#the motivations and characters were all super out of plot most of the time and the songs weren't as good as season 1 imo

[comicaurora]

hi red!! i'm doing an analysis of sun wukong's (and journey to the west in general's) impact on modern culture for my world mythology final, and for some reason i'm having a hard time finding sources. is there anything you can recommend?

The fact that Journey to the West has contributed an enormous number of tropes to modern media is very clear when the media in question is examined, but I don't know of a specific secondary source that's already done that analysis for you. However, this IS a very good excuse for you to plow through a metric buttload of shonen manga, since the lineage is basically Sun Wukong -> Son Goku -> like a solid third of all shonen action heroes written in the last forty years.

Dragon Ball kicks things off:

Started in 1984 and almost unquestionably the most influential manga ever made. Its first arc features the weird super-strong monkey-kid Son Goku - which is just the japanese pronunciation of the characters of Sun Wukong's name - meeting up with a wacky crew of thinly-veiled expys of the Journey to the West crew, with teen inventor Bulma filling the role of Tripitaka, Oolong the pig-man filling Zhu Bajie's role and Yamcha the desert-based bandit as Sha Wujing.

Hijinks ensue, and while the story drifts pretty far from Journey to the West's original plot, it actually stays pretty solidly referential in weirdly unexpected ways. Several the villains of the week are JttW references, and even the later appearance of three more Saiyans lines up with the surprise reveal of three more Wukong-like mystical apes in the original story.

The connection between Dragon Ball and JttW is very unsubtle and a frequent reference in the chapter covers and supplemental art.

Not every subsequent JttW reference is the result of Dragon Ball popularizing it or anything, since it was already enormously popular, but I think it's pretty hard to extricate Dragon Ball's influence on anime and manga from the original influence of Journey to the West itself.

One way that a distinction can be drawn is in the differences in characterization between Goku and Sun Wukong himself. A lot of the next generation of shonen protagonists were kind of Goku-alikes - pure-hearted dumbasses who only care for the three Fs: Food, Fighting and Friendship.

But the original characterization of Sun Wukong is not really all that similar. He's a trickster, sure, but he's far from a young, friendship-motivated goober. He's profoundly intelligent, pretty much the most well-educated entity on the planet, and routinely brings up that he's centuries older than most of his peers. The Goku-alikes from the later decades of shonen anime are tellingly far-removed from that original characterization. So you get characters based on Goku's cheerful idiocy, but it's just a small subset of the broader influence of Journey to the West on the space of literature.

In general, Journey to the West frequently shows up in very small, bite-sized tropes in other stories. It's less "this is wholly based on Journey to the West" and more "oh, I know where they maybe got this idea/aesthetic/power/weapon/villain of the week from." There are way too many to list, but some of the ones that tend to jump out at me are-

Sneaky characters with monkey motifs:

Tricksy, highly mobile characters who fight with a staff:

Characters afflicted with a magical restraint artifact that allows a much weaker character to stop them from misbehaving:

Specific esoteric weapons, eg. magical fans, rakes, gourds, namedropping The Sword of Seven Stars, etc.

Villains with prominent ox or pig design motifs:

Characters whose primary combat strat is just making Shitloads Of Disposable Copies Of Themselves:

Honestly it just keeps going like this. It's kinda everywhere. Finding the JttW in things is my favorite conspiracy theory rabbit hole because it's 100% harmless and more often than not completely correct.

[vi-as-in-violet]

i think the main feeling i have about this season so far is that i crave to see MORE, but not in a good way. i love the themes this season is working with, i love the conflicts, i love the characters but it feels like i don't see enough of the story playing out and it leaves me feeling like something is missing.

I wanted to SEE and experience the underground resistance growing, i wanted to actually see how Jinx became a symbol and how that united the underground. I wanted to see the process of it and how it affected her! I feel like the writers really should've gone with the traditional show-don't-tell rule here instead of just showing us the aftermath which left me with exactly zero emotions about such crazy impressive and important events. The entire Underground got united (!!!!) but we saw zero of the unification process and got like two scenes before they were all arrested, released and then the entire revolution idea was completely forgotten and not addressed once in the rest of the act (as far as I recall).

Jinx was clearly struggling with the newfound worship, so much so she went into HIDING. how must've she felt knowing that so many people find hope in her when she sees herself as a literal jinx? how did she deal with becoming people's hope instead of their curse? I wanted to see her work through this so bad since that is what Arcane has always been good at, it's what season one did so well - it walked you through the emotions and motives and therefore, the conclusion to personal plot lines felt SATISFYING and left massive impression. this was completely missing for me this act for most plot lines

Same goes for pitfighter!Vi and her descent into self-destructive hell. We don't get to see the emotional fall out of her being fucking punched and left lying on the ground by the only person she thought she had left - we just got a montage showing the aftermath of her spiraling. which is cool but it left me with feeling pretty much nothing about it all because seeing the conclusion to her struggling without the build-up just fell flat for me. i was looking forward this specific internal conflict of the protector archetype with nothing left to protect and therefore completely losing themselves before finding their purpose again SO much and it ended up being completely brushed over. i wanted to be able to pick Vi's thoughts apart when she was at her lowest point in life since her time in the jail and see how her behaviour and relationship with people/alcohol/violence changes in the process. like later in act 2 when she punches Isha, she doesn't even react (holy shit?). that is SO far from the Vi we saw in act 1 of this season and it feels super out of character because we did not actually get to SEE her behaviour and priorities changing - we can obviously figure out the reason and understand why she ended up this way but since we weren't actually shown how it happened, it still initially felt like it came out of nowhere and majorly ooc for the character we've known so far

and don't even let me start with Cait and her dictator arc. I was getting ready for the emotional fall out and internal conflict and the political powerplay with Embessa but we got SO LITTLE of it. i could go on and on about this but i feel like a lot of people might agree her dictator arc was pretty underdeveloped so I am not going to discuss it further (plus the immediate switch when she met Vi again was just ??? because we can't really see how she feels about this entire thing with the exception of her thinking Embessa is too brutal and that it seems to be weighting on her. PLUS she has at least a situationship with that sunshine enforcer and even tho she is clearly mentally elsewhere, we have no reason to think she is still pinning after Vi?).

I'm not even going to address Jayce because What.

On a positive note, I think Victor's arc has been handled pretty damn well. But aside from that, this season just leaves me craving more and it is quite clear to me the writers absolutely did not have enough time (nine episodes is not a lot) to develop the story they wanted to portray in full.

Now, I watched the latest three episodes while on a plane and since the act is so plot heavy, i might have totally missed or misunderstood something, lemme know if that is the case

i am super interested in how's everyone feeling about this so feel free to add your thoughts!!!

[sapphic-agent]

Trios that would have been more compelling and less obnoxious than the "Wonder Trio":

Izuku, Tenya, Ochako: This needs no explanation

Izuku, Tenya, Shouto: Again, this really needs no champion vouching for it. The Stain arc and the subsequent character work that came with it will never be matched by any other arc in MHA.

Izuku, Denki, Yuga: These three all have self-harming quirks that can be really dangerous and inconvenient during a battle. It was truly a lost opportunity to see these three bond over their issues. Making Izuku and Yuga being close friends right off the bat would've have been really beneficial in sowing the traitor plot point early on and would've have also been far more devastating for Izuku during the reveal. And honestly, Yuga being formerly quirkless and having a self-harming quirk is a much better narrative parallel than the "Save to Win and Win to Save" bullshit that we got. Denki and Yuga just seem like they'd have really good chemistry.

Izuku, Tenya, Momo: These 3 intelligent specimens would've have been extremely overpowered if Hori actually cared enough to develop them. Also, Momo would get to shine because her quirk is powerful as hell (I actually head canon that she has the strongest/most versatile quirk in 1A and maybe enough the BNHA verse as a whole) and it's a crime that her intelligence and OP quirk went underutilized. Also, Momo and Izuku helping each other through their lack of self confidence would have been really touching and maybe have Izuku reflect on his life and how he was treated pre OFA. Momo and Tenya also seemed really no nonsense in the beginning when she ruthlessly criticized Bakugou, so this could help Izuku cut Bakugou off much earlier and allow him to grow.

Izuku, Tsuyu, Mineta: Yes I know, I know. Mineta sucks. But even so, these three were super compelling and interesting to watch during the USJ arc. The ways in which they used their quirks to escape death has way more charm and personality in their hair follicles than post season 3 ShoBakuDeku have in their entire bodies. Also, since Tsuyu was one of the first to call Bakugou out, I feel like her bluntness would be a really good reality check for Izuku to realize that the way Bakugou (and Aizawa) treat him is not okay. Also, Mineta already idolizes Izuku (which is actually sort of sweet) so this could have been used to develop his character rather than the awful and repetitive perv shtick that we're unfortunately stuck with.

Izuku, Shoji, Tokoyami: Like with the above trio, their forest camp sequence in trying to escape dark shadow has more personality and authenticity in their hair follicles than anything having to do with the stupid wonder trio. After all, the whole thing started because of Tokoyami witnessing Shoji being harmed by moonfish, which feels really raw and touching. Shoji also carrying Izuku on his back is super cute. These three also could've been used to address quirk-based discrimination, which is basically that backbone of BNHA's premise (even if it is always glossed over). Tokoyami and Shoji would've had to be victims of heteromorph discrimination (I think it was even confirmed in later chapters) which could drawn the three to each other. No offense to Shouto (and full offense of Bakugo) the two of them could never really relate to Izuku's trauma especially since Bakugou is responsible for 85% of it. They're both rich, they were both born with extremely powerful quirks. While Shouto is tragic because he was abused, he also benefits from the system of powerful quirks being favored which makes the two of them privileged. I also feel like Shoji and Tokoyami finding out about OFA and Izuku's previous quirklessness would just strengthen their bond and would motivate them to help and protect Izuku in any way they can unlike Bakugou who was a total nuisance the entire time.

Izuku, Mei, Ochako: Again, like with the last two, their admittedly limited time on screen together has more charm and personality than the stupid Wonder Trio.

These are the ones that I could think of from the top of my head. Feel free to add anymore.

These are all so cool! I especially liked Izuku, Denki, and Yuga. I always thought Izuku and Denki should have had more interactions anyway. And of course I love Izuku's scenes with Yuga. This is definitely a more unique one.

I would add Izuku, Momo, and Shoto to the list because I love the thought of Izuku being super intimidated by them only to be like, "Oh, oh no they're just isolated rich kids who have never talked to another kid their age and they're mine now" and adopts them.

Also, Izuku, Fumikage, and Shoto. I feel like they're fun.

It's not an Izuku trio but I'd also love Ochako, Tsu, and Momo just because they're best girls

[twdgkidsdeservebetter]

Everything Wrong With Umbrella Academy Season 4 (Characters)

The way it felt like someone who had never seen the show wrote this season????

The characters were AWFUL and were almost entirely new characters with all their previous character development forgotten.

Allison - Honestly, I don't like Allison (after watching THAT scene w Luther), so I really didn't care what happened with her this season. I think it does suck that she wasn't able to be happy with Ray, they were nice together. Also, no rumours? Her power was one of the most interesting out of the family.

Luther - People were commenting about how childish and positive he was being this season and how it was out of character from him being so serious. Honestly? I love silly Luther, he's such a breath of fresh air. I also like to believe that because Luther was assigned the leader of the family (being number 1 and all), he's able to enjoy himself without that pressure. Also, I also love to believe that Luther is using being positive and silly as a coping mechanism as to not be overwhelmed by the sadness of losing Sloane and also his current living situation. Giving him his gorilla body back was so unnecessary and makes no sense cause it wasn't the marigold that gave him the body.

Ben - He sucked. I hate that Sparrow Ben was the one that was dragged with them because it meant that we had to deal with him sulking and being angsty the whole time. Also, the character development we witnessed 1-2 just disappeared instantly cause of Sparrow Ben. Also, his friendship with Klaus was the best thing in the show and I hate that we never get to see that in season 3.

Klaus - I was actually so happy for him being sober, even if he wasn't living the best life because of his paranoia with death and germs. So it really sucked when that immediately went down the drain the second his body got the marigold.

Diego - He deserved better. Yeah, his constant complaining about his "belly" (which wasn't even that big of a difference??) and wanting to go back to his old super spy life did affect his and Lila's marriage, but when he realised that he immediately accepted that he was at fault and was willing to improve their marriage to make Lila happy.

Lila - I liked Lila before season 4. I don't know what they were thinking honestly by changing her entire character. Yes, she and Five were stuck for 7 years together, but seriously? That plot added NOTHING to the story because in the end, Lila chose Diego and then they all DIED like 10 minutes later!!

Viktor - Honestly? Viktor didn't really stand out this season for me. Sure, he got kidnapped by Ian Hawk. I thought the idea of him trying to remove the marigold from Ben was a really cool idea but then it just didn't happen. I thought his interactions with Reginald were decent, since it's interesting to see how this Reginald thinks about Viktor compared to the original timeline Reginald.

Five - It's honestly kind of impressive how the writers were able to make the best character in the show the worst character by the end of it. They completely changed his whole character. First, his personality is duller than a door nail. He's so emotionless and so boring. Where's the excessive facial expressions and movements? Second, changing his motivations. For the past 3 seasons we have watched him with one goal in his mind; "Save the world and his siblings". So why would Five ever possibly consider both giving that up for Lila of all people. Third, giving Five a love interest was so useless and lazy. Why would he choose a girl over his siblings? Especially one literally MARRIED to his BROTHER. Fourth, him being all pouty and jealous over Lila choosing Diego (her husband and father of her kids - no shit she was gonna pick him over Five, literally have no idea why Five even thought he had a chance) to the point where he plans to just ditch his family in the middle of a big fight. Five, him fighting Diego in the middle of said big fight. THEN, Five just gives up??? Yeah, that's probably all he could do but seriously, this is Five we're talking about, the guy who survived in 45 years in the apocalypse to try and get back to his family and save the world. Do you really believe that he would just give up?

BONUS:

Jennifer - They could introduce a new character/love interest for Ben but they didn't do the same for Five so they just gave him the only other woman who wasn't his sister???? LAZY. Also, the amount of plot holes with Jennifer's character makes me queasy.

[midnight-mourning]

(Unexpected) Season's Greetings

❄️❄️Midnight's DCA December Day 7❄️❄️

guhhh it's HERE, this got long, it's now going to be ch. 1 of a multi chap fic, I'm going feral over this, pom what have you done-

ahem, anywho, so this is a little something of an au of Confused Spirit (an au of an au if you will) called Holiday Spirit!

Set in a holiday village instead of the plex, reader works as an animatronic technician/blacksmith and encounters a pair of guard bots that are in the village for sceurity purposes (guess who lmao) won't explain the whole plot as this story covers most of it but something to keep in mind is this; the characters here ARE CS characters, but the story is different than CS. As in, the characterizations are the same in how they act, but certain plot points differ as well as the origins for character motivations and such. That is to say, take anything here and in the story that follows with a grain of salt in regards to Confused Spirit. Okay? Okay. Enjoy!

Prompt: I have pondered the orb for a very-super specific scenario, and I THINK!! I have cooked one up that's hopefully fun to tackle... :3c A tree lighting ceremony in a historical town, decorated to the nines as a Holiday village! Its dark, its cold, the world is blanketed in snow-- but there's hot chocolate, a crowd, and beautiful light displays. (Atmosphere, ✓) The DCA is one of the robots/animatronics stationed to interact with guests/assist security. Part of whatever company is in charge of all the lighting/special effects etc that the Town hired. (DCA, ✓) Find a lost kid, or a lost kid stumbles upon them--get them to safety. I keep thinking about hot cocoa & melting peppermint sticks in, so maybe they get the kid a cup to warm up? :3 Whether the kid is the reader's kid, sibling, etc-- they find them, frazzled. (Reader, ✓) Tree lighting, together! Fireworks, together! Could interrupt their conversation, play it all out wherever whimsy takes you (This could be an AU of confused spirit -- AU within an AU, I enjoy the inception x3 Take whatcha want outta the word salad here, dont worry about adding it all in!!)

Word Count: 2846

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

"I just don't know about this Abs." You say, huddling further into your coat as the wind blows by. 

Your friend nudges your shoulder. "What? Afraid of a little light show? Come on, it's the holidays! Or holiday time, anyway. What's the harm that can come from that?"

You shake your head, dodging past another bunch of people eagerly walking through the displays. "I'm just not a fan of so many capital people in town I guess..."

Your cozy little village was on the map for one reason and one reason only, the grand evergreen tree that sat in the middle of the square, assumed to be hundreds of years old, which was always decorated extravagantly for the holidays. Tonight was the lighting ceremony that would officially kick off the holiday season. 

You were, not exactly enthused about it, for the reasons you've already shared. People from everywhere came to gather in your village—which, mind you could hardly accommodate so many extra bodies—to watch the lighting ceremony and partake in the festivities. 

If you were younger and more carefree, you'd have enjoyed the commotion, you used to love people watching from the roof of your house, watching the fireworks display and cuddling up against the chill of the night air with—

You stop, the memory's gone, faded. Grown over with a bitterness and a grief you're more familiar with nowadays. Still, it does irk you that a memory from so long before the accident is so foggy. But, you let it pass you by like all the rest. It was better that way. 

The only reason you were out here now was for your siblings, and really just the older of the two. Gabe was just a baby, he wouldn't remember this. Lisa on the other hand would probably be upset if you didn't uphold the family tradition of watching the ceremony and visiting the night market and lights displays. 

"Oh, I think it's good for you to get out of that shop of yours every so often. Think the smoke fumes would get to your head otherwise." Abby slings her arm over your shoulder and flicks your forehead. 

You rub the spot, frowning. "Gee, thanks."

"I'm just saying, you gotta a live a little more." The slightly sad smile on her face doesn't miss your gaze. "If not for yourself then for them, yeah?"

You nod, sighing, and relent, offering a small smile in return. "Yeah, you're right."

"Speaking of, where's Lisa and Jack?"

You turn forward again. "They should be over by the—oh no."

Sure enough, neither your sister nor Abby's brother are where they should be. Immediately, you panic. You start looking around for the pair, calling their names as you weave through the crowd, which thickens as you move closer to the town square. When you arrive near the tree, still waiting on the lights to be finished prepping, and the king to show up, you and Abby decide to split to cover more ground. 

While she heads to the side of town towards the lake, you head in the direction of the remaining market you'd yet to explore. 

Meanwhile you try to keep calm. While Lisa had a penchant of running off—especially when around a certain friend of hers by the name of Gregory—you were particularly worried because of the amount of people. Not to mention, there was always the concern of something worse happening. 

Everybody was aware of the disappearances happening all across the capital. Whispers of children vanishing without a trace sent ripples throughout your quiet town, and with the king himself in your village, there were concerns that he'd bring with him whatever it was that was causing these missing cases, not unlike those that happened so many years before. 

But, thinking like that wouldn't find your sister, and so you have to bury those thoughts and focus. Think logically. If you were an eight year old girl with her friend who'd follow her anywhere, where would you go?

At that moment, you hear Gabe's stomach rumble and it clicks. Somewhere with food it is then. 

Along the way, you take note of the additional security that's present this year. Seems the threats that'd been directed towards the monarchy as of late weren't being taken lightly. It also didn't slip past your mind that the majority, if not all, this additional protection consisted of machines. 

Many looked exactly alike, large wide eyes and blank faces, though there was the occasional difference. For example, a bear and a rabbit animatronic stationed together, the bear standing tall and resolute, while the rabbit lounged casually beside him. If you remember correctly, you recall both a wolf and a gator roaming around the square with the tree, as well. 

You were half tempted to ask them if they'd seen your sister or Jack, but decided against it in the end. While you worked on animatronics and machines in general every day, you preferred not to talk with your clientele outside of work. It was better that way. Better to not mix business and pleasure. You'd learned that the hard way—

A rogue scream interrupts your train of thought. One that sounds far too familiar to not investigate. No one else seemed to hear above the chattering crowd, but when it happens again, coming from a nearby alleyway, you know it's Lisa. 

You force yourself through the crowd, stumbling into the alley, and head towards where you heard the sound. But by the time you get near the end, you see no sign of your sister. 

You sigh, defeated, and near the edge of tears. You run a hand through your hair, stressed. This is all your fault again, why can't you just do anything right—

There's a loud creak above you, followed by the sound of mechanical clicking. You look up in time for something to land on the ground in front of you, something else dropping down onto the railing of the fire escape just above that. 

The figure on the ground rises, slow, calculated, while the one on the railing stares down at you, red eyes narrowed and head tilted. 

They're wearing the same outfit as the other guards from before, red coats and blue pants, with gold and white detailing spread throughout. The one standing has shimmers of gold near the bottom edge of his coat, not unsimilar to the sky near dusk, from what you can see of the other's there's bits of purply-blue, reminiscent of twilight. 

You take brief note of the hats adorning them both, but it's their faces that catch you off guard. Not because they're animatronics like all the rest, either. 

Celestial bots, the two of them. The one perching has features of the moon, a bluish-white crescent for the right side of his face, and  deep blue for the other. His counterpart, the one standing in-front of you, has the features of the sun, with that same crescent combination, only yellow and a softer shade of blue, instead. 

None of you say anything for a moment. Simply watching, waiting. You glance briefly to the end of the alley, knowing you'd unlikely be able to make it should this turn sour. Though, you really hope not. 

"Can we help you, friend?" The sunny one asks, head clicking to the side, white eyes narrowing.

You're too surprised to speak for a moment. But you're not entirely sure as to why. Finally, you shake your head, coming out of your daze. "I, maybe. I'm, looking for someone. Well, someones. Two kids, boy and a girl. Have they come through here by any chance?"

"And we should tell you because...?" 

His tone catches you off guard, but you're hopeful. "I, the girl's my sister. She ran off with her friend, my friend's brother and we've been looking everywhere for them. Please, if you've seen them, I, I need to know."

You take note of the way the sun bot is examining his hands, paying special attention to the way he taps the gold, claw-tipped finger on his left hand. You swallow, you're not stupid, you know a threat when you see one. You want to instinctively reach back for Gabe, but resist.

After a moment, the yellow animatronic laughs. Looking back over to you. He takes a quick stride, looming over you suddenly. "Sounds like a bit too coincidental of a story, don't you think, friend?"

The one on the railing tsks. "Careful." 

The sun relents, stepping back with a grumble, smile faltering. 

Your shoulders relax for a moment, though only for a moment. 

The moon rests his chin in his hand. Red eyes narrowed cheekily. "But not too careful."

They turn to each other then, speaking in hushed tones. You strain to make out what they're saying. 

"—They do look similar, though only slightly. But what—"

"I think you're being paranoid. Not to mention a bit..."

"I believe cautious is the word you're searching for." A pause. "And I'm not..."

"It's not. But I certainly—what else could that twitch in your eye mean?"

Once the whispering becomes harsher and harder to discern is when you realize they're just bickering now. But before you can interrupt, a sneeze emits from the bundle strapped to your back, followed by the sound of giggling. 

Both bots cease their fighting and whip to face you. You see your opportunity. 

You turn around, pointing both thumbs down at your brother. "Look, she looks a lot more like him than me. If that's not enough I don't know what is."

Before you can face the two again, you find yourself being picked up by your shoulders and spun around. 

You understand what's happening when you hear the yellow bot speak, in a much lighter tone than before. "Well hello there little friend! Aren't you just the cutest little bundle of joy I've ever seen? Are you warm enough? Should I get you another hat, another scarf maybe?"

You continue to be spun around, Gabe giggling and squealing with delight. Finally you have to say something as your world grows dizzy. 

"Hey! I'm also here you know!"

As if on cue, you're set down again. Nearly stumbling before a hand rests on your shoulder. 

Glancing up, you see the sun animatronic cough into his gloved hand. "Well then, I suppose that will do." He turns and nods to his partner. "Go get them."

"A please would be nice."

He tilts his head, grin as wide as ever. "It would, wouldn't it?"

A moment's pause, the moon's eyes narrowing. Then, with a snicker, he rises, balancing on the railing before leaping up, disappearing over the edge of the roof. Leaving you alone. 

It takes you a moment to notice his counterpart is back to fawning over your brother. Cooing at him while Gabe delights in the attention. 

"And what's your name, little friend?" He asks.

You answer. "Gabriel. And yours?"

Quiet for a moment. A long moment. Then—

"Take a guess."

You tsk, but figured as much. "Not going to ask mine then?"

"No need. I've heard all about you already."

You twist slightly. "What's that supposed to—"

You're stopped by the sound of that same shriek from earlier, but now you realize that it wasn't one of fear, but of pure unhindered joy. 

The moon bot—or Moon, you suppose—lands on the ground not far from you. In his arms is your sister and Jack. 

"Lisa! Jack! Thank god." You rush over to them both, scooping them up in your own arms once they've been set down. "What in the world were you two thinking running off like that?"

You release them again, and they both mutter apologies. 

Your sister kicks her foot against the ground. "We just wanted to get a better look at the tree..."

"But then we got lost." Jack continues. 

You sigh, ruffling the hair on both their heads. "Next time, wait for me and Abby, yeah? If you wanted to get a closer look we could've walked faster."

"Sorry..." Lisa shakes her head, "But it's okay! Mr. Sun, and Mr. Moon took good care of us in the meantime!"

"Yeah! We got hot chocolate, and Mr. Moon took us for a ride!"

You smile. "Well if that's the case, what do we say then?"

Both kids turn to the bots. "Thank you!"

"Of course!"

"Our pleasure."

You stand up again, nodding once. "We better get going, or we're going to miss the ceremony." You glance between the two animatronics. "Thank you both again. I, don't know what I would've done if you hadn't found them." You lower your voice to speak more to yourself. "Probably sock someone... to be honest."

You start to usher the kids out of the alley, but don't miss the gaze exchanged between the guards. Just as you've turned around, you're startled to find Sun has slipped his arm to intertwine with yours. 

"We'll accompany you back to the square. It's the least we can do after such a scare!" He nods to the kids, already starting to get ahead again. "Moon will watch the children. Won't you?"

There's a sound, similar to grinding gears, behind you. Then a chuckle. "Of course."

He walks ahead, and plucks the two off the ground, raising them to ride on his shoulders. 

"Oh, I couldn't ask that of you—"

Sun's claw-tipped finger taps against your arm, head tilting as he looks down to you. "I insist." Then, cheery again. "We'd really be more than happy to!"

"I, okay."

The three of you make your way back to the square, Moon slightly ahead of you with the kids. 

"So, friend, are you excited?"

You chuckle. "For what part?"

"Any of it, I suppose. It's quite the spectacle!" Sun says, looking around. 

You can't deny it, it is lovely tonight. The chattering villagers and capital citizens, everyone in nothing but high spirits. The warm lights of the street lamps and string bulbs put up especially for the event. Children run and play amongst the crowed, going stall to stall. A small bit of snow falls from the sky, not quite coating or adding to the current piles that litter the streets. 

Your smile is small, soft. "Yeah. It is. Can I be honest with you though?"

Sun nods. 

"I just, I guess it just, hasn't done much for me in quite a few years." You shake your head. "Used to, don't get me wrong. Used to love all of it. But now it's just, well, I'm here for them more than me, you know?"

You notice that you've made it just in time for the tree lighting. The king's already begun his spiel. You wouldn't be paying attention anyway. Hell, you don't even think his kids are. 

Additionally, Abby must've spotted you, rushing over to where Moon stands with your siblings, looking relieved. 

"Is there any particular reason for that?" His face snaps down to yours. "Do you think?"

The tone shift catches you off guard. "I, um—" You pause, noticing something. Particularly, Sun's rays. They're patterned in a way you wouldn't expect for a guard animatronic. And the baubles at the points of each remind you of bells. Kind of like—"Were you always programmed to be guard bot?"

The tables turn. His eyes widen, wide grin faltering. Instinctively, your hand reaches up to inspect further. "These remind me of something."

"I—"

Suddenly, the crowd erupts into a cheer. Immediately the two of you break apart, and you turn just in time to watch the tree burst with lights. Starting from the bottom and rapidly climbing the tree in a spiral that ends with a flash of light from the star at the top. Seconds after, fireworks start to burst in the sky. 

Despite the lack of joy the festival has given you the past several years, in that moment you can't help the smile that slips across your face. 

A soft chuckle from beside you. "Pretty as ever, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is."

A hand rests on your shoulder. Glancing up you see it's Moon. "Lovely meeting you, Star. But we should get back to our posts. Right, Sun?"

A pause. Then. "Of course! Our job here is done." Sun releases your arm, turning to face you. "Until next time, friend." 

Sun bows, and Moon does the same, but takes your hand, pressing the back of it to his face plate. It makes you laugh, the edges of your ears burning, and not just from the cold. 

Before you can say anything more, Sun takes Moon by his padded shoulders and marches him back in the direction they came. 

You don't get to think on the encounter further, as your preoccupied once more with wrangling your sister and—trying—to enjoy the evening with your friend. Though, given this was only the beginning of the month's celebrations, you expected you'd be seeing them again potentially. 

And if they had anything to say about it, you would.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Thank you @divinit3a for this request, I am gripping you by the shoulders and spinning you around like sun did to reader bc GRAHHHH THIS WAS GENIUS-i did a little bit of a spin from the original idea but I think it turned out alright >_<

Anywho, expect to see more of these three when i catch up on requests and spend some time on my Secret Santa :) Additionally, you can find the outfit designs for these guys over in Pom's post here. I suggest you check it out, had me SWOONING I'll probably make a post for this au in more detail sometime in the next few days but that's all for now, thanks for reading!

Masterpost link

Tag list (if you would like added, see this post for more info):

@scarletcowboy @beemyhuneybee @fishm0ther @deviouscrackers @elsajoyagent8

@luckyyyduckyyy @zenkaiankoku @jogimote @local-shrub @amarynthian-chronicles

@robinette-green @everlightreader @sinister-sincerely @starredeclipse @dangerva

@juukai @crystalmagpie447 @mothgutz236 @lizyxml

[ineffably-smote]

Macbeth, David Tennant - A very subjective, spoiler and emotion filled review

Just walking out of seing Macbeth at the Donmar and I have Feelings. Unsurprisingly, I primarily went to see it because David Tennant was in it. I love the play, big fan of Shakespeare but the trip to London was most certainly motivated by a very specific actor. Hence the highly subjective review. Fortunately, I also happen to quite like Macbeth. We studied it at school, and it holds a special place in my heart (back then, Hamlet was my favourite Shakespeare play but honestly, after tonight, I’m not so sure anymore. Anyway, I digress). It was my first time actually seeing an actor I’m a fan of in real life, so obviously the entire time my brain was just going oh my god that’s David Tennant oh my god that’s David Tennant like I actually could not comprehend it. The man I’ve spent hours staring at on a little screen is suddenly real, and right there. So yeah, that took me a hot second.

(Excuse the piss poor image quality, I took this with shaky hands without looking or bothering to focus the cam)

The Staging

Still starstruck and a bit dazed, one thing really really stood out to me: the staging. It was so, so good. I knew it was going to be minimal from the pictures I had seen, and it was, but it was also so insanely real. There were barely any decorations, and half the cast and the musicians were hidden behind a glass screen doing background noises and gestures. From where I was sitting I could not see them much, but could definitely hear them which added to the overall atmosphere. The stage was also really tiny, and the play benefitted incredibly from it. All the action was happening in one tight space that had been put to use incredibly well, particularly the banquet scene but I’ll come back to that because it deserves its own paragraph.

The way they chose to do the soliloquies was so fitting - all the actors start to move in slow motion - everyone else slowing down and just the characters speaking moving was so good, it made sense.

The Headphones

I’m a bit mixed about the headphones. They were amazing for the vibes, we could hear whispers and they really heightened some of the emotional speeches in the play - because when someone is struggling with guilt and trauma it makes sense for them to be mumbling rather than yelling. So that was really great. However, especially in the scenes where the actors where yelling/ loud I preferred to take them off a bit cause it felt more real that way. I’m so used to hearing actors voice on recordings, it does hit different when you can hear them for real. But, as I said, personal preference and that’s what’s nice, you can take them on and off as much as you want.

Famous Speeches

There were three speeches I was quite interested to see how they were going to be adapted - scorpions and dagger for Macbeth, and out damned spot for Lady Macbeth. These are classic, everyone knows the words, the plot but they managed to make it feel real in a new and touching way. I think here the headphones were quite helpful because they allowed the actors to actually whisper parts of those lines. They were so subtle, so embedded in the text they felt so natural which imbued them with all their power. I saw in a review Cush Jumbo’s out damned spot speech be described as “haunting”, and I wholeheartedly agree.

The Macbeths

I didn’t like Macbeth, the character, very much when I first learnt about him. His actions didn’t make sense to me, I couldn’t quite comprehend in my 21st century little brain how he went from I’m super loyal to the King to I will freely murder children for shits and giggles. But now, now I understand. It makes sense, it’s believable. And that’s a mix of the acting choices and teh overall setting. Like the opening scene, instead of presenting Macbeth as a glorious hero, he is presented to us as a traumatised hero. He spends the first few minutes washing the blood of his clothes, haunted by noises from the battlefield. And that sets the themes quite nicely, not ambition, as Tennant specified in an interview, but guilt and trauma. There are so many ways to interpret Shakespeare, that’s the beauty of it, and I think this version of Macbeth just resonated more with me (maybe because ambition I don’t quite understand but guilt I am intimately familiar with? Or maybe because it was David Tennant? I don’t know, probably a bit of both). Tennant delivers a convincing Macbeth. Yes, you can see his ambitions play out, but also his fears, his guilt, and that makes him into a complex three dimensional character that you want to understand.

And I absolutely loved this version of Lady Macbeth. Not just a powerful woman who bullies her husband into become an evil murderer (because again, here we can see traces of that in Macbeth from the start), but an ambition woman in love, with her husband, with power, and not quite healed from the trauma of loosing her child. Again another review said she is more of an enabler than a manipulator and I quite liked that description.

My Favourite Scenes

God the banquet scene. The one with the ghost of Banquo. An absolute masterpiece. I did not expect that scene to hit that hard. It was raw, it was powerful and even if Tennant was facing away from where I was sitting, even without seeing his face I could feel the emotion, the whole audience could. In a video essay on Tennant, @davidtennantgenderenvy highlighted how in almost every role he played, there is it is the classic Tennant breakdown moment, and breakdown moment it was. Not with tears, not as expressive as he sometime is but just enough for a King trying to hold it together but fear and guilt breaking through. I was absolutely overwhelmed and it was beautiful. The set up for the scene was amazing too - there were ceilidh, celebrations, I adored the contrast between these fast pasted scenes and guilt ridden whispers of the couple. And the way everyone sat down around the stage and suddenly it looked like a banquet table ? Just perfect.

Another really cool moment, less on the emotional side but more on the visuals was when Macbeth goes to get the second prophecy from the witches. Almost the whole cast is there, running around, moving, almost dancing and it gives the whole thing a mystical atmosphere. There’s smoke, Macbeth falls, is carried up high Jesus style, cowers, rises, it’s so busy and insane all the while there are whispers and whispers in the headphones - it manages perfectly to feel like a mystical moment.

Descent Into Madness & other cool things

For Macbeth, having the kid running around scene after scene, haunting him, and then scene where he kills him - GOD it’s powerful. Lady Macbeth’s descent into madness was so well characterised, I also loved the glass on the background that locked away some of the cast. Just wild. The actor that played Malcom actor was also really cool, and Macduff and Ross, big fan of all of them.

Overall I am overwhelmed with emotions. Tennant is truly one of my favourite actors - from Good Omens to Staged, Jessica Jones, even Harry Potter but also Mad to be Normal, Nativty, There She Goes, Around the World in 80 days, Doctor Who (god I’ve started a list, never start lists cause you’ll forget people) and so, so many more, I was truly beside myself with excitement and expectations for tonight. And it did not disappoint. I do not want to leave the theatre and I pray they release a recording of this because I want it imprinted on my soul.

(Side note: I don’t know how to use tumblr very well, for some reason whenever I try to reply to ppl it posts from my other blog? Anyway @raquel-and-sergio is in fact me)

[jinglejingleclown]

Just watched venom 3: the lasst dance, and so I've got. Commentary. I discussed most of it with my saint-like friend, so now I'm just left puzzled rather than vaguely upset. Spoilers be upon yee, be warned.

1. Those alien xenomorph things were honestly pretty tame. They didn't kill humans unless provoked. They couldn't see shit besides the codex. Straight up they didnt even attack eddie so long as venom was semi-under wraps. So why was it so deeply necessary for venom to sacrifice himself and kill them? I don't get why, based off what the movie had shown us, eddie and venom couldn't have just straight up walked out of the situation and everyone couldda been chill while they calmly called in reenforcements. This was like a really weird way to raise the stakes, those aliens were genuinely like very pleasant for killer-alien standards from what was shown

2. The area 51 scenes were the most inefficient lore dumps ever. I got the stakes within the first 3 mins of the movie when sephiroth was just explaining paragraphs of lore i didnt need scientists to reexplain it over stretches of 40 minute nothing-lore dumps

3. Now not to say that any venom movie has been the wittiest quipiest smartest movie ever, but there was a lot of just. Dumping lore on the ground. Tell dont show type beat. Like it was impressive how they were fumbling that bag. Not like ive ever had high standards for marvel movies but wow that was tough

4. Why were the symbiotes nice? Based off of venom's coworkers and son, symbiotes are not nice. I find it hard to believe all the symbiotes were chill at the end and saving nearby families n shit. Eddie is still teaching venom what the word "morals" mean, granted venom isnt the smartest symbiote but still im pretty sure symbiotes dont give a shit abt humans, and nothing explains why theyre nice and helpful suddenly

5. Venom did not need to die deadass i dont know why he and eddie didnt straight up walk away. Deadass. Like i get it maybe they have enoigh scraps of morals bt the two of them to put together one good decision, but even still like it was a weird way to raise the stakes and kill venom. Im not mad that venoms dead in general, i think it sucks but like that was a decision they could make and that id be reasonable abt. But he didnt have to die like this, yknow? That was a really weird set of circumstances to make him go out on. Id have believed him dying to carnage more than thos, the emotional and physical stakes just werent high enough for me to feel anything or be invested while it happened. And btw i loooooove venom and im not the strongest willed person if they had hammed that shit up i would have been sniffling and sobbing at the end. But i left dry eyed and like ??? What was that bro

6. Maroon 5 amv? Dog what. And i've also seen tiktok edits do better montages btw

7. Lot of weird editing/timing/cutting decisions made for this movie that made it kinda drag, even during action sequences

8. Hippie family was cute at first, then got annoying, genuinely felt tortured alongside eddie during that super long song sequence

9. Why were venom and eddie not like more of the main focus of the movie

10. Why didnt the symbiotes just kill venom and eddie to get rid of the codex. Then they wont be hunted too. That easy. I would have believed venoms death more and been more amused if the symbiotes had turned this into like a total fucking massacre

11. Deadass the area 51 part of the plot generally jist didnt need to happen i didnt need to know any of those character or their motivations

12. Eddie had no emotional weight during the death of venom, venom carried the emotional scene hard but eddie didnt even do the standard minimum screaming wailing crying why god why. No. Maroon 5 montage.

13. Didnt fuck nasty on screen :(

14. Why was eddie let off the hook by the government like that, that was crazy why are tbey letting him loose and after they let him loose why isnt he going nuts trynna get venom back. I get they were like muts together and visually eddie was NOT doing fine during their symbiosis, but the other movies made me believe they were both ride or die abt each other. Venom sure as fuck wouldnt just like be chill after eddie died, hed be going crazy trying to bring eddie back. This isnt a one way street. Wheres the fire in eddie. "I'll never forget you" eddie "fucking nuts dogged journalist whos forever trembling like a neurotic chihuahua" brock would never. But no. Maroon 5.

15. Just a lot of generally hand-wavey stuff. And im not a cruel watcher, if i recognize plot holes, especially in a silly movie like this, i could be like oh okay well ill ignore it or come up with some reasoning for it. But deadassssss the monsters couldnt fucking see eddie and venom so long as they didnt COMPLETELY transform. Venom could literally still be doing his shit they just couldt transform completely. Easy. Thats fine bro. They couldda waited it out until they figured out a solution. With the stakes as they were, there was no reason for venom to die in this movie. The stakes were so high and it was so easy to avoid triggering them, venoms a lot of things but hes not That stupid. I deadass think that venom and eddie couldda just walked away from the area 51 situation with the last like 3 living scientists in tow and been like fine

16. He just straight up didnt need to die in the scenario they gave him. He could have escaped unscathed. Deadass. Im so confused why he would choose to die in that situation. Bc he'd be forever hunted so long as the codex existed? Dog I dont think venom gives a shit abt the other symbiotes he cares abt himself, eddie, and like 4 other ppl from LA and thats it. He ate three peoples heads at the beginning of the movie, hes not like, captain moral

17. Didnt fuck nasty raw on screen :((((

Conclusions: i really enjoyed eddie and venoms road trip, and only those parts of the movie. Every other part was not only a drag, but unneccessary. Venom in the movie verse isnt built like captain america, they raise the stakes too high for a dude and his gay tapeworm. Eddie and venom should be fighting like, joker-scale enemies max. Villain of the week type shit. I genuinely wouldda been happy with just like a singular symbiote-eating alien invading thats like low stakes enough for their buddy-cop schtick. The fate of every symbiote was a lot, and also most symbiotes dont even fuckin like venom lmao. "The black one" had me snorting in theaters tho, what a nickname damn. The horse and river montage was great. I liked some of venoms mannerisms i thought he was really cute this movie.eI dont know why this movie couldn have just been explosioms, macbine guns, and venom on the run from the government, that wouldda been great dumb fun. 3/10. I'm gonna go read fanfiction and dream up a better way to end this trilogy. There wasn't even a french kiss. Not even a normal kiss. Damn they didnt even hold hands deadass. Im not trynna be mean its more like i cant beliebe they fumbled the ball this hard rather than using a perfectly acceptable cliche villain of the week approach, kicking back, and raking in that fangirl dough. It didnt have to be a weel written movie, it just had to be okay and coherent and it was somehow neither

[chaosnojutsu]

Who *Should* Have Died From The Konoha ~12 Instead Of The One Who Did

rules:

we’re assuming they die under the same circumstances as the other guy

each one listed would have a complete storyline and their death would further the immediate plot as well as the overall narrative

i’m not “just picking characters i don’t like”

i do not condone killing characters for the sake of shock value but am considering shock as a legitimate tool in generating impact of a character’s death

miss me with “[redacted]’s death was a tragic result of the shinobi system” because no it was not. if that were true you could sub out [redacted] for any other child soldier and get the exact same impact. we know exactly why they were chosen and it’s got an (insufficient) explanation irl and in-universe.

#3. Sai

Motivation: Friendship

First of all, imagine the shock value from killing one of THE Team Kakashi members.

Cool. Now imagine Naruto’s shock at Sai sacrificing himself for him.

Sai overanalyzes normal human interaction to the point of not understanding it. He reads books about how to befriend people. He still doesn’t understand it all the time but friendship is coming more naturally to him these days. What he does understand is that Naruto is the only chance of winning this war, and he’s down, and the enemy is aiming for him, and Hinata is trying to stop them but she’s on the ground, the spears are in the air and so is Sai, and Naruto is his friend.

He doesn’t need to think about it much deeper than that.

Now imagine Sasuke “What Does ‘Friend’ Mean To You” Uchiha witnessing this, witnessing Naruto’s reaction, and the further effects this may have on his character. After all, Sai was his replacement. If Naruto feels this strongly about losing someone who was decidedly not him but his friend and teammate nevertheless then… maybe.

#2. Rock Lee

Motivation: Youth

Regardless of *how* this one plays out, no one wants to watch the determined, precious, comedic relief die; no one who’s watched this far into the show wants Rock Lee specifically to die. Huge impact already. But we can make it super duper sad because he deserves a memorable death. I see it going one of two ways.

One: Hinata doesn’t even have the time to try to shield Naruto because Rock Lee is faster. Ten-Tails barely launches the attack and Lee’s already taken/attempted to counter the hit. Perhaps this is his eight gates moment. Similar to Sai, Rock Lee would cite the power of friendship in his dramatic death speech, but he also was just… doing his duty. Truly, if you’re in the “Neji was just another tragic child soldier” camp, Rock Lee is the prime example of what I mean when I say you could sub in any child soldier, which I know sounds paradoxical but stay with me. Rock Lee’s entire personality is training harder than anyone else to benefit a system that will ultimately result in his death. If you want to make a point about child soldiers and needless lives lost, Rock Lee is the one to kill.

Two: Rock Lee doesn’t shield Hinata. He shields Neji. But not necessarily on purpose. The scene plays out exactly as written up to the moment Neji activates his byakugan, and the next frame isn’t him falling to the ground, it’s Rock Lee. The usually-somewhat-reserved Neji is devastated, probably in tears, demanding to know why he would do something like this. Rock Lee coughs up a bit of blood. “I was faster than you.” Smile. “I finally beat you…” Serene eyes fall shut. “…rival.”

And now imagine Naruto’s reaction to losing Bushy Brow. Imagine him watching Gai be brought to his knees by a blow that didn’t physically touch him. Imagine Madara incorrectly perceiving that. The implications. The foreshadowing.

#1. Shino

Motivation: Legacy

I’m gonna be real, the writers were never gonna kill off Rock Lee like that, which is the biggest reason Shino has taken the crown as Most Worthy Of A Tragic Death in my book.

This dude has a connection to both Naruto and Hinata (making him equally as good a sacrifice as Neji if that’s the canon criteria). However, unlike most other (male) characters, Shino isn’t shown to have a particularly close friendship with Naruto. The one recurring joke around Shino is that he’s so irrelevant even Naruto can’t remember his name.

But he is good friends with Hinata. And he knows she’ll spend the rest of her life miserable if Naruto dies, and that if she dies right now she will never have gotten her life’s greatest wish.

So Shino goes out in a blaze of glory, and we’ll probably insert something about how Naruto has somehow secretly inspired him all along— or maybe something cynical about how he always wanted to be included by Naruto but never was unless Kiba or Hinata were around, so he’s sacrificed himself to maintain the livelihood of everyone else while not “losing” that friendship himself— and we of course get the touching moment with Hinata (oh just imagine the drama if Shino lay dying and told Hinata “Why did I protect you? It’s simple. The reason is… for the same reason you protected him.” and we find out that the huge secret crush of the show was not Hinata toward anyone, but Shino toward Hinata, never confessing because he knew it would be futile).

Good luck forgetting his name now, Naruto. Now no one will ever forget about Shino Aburame.

[whetstonefires]

So re: Qin Su's death, one thing I'm absolutely certain of is that she did not just conveniently kill herself due to her high level of distress, at the exact moment most convenient to a person she was super mad at.

Because, frankly, mxtx is not that shitty a writer. She doesn't sweat the details or logistics of things, characters are allowed to coincidentally turn up in the right place to make the plot work and so forth, but these novels are intensely concerned with character motive and internal life. Everyone does things for their own reasons.

People do what the plot requires, but a defining feature of her writing is that everyone is fashioned into the shape of the kind of person who would do that thing in this situation. Sometimes whole scenes or subplots exist mainly to put on display the underlying cognitive patterns that justify as individual choices the kinds of things stock characters routinely do in genre novels, for no reason than that they are The Type Of Character who Does That.

If Qin Su was going to commit suicide about the bad news, there would have been hints that this was the direction her thoughts were trending during the preceding scene, where we're introduced to her reactions. And there aren't.

Her primary reaction is anger. She's scared to death when her husband paralyzes her and puts her on his dismemberment table to interrogate later for the name of her informant. She is contemptuous of his caring almost exclusively about what all these horrors could do to their reputation.

There is nothing in the scene to suggest she would, given the opportunity to denounce him to the cultivation world, choose instead to escape by knife.

The interpretation of this sequence that says she Just Did That really annoys me, because it requires ignoring basically every single piece of information about the character other than the fact that Wei Wuxian always thought since they were kids that she wasn't very bright.

Furthermore, it would be out of character for Jin Guangyao to have knowingly arranged a situation likely to go so badly for him, and wildly unusual for him to get so lucky if he had. This man has shit luck normally.

The sensible thing for him to do, in a universe where Qin Su just conveniently opted for suicide instead of ratting on him, would have been to take the ten to twenty minutes of prep time he had to work with to disappear her the same way he did nmj's head.

This might have required killing her first, since we don't know where he put it, but while I'm sure he didn't want to do that I'm equally sure he was entirely capable. He had a convenient scapegoat handy to blame for her disappearance.

He had no reason to allow her to be visible and capable of independent action when his cavalcade of guests arrived. But there she was, dazed but unrestrained. And then...cursed knife time.

Super convenient! She's dead and can't blab, and lots of important people saw her do it and saw how horrified he was and are disposed to be sympathetic. Works out much better for him than the risk of being blamed if she disappears.

So Wei Wuxian's assumption that jgy set the suicide up and compelled her somehow is the most logical inference. Neither of their characters is really compatible with the other scenario.

If Jin Guangyao had actual mind control powers he definitely would have used them a lot, so the most straightforward version of what happened is he used some technique or drug that would confuse her and suppress her cognition, then deliberately put 'cursed dagger that preys on your negative feelings and makes you kill yourself' within reach just before everyone entered.

I'm sure if it hadn't worked, and she'd just kind of stared into the distance while he talked his way out of the unproveable allegations and weaponized Mo Xuanyu's bad reputation and so forth, he'd have been happy with that outcome too, since it would still have meant a lot of important people saw her alive and not freaking out, and then he'd still have been able to torture her for information later. (Again, something I'm sure he didn't want to do, but absolutely would have.)

But this worked out well and got rid of two exposure threats at once while buying him sympathy points.

Although considering his shit luck, I wouldn't rule out that his plan only went as far as sedating her so she couldn't make trouble and he could show everyone how not paralyzed on his murder table she was, and he'd forgotten he had an evil dagger that compelled you to kill yourself lying around in reach of a woman whose ability to exert force of will he'd just reduced to nothing.

And he wasn't expecting that result at all.

[antyoneelse]

(Screaming about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice into the void):

Even if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a lot of problems with it, I can’t say I disliked it. I mean, I saw it five times— maybe my fixation goggles are on too tight, but I enjoyed it for what it was even if the original movie (and cartoon!!) are leagues above it. Here are my thoughts (mostly about the characters and their stories).

I was very dissapointed with Delores’ story, as a lot of people are. I wasn’t super interested in her from the start, and that makes me seriously dislike her overall… but if she were actually given more screentime, more plot relevance, and a bigger part of the climax, I am sure she would have been amazing.

I thought Astrid was a brat, and I do love her, but fleshing out her motivations better would’ve been, y’know, a Helluva lot better for the story. This goes in line with Richard— we don’t see him until halfway through the movie (unless you count the few seconds of him in pictures), and maybe I’m dense but that really disconnected me from him as a character and plot point. His only use is to create and then fix the drama between Astrid and Lydia. His character design is really awesome though.

Jeremy Frasier, I don’t really know what to say about him. I liked his introduction but I feel like his plot with Astrid was the most normal in the whole movie, and took away the original Beetlejuice vibe so thoroughly, it was disappointing. Really disconnected from everything else, and just kind of solved through Beetlejuice in a useless, albeit funny, way. I don’t know, he drives the plot forward by making Lyds interact with Beej and keep the family in Winter River, but I don’t especially like him.

I actually liked what Rory added to the story, though I feel like it messed up Lydia’s characterization a lot. I guess since most of the exposition for Lydia’s life since the events of Beetlejuice 1988 were told verbally, we missed out on a lot of what makes adult Lydia who she is… who is very different from the generally strong, moody, but troubled kid she is in the original. Now that I’m thinking about it, it really felt like I was just looking at Winona Ryder in goth clothing. I love her, but it didn’t feel the same. Rory was a dumb jerk, but I love hating dumb jerk characters.

Beetlejuice himself was probably my favorite part of the movie, though he was less strange and unusual than he was in the original. Fun visual gags with him, he’s still witty, Keaton is in his 70’s and still playing him and that itself I think deserves some praise.

Also, Delia was flawless, I don’t know whatever else to say about her. I love Delia no matter what lmao, only one who made me consistently laugh throughout the movie. Catherine O’Hara rocks.

I think the biggest issue I have with the movie is how reliant it is on verbal exposition, since we’ve missed years of the characters’ lives. It makes some things not make sense on the first watch-through, and frustrating on consequent ones, and messes up character believability to a really sad extent.

All this being said, I still really love the movie. Maybe when my fixation wanes I’ll have more mixed feelings, but I still appreciate it for being the catalyst that got me involved in the fandom, and I still think it’s really fun to watch.

If you read this far, thanks! I am very mentally focused on Beetlejuice right now, and would love to be friends if you are, as well. Having conversations about the plot (be it movie, both movies, musical, cartoon, or hypothetical plots) would be really awesome.

P.S. I do NOT fw the Beetlejuice baby I am throwing that thing in a meat locker and leaving it there. I hate it.

[cnwolf-brainrot]

I'm curious, what do you think of X-Men: The Last Stand? Are there things you would do to improve it? Besides having Nightcrawler actually in the movie of course. xD

Sorry it took me a minute to get to this ask because I have A LOT OF THOUGHTS, this is a FANTASTIC question because I actually literally just rewatched that movie!! (yes, it was for Weapon by Name. No, it wasn't for anything plot-related, it's cause I've been having a hard time writing Hank McCoy lol)

Very short version: I like some parts of the movie, but I definitely have ideas on how to improve it!

This is going to be a long post so my improvement ideas will be under the cut! But first:

What do I think of the movie? I mean... it's not the best. There are a few enjoyable moments, but it's just genuinely not a super well-written film; it feels unbalanced in a lot of places, leaves out a lot of things I would have liked to see addressed from the first few films (*cough* yes I'm talking about Kurt *cough*) and feels like it doesn't properly give focus to the Phoenix storyline at all. I think one of my biggest problems on a re-watch was the fact that Jean literally does nothing. She has no motivations in the movie and only a handful of dialogue lines. HOWEVER, I do love the mutant cure plot line, and I feel like it makes a fantastic focus for a third X-Men movie! I also think I can blame this movie for my love of Warren Worthington! There are definitely parts of this movie that I do enjoy, there are just things that could have been better! Now, a break-down:

Things that I like/would keep the same: - The Worthington Industries/Cure plotline (I find the mutant cure to be an extremely interesting X-Men plot, and I enjoyed how it was handled here for the most part. I'd make a few small changes to balance it with the rest of the story, but this is something that I'd want to see MORE of rather than LESS of) - Most of Warren's story (again, this is a plot that I LOVED from the movie, but needed to see more of. This goes back to the unbalanced feeling I mentioned, and I'll talk more in a bit about how I'd fix it) - Hank McCoy (honestly I love Hank in this movie, I don't think I have any changes) - Mystique's ending (I actually love how this movie handled Mystique. It's short, simple, shows just how much her abilities mean to her with her casual shifting even while she's captured, and I personally feel that her turning her back on Magneto when he turned his back on her was a very in-character moment. This whole subplot was great, no changes)

Things I would completely take out: - Juggernaut (he was an unnecessary addition to an already packed story, he really didn't add anything and if he's going to be in a movie I think he deserves more screen time) - The whole plot line with Xavier having hidden Jean's true powers from her. (It just makes Xavier a bad mentor figure in my mind, and I'd prefer it if there's just a quick explanation of there being weird energy readings at Alkali Lake or something that could have brought her back.) - The weirdness that was Kitty and Bobby sort of flirting (I feel like this was shoehorned in just to add a romantic tension between Bobby and Rogue. Kitty and Bobby have little to no chemistry and any that they do have just makes Bobby seem like a jerk to Rogue. I have a proposed fix for this subplot, which I'll address in a bit, but I would completely remove romantic implications between these two) - Xavier's death as it was (I feel like there was a strange imbalance between his death and Scott's, so to increase emotional impact I would like to streamline it and get rid of that scene)

Ok, now what would I do to improve it?

HONESTLY if I were to completely rewrite this movie, I would have to go back and rewrite X2 as well because I don't feel like the foundations were set up well for the type of Phoenix Saga that I would have liked to see. HOWEVER, I'm already rewriting X2 in Weapon by Name so there's no way I'm doing that again. Instead, here are just a couple of semi-quick changes that I would make to the movie, WITHOUT changing any of the previous canon.

First of all, let's talk about Scott. Scott Summers is the backbone of the X-Men and he was done DIRTY by this movie, so let's at least make it a bit better. Going based off of what has been established for him by the canon of this set of films, we have basically three character traits for him: he's Xavier's star pupil, he's the leader of the X-Men, and he's in love with Jean Grey. SO, instead of having him sulk and shirk his teaching duties at the beginning of the movie (which goes against two of the three things established about him) we instead go the opposite route. The movie opens up with Scott leading the Danger Room session, and we see that he has basically thrown himself into his work after Jean's death. Storm and Xavier express concern about this, even Logan can tell something is off, but Scott continues to drive himself and the new X-Men (Bobby, Kitty, Rogue, and Peter) into the ground as a way to try and avoid his grief

Speaking of the newbies, let's pause the Summers angst and talk about them for a moment. In the actual movie these four get completely sidelined (I already talked briefly about how Kitty is just used as an awkward romantic device, and Rogue literally disappears for days without anyone questioning where she is/misses the whole final fight scene, and yes I'm happy that Peter and Logan have a Fastball Special, but that's literally the only time he contributes to the movie). I wish that we had gotten a little bit more of the four of them in X2, but again we're not changing anything from that movie here. What I propose as a way to improve them as characters in this movie alone is to treat them as a unit. I think that if the four of them were treated as friends and shown in the first Danger Room scene having a bit of banter/generally joking around and working as a team, it would establish to the audience that these people know each other, like each other, and have a reason for being on the team together. In addition, setting these four up as friends in the first scene with them also helps fix Rogue's whole character arc.

I was genuinely upset with how the movie handled Rogue; it boiled her entire character arc/want for the cure down to "I want to be able to touch my boyfriend". I think this is a huge disservice to her character, and I think it can be hugely improved in just this first Danger Room scene. Instead of having the moment where Kitty saves Bobby, we replace that with a moment where Kitty is in trouble and Rogue reaches out to help her. Bobby or Peter then jump in and pull her back because her gloves fell off in the exercise; if she'd tried to help her friend, she would have only hurt them both. Now Rogue's eventual desire for the cure isn't built on teenage horniness; it's built on a fear of being dangerous to those she cares about.

Now, back to Scott. With this re-written version that focuses more on him trying to drown himself in work rather than just being sad and mopey, I think that a good way to get him to Alkali Lake would be for Xavier to have a talk with him. Xavier pulls him aside and basically says "you're hurting yourself by avoiding this, Scott. Take a few days. Take a breath. Allow yourself to breathe." This is what results in him going off to Alkali Lake and Jean's revival happening.

Personally, I wouldn't kill Scott here. I would let him come back to the mansion with Jean and everyone gets a reunion... however, Scott and Logan both start to notice something is off about Jean. She seems just a bit too on-edge, will zone out occasionally, things will float around her without her even noticing that she's controlling them, and there's the whole fact of she should be very dead.

Scott is concerned for Jean and trying to find a way to help her. Logan, on the other hand, is beginning to wonder if this person even is Jean at all, or if this is just some creature that is trying to look like her.

Now, a quick aside for some thematic values of the movie. I'm sure there are some in the original movie, but I had a hard time finding them honestly. What I would like to be the main theme of my version would be the concept of monster-versus-man or the "beast inside". This theme would primarily be shown in the contrast between Logan and Jean, as they are (or at least SHOULD BE) the main two characters. However, every key character could be shown to be struggling with their "internal beast": - Rogue, who is struggling to be close to anyone because of her mutation (an example of how this "beast" can be harmful to others) - Warren, who tried to get rid of his mutation long before the cure was invented (an example of how denying that beastial nature entirely only serves to hurt himself) - Scott, who keeps his mutation carefully contained to try and please the people and ends up paying for it (we'll talk about his fate in a moment) - Ororo, who is at peace with the wild, natural nature of her mutation (an example of a good balance between the man and the "monster") - McCoy, who is the literal embodiment of the "beast" and can't even attempt to hide, but still contemplates how it would be to feel more human (another example of balance, but with more longing) Every part of the "cure" plotline would help amplify this theme, and keeping that in mind for every character's decisions throughout the film would give it a far more streamlined and dynamic feel

Speaking of streamlined and dynamic, let's talk for a second about Magneto. I'm torn on what to do with our man Erik. Half of me is tempted to completely write him out, because I think he completely overshadows Jean in the original movie and that he's half of the problem with how it doesn't feel like a Dark Phoenix film, lol. However, he's also the best X-Men antagonist and it would feel like a disservice to him to leave him out of the climax of the trilogy, especially when the cure plotline is something that he would never stand to the side and watch.

So, I think that here we still have Eric gather his forces and start making threats over the cure. However, we cut the scene with him and Jean and Xavier in Jean's old house. Instead, we have the X-Men go to confront Eric just before another attack. This is at a public support rally for the cure, and remember Scott is still alive here.

Just before this scene, we should have a scene between Scott and Jean, where they talk about the changes that Jean's been experiencing. Scott's worried about her, and Jean tries to tell him she's fine (and that maybe this new power isn't a bad thing). In this scene we have the moment where Jean uses her powers to let Scott see without his glasses -- only he flinches away the moment he opens his eyes, and basically tells her that it doesn't feel right. He also tells her that the old Jean -- his Jean -- didn't need all of this power. She was content with things they way they were. We see a big example of that "inner beast" theme here, focusing on that contrast of how Scott wants to keep his powers under control in order to fit in while Jean has almost limitless power at her control, and she doesn't see a reason not to use it to make their lives better.

Now, back to the X-Men versus Magneto. As they stare him down, Jean tells Scott she could end it. She could wipe the minds of everyone in the crowd around them, and change them all to mutant supporters. She could change everything with just a thought.

Scott, of course, tells her no. He wants to try and solve this peacefully, the way that Xavier would (it's important that Logan overhears this line).

In the middle of Scott trying to diffuse the situation, one of the anti-mutant protesters tries to take a shot at Magneto. This causes immediate chaos, and another protester takes aim at the X-Men. Magneto deflects the bullet coming towards him. Scott is hit.

Oh goodness I hit a text block limit I didn't even know Tumblr HAD text block limits ok then.

Now, with this being the way that Scott dies, Jean actually has a reason to go berserk and give into the power she feels. She tried to follow Scott and keep it contained, and the attempt at peace got him killed. She ends up killing multiple innocents here, and when Logan tries to reach out to her she turns and leaves the X-Men behind.

Professor X's funeral scene is replaced by Scott's funeral scene. In the original movie it felt unbalanced to have such a focus on Xavier's death and no focus on Scott's, so as previously mentioned I think we should take Xavier's death out entirely. Plus, because of the nature of Scott's death (being killed by an anti-mutant protester), now the whole school is buzzing with unrest about the cure.

This is where we would have the scene where Bobby comforts Kitty, but unlike the original where's it's a "romantic" beat between those two we have all four of the younger X-Men outside iceskating together. Scott was their teacher so they were all fairly close with him, and they talk about it together. They also talk about the cure, and how they don't want to take it after Scott's death... Rogue is the only one who speaks up for the fact that the cure wasn't what killed Scott, it was just the people in support of it. We also have a moment here where everyone ends up knocking into each other as they skate, and that is where Rogue's jealously comes from; simple, human interaction that she isn't able to experience.

She leaves early, and Bobby notices. They have a conversation that only serves to upset Rogue more, and this is where we have a touch of their relationship because yes, it's important to her and she does want to be able to get physical comfort from her boyfriend, but now it's built on top of the other ways it has affected her life. He mutation has hurt her relationship with her family, her friends, and her boyfriend instead of only putting the focus on her romantic life. This conversation leads to Rogue leaving to try and get the cure.

But putting them aside for a moment, let's focus on Warren. I really liked the skeleton for Warren in this movie, but he still feels very flat and stilted because we don't get much depth to his character. To fix this, I would have developed a friendship between him and Leech. Both are prisoners here in Worthington Labs in their own unique way. Both have the illusion of choice (Warren could theoretically say no to his father, and Leech is shown to be comfortable and humanely treated which means he probably had at least a bit of autonomy) but neither have true freedom. I think it would give a level of depth to Warren's character if we see a scene of him sitting with this kid, maybe even moving just close enough that his wings go away, and Leech asking him if this is what he really wants. They could talk about the cure, really give the audience an inside perspective on what would go through the mind of a mutant to make them want to take this, and also bring up another running theme of freedom and what it looks like. ALSO we could have them talk about the complicated relationship between Warren and his dad, which would make Warren saving him at the end of the movie more impactful. Also, it would add another level of depth to the look of pure longing that Leech gives Warren as he watches him fly away after the attempt at taking the cure.

Now, in the original movie I felt like it was a bit awkward for Warren to just show up at the Institute without any real reason to go there. That could be fixed by tossing in a comment about the Institute along with the aforementioned Leech scene, but instead, I think it'd be interesting if Rogue was already heading over to try and get the cure as Warren breaks out. She sees him flying away, and makes the decision to follow him instead of going to get the cure. They end up talking (this could be off screen or on screen, either way) but end up showing up to the final fight last minute together.

Before we get to the final fight through, let's talk more about Jean. Now, at this point I think we've already made her arc better by giving her the earlier scene where she talks with Scott, plus hid death causing an actual emotional impact that would turn her against humanity. I feel like one of the biggest problems with the original movie is that they don't give Jean any screen time, which to be fair they tried to cram a LOT into this movie. However, it is literally supposed to be a Dark Phoenix movie, so I think she should get at least one scene where we really see her struggle with the new beast inside of her. This would start out as a solo scene where we get to see her go somewhere away from civilization, probably into the middle of the woods or something, where she can let go for a minute and literally scream out her grief. We see objects floating around her and turning dangerous in the wake of her anger (maybe she accidentally kills a few animals, something catches on fire, etc), and I'd love for her to have some dialogue that brings into question for the audience whether this really is Jean, or if the Phoenix Force is something else entirely.

Magneto would show up halfway through her breakdown, and try to give her the same "you could be powerful, you could get revenge" speech he does in the original movie to get her on his side. But, Jean doesn't fall for it; instead she says he's going to manipulate her the same way Scott did, and that she's not going to make the same mistake twice. Her reasoning doesn't entirely make sense, but that's where the Phoenix comes in; now that she's latched onto the idea of people hurt the ones I love because I tried to hold back, the Phoenix is using that to make her completely loose control and cause the chaos that it craves.

Magneto attempts to talk her down once he realizes that she's becoming a danger to mutants as well, and this escalates into a fight between the two of them. Honestly, I think it would have been interesting to see Jean kill Erik here; as much as I enjoyed him being de-powered in the original version, I feel like having Erik out of the picture would give more focus to Jean as the climax. She kills Erik, and then turns her sights to Alcatraz to try and take out everything that she perceives as harmful to her people (though at this point, as seen with Erik's death, the Phoenix has blinded her to the point that she can't truly see who her people are)

The X-Men are still in the wake of Scott's death, but they find out Jean is going to Alcatraz and that she killed Erik (because of course Xavier would be able to sense that) and they gear up to go fight. I think we should also get a moment between Bobby and Logan here talking about the fact that Rogue isn't there with a ton of guilt from Bobby, and Logan basically accepting that she's made her choice.

Also, Xavier goes with them to Alcatraz. Everyone is a bit hesitant, but he makes the point that he knows Jean's mind better than any of them, and that at the level of power she's at they might have to take it to an astral plane battle in order to defeat her. Plus, Jean has taken both Scott and Erik from him. He can't sit on the sidelines of this fight, not when he feels responsible for her spiral (again I would like to take out the "Xavier hid her memories from her" thing and focus on the fact that he basically raised her from when she was a teenager, BUT you also could keep that plotline in here)

So now we actually have the final fight, which is just the X-Men and the army VS Jean. For Jean of course this feels like betrayal, since the entire reason she's here and fighting is because humans (like the soldiers the X-Men are standing with) killed Scott. This also gives us a chance to see just how powerful Jean is, because it's literally like 100 to 1.

Now the rest of the fight goes similarly with Kitty rescuing Leech (though she's fighting against the building collapse, not Juggernaut) and Warren coming back to save his father (with the added detail that Rogue comes with him). We also get a reunion between Rogue and Bobby and Rogue helps Kitty save Leech. I'd also like for there to be a sweet moment mirroring the opening Danger Room scene where Rogue reaches out to try and help Leech just like she'd tried to help Kitty, and she's actually able to touch him and save him. At the same time, she also uses her powers in the fight to help, and she doesn't lose her powers at the end of the film.

The fight with Phoenix comes down to Xavier trying to get into her head, and they duke it out in the astral plane. We get to see here that this isn't really Jean any more; Jean is almost completely gone, it's the Phoenix that has overtaken her. We have a bit of dialogue here about how the monster has taken over to reflect that "internal beast" theme, and haha I lies we didn't entierly take out Xavier's death, I think he should die here. It looks like all is lost, until Logan comes up behind her and finishes the job similarly to the movie.

Logan's character arc ends with accepting that he is a beast, and that he can use that to protect those around him. It means he has to make the hard choices, but unlike Jean he's able to come back from that beastial mindset and actually process the grief with the rest of the team.

So THERE WE GO!! I think that's how I would rewrite the movie!! I like a lot of parts from it, but I think it could have been improved! Sorry this ended up being a much longer ramble than I intended and there's still things I could have fleshed out more, but this took way too long to type out so I'm just leaving it here.

TL;DR: If I could make improvements on this movie, I would have given Rogue more of a character arc, Scott a more satisfying death, and Jean the spotlight she deserved. Also, I would have given the film some identifiable themes that actually relate to the character's actions.

If you read this whole thing holy cow thank you this took me several hours lol

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

i think it’s kind of interesting the way fma is upheld as this super progressive piece of art that’s great at writing female characters despite the fact that one of the most important female characters, winry, is written with some pretty typical misogynistic conventions?

like, obviously i don’t want to overstate how bad it is or imply this is done maliciously, or whatever, but a lot of the reasons people claim winry to be a feminist character just don’t hold up.

they often bring up the fact that she’s a mechanic, she isn’t a housewife for ed and she’s an independent woman or whatever, but all of those are largely aesthetic and not at all how she’s written into the narrative. she is, in truth, very much pushed into a typically feminine role: in practice, the way she’s written is like a healer. she shows up in the narrative whenever ed injures himself and she patches him up and outside of those occurrences she largely just sits home and waits for ed to come back. the only difference is that instead of just healing normal injuries, she heals ed’s metal limbs. if we were to replace her profession with being a doctor, her narrative role wouldn’t change at all. her role in the story, her writing and involvement in the narrative is pretty much dependent on up keeping the well-being of the the male protagonist.

even the one story element that is entirely about her isn’t about her - her parents’ death is used entirely as a vehicle and motivation for ed’s character, for him to be mad over and console winry. like, she finds out about the man who killed her parents, freaks out, ed consoles her and then it is entirely used as a motivation for ed to hate scar, he is the one to always bring it up, he is the one harbouring negative emotions over it, and the next time winry gets to address this issue he is the one getting mad and she tells him to knock it off and that she’s come to terms with this enough to not be actively hostile to scar. we never get to actually see her grapple with her emotions over this, this development in her feelings happens entirely off screen without us knowing, even in the moment we don’t get to see any emotional conflict from her. all the emotional conflict comes from ed.

and i get it, she’s a side character, but considering this is a pretty important and long term conflict/plot point, it would’ve been nice to, you know. see the development of how she went from wanting to kill the guy to being open to be amicable to him. how she deals with and processed this grief. how that progression actually happens and affects her.

and the thing is this could’ve been a good character moment for ed too! a part of his character is the way he pushes his own feelings aside, channels a lot of his grief and sadness into anger, oftentimes anger at other people’s hurt, sidelining his own pain. the way he refuses to cry, refuses to let himself properly deal with his own hurt. like, it’s notable how he says that winry’s parents were like an aunt and uncle to him, but whenever he brings up his death he frames them as winry’s parents, exclusively focusing on the way his friend was hurt, never about the way he had a close relationship with those people as well. winry could’ve called him out on this - the way his refusal to process his own feelings inadvertently makes him decide how winry should feel for her, projecting his own rage and grief onto her. it would’ve been cool to see winry’s actual struggle and to see the way ed’s treatment of it doesn’t take the complexity of her own emotions into account, making ed confront the fact that he is also allowed to miss people, that he’s allowed to be mad at others not just for the way they hurt those he’s close to, but for the way they hurt him too.

grief is a big theme in the show, and it’s just frustrating to see a big aspect of it unexplored because we don’t get to see the way winry actually processes the grief of finding out how her parents died, meeting the man who killed them. it also fails to use the opportunity to explore the way ed’s own refusal to process his own emotions inadvertently deprives his loved ones of agency, of the ability to care for themselves and for him. it’s just, really disappointing writing!

[kyriefae]

The Flux/Series 13 was a super fun series. (fair warning; spoilers ahead)

Am I a fan of the fact we were starved for content for so long just to get 6 episodes and a few specials in like what 3 years? No. But the episodes we DID get were so great!

I could feel the intent to inspire wonder in the world-building of the Whoniverse again. I heard lines purposively written to punch out a few cheap laughs while moving the plot forward. These are things that are inherent to the legacy of Doctor Who. Whimsy, coy humor, and satire.

Where certain plot points had fallen short of expectation, it was clear Chibs had taken at least some of that feedback and applied it to making the 13th series a memorable one.

Also:

Karvanista! Who's a good boy?! 🤗 Wait, hold on, maybe that's too presumptuous. Who am I to judge anyone's moral status on appearance alone? 🤭

Such a fun character with a classic Doctor Who "secret backstory". On a deeper fan appreciation perspective, this series was and still very much is a sandbox for creative innovation.

The side characters we met in these 6 episodes felt so well established and grounded in the narrative. Eustacius Jericho facing his death in a poignantly heroic way, Vinder & Bel's love story, Dan's earnest appreciation of Liverpool (and most importantly history), heck even Claire was worth her salt as someone to revolve the story around.

Was she captivating? Well, we're talking about narrative structure here so *clearing throat; failing to hide obvious blushing* no? I mean, no. She's really just a vessel for the Weeping Angels to have a voice which makes for an interesting plot device but it also sidelines her own independent will in the story. Still, when that's a "weak point", you're doing well!

Also, Yaz was incredible and I felt like we were finally able to grasp at her individual companion status. Prior to the departure of "the fam", she was the prototypical companion choice but we were splitting time with Graham & Ryan. A common fear people had before the series came out was the inclusion of Dan Lewis being an obnoxious and obvious replacement for Graham... but I don't believe his presence in the story had that lasting effect.

In fact, I think of the scenes we had with Yaz, Eustacius, and Dan as being a time for Yaz to shine in particular as a leader. Clever, calm, and concerted in her efforts. Yaz's demeanor is the only reason that facet of the journey was successful. Her relationship with the Doctor was empowering in that way we impact others through positive experiences. She pushed herself to become more motivated as our time with her moved along and we were rewarded with a meaningful degree of success in her arc through this story.

Plus her love for the Doctor felt so real; so fated to be one-sided.

Rose's romantic attachment to 9/10 had the advantage of an entire plot built around her; elevating her importance to the Doctor as a being we came to know, for a time, as Bad Wolf.

With Yaz, she is, in fact, an ordinary human who doesn't get to have some immense cosmically significant role with a title that gets plastered across the whole of the universe for the Doctor to piece together like a puzzle. She is an incredibly smart and capable person; she is also mortal.

Say what have you about Yaz + 13 (and I have my opinions too of them never kissing) but the Doctor keeping a distance from Yaz while acknowledging her feelings was still rather intentional and thematically moving.

You learn you're this being known as "The Timeless Child" and you've lost innumerable lifetimes of memories while beings you encounter ON THE REGULAR are persistently trying to tear the universe like a chew toy for their pleasure? Sorry, love. Maybe attachment to a human isn't a wise choice after all...

It's a decision made in a moment and a moment is all Yaz & the Doctor have. It adds levels to the tragedy of a romance with such a being that can travel all of time and space.

"All of time and space but no room for me?"

-a line I may have written for Yaz before it was all over

🥹

Maybe I'll write some fan fiction one day around The Flux. Around 13 & Yaz. Maybe something with Karvanista & a version of the Doctor forgotten to time.

Anywho, I love this show. I love it for all it's many eras. I love it for many different reasons. I truly believe value can be had in finding those aspects of enjoyment even when one Doctor or one era speaks more to us individually because what does the opposite hold? What does boundless criticism of "the writing" ever truly amount to?

The internet is teeming with "expert opinions" on how Doctor Who should have been made after every new season but gods is it the rarest thing to find people who choose to love it for everything it has already been and everything it can always continue to be...

That's all from me for now, my lovelies. 💞 Take care, get a shift on, and snack on something that brings you a little joy. 🍪 Kisses.

[violenciorp]

What if...? The Super Soldier Serum doesn't work and Steve doesn't become Captain America?

There is a 'What if…?' inspired (?) game ("""immersive story""") on the apple vision now. I have not played it (who the hell would buy an apple vision lmao) but I watched some lets plays (on youtube) and while I don't think the full experience is…. all that great, it does look very nice, seems congruent (canon-compliant?) with everything else from the What if...? show, AND there is a Steve plotline featuring Bucky, Hydra, Red Guardian and kinda Red Skull that has some interesting plot points that I feel are interesting both as character studies or as AU starting points, so I'll summarise and provide some badly screenshoted pictures as evidence 🥲 I'll put this under the read more just in case soemoen here does have 3.5k for useless equipment and wants to experience the 'game' themselves.

Basic set up of the little interactive experience/game; You get recruited by the Watcher to collect all infinity stones for… reasons, and to do that, you get zapped around different multiverses. To collect the power stone (purple), you get put into Siberia, where you learn the following: During the second World War, the allied forces tried to create a supersoldier to put a stop to the Nazis/Hydra -- just as they did in our universe

Unforunately, though, shit goes wrong, the serum doesn't work, and the machines explode, so that Steve doesn't become the hunk of a man we know and love but… well, red skull.

Don't get me wrong, he's still a good guy, but, in his own words: 'The allied forces had an ideal vision of a super soldier -- and that wasn't me.'

They basically didnt use them as propaganda because he's uggo now, lmao. Without touring as a motivational piece doing little shows, though, he also never really becomes Captain America.

And without a force to put their bundled hopes in, the allied forces fall apart, and Hydra wins (!) without a super soldier to stop them.

The timeline gets more fuzzy now, it is not clear to me if some/most/all of the events are meant to be happening at around WW2 time, or much later. 'Siberia 1988' was thrown around, but I'm honestly not sure if it's meant to be the date, or just some reference. However, one character shows up significantly aged at the end of the show, so it actually might be 1988, implying that Hydra did rule most of Europe (?) for 30-40 years. Either way, Hydra does start creating Super Soldiers using the purple Infinity Stone, the Power Stone. Steve, either on a solo-mission or sent by Shield (unclear), goes to Siberia to retrieve the stone, that is guarded by Red Guardian. Red Guardian refuses to give the stone to Steve, as 'the powers of the stone make monsters out of men', using it is "nothing to be proud of" and 'you don't look like scientist. you don't sound like scientist… well, uh… no, you have skull for face' (literal quote, lmao, love it), so they fight.

Steve looses the fight, BUT --- sees Bucky in one of the tanks, before he has to flee the scene, as he is just about to get his ass whooped.

Wanting to save his friend, Steve now helps you to collect all the stones, yadda yadda, intergalactic multiverse bullshit happens, blabla, i dont care. Once you do collect all the other infinity stones with some other marvel characters, there is a bit of a twist, a big showdown, and then you have two choices: Either, you give each hero the stone that they were after, or you "do the right thing" and destroy the stones.

If you go for the good ending and destroy the stone, Steve goes back to his universe. Without the stone being there to create all these Super Soldiers for Hydra Steve and Red Guardian team up to free Winter Soldier Bucky.

and together they form a 'nation-less alliance of superheros' to fight some bad guys which the red guardian calls the… musketeers.

[[It is unclear to me where Steve got a shield, considering that he absolutely didn't have one up to this point. I also wonder if 'nation-less' means that Steve rejects being an American here? Red Guardian not being American makes sense, Bucky not easily being allowed to return also makes sense with all the war crimes he committed, but I do like the idea of Steve doing the right thing here leads him to be a lot less patriotic than in our canon.]]

However: If you do give Steve the infinity stone, he brings it to SHIELD ---- which seems to be represented by the aged What if? model of Howard Stark from the second season of the show, making me believe that it might in fact be playing in 1988 --- which does lead the US to win the war against HYDRA, but also "unleashes the super soldier threat back home" with there being hundreds of supersoldier chambers being shown.

I'm assuming the implication is that shield = hydra or maybe just super soldiers = bad no matter where they are? Interestingly, there is no more mention of Bucky in this ending, so I guess Steve was too busy acquiring world domination or something to still care about him. Considering that Howard is his old-model here, this does imply that Steve only retrieves the power stone by the late 80's. Not sure what he has been up to for the 40 years until then -- was he also somewhere frozen? Do red-skull-supersoldiers just not age? --- but it does imply that Hydra was (openly!) in control of at least most of Central Europe for this entire time period, before the US finally had a chance to beat them.

They are definitly using the same models/assets as in the TV show, so I do wonder if we will see some of these elements in the next season, too, considering they already announced an episode featuring Bucky and Red Guardian. Overall, while I feel like it doesn't really fulfill the criteria of a good interactive game/experience, I found this plot line quite interesting, and having the serum fail Steve, and he therefore nor being the Golden Boy and rejected by the allied forces, plus the potential 40-year long rule of Hydra are super intriguing to me. Bucky and Red Guardian also not being created by the serum, but by the powers of the infinity stone also seem like an interesting starting point for some musings, AUs and fics. I also wonder what Hydra had been doing with Bucky for those 40 years for Steve not having known/heard about him in the mean time. Ie. if someone writes fanfic based on this, please send it to me haha. Or TL; DR: It's basically a "What if Steve was ugly?" (in the words of @tinaxpow )

[hinamie]

hi hina what are your top three pokemon games??

b/w & b2/w2 I BELIEVE IN GEN5 SUPREMACY !!! the MUSIC!!!! THE GRAPHICSSS GOD THE LIMITED 3D GRAPHICS THEYRE SO CHARMING!!!!!!! not to mention the loml N!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! god i feel so much about N. honestly the motivations of the evil team r actually so interesting and I think it makes for some of the most compelling story u see in the early pokemon games. pokemon liberation??? hello???? it's one thing to want to take over the world or like. flood the earth but to manipulate the masses and play to people's guilty conscience by insinuating that they might be Hurting pokemon by keeping them captive??? they did not have to cook so severely with that concept but i'm so glad they did. That being said I think I prefer the story of the original b/w games just because of how new and unsettling it was to encounter team plasma for the first time and all the interactions with N, but I do rly appreciate how the sequels expounded on them! colress is ok as a villain and even more ok as mad scientist twink eyecandy so I'll allow him gfsdjh I also do like that b2/w2 included more pokemon in the base games I love you early riolu i love you castelia city eevee encounter,,,. I also LOVE how they tried to pull a Trainer Red 2.0 with the postgame battle against the b/w MC in the sequels god gen5 is so GOOD :’)

Platinum i mean is anyone surprised hfdsjg sinnoh is art to me. fr all i rave about gen5 gen4 is the one I grew up with and played alongside my friend group as a kid so when it comes to the nostalgia factor, sinnoh is unmatched. The legendaries in this gen r iconic and so well designed there is not a single one that sticks out as a hard miss. sinnoh gave us cresselia and darkrai it gave us 2 forms of shaymin it gave us !!! glaceon!!!!!!!! i love u sinnoh always <3

hg/ss listen i know these games get a bit of a bad rep for having poor power scaling and being baby games in terms of difficulty but i do not care bc i can see my guys walking behind me and that is all i care about argue with a wall!!!!! also pokeathelon >>>>>>>> 

i also have to give an honourary mention to sw/sh gdfshjgdsjk games that arguably get an even Worse rep ik but hear me out. they were my return to the pokemon games after having skipped gens 6-7 entirely and I enjoyed my playthrough SO much I genuinely had so much fun. I wasn’t too put off by the glitches or the objectively bad plot, I was just so happy to be playing pokemon again :’> ALSO I am a proud Hop defender I respect the hell out of the writers for the arc they gave him. Was it rushed and underdeveloped yes but by pokemon game standards? I honestly found Hop’s self-doubt n identity crisis super moving sue me. Also the trainer character designs r so GOOD RAIHAN CALL ME 

another honourary mention to s/v gfjhd i haven't played it personally bc I could not get past the graphics of it but speaking of compelling pokemon storytelling,,, Arvin mr. mommy/daddy issues I care abt u so much. ALSO CHAR DESIGN HEAVEN HELLO LIKE GRUSHA?? RIKA??? CALL M E

[esteemed-excellency]

3+4 for hiram? and 6 for your quiet deviless? :}

3. What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

His personality came first, it basically self developed over the course of ten years, I just had to ask myself who would be the kind of person to make irl all the choices I jokingly made in game. His role in the story also self developed, but I planned a timeline selecting only a few plot points out of all the things I played over the years, and built an extensive backstory to better motivate his choices and personality. I designed the character only around 2018, and settled on the full name in January 2023 after procrastinating it for 5 years lol (longer answer here)

4. And reverse, which one of the four things did you struggle with the most?

The name! Naming characters is always super difficult for me so Hiram existed for a long time simply as Dr. Hhhhhhhh because that's my username, and his titile during the middle game was Professor. In the end I decided to look up a list of most common victorian names (all his names had to match with the 8 Hs of the username), and found Hiram and Howell. I did the same thing for the surnames and Hastings and Hargrave were perfect, so I decided he's the kind of person who pretentiously writes all his names, surnames and titles on every calling card.

(chat screenshots from january 2023, ft @that-giorgione and @that-fella-snipsnop)

6. What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do? (for the Deviless)

I did design her mostly for aesthetic purposes: her game portrait is very cute, but after a while she became an integral part of my headcanons so I decided to develop her a bit more. I have two designs for her, an edwardian look, complete of Gibson Girl hairstyle, and the classic 20s look. Hiram met her in 1870 so for the first part of their story I always picture her with the edwardian look (which would've been anachronistical at the time).

I headcanon her wearing feminine clothing and pastel colours to contrast with Hiram's darker palette, or bright orange/yellow clothes to match her eyes, and because she's bees. Most of her personality is fake, like the majority of devils, but from the few interactions during the Intimate of Devils storyline she seems to enjoy at least a few human-ish things (like her terrible poetry lol), so it's fun to headcanon her as an alien in disguise who likes to appear human not only because it's easier to prey upon people, but also because she appreciates a certain kind of aesthetic, in her weird alien way.

The most important thing to me is that she's the embodiment of the ⓛωⓛ and ◉ω◉ emojis. Her pupils canonically expand like a cat's and they make her look a bit too intense all the time, which matches well with the way she speaks. Her love for makeup is the reasons why I like to draw her with big doe eyes, they also fit with her general 20's aesthetic.

As for the bug aspects, her orange earrings have a bee shape in them, and her edwardian version has a similar cameo necklace. Her bug mouth is inspired by insect mandibles, and sometimes I sprinkle more insect-like features in her design because it's fun to draw her with more alien traits!