#singles and stuff (like anti-hero) that's definitely not the songs i like the most. but i guess you could also say a lot of folklore/

[averageartistamber]

It's Ultraman Day!

Y'know, I first heard about Ultraman through the Godzilla fandom, and honestly, I kinda slept on it until very recently. Ended up getting into it when I heard about the upcoming release of Rising and found out that a decent chunk of content is accessible on YouTube. Okay, gotta admit those "Ultraman Without Context" videos were also a huge thing that sold me on the series, as a thorough enjoyer of Wacky Shit.

So, for Ultraman Day I'm gonna start briefly yapping about the Ultraman Stuff I've seen so far. It's almost entirely the newer stuff, but I might check out some of the older shows.

Let's start with the first series I checked out, Ultraman Blazar (as it was the most recent at the time).

Note there will be some spoilers here and there.

Blazar

-The series I started with, and it's pretty different to typical Ultraman faire. Has this...Not really darkness but I guess kind of a grounded sort of...moodiness? Dunno if that's the right word. The whole V99 Conspiracy plot gave it a distinct flavour that I haven't seen so far in the other shows.

-The fight scenes are pretty fire, as Blazar himself is an incredibly fun character to watch. The whole "feral" shtick took me a bit off guard at first, but it makes him really unique. The spear/javelin main weapon that transforms into different things is such a ccool concept for a "base" power.

-The dynamic that Captain Gento has with Blazar where the latter occasionally takes control is really neat, even when he's just doing it to observe. Gives the Funny Caveman an interesting bit of depth.

-I quite like SKaRD as an attack team, even if they never really score a single W for the entire series. Emi in particular is one of the best Human characters I've seen so far, probably since she essentially gets a whole side plot attached to her (The after mentioned conspiracy and wanting to find out what happened to her dad.

-I honestly did not expect to end up liking Earth Garon in particular as much as I did, even if he just gets his ass kicked constantly. I think the scene that truly sold me on him was in the episode where he's given his AI, therefore a real voice and personality. The scene where Emi is freaking out after being hit with the Monster of the Week's Fear Ray and Earthy tries to calm her down. Did not think he'd be chill like that honestly it was a pleasant suprise.

-One of the big highlights of the show was definitely the monsters (which I thing all of them bar Red King, Guigass and Demaaga are new?). Pretty much all of them have creative and memorable designs. I will go Blazar levels of feral if they ever reuse Dorgo, Nigikagachi, Molgusion, Deltandos or Zangill (If he counts) again.

-Speaking of Zangill, his episode is probably my favourite on its premise alone: Guy shows up to ask for assistance with collecting the wandering souls of all the Monsters of The Week that the heroes had slain. Including one who's Real Fuckin' Mad and tries to get revenge. It's so freaking cool. Makes you wonder about literally every other MotW show actually...

-At first I found Big Bad a bit anti-climatic. I think I walked into my first Ultraman series expecting some big badass final boss with an EEEEEEvil Alien Overlord or something. But instead, the main villain of Blazar is basically just Some Old Guy (who is fiercely determined to cover his crimes, fatal consequences be damned).

Honestly, from the other shows, he's currently tied with Rising's Dr. Onda for the best Ultraman Big Bad. I've been a little disappointed with the others I've seen so far, which I think I'll explain further when we get to them.

-Last thing, the opening song makes me feel like that Spongebob Ascending Meme. It's awesome (I especially like how they show the monsters, starting with a newspaper then going to TV camera footage and satellite images.)

Overall 8.5 WHOOOYS! out 10

Next time I'll probably yap about either Z or Decker (or maybe Rising?) when I get around to/ remember to do it.

[alchemisoul]

"If I’m honest, the B-52’s got me to question my own prejudices. Where I was brought up there was a lot of anti-LGBTQ bigotry. When I was still a teenager, the B-52’s helped teach me to grow beyond them. For that alone I owe them a huge debt of gratitude. I was terribly saddened by Ricky’s passing and felt so sorry for the whole band.

I heard Rock Lobster on the radio and got the debut LP. I was just getting into punk rock and although I didn’t really consider the B-52’s “punk”, they were definitely breaking rules and creating music that was unconventional and groundbreaking: while disco was being derided, here was a band who it was OK to dance along to. They were so different and cool. We all loved their first two albums and I’m sure they influenced us. We definitely learned that music doesn’t have to be taken so seriously.

We learned a lot by covering 52 Girls. I loved Ricky’s sound, and of course his guitar looked so cool on a record sleeve, with its missing strings. At the time most rock guitar heroes were so bombastic and over the top, so Ricky’s understated playing and fun approach was really novel. To this day I’m still trying to find just the right Mosrite guitar in honour of him and Johnny Ramone."

- Noodles, The Offspring

"The B-52’s and Talking Heads always felt like Devo’s kindred spirits. We were all unique and not very punk. The punks didn’t like us because we weren’t orthodox, and orthodoxy permeates rock’n’roll. We’d first become aware of the B-52’s through independent record stores when we were hawking our debut single. It was exciting because I knew where they were coming from, how they were grabbing from 1960s kitsch with the beehive hairdos and the theatricality of it all. It was like they’d come from their own planet. Who on earth sings about a Rock Lobster?

It was outsider stuff with a distinctive sound that was consciously slightly retro, coming from surf music and rockabilly, but not with rockabilly beats. They’d come up through the Athens, Georgia, scene and dance clubs and were in the realm of LGBTQ [music] before such a thing was identified. They were transgressive and polarising, but in a different way to Devo. I met Kate at the Mudd Club in New York in early 79 and immediately fell for her. She had the beehive, of course, because they were always in character, which I thought was fantastic."

- Gerald Casale, Devo

"We in Talking Heads became friends with the B-52’s early on. I remember they told us: “You have to see this other band from Athens playing at Danceteria – they’re called REM.” The Athens, Georgia bands were all very supportive of one another, it seemed to me.

I produced an album with the B-52’s which ended up as an EP [Mesopotamia]. I suspect they came to me because they wanted to experiment a little bit more. Maybe that’s why the LP got cut down to an EP – or maybe the other songs weren’t up to snuff?

My favourite song from that record was Deep Sleep, which sounded like Young Marble Giants gone psychedelic. Ricky Wilson, who was such a large part of their sound, had Aids at that time, and was not around for many of the sessions. It was a pretty tough time for the band but they persevered and eventually revived. They were a tight family."

- David Byrne, Talking Heads

[9w1ft]

Isn't the bridge of Sweet Nothing kinda just Taylor saying to her lover, NOT her Mom, that she doesn't really want to rock the boat with anything that could lead to loud drama because she's too sensitive to handle it? (Because, y'know, the dictionary definition of the phrase sweet nothings is literally "murmured words of endearment, as between sweethearts", something that shouldn't have anything to do with one's own mother 💀?)

How in the heck is that supposed to translate to "Oh! I see, the only meaning of Taylor's continuous Kaylor references is Taylor being loud about her own queerness!" when Taylor herself is the one saying she doesn't want any loud drama surrounding her because it just makes her run home to where just her as her real self and nothing more or less is wanted?! I feel we're talking about two very different people sometimes 😭

you know, as i reread what i wrote, i sort of get how it comes about. because when you believe that taylor and karlie are a thing of the past and are also of the belief that taylor is going to come out in this era, it would only make sense that past references are for some other purpose. and i kind of get it in the sense that, when i first fell down the rabbit hole i also assumed she was poised to come out 😆 i think that when you’re newly taking everything in, it just feels so enormous, you know?

this is amplified, i believe, by some of the social dynamics at play in the gaylor community as it exists in places like twitter. i think for the most part tumblr has self sequestered and so we are able to write more or less what we want to or think but i think there is more of a finesse needed on places like twitter because (and i could be wrong but from what i’ve seen) kaylors kayloring are tolerated by non kaylors on the premise that either (A) they don’t believe they’re still together or (B) they’re just joking. and i think you can get along fairly well on the premise that you’re just clowning. so i can see how people assume the kaylors that are left are saying all this stuff for fun, when there are other more serious topics to think about.

putting this to the side, what you are saying is important. there is a conflict between what taylor says in her songs (and her explanation of them) and what she probably should be saying or doing to support the queer community. i feel like maybe it gets assumed that songs like sweet nothing, or dear reader, are messages directly solely at swifties, at people who insist she’s straight. oh, or anti hero, in particular the music video where one of her children, who projects that they are a person of culture, is acting like they know everything about taylor to the point where they’d like to profit off of it. i feel like there’s a message there. oh or lavender haze, specifically lavendergate, and the frustration borne from her ‘hetwashing’ the explanation. how much that hurt peoples internet standing, or got hate directed at them. there’s this disconnect or lack of attempt to comprehend why taylor would do such a problematic thing, especially if she’s single, but also if she’s dating a woman who she doesn’t have to obscure the truth about. idk.. sorry i’m rambling.

[felixantares]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @the-francakes 💙

Relationship status - single

Favourite colour - dark green that sort of borders on blue, like a pine forest just before dawn

Favourite food - I recently had covid and while it didn't take my taste or smell, it did mess something up so everything has tasted just slightly off for the last 2 weeks, like everything's a different brand/recipe (it's my own personal hell). That being said I've had to branch out with my foods to things I don't normally eat so I can't tell if it's different and my new favourite is chicken phanaeng. (RIP chicken teriyaki you will be missed 😔)

Song stuck in your head - Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift. Honestly the whole album is on loop in my brain constantly.

Last thing you googled - "ancient runes hp" (which makes sense, since I was doing research on the classes last night before bed)

Time - Monday 08:31 (Yes, I'm at work while writing this, don't tell my boss)

Dream trip - I'm not big on travel where it's one sightseeing trip after another. Honestly, I'd much rather take a couple of weeks and rent a cottage somewhere pretty and cold and just hang out rather than run around doing a bunch of stuff.

Last book fic you read - I recently finished Digging for the Bones by Paganaidd, a wonderful angsty severitus fic that had me in tears!

Last book you enjoyed - These questions about books are making me realise I don't read enough published books because all my recent books have been rereading old favourites, otherwise I just read a ton of fics. I did really enjoy my reread of The Magician's Nephew though, so I guess that counts.

Last book you hated - I don't think I've read a book I didn't like in a really, really long time and usually when I'm not enjoying something I just stop reading it and forget about it.

Favourite thing to cook/bake - Any kind of pastry, but probably peanut butter drop cookies. My recipe is 3 ingredients (gluten and dairy free) and takes 7 minutes to bake and you have cookies in under 20 minutes. 😍

Favourite craft to do in your free time - Writing should definitely count, but if it doesn't, linocuts are fun even if I don't do them very often anymore.

Most niche dislikes - I originally read this as cliche and was very confused. I immediately started asking myself what I dislike and my brain oh so helpfully was just like "you've never disliked anything in your entire life" so nothing I guess!

Opinion on circuses - Traditional circuses with animals and stuff? Uhhh.. definitely not good. But Cirque du Soleil is pretty cool!

Do you have a sense of direction and if not what's the worst way you've gotten lost? - I've got a decent sense of direction but sometimes I like to get lost on purpose! When I moved to my first big city, I would just pick a direction and walk and go down any street that looked interesting. It was a good way to get to know the city but in hindsight probably not the safest lmao

Tagging (only if you want, I also don't know who all's done this yet so feel free to ignore this!): @nanneramma @fiendishfyre @allalrightagain @bluesundaycake @bluestringpudding

[hoochy-coo]

OK honest album review after full day of lying to myself and Swiftie moots on Twitter

First of all, it's mature but repetitive. Like the sound on a lot of them are too similar for my taste. Again, maybe it's a personal opinion thing but I'm not a big fan of the excessive synth pop(strangely enough though, Style is one of my favorite songs from her)

Secondly, it's underwhelming that's all. Anyone else released it, it would be a solid A- like you said, but from Taylor "never has a bad album" swift, this one seems like one hat would be overhyped among the GP and critics because of the matured tone(which is I think exactly what she wanted so good for her) but overall it's just forgettable compared to the rest and again, doesn't have the Swift X factor.

You might say she set the standards too high for herself on Folklore and Evermore with the lyrics and on 1989 and Red with the production and this one just feels half baked with neither of her best qualities shining through on it.

It's also filled with hits and misses, has it's valleys and peaks you might say. Unpopular opinion but she hit the mark with the single choice this time because Anti hero is the perfect blend of the most catchy and well written song in the album and the sexy baby reference is actually going to be well received by the GP, methinks.

But some of them are, Im sorry to say this, but actual snooze-fests and what's ironic about that is the fact that the Folkmore albums were actually the indie ones but their songs were FAR more exciting than some ones on here, maybe because her penmanship was so spectacular on those.

Also wasted opportunities...like I get it, Taylor is THE consistent pop girly of the decade and we can't forget that and give her shit for not keeping the Folkmore indie vibes on this album...but but BUT, here's the thing, these songs are not even catchy enough to make up for the medicore-for-her-level lyrics like we had till Lover...Even ME! is more redeemable than some songs on here but this is an unexpected album from her so people will give her props for the experimentation and not acknowledge the rest.

Like Question, Maroon and Mastermind are great lyrically and I think they'd be far more popular if the melody was better. Anti hero is the only memorable one followed by You're on your own, kid.

The things is, even TS's #1 hater can't deny that she has potential for a perfect skipless album, I think where she fumbled here was trying to seem edgy and have a sharper sound to the things where it DOESN'T fit and sounds awkward and unsatisfying, but like she said herself on one song, she's just to soft for all of it...it doesn't suit Taylor Swift simply.

She should stop trying extra hard to appeal to gp or radio and stick with her storytelling format of songwriting, it's her at her best. Ofc if she's trying new stuff that's good for her but she should be careful not to lose her charm by overcompensating to certain bits of her audience which I'm afraid she might.

Good aspects are definitely the lyrics on particular songs and should've could've would've (or in whatever order it was, I forgot sorry) and basically the reminiscing songs are my personal favorites. Karma is too immature but it's fun, and some others are a bit too incoherent which doesn't let her main ability, which is immaculate songwriting shine through imo. Even 1989, her most mainstream pop album was thematically better and something just made it work, maybe the drastically different topics on the songs but held together perfectly in a way that it makes sense.

Overall, the rerecordings are on the way and I'm sure she'll provide great content soon.

This is a fair review and I agree with most of your points, except ME! Cause I hate that song with a passion

I’m really curious about the vault tracks for Rep

[wolf-stark]

You ask I deliver — both tfatws asks in one!

tfatws weekly ask 1

i finally saw ep1!! i wont be able to see ep2 until thursday at the earliest but i already have some Thots on this ep. here are the ones I remember

first is, and i'm so sorry for this, a grammar lesson. an appositive is when you stick an additional phrase in between commas, dashes, or the like. i actually just used one! the "and i'm so sorry for this" in the first sentence of this paragraph is an appositive. thing is, most english speakers don't normally use them when they speak, only in writing. so i'm always on high alert whenever i hear somebody in tv or movies use one. (it's generally a marker of bad screenwriting). anyway there was one right in the beginning of the episode. the white army guy yelling at sam wilson said "first lieutenant Torres, our intel officer, will be helping on the ground." yeah so. the writing of this series started out on the wrong foot for me. but the rest of the episode was obviously tons and tons better (every interview i see with malcolm spellman makes me love him more and more)

the contrast between the opening minutes (falcon action sequence) and the rest of the ep.... i would 100000/10 rather watch a series with just sam and bucky dealing with life. i dont give a single crap about the flag-smashers or any of that. i just want sam, sarah & fam getting their boating business back on the ground & yeeting racist dickwads, bucky going through therapy and making amends, sam and joaquin being bros, sambucky homoerotic tension, etc.

the cinnamontography! wandavision mostly used cinematography to signify era n stuff. tfatws doesn't have wv's premise to go off of, so here's some tricks i noticed:

with sam there's obviously all sorts of shots with the captain america iconography next to his face, but he hasn't totally claimed it. there's the mural of steve rogers in the background; there's sam staring into the shield like it's a spectre of steve's face; there's sam looking into the exhibit, the shield and sam separated by glass and a layer of camera focus. steve is a constant spectre, always there, an idea, a symbol himself. sam's relationship with this iconography is distanced. he is separated by glass exhibit walls. by painting canvases. he doesn't yet feel worthy to take on that iconography. this whole thing was pulled off quite well but also a bit on-the-nose if only in quantity. there's just sooooo much fancy iconography stuff

speaking of the exhibit, there's something that i get real pissy about. it's when like, there's an action going on you're supposed to be paying attention to but the cinematographer is like,,,, hey! check out this location! or this headline! or something! there was a lot of that in the exhibit. the camera was like, you could focus on sam and rhodey's convo (which was fine but could have been so much better with an extra like 10 minutes of deep character study talk) but noooo you want me to look at the symbol for the united nations and read all the text about bucky who hasn't even showed up yet. shut up i know the lore and ill watch the shot-by-shot breakdown yt vids you don't have to make the shot this long jkdsalcjklasejf

my fav trick was with bucky and the therapist. i had seen a clip of the scene with bucky and the therapist beforehand and i thought the cinnamontography was super obnoxious, but then i was like, oh duh. the shots frequently change the distance between the camera and its subject. sometimes it's uncomfortably close and sometimes it's really far. a clear allegory for the duality of therapy, esp for bucky! therapy is an invasive process wherein he is ruthlessly examined, picked apart, and berated for his trauma (this therapist is crap in every way btw, "mean therapist" works for greg house and greg house only). so the camera goes close. it makes the viewer claustrophobic like bucky. but when he's like "no i haven't had any nightmares" the camera suddenly goes really far. we see bucky as this tiny head in the center of the bottom of the frame. we are distanced from him. he has pushed us away. we cannot see him. he lies because he is vulnerable. so yeah, amazing work there. the therapy scene was hard to watch on purpose!

did bucky slip a note to yori inside the dollar bill? bucky stop making me emooooo. the suuper awkward fake smile has me 😭 (veteran trying to adjust!)

mark my worrrrds when sam asks someone y the govt picked john “white bread” walker they’re gonna say “we needed somebody everyone can get behind....someone uncontroversial, someone everyone can see themselves in” like that exact racist dog whistle

tfatws weekly ask 2

just saw ep2 so im taking advantage of the 2 seconds i can be on tumblr without worrying about tfatws spoilers before new episode drops

when isaiah said "your people put me in prison for being a hero" and bucky thought "your people" means hydra. 🤦‍♂️

speaking of racism, the interplay between sam being Black (anti-Black racism) and sam being the Falcon (negrophilia, "can i take a selfie w you as i deny you a loan?") and the intersection between the two (j*hn lichrally called sam "steve's wingman"! he takes the crypto out of crypto-racist in like 2 seconds!) !!!!!!!! a Black celebrity's Black experience, the separation of man and identity!!!! (thinking about vanessa bayer in snl in that skit "beyonce is black" telling her black friend "you're not black, you're...my girl!")

after sam gets racially profiled by cops we see j*hn standing in front of cop cars cinematic parallels turns out j*hn is racist who knew

this therapist sucks major ass but she got bucky and sam together in the same room and ready to collaborate...that's something ig. it was lichrally couple's therapy she said she used her miracle exercise with couples sambucky antis get blended

bucky says "he was wrong about you so maybe he was wrong about me"...that's not how people talk. when therapist asks bucky, the guy who doesn't talk at all about himself, "y do you hate sam", the last thing bucky's gonna do is actually connect his hatred of sam to his own self-worth issues. bucky generally refuses to talk about himself, so why would he talk about himself in the one context that nobody ever links back to their own neuroses: hatred of other people? one thing human beings hate most is admitting we're wrong. admitting you hate someone because of your own issues? that's a major therapeutic step. bucky would absolutely have to be prompted to do that. even like one or two lines of dialogue more would have set up that line better. but in terms of the actual thought? an amazing way to take the sam/bucky relationship. bucky bases his self-worth on steve believing in him, and if steve is wrong bucky has no self-worth, so 1) he has to develop self-worth disassociated from steve's assessment of him and 2) he has to love himself before he can love sam, and 3) he has to realize that sam giving up the shield is a sign of sam's humility not his unworthiness.

conversely, we don't get into why sam hates bucky? yeah sam has the right to hate a guy that has tried to kill him (albeit while brainwashed) multiple times, and now shows up in his life just to bash him but. everything happens so fast i cant follow their relationship

in fact i dont feel like i understood much of anything. like y did bucky and sam go on that mission together? how connected are sam/bucky/joaquin with the government? doesn't bucky just want to retire now? literally what is everyone doing/feeling and why???

if battlestar becomes a knowing commentary on the black best friend stereotype i'm gonna party, but i dont expect much of that

the interplay between man and symbol. captain america is obviously a symbol. the shield is obviously a symbol. but steve rogers? the. man behind the cowl? he too seems to become a symbol. a paragon of a good guy, so good he's unreachable. steve was just a guy stop idolizing him the last thing steve would want is to be idolized

as the resident musician/music nerd on mcublr, 1) that captain america rally music slaps, but 2) re: the song at the end of the ep, if you're just gonna rip off mozart's lacrymosa then at least play mozart's lacrymosa. we wont blame you the lacrymosa slaps (if you dont know what im talking about go on yt and search it up youll recognize it fo sho

look i love enfys nest as much as the next guy but if tfatws is gonna get erin kellyman to play another innocent little gurl blackmailed into the fakeout-villain position (her text seemed to suggest as such) then 😡 like why can't women just....be evil? young, freckly, innocent-looking women? girls are not untouchable pure objects but full of rage and resentment just as much as anyone can be

bonus ep1 comment: bucky says about that senator whose car he hijacked, "she continued to abuse the power i gave her." fictionaldarling on yt say that he says "i" because he can't disassociate himself from his winter soldier persona which begets endless and senseless guilt. like dude. can i not be emo for like 1 second.

OKay. First off, as much I enjoy your sending it to me, what made you decide to send me these??

-

TFATWS WA #1

Don't worry about getting this to me as early as possible. I usually don't watch the episode right away.

1. Cool writing lesson.

2. Everyone wants a comedy show [like Friends] about the MCU superheroes.

3. Cinematography is always a beautiful thing.

4. Sam definitely has to carve his own Captain America status for himself, outside of Steve's ya know everything.

5. They have to do that for people who was just now tuning in because they're in love with Sam Wilson or Sharon Carter.

6. I think the therapist was taking a 'tough love' approach for Bucky, because she likely has some very strong opinions about the literal assassin she's been assigned to give therapy too. She did not choose to talk to him, she was assigned that make that clear in the second episode.

And, Bucky isn't lying when he said it wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't a nightmare, it was a resurfaced memory. So, technically he wasn't lying - and yes, the camera does move away because while he's saying he didn't have a nightmare, he's not expanding on what actually happened - so, he's still pushing the therapist/us away.

7. Bucky, and Steve, have/had a TON to adjust to.

8. Yeah, I agree that will be the bullshit line they give. If they ever actually talk about it.

TFATW WA #2

Yeah, always got to take advantage of avoiding those spoilers lmfaoo.

1. Honestly, that line was double meaning. Both about White people and Hydra [which is made up of mostly white supremacists/nazis] So, the line is gesturing to both White People in general and Hydra assholes together. I think the terminology is “double edge sword”??

2. This whole paragraph structure confused me, ngl - so I'm going to answer it the best I can. I do like that they're not ignoring the fact that Sam being Black is 1000% the reason he's not the Official Captain America - because the gov't is racist as hell.

I also like the little lines about how they point out little things about Sam's Falcon persona, like that kid calling him 'Black Falcon' specifically and Sam's response show the split between Sam and Falcon itself.

John is a dick for calling Sam the wingman of Steve Rogers. Sam was a hero all on his own before Steve asked him to join up again. [Side note, it's lichrally??]

3. Exactly, the parallel of Sam being profiled and surrounded while just on the street and John being surrounded by fans and being able to spring Bucky with apparently only a few sentences shows a Loooooot

4. Honestly, at this point I wonder if she's not actually a therapist and is just an agent assigned to assess Bucky outside of an Official Building. I do know, however, that her 'look at each other and speak' exercise is actually a real therapy practice. It's just a little slower.

5. Actually, I think he would've blurted that out. That whole line. I don't think Bucky hates Sam. I think they could've done the scene better, but I think that had Sam prodded him/the therapist been more annoying Bucky would've lost control of his emotions and blurted out the whole "If he was wrong about you, he was wrong about me" but I feel like the writing for this show is just... not there. Sometimes you blurt shit when you get overemotional and I think that was what Bucky was supposed to be like.

6. I don't think Sam hates Bucky, I think he doesn't trust him though. I do wish they'd talked about that though. The whole 'talk to each other' scene should've been a LOT longer and a LOT slower.

7. Sam and Bucky's relationship is being fast tracked because they don't really know how to work the relationship out, writers-room-wise. Bucky is technically retired, but I feel like he's trying to live up to Steve's expectations and doing what Steve would've done and we all know that if Steve was there, Steve would've jumped on that plane with Sam. It looks like Sam/Bucky/Joaquin are a side-team based from Military services but as Sam says they're all free agents so...?

8. Sadly, They seem to just be propping up to be another stereotype.

9. Captain America is a symbol. Steve Rogers is a man. But now Steve Rogers is an idol because of all the shit he's been through and honestly, it's not a bad thing he's become an idol for people - it's using Steve as a reason to make White Bread Walker the next Captain that makes Steve's idolization so fucked.

10. I don't know anything about music so I have no opinion here, sorry.

11. Enfys?? Also, I think they did the whole Innocent Girl Thing as side commentary for Bucky lowering his guard about seeing a young girl rather than a guy.

12. Bucky is the Winter Solider. The Winter Solider is Bucky. That is how Bucky will always see it because although he was brainwashed, it was still him and he remembers all of it. When you have constant memories of something 'someone else' did, you tend to not be able to pull the two personas out of each other. I want Bucky to take up the title, White Wolf instead of Winter Soldier. Honest.

This is all my opinion, I’m honestly a little disappointed with the writing of TFATWS so far so... I’m not really optimistic about this.

[3wisellamas]

Hey, remember my pet cracktheory that Darrell is a clone of Laserblast, or is somehow connected to him in some way?  I finally cleaned up and sorted out my full list of weird things I’ve noticed that they both have in common, or that otherwise support that, or are just weird about this stupid robot in general.  Because I wasn’t fucking joking about there being a lot of it.�� Probably not gonna actually amount to anything, especially with not much series left, but meh.  It’s fun.  Enjoy.

---

Appearance/Body:

(Okay, I admit most of this section was pretty much killed by Darrell's canon human form in OK AU, which looked NOTHING like Laser at all.  But just in case...)

-Identical body shape/proportions to LB/SF, with wider torso/hips and very thin waist -- maybe a little smaller because he's a teen (and a robot)

-Very close head shape to LB/SF/PV:  square jaw (when it’s not exaggerated to make him cuter), similar rectangular shape and proportions if you include the braincase (since it would normally be inside his skull)

-LB's mask looks a LOT like Darrell's head, with the entire top half and most of the sides of his head covered and with circular ear...things

-That mask also tends to be quite expressive, almost functioning as a single eye sometimes

-Their big heavy boots are also kinda similar (Though honestly Darrell's boots look slightly more like Chip Damage's...)

-LB is based off of the superhero Cyclops, and Darrell is literally a cyclops

-Only robot that really seems to have an organic, human brain, and has human feet too along with Shannon -- even for just the feet, someone's DNA has to be cloned to make him, and not necessarily Boxman's.

-Darrell can grow stubble, according to that one tiny joke shot in Let's Watch the Boxmore Show; his face may be organic just like his brain and feet.  Also worth noting, the specific spots on the side of the jaw where LB's/SF's stubble shows are covered by metal for Darrell -- when comparing Darrell and LB, each character's most distinctive visible features (one eye and brain, cheek stubble) are covered up on the other!

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Costumes:

-Darrell seems to enjoy dressing up as a HERO -- when he's in cowboy mode he plays a sheriff, and when the bots play Golden Statues he always plays the museum guard, both specifically hero roles!

-In fact, the costumes in general -- he definitely likes pretending he's someone else, rather than just being fashionable like his siblings.

-LB and SF both hide their eyes, and may have something unusual/distinctive about them, especially with Laser because of his eye-based powers.  LB!SF in particular would hide his if there was something that might immediately get him recognized as his former identity.  Perhaps only having one eye (hence the visor acting as one on occasion like I pointed out)?  (We got to see behind LB's mask once in Gar's fear sequence in Face Your Fears, with one red eye showing where the mask was broken, but there it did look like he had two.  However, Gar would never have seen what was ACTUALLY under there...)

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Habits/Personality:

-LB was an anti-hero, willing to do some fucked-up things in the name of good, while Darrell is an anti-villain, who focuses more on just doing his job, having fun, and trying to make his father happy than crushing the heroes out of malice

-Darrell's also just a terrible villain in general.  Of course, he's directly killed another villain (or tried to anyway), and his idea of doing the most evilest thing was reporting Boxman's lies to the board and stopping him, AKA doing the RIGHT thing -- even with the betrayal, not very villainous of him, huh?

-Weird shared oral fixation?  There's a very unusual emphasis on food/mouth things with Darrell (his lowkey obsession with eating, spitting Boxman into the spitoon in his office, brushing his teeth), and LB's trademark was always having that lollipop in his mouth.

-Hugging soft cute animals, like Rippy and Fink

-Darrell writes in concrete in You're Level 100, and LB does the same using his eye laser in Glory Days (in the POINT theme song)

-Neither one is a big fan of new members of their respective teams right away.  LB refused to take junior members with him in both Glory Days and Let's Take a Moment, and doesn't seem to think much of them in either episode at all, aside from Silver Spark (and then, he still left her behind as one of his lookouts).  Darrell...just freaking HATES new siblings at first, having a problem with every single one he gets, at least the ones we've seen (we didn't get to see his and Mikayla's introduction).  He's also like this to siblings he considers inferior to him, to a point -- he and Shannon both got pretty jealous when Boxman started praising Jethro's "new moves."

---

Boxman stuff:

-Timing is correct, Darrell and the others were created right after LB disappeared according to Lad and Logic, since Boxman only drew the first three members in his original plans to attack POINT, and Gar was already building the plaza by the time Boxmore was opened.  This means the Boxbot quadruplets and KO were actually born around the same time, making them all 6-11 years old, roughly the same amount of time that's passed since the Sandwich Incident.

-Boxy was obsessed with POINT at that time (and still is, since he's kept the coordinates for POINT HQ memorized), and possibly LB himself (given his later attraction to PV)

-Boxman may also have some POINT tech and connections of his own?  First off, access to a huge supply of glorbs, the easiest and closest source of which Foxtail and Carol have been protecting and heavily monitoring, and are normally very hard for non-heroes to get their hands on.  Second, those boxes he sends the robots to attack in might use the same wormhole tech as POINT Prep's bus, since it looks a little similar both in transit and emerging at its destination, plus its driver sounds exactly like Ernesto.  And speaking of Ernesto, that one time he straight-up drew a POINT drone as part of a family portrait…

---

POINT stuff:

-There were six members of POINT before the Sandwich Incident, and LB was one of the original three, and seemed to function as co-leader alongside Foxtail.  There are six Boxbots, and Darrell was one of the original four, and kinda leads them in battle alongside Shannon, especially once he becomes CEO.

-And coincidentally, the original six members of POINT also share colors and in some cases roles with the Boxbots -- Shannon and Foxtail are orange, Greyman and Ernesto are purple, El-Bow and Jethro are blue, Rippy and Raymond are green, Silver Spark is...difficult but her hair is pretty distinctive and works with Mikayla for yellow, and of course, Darrell and Laser are red.  The robots' colors and relative ages even match POINT'S senior/junior members, with Greyman, Laser, and Foxtail representing three of the older Boxbots, and then Rippy, Silver Spark, and El-Bow representing the two newer ones and Jethro, who only recently was able to show his true personality/potential.

-"Junior Members" = "Junior Deputies"

-"Code Vermillion."  I made an entire post on this a while back, but to summarize, Vermillion is a bright, slightly orange-y red, and in most episodes is Darrell's exact color.  And Vermillion, as a red pigment, tends to darken over time into purple and black -- and SF and PV have connections to both glorbs (which Code Vermillion refers to), and to LB as well.

-Darrell has a bunch of weird similarities to Chip Damage as well, who is basically Laser's replacement at POINT, minus being the Charisma discipline rep:  Robots made right after LB got iced, green powers, special limited-edition costumes/POW cards, similar dark gray boots, the remote controls (Wisdom class blackboard for Darrell, Final Exams for Chip), possibly both made with actual brain tissue (The flashback to Chip's creation had a brain on one of Greyman's screens), etc.  Also, a dumb one, but...remember those Double-Dipped (KO and TKO?) Laser Chips (self-explanatory), that are "probably just a limited-edition" (Darrell).

---

Other assorted weird things:

-Darrell’s laser eye attachment shown in Stop Attacking the Plaza -- still being worked on in the episode (and it looks like it has been for a while, since it had been some time since Boxman was in that specific lab...), but used by a Big Darrell in the opening, where it produces a very similar (green) copy of LB's beam.

-Darrell is right-handed, in a left-handed family -- he's shown eating with his right hand in Stop Attacking the Plaza while everyone else is using their left, looks like he’s wielding a lightsaber right-handed in Plaza Film Festival, and draws with his right hand in Villains Night In.  Left-handedness is often associated with villains in fiction, so he may not be a full one?  (Definitely not as sinister as the rest of them, hehe.)  Though, some instances of Darrell using his left hand too, and other bots using their right, so I dunno how strong this particular point is.

-Line to keep an eye on:  "Just reboot yourself into a new body!  I do it all the time for funsies!" from Rad Likes Robots.  Related, Darrell reboots by exploding himself, which is how LB may have "died" and took on a new identity (if he's SF)

-Weird shit from Let's Not Be Skeletons:  Potato demonstrates a skeleton remote wearing a cowboy hat, and in addition to turning people into skeletons they remove powers, just like that red orb, and they also left Rad's and Enid's boots intact for some reason.  Darrell's also one of the biggest customers of the remotes, using his foes' weapons against them ("What do you say we snag more of them before they fall into the wrong hands?  We could even use them against our foes!")

-When we first saw TKO's power manifest in You're Level 100, it was while KO was trying to defeat a giant superpowered Darrell.  When we first saw TKO in physical form in Face Your Fears (as KO's "evil burp"), he was sent out to defeat a giant superpowered Laserblast head.  When we next saw TKO in, well, TKO (as his true self for the first time), he defeated another giant superpowered Darrell!

-Really dumb one, the letter right before C and D is B, so the acronyms LB and LCD may be a thing?

---

Turbo/SF/TKO connections, just in case those turn out to be related to Laser as well:

(Under the cut, since this is long enough already!)

-SF hints that negative emotions, particularly anger, fuel Turbo powers.  Darrell has quite a few jealousy and anger issues in general -- "Gets flustered by petty insults," HATES new younger siblings (or existing siblings showing him up and getting more of dad’s attention), etc -- and seems to be way more capable of mayhem than usual when running on these emotions.  They even gave him the power to defy his programming and (attempt to) kill Boxman!

-He can also have his power boosted by a ton in a very short amount of time, from level -4 up (down?) to level -100 and able to destroy the plaza in one shot, and for as brief as that level -100 thing was he STILL has yet to be topped as the most powerful villain in the entire series!  But, Boxman doesn't do it often -- even regular Big Darrells are implied to NOT be that powerful normally.  Perhaps he's holding Darrell back for a reason?

-A lot of emphasis on his brain, similar to TKO: the visible brain is obvious, he has the most noticeable hivemind, and he pilots Big Darrells from inside their braincases similar to how KO and TKO controlled Big KO (even the name's similar!) in TKO's House

-Also, he doesn't have to glitch or change colors with his mood like Shannon does, he can make decisions and go against his programming all on his own -- perhaps he runs mostly on that meat brain?  Or maybe his brain is actually a mass of pink glorbs like Jethro got in I Am Jethro that unlocked his intelligence and potential?  

-SF's speech to KO in TKO: "Everyone holds you back because they're afraid of your raw, natural ability.  They want you small and nice, blissfully unaware of your true potential."  Darrell in Lord Cowboy Darrell:  "Nobody's gonna hold me back."  Shannon to Darrell in Plaza Film Festival:  "Where do you think you got all that natural talent?"

-TKO ultimately came out of wanting recognition from his boss.  LCD ultimately came out of wanting recognition from his boss.

-That VERY noticeable purple glow in the "I'm the Daddy now!" scene in Lord Cowboy Darrell.  Like, to the point it seemed specially painted for emphasis, rather than the normal animation.  

-Also, Junior is pretty heavy evidence that Turbo powers do not necessarily = purple, as Junior's powers were all green (and so were Chip's Turbo-ish powerups!)  Darrell also has green powers (that even carried over to his human alternate in OK AU, despite Shannon and Raymond getting Enid’s and Rad’s exact same powers and colors), and is sometimes surrounded by Turbo-esque greenish lightning when he's angry, the best example being at the beginning of Legends of Mr Gar after being trash talked (remember that he can't take petty insults; he was PISSED there!)

-(If it looks like I’m insinuating Darrell’s secretly got more power under the hood than even he realizes, I absolutely am.)

-Darrell still has his dark hooded cloak from the pilot, which looks a little like SF's.

-Darrell's the only one who wasn't invited to Junior's funeral, and doesn't give half a shit, instead using it as an opportunity to betray people and take on a new identity.  Possibly like LB faking his own death, therefore not attending his own funeral, and taking on a new identity as SF?

-Sneaking through the vents = sneaking through the pipes (SF, maybe how LB survived given that pipe in Let's Take a Moment)?

-Weird broken halo imagery shared between both Darrell and SF in TKO.  (Not my observation actually, pointed out by @david-yells-about-cartoons )  Darrell's cloud halo thing in that episode also looks almost exactly like the clouds swirling above KO as he shoots a power fist for the first time at the end of Let's Be Friends…

[mst3kproject]

209: The Hellcats

With both the writer and the star of Sidehackers on board, we know we’re in for a delightful fun-filled romp.

Detective Dave Chapman is murdered by some sort of extremely small mob (kind of a mob-let) before he can close in on their drug smuggling operation.  His brother Monty gets back from Vietnam or somewhere just in time to hear the news, and being played by Ross Hagen, he decides he’s going to have to get revenge himself.  He and his fiancée-in-law Linda decide to dress up as bikers, get themselves invited into the gang that does the drug-running, and bring down the whole operation from within.

For a long time, I felt like there had to be a lot missing from The Hellcats, because when I would watch it as an MST3K episode I was never totally sure what was going on. Surely the Brains had removed something very important when they edited this film for the show.  Then I started doing this blog, and I got cynical.  If you’ll recall, I thought the same thing about movies like Laserblast and Swamp Diamonds, and it turned out I was wrong – the stuff they took out was even more irrelevant than the stuff they left in.  Yet upon re-watching episode 209 again, I got that same old feeling.  Where were everybody’s motivations?  Were they in the missing scenes?

Of course they fucking weren’t.

I’ll give you a specific example: I thought there had to be more to the scene at the airport, where Monty and Linda meet up after Dave’s death. Remember in movies like T-Bird Gang and Wild Rebels where the police want somebody to go undercover and get evidence?  I figured there would have to be something like that, but there isn’t.  Instead, as I said in the summary, the only reason Monty decides to do this himself seems to be because he’s Ross Hagen, and when Linda tries to protest, he won’t let her out.  Why can’t they let the police handle it?  You’d think the movie would want to offer at least a token reason.

What about the relationship between Linda and Monty?  She’s introduced as his brother’s fiancée.  She’s posing as his girlfriend when they meet the bikers at the Moonfire Inn (a place where the real-life Manson ‘family’ hung out), but she quickly becomes actually jealous when first Cyclops Woman and then Sheila take an interest in him.  Is she supposed to have fallen in love with him in the week or so since Dave died? This is never dealt with explicitly but their tender parting, with Linda urging him to come back soon, seems to imply it.

Like Megara in The Loves of Hercules, Dave is the movie’s fridge meat: he’s only here to die, and only dies to motivate Monty and Linda.  We know him about as well as we knew Megara, and we don’t really care about him or about the bond these other characters supposedly had with him.  Once Monty and Linda have ingratiated themselves with the gang, events move off in other directions and Dave is pretty much forgotten about.  It’s at least kind of refreshing that the movie places a man in this role, but then it goes and kills one of the girl bikers in order to anger her boyfriend.  Two fridges in one movie!

There’s more stuff missing.  Like, who are the other biker gang, who assaulted the artist and model and then showed up to challenge Snake to a race?  They seem to pop out of the void and then fade back into it.  How did Monty know where Sheila and Linda had gone when they went to see the moblet boss?  He was too far behind to have followed them.

Meanwhile, the things that are in the movie look and sound terrible.  The photography is awful: it’s out-of-focus, poorly-framed, jumpy, washed-out, and badly-lit… often all five in the same shot!  I watched the scene of the Hellcats’ Company Team-Building Picnic two or three times trying to figure out if it were supposed to be day-for-night or if it were just really crummy filming in general.  I favour the latter but I’m still not sure.  There’s at least enough light to tell what’s going on, which is a step up from some of these movies, but it’s bland and flat and everything looks like somebody’s home movies.

The actors are terrible.  The moblet boss in particular sounds like he’s reciting the times table in every scene he’s in.  Everybody else is better than him, but that leaves them a lot of room to suck.  Most of the ‘bikers’ look like they’re accountants or something dressed up for a theme party.

The music is bad, with not a single memorable song.  I can hum the Hellcats theme that plays over the opening and ending, but I remember it mostly because it reminds me of the Zombie Stomp from Horror of Party Beach.  A song about the brutality of a motorcycle gang should not sound like Playful Teen Beach Movie music!  Later, when things get actiony, we get what sounds like cheesy spy movie music.  It’s weird.

The crappy music plays over a lot of padding.  There are long-ass scenes of bikers on the road, and of the gang drinking, dancing, and fighting in the bar and at the picnic, while nothing much happens.  These make the movie longer, but they also provide something to show while the music plays, and the music really is the point because believe it or not, there was a soundtrack album for this movie.  I wonder how that went.

Insofar as the movie means something, it has an anti-drug message presented through the character Hiney’s bad trips (his version of Roses are Red does at least make me snicker) and the Mexican guy’s addict girlfriend begging for a fix.  This is as unsubtle as anything in Reefer Madness, if slightly less melodramatic, and it doesn’t merit deeper analysis.

Then there’s the ending, when the gang is undone by sheer bad luck. Instead of our heroes gathering evidence, finding out who was responsible for Dave’s death, and getting revenge, the whole drug operation falls apart as a result of a traffic accident.  One of the girl bikers crashes her bike after running over a board on the road, and the police lay a trap, knowing the gang will come back for the drugs she was carrying.  The man who does so decides to just turn everybody in to save his own skin.  Monty and Linda show up at the moblet’s HQ, where Sheila has gone for… some reason… and the final fight has far more to do with escape and survival than with revenge.

Monty and Linda participate in this climax but they are not in any way responsible for it.  An act of revenge does occur, but it’s on the part of the biker gang, who want vengeance for the dead girl on behalf of her grieving boyfriend.  If Monty and Linda had simply left things to the police, as Linda herself recommended, all this would probably have happened exactly the same.  Like Cabot in Outlaw, or Cal and Ruth in This Island Earth, they’re entirely useless in their own movie!

Of course, in Outlaw and This Island Earth, we had some idea of the personalities of the people we were watching.  In The Hellcats we’ve barely met Monty and Linda and what we’ve seen of them doesn’t particularly encourage us to like them.  Monty gets off his plane and immediately vows revenge, and the next time we see him is roaring up to the Moonfire Inn on a bike with Linda clinging to him.  We first meet Linda carping at her fiancé about him ignoring her in favour of work.  If he’d lived and been the hero of this movie, she would have been the nagging girlfriend whom he eventually reconciles with after realizing how important family is. We don’t know or like Monty or Linda well enough to root for them, and we definitely haven’t seen enough to care about their emotional bonds with Dave.

I find myself comparing The Hellcats to The Sidehackers and trying to figure out which movie is worse.  The Sidehackers did at least try to be about something (religion), but it was a nasty misanthropic movie that killed off both the protagonists and the antagonists, and left a bad taste in my mouth for days.  The Hellcats doesn’t have any themes besides Drugs Are Bad and the characters don’t appear to grow or learn anything from their experiences, but it doesn’t hate the audience the way The Sidehackers did.  If I had to pick one of the two to watch again, I don’t know which it would be.  I mean, The Sidehackers is less boring, but I hate it so much more.

Have I just lost patience with these movies after over a hundred of them?  Or was this one actually that bad?  I don’t remember being so annoyed by it when I watched it as an MST3K episode but then, I only watched it once – the flashback host sketches disappointed me so I never bothered with it again.  Too, I’ve learned a lot about what to pay attention to when I’m watching a film, and I probably have a very different perspective on shitty movies now than I did when I started this blog.  I wonder… when I’m finished the full run, maybe I should re-visit some of the early entries, and see if I have any new thoughts on them.  Maybe they’ll suck more than ever.

[starbright-cobweb]

There's a very good Lindsey Ellis video about Nazi movies, and it points out that a lot of supposedly anti-Nazi movies are nevertheless thought of fondly by actual white supremacists. That pretty song in Cabaret and the pumped up imagery of American History X are two she singles out for criticism. Ellis' memorable punchline is "...but do you know what movie the neo-Nazis do not appropriate?".

Turns out, it's very hard to make a camera critique something; by definition, the thing you are watching is the pleasure you are being delivered by the experience of film.

& this touches on a lot of conversations around screen representation - like, how do we depict sexual violence in a way that's genuinely repellent rather than lowkey horny, or how do you do war on screen in a way that takes war seriously instead of stirring manly longings. That's how you get "oh shit no" cinema like Irreversible and Come and See that's appropriately horrible to experience. (goodness knows, the gays know how to turn the world's most horrible films about us into something we adore)

Anyway, this has been on my mind because I am a huge fan of L.A. Confidential; it was a huge part of me teenage years when I was becoming a film nerd, and it was also the first film I latched onto as a vehicle for unspoken transmasculine angst. Rewatching it for the first time post- Kevin Spacey stuff was a Thing; I was excited to reflect on it as a person whose politics on cops have changed a Lot since I was a teen; I shared the film with my spouse; and I was so bowled over by it once more that I actually watched it twice back to back. I love this film so much.

L.A.C is a broadly-based-on-history cop thriller about police corruption in the 1950s, and follows three cops (who are varying measures of corrupt, flawed, and principled). But ultimately it's about good men in a bad department and a dark world. And that message overrides everything else you see, of police brutality, and corruption, links to organised crime, framing the innocent, targeting minorities, bribery, torture, and so forth. That's where "no more shows with heroic cops" comes from as an argument; it can't help but suggest heroic policing is possible - if only the right people were in the job and it was better regulated; rather than a more accurate stance on how the police function in the real world more as crime bureaucrats than crime-stoppers, how departments naturally only retain people who fit into cop culture, and how abuse of power is basically inevitable whenever there is an imbalance of power. (In that sense, it's no different from political shows whose perspective is "fantastic things can happen if you just vote the right people into power!" when irl, there are substantial barriers to 'the right people' getting within a sniff of power, and so these stories can only ever act as reassuring wish-fulfilment)

> Even in the most braindead, shitty buddy cop show, usually you've got two different perspectives on how to Fight Crime. Continuing the merciless critique of my all-time-favourite film: L.A.C. does this exactly, but it still comes out overall with a positive view of law-enforcement (and it also satisfies a nostalgic urge that maybe the good old days of beating suspects until they confess was good, so long as the suspects really deserve it and the cop doing it is a good cop). A cop show is never going to center the perspective every single week that "crime is a fake social construct and no cops should ever be involved at any stage of the process". L.A.C. is maybe the perfect example of this unofficial-copaganda-creation in action because literally nothing that happens in this film that the police do is good. Not even once. And I could run you off a list of evil, criminal, violent and corrupt things that police officers do, and some of those things are done by our hero cops; and yet...the emotion and political perspective you leave the film with doesn't match the narrative facts at all. You come out feeling pretty good about cops. And also that you might want one of those 1950s ties. The film's satisfying, and makes you feel powerful, and the protagonists are glamorous and collectively capable of triggering every genre of closted transmasculine longing in existence. (I don't mean to suggest I should get special consideration for it; like, this film delivers on some deep-rooted-in-the-culture masculine fantasies - that's why this kind of cinema is kinda dangerous; I'm more self aware and embarrassed of projecting myself through it, but i have absolutely zero doubt that cis men experience it in a similar way. Who wouldn't want to be that well dressed while punching domestic abusers?) I feel like the way to go is shows about departments in which the protagonists are neutral. Like Cruising, maybe, where you kinda like the protagonist because he's the protagonist, but overall the role of the police is ambivalent. Or Red Riding, maybe, but Red Riding is overwhelmingly horrible and unheroic and the nice cops are basically powerless to intervene in the systems in which they work. Tales of the Grim Sleeper is very very good at centering the community around serial killing, in a way that defuses the mythos of the serial killer. I take the overall argument that the Cop Show is a set of genre tropes that can be adapted to any purpose. But the camera always loves what it sees, and you have to proactively work not to romanticise what you show. Even when someone's superficially made a critical film, it can still come off as pleasurable and convincing. Whatever your goal is, it can be better accomplished in a story with zero heroic cops. Maybe your protagonist is someone else in the scenario other than a police officer; or if the storyline has to be from the police perspective then go for a documentary-style-eye where the protagonist's role is profoundly neutral, or even mostly negative. The abolitionist perspective is that police are either useless, or make situations worse, or are the cause of the situation in the first place; there is no room for a heroic cop in that worldview. Here's a plot bunny for a no-cop-cop-show: the protagonist is some kind of nebulously defined Community Leader sort. I like Victoriana, so let's say we're in Whitechapel in 1888, and maybe the hero is a well-regarded rabbi or a brothel madam or an anarchist agitator who runs a print shop (maybe they're a team!) And the challenge every week is to solve a problem *without the participation of cops* You could still have all the pleasures of the format, but the key point is that at no point is the state anything other than a menace.

The more I play Ace Attorney the angrier I get that it's like the only thing out there that's doing its shtick. it's the only fun, goofy, family-friendly story about defense lawyers out there, and there should be a bajillion more of them.

Defense lawyers are way, way, way more important to making sure Justice Is Done than any cop will ever be. Even if someone is Guilty As All Hell, they have the right to explain why it really isn't what it looks like, honest. They have the right to try to argue their innocence- and a defense lawyer is the person who makes sure you can do that.

I can think of a million defense lawyers in media, sure- grey-faced little men standing between Our Heroes and the villain, telling the good guys that they can't win. I can think of a million Heroic Cops and Heroic FBI Agents and Heroic Detectives.

.......I can only think of three heroic defense attorneys: Phoenix Wright, Atticus Finch, and Elle Woods.

Atticus Finch is a good and important character, but To Kill A Mockingbird isn't exactly a fun, light-hearted story. it has its moments, sure- but you couldn't really make a summer blockbuster or a video game out of it without it feeling massively disrespectful to the heavy stuff it's covering. and while I haven't seen Legally Blonde, I'm pretty sure that Being A Lawyer is not the core focus of who Elle is as a character and justice is not the main point of her arc- her story is about proving that she can be just as good as the guys, while being Femme As Fuck. and that's a great story and a story that needs to be told, but you could tell it about building rockets or fighting mummies or climbing up the Eiffel tower and it'd be a very similar story.

Phoenix Wright is a defense attorney, and he is a good guy. That (plus being a bit ditzy) is the entirety of his character. Phoenix is a defense attorney because he is a good man; Phoenix is a good man because he's a defense attorney. He believes in his clients. He fights for them, even when there's no obvious way to prove they're innocent. And he always, always, always saves them, even if he has to get them off on the most technical of technicalities.

we need as many characters like that as we need Good, Heroic Cops (TM), if not more. Because defending justice, really defending justice, means standing up for people who've been accused of something wrong, even if everyone hates them and thinks they're guilty. if there's even the slightest chance that someone is innocent, justice demands you weigh that chance. you give everyone the fair shake you wish you'd have, because someday it might be you in that courtroom. justice requires defenders of the accused, not just protectors of the innocent.

... one of these days, I'm going to figure out how to make an exciting children's legal drama where one of the major protagonists is a public defender, so help me gods

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: THE TROOF ABOUT STARLIGHT GLIMMER

WARNING: Make sure to put a titch of salt in your hot cocoa. Boosts the flavor a bit. All original imagery belong to their respective owners and I swear to not claim them as my own with this post, which was all made by happenstance and fun. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

A 3rd rate song in Hasbro’s otherwise swinging OST

To be frank, my thoughts on the character Starlight Glimmer are surely something. On the one hand, I find myself connecting with the tragedy that is essentially her trying to make it through her new life, and the other involves curb stomping her face in. I mean, they are sincerely pushing this character to provide some sort of value to the world, but I can’t really say what yet. Yeah, she’s the kind to make mountains out of molehills, but that’s like 85% of the show in general. Yeah, they forgave her faster than most would, but besides killing two characters the show can be incredibly angelic. All in all, I see where the detesting attitude towards her comes from, but something in me still couldn’t see the clear case behind her poor character. Yet, I think I understand now, and I’m surprised most never really touch this thought. Roll with me here...

She’s the total opposite of Discord. The Nega-Discord, if you will.

I see many compare her to Sunset Shimmer, and I definitely see where they’re coming from, but when you start stacking her to Discord, the troof speaks for itself as Discord has everything Starlight wished she had. As villains, Discord relished in chaos (hence the name) whilst Starlight wanted control. Both were content with the results they wanted and made the most of it until a single moment of convenience brings everybody together to defeat them in spades. Compare this to Sunset Shimmer, whose plans as a villain in the 1st movie were generally aimless and the motive behind it didn’t amount to much beyond an elongated grudge against her former mentor. Her motive were better than Starlight, sure, but besides trying to prove Celestia wrong nothing about her villainous stance really evolved before it was killed off entirely.

Though that grudge has come full circle. Which, splendid.

Even after getting their ass handed to them, with the promise to elicit a semblance of change, Discord and Starlight continue to let their villainous sides seep into how they affect the story in their respective episodes. Their escalating actions, though, is where the distinction starts to show. It’s after “Keep Calm and Flutter On” where Discord’s chaotic nature doesn’t create the problem but centers around it; the use of his powers may complicate the situation for others, Discord included, but it’s never to directly put them in any rut that they haven’t dug themselves. Discord’s essentially the anti-hero of the show, effortlessly willing to be the bad guy compared to everybody else, only for his actions to provide a lesson for those affected. He’s pill nobody wants to swallow, but in doing so helps those see the benefit.

With a platonic ship I find beneficial, mhm

And with Discord being the anti-hero, comes Starlight being the anti-villain, or somebody with well off intentions only to make matters worse in reality. Let it not be said that with the episodes that actually gives her spotlight, not just to be a plot device supporting character, it’s always her building the problem only for others to resolve it and spell out the lesson to her (or us), all for the intent of having some semblance of control like before (or having literal control in one episode). Unlike Discord’s chaos which plays a part in solving the problem, Starlight’s control is the problem. And while her motives can appear as reasonable or relating in its terribleness, you can’t deny that the ends add up from more evil means than Discord and this doesn’t make us root for her.

Now I see i<3kimpossiblealot’s stance on Discord clearly

But one might ask, “Monkey Network, you fool, that’s barely enough to label Starlight as the Nega-discord.” And you’re right, their actions aren’t the only thing that makes them extracted opposites. Their presence is also the key element; can’t have a character with only tell and no show. But, here’s where things get transparent: the sheer duality comes in progression of their appearances. People have said Starlight is typically stapled to the episode to have somebody to consider a main character, and they’re right. Unlike Discord, who not only stands out effortlessly but makes his presence known immediately, Starlight comes in and out like a neighbor next door. Her personality is generally static, so it doesn’t feel hard replacing her with Spike or any average character. It reminds me of this other show, Mob Psycho 100, where the main character’s entire point is to be one within a mob even when he is a psychically powerful person, hence his nickname “Mob”. However, his overall character arc is not trying to stand out among the crowd with said power, but enjoy being around one with his increasing circle of friends with or without. That’s what Discord’s character arc is all about, an all powerful chaotic god having a touch more humanity in him and having a sense of belonging with his former adversaries and the world in general. Starlight wants to be more than a past villain, she wants to learn about friendship, however vague that is, but in return nothing makes her stand out beyond baggage, strong magic, and kites. Yeah, she makes friends with Maud, Thorax(?), Trixie, and NEET boy, but it doesn’t affect her place in the canon in any way. They’re the ones having their character built more, not Starlight’s. She’s the peasant among well tuned kings.

And let us be real, she hasn’t made any sort of mark no matter how hard she’s tried and actually succeeded

And as a final blow, it gets pretty meta when you see that Discord getting less actual screen time in the 4 seasons he was around makes him a better character than the 2 Starlight got. Hell, even if you switch Discord and Starlight’s histories, the former has much more charm and likability that his fuck ups wouldn’t make you hate him as much as you would Glimmer. So with all the effort put into Starlight for two years, she got the worst improvement: the kind begging for your attention. The kind that says that you could change only to be continuously overshadowed by your more precise equal.

Now you can see why Discord was the push behind Celestial Advice’s existing plot

We basically got not only a character that’s string compared to the likes of Sunset Shimmer but the same character twice with Discord’s primary presence. And with all that said, what can we do with her? Well, nothing really. She’s so deep in this rabbit hole that it’s too soon to just write her out and too late to say she’s deserved to die. That’s the sad thing about her. Her development existed outside everyone else’s, so we’re literally seeing a bubbled vision of how this fool of a villain tries to redeem herself, practically by herself, with the only sense of keeping afloat is the fear of failure and utter isolation. The lacking discipline, the uncoordinated freedom of doing what you want however you so please, culminating in a tragic state of stagnancy and unintentional detriment.

No wonder people tend to relate to her

So consider it a slow, deflating tragedy, where her presence ironically gets cast into a boundary of isolation with every passing episode. Watch her slowly fall deeper into the background of your mind, and with every scream for acknowledgement, you slowly grow blissful to the white noise, walking by every excuse for her existence only to then look back in the end and say, “You know, she could’ve been made worse.” That might not seem clear, but it’s certainly happening.

She’s basically the new Star Wars series: a polarizing, ambiguous, yet overall mishandled present on your doorstep that will be shelved and forgotten in favor of the original product not long after

Truth be told, I can’t hate Starlight anymore; I’ve certainly grown tolerant enough for her to be a supportive background character with a nice voice. It’s like stomping a roach, you can feel disgusted, scared, annoyed, angry, but after all that, after a while, the emotions mellow enough and the motivation for continuing the scrutiny burns out. And with this, if you are able to find Starlight to be compelling character, that is okay; make lemonade out of lemons. But like staining cashmere, we mustn’t say propelling judgement on her is wrong when the writers have clearly tried to say otherwise to no real avail. All in all, she’s a dead end and you can either enjoy the end with her or turn back around and move on. Whether she truly develops or falters later, there’s no harm in enveloping her with your time. Or you could just be a villain and fucking kill her off.

And as I will never get tired of this gif,  I’m Roy Macintosh, and that’s all I got

[queenmercurys]

For the fandom thingy!! Got, Cinderella (or would Disney be easier idk), that one Medici show, the white queen/princess, and Star Wars!

thank you so much, hon! :D this is gonna be the longest ask ever, so I’m gonna put the game of thrones first and then cut everything else under the “read more” line ;P but yes, thank you

game of thrones:

Top 5 favourite characters: ROBB STARK (always), ned stark, arya stark, sansa stark, jaime lannisterOther characters you like: I love so many got characters, but besides the top 5, I really love tyrion lannister, margaery tyrell, bran stark, stannis baratheon (mostly book!verse) and myrcella baratheon.Least favourite characters: haha…. walder frey and roose bolton, always. Otps: tyrion/sansa, ned/catelyn, arya/gendry. Notps: robb/margaery, jon/daenerys, jon/sansa. Favourite friendships: jon/robb, jaime/tyrion, sansa/margaeryFavourite family: the starks, always!Favourite episodes: 1x08 (the pointy end), 1x01 (winter is coming), 1x10 (fire and blood), 2x08 (the prince of winterfell), 3x03 (walk of punishment) and 3x05 (kissed by fire)…. all these for very good reasons… Favourite season/book/movie: season 3 and book 3 are both my favorites, but both excluding that one moment that never happened.Favourite quotes: “I’m not fighting for justice if I don’t serve justice to murderers in my ranks, no matter how highborn.” - robb // “you think I’m fighting this war so that they’ll sing songs about me? I want to go home.” - robb // “I asked him, how can a man be brave if he’s afraid? that is the only time a man can be brave, he told me.” - robb // “love’s not always wise, I’ve learned. it can lead us to great folly, but we follow our hearts… wherever they take us.” - robb // “never forget what you are. the rest of the world will not. wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” - tyrion // “the north remembers.” - various

Best musical moment: robb being named king at the end of season 1. Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: actually that’s also probably the moment robb was named king in 1x10. it’s just such a powerful, strong moment with a character I truly love getting the appreciation he definitely deserves. but at the same time there’s the obvious sense of dread, so I think the scene is done incredibly well.When it really disappointed you: well, ahem. obviously 3x09. it will always disappoint me. I get why it happened but it just sucks and hurts so badly. but other than for heartbreaking reasons, sadly a lot of season 7 disappointed me. I guess to name a single moment, the sex scene between jon and daenerys.Saddest moment: robb’s… departure… in 3x09. always.Most well done character death: *sigh* well, actually, probably ned’s. it’s really heartbreaking, but it had been built up to for multiple episodes, and it was done with a lot of feel and heartbreak. Favourite guest star: I’m not entirely sure who qualifies as a guest star, like how long they can be on the show to still be a guest, but I’m gonna say clive russell as brynden tully. he’s not supposed to just be a guest, but that’s what he turned out to be. still an amazing character.Favourite cast member: richard madden, always. my man. Character you wish was still alive: oh dear. robb stark, all the way, always. he’s still alive in my heart, though.One thing you hope really happens: robb comes back to life, takes back winterfell, saves the world from the white walkers and lives happily ever after. (what? that’s unlikely?)Most shocking twist: well, this is kinda hard for me to say because I actually knew that you-know-what would happen, so it wasn’t shocking when I saw it. in fact, I had tried to brace myself for it for ages. I guess I’m gonna say joffrey’s death, because that was definitely a twist.When did you start watching/reading?: probably in 2013? I honestly can’t really remember but it was in the 2012-2013 era. Best animal/creature: grey wind, always!Favourite location: winterfell!Trope you wish they would stop using: jon being an epic hero who gets one chance after another, forever. not exactly a trope, but I’m sure there’s a trope in there somewhere.One thing this show/book/film does better than others: creates complex, interesting characters with a lot of layer and depth, and shows that even villains can have a very humane side. and besides this, creating a world which is both fantasy, and yet still so very realistic almost to the point you could picture it being real history (which it obviously is not). Funniest moments: I will always a sucker for the moment in 1x01 when arya throws food at sansa and then cat commands robb to take her to bed. idk why, but I love it. as well as that, a lot of tyrion’s puns. and that moment at the end of 3x05 where tyrion and cersei are both acting like grumpy children as tywin commands them both to marry. idk why, but that cracks me up.Couple you would like to see: arya/gendry. I used to have more ships I liked on the show, but at this point that is the only one left I’d like to see.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: well, a lot of my faves are already on the show, but I think rebecca ferguson would be amazing, or alicia vikander. and obviously my girl lily james.Favourite outfit: robb’s outfit in 3x09. despite everything, it’s a freaking gorgeous outfit that makes him look even more perfect than usual.Favourite item: any accessory the starks wear that has a direwolf on it. also many of sansa’s and margaery’s necklaces.Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: oh yes, absolutely. so, so many things. obviously the dvd’s and all that, and the books, but also most of the funko pop dolls, a robb  action figure which is actually mighty accurate, and things like calendars, notebooks and so forth. lots of stuff.What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: well, I would love to be a stark but I would not want to be related to robb. so, wishful thinking, stark through marriage? but if that doesn’t count, I guess I would be a lannister, if not for anything else, then for my apperance. there’s not a lot of blonde families in westeros. Most boring plotline: sorry, but jon and daenerys.Most laughably bad moment: *sigh* sadly, a lot of the dorne scenes, which sucks, because they were supposed to be awesome.Best flashback/flashfoward if any: the moment in season 6 when bran goes to the past and sees young ned going to the tower to rescue lyanna. the moment when bran calls for ned, and he turns around, is pretty heartbreaking.Most layered character: I want to say robb, but I know that from an unbiased pov, that ain’t so. I suppose I would say jaime, then. he is very well developed, and turned from a clear villain to an anti-hero, and to basically a hero at the point where the show is now.Most one dimensional character: I guess show!ellaria sand. I don’t even know what she’s doing.Scariest moment: like scary scary? hmm… I don’t know, maybe that moment at the end of season 2 where sam is hiding from the army of white walkers?Grossest moment: the oberyn vs mountain fight in season 4. I still can’t watch that properly.Best looking male: robb. richard. robb. richard. this man. perfection!! Best looking female: alexandra dowling, who plays roslin. she’s so pretty. Who you’re crushing on (if any): in case it wasn’t obvious by now, robb stark.Favourite cast moment: I feel like any moment at the 2013 comic con fits. I love how close they all seem, and I love seeing richard hanging with kit, alfie, michelle, rose etc.Favourite transportation: in got this is a little hard to answer, but I do love horses, so.. the horses?Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): anything related to winterfell and the north. I also love the shots from iceland with beyond the wall scenery. I love snow and mountains.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: there’s actually so many theories around that sometimes I forget what hasn’t been actually addressed, but… hmm… I guess I would have liked to know more about what ned was actually up to during the war when robb was born (like I get that he went to grab jon, but there’s always been speculation about whether he actually cheated and what he was doing etc etc), and maybe honestly a lot of stuff related to that time period. except rhaegar and lyanna. I do not care what they did and why. but I can’t think of any actual plot errors right now.Best promo: the season 3 promo shoots were mighty good, I loved them. also season 6 just for the sake of them bringing robb back and me dying from excitement, even if it was just one promo picture.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: I fell in love with the show quite quickly in season 1, and in the books it’s pretty much the same. maybe around halfway the first book I realized how complex and awesome it actually is.

cinderella (2015):

Top 5 favourite characters: prince kit (my darling), ella, the king, the captain, fairy godmotherOther characters you like: I really like ella’s parents a lot Least favourite characters: probably the grand duke.Otps: ella/kitNotps: anything related to ella and/or kit that isn’t ella/kit? :PFavourite friendships: kit/captainFavourite family: kit and the king!Favourite episodes: I am gonna translate this to favorite moment: forever the moment when kit reveals himself to be the prince and not a guard/soldier when he hears ella’s singing at the end of the movie.Favourite season/book/movie: ok, I guess I’m also gonna translate this to favorite moment :P another one of my faves is when kit is crying by the king’s bed when he’s dying. it’s such a vulnerable, beautiful moment which shows a male character in a light few disney movies had done in the past. plus, richard’s acting is a+++ in that scene. Favourite quotes: “kindness is free. love is free.” - ella // “just because it’s what’s done doesn’t mean it’s what should be done.” - ella // “we must simply have courage and be kind, mustn’t we?” - ella // “we need not look outside of our borders for strength or guidance. what we need is right before us.” - kit Best musical moment: probably the dancing scene, everything about it is perfect. as well as the scene after ella’s dress has been ruined and she runs to the garden. it’s such a powerful moment. I also like ella’s singing at the end of the movie.Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: oh, again the moment where kit takes off his cloak and reveals his identity. I love that so much. but also the moment kit first appears, that just got me so good.When it really disappointed you: I don’t think anything about this perfect movie has ever disappointed me.Saddest moment: when ella finds out her father is dead, and when kit’s father dies. lots of death.Most well done character death: I think it’s gotta be ella’s mother. the build it up nicely and it’s very heartbreaking.Favourite guest star: I guess this means minor character. I think hayley atwell is quite good in her role. also derek jacobi, if he counts as a guest.Favourite cast member: richard madden, always! Character you wish was still alive: well, I think all the deaths actually worked very well into the story, but I’m gonna say the king, since he doesn’t die in the original.One thing you hope really happens: I want a sequel/prequel about kit when he’s at war and how he becomes the person he is in the movie. this is based on the rumor of a prince charming movie happening. if they don’t do it about kit, don’t do it at all.Most shocking twist: I love this movie to bits, but it’s not very shocking. I guess, again, when kit reveals his identity? I keep talking about this scene.When did you start watching/reading?: I got into it the moment it was first announced, and I watched it in the theatres the day it came out march 2015. Best animal/creature: it’s gotta be the mice, eh? Favourite location: the secret garden.Trope you wish they would stop using: I don’t mind anything they used, but I guess it would have been okay if absolutely everyone had not been obsessed with ella when they saw her at the ball. she deserves it, it’s her moment, but it’s still a little bit of an unlikely scenario, no matter who it’s about.One thing this show/book/film does better than others: this movie does everything better than any other movie. but to name one thing: it is a remake of a classic and it does it wonderfully. it keeps true to the original, but it also adds something to it to make it worth watching as its own thing. that says a lot when you compare it to other recent disney remakes.Funniest moments: honestly, the stepsisters are pretty funny when they’re not tormenting ella. I also love the kit/king dynamics when they’re being playful around each other.Couple you would like to see: I think I saw everything I wanted to see, but it would have been nice to see a love interest for the captain, for example.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: well, I mean, since the movie’s already done… I guess I would have really liked to see sean bean as the king because robb/ned feels, but derek jacobi did a fantastic job, no complaints.Favourite outfit: ella’s wedding dress and her blue ball gown. but all the costumes are perfect and oscar-worthy *sigh*Favourite item:  it’s gotta be the glass slippers, right?Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: yep, for sure. the dvd, the blu-ray, the book (two versions), four ella dolls (including the pop funko thingy), two kit dolls, a calendar, a keychain, a necklace… and ella’s dress… etc… I’m pretty much a loser, eh? What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: I would love to be related to ella, it would be an honor.Most boring plotline: nothing. absolutely nothing.Most laughably bad moment: nothing! Best flashback/flashfoward if any: well, I guess the time jump after ella’s mom’s death was done really well.Most layered character: probably kit, actually. I know I’m being biased, but he definitely shows he’s more than a cheerful, social prince who is charming. he’s been to war, he can be serious, he can be sensitive, and he can easily relate to other people and how they’re feeling. praise this babe.Most one dimensional character: well, the grand duke and the stepsisters, but they served their purpose.Scariest moment: I love this movie, but it ain’t scary.Grossest moment: and it ain’t gross, either.Best looking male: prince kit, always. Best looking female: ella sure is pretty.Who you’re crushing on (if any): kit. richard. my man. always.Favourite cast moment: any cast moment, honestly. I love the dynamic between the cast members, especially lily and richard!Favourite transportation: oh, the pumpkin carriage!Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): the secret garden, as well as the snowy mountains.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: well, it does kinda confuse me how the glass slipper doesn’t disappear along with everything else, but I believe there’s an explanation for that somewhere.Best promo: all the promo they did for this movie is fantastic.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: the minute I heard it was being made. I called it my favorite movie before it even released, and I was right.

I decided to do disney, too, only animated movies:

Top 5 favourite characters: cinderella, rapunzel, snow white, anna, quasimodoOther characters you like: I like a lot of disney characters, but to name a few, flynn, piglet, aurora, pocahontas, king arthur (if only on principle), merida.Least favourite characters: well, I don’t really hate anyone, but I guess I don’t like lady tremaine, the evil queen or some of the other villains.Otps: cinderella/charming, rapunzel/flynnNotps: I really have none.Favourite friendships: I guess anna and elsa are sweet, and I also like piglet and pooh, of course. all friendships are cute.Favourite family: hmm, I guess I like the incredibles family, and the lilo and stitch crew (my terms are on point)Favourite episodes: I guess favorite movie? cinderella!Favourite season/book/movie: another favorite movie? my second fave is tangled.Favourite quotes: “some people care too much. I think it’s called love.” - winnie the pooh // “if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.” - cinderella // “you think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you.” - pocahontas // “don’t just fly. soar.” - dumboBest musical moment: that would probably have to be “I see the light” from tangled. or “god help the outcasts” from the hunchback of notre dame.Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: hmm, I don’t know. maybe when cinderella gets her dress.When it really disappointed you: I can’t say I was the hugest fan of frozen. don’t get me wrong, I like it just fine. but I don’t understand why it’s seen as the best of the best of the best.Saddest moment: basically every scene in the hunchback of notre dame.Most well done character death: probably mufasa in the lion king.Favourite guest star: like a guest voice actor? umm… ok, for reals, I couldn’t think of anyone. they’re all perfectly fine.Favourite cast member: kristen bell for sure, love her! and zachary levi. Character you wish was still alive: I think all the deaths were done well and for good reason, but maybe ariel’s mothe? she could realllyyy have used someone to talk to, and for someone to give her some much-needed advice.One thing you hope really happens: they make a movie based on the nutcracker. kinda like the barbie one. it’s mighty good. and I know there’s some liveaction coming about it, but no.Most shocking twist: I guess hans being a villain was surprising when it first happened?When did you start watching/reading?: when I was very, very tiny. maybe like 2 or 3.Best animal/creature: probably the mice in cinderella, and every creature in winnie the pooh.Favourite location: everything from cinderella, and everything from frozen.Trope you wish they would stop using: they could try making a male and female protagonists (who are approximately the same age and likely love interests to each other) just friends. I know they’ve done it a few times before, but more often than not they always end up getting together. even in frozen, which wasn’t supposed to be about romance. don’t get me wrong, I love romance. but they could try that.One thing this show/book/film does better than others: I think disney is pretty good at making engaging stories that entertain both adults and kids. that’s a balance not everyone can manage.Funniest moments: I think a lot of stuff in the emperor’s new groove is hilarious.Couple you would like to see: well, I guess the couple from the nutcracker, since I said I wanted that.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: richard madden’s voice is perfect, so naturally his voice-acting would also be perfect. also I do feel obligated to say ray chase, because he’s a very good voice actor. though seeing him in disney would be a bit odd. Favourite outfit: cinderella’s ballgown! Favourite item: the glass slippers for sure.Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: yeah! I have a few funko pop dolls (cinderella and rapunzel), some other random items like notebooks etc, and various dvds and such.What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: I would like to be related to cinderella, or rapunzel.Most boring plotline: I can’t say I’m too fond of some of the movies with animal protagonists, like the aristocats. Most laughably bad moment: I can’t think of anything that’s this bad, but I’m sure there are moments that fit.Best flashback/flashfoward if any: I like how they did the time skip in frozen. Most layered character: probably someone like mulan or elsa, but I think a lot of the characters are well-layered.Most one dimensional character: some of the villains, like the evil queen.Scariest moment: when the evil queen does anything in snow white.Grossest moment: I remember there are gross moments in some of the movies, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember any specific one. maybe ursula and those sea creatures of hers, those who used to be human? Best looking male: I…? I guess I’m gonna say prince charming for the simple fact that he is actually richard madden in my eyes.Best looking female: actually, probably aurora, even though cinderella’s my fave.Who you’re crushing on (if any): none.Favourite cast moment: I don’t really know, but I think the relationship between kristen bell and idina menzel is nice.Favourite transportation: the pumpkin carriage!Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): the whole transformation/ball/aftermath sequence in cinderella.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: I am kind of curious about the whole theory of elsa, anna and rapunzel being related. I mean, why not? Best promo: I think all the promo they do is pretty good.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: I probably fell in love with this franchise when I was very small, and I never stopped being interested in it.

medici: masters of florence:

Top 5 favourite characters: cosimo (my baby!!), lorenzo, lucrezia, marco bello and brunelleschi. Other characters you like: hmm… uuh… maybe piero, ugo and guadagni? there are not that many characters on the show, after all.Least favourite characters: sorry, but contessina. I just cannot with her. I can’t. Otps: lucrezia/piero and absolutely no one else.Notps: basically any cosimo ship that was canon, but mostly contessina/cosimo and cosimo/maddalena. I was very disappointed with the ships on this show. Favourite friendships: cosimo/lorenzo, cosimo/brunelleschi and cosimo/marco. Favourite family: well, the medici’s! Favourite episodes: I really love the first two episodes, but they’re all very good.Favourite season/book/movie: I guess I can say season 1 since season 2 is coming out? definitely season 1, if not for anything else then for my richard bias. Favourite quotes: “everything I have ever done has been for florence. for you. for the greater glory of god.” - cosimo // “you give me an education. you expose me to great beauty. and then insist I spend my life devoted to money and politics.” - cosimo // “if the medici are to shape history, we must live beyond our lifetimes. the whole tree does not die because one branch falls.” - cosimoBest musical moment: so many moments, but I think the moment when cosimo finds out that lorenzo’s dead in 1x08 is the number one pick.Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: any moment with richard, for sure, but I was so happy to see some of his different acting styles on the show, particularly in the later episodes, like when he confronts the pope in 1x08.When it really disappointed you: I guess I am never, ever gonna be ok with cheating plotlines, and I was also not ok with how bad the show made cosimo look just for contessina’s sake. like it was purposely trying to make the fandom hate one and love the other. and it sure worked *sigh* Saddest moment: when lorenzo dies and cosimo’s reaction to it.Most well done character death: again, I think lorenzo’s death was done very well.Favourite guest star: I thought brunelleschi was a hilarious character.Favourite cast member: richard madden, always!Character you wish was still alive: lorenzo, he didn’t deserve to die.One thing you hope really happens: I hope that at some point they bring richard’s character back, if only in flashbacks, as we actually get to see him happy for a bit.Most shocking twist: once again, lorenzo dying. and ugo being the killer was pretty surprising.When did you start watching/reading?: the moment it first aired. Best animal/creature: I do love the horses.Favourite location: anything in florenze, to be honest.Trope you wish they would stop using: badass female character who needs no man and is sassier, smarter and more powerful than anyone else. really doesn’t work for me. there should be some humanity in there too. One thing this show/book/film does better than others: I know this has been done before, but I think cosimo’s character and his multiple layers were done so wonderfully.Funniest moments: hmm, I think any moment with cosimo and lorenzo goofing around in rome in the first episode.Couple you would like to see: cosimo/happiness, actual happiness. impossible, I know.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: hmm, well, I am gonna go with rebecca ferguson again cause she’s so good. and my girl lily james.Favourite outfit: cosimo’s outfit in 1x01, in the flashbacks.Favourite item: cosimo’s sketch book, just cause I love watching him draw.Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: sadly just the dvd and some posters, there isn’t much merchandise for it.What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: well, again, I would like to be a medici, but not related to cosimo.Most boring plotline: contessina and her fling with her old love interest. why?Most laughably bad moment: none, really.Best flashback/flashfoward if any: all the flashbacks/forwards between older and younger cosimo were fantastic and gave much depth to his character.Most layered character: cosimo, in every way. he has his cold side, but he also has his soft side and richard did a fantastic job at displaying all of it.Most one dimensional character: none are really that one-dimensional, but I guess bianca really didn’t serve any purpose.Scariest moment: none.Grossest moment: hmm, I guess some of the scenes with blood but nothing was too bad? Best looking male: richard madden. cosimo. my baby.Best looking female: um, maybe bianca or lucrezia? I don’t know.Who you’re crushing on (if any): cosimo for sure!! Favourite cast moment: I really liked the premiere in the fall of 2016, the cast seems to get along well and richard looked fantastic (as always).Favourite transportation: horses.Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): anything in florenze.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: I think basically nothing was really left unanswered. I suppose there was some ambiguity in how much of a part cosimo had in rinaldo’s death, though.Best promo: I really like the promo pics, everything’s good.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: the minute it aired.

the white queen/princess:

Top 5 favourite characters: elizabeth woodville, henry tudor, elizabeth of york, isabel neville and maybe anne neville.Other characters you like: I like all of elizabeth’s kids, her mother, and edward was sometimes okay. Least favourite characters: I didn’t like richard iii too much, or margaret beaufort. Otps: henry/elizabeth, edward/elizabeth and jacquette/richard mainly due to the book written about them, set before twq. Notps: richard/elizabeth. why. Favourite friendships: isabel/anne.Favourite family: I guess the tudors.Favourite episodes: I really like the later episodes, with the exception of the unnecessary elizabeth/richard romance.Favourite season/book/movie: my favorite season is season 1, as opposed to the white princess, because I never did get to see it.Favourite quotes: “do not doubt my courage. I am match for any man.” - elizabeth woodville // “you are what sustains me in battle. you are my home.” - edward // “she has done her worst. and look at us. we’re still here.” - henry/elizabeth // “how can I prove to you that I am with you except to ask you not to die?” - elizabeth of yorkBest musical moment: I think the music in the last episode is very good.Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: honestly I am gonna say any henry/elizabeth moment, even in twp even though I’ve not seen it. I love these two and ship them despite not seeing it. but I did read the book so that’s something. When it really disappointed you: richard/elizabeth. Saddest moment: I think edward’s death was really sad if only for elizabeth’s sake.Most well done character death: I think that richard’s death was built up quite well, we all knew someone was gonna die (and those who knew history knew who was gonna die), and it was done well.Favourite guest star: I don’t know who counts, so I’m gonna say freya mavor and michael marcus.Favourite cast member: rebecca ferguson, my girl! Character you wish was still alive: maybe richard (I mean elizabeth woodville’s father) cause he and jacquetta gave me all the feels in their book.One thing you hope really happens: they release twp somewhere where I can actually watch it?Most shocking twist: that they actually went there with richard/elizabeth.When did you start watching/reading?: maybe in 2015…? I really can’t be sure.Best animal/creature: I do love the horses.Favourite location: I do like the woodville manor.Trope you wish they would stop using: maybe the men being horrible pigs and the women trying to deal with that? I feel like almost all the men on the show were just the worst.One thing this show/book/film does better than others: I don’t know. I guess some of the characters were portrayed in a nice, human way, and the ships were pretty nice.Funniest moments: some moments between the plantagenet brothers.Couple you would like to see: a prequel series about richard and jacquetta.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: there’s never enough richard madden in the world.Favourite outfit: elizabeth (woodville’s) blue dress.Favourite item: elizabeth (woodville’s) ringDo you own anything related to this show/book/film?: just the books and the first seasonWhat house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: probably the woodville famMost boring plotline: richard and elizabethMost laughably bad moment: anything with richard and elizabethBest flashback/flashfoward if any: the flashforward when henry and elizabeth are suddenly adults was unexpected, but welcome.Most layered character: probably elizabeth woodville if not for any other reason, then because she was the most focused-on character. and rebecca brought great depth to her.Most one dimensional character: probably some of the people like edward’s mother.Scariest moment: none.Grossest moment: the final battle in 1x10.Best looking male: oh god, I don’t know. maybe henry in twp cause he looks slightly like richard.Best looking female: elizabeth woodville for sure.Who you’re crushing on (if any): none.Favourite cast moment: I like any of the cast moments, but I’ve not seen many.Favourite transportation: horses.Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): all the forests and water areas are so gorgeous, especially in the first episode.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: well, there are many plot confusions, but nothing particular. Best promo: I like the promo pic with elizabeth holding the sword in her hand.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: when I first saw it, and started reading it.

star wars:

Top 5 favourite characters: luke skywalker, leia organa, obi-wan kenobi, qui-gon jinn, yoda.Other characters you like: rey, poe dameron, finn, padme amidala.Least favourite characters: I don’t hate anyone, but the emperor sure sucked. I also don’t get the kylo ren hype.Otps: to be quite honest? none. but to say something, I guess rey/finn and padme/anakin (idk, man).Notps: kylo/rey.Favourite friendships: han/luke, obi-wan/anakin, finn/poe.Favourite family: the skywalkersFavourite episodes: I’m gonna take this as favorite generation (originals, prequels, sequels). that would be the originals.Favourite season/book/movie: the return of the jedi.Favourite quotes: “I am a jedi, like my father before me.” - luke // “no one’s ever really gone.” - luke // “hope is like the sun. if you only believe in it when you can see it, you’ll never make it through the night.” - leia // “so this is how liberty dies. with thunderous applause.” - padmeBest musical moment: the moment when luke is gazing at the sunset in a new hope, as well as in the last jedi. the feels. Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: luke coming to everyone’s rescue in the last jedi.When it really disappointed you: the obsession with kylo/rey, as well as some of the political plotlines in the prequels. Saddest moment: luke’s death, I think. though it was kinda bittersweet.Most well done character death: again, luke’s death, but also anakin’s.Favourite guest star: gwendoline christie.Favourite cast member: liam neeson.Character you wish was still alive: luke because what the heck is the next movie gonna have, then? I know it’s still gonna be good but with all of the original cast gone…One thing you hope really happens: kylo redeems himself without becoming a love interest for rey, everyone saves everyone, and they live happily ever after with rey training new jedis. also luke coming back as a force ghost to make bad puns.Most shocking twist: I don’t know, maybe luke dying.When did you start watching/reading?: when I was a tiny kid. maybe 4 or 5. Best animal/creature: well, it does say creature… r2-d2Favourite location: hoth and naboo.Trope you wish they would stop using: the good guy turned villain who is gonna be redeemed at the very last second (ironically, I also wrote that as what I wanted to happen). One thing this show/book/film does better than others: they really give a very good sci-fi adventure which doesn’t seem too hard for anyone to understand, and can interest both adults and children.Funniest moments: I actually really liked the comedic luke/rey moments in the last jedi.Couple you would like to see: I kind of like the idea of poe and rey.Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: there’s never enough richard madden. plus, he loves sci-fi.Favourite outfit: padme had some gorgeous costumes, especially all her blue clothes. Favourite item: luke’s blue and green lightsabers.Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: just the dvds, really. and a star wars lunch box. funnily enough.What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: I would like to be a skywalker, but I’d probably be bad at it.Most boring plotline: well, the political plotlines in the prequels.Most laughably bad moment: some of the very wooden moments in the prequels.Best flashback/flashfoward if any: I guess I like the flashback they did in the last jedi to what exactly happened between kylo and luke.Most layered character: probably someone like leia, or maybe even anakin to an extent.Most one dimensional character: some of the villains, like count dooku (is that really how you spell it?).Scariest moment: I really, really found darth maul scary as a kid.Grossest moment: the whole opening-up-the-creature to keep luke warm in the empire strikes back (my terms are on point again)Best looking male: idk, man. poe?Best looking female: probably padme.Who you’re crushing on (if any): none.Favourite cast moment: anything with daisy and mark.Favourite transportation: the falcon.Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): hoth.Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: well, I mean, rey’s parents. that is the one thing I didn’t really like how they explained in the last jedi.Best promo: all the promo stuff is nice.At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: as a child when I saw the original movies.

[gigsoupmusic]

Jason & The Rex Goes In-Depth about New Video "Bullets Are Flying" - Exclusive Interview

Recently debuting with an activist video on gun violence, Jason & The Rex is stepping onto the scene with "Bullets Are Flying". A mixture of hip-hop, future-funk, and dream-pop combine to create a dense soundscape of vibrant horns, a melancholy piano lead, and strange-sounding synths. Jason's pensive, sometimes manic, flow washes over creating a dialogue on the gun violence issue in the US. Jason was kind enough to sit down and give GIGSoup the exclusive inside scoop on the creation and inspiration behind "Bullets Are Flying". https://youtu.be/g5DTa6cvfcs Tell us about writing the song "Bullets Are Flying"…. what emotions were you feeling at the time? Chaotic. Disoriented. There’s a scene in Dario Argento’s Suspiria where one of the characters falls into a pit of barbed wire. The more she tries to escape, the more she bleeds. It’s a mangled inner conflict. That’s kind of how I felt when I was writing “Bullets Are Flying.” I felt more and more entangled in a barbed wire mess of thoughts and emotions and political jabs and daily, present concerns. When the Parkland incident happened, I was already feeling very professionally and creatively stalled. I’m an actor by vocation. At the time, I was going for a lot of Chinatown thug types -- violent, gun-wielding, angry Asian dudes. I was getting rejected over and over again for projects that I didn’t really even believe in. I felt inauthentic as an artist. Music was supposed to be my outlet, but everything I created was stale and uninspired. And the worst part, I felt like I was failing as a citizen. I was -- and still am -- a reasonably privileged adult who has skills and a higher education. The gun crisis stripped teenagers of their adolescence, and those teenagers responded by standing up to the gun lobby and the politicians they controlled. What was I doing? Beating myself up because, after several attempts, I still couldn’t land a part as a stereotype on Iron Fist? Something snapped after Parkland. All the “thoughts and prayers” and familiar rallying cries came to a fever pitch, and I just started writing down…stuff. I was trying to express grief, to articulate my panic and anger, while also trying to provide commentary. I wanted to find an explanation. And someone to blame. A way out. Or a way forward. I wanted to crack the code on gun violence. I was also coming to terms with my guilt. My social posturing. My vanity in all of this. In trying to create this piece, was I turning the attention to myself? It wasn’t joyous or inspiring. It was a regurgitation of all the thoughts and feelings -- all the stuff -- I hadn’t processed.

The refrain of the song actually came to me much earlier, quite randomly. I like to think it’s because it’s more of a passive observation. Bullets are flying. Where? And why? While they fly, people are mourning. These are constants. Whereas, the two verses -- they’re snapshots of that gloomy winter morning when I was pacing back and forth on my bed trying to make sense of Parkland. It’s like I was trying to extricate myself from the gun culture and the epidemic it has created. But every thought would just pull me back into the mess. Barbed wire. Can’t help thinking about it. Gun violence. Mass shootings. I dream of ways to reshape gun culture. But, uh oh, gun culture has shaped giant parts of who I am. And I contribute back into gun culture. Not only do I love a bloody action thriller. I routinely express my love for John Wayne movies. I think the Punisher is a pretty cool anti-hero. In debating and discussing issues related to gun violence, we shout into our echo chambers while attacking opposing views. We display our alliances. We present ourselves on a side. Scoring our solidarity points is just as essential to gun culture as shooting the guns themselves. In writing this song, I was incredibly self-conscious. Was I just filling my notebook with solidarity points and quips from self-reflection? I offered my perspective on gun violence, while simultaneously reflecting and taking apart that perspective. I felt angry and powerful. But I also felt guilty and insignificant. Is saying something mostly an empty gesture? Probably. But not saying something is equally, if not more, disconcerting. Maybe this song is entirely descriptive of this emotional purgatory I create after a mass shooting like Parkland, where processing anything is just squirming in my barbed wire, while bullets are flying. What is your favorite lyric in the song? "I’m an actor, so I know how to weep. "

There are lots of hidden layers and meaning in the video… can you tell us what some of those are and why you chose to include them? I’m pretty fluid with my interpretation of the video. But most days, it goes something like this: Setting - The characters are in a place of purgatory. It’s that place I create when I’m trying to process gun violence. They may or may not know each other. Screens - On the screens, the characters stare at scenes involving their physical selves. Characters - I play the boy, and we designed the look to reflect someone in a prestigious position. On the TV’s, he’s probably a politician of some sort. I don’t think that’s who the boy is in real life, especially if the boy is me. But in this particular place of purgatory (maybe there are multiple rooms in purgatory), I’m presenting the politically active parts of myself. The dancer might be a whole separate character. She’s someone directly impacted by political leaders and their decisions. So in this place, we have a civic leader and someone he impacts. Seen this way, let’s say the boy is fried in the beginning. He’s lost his will. Been in purgatory too long. The dancer enters. Maybe she sees a party she’s currently attending in the real world. She pulls the boy out of his funk. They are actual human beings who can connect. When we hear about gun violence, our screens create abstracts of the event and the victims. But here in purgatory, the two have to make actual, physical contact. Their actions directly impact each other. Movement - There is a loose choreography. But, mainly, Ashley (the dancer) and I created a structure and improvised within it. Basically, there’s a struggle in the beginning. Japanese Butoh definitely informs the early interactions in the video, as the style can create a sense of shared grief. The movement becomes more playful and celebratory, which I think reflects another convoluted part of processing gun violence. After Parkland, I sunk into a pit of melancholy for probably no more than half a day and then I was out with my friends. We’d talk about mass shootings, but then we’d goof off, and the topic eventually recedes, until we’ve tuned it out completely (though temporarily). In the video, the TV screens are upfront and center in the beginning, but then the movement draws our attention to the characters themselves. There’s an ominous outro, where we intercut to the party-goers on the screens lying facedown on a roof. Lives lost to gun violence? In the purgatory place, we only have close-ups of the characters, many of which focus on the hands in spell-like gestures. The issue of gun violence does seem to have this elusive, enigmatic quality. So maybe whatever happens between these two in this purgatory has some ineffable effect in the world.

What do you hope fans gain as a result from watching/listening to your art? Mostly, I hope this keeps the conversation going. Like I said about the video, the topic always recedes, often because the screens start showing other things to us. As artists, I think we can keep things front and center. It’s funny. When I finished the video, I came across grandson’s “Thoughts and Prayers” single. For a whiff, I felt like my project would be redundant. But, of course, until it’s a non-issue, I say the more content we produce, the better. On a more practical note, I’m pledging all the royalties from this project towards organizations like March For Our Lives. So when people listen or watch, they are indirectly or directly (starting to really question my understanding of this concept) benefiting the cause. I think it allows listeners a little extra way to participate in reform measures. You had a hand in creating all of the aspects of the single… writing, producing, creating the video….. tell us about that process as an artist. How does it influence your work? It slows down the process by too much. No, but really, it allows complete ownership over the process, at least of the track itself. I’m entirely responsible for every aspect of it. Holding the work so precious does create a lot of room for self-doubt, but the fears of commitment also pushes for more experimentation. When I create tracks, it’s like I’m recording and re-mixing an exploration. Or maybe it’s like I’m a one-man jam band in my room. It certainly allows me to include weird ideas like recording the words “thoughts and prayers” and using that sample to create different drum sounds. You can’t really tell when you hear it, but I think it’s a fun little Easter Egg. As for the video, I came up with a structure, but this is where I wanted to open up the perspective. I’m kind of enjoying the thought that creating the track itself was like the boy in the video struck in purgatory alone. Then with the video, I’ve invited other perspectives, just as there’s now another person with the boy in purgatory. I’m a nerd, I know. But, yes, I think because I gave myself a clear foundation after working on the track, we were able to do a lot of exploring with the concept of the video, which then allows for its fluid interpretation. Fun fact: the video was originally supposed to involve a dancer and an agent of death battling over a remote that controls one single TV screen displaying a party. You've spoken about how you want your music to be a platform for activism….. what are some other issues you are passionate about? There are a lot. But I’m just going to list one here to emphasize how important it is. THE ENVIRONMENT. Tell us about your upcoming album….. what can fans expect to hear? It’s tentatively called Synthesizer or Variations of: An Endemic Cycle. The EP will have about 6or 7 songs that expand upon the narrative in “Bullets Are Flying.” Just as “Bullets Are Flying” is set in emotional purgatory, the other songs will be placed in their own settings. All the songs will fit into a narrative that has a circular structure. I’m designing musical themes that provide a through-line in the tracks. If you play the album and replay it, the narrative from the last track continues right into the first. You can start the album from any track, and the narrative will continue and circle back. I’m also creating visuals for each track. So if you were to edit them together in a specific and play it on loop, it might feel like one single never-ending movie no matter where you begin. Gun violence is so cyclical. You can enter into it at any point -- initial grief, debate, ennui, etc. --and it’ll eventually loop right back to where you started. How would you describe your musical sound? Musical genres are so bewildering to me. I guess I’ll say this: I’m sort of finding a hip-hop voice in other genres I love. They’re mainly psychedelic dream-pop, future funk, new wave, or even cinematic anime soundtracks. If my process were a scene, I’d like to imagine Childish Gambino getting really high and watching the news with Tame Impala, and maybe Jon Bellion barges in and blasts his new album. I don’t know that these are the sounds that come to mind if you were to listen to my work. But they’re certainly the sounds I’m after, sounds that provide a framework when I produce my music. Read the full article

[empresstress13]

OC Questions!!!

I was tagged by @dragynfox the wonderful! 

I’ve only talk a very little about any of my OC characters on here because I’m shy about them. The few mentions have been from Dragon Age and since that’s my current obsession it’s what will be appearing here as well! I kind of winged this - sorry if it seems disjointed!  

I’ll go ahead and start at the beginning with 2 of my wardens: Surana and Tabris - both originally inseparable troublemakers of the Denerim Alienage! Surana is my “canon” HoF . . . but I head-canon that Tabris manages to somehow survive everything and they manage to reunite in Denerim.

1. What is your name?

BT: *smiling sweetly* Beatrix Tabris! Bea to my friends and Death to my enemies, think 'bout which category you’d prefer to be in.  

NS: *does not look up from a large tome she’s reading*

2. No seriously, what is your name?

BT: *poking Surana*. . . . Nara. . . . NARA! 

NS: *still not looking up* What, Bea? 

BT: *rolls her eyes, before responding in a sing-song voice* civilized people introduce themselves! 

NS:*turning a page* well, since we’re just a dangerous elvhen mage and an impudent alienage thief then there is no point! 

BT:*snatches the tome before dancing out of NS’s reach* ah-ah-ah~! Be a dear and introduce yourself to our lovely new friends, won’t you?

NS: *raising a brow* well, if my lady of shadows insists! I am Nehnara. Nehnara Surana. *sends a minor shock at Beatrix, who gasps and drops the tome which Nehnara promptly picks up*

BT: Andraste’s flammable ass! Shite, that stings, you friggin’ piss-bucket! 

3. Do you know why you were called that?

NS: Presumably my parents were partial to the name. 

BT: *rubbing her side* since she sucks the joy out of things, her da thought they’d at least put some joy in her name . . . hmmmm, Nehn?

NS: My, my, my! Someone’s picked up some knowledge!

BT: See! Even outside of your fancy-pants circle we sometimes learn things! 

NS: *actually smiling* well . . .you were always a quick study. 

4. Are you single or taken?

BT: *with an innocent expression* Taken? Taken where?

NS: *snorts* Don’t be falsely obtuse. It doesn’t suit you; they would like to know about you and your chantry sister.

BT: You’re the one who introduced us! Besides, wouldn’t you rather speak of your pretty, witty crow?

NS: *smiles coyly* Are you asking for details?

BT: Admit it: you have a soft spot for us sneaky types!

NS: ...Perhaps. 

5. Do you have any abilities or powers?

NS: *cocks head* one could say so. . . . 

BT: HAH! And false Modesty doesn’t suit you! Prodigy of Kinloch Hold! Mage of the Circle! Hero of Ferelden! Commander of the Grey! Arlessa of Amarathi-

NS: That last one has nothing to do with abilities or power-

BT: Now you’re bein’ dull, sparky-fingers, political power totally-

NS: AND FURTHERMORE, considering the average Circle mage I very much doubt that’s much of a title to take pride i-

BT: Aaaaand now we see why false modesty doesn’t suit you, besides all that magic stuff seems plenty powerful to us normal folk. 

NS: “Us normal folk” from the Shadow of Denerim? Spymaster of Amarathine? The Dancing Blade? Slayer of evil shem lordlings who were never taught to keep their hands to themselves? 

6. Stop being a Mary Sue.

BT: Mary what now? 

NS: . . . ? These questions are going from slightly annoying and inconvenient to downright inane. 

7. What is your eye color?

NS: . . . . absolutely INANE. 

BT: *flutters eyelashes* will you write me sonnets to my . . .what is the phrase? Cerulean orbs? 

8. How about your hair color?

NS: *sighs* My eyes are hazel. My hair is auburn. 

BT: She’s a ginger alright!

NS: AUBURN. 

BT: *winks* I’m a brunette. 

9. Have you any family members?

NS: . . . . inane and personal I see. 

BT: *gently placing a hand on Nehnara’s shoulder* It’s not uncommon to lose relatives to bigotry and harsh conditions . . . I’m lucky enough to still have my da and cousins . . . but we’ve all lost someone. 

NS: *glaring* Those who were mine just also happen to all be dead. That enough for you? Move on. 

10. I see… what about pets?

BT: C’mere girl!

NS: *whistles* Phaelan! 

*Two mabari war-hounds and several puppies come bounding towards the interviewer. . .I’d brace myself if I were you.*

NS: My hound imprinted on me during the Blight. Named Phaelan . . .aft. . .after my father. 

BT: *pulling Nehnara into cuddles with the mabari* And this is Blossom; Nara introduced me to her! As well as their pups: Linmi, Tulip, and Duncan!  

11. Tell me about something you don’t like.

NS: *deadpans* Inane questions. And those who ask them.

BT: *her smile suddenly turning sharp* Entitled little pricks. That sort usually finds they have very little good coming to ‘em. *smile returning to normal* Nara also dislikes onions and hot weather! 

NS: I do better with heat than I use to . . . I seem to recall that you dislike tomato juice. Not tomatoes, just the juice.

BT: ‘Cuz it’s gross! 

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

BT: I really enjoy music! Leliana has been teaching me how to play the lute! Oh! And since I’ve left Denerim I’ve taken to collecting and pressing flowers! 

NS: Actually, luckily enough, I do in fact enjoy the study of magic-

BT: And of history, and languages, and science, and politics, an-

NS: Yes, thank you for that insightful clarification. I’ve also been working with Bea on picking up by old slight of hand and lockpicking skills . . . 

BT: And then laughing as your lover fails to pick locks you could open with ease!

13. Ever hurt someone before?

*both start laughing*

14. Ever… killed anyone before?

BT: *still giggling* w. . wait. . . are you seriously asking that?

NS: *smirking and shaking her head* I’m the Warden Commander of Ferelden, and she’s my spymaster in Amarathine. . . what do you think? 

15. What kind of animal are you?

BT: *laughter cuts off abruptly* . . . beggin’ yer pardon; wot? 

NS: *snorts* The dangerous kind.

16. Name one of your worst habits.

BT: She has a tendency to be rude and grouchy. Also, she’s a slob. And she forget’s to eat or sleep! Swear I’m more of a caretaker than a spymaster! 

NS: She’s an obnoxious busybody. Probably why she makes such a good spymaster AND caretaker. Guess I’ll keep her around. 

17. Do you look up to anyone at all?

BT: *points at Nehnara*

NS: *smacks her hand away* Stop that! . . . I suppose we’ve both done relatively well for ourselves besides everything this Maker forsaken world has thrown at us. 

BT: Honestly - and I think we’d both say this - we’ve been lucky enough to have been raised by pretty fantastic people. They had their flaws, but, without them we wouldn’t be who we are today. All respect to Cyrion, Adaia, Misyl, and Phaelan! 

NS: . . . well said. 

18. Sexual orientation?

BT: *winks* All are welcome! . . . well were welcome - rather not piss off Leli! 

NS: Why are you so interested in absolutely ridiculous trivia? I’m more interested in the person’s character than what’s between their legs. 

BT: Yeah, but you seem pretty attached to what’s between Zevran’s-

NS: Indeed. 

19. Do you go to school?

NS: . . . I was educated in Kinloch Hold, if that’s what you mean. Though I gained more knowledge from personal study in the libraries than from my teachers. . . . though to be fair there were several competent instructors.

BT: My mum taught me before she was killed. 

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids someday?

BT: ooooh! Maybe Leli and I can take in some of the orphans in Amaranthine! Get a big ol’ house, piss-off the shem neighbors-

NS: Your lover is in fact Human as well.

BT: -get a few more dogs and nugs-

NS: The dogs will eat Leliana’s nugs. 

BT: - train them up a bit -

NS: Are you speaking of the dogs, the nugs, or the children?

BT: Be one, big, cozy family! Well loved and protected! 

NS: *snorts* It sounds rather noisy and messy. Terrifying. 

21. What are you most afraid of?

NS: The child, dog, and nug infested house that Bea is apparently planning on inhabiting. 

BT: You faced demons and darkspawn and all manner of nastiness, and you’re telling me your afraid of a lil’ noise and mess? 

NS: From children or animals that you raise? Yes. 

22. What do you usually wear?

BT: Well, I do like a lil’ bit of pretty or shiny here and there, but overall I dress for practicality. Mistress Fancy-mage over here is the one who has a penchant for dressin’ up! 

NS: I do like fine things. I admit it. 

23. Do you love someone?

NS: . . . Did we not already cover this question? I suppose it is possible to be in a relationship without love, but I do in fact care quite deeply for Zevran. It may have taken awhile to sort things between us, but there you are. 

BT: I think you’re gettin’ better at this speakin’ on emotions thing.

NS: Shut it.

BT: I love my Leli very much! *side-hugs Nehnara* and I love this grump like the sister I never had! 

NS: *blushes* ugh. Yes, yes, I care for you too.

BT: Me, her, and Shianni use to create all sorts of mischief! Drove Soris right up the wall!

24. What class are you?

NS: . . . class? As in . . . what sort of mage I am? I’ll admit I’ve dabbled in different fields quite a bit, but I’m particularly skilled at Spirit and Entropy. I’ve also studied the ancient skills of an Arcane Warrior. 

BT: And she can turn into a spider! 

NS: *sighs* Yes. I also picked up some shape-shifting my Morrigan. 

BT: I never did get to really meet that bird. . . heh, bird. Leli’s been trying to teach me some bard skills!

25. How many friends do you have?

BT: Surprisingly lots! Nara tries to be anti-social, but somehow she just attracts them like flies! Guess what they say about vinegar and honey just ain’t true. 

NS: . . . I think you’re definition of “friend” may be off. Someone who you are acquainted with who hasn’t yet tried to kill you is not automatically a “friend”. 

BT: Of course not! You’ve got a very close friend who HAS tried to kill you after all! 

NS: Ugh. Besides we have plenty more enemies.

BT: Keeps things interesting!

26. Thoughts on pie?

BT: Berry filled pies are a bit of a weakness of mine! But Nara here-

NS: Please don’t start.

BT: Nara can put some pies AWAY. Sweet pies, savory pies, pies she just filched from the cart down the street! I grant you I don’t think she’s had to steal pies recently. . . 

NS: No. I haven’t. 

BT: It’s funny, for someone who can forget to eat AT mealtime, you sure do love your food! 

NS: As with clothing and finery - I do enjoy the finer things when it comes to food and drink . . . I’m just not great at time management. 

27. Favorite drink?

NS: Honey wine.

BT: Any wine! 

28. What’s your favorite place?

NS: Not Kinloch Hold. 

BT: pffffft!

NS: . . . I haven’t felt particularly attached to any location in a long time. There are some places I’d like to visit though. 

BT: Gettin’ your parent’s wanderlust are ya? 

29. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

NS: Lake. 

BT: Ha! Either! 

30. Are you interested in anyone?

NS: How many variations on this will you be asking? 

BT: This one does seem to becoming repetitive? Unless you mean like person of interest? Like under suspicion? There’s a list somewhere . .  . 

31. What’s your bra size?

BT: My what size? 

NS: Bra? . . . . Please ask sensical questions or let’s end this. 

32. Well, what’s your type?

NS: Oh for the love of . . . ! 

BT: Bwhahahahaha! 

33. And what attracts you?

BT: *still laughing* You are really curious, aren’t you? 

NS: *sighs* . . . Fine. Cleverness. Thoughtfulness. Adaptability. Flexibility. 

BT: *smirks* Flexiblity you say?

NS: Shut. It. 

BT: Hahaha! Someone I can have fun with is attractive to me. Someone who is caring as well. 

34. Any fetishes?

NS:Why do I even bother? How is this any of your business? 

BT: Ooooh! Well, Leli and I were just discussing this thing they apparently do in Orlai-

NS: Please don’t. 

BT: And I had a friend who worked at the Pearl who taught me how t-

NS: This is really more than I want to know. Does Cyrion know you were being taught skills from the Pearl? 

BT: Don’t see how that’s Da’s business! 

NS: *rolls eyes* Yes. I have fetishes. I have a very satisfactory sex life. I don’t see how it’s pertinent to this interview however. 

BT: You don’t want to tell us more about Zev’s flexibility?

NS: No. I don’t. 

BT: Hah! As for me, I’ll try almost anything once! Have a hard-limit on physical bondage though . . . 

35. Top or bottom? Dominant or submissive?

BT: *winks* I’m a switch. 

NS: I am not by nature a particularly submissive individual. That holds true in all aspects of my life. 

36. Camping indoor or outdoors?

NS: I believe that I’ve done enough outdoors camping to last a life time. Unfortunately I doubt it will end anytime soon.

BT: Both can be lots of fun in the right company! 

37. Are you wanting the quiz to end?

NS: Quite. If you will excuse us we’re both quite busy individuals. 

BT: *with a final wink and smirk* Catch you later! Don’t do anything that’ll have to knife you for! 

I’m not sure who has done this already, but I’ll tag @thema-sal-shiral, @wardsarefunctioning, @extravagantlies, @fadedforyou, @thranduilsausage, @elfsplaining, @circadian-rhythm, and @love-in-nature. If you’re already done this or don’t have the time feel free to skip! :) 

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/04/14/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-41417/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 4/14/17

I was going to skip this week, with it being a holiday weekend and all, but then I realized that this would be the last post written from the WilliamBruceWest.com HQ of the past 6 years. So, simply to commemorate that, you get a quick post.

I didn’t watch any movies this week (dumb, since I need to clear off a 90% full DVR by Tuesday), but I did catch the HBO stand-up special Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds. Holmes has recently become one of my favorites, as I’ve really been digging his HBO comedy Crashing, which seems to be loosely based on the early days of his stand-up career. He’s at a point now in his career where he seems to be a lot more comfortable onstage. And he cusses a lot more. Something about him reminds me of a modern-day John Ritter – it’s not the physical comedy, but it’s written all over his face. He genuinely just comes off like a good guy that you could have around your mom. I think that’s part of his appeal. Anyway, it’s a pretty good hour, so check it out if you’re looking for a new stand-up special to watch.

In movie news, Jonah Hex/Thanos will now be adding Cable to his resume. In a surprise casting move, Josh Brolin has been cast as the time-traveling hero in the Deadpool sequel. This, supposedly, won’t affect filming of Avengers: Infinity War because most of his work on that movie will be motion capture. Still, it’s odd to see another comic book movie actor jump across the studio aisle. We’ve seen two actors jump from Fox to the MCU (Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan), but you never see them go the opposite direction. I guess he’ll do OK, but I was hoping for someone like Ron Perlman or Stephen Lang. Personally, I’d be more impressed if they’d cast his father, James Brolin.

I didn’t catch the Rick & Morty 3rd season premiere when it was posted online on April Fools Day, but luckily Adult Swim aired it every night last week. It was so good to have the show back, even though I’m not entirely sure I know what was going on. As some folks have said, I really wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that was justa “bonus”episode, and not the actual premiere. If it was real, it definitely set up an interesting new family dynamic. Of course all anyone can talk about, however, is the McDonald’s Mulan Sauce. Apparently, back when Mulan came out, McDonald’s had a special Szechuan sauce for their McNuggets. It was only for a limited time, as those things are wont to be, but now it’s been thrust back into the spotlight thanks to the episode. Fans of the show are trying to get McDonald’s to bring the sauce back, to coincide with the release of the upcoming live action Mulan film (despite the fact that Disney ended their relationship with McDonald’s a few years ago in an attempt to disassociate themselves with unhealthy eating). Already, though, I’ve seen some thinkpieces about how the sauce is cultural appropriation and all that so, basically, welcome to 2017.

In comics news, the X-Men were the source of controversy this week after the artist on X-Men Gold, Ardian Syaf, snuck some incendiary references into the background of his art in the first issue of the book. I don’t have a religious studies degree, so I can’t really get into the minutiae. Basically, though, he slipped in some references to the Qua’ran that are anti-Christian and anti-Jewish. Sure, he can have his beliefs and all, but you don’t sneak that stuff into a corporate comic book. Marvel said that he was going to be disciplined, and later in the week he was fired from the book. Syaf immediately went online and basically said “My career is over”. I kinda wanted to feel bad for him ‘cause he almost seemed suicidal, and I wasn’t sure he initially understood the magnitude of what he had done. In follow up interviews, however, he didn’t really seem to back down. As controversial as he might be right now, it’ll be a major PR opportunity when some publisher, like Dynamite Entertainment, eventually gives him work again.

On the music front, it’s no secret that I’m a huge boyband guy. That said, I never really got into One Direction. It’s not that I was old when they came out, but more of a case where they didn’t have any Max Martin songs. Coming from the late 90s/early 00s era, I feel like you HAVE to have Max Martin songs in order to have hits. I mean, they still had their share of earworms, like “That’s What Makes You Beautiful”, but I never glommed onto them that much. So, when they broke up to pursue solo careers, I wasn’t expecting much – which is why I was surprised to find that I really like “The Sign of the Times”, which is the debut single from Harry Styles. I had the thing looped all day last Friday and, while I’m not sure if it’s a “hit”, I’m really digging what’s going on here. I wonder how the 1D fans are gonna take it. I mean, they’ll eat it up because they love Harry, but it’s not like the 1D songs that they’re used to. You’d expect him to bust out of the gate with something bombastic, but instead he went with something chill and melodic. Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album when it hits on May 12th.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Grace and Frankie has been renewed by Netflix for a 4th season. And I think my wife is the only person I know who’s happy about that. Anyway, Lisa Kudrow is joining the cast.

Jude Law has been cast as young Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts sequel

There’s a Fear Factor reboot coming to MTV, which will be hosted by Ludacris

We got a new Justice League poster. Um, OK. I don’t want to hate the DCEU but they make it so easy

The Get Down’s Shameik Moore has been tapped to voice Miles Morales in the upcoming animated Spider-Man film

John Ridley produced Guerrilla, a miniseries about the Black Power movement, and included basically no Black women in it. Good luck with that, my dude.

TLC are back. Well, T and C; you’d need a necromancer to get L back. Anyway, the single “Way Back” debuted on radio this week. It’s nothing special, really.

Sam Elliott has signed on to star in The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot, which is a Must See based on the title alone

This looks fun. Not “see it in a theater” fun, but fun nonetheless.

This Fall, NBC’s Dateline will become a weekday syndicated true crime series, which will probably end up replacing former correspondent Chris Hansen’s Crime Watch Daily. Coldblooded!

Thor: Ragnarok’s teaser trailer hit this week and it was amazing. Now, keep in mind that the Thor movies are lower on the MCU scale, so it’s not like it had to do much heavy lifting to blow our minds. We’re at a point where we just don’t expect that much from the Thor films. Still, it looks like Guardians of the Galaxy 1.5, and that’s exactly what people love about it. After the departure that was Thor: The Dark World, we’re back to a Thor tale that feels epic and world-spanning. And the Hulk cameo! Anyway, I could ramble about it, or you could just watch it for yourself. All I know is that the Thor: Ragnarok teaser trailer had the West Week Ever.

And if you’re jonesing to read some more, be sure to check out my comic post from this week: Comical Thoughts: The One Where Our Hero Read 30 Marvel Comics In One Night!

[kandrakelsier]

Fandom Fic Rec

Alrighty, so this is apparently a thing, and I’ve been meaning to do recs for a while so... here’s a long list of my favorite fanfiction works, with links to each of them. I recommend all of them.

Hanover Chronicles-Katriona_Subasa (@agronadb​)

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken, Fire Emblem 6- Fuuin No Tsurugi

A series of four fics, spanning just over a thousand years of history in the Fire Emblem world of Elibe. This series is one of my favorites; the characters are well developed, there are little tie-ins and easter eggs between fics, the writing style (particularly the dialogue) feels super realistic, and the pacing is excellent. Also would like to point out that the series is approaching 1 million words, so if you start, you’ll have plenty of material to keep you going, particularly since the last fic is still in progress.

Reprise-Elfpen

Fandom: Star Wars

A series of time-travel fix-it fics where Obi-Wan is sent back in time after his duel with Darth Vader on the Death Star. The humor is great; imagine Qui-Gon trying to deal with two Obi-Wans at once. There’s also cameos from characters in the True EU, which was fun to see, and some great philosophizing about the nature of the Force. Lots of good meta, and overall just very well written.

Messenger-HundredHanded (@hundred-handed​)

Fandom: Overwatch

An Ancient Greek AU. Angela travels with Reinhardt as he tries to take down Talon, and Fareeha is a bodyguard. Very clean writing; you can tell a lot of research went into this one. No character feels out of place, even if the entire thing takes place in Greece, and the names are absolutely brilliant. Good fic, good pairing.

Beneath the Stars-StarlightWalking 

Fandom: LOTR

A finished fic covering the travels and life of Tauriel after the Hobbit and through the War of the Ring. Really fleshes out the brief relationship between Tauriel and Kili. Provides a lovely conclusion to her story, which was more or less left hanging at the end of the movie. Shout out to TolkienGuardians for always posting updates on this so I could go read new chapters. 

Knight-Errant-Zinjadu 

Fandom: Star Wars

A canon divergent fic covering the Clone Wars, where Ahsoka wasn’t expelled from the Jedi Order and instead was promoted to a unique position. Proceeding relatively slowly, but has a lot of material, and each one is well done. Covers battle, politics, and slices of life, which very few other sources do. Contains a whole bunch of fics, so pick your poison.

Love, Life, and Peril-LiamReyes

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken

A unique take on the story of FE7, involving a tactician with a checkered past. This is an older fic that is progressing slowly, but is well written, with enough AU tossed in to keep the story fresh. The background adds a nice twist to the story, and some character deaths are left out, which I think makes the fic much better,

A Fresh Cup of Coffee-Lydia_Rogue (@marykay91​)

Fandom: RWBY

Hoo boy. Another favorite fic of mine, involving the formation and adventures of Team CFVY (You know, the ones that got maybe ten minutes of screen time?). Super well done, and covers some serious issues within the show that the actual series does not (Racism, Ableism, etc). Bonus points for having the team be in a super cute poly relationship, and for fully fleshing out the most badass team on the show.

Overwatch Emergency Communication Channel-ArcaneAdagio 

Fandom: Overwatch

This is... a legendary crackfic. Just, imaging the entire Overwatch team on a chat server during day to day life. Absolutely hilarious, and the format is great. Lots of pairings, lots of shenanigans. 

It's Basically Discord-Hanzo Shimada (Ubercharge)

Fandom: Overwatch

Same as the last one, another crack chatlog fic. This one starts in the days of Overwatch before the fall, so you get to see some of the interactions between the old soldiers when they were still young and snarky.

Reaping Dragons-MegsBlackFire 

Fandom: Overwatch

A series featuring genderbent Reyes and Hanzo, and covering their recruitment into Overwatch before the fall. McHanzo and Reaper76 feature prominently, and there’s plenty of OC characters to help flesh out the story. Well written, and ongoing through the current storyline of Overwatch (Whatever that is Blizzard’s timeline is so messed up)

The Young Never Sleep-CerealMilk (@cerealwatch​)

Fandom: Overwatch

A much, much darker fic, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Details D.Va’s life and current status in Overwatch, and explores how being a child soldier who’s been fighting omnics for years might fuck you up a bit. Lots of triggers, read the description before you start. Goes a lot into recovery and in how D.Va deals with life and death, and doesn’t treat her like a child. Basically the anti-gremlin D.Va; Hana Song and D.Va are very much not the same person here. 

Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts-Unpretty (@unpretty​)

Fandom: DC

Ah yes, another legendary series of fics. You’ve probably seen at least one of these floating around. Covers a wide range of topics, mostly Batman related, but all of them are well written, and most are hilarious. Hard to sum up this one since there’s so many fics, but all of them are worth a read.

The Stars Our Destination-CommanderRoastedWolf 

Fandom: Overwatch

A fantasy AU centering around Pharmercy, with Pharah as knight and Mercy as priest. Gorgeous worldbuilding and character development, and I love how other characters are portrayed. Ongoing, updates fairly slowly.

Imagine the Ocean-Damkianna

Fandom: AtLA

An Avatar AU where Katara is the Avatar, instead of Aang. Supremely well written, and adds touches of details to the original that improve the already incredible story. A few OCs provide some nice contrasting points of view.

Kingdom of Rust-Colms (@kelsiers​)

Fandom: Cosmere

Ah yes, this was a fun one. Wayne and Marasi go do shooty-shooty stabby-stabby detective work. I love this one because the writing style is so similar to Sanderson’s; the dialogue is spot on, and the plot fits right in with canon. Love the characterization of Marasi, who I at least feel is slightly underdeveloped in canon. 

Equilibrium-Caesurae 

Fandom: Overwatch/Pacific Rim

A crossover fic with Angela as a Jaeger pilot. Has both Pharmercy and Gency, and most of the other characters make appearances at one point or another. This one is plenty long, and the style/viewpoint of the writing is unique and makes for an interesting read.

Once There Was-Peradi 

Fandom: Star Wars

A series that examines the fall of the First Order from within, inspired by the actions of Finn when he dared to break off and become a traitor. Written almost like poetry, this one strikes deep and is a good read for fans of Star Wars from any era; it applied regardless.

In Loco Pirates-IzzyTheHutt 

Fandom: Star Wars

So what if Hondo (Yes, that Weequay pirate with impeccable business sense and a great sense of humor) ran into Luke Skywalker and then sold helped him reconnect with his father? Good stuff. Definitely AU, but so far everything is believable. Does some great character analysis of Darth Vader and Palpatine as well.

MaftWaft-Oddport

Fandom: TF2

A TF2 fandom? In 2017? Yep. An AU where the fem!mercs end up in the canon universe, and the two teams join forces to take down Grey Mann. A fun read, with all the characters behaving about as you’d expect them to when confronted with themselves. Lots of adorable couples too.

Wayward Son-Gunlord500 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken

Hoo boy. This fic. Over a million words across (I believe) six years and almost eighty chapters. In universe, it covers a few hundred years, following the story of a single enigmatic man as he lives, fights, loves, and dies. Very interesting backstory on one of the most mysterious characters in the canon, and contains loads upon loads of philosophy and religion that I, at least, found very useful.

The Last Red Shoulder-Gunlord500

Fandom: Fire Emblem 6-Fuuin No Tsurugi

In the same universe as the above, covering a side story about corruption and a horrifyingly evil artifact. Same praise as the above, basically, and well worth the read. Would recommend reading Wayward Son at least to about chapter 50ish first though, as there is some backstory that you’ll be better off knowing.

Six Shots to Go-CourierNinetyTwo 

Fandom: RWBY

Another CFVY fic, covering all six possible pairings in the team. Each one is explored in detail, and seems true to the characters from what we know of them. Overall, a cute fic (I think there might be some NSFW in this one, careful)

Silly: In Defense of Parvati Patil-DirgeWithoutMusic 

Fandom: Harry Potter

A look into life after the books, focusing on Pavarti and how she deals with the trauma of going through a full blown war before the age of eighteen. Fills in the gaps that JK Rowling left behind, and offers a much more realistic view of what life would be like after seeing your friends die.

Sealed In Silence-MorriganFearn 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

A look into the life of the Eight Heroes, focused around Bramimond, the Dark Druid. It’s told as a series of small interactions between Bramimond and the other heroes. An older fic, but it has aged well.

The Dusk of Our Revolution-LittleGreenBudgie 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

An AU where Matthew is trying to escape the Black Fang gang; a well written side fic that covers one of my rarepairs from this ancient fandom. Each of the Four Fangs makes an appearance as well, as do other characters, and the whole thing fits neatly into the new setting.

Clandestine-LittleGreenBudgie 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

A quick meeting between Matthew and Leila. This is the rarepair I mentioned above, but it’s cute, and this little fic covers their interaction very well, I think.

End of An Era: Unholy Alliance-LordHippoman 

Fandom: League of Legends

The League falls to a combined assault from the Void, Noxus, and the Shadow Isles. An older fic that I read back when I played League super regularly, but it’s a good read overall.

Another Hope-Rose of the Nile

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed IV

This beautiful fic is another time travel fic, where Edward is sent back in time after the events of AC4. Knowing what he does, he tries to fix his mistakes. This one made me happy mainly because of the pairing and improved character development, and is a great read for anyone who loved Kiddway as much as I did.

Deep Breaths-CrimsonNoble

Fandom: League of Legends

An AU fic with Riven and Irelia. Basic Cop and Gang fic, with each of the major factions being a different gang member. Older fic, but done well, with interesting perspective shifts and descriptions.

More Than Words-Kitten Kisses 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

Sadly, this fic was taken down, but you should be able to email the author for a copy. A post game fic where Hector and Farina get back together. Very fluffy and angsty; poor Farina doesn’t catch a break in this one, but it all turns out lovely.

The Ice Girl-Meelu the Bold

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

Linus and Lloyd save Nino when she’s abducted by faeries; bit of a strange premise, but it leads to some classic puzzling and hack and slash action. Very old fic, but a good read.

[theworstbob]

the thing journal, 7.2.2017 - 7.8.2017

capsule review-like entries about the things i saw or heard last week. in this post: lord steppington, the golden hour, the last man on earth, souled out, splasher, le jour se leve, creed, a 14 ans, 4:44, singles, heart beats

1) Lord Steppington, by The Step Brothers: I wrote a brief paean to Rhymesayers last week, and I do stand by it, I'm just not thinking about this album specifically when thinking about the label. It's a decent album, it's very Midwest in spirit what with the soul samples and whatnot, but it's also thoroughly whelming Midwest rap. And that's not a bad thing, not every album is destined to be the best album ever! And "this album is OK" isn't that great a criticism, like oh no, how dare something not instill a fire within me, and we didn't make it five sentences into this album before I wrote about writing. Tomorrow will come.

2) The Golden Hour, by Kimbra: So real talk, I sort of thought this album was gonna be the biggest waste of time of all the 2014 joints I added to the library. I only knew her from the Gotye song, she was described as "dream pop" which doesn't sound like anything which could capitavate me, I'm not 110% into the Gotye song if I'm being perfectly honest, it seemed like a bad time from the second I hit "add." But wouldn't you know it, while there was a lot of indie bullshit (man "90s music" is such a predictable bummer), there were actually two (2) disco-y tracks that went hard as hell and made me pay attention. I sort of expected this entire album to move at 3 MPH for 50 minutes, and while I recognize it's not fair to weigh an album against one's expectations (0/2! nailing it this week!), the dance tracks themselves were actually great, and knowing Kimbra was capable of doing more than whisper plaintively made me pay attention to the rest of the album, and there was some really cool stuff in there. Not my cup of tea, but not something I'd refuse if it was what a host had on offer.

3) The Last Man on Earth s3, cr. Will Forte: Definitely the best season so far. The episode where Tandy takes Kenneth Choi to his home in Seattle while Carol tries to get Gail to adopt her is so good, it feels like something the series had to do at some point, acknowledge that these characters had lives before the virus that they are thinking about all the time, and the Kirsten Wiig episode was gold, like, half that episode is just Kristen Wiig yelling at a dog, and that's the better half of the episode. I also really love the version of Tandy who expresses his self-centeredness by trying to be the nicest most helpful boy alive. The show is just so nice and so great and I'm so excited to see where they take s4 in however many months.

4) Souled Out, by Jhene Aiko: One day I'm going to admit to myself that I don't like this kind of music as much as I want to. Like, greatness transcends, I can hear Blood Orange or Solange or SZA and know what I'm listening to is a miracle, but stuff like this or Syd or Smino, like, I want to be where these albums are, but I just can't get to that place. And part of this is just the way I treat music, I know, I'm trying to get the full experience with just one listen on a bus ride home and that's not doing it right, but with albums like this, which are so very subtle and so very understated, what I would get out of the full experience isn't worth the effort it would take to sink into it. I'm sure it's very good, but I'm just never going to be this into mid-tier alt-R&B, and I'm okay with admitting that. Like, I'm about to rave about a colorful platformer video game where you play as a spiky-haired child who bounces off special paint, I'm not quiet R&B introspective jam person.

5) Splasher, dev. Romain Claude: I'm actually writing this like six levels deep into this game because I am absolutely in love. If there's one genre of game I love, it's indie platformer (I like VVVVVV and Runbow, I'm not an afficionado or anything), and this hits a thousand of my buttons. Like, I plunked money on an actual controller for this game, because I tried it for like ten minutes with my keyboard and was like "Nope, nope, this will never work" and set it down (did I write about my first ten minutes in here? Not sure I did. Ah, well!) and now I have a controller and my gosh the movement. This is a game that wants you to move through it quickly, but it never feels like you're out of control at any point, the little orange dude whose name probably doesn't matter is always responding to what you're telling him to do. Like, the air controls! He floats just enough that moving him around is still a skill to be mastered, but not so much so to make it tedious, they struck a really fine balance there. So the game hasn't felt unfair as of yet, all the (many) deaths I have suffered (many, many deaths) have been 100% my fault and have not felt frustrating in any way. And every level with the golden bouncy paint has been absolutely delightful. I'm not sure what later levels have in store for me, I'm sure I'm gonna hit a difficulty curve, but my gosh, what a wonderful little treat!

6) Le Jour Se Leve, dir. Marcel Carne: yes hello hi welcome to post i am reviewing a colorful video game about a bouncing parkour child an 80-year-old french film So I mean I don't have anything to say about this film, but it's just so nuts to consider that films used to look like this and feel like this. Like, the idea of this film wouldn't have been out of place in the dark anti-hero TV drama boom of the 21st century, but cinema had only progressed so far in the '30s, so it's a dark anti-hero drama being told with the cinematic language that had been developed to that point. You can see the first steps being taken to Breaking Bad, but it's several decades away from actually getting there. But the film is also telling its own story, it's not just a marker on the chart of evolutionary progression, it's absolutely worth watching on its own merit, but the entire time, I was just thinking, oh hey I've seen that executed more completely in recent years, that's cool to see the idea before it was fully developed.

7) Creed, dir. Ryan Coogler: The most impressive thing this film did was be a film that worked for someone that had never seen a Rocky movie. It does assume you know some moments from the Rocky series, but only the iconic ones you've seen parodied in other pop culture events. You hear the Rocky theme, you see the steps Rocky walked up, the main character is the son of the most famous adversary, it doesn't traffic in advanced Rocky esoterica, it is just a film that carries the Rocky branding. And I love the way it dealt with legacy. Every single character was trying to do something before life took the opportunity away, and it felt honest while still feeling sort of like meta-commentary, like Creed knew it was going to be judged against Rocky and wanted to prove it was Creed before people called it Rocky in the same way Adonis needed to prove he was Adonis before people started calling him Apollo's son. That's me reading way too much into the movie, though. It was dope. Hey guys did you know that movies a bunch of other people also have seen,,, are good? Sometimes things in the mainstream are OK, too! Anyway here's another French film.

8) A 14 ans, dir. Helene Zimmer: I don't think I've ever seen a film that allowed teenage girls to be the assholes they are in this film. Like, movies like Mean Girls or Easy A or what-have-you are about how teens can hurt each other, but the teens' assholishness is heightened for comedic effect, and the teens all learn lessons in the end. This presents an unvarnished look at how teen girls can absolutely fuck up everyone's lives, and I thought that was fairly admirable. Yet while it was doing that thing, it never lost sight of the fact that its characters were still developing as people, that they weren't necessarily aware they were doing monstrous things they were just kids who don't know any better who were fucking up in ways they might never be able to understand, so the film wasn't this dark look at The Dangers of Teening, it was a sympathetic portrayal of young women figuring out who they wanna be. It’s not a coming-of-age story, it’s a being-of-age story. This is an accurate descriptor of the portrait of young women being painted by this film, and also a joke about how nothing actually like happens in this movie, yeah hello hi it me I like songs that go everywhere and movies that go nowhere.

9) 4:44, by Jay-Z: Everything everyone is saying about this album is correct. I initially balked at the concept of a response album to Lemonade, but I never considered that the word "response" was being used as shorthand for "detail of Jay-Z's emotional response." It's not just that it's a rapper going through his life and loves and considering how he failed, it's that it's Jay-Z, who has spent the last five years rapping about how many yachts he owns. (And it's also just that any rapper this side of Rhymesayers is being this introspective. Like damnit man this is our thing, how dare you be better at this than us.) And just like Lemonade, this is a really fucking good album, and even if it deals with difficult topics, it doesn't handle them in a difficult way, this is an album I'm excited to return to.

10) Singles, by Future Islands: Maybe I'm just not remembering The Far Field well enough, but this man was doing some things with his voice I don't remember doing on The Far Field. There are moments where he dips into this soft growl that are so out-of-place in the middle of these dreamy synthpop tracks yet don't feel jarring, always sort of feel logical. (One would assume the band knows how to structure songs around the things the dude wants to do with his voice. It's weird how bands that are good know how to write songs!) And, gosh, the world has been saying this for a thousand years, but "Seasons (Waiting on You)" is just such an absolutely perfect song.

11) Heart Beat, by Dami Im: Let's go back to Souled Out for a little bit, because if I'm going to listen to something mid-tier, I'd rather listen to something overdramatic than understated. Something like this is what I can get into, All The Singing over the most trashy pop production, not vibing over droning electronic beats. This isn't to suggest that this album is better than Souled Out, Souled Out is probably better on an objective basis, just that this is the sort of thing which more easily draws me in. I am always going to be into a young woman singing joyously about how super a certain emotion (in this case, Love) is. This was a fun 35 minutes or so. I prefer having fun sometimes!