Taffy uses this to sneak away to Michael's. Granted, it does seem to help her distract herself so she can cope with her emotions, but it still feels sinister given the circumstances, and adds a lot more depth to everything she did.

Clearly though, in the ending, we see Taffy cares a significant amount for Lisa, even after being terrified of her following Michael's death. She seems to care more than their own father, in fact, at least judging on the delivery and direction of that performance.

-Technicals-

Lisa Frankenstein is expertly made and stylistically fabulous. There are so many moments with the cinematography and set design that I absolutely loved, and the costuming/makeup is superb all-around. The colours and lighting work to sell the moods of individual scenes super well, and are also very cohesively crafted. Especially the interiors, particular in the shed and Lisa's bedroom, really pop visually, and the cemetery has such a perfect vibe and feeling to it, that shifts yet maintains its energy as the story progresses, and it gains even more meaning through the murderous journey. The script is tightly-wound, funny, great and translated superbly to the visual medium. The gothic stylings of Lisa's room and outfits are simply lovely. Direction is also spot-on, and makes me excited to see more from Zelda Williams in the future.

-Conclusion-

Overall, I absolutely love this film for many reasons, and was happy to be able to see it twice despite a less free schedule as of late. I couldn't get a showing with a big crowd, but my opening Saturday showing definitely reciprocated the energy I was feeling from this rewatch. I'll be watching this more in the future, and I don't see it falling too far down my 2024 ranking. I am ecstatic that this film surpassed the hype I had for it.

Absolutely confident in this score.

10/10

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

https://www.tumblr.com/twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat/757245046340943872/hi-ari-i-just-watched-oshi-no-ko-its-so?source=share

hi ari! <3 yes, it's me!

firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to write such an in-depth recommendation list! it was super helpful!

WARNING: long message ahead!

i have actually watched a couple of the things that you had recommended, namely windbreaker and romantic killer. i really enjoyed windbreaker, even if i still don't quite understand how their school system works... (i think it's low-key hilarious how there are barely any adults in this series? and how students run the school for other students? like do they have 'normal' lessons? i'm so curious!)

thinking on windbreaker now, the things that stood out to me the most were those:

hajime looking like an alternate universe version of satoru, who is a cutie pie that grows vegetables. i actually really like his character – i think he's adorable. in terms of character design, i do think his cape is kind of cool. he rocks it. i like that he's positive, down-to-earth and simultaneously extremely astute. he's very likeable, like satoru! (very boyfriend material, no?)

the dynamic between choji and togame is very memorable. thinking on it now, the scene where togame cries and choji asks whether it is the rain... there is just something in their dynamic, when they were 'fighting,' which made it feel, when i was watching, like they were confessing. (i kind of... i couldn't help but think, guys, come on, you're in front of an auditorium... you really want to do this here and now?? in front of this audience?? really??) and also... choji being his 'sun'... it's kind of sweet.

suo! i find his fighting technique to be absolutely fascinating! i think it's so interesting how he doesn't put in an effort to fight against his opponents, instead dismantling them psychologically. he doesn't fight according to a certain school of thought, too; instead, he just picks and chooses what he deems is fitting, willing to experiment and almost confuse his opponents through the piecemeal nature of his fighting technique. there is a little element of cruelty to his fighting style which i find absolutely fascinating... and even though i know that suguru and suo are very different, i wonder what it would be like to transpose suo's fighting style onto suguru.

i have watched romantic killer ages ago!! i didn't know what to watch and it came up, and even though the premise was a little bizarre and the design of the cupid entity was absolutely hilarious, i actually really enjoyed watching it! anzu is a really fun protagonist! and i could absolutely relate to her cat obsession because this is absolutely what i am like with my dogs. her concern for not dating is also one i can relate to... currently, i can't really envision myself dating. i barely have any time for myself when i am at university, and when i do, i'd rather spend it with my friends or go home and visit my parents and my dogs. and besides, romantic relationships take so much work!! and i'm super picky in terms of how i like. (suguru.) anyway, that aside, i thought it was fun, and tsukasa and junta were both likeable! hijiri was... a little cliché and forgettable in my opinion, and didn't add that much to the story, but it also felt like the story ended not being quite finished, so his introduction felt a little... underdeveloped??

and the introduction of tsukasa's stalker was... absolutely terrifying. i can still picture that woman in my mind – her absolutely manic eyes when she looked at tsukasa. so scary!

(i did think it was pretty cute how riri transformed into a competitor for anzu's affections at the end of the series!)

i have tried giving gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun a go, but i somehow winded up feeling a little... bored as i was watching it? i thought the idea of the anime was cool. i can see where they were going with this – it attempted to be subversive by having a a big, bulky guy was writing a 'girly' popular manga series, with the inspiration for the male lead being a girl and the inspiration for the female lead being a guy. from my experience of writing (which was ages ago... my pen had long dried up), that kind of makes sense – the act of transposing personalities of the people you see into characters, and those characters themselves being extremely malleable as the plot develops.

...but somehow, as i watched it, something didn't quite click for me. i'm not sure why. so i ended up dropping it after five or so episodes? i did think the red-haired guy who was constantly blushing was cute, though.

NOW, onto oshi no ko... I LOVED IT! i still have the intro song from season one playing in my head!!

look, first of all, i thought it was super fun. i adore the animation style. i am a little annoying in that, for me, the animation style of an anime plays a big part in how driven i am to watch it. it's partially why i like jujutsu kaisen so much. i adore the way in which the characters are drawn in 'jujutsu kaisen'. the drawing style is absolutely awesome. i LOVE how handsome suguru and satoru are!! (it's not the only reason why i like the drawing style, of course, but i just... appreciate the way in which the characters are drawn.) i just like looking at it. i can press pause and just stare, and analyse the drawing style for a long while.

but back to oshi no ko, when i read the synopsis... i must admit, i was... a little more than surprised. a gynaecologist's soul transposing itself into the body of an idol's child??? how crazy is that???

but then i googled the pictures and saw pictures of ai... and reread your post, and decided to give it a go! and i am very glad that i did!!

i love ai's character design!! her hair is awesome!! i love her star eyes!! and when she smiles, she's absolutely adorable!!

but now onto the series itself... i didn't realise that the first episode was a set-up for the broader story centred on the two children!! i thought that was super interesting – beginning with ai, setting her up, having her be a ghost that haunts the narrative.

the doctor being an otaku... you know what, i do understand why he'd be hooked on something like this – something bright and cheerful, and something that's so escapist, even if, as an 'educated adult,' he realises is a fabrication made for consumption. (i guess, for me, what 'ai' was to the doctor and sarina is what... 'jujutsu kaisen' is currently to me. it's something escapist, a story i can think about again and again, even months after watching, maintaining my interest in it by visiting tumblr...)

the reason for her having the two children is absolutely heartbreaking. but... with the way they set up the story, it... does make sense.

i... even though the premise seems bizarre, it's actually quite profound? yes, it teaches/proselytises some things i already know, but also lots of things that i don't know. i found it fascinating how it tackled the world of entertainment...

the scene where ai died still replays in my mind. the slight greying (?? i'm not sure if i'm misremembering, but i think it was a grisailles image) image of ai as she dies in front of aqua's eyes while ruby bangs on the door was absolutely horrifying. i gasped. i should have predicted that this story was going to take misery's annie wilkes angle... but still, when i saw it on screen... it was just such a crushing death... and for the reports to then be overtaken by reports of the snow... i don't know... if that is relieving or overwhelmingly sad.

i have to say, though, that scene where aqua and ruby pretend to be gods is absolutely hilarious!! i thought it was super funny. and that woman was so terrified! so funny. and ruby saying that she's the incarnation of amaterasu?? and swatting her hand away so confidently!! how funny!!

also, the scene where aqua plays the creepy kid by not acting and terrifying all the actors on set... that was pretty funny, too!! i enjoyed that!! and that whole... segment of him guessing the director's intentions through logic to produce this result and the talk of different types of actors was very, very interesting!!

and ai getting cut because she shined too much?? that was fascinating.

in terms of the series post episode one, i enjoyed how they tackled both the world of film, reality dating shows, the manga industry and the theatre industry! that was cool!!! and i love how they made them interconnected.

in terms of which characters i liked the most... i think i'm going to say, the girls!!! i really like kana, akane, ruby, mem-cho, ai of course, even frill and minami!! (i think frill is... actually quite funny!! and when she was joking about pinning down mem-cho if she were a guy...)

i feel like because i watched everything in one go, everything became slightly muddled in my head, so it's hard to pick out which scenes stood out to me the most!! i did like how the story unravelled – i thought it was pretty neat and slick, and as i was watching, i didn't really notice any loose plot lines or anything... (yes, maybe everyone coming to the rescue of akane was a little too feel-good perhaps, but i did like that... it was cute.)

mem-cho, kana and ruby actually formed a pretty cute trio!! i thought it was funny how the guy with the stubble was like, no one can replace b komachi and then became a super fan who went to their solo concerts... and yes, all three of them are absolute stars!! they are so cute!!! and aqua showing up and going crazy with all three light sticks?? that was pretty sweet.

(on that note... i don't know who i prefer – akane and aqua, or kana and aqua... i might say kana and aqua because aqua can just be... himself?? and when he thought of his happy memories... he mostly thought of kana... but when akane came to comfort him, and figured out his backstory (well, almost... sans the doctor bit), it was pretty sweet.)

i think akane is also such a fascinating actor!! seeing that scene where she basically figured ai out and transformed herself into her to such a creepy degree that aqua found himself confused... that was SO EERIE BUT COOL!!!! and how she filled in the backstory of... ai having a secret child, being exposed to sexual relations early, almost childlike tendencies that are tad too juvenile, etc. etc. – extremely fascinating.

i also think ruby is adorable!!! i think it's interesting how differently aqua and ruby respond to trauma. (suguru and satoru, anyone? okay, i'll stop... not as applicable here.) her drive and passion is extremely admirable. and with sarina's story... and baby ruby struggling to stand up only for ai to help her... my god, how heartbreaking...

i... i have a soft spot for kana because i can see some of myself reflected in her. i also think the idea of achieving a high point in your life and then moving on from that is... pretty interesting. like what do you do if you can never achieve that height again?? you were the big fish before but now you wound up in a pond where... no one cares about that anymore?? i think it's pretty admirable how she had the strength to try out something new and become an idol even though it's so easy to regress into the shadows, not wanting to embarrass yourself yet again. and kana being scared of the stage because she is not alone?? that makes so much sense but that also makes her such a kind-hearted girl...

i also enjoyed the storyline with the manga author and tokyo blade!! firstly, for a manga within a manga/anime... that's... a pretty cool story!! i wouldn't mind watching tokyo blade myself!! but... also i thought it was interesting how they showed the behind the scenes of that world... with the manga creator of tokyo blade, firstly, being so goddamn young!! twenty-two?? (and what am i doing with my life?? lying on the couch outside in the sun while my dog rests by my feet procrastinating on my work because i am perpetually indecisive??)

i thought it was interesting how they balanced her arrogance and her diligence... she is not necessarily likeable and... that's okay. i kind of like that they made her into a little bit of a... freak. (look, if i was at that restaurant, going to the bathroom, and coming out of my cubicle to witness this... being use two toothbrushes to brush their teeth while spitting into the sink, i'd be super grossed out.) i liked the dynamic between her and her sensei, though, and how she was adorably shy back then and had so much respect for her sensei... that was cute. and her desire to branch out and speak to many people being reflected in her manga... that was... pretty sad, i must admit. (but then again, that was... a little bit of projection going on from her sensei, no? i mean, i wouldn't say all my writing is necessarily reflective of me, no? it was a little... presumptive, and based on her assumptions since she... thinks her former pupil is a little... weird.)

the issue of translating manga into scripts is... fascinating. i thought it was interesting when goa spoke of how if it goes badly, the scriptwriter is blamed, but if it goes well, then the manga author is praised... that is true!!! it does go like that!!

the manga creator being a little bit of a creative tyrant from her astronomical success and the past trauma of seeing her favourite manga by her favourite sensei get butchered by bad acting... that all makes sense!! it's a compelling insider take on what it means to adapt works and i really enjoyed seeing it play out on screen and thinking about it! (and besides, so many things nowadays get adapted from medium to medium, it's a pretty nuanced take on a very contemporary issue!)

in terms of kana vs akane rivalry, i think it's pretty fun seeing them... go all out with their acting, you know? i also kind of liked the friendship between the super talented guy taiki and kana! when they were acting out that fighting scene... it was super fun!! really enjoyed it!!! (plus.. the point about adding stimulation to the theatre troupe in the form of external actors – that's pretty interesting!!)

(i also thought it was interesting how aqua extricated himself from the talent competition.)

on aqua, though...

the fact that he felt like his identity as aqua and as the doctor was merging was pretty interesting. i'm still not sure whether he's a super likeable character in my mind. he's compelling, sure. he's supportive of his sister and kana...

i just wonder if seeing ai murdered in front of his eyes was the key reason as to why his trauma response was so different from that of sarina, aside from the obvious personality differences.

i kind of wonder who ai is to him. does he really see her as his mother? i just wonder what it would be like for a highly educated guy to be transported into the body of an infant and being unable to do anything but watch as a girl much younger than you acts as your mother. THAT IS INSANE. (also, how'd he... learn how to speak?? did he retain those memories and the sounds came out instantly... or was the speaking apparatus of his child body so infantile that he had to go about it via... trial and error.)

but when he stopped ruby from pursuing her dreams by arranging that call/sending message from her phone... (i mean, he did 'let' her become an idol in the end, but still...)

(but then again, it's kind of similar to adults (more of an extreme manifestation, i guess) who softly discourage people from pursuing such careers unless their talents seem to be... almost supernatural. like i was discouraged from acting, which, upon reflection, makes sense as there were two girls in my class for whom the star of acting talent shone much brighter.)

my takeaway thought from this series was this – by leaning into absurdity and taking on a premise which seems absolutely bizarre at first glance, it was able to produce a highly nuanced and intelligent account of what it means to work in the entertainment business, and what it means to interact with this business (as most of us do) at large.

i feel like if i were to learn something from this series, it would be this – perhaps, when creating, the rational side of your brain which would discourage you from exploring a scenario in which the body of a doctor is transposed into a baby needs to be subdued as that supernatural element ended up being an appropriate vehicle in creating a broader, fascinating account that functions as a window into the world of japanese (and not just... japanese) entertainment.

i must admit – i enjoyed it so much, i got a little sad when i realised that season two was still in progress!! i wanted to binge it all!!! :))) (but, on the other hand, it allows me to think about this story for a little longer...)

thank you for recommending it!! (and apologies for my very, very, very long ramble.)

(side note – i tried checking out the fate series, but i got a little confused in terms of the watch order?? there are so many!!! and different websites say different things in terms of how you should go about watching it...)

if you have any other recommendations as to what to watch, i'd more than welcome them!! <33

hi my dearest little anon!! 🥹 tysm for the ask hehe, this was sm fun to read through!!!

first of all!!! you are soooo so welcome, it was really my pleasure!!!!! 🥺🥺 i’m so excited to properly respond to all your thoughts hehe

YOU’RE SO REAL FOR QUESTIONING WIND BREAKER’S SCHOOL SYSTEM 😭😭😭 their education is in SHAMBLES. BUT YESSS ume is such a lovely character (ABSOLUTELY bf material), and togame + choji were for sure my favorites!!!! their dynamic and story was the highlight of the season for me :33 HE’S HIS SUN…. it really did feel like a confession lol. AND SUOOO I LOVE HIM AS WELL. it’s crazy you mention that anon because i also thought of sugu when i saw him…. he’s so polite but his fighting style is so . raw? in a way? the hint of cruelty/psychological humiliation is also sooo tasty to me. i love smiley boys who are a tiny bit mean <3

and romantic killer!!!!! aaaaa it was the same for me anon, i watched it on a whim but got so addicted 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 ANZU IS SOOOO LOVELY AND SO RELATABLE. and i get you anon!!!! dating isn’t everything!!!!! i love the emphasis the show put on platonic relationships — even though i know it’s not canon, i do see anzu as aroace!! and either way it’s just refreshing to have a shoujo that shows how strong and meaningful relationships can be, whether they’re romantic or not. tsukasa’s and anzu’s relationship ended up as one of my favorites because they’re just…. so wholesome. and sweet. they care for each other sm!!!!! hijiri was my least fav of the guys too but i did think he was cute :3 TSUKASA’S STALKER WAS SOOO SCARY i’m so glad that plotline was treated with the care it deserves!!!

AHHHHH so gekkan shoujo was a fail……. THAT’S OKAY ANONNN ik it’s not everyone’s cup of tea!!! :’3 it was a while since i watched it too….. did you watch the sub or dub?? the dub is funnier imo!!!! but. again… it’s been a while…… MIKORIN IS SOOOO CUTE THOUGH I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED HIM 🥺🥺 my baby!! my special little guy!!!!!

NOWWWWWWW <3333 OSHI NO KO TIME. I’M SOOOOOO HAPPY YOU LIKED THIS ONE ANON I WAS SO HOPING YOU WOULD 🥹🥹🥹 it’s the perfect mix of dark + gorgeous + entertaining, right???? it has it all!!!!! THE OPS AND EDS ARE SOOOOO GORGEOUS i loved s1’s songs but i’ve also gotten super attached to s2’s……

BUT YES I TOTALLYYY GET YOU. i think jjk has spoiled me a little because i find it just a teeny bit difficult to get into anime that are lacking in that area :’3 WHICH IS PERFECT BECAUSE OSHI NO KO IS SOOOO GORGEOUS. so so pretty. ESPECIALLY AI OHHH MY GOD ANON ISN’T SHE ADORABLE?? 🥺🥺🥺 our beloved idol-sama………. the star eyes are soooo beautifully animated, seeing the light leave them when she dies was . so genuinely horrifying lmao. AND YES YES YOU GET ITTTTT ai haunting the narrative!!!!!! i loved how they handled episode 1 so much….. her final ”i love you” made me. cry 😭 it still makes me cry when i watch it.

and i totally get you on the escapism!!!! jjk is just like that for me too!!!!! and yeah, i have . many theories on gorou (the doctor) and his attachment to ai!!!! how it’s connected to his own life but also his fixation on sarina…… i can’t wait to read the manga :3c

AHHH YOU’RE SO REAL FOR LOVING THE GIRLS 🥺🥺🥺 they’re all soso lovely!!!!! designs, personalities, and all!!!!!!! i hope ruby gets more spotlight in s3 because it does feel a little like s2 is aqua’s…… and i love aqua but i’m also sooo invested in ruby and her idol journey :’3 HER GROUP IS SO CUTEE. AND AS FOR THE SHIPS…… i’ll be so honest anon i think both akane and kana are too good for him LMAO. or more like i just don’t see him treating them as well as they deserve with his whole…. revenge plot going on. lmao. but overall i prefer kana as a character!!! i like kana a lot, and i think she’s so interesting and eerie like you mentioned, but kana feels so . real and grounded to me. i have a big soft spot for her too!!! AND RUBYYYY MY ANGEL. she’s so cute and so so strong, moving on with her life even after ai’s death….

THE TOKYO BLADE ARC IS SOOOOO GOOD. i totally agree!!!! i love the way all characters have been handled, they all just care about the story being told :’3 both abiko and goa!!!! the recent episode where they interact and praise each other was so precious…..

BUT YES . AQUA . oh my goddddd he makes me so insane anon…….. i have so many thoughts of him and his identity because i do think it’s so fractured. i think aqua views ai as his mother, but not gorou. their dynamic is so interesting because ai is like….. his mother, his child, and his love interest all in one, as twisted as it sounds. i do think his love for her is platonic but he himself is unsure about it and i think that adds a lot of depth to it all!!! ai is like the center of his universe….. but yeah, i don’t see him as super likeable, which is . Why i like him LMAO…. i like them a little sick in the head <333 he’s definitely a very flawed character. his attempts to control ruby show that much, even if he’s doing it because he cares…

but!!! yes!!!!! i definitely agree with you on that last point, it’s a really wacky premise that ended up as a super thoughtful exploration of the entertainment industry :3 this is just my own take, and like i said — i haven’t read the manga — but!!! i do feel like the main theme is the exploitation of children. and i wonder how that’s going to come back later in the story. i feel like that’s what everything is sort of building up to, with ai’s abuse and pregnancy, sarina’s death, aqua’s trauma… and so on.

thank you sm for checking the series out anon!!! i’m so happy you enjoyed it so much!!!! i’m always, always here in case you wanna chat abt it <333

AS FOR THE FATE SERIES. i should’ve warned you, it’s a very ……. long series with a lot of different games and manga and anime, but the right place to start is always fate/stay night 🫡🫡 the different fates aren’t connected to each other (fate/zero and fate/stay night are connected though…), so don’t worry about watching them all!! fate/stay night: unlimited bladeworks is more than enough. and if you enjoy that, you can move on to the heaven’s feel trilogy, which is…. a different, darker route the protagonist takes. stay night in general is super good!!!! i hope you enjoy it if you give it a try :3 the fate series in general probably has my favorite writing…. ever? but it might not be for everyone. the characters and dynamics are what really make it shine!!! with some super good fights <333

[stevesnightmares]

fictional characters are not evaluated the same way real life people are, they can do bad things and still be fan favourites.

"Why does X characters who has done less worse things than Y character gets triple the hate Y character gets when he's done so much worse, that's unfair!!" the answer is because they have different personalities and people will always chose a likeable villain over an annoying hero.

Fictional characters are fake and thus what matters most is how enjoyable and entertaining to read about them or watch them on the screen. if someone is annoying and always only ever makes choices that we find annoying, no matter how justified they are, they simply will not be fun characters to follow. On the other hand, a villain who does bad things can still be enjoyable to follow if they have a likeable personality.

Also, a villain who is just the villain and is neither super annoying nor very likeable will never be as hated as a character that didn't start out as a villain nor as hates as a character who is good but annoying.

we know he's bad and we don't like him but also there is no discourse around him, no debate over wether his actions were justified or not and also there is no betrayal which will always incite strong reactions from people.

I saw a tiktok that pictured debbie gallagher and cassie from euphoria on the first slide with the caption "how do I..." and on the other slide frank gallagher and nate from euphoria with the caption "get more hate than you", and I think that falls exactly in what I talked about.

(I personally never cared nor liked frank) Nobody defends frank, everyone knows he's a self serving piece of shit but also I can see why people enjoy following his character as he makes up new schemes to scam people. overall, most people don't like him as a person but he's a fun character to follow. Debbie on the other hand started out as a really lovable character and with time started making one annoying and frustrating decision after the other. Some decisions were understandable, a few even forgivable, but all were just frustrating to watch. It's fine to be annoyed by a character once in a while, it's good to make sure that the audience knows that they are flawed and make wrong decisions, but when every decision that a character makes annoys you it becomes difficult to enjoy that character storyline.

frank is worse than debbie as a person but as characters frank is a lot more enjoyable to watch and follow.

(I haven't watched euphoria so if what I say is completely wrong let me know and correct me) the reason cassie is so hated is because she was a friend. People who are bad are hated but there is a different type of hate that people feel towards the characters who betray their favourite characters, it doesn't matter if you can understand the reasons, betrayal is a quick way to make people hate a character. There is a lot of discourse around cassie while nate is less hated because he's less loved, less trusted, his fall was shorter and thus not as impactful.

[abcdosaka]

i have such a love hate relationship with how gege writes women like he’s tackling the oppression of women and yet the women aren’t the important part of that conversation like he keeps killing them off 💀 it’s like how the walking dead would introduce a black character and immediately kill the previous main cast member black character

☝️ thing i can’t fault him for is that every female char is incredibly likeable. except maybe hana but tbh i still like her bc i could forgive women for anything she just got done dirty by the narrative. same with remi but honestly, instead of disliking her she made me dislike fushiguro a bit. (it’s not that i thought he’s at fault for anything i just disliked the set up for that arc) personally i think those two were the only major fumble writing wise. oh and tsumiki although i guess there wasn’t much more for her to do i was hoping she’d be more than a plot device (she was likeable anyway she made me like fushiguro more lmao)

omg i just realized what they all have in common is that they’re all related to fushiguro somehow.

another thing he does well is giving them their MOMENTS which to me is kinda more important than their depth in a battle shonen. like almost all the female combatants get a super raw moment. even hana shining that light on meguna was soo beautiful like idk that sticks out in my mind (until she fucked it up ofc)

nobara i think was actually rly well done. i still think there’s hope she’ll come back tbh. even though i said otherwise that’s just me pretending idc. yuki had a really good fight and she was so charismatic that i can forgive her death being related to choso so much (also bc i like choso). i just really wish we could have seen more of her earlier and know more abt her, esp her being a star plasma vessel, ik she was a supporting character but i was so hyped to see her in action. she’s one of my favs. tengen is also low key a fav even tho she didn’t rly do anything she’s well established and idk i just like her. uro is another fav who i need to see more of i hope she isn’t done for i feel like she got spared for a reason. yorozu was pure comedy i liked her and i kinda miss her i wish she stuck around longer. i stanned mai from her first appearance. maki is obviously my queen no words needed. i also thought momo was super cute and i still wanna know wtf that miwa panel was in the cg arc i think that was a genuine he forgot moment. mei mei and momjaku are freaks but i like them both they really help set the tone

ig the only issues are that 1) they keep dying and 2) their most important moments are related to a man somehow. i guess it makes sense bc it is aimed at a male audience but like if you’re writing abt women’s issues then you have to acknowledge the women in question as…people? that’s not rly what i mean to say but idk how else to phrase it. it feels like he wants to do a good job tackling these issues but he doesn’t rly get the core of the issue.

anyway it sounds like i’m shitting on him but the fact that he’s clearly making an attempt at expanding on the female characters instead of being like “here bitch damn” (and it’s a girl who gets one chapter of depth and is written out immediately after) is what actually touches my heart. altho ig he kinda did that with everyone but maki like i remember being surprised he went so far in the perfect prep arc for maki like i didn’t think she’d get a power up like that. and then in the sakurajima colony arc i didn’t know she’d continue to be relevant and then jumping sukuna with yuji like okayyy

the nice part of never getting fed is that crumbs are so delicious and nutritious for me. anyway i believe in kenjaku (old woman) x tengen heian era old woman yuri

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Shock ‘Em Dead (Freed, 1991)

I remember years ago when I first watched and became obsessed with the great Canadian classic Rock’n’Roll Nightmare, I found a list of heavy metal horror movies online as I was searching for recommendations in this genre that I was certain was uniformly amazing and had no bad movies. I remember seeing this ranked right at the top, over the other movie and some better known ones, and assumed it had to be even wilder and crazier. Having finally seen it now after all those years, this shit is not better than Rock’n’Roll Nightmare. In fact, it’s kind of terrible.

Honestly, the big problem here is that the main character, even before he makes his Faustian bargain with a voodoo priestess to become a great hair metal guitarist, is never likeable. When we first meet, he’s not just cartoonishly dorky, which is not a crime by any means, but we see him creeping on his coworker as she changes. After his transformation, instead of living it up with his three super foxy girlfriends, he decides to go harass his old coworkers, despite the fact that they’re working a late shift and probably for minimum wage. And when he’s making it with one of his girlfriends, he starts acting like a little bitch when he sees her true nature (burn marks) in the mirror. One, they don’t look that bad. Two, if he’s that grossed out, can’t he just take down the mirrors? So yeah, hard to root for this guy. Also, this was 1991. A Faustian bargain for hair metal success seems like a bad deal, especially as Nevermind was released that year and grunge was now in.

Other than that, aside from one sequence that looks credibly like a hair metal music video, most of this movie is in an ugly, televisual style, like a bad sitcom. The music is pretty lame too, largely covers of non-hair-metal songs, although some of the more exaggerated noodling on the guitar looks pretty funny. And because the main character’s weakness is apparently food (which the voodoo priestess tells another character and then tries to trick him into a bargain as well, which is a pretty poor sales tactic as she already told him what he needed to know), we get an extremely lame climax where a guy runs around trying to kill the baddies with food paste.

If I can find some nice things to say about this, it’s that Karen Russell as one of the girlfriends is probably the best character here. She proves pretty handy with a switchblade, is pretty forthcoming about the conditions of their voodoo curse, and I found it a little poignant the extent to which she’s made peace with her present realities. A better movie would have done her character more justice in this regard. There’s also Laurel Wiley as another one of the girlfriends, who gets some good puns about her need to feast on souls. And Traci Lords plays the most overtly sympathetic character, and wears a cute hat in her first scene. And while a lot of this is extremely lame, there is one very funny scene where the main character takes over the band in the middle of a show by kicking the lead singer off the stage and then vomits on an audience member at the end of a song.

[access--granted]

I'm bad at thinking on the spot, but I have some firm faves, lol. (Disclaimer, I accidentally wrote you an encyclopaedia, sorry!)

1. Jill. REmake was my first game early this year and I played as her. It's what sucked me into fullblown brainrot lmfao. I've played most of the series now and for the most part, Jill has remained one of the most consistent and realistic female characters throughout the series (imo). I mean, I've never looked at my screen an thought "has the director ever seen her character before? What the hell is this?" Which in RE is a rare occurrence lmfao! She isn't super, overly sexualised and I honestly just thoroughly enjoy her personality and story. She knows who she is and what her goals are. Death Island absolutely solidified this for me. It made me feral, I stg. Her arc was phenomenal. I want a brand new Jill campaign. I need her as a main game character again soon. She's one of the best. SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE WITH CHRIS KILLING WESKER INSTEAD OF SHEVA SOMEBODY HAS TO SAY IT. An original that holds her own. Just... *chefs kiss*.

2. Claire. Similar reasons to Jill. She has clear motivations and a good arc. Her campagin is my favourite part of RE2make and I think it's shamefully underrated. I found her realtionship with Sherry a lot more significant than Leons and honestly, her A playthrough was just... better? That's perisnal opinion though. I wish they'd let this woman buy a new outfit. She's worn the same jacket since '98. Recycling queen I guess, lmfao. I don't think people really give her enough attention or credit. She's incredibly kind and patient but could also beat me to a pulp. Phenomenal.

3. Chris. Okay, a few iffy portrayals but he's overall a very solid character. I like him so much because he's a "terrifying but actually very soft and huggable" trope in my mind, lmao. I can't shake the Awkward Father vibe, no matter how many 400lbs machine guns he plays around with. I just think he's very tired and wants to watch a football game with friends. Give him a break.

4. Ethan Winters. It's fucking Ethan Winters. Ethan and Rose were excellent new additions to the cast. I adored them. They were something different, refreshing, realistic (minus the lego man hands... dude's made of mold tho so...) and just very likeable. Dude just chills in the background at functions wanting to go home.

5. Leon. Leon's equally one of the most interesting but frustrating protagonists. I think his OG progression is a complete mess. There's some parts I love, some parts I think make zero sense. I always got the sense that they wanted to be ambitious with Leon, but didn't know what the audience would and wouldn't accept. Does this man have a personality? Yes, we'll hint at one, but we absolutely must adhere to naughts cringe hero stereotype just incase. He often leaves me perplexed, but I enjoy him. He's fun to nitpick and study (and make fun of!!!) and he arguably has one of the most interesting long-term stories. I think remakes are going harder to bring this to light. At it's core, the Leon story is about his relationship with corruption, the government and how he deals with it and who to trust. It could be... SOMETHING. I think we're getting there. The changes in remakes are making it more and more possible. They're taking risks and it greatly benefits him as a character overall. He makes sense. He's understandable.

(PS a lot of this sounds like nonsensical jumbled ass, I'm so sorry lmao. I did not sleep and I need pain meds today bc hashtag chronic pain. If this message is total dumbassery jibberish you have my deepest apologies!)

Ahhh, hi! I absolutely love a good old encyclopedia ask, don't you worry. (And you're probably gonna get a long ass answer too, lmao).

REmake Jill is my favourite Jill. Her kick ass determination and personality are just so good. She was my first ever example of a strong female character as a kid, and she's always been my absolute fave. Totally agree with you that DI sold her to me even more. She desperately needs a new campaign in a mainline game ASAP, I've missed her too damn much.

I feel like Claire has had most hate in the franchise (in my personal experience, at least), and honestly, I don't get the whole "Claire is so annoying" crap I've seen people say in the past. She has good motivation. A college student going to search for her S.T.A.R.S member brother when she doesn't hear from him, only to survive a hellish night amidst a viral outbreak and cure a child? So badass.

Chris is 100% awkward dad vibes despite his badassery and boulder punching skills, no doubt about it. He's more sensitive than people understand him to be. (Which literally makes no sense, considering how broken he is whenever someone he cares about doesn't make it, lol). Let this man live, put his feet up and relax.

Ethan, my guy. I fucking love him so much. I remember how so many people hated him, back when RE7 first came out. "Oh, but he's just some random guy who is looking for his missing wife. How boring." Uh, isn't that what makes him so much more interesting? He's not an agent, or a S.T.A.R.S member, or whatever like the others are. He's a man willing to go above and beyond to save someone he loves. He gets put through so much shit and still selflessly sacrifices himself. What a guy.

Leon is a hot mess (affectionately). Capcom wanted to do things with OG Leon, and they just didn't know how to go about it. He's definitely a fun one to pick apart and analyse. You're right, though. I definitely think they could really polish what kind of character they want him to be with future installments since they've already gotten him to a pretty decent place already. I've always loved him, but he sure has been a roller coaster ride, hahaha.

Honestly, I always love getting long asks like this, especially from mutuals I wanna talk more to. It's just a shame I'm such a socially awkward coward and can't initiate conversation myself. 😂 I had a lot of fun answering this, so thank you, and I really hope you can rest up soon!