#that adds a whole new dimension to the plot and you get angry that they cut it in the first place

[punkrockisafulltimejob]

Do you know that when you're writing a parenthetical statement and you need to include an aside you use brackets or are you normal?

[shummashum]

Zeus Brundle Happy Ending [6~10]

well let's think about it later I didn't expect that the centuries-old curse would be lifted with just one attempt in the first place... the answer will come out during his route

then shall we go back? but how can they go back is there a train or maybe Hiro will do the dimension rip once again

huh you know, the headmaster is very very sus! somehow I feel like he knows this whole series of events I don't think Solmare put a new character in the headmaster's position for no reason!! d o u b t

if he wanted to handle things in a big way, he had to be prepared… isn't it

boo the height of incompetence is plotting something again you think a group that was deceived by just one student has the right to interrogate someone? just close the shutter and quit your business

well since he is a member of the Ministry, he must have been especially angry at Zeus? besides it was his job to protect the devil's whispers. if it were me, I would never be able to say good things for him

Hiro always adds something like that and I like his comments

Zeus might really get expelled from school in his unhappy ending,, but since he is so talented, I think he'll live well even if he is expelled? Queensblade Academy could also be an option maybe the Academy will welcome him and roll out a red carpet…?

A few days later, Liz arrived at the headmaster's office after being summoned by Remb.

now that I think about it, he didn't break the 'academy rules'… at least

oh? they decided to overlook?

but you know seems like they're so humiliated about being deceived by a single student that they're just pretending it never happened and burying the incident… does this sound too much like a conspiracy theory? I can't help it, I have a very positive impression of the Ministry

it's been a while since I've watched your seisai behavior again please wait, I'll observe your route in a few days…

what's that

ah…… Remb probably didn't do it (right?), then who might be the culprit erm, you know, I heard that there are some guys doing the antagonist move, like Vain and Felix? I don't think they'll be involved in the main story already though

then he has a reason to stay here! watch this, you red-haired guy belonging to the Knight somewhere. this is how you make a reason, not that damn visiting student settings come to think of it, wasn't the Ministry, which ultimately gave such instructions, the fundamental problem in his route? aaaaargh again

At that time, Remb announced that Zeus had something to say.

oh, I know is it about the Prefect?

ooh… she passed? for real?

oh god it was true that he considered the Minotaur incident to be a third test this isn't your plan right?

but is it right to like it you're becoming a postgrad now you're becoming a voluntary slave now you think you'll be okay?

w you talk as if you won't suffer in future and you think you're not the chump? you are also the chump you are I swear

anyway! thanks for letting her pass!

erm what if you-know-who steals it too?

lmaooo

She asked him for something else she wanted.

Night Class Prefect clothes? why is it that only he can see her show me too!!

With that, they started touring the Night Class.

[xiaosean]

why you should watch douluo continent

the drama adaptation is such a good rendition of “soul land” and stayed true to the plot line and character development. it was fast-paced (perfect for me) but may be confusing for those who don’t know the story. i personally love the donghua, and i think the drama did an adequate job of portraying everything in their own way 😁 (read at your own discretion; this contains spoilers)

things i liked:

initially, i didn’t like the dreamscape bc wtf is it doing there? why is he hearing his mom’s voice in episode 1 (it just kills the entire momentum of the plot); and then after i got to episode 39... fucking ep. 39, i knew the dreamscape needed to be there in order to save tang san’s life; mr. wang who wrote the script, props to you.

the cgi 🥰✨ i had really low expectations bc if there’s shitty cgi like cql... i wouldn’t be able to handle it. but it’s so good ??? please, i know the ape soul beast was small and funny looking (bc they had to spend money on the water dragon lmao), but other than that, it was so good and how each and every character’s powers were able to shine

le outfits + makeup - they’re not super pale 😭😭😭 finally !!! and the outfits are so nice, SO SO NICE, each and every character holy hell

how they changed hu liena’s (aka. qian renxue) role in the drama --- she’s my fav female antagonist; she’s so good here, her character was annoying at first, but she’s so dynamic and independent, and just wants to impress her mom. you see her helping tang san + his squad during the last 5 eps because SHE CARES about her mom despite her strict upbringing 🥺 her and tang san have a ship name called 糖葫芦 (candied hawthorns) and i think that’s so cute hehe

the seven devils 😂 i loved the seven devils in this adaptation almost as much as i loved them in the donghua; each and every character got their own storyline, they’re not boring nor do they draw attention away from the tang san’s main plot, and you see so much development (esp. in ou sike and dai mubai)

headmaster, da shi, and er long trio! 黄金铁三角 iconic and they captured it so well 😭 they chose the actor for the headmaster so freaking well i’m screaming! he loves money so much and his little facial expressions as a third wheel is everything, the comedic relief! and da shi... i see y’all thirsting over calvin chen okay 😌 he’s so much better in the drama tbh & er long is majestic and amazingly powerful and cunning, i love her !!! and props to luo san pao, the best doggo ever!

the seniors! they basically perfected tang san’s relationship with dugu bo... it was antagonistic at first, but then they became besties over poison 😭❤️ i loved dugu bo’s character in here bc he was so funny & didn’t get social cues LMAO // the ape soul master was brief but he honestly made my day with how much he respected the tang family & how he took care of his father back in the day // 七宝琉璃 squad was also 🥰 (less hot than in the donghua lol) but they also somehow made jian yeye the comedic relief? i love how they’re so accepting of ou sike despite him being a support soul master

tang san’s mom - i can only hear her voice, but she made me cry & i love her for that

tang san ❤️❤️❤️ xiao zhan’s voice over just blended in with his character & it was just so wonderful; tang san in the donghua was smart, so fucking smart, cunning, but the kindest at heart; xiao zhan truly portrayed that and my most memorable part was when da shi said “your only flaw is that you let your emotions get the best of you” (this is so important), and you see him later try to control his emotions and not act rashly, especially when confronted with 时年 & 比比东 --- also crying scenes 11/10

bibi dong powerful, POWERFUL WOMAN, props to her voice actress, i got chills when she said, “你根本没有资格知道” // tang hao, wow he’s just like i imagined, but i wish he was a little more emotional in ep. 1 bc the blue silver plant in tang san is essentially his lover’s martial soul

how the concept of family was generated within the shi lan ke academy squad 🥺 it’s such a feel good drama, istg, makes you so happy when you’re having a bad day ✨

things i didn’t like:

xiao wu’s character portrayal (the scriptwriter’s fault, not xuanyi) // i honestly let it slide for the first 10 episodes bc i usually start falling for a character later on, it’s normal; but drama xiao wu didn’t fulfill the 小舞姐 in my heart 😔 i get that many people like her, but it’s not the same! xiao wu in donghua is beautiful, independent, and outspoken, BUT MOST OF ALL HER LOVE FOR TANG SAN IS OBVIOUS, you don’t need to say “一起去” every other line in the drama; i think this could have been remedied if they stayed true to the storyline and let tang san enter the secret dimension alone, bring the mythical herbs back, and have xiao wu prick herself to activate 相思断肠红 (they completely butchered the significance of the flower i’m so angry; fyi: the flower can only belong to you if your heart loves one person --- there’s the most beautiful backstory to the flower but drama douluo said nah). also, drama xiao wu is so clingy and she started exposing herself from the beginning... no momentum build-up whatsoever 😔 it’s 斗罗大陆, not 斗罗大陆: 小舞传 and sometimes it felt like she was being so insistent on following tang san around, i’m just 😓 

the whole canghui academy scheme --- it was confusing for 10 eps straight until they got to the end of it, but I guess the drama wanted to add that part in because they wanted to focus less on the competition and more on 变异武魂 (the mutated martial souls) in order to defeat bibi dong

how the beginning was so confusing 😫 i wish they just stuck with child tang san remembering his past life as a disciple in tang clan & then learning 玄天宝录 on his own bc that was such a great part of his character development + understanding of soul masters/their weaknesses; and the fact that he would rely less on his parents 

the kiss + confession at ep. 40 // could have done w/o it or even a simple forehead kiss; the confession from tang san was way too quick considering there’s little to no emotional build-up towards that moment (other than bibi dong doing all the work like the queen she is) and there’s no surprise element either? like we’ve been knew she’s a soul beast since ep. 5 🥲 and the kiss was awkward & like i said, sanwu’s love doesn’t need words or actions to confirm... it’s this innate thing that the audience should be able to see (if the scriptwriters focused a little more on BIG plot points that boost the sanwu relationship, then it would have been perfect) ^^ i wish they spent more time on the romantic aspect of the relationship bc even after 30 eps, they seem like siblings when OP said They’re Not.

overall thoughts:

this is purely my opinion, so please take it with a grain of salt! the cons imo were minor except for the development of the sanwu relationship; it doesn’t seem like romance to me 😔 but hopefully it’ll get better in the (maybe) second season when they take some time apart to grow? i’m surprised how much they referenced the original story (characters and such), and i am thoroughly impressed with WHERE THEY ENDED IT, and how they rounded all the new/old plot points together in a way that makes sense. i also don’t hate any of the antagonists, which is why this drama is so lighthearted and easy to watch. it’s not emotionally taxing (sans tang san crying bc xz breaks me heart 😭💕), and safe + enjoyable to watch with family! you’re gonna miss it once it ends, and i think that makes a drama successful 😁 also i’m not gonna go into depth about the mysterious ending bc i might spoil it for those who want to watch the donghua LMAO (but if you want to know my theories, shoot me an ask)

[r3volutionary-queen]

Writing Tips

Someone messaged me asking for some writing tips as they are venturing out with their first story. I figured I would share here but also open this up to any other contributor (I know there are an incredible amount of talented people, I want to hear from you!). Let’s pool together some helpful things for the community. I’m sure I’ll add more as time goes on.

1. Show, don’t tell. I probably do this too much but this is always going to be my top piece of advice. SO MUCH communication happens through body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. Spend time picturing the scene you want to write in your head, really dive in and imagine it. Try to write the scene like a film to help immerse your readers completely.

2. Do not be stuck with one plot. What I mean here is to have a certain amount of flexibility. You may start out a story with very firm plot points in mind, but as you write and really flesh out the characters, be OPEN to changing things—even major things, if needed. Maybe a new idea comes to you that could change the course of the entire story, the idea of that happening mid-story is scary but also SO fun and might just be the best thing you do.

3. Get to know your characters. Yes, for fanfiction we all know and love the characters but now you’ve got to give them even more dimension. Humanize them. Details. Details. Details. Think of people in your life that you know, aspects of them (why do they only eat green and yellow skittles, is their workspace immaculate but a mess at home, how do they take their coffee or DO they even drink it, why are they scared of flying, what quirky objects do they collect, etc) and try to bring that kind of real life to your character, even if you never write about it.

4. Criticism is not a bad thing. In the past I’ve many times felt like if someone criticized my work that they were criticizing me as a person. Which is not true at all. It was more my inability to be corrected without it feeling like a personal attack. Yes, when we pour our blood, sweat, and tears into a story it can be hard to hear, “this needs improvement”... but it can also massively help us. Someone might see something that you, as a writer, cannot. Don’t dismiss all critiques immediately but also don’t allow them to stop you. Take time, reflect, change what needs to be changed, and keep writing.

5. Highlight side characters! It’s fun to focus on our main characters but it brings a fullness to the story when you can highlight side characters. Don’t just add them randomly into the scene, give them their own brief spotlight, even a scene in the midst of the story. Mini side-plots that intertwine with the main plot, even if you never flesh it out, it helps the story to feel multi-dimensional.

6. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. Hi. Okay, so you’re writing a story that takes place in a certain city... Do you mention a local coffee shop? A Walmart? An apartment complex? Here is something I do: I google the hell out of that city and use real street names, real shops, even local lingo etc. It helps because you then sound like you actually know what you are talking about, even if you have never been there before. This goes for subjects you might not be familiar with but your characters are. Are they a scientist? Are they an artist? Research the hell out of those subjects. Yes, some stuff is still going to be us bullshitting but at least you’ll write more confidently.

7. Expand your emotional vocabulary. This is something I am still working on, but don’t just use basic words to describe emotions or even vocabulary that would be considered emotional in nature. I often use elemental metaphors (blistered instead of angry; shock as icy waves of a cruel, ancient ocean, etc) OR body language. You don’t want to use this method for every emotion, of course (it is totally okay to say they were happy or sad or enraged), but it’s nice to mix it up and it keeps your writing engaging.

8. MYSTERY. Do not, I repeat, do not give away everything in your plot right away. Have surprises, twists, turns, mysteries that will frustrate readers into returning again and again. You want readers to try to pick apart your story to find the hidden clues. It’s fun to watch as an author and will guarantee people coming back because my god they need to figure it out.

9. Dialogue. For this, my best advice is to actually act out your dialogue after you write it. What I mean is, read it aloud or in your head as though you are that character. Use the emotions they would say the words with. You might sound crazy, but that’s okay, all writers are—at least a little bit. Acting out your dialogue will help you realize if what is being said would actually be spoken in real life. Is it something someone would actually say or respond with? Is this a character that uses contractions? Has an accent?

10. Edit your chapters. Having a beta is great, but if you don’t have one, edit your chapters multiple times before posting. Read them aloud. Edit for grammar. Then edit for content. Then edit for flow. Be brutal about it and don’t get lazy just because you’ve gone over it three times. Do it again. Eyes need a break? Maybe breathe, find some patience (because trust me, I know how exciting it is to post a new chapter), and come back tomorrow for a final edit. Sometimes stepping away can work wonders for how you see the chapter as a whole.

*bonus* If you are writing about something sensitive; a minority, lgbt, etc, and you are not a minority or lgbt, please try to find someone who is and ask them for their honest opinion. Personally, I want to make sure I am honoring in my work and not assume that I know it all or that I even have an understanding of such complex subjects.

Feel free to reblog and add to this!

[senotsuri]

I know the show got a lot more complicated as it went on but I kinda wanted a bit more filler episodes.

The brawlers are at the age where some of them would be going to college. I might be in the minority here, but an episode about Alice or Runo(she's 18 is ms right?) being in college adapting to that environment after literally fighting a w a r would be nice.

I just really like Alice. She's my favourite character. But her being reintroduced would change the way the show went on. I'd imagine given the Wiseman situation(Gunz is actually Wiseman au) that she would be a voice of reason and not immediately target him (im looking at you Dan, Marucho and Shun in "Gunz lives")

I'd feel that she would also kinda befriend one of the nonets given how angry they were at being sent to the Doom dimension and in a way be poetic show writing given the whole masquerade deal.

Even Runo being reintroduced into the show could've been pulled off a bit better. I actually think that her being a battle suit researcher is good because it shows that she's matured a lot since she was 12(she was 12 in bb right?) and the episode with aerogan was really nice and sweet and I was sad.

Julie just straight up became a news reporter. You go girl.

Any of the Resistance group would be nice but would they actually add anything to the show. Mira was the only one who returned later on and I feel that Ace is a bakugan rights activist(just assuming but that's what vibe I get) and Baron is focusing on his brothers and sisters is reason for them not coming.

Spectra and Gus do show up for the Magmel fight but never do again because Vestal said explosion.

What do you think?

Fillers, huh? Well, the one kinda filler I think of the most is a lil self indulgent, but I think it’s deserved.

The episode starts focussed on a large tree branch. Suddenly, Shun and another character (recognisable as Chan Lee) land on said branch.

C: You’re happy, seeing this, huh?

S: I... Yeah. Skyress would’ve loved to see this, and I understand.

The camera shifts to just behind their heads, and pans upwards, tilting down, to reveal the dojo’s gardens, but it’s filled with people. Small children, larger children, and young adults, all wearing clothes featuring traditional clothing motifs from Japan and China. In the back, there’s Grandpa Kazami, watching everything proudly.

C: I’ve battled a few of them. I think they’ll go mad when they see you.

S: Ah. So you’re staying?

C: Grandpa’s letting me stay so long as I teach at least once a week. He’s accepted that you might not want to be a sensei yourself, so he’s training a couple of people in your stead, in case.

S: I should thank him for that. I’ll probably be sensei, when things don’t become dangerous yearly.

The episode’s focus is not plot, as much as relationships- there’s a kid who’s having trouble battling, and it’s Shun’s job (self imposed) to help her out, and figure out what’s holding her back. It also reintroduces Chan as helping out on the Kazami Estate.

As a bonus, it’d make Skytruss and Orbeum warm up to the idea of humans; how else do you show bakugan that you, and other humans, young or old, can be trusted with them so succinctly?

Personally, I don’t see all of the brawlers going to college/uni. Maybe apprenticeships, or online ed., but I don’t see all of them going to college. Runo and Alice though? Yeah, they probably would.

And, I may anger a few shippers here by saying this, I think Alice would’ve slapped Shun for going after Gunz immediately- he’s the hardest to convince, so Alice will have to convince him the hardest, and a slap would certainly get what Alice is trying to say across.

It’d also get it across to Marucho and Dan, because Alice doesn’t just hit people- you’d have to piss her off that there’s nothing else she can do to calm down, purely to get her to hit someone. It’s the closest to a “you’ve screwed up super bad” sign that the brawlers can get amongst each other.

I’d have her befriend “the Professor”/Warton- he’s a giant green draconic bakugan, yeah, but he’s also a genius. He’d be super helpful with the dimension warp, even if it’s initially to further the Nonet goal of “kill everyone and rule.”

His brains would also mean that he’s the easiest to convince that Alice was Masquerade- he has a brain, and if Alice can explain how it happened (she was in the same building as her grandfather when he became Hal G- she was the closest, so she became Masquerade), there’s no reason why Warton wouldn’t draw a conclusion, add to what she was saying, and believe her.

Also mentioning that she’s technically been to the doom, but as Masquerade, would help massively.

Personally, I imagine some dissenters (of whom were loyal to Zenoheld to unholy degrees) would’ve tried to kill the Resistance- and, as a result, Ace has a prosthetic leg, replacing one lost in a genuine street fight against one of these Loyalists. His reintroduction is purely to say how chaotic Vestal is currently, and how peaceful Earth is in comparison.

This is also to make comparisons with Dan- Dan survives a bunch of lethalities because he’s the protagonist. Ace is almost the same person, but because he’s not the protagonist, he gets physically harmed and damaged, and there’s a visible replacement for one of his limbs just to drive that home!

Fillers are weird in Bakugan, because it was the anime first, manga adaptations (if any) later, so fillers in the normal sense for anime doesn’t really exist. Fillers are episodes that give no overall plot, or lore... So actual filler episodes are few and far between.

I’d’ve loved to explore Bakugan City though. It looks interesting.

[militant-holy-knight]

Castlevania Season 3 Review: Ellis is Gonna Ellis I Suppose.

Warning: Massive spoilers ahead because I don’t give a shit anymore so scroll down really fast if don’t want to get spoiled

Being a Castlevania fan is pure suffering, man. Not only is the video game franchise being put on ice by Konami at the time of writing, but your only form of enjoyment is a hit-or-miss Netflix Original written by a guy who admits never playing the games. I tried to enjoy the first season despite it being only four episodes long, and same thing with the second one which was longer but had a plethora of issues. Now it’s the third season, which took a year-long break to be made, and I am absolutely sorry to say it’s the absolute lowest point of the show: not only repeating the issues from the previous season, but amplifying them and failing to do anything interesting with anything new that is given. I will elaborate why I think so in this review.

So after Season 2, Dracula has been destroyed, our heroes have split up with Trevor and Sypha going their own way while Alucard has stayed behind in his father’s castle overlooking the Belmont Hold. Carmilla and Isaac have survived and are preparing to build an whole new army, the former to establish a new empire and the latter to get his revenge on her for betraying Dracula. 

Even though the stakes are lower than the possible extinction of the human race which was the (possible) outcome from Season 2 which never actually came into fruition, you’d imagine they would do something inciting with this new status quo... But you’d be wrong. This season as a whole felt like padding in all conceivable manners. Not only was the pacing atrocious (which I will get into a minute), but really, nearly all of the events that occurred could have been omitted and the storyline as a whole wouldn’t have been affected somehow. 

The pacing was the worst problem in Season 2 since you had the protagonists locked down inside a hold to do research on how to kill Dracula and endless exposition among the bad guys that some defenders call “vampire politics’ which ultimately went nowhere. The pacing in Season 3 is even worse since not only is it longer (10 episodes this time), you have more storylines now but each of them move at completely sluggish pace with a disproportional large amount of exposition and comparatively few action. 

The Castlevania games were level-based games which had you visiting several distinct locations whether if it was inside or outside the castle. An adaptation series of Castlevania would make more sense if it was episodic in nature, perhaps even with monster of the week formula. It would have been better off for it, but the show is attempting channel Game of Thrones with an over-aching arc with sprawling individual storylines whose episodes are build up for an epic confrontation at the end, but it fails in that regard.

Trevor and Sypha’s storyline was absolutely pointless - they have no idea of the larger threat brewing with two demonic armies about to clash against each other, but they are stuck doing what basically amounts to a sidequest, investigating a evil cult operating in a small town which takes a needless long time to conclude. They completely fail in saving the townsfolk from being sacrificed and end up discovering that one of the characters that has been helping them is actually a monster all along. This only serves to make their effort completely pointless and leave the pair absolutely bitter and angry.

Not that there is any urgency in stopping Carmilla or Isaac since they come nowhere near close to trading blows to one another. In fact, Carmilla doesn’t come anywhere close to achieving her goal of raising an army of demons with Hector (who has been enslaved by her for this purpose) and it’s actually one of her lieutenants Lenore that solves this problem at the end. On the other hand, Isaac gets the closest thing to an highlight in this season by experiencing something of an character development since he is questioned by several characters that maybe humans aren’t so bad as a whole. The problem is that his development becomes inconclusive since he doesn’t learn to be anymore different than he used to.

Alucard gets sidelined like you wouldn’t believe. He spends the entire season in his castle now with two new characters, Japanese twin hunters that seek to be training so they can free their people from the vampires... Aaaaand they try to fuckin kill him, which comes out from nowhere specially after an extremely uncomfortable threesome between him and the twins. And just in case you thought the previous season was depressing enough with Alucard breaking down in tears completely alone in his castle, this one ends not only with Alucard still alone, crying, but now emulating his dad by leaving the impaled corpses of the twins in the castle’s entrance to scare off any trespassers which is the closing shot of this season.

But for me, the biggest letdown has to be Hector. He was one of my favorite characters from the games, having starred his own entry Curse of Darkness for the PS2 where he actually turns on Dracula on behalf of humanity and pursues Isaac for murdering his wife. Here, he does absolutely fuck all during the entire season except being bossed around by Carmilla’s sisters. The guy had such cool powers of summoning Innocent Devils and wielding all types of weapons (including a lightsaber) is reduced to a whimpering slave, whom I have absolutely no hope of seeing in his absolute glory. The worst part is that it was very predictable - the moment I saw Lenore saying that both her and Hector should flee together, I knew she was gonna screw him in some way. The irony is that unlike the other storylines which pull some kind of mean twist in the last second, here you already can tell what is going to happen next.

The new characters frankly do nothing for the story. The aforementioned Carmilla’s sisters are pure window-dressing and only Lenore gets the shit done by herself might I add completely independent from the others and specially Carmilla herself (who does nothing). A video game character actually does get featured - Comte of Saint-Germain, who is some kind of magician in search of his loved one who got lost in another dimension. Another step down from his video counterpart who is a time guardian that preserves the cosmic balance (though it seems they were channeling the historical figure rather than the character that happens to share the same name given their ignorance for the source material).

There are of course those typical Warren Ellis moments like three mentions of bestiality (and one goatfucking as usual) and anti-Christian commentary, though it seems to be sending some kind of mixed messages this time: in one hand Sypha comment that while she hates God, she at least admires Jesus because of his sacrifice which can be considered one of nicest things that atheists can comment about Christianity... And then the next episode features an demon that used to be a Greek philosopher who lived during post-Constantinian Roman Empire and was persecuted by Christians because of his intellect. Oh dear. With that said, it’s rather odd this guy became a demon so maybe he had it coming? 

Overall, this season is a lot more weaker and lacking than Season 2, which at least had the climax in Episode 7 which some people were willing to forgive the dullness from that season. But Season 3′s climax is completely unfocused, interlaced with unnecessary and uncomfortable sex scenes and doesn’t even feature classical music from the games, which was the saving grace from the last time.

So did it have any upsides? I guess so if you look hard enough like Isaac’s schizophrenic “should I hate all humans or not” dillema which goes unresolved. Hardly anything that elevates the season or make it redeemable in some way. To be perfectly frank with you, I don’t know if I have any interest in keeping with this show. It blew away any good will Season 1 and 2 did, it barely moved the plot forward (and that if it has an overaching plot at all), the protagonists being disconnected to the main threat at large and quite frankly, none of the antagonists are as interesting as Dracula, I just don’t care what happens next. Specially if the pacing and exposition remain in place. In theory, if the series was restructured to be episodic instead of trying to be Game of Thrones, my interest in the show would have been renewed but it’s too little too late.

I guess in retrospect I should be grateful that Season 1 was so short had I knew later ones would be so tedious. There is so very little to do with Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse when you already got rid of the main villain and you don’t move the plot forward. If they want to regain my interest, do a Leon Belmont season that is episodic or heck anything else, but I don’t see them doing this because they have to give closure to this story arc, which already grew past it’s welcome and wasted everyone’s time with a season that amounted to nothing more than filler. Well, my patience has been worn thin.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Pirate au Redone

N/A: I´m thinking about certain arcs and ALL its bad implications and while I did make a Pirate au that involves SCPs and Lovecraftian shit, but, let´s try a different approach here. I want to make Ray the main antagonist here because frankly, she has every reason to be angry with Jean. Now, you´ll ask me "Oh you´ll make Ray be extra evil to Kurt since you hate this ship very much?" plot twist: NO. To me, Kurt is nothing to Ray, and it is not worth to think about it.  I´m taking some pieces of some arcs Marvel created and tossed around...every action has consequences.

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead @everykurt

In space, no one can hear your scream. In space, time is everlasting as is equally cold and Rachel Grey is cover by the Pheonix Force -eyes closed burning the last remnant of the Hound that Cassandra Cain tried, feverishly Rachel recalls, to implant on her mind again- and opens her eyes slowly as her fingers itch on her glove as she´s motilities her fingers till reach her temple.

Can you hear me now?

Her face frown as her lips remain in a thin line for long as her fingers shiver slightly along with her eyes who is shimmering with the fire is so associated with herself and, of course, with her mother.

Rachel Grey Summers. Can you hear me?

"I can hear you. I can feel you...Pheonix...who else would still bother to speak with me!" Rachel exclaims now shouting using her mind and own voice-it makes no difference when you´re an Omega telepath or a Summers- and her eyes continue to reflect her inferno.

There´s no more trace of Hound in your mind, Rachel...Cassandra´s machination is no more. You can feel your mind and memories intact.

Rachel tsk louder and shake her head as her breath heaven got heavy and her mind is miles away remembering her childhood-a time before the grimy tales her adulthood still clings and loathes so much- and recalls her mother, the real one, mention how her hair shines ''like fire, just like mine'' she recalls her father calling her kiddo (both Scott call her like that and is haywire the memories and feelings)

"Pheonix...did you curse me?" she asked with anger with her eyes twisted as her face is matching her inner turmoil- she stops breathing heavy as she recalls the few moments kid Rachel meet Kate and Frank in a nice and normal day- and asks again. "Are you using me to punish Jean Grey? Scott Summers? Humanity? Because...if so, your plan is failing...I´m not that special to make Jean suffer and ..." she stops speaking as her lips twists upside down and her fire is gone. "She´s not my mother as she let very clear"

Rachel...I´d not hate you...If I did...you wouldn´t be here.

"Fantastic...so, I´m just the punching bag...do you hate gay mutants?" Rachel jokes humorless as her chuckle is dry and she only stops when she tastes her tears.

No, child. I feel no hate for one´s sexuality. And I´m here to offer you a deal. A nice deal and one you deserve.

"Sure you don´t want to make deals With Nate Grey?" her tone is rugged and whatever she wanted to say-and she wants to say more. She knows and Pheonix knows- a version of Jean Grey appears to dry her tears in a fashion Ray´s mom used to do to a small Ray.

"Nate is not my host. Nate is not the one I´m close...I was your mother...yes" Pheonix states calmly before Rachel promptly mentions some of her mistakes. "I did some mistakes in the past and I know you and I love you. I´m your mother...notwithstanding of my mistakes and I want to make amends with you, Rachel Grey Summers" Pheonix clarifies gentle and such tone is almost similar to the Mother of Everything. Almost.

"What is happening on Earth?" Rachel looks down at the Earth below her feet without a smile or shines in her eyes. "Are they looking for me?" her tone is almost childlike. Almost.

"Nate Grey went insane and create a pocket dimension...uhum" Pheonix explains and rubs her chin-Pheonix likes to feel her bodies no matter the situation as she loves her original form - and speaks in an amused tone. "Zaorva did something much better...I could show you Earth 34. It is a real paradise and everyone respects each one culture" Rachel is not interested in this Earth and Pheonix is not offended. "Nate creates this world where he does minds controlled a large group of X-men where love and sex are forbidden and well...Kurt Wagner is a weapon to rape Meggan Puceanu" Pheonix explains bored.

"What? Can you explain this to me?" Rachel asked curious at this. "Can he do this?" as her eyes are solely focused on Pheonix.

"Yes, and with a group of other mutants who held a secret sex club and even create a fake daughter to Kurt. Apocalypse is resurrected by Nate as well and is now acting as buddies with Kitty and is about to kiss her...uhm" she humms amused again. "Her mind is a bit stronger as she´s questioning this fake reality a little...that´s impressive!" Pheonix concludes.

"No one is...talking about me?" She asked in watery eyes. "They speak about mutants rights and they completely forget about me...and my trauma again" she sniffs and a memory of little Ray hiding in a corner to cry until her father finds her and offers a doll to appease the lil Ray.

"If it serves consolation...no one will hear or care for Meggan´s trauma...oh, now they defeat Nate...and yes, no one will talk about this or what truly happens. The X-men will pretend this never exist!" Pheonix states calmly caress Ray´s short hair- is now flammable and similar to the Pheonix- as the woman is blocking the memories of a distant past.

"You´re not here to rub this on my face...So, what deal do you want to take with me?"

"Revenge, my dear. It is not something I usually seek, but, I´m more than happy to offer my help in this case...they offended you. They offended me" she states recalling ''no more Pheonix'' and Rachel is silent as Pheonix sweat the deal. "I can promise that Jean Grey, not your mother, will never ignore you"

Rachel´s eyes glow in the same fire as Pheonix and she raises her hand. "We humans when we make a deal we shake hands" and Pheonix offer her hand amused and impressed by the gesture. A sultry smile plays on Pheonix's face and is mirroring by Rachel.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The aftermatch of Nate´s betray and timeless demise hits the news strongly- the news is slipt in two ways ''the X-mean are out heroes'' or ''the x-men are the worst'' - and the Avengers´s fans wonder why the Avengers weren´t there.

A strong hand stomp on the round table firmly enough and causing a loud sound that prompts the others to listen to the one who did cause the noise. "A mutant was that powerful?! How we had no idea...and once again, that mutant is linked to Scott Summers again..." and Tony Stark looks to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with penetrating eyes.

Pietro is ready to defend his sister, but, she gentle hold his arm and offers a political smile- Wanda is the one who knows how to play the game. Pietro, while looking like Magneto, has no patience to do any revolution or manipulation- and this holds him back for now.

"And what you want us to do, Tony?" Wanda asked feigning innocence as her eyes land on Cap Marvel for a moment who is looking away - is possible to see her lips trembling for a few moments- "the Avengers let clear they won´t help the X-men ever and I think...everyone recall when I went..." she pauses for a moment. "what´s the kind word you use against me? Oh right, I was crazy with power...so, should I just go and say no more...." she blinks at him ignorantly and Tony sighs.

"You have a point!" and adds. "Plus...Nate Grey is dead...I just wonder about those mutants who are too powerful...how can we trust him"

"Geez Tony, thank you, why you don´t say you don´t like Jews and Romani but say we´re special" Pietro states in a barked tone.

"You seem to forget we´re mutants...mutants that have a hate-hate relationship with Magneto, but, still mutants...and if you´re so anti-X-men and so anti-mutant...maybe we, the mutants" Wanda speaks rosing from the chair along with her brother. "should leave and form our group," she said that looking at her twin´s eyes who nods in agreement.

"Wait, I didn't mean..." too late as Quicksilver takes Wanda and both are gone in a blink of an eye.

Thor, who was watching cat videos and ignoring some of the tension of this meeting, put the cellphone down and speaks. "Nice Tony, now we lost our speedster and the most powerful Avenger ever. So...to top that off, I´ll be back to Asgard ...Enchantress and I have things to do there and Loki is behind this"

Cap Marvel didn´t leave but didn´t show any support to Tony Stark.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Kitty Pryde is on the beach watching the waves. Something is soothing in watching the formation of a wave, its wavelength, and how the salty water touches the sand. She hears someone teleport and offers a smile as she turns her head around to see Magik with booze in her hands.

"Yana, you´re a terrible influence!" Kitty jokes as she accepts the booze and drinks as Yana is looking at everything but Kitty.

"Wanna make jokes about how Kurt is a slut?" Yana suggests and the cut look she received proves this is not a great idea. "Sorry, it is just I´m not good at cheering people up. That was your thing...I just want to know how are you?" Yana asks now gazing into Kitty´s eyes. A bit puffy and Kitty´s not hiding her fear.

"I´m feeling so many things Yana. Fear, anger, regret, jealousy, pity, and love all laced in one confusing mess...when my life became like this? I almost marry Piotr" she makes a nasty face. "Sorry"

"I get it...you two are not compatible and I´m glad you didn´t marry him either"

"And after this whole mess...Excalibur is more than dead!"

"Yeah...I heard Psylocke mentioning this...Meggan is physically alright but uhm...I heard she´ll you know" Yana looks a bit uncomfortable and is looking for the right words. "let´s say she wants to close her fabric to prevent anything...after what Nate forced her to endure"

"That´s a big step and if she wants that...is in her right"

"And you?"

"And that´s what scares me, Yana...I have no idea"

[j4gm]

Ted Anderson’s Adventure Time Season 11 AMA.

So Ted Anderson, writer of Adventure Time Season 11, unexpectedly hopped onto the Adventure Time Discord yesterday for an impromptu AMA. He talked a lot about what his plans were for the rest of Season 11 and beyond, and also talked about his other work including Beginning of the End, My Little Pony, Moth & Whisper, and Orphan Age. Here's most of his answers. I’ve rearranged them to be in a more coherent order.

You can read the full AMA on the r/adventuretime Discord.

Mordo: Before the cancellation, was the stuff with Finn and the humans going to be longer than 2 issues?

Ted: That particular story was always planned to be 2 issues.

The way S11 was going to work is, it would be broken into 3 chunks of 4 issues apiece. The first story was the Empress Marceline 4-issue story. The second chunk would be the 2-issue Humantown story, followed by two single-issue stories. Then there would be one big 4-issue finale story.

Also I should clarify the breakdown of the first arc: Sonny Liew wrote the story, but that was just a summary of events. I wrote the actual script and laid out the events and so forth. I think technically he's credited for Plot and I'm credited for Script?

The first single-issue story was already sort of revealed—that's the one about Jake and Jermaine. The second one would have been about Finn deciding he wants to make something, and going on a big adventure to make a new, handmade sword. And the 4-issue finale would have followed off of the Humantown story and wrapped up more of that.

I was actually already starting issue 8 before I heard it was canceled. Issue 7 is done, but unfortunately it can't see the light of day. It's the property of BOOM and Cartoon Network, not me.

[Issue #7] was a very standalone kind of issue: Jermaine is a successful painter and gets invited to a big fancy party, and Jake invites himself along. Jake ostensibly came to invite Jermaine to the family reunion [in the finale arc], but he knows that Jermaine doesn't like to travel. So he actually came to do a big mystery adventure. One of Jermaine's paintings gets stolen, so the two of them investigate to find out the truth. In the end it's revealed that the whole thing is a big setup by Jake, who wanted to give his brother a fun bonding experience, Mostly I wanted to write some done-in-one stories and get some Jermaine in there, because I like him.

Issue 8 would have been about Finn, who's feeling restless after making the cabin, and deciding he wants to make more stuff, so he decides to make his own sword. He meets various characters traveling around Ooo, checking in with them and talking about what he's doing now. I wanted to focus on Finn feeling adrift now that the biggest adventure of them all has happened, and he's kind of without a purpose.

Boulder/Stert: What would the comic's finale have looked like? What would the end of S11 have looked like had you made it there?

Ted: So thematically, I wanted to get to the idea that Finn was feeling useless as an adventurer. The world was getting more saved, things were getting rebuilt, people don't need a "kid with a sword" any more. But Finn would've realized that it's not about him as a lone adventurer—he's part of a community, a whole bunch of people who are working to make the world a better place.

The finale story would have revealed that Dr. Gross had been offered amnesty and was secretly working in Humantown, plotting a takeover of all of Ooo. Dr. Gross would've created a plague to affect the candy people and something called "GO Juice" [Genetic Optimizer Juice], which was just Finn's DNA injected into the humans to make them into adventurers too. But, crucially, it wouldn't have made them teammates—they would've just been a bunch of lone wolves. So when Jake and Lady and PB and Marceline and all the rest work together, they defeat the humans easily. Rather than fight Dr. Gross, [Finn] escapes and helps his friends, who are fighting everyone else.

There's a little bit of that story still in issue 5: Finn gets a scratch fighting the robot and Minerva patches it up, and that's how they would've gotten his DNA.

I was going to bring back Samantha the dog as a side villain. She would've taken over the Candy Kingdom with a dog army, in order to plunder their technology and lead a dog revolution in the Crystal Dimension, but really she was just being used by Dr. Gross.

Also Jake would've had a family reunion, because I really wanted to write all his kids. Originally it was going to be him and Lady finally getting married. [Cartoon Network] specifically said that Jake and Lady couldn't get married, because they were, and I quote, a "modern couple". I still have no idea exactly what that means, haha.

I had some thoughts about how I wanted to handle the humans. I didn't want them to immediately integrate into Ooo, but I didn't want them to be completely standoffish and weird, either. Issue 12 would've ended with them more or less being led by Minerva, and slowly putting themselves out there.

Something else I should make clear: I had absolutely no contact with the AT people, so I don't know if any of my ideas fit with what they wanted to do. All of this stuff is just out of my head.

Stert: Yeah I feel like you would've been good as long as you didn't straight up contradict the show.

Ted: Oh, speaking of contradicting the show, I got a funny note about the Empress Marceline story. Originally, in Sonny Liew's notes and my script, it actually took place 10,000 years in the future, not 1,000. But for some reason CN changed it to 1000. And I have no idea why, because all that does is mess with the timeline more. Like, if it's 1000 years in the future, it should have Shermy and Beth and look like that setting. But by the time CN changed it, it was too late for me to add in any of that stuff. So if you think it's weird that Shermy and Beth didn't show up, and Marceline wasn't trying to rescue Bubblegum from an ice prison: that's why!

SpaceGiraffe/Owlz: Were there any plans for Simon to meet with the humans and/or Minerva? I wanted to know if you had any plans for Ice King or if that was just Olivia's job?

Ted: Once I heard that Olivia was doing the Simon & Marcy series, I deliberately kept my hands off of Simon, just in case. I didn't quite know what I would want to do with him, either. He could play an interesting role in post-finale Ooo, but ... idk, he's been defined so much by tragedy and loss, it would've taken a while to build him back up again.

Stert: Do you know if Gross and Minerva would have interacted in these new comics?

Ted: I hadn't planned for Gross and Minerva to interact too much? Minerva would've come along with Finn when he infiltrated Humantown to find out what happened. Actually, my idea was that Minerva uses her "Mini-form," which is literally a six-inch-tall action figure of her that would ride on Finn's shoulder as he snuck through the vents, haha.

Stert: The final issue ends on a pretty negative note for Finn and humanity. He's very angry at Malloy lying to him and storms off not wanting to have anything to do with Humantown. Looking back do you think it's a good idea to end Finn's arc in these comics with the humans on a pretty downer note?

Ted: I don't think it's the best way to end S11, no. It makes sense because it's a natural story break, but it also leaves Finn angry and resentful, and deliberately separating himself from other communities. I do love those last two pages, because Mar Julia did some amazing art on them, but emotionally it leaves Finn kind of out in the cold. I did tweak issue 6 a little by adding the HW scene. Originally Finn went to see Aunt Lolly to see if she made the robot monsters. Frankly, the HW scene is better in every way, haha.

Owlz: Did you have ideas for Finn's closure with Huntress?

I like [Finntress]! I like a lot of Finn relationships. But I also like how it's very casual and not labeled. I should be clear: I really didn't change anything based on people's feedback from here. But the [Discord] server and poking around Tumblr reminded me that I needed to include some HW. I feel like their relationship has always been ambiguous, so I liked them not getting a super specific ending.

Boulder: Did you have anything in S11 for Mars?

Ted: I didn't have anything for Mars, actually! I should've! I like Mars a lot, mostly because we see so little of it and it's so dang weird.

Boulder/StephanFS: What plans did you have after S11, with or without a cancellation? If BOOM announced S12 with you as the main writer, what would you write?

Ted: I didn't have anything specific for after S11, since I already knew that it was probably going to be the last time I was going to write AT. I had some vague ideas of trying to bring back Fern, but like ... that's a very fanservice type of thing to do, haha. I probably would've brought him back just to let him die again, but this time with a little more closure. Also I might have done more stuff with magic? I love the weird elements of magic they've got set up in the show. Maybe doing something with four new elements of magic, one of which would have been grass. But that was just very vague thoughts.

Stert: Who did you like writing for most/have the most trouble with? Between Beginning of the End and the S11 issues you mostly handled Finn with a touch of Jake and the rest in smaller amounts, interested in if you were happy with that or wanted to play with other folks.

Ted: Jake was definitely the most fun to write, just because of his way of speaking. Whenever I did a line of his dialogue, I ran it through John DiMaggio's voice first to see if it sounded right. As for favorite in general, that's a tough one. I was told to try and keep the focus on Finn and Jake rather than the side characters, just because they're the main characters. But that suited me just fine. And yeah, for BotE I was also told to keep the focus on Finn and Jake. But that's what I was planning to do anyway. (And yes, I still plan to finish the annotations for BotE! One of these days! Promise!)

Stert: How well did you know the show before you started work on the comics?

Ted: So, total honesty: I loved AT and stuck with it until about season 5. Which, not coincidentally, is when Steven Universe started. I didn't ever stop loving AT, I just fell off the wagon for a while.

Stert: Tale as old as time 🤣

Ted: So once I got the news about BotE, I binged everything from the start. I didn't actually get to see the finale until after I'd started writing S11. CN was being very careful about leaks, so they wouldn't actually let their comics people watch upcoming episodes. But Whitney, my editor, had seen it, so she described it to me over the phone. Very weird experience.

Mordo: What is your view on Come Along With Me?

Ted: I feel like it was as good as it could be, under the circumstances. After hearing about their plans and how they thought they'd have another season, it made more sense. Like, if they'd had a bunch more episodes, they could've set up Gumbald and used the Candy Kingdom Haters some more (remember them???) The finale had a tough job to do: they wanted to give a satisfactory ending to as many of the threads in the series as they could, and yeah, some people didn't get as much as others. Again, I really wish they'd had another season.

Owlz: What do you think of characters like Martin or Ice King?

Ted: I would've LOVED to bring Martin in somehow. He never really got his comeuppance. I don't think I could've put him in S11, but if there had been a S12 or a miniseries or something, that would've been ideal. He's such a ****ty dad, haha. I hate him as a person but love him as a character. I probably would've brought him back by saying, like, "Oh yeah, I hung out with that transcendent being from beyond space, but she got sick of me after a week and dropped me off on an asteroid."

Stert: Were there any characters you were very intimidated to write for, like you thought you would screw them up?

Ted: Oh that's a great question. Honestly, I was a little worried about writing Marceline, because I feel like she's very specifically tied to the experience of being a teenage girl. Which I've never been. Like, the best stuff with Marceline is by Olivia Olson, or Meredith Gran, or Kate Leth, who have written about (and actually been) a teenage girl dealing with Feelings. So getting her right was a challenge.

Owlz: Who’s your favorite AT character?

Ted: Oh man, favorite? That's an impossible question, haha. I have a lot of fondness for Susan Strong. I like her as a kind-of counterpart to Finn, as well as a more driven and adventurous type. She also got to have a really neat arc that ended well, but also left open the door for future adventures. Her design is also great, and her backstory is really cool.

Stert: The stuff you did with her, Billy, and Fern to show off different avenues of heroism and stuff with Finn was very cool.

Ted: Yeah, that was super fun. I think I mentioned this in the annotations: originally it was just going to be Finn meeting a bunch of his alternate versions, like Farmworld Finn. But then I realized, wait, there are characters who are way more interesting than that. (Not to hate on Farmworld Finn! But he's no Susan Strong)

Owlz: What are your thoughts on Betty Grof? The show didn’t reveal much about her.

Ted: Oof. She deserved better. I wanted her to be developed more, frankly. But I sympathize with the creators. I don't think they had the time they needed to flesh her out. I wanted, like, an entire spin-off series about her learning the secrets of magic.

Stert: So to ask another possible impossible question, what's your favorite episode (or multiples)?

Ted: I really do like "Mama Said". It's maybe my favorite one-off episode, just for how surreal it is. Plot-relevant episodes ... I liked the one about Finn building a tower to tear off his dad's arm, haha. I have a real fondness for the wacky one-off episodes, like anything about Jake's kids. The Card Wars tournament episode, or the one about Bronwyn.

Owlz: What if AT got rebooted and you got to be a writer?

Ted: On the one hand, I would've liked creating a more coherent mythology, like exactly how this or that happened. On the other hand, the weird inconsistencies are what make this show so fun.

[While talking about some of the Easter eggs included in Ted’s comics, somebody posted this panel from BotE]

Ted: Part of that panel is actually a quote from Guillermo del Toro. The line about "animated by incredible humanism" is from the introduction he wrote to the Art of Ooo book. I love dropping in weird easter eggs. So when I started writing BotE, I caught up on the entire show, but I also tried to catch up on all the supplementary materials, too. That's why I slipped in that thing about Hunson's nickname of "Johnny Corndog," for example.

Owlz: You should also check out the AT official cookbook. It’s adorable.

Ted: I have! In fact, there's an easter egg from that in there! In issue 6, Minerva mentions something about making Finn her special macaroni and cheese, I think? That's her recipe in the book.

CharlesOberonn: I have a question regarding pacing in comic books. Specifically, how stretched out and slow pacing is in comic books today compared to comic books in the past. A story that would take 1 issue in the 1960s-80s could take 3 or 4 or even 5-8 issues today. What do you say about that?

Ted: Ah, pacing in comics. An old nemesis, haha. I like both the issue format and the book format for comics. You can do very different things with them, just like the difference between movies and TV. If you are writing something with issues, then I feel like every issue needs to give you a complete story, or at least a complete slice of a story. I definitely feel like attitudes have changed regarding how much story you fit into an issue of comics, but that can be both good and bad. A little while ago I reread the original Iron Man story where he confronts his alcoholism, and he goes through withdrawal in literally one page.

Stert: I know this kinda stuff is usually not answered straight up, but how much do you make writing for comics?

Ted: I'm not yet at the point where it's my main job. Right now I'm getting my teaching license so I can be a school librarian. And with licensed comics, I don't get any royalties, just a flat fee for writing the script. But it's a good gig regardless. I get to sit around and tell other people how to draw cartoons. I would absolutely love to write full time, and I'm in the process of getting together more projects to make that happen? But not quite yet. Which reminds me: I am currently trying to put together a pitch with Mar Julia, artist for both BotE and S11! But very different from AT.

Owlz: How long have you worked on comics?

Ted: I've been working on comics for ... something like 6 years? I think? My first professional comic was MLP, actually, which is not at all normal, haha. I was a big fan of the show, and I knew I wanted to write comics. I'm also friends with Zander Cannon, who's been a professional creator for decades and is a super cool guy. He knew someone who worked at IDW, who put me in touch with the MLP editor. I sent them some samples, I sent them some pitches, and bada bing bada boom, they let me write a story about Pinkie Pie. It's all about networking, baby.

Mordo: What’s your favorite TV series of all time?

Ted: Oh jeeze, that's a question. There are TV series that I love in different ways and for different reasons. AT is definitely one of my favorites, but I also love The X-Files, but for completely different reasons. Star Trek the Next Generation is also pretty high up there. Futurama is another one that I'm a big fan of. I should've included a reference to John DiMaggio from that, come to think of it. Showed Jake with a cigar and a beer, or something. Now there's a crossover I'd love to see. Oh, Gravity Falls is definitely up there too. Regular Show is another fun one. I pitched a couple RS ideas around the same time as BotE, but they were already transitioning to the Twenty-Five Years Later series.

Mordo: Not sure if this was answered earlier, but why was AT season 11 the one that had to kick the bucket when it was doing better than the other comics?

Ted: I really have no idea. It was a money thing, to the best of my knowledge—they expected the comics to sell X copies, and they didn't quite make it, so that was that. In the email they sent me, they emphasized that it was not a question of the quality of my writing, or how they were being received. I don't really know any more than that, unfortunately. Yeah, I have no idea how they calculate anticipated sales or anything. But I guess S11 just didn't hit the expected targets.

Mordo/StephanFS: What else do you write Ted? If you were to work on something original, what would it be?

Ted: I still do write for MLP, actually. I've got a three-issue miniseries starting next month. Plus I've got a couple creator-owned series: Moth & Whisper and Orphan Age. The trade collection of M&W comes out next week, and the first issue of Orphan Age came out this week. I have a lot more original stuff in the works, too. Not a lot of it is like AT, to be honest. I don't tend to write stories that are so .... weird? Nothing against weird! Obviously! But it's just not the kind of stories I tend to come up with. M&W is a cyberpunk heist thriller thing, and Orphan Age is a post-apocalyptic western.

That’s all for now. If you like Ted Anderson’s work, be sure to check out Moth & Whisper and Orphan Age. Catch them on ComiXology or wherever you get your comics.

Farewell for now!

[sparklyaxolotlstudent]

Ladybug Puppet Show 5

Writing Slice of Life about these dorks is so much fun.

-

Clash of the Chat Noirs

Juleka grabbed one of the puppet prototypes that Marinette had sewed using some fabric leftovers. It vaguely resembled Chat Noir. She looked at Ivan sewing another one and grinned, an evil plan forming in her mind.

“Baby Chat do do doo doo” she started to sing mimicking movement with the puppet, much to the surprise of her friends. Marinette started to laugh.

“Great, now I’ll have that song my head again” complained Ivan. Mylene grinned evily and grabbed another proto Chat, tying a piece of fabric as a skirt.

“Mama Chat do do doo doo”

“Oh c’mon, you too?”

“I believe the term is ‘earworm’” said Max dutifully, while reviewing the latest patterns with Marinette. Rose had joined Mylene and Juleka in singing.

“Geez, I had no idea making a puppet was so much work” said Kim while playing with some of the prototype puppets.

“Well yeah. I could technically just wind it, but when you’re doing something from scratch, you have to try it several times, as the pattern is in two dimensions and has to be adaptable to create something in three dimensions. Like that one you’re holding looks ok, but it ended up being too narrow to properly fit a hand inside. And that other one I fixed the wideness, but as a result the head looks too small” explained Marinette, cutting the new patterns.

“Good thing Chloe bought all of this then” said Kim, putting his hand in the flowery Chat Noir with the small head.

“And we’re glad you both were able to come to help us carry it” said Marinette. Kim kept playing with the puppet, and Adrien blushed a bit.

“I thought you had a photo session?” wondered Mylene outloud, still playing.

“And fencing” added Rose.

“And Piano” added Juleka.

“And you also said something about Evil Monologues Class” finished Max. Adrien nodded.

“Yes, but my father asked Nathalie to reschedule all my day after I mentioned wanting to come to Marinette’s house to work on some puppets. He must really love puppets.” The girls looked at each other with a sly smile, wondering about the true intentions of Mister Agreste, and then looked at Marinette, who blushed at the implication.

“I still don’t understand why you’re making all of them in the flowery fabrics instead of the monkey fabric”

“Minky fabric” corrected Marinette. “And even if we have all this fabric, I would hate to waste it in prototypes, that’s why we’re using leftovers”

“Aww, I’m sorry Meowrinette” said Kim through the puppet. Marinette was taken by surprise and couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t mean to be wasteful with the monkey fabric!”

“It’s okay Puppet Chat” Marinette giggled, patting the puppet on its head. Adrien was a bit annoyed, and grabbed another of the Chat Noir prototypes.

“Don’t listen to him Pr… Purrinette” Adrien corrected himself, as Marinette could get suspicious of him calling her Princess. “He’s obviously just a copycat!”

Kim raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, don’t listen to him. There is only one person clawsome enough to be Chat Noir, and it is I, Chat Noir, who is the only and one Chat Noir. I swear it’s not Minky business!”

The others stopped torturing Ivan with their Baby Chat song and were now looking at the ‘fight’ of the Chats. Adrien was getting a bit angry that Kim was making a better Chat, as he couldn’t be too Chat-y or people would get suspicious.

-

“Ah, frustration, jealousy, fear of… being… replaced…. GOSH DARN IT ADRIEN! I am SO not going to ruin your date with your secret girlfriend! Get your act together if you don’t want her to fall for another guy… Geez, I seriously need to talk to that boy. Hmm… I wonder…”

Hawk Moth grabbed one of his Butterflies, and instead of filling it with negative energy, he just let it go.

“Go my little… one… and talk some damn sense in that boy”

He never saw that butterfly again.

-

Adrien had to admit he was a little bit annoyed that the others liked Kim’s Chat Noir better than his.

“You should do Chat Noir’s voice! I mean, you already voiced him in the movie” said Rose trying to make him feel better. This made Adrien realize that he really couldn’t be Chat Noir here.

“I’d love to, but if I do that, That Guy would call me a traitor or other stuff. He might even threaten legal action again”

“But your contract already ended. And he can’t claim rights over your voice or Chat Noir”

“No, but the bad publicity, not to mention his lackeys would be troublesome no matter what” he sighed. “And my father would pull me from the project anyway. Kim should do Chat Noir”

“What? Me?”

“Yeah! You already have the dumbass flirty hero thing going on!”

“Thanks!... I think… But I thought Nino was Chat Noir”

“He can’t. He’s going to direct and edit the show. It’s lots of work already to add voicing a main character”

“What about Ladybug? Alya?”

“Nope. She’s writing the plots and also overseeing the whole thing. Marinette should be Ladybug”

“WHAT? No I can’t! I have to supervise the puppets and props and everything!”

“Then who?”

“We’ll probably going to have auditions, but I think Mylene should do it”

“What? Why me?”

“You have a nice voice, and were already the main character of our previous project.”

“Rose should keep being Hawk Moth” added Juleka, hugging her gal pal. “It’s only fair”

“Do I get to use my fairy outfit?”

“It’s just voice acting, but sure”

[darisu-chan]

Marco’s Feelings (Or How He Lied to Himself Almost the Whole Show): An Analysis, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of this analysis! If you haven’t read Part 1, you can find it here. If you have, then let’s continue with this analysis, this time dealing with season 2.

(Long post ahead)

Disclaimer: although this is my opinion, I’m basing it on the subtext of the show and not on what I just want to believe. I know I’m a starco shipper, but, honestly, the plot made me like them and not the other way around. I’ve shipped Star and Marco with other people, although, ultimately, I do prefer them with each other because of what I’m about to explain in a bit. So take that in mind.

Season 2 starts right in the aftermath of the season 1 finale, Storm the Castle, with Star getting a new wand and starting to learn important lessons, like dipping down. But wheres does that leave Marco? In this season Marco is beginning to come out of his shell, finally, and sets on the path of becoming the best version of himself. Through meeting Star, he realized he loved going on on adventures, which is something he wants to keep doing. Through his experiences as Princess Turdina, he’s not only becoming the embodiment of free will but also he’s becoming more comfortable in his own skin. As he matures, he also starts becoming more confident. It’s no surprise this is the season he dates Jackie. It’s the culmination of a process in which Marco is finally being daring enough to get what he wants.

But what does it mean for his feelings for Star?

As I explained in Part 1, Marco did an amazing job concealing his feelings for Star right after BMB. His feelings can be seen as strictly platonic from then onwards. However, there are still several things to point out in these platonic interactions which will explain his actions later on. 

When Mr. Candle Cares first aired, a lot of fans were excited because Marco was shown saying “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies” in the trailer, and although that turned out to be a ploy to out Tom, this episode wasn’t a “major loss.” When Tom and Marco are playing ping pong, they begin talking about Star. Now, clearly Tom knows a lot of her. He met her first, they dated for a while and they come from the same dimension. Yet there are things Tom doesn’t like about her, and he complains about Star doing whatever she wants, and Marco states fondly “Yeah, thats Star.” Tom is fundamentally angry and aggressive in the early seasons, and later on we see that, although Tom doesn’t snap at Star anymore, Star does snap at him. They know they have flaws and, although they like each other, they are less accepting of them. Marco knows Star has many flaws, cheating at games included, but the way he states that very simple phrase says a lot. He accepts Star, flaws and all, but not only that, he genuinely still likes her even if they don’t agree in everything. They’ve got each other’s backs. However, the next thing he tells Tom is more relevant.

“It doesn’t matter if you beat me at ping pong or pull out all my organs, you can’t make Star be your girlfriend unless she wants to.”

This ties perfectly to his confession in Here To Help:

“And it was intense at the start and I know it’s in the way.”

“In the way? Marco, why does it have to be bad?”

“It is bad if you don’t want it.”

In BMB it became clear to him Star doesn’t want anything romantic happening between them. Liking Star is not bad in itself, but it is bad if she doesn’t want it. Marco accepts this and moves on (remember that Marco began his journey of free will a little earlier than Star. Although rebellious, Star is not choosing her own path yet. This is relevant for season 4). He doesn’t think Star will ever like him, not when she likes Oskar. But, at this point in time, it’s much easier to push these feelings away. He has his own crush on Jackie and he has a deep friendship with Star. The status quo can continue without chaging anything. 

However, as Marco grows and matures, he wants to change the way things are, not wanting to remain in the same place he has been the whole time (Freeze Day, Red Belt). Unknowingly, he’s defying the status quo and, eventually, it will come down to his relationship with Star. As for our princess, she is also changing, and it comes to a point in which she cannot push her feelings away anymore. 

Before continuing, let’s make some honorable mentions of Marco’s relationship with Star that, although didn’t advance their romantic feelings per se, are important for their overall relationship. First, let’s talk about Star on Wheels, when not only does Marco trust himself enough to save Star, he’s the one saving Star as oppossed to her own crush, which is a subversion of a classic Romantic Interest Saves Protagonist trope... or maybe even then it told us who Star’s real romantic interest was suppossed to be. This episode is also an excercise on trust for the both of them, not only on themselves but on each other. Star is angry at Marco for lying to her when he said he wouldn’t let go, and did, and she has to trust Marco to help her. In the end, the reason why Star was saved was both by believing in Marco and believing in herself.

In Star vs Echo Creek, we see Marco being worried about Star’s whereabouts and him having waited for her the whole time in the police station. This episode is a great example of Star running away from her problems first, and then attempting to solve them after a time of reflection, which is a current them in all seasons in various levels. However, in regards to Marco it tells us that, no matter what Star does, what she chooses or how she acts, Marco is going to be waiting there for her, helping her too.

Marco wanting to show Star one of the many amazing things on Earth since she’s shown him so many amazing things already in Camping Trip speaks about Marco trying to reciprocate all she’s given him. Also, River questions the nature of their relationship, which, again, is a way to remind the audience of the possibility of Starco happening.

The other episodes are not really worth talking about in terms of Marco’s feelings for Star and their relationship other than them being best friends. So let us move on to Sleepover, or the episode that pretty much broke the status quo, at least for the audience. After someone lied to the truth box, we, as the audience, are confronted with the fact someone lied. It could’ve been Janna, who some thought had a crush on Marco. It could’ve been Jackie, when she said she liked that boy from camp. And there was no way the person who lied was StarFan13. So, we’re given too obvious choices: either Marco or Star lied. And when it is not only told by the truth box that Marco wasn’t the one who lied, we’re confronted with the fact it is Star who lied. At the end, we are told why she lied and the truth is revealed: she has a crush on Marco. 

What is interesting to note is that Star’s feelings are the ones that are spelled out to us during the second season, and they were never that obvious with Marco in the first season or even in this one. I’m guessing it has to do with Star being the protagonist, but it also has to do with their personalities. Star is more of an open book. She shares her feelings and thoughts. And being so impulsive, eventually she was going to reveal everything she was feeling. Marco, on the other hand, is introverted and he’s the type of person who thinks things through. Having Marco’s feelings be hidden in comparison to Star’s, and only being something you have to pick up from the subtext or the imagery instead of being spelled out for you, is definitely in character and if it is something done on purpose, I commend the writing and animation teams for that.

In Sleepover we have two very interesting speeches that not only tells us things about the way Marco and Star think and feel, but they are things which can be applied to their relationships with other people as well as with each other. I will talk about Marco’s speech about Jackie later, but it’s interesting that not only do Star’s words tie in with what she was feeling at the moment, they also pretty much can relate to Marco. The idea that feelings are not black and white, that when your heart and mind don’t agree, it is difficult to know the truth, is something Marco wrestles with right until Here to Help. By pushing his feelings away, he’s trying to obey his own mind because he knows that by listening to his heart there’s more left to lose. Later on, we know that the longer this went on, the longer it affected Marco until he couldn’t hide his feelings anymore. But, at this moment, Marco is deep in denial. It all comes back to BMB and the conversation he had with Star. Marco here is in “be her best friend” mode, and he will continue down this path until almost the finale.

Now, at the end of Sleepover, there is tension between our two mainc characters. Tension in writing, specially when it comes to film and TV is super important and it is the foundation of any screenplay. Here, our characters are put into two conflicting positions. We, as the audience, know something is going to go down between them after this point, but we don’t know how or when, until we keep watching the rest of the seasons, which, if you actually did at the same time the episodes aired, it took years. This just adds to the suspense, which remember is always more important than the surprise. However, the characters themselves don’t know things are about to change. Star is running away from her feelings, and Marco, who already went through a similar process before his feelings were much stronger, remains oblivious. This part is incredibly relevant because the writers used this tension to not only introduce the idea of a love triangle later on, but it’s the main reason the romantic drama got dragged on for so long. Basically, they wanted to keep us on our toes, and boy did they succeed!

Before moving on with the rest of the episodes in which basically stuff goes down in terms of relationship drama, I just want to say that in many season 2 episodes we’re shown how important Star and Marco are to each other, which is not only important for the season finale and during the events of Battle for Mewni, but for the final episode of the whole series. Although Star and Marco became best friends fast after the first episode, their relationship kept growing on key episodes until we realize their relationship, be it friendship or something more, is not only the foundation of the show but it’s an integral part of their lives, and this is more obvious when we realize they will never let anything come in between them.

One of the best episodes to illustrate just how important Star is to Marco is during Gift of the Card, when, at the end, Marco is willing to die with Star. I mean, it was played for jokes and we knew they weren’t going to actually explode, but they didn’t know that. Marco was truly comforted by knowing he’d die next to Star, and that speaks volumes of what he thinks and feels for her more than anything else he could have done back then. It’s also sweet that when she’s crying, he’s the one t comfort her by hugging her.

It’s also great how their apologies parallel their personalities. When Star apologizes for not telling him about the card’s expiration date, she’s apologizing for not thinking things through and acting rashly. When Marco apologizes for being picky, he’s apologizing for overthinking. It is interesting to note that these flaws are the same ones which kept them apart until they matured. It almost feels like they were apologizing in advance for what was about to come.

And now, after many plot-centric episodes and other shenanigans we find the controversial Naysaya. This episode, among others, is used by some people to prove that Marco lied and he didn’t have feelings for Star then (which also contradicts the Blood Moon being a curse, but oh well). In this episode, a curse Tom put on Marco since BMB starts acting up in the form of a little head growing on Marco’s neck that says embarrassing things each time he tries to ask Jackie out. The episode ends with Jackie and Marco hanging out, and that’s pretty much the start of their relationship. As for the arguments that invalidate Marco’s feelings for being there, is that the curse didn’t act out in front of Star, and that Marco was attempting to ask Jackie out, and not Star. So, here’s the thing, 

Let’s talk about Jackie and Marco’s feelings for her first:

We know that Marco has had a huge crush on her since they were kids (Freeze Day) but that he’s been unable to have an actual relationship with her. Sure, he nods at her in the hallways and he sends her cat memes and the like, but they’re more acquaintances than friends at this point. Jackie was even surprised to learn Marco had a crush on her, as she had no idea about it. So what do they really know about each other? It’s merely superficial at this point, but Marco wants to change that. Let’s analyze his speech during Sleepover:

“I told you! I have a crush on Jackie... At least I think I do. But what does that really mean? I’ve put her on this sort of pedestal, so do I like the image of her or for who she really is? I mean, I like her enough to know that she deserves someone who wants to get to know her, which is definitely me.”

Marco likes Jackie. The fact that he likes her does not invalidate any feelings he has for Star in this moment, especially when he’s deep in denial. Star pretty much doomed them back in BMB, by expressing her needing a friend, and so Marco pushed those intense feelings deep, deep inside of him and convinced himself that what he felt for Star was just friendship, and shut out any other potential romantic feelings. It’s not that his confession in Here to Help is a lie, it’s just based on the grounds that, in this specific moment I’m analyzing, he had lied to himself so much, that he genuinely believed the only girl he liked was Jackie. He had liked her for forever, in fact. It was easier to like Jackie than to like Star, and it was more convenient for him to have an unachievable crush because there was no fear of rejection. Marco’s a safe kid in this moment in the series, he’s not about to stop liking Jackie for something that has no possibility of going anywhere. Marco, knowingly or unknowingly, made a choice. And, as he began changing and fighting for what he wanted, he chose to get to know Jackie better and see if there was actually potential for a committed relationship, which translates to the potential of loving her. Marco does not love Jackie. But he likes her enough to want to know the real her, as he himself stated.

Now, why did Jackie start liking Marco? One of the complains was that it came out of nowhere. First, because she was moved by his heartfelt words during Sleepover, and, come on, who can blame her? I think any of us would start considering someone as a potential partner after hearing they want to get to know us better, and not because of shallow reasons. Secondly, he was honest with her both in Sleepover and Naysaya, and it adds up with what we know of Jackie. At her core, she’s honest and likes keeping it real. Marco being honest as well is an appealing trait. It’s no wonder she asked him out first to the movies and then to the dance in Bon Bon the Birthday Clown. 

BBtBC is another episode which broke the fandom and it is the start of Star realizing her feelings for Marco. What does it mean for Marco, though? Well, for one, he is fulfilling his years-long wish of dating Jackie-Lynn Thomas. However, that does not get in the way of the importance Star has in his life. Now, this episode is also proof that the Blood Moon was actually a curse, or at least it was used to prove Starco was forced or something by anti shippers way back then. Honestly, I didn’t take the Blood Moon appearing after Marco and Jackie’s first kiss as a sign that it was getting in the way of their blossoming relationship, and that it was forcing him to Star’s side. I took it as the Blood Moon warning Marco that Star was in danger, because just before the kiss, Star was fighting against Ludo, who was there to take her Book of Spells and Glossaryck with it. Marco’s reaction after seeing the moon was checking his phone, which showed all of Star’s missed calls and he assumed she was in trouble (which she was) and went to help her. And, honestly, I’m glad he went, because if he hadn’t, Star might have been sucked inside that portal. Anyway, I cannot refute the claim that this showed the Blood Moon was actually a curse, although I still believe the writers had to retcon it after how badly the fandom reacted to Booth Buddies. If, actually, we think the Blood Moon was just truly uniting them as souls, the finale and how they cleaved Mewni and Earth together with their magic makes more sense, but let’s not go into those details, yet.

Another interesting part of this episode is that Marco is confronted with a tough choice: stopping Ludo from taking the book or saving Star. And the guy doesn’t hesitate. He goes right away to save her, and even when Star warns him that he could be pulled into the portal too, he exclaims “I’m not letting go!” And boooy, can this very phrase be applied to his relationship with Star. He has never let go of her. Each and every time Star has been in trouble, Marco has been there for her. Through ups and downs, through all the heartbreak, he’s been right by her side. And that, my friends, is beautiful.

Okay, next he helps Star up first, and even if he then goes to Jackie’s side (which makes Star jealous and it hurts her), this is an early indication of how the Jarco relationship will go next. Star comes first. She always has and always will. Jackie realizes this later on, but for now, that was our next clue. 

Final thought on BBtBC. When Star starts crying about her missing book, Marco instantly goes to comfort her and he hugs her, but as they hug she announces that she “lost Glossaryck” and that greatly upsets Marco. I’ve always felt, even if they didn’t truly touch on this in the show, that he felt incredibly guilty of the part he played in that situation. I mean, just look at his face after Star says that:

But, I also think, Marco doesn’t regret that choice, and that’s probably why it was never touched upon later on.

Well, in following non-drama related episodes, Star does not act jealous again and, meanwhile, Marco continues being her voice of reason, as he usually is, until Running with Scissors, another episode which cleaved the fandom in two. As for my personal belief of what happens with Marco after he returns to Earth is what Adam McArthur said: it’s like a dream, and he starts forgetting details as he returns to normal. Or we can say there are two Marcos, our normal one and Adult Marco. What I can say is that regardless of our interpretation of Marco’s state of mind after his adventures in this episode, is that the experience made Marco way more confident than he was beofre, and it adds to Marco’s sense of adventure. It’s clear that Marco likes living adventures and not being a normal teenager, which will come into play in Sophomore Slump. As for Marco’s feelings for Star, well, she is the one that convinces Marco to come back home:

“What about your parents? Or your friends? Or me?”

Which is a pretty big deal, considering that the idea of seeing his parents again wasn’t the one that drew him in, but not seeing Star again did.

Now, let’s move on to Heinous, when Star is Marco’s inspiration to thwart Heinous’ plans and giving a very sarcastic message instead of actually attempting to tell other princesses to give up their individualities.

With this episode we finally are through the non-shipping episodes, and now the real trouble starts.

Since this is so long already, I’ll analyze Just Friends through Battle for Mewni in the next post.

Thanks again for reading!

[grelrik-da-bozz]

starco, something to think about...

Ok, so it has been almost a whole week and I’ve been celebrating about this ‘final’ they brought to the horrible curse that was cast on Marco and star almost 4 years ago.

It really is good to see that the one most affected by the curse (Marco) is finally free of that... disgusting situation he was in, but since we are talking about Disney, and considering what we have seen during the third season there is a huge possibility that they will spoil everything and come with a “we loved each other before the curse” scenario, even though there were no signs at all (specially from Marco) that there was anything but friendship between them.

Now about this bad transition we have three direct responsables!

The first one being the curse of the bloodmoon itself as it was the direct thing to affect Marco's personality and interfer with his decisions after being cast on both Marco and star, they both acted differently, slightly at first and almost unnoticeable on star but on Marco it was... quite obvious specially in season 3! But there were times in season 2 when you were all like “wtf? why did he do that?” Running with scissors is a good example. Follow me on this ok? Marco decides he doesn’t want to return back home as he has a different life in Hekapoo’s dimension (making star useless as now the one who has his attention in the ‘adventure cool section’ is H-poo) but then star asks him “What about your parents or your friends... or... me?” we see Marco do something quite particular... that in this last episode (Curse of the Bloodmoon) had a special sound and now everything is different! Marco had decided already, he was a 31 years old man, had made up his mind, but the curse forced him to change it. And I honestly hated that part of the episode! How come star decided to casually forget mentioning Jackie She should have said “What about your parents or your friends... or... Jackie... or me?” (some people have argued that star had feelings towards Marco before the bloodmoon but most of them base that presumption on the book*).

Now, the second direct responsable is star, for not accepting Marco's advice when she decided to go see what Tom had prepared for that party, even though Marco had already been right many times before about things related to the outcome of how bad everything could be if she continued using magic, doing what she considered right, following her own ideas, etc. and that only because of the Mary sue powers they ended up a-okay. (Honestly she should have at least said "Marco has already been right sometimes I should listen to him this one time, I mean, he is my friend.”) But no, she didn't, and do you wanna know why she didn’t listen to him? Because star is a strong independent “warrior” princess and that makes it all fine, right? I mean as long as a girl says that she is a strong and independent woman it doesn’t matter how much damage she broughts to anyone, we have to see it as positive. So yeah, sarcasm aside, a huge chunk of responsability falls on her shoulders**.

Finally the third responsable for how badly the curse developed are both “the plot” and Daron & the team that helped her, we all have heard some couple of things about the show, starting from the fact that Daron was already quite sure of how she wanted the show to be, she had more or less worked on it in her head since she was... how old 14? 13? More or less a teen age for sure, and therefore had been munching on that bone every once in a while for the last 15 years! Also is worthy mentioning that she said a couple of times that she had changed things during the course of the years but the idea was there, as solid as it could be and with steps she wanted to follow, now, following her trajectory so far and knowing a couple of her works we know she, for some reason, liked to add some drama in her stories***. And also she seems to be more or less on board the “social/genres/let’s-break-the-stereotypes train” although that could also be Sabrina Cotungo, who, by the way, got promoted to director for Season 3 (promoted might be a bad term as what actually happened is that the other two guys in charge of directing the show in Season 1 & 2 left after they finished), therefore took care of some of the importante decisions for the third season and apparently is the one to blame for it to be so... shity, Now I wonder if she was in charge of the story boards in the episodes where there was social drama issues...  Anyway, returning to the topic of blamming the horrible development of the bloodcurse and the third group of responsables, Daron (as far as we can asume) had this idea of Marco being a really tough subject for star when love was in the middle, I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually had planned for her to fall in love with Marco but that she would also suffer about it cause he had eyes for other girl! The thing is they developed in more than one episode the story for that to happen, they made Marco a really brilliant co-protagonist and many felt quite nice with him finally getting to get the chick he wanted, many out there celebrated it, of course there were also starco-fans who hated it, but the thing is we can’t deny the way they two got together was good! ponyhead helped Marco and Jackie to break the ice, to finally have him telling her she was his crush, accidentally of course but she did, star helped as well, but at the end of the episode we had a strong hint that she liked Marco, that was only a hint, something that star had not really gave her mind too much time to think about, she wrote in her diary something about Marco, how she felt about him and didn’t want him to read it because obviosly she probably wrote that she felt something strange, like butterflies in her stomach when seeing him. She was more or less oblivious to how strong her feelings where and I feel like the real issue here is that star was never meant to end with Marco, I feel that Daron wanted her to suffer a little for Marco and then turn the page, to return back to Mewni and continue her life, sad, angry with herself, but ready to give her heart another chance to find a good guy to love.

*: For those out there who don’t know about it, every cartoon of the last decade (perhaps even a little more than a decade) has done some thing(s) like that before, bringing something special or that expands the lore and that exist only in a type of merchandise that you have to buy in order to read and know. MLP, Adventure time, etc. It’s not something “new” that SVTFOE has and in all of those mentioned cases they had been clear about one thing: the book/magazine/comic IS CANON but it is a SEPARATE CANON, they are not interconnected, even if the author says so. Lauren Faust for example! She had said before some things about specific ponies, ideas she had or things she had planned for some moment in the story... but the show has pointed at other direction. So yeah, we can respect the book but we can’t really take it as 100% interconnected canon. **Ok, I have to point something else about this star issue, yes, she is not the only one responsable, some could argue that Tom is the ‘main responsable’ there, but to anyone other there wanting to say that I’d like to know your answer to this: Did Tom plan involved star and Marco dancing? The answer is a huge NO, yeah he is the one who wanted to dance with star, something bad cause he would have never told her that her sudden change on feeling about him was due to the curse, but it was something he had thought for what he believed was the best, he had never thought about Marco being his friend at the time nor did he planned for them to have their souls linked. And,  as people suggest star was already a little bit in love with Marco before the curse so, that would explain why those feelings were slowly increasing in her heart for the latino boy, but then there is a little something I wanna talk about.  Star managed to finally overcome her crush on Marco and decided she wanted to start dating Tom once again, after she tried to dress him like Marco, overcame her addiction to his musk, etc. She returned his hoodie and closed the portal... they could have ended it right there, Marco could have returned just casually and for some episodes, fighting Meteora and stuff. ***About the drama that Daron had done in some other projects she did before SVTFOE, we have at least a couple which are the most well-known ones. There is this short animated thingy where the girl is captured by some folks, they take her away and her “boyfriend/husband/lover/whatever” takes it on his shoulders to go and rescue her, when he arrives and is all ready to break the ‘bad guy’ it is revealed it actually is a Bad girl, a MILFy looking bad girl who acts all sassy with him and in a matter of seconds they are kissing right there in front of the “princess”. The short clearly points to the idea of “hey girls, never expect a boy to free you from a dangerous situation, free yourself and punch his face because you are strong and independent”… you probably understand my point, is not a bad lesson but I feel some other Disney princesses did it a lot, lot better. So anyway, the idea is clear, the ‘main character’ who casually  looks quite similar to star. The second short I remember is this one  where this girl is cutting with scissors some pieces of cloth that other two girls pass her, to work, she is pretty much daydreaming and ends up being fired, her dreams are all like stuff from the 70s you know, way too colorful and stuff (this short is all drawn in black and white) which is fine, but the design and others… makes it feel odd. (Personal opinion). The third one is probably the most famous one, this young girl leaves her house after her older sister tells her to stay away while she sees the pictures of her ex, which seems to be dating someone else, the young girl (has a lizard as her pet, she talks and hears the pet talk) enters a pub and drinks some beverage she steals and has some kind of alusination and gets scared, fortunately the older sister’s ex recognizes her and acts as if he had been looking for her to help her out of the situation, taking her back home and… that’s it. As you can see two of these three shorts have things in common, a protagonist daydreaming with what seems to be ‘magic in her imagination’ which is what we know star was going to do  (she didn’t have magic, they suggested Daron to make the magic real minutes before she presented the story board for the pilot)  and secondly there is some naughty thing going on as both the blonde princess and the older sister seem to “like” their couple/ex while they are kissing/dating someone else.

[douxreviews]

Cloak & Dagger - ‘Level Up’ Review

"My whole life has been about harnessing this special energy. Maybe I should have been less driven."

Cloak & Dagger ends its second season with...

Oh God, I don't even have the energy for a clever pre-credits bit. Let's just jump past the break and talk a little.

I hate feeling like this.

Look, I get that this is a television show, and 'the season finale of a TV show I like was disappointing to me' is as close to the definition of a first world problem as you're likely to get. But, dammit, I love these characters and I love this show. And they are capable of so much better than what we got in this one.

It might be more accurate to say that they're capable of doing 'more' than this, as opposed to 'better', because what they actually did here is almost entirely good, with one significant exception. The failings of this episode almost entirely involve what it didn't do, rather than what it does.

And no, I'm not talking about plot points I personally wanted them to develop, or character developments that I wish had been different. I'm talking about something more fundamental to storytelling. Specifically, they didn't take the time to set up most of the plot mechanics that their story was relying on this week.

It's frustrating, because they simultaneously prove here that they're both capable of seeding both themes and plot mechanics into earlier episodes and paying them off later. The payoffs of the dark dimension pennies that they established half a season ago was entirely satisfying. Ditto the mirrors in the evil mall. They were established clearly as a choice between alternate self images ages ago when Tandy first saw them, and here they're the final visual key to Tandy and Ty accepting their identity as the heroes named Cloak and Dagger. That's great stuff. That's beautiful storytelling handled entirely through visual symbols. And the setup and payoff in each case were handled beautifully over the season.

Which makes it all the more frustrating that they didn't bother establishing so many of the plot devices that this episode was entirely riding on. What, exactly were the black clad, vaguely SWAT-team figures that Mayhem was fighting? We have no idea. They're apparently solid, since Mayhem can kick them, and for some reason they have actual functioning grenades, despite the many questions that raises as to how 'real' they are exactly as individuals. Evita gives them a handwave explanation as 'the things that a god would send to stop us', but that's no explanation at all. Particularly when they're mixing visual cues as to 'manifestations of the guilt felt by the person fighting them' (Hello, Fuchs), and 'numberless and faceless swarm brought forth from the dark gods.' No, in the end, what they are is 'something menacing for Evita and Mayhem to fight' while they intercut to Ty and Tandy furthering the actual emotional plot-core that the writers are interested in. That rings hollow as you watch it, because it fundamentally is hollow.

Similarly, we absolutely needed a clear answer about Andre/D'Spayre's domain. Is it an actual, physical place, or is it an abstract place of consciousness? Because they're playing it both ways and it's hurting the story they want to tell. The people that Andre is capturing through his trumpet of despair, and while I say that in a joking way it's a fantastic decision as a storytelling device, all physically disappear. We get that absolutely confirmed in the opening bank robbery montage, which again was exquisitely done. Bank robber and pursuing officer both vanish and appear in Andre's jazz club domain. So, that would indicate that it's a physical space that their bodies have moved to inter-dimensionally. But Andre's body is still laying on the stage in our dimension in an amazingly framed shot with his body over draped crimson fabric which made a thousand DPs feel tingly inside as they watched it. Ty and Tandy seem to have physically entered the nightclub after - ahem - entering Ty. But then they add a layer on top of that in which the people who are, apparently, physically inside Andre (again, ahem...) are also in a despair induced dreamstate inside that setting. Ty and Tandy bounce around through various despair hallucinations - at least they visually coded as hallucinations, but are occasionally treated as physical reality.

You see where I'm going with this. It's all incredibly muddy and could have been cleared up so much by simply establishing the rules right at the outset. 'This is physical space', they could have established, 'this is dream'. That would have solved about half of the problems this episode had. They could even have done it earlier in the season so that we didn't have to waste time with it here. But they didn't, and that created a problem in this one.

There is, of course, always the chance that they thought that they'd established this clearly enough by implications here and there, and it can't be disputed that there are clues scattered here and there throughout the season. But I feel like I'm a reasonably savvy viewer, and I watched every episode of the season multiple times. Sober, even. And I was still unclear about what the rules were at any given time.

Lastly, and I promise I have some positives coming up, this episode suffered from repeatedly kicking the legs out from under its own structure. Act one was the setup of Ty and Tandy getting into the Dark Dimension, whatever its rules are. Act two was them first fighting their own demons; Ty his driving need to live 'perfectly' and Tandy her inability to get past the knowledge of her father's abuse, and then them defending one another from the things that drive them to despair. Act three was them coming out of that and finally defeating Andre.

That's a solid structure to build on, and the message that the key to fighting despair is to have friends that will go on at great length about how awesome you are isn't the worst message for kids to hear. Particularly as the ancillary message is, 'absolutely stand up for your friends and tell them how awesome they are when they're giving in to despair.' The problem is that every time the basic setup changes the show goes out of its way to tell us that the previous segment was a waste of our time.

Ty and Tandy switch fight so that they can stand up for one another, and that's great. Then D'Spayre shows up and basically says, 'that's over, back to fighting your own demons.' and so they do. The status quo of ten minutes earlier is just re-established, sorry for wasting your time. Then, after they stand up to their own demons, D'Spayre says, 'OK, it's time for the real fight', which is essentially telling the audience, 'everything for the last twenty minutes didn't matter and was again a total waste of your time.'

That's a bad thing to tell your audience.

Like the earlier points, it's so entirely fixable. The only change needed to fix the first point would have been for Ty and Tandy to have independently chose of their own accord to go back to fighting their own demons because they were stronger for having heard the support they'd gotten from one another. Then it would have been character growth instead of just a dismissal of the previous five minutes of screen time. Similarly, if D'Spayre had acknowledged their escape from the despair illusion as a victory for them, or even been surprised by it, it would have read as part of their journey instead of just a way to negate the previous twenty minutes.

So. All that established, let's talk about the good stuff from both this and season two as a whole, because there was a lot of good in both.

- The way they used the metaphor of music throughout the season was inspired, and consistently paid off over and over again.

- The bait and switch when they made us think Mayhem would be the villain of the season and then substituted D'Spayre was ingenious and very well handled.

- Ending the season with Ty and Tandy as 'runaways' on a bus felt profoundly right on every level.

- Brooklyn McLinn gave a wonderful performance as both Andre and D'Spayre. I never saw him coming as a villain even after Lia was revealed to be a baddie, and any man who an make playing the trumpet seem viscerally aggressive is a force to be reckoned with.

- The image of Tandy jumping out of Cloak's darkness while hurling light is something I've waited my whole life to see and I was not disappointed. I rewound that scene at least five times.

(Additional) Bits and Pieces:

- Evita got short shrift. They really rushed her breaking things off with Ty in order to facilitate Ty and Tandy heading off to a possibly romantic relationship. We never even got to see the scene where they dealt with the fallout from her marrying a Loa and getting angry with Ty for reasons I'm not entirely clear about.

- That said, Noelle Renee Bercy did a great job here with the one plot point that was just irredeemably stupid. There was absolutely no real justification for her having to keep a candle lit in order to ensure that Ty and Tandy could come back from... the dark dimension which Ty has absolute control over making doorways to and from. She was an egregiously shoehorned ticking clock that was given no reason to be there beyond the script saying 'I have to keep this candle lit so that there's some dramatic tension.'

- That said, she still managed to keep her dignity while performing a role that was essentially 'speak earnest french to a candle for fifteen minutes of so.' That's not nothing.

- Did they just ditch all of the supporting characters? Delgado is apparently living in the church, which has become that apartment over the coffee shop in Smallville as far as its rotating occupancy. Ty may or may not be considered dead by the people of New Orleans, including his own parents - the episode declines to clarify anything on this point. Evita blows out that candle and leaves while carrying a sign that says 'my plot function is done and I'm leaving your story now. Tandy's mom helps her pack to leave, which was a nice detail, but we can only assume that leaves her free to recommit herself to pills and alcohol. Mina continues to specialize in anything the plot requires, including independently owning and operating a catscan machine for the use of friends. And Mayhem is hanging around New Orleans. They didn't say where Ty and Tandy were headed to investigate dead girls on a beach.

- Honestly, I've heard worse ideas than completely losing all the side characters for the next season and coming back to them later. That could be interesting.

- Mayhem apparently found Connors body, wherever Adina had left it, and strung it up in the police firing range, despite those places having constant staff on hand and CC television to capture her doing so.

- Lia has apparently been found guilty of something and been given STS (Sentenced to Serve) which is the official term for the folks picking up garbage by the side of the freeway. That's... not what they usually do in human trafficking cases...

- It's unfortunate how much they had to lean into the same iconography from the Avengers movies regarding people disappearing. I feel like they could have done more to differentiate it through the visuals. The interesting difference is that people didn't all disappear at once in this one.

- I have so many questions about the insect women bank robbers from the cold open.

- Bright light does in fact exacerbate migraines. That was a clever use of Tandy's powers.

- It was nice to confirm that the drug dealers are holding to their agreement with Ty.

- The fade to dark with Tandy alone on the bus is called a 'false out'.

Quotes:

Mayhem: "I’m having a bit of an identity crisis. See, I smooshed my two mouses together and oddly I feel like I know less about who I’m supposed to be if that makes any sense."

Ty: "Last time we talked she made it pretty clear she didn’t want anything to do with me." Tandy: "I think she meant romantically."

Evita: "Today we need an emperor, not the clothes."

Real Ty: "He killed Billy." Evil Ty: "Guess who’s still dead."

D'Spayre: "Technically, I’m everywhere. I thought you went to Catholic school, Mr. Johnson."

Tandy: "Switch Partners?" Ty: "If anyone can kick my ass it’s you."

No official word yet as to whether or not we're getting a Cloak & Dagger season Three. That said, what we got here works equally well as the end of this particular iteration of their story or the end of part one of the same. I sure am hoping it's the latter.

Two out of four threatening trumpet solos for the episode. Three for the season as a whole.

See you back for season three, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, as my mother says.

--

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[reformedkingsmanagent]

(YES THIS IS A SUPER LONG POST. I’M SORRY FOR THAT BUT I HAD TO EXPEL EVERYTHING. I PROMISE IT’S A GOOD READ. EVEN IF IT’S JUST TO FIND FAULT IN. I’LL TAKE IT.) (also pretty please send me your thoughts or add to this even if it’s not in support of the bionic boy. I’d really love to hear it all)

Because it’s been a really really really really really long time since I’ve posted any proper discourse on Charlie as a character and I was admittedly inspired by the brilliant round of discussion concerning Vaughn’s grave misuse of Whiskey as a character (which you can find here, please read, these people are grand and most importantly: RIGHT), here’s some rushed thoughts in no particular order.

I’ll admit, when I watched TSS, it ended and I was gung-ho in Eggsy’s corner. I think we all were. There wasn’t any natural opposition worth arguing over, really. The villains were really, really wrong, and Eggsy was purely correct in what he was fighting for.

I didn’t give Charlie a second glance. (Can you believe that? Ha, me either.) They wrote him too one-note. Sure, he was pretty handsome, but not someone I’d think about for more than a second as his rudeness towards the golden boy, Eggsy turned me off, big time.

So imagine my great surprise when I go see TGC in theaters and I’m left stunned in my seat while I panic about my friend sitting beside me immediately judging me the moment I open my mouth and utter the words “I didn’t like Eggsy so much this time.”

Except what I really meant to say was “holy shit, Charlie got an upgrade.”

Because let’s be real, he did! Not just in appearance, though that was a bonus, but you can tell Ed really tried to give Charlie more dimension, even with what little he was given to work with.

In TSS he was a bratty posh rich boy with no real stake in the fight who gave up at the perfect spot to advance the plot (though I have tons of thoughts about how that all could be read differently).

TGC let him grow. There’s a year we don’t know about, but obviously he’s been through a LOT. We see him waking up in Valentine’s bunker, MISSING AN ARM and HOBBLING OVER MANY MANY MANY DEAD BODIES INCLUDING THOSE OF HIS FAMILY. That’s not something I’d probably ever get over, let alone survive.

(Can you imagine his family seeing him get zapped, possibly going over to console him and wake him up, only for their heads to go ‘pop’? Because I sure can.)

We still know nothing about how he got fixed up with all his new gadgets besides that Poppy’s guys made them, we don’t even know how he came into contact with Poppy or how long he was alone, injured, before he got help.

We do know Poppy was aware of what Valentine did, and probably what caused his demise (Kingsman), so did she stop by to investigate? Was she somehow already there and immune from the head-popping incident? Did she come across a gravely injured Charlie and take him in? Or did they cross paths some other way, possibly after he recovered?

If she found him and took him in right away, it wasn’t because of his connections. He couldn’t SPEAK. He couldn’t tell her all the insider information he had access to, he didn’t even know her plans.

So there had to be a level of care there on Poppy’s part. And sure, through seeing how she was looking after him, Charlie came to care for her too, probably using her as a surrogate mother figure after stumbling over his own mother’s headless body in the bunker.

The kid’s gone through some trauma. We have to give him that.

For holding a knife to Eggsy’s neck and otherwise being a non-issue, his whole family got killed. Yeah, them being there was probably a decent justification for what happened to them, but...is it though?

How do we know the circumstances that put Charlie there? His mother there? His brothers there? (Don’t fight me, he has to have brothers with how he acts) His father we can assume made some sort of deal with Valentine. It’s obvious Charlie’s dad’s got connections, what with securing Charlie as Arthur’s candidate in the first place, and we can assume they’re both a bit shady after it’s uncovered that Arthur’s a traitor, but I’m sure Charlie didn’t know the details. At least, not all of them.

His story would’ve ended there if not for Eggsy (ACCIDENTALLY) saving his life, which Eggsy was less than pleased about.

YOU DISAGREE AND BICKER WITH SOMEONE AND THAT’S JUSTIFICATION FOR KILLING THEM?

I’m sorry, does anyone else think that’s a bit...weird? No? Just me? I’m sure this won’t be palatable for most people, but these are things I think about during subsequent re-watches of these films, from an incredibly biased perspective.

So let’s make that clear in case my blog’s existence didn’t already give it away.

YES I AM BIASED. SO FUCKING BIASED. I LOVE THIS BOY AND THINK HE DESERVED BETTER.

Alright. Sorry. Back to it.

So great: Charlie survived, and spent a year recovering (possibly all of it spent with Poppy). He got his voice back via a strange device, and he got a brand new shiny arm to match.

Once fully in Poppy’s retinue, he was finally utilized for a plan she’d been working on for a long time. Those antidote production facilities don’t pop up overnight. The stockpiles of it don’t appear in a few days. Enough for almost the whole population, all across the world? This took planning. I’d even argue this was well underway before Charlie got on board. Him having inside information about Kingsman only helped Poppy feel like it was finally the right time to go ahead with it all.

And it’s not as if he was immediately spilling the beans. Eggsy was established, comfortable even, before Charlie showed back up again. Meaning he kept some of the information to himself until he really trusted Poppy, or, they planned this confrontation for months. Making sure Charlie was ready.

And this is very important:

Making sure Charlie wouldn’t go after Eggsy in blind anger for what happened to his family. Making sure he was focused singularly on their goal of getting the information out of that taxi.

You have to notice some things about the cab fight.

First, Charlie was after the console in the back. Had Eggsy unlocked the cab and left, that would’ve been the end of the encounter. Of course, Eggsy wouldn’t just give up trade secrets like that (which I totally agree with), so instead he forces Charlie into the cab to attempt to get rid of him.

Second, Charlie was not trying to kill Eggsy. He just wasn’t. Flashy fight scene aside, the only moments where anyone was in real danger were:

Eggsy shooting at Charlie (Did he just magically understand that the arm would protect him? No)

Eggsy about to get sandwiched between the two cars (was Charlie driving? No)

And Eggsy swiping at Charlie with the poisoned blade in his shoe, the very same weapon he used to kill Gazelle.

We can assume Charlie wasn’t intending to kill the cab driver. Honestly. He was just saving himself. But yeah, sure, I’ll give you that one.

Charlie’s thrown from the cab, his metal arm left behind, but he’s still breathing. Regardless, he succeeded. In gaining information. Information Poppy wanted.

Did Charlie know what Poppy planned to use the information for? Most definitely. So yeah, while I can sit here all day and tell you he didn’t personally push the button, I’ll give you that too. I can imagine Poppy doing it in a protective, motherly way. The way she watches the progress with Charlie. She announces to him that it’s been dealt with. And then gives him a gift.

Yeah, I know. Arm-Ageddon.

He gets this mere days before the final confrontation. This weighs into how ineffective he seems. He’s not had any time to train with it. He’s had the lesser version of the arm for much longer, but it’s lighter, smaller, less obvious, and less useful in a fight besides for self-defense.

What time has he had to train with the new arm? To get used to the heft of it? Pretty much none, when you think about it. He’s been travelling around for Poppy, for Clara, and most of this movie takes place across a few days. I’d say he’s doing his best adapting.

His whole fighting style has changed. He relies upon it HEAVILY and chooses to anchor himself as opposed to staying flexible and on the move. He’s a heavy hitter now, kind of tank-y, but we don’t get to see much variety. Because there’s not time to explore its many new functions.

In between all this we get a glimpse of how Charlie’s changed. We know nothing about the extent or actual status of Charlie’s relationship with Clara. First, she’s his ex. Then she’s his girlfriend. I get it, it’s “complicated,” we just don’t know. Was she with him before V-Day? Did he bring her on with Poppy? Or did he meet her through TGC?

Who knows.

The bigger takeaway is that despite whatever is going on, they are mostly apart and he definitely warned her about the spiked drugs. Does she listen? No. But what does he do? He personally sees to it that she gets the antidote. She gets cured.

And I’ll put money on Poppy not having a clue.

Why? Because it’s risky at this stage. Also, an antidote was taken by Eggsy as a result, and Charlie didn’t know what became of it. But he had to report it to Poppy just the same. Destroying that stockpile wasn’t his call to make. But was he ordered to get rid of it? Most definitely.

So yeah, sure he’s angry with Clara for hooking up with his mortal enemy and leading him there, but he’s more angry with Eggsy. He doesn’t yell at Clara, though she definitely knows she’s messed up, instead he focuses his anger on Eggsy. He knows if they get away with the antidote he risks his position at Poppy’s table. And that’s the last thing he wants to do.

Because Poppy = mom, and that’s exactly what Charlie needs.

We also get to see how polite Charlie is.

He’s nice to Poppy. He tries to get her to perk up and gives her bits of motivation when she’s down. He indulges her silly hobbies like bowling and going to Elton concerts for two.

He thanks the guy for opening the door at the antidote stockpile because even though he’s absolutely pissed off, he knows it’s not to be directed at him.

He’s trying, okay?

Alright, I know this is stupidly long at this point and I feel like cutting it down so it’s something people will actually read but. I just can’t do that.

Still, I’ll try to wrap this up.

Charlie doesn’t give up Poppy’s information. Whether he knows about the password or not is irrelevant. He struggles against Eggsy, but ultimately he accepts his fate. You can see it in his face.

He laughs. He laughs because he knows it’s unavoidable. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t throw a fit. He accepts it.

Quite different from him being tied to those train tracks, don’t you think?

If that’s not growth, then I don’t know what is.

And let’s point one other thing out.

Poppy’s plan would’ve worked and there would’ve been FAR LESS CASUALTIES if not for the dick president refusing to sign. So while a bit misguided, we can say that not all those lives lost are on Poppy’s hands either. Not that she’s a saint, she grinds up people and feeds them to her employees, but she’s not 100% culpable.

I do absolutely think quite a few people would’ve died simply based on the logistics of getting those documents from point A to point B, it would’ve been drastically reduced. We can’t know for sure.

Holding the population hostage? Super shitty.

Not signing the documents because you’re a holier-than-thou dick? Also super shitty. Just saying.

And if you REALLY want to put this in a grey area, what about Tequila? Not gonna open that can of worms, but the idea that Eggsy and co. are 100% pure isn’t fair. So can we allow a tiny percentage of acceptance of Charlie? Because in the grand scheme of things he’s really no villain. An obstacle? Sure. But a villain? No. Does he have reason to be now if they somehow bring him back for a future film (PLEASE)? YEP.

Charlie’s not a hero. Not even close. Does he have reason to be angry though? Hell yes. Does he do a relatively good job at controlling himself? Yep. Did he deserve an apology, or even a chance at possible redemption? Absolutely.

He reacted to hearing Merlin over the walkie talkie, so there’s some part of him that doesn’t totally hate Kingsman…

Give the boy a shot. Please.

[ralfstrashcan]

Warlock Magic Mysteries

How does magic even work?

That is actually an excellent question with, let's say, less than satisfactory answers from canon. I'm talking about that ley line mess that is 3x02 since this is the only instance I remember where that matter is addressed. Canon aka Magnus says “Healthy ley lines are the energy source for all magic, seelie and warlock alike, but they can become corrupted.”

This statement has two implications, both of which confuse me to no end.

1) Why the hell do all warlocks keep talking about 'their' magic if appearantly they all just suck the same magic from the ground? Or at least need a connection to the ley lines to do magic – a bit like you need a spark (magical disposition) and fuel (ley line energy) to start a fire (spell). Why do the magics look different?

Angry red/orange for Magnus, sleek light green for Lorenzo. (Also Magnus's face I can't. Ok sorry.) Does every warlock add a personal color? I mean I'd buy that from Magnus in a second, and Lorenzo probably too, but why would the other warlocks do that? Seems a little excessive. And also how does that work with the whole Edom Situation. Are there better ley lines in Edom (since Magnus needed to go there to be able to close the rift in 3x20)? Does that mean a warlock is always just as fancy as the ley line he taps into??

2) No ley lines, no magic. We know the Institute is built away from the ley lines

so there seem to be huge areas not covered by ley lines. Yet we see Magnus do magic at the Institute without any problems and it's never mentioned that maybe a place could be bad for doing magic because there are no ley lines.

One possible solution is that warlocks need to recharge (be it magic or “energy” you need in addition to magic to perform a spell) on the ley lines once their supply has run out. Then they can do magic from everywhere, ley lines or not, as long as they are charged. I'd even let myself be convinced that being stored in a warlock's internal supply bowl somehow 'dyes' the magic and, like, customizes it a bit? And therefore Lorenzo could recognize the corrupted ley lines had a specific signature and track it back to the person who did it. (Allow me this dig, he says “You think I don't recognize Asmodeus' handiwork when I see it?” and like.. it was Lilith... Lorenzo, you're a loser.) The same spell done by different warlocks is distinguishable by some kind of warlock signature.

Okay, so far so good. But then I don't understand

a) why a corrupted ley line would have an influence on a warlock who's still stocked up on magic. The fact that Magnus and Cat and every warlock at Lorenzo's party was immediately affected implies that there is a constant link necessary between warlock and ley line while doing magic (which, again, would make doing magic at the Institute impossible).

b) how magical depletion and strength sharing works. In 1x02 and 1x06 we see Dot and Magnus respectively using up too much magic, leaving them exhausted. Dot even says “I've been portaling all over the city looking for Clary and my magic is dangerously low” which, if she could just walk 5 meters and stock up her supply on a ley line, why is she whining? So apparently recharging from a ley line isn't easy and requires some effort? It seems ley lines like to torment you when you're not even tapping into them but at the same time make it super hard for you to siphon a li'l bit from them? Confusing.

It gets even more confusing when strength sharing comes into play. In 1x06 Magnus uses up almost all of his magic and is on the verge of unconsciousness until Alec swoops in to lend his strength. Meaning... taking strength from a person is easier than taking it from a ley line (assuming Magnus has a ley line in access-distance from his loft, which I assume because Magnus is not an idiot)? This doesn't make sense to me. Because shouldn't it be easier to tap into a whole big-ass ley line than into one very contained person with very limited energy? Since this is the natural way to do it and all. If it really were easier to tap into a person than a ley line there would be tons of warlocks keeping slaves to enhance their powers, right? Just like there are blood dens for vampires without morals, and vampires keeping their personal pet humans that they feed from 24/7? Yet no such thing is ever mentioned. And even less slavishly, warlocks don't have familiars either, which... ok I don't really know what familiars do, traditionally, beside being a cute animal sidekick, but usually they help channel magic or something.

Speaking of magic, if warlocks use ley line energy to power their spells, then I don't really understand what Magnus was even doing taking strength from Alec. I mean, it seems a little far-fetched that Alec has ley line energy flowing through his veins, right? Why the hell would the, I don't know, life energy of a shadowhunter be the same as a weird energy line that courses through earth? Are they interchangeable? Does any type of energy do the trick? Could Magnus use electricity from the socket?? Absurd.

But! There is actually an explanation why Magnus uses Alec's shadowhunter energy even if it's not a substitute for ley line energy: Magnus drew on Alec because he was exhausted, too exhausted to tap into the ley line (since that requires energy), so he restored on Alec's normal life shadowhunter energy so he had the strength to tap into the ley line again. The magic flowing into Luke wasn't from Alec directly, but ley line energy that Magnus was pulling again thanks to his little refreshment at the Alec Drink Table. And yes, I'm aware that this sounds like utter bullshit, but to me this makes more sense than that Alec has ley line energy flowing through his veins.

Another thing supporting this weird two-energy-theory is the fact that whatever spell Magnus was doing was insanely strenuous. Magnus is ass powerful, okay. He is the High Warlock for a reason. He moved his whole appartement block without breaking a sweat (1x04), he singlehandedly kept up wards that, when he left, had to be sustained by multiple other warlocks, he summoned Greater Demons as if it's nothing, closed rifts between dimensions..... if whatever spell he was casting to keep Luke alife managed to exhaust him to the point of passing out this must be some really really huge magic. So, with all due respect to Alec, it seems a little unrealistic that his energy alone would be enough to maintain that spell for more than a few seconds. ANYWAY here is my point: If Alec really was just functioning as a li'l crutch so Magnus could tap into the ley line again and this whole strength sharing didn't cost Alec as the donor all that much, then it seems even more unlikely that warlocks don't keep around animals to help them through difficult spells. Is this whole line of reasoning just a self-indulgent explanation of why it's unfair we were deprived of Chairman Meow? Maybe. (I mean a cute cat as familiar, who would pass that up?!)

Still, no matter how you slice it – if ley lines transport magic or specific ley line energy, if you can store it and carry it around with you or need a constant connection to do magic – it all amounts to this: This whole ley line business is a mess full of contradictions. The terms are blurred, there seem to be weird interdependences and no one understands what's going on. Of course all these inconsistencies could be explained by someone just completely screwing over the mechanics of magic between season 2 and 3, but that would be insane, right? I mean, why would you do that? Just for that one action scene in 3x02? Sounds really far-fetched to me.

Magic & Immortality

Moving on to something else entirely. In 3B Magnus will have, spoiler alert, lost his immortality along with his magic and... what. Why. Leaving aside that with this whole ley line mess it's a little difficult to determine what Asmodeus even did, I mean, if Magnus doesn't have his own personal magic store that Asmodeus took... did he steal Magnus's ability to tap into ley lines? What would he do with that? And how do you steal an ability from someone? Can Magnus just relearn how to wield magic? *sigh* Well, magic, so probably not. Whatever the Plot needs.

Anyway, leaving all that aside. The fact that Magnus loses his immortality as a consequence of losing his “magic” only makes sense if his immortality is a result of his magic. And if it is.... does that mean any warlock could just not let his magic manifest that way and limit himself to a mortal life span? Because that would be some interesting news.

It could of course be that Asmodeus demanded Magnus's immortality and his magic as two seperate things. But I find that hard to believe because a) easy for Magnus to bargain that Asmodeus should choose only one thing, not two and b) why would Asmodeus take Magnus's immortality when he can watch him suffer without his magic forever instead? Because I definitely got the feeling he didn't take Magnus's magic because he desperately needed the extra fuel, but as a punishment for Magnus refusing his offer to rule beside him.

To be honest, I always thought that the immortality was caused by the demon blood and not by magic. I came to that conclusion because 1) there are in fact magicless warlocks in the books who are still immortal (and while, yeah, the books are the books and the show is the show it's still supposed to be the same universe, right?) and 2) because of the vampires. They are immortal, too, and they don't have magic (no, Encanto does not count as magic like seelies and warlocks have it, that's just a handy party trick). Sure they don't have demon blood, just some weird demon infection or whatever, but. Demon infection. Not magic infection. So it seems the demon infection is what turned them immortal. (It didn't happen with werewolves for whatever reason, possibly Plot Convenience, or because it would be too much to have all downworlder races be immortal. Or because werewolves are pretty much human while they aren't shifted whereas vampires don't have a shifted and an un-shifted mode. Their change is permanent; turning into a vampire includes dying and waking up again, so it stands to reason that the transformation they undergo is more profound than the one werewolves undergo.)

So yeah, I think I'm pretty justified in assuming that immortality is a symptom of demon components in your body, not of magic. And if Asmodeus didn't make a blood transfusion and refurbishend Magnus's bone marrow I don't see why suddenly Magnus's immortality should be gone.

Same with his eyes btw. This technically counts as speculation but. After Magnus returned from Edom his pretty cat eyes were nowhere in sight. And if Asmodeus didn't put a glamor on him as a parting gift or gave him contacts (which I think we can safely rule out) it means he lost his warlock mark as well?? And just.. no. A warlock mark is a physical feature. Why would it disappear? If he had horns, would they have fallen out? That's just stupid. It's like saying that just because Magnus lost his magic he's no longer a warlock. That's not true. Sure, wielding magic is an important part of being a warlock but it's not the only defining feature? That's like saying a de-runed shadowhunter is no longer a shadowhunter (or nephilim if you want to get technical, since 'shadowhunter' is just the job description.) A de-runed shadowhunter might not be able to access the angelic power, but there's still angel blood cursing through those veins. That, or Maryse is really stupid since she asked Alec in 3x10 to get her a seraph blade, and like Jace said in 1x01 you need angel blood to operate a shadowhunter sword. I don't think she wanted to fight Lilith with a hilt.

So a warlock is a warlock is a warlock, magic or not. And warlocks have warlock marks. And I know this is futile and we'll likely be robbed of more cat eyes from Magnus in 3B (until he gets his magic back at least). I'm just already pre-emptively lamenting the unfairness of it all, okay.

Warlock Mark

Talking about warlock marks, those things are a mystery. When do they appear? Because while that baby under Iris Rouse's care already had fishy eyes

the narrative heavily implies that Magnus's cat eyes only appeared when he was nine.

That, or it took his mother nine years to figure out what his strange eyes meant, since after finding out she immediately kills herself. I mean, this still could be the case but what the hell would tip her off after almost a decade when staring into her son's cat eyes for nine years didn't do the trick? (In the shadowhunters wiki it is also explicitly stated that his mark appears only when he's nine years old and his eyes just look unusually bright before.)

How do manifestation of warlock mark and having magic correlate?

We know for a fact that Magnus had magic very soon after his cat eyes make an appearance - when he finds his mother his eyes aren’t on display, meaning he’s hiding them with a glamor (which, impressive and also thanks for that kick in the feels, that Magnus felt the need to hide his eyes this early on in life).

Maybe the warlock mark developing is a sign of the magic manifesting, meaning warlock children develop both at the same time. An argument against this is that magicless warlocks with warlock marks seem to be a thing, so magic isn't necessary for the warlock mark to appear.

What’s indicative of this theory however is a) if Magnus had magic since either birth or several years before his cat eyes developed then it really shouldn't have taken his mother so long to figure out that her son wasn't an average human boy, like the magic didn’t tip her off but the cat eyes were the final clue. Uh-huh. b) why else would Alec suggest that Magnus wasn't in control of his powers when attacking his stepfather (which happened very soon after his cat eyes developed)?

If Magnus did have his magic since birth / several years ago then he should be in control by nine years, right? So Alec probably meant that Magnus was just growing into his power and therefore didn't have control yet.

It is possible that Alec meant his statement in the sense that in this extreme situation Magnus lost the handle of his magic, but keep in mind that he explains it with “You were just a boy” and not “It was an exceptional situation.”

I don’t think it makes evolutionary sense for baby warlocks to have magic already if intense emotions can unleash their magic beyond the warlock's control. How would mundane warlock-parents ever make it out of their child's first years alive? Imagine a toddler with magic having a tantrum. He would totally level the whole village. Repeatedly. Even a warlock parent would have their hands full with a child that holds so much destructive power.

Personally I always assumed a warlock was born with a warlock mark already (since they are physical features) and developed magic later on with like 5-7. But I get that that couldn't really be the case for Magnus because Plot and he had to get his mark late, and I could be convinced that the appearance of warlock marks varies, like, some have them since birth (like fishy eye kid or Max, who was born blue) and some develop them later on in life – kind of like wisdom teeth: some get them with seventeen, some when they’re well over twenty. Though in that case I would expect the warlock mark to be a necessary condition for developing magic, meaning there's no warlock with magic but yet without mark.

If so, in what time frame after birth do warlock mark and magic manifest, at the latest? Could you go like 20 years of your life without knowing you're a warlock? That's creepy.

Headcanon though: There once was a warlock who aged til 40 before he received his mark and magic, and since he had a midlife crisis at the time he did pretty dumb shit and died after like two days. That's why

has become a winged word in warlock society.

Spells

Talking of the different ages in which warlocks learn how to wield their magic: It always irked me that Magnus had to study physics for decades, get three PhDs, research with Henry Branwell for years just to finally invent the portal, but Madzie who, sorry, probably doesn't know shit about physics can open a portal like a pro. So either all that fancy knowledge wasn't necessary to create the portal – then I wonder why the hell it took Magnus so long – or to invent a spell you have to really understand it but once that knowledge is unlocked to the world everyone can use it easily and doesn't even need an incantation or Madzie is a frikkin physics prodigy OR this works similar to, idk, my laptop. I don't know shit about how it works but I can use it just fine because one day I went into a store, put some cash on the counter and got this amazing tool in return. Do warlocks have to buy the ability to open portals from Magnus? Can he like, implant the necessary physics knowledge on how the portal works into their heads with a spell or a potion? Wtf I have so many questions.

There's another thing: Lorenzo says in 3x02 to Magnus, “More importantly, you know how to use [Asmodeus's] demonic magic.” The statement itself is confusing. Is Lorenzo talking about certain spells? Or a magic signature? Or a power level? Are there certain areas of magic you can't learn unless you go to the Asmodeus School of Evil? Are there demonic ley lines you can only access if you have Asmodeus's DNA? I don't have the faintest idea, but I'm just throwing this in here for good measure.

Conjuring/Summoning Things

I'm not talking about portal travel, because I covered that already in this exhaustive (hah) post. Summoning something seems different from portal travel; instead of opening a pathway from A to B it seems specific items desintegrate from where they were just to reappear somewhere else. And while most of the time it's pretty clear that Magnus just teleports stuff around, like when he steals Alec's stele in 1x09

or when he brings over Ragnor's stuff

there are instances where it is less clear, for example when he serves Alec wine in 1x12

or when he presents Max with a present in 2x08

Like, did he prepare that glass for Alec in advance, stow it away out of sight just for this move, or did he conjure a glass from the cabinet / drink cart and wine from the bottle, all in the same spell? Did he wrap that present beforehand or did he wrap and summon it in one go?

Leaving those minor instances aside where it doesn't really make a difference, there's also this moment from 2x17

and just..... what. Magnus even says that this is from the Cape. Did he just steal a whole ass table from a restaurant? The table is set, so either he ordered the waiter to set a table for them, stack food on it and just leave it there or he stole the table from other patrons that were just about to dig in. What.

I mean, people would notice that, right? I'm pretty sure I would notice if I was at a restaurant and suddenly a table vanished. This isn't exactly keeping the shadow world a secret. And while, yeah, only shadowhunters are contractually obligated to do that, it lies in the best interest of downworlders to keep up the secrecy because uuuuhh humans are very trigger-happy and would probably start hunting them all down if they globally learned about their existence.

Leaving that aspect aside there's another problem I have with this. How exactly does Magnus summon the table when he needed eye contact to teleport Alec's stele?

One could argue that he only stood there to keep an eye on Alec and warn Jace in case Alec noticed anything but a) what are the chances of him being quick enough to warn Jace if Alec takes an unfortunate look at his empty jacket pocket and b) standing in front of the office makes him suspect #1 and he wanted to avoid Alec finding out about his involvement at all costs. So he wouldn't have hung around there if he could have teleported Alec's stele away from somewhere else.

Back to the Cape table, how the hell did Magnus summon it without having it in his sight? All other things – the wine, the present, Ragnor's stuff – were things that were stored in his loft, and that he himself placed wherever-they-were before summoning them. It makes sense that he could get those without looking at them.

But a table? From a crowded restaurant, probably miles away? Please.

Therefore let me introduce my favorite headcanon. Magnus can summon things, which means teleporting them from somewhere else, and he can conjure things, which means creating them from thin air. And this is actually what he does with the Cape table, tableware, candle, lobster and all. And yeah, I can already hear you all yelling about Gamp's Law and how it's not possible to conjure food with any nutritional value from nothing, and that it might be possible to transform but not create something from nothing because physics, but 1) that's a different fandom and 2) it's magic.

So in conclusion I want to ask one very important question:

What's the point of magic if you can't screw the laws of physics?!

(Gif Sources: 1x09, 1x12, 1x12, 2x08, 2x17)

[roswellchika]

On the Roswell Reboot...

Stop reading if you don't want spoilers...also, I should state that I'm a HUGE fan of the original series so...here we go.

1. Theme song? Opening credits? Get new theme song please. I know it's a time suck but, I really enjoyed a good theme song to get me in the mood...

2. Max...you're cute and all but slow down bro. You're giving me a creepy, stalker feel. 10 years passed and you didn't know her that well before and now you're all like I love you?!?! Nooooooooo! You have to build that up. It's cool to have admiration for her, harbor some unresolved feeling or never ending crush but the big L? Slow down mijo. Also, I didn't love how they pass the memories and that scene felt a bit forced. I can't pin down whether it was Liz or Max but it didn't work for me.

3. Kyle...him being brought in so fast to the TOP SECRET ALIEN HUNTER thing is bizarre. What kind of classified, military dude gives that up so easily? I expected a little more on this...felt very rushed and unrealistic.

4. Maria: I get it, she has a different role but, it did not feel like her and Liz are BFFs. Needed some more screen time so hopefully we will get to see more of that develop overtime.

5. Rosa: liking this plot already...I bet alien mumbo jumbo had something to do with her death...called it!

6. Isobel: I don't know how her character will be affected by no Alex BUT... the sibling bond there came across well...so curious to see what she did to Liz to make her leave...this plot will be good to explore and an added dimension to their complicated sibling relationship.

7. Speaking of Alex...OMGGGGGGG!!! I gotta say, this whole thing saved it for me. Michael and Alex. YESSSSS!! I know the Michael-Maria lovers will hate this but...I think this is a good change that adds a level of complexity and can really help explain the mess that is this Michael. I dig it. I ship it. Enough said.

8. Michael: what the f? At first I was like dude...why are you soooooo incredibly hostile? Past Michael was angry, impulsive and short tempered but more than that...he was cold and closed off as a way to protect himself and not let anyone in. That's why Maria worked so well... she beat down that wall. But this Michael....taking the anger and carelessness to another level. Not sure how that fits with him being really smart in this version but, we'll see how they play this out. Also, the bond between Max and Michael already seems so broken...where do they expect to take this? Again, I wanted a bit of a build up to that tension.

9. Social commentary: excellent. Hate ICE, the wall is stupid and loved all the legal talk.

So...will I continue to watch? YES. I will give this a shot...looking forward to seeing the changes but will love the OG 4 ever!!!

[onlyscaryfilms]

Raya i ostatni smok cały film recenzja

https://myfilmyonline.pl/caly-film/raya-i-ostatni-smok-2021/Hi i'm opossum and i find garbageand i just watched Raya i ostatni smok  the latest animated feature fromdisneyif you want to know my quick assessmentof the movie i found it underwhelmingthe rest of this video will containminor spoilers so if you don't value myopinion then i suggest you stop watchingnowdisney's animation seems to havestagnated over the past decadeit's good on a technical level but allof the movies are starting to look thesameaside from the setting and ethnicitiesof the charactersthere's not much distinguishing thismovie stylistically from frozen or moanathere's this one really big muscly guywho kind of just looks like anolder version of maui and even the pillbug thing's face kind of reminds me ofthe slots from zootopiai feel like this movie could havebenefited from an art style takinginspiration from east asian artbut disney decided to just go with theirsafe tried and tested focused groupapproved art stylewhich they have been using since tangledback in 2010.

it's just weird to me that disneyregularly turns out these highlystylized shorts likepaper boy feast or out but none of thoseart styles make their way into a featurefilmi can't comment on the music because idon't remember any of iti think it may have incorporated asianinstruments but none of it stood out tomethis isn't a musical like frozen ortangled so it doesn't have any of thesongs that will get overplayed to apoint of annoyance likelet it go or anything like that but idon't think reya is going to win anyawards for best scorethe movie has a really simple plot whichis to be expected from a kid's movie butthere's nothing original about itit's a basic find the mcguffin storywhere reya teams up with a dragon andhas to travel to these four differentkingdomsto get these shards from some magiccrystal so she can put them together andbanish the evil purple blob monstersthat turn people to stonethe entire second act consists of reyaand friends going to a placelooking for the person who has themacguffin something goes wronga chase and or fight ensues then reyaand the gang escape with a new characteron the teamrinse and repeat it's episodic and feelslike levels in a video gameespecially 

since the dragon unlocks anew magical ability every time theycollect another crystal shardthe movie tries to have this moral abouthow you should trust people but it'sreally muddled because the whole reasonthe world ends up needing to be savedis because reya trusts some girl from arival kingdomwho almost immediately betrays her in anattempt to steal the magic crystalit's during the ensuing mayhem that thecrystal breaks apartand this is what causes the purplemedusa monsters to return from theirbanishmentand they promptly turn reyes father tostone along with most of the rest of thehuman populationthe movie tries to make the case thatpeople not trusting each other is thereason the world turned into a mad maxwastelandbut it was reya trusting someone sheshouldn't have that caused all theseproblemsit's almost like jimmy neutron syndromewhere we're expected to see theprotagonist as a hero for saving theworld to a problem they caused in thefirstplace you can argue that the point isnot that you should trustpeople but you should learn to forgiveand trust people even after they fail orbetray youbut there's a big difference betweenlearning to trust your dad again afterhe misses your little league game forthe third timeand trusting someone who literally beatyou up and stole a magic crystalresulting in the actual end of the worldand killing your familyreya herself is a pretty blandprotagonist she doesn't have any wantsor interestoutside of finding the crystal shard soshe can bring her father backi guess we're supposed to think 

she'scool because she's also a martial artsprodigybut honestly the martial arts aspectdoesn't add much to the moviethere are a couple scenes where shefights the villain one-on-one with thiswavy sword thing that breaks up into achain covered in bladeslike ivy from soul calibur but asidefrom the visualthe fact that she's a martial artistdoesn't really have anything to do withthe plotshe could have just as easily been somekind of indiana jones adventurer typeor yet another archery girl and not muchwould have changedit makes me wonder if the whole martialarts aspect was only included becausethis movie was based on east asianculturei don't know much about those culturesbut i have a feeling that this movierepresents them about as well as kung fupanda doeschina for some reason reya rides aroundon this giant pillbug thing that has abear's faceit reminds me of tentacolino when reyameets the dragon it turns out thismagical creature who avon thought wassome kind of badass hero is actually aloserwhich feels like a repeat of themanticore character from onwardat some point she takes the form of amiddle-aged woman with princess celestiahairand she stays like that for most of thesecond act until she needs to use herdragon powers to save reyawhile in human form the dragoncontinuously misunderstands humanbehavior in ways that are meant to befunnybut it doesn't really make sense becauseshe also doesn't understand aspects ofher ownworld it's not like she was summonedfrom another dimension or somethingreya revives her after she disappeared

500 years priorthat sounds like a long time but there'sa scene where reya has to warn her aboutthese beetles that fart colorfulexplosionsdid those things not exist 500 years agoor is the dragon just an idiot the mainvillain is the girl who betrays reya atthe beginningshe is a princess of a rival kingdom andfor some reasonshe has this sort of punk rockersideshave haircuther mother has the same haircut so iguess it's just the haircut of royaltyin this worldbut for a movie that's ostensibly basedon east asian cultures it really doesn'tfit the aestheticthere's also this little kid characterwho cooks and drives the boat and that'spretty much itand there's also a big strong dude who idon't recall ever doing anything ofsignificance other than momentarilyslowing down reya's questbefore joining her we also get theobligatory non-talking sidekick but thismovie has more than oneand they take the form of three monkeysand a baby who knows kung futhat's her entire character she's a babywho knows kung fuand that's supposed to be funny ialready mentioned the farting beatlesbut the movie is full of dumb humor likethatand i guess that's to be expected from adisney kids moviebut i don't recall laughing at anythingin this movie even oncei looked up what the professionalcritics are saying about rhea and itseems like a lot of them are just givingit praise because it representssoutheast asian culturesand i guess that makes it progressivewell i'm not about to pretend the movieis better than it reallyis just because it takes somedemographic checkboxthe movie doesn't even really take placein any southeast asian countryit's a fictional setting that just kindof amalgates 

all those cultures into oneand i don't know if you can really sayit's representative of any of thembecauseas far as i'm aware none of the plot orcreatures seen in the movie haveanything to do with any mythologies orfolklore associated with those culturesexcept for maybe the dragon that isunless farting beetles have someconnection to buddhism that i'm notaware ofbeyond there being southeast asianpeople in the movie i don't know if hasanything at all to do with thoseculturesso if you're southeast asian and you'relooking for a movie that represents yourculturei would say you should look elsewherebut most of southeast asia doesn't evenget disney plus so i guess most of youdon't even really have much of a choicein the matter anywayat least not legally if i were to givethis movie a numerical score it would bea 6 out of 10.overall i wouldn't say reya in the lastdragon is badbut i have little to say in its defenseit didn't make me angry and i wasn'tboredbut it's definitely not worth payingthirty dollars to watch out disney plusor however much it would cost to see itin a theater if you need something tokeep your kids quiet for a couple hoursyou You can watch the move here:

Raya i Ostatni smok 2021

Thanks for writing!