#so I feel like it'd be a nice change up to give that storyline to one of the other Senshi

[strixcattus]

Trying to get out my full battery of Pristine Cut theories I think are at least pretty realistic (some mine, some not—I don't recall where the ones that aren't mine came from)

(Bold text is edits from shortly after the initial post)

—Fury, Den, and Apotheosis will get significant expansions (pretty sure this one has been implicitly stated by the devs if not explicitly so) —Prisoner, Damsel, and Spectre will all get a unique Chapter III to finish the symmetry of the game —All of the expanded Chapter IIIs will end up with both more options/resolutions and more fleshing out to some of the existing options (feels a given, but I'm trying to be comprehensive here)

FURY —Adversary->Fury will come with even more Voices (Smitten and possibly Cheated would be my guesses) —The "unwinding" sequence will be longer and have more variation/options than the single line we have now —Something surreal is going to happen to the Fury as she unwinds us (based on that one art shared by the devs)

DEN —Expanded "failure" sequences—at the very least choosing the option that wasn't in your plan will be as fleshed out as EotN's "failure" and at most you might get a chance to turn things around —A "freeze" option to bring the whole set forward from the Beast into the Den —This one's more hope than theory but it'd be nice if you got the option to spare the Den if you're on the "fight" path. It'd also be nice if there were more of a sequence to freeing the Den on the "flight" path, but of the two the former seems more likely.

APOTHEOSIS —I'm not sure what to say about this one aside from "your choices have tangible meaning now" —It'd be neat if the Tower chapter got a little more meat that led to multiple ways to reach Apotheosis and thus multiple Voices you could gain from that chapter, but it doesn't seem too likely

PRISONER —Complete the set with Beast and Adversary by having a Chapter III that can be reached with both Stubborn and Hunted, with different storylines depending on which Voice you get —The Prisoner gets to kill you (and how you approach this determines which Voice you get) —I kind of want to see this chapter get brought into the "the blade gives you more options" fold by allowing you the chance to refuse to take the blade, thus locking you onto either chaining yourself up or one variant of the new Chapter III —We're finally going to get a concrete justification for why the Prisoner, despite being one of the more cooperative Princesses, has the same font as the more inhuman/combative Princesses

DAMSEL —I think we're generally in agreement that the "up the stairs" image is probably for the new Chapter III —General consensus also seems to be that either we tell the Damsel to kill us or we insist on staying in the cabin with her forever —I personally favor the former theory since it would explain how we die (to move on to Chapter III) and it would add to the "taking the blade gives you more options" theme —We'll finally get another Chapter III that uses the font shared by the more gentle/human Princesses —Likely Voice candidates for the new chapter would be Contrarian or possibly Skeptic (Contra seems more likely, but I'm keeping an open mind)

SPECTRE —Possibility that the new Chapter III will only be accessible with the blade, though I can't imagine what it would be in that case —Notable that this is the only Chapter II called out by the devs... we might be seeing a significant expansion leading up to the new chapter, or even leading up to another Chapter II resolution —Perhaps there's a change in the sequence after you decide to refuse the Spectre's possession without slaying her or leaving the basement? —My best guess right now as to the lead-in would be that the new chapter stems from slaying yourself while possessed (unlikely since it's already a Chapter II resolution—would lead to gaining either Stubborn or Contrarian) (or Opportunist?) —I'm going back and forth about whether the new chapter might come from choosing to stay in the basement instead of leaving or trying to slay the Princess—I actually wrote and deleted it when initially posting—this would maybe result in Paranoid, Smitten, or Contrarian? —Most likely I think there'll be an entirely new section of the chapter that leads into the new Chapter III —To be honest the one thing I really hope is that somehow Broken shows up—this is the one pairing I really wanted to see since discovering you could mix and match the Voices in Chapter III —Maybe there'll be the possibility that you fail to escape the cabin while possessed? —Somewhere there will be an achievement called The Exorcist II (to go with The Exorcist and The Exorcist III)

[bucchus]

Honestly it just feels like 911 has been going in circles for a while now. During season 5 i was already kinda getting bored and frustrated with some aspects of it so i only watched season 6 sporadically when they then moved to abc i was like I’ll give it another chance… liked the opening disaster and was then positively surprised by bi buck. But looking at the show now… literally every character seems to be in the exact same place they were years ago there is nothing really new happening anymore i feel like I’ve been watching the exact same storylines over and over again. There are hardly any new faces popping in that could freshen it up and if they do the side characters are gone again after a few episodes. Bobby and Athene have communication problems every season and Athena is a cop that gets some copaganda shit to do. Henren always have drama when it comes to expanding their family and hen‘s job. Chim never has a storyline outside of his wife and maddy is only needed when something regarding abuse pops up. Buck just recycles through wanting to find love and being dumped (now with the addition of male love interests but they still can’t even say his sexuality on camera) and Eddie is still finding himself and trying to heal. It‘s getting so repetitive i kind of wish they will end the show after season 8 because it seems to be getting worse and worse.

i agree mostly. i think tim really meant it when he said characters shouldn't change. i just took it to mean that their core characteristics should be kept intact while still growing into better versions of themselves. it's weird that tim seems to have forgotten about that part. recycling the same issues over and over doesn't make for good storytelling, imo—it just gets boring. the outcome is always the same—it seems like a given character has finally found the answer or made peace with themselves, only to circle back a season or two later. it's exhausting.

that said, it does remind me of real life in a way. people often think they've learned a lesson, only to end up repeating the same patterns over and over again. it takes tremendous self-discipline to change how we approach things, since we tend to stick with what feels most comfortable. so, in a way, i get why some of these characters fall back into the same habits—it's realistic. but here's where this argument falls short—as oliver likes to point out, this show is not a documentary. it doesn't have to reflect real life 1:1. honestly, who wants to watch characters constantly go in circles? it may work for a little while, but there comes a point where you have to know when to stop. i think buck's had enough failed relationships to have learned how to navigate or fight for one. i think bobby and athena have had enough conversations about difficult topics to understand that it's better to approach the situation in a healthier manner.

i'm not saying these problems need to disappear completely. i'm saying that it'd be nice to see the impact of the previous situations on the current one, with a character actually drawing from past experiences and trying to do better. it doesn't mean the character has to suddenly be perfect in that aspect—just that they're clearly trying. it'd be enough, and i think it would make for some compelling storylines. and once that's done, why not introduce some new challenges? why stick to the same tried-and-true approach? sure, it worked in the past, but that absolutely does not mean it's still the best option moving forward.

and don't get me even started on henren—or on CHIMNEY. who's chimney outside of being maddie's husband, jee's father and a paramedic? because i don't think even the writers know. that's why he's missing for like six episodes in season 5. maddie's gone, and suddenly no one knows what to do with him anymore, so they just write him off.

and when it so happens that chimney, maddie, eddie do get individual storylines, they’re always tied to the same past we’ve already revisited a thousand times. i get that it’s part of who they are, obviously, but is that really all there is to those characters? how about creating something new for them to go through and then exploring the repercussions of that instead? not just pretending the arc is over and leaving the consequences behind? seriously, is it really that hard?

[synergysilhouette]

Hogwarts Legacy spinoff/sequel wants

As an HL fan, I was absolutely pleased with the game--but for the next one, I'd like some changes/additions.

Make an Ilvermorny spinoff--As an American fan, it'd be so fun to see Ilvermorny in person, preferably in modern day; I'm still confused on how no-maj racism never existed in the Americas if most European purebloods didn't come to America, meaning that most American witches/wizards (of European heritage, at least) would be no-maj borns and half-bloods, and thus be influenced somewhat by no-maj ideals. Placing it in modern day would make it feel a bit more tolerant, imo.

GIVE EVERY HOUSE SOME LOVE WITH SIDEQUESTS--Ravenclaws got screwed terribly since Amit doesn't have his own storyline/quest like the other house representatives. It felt really unfair.

Flesh out the main character's background--It's never explained WHY the student is starting off as a 5th year, nor what kind blood heritage they have, despite this taking place in the late 19th century, when blood heritage would be even more important than it was when Harry Potter was alive a hundred years later. (And nit-pick, but it'd also be nice if we could say if they were from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, or another country).

Friendship meter--I like the idea that you can have your friends join you on quests outside of their personal ones, as long as you have a close enough bond with them. Plus it'd be great for diverging storylines; imagine if we could've convinced Sebastian not to use the killing curse if we were close enough with him. I guess that's "Hogwarts Mystery" rubbing off on me (one of the few things I liked about that game).

Romance options--This is probably a minority request, but I'd like the option. I think the devs said romance wasn't a factor because of your possible dark paths, which makes sense, but the aforementioned friendship meter could potentially alleviate this by convincing them to join you (or turn them away from their own dark path).

The option to be a metamorphagus or an animgus (or the sidequest to become one)--It'd be such a fun idea to use these powers on missions.

Change your face after initial designs--I remember being dissatisfied with my character's face after setting him up, and I was disappointed that I couldn't change it afterwards. It'd also be cool if we could experiment with their build/body type a bit.

A better story--Sebastian's sidestory was more interesting than the Goblin uprising, tbh. Even rehashing the blood purity storyline would've been better.

Trials that take place within the world--Maybe it was just me, but I didn't like how the trials took place within an alternate world (except Niamh's trial; hers was creative) rather than using the large world we already had.

[imagitory]

Review: Wish (2023) [SPOILERS]

Evening, everyone! Tonight my mother and I went to go see Disney's most recent film, Wish, which fortunately came to theaters in my area right before its formal American release date. I'd been very curious to see how this tribute to Disney's last 100 years of filmmaking would turn out, and now that I've seen it...well, I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I want to be very clear both that I was going into this with a rather sunny outlook and that there are things I really liked in this film...but overall, it felt like a lot of the good ideas it had were only half-baked, and I found myself -- forgive me -- "wishing for something more" than what we got.

For a more comprehensive deep-dive...a cut!

The Good!

+The single best element in this film for me was Chris Pine's performance as our villain, Magnifico. There are definitely some things I can critique about Magnifico's overall storyline and "character arc" further down, but Chris was clearly having a grand old time being an egotistical, sassy jerkwad, and it totally showed. Even in his villain song This is The Thanks I Get?, which just screamed "passive-aggressive abusive parent," you can hear how much fun Chris was having in the studio, recording it. I just about always enjoyed when Magnifico was on screen, and I actually did really like the idea that a lot of his villainy is rooted in him being obsessed with control over everyone and everything. In a weird way, Magnifico's turn to the Dark Side parallels Anakin Skywalker's in the sense that he lost so much in the past that he's determined to never lose anything important to him again -- especially the power he's accrued to make himself feel strong, after having felt so powerless. I find that very interesting, and I kind of wish that aspect was really highlighted more in the story, but we'll talk about that later.

+Asha was a likable enough heroine, even if I found her to be a lot like a two-way fusion of Mulan and Anna placed in a vaguely Snow-White-ish role in her clearly Seven-Dwarf-inspired friend group. Ariana DeBose portrayed her rather well, both acting and singing-wise. I also liked the "social justice" bent to Asha's character where she wants better things not just for herself and her family, but also Rosas overall -- in the French translation of her main song "This Wish," they even push this further by having Asha wish "to see the world happy again someday." We haven't seen a heroine really express this kind of desire for a positive change in the world since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and that's cool! Plus representation in mainstream media for previously underrepresented groups is always nice. ^.^

+As much as I don't think they all got enough focus as individuals, I liked Asha's friend group! Especially the fact that it is a friend group made up of people that are around the same age as our protagonist, which -- let's be honest -- isn't that common for Disney heroines. Often with "sidekick groups," you're more likely to have situations like Cinderella with the mice (who are more like cutesy sidekicks than equals) or Snow White with the Dwarfs (who are all quite a bit older than our heroine)...so a friend group made up of peers with their own personalities and motivations was kind of fun.

+The setting of Rosas itself could be pretty. I liked a lot of the Mediterranean-inspired architecture, especially inside Magnifico's tower.

+The combination of 3D and 2D-esque animation was also interesting! It really served to give the film its own distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other Disney projects, which I always appreciate.

+Star was...cute. Obviously just designed to sell plushies and definitely reminded me way too much of Kirby, but cute enough. I do think it's kind of cool that they're never gendered at all in the entire movie, because it'd be silly to think of a sweet little androgynous ball of stardust as being specifically male or female.

+I liked the idea of Simon "betraying" Asha, only to be turned into a pawn by Magnifico in the process, but not being treated unsympathetically by the story for it. Didn't love the full execution of the idea, but hey, that's what the negative section is for.

+The idea of everyone finding the power inside of themselves to stand up against Magnifico (because they're "all stars," and presumably all have the magic needed to make their wishes come true) was a little predictable, but still sweet. I have problems with how the film wrote it (which we'll get to), but the idea itself was wholesome and fitting.

+I like several of the songs, just on their own -- I added This Wish and Knowing What I Know Now on my ITunes as soon as I first heard them prior to the film's release, and now I've added At All Costs too: it's a really pretty duet! (Gorgeous work, Chris and Ariana!) I'll leave my praise here, though, because sadly the soundtrack is going to get a lot of discussion in the less positive section.

The Not-So-Good...

+This film being "Disney's 100th anniversary film" really got in the way of this movie telling a compelling and unique story sometimes. The whole movie really twisted itself into a pretzel trying to check off all the usual Disney tropes, and there were points that certain choices made the story seem incredibly stilted. For instance, one common Disney trope is a dead parent, so of course Asha has lost her father -- but we learn so little about him and he ends up playing such a small role in Asha's arc and story that it seems like an unnecessary detail. Asha's grandfather honestly plays more of a role in Asha's motivation throughout most of the film, so it would've made just as much sense to have Asha's grandfather be the one who believed in stars having power, rather than her father. Another example is the concept of the cute animal sidekick who's just there to make jokes -- as much as Valentino the goat didn't annoy me personally, he added just about nothing of value to the story whatsoever aside from comic relief, in contrast to other funny sidekicks like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid or Olaf from Frozen, who also serve a plot purpose and have a developed relationship with the protagonists. Then there's Asha being cut from the same "naive, awkward, wide-eyed idealist" cloth as many of our Disney Revival heroines like Anna, Rapunzel, and up to a certain point even Mirabel are; Star being in a similar vein to cutesy, innocent sidekicks like Pua, Crikee, and Baymax while Valentino is more akin to sassier, comic ones like Mushu and Sisu; her friends literally being based on the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White; our heroine getting a pretty standard "I Want" song and the villain getting his own solo number that doesn't really take any risks...oh yes, and we mustn't forget the trope of the Storybook opening, which (I'm sorry) I know was supposed to be a reference to Snow White, Cinderella, and Enchanted, but just gave me Shrek vibes the entire time. I was waiting for Shrek to rip out the page and use it for toilet paper any minute. It just felt a lot of the time like the movie was very paint-by-numbers, rather than throwing in much that was surprising or different.

+This isn't even touching all of the pointless meta references to other Disney movies. Asha wearing the Fairy Godmother's cloak and getting a wand like hers at the end -- the mushrooms crowing "we love crazy!" the way Hans did in Love is an Open Door -- Asha riding the reindeer the way Kristoff did in Frozen 2 -- Magnifico using green smoke hands a la Ursula -- the ending with those obvious Wendy and Peter Pan look-alikes, come on, really??? That was just painful.

+As much as Magnifico was an awesome idea for a character and Chris Pine's performance was beyond entertaining, the movie did not always write him as well as they could've. From the very start, we see this guy is an egotistical control freak -- obsessed with his own image, incredibly hard-to-please, arrogant, vain, desperate for attention and unwavering praise and adoration from all of his subjects, and determined to keep an iron grip on everyone else's wishes because of the power it gives him. He's ALREADY a terrible person, from the start -- and yet the film tries to introduce this dark magic book that gets no explanation or backstory whatsoever and has no real characterization or presence, so it leaves no real impact on the audience corrupting him and making him a bad person, when it didn't need to! Magnifico was already the villain this film needed! Just let him fall head-first into madness without the book prompting anything! Even if Magnifico "lost everything" in the past, that doesn't make him a good person, if he takes everyone's wishes away from them and hoards them all to himself, only to grant a few now and again when it would make him look good.

+This above point actually leads nicely into one change I really, really wish the film had been ballsy enough to make -- have Asha already be Magnifico's apprentice, not trying to become it at the start of the story. Give our villain and hero a real relationship, with history that started before the events of this film! Asha lost her father at the age of 12...how interesting would it have been -- whether to make Magnifico more of an anti-villain or show how manipulative he really is -- if he'd tried to fill that fatherly role for our main character and twist her to serve his ends? What if At All Costs was rewritten to be about Magnifico not just being determined to hold onto all of the kingdom's wishes, but also this apprentice he sees as an extension of him and his legacy, while Asha is determined to protect this Star she's accidentally summoned and the suppressed wish of hers it represents? This change would've made Asha's break with Magnifico so much more powerful for both of them -- it would've both justified Magnifico's descent into madness and given Asha more reason to feel like it was her responsibility to stop Magnifico. You even could've then played more with Asha's relationship with Queen Amaya too, in this kind of a scenario.

+Oh yeah, and on that note, Queen Amaya. OOH, this really annoyed me -- okay. So this woman is supposed to be a good guy, in this story. But as I touched on earlier, Magnifico was already a pretty awful person, hoarding people's wishes away in order to make himself powerful. Was Amaya truly so blind to that? Did she truly never question anything, ever? But no, really, she only turns on Magnifico after he starts using the dark magic book and actively threatens her. Only that makes her turn from him, and it's pretty damn immediate. Now okay, I hear you saying, it's like Amaya sings in Knowing What I Know Now, right? "The good in him, I've watched it melt // I was blinded by the love I felt"? Excuse me, lady -- but Magnifico wasn't a good person, before. He was just playing a part so as to stay powerful and adored by the masses. And if the story wants to claim otherwise, and act like that dark magic book was responsible for Magnifico going bad, then why would our Queen decide to keep him locked up in his staff's crystal forever? If the book was responsible, then Magnifico would be the Frodo or Golum to the book's One Ring -- he'd be a victim, in such a scenario: one in need of help and pity, not punishment. So either Amaya is a selfish person who only cared about her husband's mistreatment of others when it affected her, or she's a needlessly cruel person who decides to punish her husband for a vice that anyone could fall prey to. Either way, I don't want this woman ruling anyone! Make this woman a straight-up villain, same as her husband, and have the whole monarchy come crashing down after she and Magnifico both go down in flames! VIVE LA RESISTANCE! (Playing into my idea with Asha being Magnifico's apprentice all along, maybe there could even be a twist on the Evil Stepmother trope with Amaya, where she's jealous of how much Magnifico has tried to groom Asha as his apprentice, rather than spending time and/or starting a family with her or something.)

+As I touched on earlier, there wasn't even close to enough time to develop all of these characters properly. Since our heroine and friends are most similar to Snow White and her friends the Seven Dwarfs, let's compare cast size. Snow White is 83 minutes long and has a cast of ten (Snow, the Prince, the Queen, and the Dwarfs) -- Wish is 95 minutes long and has a cast of fourteen (Asha, Magnifico, Star, Valentino, Amaya, Asha's mum and grandpa, and our seven Friends). This results in us getting the vague idea that "Grumpy" role Gabo is sweet on our "Bashful" role Bazeema, but no time to develop their relationship or give it any kind of conclusion; the others saying "Sneezy" role Safi apparently loves the castle chickens with no sympathetic explanation why, to the point that he gets super excited about a chicken growing to a giant size for no real reason; "Doc" role Dahlia having a crush on Magnifico that is then dropped immediately after Asha turns against him; oldest kid and "Sleepy" role Simon feeling incomplete without the dream he gave Magnifico and "betraying" Asha as a result in an attempt to get it back, only to get stabbed in the back by Magnifico, and then have no time for a proper redemption after he's unhypnotized; Asha's grandfather turning on a dime about whether or not he wants to know what his wish was if Magnifico thought it was dangerous; Magnifico getting some justification in his backstory for his bad behavior, but Amaya's backstory being a complete black hole before she married Magnifico when you'd think it'd explain all the more why she stuck with him so long; and Asha's mum having her wish crushed to dust by Magnifico and then given back without us EVER LEARNING WHAT IT EVEN WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE, even after we see just about everyone else's wishes as soon as somebody picks it up and Asha's mum's wish gets picked up multiple times!! Come on, if you're going to set up NOT showing it, you may as well have a pay-off for it!! At least give us some moment where Asha's mum hugs her in relief and acknowledges that her daughter was her wish! That would've been a nice "aww" moment for everyone!

+Okay, I said I was going to talk about my problem with the songs, so here goes. As I said before, I listened to the soundtrack before watching the movie, and even when I did, I could immediately sense a problem: these songs did not tell me much of anything about the movie, just on their own. Welcome to Rosas, which is pretty much just an exposition dump about the kingdom and how Magnifico founded it, didn't really paint a picture of our setting or characters much at all, the way opening songs like Belle or The Family Madrigal do. This Wish, although pretty, was something I could hear just as easily on the radio -- it didn't feel as tied or necessary to understanding our heroine the way something like Part of That World does. I'm a Star, quite frankly, felt like a lot of inspirational word salad, rather than anything particularly memorable or revelatory -- why else wouldn't it even be worthy of a musical salute in the reprise, where Asha remembers that she and everyone else are stars during the climax? Even after reading summaries of the plot and spoilers from the storybook for this film, I could not figure out for the life of me how At All Costs would fit organically into such a story, being sung by our villain and hero. It wasn't until I saw the film that I saw how the filmmakers decided to fit it in and honestly...the song didn't help tell that particular scene at all. It's a really pretty song and I like it a lot -- but it lacked any of the irony or contrast that kind of a scene that introduces the difference in focus between our hero and villain required. If the scene itself is needed to understand what's supposed to be going on while the song is playing, then the song is not effectively telling the story and is therefore unnecessary. There wasn't even a particularly Spanish or Mediterranean flair to the soundtrack to help set the stage, aside from the occasional flourish of castanets -- instead it sounded very contemporary, which I guess is appropriate, since it was largely written by pop composers rather than any musical theater talent.

+There were also points where the songs felt the urge to shove in a bunch of extra words just because, rather than have the words flow well and really mean something. I'm a Star is most guilty of this, of course, but even in This is the Thanks I Get?, we hear Magnifico gripe that "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent" -- mate, THAT MEANS THE SAME THING! If you live somewhere for free, then you are NOT paying rent!

+Knowing What I Know Now is a bop and I like it (aside from Amaya's stupidity), but I'm sorry, all I can think when I hear it is "This is clearly trying to be Ready as I'll Ever Be from Tangled the Animated Series, but that song blows this out of the water." However fun the song can be, it would've been so much stronger if it actually addressed the contrast between the characters and revved us up for a big final battle, instead of it just being our eight underdeveloped characters psyching each other up.

+The idea of everyone being stars was a lovely idea, but the execution of Asha remembering this fact and using it to defeat Magnifico was terribly handled. First off, there was no revelatory phrase or action that prompted Asha to remember this fact, so her suddenly saying that "they're all stars" came out of nowhere. Second, even putting aside that there'd be no way any of her friends could hear Asha from all the way up on the tower if they're stuck in the courtyard below, there's no reason I can see for Asha's friends or family to know what the hell she was even TALKING about. They weren't there when the I'm a Star number happened! And the way that number made it seem, just based on the visuals, it looked like the "star" power came from a person's dream, since it's the same glow that returns to Asha's grandfather when he gets his dream back, but most of the town's dreams have been already yanked out by Magnifico at this point! I think the idea is that since everyone is a star, even with that big piece of them and the power accompanying it taken out, they still have enough stardust inside of them to be powerful enough to chase their heart's desires...but yeah, I'm sorry, for all the word salad I'm a Star threw around, this world-building aspect was really not made clear, and because of that and the lack of a proper callback to this plot turn, the climax didn't hit as strong as it should've.

Overall, this film felt a lot like a batch of unbaked chocolate chip cookies that someone decided to throw a bunch of brightly colored sprinkles on top of, just because they could. A lot of ideas just don't feel like they were fully developed, and there was a lot tossed in that didn't contribute to the overall taste or bring the disparate elements together in a cohesive whole, instead feeling more like a distraction than anything of actual substance. That doesn't mean I couldn't eat it -- I like eating cookie dough as much as the next person -- but that doesn't mean it felt like a complete, finished product worthy of great praise. Instead I'm left looking at the wasted potential and wishing the movie had carved out its own path more, one distinctive to itself, rather than just be a mashup of previous Disney concepts and tropes. I won't act like there's nothing to like here, nor that it's completely lacking in heart: I actually would love to see fandom for this movie re-imagine it in ways that could've improved the story and characters, because there were SO many good ideas here...but for me personally, this movie left me colder than it should've and -- like Asha after meeting Magnifico -- a bit disappointed.

So I make this wish...to have Disney make a film better than this.

Overall Grade: C-

[rjschoicesstuff]

I've made 2 Immortal Desires oc's so far

The first is a human guy named Miguel, cause I really wanted to explore Ripley's dynamic with a human her age who Knows what she is.

And the second is a vampire girl who shows up in Crimson Beech claiming her whole coven got wiped out by the creator. Which is true but she conveniently leaves out that she joined the creator once it became clear that her coven didn't stand a chance and betrayed them.

I'll drop some more info and art for them below the cut

Both of them are just for little au's I 'write' (more like think of and draw cause I'm Not a writer) cause I love au's yahooo

I wrote all this down at 2 in the morning so idk how much sense it makes + HDDB it's a lot but I found that I enjoy using tumblr as an archive for these things

More about Miguel:

-He's 19, graduated high school in a different city a year ago and recently moved in with his aunt and a cousin in Crimson Beech. He works as a janitor at the hospital.

-I haven't completely figured out the storyline yet cause I mostly just wanted to add a character that's 100% Mine, but so far the gist is that he finds out that Ripley is a vampire, she tries to keep this a secret with him for a while to save both their asses and grow closer in this time because Ripley would go check on him a lot. But eventually someone would find out and they get in trouble. He'd survive his Nexus trial and they keep hanging out. Like I think to Ripley it'd be really nice to have a human friend who knows what she is. And also Ripley gifts him her old talisman bracelet and gradually 'rewards' him with new talismans so he can protect himself if he has to. A lot of this might still change, I'm someone who comes up with characters and the plot follows lol.

-He's a lil shy and doesn't talk a lot, but he's very open about it when he likes people. And he's very Generous with compliments. He's not much of a fighter especially against vampires who are much stronger than him anyway and he'd likely freeze if he ever got into such a situation. He enjoys taking care of people and I think that sorta extends to him Really enjoying giving his blood to vampires lol.

-He has a car that he named Hailey and no one but him is allowed to drive her because he saved up real long to buy her. Like he'll get kinda mad if you even dare to suggest wanting to drive or borrow his car.

-He has a weird sense of humor and often wears shirts with weird/funny/vulgar texts on them.

-Him 🤝 Ripley never completely grew out of their scene phase

-He kinda like Really wants to be part of whatever Ripley, Cas and Gabriela have going on. Like just from the start he has a crush on all of them. He starts out just with Ripley, but eventually the rest follow too.

-He likes how they all make him feel small and fragile in a good way lmao

-I think that while he likes the Idea of becoming a vampire, in reality he doesn't want it. And he knows this. And eventually he would realise it's not going to work with the whole relationship he has going on with everyone in the long run. He'd decide to move out of Crimson Beech and break everyone's hearts lol. Kinda similar to my au where Ripley stays human, tho I haven't shared that one yet..

-I gave him a genderbent version too, just cause everyone else also doesn't have a set gender in the books lol. They are very similar except she feels more freedom in how she can express herself regarding her appearance (like long nails, showing more skin etc.) than canon Miguel.

More about Sabine:

-She's very eccentric and fun to hang out with if she likes you and she's on your side.

-She's a scary good liar and sometimes just makes shit up because it's Funny. Especially because she's definitely over a century old so when talking to younger vampires she'll just make shit up about things people used to do in the past.

-She'd join the Venandi's because she's used to hunting and has a high prey drive.

-She's terrified of dying and will do whatever she has to do to protect herself, she would never put someone else's safety before her own, no matter how important you are to her.

-She betrayed a lot of friends in her old coven, she tried to convince them to join the creator too, so they could all survive, but everyone was set on protecting their coven and town, even if they had to die protecting it. She thought it was insulting that they seemed to suggest she should do the same and left them behind. She feels no responsibility or guilt for their deaths, but rather anger that they didn't make the right decision, like her.

-She's good at reading people and generally knows exactly what to say to make people like her. She'll lose interest in people if they don't 'give back' enough, especially if they aren't fun or interesting enough to make up for it.

-Her love language is stealing shit for people ❤️

-I like the idea that the creations in book 1 could switch between that form and their og human looking forms, so I imagine she can turn into a creature if she wants. I think she has mixed feelings about that form though cause it's kinda ugly 👎 and nowadays she can't switch anyway because it'd blow her cover

[alitgblog]

volume XI thoughts

I did in fact have access to this on Tuesday and started to play but then got distracted and didn't finish until like 2am when I couldn't sleep anyway (this was a mistake I was so tired at work)

movie night!!! And fun movie night titles!! ofc MC doesn't get her own custom one bc everyone's got different names but my MC is named Maya and with how things have been going I'm pretending her movie title is Messy Messy Maya 🤭

Emel and Oakley both being unfaithful in casa but finding (forcing?) their way back to each other and forgiving each other feels very much like something in the show so I appreciate that storyline tbh

Felicity is too beautiful of a sprite to waste as a Casa girl that only shows up for movie night.

Sienna going "I don't care if it's egotistical, pick my movies" because no one else is gonna care to pick hers 😬😬 id feel bad for her if she wasn't so mean

Hari and Hazel are so cute together but it seems like it's gonna die out soon 🥲 Like I see why if Hazel is panicking and Hari isn't the most reassuring guy and also not completely over MC but aghhh he's gonna fumble Hazel to LIAM. Hazel, not LIAM plsss

Absolutely awful that Liam is so funny bc he's such a piece of shit (awful in the best way, like he's so Messy Mitch from LI UK s10 coded and while I don't like him I appreciate the fun he brings). Saw someone suggest that he could be a late game LI and if he evolves and changes, sure, but a lot is gonna need to happen, otherwise give him a last minute jokey option like Hamish.

I think the thing stopping me from going full in on this Claudia route is she keeps going back to Theo, and not like she has to be pursuing MC 100% for me to pick her but I'm just getting mixed signals with her trying to save her relationship with Theo when they clearly aren't into each other anymore but there are plenty other people around.

Not on a Theo route and haven't talked to him but ngl his little video clip was cute like I almost jumped ship to be messy but nahh. I wonder how that's like if you're actually pursuing him though like does it feel like pay off or shock or reassurance or anything.

very nice they had Jin spell it out to Sienna in front of everyone. like kind of mean, but if it was gonna happen at any time, Movie night is definitely the time to do it.

Like even MC's movie clip playing, first of all was just if she slept with someone in casa I think (which, it's fair enough considering the game's limitations but I was missing all the other times she hoed around). So for my MC it was with Claudia, and Claudia barely has a response to it. And so I'm kinda just going towards the character actively pursuing and paying attention at this moment and it's Jin.

I guess MC was honest to Jin so he didn't mind the movie night thank God but also I want to replay to see the drama unfold. but in my head for some reason he'd be shocked it was Claudia bc she didn't say anything and like it'd be one thing if it was someone she just met like Max who she's been friendzoning ever since but another thing for it to be her best friend in the Villa. but alas, that is a large amount of branching and coding and dialogue to write so I'll let it slide.

a recoupling so soon after?? it's not like the season feels too rushed, but like I mentioned before, the pack in so many things in each volume you don't get much of a chance to chill out with the characters and pretend it's a vacation for your character lol

the problem with me playing early is I'm so curious how everyone else's game went. like is it only your OG LI or Casa Boy that can pick you?? And the chat you have with your partner after, does that lock your route because after this I feel there was a little bit less attention on MC from the other LI's (which I don't mind, so they can have their own stories now, but I wanna knowwww)

Shower scene, Sienna throwing another fit one last time for good measure

But now MC is back with Jin and they have all the cutesy interactions again yay

And then we have no rest in the morning, just straight into a DAYTIME heart rate challenge??? I just think this challenge should always happen at night idk

I forked over the gems for the cowgirl outfit (partly bc the mermaid dress was awful and bc my MC has red hair so I wasn't gonna make her dress like Ariel) but i wish there was a costume that was free instead of just your partywear dress? Like it can be a shitty costume but I understand people not wanting to pay gems for one outfit for one night of the game.

Hazel's outfit though 🥵

Such a minor detail, but I do love that despite her being so awful to MC, that Sienna canonically is a very conservative dresser. like we all see her churchy outfits. and I think maybe she's a little insecure about her body and stuff. that being said, the dialogue she has when she's in costume about feeling confident, and her costume isn't super revealing, and the girls being shocked at her dance, is all very good to have. like it's nice to have that type of character around and the fact that she's also the villain rn? she contains multitudes (or I'm reading into it too hard 😂)

mentioned briefly before but Hazel and Liam??? tf??

And now Claudia and Bea flirting with each other? Okayyy I mean my fingers are crossed so here's hoping they find each other if not MC. and they have a lot in common but feel like different characters so like pls let them be together (I say this as someone every few months posting about how it shouldve been Cora and Angie not friendzoned Oliver and Angie in the s4 finale)

ok but his entrance feels so overshadowed by other things going on though like I feel like he didn't get a chance to really bombshell to the point where I think he should've been introduced next volume instead. like have him have a normal bombshell entrance with dates or smth, then maybe when they're all chilling the next day and getting to know him someone brings up he missed heart rate challenge and they suggest he dances for the characters he's most interested in, if we really wanted to get his messy entrance in.

Two unfortunate things are true in my mind: Logan is very attractive (at least when he's got the hat on) and also he looks like Liam 🫣

depending on how this goes my MC may be hoeing around one last time

cliffhanger being the challenge results is lame

am i,,,, actually excited to replay this season 🫣

[dannyabner]

Ok so I lumped this on the discord earlier but there was barely any grammar and most of it was just repetitive rambling. I decided to rewrite it for myself but also because I didn't wanna let that paragraph of autismsplaining go unheard. So yeah. Enjoy.

•••

In the comics it's Homelander that rapes Starlight, not The Deep. (It was also A-Train and Black Noir, but for the sake of this post we'll forget that.)

As we all know, The Deep alone assaulted Starlight in the show, and there are a few reasons I'm guessing they changed it. The main one is that if it were Homelander, it'd reveal that he's a bad guy too early on. In the first episode he's made out to be this perfect hero, maybe even the "one good supe", and then he lasers the Mayor of Baltimore's plane in half at the end and it all goes downhill from there. Although it would make Starlight's side of the story worse/more interesting with her inability to speak out and the realization of how far Vought is willing to go to keep profits, I can understand why this just wouldn't work.

So they changed it to The Deep. I could be reading too far into this, but I'm guessing it was him specifically because in the comics he seems (or seemed, since I'm still just past Herogasm) to not really have a storyline or even personality of his own. I can only remember him even talking once or twice. Other than Black Noir until that god awful plot twist, I'm pretty sure he's the only member of The Seven who you never get to learn anything about. They could've turned him into the real "one good supe" bar Starlight. They could've given him the Jack from Jupiter treatment and replace him with an original character. I guess they didn't wanna do the latter twice, which is fair. So to make him both a more significant character and more believable villain, this is what we were given.

Yet even with Homelander and The Deep's switched dynamics (probably not the right word), they still wanted to include the whole Ryan plot. For this reason, and I'm guessing this reason only, Homelander too was written as a rapist.

What I always found strange about this is that Homelander showed no signs of that sort of behaviour before or since Becca. I know they kind of needed him to be "that guy" so they could include Ryan in a comic-accurate way. Like, what's more realistic, Homelander settling down with a nice happy family or him gaining the female validation he craves by force? But still, that part of him is always jarring to remember.

I feel like this could've been done a lot more effectively if they delved deeper into his relationship with Stillwell. The reason people so often forget that she groomed him - or don't realise it at all - is because it's just never discussed. It's implied, mentioned in passing out of the show's context, but never actually spoken about. So often I see their relationship reduced to "haha mommy kink breast milk needy good boy." And to be fair, that's basically how it's portrayed in the show. I just wish that it wasn't. Anyway, I'll probably do a whole post about that in the future. I'm getting off topic.

What I'm actually trying to say here is that they probably almost gave The Deep a child instead. It would've made sense, including that aspect of the comics but changing things up again like usual, giving the child to "the" rapist character instead of creating a second one just for the sake of it. Again, I understand why they didn't go with this.

I mean, he wasn't a main antagonist in season one. And not once has he been considered a supervillain. It's more obvious as the show progresses that he's basically just comic relief (another thing I'm a little pissed about but I digress). And since his powers make him more of a glorified human than an actual supe, it would be harder to make his offspring a significant plot device. Ryan is a threat. A ticking time bomb. I'm very excited to see what they do with him in season four. But Kevin Junior? I mean, what would there even be to worry about besides toxic masculinity and an inherited case of body dysmorphia? The only thing this hypothetical kid would be good for is a redemption arc, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the show either doesn't want that for The Deep, or is saving it for the milisecond before his gruesome death.

If this was the original idea, I understand why it was kicked. If it wasn't, it's still kind of a missed opportunity. I really think it was an unusual choice to have Homelander rape Becca. Then again, there's the whole controversy over whether he actually did, but I'm not gonna get involved.

[its-tea-time-darling]

teresa/brenda/thomas for the ship ask!!

hi! ask game for:

Send me a ship and I'll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

so, truth be told, i admit i've been putting off answering this for.. A While. the main reason being that i have a Difficult capital D relationship with book!brenda. severely dislike her, got a major problem with her behavior, think she's a very poorly written character, especially combined with teresa's storyline. i could go into more detail but i won't, unless someone explicitly wants to hear about it.

that being said, in bookverse i think a brenderemas angle and viewpoint on the whole story and the dynamic between the characters could only improve the whole mess. especially considering brenda was basically the og thomesa shipper in fever code - namely:

(rest put under a read more break bc it got Long lmaoo)

brenda brings up thomas doesn't seem to have been very nice to teresa lately. that teresa obviously cares about him, and basically she probes for whether there aren't any feelings between them. when thomas says "She means the world to me, and nothing will ever change that. but it's kinda hard to be romantic when you have a dying world outside your home and your friends are stuck inside an experiment.", this part follows:

Brenda seemed disappointed. "Yeah, but come on. People love, Thomas. Best of times, worst of times. People love. You should make sure she knows how you feel. That's all I'm saying."

(that's page 303 of fever code in my copy)

so if we take that to assume she thinks there's some sort of romantic feelings between thomas and teresa, and she wants for them to be happy, then the events of the main trilogy could be explained as follows: brenda liked thomas during the fever code era already when she first got to know him. catch being: she also started to like teresa during that the time.

so she's kind of put in a position where she gets to interact with thomas more once the scorch trials start--but her whole jealousy angle is not just a jealousy for the closeness she knows thomas and teresa shared, but also goes in both direction: she's not only jealous thomas likes teresa, she's also jealous that teresa likes thomas. (.. and not her)

insert a whole lot of internalized homophobia (thanks to trashner and his non-depiction of anything canonically queer we don't know how the sentiments regarding queerness are in the universe of course, but lets just go with a similar vibe to ours in this case), not understanding her feelings for teresa, the suppressed feelings turning to animosity and maybe that would shape up to a better image than what canon reading presents at first? that's really the best i can do for bookverse hah.

all of this being said, as you know your fic space for the traveling stars (linked so interested followers can access it easily, rated T) did somewhat change my perception of brenda, and gave me a point of empathy for why she could be the way she is, especially in the books.

then in the movies i think the whole thing is much easier. brenda's a (in my opinion) much more coherent and palpable character, with a genuine dynamic of care and closeness with thomas. the way for the 3 of them there would probably be that they'd blossom into an polyamorous relationship in safe haven. actually that could be a fun scenario to explore!

with thomas having a lot of confusing and conflicting feelings regarding the both of them, until there's some sort of realization that he can love two people at the same time. i'd think him and teresa would be a thing first, after the kiss and the forgiveness and all. but it'd probably be hard with how all the others think about her, so she might not have too much contact with the others. and thomas and brenda could grow closer on their own.

i always find the 2 outer points of the "V" in an ot3 connecting one of the most thrilling parts of it - makes me think of lots of possibilities where teresa and brenda could grow closer in safe haven. specifically brenda would have to need to wrap her head around a whole lot before she could come to understand and like teresa ("same dick who betrayed us?" anyone lol).

that was a nice thought experiment, yay!

finally, AUs are an entirely different thing: there i love the 3 of them together! i think their characters can have wonderful dynamics (though there, too, i i find the trenda part of the triad the most difficult to get into. thomesa and brenderesa just come much more naturally to me (which is probably also why it was easiest to write your tmrss the way i did, with us only getting to see trenda once it was already established and working).

which, speaking of! i of course can't answer this ask without linking said tmrss gift for you from last year (i was so glad you liked it!) for the curious follower: snow on the beach (9.3k, rated T) <3

now im curious for your thoughts!

[foxounderscorecube]

The Cosy Cat Society - Charlie Lyndhurst

3 ⭐

This was an impulse buy because the cover was cute, and it was sort of what I expected, sort of not.

I think I expected the story to be, if you excuse the pun, fluffier. As is, I don't think "cosy" is the wrong descriptor - although I say this as someone who hasn't read many books that are in the cosy genre, if that makes sense. The start was a little bit difficult to get into, but as the storylines progressed and came to their conclusions, it does grow into something very sweet.

The characters start out seeming to have little in common apart from their time at Fluffy Paws, a small cat sanctuary in Essex. I haven't been to Essex, but this book does feel incredibly British, and that was rather nice. Everyone has their shit they're going through, and the sanctuary itself is going through some troubles, and by supporting each other, they all end up feeling more contended.

I really loved Mim's character arc, and Luke and Paul's relationship was adorable (although I feel it stole the spotlight a bit from other characters). The storyline of Sasha and Luke - her son, adopted out because she gave birth at 16 - was tough at times but ultimately so, so lovely. Sasha meeting Luke's adopted parents, in particular, was adorable, and I think the way that family is presented in this book overall is really nice.

That said, I felt Sasha's story seemed a little unfinished. Maybe this is because the book does try very hard to avoid the fact that Sasha's "summer romance" was absolutely a case of her getting nonced. She even responds like a traumatised person when she first sees Luke - the spitting image of his dad - and is reluctant to discuss any of it at all. Of course, it can be argued that it's because pregnancy and giving up your child at 16 is going to be traumatic in itself, but she really is written like somebody in denial of the fact that she was groomed by an adult. It really took from a lot of the cuter aspects of this book and could have been so easily avoided - it'd make sense for an 18, 19, even 20 year old to give up her child for adoption after a summer fling, or the guy in question could have been in his mid- or late teens and it'd have changed basically nothing. As is, it added a dark aspect to the story that was a bit uncomfortable.

It seems like a lot of people in reviews really didn't like Anna, but I found her endearing despite her frustrating ability to make the wrong decisions all the time forever. She's like me if I always listened to my anxiety brain's awful ideas.

The cats could have featured more, in my opinion, but that's because I really like cats. But that's the audience this book's going for, so why not? More cats! I did love their segments, and just the idea of Fluffy Paws' eventual incarnation of a little cottage full of cats is so wonderful. What a dream.

A little more development of the storylines and characters would have been good, but overall, this story was fine. It was nothing ground-breaking, but parts of it did make me smile and that's worth something, isn't it?

[partywithponies]

Okay, no-one's going to ask me to elaborate, but I'll do it anyway.

First off, from an out of universe perspective, we already have three Toy Story movies with a male lead, and Pixar has a real lack of female main leads. Pixar especially has a lack of female main leads who aren't Girl Going Through Puberty With Well-Meaning Mother Who Simply Doesn't Get Her Daughter's New Complicated Feelings And Teenage Struggles. (Not that those movies don't all bang; they do. But it starts to feel weird when that's what most female led Pixar movies are.)

Secondly, we already had three Toy Story movies with Woody as the lead. He already got a complete character arc, wrapped up nicely with a bow. You know who still has unresolved issues, unexplored character potential, plot points still to be picked back up, and character development still to be had?

Her!!

PLUS Woody has spent three entire movies concluding the following about being a toy:

Being a toy is about being there for your kid, even when you're not the favourite anymore and you don’t get played with as much

Being a toy is about being loyal to your kid, even when they grow and change, until they decide it's time for them to give you up

Belonging to one kid is the most important thing in the world

Plus Toy Story 3 ended with a heartfelt speech about Woody to Bonnie, promising that "the thing that makes Woody really special is that he'll never give up on you, ever" and "he'll be there for you, no matter what". Personally I can't help but feel that Toy Story 4 ending with Woody deciding he was wrong about all of that, actually, and leaving cheapens the first three movies.

But you know who didn't spend the first three movies coming to those conclusions? You know who, in fact, still has unresolved abandonment issues and negative feelings about the kid they belong to eventually outgrowing them? You know who, in fact, actively attempted to leave the Belonging To One Kid life behind in both movies they were previously in, and had to be convinced otherwise, by Woody?

Plus Jessie also has a pullstring voice box, like Woody, so the Gabby storyline would still make sense! Not to mention, Jessie would sympathise with Gabby way more, her abandonment issues, her longing to be loved by a little girl, it'd make that whole storyline even more potent!

Plus plus a movie about Jessie and Bo going on this journey of discovery together, going from being two toys who felt they didn't have much in common to being two best friends who want to stick together through thin and thin? What a good parallel to the first Toy Story!

Plus plus plus? We all learnt from Frozen that the Disney store can make absolute bank off of merch of two female characters posed badassly together with cliche #Girlboss #Let'sGoGirls type slogans on it. Missed opportunity on their part if you ask me.

Toy Story 4 would've worked better if Jessie was the lead and not Woody. I can elaborate. At great length.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Okay, okay…

… Okay.

I am calm.

…

……

………

No. I’m not. I’m so excited for next weekend’s ep, I am already doing a random ramble about the preview images. DX

Well… Here we go.

Timeline? What is timeline? XD I’m just gonna go in the order they appear on the website, but I have no idea if that’s actually the order they will occur in in the episode proper.

Hello, Prime Minister Kano whose surname I forget, nice to make your acquaintance. Even if I don’t trust you. So I’m noting an association w/ white for this lady, w/ her light coloured clothes, the white roses, even the white hospital room, and, of course:

Since we’ve only seen the ‘students’ (as in, our main team) have these, and not anyone else, not even the Masters, makes me very curious as to why she has it and who it belongs to—her, or someone else? We’ve seen no other suit, so either they’ve kept it a secret—which is unlikely, why cheat themselves out of a potential action figure—so it’s unlikely that another Ryusoulger will actually appear, but it does raise the possibility of whether there used to be at least one more Ryusoulger and they died, maybe even recently. Alternatively, these pendants mean something else. But leaving that mystery, next on the list is what I assume is the team (sans my boys) discovering the rumours about Kano, and maybe realising she’s Ryusoul:

Featuring what might be a… Bear costume in the back? … What. I have priorities. I must notice random things in the background of everything. Next is a shot of the four little sibs trying to fight the Mummy Minusaur. My first guess is that this is happening while Banba is talking to Kano at the hospital, and that’s why he’s not there. There’s several shots which seem to take place in this location in the fight, identifiable bc of yellow lines on the ground:

Other images include Kou using a Soul, him trying to mediate between Melto and Asuna, who are apparently having a fight, and the little sibs doing the ending of the rollcall. Interluding is this image:

Again w/ the white roses. She’s got kind of an evil slump here, but I’m attributing that to her being a Minusaur host and not feeling well. I’m just not getting ‘evil’ vibes from her in general. Perhaps indifferent, and having made some questionable choices regarding information or other things, but I don’t think she’s evil. Of course, I could end up being proved completely wrong, we’ll see. There’s this shot of the brothers facing the Minusaur:

Which is a better image of the Minusaur. My guess is this is the fight where they end up getting tied up in the ‘bandages’ from the preview. An image that seems to be from the same location is this one:

…Excuse me while I get distracted by how utterly gorgeous Banba looks in this image. DX This is either before or after the fight pictured above. It looks like it’s in the same place, but it’s either them detransforming after the Minusaur gets away, or talking or something before it arrives. Though… So Kano’s apparently bargaining information about their Master(s) for defeating her Minusaur—however, she’s notably saying she wants it defeated after its completion. Which… Would mean she’d be dead, and couldn’t tell them anything. So either she’s got the information hidden somewhere, or she knows something, whether about how Minusaurs work, even just in relation to Ryusoul Tribe members, or something else. I dunno if they’re going to go the way of them choosing to save her rather than go w/ the deal—I mean… How would she justify not telling them, after admitting she has the information, if they did that? I’m curious to see where they’ll go w/ it, and excited for some background info on my sons. And, of course, lastly:

There’s a cursed armour in the hospital! DX I am very much hoping, though w/out getting any expectations up, that this means Gaisoulg is related to the brothers’ past. Esp given that they apparently don’t know what became of their Master(s), and that Kano apparently decided it was better not to tell them or that the info was big/heavy enough that she could save it for as a bargaining chip (depending on how sympathetic she’s meant to be), it could be that… Maybe someone ended up w/ the Gaisoulg armour? Either way, Master Black (and maybe Green, but most likely Master Black), has now moved up the list of potential suspects for who betrayed Banba. Not the prime suspect, don’t have one yet, but they’ve moved up on the list.

And to tack an image on the end, esp bc I don’t know when in the ep it happens:

Kou shielding Melto from the pointer finger, I guess? Apparently Melto and Asuna are arguing, and so are Tyramigo and DimeVolcano. Personally, I don’t blame Tyramigo. But I hope Melto and Asuna work it out. (Yes, yes, I know they obviously will bc Sentai! XD)

[casmick-consequences]

I actually would LOVE for Izzy and Lucius to have a storyline together in season 2, just not a romantic one.

There's a lot to unpack there, but one of the things is that they're so different yet so similar. Lucius is what Izzy wishes he was. Confident, proud and most importantly; loved. He has his parade of people around him that love and adore him, and Izzy wants it so bad it pisses him off. He wants that love, but his problem is that he's so wrapped in his own messed up little world that he thinks Blackbeard is the only one that he wants that love from. No matter what way he can get it.

I want Lucius to survive and "haunt Ed", only for the one man with a braincell on the ship to go "...wait no that's dumb. He's hiding in the walls". So when he finds Lucius, and Lucius convinces him to let him live (bc he is perfectly capable of doing so) for Lucius to show his gratitude by talking to him and listening to Izzy and his story.

I'd imagine there to have been a tragic loss in his life (a lover, most likely) and for that death to have messed him up to a point of him building walls around him so he'll never feel that hurt again. Lucius will probably talk about his own past ("i'm fantastic at breakups!") and then about his relationship with Pete, showing Izzy that love can happen again, and will maybe even grow out to be better than before. They would bond, but I don't think there'd be any romance there. Just because they're both gay (yes Izzy is gay, we've all seen it) doesn't mean they should bang. I think they'd be great friends, setting their differences aside and just enjoying having someone around that knows the struggle.

I'd imagine, after Ed finds out Lucius is still alive and Izzy vouches for him, that next time they set port Lucius would help Izzy with speeddating (which is a hilarious concept which I NEED a fanfic of) and Izzy might find someone who has his sense of humor, is tough and looks like he could handle Izzy in a fight. Maybe someone with long hair/a beard (bc maybe Izzy has a type), who knows. And after that goes well, Izzy would thank Lucius by hesitantly letting Lucius hug him ("quickly before i change my mind, you twat!") and maybe he'd give one of Blackbeard's old rings to him as well, to give to Black Pete once they reunite, which they will and it'll be sappy and cute and etc.

Idk i think it'd be nice for Izzy to have someone outside of the pirate work. If anything, he needs a breather from it all. Yea he's a tough pirate, but for a 16-year-old things are getting too stressful for him. Give him a cute bartender or smth. I think he deserves it. ❤️

[booasaur]

Well if I erased the last minute that was a perfect episode. Their interactions at the ambulance.

Hahaha, no, even that last minute was part of the perfection! Which, it WAS a perfect ep! Look at what happened:

Jane and Ernie looking expectantly at Lucy as if she must know where Kate is at 6am on a Saturday, which she DOES

Lucy being unbelievably flustered at Kate in a bikini like, we were expecting that from the trailer and yet I still didn't expect it'd be THAT bad, god, it was the most hilarious and painful thing ever

Lucy being super worried when finding hurt Kate and being like, I'm not leaving you!

Lucy sublimating her worry and concern over Kate by telling her to put the ice pack back on her jaw and yelling at her about how dangerous it was to go in alone

Lucy then defending Kate when her boss yelled at her + Kate's soft thank you

Lucy finding out Kate refused a promotion! To stay in Hawai'i! Possibly to stay close to her! That is some Austenian stuff

Also Lucy excitedly telling Kate's boss she'll be okay and that he's lucky to have her :)

Lucy PUMMELING that lady who hurt Kate and like, never in a million years do I think she'd hurt or kill someone because of personal feelings, but did she particularly regret what happened? I wouldn't say so

Jane seeing Kate standing at Lucy's desk (didn't I say that desk's seen more than the elevator??) and immediately leaving the two to talk; as with her and Ernie looking at her earlier during the 6am thing and Jesse gently stepping in to defend Kate at the ambulance, I LOVE when other main characters are involved because writers have historically been very reluctant to expand f/f storylines into others' spaces

Oof, where even to begin with that Kate/Lucy convo? Kate just being there was great, and it starting with Friendly banter, as they'd agreed to return to after Kate's apology in 1x17, also, "you should be horizontal", like, we know you subconsciously think so, Luce

Lucy's "she won't be hurting anyone anymore" and pointed nod at Kate's sling, indicating how invested she'd been in getting the person who hurt Kate

Lucy apologizing for being hard on Kate earlier! Which, yes, just because she's worried doesn't mean she can just take it out on her, so while it was understandable, it wasn't right, and Lucy realized and apologized on her own, and so crucially, given these last few episodes, showing in practice how she views apologies, freely and quickly given when deserved

Lucy's surfing philosophy--and then the mood immediately changing from them laughing about it as Lucy almost brings up who she was seeing, the kahuna Ernie mentioned, but Kate most likely assuming she means seeing as in dating, at which her whole face wobbles and falls, which, yeah, Lucy is casually dating but nobody she'd bring up in conversation so meaningfully, the way Kate thinks is happening

Lucy visibly fighting herself and then HAVING to ask if Kate stayed in Hawai'i for her, and she did! I know people were all like, tbh, I want her to have stayed for career reasons too, but not me, I LOVED that she stayed for Lucy, muahahaha. "Because I wanted to be closer to you?" I love how freaking open that is

Poor Lucy realizing how much she isn't in a place to process this, and shutting it all down before she gives in to the temptation of thinking Kate loved--loves her and they could be a thing and then she could be hurt all over again

"I loved you, Kate." Aaah, she said Kate! Also, loved you, of course, also, like, kind of major, but she said Kate. :> And poor Kate as Lucy walked off. :<

Now okay, so that last minute. I mean, the way Lucy had to steel herself and take that steadying breath before plastering on a smile and walking up to the date? It's only further proof of how NOT over Kate she is, while also setting up a delicious obstacle to climb over in the upcoming eps (sorry to other lady, who seems nice enough). Lucy's heart isn't into her at all and actually I'm pleased that they're granting this time to Lucy (and Kacy the ship, since it's still part of their dynamic), because in other shows Lucy'd just have disappeared off screen after that talk with Kate and we'd just be told instead of shown that she's trying to move on

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking "X-Men" (2000)

Over a year and a half ago, I made a two-part post remaking 6 X-Men movies based on the direction Fox had for them, but I thought I'd plot out an alternate universe where I say what direction the films go in. And to note: this isn't like "X-Men: The Animated Series" where I'm gonna be 100% faithful to the source material. It's moreso giving me standards and parameters for how to do this. And to avoid confusion, let's say the cast is the same for all the characters (though I could do a fancast on another post). Disclaimer: despite XM being my favorite comic property, I'm NOT an expert on them in and out, with my first intro to them being Fox, "X-Men: Evolution," and "Wolverine and the X-Men." And my ideas/characters may be too much for a 90-minute film, so there's that. But I tried to tone it down to 3 main points.

The Xavier institutes' inhabitants include Professor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, Iceman, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Angel, Havoc, Banshee, Colossus, Dazzler (sometimes), Shadowcat, Jubilee, Sunfire (sometimes), and the New Mutants, which consist of Cannonball, Karma, Mirage, Magik, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Cypher, and Magma). However, only the first 8 names listed get the spotlight in this film, along with Rogue, who is the main character and is taken up by the Brotherhood after the prologue, which I actually really loved from the Fox movie. Everyone gets individual costumes here rather than uniforms (if they have any). The key idea here is family, highlighting how the O5 and Professor X are the closest with each other, as well as how Storm, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine, despite being newer, have come to feel like family as well. Those 3's stories are highlighted the most, though Scott's concern about being the next leader, along with his relationship with Alex and Jean's And to note: since the actors for the O5 are different ages, they couldn't have formed a team with professor X when they were teens; they were simply all found by him at the same time, roughly a few years ago, and have thus have mostly been training and never had the opportunity to be into the fray. This contrasts with some of the other mutants, who have had to develop their powers on their own.

2. The Brotherhood of Mutants here is led by Magneto (who Rogue grows attached to as a father figure given her own relationship with her dad; doing a romantic storyline feels to weird to do in live-action with Anna and Ian's age gaps; she later creates a father-like bond with Logan when she joins the X-Men), and the main roster includes Polaris, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Mystique, Sabertooth, Toad, Pyro, Destiny, and Mastermind. Rogue is easily taken in by Magneto's ideals and goals, though she is eventually disillusioned by the less noble mutants who simply want to dominate and destroy, as well as how Magneto's trauma has had a generational effect on his children, particularly Pietro, who feel used and abused by him (counting Polaris as one of his kids even if it wasn't confirmed in 2000). The idea of family is a central theme here as well, only the Brotherhood represents a fractured and toxic family, making Rogue realizes that Destiny and Mystique don't aren't as caring as she had hoped they were.

3. God Loves, Man Kills is the storyline here. If you recall, that was pretty much the inspo for X2, but I feel like it's good to hit the ground running with an adapted arc here. However, they don't change Stryker to a military scientist; the complexities of religion and ideology are explored here, and is particularly poignant for Magneto as a Jewish man and Nightcrawler as a devout Catholic. It'd also be a nice parallel to have the realization that Mystique is Nightcrawler's biological mother, and how he handles this is eye-opening for Rogue, since her time with the Brotherhood has mainly been about anger and pain fueling them, while Kurt is guarded by forgiveness and love. As usual, it's a triad of perspectives: the tolerant and peaceful approach of the X-Men, the defensive and superior attitude of the Brotherhood, and the fear and hateful attitude of the humans (at least the antagonists, anyway).

Lemme know what you think! I know it's not much, but I tried to be concise. I think the next film would focus on Mr. Sinister (NGL, as a film, I'd skip over the "Inferno" saga and probably give Scott and Madelyne's relationship to Jean and Scott since their story is too early to deal with that--plus I wanna put Emma in the mix later, and that would feel redundant if I included Madelyne), setting up an emotional break for Jean that makes her the Phoenix, removing the Phoenix Force concept, and eventually doing a storyline that combines elements of "Gifted" and "Lifedeath"--though that could change based on how I feel.

[askfallenroyalty]

im getting really off-track here and am sorry to disturb from the main storyline but im very curious what fate ralsei holds in your universe because i think? this is one of the most unique endings i saw him getting? not that ive seen much besides all of the fountains closing or rals being a villain/someone from ut partially i just wanna know how he's doing. he seemed so disappointed when leaving

oh! i can actually show it. i WANT to clean up and make the drawn comic panels i did on the dark world stream publicly available but i just never find the time for it KLFLSf it'd be a bit of an effort because i didn't know to use the webtoon feature so everything is by a LARGE folder instead of separate canvases... wild i used to work that way. hell on earth.

ok so. I WILL transcribe this comic when i do the above ^ so apologies to those who need it for now. under the cut is Ralsei's ending, minus most of the context. i want to emphasizes, THIS IS A TEMPORARY POSTING LMAO. it will be accessible and fully contextualized later

Uh. Spoilers for Darkworld Arc (the Sam's Biggest Mistake in AFR History Arc). Does it count as a spoiler if i'm a lazy ass who hasn't gotten around to cleaning this story up?

again transcript will be added in the actual release. alongside the unfinished "music" video (the audio was never composed as the vid wasn't finshed.) it has SOME merit tho.

After the Big Battle with Gaster the knight returns (is anyone surprised? no) and posseses Lancer to help give an epilogue to the kids.

(skipping ahead a little because i DO want this scene to mostly be unspoiled, even after all this time)

...apparently this is where either my tablet died again or i was burnt out after drawing for like, idk, 12 hours on stream SKFJSLDF. this is the last panel.

mwuah. a master piece.

ANYWAY. Ralsie (at this point he's been reunited with the kids at the end of the battle. i DO have art for that but i'm just going to show the aftermath)

anyway with Tazetta being crowned princess and given a fresh new life, (again, details vauge cause it's a cute scene that works best with full context) she and ralsei are set up to be new siblings -a brother and a sister!

Kris and Susie got the chance to be proper heroes to defeat Gaster (saving Ralsie in the process) so everyone's on good terms -Susie feels redeemed for attacking Feylow and Knight-Kris (Knis???), Kris got a big Hero Moment and feels validated in their ability to choose their destiny, Ralsei gets to feel the prophecy wasn't a total lie, and he's been given a full chance to live his own life now without the Knight being a turd about it

anyway with the Knight

(AGAIN trying my best not to spoil the scene (fine with talking story beats but not in detail) so deal with being out of context as possible) the knight literally ends the fight by putting gaster in a time out and deciding to become a better person for the darkner's benefit.

yeah. jeeze. really wild how chapter 2 completely recontextualized things huh.

Also, since it's been a year :grimace emoji: i can saftely say the knight is WAY out of character and way to nice and "forgivable" in this dark world. back then I was thinking: "hm, maybe the Knight can be more redeemed and once in Darkworld, they could have a change of heart :)"

yeah thats. that's WAY off the table for Angel's Lullaby as it is now. the "will they or won't they redeem themself" is still on the table but its a WAY bigger fight to accomplish (or fail) than what was depicted here, sharing Kris' SOUL or not.

I think i was just toying with the idea of the Knight's redemption to foreshadow Asriel being flowey and not believing their SOUL was real. I felt this would help justify/foreshadow why Asriel was wrong ahead of time. or something. now i just think it hurts the story by having the knight involved, it undermines that story's intentional confusion if Asriel was right or not a ton!

yeah a big reason why the DW arc was Bad was because 1) outdated for both Angel's AND deltarune LMAO 2) bad in context of Asriel's arc 3) Feylow is kinda a big mess and overly ambitious of a writing metaphor for my skill level at the time 4) litearllyyyy hate the narrative i built for frisk and ralsei and i couldn't really salvage that x-x

ANYWAY sorry for the mean tangent. hopefully this gave you some insight to Ralsei's story arc even if I didn't show the full extent of it

[stupid-idiot-gamer]

Incredulous (Inscryption × Miraculous crossover)

This spawned from the idea of 'what if the main characters of inscryption were each given a miraculous?' [Except I'm indecisive so the Scrybes get two options]

I'm sorry. 'Magical girl brain' won. Behold the ramblings.

-—- Grimora -—-

Cat (Cataclysm) [Chatilly]

Is it stereotypical to give the scrybe of the dead the miraculous of destruction? Yes but I think it works well for her! Also the name comes from the Chantilly-Tiffany breed of cat.

Grimora seems to have a more aloof and carefree attitude compared to the others but knows when to get serious when the situation calls for it.

Butterfly (Akumatization) [Purple Empress]

I think of all the scrybes, Grimora would have the most to do with the theme of 'transformation'. In act 2 during her battle she changes the challenger's cards to undead ones. Plus sometimes butterflies are associated with death.

-—- P03 -—-

Peacock (Amokization) [P3AF0WL]

P03 doesn't seem like the type to be attune with emotions compared to it's fellow scrybes and I think that makes for a good challenge when creating and controlling Amoks.

I didn't give him the butterfly instead because I feel like P03 would prefer a more direct control over and underlings, less variables to worry about.

Mouse (Multitude) [WIR3L3SS]

Again P03 strikes me as the type to depend mainly on itself so giving it the mouse would be a more direct form of that idea. Could also allow him to talk to the uberbots face to face but don't count on it.

-—- Leshy -—-

Snake (Second Chance) [The Serpent]

Overall Leshy was the hardest to assign a miraculous to for some reason that I can't understand. His hero names are based on the naming convention of his subordinates.

Initially I decided on giving Leshy the snake because 'ouroboros' but then I started to think about how act 1 kinda resembles a time loop he has complete control over that the player must break out of.

Ox (Resistance) [The Bovine]

Leshy just gives me 'unstoppable' vibes I guess. The ox's ability prevents the user from being affected by another's ability or attack which kinda reminds me of the starvation cards.

-—- Magnificus -—-

Goat (Genesis) [Landrace]

The Goat's weapon is a paintbrush but that's not the reason I initially chose this one for Mags. According to the miraculous wiki the Goat's ability is to create 'a mundane object that the hero must use to defeat the villain'

His precognition ability (if kept alongside the miraculous) would allow him to figure out the best tool for the job similar to that of 'lucky charm'.

Rooster (Sublimation) [Silkie]

Sublimation grants the user the ability to choose any superpower they desire. Magnificus seems like the type to try and limit himself when coming up with a power.

-—- Luke -—-

Ladybug (Lucky Charm) [LuckyBug]

Despite this AU sharing no storyline similarities with miraculous I still think it'd be nice to have a ladybug holder as our protagonist.

Known as the 'Lucky Carder', Luke would be most fitting for the ladybug role but I also think over the role fits well because as it fits with the actual game of inscryption; making the right moves at the right time with just a touch of randomness and fortune.

-—-

It's called Incredulous [meaning to be unwilling or unable to believe something] because I kinda thought it'd be a good way of combining both titles 👉👈

I imagine the story would go about the same way as Inscryption canon; Luke finds the ladybug miraculous after the previous holder (Kaycee) vanishes and its up to him to defeat The Serpent who's trying to collect the miraculous for some mysterious reason.