#these characters need to look fucked up in various sequences haha

[pynkhues]

The bruises and bite marks EVERYWHERE, Louis really went to town lol. It seemed pretty clear Lestat loved it, and I hope it's clear that I'm in no way drawing any connection between consensual rough sex and what Magnus did, but I do wonder if that experience and then talking about Magnus called up anything for Lestat...and if so, would the show talk about that? I don't know what we might revisit or might not, if this would be something we might see again from Lestat's pov or if we've seen what we need to see.

But it is hilarious to imagine makeup and maybe the director or Rolin (probably Rolin lol) being like, so if he held him down and fucked him on the floor and bit him, the bite mark would go here and the bruises would go here....

Yeah, it's interesting that they have that scene ultimately lead into the conversation about Magnus. I agree that they weren't associating them in that sort of way, but I do think it's that thing about trying to balance the scales again to allow any sort of movement forwards. Louis needs to feel like he's taken something back from Lestat both physically and emotionally after Lestat dropped him, and that two-hander of the physical take (fucking him, stabbing him and feeding on him literally in his mistress' house), and the emotional take (he and Claudia together basically forcing his hand to open up), but I like the way the show played around with the fact that, for Louis at least, that rebalance was an illusion.

After all, in his memories, any power was quickly whittled away - Lestat got what he wanted, which was Louis' attention and to get back into the family home, Lestat didn't kill Antoinette as he promised, and Claudia sows seeds of doubt that Magnus did what Lestat said he did at all, framing it ultimately as Lestat emotionally manipulating Louis. Like, we know it's true, because we've gotten to read ahead to Lestat's book, but they're all monsters living in a very tremulous situation.

I think it's kind of interesting that you have both Armand's sort of flippant acknowledgement of it in 2.03 when Daniel calls it what it is, followed by Louis' refusal to engage with Lestat about it in the tower (but only after he asks him about it, which kind of cracks me up, they're a mess).

So yeah, I mean, how much Louis actually believes him or understands about it is really up in the air heading into s3, and so I do think there's a chance they'll revisit that particular sequence, or at least Lestat opposite Louis and Claudia on the couch. I've actually been curious if they might explore a bit more of the Antoinette/Lestat dynamic too in that context, because it makes sense for Louis to downplay any connection they might've had given his feelings about her, but the reality is Lestat was with her for years, made music with her, and turned her, which sure, you could argue any motivation for, but I do tend to feel he felt something for her.

[sinnamonpork]

Dabihawks fairy tale fusion where they get transported into a series of random disney movies by a quirk. Instead of being the main couple in the story, they are the side characters who needs to get the main couple together in order to get out. Cue various shenanigans of our resident dumbasses trying to wingman for their lives.

Natshig in a rapunzel world where Dabi is mother gothel and Hawks is the captain of the royal guard lol.

"Oh fuck you let Shiggy get out of the tower."

"You said Natsuo was already on his way!"

"That didn't mean you should let them loose, you fucking dumbass!"

dabihawks during the lantern scene almost burning the boat they are on trying to spy on the two lovebirds and is the reason why the kiss didn't happen.

Next on the list is a fuyurumi aladdin au, with Dabi as jafar and Hawks as the genie. Dabi is very offended because how dare the quirk assume that he'd like to overthrow his father's country, the old bastard can have his crusty ass kingdom. Dabi doing the trials instead of Rumi - bc the girl was too busy thieving and simping for princess Fuyumi - and having a shouting match with genie!Hawks when he finally got to the lamp because why the fuck is this cave so complicated??? Do you want me to die??? Hawks looking at Dabi with a flat stare and saying "That's exactly the point of the traps, Dabi.". I just want them in the "A whole new world" sequence stalking the two on their own carpet and realizing that they aren't paying attention to fuyurumi anymore. They're having their own date up in the clouds, surrounded by sweet music.

The next fairy tale they went to is a Cinderella au todobaku, with Hawks as the fairy god mother and Dabi as the cat that chases the rats in the movie. The moment Hawks realizes who Dabi turned into, the hero laughs for so long that they almost missed the ball bc fairy god dumbass was too busy heckling Catbi. Dabi is very upset in that one because why is his baby brother in a shimmering blue gown while he's stuck as a furball in the very muscular and very warm arms of Hawks, getting carried around their whole time there. They didn't really need to intervene that much on that one except for stopping Bakugou from exploding Deku when he realizes the glass slipper can fit on the green haired boy. Shouto is very upset when he saw the two together and kissed Bakugou right there and then. (Izuku is terrified for his life in the background, the poor boy doesn't know what's happening.)

When they thought they were about to go home, imagine their surprise when they get transported into another world but with themselves as the main character. Cue The Little Mermaid au but with dabihawks. Haha imagine if Prince Eric was a completely different person, probably Chisaki, and Dabi turning back around when he saw the dude drowning. He doesn't care if he gets stuck in this world forever, he's not about to save the creep (hell would freeze over before he kisses the man.). So what if he was expecting to perform cpr on Hawks, no one would know how disappointed he is that he didn't get to save the hero. Pirate captain!Hawks seeing Dabi sulking on one of the stones and immediately recognizing him just from the eyes alone. They spend the rest of the day on the seas together and had a kiss by nightfall with Rumi and the crew singing "kiss the boy" in the background.

They wake up back in canonverse, now with new realizations and information on one another, yet not giving a fuck and continuing making out because they already had a taste of it once, the both of them can never let go of the other now.

[middle-class-trash]

Rise of the Titans liveblog!!!

that intro made me unexpectedly emotional

So if Blinky is narrating, he can't die, right? Right????

BRO THE SUBWAY SCENE!!!! We're getting right fuckin into it!!!

Steve, my son!!!

I wish Toby wasn't a constant punchline 🙃 it just makes me not take his character seriously

CLAIRE!!!!!!

Something about Douxie decking Skrael at the first opportunity is just so sexy of him

Jim is incredibly brave but it's really reckless to go hand-to-hand with a demigod without proper armor

My heart goes BUMBUMBUMBUM when Douxie looks out the traincar window

Sexy traincar tracks spell WHO

THE WRECKAGE AWWWW

Oh my gosh the people stuck in the magic circle because they wouldnt get out of the way

NO NO NO DOUXIE NO

So they were arrested that early?? Jeez

Nari's such a cutie

"None of us will be talking to you" *cut to Toby spilling every bean*

TOBY'S FACE AT THE END HAHHAHAHA

Something about Nari's voice coming out of Douxie's body is so deeply odd

Oh hey, Krel to the rescue

AREA 49 HAKSHDKSKD

"And your mom."

Oh my gosh he's still broken from Wizards 😂

The Guardians are just dead set on pissing off local authorities huh

JIM!!!

STRICKLER?????

BARBARAAAAA

Stricklake supremacy 😌 they both look so good

Claire listening in 😭😭😭 she's so cute

AWWWWW ENGAGED ENGAGED ENGAGED

......does that give them death flags? Fuck. Fuuuuck fuck fuck fuck. It totally does.

AWWW DOUXIE!NARI HUGGING ARCHIE

Aja!!!!

Your majesty!!

Oh yikes, here's that running gag everyone was talking about.. pregnant Steve

Oh hey, Eli's hot now. We been knew 😂

"Mazel tov!" HAHA

Poor Jim needing a bunch of support to walk 🥺 he's such a trooper

I will simply pass away if Blinky dies

I hope Douxie is okay, we haven't seen him in Nari's body and that makes me ✨nervous✨

OH JKJK

Nari is so goddamn pretty

"Only your presence, not your commitment" is such a rapey saying

"Abra-cadabra, buttsnacks" I love that he still says that 🥺🥺 he loves his friends so much

"Do your worst" *cue both Douxie and Nari absolutely screaming in pain*

Krohnisfere? Alrighty then, that's the first mission

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" AWWW

They fixed the amulet???? DUUUUDE

"For the good of all..." 😭😭😭😭

"Or I could lock onto Nari and portal us there" *dead fucking silence*

I hate how Toby's used as a constant punchline.. a penny? Really?

TRAINTRACK MAGIC CIRCLE GO BRRRR

Poor Nari 🥺 Douxie's in so much distress

Oh no, the new amulet isn't working?? Fuckk

That absolutely gorgeous screencap of pissed Aja

Part of me is glad Nari was forced to do this and wasn't actually a traitor

Ice titan awakening sequence? Ice titan awakening sequence.

Oh Nari. Oh sweetie

Oh my gosh she's fucking tied to her titan

Boiling water!!! Or underwater explosion, that works too. Much more dramatic but that's Bellroc's style

Oh wow Steve actually has a bump?? What the fuck???

Oooh, TrollDragons?

Charlie!!!

"We still don't have a trollhunter" Aja, honey, not helpful

"Does he even trust himself? AJA, HONEY, NOT HELPFUL

Barbara being proud of her son 😭😭

OOH fusing excalibur with the armor?

Aja is so full of confidence, it's a good look for her

Steve being preggo is..really fucking weird. When they said

AWWW BLINKY AND AARRRGHHH

Your honor, I love them

OOH IS IT SOFT JLAIRE TIME

Ohhhh it's soft Jlaire time

He's always looking out for his mom 🥺

"I will always be here (head), and here (heart)" just fuck me up fam

Charlie!!!

Zong-Shi?

"Only death will come to those who go looking for it" oh dear

"The troll with many eyes" how does Charlie know Blinky? 😂

AYYY this where the banner that I found first is from!!! it was so cool seeing my screenshot circulate when we were starved for content 😂😂 everyone was posting various rott icons and banners that they got hoping they'd find a new one

Oh dear.. government

Blinky dear they can't understand you

"Holy frijole" Claire I simply adore you

WOW THAT'S PRETTYYYYY

Troll slaves???

So is Zong-Shi this ugly ass pear-lookin ass

Aja chilling with Jim even though she has doubts is an interesting strategic choice

Douxie, AARRRGHHH, and Nomura? Talk about rarepare

NOMURA CATCHING HIM 😭😭 SEXYYYY

DOUXIE RESCUING NOMURA 😭😭😭😭 SEXXYYYYY

If I havent said it yet, the animation is breathtaking

OH SHIT JIM

aaaaand here come those frozen wings

Nari cant be in control of herself, there's no way. She's still tied to the titan for Pete's sake

NOMURA????

Please dont let this be a sacrifice

PLEASE NO

BOTH CHANGELINGS????

STRICKLANDER??????

No on-screen death, so it's not real. No on-screen death, do it"# notbsmejelreal

NO ON-SCREEN DEATH BUT IT'S NOT REAL

THEYRE TALKING AHOUT HIM PAST-TENSE NOOOO

THEY RBOGUHT UP HIS DADDDDDD

"There's no revelation I can give you" is a great way of saying he's not relevant, genuinely

Oh wow this guy's freaky

Ohhhh so the green thing from the trailers and promo photos is the Krohnisfere

Archie to the rescue!!!

"That's my boy!" AWWE

"Claire nooo, no no no no YESSS, I'm free!!!" Blinky, never change 😂

Oh wow, they're already in contact with Bellroc's titan??

Different note, but the titan's designs are just different enough to make them interestun

VARVATOS??? Okay jk somehow it's gun robot lmfao

WAIT NEVER MIND HAHAHAH HI BUD

....if the bridge falls, can't Charlie just fly them across

LMAO he just saw his death?? That is what he wanted to see 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's too early to celebrate, there's no way Bellroc is down after just a few pinches

Yeahhh

Oh dear... is Varvatos in danger?

Claire being the warrior of the group is incredible and sexy and hhnnngggg

Toby is a Hufflepuff. I will not be answering questions

OH WOW THAT'S HOW HE BURNED HIS HAND??? THE HONRGAZEL?????

ARCHIE SAID GOODBYE??? NO NO NO NO NO

Douxie's gonna be a flat mess!!!

God, plus Nomura and Stricklander

NOOOO DOUXIE YOU BIG SWEETIE

Oh my gosh this is the scene with Douxie trying to connect with Nari, it has to be

"I need to try again" AWWW HONEY

That shot of Mexico was incredibly stereotypical

DOUXIE SWEETHEART 🥺🥺

He's trying to hold her hand???? AWWWW

Oh my gosh he's being choked 😳

NARI BABY!!!!

The huggos 🥺🥺

Jim being frustrated is totally realistic

Wait wait wait waittt do they have the entire titan at their disposal?

"There's absolutely nothing all the way out here" cue a titan. Any of them.

And there it is.

CLAIRE SUPREMACY!!!!!!!

White haired Claire? White haired Claire???

Oh dear it's like.. a little over halfway and there's so much left that could happen

COACH. COOOOACH

OH THANK GOD!!! Steve doesn't need another paternal figure dying on him

Time for Skrael to fuck shit up 😬

I find it interesting how Bellroc and Skrael's titans are both bipedal but Nari's is on four legs, much more animalistic

NARI, NOOOOO PLEASE NO

At least Skrael's done????

We kinds knew Bellroc was the final boss but NOT LIKE THIS

DOUXIE SCREAMING FOR HER

NOOOOOOO

No more running. GODDAMNIT

The three can no longer unite but Bellroc can still fcuk shit up

A HIDDEN PAGE??? FUCK THE WORLD IS TO BE REFORGED WITH FIRE

THE HEARTSTONE??????

Oh shit, the explanation for why Arcadia's the center of everything!!

The only heartstone?? Really???? That's scary as shit, trolls could go instinct without a reliable hearthstone!!

EXCALIBUR TIMEEE

JIMMMMMM

Come on honey, you can do it!!

Aja, honey, I love you so much but now's not the time

THE HEARTSTONE???? FUCK DUDE

.......Steve

Eli the midwife?? ...gross

Jim, my love, my baby boy!!!

The nine of them!!!

AWW BLINKY BEING THE BEST DAD

THEY WORK TOGETHER 😭😭😭😭

FUCK YEAH!!!!!!

"Quiet desperation" is a great word for it

Are we coming on to the big final battle?

Ohnoohnoohno they all said the thing 😭😭😭 someone's gonna die. At least one more is gonna die.

HE'S DRIVINGGGG. LOVE THAT FOR HIM

STICKY SPELL TIME!!!!!!

"Some sort of stickum!" Bro 😂😂

I love how he calls them all Trollhunters 😭 throwback to the OG show where the three of them were all called that

Aja Terron supremacy

Oh it's weird.. it's very weird. Why did Steve have to be pregnant again

Oh dear, there's half an hour left.. this has to be the final battle

JIM

Varvatos shielding Claire and Krel 🥺

Fuck, man, people are getting thrown left and right

DOUXIE MY LOVE

Oh here we fucking go, rematch

NEW AMULET???

Jim's about to get royally fucked up

LIKE THAT

FUCK

WHY IS SHE TAKING HIM??? GOD NO

Anti-magic beacon??

Helloooo that's smart asf

This gives Mount Doom vibes

"Embrace your loved ones for the final time" FUCK MAN STOP IT

"I already was" DAMN RIGHT BUD

NEW AMULETTTT

GO GET JIM GO GET 'IM

DAYLIGHT ARMOR!!!!!!

He was ready to just sacrifice himself like THAT

DAYLIGHT ARMORRRRR WITH EXCALIBUR??????? FUUUUCK

Jim being great at combat is just the best fucking thing

Oh fuck. OH FUCK.

STABBED??????

PLEASE NO, GOD NO

FUUUUCK

"I'm powerless" "You get used to it" WE DONT HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT

JIM HONEY PLEASE DONT DIE

Is that....is that it?? Oh dear god, is that it????

JIM WHERE ARE YOU

I'm calling it now it's too early to be celebrating

Oh god the weird babies

WHERE IS TOBY

WHERE

NO

MY JAW FUCKING DROPPED

NO WAY, NO FUCKING WAY

HE'S GETTING A DYING MONOLOGUE??????

ALWAYS HAVE BEEN, ALWAYS WILL BE

"Itll be the two of us at the end" WHY DOES THAG SEEM LIKE JIM WILL GO OUT TIO

THERE'S NO WAY TOBY JUST DIED

THHERE'S NO WAY

That was sad as fuck but in a narrative way I hope it's permanent

Oh dear, Jim's going back????

Oh shit

WWHAT IS HE DOING

NOOOOO

"I have cherished every moment with you" STOP IT HE'S HIS FATHER

"I FYOU WERE MY OWN SON" STOPPPPPP

WHAT'S HAPONEINGGGGG

CLAIRE

NOOOO

THIS IS WHERE IM SOBBING

THIS IS WHERE IM LOSUNG IT

"Dont give up on me" FUCK STOPPPP

"I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE AND HERE" FUCK IT STOPPPPP

"I would date you for a hundred lifetimes" IS REALLY BEING TESTED HUH

THERE ARE 10 MINUTES ELFT WHAT THEBFUCK

AND WE'RE BACK TO TROLLHUNTERS?.????

HUHHHH

Fuck, man. FUCK, MAN.

Oh, Toby. Ohhhh Toby

CLAIRE 🥺

ROMEO AND JULIET!!!!

Oh my fucking god

"IF YOUD COME OVER TO DINNER" AYYYYY

His smile at Steve 🥺

HE'S HAVING TOBY TAKE THE CANAL???? But wouldnt the amulet still call for Jim?????

"Nothing interesting ever happens in Arcadia" VERY FUCKING FUNNY

Destiny is a gift. Some go their entire lives living in an existence of quiet desperation, never learning the truth- that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually the sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights. Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor. That to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero. Don't think. Become.

.......it actually called his name. I can't believe it actually called his name.

The fuck is that ending??? Let Jim REST

[popculturebuffet]

Final Space: And Into The Fire Review or Now with 110% More Homoerotic Telepathy

Welcome  new and old to my first Final Space review! If you’ve never seen the blog before, and given this is the first “new” series i’ve covered as it come out in some time that’s probably quite a few of you, welcome. I’m Jake, I do recaps and reviews of various animated shows and comics, mostly just stuff I want to do, often on comission (5 dollars an episode if theres any episode of the first two seasons of this show or any episode of any other show you’d like tos ee me cover), or for my patreon patreon.com/popculturebuffet. And it is my utmost honor to add this show to my rotating roster of shows I cover as they come out. 

I friggin love Final Space. I was intrigued by it back when TBS released the animatics alongside Close Enough (Wth the two shows ironically finally together on HBO max as of earlier this month), for their doomed block. I heard a lot of good things about season 1.. and let it get away from me, not watching it till Season 2. But both seasons had more than enough to pull me in with intriguging characters, even greater jokes and a truly unique idea for a premise involving giant monsters, an edltrich god and lots of cookies. 

So while it took an extra year given Covid, I’m super friggin pumped to get into season 3 at long last after the hell of a cliffhanger, especially since ironically last night I saw Steven Yeun’s oscar nominated performance in “Minari”. Now i get to watch him play a cat teenager again too.. and in a few days Mark friggin Grayson. It’s a good week to be a fan of his is what i’m saying and a good week in general. 

Previously on Final Space Yo!: Since it’s been a year and while the series provides  a recap , I’m going to be doing these anyway so:

Our heroes finally got all 5 dimensional keys and freed Bolo, and in the process also freed Avacato from Invictus, the horrifying entity controlling final space. Meanwhile Tribore got Sheryl to stop being a selfish prick and she joined the team trying to be a better mother from now on. But freeing Bolo came at a high cost as Nightfall sacrified herself as the sixth key (KVN was natrually both Gary and Bolo’s first choice, but was inllegible. ) So we ended the season with our heroes entering Final Space and Gary reuniting with Quinn.... while Invictus loomed. So over a year later we finally get some answers so join me under the cut for spoilers, recaps, and homoerotic text ahoy. 

Something i’m doing since both the roster keeps changing.. and as I correctly guessed from the trailer, and the general tone of the promos for this season, that everyone won’t be all together all season.. or even in one piece.. i’ll be doing a silver age style roll call to let us know who all we have on the Team Squad for the episode Roll Call: Gary, Quinn, Avacato, Little Cato, Ash, Fox, KVN, HUE, AVA, Sheryl, Bolo, and Tribore

So we pick up right where we left off, Gary tearfully reuniting with Quinn, with Quinn wishing he hadn’t come for her, and Gary being Gary naturally having ignored that, and actually been more determined since that made it forbidden which made it extra tempting and him want to extra do it. God I missed this glorious idiot let me tell you. 

So things are quickly interrupted by invictus, who turns out to be a giant flaming head.. thing... and chases them and the crimson light, which has to start speeding with our heroes tethered to the outside, Quinn holding onto Gary. 

So we get one hell of a thrilling chase as the Crimson Light outspeeds the demon head and runs into two titans, but Bolo shows up to take out one, with Mooncake trying his dimension shattering blast thingy on Invictus.. and naturlaly g ven this is the big bad we need to show off how horrying they are, and it does NOTHING. But Gary catches his little buddy so we’re alright. 

Sheryl also shows off her badass bonafieds by LIGHTFOLDING THROUGH A TITAN... granted she still has some parenting skills to learn as “lightfolding while your son is hanging out the back through an edltrich god” really isn’t a motherly thing to do.. but neither is trying to murder your child several times or blaming him for how shitty your life turned out so ANYTHING is a step up for her. 

But.. it’s not enough. While she does manage to kill ONE the Crimson Light is too badly damaged to go on and we get two tragic deaths in one go... The Team Squad is forced to abandon the Crimson Light.. and AVA is too damaged to Upload into HUE. “I’m Sad” “For who?” “For you.. and for us. “ God damn Tom Kenny is amazing. You don’t need me telling you that, but sometimes you need a reminder. 

So our heroes end up on a desolate mystery world, stranded in final space with no ship, no suplies and no hope. The only thing to do now is survivie and hope they can continue the mission at some point. 

ONE MONTH LATER

Things have not gotten any better, as naturally , our heroes have only found weird cartoon eyed worms that regrow their heads when you bite them off. So while this means unlimited food, it’s also disgusting and Garry hates it. “This may be a head but it tastes like a butt”. Quinn and Tribore are with him and Quinn hasn’t been ready to talk about her experiences trapped in this hellscape and still isn’t but being a good dude, Gary dosen’t push her on it. Though the weird red veiny thing on her arm tells me maybe one of you should speed that up before she explodes or gets cronnenburgy. Just saying. I’ll also say i’m not huge on the one month time skip, as while I feel they probably have a reason for being that specific i’ts a bit TOO long and I question why have that long a period of a jump, not the longest but still long enough for things to happen with nothing changingin that time? Still it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic episode so I can let it go, I just don’t get it. 

What we do get is some Gary Corpses dropping and Invictius puppeting them... i’m with gary that is bowel openingly scary. I also do like how despite the FAR more dire circumstances, they still get in the requisite shenanigans this series requires. I’ts not to the network mandated subplot levels where it distracts, but it’s enough to help ease the terror of the situation and isn’t around for situations like the opening where it really SHOULDN’T be. As the series always has when something big happens, the bollocks goes away. Once we’re in between we can get back to literal pissing contests, KVN leading a crowd to their deaths and HUE in a pimp hat like god intended. 

So yeah our heroes have to outrun the horrible horde of Gary’s, though Little Cato catches on something’s wrong as Tribore makes gary cary him as foreshadowing for later and Sends mooncake down to asssit. Our heroes escape.. but a cave in happens.

After the break, Gary wakes up confused with the party now split in two: Gary, Quinn, KVN, Tribore and HUE on one side and Avacato, Ash, Fox, Little Cato and Sheryl on the other. So Gary does the logical thing... and take his shirt off telling Avacato to feel him. 

I mean I didn’t even ship them before this scene but... Gary claims because of their bond he can telepahtically connect with Avacato. That’s normal Gary shenanigans.. except not only does he shrug off his girlfriend asking why they can’t do that.. but it WORKS. We have a scene of the two telepahtically talking in a wheatfield that is so homerotic I guarantee there only wasn’t the Careless Whisper sax because they couldn’t afford it.. or their saving it for later this season. Look sometimes you don’t ship a ship because you just.. dont’ care that strongly one way or another and sometimes you just need an incredibly gay scene to see the light. Same thing happened with Weblena same thing here. 

Fox also says “that was glorious to watch” same man. That was freaking art. So our heroes split up into three plots. As usual for me

Team Gary: So yeah... Triobore’s pregnant. No way to really softball into that. He’s been pregnant this whole time. So we get a stupid and mildly horrifying gross out sequence with Gary having to look Triobore in teh eyes and Quinn having to “uncork him”. Which is code for ... you know what i’m not going to say it. If you’ve seen the episode you know and if not your better off not visualizing it trust me. Point is this whole sequence is dumb and the worst part of the episode by far. And the series CAN do good gross out. While Olan Rodgers regrets it, the pissing contest was one of the funniest scenes of season 2, and managed to make a gross idea on paper actually pretty damn funny. This.. this is just “Haha males giving birth and tribore’s an asshole”. There’s no joke here just a .. plug. .. gah.. the vomit is rising let me tell you. 

We do get something good out of this nightmare, Tribore’s son who hatches as the army of gary’s dig their way in, Quanstranstro, who rapidly ages into a stylsih spanish speaking adult badass. He is fucking awesome and a great addition to the team and the sheer.. oddity of his birth is wonderful even if the actual birthing was not. Then the climax happens so before that. 

Team Avacato:

Avacato and Co come across a sleeping giant robot cyborg .. thingy. Naturally Fox wakes him up. Little Cato remains not suprised. It occelates between panicking over it’s legs being gone and amenisa and is pretty damn funny. It’s voiced by John Dimagio. But it gets serious as we find out nothing has ever made it out of final space, and things.. change the longer there there. And Quinn’s been there several months if not a year. Whuh oh. This part is much better both due to better jokes and plot advancment.. though again Quanstrano is still fucking amazing. 

Team Bolo: Bolo meanwhile returns and fights a titan, and has mooncake help him rather htan join the others, but looses, hitting the planet with his body.. I mean he might not get back up.. but the impact shatters the caverns and causes an explosion. Everyone but Gary, Quinn, KVN and HUE are MIA, as our remaining party find earth floating overhead. 

TO BE CONTINUED> 

Final Thoughts: A decent start to the season. Like I said the whole birthing sequence can die in a fire and reminds me of the terrible comedy subplots adult swim wanted grafted onto two episodes.. but otherwise it’s a tense stark opener that sets up the bleak tone while still keeping the series rediciulous shenanigans in tact. It’s the perfect welcome back after so long. I mean the gay telepathy alone would make it a winner. 

Next Time on This Blog: We dive into a little history with HIsteria. See you at the next rainbow. 

[thequibblah]

⭐ honestly there are so many things that I'd likevto ask which is why I want to ask a broaderish question.. How do you approach the characterisation of your "Main cast"? I think you have created some really great complex characters even though they do not exist in canon or even fanon (Germaine in example)

I hope this isn't too broad lol

no, i don't think it's too broad! just let me know if my answer doesn't actually touch on what you were wondering about haha

character creation for me tends to be spontaneous rather than conscious — i.e. i'm just writing my way through a scene and i'm like anyway, these people are new and they're friends or they're dating or they hate each other, and there's rarely a ton of forethought put into it. the vast majority of the ct cast was like that, i would say, except possibly michael, who was the first love interest i invented so there was a little more intention there

(but other than him i was really pulling things out of nowhere for the rest of the students especially — including with emmeline which sometimes surprises me)

the exception is, of course, the main cast. they and sara were very intentional, and i wrote little bio thingies for them before i started even outlining the fic. i mean the non-canon main cast, of course, lol — mary, dorcas (they're both canon but i've invented virtually everything about them, so), and germaine.

i did actually do a lot of hemming and hawing about how many girls there would be in lily's year in gryffindor. as discussed in a previous "my beef with j/k/r" instalment on this blog, the numbers of the hogwarts population really don't make sense at all, so i knew i could be flexible and kind of hand wave any questionable bits away. but the composition of the gryffindor girls was crucial in deciding lily's characterisation, imo — an easy way to convey implied characterisation is to show someone in contrast to the people around them. so: who is lily within the context of her friend group? is she friends with all the girls she rooms with?

separately, i've always liked writing friends in groups of four. in the planning stage of this i was like urghhh it's four girls, the four marauders, is that like too perfect....... and one thing i HATED was that people could then map on each marauder to each girl (lily = james is a bit questionable, though i firmly believe they're much more alike than they seem, but it kind of works.... mary = sirius, dorcas = remus, germaine = peter). and i didn't, and don't, want to make it seem like i've just made vaguely distinct female versions of each marauder!

i've made my peace with that risk, of course, and i think each of the girls is significantly different from "their marauder" (LOL) that it's actually fine — and, better still, if that thought occurs to anyone i hope that their characterisations will go on to provide interesting nuance to the parallels

but, anyway, tangent aside, i love groups of four because i think basically all my life i've had groups-of-four friendships. to absolutely go to bat for us foursomes, it's nice because no single person is the obvious odd one out, and each combination in pairs brings something different to the table — the role that doe plays in the group of four at large, for instance, isn't exactly the same as who she is in her individual friendship with mary, lily, or germaine.

the three main cast members came of some very clinical answers to those initial questions about lily.

one, i have always liked having mary be one of lily's friends, and in my characterisation of her she's obviously a great foil to lily, as a fellow muggle-born student. so, she was a lock.

two, i wanted to write one other canon order character, but i didn't want it to be marlene because in my reading of her canon mention, lily is unlikely to write a letter to sirius with her full name (paraphrasing but "i was so upset when marlene mckinnon died, i cried for ages") or, indeed, write a letter discussing how sad marlene's death made her, if they were besties and schoolmates. i went with dorcas because why the hell not? in developing her i then added all these thoughts

three, i felt the need to make up an oc so i could have absolute freedom over their fate. i had certain preconceived notions about mary and dorcas and what their stories would be, so there were other things (e.g. playing quidditch) that i wanted to have a friend of lily's do that they couldn't. plus, i wanted to write a massive lesbian.

another little sticking point, though, was that i (for a very SHRUG?? reason) didn't want lily to be besties with everyone she's lived with, but i didn't want to insert a catty rival into her dorm either. (now, don't get me wrong, i do love a good rival. i did, after all, write mary and amelia, and i am a known appreciator of carlotta meloni, and i adore TLE's marlene mckinnon. but i wanted the gryffindor girls to be like lily's safe space — a contrast both to her home life and to her recently-strained friendship with snape, where she's spent some time having to second-guess herself a lot. in my mind her friendships with all three of her besties coalesced at various points organically, until she was like wow wait i do actually have a home base here.)

the compromise was someone who was friendly with lily, but there's no strain on that friendship to be more than it is — which, sara and lily respect each other but have also learned they're not so alike that they need to hang out all the time. sara, to lily, is the girl you do things with because you're schoolmates, and then once you're out of school you amicably drift apart and occasionally leave a nice comment on their instagram

so that was how the gryffindors coalesced in my mind as placeholder figures. i will fully confess i start with tropes and then work out ways to deconstruct them or complicate them — as i've talked about in multiple of these questions, i think a lot of my characters are caught between sticking to their perceived label and acting the way they want to, aka the ripest high school drama fodder known to humankind

Wearing a fake smile and watching her sister’s sickening love life had put things in perspective a little. Why should she always do what was expected of her?

(we construct ourselves in contrast to those around us....)

mary started off as boy-crazy, doe started off as idealistic, and germaine started off as struggling to find her place. then i built up from those foundations, adding in tropey bits i enjoyed and wanted to engage with — i wanted doe to be passionately principled, but the gentler counterpart to mary, and even-tempered where lily runs hot. i wanted germaine to be a little bit thoughtless, changeable, someone utterly herself but still uncomfortable in her own skin. knowing, then, that the other two were going to be, how shall i put it, gentler hearts (LOL), i went back to mary and decided she would have this tough-girl, queen-bee persona.

then doe got her family background, which added in her ambitions and hinted at her future, and made it so her foundation would be threatened by events of the story. obviously i was writing mary in the aftermath of the mulciber/avery incident, so i needed to ask how much her take-no-shit vibe was threatened by it — and if not, why? how? unsurprisingly, even to people like amelia...

“At least I’m not overflowing with insecurity,” said Amelia. Mary laughed. The sound echoed through the courtyard. “We both know that’s not true.”

...the persona is put-on, but the "real mary" is so caught up in the invented mary that even she couldn't hope to uncover an authentic self...nor would she necessarily want to, because her affected self is still her...

wait don't get me started

germaine was already a quidditch player, and i wanted her to be a seeker because that's automatic investment in perhaps the single player with the most impact on the game — crucial for what i knew would be many, many quidditch sequences, where james wasn't always the most important pov! some of that seekery vibe leeched into who she is: she's searching, right from the start, for a sense of self that feels just out of reach:

“This year is going to be a year of change,” Germaine said [...] “Henceforth I will be going by... Gemma.” The girls looked at one another for a beat. Then Lily, Doe, and Mary burst into laughter.

she's more anxious and outwardly uncertain than her friends, and i wanted to consciously engage with that — proper teenage awkwardness, the kind that wouldn't really happen to Main Character lily, I Have No Sense of Shame mary, and I Am Overflowing with Good Sense doe. more than the other three, germaine is a normal person in the context of this world — she's not a muggleborn, so the war has a different impact on her; she's not the child of activists; she's not well-off. an absolutely spontaneous invention that i was really quite thrilled by was having her sister be crouch's secretary, because it's such a sudden, shocking realisation for her that she's got such a close connection in the thick of it

Germaine clapped a hand over her mouth. “Big news soon,” she mumbled. “Big news soon, that’s what Abigail said, only she didn’t say what big news…”

so germaine is really just... living her life, an indie coming of age film in which her friends' subplot is a fucking war LOL

i defined germaine in contrast to the other girls a lot when drawing out the characters for myself, mostly for a practical reason — i didn't want her to overlap too strongly with any of them, since she's the only one who's wholly my invention. i think some of that remains in her characterisation, but i decided to make it conscious instead:

Germaine saw herself as a happy medium, flexible enough to stretch sympathetically between her friends. But— What does it mean that I define myself in comparison to them? Nothing. She was only seventeen and she was finding her way.

i knew germaine was going to get the chaotic sporty romance pretty much right off the bat, but, fun fact, i hadn't actually picked out who her love interest would be until after i started spitballing other sixth years' names and had a basic idea of who emmeline was. wild!

i feel like i haven't said all i want to say but let's stop there or i'd go on forever, ha!

[hubskitchen]

Hub’s Kitchen Episode 4: Why the DC Extended Universe Failed (DCEU Retrospective)

DISCLAIMER: This is a continuation of the previous installment of Hub’s Kitchen. Please read that episode before reading this one. Or not, it’s your choice. Also, spoilers for: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Justice League.

What’s up guys, my name’s Hub, and welcome to another installment of Hub’s Kitchen. Episode, installment, same difference, this isn’t an academic essay now. In the last episode, I talked about some cinematic universes and what problems they faced or are going to face. At the end, I said I was saving one particular cinematic universe for this episode, and that it needed its own episode dedicated to it. Well, I’m gonna talk about that universe today. Prepare yourselves, as I dive into the horror that is known as: The DC Extended Universe.

If there’s one cinematic universe that can rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of popularity and success besides Star Wars, it’d be DC’s cinematic universe. The Marvel/DC rivalry has been going on since the 1960’s, when a good chunk of Marvel’s heroes were introduced during the Silver Age of comic books. Throughout the past 5+ decades, both have had their major successes and major blunders. DC has always had the advantage in the animation side of things compared to Marvel, but that doesn’t mean Marvel hasn’t had good shows. The Spectacular Spider-Man and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes series are some of my favorite animated shows of all time. I prefer Marvel because of the heroes and how more human they are compared to DC’s catalog, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like DC. My first exposure to superheroes was the Justice League animated series from the widely beloved DC Animated Universe, and I’ve been a superhero fan since. In a perfect world, the Marvel/DC rivalry on film would be a monumental and huge war, both sides unleashing their various heroes onto the screen for audiences to love, and giving more fans more room for debate in the long-fabled who’s better debate: Marvel or DC? Instead, it’s more like Marvel is curb stomping DC into the fucking dirt. I feel a brief history lesson is necessary to really bring this whole thing into context.

HOW THIS ALL FELL INTO PLACE

Several years ago, from the 70’s to the 90’s, DC had the upper hand on film, especially with classics like Superman: The Movie, and Tim Burton’s Batman ‘89. Meanwhile, Marvel struggled to get anything onto the screen, with failures like the 1989 Punisher, the 1990 Captain America, and the cancelled, but only viewable through bootleg 1994 Fantastic Four movie. Then, Marvel went bankrupt in 1996, and to keep them afloat, they sold all the movie rights to all their characters to various movie studios. Sony got Spider-Man, FOX got the X-Men and Fantastic Four, etc. During this period, Superman already fell from grace with the 1987 bomb Superman 4: The Quest for Peace, and Batman would soon follow with 1997’s Batman and Robin, one of the most infamous comic book movies of all time. The genre would see a new beginning with 1998’s Blade. In 2000, FOX launched their first X-Men movie, and in 2002, Spider-Man came out, which is the movie that I believe is what started the comic book movie boom that’s still going on, and would be the template that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would follow. DC, meanwhile, rebooted Batman with 2005’s Batman Begins, which would later follow up with 2008’s The Dark Knight, which is often considered to be the greatest comic book movie of all time. Unfortunately, not everything was working out for both Marvel and DC. Superman Returns, the first Superman movie since Quest For Peace, while a modest hit, wasn’t the hit Warner Bros were expecting it to be, and today, Superman Returns isn’t looked at very fondly. While FOX successfully launched the X-Men onto the world of film, the Fantastic Four wouldn’t get the same level of success with both the 2005 film and it’s 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer. Sony was also in a pickle with 2007’s Spider-Man 3, which disappointed audiences. Pile that on with Hulk, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider, and Marvel was having some pretty notable failures in their catalog. However, while Universal, FOX, and Sony failed with the aforementioned films, something huge was coming from Marvel Studios when Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk released in 2008. The first Iron Man had the famous end credits sequence with Nick Fury telling Tony Stark that he was a “part of a bigger universe,” and in The Incredible Hulk, we see Tony Stark in a scene of the movie, leading fans to believe that something was coming. 2010 and 2011 marked the releases of Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, and in 2012, the culmination of all 5 movies released: The Avengers. The Avengers was a massive success, being that it was the first movie to make over $200 million in its opening weekend in the United States. The movies from Iron Man to The Avengers would later be known as Phase 1 of the MCU. Knowing where Marvel Studios is today, it’s amazing how huge they’ve become, making Marvel into a global phenomenon, at least in the realm of movies. This left Warner Bros pressured to make a cinematic universe of their own DC superheroes and get a Justice League movie out as soon as possible. However, this wasn’t actually the first time WB tried to set up a DC cinematic universe.

GREEN LANTERN

In 2011, Green Lantern was released in theaters. On the surface level, Green Lantern was following the footsteps of the first Iron Man: Taking a B-list character and making a movie that would set up the foundation of what would later be a cinematic universe. However, that didn’t work out for Warner Bros. Green Lantern was released to mediocre to terrible reviews, and was a flop at the box office, grossing $219 million on a $200 million dollar budget. Thus, all plans for sequels to Green Lantern were cancelled. The movie is often considered to be one of the worst comic book movies of all time, and was subject of a joke in Deadpool, with “Please don’t make the super suit green, or animated!” Good thing Ryan Reynolds got his big break with that movie. In 2013, WB released Man of Steel in theaters. Man of Steel was directed by Zack Snyder, who directed 300 and the live action adaptation of Watchmen in 2009. The head writer was David Goyer, who wrote for the Dark Knight trilogy, and one of the producers was Christopher Nolan, the director of the Dark Knight trilogy. *In Bubsy voice* How could any of this possibly go wrong?

MAN OF STEEL

It could go wrong, but not horribly wrong. Instead of releasing to rave reviews, and making over a billion dollars at the box office, Man of Steel released to mixed reviews, and in WB’s eyes, underperformed at $668 million dollars. To this day, Man of Steel is one of the most divisive comic book movies of all time, with some seeing it as a great reinvention of Superman, and others seeing it as a betrayal at who Superman is. Not exactly the foundation you want to build your cinematic universe on, huh? As for me, I side with the more negative reactions to Man of Steel, but not as much as I did back in 2013. With the benefit of hindsight, I see Man of Steel as a movie that could have been great, but it wasn't. The issue with Man of Steel, and the thing that kills the movie for me, is that they changed Superman to accommodate the world the DC Extended Universe built up, rather than have Superman be the character he’s always been. I’d be fine with a less experienced, more doubtful Superman, if after this movie, he slowly, but gradually becomes the Superman people expect. We’ll talk about that in a bit, but it didn’t help that the movie spent so much time telling us that Superman will be great, instead of just showing us. Given what we see, Supes destroying shit in Smallville and Metropolis, I don’t think he’s going to be great at all. It also didn’t help that the movie was slow as shit. I can take slow-paced stuff, but you need to really have me engrossed in order to deal with it, ‘cause a slow-pace can kill something for me. I could go on further, but we need to move this along. Overall, I think Man of Steel is mediocre, but not terrible. So, given how this movie underperformed, what do you think Warner Bros’ would do for the future? Hit the Batman Emergency button, of course! Because Batman did wonders for Warner Bros with the Dark Knight trilogy, they decided to put Batman in the follow-up to Man of Steel. But they couldn’t stop at just putting a Batman and Superman conflict into this movie. They also needed to add Wonder Woman, ‘cause the DC Trinity needs to be on screen now that The Avengers got their movie. That still wasn’t enough, however. Let’s take elements of The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman storylines and adapt them. Okay, this could still work. Hold on! We need to let the audience know that Justice League is coming, so let’s put in Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg into a scene that literally advertises their films and the Justice League movie. Now we need to double down on the dark and gritty tone people were divided with on Man of Steel, and let’s try to be even more profound and deep, unlike that stupid kiddy Marvel crap that’s successful for some reason. This is for the intellectually elite, motherfuckers! This movie will be a masterpiece! It’ll mop the floor with that stupid Marvel movie, Captain America: Civil War! People will love our movie, right?!

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

Haha, ha, WB executives are fucking hilarious. Batman v Superman, which I’m just going to refer to as BvS from now on for simplicity’s sake, released to negative reviews and was even more divisive than Man of Steel with audiences and fans. WB wanted this movie to make $1.1 billion, which is what Captain America: Civil War would end up making. Instead, despite a strong opening weekend, BvS had the second largest opening weekend drop off, with 2003’s Hulk still retaining that record. BvS would only end up making $872 million at the box office, which WB labeled as another underperformer. In my humble opinion, BvS is the worst comic book movie I’ve ever seen, and is a good contender for the worst of its genre. “But Hub,” I hear some of you say, “Wasn’t Age of Ultron accused of the same issues BvS had? Why did that film still end up being successful?” A few reasons. Age of Ultron, despite it not receiving rave reviews like the first Avengers movie did, still received fairly positive reviews and word of mouth, and still made $1.4 billion at the box office, which is less than the $1.5 billion the first Avengers made. That’s diminishing returns, but not by a lot. Second, while I’ll agree that AoU isn’t one of Marvel Studios’ best films, as it suffered from studio interference, I can at least say that the movie wasn’t broken at the seams. It got derailed a few times (Hi, Thor pond scene and Hulk X Black Widow relationship), but it the characters still felt like themselves, there were some legitimately great moments (Vision and Ultron in the woods is a good example), and wasn’t trying to be profound and deep. It tried to tell a more grand story than the first Avengers, but it was never pretentious, even if the movie bit off more than it could chew. AoU had to do a lot, too much in fact, and the movie came out as a mess, but not a terrible mess, or even irredeemable one. It’s honestly a miracle that AoU ended up as good as it was, given the circumstances. Heavily flawed, but I can admire what it set out to do. Had to get that unnecessary, but also necessary “Marvel isn’t perfect” thing so I don’t get accused of being a Marvel or Disney shill. Christ.

Back onto the actual subject, BvS is a fucking trainwreck on every possible level if you ask me. Okay, maybe not so much the music, but even then, Wonder Woman’s theme is the only song that I can remember. Then again, I don’t pay attention to music when I watch movies, as I listen to those on my own time. The story was so badly told, and the stand out moments were so horrible, I’m shocked that this movie was approved with the script that it was given. This is one of the few times I think of my theater experience when watching a movie. Man of Steel’s theater experience made me sick with the shitty shaky-cam, but this movie made me angry while watching it, and I never get angry when watching movies, so you have to be really bad in order to make me angry when watching. Two moments in particular, the infamous Martha scene and Superman’s death made me want to walk out on the movie. I’ve never wanted to walk out of a movie before, so that was a first for me. I think the biggest sin BvS makes that isn’t destroying famous comic book stories and having some of the worst versions of Batman AND Superman, is that not only is BvS slow to the point of boring, with very little of actual importance happening, but the movie tries to be so profound in its messages and imagery, like this is some fucking college arthouse film. A lot of people say the worst thing a movie can be is be boring. I respectfully disagree. For me, the worst thing a movie can be is be boring and trying to act like it’s so smart with its themes. The whole god amongst humans thing has been done to death, quite literally in the case of this movie, and the way it’s presented and written, comes off as overly pretentious. I can’t wait for someone to tell me that this movie is for the intellectually elite, while also saying that I need a high IQ in order to understand this movie. It’s why I prefer a movie to be rushed and have little actual meaning, than a movie that’s slow paced and try to be profound. This applies to bad movies only, of course.

There’s two cuts that exist for BvS: The one that was released in theaters, and the 3 hour, rated R extended cut, dubbed the “Ultimate Cut.” Yes, because the first movie about Batman and FUCKING Superman TOTALLY needed a rated R cut. I’ve watched the Ultimate cut, or more like I was forced to watch it because my brother made me sit with him and watch it. There’s a reason why I never trust the man with movies. But, how is the Ultimate cut? Well… it’s better… *sigh* Okay, it’s more complete this time around. It doesn’t feel like a huge chunk was cut out for no reason, and there’s more context surrounding the events of the movie, but does that actually fix the movie? Judging by my statement, no, no it doesn’t. Many of the problems that were in the theatrical cut are still present in this version: Batman and Superman hate each other for their own reasons but do the things they say they hate about the other, making them hypocrites, Lex Luthor’s plan makes no sense and is overly convoluted, Lois Lane is still useless, the action is still poor overall, Wonder Woman is still an afterthought, the title fight that the movie has its entire purpose riding on is still lackluster at best, the Martha scene is still stupid, and the movie essentially destroyed all hopes of a great Superman story by wasting the Death of Superman storyline. What else can I say? I fucking hate this movie, the end. Holy shit, that was a long section. How’s about something shorter?

SUICIDE SQUAD

This is gonna be a very short segment compared to the BvS one, but that’s because in a shocking twist, I haven’t actually sat down and watched Suicide Squad. I’ll still talk about how the movie ended up the way it did and how it was received, but I can’t actually comment on the movie itself. I’m also putting Suicide Squad’s history here because the BvS segment is long enough. Anyway, after BvS underperformed, Warner Bros panicked and decided to make a course correction with Suicide Squad. People liked the trailers, which made the movie appear to be DC’s answer to Guardians of the Galaxy. In fact, the people who made the trailers ended up editing the movie. Yes, really. The concept of the movie sounded awesome. A ragtag group of villains forced to do good things or they die is a really interesting concept and if executed well, could be seen as a new form of comic book movie. The anti-Avengers, you could say. However, that wasn’t meant to be. Suicide Squad was received about as well as BvS was, with some saying it was even worse than BvS. Seeing as how I haven’t seen the movie, I can’t comment on it, but given what I’ve heard, it sounds like a shitty version of Guardians of the Galaxy, both of them, and the sequel wasn’t out when Suicide Squad came out. At the very least, the movie was said to have been more profitable than BvS, even though it made $746 million at the box office on a $175 million budget. So, 3 misfires so far, and the best received one divided audiences and critics. The DCEU was in serious trouble, and there needed to be a miracle in order to save this franchise. Well, unbeknownst to Warner Bros, their savior, to a degree anyway, would come from an underestimated superhero, or should I say, superheroine!

WONDER WOMAN

Remember when I said that Wonder Woman was an afterthought in BvS? Well, she was, but she had a movie coming out. I find it funny that we live in a world where the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Deadpool, the Suicide Squad, and Doctor Strange got their own movies before Wonder Woman, the third member of the DC Trinity. The world is weird. Diana’s movie came out, and it blew away expectations. Not that they were high to begin with, but let’s not be so cynical here. Wonder Woman released to great reviews and audiences loved it. The movie made over $412 million dollars at the U.S. box office, more than any of the Marvel Studios films at the same box office, and outperformed Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man for the highest grossing superhero origin movie, and Spidey held the record for 15 years. The movie would end up making $821 million dollars at the global box office, making it the second highest grossing movie in the DCEU, with BvS being the highest grossing, but unlike BvS, Wonder Woman didn’t underperform and was a huge hit. So, what did I think of Wonder Woman? Well, gotta give credit where credit is due, but the DCEU has an installment where I can confidently call good. Diana herself was better characterized than she was in BvS. My favorite scene in the movie is when she and Steve Trevor are about to go to No Man’s Land, but before they embark on the train ride there, Diana gets ice cream from an ice cream vendor, and tells the ice cream man that he’s wonderful. This is something that this franchise has been sorely lacking: Little touches. The movie also used the dark and gritty motif of the DCEU correctly. This is because the movie was set during World War 1, which was a shitty time, and we had Themyscira, a bright and colorful place to contrast with the shitty London and battlefields. The first two acts, minus the underwhelming action that relied too much on slow motion for my tastes, were well handled and even great. Despite what I said about the action, that No Man’s Land sequence was awesome. However, and this hurts me to say this, the third act happens. Ooooh, the third act. If there was one movie that was so close to greatness, only to have the ending nearly ruin it, it’s this movie. I know I’m going to be labeled sexist for not saying Wonder Woman is a great movie, but please, bare with me. So, throughout the movie, Diana wants to kill Ares, the god of war. The legend of Ares states that he’s the reason why mankind goes to war with each other. However, Diana kills General Stryker (I’m calling him that because it’s the same actor from X-Men 2), and she believed him to be Ares. I mean, to be fair, he was huffing up some magic powder or something, so I can believe that. After killing General Stryker, Diana sees that the humans are still preparing their assault. Diana is horrified to see this, and she asks Steve Trevor why the humans are still at war now that she killed Ares. Shortly after this, the real Ares comes and then the movie goes into the usual third act climax. Now, I don’t have a problem with third act climaxes. So, why do I have an issue with it here? Ares was mentioned being alive early in the movie, so what’s the big deal? I think it has to do with how the movie was written. The way the movie played out, it seemed like Diana realizing that humans are, in her words, “so much more,” than what they seem. This could have explained why she gave up the Wonder Woman mantle and stayed in the human world for a century. Not having a third act climax in order to develop a character, with the message that humans are much more, even at their worst, would have been amazing. Instead, the movie throws all of that away for a final fight with Ares and Steve Trevor sacrificing himself. It felt tacked on and cheapened the movie. It came off as rewarding Diana for being naive, which is something I hated about the movie. Her entire character arc was rendered meaningless because of that last act. There’s also some questions after the fight that are never answered. Now that Ares is dead, does that mean World War 2 and the Cold War never happened in this universe? If killing Ares ended all conflict in humanity, why is the world so grim when Man of Steel begins? This act single handedly derailed the movie. What could have been a potential masterpiece only ends up being decent in my opinion. I won’t go as far as to say the third act ruined the movie, but it does end up hurting the movie by quite a bit if you ask me. I should reiterate that Wonder Woman is overall, a solid movie, but the third act really holds it back. Now, let’s get to the fifth and final movie in this, I guess you could call it, DCEU Retrospective, the big JL.

JUSTICE LEAGUE

Fun fact: Did you know that there was going to be a Justice League movie long before The Avengers? The movie was called Justice League: Mortal, and was going to release sometime around 2007/2008, if not later than that. However, I guess WB decided “Naaah, we got our golden boyo Christopher Nolan here doing Batman movies for us. The audience will be confused if two live action Batmen were on screen.” Not giving the audience enough credit, I see? I mean, I’m not sure what happened, but I’m pretty sure you can look up a video Justice League: Mortal.

Justice League faced tons of behind the scenes problems. There were talks of Ben Affleck (aka, DCEU Bats) directing which never went through, the movie being completely reworked just mere weeks before shooting began because of BvS’s terrible reception, Joss Whedon (the guy who wrote and directed the first two Avengers movies) taking over as director and reworking the movie after Zack Snyder tragically lost his daughter from suicide, etc, etc, etc. Now, I’m not saying a movie that has behind the scenes problems is doomed to failure. After all, A New Hope had several behind the scenes problems, with George Lucas even writing the film off before it premiered, and look at how well that movie ended up turning out. Although I was livid after BvS and missed Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman gave me some hope that Justice League wouldn’t be that bad. Well… I was sort of right on that.

Let me get one thing straight: Justice League is a terrible movie. The story reeks of “Been there, done that, seen it before, seen it better, and will see it better in the future.” The characters were flat at best, and irritating at worst (looking at you, second-rate MCU Spider-Man aka Flash), and the villain is one of the worst I’ve ever seen (seriously, Steppenwolf is a fucking mid-boss, so why is he the big bad of 4 years?). To top it off, the film is a tonal and visual mess, and what I mean by the latter is that Joss Whedon’s Avengers-esc style clashes heavily with Zack Snyder’s supposed deep and dark vision. Justice League comes off as, to quote one of my favorite YouTube channels, Midnight’s Edge “A Frankensteinian abomination.” That being said, at least the film didn’t try to shove philosophical messages down my throat or try so fucking hard to be deep and meaningful, so JL’s already better than Man of Steel and BvS in that regard. I also liked that we finally got a Superman that actually felt like Superman should instead of what MoS and BvS tried to make him be. I left Justice League feeling… indifferent, I guess? I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it either. All I know is that I should have been feeling a lot more positive about this movie than I actually did. The Justice League animated series from the DC Animated Universe was my introduction to superheroes, and I still think holds up wonderfully today. I may have not been a fan of how Season 1 handled Superman in regards to the villains of that show, but I still think it’s a fantastic show. It’s a fucking shame that Warner Bros essentially failed to make a movie worthy of the name: Justice League. To make Justice League look even of a failure, we’re gonna have to talk about box office again.

Wanna know how much Justice League costed to make, including reshoots? $300 million. Justice League is the second most expensive movie ever made, with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides being the most expensive. Want to know how much money it made, or has made so far? $655 million. Yes, only that much. On its opening weekend in America, it made $93 million. It couldn’t even make $100 million! It took the movie a fucking month to make the same amount The Avengers made in its opening weekend. If that’s not a “Get fucked, DC,” I don’t know what is. So, now that I spent this entire time going over each DCEU movie in detail (sorry that this has been so long to begin with), it’s now time to answer the question: Why did the DC Extended Universe fail?

WHY THE DCEU FAILED

If you ask me, the main reason the DC Extended Universe failed was because Warner Bros didn’t have a set plan or a person with a vision to keep the universe in tact. The reason Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been consistently successful is because of one man, and that man is Kevin Feige. Originally being a producer for the early X-Men and Spider-Man movies, along with other Marvel films, he was the brainchild behind the MCU, and has been an executive producer for each movie in the MCU so far. When a movie doesn’t measure up to the rest, which was the case with Thor: The Dark World, the MCU didn’t go into a panic and have the next few movies affected by Thor 2’s failings. Instead, the franchise carried on, and all the problems of The Dark World were addressed and mostly solved with Thor: Ragnorok. DC, meanwhile, doesn’t have a Kevin Feige. Warner Bros made the choice to make the DCEU director-driven, rather than producer-driven. The problem with making a mega-franchise with multiple franchises inside is that you need to have them be producer-driven to have a consistent vision. I know that a common complaint with the MCU is that it tends to revolve around a single formula, often referred to as the “Marvel Formula,” but a consistent vision needs to be in check to keep things in line. Having director-driven movies is good, but can lead to a clash of visions. Maybe I should do a Hub’s Kitchen episode on that. Hmm… Because of BvS’s failings, Suicide Squad and Justice League had to be radically altered during shooting and post-production, rather than before shooting and during pre-production, which was the case of Thor: Ragnorok going in a different direction than the previous Thor films.

I also feel that not sticking to what made the characters so beloved is another reason the DCEU failed. I’ve always been one to say that accuracy doesn’t make a movie good, but even so, I still believe that the main point of the character should be completely in tact. Marvel Studios has done a great job at this, even when they had to slightly rework characters like Spider-Man for example. Despite him having a tech suit made by Tony Stark, Peter still made his original suit, his web shooters, webbing, is still a smart kid, and relatable. Meanwhile, the DCEU decided “Hey, you know Superman? Yeah, let’s make him a complete brooding asshole and have him kill people for no reason other than its cool.” Or “Hey, you know Batman? Yeah, he’s a killer now and then suddenly he’s a third-rate Tony Stark wannabe.” Even better “Hey, you know Flash? Barry Allen Flash? We’re gonna make him Wally West and make him incredibly annoying, because COMEDY!” Thankfully, Wonder Woman got off pretty well. I know nerds like me are the only people who read comic books, but as far as an adaptation is concerned, we want the core basics of the characters to be intact. The DCEU didn’t do that, and a lot of fans jumped ship. Audiences were also alienated, mainly because for Man of Steel and BvS, the heroes weren’t acting like heroes, or people for that matter. I think that covers that whole dilemma, and now, it’s time to wrap everything up.

CONCLUSION

I’m sorry that this episode was as long as it was. I just feel that I needed to go in-depth as to why I felt the way I did and why the DCEU failed. I love superheroes. I’d go as far as to say superhero stories are my favorite kind of stories. I grew up with superheroes, okay, mostly Spider-Man, but still. So I hope you all can understand why I hated the DCEU as much as I did, and why it ultimately failed. I feel like whenever people generalize others who love the MCU and hate the DCEU as them saying “Marvel can do no wrong,” are missing the point. It’s not that we believe Marvel can do no wrong. It’s that we want good representations of the heroes we read and love, so maybe the average Joe can understand why we love these funny books so much. Whatever issues the MCU has can (mostly) be forgiven because the good stuff outweighs the bad. The DCEU, however, has only one good movie to its name and a few droppings of brilliance in an otherwise mediocre DC universe.

Wow, I got really emotional there. I’m sorry for that. It just annoys me when people generalize stuff. I don’t know what the next topic of Hub’s Kitchen will be on, but I can tell you all this: It’s gonna be a hell of a lot shorter than this, that’s for sure. My name’s Hub, and thank you for reading. *Checks Google Drive word count* Over 5,000 words. What the fu-

[anonymouscrocodilefan]

Leadership Styles and Law (”Law is an INTP” revisited)

Haha what this is a Croco blog, why am I talking about Law after months of silence.

To be honest? Because this past year of developments in the manga has left me feeling REALLY vindicated about my reads on characters again. I am terrible at predicting Oda, but my track record at interpreting and analyzing his subtext ain’t too shabby. My read on Sanji, frex. Also, I actually REALLY regret not talking about Viola in depth before now – I mentioned her in passing in at least one post I published, but really regret relegating my thoughts on her relationship with Doffy to “ah this is crack I’m reading too much into this and no one cares anyway right?” Because one recent SBS more or less confirmed what I’d been thinking about there – and why I found her character very very fascinating in context, despite her being fairly low on my list of “characters I like”. Maybe I should still put together a writeup on that at some point.

But I digress.

Just as this past Year of Sanji has more or less borne out my thoughts on Sanji (despite his intelligence, spy hijinks, and capacity for trickery, he is not a calculating rational type of person as some people kept insisting, but a Myers-Briggs Feeling type who deeply values interpersonal relationships above all else, for better or for worse)... towards the end of Zou there was one particular chapter that made me feel SUPER pleased about my read on Law.

Specifically, my opinion that he is an INTP, despite the fact that he doesn’t fit into any of the cliched, stereotypical images of INTPs. (And the fact that I saw a fair amount of people complaining about the apparent inconsistency between his pre-timeskip personality vs. his post-timeskip personality.)

I wrote about that in this post: http://anonymouscrocodilefan.tumblr.com/post/135651487781/one-piece-mbti-allies-introverted

Mainly in that post I talked in generalities about his relationships and his plotting style and how they related to the cognitive functions (read up on them if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, but the four abbreviated letters aren’t just binary labels).

Chapter 819 though, made me giggle so much, because Law’s behavior through that entire sequence (throughout all of Zou, really) is basically THE ultimate giveaway of his INTP-ness.

Disclaimer: As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m an INTP myself (if it wasn’t already obvious from all my tl;dr analysis). Whether this fact biases me towards or against this interpretation of Law is up to you – but I will add that I originally only grew confident in my assessment after we saw our first glimpse in text of child!Law.

Preliminary note: throughout the Zou arc, Law very noticeably retreated into the background. He was off-screened for many chapters (for good reason). But hilariously, even when he was ON screen... he was often deliberately blocked out by word bubbles or just a silhouette in the distance. This despite the fact that he is technically the other major leader of the alliance...

Guess what? INTPs hate to lead. We’ll do it if we have to and depending on the individual we might even do a decent job of it. (Yes, introverts can hold leadership positions.) But we’d rather not, all in all. So was I surprised at Law backing off? Nope, not at all. In fact, I’d expected it. (And it’s not like hiding/fading isn’t “normal” behavior for him – he owns a submarine, ya know.)

1. What Law is most definitely NOT:

- an ISTJ. He’s contrasted directly with Drake in his own flashbacks, even. If he were a dutiful ISTJ sort who believed in the system despite everything he’d gone through, Law would’ve been in the perfect position to join the Marines the way Drake did. I mean, kid wasn’t stupid. He knew who Cora really was. He let Cora lie to him because he wanted to believe in the lie, but he clearly wasn’t fooled.

More importantly, an ISTJ leader (they’re one of the more common introvert leader types due to their dutiful nature) tends to be more anchored by a strong sense of responsibility. No ISTJ leader would have EVER run off to pursue their own personal agenda the way Law did (it’s even made explicit that Law never expected to see his crew again). And it’s not like Law doesn’t care, doesn’t love his crew – he very clearly does. But he simply doesn’t feel that sort of obligation toward them. Hell, he can’t even be bothered to introduce them properly. XD

In fact, we need look no further than Jinbe for a classic ISTJ leader, torn between his various conflicting duties and obligations and his own personal desires. Completely different from Law.

- an INTJ. An INTJ is characterized by meticulous long-term planning – which I have already pointed out in the previous post, doesn’t actually characterize Law and his ability to be spontaneous, as well as the specific ways his plans fall short.

Again, it’s also interesting to consider leadership styles. I do believe INTJs & INTPs are closer in that regard (most of us aren’t interested in being “leaders”, but INTJs are more likely to have ambitions that involve being thrust into such positions), but perhaps the best point of comparison is INTJ Croco.

Because you know what more “developed” and/or ambitious INTJs are good at that INTPs definitely aren’t? PR. XD

Croco played up that heroic public persona of his for more than twenty fucking years. And is obviously a man very much concerned with keeping up appearances, even during a fucking prison escape of all things XD. Law? Law has a TERRIBLE public rep, what with his coldblooded heart-swapping and whatnot. He doesn’t care what the public thinks, he doesn’t think it matters (from his experience, it’s all a lie anyway). He doesn’t consider that public perception can be used as a weapon – or rather, he definitely does, but I don’t think he understood the full extent of it. See also: everything he tried to pull off wrt Doflamingo (his goal had not been so much undermining Doffy’s “public” reputation, but Doffy’s position in the underworld – had he taken the former into account, I think he would have perhaps not been so blindsided by what ended up happening).

And then there’s Marineford to consider: time and time again Croco decides to step up to the plate – towards the end, he even briefly takes on the mantle of leadership when all the WB pirates are despairing. INTJs definitely have more of an assertive tendency (compared to INTPs). Law? Even then he was a “wait and see” sort of person. He’s explicitly the one Supernova who delays entry into the New World – a pretty INTP thing to do, btw. We’re perfectly capable of being risktakers and making spur of the moment decisions, but ultimately, passivity (out of a desire to keep gathering more info) is more likely to be our downfall.

- an ISTP: If an INTJ is characterized by too much plotting, I guess it’s arguable that an ISTP is characterized by too little. XD (Zoro is the classic example: ACT FIRST THINK LATER.)

ISTP leaders though... ISTPs are again actually fairly close to INTPs – lone wolf tendencies mean that you rarely actually see them in true leadership positions, although they’re capable of it (Zoro). IMO the main difference though is that an ISTP will tend to lead by example and decisive action. An INTP has ideas about what should be done but isn’t going to go out of their way to make sure those ideas are enforced. See again the same scene I referenced when discussing ISTJs. XD

(Note that he doesn’t actually explicitly forbid them from introducing themselves. XD)

2. Seriously though, having achieved his major life goal, post-Dressrosa Law doesn’t really care that much about leading. He’s perfectly content to cede control to Luffy... and even to Zoro. He speaks up only to clarify what he’ll personally do/contribute to the task at hand or to ask about things he’s interested in (even then he doesn’t always ask, we sometimes see panels where he’s just reacting silently), never to suggest a course of action (it even takes outside prompting for him to remember that he has Bepo’s Vivre Card... yep, that’s an INTP derp moment all right – it’s not that we don’t care, it’s just that our brains don’t prioritize like that).

This is to the extent that he’s even blatantly shocked when Kin’emon includes him in his request for alliance in Chapter 819:

(Who, me?!)

Hahaha, I hadn’t even noticed that on my first readthrough, but when I later went back to read the chapter I found it hilarious (yeah, I know, it’s not THAT funny, fairly normal/subdued reaction, even Luffy had a bit of a surprised look, but still – this IS Law’s freakout face, he has pretty much the exact same expression in the previous chapter when the big reveal about the Kouzuki relationship to poneglyphs* is made and everyone else’s jaw is dropping, and a similar expression when he hears about Kaidou’s direct involvement with Momo & co, and an earlier omgwtf face when Raizou shows off his ninja techs...). I mean, it’s kind of a given that Law should be addressed for a major decision like this as well, but it’s like Law expects everything to just go through Luffy from now on... XD

* For the record, I wonder what else Law knows that he’s not telling anyone. He reacted suspiciously to two things that I recall during this arc: Momo’s ability to hear the voice (chapter 817) and to the poneglyph info... after Dressrosa it had seemed that his knowledge of “D” came solely from Corazon (disappointing everyone still waiting on his pre-timeskip quote to bear fruit), but we’ve been getting hints again that he actually has picked up some more info on his own since then.

3. But wait, you say. Doesn’t Law complain about this exact issue immediately after that???

[… After pretty much everyone else has already agreed to the deal.]

(Some other translations made it more explicit; this one is closer to the more subtle needling of the original text, but the implication given the context is that he’s grouchy over Luffy not bothering to consult him regarding major decisions, like, ever [i.e. “He cares more about an eight-year-old’s opinion than about mine!111”].)

Well, yeah. But see, it’s a semantics thing. XD A matter of principle. And trust me, for INTPs, semantics is Serious Business. Even Kin’emon took the time to acknowledge Law’s ostensible position. Luffy though... Law is WELL aware by now what Luffy’s idea of an “alliance” means, and he still does not approve. XD

That’s what he’s all pissy about. The fact that Luffy just assumes everyone is buddy-buddy and will therefore just go along with everything without question. (“That’s not the way this works!”)

(Luffy’s not wrong though. If Law really had a problem with it, he could have and no doubt would have spoken up much earlier. XD Luffy just instinctively has a good read on Law’s personality, LOL.)

As further proof, just a few pages later we have this:

Yep. Semantics. XD

Does it really bother him that he’s getting no say in any of this? Nah. As long as there’s some sort of plan going on and it’s not completely absurd (… not always a guarantee with Luffy involved), he doesn’t really care. He’ll do his part (while holding his cards close to his chest), and trust that the others will do theirs. Very hands-off, very self-contained. Very much an INTP approach to leadership.

Even so: there’s a difference between alliance and friendship, and IT MATTERS. XD

[nothingneverforever]

Angels Wear White (2017)

Watching this film (not so much the film itself) reminded me of many things I’d forgotten. I’m in a strange place right now, more happy and content than I’ve ever been, which has made me extremely uncritical and … simple. Not unthinking, not yet, but just allowing immediate emotion to be enough reason for enjoyment. You know what state I’m describing? The one where in the moment you’re not rationalising anything, where entertainment is contained within the walls of the cinema and when your self and your moral objections/agreements are not stifled/stimulated. It is in this state that I have loved Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Justice League(2017) genuinely, and rewatched Ghostbusters (2016) and Bridesmaids (2011) and enjoyed myself through it all, all the time aware of my previous condemnations of them. I don’t know where that self has gone, but now I scroll through my feeds and see Humanity Not Included: DC’s Cyborg and the Mechanization of the Black Body [click] and know that there is nothing to love of Justice League, or Film Freak Central [click]’s (whose opinions I always echo and criticism I always believe in) Thor review that reminded me of the nothingness of the film, but still I’m unmoved to want to be engaged in those ways again.

Angels Wear White however brought back a little bit of that engagement and desire to engage, and recalls a line from a song that plays in my gym every morning, “either the head or the heart, you set the other on fire”. I don’t like the song but every time I hear the line I wonder why it has to be one or the other, and this film indeed did both, fueling both the head and the heart.

I don’t like to include synopses in my fakeass reviews but to contextualise the below anecdote I will have to, so here goes:

The story, set in a sea-side town in provincial Xiamen, China … okay just kidding I feel so phony even just attempting to give my own version lol, here’s an official synopsis written by a mind not as lazy as my own –

In a small seaside town, two schoolgirls are [sexually] assaulted by a middle-aged man in a motel. Mia, a teenager who was working on reception that night, is the only witness. For fear of losing her job, she says nothing. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Wen, one of the victims, finds that her troubles have only just begun. Trapped in a world that offers them no safety, Mia and Wen will have to find their own way out.

I had to add in the sexually adjective, because I can’t imagine why that isn’t a relevant detail when it was the basis of the entire film, basis for the various hospital rape kit scenes that eventually closed the movie, when we learn that the police department had sold visiting medical professionals off into lying about the assault the girls received. So yea. Sexual abuse. Anyway, here is the anecdote that deemed this necessary -  our way out of the theatres, I heard a man in front of me tell his partner “haha, what a hard time to be a man…”

Obviously he was joking, or maybe not, but either way please shut the fuck up. Poor you for having to prove you’re not corrupt and sexist and a sexual assaulter! Truly so hard! What a thankless existence! More like it’s always a painfully bad time to be female, or to be anyone on the losing side of anything systemic. I don’t even know why I need to type this. It’s so stupid written out but clearly some people can still appreciate a heavy story and recognize its reflection of lived reality without realizing who its fictionalization was a call to action for.

Mostly this film also reminded me how much I love Chinese films and the spoken Chinese language. Also, it was directed by a woman, Vivian Qu, which is cool. I have no other praise to give, but yea it’s just vvv cool. She was actually there at the screening yesterday, the opening of the 28th Singapore International Film Festival, and she spoke about the film before it screened, which was quite freakin stupid planning if you ask me, so I didn’t know how to frame her words but she was very deadpan and… yea… cool. Below are some simple, obvious extolment and characterization of the film that don’t do much but add to readers’ understanding of the piece that I claim to have changed me:

This is a pitiless world in which to be weak [Screen Daily]

It appends a rare, brilliant female perspective to the recent emergence of a new noir cycle from Chinese independent auteurs . . . However, Qu's more languorous and observational style and DP Benoît Dervaux's vivid camera—which fills each frame with an intense sense of the present—call forth gleaming moments of seaside life, and gesture to the unknown expanse beyond the shores, to the girls' long life after this horrifying chapter, the future of this Xiamen beach, and of China itself. [Critics Round Up]

On the other hand, here are nice words about Thor, the likes of which I shall continue to very much enjoy but know to critically un-appreciate –

I don't, for what it's worth, understand the post-credits sequence of this film, but I'm sure I'll get it the next time I watch a movie very much like this one. I believe I laughed more during Thor 3 than during Avengers Whatever, although the jokes feel grafted onto it the way you would stick a tongue-moistened Cheerio to someone's forehead just because both the Cheerio and the forehead were there. Not much of the humour has anything to do with situation or character. They're just jokes. They're charming. And then there's lots of Marvel stuff that ties up a few strings while fraying a few others for next time. It's beautiful to look at, though. I'm sorry, what were we talking about? [Film Freak Central]

(aside: sorry but isn’t this writing really so very me? Here’s a snippet from my very first film review on this nice dead lonely site back from 2015 for Avengers: Age of Ultron  -

…the lack of chemistry between on-screen twins Whatever and Whoever (did we ever learn their names? Perhaps it was drowned by the deafening noise of battles of nothingness) was stark and embarrassing…

I appreciate FFC’s use of ‘whatever’ in describing Avengers because lmao it’s really the most whatever thing to reach my eyes and not-reach my soul ever…)

That’s all for now

Sorry for being a disappointment to myself

May I come alive soon again ~

[coffeemakernamedhank]

possible blues?

i dunno what it is, but man, things on my to-watch list are just.. not thrilling me? usually, putting something on while doing mindless knitting is very much my lazy-ass jam. and, i mean, i got a towel on needles and a few hats planned, so it’s not like i’m hankering for some specific comfort project - towels and hats are honestly some of my favorite knitting. so it’s gotta be the anime. has to. i have another theory, but hey, time to talk about shitty cartoons i’ve watched recently.

right so, MAL tells me that this week i completed three single-cour shows from my to-watch list. which seems like a lot, and it is and i’m a pathetic weeb, but also each cour is under 5 hours, and it’s not like i’m actually able to sit still or have my attention on a single thing for five hours straight, so i don’t feel too bad about it. at least i’m not playing Blizzard games anymore, eeeyyyy. i could have been watching SGDQ but as we all know, i’m the fakest gamer girl and video game shit requires peer pressure or the burning desire to impress others. so instead, i tried to wallow in what satisfies me most: anime binge-watching.

after sampling one episode a while ago, and REALLY enjoying it, i decided to finish Gangsta. and i’m not gonna lie, i liked it a lot. i like seeing sign languages portrayed accurately, and i have this weird attachment to deaf characters in general, so that would have probably been enough for me. but then i also just.. can’t think of a character in this show that i didn’t either like, or find interesting in the scope of the universe. like, this is a SOLID show, there’s neat action sequences, there’s Some Kind of Stuff Happening, and if you’re in it for the Plot (boobs) then you’re gonna be happy too. the only downside is that it just ends, in the middle of the story, and now i have to go read the manga at some point. but if that isn’t a problem for you, and you want some.. strange sci-fi badassery in a weird mafia dystopia? go for it~

after the fun-then-disappointment that was Gangsta, i wanted something easy and stupid. naturally, this meant it was time for Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon. which is precisely what it was: easy and stupid. plenty of people have screamed about TEH LESBIANSSSS and also THE WEIRD SHOTA THING in it, so like. if you were gonna watch it, you’re probably still going to - i know i did. i don’t regret watching it, really, but also i’d kind of like my five hours back. there was never enough emotional depth to make the serious parts have any real punch, so they just ended up feeling out of place. and seriously, the character i thought was cutest from promo images and trailers turned out to be doing the way creepy and uncomfortable shota thing. just disappointing. lotsa boobs, if you like boobs, i guess. 

in maybe the worst decision of the week, i next started Nazo no Kanojo X. i vaguely remembered something about the girlfriend’s saliva, and figured it would probably be some sci-fi ecchi thing. i wasn’t wrong. another waste of five hours, really. i honestly thought i would be fine with this, because woo bodily fluids, but haha wow, i sighed and struggled through most of it. boring predictable ecchi crap with some shoujo tropes thrown in for good measure. i mean, if you’re looking for lewd stuff with some assorted weirdness and SUDDEN FEELINGS BECAUSE SALIVA, well. have fun with that. has an art style that makes me feel like it’s the 90′s again. i’m sure these are all like.. reasons people watched it. probably. 

so, yeah, three disappointing shows, for various reasons. now, outside of Gangsta, i know i probably wouldn’t have really gotten into any of it anyway. i really need to stop taking anime recs from dudes i don’t know on YouTube. but still, usually i can eyeroll my way through ecchi shit or whatever, and enjoy the bits of a show that do appeal to me. especially a show about lesbian dragon crap! come on! what the hell, exactly?

maybe it’s a summer thing, because it sure still feels like summer is dragging on forever. on the other hand, the only running show i’m up-to-date with is Boruto. and shit, nothing makes me smile more than this fucking show. it has NO BUSINESS BEING THIS FUN. fuck. 

therefore, my real theory as to why anime binge-watching was disappointing this week: it’s probably time for a Shippuden rewatch. nothing soothes the soul like ninja bullshit. like, even picking out a few of my favorite episodes to watch again has already been super fun and rewarding, so i’m probably doomed. i still want to get through more of the single-cour shows on my list, because the list is so so fucking long, and there are plenty of longer-running shows i’m holding off on besides. maybe mixing in some nardos will perk me up? or maybe i’ll just fall even further into the nardo hole again. 

anyway, if i don’t have more weeb shit to bitch about next week, that’s why dattebane. ♥

[canaryatlaw]

Okay, so today was pretty fun. I try to vary the adjectives I use in my first sentence so my posts don't all look the same, lol. But today was good. Woke up at 10, then realized I didn't really need all this time to get ready, but I was already up so I did get ready, then my sister and I drove down to the little village area in the town next to mine (which is the town I grew up in) that's 8 minutes from our house (approximately, of course) and met my friend there. This is high school theatre one of my best friends that went to the Russian tea room with us a few months back. We were going to this cute little breakfast place down there but there was a bit of a line, so we walked around a little before being seated. Once we did sit down our conversation switched to law schools pretty quickly, being that she's in the process of deciding where she wants to go. She applied to like, 24 schools or something crazy like that, and she got into quite a few good ones, which isn't terribly surprising given she was like the token college overachiever, president of the student government and graduated with 3 majors, etc. But she's narrowed it down to 3 schools, two in Virginia and one in Indiana. So we talked a bit about positives and negatives and what exactly you're looking for in a law school, and balancing the school's ranking with how well you'd be able to do there- that when it comes to getting jobs, would they rather have someone with a lower ranked school with a high class ranking, or a higher ranked school with a lower class ranking? I mean, I'm sure nobody would be impressed with bottom 50% of the class, even if you go to a very good school. So it's all a very fine balance. Then of course we talked about other various things, life and such and our latest adventures. It was all very nice and pleasant. I got cinnamon swirl French toast and it was pretty awesome. After we finished we said our goodbyes, and then my sister asked if we could stop at target on the way home, so I said sure and we went there. She basically just wanted to look at more makeup, even though she has a ridiculous amount already, but she picked out a few things and we got a few snacks before heading home. Home was a bit busy since everyone was still home from work today, so everyone was kind of milling about. My mom wanted me to make this berry trifle I made over the summer for dinner tonight since we were kind of doing a belated New Years celebration, and for that I had to first bake an angel food cake, from scratch of course, so that took a while but it turned out quite well. Other than that I helped my mom with some stuff here and there and basically just chilled out for a bit. We were trying to work out plans to see rogue one, but my brother wanted to go to one of the theatres by us that have like the recliners and shit but they were all sold out, and some of the ticket prices were ridiculous. Apparently one of them has a "4-D" theatre, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean, and the ticket prices for it was $23 per person. Like, $23 to go see a fucking movie? That's ridiculous. So we ended up just going down to the theatre closest to us that has normal seating. When we got there though, the place was a mad house, like one of the busiest I've ever seen it, and it's gotten pretty crazy before. The ticket line was wrapping around the whole lobby, so I opted for the self service kiosks that I already knew how to work, but there was a bit of a line for those too and then 2 of them would get you halfway through the process then be like oh nope sorry can't use this machine, and then when we finally got one machine to process the payment it was like lol no were not gonna print them now, good luck and by the time my brother came in from parking the car I was ready to bang my head against the wall in frustration haha but we talked to the guy manning the ticket station and he let us through to guest services that were able to print them in like 2 seconds, so I guess you just needed to get the right things done to work it out, lol. So we made it into the theatre with like two previews left. So, rogue one. I wasn't really sure what to expect beyond knowing that it took place between episodes 3 and 4 and that it was about the building of the Death Star, but I really liked it a lot! My first experience with Star Wars was when I was like 10 and was taken to see episode 2 in theatres, and I was enthralled with it at the time because I thought Padme was the best thing ever and of course I didn't know how much better the other movies were in comparison, lol. But I've definitely been a fan for a while now. The opening killed me of course because there's a little girl running around after her parents tried to send her away to safety, and you know kids just break my heart like that. But then we get into the plot and the story starts to take shape, and I really liked it a lot. Jyn was an interesting protagonist, we didn't get all that much introspection with her as a character, but her dominant personality traits were clearly present and it made for her actions to be understandable and sympathetic. I almost cried/might of actually cried (I can't remember, not that it's hard to make me) when her father died right after she finally got to see him again, but then I so loved that she took such a strong stand to finish his work after that, rebel movement with her or not. I liked that this movie was largely without jedis, it was pretty much just about the normal rebels to risked their lives and lost their lives just like everybody else. I did enjoy the scenes with Darth Vader, it felt very classic Star Wars-y and they definitely nailed his character, lol. Classic. I loved absolutely everything about the lengthy final battle sequence. Of course it was mostly gun combat which doesn't require as much fight choreography as hand to hand or other weapons combat would, but they still managed to do a solid job choreographing the fights and making them seem real and justified. I loved all the rebel fighters that were willing to risk their lives to go with her, because they believed in the importance of their cause even if they knew it was basically a suicide mission. And they had to know. They knew the empire had a weapon that could destroy planets, but they're going to infiltrate their base of operations and sneak back out with information? They had to know it was much, much more likely that they'd lose their lives in the process, but still they went because they couldn't live with themselves if they just threw their hands in the air and said we give up because the people we were trying to stop from getting power have too much power now. Just....yes. All of that, yes. And I love that it's all non-jedis, just humans, humans being amazing and sacrificing and loyal and loving because it's what they are born to do. It was just magnificent to see. I tried to catch the names of the two guys that were accompanying them like 3 times but you guys know I am so bad at picking up character names lol so I don't know those, but I really loved the blind guy and everything he did, especially in the end when he walks out into the middle of a fight in order to pull the switch, with only his remaining 4 senses to guard him against all the battle and carnage going on around him. He was just such a well painted character throughout the entire movie and I adored his last moments. As far as Cassian goes, I was quite fond of him as well. I loved him and Jyn's actions in the final mission, and the work they did together that ultimately allowed them to be successful. I loved their final moments as well, and while I was kind of sad to see them go, I think it underscored the sacrifice of what this mission really was just perfectly- that they knew this was it, and they were perfectly happy to go in, guns blazing and break out those plans, even if it means never making it back to their ships and off the planet. They had lost everything, and now they were gonna do something about it. Just, so well down. And now after watching the last scene I really need to rewatch episode 4, cuz it's definitely been a while and I'm not fully remembering exactly what's placed where and how it lines up. I mean the scene with Leia in the end was obviously old footage, that wasn't shot new, so this had to play directly into that of course. But yeah, I really liked it. Once it was over we headed back home and had or dinner, then I assembled the trifle and we had dessert, and it was quite good. After that I was bugging my brother to come watch the latest episode of Brooklyn 99 with me, but it ended up not being on Amazon yet for some reason, so I just watched it on my computer. It was very amusing and perfect in all the ways it's episodes always are. Then I moved on to the last episode of Pitch, whose season was entirely too short for my tastes. The last episode was obviously kind of explosive, and I hate that they left us on a cliffhanger like they did. Like, clearly she's gonna have a future in the MLB (assuming the show doesn't get cancelled, of course) but his that could play out could vary quite a bit. So I'm anxious to see what they do next there. Once I finished that I was totally out of episodes to watch and needed a new show to watch, so I decided to start Frequency given that it's on hiatus right now so I could catch up and start watching live when it comes back. I had some concept of the show from seeing the previews and from reading some particular AU's based on the show (cough cough, you know who you are) but it was thoroughly intriguing to watch the first few episodes play out. The concept is so unique and I really like the way they're having the two timelines play out simultaneously, like how something that happens in the 1996 timeline that was a result of her changing the timeline affects what was reality for her yesterday but now no longer is. Like, that's such a cool concept and they've used it really well so far. So I'm definitely eager to see how this keeps playing out. I definitely feel bad for Raimy that she wound up in this mess that basically erased her mom from her, but I love thats she's fighting back against it so hard and is so determined to bring those who've wronged her family to justice. Good stuff. And yeah, that was my day. I could have some musings here on actually hanging out with my brother and how odd that is given the history between us, history I can acknowledge I have not forgiven him for, but I can still go to the movies with him and act like nothing's wrong really, because I had to learn to function with him for so many years. I know I should forgive him, that not doing so is only hurting me, but it's just really hard to forgive someone when not only are they not sorry, they refuse to even contemplate that they've done anything wrong, they see no issue in any of their actions and would never see it that way, never care about the pain they caused you, but would probably laugh instead if he knew exactly what I thought of everything that's transpired between us. So I don't dare bring it up, I don't dare mention how much baggage I still carrying around from all of that, because I know he'd just laugh at me, because that's all he's ever done when he sees me in pain, my whole life, especially when he's caused it. I could keep going, and make these actual musings, really, but it's late and I need sleep, and ranting about this isn't gonna do my mental state any good. So I'll just leave it here tonight. Sorry I'm always so vague about this kind of stuff, it just gets really difficult to discuss details when you almost never do with anybody, and you really don't want to remember them anymore than you already do. But anyway. Goodnight friends. Hope you had a decent Monday.