#this trailer is just. very bombastic i think?

[pinacoladamatata]

Not sure if it's reassuring to me that several people on twitter coming forth to state they've played part of the game saying the actual gameplay maintains that dark fantasy feel, or if it's making me more suspicious

[pascalcampion]

Under the Boardwalk.

I was at Lightbox a few weeks ago and I bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. ( hey Francis! We need to do lunch) He was laughing because he said that he had just seen a trailer for this thing I did some work on years ago. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about Under the Boardwalk. Movies do take a while to get done.

Anytime I see a movie in a theater that doesn’t come from Pixar, Disney, Illumination or Dreamworks, I clap my hands in my mind. It is SO hard to get to the finish line. Each movie that you see is the result of a series of small miracles.

I did a couple months of work on it. I was think it was in preproduction at the time. It was called Jersey Crabs at the time and there were only three people on it. At least, I only met three.

There was Chris Zibach, Ericka Stewart and David Soren.

I had just come off of two rather long and hard productions and I was a bit burned out about Art direction, production design or just… design in general.

When I first got an email about this, I wasn’t sure. But I went over to Paramount to meet with all three of them.

And you know what? They were fantastic.

Ericka was the producer and she had this no nonsense approach. Tell me your price, I’ll tell you if we can do it, if not we’ll figure something out. Boom. Done. She cut to the chase and any time I had a question she would reply within the hour. Her feedback was always short and precise, and she was always encouraging. After I was gone, she emailed me a couple of times to follow up on this or that. She didn’t leave any loose ends AND, something that is absolutely remarkable in this industry, she would reply to emails. She didn’t simply reply when she needed something, but when I would ask her if I could send recommendations, or if there were any other projects going on, she would send me an email back. I think the longest it took her to reply was TWO days, which is incredible.

Chris Zibach. It wasn’t immediately clear what Chris’s role on this was. I knew he was an artist. I had met him a few years prior while visiting a friend at Dreamworks TV I think. He was quieter than Ericka. Not sure if he was shy or I was simply too aloof for him to talk to me. For whatever reason, when I saw him, I thought of Tim Burton. Maybe the genius in him? Not sure. Later, I learned he was the production designer. I was surprised because that is something I typically learn on the first meeting. I was also unsure of his role because I hadn’t seen any of his work before and he didn’t act like any of the production designers I had met before. He wasn’t bombastic or sure of himself. He wasn’t trying to win me over with his talent or past battlefield experiences. He was humble. Yes, I think that’s probably the right word. Humble. But at the time, I couldn’t figure out if it was humility or something else.

It became clear after the first few designs of his I’d seen and especially after I had done a sketch for a moment that I couldn’t quite picture. I wasn’t understanding what they were looking for and Chris did this thirty second sketch that was SO clear, SO readable and SO easy to work with, and I was. OH! Ok.. he’s the real deal.

I love Artists like him. I wish I had worked with him more actually.

And, David Soren, the director

That was such an interesting meeting.

You know how sometimes you are hesitating on a project and you meet the team and all of a sudden it all flips? That’s how it was for this. I didn’t know what this story was based on, I didn’t find crabs particularly interesting, and the story, as it was pitched, wasn’t what I gravitate toward.

But David, wow. He had this energy in the meeting, this confidence. He was good at talking but he could listen AND hear you. He could also answer questions. Any type of question regarding the art, the story, the schedule, the planning. I didn’t know much about him but I came away very impressed.

I gave it a shot and now, I feel I was lucky to have been asked because, even if I was only on this for a very short while, it was one of those candy like work experiences. All good, nothing bad. Short and sweet and really fun.

There was a moment when I was drawing this big long scene that was supposed to be in the middle of a battle and I stopped, look at it and laughed on the inside because I had just realized I was being paid to do this and THIS was SO much fun.

I don’t know what my job was, what I was supposed to bring to the project. I didn’t understand why they had me do these designs when Chris’s work was so different and so unique already, but all three did a good job at quieting those thoughts.

I was working from home and they were on the lot. If I remember correctly, they would send me emails to broadly tell me “ There is a flood there, there is a battle there, there is club, a hotel, etc etc�� and I would just do some images on what I thought it could be.

They already had some character designs, and Chris had done a few images, so I wasn’t totally going from nothing.

Each time I would send a set of images, I would get an email back the same day or the next day from either Ericka or David telling me something nice. Never from Chris though. I always wondered why but now I am realizing it was because he was too busy getting the whole thing off the ground.

I would get notes sometimes but not very often. Chris would do little drawers or notes on my images and, again, they were always minimal except for that one set piece and always clear.

I don’t know what the movie is like. I was still working on this when I started with the Peanuts Special which would occupy my life for the next three and a half years.

But I do know that I remember this as a very fun, loving and carefree work experience, which have not come around very often in my career.

Thank you Ericka, Chris and David.

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You're commenting as Pascal Campion.

[faelapis]

despite some concerns raised by the trailer/marketing, i am still excited for the wish movie. a lot of that has to do with king magnifico.

that being said, i approach it from a different direction than a lot of other people excited for a “classic disney villain.”

first of all, yes. i, too, love the camp and melodrama of classic disney villains. i love that they express their wishes through big bombastic musical numbers, and said musical numbers are often the best in their movies. i like how queer-coded and fun they often are. i like the sass, the drama, the energy.

where i disagree with a lot of people is with this notion that disney movies “don’t have villains” anymore. i don’t think the likes of hans (frozen) and tamatoa (moana) are less evil than "classic" villains - they’re plenty willing to kill with a smile on their face.

i think what people ACTUALLY miss is the big performance around it all. the aesthetic. someone who does these things while being a major character (so not tamatoa) and deliciously, obviously evil while having fun with it the whole time (so not hans). i think it’s that specific combination people are missing. we still have villains, they’re just either not as “fun” or not as “important.”

of course, that take is less punchy than saying disney doesn’t have villains because "steven cringeyverse destroyed western animation and now companies are too scared to make real villains >:( !1!!!"

yeah i never understood where that came from. if anything, redeeming villains is more controversial than killing them. especially in america, being punitive is the norm. forgiveness is cringe. yet so many act as if there was some big consumer and/or corporate pushback against the idea of villains…? at some point?? i guess????

someone must've forgotten to tell that to disney tv animation, where you’ll find everything from bill cipher to belos in the modern era. (also, other companies exist? dreamworks is not some indie studio, they’re fully willing to have big, campy villains.)

but yknow, people like to feel like underdogs. they like to feel like they're somehow oppressed because some animated media don't have classic villains anymore... despite there still being plenty around. you can’t just like villains, you have to make it everyone else’s problem. like disney is obliged to do the same character tropes in every movie. or villains are "dead."

what actually happened is just… some writers at disney decided they wanted to do different things. that’s it. so you now have a handful of movies where the villain is either a minor character, or nonexistent.

it’s not a conspiracy, it’s not a concerted effort to destroy villains. it’s, at most, a trend. because some writers wanted to push against the previous status quo. and now other writers who grew up with that want to have more classic villains, because that’s what they see as exciting and new. it’s just a cycle of trends and countertrends.

anyway. long tangent aside, i’m actually very excited for king magnifico. in part for a classic villain performance (he gets a song!!) - but also, it sounds like he might scratch a particular itch of mine.

which is to have a big, dramatic, irredeemable villain… who is still a human and has an understandable pov.

yes, you can combine these things. it’s not common for disney, but a lot of what we consider “great movie villains” throughout history have been this exact combination. they have to be defeated, they refuse redemption, they are 100% committed to their goals and will not budge - but they also GENUINELY BELIEVE in those goals.

what i’m really asking for here is a sincerely motivated character. someone who is a villain, but doesn’t SEE himself as a villain. someone who isn’t lying when they try to endear themselves to the hero or promise to make the world better if they join forces. it’s just that they are completely misguided about what would be good for the world, and nothing will persuade them.

whether someone is a villain, a hero, or anywhere in between, i think asking a character’s motivation - and playing those motivations straight, rather than just as a mask for plain selfishness - is key.

as i’m saying this, you might notice that it’s not actually too far off from what i like in other characters. jasper in SU is basically this in her "main arc” in season three. she refuses help, she’s a huge dick to everyone… but she also 100% believes in homeworld as an institution and is actually, genuinely selfless. even if it means her own corruption, she refuses help, because that would betray her cause. which she values above her own life. and by rebecca sugar’s own words, jasper doesn’t even believe she deserves help.

the common thread here is really tragedy. someone you can root for and against at the same time.

so how does this relate to king magnifico? well, jennifer lee (writer for this movie & also the frozen movies) just had an interview where she talked a lot about wish, and in specific, having a classic disney villain in magnifico.

she illustrates a lot of what i’ve been talking about - that there is no grand conspiracy at disney against villains. they just had different stories they wanted to tell. there was no mandate either for or against villains, not in this movie or any other. they just did what they wanted to do with those stories. (btw, that’s not me saying there isn’t pressure at disney to tell certain stories and not others. it’s just that the concept of a villain isn’t as important to the corporate side as, say, not making elsa gay.)

anyway. what makes the king magnifico portion interesting is how lee talks about exactly what i’ve been saying. they knew they wanted a classic disney villain, but it sounds like they still want him to be different from other such characters. namely, they wanted to find the benevolent side of him, how he genuinely believes what he believes and DOES want what he thinks is best for the city of rosas.

and the plot totally checks out - basically, he decides whose wishes come true. and that’s really interesting, because a wish can be anything, good or bad. it sounds like he really wants to prevent what he sees as bad wishes from coming true, and is too conservative in what he allows or not. and his way of being kind about rejection is to remove those wishes from people’s hearts if he cannot fulfill them.

that’s SUCH a great concept for a villain. it speaks to issues of control, of agency, of being in the paternalistic position of deciding what is “best” for everyone else. it gives me a little bit the wizard of oz (as in the wizard himself, who is a charlatan trying to maintain a pleasant status quo, even if it’s a lie), and a little bit white diamond (controlling the lives of others, but genuinely believing you are being selfless and heroic about it / steering people on the “right” path).

reading that interview, my excitement for this movie went from like a 2/10 to a 8/10. jennifer lee seems to have a real interest in creating characters, not just stock tropes. elsa is one of the best disney princesses (fight me) for exactly the same reason.

another great concept talked about here (which you also see in lee’s frozen, with anna and elsa as opposites) is that of duality. there’s a lot of talk about magnifico and asha being two sides of the same coin, both initially believing in this system and wanting what’s best for the city. and from there, they divert to their opposite paths in what specifically they think is right. the interview talks about them as if they were this thesis and antithesis about what’s right for the city, needing to reach a synthesis. in talking about this concept, they included this illustration:

notice the similar poses. both have their hands behind their back (commonly used to convey a character is hiding something), their feet pointed out, and give the world a pleasant smile. asha has a darker color palette in a world of light, magnifico is a ray of light in a dark space. it's interesting for its duality.

so yeah. all in all, i’m still excited for wish. i want to take alan tudyk goat out back and shoot it for a quick, humane death… but failing that, i’ll just pray his role was hammed up for the trailer. please tell me it’s not that insufferable. please.

because i do really like everything else i’ve heard about this movie!! i like that asha is described as this idealist with “dumb courage”, like maybe she’ll actually have some character flaws and need to learn?? (maybe? hopefully?) i like everything i just said about king magnifico. i like that we have this blend of 2d and 3d animation, that’s such a clever concept for a “100 years of disney” celebration.

so yeah. i will be watching. never have i ever prayed for chris pine to save a movie, but today might just be the day!

[aha-chuu]

My thoughts on the Fontaine characters rn (pre 4.0)

I saw someone making a post about their thoughts and they were tragically wrong and I disagreed. So here I am, being opinionated.

I'm not gonna discuss leaks, I'm just talking about the character designs and what lore we know from the trailer and teaser :))

Lyney

So, Lyney is great. I love that he's kind of sussy, and his teaser that recently came out is almost... Sinister. And yet, he also checks the boxes of being really fun and extroverted! Venti vibes tbh.

Design wise? His animations are the best in the game, hands down. They suit the performance aspect of his character perfectly and are almost enough to make me pull for him.

Tragically, his character design isn't really for me. I think the simplicity works with the bombastic animations, and I'm glad to see he's wearing a reasonable outfit for the job he does (a rarity in Genshin). And yet, I'm a bit too much of a lesbian to be uber interested in the twinky direction his design leans.

Not pulling.

Lynette

So she's super cute. We have got a lot of cat girls already (I think Lyney should have also been a cat-person tbh) but I love that Lyney isn't actually doing cat things. Like, she's this subdued introvert, no meowing during her attacks or curling up in boxes like Kirara. She's just a person.... Who's also a cat.

I like her character design better than Lyney's; the blue just stands out a lot more than his red does, and the big bow is a better centerpiece to her design than Lyney's hat is to his. Plus, her animations are also nice.

We're getting her for free so I likely won't pull, but I am already preparing artifacts to build her on my account.

Freminet

Have I said how much I like sibling dynamics? These three actually seem pretty close and like they will gasp interact with each other! In comparison to the likes of the Kamisatos, this is miraculous.

I know several people who love this guy, and I do think he looks good. I saw some complaints about his hair cut (I think it's adorable), and the chunky boots & coat really serve to emphasise his awkwardness without sacrificing aesthetics.

Unfortunately, he's a physical claymore character, so it's a big skip from me.

Focalors/Furina

Well she's a brat huh. I worry after Raiden that they'll destroy Furina's character arc in order to make her more palatable, but I want her to go full Marie Antoinette. All the lore with the Oceanids disliking her and the general stuff about using the court for entertainment make me very interested in her.

As a design, I just dislike the twin tails. I love the blazer and the huge gem and the hat that's actually a crown!! Like, Furina is extravagant and over the top, obviously self obsessed - she looks perfect in that regard.

Since she's the archon and she's Hydro, she'll probably be broken meta wise. I'll likely pull, but mostly to make cool teams with her, not because she's a fave of mine specifically.

Neuvilette

... Father?

FR though, I understand why several people are crazy about this man. I do wish he looked a bit older since that's sort of where his characterisation is - he's done with Furina's shit and he's doing all the actual work of running Fontaine. With the elf ears, I expect him to be some sort of long-life species - he has no visible Vision and his hair kind of looks oceanid-like, so I figure he's not actually human. That along with the slits in his eyes. I hope he turns out to be older than Furina, and that he has a kind of reluctant dad & spoiled daughter relationship with her; we do see him tell her off in the teaser.

Neuvilette is the most feminine tall man character and the hair is a great aspect of the design. The colour palette is good and I do like the robes since he's a Judge, however I think it might get a bit boring to look at when you're playing as him - which is probably why the hair is so dramatic, in order to bring interest to the design.

He'll probably be Hydro and he'll probably be a catalyst based on that outfit (it's not exactly maneuverable enough for anything else ':))). I am interested in pulling almost a 100%.

Wriothesley

Another man???

I don't understand people talking about the lack of husbandoes in Fontaine, like look at these fine gentlemen.

We don't have much official info on Wriothesley so I'm gonna dip a little into leaks here, skip if you don't wanna know. He is some sort of prison warden which I bop with - it's an expected expansion on the justice landscape of Fontaine. He's on the rough side of the Fontaine infrastructure, in comparison to most of the other characters. That interests me since it feeds more into the duality themes of Fontaine, though currently we're unevenly biased rn to the more santized characters.

Design wise he's one of my favourites. White/black/red looks so good, as does his kind of punk esque chains. The tie puts me off somewhat, like he looks sort of smart and put together, but then the rest of the design undercuts that.

Leaks say Wriothesley is a physical standard banner five star. This fills me with fear. I also don't know what his actual personality will be, so let's say I'm undecided on pulling him.

Charlotte

I liked her personality and en VA in that one TCG event, unfortunately much like that event, Charlotte looks boring. She's cute, whatever, but she doesn't seem particularly story relevant and her design hasn't captured me.

I'm just not that interested.

Sigewinne(?)

Okay, she's cuter than Charlotte she's a sea slug person so immediately more interesting. She was also hanging out with Wriothesley, which is so adorable considering how different they seem.

We're dipping back into leaks here, but it seems like she might be another Hydro healer. I've seen people annoyed by this, but I'm perfectly fine with it - I don't have Kokomi and I like Nilou bloom as much as the next person.

If Sigewinne is a four star, I hope she's on a banner for a cool five star.

Navia

I know a lot of people like this woman. Taylor Swift etc (I am not overly into Taylor Swift), but I think Navia could be cool.

I find her design overcrowded. I do think this suits the fact that we're playing with French Revolution ideas and she's part of the bourgeoisie, so ofc she's overdecorated and elaborate in her fashion. Even though it makes sense, I still don't like the arsthetic of it.

On the other hand, I do like the yellow - it's not a colour we see in too many Genshin designs. I don't really like how it fits with the blue jewellery though.

Personality wise, I worry a bit that she's gonna be our waifu bait, but they did Dehya's characterisation really well without falling into that trap. Navia could be very fun and I think there's a lot of promise in the idea that she might be a class traitor, teaming up with us against the Fontaine government (wow Genshin loves a corrupt government huh).

Will I pull? She's a geo claymore user and my triple crowned Itto is already collecting dust. That's a no from me.

Clorinde

Everyone say hello to my wife:

(I'm waiting)

I've seen so many people mad at Clorinde when I think she looks great. Her outfit is simpler than is typical for Genshin, but that's cos she's a no-nonsense fighter type! Like how we saw with Lyney, more muted designs often mean more dramatic animations, and we already saw Clorinde doing some dynamic fight stuff in the trailer.

She really interests me in that she's a champion duellist, strong enough that even Childe wants to fight her. We see Clorinde works directly beside Neuvilette in the trailer, so she must be high up in position. A gun and a sword? She's trying to kill Navia, but the Devs describe their relationship as "complicated"??

Clorinde is an Electro woman and these are always queer fyi.

I hope she's pretty straight laced, but not quite in the Sara way. She's boring tbh, mostly because she is always answering to someone else, and she gets so little screen time. For Clorinde to work, I think she needs to have independence and apt presence in the story to be explored - not just a prop/obstacle.

Her personality makes me fearful, but rn I'm pulling 100%.

[thewertsearch]

AG: What are these movies, anyway? They look just awful. EB: but you see, that is where you are wrong. these films are the finest earth has to offer! [...] EB: here, hang on, i will show you. EB: http://tinyurl.com/hullohumminburr EB: oh, but you will probably have to use your troll thingy to rewind time or whatever, to before the earth internet blew up so you can watch it.

Ah, Con Air. The 'troll title' that John gives it is hilarious, and pretty accurate. It's incredibly over-the-top, and its trailers exude the kind of bombastic 90's energy that makes you think you're watching a parody. You're not, though - the movie was just like that.

fedorafreak - ??:?? wardrobe largely incinerated. family deceased, remaining garments heavily wrinkled. commencing search through rubble for steam press, loved ones. grayslacks66 - ??:?? @ ff: hat status? p.s. @ ff condolences on tragic losses to family, professional attire.

Fedorafreak :(

Since Homestuck is mostly concerned with Sburb sessions, it's easy to forget what's happening outside the game. Out here in the Medium, we're removed from the direct consequences of the apocalypse. If we were focusing on Earth, this would be a very different story, with a very different tone.

Let's take a second to acknowledge that during the Con Air gag above, John mentioned - in a throwaway line - that the internet has been obliterated. Everything is ending, and the kids just have to carry on.

AG: [...] may8e you want to put that away? Somewhere discreet, where you usually keep it? AG: There is at least one girl spying on you right now, you know. EB: put what away? what are you talking about? AG: Your pail is showing, stupid!!!!!!!!

What? You mean, like, a bucket?

Literally a bucket.

I don't get it. It sounds like Vriska is saying that every troll has a bucket in their house, but that it's extremely rude to reveal it. I don't remember anything about buckets in Hivebent, though.

When the IMPERIAL DRONE comes knocking, you had better be able to supply genetic material to each of his FILIAL PAILS. [...] The genetic material - WITHOUT GOING INTO MUCH DETAIL - is a combinative genetic mix from the matesprit and kismesis pairs, respectively.

0_0

[writebackatya]

Della Duck fans, I need your opinion on something very important

What do you think Della Duck’s favorite action movie is?

Because I can’t ever decide on one

Like I know we already agreed Die Hard would most definitely be her favorite Christmas movie, but overall favorite action movie? Don’t know. All though I will say having the protagonist be someone that’s trying to reconnect with their family while adventure/trouble finds them might hit differently for her these days

And then I got thinking about Indiana Jones series because she definitely grew up with those movies. Just some great adventure flicks (and yeah, she’d some parallels between the adventures Indy went on with the ones her uncle went on). But if I were to pick one, I’d say Temple of Doom would be here favorite Indiana Jones movie. She got in the rocket before Crystal Skull happen, but I bet that’d be her least favorite Indy film

And while we’re on the subject of adventure action movies, there’s no way she wouldn’t love The Mummy. You know the Brendan Fraser movie!?That’s like THE Bisexual Movie!

Also I’ve been thinking about Big Trouble in Little China lately, and how awesome that movie is and how it could totally be Della’s favorite action movie just how bombastic it gets, also I can totally see Kurt Russell being Della’s favorite action movie star (of course this is the DT17 universe so he’d be…Bird Russel). Plus Jack Burton is a big dummy, I can see Della loving his character

And when it comes to thinking about what her favorite action movie is I’m definitely thinking it’s something from the 80s/90s just because I definitely think nostalgia bias would be a major factor for her favorite action movie. But she’d be all about the John Wick movies

Also never seen this movie, but I think Con Air would definitely be in her Top 5 because from the trailer and what I’ve seen from it, it looks like Die Hard but on a Plane starring Nic Cage so yeah, that sounds great

Anyway, feel free to tell me what you think Della Duck’s favorite action movie is

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Prime!

The first eight episodes of Sonic Prime are out! I've been busy for obvious reasons this past week (I kinda released a video game), but I've now seen all eight episodes, and as such can give more structured thoughts on them.

Overall: pretty good! I like it! ...But it's not 100% there yet for me. In the spirit of Festivus, I'm here to air my grievances.

Let's start with one of the highest points. First and foremost, this show looks great. We FINALLY have a Sonic cartoon that actually looks like the games with no asterisks attached, even across multiple wildly different AUs. And everything from small acting choices to big, bombastic fight scenes is a joy to watch in motion thanks to the fluid, expressive, fast-paced movement, with characters pleasantly squashing and stretching in fun ways. It's so fun literally to just watch Sonic's face move in dialogue scenes. God, I wish the cutscenes in Frontiers had animation this good. I get why they don't, but still.

And those action sequences! Man, some of these are the most fun fight scenes in any Sonic cartoon ever, period. Lots of great shot choices, a good mix of recognizable moves from the games combined with new ones and improvisations, I could go on and on. The shot of Sonic leaping backwards down that long stairwell, only for the camera to pan around beneath him and show his friends following suit? There's a reason why they put that in the trailer. It rules. This isn't the greatest action series ever - it still has your typical kids' action cartoon problem where the stakes rarely feel adequately high and you can turn your brain off during fight scenes - but it's fun to look at in a way that previous Sonic cartoons haven't always been.

Really, with how strong the presentation is, it's the writing that tends to let the show down in this first batch of episodes. The writing isn't even bad - there's some really cool stuff to latch onto, and I'm optimistic about them leaning more into what's interesting as the plot continues to develop. It's just... well, it's a Man of Action cartoon.

I'm going to nitpick a lot here, so I want it to be perfectly clear that I like Sonic Prime. I think it's a solid cartoon, and firmly on the high end of the Sonic cartoon spectrum. There's a lot that I'm into, and if someone told me it was their new favorite Sonic cartoon, I could absolutely see why. It mainly just has three things working against it:

It can't decide whether or not it actually wants to be wholeheartedly faithful to the games.

It was very clearly written to be a weekly TV show and not a Netflix show dumped in large batches.

The bar has been VERY high for Sonic content this year across every other medium.

Faithfulness to the games

As has been touted in interviews, Sonic Prime is actually canon to the games, and in many ways it's slavishly faithful to them. Which only makes it weirder when it isn't.

The thing that'll immediately stand out is the new voice cast they had to get because Canadian production laws blah blah blah. Now, they're all good here, particularly Deven Mack as Sonic. His take definitely sounds similar to previous takes on Sonic, but I think he manages to find a nice middle point between the youthful enthusiasm of movie Sonic and the more experienced heroics of game/IDW Sonic. He's great. And not to knock Cindy's performances, but I think Shannon Chan-Kent's voice might actually fit Amy just a liiiiittle better here. But the problem is it gets harder to view this as the regular game cast and alternate timeline versions of them when everyone always sounds a little off. Knuckles in particular is really weird because his AU counterparts have a completely different voice actor, and neither particularly sounds like his current voice in the games. I have no idea why.

For another example, Green Hill is used as a setting in a cartoon for the first time ever, and it looks exactly how you remember it. Cool! But it's also framed as the place where Sonic and all of his friends live 24/7, which has never, ever been true in the games. Even Knuckles is here with no explanation for why he isn't guarding the Master Emerald. (One might think that not drawing attention to Knuckles' job allows the writers to just pretend it doesn't exist, similar to what Sega does in many games, but then we get a literal 16-bit flashback to him guarding the Master Emerald in Hidden Palace.)

This would be a totally fine concession if this show was just doing its own thing like every other Sonic cartoon. The different universes are all different bad timelines for Green Hill, with Sonic spotting the unique iconography of the level buried beneath whatever's taken over South Island this time - a smog-filled Eggman city, an overgrown jungle, an abnormally high sea level - to drive home how wrong the AUs are. It also explains why Sonic can always find the AU versions of his friends in Green Hill, and it probably cut down on the number of sets they had to model. But because it is canon to the games, things like this distract me as a hopeless Sonic nerd. It also leads to some repetitive dialogue in the first few episodes as characters constantly comment on the presence or lack thereof of palm trees, because their only reference for what the world is supposed to look like is Green Hill.

Rings are also treated as a minor plot point early on to incorporate another thing from the games, as Sonic is late for the big battle against Eggman because he was off collecting extra rings. But despite how often it's brought up in that context, they aren't actually a factor in the fight at all, and then rings are never seen again in the AUs.

Also Orbot and Cubot are in this in the regular universe and then we never see them again? Are they going to come back??

This extends beyond these pedantic nitpicks, though. To me, the worst offender of the show selectively choosing when to care about the source material is the dichotomy of the character writing in the alternate universes.

Every AU will have one or two takes on one of Sonic's friends (Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Big) who are The Interesting Ones, the spotlighted characters for each subplot. These are the ones that get actual character arcs, and they feel like they're written in conversation with their original game counterparts in interesting ways.

In the dystopian world, Tails is known as Nine, a cynical loner inventor who was never saved from his bullies and inspired to be a hero by Sonic - but who, when pushed, is still a good kid deep down. In the jungle world, Amy is the extremist Thorn Rose who rides around on a giant Flicky like it's a chocobo and prevents foragers from "stealing" from the forest, possibly riffing on her bond with the Flickies in SA1. She's still looking out for the little guy, she's just doing so at the expense of everyone else. And in the pirate world, Knuckles is the captain Dread Knuckles, who instead of diligently guarding a magic rock was a pirate obsessed with obtaining a magic rock, and who swore off of that quest (and fighting in general) after it cost him the trust of his original crew.

These characters and their interactions with Sonic are all fun - Nine in particular provided a lot of my favorite emotional moments so far - and it feels like it gets at why you would do a multiverse story like this in the first place. You get to examine the characters from other angles! It's just that then there's... the rest. Characters who aren't the focus will just kind of get inserted into roles as Man of Action rests on broad cartoon tropes instead of actually doing anything with the Sonic source material. The dystopia of New Yolk City feels like a good fit given the history of the franchise, but then the other two worlds we've seen so far rely largely on stock "tribal" tropes and pirates going yaarrrrr.

I'm biased, but the worst off here seems to be Rouge, who has yet to get her spotlight universe (assuming she gets one next). This really stings because she's spot on in the regular universe. She hasn't been retconned to be part of Team Sonic, she's invited herself over because she's got her eye on the Paradox Prism (even dropping in unannounced at Tails' workshop). She's got a bit of that playfulness that makes her so fun, and the animation is able to lean into it. But then you go to the other universes and it's all gone.

Pirate Rouge is pretty fun, I'll admit, but I'm shocked they don't play up her love of gems there. Rebel Rouge (yes that is her literal name, the other rebels call her Rebel) gets to be a spy with a fun dynamic with Knuckles at first, but it quickly devolves into her just being the serious, responsible girlboss leading the rebellion who acts as a straight man to Sonic's snark. In other words, she's a lot like... Sally? I hate making that comparison because SatAM/Archie fans have been derisively comparing literally every new female character in the franchise to Sally since the '90s, but it's really hard to shake. (Similarly, it's hard to shake comparisons to Bunnie and Mecha Sally with Rusty Rose, the evil cyborg version of Amy with extendable limbs.) And Rouge's jungle universe counterpart ("Prim Rouge") is also just kind of there as the no-nonsense leader of the tribe, similar to Rebel.

And it's in scenes revolving around the blander of the AU characters when I'm like... man, I kinda wish they'd just made a show about the regular game universe without having to watch Man of Action bust out the pirate joke book and write the dollar store version of Princess Mononoke. I want to spend more time with the actual characters. Because they nailed the tiny glimpses of the game world that we got. This isn't a constant thought I have - again, I like the show, and the major AU characters are cool, and I like seeing new things be done with Sonic. But I'd be lying if I said I never wished the show had gone a different way. My perfect Sonic cartoon continues to elude me...

Story construction

Let's back up a bit and describe the basic premise. On the regular version of Sonic's Earth, things are business as usual, although Sonic seems to be getting a little too cocky and taking his friends for granted. During a fight with Eggman, Sonic accidentally shatters our new macguffin, the Paradox Prism, creating a series of new bad timelines in which he never existed. In that way, I might almost compare it to a multiverse-hopping adventure version of It's A Wonderful Life. A pretty solid emotional throughline to give the show a little more heft. In each of these worlds, Sonic helps set things right with the alternate versions of his friends and finds another shard of the Paradox Prism in an attempt to restore his world. He also usually faces off with the Chaos Council, a team of five alternate Eggmen who are all different ages.

Beyond the fact that there are like five versions of most characters, it's not THAT complicated, especially in a time when damn near everything in pop culture is doing multiverse shenanigans. Which is why it's frustrating that the script seems to think it's fucking House of Leaves.

For the first few episodes, Sonic has a VERY hard time grasping the fact that he's in an alternate universe. This is to be expected to some extent - Sonic is our point of view character through all of this, and it's a kids' show, so he's got to go through a process of figuring things out so that it can be explained to the kids at home. The problem is that it takes him damn near the entire first mini-arc in New Yolk City to figure it out, which starts to come off as insulting and leads to EXTREMELY repetitive dialogue where Sonic wonders why his friends don't remember him and where all the palm trees went. You'd think that by the time Nine explains that his personal history is completely different from how Sonic remembers his time with Tails he'd get a clue, but no, not really. He continues to meet alternate versions of his friends, stubbornly refer to them with their original names, and wonder why no one remembers their previous adventures together. This then somehow even continues into the second universe, the jungle one, where he somehow thinks he's still in New Yolk City and wonders why the cyberpunk rebel versions of his friends are all covered in leaves and wielding spears now. Thankfully, by the time he reaches the pirate world Sonic finally gets a clue, so this isn't a pattern that's going to continue. But it does make the first few episodes a drag.

This, the many recaps, and the out-of-order presentation of scenes back in Green Hill so that they can have a flashback to the regular universe in every episode for context really make it clear that this series was written for TV, not for Netflix. It's assuming that every single episode is going to be some 7-year-old's first episode and that they need to have everything explained again. I'd probably be a bit more sympathetic towards this repetitive, patronizing writing if it actually was airing on Cartoon Network, rather than being a Netflix show where they're dropping eight episodes at a time.

Stiff competition

This is the least fair of my complaints, but I gotta say it. As solid as Sonic Prime is for the most part, it looks worse at the tail end of a year when we've been FEASTING as Sonic fans.

We got a movie sequel that pivoted HARD into game elements, giving us both really great takes on the characters and interesting remixes of old ideas. The IDW comics are still going as strong as ever, with the continually compelling arc of new villains Surge and Kit and now the wildly inventive and downright beautiful to look at Scrapnik Island. And, of course, we got Frontiers, a return to form for the series that adapts it to a semi-open world with the best and most interesting story we've had in god knows how many years.

And then we've got Sonic Prime, a pretty good cartoon that between fun action scenes and interesting story ideas frequently relies on genre pastiches that were tired 30 years ago and jokes that aren't particularly funny.

I think reading Scrapnik Island #3 really put this into perspective for me. Which, again, isn't fair. The comics target older kids and are ALWAYS heavily tied to established continuity, and a comic miniseries can afford to go way more niche than a Netflix show. But Scrapnik is just doing such amazing and original things, bringing back long-forgotten elements of the games and recontextualizing them in fascinating ways. That mix of both the heartwarming sight of the Scrapniks finding happiness in their new lives and the EXTREMELY atmospheric horror aboard the ruins of the Death Egg. It rules! It takes elements hardcore fans wanted to see again and tells a totally new story with them that's unlike anything we've seen before in the franchise. It's really, really hard for "what if Knuckles was a pirate" to compete with that.

But we're still early in Prime. Things are getting more interesting over time, with Sonic acclimating to the dimension hopping and more crossover between the different universes. Nine discovering a completely dead, empty world and wanting to start from scratch there was also really interesting, and I'm curious if that goes anywhere. Again, I've been nitpicking a lot, but the show is pretty good and I've enjoyed my time with it overall. I just don't quite think it's 100% there yet. But I definitely think it could get there within the next 16 episodes.

Misc thoughts

Rouge sleeping like an actual bat is cute.

I like that the environmental themes of the series are such a big focus here! They fall to the wayside too often

I like that the AU characters have different names for the sake of telling them apart, but some of them are pretty bad (the aforementioned Rebel Rouge) while others I just don't get. Why is the old man Eggman named Dr. Done It? Why is the teenage one Dr. Don't?

I thought the scene where Sonic was trying to talk to the New Yolk City crew after a battle and they had to keep ducking under a laser that was still slowly circling the room was funny

The new shoes and gloves are ugly and I think it's really contrived that they magically transform into the perfect tools for every new universe

Between this and Frontiers it's becoming a pattern that Tails and Knuckles can get explicit flashbacks to previous games to highlight their histories with Sonic, while Amy can't. I don't know what to make of this

Thorn is pretty good overall but I do think the flashback depicting her as just randomly snapping one day when her friends pick one too many berries is so hokey that it wraps around to being kinda funny

I've neglected to mention Shadow, but I like him okay in this. It's definitely modern Shadow, but I think "hardass, no-nonsense rival who thinks Sonic is an idiot who acts without thinking and thus wants to kick his ass" is a decent place for Shadow to be in, compared to just The Vegeta, even if it's not my favorite version of the character. I'm curious to see what his role is in the rest of the show, especially given the cliffhanger, and hope he's able to work together with Sonic instead of just being a pissed off antagonist the whole time.

I hate baby Eggman

[gracebethartacc]

Hi, I just wanted to say I love yiur wish rewrite ideas so far! Your art style is so cute!

I’ve got afew questions about it.

What’s Asha’s role in the story? Is she an actual princess this time or is she Magnifico’s apprentice from the start?

I would also like to know a little more about star and Magnufico if you can❤️👍

AAAAA TYSMMMMM!!!! THIS MEANS THE WORLD TO ME 

ANYWAY messy character/story ramble and some on the spot brainstorming under the cut:

I mentioned it in my first wish post but yes she’s still wanting to be the kings apprentice/isn’t a princess (but I’d say for the ending after the king gets killed off villain style she replaces him as princess so it comes full circle n all) 

The main difference with my Asha is she has zero social skills/is shy/doormat, I liked the idea of how she was anxious before meeting with the king but youknow in mine I’m getting rid of the adorkable stuff from it. Like it emphasizes how big of a deal this is because she finally worked up the proper courage to speak with him. 

I’m not 100% sure but I like the idea she only offers to be his assistant AFTER being turned down about granting her grandfathers wish, like I think she’d always want to be a sorcerer like him but never had that wish right at the forefront youknow? Perhaps after her father died she lost hope in that or just thought it was unrealistic etc but I feel like in the movie her having both of those motivations at once kinda muddled with things and definitely paints her as being a bit selfish especially considering this movie does just a reallllly poor job at show don’t tell like we never see Asha like studying magic or wishes or looking up to the king etc but we sure are told it a lot but just?? It definitely feels very cluttered and could easily be adjusted with just emphasizing one thing over another, so in mine I’d like to think either one of two things I’ve not decided yet but either 1: she hits two birds with one stone and goes to work for magnifico for a bit and only THEN asks about her grandfather's wish or 2: my previously stated idea of asking about wish first and doing apprenticeship work in exchange 

I kinda prefer the first one a little bit just bc gives us some time with Asha and the king to interact while also giving time for another wish ceremony to happen in that time, and for her grandfather to again not get his wish chosen to kinda put a nail in the coffin. And in mine her grandpa is much more physically fitting for being 100 like man is going to die in like the next one or two years he doesn’t have very long HENCE haves emphasis on WHY Asha is so insistent on getting his wish granted bc in the movie sure she cares about him but we aren’t SHOWN WHY like no specific childhood moments or any clear close bond moments like I said just way too much tell and not enough show

not sure about her dad yet but I definitely wanna make him more prominent maybe he was magnificos apprentice or studied stars etc just something to give him more of a importance

But yeah so making her shy was a big thing in helping separate her from other Disney protags bc I honestly can’t really think of many outright anxious or people pleasing Disney princesses/Disney girl protagonists ? And because it helps with her arc of standing up for herself/seeking justice like it hits it home a lot harder as compared to “ooo quirky girl but now she’s cool!!” Like it felt very forced to me atleast in my opinion so here it feels much more natural, and helps her bounce off star more bc the goat was not it that wasn’t a character to bounce off of that was a trailer one liner generator. 

So speaking of Star!! Bc you asked about him so yeah uhh not really much to say besides I wanted to combine the cute ball of energy personality that the movie had AND the bombastic energetic shapeshifter boy from the concepts so I combined them together to get cute starboy who rather than being full of energy is more so just easily excited especially considering star has wanted to visit earth for forever 

I like the idea that maybe they never granted wishes or helped people was because Asha and her dad were the only ones who really wished on stars bc everyone else just went to the king. So Star hears her venting abt the king not helping her grandad at the tree asking for help as like a last ditch attempt and star recognizes her voice and grants her wish like ‘you wanted help? I’m here now!’ Type of deal

Ohhh another idea I actually got this from another post but someone had mentioned making the stars magic/wish granting work like the blue fairy from Pinocchio, in which they can’t directly grant wishes but instead give you the means to achieve your wish on your own (hence the bit in that art of magnificos ref sheet having the doodle of Star saying even star can’t grant wishes directly/take them, which is a huge deal bc if a cosmic being can’t do something that this regular ass guy CAN do then that’s a huuuge red flag (or… black flag ig in this case bc yk.., black magic lol))

My Star is basically just a rehash of the classic Ariel type character of ‘I’ve watched humans my whole life and it’s boring in space, I want to be human because I like them!’ But unlike Ariel he doesn’t stay human because star instantly regrets it after getting it granted because 1: magnifico manipulated star and just got god powers and 2: ‘oooohgpf this is overstimulation hell wtf wtf wtf I hate this this feels so weirddddd’

And another reason is because of the Asha foils/recognition of the self through the other plot of them two thus they get symbolism of appreciating what they already have and all :3

Magnifico I’m still brainstorming on but tldr I’m thinking he will be more manipulative than straight up evil/the full evil stuff just shows up later/it’s a slow burn 

Like starts off being a little sus but ultimately well meaning and helpful, then bleeds into manipulation territory, then once getting star magic he just lets go of all that restraint and just is full power hungry villain, ALSO killing the book possession thing bc that was stupid and instead I like the idea he uses dark magic from the start but no one knows because he lies about it’s just because he’s the most powerful sorcerer/maybe he’s the only one who actually knows magic either bc of a ban or perhaps something about his old kingdom being destroyed maybe it could be a library of Alexandria thing of he’s the only sorcerer left around in that area shrugs but lots of fun to be had with him ! slutty evil kings are an awesome trope like I really wanna play on hubris/self downfall bc that’s my favorite kind of villain of ‘you could have been different but just dug yourself such a deep hole it became your grave’ 

Sorry for the ramble oof I just decided to let alphabet spaghetti fall out of my mouth and hope it turned into comprehensible sentences ok

[callmearcturus]

1) i am interest, what does the "brachtian lens" mean in your MI post? 2) i did google pathologic and seems interesting but i don't know if its for me, would you recommend it? (you have good taste)

Brechtian, a Brechtian lens.

Okay so everyone brace yourself for the most unhinged take you've ever heard. I'm gonna caveat this up front by pointing out that I don't know if I actually myself ascribe to this read, it's just the kind of thing that happens when you are at work listening to the Codex Entry performance of Pathologic: The Marble Nest and the adderall hits just right.

I'm an undereducated pleb so I'm not going to go into the full history of Brecht, hit up any of your local pretentious media nerds for that. But one of the things associated with Brecht is the Alienation Effect. One of his primary concerns as a playwright was the idea that audiences were becoming complacent and were watching plays and observing art without internalizing everything. He had this idea that as the artifice of theatre became more and more immersive, as the Theatre of the Real so to speak became more seamless, audiences weren't actually connecting to what they were seeing. It's hard to impart wisdom and propose hard questions when the audience is just out here vibin', basically.

So Brecht's whole thing was to make the artificiality of the theatre as conspicuous and obvious as possible. There were a few tactics for this, including fun stuff like spoiling the plot of the story at the very start, casting very incongruous actors in specific roles, making the violence over the top to the point of being ridiculous, etc.

The point of these tactics was to jolt the audience out of their Vibe, to remind them they were watching a play, a performance. And in doing so, in theory, it would get the audience to pay more attention to the content of the play. When you are not passively absorbing the story, you will in theory give more consideration to what you are observing and actually THINK about what is being presented to you. Audiences tend to feel empathetic to characters in media, and you wanna jolt them out of that comfy zone.

Okay so how the fuck can I apply this lens to Mission Impossible? Besides being the most pretentious bitch on your dashboard obvsly.

One common interpretation of MI is that the movies are documentaries of their own productions. I have heard this idea parroted many times by people I broadly respect. Now... I don't personally ascribe to that take, but lets hypothesize for a moment that it's true, that there is a purposeful artificiality to MI. One of the things people point to with this theory is the fact that the first footage of MI: Fallout ever shared wasn't a trailer or teaser or anything.

It was footage of TC breaking his ankle doing that rooftop jump. It was a behind the scenes moment of ultra-reality that affected production. Because the hype cycle around MI is linked inextricably to "oh man what bullshit is TC gonna pull in THIS one" as a conscious marketing tactic.

It's accurate to say that yes, some people just go to see MI for the stunts. And the marketing knows it and promos it. There is an effort to focus on the physical, practical feats of the movie.

What I find interesting is that McQ and TC both share an ethos, that the only reason audiences give a shit about the stunts is because they are a vehicle of characterization. There is more overt writing and acting in MI than it gets credit for. It's like the stunts are a Loss Leader of the movie, yanno? Here is the big spectacle to get people to show up, and once people are in the theatre, you can talk to them.

So, what I'm positing is that if you believe that there is a heightened artificiality to MI, if you think its just a sequence of bombastic set pieces, if you think Ethan Hunt is just TC's alter ego, blah blah blah (again, not my belief) then it should in theory become difficult to sink into passivity with these movies.

If all that is correct, then there is a forced artificiality to MI that mimicks the Brechtian-style, leading to the Alienation Effect. Therefore, the text of the movies, what they are saying about, for random instance, the encroaching threat of uncontrolled AI in a digital world, that message should become more stark and harder for audiences to glaze their eyes over and miss.

And ALL OF THAT is the kind of bullshit you too can cogitate on if you inflict Pathologic on yourself and let it rewire your fucking brain! If you want a primer of what the fuck Pathologic is, look up hbomberguy's legendary Pathologic video, then come hit me up for further links.

[chinzhilla]

i was tagged by @sandushengshou @khaotunq @baek1nho and @chickenstrangers to post my top/favorite creations from each month of 2023! thank you all so much for thinking of me <33

doing this loosely and with director's commentary bc i can never resist

january: my top set is this winteam hugs one. man i struggled so much with maintaining quality while trying to do that yellow to blue gradient coloring down the set. i definitely remembered it as looking worse than it does though, so i was pleasantly surprised to see that no it looks pretty good actually. probably also my favorite from that month since the others are very basic but honorable mention to my chinzhilla set cause i gotta shout out my beloved namesakes

february: top is jimbo the gogurt cat 😻 february was a slow month for me gif-wise so there aren't that many to choose favorites from, but it's probably my eclipse rewatch ep4 for the coloring

march: well uhh march was even slower than february i have two whole posts from that month and they're both eclipse rewatch sets (this was when my old laptop died and i spent like 3-4 weeks without photoshop). top and fav for this month is the eclipse rewatch ep5

april: top is akkayan in the first our skyy 2 trailer and fav is .... akkayan in the second our skyy 2 trailer (the quality of these is so much better how did i manage to make those first gifs look so bad 😅). honorable mention to my coloring in the eclipse rewatch ep8

may: ahh the our skyy 2 days...take me back..... top is every akkayan kiss as it should be. which i think is also my top post on this blog. as it should be. fav is vegas x it's about time (tw for glitch effect/flashing). there's some stuff there that i would go back and change cause i don't think it comes across great in retrospect, but i'm still really pleased with all the technical details

june: top was minoru's heart eyes part 3 (a gif series i WILL come back to shortly - i think the bleak midwinter is the perfect time for an odt rewatch). fav is akk x identity, but god would i go back and redo the typography and layout of the lines/text boxes (iirc i was like. minutes away from missing the deadline on this event so). still very pleased with the blending and what the set actually conveys though

july: oh look another gif series i've put on hold.... top is word of honor rewatch ep1, fav is tied between kp pretty boys (a set which is very pretty itself, if i do say so myself, and was very fun to make) and lomfontien kiss details (truly one of my all time favs on this blog even though it's so simple also everyone please go watch la pluie right now thank you)

august: bombastic side eye: the series takes the cake this month, which was SUCH a fun set to make (as was its spiritual companion, objectifying him to filth, which trailed by only about 30 notes). fav was charn vs wkx quotes. i honestly think i nailed it both conceptually and aesthetically

september: top is the first kanaphan drinking straw cinematic universe which continues to delight me whenever it shows back up in my notifs. fav is tied between cursed sandray parallels (tw glitch) (because it was one of those where as i was making it and inflicting emotional damage on myself, i knew it was going to be delightful inflicting that damage on others, and it was) and sandray x it will come back (mostly for the neon text and its reflection in the first two i just think it looks really good)

october: top was sandray love scene details (tw flashing) which was basically a rip off of my lomfontien kiss one from july but this one was much more successful lol. favorite is only friends x shameful company (tw flashing) (which now i can't look at without thinking of the sign skdjfds). really happy with the cards gif in particular

november: the guynawa kiss won november and they deserved it. my favorite was jim x loss which took me foreverrrr and i redid the last two gifs like three times but it was worth it. also shoutout to my dan x shadow post for all the 'wait there's actual monsterfucking in this show' reactions it elicited

december: top is phayatharn ep1/ep2 parallels and i have to take back what i said about every akkayan kiss being my top post - this one beats it by three notes! which surprised me but i'm glad we're all in this madness together with these two. fav has got to be morkday x come closer (tw flashing) if only for how much i beat my head against a wall over it during the creation process skdjfskj. although i also really love this set of tharn's sexy dream (nsfw) specifically because i added an offset pink layer and i'm OBSESSED with the way it looks with phaya's tattoo

if you read all that.. thank you and also i'm in love with you. anyways it was super fun to look back on everything i made this year! and interesting to realize i'm not nearly as prolific as i thought, especially in the first half of the year. here's to many more gifsets in 2024!!

tagging a few people i don't think have done this yet, apologies if you already have! and as always no pressure

@i-got-the-feels @pharawee @markpakin @difanghua @junghaesin @krystaljungs @firstmix @khaotunqs

[astarionsknife]

Just saw the MLB movie so here are some of my first thoughts!!!

Warning for spoilers ⚠️

So first things first, it was beautiful. The style and animation looked gorgeous and I'm so happy for this upgrade. It was a joy to look at. The new models and sceneries are amazing and it really felt more like Paris. I so wish we could've had the series like this but I understand how expensive this would get so I don't blame them.

Secondly this is clearly an alternate version. It doesn't follow the canon from the series and has a whole different plot. Personally I loved this. The issues that the series has story wise got kinda fixed. Mostly the pacing and the relationship square. I also love how they handled Gabriel/Hawkmoth here. He felt like a decent villain but also a hurt and lost man. And yes he was very hot.

My main complaint with he movie would be it being a musical. The musical parts were very hit or miss. Some parts were beautifully done and really added to see the characters emotions. I saw the movie in my native tongue (Dutch) which made the music songs kind of cringe but I imagine that in English and French it definitely sounds better. Some songs felt too filler like and didn't seem to move the story along. Or were at moments that just didn't fit.

Idk how they'll handle the sequel now that Marinette and Adrien know they are ladybug and chat noir plus they ended up together at the end. We do seem to get a possible sequel based on the ending scene with Nathalie in which I assume she will be the next villain using the peacock miraculous.

To talk more about the characters. I very much lived for Alya. Her screentime was limited but she still managed to steal the show in every shot she got. I even felt like they did Chloe's character much better here. She is still a meangirl for sure, but with Marinette standing up to her much earlier it felt much more balanced. I hope in the next movie we'll get to see the others more cus now it was very limited. The focus really was on ladybug and chat noir. Barely even Adrien tbf.

Lastly I have to say that the score of the movie was very good. It takes a lot for me to notice a score without having to pay attention but they made it really fit in and still let it shine without seeming too bombastic or over the top.

All in all I think the movie was a good move from Zag and I hope they continue this. It seems they are heavily planning to go the superhero franchise route with having different universes based on our heroes. This movie was a solid 8 for me but ofc I've been a fan of the show since the first trailer ever released. So take it with a grain of salt.

Really hoping to see more like this from Zag in the future. Thomas really redeemed himself in this movie.

[egg-emperor]

I know you're personally not a fan of the whole "council of eggman" thing in Sonic Prime atm, but I think if there's something they've gotten right in terms of eggmen from different dimensions now that I'm going back and rewatching the trailer. is that he's still bombastic in his design, presentation, and creations no matter the age or appearance. For instance, The Baby Eggman has a mech that's like a fuckin light up baby Einstein Toy in design, The Japanese or maybe Samurai Eggman has a whole set of mechanical jet armor with fire blades and swords, and a bunch more details. A funny one I also noticed is that the eggman with 'hair' actually just has a wig on, which nearly flies off his head when moving in his chair in the most recent trailer lol. I'm assuming that eggman is the main one that took over, as we see his star symbol everywhere, and the design choices he's made in the city just SCREAM pure Robotnik to me. The benches not having Anti-homeless bars, but instead Anti-everyone bars, the sidewalks being conveyor belts as if people are machines/tools to him, etc. While being the same person, they're all VERY distinct, and VERY much the same, it's super fascinating too me. There's so many tiny details in costume design, and enviromental design for each of these variants I'm loving now that I'm going back and rewatching the trailer. I know everyone feels a bit iffy on their designs tho, and that's fair, but I think once we get to see them more in action, folks will warm up too it eventually.

Yeah you're right, I might not be sure how to feel about the execution entirely right now and we still haven't seen enough to really say but there are some qualities in the designs and behaviors we've seen in the small moments we have. It's good that it seems they've managed to capture parts of that quite well and when you point it out, I can see some more and the little details are neat.

My favorite visually so far is the one with the wig, totally not because he looks the closest to the regular Eggman or anything lol- but noticing the wig made me like him more too because that's funny. But I can see good things about the other ones in terms of what they've got going on with their creations and behaviors now that you mention it and the designs don't bother me too much.

But the most appealing to me so far is the city, I always love seeing the effects of Eggman's control and it's close as they're versions of him. I just wish regular Eggman was there, where is he‽ :( But yeah the anti everyone benches like nobody there gets any rest because they have to slave away all day and potential implications of the conveyers and all that have me like 👀

And yeah I always try to go into things with an open mind and not be quick to judge too fast, so maybe as I see more I'll warm up to it. But I hope they don't take a lot of screentime from regular Eggman because I don't know where he is but he needs to get his ass over there because another thing that would probably make me like them more is him interacting with them XD

[wordsgood]

(a few of) my ocs, sorted by who they'd romance in sdv

if my ocs were in a stardew valley au, who would they romance??

Rae: this is both the hardest and the easiest, because Rae is both a misanthropic loser and a bisexual disaster, and she'd hate that nearly every woman in pelican town is somehow exactly her type. but Rae would fall in love with Penny, it's written in the stars. YES, she would be into Leah and Abigail right off the bat, YES, she would try to dance with Maru at the spring dance, YES, she would secretly love getting trashtalked by Haley, but then she would find herself dressing Pam down for being a strain on Penny's health, she'd be bringing bits of weird stuff she found on the farm to the trailer, she'd even be voluntarily hanging around the kids just to spend more time with Penny... being Penny's girlfriend would bring out the best side of Rae, her more attentive and self-effacing and protective side, and I think that'd make both of them very happy. and cute.

Loreleaf: in the farm I made specifically for creating a Loreleaf farmer, I went with Shane, because I was curious about why everyone loved Shane and figured why not, and I think their matching 'ugh, existence is the worst' energies match well, but I'm actually on the verge of breaking up with Shane and going with Harvey. but, if I'm being honest, Elliott is the only one for Loreleaf. he's Loreleaf's exact opposite, all vivacious and bombastically kind, and it would break all of Loreleaf's walls down in approx. 3-5 business days. they would be adorable. Loreleaf is, in canon, basically illiterate, and in AUs, he's severely dyslexic and doesn't like reading, so I picture a lot of 'I don't understand what you do but I support you???' and also a lot of beauty and the beast-style reading-out-loud montages. also also, fight me, Elliott is a brawny boy, and I think scrappy skinny trashboy Loreleaf getting bridal-carried by his fancy lad boyfriend/husband is a very good mental picture.

Hazel: in the giant pan-novel SDV AU that lives in my mind, I think Haze could end up with a few people - Abigail, maybe, or even Emily - but my favorite option is currently Harvey. in my previous farms I haven't interacted a lot with Harvey but just the contrasts between the two are promising. melodramatic, self-obsessed Haze with a pretty down-to-earth guy like Harvey would be, first and foremost, very funny, but I also just like Haze trying their 'I'll be the bad guy and make you leave FIRST!" schtick on him. somehow I don't think it would get very far. not to mention Haze has all those health problems and Harvey might actually get them to slow down and let him take care of them. it'd be really cute, at least with the version of Harvey that lives in my head.

Sixes: this one is a little bit weird for me to realize, but, like, it's Haley, huh? Sixes is a guy who is drawn to difficult personalities because he is a difficult personality. anyone who would act remotely nice towards him when he's in Bitch Mode is not someone he can hang with, because when he's in Bitch Mode, he knows he's being irrational and overreactive and he doesn't care. Haley wouldn't put up with it. and Sixes wouldn't put up with her Bitch Mode, either. I haven't done a lot with Haley in any of my farms so I don't know exactly how she is once you actually friend her, but I can just see these two passive aggressive drama queens trying to out-snipe each other as a form of quality time and verbal affection. no one would get them together and that would suit them just fine.

Jatatyla: Jat might have been easy because of her well-documented love for bitchy blonde femmes but Tracy and Haley are not actually that similar outside those attributes, so she doesn't have to fight Sixes for Haley's hand. while she isn't trying to make Rasmodius fall in love with her (she will fail), Jat is pretending not to be head over heels for Leah. Jat seeks out stability to balance her own tendencies towards chaos and Leah is just about as stable as you can get. She's kind, self-possessed, easy-going, independent... Leah screams Jat's type. Jat dreams of braiding Leah's hair and being her trophy wife once Leah is a world-famous artist dragging her to gallery openings and galas. also, Jat will egg Kell's house.

BONUS: Doli Lin, Lev, Ashleah, Robyn: as the resident POV Aros, Doli Lin and Lev and Ashleah live with their friends, on their own, or perhaps in an Aro Bungalow near the forest lake where they can learn wizard stuff from Rasmodius, who is also aro. it's not aro wizardry or anything, it's just they're the only ones who have time to learn magic because they're not running back and forth with gifts all the damn time. they are very happy with this setup.

[notalkingbusiness]

Which conjuring were you disappointed in?n enjoyed hereditary,haven't watched long legs,I stay away from trailers so I can enjoy movies without any expectations,expecting AMC to course will never happen,it's AMC,they have their favourites and they don't care about others

The first one! I absolutely adored the trailer (the one with all the clapping), but the horror in the film itself didn't quite live up to the hype for me. I thought the film would've been more grounded from that trailer and I'm a fan of subtle horror (something which keeps building and building rather than something bombastic).

BUT I do think The Conjuring franchise is important because it has a really beautiful blend of horror and romance - I'd love to see a Caryl spinoff which leans into these two genres because it's a match made in heaven.

I'd highly recommend the following articles on The Conjuring's balancing act between romance and horror, and I've picked out some quotes which definitely ring true for Caryl/McReedus.

“The love between them, whether people want to admit it or not, I think that’s a big reason why people keep coming back,” Wilson [who plays Ed] tells Vulture in a joint interview with Farmiga [who plays Lorraine]. “It’s what makes the franchise so, so unique and sets it apart,” Farmiga adds. “There’s just something so wonderfully soothing about the love-story aspect that balances out the terror and the fear and the horror.”

“I think that Patrick and Vera have a great chemistry onscreen,” says Michael Chavez, director of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. “That is definitely mined in this film and the previous films. It comes from a great friendship offscreen, and a great respect for each other as actors.”

"The romance heightens the stakes of the horror, because the characters have made it clear that one cannot live without the other, should something happen to either of them. The best thing about the characters, from the very first film, has never had anything to do with the paranormal — it has always been what they mean to each other." 

"The franchise has perfected its ability to unsettle viewers at their core, but it has also instilled a well-earned expectation of relief. Farmiga offers a simple theory. “It’s a salve, love, isn’t it? Love is a salve. It’s as simple as that,” she says. “It has a great power to soothe and comfort; it’s inoculation right after you experience such fear. It’s a completely awesome balance.”

"the secret sauce to the success of this universe lies in the central romance between Ed and Lorraine. Their relationship, their marriage, and the continuing support they have for one another not only ground the story surrounded by the fantastical and the terrifying, but provide much-needed moments of levity and relief that elevate the movies from typical ghost horror fare to something that feels not more complex and genuine."

"Closing the film on a happy ending for all doesn't negate the terror that has been endured to get to this point, and it doesn't mean there won't be more supernatural uncertainties in the future, but there's something remarkably optimistic about what this horror franchise is doing and the note of hope it tries to leave us with by the time the credits roll. In fact, maybe the greatest trick the Conjuring movies ever pulled on us was the love story at their heart, one that keeps audiences coming back again and again."

I believe that HBO is currently adapting The Conjuring for TV, so this blend of horror and romance is still going strong. It's still profitable and popular. AMC should get in on the trend.

P.S. I know the real life Warrens were nothing like their cozy fictional counterparts.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #642

Top Ten Games from the 2024 Summer Showcases

Okay, so the other week I swore I wouldn’t do this – literally writing a Top Ten about favourite gaming reveals of the past because I didn’t think I was bothered enough to actually write about this year’s crop of announcements and CG trailers. However, I’ve been swirling around the various separate shows for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve decided to just do a quick roundup of the most interesting games that were shown regardless.

Besides, I’ve left it late this week and I don’t have a lot of time.

So really there’s not much to it, and very little in the way of preamble. This week I’m looking back at the last few weeks’ worth of gaming showcases – from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Geoff Keighly, Devolver, etc – and basically just picking the games that I think looked the best, or excited me the most. This isn’t necessarily a list of new announcements; I don’t really mean a bunch of games that I’d never heard of before. Rather, it’s just a list of games that either excited me just by existing, or by showing me something of themselves that I’d not seen before, didn’t know about, or just made the whole thing seem more, well… exciting. I’ve said that word far too much. “Proper bangin’”. Is that better?

Maybe next week will be funny.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII (Firaxis Games): nothing but a name, an announcement, and a generic pre-rendered trailer, but already I’m salivating. Civ VI is my most-played game of all time, and there’s no way I’m not getting this bugger day one. Day One! And it’s launching on console and PC at once. The next decade of my life disappears here.

Perfect Dark (The Initiative/Crystal Dynamics): I wasn’t expecting to see proper gameplay of this long-awaited title, especially given the rumours of troubled development. The original game is an all-timer for me, so I’m a bit nervous that in “modernising” it they’ll lose the elements I love. But this is so, so promising: it looks like there’s a proper mission structure, with gadgets and infiltration, but perhaps a more emergent style of gameplay, coupled with some first-person parkour. Early days – I’m guessing it’s a 2026 release – but optimistic. Even if I doubt we’ll see Elvis back.

Fable (Playground Games): I nearly didn’t include this as I don’t feel it did much more than, well, show a bit more. It already looked like Playground had nailed the irreverent British humour, and the realistic, naturalistic graphics continue to look fantastic. We got – I believe – some proper gameplay here, and, well, it looks like Fable. Knowing it’s coming within the next eighteen months is tantalising.

Mixtape (Beethoven and Dinosaur): I always get really excited by adventure games, even if I tend to drift away from them before completion for some dumb reason. But hopefully Mixtape’s, er, mix of groovy nineties nostalgia, teen movie drama, and stylised jerky animation – at times like stop-motion, at others like it’s “animated on twos” – plus a phenomenal soundtrack, will burrow it into my must-play list. Also: Life is Strange: Double Exposure has reminded me that I must go back and complete the first game.

Winter Burrow (Pine Creek Games): basically Stardew Valley meets Brambley Edge, this gorgeous-looking farm/life sim about teeny tiny mice is the sort of potential time-sink that can devour families. It doesn’t look like it’s doing anything new, but it’s doing it with such style. And the wintry, melancholy tone of the trailer is giving me The Secret of NIMH vibes, which ain’t no bad thing.

Age of Mythology: Retold (World’s Edge): I had the first game, twenty-odd years ago; I think I bought it for my wife (we weren’t married back then, mind) because we both loved the Age of Empires series. But a crazier, more bombastic, mythology-flavoured version of Age, with the dynastic equivalent of superweapons, is right up my pantheon. Plus it’s all modern and pretty now, and the team’s recent Age of Empires IV was superb.

Screenbound (Crescent Moon Games): one that had been shown off before, but it was part of the Day of the Devs session, so I’m including it; because its trippy mechanic is worth looking at over and over. Basically, you simultaneously control a character moving in 3D space as well as a character moving in a 2D level on a GameBoy-style handheld. How it works, I dunno; but colour me intrigued.

Petal Runner (Nano Park Studios): the sort of groovy RPG that I’d love to devote time to, but will probably just play for an hour (I’m sorry, Cassette Beasts and Sea of Stars). But outside of the bizarre, Pokémon-delivery mechanic, it takes the 8-bit aesthetic to new heights by giving us, essentially, a lost GameBoy game, complete with pixelated four-colour graphics. Fascinating!

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Machine Head): I’ll be honest, I don’t think this game looks amazing; I think it’ll be entirely entertaining from start to finish, just a great, fun time. It’s not flat-out gorgeous, the gameplay doesn’t look particularly innovative, and I’m not sold on the whip. But I just think it’ll be really enjoyable, a good time. Plus they’ve utterly, totalled nailed the Indiana Jones-ness of it, especially with Troy Baker’s uncanny Harrison Ford impression. It won’t be game of the year, but I can’t wait to play it.

Astro Bot (Team Asobi): propping up the list because I don’t actually have a PS5, but this game still looks adorable. It feels like these sorts of platformers are very rare outside of Nintendo, so I’m glad Sony are going full-bore mascot-jumping-game. It’s also cute how it’s just an advert for PlayStation, up to and including a spaceship that’s literally a PS5. Come on, Microsoft; give us a self-referential Banjo Threeie!

Just bubbling under is The Plucky Squire, which looks adorable, innovative, and fantastic, but which I’m discounting as I’m not sure if was officially shown as part of one of these showcase events, and was “just” previewed to press. Seeing as it was previously revealed and I’ve already seen footage of its quirky 2D-then-3D dynamic, I’ve decided not to allow it into the list proper. Basically, there were loads of games I wanted to mention, and this way I get a sneaky 11th one, so it’s all good.

[humanransome-note]

Yeah, I mean, I will admit I rushed through bits, idk smth is up with my brain rn. But it felt very weird… I know fromsoft never tells you anything outright, it’s a part of the formula. But Radahn felt so very left field.

The big trailers for vanilla were Radahn v Melania, but there was no personal stakes implied. Like if Melania specifically went after Radahn because of Miquella, okay, fine. But their battle were described in a way that felt more like two fighters clashing over pride. And that’s me assuming that’s what the fight was supposed to imply. Than when you DO fight Radhan in Vanilla, everything around it has to do with RANNI’S quest line.

He’s called “Starscourage” his greatest achievement is halting the movement of the heavens, and with the information given to the player, it seems to be solely to halt Ranni’s attempts at destroying the two fingers.

I’m not mad Miquella was the villain, I think it could’ve been great if handled differently. A person so desperate to change the world for the better, that they shave away pieces of themself they feel are holding them back, but these are also the pieces that kept them kind in the first place. A person so blinded by their vision that the fact that their actions undermine it are willfully ignored and excused. Hell, Miquella never opens his eyes, he’s willfully blinded himself already!

A memory (like how Ranni does for the second phase of renalla’s fight) of Melania, or Mohg, or BOTH! Would’ve felt more appropriate as the final boss(es) for the DLC.

The sister he was so desperate to save from Rot, who was willing to let herself rot waiting for his return, and the banished half brother who was so desperate for love and recognition that he kidnapped somebody everyone said was unconditionally loving and kind. (We aren’t getting into the GRRM undertones and aftertaste)

The visual storytelling you could do! The versions at the end of the DLC warped by how Miquella recalls them. They still hit like fucking trucks, they’re fromsoft bosses, but Melania being more haggard, more rotted, that regality and confidence she had at the Haligtree is lessened if not gone and what’s in her place is a stiff, silent imitation.

Miquella doesn’t remember her as a sister, just as his blade and a victim of Rot.

Mogh… I wouldn’t be surprised if Miquella saw him more akin to a pet desperate for affection tbh. Mogh is arrogant, confidant, bombastic! His phase change is indicated by him counting in LATIN, a language viewed as prestigious and scholarly. So in this hypothetical I’ve gotten too invested in already, Mogh fights more like the Omen in the sewers. More swinging and slamming, less form and finesse.

Fighting Miquella directly feels shoehorned, cause we hear nothing about Miquella being a fighter. So him still being a support character like lothric in DS3 I’d jive with.

Anyway, weird choices all around, I made a new file to get through the game with the DLC in place, let myself get lost again. Might change my mind, but this is how I feel rn.

did anyone else feel a little let down after they beat the dlc or am I a weirdo

I mean I knew in my heart of hearts From was going to do the lazy thing and make Miquella as terrible as everyone else but the way they did it feels very ???

(I feel very stupid for letting myself hope that Miquella would be like The Painter or Kuro)

I dunno it just missed the mark for me. Radahn really does feel like he's there for fanservice.

maybe it'll feel better after a couple more patches idk