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ryukyuan-sunflower · 3 years ago

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The Meaning of Mugen's Triangle: How Samurai Champloo is a Love Letter to Director Akira Kurosawa and Actor Toshiro Mifune

It has been commonly recognized that Jin’s kamon crest of four diamonds is in direct reference to the Takeda samurai clan. Jin's master Mariya Enshirou was a real historical figure who both owned the Mujushin Kenjutsu Dojo, as well as belonged to the Takeda clan. Fuu’s floral pattern appears to reference her connection to the Sunflower Samurai. But Mugen’s hollow white triangle is the most subtle symbolism of all, and I've not seen a single post about it, or anything in relation to Champloo and Kurosawa, for that matter. So here we are. Yet another Samurai Champloo essay. Kept you waiting, huh.

Mugen is not of samurai heritage, so it is not a samurai’s kamon family crest… Or…is it? Well, yes and no.

Mugen’s character as a whole is an amalgamation of three characters from the most famous samurai films of all time: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Rashomon. All three of these legendary masterpieces were directed by the renowned Akira Kurosawa and star the equally renowned actor Toshiro Mifune. This director and actor dynamic duo collaborated on a whopping 16 films together and left an impact on cinematography that continues to inspire filmmakers to this day.

Much of Mifune’s body language, intensity and speech seem to have played a heavy influence into the design of Mugen. Please enjoy a close analysis into the many ways Kurosawa's works influenced the plot and characters of Samurai Champloo:

Spoilers Below

Seven Samurai: Mifune as Kikuchiyo

Regarded as one of the best films in history, let alone the best samurai film of all time, Seven Samurai released in 1954 and it is worth noting that Samurai Champloo aired in Japan in 2004: the fiftieth anniversary year of its release.

This 3 and a 1/2 hour epic is considered one of the most influential films to date, inspiring numerous directors from George Lucas to Quinton Tarantino. Even more specifically, the plot of the following are all based directly off of it:

Star War’s The Mandalorian Episode 4.

Pixar’s A Bug’s Life

The spaghetti western Magnificent Seven.

And these are just a few examples of Seven Samurai’s legacy.

Samurai Champloo is no exception. From his body language, personality, backstory and dialogue, Mugen himself is largely based off of the most compelling of its characters: Kikuchiyo. More specifically, Kikuchiyo is where Mugen’s triangle crest originates.

Plot: In 1587, a farming settlement is going to be attacked by a group of bandits that had raided them the previous year. To prevent this from happening again, some of the farmers head into the city to enlist the help of samurai. However, they have no money to offer, only food, so they search for poor, hungry ronin that would be willing to take the job.

(This in itself, is how Fuu enlists Mugen in episode 1: a promise of 100 dango if he saves her. Working just to eat becomes a repeated theme and gag.)

The first samurai the farmers hire becomes the leader of the group, and devises a plan to hire six more samurai to create proper defenses to fight the bandits. They manage to enlist five more samurai for the purpose, but time is running short, and they lament that they could not find a seventh member.

Enter Toshiro Mifune’s character.

Man Talking About Kikuchiyo: "Hey, I just found a really tough samurai! There was a huge fight. They were no match for him. Never seen anything like it. He’s like a wild dog!"

Man Talking About Mugen: "Yes, those were the flashing eyes of a stray dog."

(Episode 9 references Mugen as a dog in four lines of dialogue. Worth nothing, Mifune stars in another Kurosawa film titled "Stray Dog".)

The Character Kikuchiyo: Unlike the other six samurai chosen for the mission, Kikuchiyo is not a samurai at all. He lies about being so. In fact, his real name is not Kikuchiyo either. The rogue is wild, arrogant, rude, uncouth, likes to drink, goofy, and serves as comic relief for much of the film. But he has a deep interest in wanting to learn how to be a skilled warrior. He goofily sizes up the party leader and wants to learn from him, but is too embarrassed to ask.

Like Mugen, it is implied he may be illiterate and may not know basic math, because to prove he is of samurai blood, the drunken vagabond pulls out a scroll of his family lineage. They ask him if his name is Kikuchiyo and he says it is. The samurai then all laugh at him…because according to the lineage scroll, that would mean he is only a thirteen year old boy. He had stolen the scroll just to pretend to be a samurai.

(A similar gag of mistaken family lineage on a scroll is used in Episode 22 Cosmic Collisions, when Jin points out that the zombie Shige has no connection to the Heike clan.)

In actuality, Kikuchiyo is just a peasant farmer himself, that just carries around a sword because he can. He holds a deep resentment of samurai for how they treat farmers, but he himself desires to be a samurai, to show his worth in his fighting. Although the six samurai head out without a seventh in their party, Kikuchiyo follows them along anyway, and joins in on the mission of defending the farmers, against their wishes.

(While it is never stated in the anime that Mugen was once a farmer before becoming a pirate and thief, the history of the Ryukyuan Kingdom and specifically, the Miyakos implies Mugen may have been a poor farmer under the subjugation of the Satsuma Domain. The Miyakoan people were expected to pay a poll tax to Satsuma samurai, which is referenced in Episode 14, when Mugen attempts to steal the Satsuma ship that is collecting raw sugar from the Miyakoans. Like Kikuchiyo, Mugen would have been a peasant with a hatred of samurai.)

The Origin of the Triangle Crest

One of the samurai, Heihachi, sews a war banner as a symbol of their mission to protect the farming village and a way to rally them.

Kikuchiyo: "What do those symbols mean?"

Heihachi: "That means "rice" but it can also mean "farmer"."

(The hiragana for "ta" at the very bottom of the flag is short for the word "tanbo", which means rice paddy.)

Kikuchiyo: "What about those circles?"

Heihachi: "They're us."

Kikuchiyo: "What the hell? Why aren't I there? There's only six of them!"

Heihachi: "The triangle is you, Lord Kikuchiyo."

Thus, the mystery of Mugen's red haori is officially solved.

Later in the film, when the farmers take heavy losses and one of the seven samurai dies, morale severely drops. It is Kikuchiyo, who had been for most of the film, a seemingly unserious joke of a character, who grabs the flag and puts it on the roof of a house so everyone can see it, rallying the village back to the cause.

Kikuchiyo and the triangle represents, that although he was not born as a samurai, he is the essence of the code of bushido and the noble values of what an ideal samurai should be. Both Kikuchiyo and Mugen are samurai in all but official title and heritage. They are brave warriors with integrity, skill even if it not formally trained and with an intense desire to protect.

The lyrics of the full version of Samurai Champloo’s opening theme Battlecry allude to this concept. While the first verse played in the anime references Jin, the extended version of the song not played in the anime heavily references Mugen in its entirety.

Link To Full Song Here

It also references how Mugen and Samurai Champloo is the spiritual successor to Shinichiro Watanabe's previous work Cowboy Bebop and Spike Spiegel.

It references Mugen's connection to the ocean and piracy, as well as the imagery evoked in his near death experience in episode 14.

It references his evolution as a man and Fuu's importance in his growth by the end of the anime.

"Look, just the air around him An aura surrounding the heir apparent He might be a peasant but shine like grand royalty He to the people and land, loyalty"

"We witness above all to hear this Sea sickness in the ocean of wickedness Set sail to the sunset, no second guessing Far east style with the spirit of wild west The "quote-unquote" code stands the test of Time for the chosen ones to find the best of Noble minds that ever graced the face of A hemisphere with no fear, fly over"

The blue yonder where The sky meets the sea And eye meets no eye And boy meets world And became a man to serve the world To save the day, the night, and the girl too"

Most of Mugen’s dialogue references Kikuchiyo. Both use improper, informal speech, curse often and insult others. They are both comically lecherous womanizers. Kikuchiyo offers to cut a woman's crops in exchange for a little "somethin' somethin'", much like how Mugen helps Yatsuha in exchange for getting nookie in episode 15. Kikuchiyo insults his bald samurai mentor (who pretended to be a monk previously) similar to how in Episode 10 and 12, Mugen insults the monk he wants to learn from (who once was a samurai).

Jin also seems to be influenced by another character, whose archetype is the masterful, quiet, skilled samurai that Kikuchiyo wants to compete with.

The character Kyuzo: Silent, dead serious and the most skilled of all the samurai in the group, this samurai exists only to test the limits of his skills. At one point in the story, Kyuzo infiltrates the bandit camp and steals one of their matchlock guns, which was proving detrimental to the farmers. Not one to be outdone, the arrogant Kikuchiyo ends up infiltrating the enemy camp to also get a gun and to show off he is just as skilled. However, since he wasn’t at his post, the bandits broke into their defenses.

(Something similar can be seen specifically in Episode 23 Baseball Blues. After Jin scores a homerun, Mugen is not one to be outdone and also scores a homerun, and sprints past Jin. However, he is outed for passing the previous runner.)

The finale of Seven Samurai, which I will not spoil, shows a sense of equality between the wild Kikuchiyo and the far more skilled Kyuzo as warriors.

Another samurai character Katsushiro, develops a romance with a peasant woman named Shino, similar to how Jin’s romantic interest is named Shino in episode 11. Shino’s father is named Manzou…which is also the name of the detective of Samurai Champloo episodes 5, 12 and 23.

Yojimbo: Mifune as Sanjuro

In regards to its plot and tone, no film is referenced more in Samurai Champloo, than the way episodes 3 and 4 references 1961's Yojimbo. The body language of Mifune here is also uncanny to Mugen, with the way he scratches himself and strokes his chin. While the story itself has serious undertones, it is a dark comedy at heart that makes light of even the most serious of situations. Even the opening of the film has a dog nonchalantly walking by with a severed human hand held in its mouth, while playful music begins.

Plot: A wandering ronin known as Sanjuro stumbles upon a town in which two Yakuza gangs are warring with one another for power. One owns a gambling hall, the other a brothel. The samurai shows an interest in working for both gangs as their bodyguard, getting them to each pay higher and higher for his services. They both want to use his sword skills to defeat the opposing gang. But the wandering samurai plays both sides.

(A gang war, a down on his luck bodyguard for hire, a gambling den, a brothel, and a damsel in distress are all aspects used in Episodes 3 and 4 of Samurai Champloo.)

The film begins with Mifune’s character, a broke ronin that wanders on a whim. He throws a stick in the air, and uses how it lands to point him in the direction he should go. This laid-back way of relying on either chance or fate for making decisions, seems to be referenced directly by Mugen, when he specifically throws the coin in the air to decide if he will accompany Fuu or if he will duel Jin.

Sanjuro's first line of dialogue: "I'd like some water."

Mugen's first line of dialogue in the series: "Water."

Sanjuro later enters a bar and asks an old man for food there, despite having no money. This old man tells him the situation of the gang war and becomes his closest ally in the film.

(This is referenced when Jin talks with an old man in Episode 3, learns of the town’s gang war, and gets free food from him. Sanjuro saves this old man at the end of the film. In episode 4, Jin repays the old man for the free food and is given an umbrella.)

In order to be hired by one of the gangs, Sanjuro demonstrates his skills by slaying three of the opposing gang’s thugs.

(Jin references this exact dialogue when he shows off his skills to Sousuke and cuts the robes of three of the opposing gang’s thugs.)

Sanjuro: "Do you want to buy me as a bodyguard? I’ll show you what I’m worth."

Jin: "Boy. Want to hire a bodyguard? I’ll show you my skills right now."

The character of Sanjuro: Initially, Sanjuro comes off as whimsical and uncaring, almost as if he just finds enjoyment in pitting these two gangs against each other, laughing as he watches them be cowards or be idiots thinking they can outsmart him. But, as it turns out, Sanjuro is an honorable ronin that does not care for money at all. Instead, he wants to end both gangs and bring peace back to this little town. The gold he swindles from the gang is not used on himself. More on that gold in a bit...

Both Mugen and Jin reference different aspects of Sanjuro. Throughout most of the film, Sanjuro comes off as calm and collected and skillful like Jin. He also displays amusement and jovialness, similar to how Mugen joins the Nagatomi gang for fun. Mugen and Jin work for opposing gangs, similar to how Sanjuro works for both gangs at one point or another.

Jin shares Sanjuro’s ideologies to do the chivalrous deed of stopping corruption and bringing peace. Mugen is more emotional in his reasoning: all his actions are either for his own amusement or his intense desire to save Fuu.

While Jin's chivalry is a larger picture, Mugen's heroism is specific to saving only one person.

It is not until later in the film, that we get the first glimpse of a different side of Sanjuro. Intensity and rage. Yet, he also shows a previously unshown care for protecting people. The moment it happens...is when he saves a woman.

This woman Sanjuro saves is the wife of a farmer who lost her because of his gambling debts. The gang that owned the gambling den forced her into being their ally’s mistress. She was held captive in the man’s house, as he raped her night after night.

(Fuu references her in these episodes, as she was thrown into prostitution at the Nagatomi gang’s brothel. Episode 11’s Shino also shares this identical fate of being the collateral for her husband’s gambling debts.)

Sanjuro betrays the gang he is supposed to be working for, barges in, and kills six men to save her, and reunites her with her husband and child. All the while, he berates her and threatens her. While he comes off as rough and callous here, it also shows how much he cares. It is as if he cannot display his kindness without coming off as rough.

(The few times it is ever shown Mugen cares for more than himself, is when we see his concern for Fuu. In Episode 4, despite quitting working for the Nagatomi gang and having no reason to go back, Mugen thinks about Fuu trapped in the brothel as he walks away in the rain. He then betrays the gang he’d previously been working for, breaks into their brothel and kills several guards, implied by the blood on his sword, and tries to rescue Fuu. Unfortunately, his chivalry goes unrewarded and unnoticed, as she’d already escaped on her own. Just like Sanjuro, he is always cruel in his words to Fuu even when he does kind deeds in saving her multiple times in the series. Even in the moment he breaks into the brothel to rescue her, he calls Fuu an idiot, just like Sanjuro does.)

Sanjuro: "You're free. Get dressed!"

The woman initially does not move. He roughly throws her kimono at her face, grabs her by the arm and drags her from the house.

Sanjuro: "Idiot!"

Mugen: "She ran away? That idiot!"

After Sanjuro pushes her out of the house, and then makes a mess inside, to make it appear the rival gang has attacked instead, he comes back outside...only to find her and her family still there, bowing on the ground to him, crying, thanking him for rescuing her. He gets them off the ground and throws his previously gained gold at them.

Sanjuro: "You idiots! Hurry up! Stop that! Stop crying! It's pathetic. If you cry, I'll kill you! Go! Don't ever come back!"

Mugen: "I ain't gonna die. Have some faith in me. Get outta here. Go. RUN!"

(This urging and yelling at the family to leave seems to be referenced in Episode 25 when Mugen has to tell Fuu three times to run, and finally yells at her, for her to reluctantly leave. The crying concept is also something Fuu exhibits, as she cries for Mugen over five times in the series overall.)

Fuu: "It seems like all I ever do is cry. And here I thought I could make it on my own..."

Mugen: "You idiot."

(In episode 11, while Jin does not share Sanjuro's dialogue, he shares Sanjuro’s actions by grabbing Shino's wrist and pulling her towards freedom. Here is a link to a previous post I've made on Mugen and Jin's identical actions and symbolism in regards to Fuu and Shino.)

Sanjuro’s final confrontation in the film pits him against a gangster who most notably wields a pistol. However, Sanjuro beats him despite only having a sword and a knife. He throws the knife at the man’s arm to make him miss his shot and cuts him down.

This sequence is reminiscent of how Mugen throws his tanto as a last resort in Episode 26, as well as how Jin dodges Mukuro’s gun in Episode 14.

Rashomon: Mifune as Tajomaru the Bandit

Like Kikuchiyo in Seven Samurai, Tajomaru the bandit is uncouth, wild, crazed and lustful.

Unlike Seven Samurai and Yojimbo however, 1950's Rashomon is a far darker story with no comic relief, gags, or lighthearted moments. It is a crime/psychological thriller that explores the nature of truth and the darker shades of humanity. The plot centers around a trio: a wild bandit, a reserved samurai, and the samurai’s wife that is caught between these two men that duel to the death because of her.

Plot: There is a trial for the murder of the samurai and the rape of his wife, and the mystery surrounds who exactly did what, and what actually happened that day. Each character gives a different testimony leading up to the events of the samurai’s murder, making up lies about what really happened, all for the sake of their pride and painting themselves in a better light.

The bandit claims he tricked and tied up the samurai, and seduced his wife. Then, under her command, is told to kill her husband, so that two men would not know her shame of having two lovers. The warriors had a fair, skillful fight. The bandit claims he won and compliment's the samurai's prowess. But the wife tricked him and fled the scene.

Tajomaru: "I thought I saw a goddess. At that moment I decided to have her, even if I had to kill her man. But if I could have her without killing, all the better."

Tajomaru: "She became very pale and stared at me as though her eyes were frozen. She looked like a child when it turns suddenly serious. The sight of her made me jealous of that man. I started to hate him. I wanted to show her what he looked like, all tied up like that. I hadn't even thought of a thing like that before, but now I did."

The woman claims she was raped by the bandit, who fled the scene. She begged her husband to forgive her, but he no longer wanted her anymore either. She begged her husband to kill her for the shame of being raped, but he only looked upon her with cold indifference. Out of distress and trauma, she murdered her husband.

The spirit of the deceased samurai, who speaks through a medium, claims that the bandit and his wife made love, and then she asked the bandit to murder him. The bandit was so disgusted by her request, that he untied her husband, left the wife there and fled the scene. Pained by his wife’s betrayal, the samurai killed himself.

It turns out that there is both truths and lies found in each of their versions of the story.

The truth: The bandit had indeed raped the wife. But then he asked her to forget her husband and marry him instead, as he had fallen in love with her. The wife however, rejected him and freed her tied up husband. But her husband made no move to fight the bandit, and said she was not worth risking his life for. The bandit did not want to fight the samurai either. Disgusted by both her rapist and her husband, the wife criticizes them both as cowards, saying that “real men should fight for a woman’s love”. Still, both of the men had no desire to kill each other, and were actually terrified of doing so. Urged by her to fight, the quivering men reluctantly do, but it is pitiful and sloppy and the bandit only wins out of dumb luck.

The Wife to her husband: "It's you two who are weak! If you are my husband, kill this man, then you can tell me to kill myself! But you're not a real man. That is why I was crying. I'm tired of this farce."

The Wife to the bandit: "I thought Tajomaru might find some way out. I thought that if he would save me I would do anything for him! I wanted you to take me away. I would have been yours! But he's not a man, either. He's just like my husband. Remember, a woman loves a real man only. A man has to make a woman his by his sword."

(Throughout the series, Mugen uses his sword to save Fuu. In Episode 25, Mugen gives up his sword for Fuu, just like how Jin gave up his swords in Episode 11 to the brothel, for Shino.)

Samurai Champloo is a sharp contrast to this story, showing a warmer, kinder version of this trio dynamic, with all of the character’s ideals, feelings and actions a complete reverse to Rashomon’s cast.

As a samurai’s daughter, Fuu would have been best suited socially to marry a samurai like Jin, had she or Jin still possessed any title. However, the romance of the anime is not between Fuu and Jin. Unlike the samurai’s wife, she does not choose Jin over Mugen.

Unlike the samurai who shuns his wife after her rape, Jin is implied to honorably offer to keep traveling with Fuu after the end of the series in Episode 24 in the river bank scene, despite no romantic feelings between them. Fuu however, is implied to decline him out of fear of this meaning Jin would survive their final duel and Mugen would be dead. She cries at the mention of Mugen and apologizes to Jin over it.

Mugen is shown to be a rough and callous outlaw, with a past similar to Tanjuro the bandit, as he was once both a thief and a pirate. In Japanese, he even threatens to rape Fuu while she’s unconscious in Episode 2, and tells her to show him her breasts in Episode 11. However, despite his cruel and lecherous words, he never actually attempts to force himself on her or hurt her. Instead, he honorably protects and rescues her throughout the series.

Whereas the wife is traumatized and disgusted by the bandit rapist, Fuu is heavily implied to develop romantic feelings for Mugen.

Unlike the bandit and the samurai, Mugen and Jin have no fear of fighting and constantly want to kill each other. Also unlike Rashomon, the two never duel to the death, because of their friendship.

Unlike the samurai’s wife, rather than urge the two men to fight and kill each other, Fuu begs them not to.

Bonus Facts: Ghost of Tsushima, Kurosawa and Champloo

Writers of the 2020 video game Ghost of Tsushima have said how much of it is inspired by Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune’s samurai films. There is even a “Kurosawa Mode”, in which you can play with a black and white filter, a film grain overlay and audio modifications that emulate movies from the 1950’s. …But, how does this connect into Samurai Champloo?

The main character is named Jin. More interesting, in Japanese, he is voiced by Kazuya Nakai: Mugen’s voice actor. It would seem that his voice truly is the closest thing to a modern Toshiro Mifune.

Toshiro Mifune and Clint Eastwood=Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop=Mugen and Spike Spiegel

Samurai Champloo is known to be the spiritual successor of Shinichiro Watanabe’s previous work: Cowboy Bebop. Both Spike and Mugen and Faye and Fuu share uncanny parallels in their plots and scenes. This can be seen most notably in the scenes where Faye and Fuu are both held hostage in a Church and how Faye and Fuu nurse Spike and Mugen back to health after they wake up from a near identical flashback sequence. Mugen and Spike are both running from a criminal past. Faye and Fuu are both chasing a past they cannot remember. Yet, where Bebop is dark and solemn, Champloo is far more positive and upbeat. (I will likely make another essay that delves deeply into all the parallels and mirror reversals between them).

Interestingly, Kurosawa’s samurai films were remade into cowboy westerns. Each movie shares identical plots and near identical scenes with a different setting.

Fistful of Dollars is a western remake of Yojimbo.

Magnificent Seven is a western remake of Seven Samurai.

Clint Eastwood is also the star of both A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in which he plays the same character, just as Toshiro Mifune is the star of both Yojimbo and its prequel film Sanjuro.

In Episode 1 of Cowboy Bebop, Spike wears a poncho, which is Eastwood’s iconic outfit

In Conclusion

Mugen's mannerisms and dialogue is based on all three of Mifune's roles in Kurosawa's samurai films. Each character also bring forth specific characteristics that define Mugen.

From Seven Samurai's Kikuchiyo, Mugen takes his backstory of a peasant, his resentment and hatred of samurai, his competitive nature, and his comical goofiness. Most importantly, Mugen and Kikuchiyo share the representation of having the heart and soul of a noble samurai, despite not being born as one, and his iconic white triangle.

From Yojimbo's Sanjuro, Mugen takes his role as a hungry, broke bodyguard for hire, and shows his desire to enjoy himself, while also displaying his chivalry. But most importantly, two aspects of Mugen's hidden personality that is buried beneath goofiness and apathy, comes from Sanjuro. The first is his powerful intensity and rage that is buried away. (Sara references this in Episode 20). The second is his care to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. But, he is only able to show his care through actions rather than words, as his dialogue comes off as callous and cruel.

From Rashomon's Tajomaru, Mugen takes his role as a notorious bandit-like character with a criminal past. In personality, he takes his wildness, cruelty, and his intense pride. Most importantly, he assumes his role in a trio dynamic, in which he develops a romantic interest in a woman, and a rivalry with a reserved samurai. But his actions are reversed, in which he never forces himself on Fuu and never ends up killing Jin.

And a little bonus for the Fuugen Shippers...

Aside from his roles in Akira Kurosawa films, Toshiro Mifune also starred as the love interest in a romantic comedy… Its title?

Himawari Musume. Sunflower Girl.

#akira kurosawa #toshiro mifune #samurai champloo #mugen samurai champloo #fuugen #seven samurai #yojimbo #rashomon #samurai #shinichiro watanabe #cowboy bebop #anime #ghost of tsushima

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dinosaurtsukki · 4 years ago

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BSD x university au hc’s | pt. 2

part 2 of the university au hc’s !! i am obviously a slut for chuuya and fyodor so don’t mind me. i hope you guys like this !!

check out pt. 1 here

***********************************************

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke:

i love akutagawa ryuunosuke my angst child but i’m just like ‘hmmmmmmm’ when it comes to what his course would probably be

after extensive research aka reading his character page on wiki i feel like maybe he’d be a history major because,,,, he likes antiques?

well his clothes do seem very dark academia-esque and i can see him liking something as cool as history

akutagawa’s probably into something like war history but he’s not weird about it he just finds it really cool how different strategies work or analyzing what exactly makes the winners win

he absolutely HATES the fact that he keeps having to read the Iliad for class

he’s also that classmate who INTENSIVELY DEFENDS achilles for being a bit of a little bitch (but he fully agrees that patroclus and achilles were gay af ok this was random moving on)

akutagawa has practically no social life. he doesn’t go to parties, he doesn’t talk to his roommate, he doesn’t even like to eat in the dining hall

BUT he absolutely loves being in debate team because WINNING

he’s such a nightmare to work with though but he just delivers so well when it’s time for him to speak. like, if he’s on a negative and it’s time to hash out rebuttals, just prepare to get MURDERED

other debaters: “esteemed scholars and adjudicators...”

akutagawa: “you, sir, have no idea how wrong you are.”

that is until dazai decided to randomly show up at a debate tournament all ‘la di da da’ like and completely crushed akutagawa along with his ego

from then on he started stalking dazai and just SOMEHOW managed to end up in his circle of friends

even though he’s antisocial in real life, akutagawa 100% runs a dark academia aesthetic blog on tumblr i’m right and i don’t accept criticism

it’s actually really good he has a ton of followers and even does requests for moodboards if someone asks nicely

atsushi was the one who actually found out about it but he’s nice so he didn’t tell akutagawa about it

kunikida probably follows that blog

Chuuya Nakahara:

if this part sounds like i’m just thirsting for chuuya then you’re absolutely right i love wine man

don’t get mad at me but i can ABSOLUTELY SEE HIM MAJORING IN FASHION DESIGN I MEAN LOOK AT HIM

he’s just always had such a good eye for fashion and he’s veryyy meticulous when it comes to snipping and putting together clothes

chuuya also carries a sketchbook full of designs and his drawings look amazing and he isn’t afraid to just show them off

that said he doesn’t dress like a tired uni student at all, like he just always looks so on-point and unbothered by his five million deadlines

dazai: chuuya, i said this was a CASUAL LUNCH

chuuya, dressed in what looks like silk pajamas: THIS IS CASUAL

tbh if he just wore a white t-shirt and jeans i would die maybe he’s actually saving us from this ordeal

he has so much talent though as a designer he’s probably had several internships with design companies all throughout his years at uni

i feel like chuuya’s also really active in extracurriculars and has been in leadership positions in some of them (he probably runs the student org for fashion design)

chuuya in a student band though oh my gosh i can’t breathe i can’t breathe him as a VOCALIST?? and wearing torn jeans and eyeliner and that same hat in concerts ican’t brEATHE

okay in all honesty he would thrive being in a band chuuya loves the attention and the creativity of being able to design their whole look and write songs

tbh i don’t know if he’d have a roommate chuuya’s probably the type who’d rather have one of those single rooms or just rent a flat for him to stay in even after graduation

because his social life is super vibrant, he does have a lot of friends and he does make an effort to get to know all of them individually

but he’s more open around those who he’s been friends with for a really long time and as much as he’d like to say dazai isn’t one of them, he is

also chuuya is definitely the type to party hard during the weekends and has more than once crashed in someone’s house after drinking too much (dazai drew on his face on more than one occasion)

Oda Sakunosuke:

i love this man SO MUCH you guys have no idea i would literally die for him

100% this guy majors in creative writing because this is supported by FACTS and not just me wanting to be coursemates with him in this fictional world

super serious and diligent with his work especially since he’s passionate about writing. he loves to read in his spare time and is such a fan of classic novels about social realism or philosophy

oda spends 99% of his time in second-hand bookshops that the owner probably knows him by name at this point

he’s super old school when it comes to writing though, like he still keeps and writes in a notebook before typing it up on a laptop and no matter how many times dazai tells him its impractical, oda just keeps doing it

lmao whenever workshops come around he’s super nice with his critique. i bet a lot of his fellow classmates like sending their writing drafts to him

he draws smiley faces and always adds ‘nice work’ on people’s drafts omg i love odasaku

he’s such an old soul, he probably doesn’t do a whole lot of partying but he likes more quiet, private social events like drinking with close friends or just hanging out and talking at other people’s houses

he and dazai probably met when dazai decided to take an intro to creative writing class and wrote a long poem about double suicide on his first day that kind of put off everyone in the class from wanting to sit with him

odasaku was the only one who wasn’t exactly bothered but he did give dazai some comments to help him with his poetry and dazai instantly wanted to be his friend

in terms of extracurricular life, i can definitely see odasaku joining a writing organization and even the campus newspaper. he does find joy in interviewing students for newspaper articles

he’s also pretty into photography and uses a really old, second-hand camera that he bought at an antique store and fixed himself. at one point he won a prize in a contest

odasaku would be the best roommate. he’s super sensitive to when you have a bad day and will invite you to sit on his bed and hug his pillow and talk about your problems

scratch that, everyone talks to odasaku about their problems and now your room is like a therapist’s office

Edgar Allan Poe:

i swear this was the only gif i could find other than actual edgar allan poe

ANOTHER CREATIVE WRITING BUDDY AHHH I WOULD LOVE TO BE BESTIES WITH HIM AHHH

well actually i feel like since he’s super ambitious and already has a fixed idea on the stuff he likes to write, he’d probably double major in something like forensic science because he’d use it to write his mystery novels

omg that’s where he meets ranpo and now pretty much every main character poe writes is slightly based on on ranpo

it’s a problem. his professor brings it up more than once during his classes but it’s poe’s Thing now

he also has such an unending passion for gothic literature and he wears those white, long-sleeved blouses and waistcoats on a REGULAR BASIS

chuuya probably saw him once and was like ‘hmm, i could pull that off’

poe’s daily route is just going to the library and to class and then go home and that’s about it

he ended up working as a student assistant at the library because he’s just super familiar with the book collections and it’s a job that’s peaceful and quiet

more than once though, he’d just be really in-deep with his writing to the point that he doesn’t even notice that the library has closed or that he hasn’t eaten the entire day

that’s alright though because ranpo always passes by the library at night to check on his friend and (reluctantly) give him some snacks

also since poe’s pretty much a recluse, he doesn’t go to any social event UNLESS it’s a halloween-themed one

he loves going all out with his costumes because he’s a Drama Queen like that but the problem is he keeps dressing up as gothic novel characters and nobody gets it

dazai, trying to guess his costume: umm,, Two-Face from Batman?

poe: IT’S DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

there was this one time when poe took it upon himself to host the halloween party and it was EPIC

he basically designed it as a murder mystery night wherein everyone who came pretended to be guests at a house and then a murder happened

the only problem was that ranpo was conspiring with poe and it was pretty much unfair

except for the fact that ranpo was frustrated at how bad everyone was at deducing that he ended up solving the mystery for them

Fyodor Dostoevsky:

one of my favorite scenes of him in s3 was of fyodor playing the cello because god damn that is beautiful and therefore i am hc-ing him as a music major and you can’t tell me otherwise

fyodor is an absolute music genius and he was definitely scouted by the university’s music program and then he was granted a scholarship (because in this ideal university, the arts are valued)

he purposely decided to go to a university rather than a music conservatory because he’s also interested in learning a bunch of other things

aside from his music classes, he ventures into comparative literature and philosophy, even a bit of computer science at some point

people always assume that since he’s a music major he probably wouldn’t do well in other subjects but SURPRISE BITCH

anyway, fyodor’s a genius because god clearly has favorites

aside from attending class, he’s even part of an official orchestra and has even landed a few solos

that said, he’s quite busy and very preoccupied in his own work to actually have a social life either

you’ll often find him rehearsing by himself in an empty classroom for hours and hours on end (someone pls bring him food he’s also the type to forget to eat or even drink water)

if you are able to catch him perform at an orchestra or just practice by himself, it’s quite a mesmerizing sight. his eyes are often closed so he could focus on the sound alone and his fingers move so elegantly along the neck of the cello

(sorry i just love people who play any form of stringed instrument)

fyodor also takes such good care of his cello. also he would probably kill you on the spot if you touched his bow

he has a fairly small group of friends and they like playing chess together (even though fyodor is better than all of them) and just talk about um,, idk philosophy and stuff (whatever it is smart people do idk i’m not one of them)

i have a feeling he actually follows akutagawa’s dark academia blog and loves his content, even to the point of requesting ‘cello player moodboards’

also because he’s a cello player he needs to take care of his fingers so he wears gloves a lot (idk why i find this hot)

***********************************************

taglist (check out my post for details on being part of my taglist): @waitforitillwritemywayout @tpwkatsumu @laure-chan

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd writing #bsd headcanons #bungou stray dogs writing #bungou stray dogs headcanons #akutagawa ryuunosuke #chuuya nakahara #oda sakunosuke #edgar allan poe #fyodor dostoevsky #bungou stray dogs university au #bsd uni au #bungou stray dogs scenarios #bsd scenarios

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jippy-kandi · 4 years ago

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Digimon Adventure: 2020 – Episode 21: The Tide-Turning Update (Review)

Thoughts on the twenty-first episode of the Digimon Adventure reboot series.

Meh. This episode was a huge let-down from last week’s episode. Nothing much happened, really . . .

It opens up with Yamato standing in front of Takeru, with his arm out to protect him from SkullKnightmon. It instantly reminded me of Yamato doing the same for Sora in tri., lol. Just me? OK. :P

Takeru and Yamato’s exchange as they ride on Garurumon with Taichi: Takeru: “Um, Onii-chan?” Yamato: “Not now, Takeru. We’ll talk later.” Takeru: “OK! *smiles*” OK, you got me reboot, you set up later conflict between them well. Yamato is already dismissive of Takeru and . . . why? Just let him talk, you just reunited! You ain’t got anything else to do as you ride Garurumon. :P

Takeru: “The Holy Digimon escaped this place to save us, and gave everything for us.” That’s nice . . . but should an eight-year-old who just joined the team/adventure have this insight? I think no. It seemed odd to me that he said it. I guess he must’ve had some connection to Angemon . . . but it would’ve been nice for the reboot to show us more of it. Takeru is a very “new” character at the moment, and this episode doesn’t flesh him out much at all.

Splashmon (Darkness Mode 2) is a thing? He looks like a huge melted Gabumon crossed with a polar bear . . . with a tennis ball tail, lol. I can’t believe no one in-universe commented on his resemblance to Gabumon. I hope the English dub does, haha. Gabumon: “It’s me after an entire day eating out in the Sun.”

I really don’t know why Takeru saw a giant hole in the ground and decided to go down it. Yes, it had that miasma mist coming out of it, but . . . he’s an eight-year-old child in a brand new world. Is a kid usually this curious and brave? I don’t think so - and I don’t buy it.

It was nice to see Mimi’s mansion and her parents and grandfather. Poor Toshiko Takenouchi had to be blurred last episode (and Yamato’s parents’ heads weren’t in frame a few episodes back!), but Mimi’s parents are fine, lol.

It was also nice to see Jou’s second oldest brother, Shin. It’s still really weird that a kid going missing for three days is not met with more fanfare . . . but it’s nice that Shin is supportive of Jou to (what he thinks) disregard his studying and give him a “runaway pack”. Seeing the kids’ family dynamics is always nice.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Koushirou ends up discovering what their Crests mean and informs the rest of the children/the viewers. I mean, he does everything else! :P

That shot of Palmon with her vines wrapped around Piyomon and Tentomon makes me laugh, haha. But she needs assistance to “fly” in the Network, but Gomamon doesn’t? Weird. Or maybe she’s just lazy like Mimi. XD;

Calamaramon makes me laugh, too. XD; Her name and just her entire design, lol. Imagine her Tinder profile being her female “half” - and then she shows up to the date in squid-form, hahaha.

There is just no way that Takeru wouldn’t have slipped all the way to his death as soon as he started going down that hole. I would have and I’m old AF. :P

Splashmon chomping down on MetalGreymon’s arm was really painful-looking. Nice way to scare the kids, I guess.

Taichi trying to lift Splashmon’s jaw off MetalGreymon is just . . . all sorts of ridiculous. Really? REALLY? They’re going for “Look at how brave and heroic Taichi is!!!” but I’m just like . . . SMH. Splashmon can literally open his mouth AND EAT YOU CHILD. I need more realism in this show ASAP.

So Taichi has a “moment” (that came with no build-up whatsoever, and felt like a ridiculous insert and 100% unearned) and MetalGreymon powers up to . . . MetalGreymon: Alteros Mode. I suspect a number of people who are particularly interested in the actual Digimon aspect of the show just got extreme nerd-boners here - but for me? Nah. I mean, that’s a cool new “arm” and all, I guess, but it doesn’t do much for me and I would have rather they went with SkullGreymon and followed that path. I think it’d be more interesting. :P But hey, we gotta sell new toys!!!

Also, compare Sora getting that frozen-virus on her and Taichi getting the miasma on him . . . I guess Sora just didn’t believe in herself/saving the Digital World enough, unlike Taichi, who just powered through it. Tsk tsk, Sora, go back home please. Oh wait, you did. Stay! Let the boys handle this. :P /s

In the meantime, Takeru has freed a giant tortoise of a fortress, ElDoradimon, and . . . OK? Sure. I WOULD LIKE MORE THAN THIS, REBOOT. But Takeru did fall off ElDoradimon, and Yamato catches him because he has insane reflexes, just like Taichi. They are all superhuman. :P

But Yamato actually praises Takeru for wandering away down a hole to free a giant tortoise - so I’m getting mixed messages here. Is Yamato dismissive/overprotective of Takeru or not? I feel like the reboot should have had Yamato scold Takeru a little here, instead of praise him, if that’s the route they wanted to go down (which I think it is!). Just odd.

I hope the Devimon battle is epic. It needs to be. But I do like how they’ve built him up so far - so here’s to hoping!

Maybe this episode just seemed like a step backwards because last week’s episode was actually quite good? I don’t know. But I remember the quality of episode 8 being so much better, and it gave me high hopes for this series - it showed me that there was at least one competent writer for 2020.

But it’s really looking like their absolute main priority is action over actual characterisation - and that’s unfortunate. It’s the characters that people fall in love with, not just “exciting” action (of which it’s not even that good, lol). So I hope Toei actually listens to criticism and can rework the remaining episodes to focus more on character development - hopefully they aren’t that far ahead in production (and because of COVID, I don’t think they are).

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure 2020 #taichi yagami #yamato ishida #sora takenouchi #koushirou izumi #mimi tachikawa #jou kido #takeru takaishi #review #screenshots #spoilers #and backwards we go...

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thecrownnet · 4 years ago

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October 3, 2020

Series four of The Crown takes on Princess Diana: exclusive pictures and interviews Charles has found a wife, Andy’s got a racy new girlfriend and Thatcher’s coming for tea... Megan Agnew gets an exclusive tour behind the scenes of the most wild and lavish series yet

Lasers. That’s what helped Emma Corrin understand Princess Diana in the latest series of The Crown. When the cameras were rolling, she imagined that lasers were pointing at her, as if she were in a spy film or a bank heist drama. It was her way of imagining hundreds of people staring right at her. Lasers helped her with the iconic Diana head tilt. She pretended she was shying away from them.

Corrin could also draw on her own trajectory as a 24-year-old actress. Before landing her part in The Crown, she was an unknown. Suddenly “there’s a huge amount of pressure”, she says.

When I visit the set at Winchester Cathedral, which is pretending to be St Paul’s, the paparazzi arrive to catch Corrin pretending to be Diana. She’s dressed in a replica of the outfit they papped at the actual royal wedding rehearsal almost 40 years ago. Every time she moves between buildings and trailers, Corrin has to be shielded with umbrellas. Life imitates art imitates life.

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Almost every person Corrin has spoken to since getting the role has their own “Diana moment” — they might once have waved at her car in the street, been a pupil at a school she visited or knew someone who sat next to her at a dinner. Diana was one of the first celebrities to whom people laid claim. “Everyone has this ownership,” says Corrin. She was, and still is, the People’s Princess. But Corrin is trying not to think too much about it. Public expectation has been “overwhelming since the beginning”, she says. She wants to do Diana “proud”. “I know that’s strange and cheesy, but I feel like I know her.”

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana/ NETFLIX

The first television series of The Crown, which aired in 2016, was at the time the most expensive in history. Each series since has been estimated to have cost upwards of £50 million. The first two covered the first decade of Elizabeth II’s rule to wide acclaim, but series three — in which Her Majesty Claire Foy was succeeded by Olivia Colman — had mixed reviews. “The jewel in Netflix’s tiara has lost its shine,” said one. It was “okay”, said another.

Now, with series four’s reported £100 million budget eclipsing the Queen’s own sovereign grant last year of £82.2 million, The Crown is barrelling straight into the Eighties era of celebrity glamour and modern party politics grit. Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, is taking on two of the most controversial public figures of the past 50 years: Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher. “The word ‘iconic’ is overused, but in the case of these two women quite justified,” Morgan says. Both have passionate fans and detractors. “Writing them was a bit of a high-wire act, but it was exhilarating.”

We meet Diana as a teenager, scampering around her huge family home in Northamptonshire. She is young and apologetic. The Prince of Wales, at that time dating her eldest sister, is rather distracted. A number of years later, Diana is leaving her relatively modest flat in Earls Court and her job as a nursery school assistant to move into Clarence House — but finds herself in solitude. Bored and lonely, 19-year-old Diana rollerskates down corridors to Duran Duran and sits all by herself in her chamber. One night, after finding out about Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, she gorges on puddings and makes herself vomit them back up.

Behind the scenes: the latest series of The Crown/ NETFLIX

*Spoilers*

It is a dark moment that Corrin wanted to get right. She listened to real-life accounts of people who had suffered from bulimia and talked with experts from the eating disorder charity Beat. Diana herself said that it was the most “discreet” way of harming herself: “Everyone in the family knew about the bulimia,” she said in recordings from the 1990s later made into a Channel 4 documentary.

“Drawing on my experience,” says Corrin, “not that I’ve experienced that kind of self-harm, but mental health in general, it can lead you down a very dark path when you’re struggling to cope, when things feel out of control. Diana very much doesn’t have the love and comfort and attention she needs from the man she loves or the family, who aren’t really acting as a family to her. There is a build-up of emotion she can’t deal with and making herself sick is a way of taking back control.”

When Josh O’Connor, who plays the Prince of Wales, first read the script for this series he thought: “Oh God, how can Charles be like that to Diana? But he feels wronged. He feels like she has an addiction to the spotlight,” he says. “I have to feel sympathy for him in that world. This is a family who have an intense inability to be emotional and he has inherited that awkwardness. In this series there’s an awful lot of Charles trying to explain himself and not being allowed to. He’s trying to say that if he can be with Camilla, then at least two of the three people can be happy. As it is, there’s three miserable people.”

The Crown works differently to other shows in that the “writers’ room” is not made up of writers but researchers, who constantly feed back to Morgan, the king of The Crown. It means that for each word eventually spoken on film, there are pages and pages of briefing notes. Annie Sulzberger, head of research, started this series by hiring a young team. “I wanted people who did not grow up believing one or the other [Diana and Thatcher],” she says. “You have to be curious enough and ignorant enough, I suppose, to write the kind of work we need.”

This series will span the Thatcher years — 1979 to 1990 — and will include the assassination of Charles’s great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, by the IRA, Charles and Diana’s wedding, and the Falklands War. Once the team has laid out a timeline, Morgan picks out the events he wants to feature. The research team starts to hone in on each, getting increasingly “micro” in their investigations. In the making of this series, one of the team spent two weeks researching the label on a bottle of wine from which a character briefly swigs.

Dress rehearsal: Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin act out Charles and Diana’s wedding run-through/ NETFLIX

As the show has progressed, the fact-checking work has multiplied, thanks to the tabloid journalism of the 1980s. “It’s not just about words being printed,” Sulzberger says, “but who wrote it. Diana will become very close with a journalist called Richard Kay and feed him information, and Charles’s team will do the same. So you need to start unpicking the biographies of all the writers in order to know that what you’re doing has some objectivity.”

Did the team speak to any of Diana’s family or friends? “No.” Do the producers give any material to the Palace to see beforehand? “No. We have no connection to them that would result in editorial shifts. These are real people, these are real stories and we are filling in the moments that aren’t recorded — private conversations, moments of reflection, philosophical moments.”

When I ask Morgan if it’s true that he meets high-ranking courtiers four times a year, he is keen to clear up that he doesn’t. “I have never had any discussions with anyone actively working at the Palace,” he says. “The two worlds, the royal household and The Crown, exist in a world of mutual deniability, which I’m sure is every bit as important to them as it is to us.”

Corrin, though, did speak to Patrick Jephson, Diana’s private secretary, who appears as a fictionalised character in this series. “I got a sense of her joy from him,” Corrin says. “He said she was so naturally happy. When she joined the royal family, she had come from living with flatmates in Earls Court and she was a very normal girl. Patrick said she was still full of that girlish silliness, very down to earth.”

The couple themselves at the real thing in 1981 MIKE LLOYD/SHUTTERSTOCK/REX

The executive producer Suzanne Mackie says that “particularly now” The Crown team feels a sense of responsibility “to living people, people’s children, people’s parents. Obviously what we don’t do is engage on a fact level with the royal family. We have a tacit understanding that they need distance from us and we need distance from them.”

It is a cold day in January and I am watching Charles and Diana’s wedding rehearsal in Winchester. About 75 per cent of the show is filmed on location around the world, over the course of seven months. The rest is filmed at the show’s base, Elstree Studios, just north of London.

Today in Winchester Cathedral there is a crew of 78 and a cast of almost 200. The sight is as epic as the show’s budget would suggest. Between takes, Corrin sits on the stone steps by the altar, scrolling on her iPhone with one hand and biting her fingernails on the other. Even before the clapperboard snaps shut, the resemblance between her and the princess is uncanny.

Sidonie Roberts, head buyer and assistant costume designer, has a timeline of photos of Diana covering the wall of her studio at Elstree. Roberts is devoted to the cause. She travels to Paris to buy buttons from the same shop the Queen’s dressmaker uses (it sells more than 30,000 types of button) and to Soho to rummage in basements for fabric. Last year she was in a Bangladeshi fabric shop in Brick Lane, east London, when she saw a roll of material right on the very top shelf. “It was still in its plastic, but I just knew — that’s Diana’s colour,” Roberts says. She got a ladder, climbed to the top, pulled down the fabric and bought it for £3.50 a metre. When Roberts got back to the studio at Elstree, she unrolled it and saw a stamp at the bottom: “The Lady Diana Collection, made in Japan.” Roberts did some research. It was real silk, from a collection made in the princess’s honour.

In the corner of the studio an assistant is gluing tiny pearls to Diana’s flat wedding shoes. She has been decorating them, exactly like the originals, for a day and a half. “We’ve had a long conversation about the size of those pearls,” says Roberts. David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed Diana’s original wedding dress, donated patterns to the show, which were used to make the new version. With its 25ft train, it took ten people to get Corrin into the dress. In the show it is seen in full, and only from behind, for no more than 15 seconds.

Paying their respects: Olivia Colman as the Queen and the rest of the royal family at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten/ NETFLIX

Corrin is masterful at inhabiting Diana’s coyness — hunching her shoulders towards her ears as she walks, the smirk, her intonation. Diana’s voice was the ��polar opposite” of the royals’, says William Conacher, The Crown’s dialect coach. “She moved her jaw twice as much, so her voice was more forward, open, easier to access, and I don’t think it’s especially revelatory to suggest accessibility was her shtick,” he says. “She used a minor key that made her seem vulnerable. Despite the Queen’s and Prince Charles’s accents being ‘stiffer’ to listen to, I think it comes entirely naturally, whereas I find Diana’s voice more studied. I think she spoke to have an effect.”

What sort of research did Colman do for series four’s Queen? “Yeah, I don’t do research,” she says when we speak on the phone in the summer. “The research team on The Crown is a bit like the British Library. It’s extraordinary, and when they kick in, your computer can’t really cope with the amount of stuff they send you.” Was there something in particular that the team sent her that made things click? “No.” There is a longish silence. It seems Colman’s royal duty is waning. “They’ve got every image and film of the Queen ever made. I’ve also got three kids, so I can’t spend all my time going through all of it.”

As she wraps up a second series of The Crown — Imelda Staunton will take over for five and six — Colman knows that she would “really not like” to have the Queen’s job. “There are very few people who are forced into a job and have no choice about it,” she says. “She’s done it with dignity, for decades, bless her. It’s amazing.”

The funeral of Lord Mountbatten took place in 1979 BENTLEY ARCHIVE/POPPERFOTO/GETTY

If there were rumours of Elizabeth II being unhappy about the last series of The Crown, I can’t imagine she’ll be too chuffed about this one. Series four’s Queen is colder and more distant, and the effects of her duty on her children more obvious: Charles is heavy with melancholy, Anne feels unheard, Edward is portrayed as a spoilt bully and Andrew is dangerously arrogant.

Speaking of Andrew, there is a subtle nod towards recent events. At one point the prince discusses a young American actress he is dating. The actress had recently played a 17-year-old who must entertain several “old predators who seduce the vulnerable, helpless young Emily”. The real prince dated the actress Koo Stark in 1981, who had starred in The Awakening of Emily, which had a near-identical plot.

In series four, the pivotal relationship between the Queen and Margaret Thatcher begins well. They are respectful of one another as no-nonsense working mothers, but tensions arise — not least, over tea etiquette at Balmoral.

In preparation for her role as the Iron Lady, Gillian Anderson met Charles Moore, Thatcher’s biographer, as well as secretaries who worked with her. “The only way for me to go about sitting inside of her was to find the reason behind her actions — growing up, what she learnt from her father, how much she truly believed that she was the answer and as long as we all took the sour medicine now we’d be able to turn around this country, completely shutting her eyes to the people that she was turning out on the street.”

Anderson eventually “settled into” the body of Thatcher. “She walked very fast, always up ahead,” Anderson says. “She would power forward in front of presidents. With [Ronald] Reagan she would supposedly be alongside him, but was walking ahead. Always walking ahead of [husband] Denis, telling him to catch up.”

Thatcher’s barnet also features. In one scene she spends an asphyxiating four seconds hairspraying it in preparation for a showdown with the Queen. The hairdo took endless camera tests before Morgan was happy with it. “It essentially meant destroying it so it had an overprocessed ‘frothy’ quality,” says the hair and make-up designer Cate Hall. “To treat a wig so badly was against all of our instincts — they’re so expensive — but I’m grateful now that we went through the process with Peter, with him saying no, more, it’s not right, try again.”

Clash of the titans: Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, is filmed meeting the Queen, played by Olivia Colman, in a memorable scene from series four/ NETFLIX

Series five will have a whole new cast. Colman says she is “not the sort of person who keeps the shoes of a character they played 20 years ago”. But Helena Bonham Carter is going to miss Princess Margaret. “She does pop out [in everyday life],” she says. “The other day I was at some public event and there was the normal scramble of people and I just told them, ‘No, shut up.’ The finger came out, which is very her, and I said, ‘Shut up and wait. Don’t get hysterical.’ So I’ve got the bossy side of her.”

Originally Morgan said there would be two more series after this one. Then he changed his mind, describing series five as “the perfect time and place to stop”. Now there are two more again (“To do justice to the richness and complexity of the story,” he reneged). The show is creeping closer to the modern day. It is now said to be ending in the 2000s, spanning, perhaps, Charles and Diana’s divorce, the deaths of Diana, Margaret and the Queen Mother, the marriage of Charles and Camilla, and the teenage and twentysomething princes. “I want to end it close enough to present day to feel that we have completed a long journey and distant enough to feel historical,” says Morgan. “I have a specific incident in mind, but until I’ve actually written it and seen if it works, I can’t commit to discussing it.”

On set with Mackie, I mention Harry and Meghan. “Too often,” the couple posted on their Instagram page that month, “we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring.” Is it possible, I ask Mackie, for the royal family to humanise themselves while still justifying their existence as something mightier, more important, regal? “That’s where you go wrong, as a public figure, letting light in on the magic, especially as a monarch,” she replies. “You have to be an ideal. After years and years of that subjugation of self in order to put duty first, you, the essence of you, is buried somewhere. The Queen is a tiny little person inside many, many Russian dolls.”

Series four of The Crown is available on Netflix from November 15

#olivia colman #helena bonham carter #gillian anderson #the crown #the crown spoilers #tobias menzies #josh o'connor #emma corrin #princess diana #ben daniels #erin doherty #emerald fennell #charles dance #marion bailey #the crown netflix

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snkpolls · 4 years ago

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SnK Episode 66 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 244 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

RATE THE EPISODE 238 Responses

“Assault” was a total hit with the fans, with 93.7% of respondents rating it a 4 or 5. Nobody gave the lowest rating this week, and only a couple of people weren’t as impressed with the episode.

I wasn’t a fan of previous episode but GOD I’M BACK TO HYPE! This episode was so full of awesome scenes that picking just one favourite and one that made me most emotiona seems unfair

Incredible improvement. Almost reminded me of Season 1 with all the impact/shockwave flair at times

Was amazing

THIS IS THE BEST BY FAR AND EVERY CHAPTER IS FREAKING GOOD

It was a banger

One of the best episodes in the ENTIRE SERIES. At first i was skeptical because the cgi often kept throwing me off but i was PLEASENTLY surprised how fantastic the last episode was

it was awesome

So proud of MAPPA with what they've done so far! Appreciate them! 💕

It was breathtaking and MAPPA did tje manga justice!

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING ACTION MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 237 Responses

Armin making his entrance by blowing up the harbor took the edge this week, with 28.7% most hyped up about the scene. Following closely behind with 26.2% of the vote is Eren using Porco as a nutcracker to eat the War Hammer Titan. 19.8% most enjoyed watching Mikasa fillet Porco’s legs, and 17.3% liked the scene where Sasha and Jean help take down Pieck and the Panzer Unit.

Jean vs. Pieck was epic!

Levi was so awesome! It was great hearing his voice again, just everything about him made my day. this episode was perfect <3

NUTCRACKEREN

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS MADE YOU FEEL THE MOST EMOTIONAL? 237 Responses

To counter the breathtaking action this week, some scenes also brought out our emotions. 25.7% were most affected by Gabi and Falco desperately calling out for Reiner to save Porco and help them. 20.7% felt the same pain as Mikasa as she watched Eren brutally kill another person. 15.6% were pained to see Armin’s reaction to his horrific action of destroying the harbor. At some smaller percentages, people were also emotionally touched by these scenes, in order: Seeing the Panzer unit’s pictures in their cabins, Porco’s desperate pleas for Eren to stop using him to kill Lara Tybur, and Reiner’s continued desire to end his own life.

Seeing hange onscreen again has added 100 years to my lifespan.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW EERIE DID YOU FIND THIS IMAGE OF THE WAR HAMMER TITAN? 232 Responses

Overall people weren’t too spectacularly creeped out by the haunting image of the War Hammer Titan at the beginning of the episode. About 45.7% of respondents feel they’ve seen things much creepier, while about 33.7% felt it was more close to the thing of nightmares. 20.7% were simply somewhere in the middle.

REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT GABI’S CHARACTER, HER SEIYUU TRULY WENT ALL IN ON HER SCREAMS FOR REINER. ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW BONE CHILLING WAS HER PERFORMANCE? 228 Responses

Gabi’s seiyuu truly sold this scene and the fandom seems to overwhelmingly agree that she did a fantastic job, with nearly 93% of respondents ranking her performance a 4 or 5. Only a small handful were less enthused, finding the screams more annoying than impressive.

I’m usually a defender of Gabi, but Falco and Gabi’s screaming annoyed the f out of me

SOME FANDOM SPACES SEEM TO BE MORE POSITIVELY RECEPTIVE ABOUT THE CGI IN THIS EPISODE. WHERE DO YOU FALL ON THE SPECTRUM? 225 Responses

After much disappointment in the previous episode’s usage of CGI, people in the fandom are feeling a lot more pleased with it this week, with no one even ranking its usage as a 1. The majority felt that MAPPA did a good job, likely hoping that the trend continues.

I Thought the CGI Section in the opening bits looked incredibly wonky, But after that it was used well.

I've been fairly tepid on the CGI while acknowledging its necessity. However, this episode used in amazingly after I was a bit dissapointed with its use last week. Very satisfied with pretty much everything this episode.

DID MAPPA DO ONYANKOPON JUSTICE? 228 Responses

Onyankopon finally makes his appearance and the fandom is overwhelmingly positive about MAPPA’s character design for him, with just over 87% of respondents either stating they are super happy with the design or that they’re straight up starstruck and in love. Only a small handful felt he could have been done a little better.

Nailed it! Though I had to come back and see him in the rewatch. Was too focused on Hange and Armin.

I honestly don’t care as he’s a relatively minor character in the manga

They did onion coupon really damn well

ONION COUPON!!!

He is significantly more bad ass looking than I assumed he would be

He looks super cool but his voice is too soft.

He looks even more like Finn than in the manga, and as a John Boyega fan I think that's a good thing!

Onion

Idc about his appearance, hope his character will just be portrayed correctly.

MAPPA HAS AVOIDED KEEPING IN SOME OF THE IMPLICATIONS THAT ZEKE COULD BE WORKING WITH ANYONE BUT MARLEY UP UNTIL THIS POINT. WHAT DO YOU THINK - WILL ANIME ONLY VIEWERS BE THROWN TOTALLY OFF GUARD NEXT WEEK? 223 Responses

One of the joys for some manga readers when the anime seasons are running is seeing the way that our anime-only counterparts react to the story developments. One of the big plot twists next week will be that Zeke was working with Eren/The Survey Corps and people are eagerly anticipating the fan reaction to the revelation. 44.4% feel that anime only watchers will be totally thrown off guard and that MAPPA has done an excellent job of concealing this plot twist. 27.4% feel similarly positive about the fan reactions for this reveal, though a little disappointed there was a bit less room to theorize. 14.8% aren’t sure as they don’t really keep up with anime-only fan reactions, and a few either feel they’ve probably already pieced it together, or just don’t care.

The Jaw might be down for the count, but jaws will still drop next ep.

I've been watching reactions from anime only people for this season and some are definitely putting together correctly that Zeke is in on the plan.

I listen to an “Anime only” podcast Where are you they literally called Zeke working with Paradis, but I’m not sure about others.

I've already seen several theorize that Zeke is working with Paradis. The suspicious nature of his death in this episode clinched it for some of them.

Some of them will be surprised, but the ones who watch the anime more carefully and like to think about things most likely know that Zeke might work with Paradis.

MAPPA ADDED PICTURES OF THE PANZER UNIT TO THE INSIDE OF THEIR CABINS. DO YOU THINK THIS MADE THEIR DEATHS MORE EMOTIONAL? 227 Responses

A small addition, but impactful nonetheless. 53.7% felt more saddened about the Panzer Unit’s deaths after seeing how strong their bond with each other was (or, alternatively, how hard all of the boys simped after Pieck). 37.4% agree that it added just a little more depth to the characters, though it ultimately didn’t do anything to move them too much emotionally. A handful don’t care or were just salty about the addition in general.

Their screen time was short in general. It was a nice touch, definitely made me pause to get a better look and feel a bit bad for them.

That, and them screaming for Pieck as they get blown up :( amazing additions.

I gotta be honest, I didn't even notice until I saw this question. I was too busy screaming over Sasha being amazing. It's a nice addition though.

Yes. It shows that the marleyan warriors were not emotionless monsters, but they had their lives, families, friends and were normal people overall. I felt really sorry for them.

I didn't notice until I saw this question, but I do think it adds to the sadness.

I was upset by their deaths because they and Pieck were a team and looked out for each other

I loved to see it! It really added more to their characters. The entire Panzer unit being Pieck simps, that is.

They cut out the scene where the bullet actually HIT Carlo.

it just shows once again how complicated attack on titan is and how much their actions have consequences. no side is innocent

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU THAT MAPPA CUT THE PANEL OF PORCO SANDWICHED BETWEEN BURGER-CONSUMING PIECK AND COFFEE-DRINKING ZEKE? 225 Responses

In the manga, we see a shot of Porco having a meal with Pieck and Zeke while he becomes distraught over the assault on his comrades. MAPPA omitted it, though for the most part fans didn’t really seem to care. Only about 21% of respondents felt something was missing without the small flashback, while the rest were indifferent or felt it never really fit in anyway.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU ABOUT THE INCLUSION OF AN EXTRA LINE FROM PIECK TELLING FALCO TO RUN AWAY? 228 Responses

As expected of the fandom, they agree that any new Pieck content is good content. Even though it was a small one-liner addition, the vast majority were very pleased with MAPPA’s scripting of this moment. Only a small handful felt it was unnecessary.

EREN USING PORCO AS A NUTCRACKER WAS SOMETHING THAT SURPRISED A LOT OF US WHEN THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTER WAS PUBLISHED. WHICH MEDIU, DO YOU THINK THE SCENE HAD A BIGGER IMPACT IN? 227 Responses

A rare occurrence, but the fandom seems to agree that MAPPA excelled at adapting this scene and made it even more impactful than it was in the manga, with nearly 50% stating that they preferred the anime’s take on this moment. 35.7% feel that the impact was of equal strength in both mediums, and only 10.1% still prefer the original manga portrayal.

I feel like the anime dragged it out a little bit and some angles were meh bc the cgi was more noticeable. I'll have to go back to the chapter to see how many panels were dedicated to the scene

Porco's seiyuu SOLD it.

I think both are pretty equal but hearing Porco scream and beg for Eren to stop made it a bit more nerve racking.

titan eren’s face during the nutcracker bit was legit terrifying in a way I can’t quite explain

The music, the voice acting, the scary CGI attack Titan. This scene was impeccably strong! I give it 100%

I felt more surprised in the manga because i didnt expect it, but in the anime porcos reaction made it more horrifying

Hearing Porco made it even more impactful

Ngl, I was much more grossed out watching it animated than in manga form. Just all that blood and the swallowing...*shudders*

Eren was absolutely in the right here

The swallowing noises and the weird thick blood was absolutely disgusting 10/10

PIECK AND JEAN ARE CURRENTLY WORKING TOWARD THE SAME GOAL OF KILLING EREN IN CURRENT MANGA EVENTS. DO YOU THINK SHE’S FORGIVEN HIM FOR HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ATTACK ON HER AND THE PANZER UNIT DURING THE EVENTS OF THE LIBERIO ATTACK? 225 Responses

Unrelated to the episode itself, but remembering that Jean was partially responsible for the deaths of people Pieck loved was something that had us thinking, and we were curious what others thought as well. 39.1% feel that Pieck would never be able to forgive Jean for his part in the assault, but is big enough to move on and leave it in the past. 25.3% don’t want to make a call either way, as Isayama hasn’t done much to explore this facet of her character. 14.2% feel she’s moved past it completely and has forgiven Jean for his role. Smaller percentages either felt she doesn’t hold him responsible at all, or that she will always resent him and is only working with him insofar as to reach her own goals.

It's war.

dont care fuck pieck

I mean there's no indication that Isayama has even considered this in my opinion so the answer is completely speculative. So like my answer is "She forgot and moved on" :D

She still has a pain in her heart after losing the Panzer Unit, they were her friends after all. But Pieck is smart and she understand why Jean did that. Also, the world is in fire so she doesn't have a time to think about it now.

The Alliance characters are not allowed to keep grudges (thought at least it fits for Pieck)

The scene with Panzer Unit was so powerful in anime that it detroyed all my Jeanpiku hopes I had after the last chapter :’) I think Pieck could come to an understanding and blame others more than Jean but I’m not sure if she’s ready to fully forgive

I think that Pieck doesn't hold Jean responsible, understanding that it wasn't personal and just counts it as a tragedy from the war.

Pieck seems to be really understanding character and full of empathy. She’ll forgive Jean as soon as he shows he’s sorry for what happened (and he probably really is as long as he hates the idea of killing people)

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 233 Responses

We’ve got a heavy episode coming, and a number of things to look forward to. As expected, 40.8% are most anticipating the scene where Sasha dies by Gabi’s gunshot. 31.3% are looking forward to seeing Levi confront and arrest Eren. 23.6% are most looking forward to the big reveal that Zeke was working with Eren all along. Only a small handful are looking forward to the Gabi and Falco content before they board the blimp.

I'm NOT ready for the next ep...

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON THE EPISODE?

This is where the fun begins both in anime only reactions and in seeing fantastic scenes brought to life.

So good. Chills everywhere. Watched it so many times and still getting chills. The 3 minute sequence starting from Armin blowing up the port up to Pieck falling from the rooftop is mindblowingly good. Perfection.

I remember being really sad when the WHT left the plot so quickly in the manga because it had the best titan design imo. I know we've seen her again in the recent chapters, but the WHT was even better with Lara seen controlling it. She looked so cool, calm and collected in that crystal the whole time. RIP Lara Tybur :(

Ost are awesome !

Thought it was the best episode of season 4 so far. They kinda gave Hange the mappa egg head syndrome in their first full face shot though.

It was phenomenal!! And really, if people still don't understand why Gabi goes off, they have their head in the clouds. Everything was so visceral and I genuinely felt fear for the warriors. It moved so quickly just back to back; I could taste the kids desperation.

I think ending the episode with Reiner transformed is misleading yet strategic since it will tear apart the audience in the next episode.

This was the best episode by far! For a long time I couldn't get over how awesome the attack on Fort Slava in the first episode was and it remained my favorite, but this episode potrayed the war so well and you could totally feel the terror of the war with them!

So, so, so, so good. I was surprised by how emotional I got over it. Mappa is really making everything hit so hard!

Loved the episode! I believe this adaptation has even improved on some scenes (like Armin's tranformation and Gabi's screams), the ost and voice acting give it so much more power and the CGI looks better than in previous episodes. Really looking forward to ep 8 and the little surprises Mappa will give us with it

This episode was really great, the 1st to get me truly hyped. I was very disappointed last episode because it felt very underwhelming was I watched it, so much so I didn't even want to participate in the poll last week because there was enough negativity about it out there and I didn't want to add to it. After staying away from others opinions and having watched this week's episode i gave 65 a rewatch and I honestly think it's a good episode, with small flaws here and there. I guess all the negativity can really affect how we perceive this adaptation. I realized I watched that whole episode looking for any moment mappa had messed up, moments that I knew people would complain about. This week I didn't and I enjoyed it a lot more. So even though it may not be like this for everyone, distancing yourself from all of the exaggerated "criticism" might just make you enjoy and appreciate it a lot more.

I still strongly dislike how the CG Attack Titan looks but this episode looked MUCH better than the previous one and was even better lit, IMO. Armin looked beautiful, the colossal titan looked amazing and Levi looked the best he's ever looked to me. JEAN! He looked so good and so did Sasha! I absolutely love the character design this season and everyone looked fantastic. Loved it!

makes me wish porco hadnt died

I think that I was so disappointed with the previous episode that I just lowered the bar. Either way I enjoyed this episode. I'm still very disappointed with the music choices and much they faded in the background even during climate scenes. But I did feel a lot better about the CGI specially since the barely used it in this episode aside from the titans. Oh man I cant wait the anime fandom reaction to Sasha getting shot.

The episode was much better than the previous one. I loved it. I loved the moment of horrifying silence after WHT was eaten. The lack of music made the scene more serious and dreadful. Gabi's seiyuu made an excellent work as well. I didn't know I was going to say that but I think that Armin is pretty hot. In the manga he still has his cute baby looks, but MAPPA made his appearance more mature. Now I feel jealous of Annie ;P

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 215 Responses

Thank you again to everyone who participated!

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk spoilers #snk s4

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fly-pow-bye · 5 years ago

Text

DuckTales 2017 - “The Rumble for Ragnarok!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Ben Siemon, Bob Snow

Written by: Bob Snow

Storyboard by: Vince Aparo, Kristen Gish, Victoria Harris

Directed by: Tanner Johnson

The Fly says...

In Norse mythology, there’s this cosmically giant snake named Jörmungandr that encircles the Earth, constantly eating its own tail. It is told that Jörmungandr releasing its tail from its maw would begin a series of events known as Ragnarok. To make a long story short, it's the end of the world, though someone does insert a coin to try it again.

In the world of DuckTales 2017, this tail releasing happens every ten years, according to one of Scrooge’s epic speeches, and it's an epic speech he is well qualified for, as it's because of his ability to defeat Jörmungandr that the world hasn't ended yet. Huey has many science-based questions about this, because the kids wouldn’t get that the joke is that this mythological beast doesn’t exactly follow the rules of physics if he didn’t say “science-based.” Huey is going to be our designated plot hole revealer of the episode.

This story is being told to Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby, as even he knows that he would eventually have to pass the torch. Who it could be: could it be Webby, Huey, or Louie? Dewey asks if him getting left out means Scrooge is saving the best for last, and Scrooge just says yes in a manner that doesn't exactly convey confidence. Huey, the aforementioned plot hole revealer, asks why Donald or his mom couldn't have that torch.

Scrooge: I don't trust Donald and Della to cooperate on a jigsaw puzzle, much less the fate of the universe.

Yeah, because the boys have never fought against each other, ever. The real excuse is that they'd rather have a plot with these relatable youths. It's a shame; I would have loved to see Donald or Della do their trademark fighting styles against these mythological beasts. Yes, these kids would be far more likely to learn a lesson in the end, especially our designated lesson learner Dewey, but maybe Donald and Della could learn to cooperate, too. Alas, they never appear.

They fly to Valhalla, courtesy of Launchpad flying into a rainbow. Valhalla: so majestic, even Launchpad couldn’t crash in it as he makes a decent landing right in front of the building. I almost didn't notice that oddity.

Scrooge is ready to fight that giant snake, currently the size of the entire planet, as even the other kids have their jaws agape that Scrooge could remotely tickle him, never mind harm him. But don't worry, Huey’s question on how that could happen is explained: when Jörmungandr unleashes his tail from his mighty maw, he transforms into a duck-sized snake man-beast. Now it makes perfect sense, or at least that’s what Huey sarcastically says.

Passing by people wearing "Scrooge vs. Jörmungandr" t-shirts, they open the door to reveal the arena this fight is going to take place in, with pyrotechnics, a roped ring, and a bunch of fans rhythmically chanting. Huey finds this kind of arena quite familiar, and Launchpad is so giddy about what this will entail, he just has to say what this is.

Launchpad: Whoa! It's wrestling!

Audience: This is awe-some!

Launchpad: This is awe-some!

With Launchpad and the audience referencing the famous "this is awesome" chant, this episode reveals itself to be an episode about professional wrestling, which apparently ripped off these Valhalla battles according to Scrooge.

From the amount of pro wrestling I watched, there's one thing I know for sure: fowls and pro wrestling probably shouldn't mix. Whether it be the Red Rooster and his "fanbase" of "Rooster Boosters", or the Gobbledy Gooker that popped out of an egg and spent quite a few minutes during a pay-per-view doing the Chicken Dance with the late Mean Gene. If there's anything that can heal the relationship between these kinds of animals and pro wrestling, it's a well-liked reboot of a classic Disney cartoon about ducks.

As Dewey gets excited by the chance of having all of his bones broken and have people love him for it, the giant ouroboros in the sky transmogrifies into The Rattlesnake himself.

Well, okay, he's not a rattlesnake, and I'm sure most of Stone Cold Steve Austin's gimmick wouldn't fly on TV Y7 programming as he seems to be more like The Rock, but anyone could get the idea. It's Jörmungandr, the People's Champion and Chairman of the VWE. He's also said to be the beloved underdog, which does make sense considering the world hasn't ended in at least a millenium.

He begins this with a promo about how grateful he is to be in his arena, being cheered on by all the fallen warriors who died gloriously in battle, and he assures them that the rest of Earth will join them. The Rumble for Ragnarok 100: Maybe The 100th Times The Charm! They don't really say that subtitle. They do introduce his opponent, who, outside of this ring, is the beloved billionaire who has saved the world countless times.

But nobody would ever cheer a billionaire babyface, as Scrooge's gimmick is the heel Millionaire Miser, a cross between The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster. Wrestling terms are used throughout the episode, and Launchpad does explain to the kids at home what "heel" and "babyface" means.

One term that doesn't come up is "kayfabe", the idea that these characters and their actions in the ring are portrayed as real, and that term could tie into one of the major plot points of this episode: that Dewey is completely offended that, in the ring, his uncle is seen as a bad guy. Granted, that term is more used to point out that pro wrestling is scripted, and this rumble is portrayed as completely legitimate. There's certainly no tired jokes about wrestling being fake.

After a botch involving a giant money bag taking out the intended color commentator for this PPV, who was clearly the late Gorilla Monsoon as a penguin, the replacement. Huey Duck is a veteran sports commentator, having earned his Junior Woodchuck badge in it, though his experience as a pro wrestling color commentator seems to be slim to none. In contrast, Launchpad's knowledge of sports entertainment even manages to give him the foreknowledge of what's going to happen, as Huey points out as the plot hole revealer.

There's a lot of humor with Huey not knowing what is happening on stage and trying the best he could, while misnaming wrestling moves and generally getting everything wrong in the process. There was a particularly disastrous wrestling PPV called Heroes of Wrestling which had a similar problem with one of its commentators. Ugh, I don't want to be reminded of that one.

Launchpad announces that there will be three matches, all of them the heroes of Valhalla vs. the dreaded Millionaire Miser.

Our first match is Strongbeard vs. The Millionaire Miser. As Strongbeard enters the ring, he decides to give one of the audience members one of his beard hairs, which has the ability to bestow his amazing strength. He's practically telling his opponent what he should do to defeat him. Wrestlers usually wait until they get in the ring before they do that.

As the audience chants his catchphrase, "fear the beard", and booes the Miser, Dewey tells his Uncle Scrooge that he shouldn't put up with this. Scrooge assures Dewey that he's just acting as the heel because it's the right thing to do, right before mocking the audience for not being the richest duck in the world like he is.

Much like in an actual battle, the Millionaire Miser has to use his smarts, as muscle is something he doesn't exactly have. The Miser tries to take down Strongbeard with his trademark Unbreakable Penny Pincher Hold, or, as Huey calls it, a sedative neck massage, only to be punched by a Beard Fake-Out. Dewey protests this use of what he thinks is a bad guy tactic, only to have food thrown at him.

He may or may not have gotten that gigantic hint from before, as he reveals that he stole one of the hairs on Strongbeard's chinny-chin-chin, giving him the strength to pin Strongbeard clean, scoring a point for Team Earth pretty quickly. This loss happened almost as fast as when fan-favorite-and-also-bearded Daniel Bryan got pinned in 18 seconds by Sheamus at WrestleMania XXVIII, and it's revealed to be just as well liked as that match as the audience showers the arena with boos and empty popcorn tins.

Dewey is not going to stand for this, and tries to convince the audience to stop cheering for a giant dragon man who wants to destroy the Earth, and start cheering for the billionaire that has prevented the destruction of the Earth multiple times. It's well established that this audience wants the Earth to be destroyed, as this event is literally for the Ragnarok, but his ignorance is a Dewey thing to do.

That ignorance angers one audience member so much that he decides to throw a wooden chair at him, a reference to the classic chair shot done many, many times in pro wrestling. The Millionaire Miser does manage to save him from an unintentional injury, as much as the fans really wanted that to happen. Unfortunately, this causes a different injury: this breaks Scrooge's back, forcing him to see what his next generation can do. It is heartbreaking to see Scrooge actually having to use his cane in ways other than hopping on enemy's heads, that's for sure.

Thankfully, Jörmungandr, as the babyface of the company, decides to rebook the second match as a tag-team match and not instantly declare victory over the Earth. Even Webby claims this makes Jörmungandr such a good guy, though Dewey disagrees. Scrooge does come to the obvious conclusion that Webby should be one of the team members, but he knows that he couldn't choose Huey because he doesn't know anything about wrestling. As for Louie...

He's too busy selling merchandise to the fans, somehow printing T-shirts of things that just happened. This is reminding me of another disaster, though not one related to wrestling, where a green person was selling T-shirts throughout the episode. Ugh, I don't want to be reminded of that one, either.

Scrooge suggests to himself that maybe Webby could tag-team with herself, but Dewey claims that he should fight. Scrooge tells him he's not ready, and Dewey ends up agreeing with that, giving up on the idea that Dewey Duck could be a champ...

...but Champ Popular can be a champ! Using a gimmick not too far off from the persona in his own 90's school sitcom dreams, he knows he can win the fans over by offering them lollipops. Even the music goes silent after that suggestion, as if it was a movie trailer. He decides to let him go through with this anyway, cheering him on, but telling Webby to do the fighting. In Dewey's mind, he knows this gimmick will turn the boos into woos. He doesn't look anything like Ric Flair!

Unfortunately, his plans for popularity doesn't work, as the lollipops are interpreted to mean that he thinks the audience are suckers. Webby shows up...and she's just Webby. I get that the joke is that Webby is just being her cute usual self, but it's kind of disappointing considering a lot of this plot hinges on embracing a character. It's not that the plot isn't there, as she gets booed slightly less, but it doesn't get to her as much as it gets to Dewey. Pretty much all the focus is on Dewey, and I think anyone can guess what's going to happen with this match even if the opponent wasn't going to be the ruler of the underworld.

Sure enough, Champ "Un" Popular and Webby has to fight Hecka, who is based on the Norse ruler of the underworld whose name is too similar to a word one couldn't say on Disney XD. What do you know, a reboot actually manages to do some research on Norse mythology besides "big dumb vikings". Hecka is joined by her pet wolf in both the myths and here, Fenrir, or "Fenny" as he's referred to on his dog bowl. This won't be the only "dog/wolf" joke in the episode.

She's also clearly The Undertaker, even referencing his trademark get up spot after a failed attempt to knock him out with a elbow drop. With the Undertaker, that happens after his opponent knocks him down, but Dewey can't even get that far because all of that booing. Scrooge is on the sidelines trying to get him to "embrace the boos", but Dewey just can't seem to shake off his lack of popularity in the ring. Dewey is all about his popularity, something that was shown with the "Dewey Dew-Night" shorts and pretty much everywhere else, so it's easy to understand why that alone would cause him to shiver.

He tags in Webby, who ends up doing a far better job at embracing her inner heel by comparing her opponents unfavorably to the Greek mythological warriors. She even manages to pin Hecka before good ol' Fenny interrupts the pin. Dewey tries to get a "cheater" chant going, but that's completely legal even in a non-Valhalla-rules tag-team match. Surprised that doesn't come up at all in this episode, especially with what happens later.

Webby does see Fenrir, and she tries to offer a belly rub. Get it, because while he's a mythological wolf, he's a still a dog! At first, it seems like that works, until Fenrir reveals that was just an act, and he throws her out of the ring.

As Webby slowly wakes up and tries to get back into the ring before this match ends in a countout, which is only implied, Dewey knows how to win. Unfortunately for Scrooge, he meant "win them over", as he tries to use his trusted lollipops to feed the puppy. Hey, it probably would have worked on Burger Beagle if he was still the glutton character he was in the original! Unfortunately, Fenrir is a non-walking and talking dog, and the audience calls him out for trying to feed candy to a dog. In those words; why would the Valhallans call him a dog?

Webby does show up to pin Fenrir and knocks out Hecka in the process, giving Champ Popular ample time to give Team Earth 2-0 and end this episode far earlier than expected. Of course, that doesn't work, and Fenrir gets out of Webby's pin to pin Champ Popular for the win, making the score 1-1.

But wait, Dewey was never tagged back in, and Fenrir wasn't tagged in at all, so this isn't a legal pin either way. It's possible that Webby was also getting pinned by Hecka at the same time, and there's nothing that disproves this. However, it seems that DuckTales 2017 is unwilling to have Webby show any kind of weakness even if it's all Dewey's fault. Launchpad reassures the audience that the world isn't coming to an end...

Jörmungandr: ...YET! (air guitars)

Deciding that Team Earth's lackluster performance is probably making his PPV not nearly as good as it should be, Jörmungandr rebooks the final match as well to be a battle royale, with just himself against all of the mortals of Team Earth. The rules are changed, too: people are eliminated if they fall outside of the ring, but one pinfall can also end the match for either team. This looks to be the third episode in a row that just turns into another giant fight scene with all of the beloved Disney Ducks, but it is separated a little.

While Webby distracts Jörmungandr with her own heel promo, Scrooge tries to give Dewey the pep talk. This unfortunately only ends with him implying that he's just not cut out for this, which only makes him feel worse. Gotta say, that's really Millionaire Miser of him, even if he's not wrong.

Back to the heel promo, Jörmungandr tells her he's not scared of Webby, and she adds that she isn't the one to be scared of.

It's the Millionaire Miser's Maid, the Shield Maiden, and she's a stunt granny! Sorry, I had to reference that one obscure TV special when I had the chance. I even see that she put on a costume similar to Thor's, who was the one that fought Jörmungandr in the original myths! This is also a reference to an original episode, "Maid of the Myth", which also references Norse mythology. Probably not a coincidence.

I have no idea how she could even be here, nor is it really even brought up. Almost all the other plot holes were pointed out, why not this one? Well, there may be a slight explanation to that one, as our designated plot hole revealer decided to leave the announcer's table because of his failures.

It's up to Louie this time to do his pep talk to both Dewey and Huey this time, and he's way more successful than Scrooge. He pretty much just gives up that t-shirt joke at this point in the episode just so he can fill this role. I guess they had to find someone, as everyone else was too busy either moping or fighting. Whatever, this comes just in time, as Jörmungandr's curb stomping of almost everyone around him is causing Valhalla to shake. Wait, I thought it was the Earth getting destroyed, not Valhalla!

Back in the ring, we see that I was slightly wrong: they can show Webby getting defeated on screen alongside her granny! The Millionaire Miser shows up too, alongside an unexpected swerve: the competent announcer was actually Captain Crash, and he's here to fight Jörmungandr!

Launchpad didn't realize nobody liked this when Michael Cole did the same thing for far too long, and he gets taken out rather easily...alongside the Millionaire Miser. I was thinking Scrooge had a no jobbing clause even outside of the ring, but here we are. Who could possibly save us now? John Cena? ... actually, they don’t seem to make a reference to John Cena as far as I can tell.

Well, we get the closest thing to John Cena even if he's way more like Bret Hart: Champ Popular, and this time it doesn’t matter if people boo him. In fact, he's knows he's so good, he shows it off in the most evil way possible: a bad joke followed by a high-five to signal that it was supposed to be funny! I do approve of the indirect bashing of the "fistbump in place of laugh track" trope!

So yes, it looks like Dewey has finally embraced his inner heel, and I'm sure Scrooge would be proud.

Unfortunately, it's here where the episode loses me. The whole episode was building up to a lesson about that it okay to do the right thing even if it would lead to a lack of popularity. However...the crowd starts to see Jörmungandr as a heel all of a sudden? It seems like he’s not fighting with honor, but now people are starting to boo him in a snap!

It doesn't make sense; they were cheering for the end of the Earth, and they were totally fine when his fellow Team Valhalla members were beating up kids before. He was a jerk before this scene and people still loved him. Maybe he's more of a jerk now, or maybe they noticed Valhalla was also getting destroyed by the coming Ragnarok, but the ending just seems like a tacked on way to make Dewey look like the good guy even when he was supposed to be the bad guy.

To make a long story short, the babyface and heel roles swap right in the middle of the match to the point where Dewey was able to borrow some of Strongbeard's impossible strength-giving beard. Why didn't Scrooge use that little hair he had in his part of this fight, which would have helped even if he had a broken back? Because Dewey wouldn't be able to learn his lesson that it's okay to do the right thing when people love you for it.

After the referee does what is clearly a fast count, as it seems like even he knows this episode has to be over in about a minute, Dewey is declared the champion, and he even gets awarded Jörmungandr's belt.

But, in a shocking swerve, the Millionaire Miser takes the gold away from him, and Dewey and Scrooge get ready for an extra main event. Broken back be damned: Scrooge knows he can beat up a little kid! ...wait.

The episode ends like Rocky III, complete with a cheesy 80's song playing in this scene and in the credits. Why is a wrestling episode referencing a boxing movie? Well, Rocky III had that one scene where Rocky had to fight a wrestler named Thunderlips, played by Hulk Hogan, for charity, so I guess it's fitting?

How does it stack up?

There are some neat references to pro wrestling throughout the entire episode, and I do like the story's idea. The second match could have been directed better, the ending feels really tacked on, and leaving Donald Duck and Della Duck out of this felt like a cop out. I couldn't get into this one as much as some of the previous episodes.

While I wouldn't say this episode is bad, I'd say this is slightly less quality than Challenge of the Senior Woodchucks. This would make it the least best episode of Season 3 so far. If anything, that's a testament to how good this season has been so far, but that means this only gets a 3.

Next, we have no idea, because the show's on hiatus again. However, I do have something for next week. In one week, I looked at the shorts. Next week, I look at some DuckTales 2017 commercials!

← Astro B.O.Y.D.! 🦆 The Commercials (Part 1?) →

#fpb dt 2017 #ducktales 2017 #ducktales #disney #fpb reviews

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busan · 5 years ago

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opinions on the new christmass stuff?

RIME

are you fucking kidding me, do they understand what they have done for gravityhacker?? anyway they didn't cover his face OR his toesies so this skin is up to my standards. he does look pretty fucking ugly, but that is also up to my standards. also..tummy window? smh im done wit dis horny design (the spray and icon are....ok)

UGLY SWEATER: 76

this skin is so fucking good... this has to be my second favorite skin in the whole game tbqfh,,,and the spray is absolutely 🤘😤🤘...... but they 100% could've done better with the icon, hate the icon

HOLLY

im gonna be real with you people for a moment here..why the freak do they keep making such ugly decisions for moira skins?? scientist is a great skin, but it should have been an epic,, and holly & éireannach should just be not so fucking ugly. the only thing i like about holly is the little bow on her tits. that's it. the skin's color scheme is a terrible match with her purple juicy juice, it just looks too confusing (just like éireannach). this is really annoying bc it wouldn't be a bad skin if they didn't just throw everything together like that. the green hair, the reds and golds. smh, so disappointing. very cute spray, and the icon is pretty good.

SNOW ANGEL

god what a fucking boring design. if you like this, happy for you, but god damn am i snoring just looking at.........cute spray, stupid icon. god what a letdown.

JÖTUNN

this skin is so fucking smexy. i can't tell you how many hours of skyrim i played wishing that my character would just get railed by a draugr. i understand jötunn isn't exactly a draugr, but i will ignore that. anyway his toes are visible, his meaty thighs are visible, his tits, his arm, his abs and most of his back are visible. saying this, i really love this horny design. i like the spray,, i wonder what he will eat (seriously, wtf is he doing in the spray? yawning? idk)..the icon is p great 🤷🏻‍♂️

MOUNTAIN MAN

i get a TERRIBLE vibe from mountain man. idk what it is about this skin that screams dangers, but it's there. is it the furry hand? the fox cape? the fact that i can't tell if he's wearing cowboy boots under the 5 pounds of yeti hair? i just don't know. so um.....,,,, i love this skin. maybe not more than scrooge, but old fuck mccree is pretty great. i also really like that his burlap tunic and pants accentuate his curves, very horny of blizzard to include that. and before i forget, wtf does his belt buckle mean?? what is a bafm/baem???? spray is very very good and the icon is awful. for what reason did they decide to make his hair piss-stained in the icon

RAT KING

i love this skin!!!!!!!! i love it!!!!!!!! the cape, the crown, the red misty eyes, the ears, the gold, the jewels, the stripes on his puffy sleeves, the weird quilt thing that is strapped to his legs & dingding, the shotguns!!!!!! the shotguns!!!!!!! fuck!!!! the shotguns are so good!!!!!!!!!!!my only qualm is that the boots are fucking weird..and maybe the vest is kinda ugly-- but this skin is easily being deemed my favorite reaper skin. spray is pretty great! the mask looks kind of off in the spray, but i like it nonetheless. the icon is v nice, it's what i'll have equipped until new year.

EMOTES

both emotes are fantastic. i love the signing, i love the question behind who regifted the robot. was it zarya that gave it to her? maybe it's a running joke between some of the overwatch kids, that they keep regifting that stupid robot to one another? idk, give me the unnecessary lore behind these things.

VICTORY POSES

detail is always key, and they did a pretty damn good job detailing these. hammond be lookin cute as always, lucio got that big smile with his orange slices and cinnamon and star anise (so very extra of him), and ofc sym has to be holding a coaster for her fancy little cup. im very happy with these!!!!

MEI'S FESTIVE HIGHLIGHT INTRO

my thought process when seeing it: kinda cute, kinda like the idea, kinda boring, kinda hate it. it's kinda just ok.

VOICELINES & SPRAYS

sigma has a way too long VL about the one party he was ever invited to (sig we all know you bored everyone to sleep and you're probably scarred from it, stop making everyone feel awkward bro), roadhog says sweet ass, hammond kills my ears, zarya is a bit early with her new year well-wishing.. but really why tf is her new year VL included rn???? blizzard knows that they have an annual new year event, right??? anyway, it's a mixed bag of boring and good, as per usual.

the bap ornament is so fucking plain, it hurts. why is it so boring, why didn't they do anything with his ornament? whereas they gave sig's ornament so, so much detail in comparison. it also looks very creepy, it would not survive my vibe check. snowball fight is very cute, always balancing being competitive while having fun (also they detailed his asscheeks for whatever reason). a few years late for a nutcracker spray, don't you think? either way, it's a cute spray and he may crack my nuts if he so pleases. holiday surprise is very cute, why is sombra hacking the present and why is tracer so surprised by this? is it a *pretends to be shocked* situation? idk. anyway, polar bear is so fucking cute,, it is so fucking cute, it is so fucking cute. wtf it is so fucking cute hello???? snow snow snow is also cute, not as cute as the others, but i do love chunky reaper snowman with little pine trees.

#this is waaaaay too long #where's the kermit 'imma be real with u chief'#ask #anon #winter wonderland

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slowpokesami · 5 years ago

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My opinion about pokémon games 2- Johto (Silver, Gold and Crystal)

Hi! As I said in the last post, in these reviews I will write about what I think is good and bad about different Pokémon videogames. I will talk (at least by the moment) about the principal games and I will go generation through generation. So as last time I talked about Red and Blue here is the link if you missed it now I will write about Silver, Gold and Crystal. Now it’s been some time since I don’t play it so be free to correct me if I make any mistakes.

In general I think this game was more complete than the first one, it had more options, like the phone and the bright idea of Pokémon breeding, which I think is one of the most entertaining things in Pokémon. It also included the first battle tower in Chrystal. It’s kind of a magic game, as they gave it a softer (but not worse) touch that wasn’t in Kanto. In fact Crystal was the first Pokémon game I played and that’s why it makes me feel kind of nostalgic. Another thing that I find very important is the fact that they added the option of being a girl with my favorite protagonist, that girl with blue hair I call Crystal. That was one big step to make the feminine public more comfortable, cause that was basically telling them the game was also for them and that girls can also be heroes. If I am not wrong it was (if not the first) one of the first videogames that added the possibility to play as a woman, and I think this is a big step in such a sexist industry as the videogame’s is. About the world: now that was a real fantasy world! I liked the realistic touch in Kanto but I rather the dreamy Tradicional-Japan inspired Johto. I think it gave another look to the videogames, maybe more appealing to the young public, but also not forgetting the adult one; I love the changing from day to night they added to this second game; I think it’s the best idea they had in Pokémon. All the scenario changed from day to night: you were in the same place but everything was darker and some Pokémon changed. I loved walking through tall grass and finding all the hoot-hoots and spinaraks, I kind of rather playing this game by night; but then the day came again and it all got calm and dreamy again. Talking about the cities, they were all very different; I like every one of them too: the idea of the Sprout Tower in the violet city, together with all Ecruteack city gave it the mysterios and tradicional japanase touch, while Goldenrod and Olivine cities gave it the cute touch. Mahogany Town and Blackthorn city added what most of the audience look for in Pokémon and other videogames, the epic touch, and the lake of rage was also helping in that. But cool cities and towns wasn’t everything that Pokémon offered us; there were also very entertaining places where we could do other activities, like the Ruins of Alph were we tried to complete the Unown dex while solving mysteries and the National Park and it’s contests, I had a lot of fun trying to catch the strongest or weirdest bug! And if that wasn’t enough, we could also travel to Kanto! I honestly have nothing to object about this region, the only fact that can be discussed is the decision of the boring zubat caves again and having to go across the victory road again, UFF!!

The villains: we had Team Rocket again there, which maybe wasn’t necessary but it wasn’t either a bad option. In one hand it was cool they went on showing that, even in a pretty world like the Pokémon one, there was cruelty; I’m referring to things like, for example, the slowpoke’s tails creepy plot. When you’re a child you’re like: “okay, this is bad”. But when you grow up you are like: “wait, WHAT?” They literally cut their tails to sell them in a high price, as it seems they are tasty. But doesn’t that reflect how bad we are too for eating animals? I’m not vegan but that is an interesting fact to think about, how we are reflected in team Rocket actions. Anyways it could likely be more compared to the shark hunting on japan (or was it in China?), as their fins are used for making soups and other food. I’m not sure how it works but I know they kill the whole animal just for eating the fin; if killing an animal you’re going to eat entirely can be cruel for some of us, how is it to kill an animal just for a fin? To me it makes 100% logic these things happen in Pokémon, and it is very clear that it would be team rocket who would sell the Slowpoke tails. The only question I have about it is… what happens to the Slowpokes? Do they kill them? Or do they make them live suffering? I can’t imagine team Rocket healing Slowpoke butts, honestly – and that makes me sad as you know it is the Pokémon I feel more represented by ;_;

But team Rocket was not that powerful since Giovanni left it, and Game Freak made a good job showing the contrast. For example, in Red and Blue, Team Rocket is everywhere: in the powerful places like Silph S.A., in the casino, Giovanni is a Gym leader, etc. while in Gold, Sylver and Crystal they even have difficulties invading the Radio Tower… because when they do you immediately go and kick them out. Not to mention there is no sign of them in Kanto neither. And after this game, team Rocket disappears. I doubt if Game Freak intentions were to make us aware that team Rocket ended there, if they wanted to show how a big mafia ended up being a group of thugs with dark intentions or if they just didn’t know what to do about the villains and didn’t think about a new team as they did lately… I think I personally would have rathered a new team because it is kind of repetitive and boring fighting them again; maybe a team linked to the spiritual touch of Johto? A lot of ideas come to my head, but well, as they made it fit the game, the idea of team Rocket again didn’t end that bad.

About the Pokémon: All I have to say about them are good things; this is my favorite generation of Pokémon designs, they all look extravagant and at the same time they all have the old school touch Kanto also had. There’s a lot of Pokémon I love there: Smeargle, Jumpluff, Stantler, Ledyba, Hoot-Hoot, Misdreavus… Not to mention the legendaries were also stunning; I simply love Ho-oh and Suicune. They also included the shinys and the baby Pokémon in this game (you know, Cleffa, Pichu, Magby…) which also strengthen the cute touch I was talking about before. The pokemon they choosed of Kanto also fit the story and curiously had a big importance in it, like Bellsprout (in the sprout tower) or gastly and it’s evolutions (that were very important in the ghost gym and also helped strengthen the mysterious and dark touch I was talking about before) . I think it’s the only game I wouldn’t mind what starter to use and the eeveelution introduced are as good as the three originals or even better. As I said, nothing bad to write here.

The Character designs: In the last review I was complaining of the lack of representation of social minorities and well, they introduced the first androgynous looking boy of Pokémon, Bugsy! Not to mention that Will looks kind of androgynous too. They still lacked representation for people of color and androgynous woman (and I could talk about more minorities!) but again that was Japan in the late nineties, so let’s go step by step. Apart of that they are also good characters, but I would like to know more of them. It feels like the leaders in Kanto had a more important role than in Johto, as some of them are part of the story while we don’t get to know the Johto characters that much (maybe the only exception is Jasmine, as we help her with her ampharos). But there’s one character that amazes me and this is Whitney; she always makes me laugh as I think she’s got a strong character, she behaves like a little girl but she will destroy you with her miltank – she looks cute (and she knows it!) but will make you a drama if she doesn’t win. Honestly I can understand it if the other people find her annoying but for me she is so frinking funny. We may not get to know the new Johto characters that much but the good thing is we get to know the Kanto characters better, and I like the fact that the Johto and the Kanto league are the same and now Lance is the champion, and we also got the opportunity to fight together with him against team Rocket. We can also see how the people of Kanto is doing after the first games: I like the fact that Green is a Gym leader and you can also fight Red. I could spend hours talking about how amazing and interesting it got but I think I said everything I had to.

I can’t say I have many objections of this game. Now playing it is not as entertaining for me as playing the new games because they got more dynamic and entertaining but it is still one of my favorite games Thanks very much for reading and, if you liked it, please reblog it, like it or follow me, this blog is still new and I need your support to go on with it! J oh, and you can ask about my point of view of anything of the Pokémon world if you want, I’ll try to answer it! Sami Luu~

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theliterateape · 6 years ago

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"You’ll Never See His Like Again!": Revisiting Comics Legend Stan Lee’s Best, Most Literary (and Vastly Underrated) Story, The Silver Surfer (1978)

By Jarret Keene

Stan “the Man” Lee is dead, but his creations are alive, pouncing across theaters, game screens, and t-shirts with equal parts vitality and sorrow. Today, Spider-Man and Thor and Captain America and Black Panther and so many others dominate our media landscape to a degree unthinkable 40 years ago when my father bought me The Silver Surfer graphic novel from a B. Dalton inside Tampa Bay Mall.

Back then comics (22-page floppies) were relegated to a single spinner rack in mall bookshops, a gimmick to draw kids into the store so their parents felt obliged to pick up garbage Sidney Sheldon’s thriller Bloodline. But The Silver Surfer didn’t fit in a metal rung; instead it was displayed amidst the regular literary trade paperbacks. Today it is vaguely praised on obscure blogs as being among the very first efforts to push comics into the realm of the literary epic during a brutal moment in the history of the comics industry. Staggering inflation, a crushing 1977 (and then a 1978) blizzard, and rising paper costs nearly sank DC Comics. Marvel, though, endured such challenges with Stan Lee’s relentless cheer, his grace under pressure, his courage to always try something new when everyone else cowered, caved.

In the late 1970s, the U.S. continued to fall apart. There was the ongoing energy crisis, serial killers like Ted Bundy lurked in every shadow, the Jonestown mass suicide played out like a dress rehearsal for a larger and more diabolical event, toxic waste burbled in landfills adjacent to pleasant neighborhoods, and Soviet Russia rattled its nuclear saber. You wouldn’t know this from reading Marvel Comics, every issue offering a column called Stan’s Soapbox, wherein Lee waxed passionately, positively, and with the eloquence of a poetry-reading pitchman, about what was forthcoming from “the House of Ideas.”

Today Marvel is an idea-resistant shell of the company Lee built and oversaw, a house of ideology teeming with dour, OMG-chirping social-justice superheroes (gay mutant Iceman, lesbian Latinx warrior America Chavez, Muslim teenager Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, female cancer-stricken Thor). Instead of debuting new characters, the current editorial team is content to reverse race and flip gender of, and add a dash of disability to, classic characters. In its prime, though—and starting in 1961 with the first issue of Fantastic Four — Marvel excelled at depicting authentic outcasts who felt a fierce responsibility to protect even those who hated them, feared them, wanted them dead. Lee’s characters — which he co-created with Jack Kirby, the artist who visually defined comics for an international audience — didn’t nurture wounds of identity and grievance; they waged their internal battles on a mythic scale. In the same way Oedipus confronted the ignorance of his birth, in the same way petulant Achilles struggled to overcome his narcissism, so did hapless high school reject and science nerd Peter Parker combat his own teenage doubt and ego and feelings of inadequacy.

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) containing the debut of Spider-Man, is arguably the single greatest and most important comics story ever written, its 11 pages defining not just the Marvel superhero but also the last half-century of U.S. comics. “With great power comes great responsibility” wasn’t merely an inspirational and moral slogan; it was also a metaphor for American exceptionalism, which could only result in senseless death (like, say, the murder of Peter’s uncle, Ben) if not applied toward just and proper ends. Parker is spoiled, his own worst enemy. He’s a purveyor of fake news, taking photos of himself in action as Spider-Man and selling them to the Daily Bugle to cover the cost of college tuition. We love Parker for his flaws, though, and for his commitment to overcoming them. We cherish his humanity even as we’re thrilled by his brawls with violent predators like Kraven the Hunter, bulky crime boss Kingpin, hideously armed Doctor Octopus.

The Silver Surfer isn’t human like Parker. The Surfer is carved from the “doomed messiah from beyond” mold a la Superman (or Beowulf or Jesus). But he isn’t adopted as a baby and given a Midwest upbringing. He is a silver-skinned alien riding a floating board, arriving on Earth to determine if it’s suitable for his planet-eating master Galactus. Lee and Kirby made a wise choice in never pinning down the exact size of this god of interstellar death, who, like the Surfer, was first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four #48–50 (1966). That three-part story is a must-read, yes, but then, a decade later, Lee and Kirby collaborated on a 100-page retelling of the Surfer-and-Galactus saga, only this time the superheroes were removed, leaving just the god and his fallen angel. The result is a romantic, philosophical, and artistic statement that outstrips everything else Lee and Kirby collaborated on prior — which is saying a lot. It is also the last major work either of them would produce for Marvel, or for any company thereafter.

Today Marvel is an idea-resistant shell of the company Lee built and oversaw, a house of ideology teeming with dour, OMG-chirping social-justice superheroes

The Silver Surfer was published by arrangement with Fireside Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster in New York known for publishing a famous chess book. Based on a Kirby sketch, the cover is by artist Earl Norem, known for painting the covers of men’s adventure magazines and more than a few Marvel mags (like Savage Sword of Conan). Indeed, the painted cover gives the book literary gravitas. The interior art is all prime Kirby, with eloquent inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Glynis Wein (first wife of the late Len Wein, who created Wolverine). The Silver Surfer is a feast for a comics-lover’s eyes; my battered copy still radiates visual power. But it’s the heartbreaking story and dialogue that set this effort apart from anything else in the history of comics and in the bibliography of Lee and Kirby.

Here the protagonist must choose between living forever to serve a devourer of worlds, or else die alongside eight billion earthlings to be rejoined with the obliterated love of his life, lovely and golden Ardina. In The Silver Surfer, Lee gives us a hero who sells his soul to the devil so as to thwart a holocaust and save a populated globe. He only meets a few dozen — many of who attack him physically. But he understands their potential to grow beyond their limitations. It’s not a story in tune with the 1970s, that post-Vietnam, post-JFK, post-Watergate era during which Marvel delivered dark, humorous characters like Ghost Rider. No, this was something else entirely.

The opening splash page is the closed fist of the planet-eater: Behold! The hand of Galactus! Behold! The hand of him who is like unto a god. Behold! The clutch of harnessed power — about to be released! The tone here is elevated, serious, Lee is writing in a style that evokes the Old Testament of the King James. The second page is a splash, too; in it, the mitt of Galactus opens and from it erupts the Surfer, who “streaks through the currents of space — ever-seeking, ever-searching — for he alone is herald to mighty Galactus.” The image is the visual distillation of an artist’s self-confidence, his arrogance. After all, doesn’t every artist believe himself to be God as he manipulates his characters, his images, to suit his imaginative fancy? It’s also a breathtaking rendering of a big bang, or a biblical birth of the universe, without a benevolent designer in control. Here the god of the universe is a destroyer.

The universe seems endless and infinitely alluring to this mysterious star-wanderer, who yearns for his own homeworld, Zenn-La, lost to him forever for reasons Lee doesn’t initially explain, but we presume Galactus ate it.

The Surfer enters the atmosphere of “a verdant sphere” unlike any he’s seen before. Soaring high above the streets of New York, he doesn’t hide from view. He is fascinated by the fear in the eyes of people, noting “how it is always the young who are the first to accept — and to trust.” He sees a woman who reminds him of Shalla Bal, a woman the Surfer loved on his own world. Haunted by her memory, he pursues this woman through the alleyways of Manhattan while imagining a conversation with this Shalla Bal lookalike. We learn that, years ago, the Surfer sacrificed his mortal body to Galactus to save Zenn-La from destruction.

Finally, the woman abandons him to his painful recollections… and then Galactus suddenly appears in a whirlwind of crackling energy, ready to devour Earth.

He congratulates the Surfer on a job well done and articulates in excruciating detail how he plans to sate his appetite: “Here shall I drain the gently rolling seas. Here shall the bountiful land yield to me its gift of life.” It is an impending act of reverse creation, a backward Genesis. But the herald of Galactus isn’t having any of it. When the Surfer fails to convince his master that the price of eight billion souls is too high, he lashes out at Galactus with “the power cosmic,” using it seal the destroyer in a concrete cocoon. It doesn’t hold Galactus for long. Disgusted, the world-eater blasts the Surfer from the sky, cursing the herald to live amidst “the dunghills of man” for a spell in order to ponder his mistake. Then Galactus disappears.

The Surfer recovers from his fall, then disguises himself by altering his appearance to resemble a male fashion model from a billboard. He wanders the city with admiration for its denizens until muggers approach him in Central Park. The Surfer shoos them away with a pyrotechnical display, then pledges to walk around without hiding his identity; concealment did nothing for him anyway. Meanwhile, we witness Galactus gorging on a planet in another solar system. Sated, his thoughts turn toward his missing herald. What can Galactus do to make the Surfer submit? The world-eater’s counsel, a sniveling Master of Guile, advises Galactus to provide the Surfer — our alien Adam — with an Eve, someone to betray the Surfer’s heart.

And so beautiful Ardina enters the picture. She sneaks the instantly smitten Surfer beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and they share in the pleasures of the spaceways. Floating now on a patch of green ringed with bright flowers in a neighboring galaxy, our hero is tempted to give up his standoff with Galactus. In the same way Dido tempted Aeneas to give up his destiny to found Rome, so does Ardina begin to entice the Surfer to submit to her — and by extension Galactus. He refuses, says he’s willing to die to save Earth, and so Ardina leads the Surfer on a journey into human darkness. “You will perish for a worthless cause,” she warns. She shows him “brutal images, a morbid montage of heart-rending scenes filled with carnage and strife.” Domestic violence. A child killed by a hit-and-run driver. A mass execution. Bombed ruins of a once-thriving city. The Surfer is jarred but not dissuaded.

And then something interesting happens: Ardina, designed to coldly seduce the Surfer to make him betray his convictions, ends up feeling a warm love for him.

So much so that when the Surfer, driven mad from having set foot inside a suburban home where the walls seem to be closing on him:

The ceiling — almost touching my head! No room to move! No place to soar! I see no sun — no sky — no endless reaches of rolling space! Wherever I face — wherever I turn — I am surrounded by smothering objects! Shelves and books! Pictures, clocks, and lamps! Chairs and drapes and shuttered windows! But where is the sky? Where is the cold, crisp touch of rolling space? Where are the hills, the seas, the nourishing stars in endless profusion? Without them I perish!

Interestingly, the aspect of humankind that nearly causes the Surfer to surrender his mission is man’s stultifying existence inside tract-housing boxes.

Troubled by the experience, the Surfer races to escape Earth’s atmosphere. Riding bitch, Ardina screams: “The barrier! You have forgotten the barrier!”

The Surfer falls to Earth while Ardina re-materializes before Galactus inside his giant space vehicle. She admits she has failed. She confesses her love for the Surfer. Displeased, Galactus recalibrates her cloned body for one last mission. A mission that involves shattering the Surfer’s heart.

Meanwhile, the Surfer continues to be attacked by various humans. He is shot at, shackled and hammer-smashed, then the U.S. military blasts him with an ultra-sonic cannon, which nearly kills him. Ardina consoles him for a moment, kisses him, telling the Surfer she is with him and by his side, even after death. Which is when Galactus dissolves her into dead particles using a matrix-drone.

Now Galactus asks the Surfer to again join him in scouting the universe for other edible planets. It’s the only way Earth can be saved. The command is agonizing, for what Galactus offers is a living hell. To save Earth, the Surfer must cast off death, the ultimate escape and the one chance he has at being reunited with Ardina. But as the Surfer himself says: “Never was there a choice!”

The curse of immortality at the cost of true love is a familiar idea in ancient epics. The sea nymph Calypso offered Odysseus eternal life, but he refused it in order to be with his wife Penelope. But the Surfer has no options; he can’t be selfish enough to die and thus doom the Earth. What makes him a hero is his refusal to surrender and his willingness to embrace the agony of existence, of enslavement. He must deny himself every exit for humans to live on until they hopefully change themselves for the better. They must have a chance; the Surfer and Galactus give them one.

The Surfer returns to the gauntlet of Galactus, disappearing within the destroyer’s fist.

✶

In this story, there is no Fantastic Four. No cameo appearances by Lee and Kirby. No clever narrative captions. Just the purest narrative of a hero fighting for an ideal, for the steadfast belief in our ability to one day rise above our petty evils, our arrogance and wrath. Lee wrote so many masterpieces of comics literature, but this one is his best because it best speaks to the principle he and his characters lived by: Never succumb to nihilism and despair. Never forget that we are similar in our anxieties and weaknesses, and that our individual identities matter less than our collective aspiration to improve our world and the lives of the people who inhabit it.

It’s a moral stance that today remains obscured by Internet social-justice frothing and the political insanity of being ruled by a reality-TV star. But the embers of Lee’s views are there for anyone to ignite and carry forward. Make no mistake: the world is poorer now without Lee. As the blurb on The Silver Surfer ’s back cover announces: “You will never see his like again!” We can, however, always see Lee’s passion and his love for humanity — for life! — in the work he and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and others left for us to enjoy.

Lee didn’t need to die for our sins. He endures, and so will we.

Never was there a choice.

Jarret Keene is an assistant professor in residence in the English Department at UNLV, where he teaches creative writing and ancient and medieval literature. His fiction, essays and verse have appeared in literary journals such as New England Review, Carolina Quarterly, and the Southeast Review. He is the author of several books and editor of acclaimed short-fiction anthologies. He is currently working on a critical biography of comic book legend Jack Kirby.

#Stan Lee #Silver Surfer #Marvel Comics #Comics as literature #Silver Surfer First Appearance

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justanothercinemaniac · 7 years ago

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #221 - Zombieland

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The prologue.

We are immediately given a sense of Columbus’ voice in the prologue, which is important because he narrates the entire film. From the beginning we get a strong sense of not only who Columbus is but the rules by which this film operates (in a literal sense, as Columbus lists his rules for surprising Zombieland). We get all the backstory we need: we’re dealing with fast zombies, world on the brink (or post) apocalypse, etc. It all works as a strong setup to a great film.

2) According to IMDb:

[Rhett Reese] the co-writer of the film plays the man in the white tuxedo with an assault rifle in the opening credits.

3) Columbus as the gas station.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

We have been introduced to Columbus’ rules for surviving Zombieland (cardio, beware bathrooms, seat belts, etc.) but this is where we first really see them in action. Whenever a horror comedy is made it is easy to go low on one of those elements in favor of the other. The comedy has been established by Columbus’ voice but now we see that this film CAN be scary. There is genuine suspense on the scene as we practically wait (like Columbus does) to see if there will be a zombie attack. Not to mention they get in a good jump scare or too.

4) Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus.

As mentioned above, Columbus is our film’s main character. He’s the one we get to know best throughout his narration. That means he cannot - under any circumstances - be boring (or else the film will be too). And although Eisenberg’s performance may not differ TOO greatly from some of his other work, that’s largely because it does support the character. Columbus is interesting, developed, funny, and sometimes tragic. We get a sense of his fears (of which there are MANY) and how they can define him, but we also see him grow to face those fears for those he cares about. All of the characters are developed wonderfully in this film and Columbus is no exception.

5) Story is conflict, conflict is interesting. The two parts of the main bromance meet when they’re pointing their guns at each other. That just DRIPS with conflict and speaks to the wonderful heart of their relationship.

6) Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee.

From the very first moment Tallahassee shows up on screen you know he’s special. He just LOOKS badass and Harrelson ends up stealing every single scene of the movie. Tallahassee is largely enigmatic, but we do get to know him as the film goes on.

Columbus [seeing a zombie eat a corpse]: “I mean it makes you -”

Tallahassee: “Hungry.”

Columbus: “I’m worried about you.”

He’s developed throughout. You understand how much he fucking hates zombies and later you understand why. Sometimes when you reveal more about an enigmatic character they lose what makes them interesting (see: Jack Sparrow). But not with Tallahassee. I think this is a testament to Harrelson and the filmmakers for making him strong throughout.

7) This could really be a note thrown in while talking about Tallahassee, but I think it deserves its own recognition. The fact that such a notable part of this movie is Tallahassee looking for Twinkies gives the film two things: a strong through line and a unique character detail. Columbus’ analysis of why Tallahassee feels so strongly about this, about how it makes him remember a time when things were normal, also gives it heart. It’s not a joke just to be funny, there’s a reason behind it. I love that.

(GIF originally posted by @themarvsthompson)

8) I’m so tired of this idea that if you’re a guy who still has his virginity you’re some kind of loser. Like, fuck that shit.

Columbus [explaining how he was kind of a dweeb before zombies]: “Virginity: totally justifiable to speculate on.”

9) Amber Heard as 406.

There’s a pretty good chance that this is the only film I’ve seen Amber Heard in (that’ll probably change when Justice League comes out) and while it may not be exactly the part of the year, Heard really commits to it. In her human form you are able to invest in 406 really quickly, as Heard plays her fear and panic totally believable. But the actress also plays the part as a zombie which requires a unique physicality that not everyone can master. 406 as a zombie is freaking great though, with Heard bringing that unique movement to the character while also being really fucking scary. I dig it.

10) There are so many small jokes in this film I love I couldn’t possible list them all.

Tallahassee [about a zombie free place]: “It's all just nonsense. You know, you're like a penguin on the North Pole who hears the South Pole is really nice this time of the year.”

Columbus: “There are no penguins on the North Pole.”

[Beat.]

Tallahassee: “You wanna feel how hard I can punch?”

11) The scene with Columbus and Tallahassee in the grocery store shows off one of this film’s best qualities: it has fun with its zombie violence. It’s over the top and crazy making all the zombie killing just wildly fun.

12) The con Little Rock and Wichita run on the two guys is so interesting. For one thing actresses Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are so good I’m 100% riveted by both performances. They give it their all even though it’s fake, even though they’re conning them. And the fact that it is a con, that twist to the scene, speaks to who they both are as characters.

Wichita: “Better you make the mistake of trusting us then we make the mistake of trusting you.”

Their trust issues with everyone but each other is great. The relationship these sisters have is developed wonderfully, defined by their interaction during the following car ride. We understand how this relationship works and the love they have for each other in NO TIME.

13) “Zombie Kill of the Week” discussion.

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Take a look at that scene, take a look at that production design. The film never calls attention to it but you 100% understand what has happened just by looking at it. The tanks, the banners, the propaganda posters, all speak greatly to the world we are currently in. Juxtaposing that against the sheer irrelevance of the conversation Tallahassee and Columbus are having about killing zombies is a perfect representation of the film. Incredible humor against a bleak landscape. (Note: the first half of the scene is not featured in this video, the one where they’re talking about zombie kills of the week. Just so you know.)

14) Abigail Breslin as Little Rock.

None of the main four characters in this film are weak, meaning Breslin is able to hold up against her cast members (including and especially veteran Woody Harrelson). There’s this sense of sarcastic humor, almost jadedness, and charisma that Breslin breathes into every scene. She’s basically twelve year old Han Solo fighting zombies. I love that.

15) I relate to Columbus in this moment.

Columbus [after Wichita highjacks his car and points a gun at him]: “I kinda like this girl.”

16) There are occasional flashbacks to life BEFORE zombies which could’ve really messed with the film (especially considering it’s less than 90 minutes), but they’re put in good spots and improve on the movie’s human element (which is incredibly important and I’ll speak more on soon).

17) Emma Stone as Wichita.

I love Emma Stone. I’d watch Emma Stone read the phonebook as a film. So I’m not exactly unbiased here, but I freaking love her as Wichita. The character is wonderfully layered, with trust issues being a defining trait but so is her love for Little Rock. The more she lets those issues go, the more she trusts Columbus and quits keeping him and Tallahassee at bay, the more fun we get to have the character/the more invested I am. But again, I’m hardly unbiased.

18)

Wichita [about Columbus, Ohio]: “It’s a total ghost town, it’s burned to the ground.”

The fact that this packs as much of a punch as it does speaks greatly to a really important part of this movie: it’s human element. In a movie called Zombieland there are probably more scenes without zombies than there are with them. Except you don’t notice this, you’re not bothered by it, and that’s because this movie isn’t about the zombies. It’s about the people living in Zombieland, living this world with zombies in it. We don’t spend as much time developing the zombies or the mythos there as much as we do getting into the characters who we are traveling with. Through trashing the roadside shop, through their time together, through their car ride conversations, through all of it. And it is done in an incredible way that just keeps getting stronger the longer the film goes.

Columbus [about Little Rock]: “It’s tough growing up in Zombieland.”

Wichita: “It’s tough growing up.”

19) Okay, the entire idea with “Zombie Kill of the Week” is a holdover for when this script was going to be a TV show. And it’s one of the best gags in the film.

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20) I love the following car scene. If I could find a clip of it I would post it here, but it’s a bunch of little moments cut together which are so great (including a scene where Little Rock explains “Hannah Montana” to Tallahassee in an improvised moment). It’s one of my favorite moments in the film and I wish there was a clip of it online.

21) Bill. Fucking. Murray.

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The video is not the best quality but it’s the only one I could find with the whole scene.

Okay, the first time I saw this was in 2012. I hadn’t laughed in movies a lot since then, it had kind of died out of me. This scene busted my gut and has me laughing like crazy still to this day. The best fucking scene in the whole film it is just pure, unbridled fun! Murray fucking shines! And the way it ends!? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I can’t explain it in justice. Watch it. Watch it now.

22) When we learn the truth about Buck (that he’s Tallahassee’s son who was killed by zombies, not his dog), the fact that this film is a human story is clearer than ever. It’s this one scene, this one revelation, which catapults it from good to great. Before it was a really funny zombie comedy movie and now its something else entirely. It’s so much more human and relatable. I just really love the thought the filmmakers put into that.

(GIF source unknown [if this GIF is yours please let me know].)

23) One of my favorite pairings in this film is one which doesn’t get a lot of screen time and that’s Tallahassee and Little Rock. There’s this close to parental bond (more like uncle or older brother) they have and it comes through very nicely in the scene where Tallahassee shows Little Rock how to shoot.

24) Columbus and Wichita’s nightcap.

This is a great moment of vulnerability and honest connection between the pair. The fact that the film spends a couple minutes just going over their respective 1997’s means we get to know even MORE about them in an interesting way. As the audience we are treated to so much rich character information and development in not a long runtime and this scene shows that off beautifully.

25) I thought of this as Little Rock and Wichita get to the rumored Zombie-free-zone of Pacific Playland: the external goal in the movie is the amusement park, but that’s not what they’re looking for. What they’re looking for - what everyone is looking for - is something they had before the zombies. Columbus was looking for his family, Tallahassee is searching for Twinkies, and the sisters are looking for just a little fun that kids get to have. There all looking for a little bit of normalcy where they get to just be PEOPLE who can relax a little, something they end up finding in each other.

26) The extended climax of this film works for a few reasons. For one thing: Little Rock and Wichita being stuck on the drop ride creates a great amount of tension. The suspense and sense of risk is present throughout in scenes like the haunted house and Tallahassee in the prize cage (supported by slow-motion). That, and the zombie killing is as kickass as ever.

27) I haven’t really talked about this before but I like how this film is able to make their zombies a little unique in design. They’re not carbon copies of Romero zombies or 2005 Dawn of the Dead zombies, they’re their own thing.

28) This is Columbus’ climax.

Columbus [trying to save Wichita, stopped by a zombie clown (he hates clowns)]: “Of course, it had to be a clown. No, it HAD to be a clown. And it had to be Wichita for me to finally understand that some rules are made to be broken.”

He disregards his rules (specifically, “Don’t be a hero,”) in order to just do the right thing. To live for someone else for once. I dig it.

29) I always say you can tell a climax works because once its over all the tension in your body just vanishes. That is true for this film, once the zombie clown is dead.

30) Wichita’s real name - Krysta - is actually the name of Emma Stone’s mother in real life.

31) TALLAHASSEE GETS HIS FUCKING TWINKIE!

32) There are few films which are able to include their message in dialogue without being cheesy as all hell. This film is one of them.

Columbus: “And without other people, well you might as well be a zombie.”

33) And, if you stay after the credits…

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Zombieland is a freaking classic. Holy crap, I love this movie. It’s tight, funny as hell, and the decision to tell a human story above all else gives it an amazing beating heart. All four the main cast members are through the roof incredible, it’s got Bill Murray in it AS Bill Murray, I just really fucking love it. One of my favorite films of all time. Go watch it, it’s not that long.

#Zombieland #Emma Stone #Jesse Eisenberg #Woody Harrelson #Abigail Breslin #Bill Murray #The More You Know #Amber Heard #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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The NBA’s 10 best games of the 2010s

Ray Allen’s greatest moment.

From the Cavs’ incredible Game 7 win over the Warriors to Ray Allen’s championship-clinching shot for the Heat, these are the NBA’s best games of the last decade.

As a follow up to last week’s article about the top 10 most entertaining games from the 2019-20 season — as ranked with an algorithm created by Thuuz Sports — here’s a look at the 10 most entertaining games of the entire decade. Enjoy.

10) Houston Rockets 98, Portland Trail Blazers 99: May 1, 2014

Any game that forever freezes you to where you were when you watched it is special. Few can do it. Most leave a hazy aftertaste, where you think you remember where you were, who you were with, what you were eating, and whether it was raining outside. But in reality it’s just fog.

For those who witnessed it live, Damian Lillard’s series-ending moon shot against the Houston Rockets was the rare sporting event that obliterated all five senses and momentarily stopped time.

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It’s a fun series to reminisce about. At the time, I was recapping games for ESPN’s TrueHoop blog, Red94, and vividly remember the immortal release point on LaMarcus Aldridge’s baseline turnaround that made Dwight Howard and Omer Asik (remember him?) look so helpless, as well as how confident and smooth Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Wesley Matthews moved around the court before injuries ruined them.

Anyway, Lillard didn’t want to put the end of Game 6 in his hands — he needed to. In his mind, no other options ever existed. Before the play begins, Lillard is a panther in tall grass. The second Nicolas Batum gets handed the ball on the opposite sideline, he cannonballs up, claps his hands with enough force to let everyone in the building know “this is not a drill” (the play was originally designed for LaMarcus Aldridge), catches the pass, rotates his shoulders, then drops the curtain.

9) Memphis Grizzlies 117, San Antonio Spurs 116: Dec. 17, 2014

This game went into triple overtime, but the end of regulation is the best part. A flurry of game-tying threes in the last seven seconds, capped off by Marc Gasol stepping through Manu Ginobili’s blanket coverage to bank in a prayer as the buzzer sounded. It was the most improbable big shot of the decade ... until Tim Duncan one-upped him at the end of the second overtime with a one-dribble fadeaway over Gasol’s fingertips that ricocheted off the backboard, twirling around the rim, and somehow dropped in.

8) Oklahoma City Thunder 119, Toronto Raptors 118: Mar. 20, 2014

This was the only game on this list that was unrecognizable solely from the date and two teams. But when viewed through the prism of Kevin Durant, at or near his lanky overlord peak, it becomes a recovered artifact.

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Let’s start at the end. The Thunder were down by eight with 48 seconds left in double overtime when Durant wiggled free for an open three.

About 45 seconds later he stuck another one, this time from the left wing, drifting towards the sideline with a hand in his face to give the Thunder a one-point lead. By his side? Jeremy Lamb, Reggie Jackson, and Derek Fisher.

This was Durant at his most lethal, near the end of a 41-game streak in which he never scored fewer than 25 points (the third-longest in NBA history). If he were a character in a novel, the editor would ask the writer to turn down the volume. Durant is too absurd for real life, let alone someone’s imagination.

7) Oklahoma City Thunder 133, Memphis Grizzlies 123: May 9, 2011

A few months ago my wife and I were eating dinner at a restaurant that had a massive projector screen behind the bar. On it, for no discernable reason, was this game. When I asked our waiter why it was on, he looked at me like I had two eyes. “Dude, that game was incredible.”

He’s not wrong. It was a pivotal Game 4 that went into triple overtime. What a blessing.

6) Cleveland Cavaliers 93, Golden State Warriors 89: June 19, 2016

Pretty much since it happened, the last few minutes of this game have rattled around my head like a flawed, inescapable pop song. I’ve watched, discussed and thought about them thousands of times. Over and over. They’re some of basketball’s most historic moments, clustered together in one messy crescendo that then led to Draymond Green’s parking lot phone call which sent a wrecking ball through competitive balance’s front window.

The weeks that followed this game felt like a fever dream. Live, the immense weight of it all just sort of sat on your chest. It’s impossible to process consequential sports history in real time; simply watching it yields indescribable emotions. Breathing is not easy. If my phone rang I didn’t hear it.

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Very few games, if any before it, have ever prompted the number of nicknames this one did: The Block, The Stop, The Shot. There’s no shorthand for greatness, and most of these moments elude language. But context isn’t even necessary for another NBA fan to know what you’re talking about when one gets mentioned. All were epic feats of athletic dynamism — or tragic misadventures, depending on your perspective — that will live on forever.

(Sidebar: The most underrated sequence came right after Love somehow hung on for dear life in front of Curry at the top of the key, when Kyrie Irving channeled his inner Icarus. With 30 seconds left and a three-point lead, Irving raced the length of the court and nearly dribbled the ball out of bounds. The obvious play was to sit tight and burn clock. Was he bored? Did he want to be the hero, after already hitting the heroic shot? Did he completely forget that it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals? Has anyone ever asked Irving about that play?)

There is a whiff of “I mean, somebody had to win” syndrome when you re-watch the end of this game. The players were exhausted. The offense was stilted and formulaic. Both teams knew each other too well. Grace was gone. All that might be true, but sports aren’t scripted. It’s what makes them so compelling. And even after beauty gets stripped from the play-by-play, there’s no denying this game’s pantheon position.

5) Golden State Warriors 121, Oklahoma City Thunder 118: Feb. 27, 2016

This game was an asteroid colliding with Earth. When Curry hit the biggest shot of his career — an overtime game-winner from about 32 feet — it opened so many eyes to a revolution in real time. Everyone who watched it remembers where they were. (What they probably don’t remember is that OKC had the led for 51 minutes.)

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This game was important. And if judged solely on excitement, it’s an all-timer.

4) Denver Nuggets 116, Portland Trail Blazers 112: May 5, 2019

By my calculations, every single shot in this fourth quarter went in, which is pretty good. It was Game 4, a must-win for the Nuggets, and the peak of Jamal Murray’s career.

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Murry finished with 34 points and went 11-for-11 at the free-throw line, about 48 hours after he played 55 minutes in Game 3.

3) San Antonio Spurs 129, Golden State Warriors 127: May 6, 2013

The Spurs won this game and this series — Manu forever! — but this was the Warriors’ point of origin, a double-overtime adrenaline rush that reset expectations for Curry and Klay Thompson. (At the time, Draymond was still coming off the bench.)

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It’s hard not to call this one of the most pivotal games of the century. It changed everything.

2) Cleveland Cavaliers 109, Golden State Warriors 108: Dec. 25, 2016

This game featured the second-most-impressive shot of Irving’s career, an operatic mid-post turnaround over Thompson’s near-perfect contest that gave Cleveland a one-point lead with three seconds to go.

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The basketball in this one was objectively more thrilling than what we saw in Game 7 the previous season, but it’s still kind of weird to see it this high.

1) Miami Heat 103, San Antonio Spurs 100: June 18, 2013

I mean, were you expecting anything else?

Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals had it all. And by “it all” I mean one of the most cinematic climaxes in basketball history. Few plays are deserving of their own oral history. This was, from Gregg Popovich’s decision to pull Tim Duncan off the floor to Chris Bosh and Ray Allen having the split-second wherewithal to grab, twirl, and hopscotch behind the three-point line for a shot that changed the course of history.

If you’ve seen it once you’ve seen it one thousand times. It was pure shell shock, a picturesque work of art that perhaps no other player could have pulled off.

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Spurs fans would rather chug vinegar than watch that final minute ever again. But low moments make the highs taste that much sweeter. There is no progress without struggle, etc. And you didn’t need to care about the teams in the game to drown in your own flop sweat as it neared conclusion.

Only a few games are powerful enough to make your body react involuntarily. This one did.

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majingojira · 7 years ago

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120 Years, 120 Monsters, Days 27, 28, and 29

This one is going to be a doozy!

101) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - Orcs/Uruk-Hai

One of J.R.R. Tolkien's original creations for his Mythopoeia were the Orcs, and their spawn the Uruk-Hai. They’re the template example of the ‘evil minion’ that can be slaughtered in droves yet still poses a danger if only from their numbers.

Crude, vile, filthy, disgusting, rough, and cannibalistic, the Orcs were made to be as repulsive as possible, and that made them memorable.

102) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - Nazgul/Ringwraiths

Eh, might as well complete the trilogy. With only one monster left to claim as its own, but still so many to choose from, it was a hard choice to make. I decided to go with the one that has their own memorable musical motif.

The Nazgul are an inspiration for every kind of “Undead” in gaming fiction. Men who were granted immortality thanks to their magic rings, but their bodies did not last with them. So now they are wraiths that animate armor and clothes in order to affect the world of the living. Capable of dark sorcery, a shriek that drives men to madness, weapons capable of making more like themselves, and being unkillable save a few specific methods. Drawing from old folklore and myth, it became a standard for generations to come.

And with their horses gone, they upgrade their mounts to Fell Beasts for the movie -- winged horrors that allow them to take down armies almost by themselves. Since they are the inspiration for so many RPG horrors, I think the best way to describe how terrifyingly powerful and dangerous the Ringwraiths are is with an RPG term.

“HAX! I CALL HAX!”

103) Freddy vs. Jason (2003) - Jason Voorhees

Jason had to be on the list, but let’s be honest with ourselves: they were pretty crap for the most part. Often incoherent, relying more on spectacle than story, they’re good schlock at best, but some are also quite painful. And he didn’t become a true monster until later in the series. Before that, he was a human killer, and before that the killer was his mom and the best scare of the movie came from a damn dream sequence.

Which is probably why, in the end, I went with the one where he fights the incarnation of nightmares for the film to include him in. This was a labor of love, and that love shows through the film. As you might have guessed, I’m not a fan of the Friday the 13th movie series. The love this movie shows that series makes me want to give them another chance (or a chance in some cases).

As to Jason himself, he is in pretty good form. Archetypal “Slasher” or “Relentless Undead”. Driven to kill in part for revenge, in part mad obsession against perceived impropriety, and in part because his mommy told him. It makes him more . . . sympathetic. He’s still a remorseless killer, and nearly unstoppable juggernaut, but he’s the lesser of two evils here.

But that bar is REALLY low.

104) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - Dementors

Harry Potter had a lot of creatures in it, some from folklore, others were unique. But only one really, truly resonated. Those were the Dementors. According to the writer, they were her expression of depression. What it did to her is what the dementors do to others. It’s quite succinct, but that’s what they are. It’s a YA series, they can be deep, but sometimes the meaning is spelled out clearly.

Their design, faceless, shadowy wraiths, works well to support them as incarnations of depression. Plus the mouth the movie’s give them is just damn creepy.

105) Call of Cthulhu (2005) - Cthulhu

H.P. Lovecraft’s works have had a long and powerful influence on monsters, but his work has rarely been translated to film, and even rarer has it been done well. One of those exceptions goes to a group of dedicated fans of Lovecraft: The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society who made an adaptation of one of his most famous works . . . as a silent film. They made it as though it were adapted around the time it was printed.

This choice allows for low budget and simple effects to carry the day. It turns R’lyeh into full expressionist germanic horror. Including some practical effects taking advantage of visual illusions (creating a concave structure that looks convex, etc).

Lovecraft’s stories are generally about the buildup, and the film works well in that regard. It convinces the audience of the insignificance of man in the setting, and the reach and power of the sleeping god-monster. Once Cthulhu shows up, there’s no real dialogue for that sequence. The actions are all primal and universal, with R’lyeh as much a danger as Cthulhu himself at times.

There is one change: Cthulhu doesn’t ignore the poor humans. It considers them. Little more than pests, but it still considers them.

And he’s a GREAT stop-motion effect, and even once shown, he is kept in shadow and shown only in part, adding to the menace he emanates.

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106) The Host (2006) - Gwoemul

The Host is an odd film. One part comedy, one part tragedy, one part absurdity, one part social commentary. In the end, it works, but it’s an odd journey to get there.

The creature itself is a mutation, and one of the best looking mutations I’ve seen. It’s so mutated that it’s hard to identify exactly what it is, or what it was to start with. Most mutants in fiction are just organism A + Extra stuff. This thing is . . . well, aside from being horrendously ugly and amphibious it’s hard to say what it is, exactly. And that works well in its favor.

The creature also moves around and acts as though it were in constant pain, which is another nice touch. It is still a villainous beast at the end of the day, but the constant pain it feels and its need to feed make its actions understandable.

107) The Mist (2007) - The Leviathan

The Mist has a great, simple premise. “A fog rolls into town and a person with blood on their shirt comes running out, screaming ‘There’s something in the mist!’”

It’s so simple, it’s brilliant. What is in the mist? An entire alien ecosystem, foreign enough to be hard to kill, but close enough to eat us without suffering. Of these, one monster stands above all the others (literally). A creature as massive as a whale that has other horrors following in its wake. After all the monsters and killer creatures (and madness driven humans), it shows up and easily demonstrates how insignificant humans are in this strange world order that peaked into our world. It doesn’t interact with the survivors, it just passes by as the things which they thought were the deadliest things in the mist fly around it to pick up its scraps. No more than oxpeckers to the horror.

It says so much with so little screentime.

Also, the ending of this movie messed me up in all the best ways.

108) Cloverfield (2008) - Clover

This was America’s giant monster answer to 9-11 as Godzilla was to Japan after Hiroshima. It didn’t quite work out as well, but it was still a good monster and good film.

I think part of the reason why Godzilla worked, and Clover did not has to do with symbolic resonance. He manages to capture the fear, confusion, and similar fears brought up by the incident, but doesn’t go to the same lengths and depths of understanding of the situation (because, frankly, almost no one understood them yet at the time, at least not fully, as it was the result of almost 100 years of turmoil that can date itself back to the FIRST World War).

The creature is just as confused as everyone else in the movie, which is a stark contrast to all that possible allegorical connection. Still, it set one thing up: Large American monsters would have a bent-legged stance from here on out.

109) Trollhunter (2010) - Trolls

A variety of perspectives and stories is always helpful. It’s as true in life, as it is in film. This is partly why I tried to include a few of the foreign film monsters that I have seen (that are worth it, I’ve seen some that were derivative as hell without adding much worthwhile). So I was quite pleased to include Trollhunter on this list.

It walks a fine line between horror and comedy, which I always appreciate. It also treats the Trolls as sources of horror as well as treating them as big, dumb, dangerous animals. All the strangeness of them is explained decently (they’re so dumb because of what they eat for the most part -- a mix of meat and rock, they turn to “Stone” because of a runaway chain reaction of calcium buildup due to an inability to process vitamin E or some such technobabble), save one detail from the folklore.

They can still smell the blood of a Christian man.

The Found Footage style makes sense here and works well with it, and leads to some interesting humor beyond the usual “Camera Damage’. We get humor ranging from surprise reveals to the mundanity of what really should be an awesome sounding job (To meme: Paperwork? For my troll hunter? It’s more likely than you might expect!). The FX are convincing but what really sells it is the title character and his interactions with the creatures. They’re just animals, big and dumb, and he has to clean up after them. And his job is as terrible as you might expect. It’s one part character study, one part journey into a hidden world. And I’m a sucker for that sort of mix.

110) How to Train your Dragon (2010) - Dragons

The Dragon in folklore, myth, and religion is one of the most diverse creatures within those fields. Beyond even the vampire, which at times usually means “Usually nocturnal thing that attacks people in a debilitating/draining way rather than outright killing them”. Very few movies go into the sheer variety the dragon can encompass. They usually focus on one individual dragon or one species of dragon. Before this series of books was turned into a movie and TV franchise of epic proportions, the only thing that even came close to doing that was the Rankin-Bass animated feature Flight of Dragons. Which showed two main varieties of Dragon (Eastern and Western).

The advent of cheaper CG allowed for a whole slew of dragon shapes and sizes to be used and while they didn’t go as nuts as some of the folklore went, they made a really good effort. And one that I think should be rewarded.

While the ones in the film have a similar general behavior (in the way that big cats have similar behavior), the visual variety made them a treat to all see on the screen at once.

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todokori-kun · 7 years ago

Text

Ack

that sounds horrible, getting sick is the worst ;-; get as much rest as you can! I really hope you get better soon<3

(omg the pics are GORGEOUS. Like, Wow. Once I’m done writing this message I’m probably going to go back to stare at them for like an hour and silently scream over how awesome everything looks)

Don’t worry about it, I admit that Stoki is pretty much a crack ship ^^;;

And, well, the redemption fic I mentioned helped me fall deeper into Stoki hell, but I shipped it even before that XD I think part of it is just because I think they could have a really interesting dynamic- they’re just so different, complete opposites. Steve would confuse Loki so much tbh

Also, I just think that Steve (or at least, post-CW Steve) might be one of the avengers most willing to at least try to understand Loki. Partly because Steve’s just a nice guy, and then because of his relationship with Bucky- ‘cause Steve-Bucky and Thor-Loki are really, really similar and I think Steve would realize that.

And then like I said, Steve cares a lot about other people. If Thor ever told him about everything that happened between him and Loki Steve probably wouldn’t have too much difficulty in starting to see Loki as a human(?) being instead of some one-dimensional fairy tale villain.

Lastly, I feel like Steve is just the best person to handle Loki’s issues. He may not be able to personally relate to a lot of it (Tony, Bruce, maybe Natasha would be better for that) but he can take a step back and think rationally about the situation, help convince Loki that just because the rest of the world sees him as a monster, doesn’t mean he has to be one.

Hopefully this made sense? lol)

yeah, that’s pretty much how I felt about it too. It was just so freaking frustrating OTL

(And yes that letter destoyed my feelings too)

btw, can I ask what you think about T'challa? He doesn’t seem to have that many fans yet but I think he’s really cool and possibly one of the more sensible people in the CW movie (once he stops being furious at Bucky). Also the trailer for his new movie is epic and I can’t wait to see his sister…

Hisoillu is bizarre (sadistic murdery Clown with no sense of fashion + sadistic murdery needle guy with dead fish eyes) but also makes a lot of sense at the same time? Like, Hisoka got away with joking about killing Killua in front of Illumi, so…yeah. They’ve got something special LOL

omg imagine.

‘Satisfied but when you fantasize at night it’s Illumi’s eyes’

'Helpless but look into Illumi’s eyes and the sky’s the limit’

'History has its Eyes on you but it’s actually Illumi’

Why do I want these memes to be a thing

With the new revelation about who Touka was visiting at the hospital, I’m beginning to have my doubts about how this will end…maybe they might actually both survive for now???

But I’m a bit miserable rn because if one of them has to die I’d rather keep Juuzou too but it seems much more likely for Touka to survive. She’s like the main female lead, plus she has Kaneki’s baby…

R.I.P Naki, the sweetest cinnamon roll who just wanted to see his big bro again ;-;

(Also: Wow, way to go Kaneki, you finally started acting like an actual leader (in a way)! But can I just say, what absolutely perfect timing)

WTH I had no idea Soul Eater’s art style developed that much???!!! That’s actually pretty amazing! (And yeah, I know that SE has some pretty complex characters and interesting stories in it :D it’s just still a lot lighter and has different themes from the mangas I usually enjoy ^^ I might try it out though!)

Death The Kid seems really cool! (does he really have OCD in canon, though? Like, I’ve seen a lot of Soul Eater fans talking like he does but idk if it’s actually a thing? Maybe I sound weird but it just seems insensitive to say characters like DTK and Levi have 'OCD’ and talking about it jokingly when it’s actually incredibly difficult and stressful for people who actully have OCD, so I’m not sure how to feel about those fans)

Yay! Gotta go and try to find that fight scene now…

Join me in my suffering. I loved L so much ;-;

(But hey, don’t be too sad (what’s this? Is Evans actually COMFORTING Queen Luna for once instead of rubbing salt in the wound?!)! There’s always the book Death Note: Another Note (The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases)- it’s a prequel to the Death Note manga/anime with L chasing a murderer known as Beyond Birthday (…no comment on that alias). It also shows how he met Naomi Misora which is awesome if you like Naomi (I did, and kinda screamed when Light kiled her))

Eh, I think I’m one of the few people who doesn’t mind it being set in America because what’s the point of making an American adaptation if it’s going to be set in Japan anyway? I also don’t really have a problem with 'white-washing’ for this same reason (though I am disappointed because being Japanese-American would have added an interesting layer to Light’s character; despite fighting for justice, in canon, LIght’s never actually been victimized or discriminated against. He’s a handsome, intelligent young man who appears to be cisgender and heterosexual (even if it’s never confirmed) and is Japanese, just like everyone else around him. Japanese-American Light, on the other hand, would have really experienced how the 'rotten’ world could hurt people, so his acts as Kira might have more personal emotion in them)…like, it’s possible to cast a white actor as Light without it being white-washing, and since they changed the entire setting I think it’s fine to change other things too. Just, I’m cool with anything as long as they portrayed Light’s character properly…BUT THEY DIDN’T SO

I’m really just disappointed that they botched the characters and all the themes of the original Death Note story so badly. Sure, change the setting, change the circumstances, change the plot, changehe designs, but why did you have to take Death Note’s philosophy away?

But, because I might have been a bit too mean:

I will say that the movie LOOKS really good. The visuals are great. The soundtrack seems decent too. Also, though Ryuk’s motivations/role also weren’t done very well, Ryuk’s actor did an amazing job…and while I’m not happy with how L was portrayed in this movie, I do think that the actor they cast for him could have been a good L if not for the bad writing.

Well…from what I know, Light Turner ends up in a hospital at the end of the movie with his One True Love Mia(Misa) dead, so nah. The Keikaku failed.

(which just proves that Light Turner really is nothing like Light Yagami, because Light Yagami’s keikakus never fail.

Until the end of the Death note manga/anime, that is.)

Yeah, I know about SU’s terrible fandom, so I’m not going to actively participate in writing fanfic, drawing fan art or making HCs/theories with other people…I’m just gonna watch the show with my sister and look at pretty fanart XD

Tysm tho!

(Question: Which character do you think you are? And what kind of gem do you think you’d be?)

Aww, I’m so happy my awkward rambling actually made you feel better??? Like. Come on. You have no idea how much our convos helped me with anxiety and stress, so I have to thank you for that too <333

(And seriously, Queen Luna is amazing.)

For most people, they start going to elementary at seven (in international age) as far as I know, and then go to middle school at around thirteen. Then high school at…um…sixteen? Maybe? I’ve never really gone to school here so I might not be 100% correct but it’s something like that ^^;;

I really wanna try Mystic Messenger but since my phone is an old flip phone…I like my phone but sometimes this can be inconvenient LOL

(I’m totally fine with messaging here, but are you really ok with it? 'Cause if you’re not, we can try to work something else out!)

hi im luna and i wanna die.

HNNNNNNNNGH have i ever told you how much i hate school? because i freaking hate school from the bottom of my heart i can’t feel my neck anymore from the amount of studying ive been doing that’s depressing.

anyway. heartfelt advice: do not fuck your stomach up in any way, because you will suffer if you do. take it from me, i’ve managed to develop this amazing thing called Gastritis and now i cant eat anything without getting the feeling that im gonna throw it back out which is absolutely wonderful. thankfully, i don’t throw up, but it’s freaking annoying and ive lost waay too much weight already. best part? the whole reason why i have it is apparently purely psychological, too much stress. i got it in the middle of july. HOW my mom is also being INCREDIBLY helpful by basically telling me to ‘get over it’ like i can just snap my fingers and tell myself ‘oh yeah this is only in my head’ and it’ll all pass over. cause that’s how it works. so is my sister by always laughing at me

oook moving on.

yep, school started and i am suffering. ive already gone through 4 tests and a bunch of oral quizzes. yay. thanks teachers for totally not putting horrible pressure on us from the start. i stg, one of my most common thoughts these days is ‘see, this is exactly why i have a psychosomatic sickness.’ they’re sending my to a psychologist to see if i can let everything out and maybe get some advice on how to handle things better. i will laugh my ass off if i get diagnosed with a mental disorder. that’d be absolutely hilarious (I am in no way trying to make fun of people with a mental disorder, I’m just saying I honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if they said something like Burnout Syndrome or Depression (im not even joking when I say that I’ve been sleeping pretty much all afternoon + night these days, cry way too often, feel no motivation for anything, feel worthless, no apetite and also occasional suicidal thoughts which is oh so fun (ok but in my defence, the thoughts are really rare, probably caused by the fact that I feel nauseous like 90% of the time, and I would never ever do it, mostly because some people would miss me (I hope). there are moments when I go ‘wouldn’t it be easier to disappear?’ tho))

sorry about that rant

MOVING ON TO HAPPIER THEMES (and proper writing):

Yeah, Norway was truly gorgeous ^^ I don’t think I’ve ever felt more at peace than then. I fell asleep in the car at one point while watching the scenery outside, and it was one of the best sleeps in my life, despite being in the car. I’m glad you enjoyed them ^^ If you want, I can upload random pics like that every once in a whole.

Aaah, that’s pretty good reasoning! It makes a lot more sense now, thanks for explaining!

Yeah, I kinda see why you’d ship it. Steve is a pretty understanding person and, like you said, would probably understand Loki the best ^^ Recommend me some fics and I might even start shipping it myself ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I LOVE T’CHALLA THANK YOU FOR ASKING YES. I mean, he angery™, but also freaking cool! Not to mention crazily powerful *^* I’m pretty excited for his movie, cause more badassery from him!

Wow those sound like genuine memes. Seriously why can’t i draw XD

Also HIstory has its eyes on you but it’s actually Illumi will give me nightmares.

GODAMNIT I JUST WANT JUUZOU TO BE HAPPY IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?? (apparently yes)

Yep, since I have all the volumes, I like to flip through them sometimes and I’m blown away every time by the development. I also cosplayed the main character a while ago, so it holds a high sentimental value to me. But it is a lot lighter than your usual reads, true...

Well, uh, it’s kinda hard to explain? I mean, DTK is obsessed with symmetry and will go to crazy lengths to preserve it, get mad if someone disturbs it, will jeopardise missions if he’s not sure if he left something perfectly symmetrically at home etc, but it’s not so much as a mental illness as it is a consequence of who he is (part of the Grim Reaper)? Like i said, it’s really had to explain.

Did you manage to find the fight scene?

My reaction to Death Note in general: FUCK YOU LIGHT YAGAMI. oooh, I’ll search that manga up!

Well, I’m not so much upset about the whitewashing, more about the fact that I feel like the japanese general ideology plays a big role in why light decided to start killing bad people? Idk how to explain it...

Oh, Japanese-American Kira would’ve been a really interesting thing to see!

Yay, at least you found some good things? Well, it’s nice that you managed that ^^

Damnit, so it didn’t go according to Keikaku! It’s all because they didn’t include the potato chip scene.

Uuh, i don’t exactly remember much of SU, but I guess I’m most similar to Pearl? I didn’t really sympathise with any characters that much tbh. As for gem. Uuuuuh *quickly googles gem meanings* ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA. I like Zircon because of the colour and alexandrite because it changes colour which is incredibly cool!

Your rambling always makes me feel better tbh. It gives me a looong message from a friend I appreciate incredibly much so, yeah, I always smile when I see a message from you (even though my replies are so slooooooooow)

Aaah, I see! That’s pretty interesting ^^ Quite different from our system.

Ah, shame, you would’ve liked the most recent route, there is so so so much suffering.

Yeah, I am 100% fine!! Don’t worry about it! The reason why I suggested something else is because on sites w an instant messaging system, my replies would probably be a lot quicker,

I AM IN LOVE WITH THE AESTETHICS, ESPECIALLY LIZZY, THAT IS GOALS

and the drawings are adorable ^^ Hide tho ;-;

#evans #submission

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