#ugh awkward framing awkward dialogue i hate it the more i look at it

[captain-clandestiny]

How does Greyson feel abt hugs he seems very quiet

he feels... things

[nellie-elizabeth]

okay, bear with me because this is kind of an unhinged ramble, but one of the things that’s sort of been driving me bonkers in the back of my head is that the finale was terrible... but that I honestly think it would have been quite easy to change just a few little things to make it... well, maybe not good, but certainly less rage-inducing. I don’t think any version of the story as presented to us would have left me thrilled by this ending, but I can actually think of a few very easy changes that would have had me walking away maybe a little irked, certainly disappointed in what we didn’t get to see, but ultimately more at peace.

Let’s pretend this is a world in which they couldn’t/didn’t want to have Misha in the finale, couldn’t get a big ol’ group of returning stars... and we basically had to work with a bare-bones structure like what we saw in the finale. So this isn’t pie-in-the-sky, what I would do if I could have what I wanted... This is down to earth, pragmatic, simple things they could have done to make it better, if we’re constrained to the basic shell we were provided.

Ready?

1) This is the big one: flip around the "Sam’s domestic life with his son” montage so that it starts BEFORE the vampire case and Dean’s death.

So basically, the montage at the beginning, we see the boys living normally in the bunker. We get the pie scene (which I’ll touch on in a second). But then, instead of segueing straight into the hunt where Dean dies, we see a flash of the next 5 to 10 years of their lives. We see them living in the bunker, but it gets slowly more homey, more lived-in. Vitally, for Dean’s character specifically, we see hints of him picking up new hobbies, maybe he’s playing the guitar, we see him in the kitchen, maybe he’s playing D&D, I don’t know. Something to show that Dean is living life and enjoying it, getting to find out who he is without the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’s not totally settled, you get the sense that the lingering sadness of his losses, the trauma of his life, is always going to weigh on him... but he’s doing what he can to enjoy the little things, and he’s taking pride in his continued work as a hunter.

Eileen moves in, and if we can’t see the actress, fine, we can have Sam saying “Eileen called, she’s getting home late, we should start dinner” or whatever. It’s implied that the three of them are living there together. We see that Sam has a son, we see that Dean is an active part of the kid’s life, a great uncle, totally spoiling his nephew. Maybe we see shots of Sam and Dean on other hunts, we have phone calls, mentions like “hey, Jody has a lead” or “Charlie called, she wants us to back her up on xyz.” Basically, through a montage or through a short sequence of scenes, we see that Sam and Dean have continued on, life as usual... but there’s a peace to it now without big cosmic forces standing in their way. Maybe Sam and Eileen semi-retire and move out into the suburbs, and we get shots of Dean-as-the-new-Bobby, a role I always imagined for Sam, but it works for Dean, too.... the bunker is central station, he’s coordinating things, he’s finding new skills within the life of hunting, he’s mentoring people and still getting to save people and hunt things.

And then, Sam and Dean, who don’t always hunt together anymore as Dean often goes off with other hunters, and Sam and Eileen are less active in the field now that they have a kid, decide to take a case together, just a routine hunt. Cue Dean getting impaled on a nail (or maybe he dies in a less awkward way so he doesn’t have to lean against a wall and make his big death scene looking completely unhurt? Which I thought was really strange).

But basically, we could have a version of the death scene as stands. I do not hate the idea of Dean dying in a relatively “mundane” way... literally just the idea that he lived for a handful of years after defeating Chuck makes the idea of his death SO much less empty and devastating for me, because this time Dean didn’t get cut down before he got to enjoy his life at all. It’s still sad that he’s dying younger than he should have, but he died doing a thing that he loved, he found love in the hunting lifestyle without the pressure of other’s expectations, and we got to SEE that, we got to see him making it his own, and making it just one important slice in a more robust and happy life.

Vitally, instead of saying “it’s always been you and me” during the goodbye speech, and making it all about how Sam is the center of Dean’s world, it would be framed more like “I’ll be okay, Sammy, and so will you... go home to your family, to our family, tell the kid to be good, but not too good, okay? And I’ll go be with our family that’s already passed on... we’ll see each other again. We’ve got Jack looking after us.” When Sam says “I can’t do this alone,” Dean doesn’t answer “yes you can...” Instead he says “you’re not alone, Sam.” Because he’s not. He has a family already at this point, and Dean is his family, but he’s not the only person left in Sam’s world that he loves. Dean can still say he was scared to get Sam at Stanford, that he didn’t know what he’d have done without Sam... but he’s so glad they got to be family, got to share so many amazing years, got to be best friends and be there for each other through so much craziness. This time, Sam’s “don’t leave me” isn’t quite as soul-renderingly tragic, because Sam has a wife and a kid already. The death scene would emphasize the tragedy of this separation, but acknowledges that they’ve grown to have more to live for outside of each other.

Then, we see more of Sam growing old, but he seems less utterly miserable, had more years with his brother before the end, knows that Dean got to be a part of his kid’s life, and feels confident that Dean is at peace and that he’ll see him eventually.

2) The second change is even more simple, it’s literally just adding in a couple extra lines of dialogue to... fix the Castiel situation a bit. So. Ahem. Again, this is imagining a world where Misha can’t be in the episode, where we’re keeping the basic structure. There are just two small changes that fix this, for me.

One, before the montage and Sam having a kid and all that, at the pie festival scene at the beginning... when Sam says “I miss Cas and Jack,” we get a slightly more robust response from Dean. He talks about how they fought so hard to break free of their unhealthy cycles, to escape the influence of fate, and that as much as he wants Cas back, he can’t risk making things worse again and betraying Cas’ sacrifice... but THEN, IMPORTANTLY, he says “Jack’s gonna be hand’s-off, but we know he’ll look after Cas no matter what.” This could be just a faith thing, or if we’re allowed to stretch back into 15x19 and fix that too, Jack could even say that as part of his goodbye, like, “I’ll make sure Cas is at peace.” So now, even though it’s annoying that Dean isn’t rushing to rescue Cas from the Empty, it could be more akin to the later decision when Dean tells Sam not to try and bring him back. Sam knows Dean is going to a peaceful afterlife when he dies, and Dean and Sam let Cas go because they know he’s safe with Jack and also given his rest/peace. (Instead of what we got, which was just... they knew Cas was in the Empty and didn’t even bother checking if Jack would like... handle that?)

Second, when Dean goes to Heaven, at least having lived a decade or so of the life that Cas sacrificed himself to provide for him, he sees Bobby, Bobby gives him the spiel, says that Jack and Cas helped make Heaven better (in this version, Dean would be less surprised by this; he would have known even as he was dying that Jack was going to look out for him and all of the other deceased souls). And then Bobby says, “what do you want to do?” and Dean says “I want to see my family... gotta get some good quality time in before Sam shows up and hogs all the attention.” So it’s like a balance of the fact that he’s waiting for Sam and can’t wait to see him again, but it’s implied that he goes and hangs out with his mom (and dad, ugh, John is the WORST, but maybe he went through The Good Place afterlife and he’s learned to be a good person lol), with Bobby, with Cas, and even with Jack, maybe, as perhaps the new God doesn’t mind chillin’ with the already-dead humans, or at least the ones who raised him.

It would be dealer’s choice as to how Destiel-ish Dean’s final line here could be... he could say the thing about waiting for Sam but going to reunite with his family, first, and throw in something about “there’s a conversation with someone that I really need to finish.” Something vague enough that the homophobes would let it fucking air on TV, but promising enough to put a smile on at least some people’s faces.

Then, instead of the montage being just Dean driving around, we get something a little different, but still very simple. We see Dean maybe hanging out in a house in Heaven, playing with Miracle the dog, maybe a callback to a hobby we saw him have on Earth, playing music or cooking, implying a full afterlife even if we don’t get to see the other people... he’s setting a table for like a dozen people who are coming over soon for dinner, or he’s shouting out “hurry up, my parents are hosting” to an unseen occupant in another room, we see Cas’ trench coat slung over a chair, general signs of habitation and home.

We’re cutting between this Heaven montage of Dean, with the montage of Sam on Earth, growing older (and in my version, someone who knows what they’re doing makes Jared’s wig and age makeup look less like the stuff of nightmares, oh holy hell....). We see Sam letting go, dying of old age, going to his rest...

And in Heaven, Dean suddenly freezes in the middle of playing fetch with the dog, or frying up some bacon for breakfast. He gets a look on his face... a hopeful smile. He’s just realized that Sam is coming. He can sense it. This is what he’s been waiting for, the last thing he needs to make Heaven truly perfect. He gets in the impala (which isn’t literally the spirit of his car, it’s just that everything he loves from Earth gets to be with him in Heaven), and he drives off to the bridge while “Carry On Wayward Son” kicks onto the radio. He gets out of the car, reunites with Sam, says “hey, Sammy. Everyone’s going to be so excited to see you.” They hug, they look out over the bridge... The End.

SO. Just to reiterate, this is NOT my version of what the “perfect” finale would have been. This is more just a way for me to process my feelings about the fact that the episode was pretty much entirely awful in my opinion, and it would have been relatively easy to fix it so that it was only... medium awful. Like, with basically no huge changes, just letting Dean be a part of his nephew’s life, getting to be a part of Sam’s life as Sam started a family, and then still having the poignancy of him dying before his time, but also as a hero, as the best version of the thing he always thought he needed to be but now has chosen to be, has taken ownership and pride in. And then by just buffing up some dialogue in a couple of spots, we could have had an episode that still centered primarily on Sam and Dean, still ended on just the two of them (which, frankly, I’m not mad about, it’s their show, and it has been from day one...), but still honored the message of “family don’t end in blood.” Still honored the idea of found family and community and belonging and living for more than just each other.

And if that’s what I had walked away with... well, I would have had some complaints. But I think the whole thing would have felt a lot less... empty to me. And it would have been doable, within the constraints of COVID, and limited actor availability, etc.

There have been some finales that I’ve hated so truly and thoroughly that there was simply no way to engage with them without it tainting the whole show for me. This finale was so weird, because I feel like just a few band-aids, some punch-ups to the script, would have made me feel SO much better about what we got. They didn’t need to reinvent the wheel with this one. Even given the constraints, they could have been a little more creative, a little more thoughtful, and pissed people off a lot less.

[megacross-ground-zero-rated-r]

Mission failed. I'm just finding more things to love. God I love the use of red in this film. The red lighting is always *chef's kiss*

The fridge transition shot is still amazing.

AHA, so the weird revolving door thing in Maroon's office has a room full of film reels behind it. I notice the design of the space, especially the detailing on the white walls, makes it look a bit like an amphitheater. The various awards / statues scattered about seem somewhat... Mismatched. They don't seem to have a unifying design feature aside from glass and gold. Various metallic surfaces like a gold lampshade and chrome ash tray stand accent his office, still mismatched. I like the almost heartfelt line about a heartbroken Toon going to peices just like a human would from a cynical studio head like Maroon.

Man, the monorail station bar is way dirtier than I remember. There's just crap and glasses everywhere, a surprising number of which are still full. It's funny that Dolores takes a full shotglass away from Eddie, he waits a minute for her to stop paying attention to him, then he picks up a goblet. I like his excited look he gives her showing off the check. He's proud and wants her to be proud of him. Awww.

The decor in the Ink and Paint Club looks cheaper that I remember. Eddie’s body language sizing up the gorilla bodyguard is confident, he's keeping his distance, but he's not like shrinking back in fear. Yep, Eddie’s expression during the song is still funny. I don't like that excited you're in for a treat look Acme gave him prior. Could do without that. The dialogue through the window, especially from Acme- I'm sorry, it sounds so much like stilted, awkward porn acting. That's way more funny than it is uncomfortable.

Oh, the safe fell upside-down. Greasy's neck appears to clip through the back door of the van at one point. I love that sassy little head swivel Smartass does when he's first introduced. For a moment he looks like he draws his shoulders and heels together as if standing at attention. They're both mugging for the camera a little, tall stance, strutting like they own the place.

"Ugh, dammit, did you hear that line read?" Smartass griped, tapping his cigar on the van's built-in ashtray. "Doooa'an Wooo'ry, Judge. I was drawin' my vowels out like a heffer chewin' cud. I swear, it sounded like a good idea at the time..."

"Hey, boss." Wheezy prompted, smiling. Smartass looks out the window. "Boss, c'mon. Look at me." Another few seconds of silence. Not even an ear twitch. Wheezy laid on the horn, giving it a good long blast.

Smartass jumped two feet out of his seat, banged his head on the ceiling, landed with his paw over his chest, fur puffed, instinctively flattening himself into the corner between door and seat cushion. "What?!" He demanded, despite knowing pretty well what already.

"Deformants." Wheezy hissed back, snickering.

"Shut up and drive." He grabbed the rearview mirror and tilted it down to show his own visage, taking his hat off and smoothing his fur with both paws. He ran his fingers through it, tousling to loosen it up, then swept it back.

Doom has no less than three different clowns framed over his shoulder right after the shoe dipping. He also... He's not stilted and inhuman in his acting here. Has an odd kind of charisma to him. He's deliberately projecting his voice more and more as he talks to Eddie, both attempting to draw attention to their conversation and sounding like he's actually in a courtroom, more as a grandstanding lawyer than a judge.

I like the way Roger drops his gaze and kinda hides his mouth behind a faux-thoughtful finger gun admitting there might be some people who knows where he is. Love the uhuh, uhuh, yeah, that's right, exactly what I thought, you dumbass way Eddie nods at him leaning in to try and get a reaction when he reveals just how many. Roger totally does not notice the implicit intimidation attempt.

I thought I might’ve been a bit harsh describing Eddie’s tone but at least once he snarls like a bear trying to grab Roger. I hate the little tingle I get down my spine when he grits out idiot, I don't have keys for these cuffs. The word idiot is said on an exhale because he's breathing harder... From manhandling somebody... 😯👀👀👀👀

I know this isn't what's going on at all but for like one single split second before he says that Roger's expression looks a bit like bedroom eyes. They're gone the very next instant, though.

Eddie was actually singing to himself pretending to do laundry! 💗 Oh my God, I love this movie. Smartass's jewelry jingles as he leaves Valiant's office! 💗💗💗 Not a fan of how the Weasel's snouts sometimes look like squished sock puppets from certain angles. For real, though, I think Roger's arrival, the ruse he uses to handcuff Eddie, the visit from the Toon Patrol are my favorite scenes. They absolutely nail all of his movements and tics here but especially making him look like a scared little bunny when Eddie raises his voice and the Patrol are bearing down on him, he starts squirming all over the place the more worked up he gets.

Again, I have to reiterate two things. Santino did not sound sorry at all apologizing for mentioning Teddy’s death the way he did. Actually- Just noticed this- He seems almost amused at the idea Roger killed Acme. Second thing, Eddie is taking Jessica’s hands off himself when Dolores walks in. He's not pushing her away, she's stepping back on her own, but still.

[scribeofred]

I'm sending this from a phone so I hope it wORKS ANYWAY: 1, 7, 8, 15 for the Fic Writer Asks <3

1. What's something you’ve written that you know is OOC and you just don't care?

I actually had to look through my AO3 to refresh my poor brain on what I’ve written. In general, I try to cling pretty close to canon in terms of how characters interact, but I’d say taken at face value, Virgil in orbit decay seems wildly OOC. There’s a reason for that, obviously, but yeah, he’s super disengaged and doesn’t care about his family, and that’s just not very Virgil at all, poor boy.

 7. Something you hate to see in dialogue.

NAME OVERUSE. I am legit editing a novel right now with rabid name overuse, and it’s so awkward and silted and fake and ugh I just hate it. Names are fine! Just not legitimately every other line of dialogue. Or every third line. Or every fourth line. Or—ugh. Yeah. It’s awful. Please trim name usage to the minimum.

 8. Something you love to see in dialogue.

My opinions on dialogue have... not “changed a lot over the last couple years,” but I feel like I’m finally starting to maybe nail down what separates bad dialogue from okay from good from great from incredible. There’s a lot to it, but one of the things I’ve noticed in a lot of incredible dialogue is the inclusion of abrupt changes in topic. Real speakers rarely speak in a linear way re: topics, and including these sharp turns adds a heightened level of realism and can really establish a character’s voice. I need to figure out how to use this style more often.

 15. We all project onto our characters. Where has your personality or life choices leaked onto the page the most?

I have two answers to this question, framed slightly different ways. In terms of actual projection onto characters, I definitely avoid conflict and unnecessary talky-talk irl, and I write a lot less dialogue now than I did when I first started writing a solid many years ago. That said, I write more dialogue now than I did a year ago, so! Growth?

From a life-choices perspective, my career as an editor has made me write in a way I have slowly come to realize is filled with nuance that possibly only another technical editor will truly be able to appreciate. The addition or deletion of individual punctuation marks, what punctuation marks are chosen, tiny little details like that—I consistently write with those in mind, and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks wondering exactly how much nuance gets lost on the average reader. Or if any is lost! Maybe it isn’t actually lost—maybe it’s something readers can intuitively pick up via other context clues, idk. It’d be interesting to know for sure, but that would involve a long and detailed study and a butt-ton of feedback, and I’m just not up for that right now hahaha. But yeah, I’m an editor who writes with other editors in mind, and that absolutely influences my thinking to a degree, if not necessarily most of my choices.

 ask me about my fic and writing process!

[flyfireflyfly]

I Hate You - Part 2 of 4

A couple hours later, you were regretting your decision. You should have just laid on the couch or even the floor which was sounding more and more comfortable. You had managed to doze off but with the way Jakyung kept tossing and turning, you were constantly waking up. And you could only get kicked so much. You sat up and blinked at the alarm clock for a bit, then made the choice to get up. You made your way to the living room and glanced longingly at the couch. The sound of the Yongguk in his room caught your attention though so you went to the kitchen instead. As quickly as you could, you set about making a pot of coffee and cooking a small breakfast of eggs and toast. You just barely finished when Yongguk came out of his room. "What are you doing up?" he questioned as he entered the kitchen. "I made the mistake of getting in to bed with Jakyung." you replied. "Pretty sure I have a dozen bruises on my legs." You piled some eggs on a plate and thrust it at him. "Here." Instead of taking it from you, he stared at the plate with a blank look. "What?" You looked at the food but didn't see anything wrong with it. "Uh... nothing. Thanks." He took the plate and started eating while carrying it to the table. You shrugged indifferently and walked over to the cupboard with the cups. "I made coffee too." you informed him as you grabbed a mug. "Hm.... I'll take it to go." he said between a mouthful of food. You glanced over at him and he indicated upwards so you looked towards the top of the cupboard. There were a couple of coffee tumblers there and you grabbed one. After filling it with coffee, you took it over to him and sat it on the table.

"Morning." Surprised, you watched as Jakyung entered the room and took a seat at the table. "What time is it?" she mumbled as she squinted at the clock. "Too early." you groaned and gave her a pointed look. Then you asked, "Want me to make you some breakfast too?" She blinked at you for a bit before a little grin formed on her face and she glanced at Yongguk's plate. "Thanks but I think I'll just take some water." "Okay." You got up and fetched a glass of water for her. As you sat back down in your chair, Jakyung was still grinning happily. "It's so nice to see my friends getting along." she cooed and sipped her drink. You stiffened and noticed that Yongguk froze as well. The two of you stared at her before sharing a brief look. Neither of you said anything though. It wasn't like you hadn't tried to get along with him, especially after the two of them got an apartment together. After enduring all his snide comments though, you decided he was simply an ass and that being nice wasn't worth it. You had no idea how Jakyung could stand living with him. "I don't have time to drop you off." You broke off your train of thought and looked over at him. You hadn't expected him to give you a ride but with his tone of voice, it sounded like that was exactly what he was expecting. Which of course set you on edge and you glared at him. "I'm perfectly capable of getting myself home. I'm not a baby." He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and then he was glaring back at you. "Could've fooled me." You opened your mouth to tell him off but stopped yourself when Jakyung loudly whined. "Oh come on! We were having such a nice moment." Biting your tongue, you looked at Yongguk and saw him glancing between the two of you. His lips were pressed in a thin line, as if he was forcing himself to not say something either. Then he suddenly jerked and stood up. "I got to go." He took his plate in to the kitchen and set it in the sink before heading back to the table. He grabbed the coffee indicated you with it. "Thanks." "Yeah." you replied as he swept past you. Jakyung stood up while grabbing her glass. "I'm going to go lay down again." You watched as she headed back to her room and then got up from the table as well. Instead of following her, you went to the couch and plopped down on it. A yawn crept up on you and you shifted as you got comfortable. "Crash in my bed." You froze for a second and then swiftly twisted to look over at the door. "What??" Yongguk finished slipping on his shoes while shrugging his shoulders. "Go sleep in my bed. It'll be more comfortable anyways." "Uh...thanks?" you told him. He didn't look at you while shrugging once more. "No big deal." Then he opened the door and left. You didn't move for a while as you contemplated his off. No idea why he did it, but he did have a point. It would probably be more comfortable, though more awkward at the same time. With a heavy sigh, you pushed yourself up and climbed off the couch. You headed over to the second bedroom before hesitantly pushed the door open. You stepped in and glanced around the unfamiliar surroundings. Despite visiting Jakyung a couple of times, you never entered his room. It was rather plain with not much cluttering the room. There were a few books and cds, his laptop, and it was rather clean. You went over to the bed and crawled on it. Just as you were about to lay down, something caught your eye that made you stop. You reached over grabbed the item wedged between the bed frame and the desk. Much to your surprise, it was a sketchpad. You sat back and opened to the first page. It was only a single line that swirled around the page. It didn't make any sense to you. Squinting your eyes, you tried tilting the page to the left, and then to the right, until you gasped. It wasn't just a random pencil marking. It was a picture drawn in one stroke. Flipping to the next page, you were shown another drawing done the same way. It didn't take you as long to figure out now that you knew what you were looking for. The next page surprised you though because it was different. It was a normal doodle. As you looked through the pad, his art style kept changing. Some pictures were more life-like than others, while there were a few more done like the first page. Most of them didn't seem complete though, as if it was just a hobby he did every now and again. Yet there was no denying the talent they showed. You closed the sketchpad and placed it back in its hiding place.

Your eyes fluttered open and you glanced around the room until you remembered where you were. Then you inhaled sharply and swiftly sat up. You noticed an alarm clock on the desk and saw it was late in the morning. Climbing out of bed, you wandered out of Yongguk's bedroom. Jakyung was in the kitchen making some food, and she looked back at you with a smile. "Hey sleepyhead. Hungry?" "Starving." you answered and headed for the table. You stopped though as you recalled the information from last night and the reason for her disappearance. Then you went to the kitchen. You wrapped your arms around her in a tight hug. "How are you doing?" She stiffened for a second before relaxing. "I'm fine." she said with a sigh. "He's an asshole and an idiot if he can't realize what he's missing out on." You squeezed even tighter and then released her. "And I guess that means you're stuck with me for the day." "Ugh, if I have to." she groaned exaggeratedly and then giggled when you lightly shoved her. The two of you spent the next few hours lounging on the couch and watching movies. Even though 'watching' was a relative turn. The two of you spent most of the time providing hilarious background narration and coming up with your own dialogue for each scene. You were so caught up in laughing over Jakyung's improvisation that you hadn't realized Yongguk had walked in through the front door. "What's going on?" he questioned. Cutting your laughter off, you glanced over at the doorway to see the man taking his shoes off. Instantly your mood soured and you purposely avoided answering him while you turned your attention back to the television. "Making our own movie." Jakyung patted the couch cushion on the other side of her. "Come join us." 'Great.' you mentally grumbled to yourself. The last thing you wanted was to put up with him. It'd be a bit awkward though if you suddenly ran out so you had to stay to at least finish the movie. Yongguk sat down and Jakyung excitedly told him what to do. Then she went back to focusing on the scene. There were a few seconds of silence before she continued where she had left off.  After one particular quip though, the most you could do was let out a slight chuckle. Yongguk's reaction wasn't even better, prompting Jakyung to pause the movie. "Oh come on you guys! That was funny!" You forced a shocked expression on your face. "I laughed." She rolled her eyes, clearly not buying it. She opened her mouth to say something but the ringing of her phone interrupted her. With a brief look at the screen, she stood up. "It's my mom. Be right back." She answered the call and headed to her bedroom where she closed the door behind her. Leaving you alone with Yongguk. You glanced over at him and saw him looking at you in confusion. "So, this is what you guys do for fun?" The tone in his voice made your heartbeat speed up. "Yes, it is. Sorry if it's not sophisticated enough for you." He narrowed his eyes. "I didn't say that. Scoffing, you said, "You didn't have to." "Are you ever not a complete bitch?" You inhaled sharply in surprise before glaring at him. "Says the asshole with a permanent stick up his butt." "What the fuck is your problem all the time?!" He stood up and stared down at you. "My problem??" You stood up as well, meeting his challenge as you took a step closer. "You're the one always making stupid, snide remarks." He took a step closer as well, signaling that he wasn't willing to back down. "It was just a question! Why do you have to be so damn defensive about everything?!" "Oh please. You were being all judgemental again and you know it!" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I was not! Why do have to twist everything I say?" "I don't." Your hands clenched in to fist. "I just know what you're not saying." Silence filled the room, the tension so thick it was almost suffocating you. The two of you stood there glaring at each other without either one backing down. Your heart thundered in your chest, which moved with how heavily you were breathing. You imagined raising your fist and giving him what he deserved, which would be easy as you suddenly realized how close the two of you were. Close enough to notice he was breathing as hard as you and to see the anger swirling in his eyes before being mixed with confusion. Before you could react, Yongguk closed the distance and smashed his lips against yours. You jerked in surprise but his hands instantly grabbed your hips, holding you in place. Not that you were exactly pulling away... Then you clutched his shirt and started kissing him back. The kiss grew even rougher, as if this was just another fight. One that neither of you wanted to lose. Lips pressing against lips, tongues fighting for dominance. Your hands slipped upwards over his chest and then further up so you could bury your fingers in his hair. Then you gripped it and tugged. He stiffened before yanking you closer, forcing your body to press up against his while his fingers dug painfully in to your skin. "Holy shit!" The two of you sprang apart immediately. Your face felt like it was on fire from how hard you were blushing and looked over at Jakyung to see her standing there with her mouth hanging open. Then you shifted your gaze to Yongguk to see his face bright red with a mortified expression on his face. "I got to go." You hurried towards the front door and heard footsteps chasing after you. "No, no, no! Wait." implored Jakyung as she caught up to you. "No! You stay too." As you slipped your shoes on, you peeked over at Yongguk just in time to see him enter his bedroom and slam the door closed. Then you grabbed your purse and forced the front door open despite Jakyung attempting to hold it close. "What happened?? What was that about??" your friend interrogated. "Nothing. I got to go." You slipped out of the apartment, ignoring her calling your name. It wasn't until you were at the bus stop that you finally allowed yourself to replay the strange turn of events in your head while thinking, 'What the hell happened?!'

<-Part 1     Part 3->

[tweakerwolf]

Chris Ending 5

This one is really similar to ending 6 but I did want to explore some of his other dialogue options because I think I’m just going to lump his other three endings into one GIANT post. Like... they all require a high heart with Chris so there isn’t a lot of leeway in your choices... I really didn’t want to write it out 2 or 3 times when I can just use the same format as I did with the close BTD endings. (I do want to try and write as many single endings as I can in general but with Chris, those three are like so close). So here’s a little bit of adventure with Chris, you aren’t as mean, but you still don’t get him to stay!

You do have to have at least a purple heart to get this ending and honestly, there are some interesting interactions with a lot of the more verbally abusive answers... I might do an alternative guide for ending 6 since I really want you guys to see what Chris’s path has to offer, even if it isn’t exactly nice.

Time to start your day, set the scene: you’re married to Chris, a whiny baby that makes your life miserable. Like is there ever a time he isn’t doing something to upset you? Probably not. And this day is no different; when you wake up Chris is gone, off on one of his runs. You head down to the kitchen and see some food left out for you. And of course he made it so long ago that it’s cold; breakfast isn’t all that great re-warmed. That’s when Chris decides to reappear, poking his head around a corner and calling out a hello. He walks up to you and holds out a flower, saying that he saw it and thought of you. Sigh and remind him that “I’m allergic” and he immediately apologizes. Like always. Honestly he reminds you of a jellyfish because he’s so spineless! You notice that he’s gelled his hair and you wonder why he did that just to go running. He says something about confidence and you blow it off because it sounds stupid honestly. So he changes the subject, asking when you’re going into work. You kid about him just wanting to be rid of you but he rushes to reassure you that isn’t it. Honestly, you were kidding… why does he have to make everything so awkward?? You dump you plate of cold food into the trash and Chris watches, a sad look on his face. But he doesn’t say anything, just leaves to go change. You scroll through your phone, looking for more part-time work to help build your work experience. Eventually he comes back downstairs and you can’t help but scoff at his suit. Seriously, it’s way too big for him… Chris doesn’t seem to realize that it looks that bad. He says he’ll think about getting it tailored when you assure him that he looks ridiculous. Then you go get ready for work. But you notice that Chris is still standing there like a sad puppy so you reminded, harshly, that he needs to get going, like now! Chris rushes out the door, his ‘I love you’ going unanswered.

You get dressed and head to the hospital for work. The work wasn’t too exciting, just basically the same thing every time but it beat sitting at home all day. It keeps you busy and the time passes easily enough… too bad you can’t get more hours, then you’d have even less time to spend at home. All too soon your shift is over and you’re getting back in your car. When you get back to the house, you’re surprised to see that Chris is home already, and he has a visitor… You know who the other car belongs to, so you storm into the house, ready to start some shit. And there she is, Aria… ugh. The two of you exchange hostile words, it’s like she has no idea how to be nice to you, not even in your own home! But Aria is all too happy to remind you that it’s her name on the ownership papers, not yours. You hate the fact that she’s always holding that over your head, that she put up the money for the down payment on the house. But before the conversation can escalate any further, Chris steps between you two. And she instantly sweetens up, touching his arm and looking up at him. He asks if she’s staying for dinner even though he should know that it would piss you off even more! Thankfully Aria says that she can’t, but not without one final barb thrown at you. Then she’s out of the house, door slamming shut behind her. You start ranting and yelling and Chris tries to calm you down; he wants you to get along with his sister. But he’s the one that lets her badmouth you! If Chris really cared, he’d stop his sister from being such a bitch- how can he expect you to be nice to her? You storm off and head upstairs, you need some space.

When you finally head back downstairs, you find Chris on the phone with his boss. He seemed to be panicky, even though he tells you it’s nothing… but you can see he’s close to tears. By the time he’s done with the conversation, you hear him say that he’ll be by to pick up his stuff. He’s been fired. You have no sympathy to give- what are you going to do now?? You needed that money! Chris immediately starts to name his sister but you don’t want any more of her money. He starts to cry as you raise your voice and he apologizes. Gah, you never should’ve married him! Chris says he’s trying his best but you don’t want to hear it, you yell at him to stop being such a victim. That shuts him up, the sniffling stops and he looks a bit pissed. Ask “what’s your problem now!?” and that’s when he rushes forward and grabs your neck. He pins you against the wall, squeezing. Next thing you know, you’re on the floor gasping for air and Chris is standing over you. He snarls that you’re his problem, as a matter of fact (black heart). He’s tired of being the victim… he puts a foot on your chest, then kicks you in the face. You see stars and pass out (pixel-y screen effect as it fades to black).

Eventually you regain consciousness and look around… You’re still in the living room but you’re strapped to a chair and the house has been boarded up. Chris is beside you, looking at his phone. Vaguely you realize that he’s wearing an outfit you’ve never seen before, where did he get it? Draw attention to yourself by saying “What the fuck!?”; he jumps in his chair and looks startled (broken heart). He recovers and tells you to just sit and be quiet. He stands in front of you, trying to be intimidating. You don’t buy it, you call out a sarcastic remark and glare at him. Chris decides to answer by punching you, hard. Your nose is broken and you spit blood at him. He reaches down and snaps your nose back into a straight line. You’re curious as to what comes next, the punch hasn’t really shocked you into submission, it was just one, even if it did hurt a lot. Chris says he wants to show you who’s boss and that he wants to do something to you. His stammering and weak voice makes you roll your eyes- typical Chris! But when you glance down, you can see a bulge in his pants. That gets your attention and Chris notices your sudden nervousness. He forces you to look up at him and says it’s time for payback. After all the times you forced toys on him, it’s your turn. Of course you can’t help but comment that you never wanted his huge dick but he just replies that you don’t have a choice this time. Chris grabs a switchblade and cuts away your shirt but not your bonds, leaving you strapped to the chair. When he pauses to look at you, ask “W-what are you staring at?!” because it’s weird. Chris is honest, he’s staring at you! He seems frustrated and mutters about ‘why do you have to look so good?’ which I guess is a compliment right, even considering the circumstances.

(rape scene below, unavoidable)

Then he tells you to open your mouth and get to being useful- for once. Really you have no choice so you comply and I mean… at least he has some lube? Does that help? Not much… He’s so big you can’t even get enough leverage to bite down, your jaw is forced open as wide as it will go. He pushes down your throat and uses one hand to squeeze your throat a bit. You start to get dizzy but before long he’s coming and you’re choking as he pulls out. Chris then walks around you and yanks your head back via a handful of hair. He warns you that he’s not giving up on this- he wants to keep using you as his punching bag. You can’t help but notice that he’s sounding more confident and stronger. Then he walks away.

After awhile Chris comes back, finally! You’ve been waiting on something to happen… When he comes into view, he’s got dinner, steak and potatoes! He sneers and asks if you’re hungry as he sees you eyeing his plate. You both know he’s a good cook and he comes over and grabs your face, telling you to beg for some. Oblige, just because you’re hungry, “…please…” and Chris is visibly shocked. He stares at you, certain that you’re fucking with him so you ask again, nicely. He cuts a pieces of steak for you and tells you to open your mouth, which you do (black heart). It tastes great and you’re glad you decided to swallow your pride this time. But that’s all he gives you, he apparently doesn’t know what to make of your lack-of-attitude so he walks off, taking the food with him. Since you aren’t getting any more food, you might as well rest, who knows what will happen next…

When you wake up later, Chris is doing some pull-ups using the door frame. You lie there and watch him, noticing how easy they are for him… has he really been doing them that long? Ask him “What are you doing?” because you don’t want to sit in silence anymore, might as well have a conversation. He simply replies that he’s working out (purple heart). So, you push the conversation along by asking if he ‘always’ works out. Chris answers honestly, not that you would know but yea, actually he does. It’s the only thing that distracts him from living with you. You ask him why he doesn’t just leave… he has a soft look on his face when he answers that he’s a spineless jellyfish. But then he scowls and punches you in the stomach. It wasn’t as hard as before but it’s still more than enough. Chris throws it in your face that you were always calling him that. He punches you a few more times, cracking ribs. It hurts, -beg- him to stop, you can’t handle this kind of beating. And he does, but only after he hits you so hard that the chair breaks. Chris just looks down at you as you lie in a heap on the floor. He pulls out a knife and starts to cut the ropes, -stay still- so he doesn’t end up cutting you open on ‘accident’ or something. As soon as you’re free from the pile of wood, Chris slaps some handcuffs on you, letting you know that you aren’t going anywhere. He picks you up and drops you on the couch, which is a hell of a lot better than the broken chair or the floor. He tells you that he’s going to go downstairs. Let him go, if he’s not around you, that means he isn’t punching you or shoving his dick down your throat. You hurt enough already… you close your eyes and try to get some more sleep.

When you wake up this time, it’s morning, you can see light coming in through the windows. Chris is up too but he walks by without saying anything, heading straight for the kitchen. You hear him cooking so you try to wriggle out of your cuffs, figuring this is as good a time as any to try and escape. But he tightened them pretty good and you have no tools at all to try and aid your escape so you stop after a few moments. Chris comes in with breakfast, sitting by you; you’re kinda getting sick of the routine, ask him “how long are you planning to keep me here?” But he says he doesn’t know, he feels like he’s clinging to some stupid idea. His tone is flat and he picks at his eggs for awhile before getting up and walking away. When he comes back, he’s got some rope and he tells you about his interest in shibari. He ties a noose and throws it over your neck, lifting you off the couch.

(rape scene below, unavoidable)

You struggle but that just makes it harder to breathe… Chris does nothing to help you, instead he just rips off your underwear. You see how hard he already is- apparently seeing you like this gets him off. He pushes inside you without preamble (and just a smear of lube)… he’s so big that you can feel yourself tearing. Tears are streaming down your face but Chris doesn’t slow down at all; the rope is burning your neck and it’s still hard to breathe… Eventually he finishes and slips out of you but instead of releasing you, he yanks up on the rope, cutting off more of your air. Chris says that he should just kill you but unties the rope and lets you fall to the couch. It’s because he’s not done with you; he walks off, taking the rope with him.

You curl up on the couch and pass out as you wheeze and try to catch your breath. The living room is empty so you try to struggle free again… maybe, somehow after the hanging incident, the cuffs came loose? But it’s useless and you’re still just as trapped. The sun goes down and still no sign of Chris… you’ve been straining against the handcuffs off and on but haven’t had any luck. But you’re at the point where you’re considering breaking your hand if it means you can squeeze out of the metal rings. Suddenly his hand tightens around your throat, Chris snuck up on you. His face is contorted in rage as he starts to push down on your neck. He’s sick of your shit and he knows he should just kill you. But he backs off, he isn’t ready yet. He growls and leaves the room as you struggle to breathe.

Ending 5: When you come too, it’s morning and you’re free from your cuffs. You also realize that the door and windows have been un-boarded! But immediately you spot Chris next to the door… no chance for escape. He looks exhausted and just done with everything… done with you. You ask him what he’s doing and he tells you that he’s leaving. He starts to empty his pockets and you hear sirens in the distance… he rolls his wedding ring across the floor to you. What? Chris admits that he called the police, which shocks you. But he’s ready for it all to be over; he admits that he’d rather be in prison than be around you for another second. The amount of hatred in his voice leaves you shaking… the two of you sit in silence until the police arrive. You don’t even get to ask why… you can see the resentment plain on his face. The police break down your door and storm the house. Survived-Chris was arrested.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: The Marvel Cinematic Universe

That’s right, I am reviewing the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in a single, definitive essay! Why would I, a single, brave and foolhardy man dare tackle such a task?

Because I can’t actually be bothered to write about most of the films individually.

The usual reason I write these reviews is to shine a light on media that lacks a wide appeal and does something interesting with its storytelling. I want to write stories, and studying the works of others is a good way to do that.

Now, I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe quite a lot. There somethings I’d like to be done a little differently, and I do dislike how it’s becoming increasingly locked with continuity so you have to pretty much watch the whole thing as a 19-part film series, but it executes on its promises.

Point is, I watched Avengers: Infinity War after dedicating a significant amount of time catching up on the films.

I also realized that by ranking the films, you can get a good approximation on a person’s narrative preferences.

So I’ll give a quick blurb on the films before listing them.

So enough forwarding, let’s go through these films. Spoilers, obviously.

To be fair, there’s a rift part way through. I started my catch-up with The Winter Soldier, so it’s been years since I watched anything before that. I’ll mark the rift and preemptively admit that early films may deserve better than I give.

Iron Man

The film that started it all, much to everyone’s excitement. It’s probably the most conventional superhero film of the series, but it did it’s job very well.

The Incredible Hulk

The most forgettable film. Very little carried over from it, to the point that it might as well no longer be canon.

Iron Man 2

Starts putting the work into actually building the MCU, but the story itself is one of the weakest.

Thor

I actually really liked Thor. Seems to usually be considered one of the lesser films, but I liked the fish out of water narrative, Thor himself is very charismatic, and Loki remains one of the MCU’s better written villains.

It also begins to establish that Thor has the potential for strong comedy. Just takes them a while to finally realize the potential.

Really, my biggest gripe is the ‘Norse Magic is just highly advanced technology’ angle that poisoned magic for so long. I like fantasy, and I really like how Superhero universes throw genres into a blender to make a colorful Speculative Fiction smoothie. Let magic be magic!

Captain America: The First Avenger

The subtitle’s a bit egregious, but this is my favorite of the phase one films. Good period piece, good hero, and the Red Skull is a level of pulpy villain I want more of.

The Avengers

So I seem to be one of the few who think this film was just okay. A landmark of shared universe films, yes, but I found the story wanting. Just a bunch of set up to fight aliens in New York, but nothing I feel I could sink my teeth into. It’s fine.

Iron Man 3

Another unexciting film. Tony Stark keeps learning the same ‘be a better person’ lesson, and I’m tired of it.

The Mandarin Twist was killer, though. The sort of playing with lore the series needs to take advantage of. The films are… let’s call it a dusty slate. There’s a lot of toys to play with, and expectations for how to use them, but it’s a chance to take a deep breath and streamline things. Incidentally, racism is a great topic to iron out while we’re here.

Thor: The Dark World

Yeah, not even I can defend this one. I liked the set designs. But Christopher Eccleston is wasted.[1] The plot was muddy. Jane Foster[2] twisted the knife in the corpse of Asgard Magic.

I actually did want to give this movie a rewatch, but it wasn’t checked in to the library when I started the undertaking, and I recalled it being unimpressive in the theaters. Good opening fight scene, though.

The Rift (Oooh, scary)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Not one of my favorites. Winter Soldier seems to be very well regarded, but both times I watched it, I found myself bored. It takes itself way too seriously for a Comic Book Movie, and it's very heavy on action scenes built around gun firing and punching that I don't enjoy.

The plot is built on a relatively subdued premise, questioning political corruption and monitoring the citizenry. There's also no grandiose villain.

Winter of Soldier fails to feel larger than life, and besides affirming Steve Rogers’ dedication to Bucky, it doesn't feel like it left much of an impact on the universe. So it falls short on my personal list.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Ah, finally, the movies are cutting loose. About time.

Guardians of the Galaxy is fun. Can't we just have fun? Yes. And we should.

Actual color design, fresh and exciting cast, fantastical setting, and actually making the bland villain work by having Ronan be essentially a force of nature instead of a person.

Also a soundtrack so distinctive it’s a calling card as good as Captain America’s shield. And it stands on its own legs, while all the previous films pretty much used the mounting lore as scaffolding.

And it’s just fun. It makes me smile and want to watch it again soon after watching.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Sigh.

So, first viewing I couldn’t maintain focus. Second viewing, I could focus on Ultron’s scenes through the second act before it all goes blurry.

There’s too many characters. I’m not sure I can even give any reasonable summary of the plot. A bunch of dull, shakey cam fight scenes, the entire cast taken to their blandest characterization, and just… ugh.

Also, Ultron is supposed to be a Pym creation. He looks like a bug. This makes no sense.

The worst part is later films keep referring to the events of Age of Ultron like anyone could comprehend what happened.

I’m even putting it below The Dark World, because that one at least had some interesting visual and notable scenes.

Ant-Man

A superhero heist film.

Goofy characters and witty dialogue.

Fight scenes I enjoy.

I really like Ant-Man. It’s a good origin film, the heroes are all the right sort of dingy white to make them likeable and interesting.

And it finally helped me realize what I want from combat: visual clarity, inventive choreography, and originality.[3] Because of the gimmick of shrinking and growing, the camera needs to actually frame the scenes to show off scale. And playing with scale also makes the fights interesting, since you never fully know what will come into play and how.

Also, I just enjoy heist films. The more ridiculous the better.

Captain America: Civil War

Sorry, but I’m on team ‘This is Avengers 2.5’. But, in that light, still notably better than previous team up movies.

Yes, it’s mostly about Captain America and Iron Man, but just about everyone who appears gets their narratives progressed somewhat, the plot is clear once we get past discussing the Accords (which themselves are boring).

The only complaint I have is I feel they fired this particular plot a bit early. From my layman understanding of the original comics, one of the main thrusts of the Civil War was oversight, yes, but also maintaining secret identities, which, if they let the roster build up some (including more secret identities)[4] it would be much more easy to follow than ‘We can’t let what happened in Age of Ultron happen again!’ Because no one knows what happened in that movie.

Also, big points for not killing the Bad Guy. It should be a low bar, but I personally hate the tradition of villains dying for their crimes. It’s overdone, and limits the talent pool for later stories.

Doctor Strange

I liked this movie, but also don’t know if I have much to say. They’re finally letting Magic be Magic, which I am 100% down with. An element of Dark magic not being evil magic[5]

The bad guys were forgettable. The Good Guys fun. I’m waiting to see more, but there’s a lot of good will built up.

Should’ve cast more Asian actors, though.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

‘Well, you love the first one, does the second one exceed it?’

No. But that’s fine. There’s a few clumsy attempts to recapture lightning that don’t pan out, but it’s not particularly hindered by it. The absurdity and joyous joke-cracking continued, and the pathos that was introduced was earned.

It’s a good movie, a worthy successor to the first, but doesn’t quite beat the original on my personal list.

Spider-Man Homecoming

Title’s kind of on the nose, isn’t it Marvel?

Fun fact, I haven’t seen any of the Andrew Garfield films as my stance was ‘I’m voting with my wallet, and I want Spidey in the MCU.’ Now that that happened, the two The Amazing Spider-Man movies don’t matter anyways!

Tom Holland is perfect for the role, both in the suit and out as he manages to capture awkward youth at a level never before seen. The plot’s interesting (even though the big twist was spoiled for me),[6] the movie drips with charm, and it’s fun to see Marvel’s big money maker fight DC’s![7]

Homecoming does perpetuate the conflict with poor communication (Happy’s indifference is narratively justified, Iron Man’s not), but they also let the villain live at the end, so I guess it cancels out?

Good movie. I recommend it.

Thor: Ragnarok

I’m… okay with this film?

So the creative team finally figure out comedy is Thor’s strength and leaned into it, which I, of course, love. But the story also feels unfocused. Is it about Thor versus his family? Oh, wait, now he’s on an alien world in a coliseum. But there’s just one fight before he easily escapes. Hulk’s back, and Hulk himself is an actual character! But Hulk and Banner don’t have much effect on the plot once away from the Grand Master. And suddenly we’re back to the Asgard stuff.

Narratively, it works, but the stuff with Grand Master felt more like a diversion than actual meat. Still, they’ve shifted the tone of Thor films to that of Guardians of the Galaxy so I’m not upset.

Excited for whatever’s next, but Ragnarok didn’t pump me up like most people.

Still, hopefully the Earth-based movies catch on and lighten up.

Black Panther

I liked it, but also feel underqualified to discuss it. Saw it in theaters, so that was fun!

Lot of villain killing, though, which is a shame since Klaue was oddly affable. I want way more than we got of him!

There’s a lot of good storytelling through design and minor actions (I particularly love how Killmonger snapped his spear in half to make a shortspear). They did a good job of carefully modulating the mood with well placed jokes (especially with M’Baku, who took such joy in messing with unexpected guests).

It’s a good film for a hero that I don’t know much about, and I’m interested for more.

Avengers: Infinity War

Ah, finally, the big moment! Did they stick the landing?

Yes! Then they took another jump, so I’m waiting to see if they can finish the gymnastic routine.

At the very least, Infinity War has vastly exceeded the previous Avenger films. The universe is bigger now, and everyone’s involved and I could follow every plot point! So big applause for that.

I’ve got a couple nitpicks, of course. I wish they stuck with Thanos’s original motivation[8] just to continue to embrace the absurdities of comic storylines. The whole ‘we need to cut all populations in half’ doesn’t stand up to any thought (populations repleniish, you could’ve doubled resources, heck, turn it into a Long Earth situation, you stupid purple Homer Simpson).

But all the praise is (currently) right. It’s a good movie.

Admittedly, the scenes actually taking place on Earth weren’t as compelling as Thanos’s quest, Thor’s mission, or the Guardians meeting Tony Stark’s team, but that’s just a summary of the whole franchise. I enjoy it more when they go high concept and have fun.

They could’ve chosen the deaths better. It’s a mix of unfair (all but one of my Guardians had to go!?), and overly obvious with impermanence (Spider-Man can’t stay dead, Sony will riot).

Also, didn’t really feel much like a war.

The List

Final Standings from worst to best(based on my personal impressions)

The Incredible Hulk Avengers: Age of Ultron Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 2 Iron Man 3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Avengers Iron Man 1 Thor Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Black Panther Captain America: the First Avenger Thor: Ragnarok Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spider-Man Homecoming Ant-Man Guardians of the Galaxy

Now, you may be asking ‘Where’s Infinity War?’

That’s a fair question. I’m holding off on ranking it because it’s obviously a Part One. Its story is currently incomplete, and there’s also the chance the next film will sour the first. It happens. But as it stands, it’d be Top 5, easy.

So, what can we divine about me from this ranking? I enjoy fun and high concepts. The more gritty and ‘real’ you try to make your story, or repeatedly spinning your wheels is a detriment. I’m also very much a character-first guy.

Maybe there’s something else you can interpret. Feel free to send me any feedback you’ve got. I enjoy thinking about my entertainment.

As for what’s coming up in the MCU? Well, the next film is a sequel to Ant-Man, my second favorite film, so that’s exciting. We’ve also got Captain Marvel, a character I know next to nothing about, which really excites me. It’ll be fun to get introduced to completely new lore, without my nerdy foreknowledge questioning choices.

Then there’s Infinity War part 2 (or whatever they’re going to call it). Now, personally, I want Thanos to be defeated by Squirrel Girl because I am a massive nerd. But I know that won’t happen. But Part One built up good faith the first two Avenger film squandered, so I’m anticipating it.

All in all, feels like the movies are moving into a good direction. I’m still trepidatious about the inter-film lore getting too entangled, but solving the Thanos situation is a good point to back off and just focus on telling good individual stories.

At least until they can bring in Dr. Doom. No one else would dare follow Thanos except DOOM!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me questions and comments, check out my various other works, and support my patreon. Help fund the extended Canvas Universe.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Not that he ever seems to like the jobs he takes. [2] Who also clearly wants a divorce from this franchise. She hasn’t been relevant… ever, really. [3] The final battle of Guardians of the Galaxy adds ‘clear goals’ to the list. Baddies want to touch the ground, good guys need to prevent that. Defined endstates. [4] My stance on this tropes has always been ‘Keep secret from the general public, but tell your dang Aunt, Peter.’ [5] I don’t talk about it much, but it’s one of my lesser irks. Why can’t Darkness be good, or at least a true neutral force. Night time’s nice. [6] Thanks Reddit. [7] Micheal Keaton’s great. [8] Let Thanos be in love with Death, you cowards!