#the disney infinity figures did it too

[anonmonitor]

Looking closer at the new lightcycle designs and they have 2 discs?????

[insanityclause]

Over the past 13 years, Tom Hiddleston has died more times than he can recall. “Let me think about this,” the actor tells us, pausing to count in his head. “I think, officially, there were two big ones.” 

He’s referring to his many exits from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the blockbuster franchise in which he’s played shape-shifting Norse god Loki Laufeyson since Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film “Thor”—the son of Asgardians Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (Rene Russo), and the half-sibling of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the god of thunder. 

The character has since bounced between villain and reluctant antihero across five films, a handful of post-credits scenes, and Michael Waldron’s Disney+ spinoff series “Loki,” which Hiddleston also executive produces. The show wrapped its second—and supposedly final—season last November. The finale presents an end for the character, but not one of the aforementioned “big ones.” 

Hiddleston’s first “official” farewell came in Alan Taylor’s 2013 sequel “Thor: The Dark World,” which saw the god of mischief take a sword to the chest to save his beefy brother. “As written in the first script, it was a true sacrifice,” Hiddleston says. Unfortunately for Marvel’s long-term plans, the actor had done too good a job playing the trickster.

“When Marvel [executives] were testing the movie, they’d given [viewers] questionnaires that said, ‘Is there anything you didn’t understand?’ ” he remembers. “Literally every single audience member said, ‘Well, obviously, Loki’s not really dead.’ ” 

In classic comic-book fashion, the character did return, gallivanting alongside his brother in Taika Waititi’s 2017 follow-up “Thor: Ragnarok.” He died again one year later (“big one” number two) in the Russo brothers’  “Avengers: Infinity War.” There were no smokescreens or questionnaires this time; audiences watched as Loki’s neck was crushed by the purple fist of intergalactic warlord Thanos (Josh Brolin). 

Hiddleston remembers arriving in Atlanta to shoot his final scene and immediately bumping into Brolin. “He came up to me, gave me this huge hug, and said, ‘I’m so sorry, man.’ ” 

He meant it, too; everyone meant it. The sun, it seemed, had actually set on Hiddleston’s MCU journey. “At the end of that scene, I got a big round of applause, and everybody was so sweet and kind and gracious,” he says. “I got notes and emails saying, ‘Tom, you’ve done so much for us—what a journey. Come and see us anytime.’ I really thought that was the end.” 

And it was, for real, right up until it wasn’t—when the time-traveling shenanigans of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” blasted a younger version of Loki out of the established canon and into his own series. Over two seasons, the multiversal storyline envisions the title character as a figure who exists outside time and space. Across all there is, was, and may come to pass, there will always be a Loki, in some form, wreaking havoc. 

Hiddleston has long since accepted what this means for him as an actor. Maybe “Loki” Season 2 really was his last time in the role; or maybe he’ll play him until the sun burns out. “I’ve realized that, in human consciousness, that’s who Loki is,” he says. “Loki is this ancient, mythic character, who, in our collective mythology, represents the trickster, the transgressor, the boundary-crosser, the shape-shifter—somebody who’s mercurial and spontaneous and unpredictable who will always confound your expectations and wriggle out from underneath your certainties and convictions. Someone who we need and [who] is necessary.”

Hiddleston pauses, getting emotional. “Maybe Loki escaping death a couple of times is sort of an emblem of who he is in our culture,” he says, grinning at his own gusto. The actor has a habit of being self-deprecating about the depth of the character’s lore. “I spend a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.”

You can tell, and it’s incredibly endearing. Talking to Hiddleston about Loki feels like discussing Shakespeare’s Richard III with Laurence Olivier or Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois with Jessica Lange. They were actors who put their definitive stamps on those roles by returning to the well and constantly digging deeper. 

In conversation, Hiddleston is equally as likely to reference comic-book arcs as he is the ancient, anonymous Old Norse scribes of the “Poetic Edda” or Richard Wagner’s epic four-cycle opera “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” He speaks reverently of actors who embodied the trickster god before him, like Jim Carrey in Chuck Russell’s 1994 comedy “The Mask” and Alan Cumming in Lawrence Guterman’s 2005 sequel, “Son of the Mask.” He also heaps praise on those who played the part after him, such as his “Loki” costars Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Deobia Oparei, and—in one very surreal Season 1 moment—“some alligator they found somewhere.” He cites legendary Marvel creators Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Walter Simonson alongside the likes of English essayist Walter Pater and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who once wrote of life as a “splendid torch” to keep burning for those who follow.

“Loki is ‘a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment,’ ” Hiddleston quotes, “and I want to make it burn as brightly as I can before passing it on to future generations.” 

This level of study started before he even landed the role. He recalls the 24 hours leading up to his “Thor” audition, when he was 28 years old. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2005, he quickly earned small-screen and stage acclaim—but he hadn’t yet achieved a major breakthrough. When he received the script for “Thor,” it felt familiar. “I remember thinking, This is almost Shakespearean, this language,” Hiddleston says. “What’s the best example I can [look to] of an actor who managed to humanize and make real this elevated world of myth?” 

He found the answer in Christopher Reeve, who played the title role in Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster “Superman.” “He’s masterful in that film,” Hiddleston says. “In a way, it’s a similar premise: He’s a god or he’s a being from a different realm, and it’s not naturalistic in the way that we might expect. He does it so truthfully, and it’s so clear and clean and open and honest. I thought, If I can even approximate or get close to the kind of clarity that Christopher Reeve had in those films, I’ll be lucky.” 

And then, the morning of his “Thor” audition, Hiddleston went for a run, “which is my habit before doing anything unusual,” he explains. 

Running has remained a constant throughout the actor’s MCU tenure. At any given moment over the last decade, the god of mischief was likely doing laps around Marvel’s go-to shooting location, Pinewood Studios (now Trilith Studios) in Atlanta. “Life is movement; I really believe that,” Hiddleston says. 

“I find when I’m running or walking, the repetitive nature of it relaxes the mind and allows ideas and inspiration to come from a deeper place. I see my work as an actor—especially in preparation for a project or a scene—as almost preparing myself to be open and ready to receive ideas, to receive energy from other actors, to receive energy from my imagination.”

Hiddleston found the technique particularly helpful when he was filming a scene for the “Loki” series premiere that he calls “one of the most thrilling challenges I’ve ever had as an actor.” In it, Loki has been poached from the flow of time itself by the temporality-policing Time Variance Authority and forced to watch what is, essentially, a highlight reel of his entire MCU arc. It’s one of the most deeply existential moments you’ll ever find streaming alongside the likes of “Bluey” and the “Cars” movies. Here is a man watching the sum total of his life—his hopes, his dreams, his failures, his own death—play out in a 30-second clip that ends with the cold, clinical words: “End of file.”

“I just kept imagining: If you were afforded the opportunity or forced to watch your own death as a bystander, it would bring about an existential shock and crisis unlike any other,” Hiddleston explains. “It was a scene where I thought, I don’t have a reference for how to play this. I just have to allow shock, disgust, disgrace, shame, disbelief, acceptance, incredulity, and sorrow to exist in the center of me.” 

As an executive producer on the series, Hiddleston had a say as to which of Loki’s many misdeeds would play in the sequence. He chose clips like Frigga’s death in “Thor: The Dark World” and his father’s final words in “Thor: Ragnarok”—moments Hiddleston knew would most fill the character with regret. As production was preparing to shoot the scene, he asked first assistant director Richard Graves for a 20-minute warning.

 “I decided to jog around the stage and internalize as many of those memories of those people, those characters, those actors [as possible]—to try and find the center of my own vulnerability,” Hiddleston says. “Part of the joy of it was just going back to basics, trying to simplify this very complex thing…. Go for a jog, get into your body, allow yourself to be open, and just be there; just feel it.”

One “Loki”-like time jump later, Hiddleston found himself in a similar situation as he was preparing to shoot his final moment of Season 2—a scene that effectively caps Loki’s 13-year arc. Across 12 episodes, the show guided its title character toward a truly heroic end: With all of existence on the verge of collapse, he steps out of time to tie the strands of every reality together. As the credits roll, Loki sits at the center of time, holding in place all that is—alone. 

It’s a lot for any actor to internalize, especially one who’s performing solo in front of a blue screen. With 45 minutes to cameras rolling, episode co-director Aaron Moorhead made a suggestion. “He said to me, ‘Why don’t you go back, if you can bear it, and watch some of your work [over] the last 15 years?’ ” Hiddleston remembers. “ ‘Take it in, see what it means to you, and then carry it when you step out onto the stage.’ ” 

The actor took Moorhead’s advice to heart. And suddenly, without meaning to, he was mirroring the moment that started the series: absorbing the sum total of Loki’s MCU run. But this time, his regret had been replaced with gratitude. Hiddleston watched clips from “Thor,” remembering a time when he and Hemsworth had yet to ascend to the A-list. He recalled working with powerhouses like Hopkins and Russo, and the bonds he forged with the “original six Avengers” in 2011. He thought about how fun it was to film “Thor: Ragnarok” with Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum, and of the more recent friendships he found with his “Loki” castmates Di Martino and Owen Wilson. 

“I thought, What Loki is doing, he is doing for his friends. And so, Tom, why don’t you do it for your friends?” Hiddleston says. “That’s where the two of us met in that moment. And then I was so grateful I had this most amazing crew, and we did it together.”

The actor is, of course, noncommittal as to whether this is actually the end of his MCU run. The franchise is scheduled out until at least 2027, and Hemsworth has mentioned his desire to make another “Thor” film. And if Loki’s past has proven anything, even the most official endings can be undone. 

Either way, it seems to Hiddleston that something significant has ended, even if it’s just Loki’s full-circle arc. “I hope it feels redemptive because his broken soul is partially healed; and you see that this character, who is capable of love, has made a decision from and for love,” he says. The actor cites the “beautiful prologue” of the first “Thor” film, in which Hopkins’ Odin tells his two sons: “Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings.”

“At the end of Season 2, Loki is sitting on a kind of throne; but it’s not arrived in the shape he expected, and there’s no glory in it,” Hiddleston explains. “There’s a kind of burden, and he’s alone. He’s doing it for his friends, but he has to stay there without them. There’s a poetic melancholy there which I found very moving.”

For now, Hiddleston “can’t even conceive” of his life without Loki. He only hopes that he’s lived up to his guiding ethos as an actor, which he sums up with a plea from E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howards End”: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.”

“The feedback loop for actors is that we get to inhabit a fiction,” Hiddleston says. “But hopefully, that fiction bears the shape of a truth that we recognize about life—that what we do reflects the ups and downs, the peaks and troughs, and the breadth and profundity of all of our lives.”

Hiddleston exists in that space between fiction and reality, the work and the resulting art, the prose and the passion. Long after we’ve moved on from our interview and started casually discussing the cherry blossoms blooming in New York, his eyes light up. He’s made another connection, remembered one more thing—just one last thing he’d like to impart about Loki. 

He spends a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.

“I’m so aware that the reason I’ve been able to play him for so long is because of the audience’s curiosity and passion,” Hiddleston says. “I’ve been delighted to find that for a character of such stature, he’s remarkably human. Many of the characteristics that people connect to in Loki are deeply human feelings. That’s been the pleasure, is infusing this elevated character with humanity.”

Even then, honestly, it feels as if Hiddleston, like Loki, could go on forever. Unfortunately, outside of the MCU, time moves in only one direction. Once again, he has to run.

This story originally appeared in the June 6 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe to In the Envelope: The Actor's Podcast to hear our full conversation with Hiddleston (out 6/6). 

[speared-mint]

Showing off my wreck it Ralph merchandise collection!!🏎️🏁🏅

(I did not directly support Disney, all of it was either second hand or custom-made)

My WIR collection is my pride and joy! :D

I cherish every piece of merchandise I currently own! Here is a list of everything seen in this picture:

Two custom turbo figures (one that’s next to the funko was made by me, the other was gifted to me by my bestie), Turbo funko pop, 5 Disney lorcana cards of king candy, his cybug form, turbo, vanellope and taffyta in a watermelon variant (and the bad-anon card which is currently in my purse), King candy Disney 100 card, Ralph and vanellope Disney infinity figures, Wreck it Ralph sticker book, Turbo acrylic charm from “IzukoShopART”, Wreck it ralph D-Stage figure, Two WIR dvds, One Disney villains varient of the WIR dvd, Two WIR Blue Ray Discs, One RBTI blue Ray disc, Fix-It Felix plushie, RBTI Crew member Shirt, Vanellope earring studs from “TinkImaginEars” on Etsy

I also own all of the sugar rush racer scented plushies! Rancis and swizzle came with some tags which I carefully removed in a way where I can easily slot them back on! ^_^

(I also have the WIR artbook for the first movie but it was just out of view and I’m too unbothered to take a photo of it with the other stuff atm sorry)

[msi-obsessive]

I realized I never did an intro post.. I’d do one using the layout my husband made for his discord server. Plus/Minus a few things. lol

Username most used/Nickname: VictoryFire88/Ray

Age: 36

Location: North Dakota

Favorite TV shows: Quantum Leap ( both versions ) Doctor Who, Steve Universe, Hazbin Hotel and Helluvaboss

Favorite movies: Rock Horror Picture Show, Shocktreatment ( Rock Horror’s less popular sequel ) , Phantom of the Opera ( 2004 version ). 90s Disney Movies, Harry Potter ( but JK rowling can suck ass! )

Favorite games: Omnimusha 2 , a lot of other old PS and PS 2 games. Pokémon as a whole!

Favorite food(s) and drink(s): Chicken Tika Masala, Pizza and flavored Sparkling water

Hobbies: Craft stuff ( mostly greeting cards and polymer clay figures )

Favorite Animal(s): Puffins, Penguins, Crows.. Fuck it.. I like birds! lol

Favorite bands/artists and fave albums:

Listing this one..

1. Green Day-American Idiot and Dookie

2. Fall Out Boy- Infinity on High and Folie A Duex

3. My Chemical Romance- Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade

4. Good Charlotte- Chronicles of Life and Death ( Death Version ) and Good Morning Revival

5. Avenged Sevenfold- Waken the Fallen and City of Evil

6. Mindless Self Indulgence- Tight/Tighter, Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Awfully Sexy, and IF ( added edit: I also and enjoy both Left Rights albums )

7. Cobra Starship- Viva! La Cobra and Hot Mess

8. Reba - Random songs, not any specific albums

9. Random country songs as a whole.

10. Andrea Baanica - Random songs.

Some random facts about you: Listing again

1. I have three mental disorders ADHD, Autism and Depression

2. I disowned my own mother! Thank god my parents are divorced. Love my dad though.

3. I love supporting artists on youtube. Shout out to Coloring Bliss for all her ( and sometimes her husband )reviews! Plus her cute dog Rose!

4. I’m bi sexual but never had a gf.. Women are too pretty! And demisexual. Sexual attraction without love?! Could never!

5. I don’t identify as any gender ( I’m agendered ) But any pronouns are okay!

That’s it! Sorry that this was so long! lol

Feel free to ask me anything anything you might be curious about.

[thebrownssociety]

Do you have any headcanons on how Public Domain is seen by Toons? I envision that as ... retirement: on January 1st, there's a big party in which the "Public Domainers" receive a gold watch and a plaque thanking them for their service. After that, they're free to go around Toontown to either rest and relax and fulfill their own dreams. Some even came back to the scenes (case in point: Daffy I, the super-silly one from the origins, that came back to Warner Bros after The Looney Tunes Show)

The "Swirly D" (heh, no names given here) scared the actors, telling them that if they ever went into Public Domain, they'd be left alone with their old arch-enemesis (Fleischer Brothers actors) and "those [religious slur] disrespectful know-it-alls" (Looney Tunes). So "Double M" saw many of his friends and siblings finally going into Public Domain and enjoy their newfound freedom missing them dearly ... (is this too "schmalzily-heartwrenching"?)

So...I'm only responding to the first paragraph because I didn't understand the second [Swirly D?].

All of the Toons are trademarked, so they can't really be used outside of Disney/Looney Tunes. As found out when I googled if Mickey is in the public domain. 'Trademark and Rights: While the copyright has expired, Disney still holds the trademark on Mickey as a “corporate mascot and brand identifier.” Creators will not be able to produce any work that deceptively fools consumers into thinking their Mickey is affiliated with Disney. The company will actively safeguard against unauthorized uses of Mickey and other iconic characters'

So basically Mickey can be used but VERY limited. So, did he have a celebration? Yes! Like other Toons who enter the public domain, he got a letter from the head of his company at the time and had a party.

I don't know if anyone's seen pictures of the parties after the war, but it was that kind of thing. A day of work for the Toons [Disney Toons only] and a buffet that stretched out for infinity. Mickey himself mainly left the other Toons to their own devices, but he did have a celebration in his house [Well, mansion] with Minnie, Goofy, Max, Donald, Huey, Dewey and Lewie as well as Oswald and Ortensia. He also invited Bugs, Daffy, Porky and Elmer. [He gets on quite well with Bugs, if you invite Bugs you've got to invite Daffy. The two of them basically dragged Porky and Elmer along, figuring Mickey wouldn't mind. Luckily he didn't.

[gloriousburden]

can u show us ur Loki merch haul or list the items u have? :D -🔎

I REALLY WANT TO I’VE BEEN MEANING TO FOR THE LONGEST TIME IT’S JUST I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF IT’S SCATTERED EVERYWHERE IN MY ROOM 😭😭😭😭

Ok this is just a list I don’t get into many specifics but I’ll post pics of anything if anyone’s curious

Loki collection from what I can remember !!! I may be missing a few small items

- Mind Scepter replica.

- Tesseract replica.

- Officially licensed Loki cape that is based off his in Ragnarok. Came with a horn headband but I lost it on Halloween when I cosplayed him LOL

- Ragnarok Loki nendoroid!! So cute even if I don’t love Ragnarok. I SO NEED AN AVENGERS LOKI NENDOROID OMG

- Loki funko pops… I have the newer Avengers Loki one with the scepter (I posted a pic of it not too long ago), a TDW Loki bitty pop which is the most adorable thing ever I can’t, a What If… ? Jötun Loki + the version of it that comes in like a soda can I don’t remember what it was called, and Thor 2011 Jötun Loki holding the casket of ancient winters.

- A pair of Loki Mickey Mouse/Minnie mouse(?) headbands. One that was released in 2021, one that was released last year.

- A sort of metal picture thing(?) of TDW Loki that I put heart stickers on LOL

- I have the Avengers Quinjet Lego set which comes with a Loki mini figure, and I have another Loki mini figure as well.

- A McDonald’s toy Loki figure.

- LMFAOOOO THE LOKI SERIES MCDONALDS SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE 😭😭😭😭 :)28:$2&$382&3

- The Loki Disney infinity figure. I actually have a big ass collection of Disney infinity figures, but for some reason never got the Loki one back then.

- A figure of Ragnarok Loki flipping his daggers.

- A print of Loki smiling very menacingly that I taped a bow to. (I posted this not that long ago)

- A Loki action figure that talks and came with a scepter!! He actually looks like Loki I’m very happy about him.

- That be more Loki book. I also have an MCU sticker book that has a few Loki stickers in it.

- This Loki nightlight thing.

- A few Loki centered comics.

- A Loki bitty boomer (tiny Bluetooth speaker)

- A Loki wall sticker pack. I haven’t put the others up but I put the big ass TDW one on my wall and put a bow on his head. I posted this not too long ago LOL

- Multiple Loki Disney pins.

- This cool ass Loki mug that have his horns as a handle.

- Two keychains. A scepter one, and one that’s like a cute chibi version of him.

- A Loki backpack.

- Multiple Loki shirts. The first piece of Loki merch I ever got was a shirt that has what I’m pretty sure is comic Loki on it even though at the time I did not read any of the comics LOLLL it was the only option I had. Omg one is a purple long sleeve with comic Loki on the front, but on the back it has multiple Loki quotes on it OMG it says trust my rage on it OMFOSBDKSJDJ I got it two years ago and i’m still fangirling over it. Oh and another one that says ‘Lowkey Loki’ on it?382:$&2!:&2!: I think I have another But I can’t remember rn

- A scepter pen as well as a scepter necklace.

- A literal… Loki pen. A pen, that is literally Loki. Yes, I drew Loki with it.

- A Loki version of one of those little fans that come with candy in them.

- TWO UGLY ASS BIG HEADED ASS LOKI PLUSHIES THAT I POSTED ON HERE NOT TOO LONG AGO HEHE

- Two Loki Christmas ornaments. I bought one recently but it broke smh I need to exchange it.. 😞

- Oh and this Loki horns headband from Hot topic that literally do not fit me they are too big

- Um. Ashamed to admit this one, but President Loki horns that I bought a long ass time ago because I wanted to do a Loki closet cosplay 😭😭😭😭 I hated how they looked so bad but I knew I wasn’t going to find Like.. Avengers Loki’s horns. But i wanted people to know that I was Loki!! Thankfully my cosplaying skills upgraded from then 😁

- Another shameful but not so shameful one because it came from a time of innocence, and naivety... A TVA Loki poster that I bought I think when the first ep of the series came out or briefly before it came out. Actually I’m pretty sure it was before it even came out. I got excited and bought it even if I knew the vibes were off 😞

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

So yeah... That totally unnecessary Nelson Peltz proxy fight saga of current-day Disney is finally over.

Thank goodness. Peltz seemed like he was acting on behalf of former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, another guy who is bad news bears to say the least. Peltz just looked like another old man who plays to the crowd that loves to call everything "woke". While it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that The Walt Disney Company is having some trouble across various divisions, their solution wasn't even a solution. Nothing remotely near that.

Interestingly, Disney finally released their first *new* theatrical movie this year, a $30m prequel to THE OMEN that got solid reviews but struggled on opening weekend for whatever reason. It's looking to perform more like last year's new EXORCIST movie than 2018 HALLOWEEN (both films directed by David Gordon Green), I guess not all horror legacy sequels (lega-sequels) are destined to make coin. No matter, $30m isn't steep, it should make it back eventually if not in theaters. It's a 20th Century Studios movie, so it's no big deal really.

Weirdly, POOR THINGS is one of their few box office successes released over the past 12 or so months, outside of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and - by a hair - ELEMENTAL. 20th kinda came to the rescue there, too: A HAUNTING IN VENICE doubled its budget, THE BOOGEYMAN did pretty good.

All I know is, Disney's probably never going to relive 2019 again... And I feel like they keep trying to make that year happen again... But it won't, because that was a case of the planets freakin' aligning...

I extend that to the 2010s in general, honestly, but I'll focus on 2019...

That year saw the billion-dollar releases of - in order: CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, ALADDIN, TOY STORY 4, THE LION KING, FROZEN II, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER... They got a moderate success out of the MALEFICENT sequel that year, too, while the live-action DUMBO didn't recoup its - ironically - massive budget. (The original 1941 DUMBO was a low-budget picture belted out during the war.) Some 20th titles came out that year, too, most of them not doing great, like the X-Men movie DARK PHOENIX and Blue Sky's penultimate SPIES IN DISGUISE (I call it penultimate because I consider NIMONA a partial Blue Sky movie, their swan song).

Even then, that was a year to die for. But that's the rub... ENDGAME was the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's whole Infinity Saga. 11 years in the making, it's astounding it was able to have juice for that long! Yes, yes, I know, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was the *actual* end of Phase 3... That functions more like an epilogue, while ENDGAME was the big finale event everyone waited for... and of course, CAPTAIN MARVEL benefited greatly from being the movie that preceded ENDGAME. By less than two months... TOY STORY 4 was locked to be big, because TOY STORY 3 made a billion nine years earlier. ALADDIN and THE LION KING were remakes of some of Disney's biggest animated movies, and FROZEN II was a sequel to another one of Disney's biggest animated movies. RISE OF SKYWALKER ended the entire Skywalker Saga... And ending the main story of one of the biggest franchises- You get the idea!

Suffice to say, Disney's not going to have that year again. They'd have to acquire like another 2-3 franchises, and release their finales all during the same year in addition to two other favorites. The MCU isn't the must-see event with each and every film anymore post-ENDGAME, Star Wars' future is probably in serialized shows still, the remake well has run dry and all the biggest Disney animated movies were pretty much covered (SNOW WHITE - from the one that started everything - is on its way, but I see that performing more similarly to DUMBO and not LITTLE MERMAID), and... Well, animated movies that aren't sequels are more of a gamble nowadays.

But it seems like in 2025 and 2026, Disney's looking to keep trying this usual platter of movies that would've been a killer line-up in 2017. Not today. That's how I felt about their offering last year, too.

It's a lot of reliance on the brands. New Star Wars sounds like box office gold, right? Well, two new Star Wars movies in 2026 after all those movies Disney did from 2015-2019 in addition to what seems like a ton of Disney+ shows... And Grogu was super-popular back when he first appeared in THE MANDALORIAN back in 2019... Yeah, like, who knows how those will do... In addition to all the Marvel movies planned, not all of them are gonna get everyone packing the auditoriums - as we saw with QUANTUMANIA and THE MARVELS. (And on the Warner Bros./DC end, SHAZAM! 2 and BLUE BEETLE, even AQUAMAN 2 didn't make half of what the first one made, THE FLASH fell sharply after its opening.)

And then you have the animated sequels, which seem like safe bets. Disney only missed with Pixar's LIGHTYEAR, which was a spin-off that went a totally different direction that seemed to have alienated the audiences that made all the TOY STORY movies the big hits that they were. TOY STORY 5 likely does way better than that, but I expect it to be a box office come down from the last two. It would have to have a real banger story, I feel, to get people to keep coming. I think MOANA 2, ZOOTOPIA 2, and FROZEN III - all from Disney Animation - are locked to at least open big. If they're very unsatisfactory movies to the public - like STRANGE WORLD and WISH were, then they have weak legs... And smackdab between this sequel-frenzy is one original Pixar movie: Space adventure ELIO.... Which got delayed, supposedly because it was a big mess and it needed another year and a half to be reconfigured. Not that that really means anything, but it's sure to balloon its probably already-big budget. ELEMENTAL had to climb and climb to somewhat eke out a profit, ELIO might have even more trouble as an original movie. It's also not known what Pixar's other 2026 movie is opposite TOY STORY 5, though I suspect it is another original, which will make it stick out as well. WDAS' original movies seem missing in action at the moment.

20th Century Studios and Searchlight continue to have the interesting stuff, which I think will last longer than more Marvel and Star Wars movies. Both studios really did become a replacement for Disney's former adult movie label Touchstone, didn't they? And they too have their franchise biggies, more for Disney, with the likes of PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN... Whose new installments come out this year and are sure to do okay. Plus, more AVATAR... And yet those franchise don't feel - to me - as overdone as Star Wars and the MCU. It's been 7 years since the last APES and ALIEN movies, weirdly enough (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN: COVENANT), and AVATAR took a long break before returning with a cluster sequels all reasonably spaced out from one another. PREDATOR/PREY looks to keep going. I also wonder if future KINGSMAN movies are still in play.

Again, it's the little stuff that matters, because wells always run dry... And I think that's Disney's problem at the moment, ditto them playing things way too safe in other areas... I've said that before, but they - specifically on the "Walt Disney Pictures" end - need to just let loose and let a filmmaker just make something dynamic and cool and new. Something that takes the audience completely by surprise, not just another "Disney movie". Something like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. And make more smaller movies, too, and not relegate them to streaming. Little movies like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, HOLES, etc. We're in that scene in RATATOUILLE again where the patrons of Gusteau's ask if there's anything *new* on the menu...

The time is now, Disney. With a new head of your live-action division, let's see what you've got. We're past calendar years locked and loaded with 8 tentpole movies...

[beardedmrbean]

Eh WandaVision was good, great even when it was an American sitcom through the decades and a tragic character study of Wanda Maximoff and an exploration of grief and toxic escapism less so with the finale where they changed things because the audience figured it out and cut cool things like the bunny familiar’s demon form . You can feel that it’s a love letter to sitcoms and it has a good balance between the silly , the scary and the sad. But overall I feel it’s a good continuation of the MCU post Endgame .

Will not comment on anything else post Endgame because I haven’t seen anything else post Endgame(Also didn’t see Endgame because I was pissed off they didn’t tell us what happened to Ava/Ghost and Bill Foster. I was invested in them dammit.)

I didn't see most of them, seen winter soldier a bunch of times because I'd downloaded it and it was something to watch, didn't see endgame or any of the Spiderman solo ones I don't think. Maybe saw 1/3 of the mcu movies that ended with endgame.

Wandavision was a show not a attempt at a blockbuster movie so kind of its own thing, like the "spiderverse" movies with Miles Morales and Spider Ham, which I didn't see those or Wandavision either.

Just they built up the universe to lead up to Endgame, which closed off a ton storylines and yes they are comic book movies and that just makes it so it can be time to start a new story line up which is totally cool.

But they need to drop the old cast and start up with a new one if they want to do that.

At least that's how I feel about it.

The other live action Spiderman films they did were good from what I could see, they helped finish up the story so we know what Peter Parker is doing, in 3 timelines even, which that was great fanservice, Garfield got his third, good to see Toby back in the suit too, he was a incredible Spiderman imho.

Pushing forward from there, there's too much to keep track of, hell there was too much by infinity war.

The well is dried up now, they need to give it a few years and then revisit the whole thing again.

Gonna be rough to top the cast they had for all of those tho, they were all pretty much perfect for their roles, big shoes to fill.

Disney knows that in some cases, be why instead of attempting a remake of Mary Poppins they did what they did.

Gotta find someone better than Julie Andrews, good luck with that one.

[yuuiend]

Week 8: Is this the real life? Is this just…Filters?

The predecessor to filters

The concept of Augmented Reality (A.R for short) was first introduced to the public in 1968 by Ivan Sutherland, widely regarded as the father of modern computer graphics. He created a wearable display system that could allow viewers to look at digital graphics. This device laid the foundations for VR goggles down the line.

After its initial invention, A.R technology did not see a lot of use for a few decades, as most companies saw it as little more than a novelty, because of the impracticality and overall high cost to implement.

That all changed in the early 2010s, in the most unexpected of places.

In 2011, the toy line Skylanders was unveiled to the public, utilizing Near Field Communication (N.F.C) technology to allow players to scan physical figures and use them in video games. This was a big out hit, and soon after, many big brands joined in the toys-to-life trend, including Disney Infinity in 2013 and LEGO Dimensions in 2015.

The next step in the evolution of this trend was heavily reliance on A.R, as public interest shifted from bringing physical toys into the digital world, to bringing digital characters into the real world.

Even though the toys-to-life trend did not last too long, it completely changed the game, and helped usher in a new age for A.R technology, as more companies started to see its potential, which led to…

Filters taking over the world

The first instance of “filters” was created in 2015 by Snapchat. While they may be considered a basic feature now, they were a revolutionary piece of technology at the time. Filters alone pretty much carried Snapchat into the most used social media platforms conversation.

The internet had a field day with these filters, which were viewed as just for fun, with ones turning users into animals getting a lot of attraction particularly.

However, it didn’t take long for some people to realize that these filters could be used to alter your face in such a way that you could look more conventionally attractive.

And once again, A.R technology completely changed the game. However, it’s debatable whether that was for the better, or for worse…

As beautification filters exploded in popularity, beauty eventually became homogenized, and the things that once set us apart and made us beautiful in our own ways became unwanted features, things that could be removed and replaced with one simple button, all at the low low cost of your self-esteem.

The negative impact of constant exposure to beautification filters have been the topic of many research papers, and most of them came to the same consensus that the pipeline of using filters can lead users to detest their own features, as well as feeling pressured to conform to one specific image of perception, which often does not even align with their true self, the one that has been buried by dysmorphia and dissatisfaction with oneself (Barker 2020)

References

Barker, J 2020, ‘Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat’, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 207–221.

Javornik, A 2016, ‘The Mainstreaming of Augmented Reality: A Brief History’, Harvard Business Review, viewed <https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-mainstreaming-of-augmented-reality-a-brief-history>.

I.R. Dijkslag, L. Block Santos, Irene, G & Ketelaar, P 2024, ‘To beautify or uglify! The effects of augmented reality face filters on body satisfaction moderated by self-esteem and self-identification’, Computers in human behavior, vol. 159, Elsevier BV, pp. 108343–108343.

[nightcoremoon]

Wakanda Forever was not the greatest movie in the world. obviously. how could it be? their lead actor died before they could film enough to complete so they had to rewrite the whole thing. that always ends up in disaster. except here.

I’m not going to ignore the flaws. studio interference was blatantly obvious. it’s something I agree with them on but it’s still tiring to see every single movie exist as a ploy to sell action figures to little girls while sidelining the character the movie is named after. I can tell they reused shots from the first draft of filming and just mouse dropped them in. the CGI was awful as always post-endgame (and honestly? as post-infinity war) and they used way too much of it. martin freeman was only there because his contract required it and his character had no meaning other to be A White Guy Who Isn’t Evil. the plot was Everyone Is Stupid At Least Once and I hate idiot ball plots, and the character motivation for the protagonist was Why Would God Let Bad Things Happen To Good People and honestly that is such a stupid plot device that has never been done properly (the answer is Because God Gave You Free Will, Dumbass). Ironheart would have been a good inclusion in a movie that wasn’t (supposed to be) about Black Panther. I hate the movie’s title because it’s the most generic possible title that could have possibly been made, EXCEPT as a wink to the audience that just because Chadwick unfortunately passed far too soon doesn’t mean that Disney is going to completely forget about Wakanda (not because they actually care about black people but it’s because they care about black people’s money). and I hate that the way they implemented this is just to have T’challa Junior exist so that we can still have a boy black panther in a few years because god forbid we have a non-sexualised girl stay a main character for more than ten minutes on screen. they got their 4 seconds of begrudging diversity in if you squint and recognize that it’s intended to be romantic and not just gals being pals. and this is more of a gripe but didn’t Letitia Wright get #cancelled a few years back for making a bunch of homophobic remarks? if so then yeah there is no such thing as cancel culture. but that’s more of a gripe.

with that being said:

what a really fucking great movie. I’m genuinely pleasantly surprised that this turned out as good as it did compared to what I was worried it might end up being. the direction was fantastic, the fight choreography made sense, and the film was so pretty, especially in the underwater sections. all of the mayan architecture and culture looked fairly accurate as far as my knowledge of mayan civilization goes. The Protag’s character arc was hands down the best in the series second only to Tony Stark (whose arc took 10+ movies so there’s no competition). the black panther design is definitely the best designed female armor in the series. the fact that the villain being White Imperialism is boring means they succeeded at making it appear systemic as it is in real life, because it’s a very intelligent idea to literally say Hey, Spain was Evil, The US and France ARE evil, And The Victimized Demographics Uniting is the Only Way to ensure White Supremacy loses, but packaged in an easy to digest “revenge is bad” story. and of course having over half a dozen main characters be intelligent & capable black women with agency is such a breath of fresh air… that we’ll probably never breathe again considering how bad the marvels tanked. oh well. and it was very nice to see michael b jordan again.

overall I think I enjoyed it more in a vacuum than as part of the franchise.

[miloscat]

[Review] Disney Infinity: Twilight of the Republic (PS4)

A nice little game in a messy package.

Disney Infinity was this particular mega-corp’s attempt to devour some of the toys-to-life market that Skylanders had created. Like all these attempts it eventually failed, but not before incorporating Star Wars in its third iterative release. Essentially there’s two halves to this game: the Toybox mode with its emphasis on crossover mashups and player expression, and the story sets where you play through a more focused scenario within one of the fictional worlds.

I’m not sure about the earlier versions, but for 3.0 a handful of studios were contracted to create the individual story pack content. The plastic lumps of content and character figures are getting more expensive all the time but the one I was most interested in happened to come with the starter set and so was quite cheap. Twilight of the Republic is its name, and Ninja Theory the developer behind it. I’m familiar with their work on Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, but their involvement with the overall game is deeper than creating this new Clone Wars story.

They were brought on during development of 2.0 to begin a big revamp to the combat system, incorporating their experience with character action games to make the battling deeper and more fun. Apparently the changes were significant and appreciated, and can be seen all across 3.0. Although my experience is limited, I did recognise touches that were familiar from Enslaved, like the clambering system or the cinematic slowdown on killing the final enemy in a group, and the combat is pretty decent for a kids’ game (Traveller’s Tales made similar changes in the Lego Skywalker Saga).

Anyway, my time with Infinity started with exploring the Toybox and its endless menus, tutorials, and loading zones. This mode is an evolution of Avalanche’s work on the Toy Story 3 game, but even after several iterations it’s a clunky mess. Game creation tools inevitably have some jank but I found this whole half of the game to be pretty unsatisfying. It’s too bad because I find the crossover aspect to be a fun idea but even in this sandbox it’s handled a bit clumsily. The more baffling thing about the whole Disney Infinity project to me is the disconnect between the Toybox’s attempt to mash up various properties and the utter restrictiveness of the story modes.

For example, you can either load into the Toybox or the current playset from the menu. Once you’re in the Star Wars mode, only the small handful of relevant figures will work... and even the other Star Wars figures have to be unlocked with collectibles before they’re allowed to participate! My Rapunzel and Merida figures had to look forlornly on as I played through the actual real game part of the game. It really makes the Disney Infinity tagline “play without limits” feel like a bold-faced lie. But accepting that, I was able to play this story campaign as Ahsoka and have a good time with it as a Star Wars game-ette. Like a novella for games.

Twilight of the Republic (or TotR) is an original story, unlike the other story packs which rehash the Original Trilogy and The Force Awakens respectively. It’s set in the Clone Wars and once again all the actors from the CG show reprise their roles, which I love. Ashley Eckstein’s Ahsoka, Sam Witwer’s Maul, Ahmed Best even returns as Jar Jar for more ridiculous antics! To be fair, the story is for the most part an excuse to revisit setpieces and locations from The Phantom Menace (like the podrace and Maul battle in Theed palace) and Attack of the Clones (Geonosis and Coruscant) but with Clone Wars stuff like Grievous, Cad Bane, and Maul’s Mando troops inserted.

The short level snippets are sandwiched between some shallow spaceship traversal, the occasional planetbound vehicle sections, and the bit I most enjoyed: roaming the little hubs. Getting around with Force Jumps and mid-air dashes was great fun, and I loved exploring the toy-like towns to find collectibles and do sidequests for NPCs. Occasionally some minor goodies were locked behind having “tech” or blaster characters, but I still reached the level cap and got most of the stuff just playing as Ahsoka.

Just off the back of Ninja Theory’s improvements to the engine and the otherwise breezy pace, this might be the best Clone Wars game out there(!?); I certainly had a lovely time with it. And it is the only game that was made late enough to use Ahsoka’s superior post-Season 3 design. The greater package of Disney Infinity and how it’s put together is something I’m more inclined to turn my nose up at, just a real sloppy bundle of blah. Those figures though, it must be said the redesigns of the characters almost universally look fantastic!

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Whew--this is a long game. Ha!

I think I'm making too many posts about this game. We'll keep this short.

I completed Tatooine. To my surprise, a lot of characters I've picked up along the way had some major personal breakthroughs.

Mission met her brother's ex girlfriend, whom she blames for stealing her brother and abandoning her on a planet that is later destroyed by the Sith. Later, we find her brother (whom I believed to be on another planet) and he turns out to be quite the dead beat. Kinda like Worm from Rounders. I'm not sure what Mission wants out of life, but I'd say looking for her brother is no longer a concern. She seems pretty done with him.

Balstila met her mother on Tatooine, wasn't expecting that. Her dad died hunting a Krayt dragon. Idiot. He doesn't make it, but he has a holocron that we reclaim. Balstila considers keeping it. She thinks her mother is a shitty, manipulative jerk, and they fight it out. The mother argues that the dad insisted on hunting dangerous game for more money and wanted Balstila to join him--which would endanger her. So the mother sent her off to join the Jedi to protector. Or some shit. I don't care, Balstila seems happy and I'm happy for her.

There was an interesting mission where I had to help a guy from sabotaged robots. I had to hack the droids and figure out some math puzzles to deactivate their bombs. I had been drinking, so it was challenging but there was one answer I couldn't get. I still don't understand it. But it was an interesting.

Tatooine has a large desert area, and while I get it--it's a desert planet and you're trying to show that. It's really boring to walk across an empty desert. I think the entirety of the Disney Infinity Tatooine maps could fit into this open space--and those included towns, Jabba fortress, and plenty of other destinations.

There's a cool thing in this game where I had to interact with the Sand People. There was a choice, I could either attack and fight my way through, or I could steal some sand people outfits (by killing them), buy an expensive droid that speaks Sand People, and then jump through a few hoops to earn their trust. I did the latter. This is really what I was looking for in my Star Wars game: options!

Basically a corporation has set up shop on Tatooine to strip mine the place--only they've learned the planet has little to no valuable resources. Their presence here is a threat to the Sand People who do not want the corporation here, so they attack anything from the outsiders. it's an unfortunate conflict with victims on both sides--but clearly the greedy corporation is the most wrong.

Anyway, they want me to kill the sand people to stop the attacks, but I also need info from the sand people. So I opt to negotiate with the sand people using my robot. They send me on a mission to get water vaporators (not expecting me to return) but I do. At this point I'm welcomed to walk freely among their tribe and they promise to reduce their attacks where they can. I also rescue some Jawas that were missing and find Mission's brother--wow!

Next, I'm led to a cave in another area where a Krayt dragon is. Somehow I've learned that this is where the next star map is, and Balstila's dead father. I work with a local hunter to draw out the dragon and blow it up with mines. Mission accomplished.

Now we've gone to Kashyyyk. Turns out my own Wookie friend was banished from here after he explosed his own brother selling wookies into slavery. The same shitty corporation that was screwing up Tatooine is here enslaving wookies. My wook's brother has taken over the tribe and is collaborating in the slave trade, though acting like he's minimizing the damage of resistance. I'm clearly going to try to find a way to end the slavery. They've taken my wookie into custody and sent me on a mission...I think to kill someone. But I've run into an old Jedi who wants to join me, but after I run an errand. I have to convince some people harvesting the wildlife for testing to leave the planet.

It's interesting, the game has some pro-nature, anti-colonialism values--but I still think it's kind shitty to women. Western movie goers have probably been programmed to assume that the leading male and female characters of a story are going to either hook up or experience sexual tension. Sadly, no one can just be friends anymore. When I try to speak to her, many of the dialog options are flirty, and in pretty toxic kind of way.

Speaking of dialog choices, I hate them. They don't matter all that much, it's not Walking Dead where characters "remember" what you say. But I can tell that they were leaning toward an aggressive, pro-violence player who would want to argue, fight, attack people verbally if not just physically. There's no balanced Qui-Gon Jin options. I love Qui-Gon Jin.

But it has to be hard to try and write for a game like this. You have to try and fit TONS of fiction and characters into this game while giving the gamer some pretend agency over how they talk to people. Point and Click games usually let you select all possible choices before moving on. This game is somewhat similar. You can get into branching conversations, but mostly you can start the conversation over and ask different questions--having a completely different convo. There's only a few unique situations where your dialog choices have a lasting effect. So I'll give them credit for trying and working in some interesting themes--but much of the dialog has not aged well in my opinion.

I'm hoping to continue trying to come up with peaceful solutions. We'll see how it goes.

[robotpussy]

also sorry for not including "i was too poor" as a option this isn't about which one you played its also about the one you wanted the most.

i did not get to play ANY of these games either i was poor too 😭 i got 2 random disney infinity figures for Christmas once and have never used them cause the full game was so expensive

[oh-my-damn]

As a fan, I'm living for these posts of you reading Chris Evans. Omg pls spill on your opinions on him and Jenny Slate. I listened to the Anna Faris podcast they did together while she was still married and the way he was flirting with her was so juvenile and blatantly obvious. Also, his opinions on women's body hair were so ick. Like, not this hairy-ass man calling women lazy for choosing not to shave under their arms.

Tbh the JS situation is hard for me. As I've mentioned before, I wasn't a fan of Chris until Jan 2021.

I worked for Disney and sold his action figures and knew every possible trivia about Steve Rogers known to man. But I considered him the most boring of the Avengers, I didn't even watch the Cap movies before I saw Infinity War (on the premiere cus we got tickets lol) and was thoroughly confused when he showed up on screen bc I did not realize it was Cap. lol. So I was not a part of the fandom when he dated Jenny, but to my understanding, it was a complete fucking mess.

I've learned some stuff about them. I heard the podcast. Back then I didn't realize she was still married. I was horrified when I realized. If you've been following me for a while, you know I have an absolute zero tolerance when it comes to cheating. It goes back to my past and is a non-negotiable.

It was so obvious they were into each other, perhaps even dating (which is just awful, she even fucking mentioned her husband during it and I was like ???), and he definitely backtracked on some of his answers if she said she disagreed. I don't think he should be commenting on women's body hair, but I don't blame him for expecting someone to be groomed when he keeps it groomed himself (I'm the same. I keep my stuff neat, do the same or I'm not going down there. The worst thing in the world is getting a hair on your tongue when you're sucking dick, it's gross af).

The pits I didn't even consider being rude bc he is just a dumb man. His dumb man brain has been wired to think it's gross bc society thinks it is.

Also keep in mind that the man is not very progressive like that. He's bad a technology (he had an iphone 6 up until this year and has been complaining about losing it ever since) so despite him being publicly progressive when it comes to politics and rights (which is actually the reason I became a fan, the way he trashed Trump publicly was an exact match to when I'd drink wine and watch the debates in 2020 and rant about it on my instagram) I don't actually think he's that progressive when it comes to everything else.

I think he believes himself to be a feminist, and I think he also is merely bc he believes it, but I also think he's the type of guy to be so proud of being a feminist that it actually goes the opposite way. That he'll accidentally brush over women's opinions, or talk over them to get his point across, despite his point being about their rights. Idk if that makes sense, but it goes with something Jenny wrote in her book about him not being able to shut the fuck up.

I think Jenny is problematic (I didn't know about the tweets and stuff initially, I was horrified when I realized) and I find it odd that he would say they were "the same animal." That's concerning when she's made such derogatory/just dumb statements in the past. But he's always had absolutely horrible taste in women.

Minka was problematic too, and so was Jessica. I also hate this part but he did hook up with Kristin Cavallari and I can't stand her (Team LC for life baby !!!)

Anywho this is long I apologize lol

[jessiarts]

Art Masterlist

[Last updated: 10 Oct 2024]

Hey, there! I'm Jessi :)

This is my Art Masterlist with links to my art, with posts that you may or may not have seen, such as my Infinity War Rewrite Comic, Morticia Addams as a mermaid, as well as other various fanart and personal art pieces. Also, I used to participate in Drawlloween a lot, so you're bound to find plenty spooky art as well. Oh, there's also this comic, that apparently resonated with way too many people.

My personal art tends to have a more surreal/magical quality to it, as it's usually a way for me to illustrate my thoughts or feelings.

Currently accepting: Open for these! Commissions: Open on Ko-Fi

Upcoming Projects: 'Hey Alice' animation, Yondu comic

You can find me other places here. (<- Linktree!) Prints | Patreon | Ko-Fi You can also check out my FAQ.

List got long so everything is under the cut until I can decide how I want to make it neater lol

Bare with me as the list is bound to change while I figure out how to best organize all my sections lol

Fanart is listed first, followed by my original art. My older art can be found via a link at the very bottom of the page.

FANART

Comics: All the comics I’ve drawn, organized by various fandoms. Some original as well.

Sketch Practices: Compilation of sketches I did after opening requests to practice drawing figures/expressions.

Marvel

Loki - Various fanarts I've done of MCU Loki. Some comics, some digital paintings, and some random edits.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Various fanarts I've done of Guardians of the Galaxy characters. Some comics, some digital paintings and some random edits.

Misc- More Marvel character portraits.

Doctor Who

Are you my Mummy?- pencil drawing (2015)

Impossible Astronaut (2016) | Colored Version (2018)

Will I ever see you again? - Ten and Rose. All the feels plus Circular Gallifreyan (2014)

Well? - Portrait of the Tenth Doctor done like one of those old red/blue 3D comics.

Do you love the color of the scarf? - Color of the sky, but with Tom Baker's scarf and tons of easter eggs. (2023)

Supernatural

Demon Dean - pencil drawing (2015)

Bean Dean - silly vector drawing of Dean Winchester as a bean with a giant piece of pie (2016) | Process video

Rowena - digital photorealism portrait experiment (2019)

Charlie Fix-It - Comic where Charlie lives at the end of S10 E21: Dark Dynasty

Misc - Miscellaneous fanarts that don't fit into any of my larger lists and don't quite warrant their own pages on their own. Various Disney, some Unus Annus, and other assorted fandoms.

ORIGINAL ART

Animations:

Selkie - An animatic of a selkie’s escape to the song, Underground by Cody Fry. (Duet version with CowboyTinkerbell's storyline) (2023)

Spooky Stuff

Pumpkin Carving Stencils - list of my posts where I share different pumpkin carving stencils I've made

Scarecrow - Creepy scarecrow in rainy cornfield with some lightning. More realism experimentation (2018)

Cozy Witch Sleepy Kitty - Cute witch reading by magical floating candlelight while her kitty sleeps next to her. (2022)

Drawlloween 2019- a compilation of spooky drawings I made in 2019. Couple of my favorites include; Vampire, Witchy Toad and Rowena portrait.

Drawlloween 2020- a compilation of the spooky drawings I created in 2020. Few of my favorites include; Autumn Witch, Witchy Kitten, and Poison Bottle.

DarkArtober 2023- a compilation of silly spooky drawings I made in 2023. Few of my favorites include; Mermaid Raccoon, Eyeball Octopus, and Noodle Deer.

Fantasy

Glowy Mushroom Girly - Glowy Mushroom Girly, with some torchbugs to keep her company! (2024)

Blocked - Mermaid trapped under ice (2020)

DTIYS Naga Angler Mermaid (2020)

Dragon - Redraw in the style of stained glass of a piece I drew in 2007. Depicts a fairytale scene of a knight trying to save a princess in tower from a fire breathing dragon. (2017)

Surreal Pieces:

Creation - Magical creativity and inspiration exploding out of a woman in fantastical light (2020)

Black Butterfly - Thyroid piece. A woman with black veins radiating from a black butterfly on her throat. (2020)

Hold Me Close So I Don't Shatter - Woman with light shining through cracks in her body while her partner holds her close. (2020)

Scream - Portrait of a woman screaming as golden tears run down her face. Her eyes glow, her hair whips as though blown by wind. (2020)

Drowning - Woman drowning in a golden sea made up of her own tears. (2020)

Galaxy Girl - Girl made of the galaxy with golden linework. Digital watercolor style (2020)

Blue - Music can help sometimes… (2021)

Floating - Surreal. Woman floating in space. Whales, starfish, trees. (2021)

Hurt - Also known as “Idk sometimes I just doodle to help me deal with stuff” (2022)

Random Stuff -

Noodle Kraken - A kraken made of pasta taking down a tomato ship (2018)

Our Mother is Burning - Climate piece about rising temperatures using actual climate data (2020)

Brain

Creating things - Comic based on actual events [Also known as ‘Sad Blorb Repost Comic’] (2022)

"The wine-dark sea and rosy-fingered dawn should kiss" - Surrealist painting of the sky kissing the ocean. (2022)

Newbie Icons - Just some cute little free icons (and headers) for tumblr newbies so they don't get mistaken for bots. (2023)

Pride Norse runes- A bunch of pride designs I made to to say 'fuck you' to fuckwaffles appropriating norse symbols for their hate. Designs are available for free download to personal use, and also available on Threadless for anyone who don’t want to or can’t print them on stuff themselves but still want something with the designs on it. (Both linked on respective posts)

Writing:

Goals Reached - From prompt by writing-prompt-s on tumblr: "In your world, people receive xp for defeating other creatures and can level up. Swatting a fly gets you 2xp. Beating your friend at chess gets you 65xp. One morning, you wake up to the notification “7,125,000 xp obtained. Maximum level reached.” Only, you don’t remember defeating anyone."

OLD ART

Older work I’ve done. Mostly pre-2018 work or work that I just don’t personally really like anymore, but I keep around because it shows the progress I’ve made over time. Also nostalgia.

[otterskin]

Dumb Details From the Loki Trailer I noticed but then got too serious about

First - apparently it’s not a trailer, so I guess we’ll get ‘Trailer 1′ later? ‘Exclusive Clip’ hardly seems accurate, but hey, I’m not Disney’s marketing division. I wouldn’t live in a shoebox if I was.

Dumb detail no. 1:

Owen Wilson’s jacket is...weird. Look closely.

And another shot:

Yeah...his jacket has a ‘reversed collar’. It’s a cut-out rather than cloth folding on top. Huh. What a strange design choice. What could it mean?

I’ve no idea, but that I watched the trailer enough times to notice this should concern you.

Detail No. 2

In this scene, we see what we can presume to be President Loki’s ‘Throne’. Notice the candy-canes. This is a Santa Claus throne, presumably from some mall Santa. This whole place might be in a mall, judging by the stuff in it.

But the Loki in this shot is not President Loki. Notice that he’s wearing brown pants, a thin brown tie, and the beige shirt he’s seen wearing in other parts of the trailer after he's apparently joined the TVA. President Loki wears black pants, a green vest and a wide green tie with a golden clip that resembles Loki’s little chevron he always has (more on that later).

So it would seem that Loki might meet President Loki here. President Loki might even be addressing him at the end of the trailer. It’s possible that his minions turn on him because there’s two Lokis and they don’t know which is the ‘imposter’. 

Speaking of, there’s a minion with bicycle handlebars grafted to a football helmet here, likely meant to resemble Loki. I dig it. There’s also cans of food scattered among the rubbish here. Makes sense that food production is non-existent since everyone has resorted to wearing license plates and spoons. Love how tattered the whole aesthetic is.

This reminds me of the opening Michael Waldron’s script ‘Worst Guy of All Time’, which featured a similar post-apocalyptic setting after the ‘worst guy’ ruins everything and makes himself king of the ashes. That’s likely what’s happened here, but I hope that Loki isn’t anything like Logan Paul, who was the inspiration for that title character.

Ah, the mysterious female character watching a meteor shower WAY TOO CLOSE UP. But my eyes are drawn to one thing...

What is that oblong object with a shiny handle? Could it be...

A sword? I do love swords. Did you know there’s a bunch of pictures of me in the stock photos for ‘Fencing?’ That’s my cred for loving swords.

I suspect that this female character will be an amalgamation of Amora (shudder) and Sylvie and an alternate Loki of some kind. This sword is currently in her possession, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it or another timeline version of it becomes the Loki Show’s Loki′s weapon. 

Loki has lacked a ‘weapon of his own’ in the MCU for quite some time. I mean, yes, he has his little knives, but they are many and disposable and something he chose for himself, rather than the two legendary weapons wielded by Odin and Thor, Gungnir and Mjolnir. In fact, throughout his appearances, Loki has seemed to want such a thing of his own - he briefly had Gungnir, and then the Gungnir-like scepter, and even tried to lift Mjolnir.

One might ask why Odin would’ve overlooked such an obvious show of favouritism. Why give Thor a storied weapon and leave Loki empty-handed? Heck, even Hela had the Necroblade.

In Thor 1, we might’ve assumed that the Casket of Ancient Winters was perhaps intended one day to be given to Loki, as it is shown with Mjolnir in the Vault and thus connected to it and the children who would inherit it.  But in the comics, Odin did have another weapon of storied history put away for his second son: Gram the Sword.

It was locked for eons by Odin in a special vault which required five keys to be opened, and it was meant to be for Loki if he be worthy.[2] The five keys were infused by Odin with the powers of "journeys", "endurance", "secrets", "new beginnings", and "brotherhood", respectively.[3]

The sword, like everything else in comics, has a complicated history full of take-backs and twists, but let’s just leave it at ‘it’s a representation of Loki’s worthiness and belonging in the trifecta with Odin and Thor as a King of Asgard’. It gives him ‘equality’.

In the original mythology, it’s wielded by Sigurd to kill the dragon Fafnir, and the only relation it has to Loki is that Loki is partially responsible for Fafnir existing in the first place (my username is nod to this myth by the by. Sorry Ottär.) But hey, maybe that means we’re getting a dragon? The Fafnir would be very cool.

Or it could just be a bit of rebar in this mining quarry.

Then again...it appears somewhere else...

It’s easier to see in motion, but that’s a sword swinging on this person’s back.

So the hooded figure is this lady...shall we call her Amylkie? Does that mean she’s the antagonist of this show? Well...maybe, but I suspect the true antagonist is foreshadowed here  -

So, what’s going on here? A young girl (Young Amylkie? Some other TVA prisoner that the guard is watching over? An oracle, A Norn, or a kid who wandered off from the tour group in a basilica somewhere?) She’s giving Mobius M. Mobius a...piece of chocolate. Maybe he saw a Dementor, I dunno. I suspect it’ll be a MacGuffin of some kind later. He looks pretty concerned here, which contrasts with his ‘another day at the office’ blaséness when dealing with Loki. But of course this is the eye-catcher:

So, Norse Mythology. It’s been Christiannized. You can thank Snorri Sturluson for that, but you can google all about him later. Let’s just say that he made many Norse figures into equivalents for Christian ones. Baldur is Jesus, pure and a sacrificial lamb who dies for a greater good. And the devil is...Loki. Something the Marvel comics and the MCU have continued.

Here we have a devil, dressed in green and with a distinct shape on his chest:

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

Ah. I’d say that cinches it. This is meant to be Loki. If you look at the devil’s hair, it also resembles Loki’s, being shoulder-length and black.

So, what’s devil-Loki doing? Laying an egg? Trying out a foot massager? For a second I thought it was a moon, but we see the moon over his left shoulder, amongst the stars. Which means this is - probably the Earth.

...Dammit; I live there.

So Earth is barren and being devoured by flames, likely caused by this Loki sitting atop of it (in a throne, no less). Aw gee, things look pretty bad, don’t they?

But wait - what’s that? Under the Earth (and, possibly, under the earth)?

It’s a plant. A shoot, to be exact.

Back to Ragnarok for a second. Ragnarok isn’t the apocalypse (something we see a lot of in this trailer - all of it seems to be exploring the end of days). Ragnarok is the fire meant to wipe out the old and fertilize the ground for the new. And after the gods have died, what happens? Well, Baldur emerges from Hel, one of the only surviving gods (hmm, seems him dying worked out, didn’t it?). He’s joined by Líf and Lífþrasir, who are the new first man and woman, who’s names mean ‘Life’ and who are pictured, usually, with plants and new life. It is they who are tasked who growing a new Yggdrasil after the destruction of the old. The previous first man and woman are Ask and Embla, meaning Ash Tree and Vine/Elm tree, so there’s a theme there. 

So a new sprout, possibly a tree, growing out of the destruction of the old.

This fits with Loki’s role as understood in mythology. He checks the arrogance of the gods, including when they tried to achieve immortality (sorry, Baldur, nothing personal), and that keeps the gods at their best. After Loki is imprisoned, the gods become weak, unhelpful and foolish, and Yggdrasil starts to rot. Eventually Loki escapes and returns along with Surtur (who also resembles this figure) to burn it all to the ground. This is also referenced in Thor:Ragnarok, with Loki releasing Surtur in the Vault, a place of thematic importance to Loki and one that represents the hidden secrets and sins of Asgard). You could say Ragnarok continued into Infinity War, where Loki played an important part in aiding Thanos’ destruction, giving up the stone to protect his brother and essentially dooming the rest of the universe - but also ultimately leading to its salvation, even if, like Myth Loki, he wasn’t around to see it.

So, we see Amylkie literally start a fire in the trailer -

- in fact, this whole trailer is awash in flame -

It’s fire, fire everywhere and she’s setting them!

It’s possible Amylkie’s our big bad, but I think there’s a chance she’s either a red herring, or, much like how Loki ‘worked’ with Thanos in The Avengers, she is the pawn of a greater foe -

  - a Loki bent on destruction, for some reason or other. The TVA is obviously aware that this is the case, and it seems like they might be trying to ‘fight fire with fire’ by enlisting one Loki to combat another. The villain could be President Loki, since there's evidence of 2 Lokis in that scene - or maybe that's one of many Lokis, and the Big Bad Loki is being played by Hugh Grant as Old Loki. In any case, it would appear that Loki will be coming face-to-face with the worst versions of himself, and many of them. And, if I’m right about this scene:

...Loki will likely eventually discover that even his ‘good’ timeline ended in the destruction of his people and home, plus his own gruesome and torturous death. Although I think the TVA will keep that from him, and just show him the happy parts in an effort to inspire ‘good behaviour’. Until Loki inevitably discovers the rest of how that timeline played out and realize he’s been lied to. I don’t imagine he’ll take that very well...

Damn, even our ‘hero’ Loki is burning stuff down! Does this mean that Loki is doomed, always meant to be an avatar of death and toasty destruction?

Well...let’s go back to that stained glass.

Hmmm...wait...I know that weird horny shape...

And there’s something else...the bottom of the Earth is being lit up, and not by fire. Light appears to be coming off this little plant.

What colour is this plant again? That’s right, green. Green is the colour of new life and growth and change and...hang on, I’ve heard that before, too...

Hang on hang on HANG ON... let me have a look at the shape again.

That’s...a letter. An L? For Loki? Like in the title sequence?

Wait...no, a different letter. An older letter. After all, Loki is old Norse. How do you spell his name in that again?

ᛚᛟᚲ ᛁ -

And ENHANCE on that third letter!

This, my friends, is a Kenaz/Kaunaz, or what would become 'K' in our alphabet. It is also known as the 'Loki Rune' (and the Ulcer Rune, for some reason. I suspect Odin understands why). It’s used to spell his name, but is also used on his own to represent him. Heck, it's even his Superman 'S' in the comics:

Runes are more than letters - they are symbols for concepts. So what else does it mean?

Primarly, it means ‘torch’.

And also ‘knowledge’ (ken). As well as ‘growth, change, the search for truth, decay, arrogance, elitism, feminine, kinship and creativity.’

...Okay, that’s a lot, but you have to admit it fits.

More specifically, it means ‘Mastery of the Fire’. As in, someone who has learned to tame fire so that it is helpful, not harmful. To bring light and, symbolically, knowledge.

There’s another way Loki’s been associated with fire - in the Wagner Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold, the opera that inspired much the Thor films’ aesthetic and certainly their helmets, Loki is called ‘Loge’, which means ‘Fire’. He’s usually dressed to match, too -

Many trickster figures are associated with fire. They are usually called ‘Fire-bringers’ - See: Raven, Lucifer, Prometheus, etc. They are often complex figures with a foot in different worlds, but who nonetheless help mankind with the gift of ‘fire’ - although they usually pay for it, and tend to be self-destructive.

(Side note. Lucifer means light-bringer, which is what luciferase is named after. Because it glows. Which is helpful in labs. In case someone needed to know that.)

Moving from a destructive fire-starter to a fire-bringer seems like a great character arc for Loki to take, especially given his rehabilitation in pop culture, the comics, and even wider culture. Loki has gone from being seen as an evil, deviant, destructive character to one who’s seen as a patron of the arts and creativity, of stories rather than lies. Heck, some scholars of Norse Mythology even posit that he’s the closet thing to a protagonist Norse Mythology has, so I guess that backfired, Snorri!). Being dressed in green and with the sprout clearly also being stylized after his Kaunaz, there’s foreshadowing that he’ll be capable of growing good things even out of ashes.

So, to sum up: Being ‘Satan’ sounds pretty bad, but with a little letter re-arranging like we see in the title sequence, you can be...

...practically a saint. Maybe even a saviour.

Merry Christmas, everybody.