#yeah still the absolute best mcu movie

[pulquedeguayaba]

Yes I'm spam posting Guardians of the Galaxy no I won't stop

[fanfic-scribbles]

Spooky Scary

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Summary: Bucky tries to bond with you over your love of horror. It goes well, just...not how you'd expect.

Quick facts: Romance – Bucky Barnes/Reader – Nondescript Reader

Warnings: Reader loves horror but is also scared of it, short and very fluffy

MCU Timeline: Set some nebulous time after CA:TWS

Words: 1226

A/N: Please enjoy this short piece of Halloween fluff. For regular readers: I am having a bit of A Time right now and I don’t know if I’ll be able to update in November. I’m a little bummed; I’m very proud of having been able to keep my monthly update schedule, but I’ll be traveling for Thanksgiving this year and I recently had a set back that hit pretty hard. So right now I’m thinking I’ll take November off, *maybe* December if I have to, but we’ll see when we see. Nothing is abandoned, I just need a minute, so enjoy what’s here in the meantime, and I will see you later <3

~

You are on a date (not a date) with your crush (best friend) right now (right now!) and you are terrified.

In more ways than just one.

~

“You’re okay with a haunted house?” you ask, looking over the advertising placard. The overall layout is very ‘graphic design is my passion,’ but some of the photos look…unsettlingly good.

“It won’t bother me,” Bucky says with absolute confidence. “Clint says I’ll be fine. Something about the makeup being good but overall it’s pretty cheesy.”

~

You don’t know what you did to Clint, but a few Robin Hood jokes are not enough to warrant this.

A gruesome Jack-in-the-box pops out, telegraphed from a hallway down, and yet you still jump. You’re glad you picked Bucky’s left arm to grab– hopefully it isn’t pressure sensitive.

“You all right?” Bucky chuckles, his breath in your ear. Despite the ‘blood’-stained, grimy hall, you relax a little, and even smile at him.

“Doing great,” you lie.

You have a reputation. A deserved one, admittedly– you love Halloween. Horror movies and the macabre are for year-round, in your opinion, but there’s something about the energy in October that just makes it even better. Your friends know this.

They don’t know that you’re actually kind of a scaredy-cat.

So, yeah, horror movies are great– on a screen, when you’re alone at home and no one can see you flinch, jump, or peek out between your fingers.

Or gasp and jump out of your skin when a shadow runs past your open side. You’re gripping Bucky’s arm hard enough your hands hurt, but it’s also kind of…thrilling, being able to be so close to him. Or rather, being forced to, even if only by your own nerves. You might need some help unlatching your fingers by the end of the night.

But Clint, via Bucky, was right– the scene work could be better, you think, but maybe that’s a good thing, because the actors are great, in costume and performance, with one of the most terrifying being a woman following alongside you, unnoticed until the perfect moment. But no one comes close to touching you, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re in the company of someone who could stare down Jason and punch out a Xenomorph, so you actually start enjoying yourself.

You’re so distracted by everything that you completely miss what’s going on with Bucky– until he gently bumps your side and you jump almost clear off the floor. He lets out a heavy sigh and jerks his head up at a sign. You have to squint a bit, but you make out one of the exits, and after a few seconds, it clicks. Bucky needs to leave.

Just like that, you snap into crisis management mode, like any time you’re out and Bucky has a bad moment. It doesn’t happen too often, but you know how to handle it: get to a safer spot, wait a minute for him to calm, and if he can’t, walk him home.

Easy peasy, but when you get out and to the side of the building, Bucky turns and looks…fine. Composed.

“What’s wrong?” you ask. He looks surprised by the question, and he looks you over. And then he goes quiet– thinking, you assume. It takes him a little longer, sometimes, to figure out how to speak his thoughts. Right now, he’s looking a little frustrated, and nothing’s coming out.

“It’s okay,” you say and squeeze his hand. Thankfully, he squeezes back. “Take your time. You wanna get dinner?”

He hesitates, nods, and leads the way– still firmly holding your hand.

~

“I’m sorry.”

You’re halfway through a bite of pizza when he speaks again. And maybe it’s a good thing your mouth is full, because it gives you time to think about what he might mean. Then you realize– he must be talking about the haunted house. In your rush to swallow and reassure him, you almost choke. He immediately leans over to hit your back, but you manage to get it all down, and you take a quick sip of your drink before you say, “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I told you– if you ever need to leave a place, then we leave. Simple as that.”

He squints like he doesn’t understand. “You needed to leave,” he says, like he’s explaining to you. “You were scared.”

You duck your head. “It was a haunted house,” you say. Mumble. “The makeup was really good, and so were the actors.” You can feel him staring at you still, so you admit, “I’ve never been to a haunted house before.”

Bucky blinks. “But you love Halloween,” he says, almost accusingly.

“I do!” you say. “I love Halloween, and scary movies, and scary things…because they’re scary.”

It’s your first time admitting that out loud. You’re not ashamed, necessarily, but the way Bucky looks at you makes you wonder if you should be. “You like being scared?” he says.

“Sort of.” You push at your crust. “I know it’s not dignified, and you guys are really brave, and maybe you’ll think less of me, but–”

“It’s not that, and no I won’t, it’s just…” He rests his head in his hand and watches you. “I never knew that. That the stuff you like actually scares you.”

“It’s a safe kind of scared. Like roller coasters– scary, but I know I’ll be okay in the end.” You match his gaze. “But yeah, not exactly something to brag about, and I know you don’t like horror movies.”

“Yeah.” He ducks his head. “But I wanted to spend some time with you, and when I was asking for things you might like, it made sense that–” His head snaps up. “Wait, so you didn’t want to–”

“Stop.” You gently rap your knuckles on his forehead. He cracks a smile, ridiculous as the motion is to him, and you smile too. “I don’t really like people seeing me scared, so I don’t do anything that might make me jumpy in public,” you say. “I’m glad I got to try it though. It was kind of fun.”

“And I made you leave,” he huffs, the smile fading.

“I think it was sweet, that you were keeping an eye on me,” you say. “Though I was probably denting your arm by how hard I was squeezing.”

“I didn’t mind,” he mutters.

It’s your turn to blink. “…Really?” you ask. You like to think that maybe things have been a little flirty from time to time. Natasha certainly thinks so, and acts long-suffering about it, but you’ve never had anything concrete. Now, though, Bucky looks a little shy, and then he…nods.

“Well…” You creep your hand forward on the table, and when he takes it, you dare to hope this is different. “I have plenty of Halloween movies that aren’t horror. Ones that are just fun.”

“Yeah?” He runs his thumb over the back of your hand. “Can I have you on my other arm?”

Your mouth curls into a smile. “You sure you want me clinging?”

He stands, and crooks his arm in your direction. “I can take it,” he says.

You stand, and slip your arm into his. You won’t pick anything that would upset Bucky, but it wouldn’t hurt to find something with at least one good jumpscare. Just for fun.

[shurisneakers]

a writing challenge? in 2024? you bet

Hi! Hello! Hey!

I've been going through A Time and have chosen to cope by going back to the specific vibes of 2016 to 2018. That happens to include an incredible resurgence in my love for MCU fanfic, the community around it and all the love that goes into them. I've felt a bit distant from here for a while, but I still see so many of my old friends writing, ones who want to get back into it, and a whole lot of new writers I am dying to meet.

I've floated this idea vaguely on my blog and people seem to be interested so I figured it was worth a shot!

So yeah, welcome to Ari's Old School, Nostalgia Jam, Why-The-Hell-Not MCU Fic Writing Challenge 2024!

Prompts, rules and whatnot under the cut:

Requests:

If you could reblog this post to reach someone who might want to participate, I'd really appreciate it! No need to be following me, it's open for anyone.

Reader-inserts, OCs, solo character fics, character x character-- absolutely no limitations

Any and all MCU characters are allowed

Anything above 500 words should have a read-more/keep-reading tab. Series, multi-chapters, one-shots, drabbles, etc etc. The sky's the limit.

Please tag me in your fics (@shurisneakers) so I'm notified of them, and post them with the tag #arisoldschoolwritingchallenge . It may take me a while to get back to you due to the circumstances I find myself in currently, but I absolutely will. Please send me a DM if I haven't responded within 10 days.

Send me an ask with the prompt you would like. Feel free to pick up to 2 prompts

The only thing I request of you: no RPF and no dark fics. Smut is welcome, but non-con/dub-con/incest or anything along those veins is something I'd ask you not to submit for this challenge. Thank you for your understanding!

I know I've called it an MCU fic challenge as it's the community I've grown with, but if you feel like any of these prompts resonates with a character from another fandom, please go ahead and write it. This challenge really is just about the fun of writing fanfic and love for Your Little Guys

No submission cut-off date. Take all the time you need.

Prompts

I've tried to have a mix of classics and uncommon tropes/dynamics, so I hope everyone finds something they connect with!

Relationship Prompts

1. Enemies (taken by @theysaywhatasadsight)

2. Best friends/childhood friends

3. Coworkers (taken by @jaaneymann)

4. Internet friends

5. Neighbours/roommates (taken by @angrythingstarlight)

6. Fake dating (taken by @hungryforpowernotfood)

7. Commuters

Alternate Universe Prompts

1. Florist AU (taken by @hungryforpowernotfood)

2. Showmance AU (taken by @bombsonboard)

3. Social media/streaming/gaming AU (taken by @splintered-emotions)

4. Thieves/Heist Group AU

5. Time travel AU

6. Pirates AU

7. College AU (taken by @lovelybarnes)

8. Apocalypses/dystopia AU (taken by @targaryenvampireslayer)

9. Chef AU

10. Roadtrips AU

Some rarer miscellaneous ones for those who are so inclined!

1. Shipwrecked together on an island

2. Meet Ugly (opposite of Meet Cutes) (taken by @barnesandco

3. Both of you are ghosts but don't know the other is

4. Treasure hunters AU

5. Faking death

6. Professional cuddlers AU

7. Time loops/Groundhog Day (taken by @sxrensxngwrites)

8. Orpheus and Eurydice

9. Villain x hero

10. Hitchhiking

11. Carnival of Horrors

12. Robin Hood

13. Matchmakers AU

14. Insomniac x narcoleptic

15. Intergalactic Coffee Shop AU

16. Doomed By The Narrative

17. Enemies to Lovers to Enemies

18. Subversion of Classic Hallmark Movie Tropes

Dialogue prompts

You can tweak them as per requirements, but be sure to keep the underlying message!

Angst

1. "I should have trusted myself. I should have stayed far away from you." (taken by @waywardcrow)

2. "Has it occurred to you that how I feel matters too?" (taken by @jaaneymann)

3. "We failed. I would do it again."

4. "You do not deserve my forgiveness."

5. "You make me feel so alone." (taken by @reidishh)

6. "I'm not giving up on us." "I did. You should too." (taken by @targaryenvampireslayer)

Crack

1. "Ohhh, you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid." (taken by @pinkthick)

2. "I think you and I make the worst choices together." "Yeah, but it's always entertaining."

3. "I trusted you." "Terrible decision, really."

4. "I know I'm smiling but I want to push you off a very big cliff." (taken by @pepperonijem)

5. "I'm hilarious." "You're traumatised."

Fluff

1. "This is the only thing I look forward to everyday." (Taken by @bombsonboard)

2. "I think we should do that again. For the sake of the world and my sanity."

3. "You're all I think about." (taken by @waywardcrow)

4. "Don't go anywhere I can't follow." (taken by @iguess-theyre-mymess)

5. "Don't smile at me like that." "Like what?" "Like that." (Taken by @lovelybarnes)

Word Prompts:

Flesh

Strawberry

Bruised (taken by @juvenilearson)

Groovy

Jump

Sunflower (taken by @barnesandco)

Alchemist

Wayward

Offerings

Mischief (taken by @supraveng)

I hope you'll join in! Please do tag anyone you think would be interested, I'd love for this to have as wide an audience as possible.

Lots of love <3

-Ari

[alpaca-clouds]

Something I will never understand...

Kinda based on what I wrote yesterday about the entire diferentiation...

You know, something I am never going to understand is the people, who will get super angry over any sort of adaption of whatever media they like. Putting Trevor in here, because I currently see it the most with Castlevania, but I might as well have put in here a gif of Lord of the Rings, the Witcher and what not. Because it is always the same. People, who have gotten to know a fandom through one form of media and then will spend so much effort into... hating any sort of adaption.

Heck, Witcher might be the best example, given that there are book fans hating on either games and Netflix series - and game fans hating the series. And... Probably also series fans who hate the games. And... I don't know.

And quite frankly, I don't get it. Because even if whatever adaption does not do it for you... So what? It did not take away from whatever the original medium you liked was. That medium did not vanish. The Witcher books did not vanish because of either adaption. Heck, contrary, they finally got translations into languages they did not get translated into before. The Castlevania games did not vanish because of the TV series. Same goes basically for any adaption. Chances are in fact quite good that a lot more people got into the original medium through the adaption - and that because of that the original medium was made more accessible to more people.

But guess what: People are gonna think twice about whether they actually want to engage with whatever the original medium was, when they got into the fandom through an adaption and all the fans of whatever original medium do is bash the adaption that made people fall in love with the franchise.

Sure, I get that at times it is frustrating when the adaption has more fans than the original medium and all you want is some fanwork and what not for the original medium.

Heck, Witcher is one of those cases for me. I read those books as a teenager and they mean the world to me. And it is not even as if I dislike any of the adaptions (well, except maybe the first game with its stupid "sexy card collection game" and what not), but I also will very firmly remain in the camp of "neither adaption quite gets the book and what it went for". And I absolutely have experienced people trying to argue something about that world and those characters... who have not read the books or even engaged with what theming there is in the games and series. But I... just ignore it.

I will watch the series as its own thing. And will play at least the second and third game on their own merrit. But yes, the books are my favorite. But... I do not spend time with hating on that stuff.

Heck, I could go on and on for hours about how I disliked what the MCU did with certain storylines frome the comics. But I don't (at least not unless someone asks me about it). Because it is just an absolute waste of time. I can rage about it, sure, but it will not change the way Disney is gonna produce those movies. All it would do is sour the mood for everyone else. The comics are still there. I can still read them. I do not need to watch Iron Man 3 or Avengers 2.

And sure... there are times, when I really get annoyed with adaptions. For example if they white wash and what not. Or just are plain bad (*coughs*Artemis Fowl*coughs*)... But why waste my time thinking and raging about something I do not like - rather than engaging with a thing I actually do like?

Maybe I am just too old for this kinda stuff. I don't know.

Kinda reminds me though of some of my old fandoms. Like Digimon or Pokémon, where with each new itaration people are gonna be up in arms about how much they hate the new thing and how much better old thing was. Going so far to just constantly attack folks who like new thing. Especially new fans, who find their way into the fandom through this.

And it is like... Yeah, you guys do a great job discouraging people from engaging with your fandom. Top. Amazing. Couldn't do it better.

I mean, sure, to me the Witcher games or the Witcher Netflix show will never reach the greatness of the books. But... to others they do. And that is fine. It is fine.

Because I know that telling those people: "You will actually never understand the greatness of the Witcher, because you like those silly games" will not get anyone to actually read or like the books.

[rmbunnie]

Watched GOTG3 on friday! Here are some of my personal thoughts (spoilers obvs):

- I really liked it, first of all. To be honest, Rocket is my fave of the group alongside Nebula. I just think they’re neat, and I like characters that cause drama. If there’s no personality traits that are a little abrasive and offputting, then i’m not saying that’s a flaw, but perhaps i am saying its a bit of a missed opportunity. This is probably one of the reasons I am still interested in GOTG when most of the mcu is a bit worn out to me, there’s this neat focus on why they’re acting the way they are and letting their reasoning steer the story to a good extent rather than using it like an add-on (especially if the way they’re acting is flat out dickish,) and I think that’s a fun approach. All this to say, Rocket is one of my faves, and so a movie largely focused around his character is pretty interesting to me by default.

- The hallway fight was great. Loved it no notes a plus.

- I really liked the tardigrade suits on the tech planet-meteor-lab thing! They looked weird and offputting, don’t get me wrong, but space suits that are visually inspired by the creature that can naturally survive the void of space, boiling temperatures, and so much else are REALLY well-suited (haha) to the organic planet founded by the man who uses existing creatures as the bases of his "creations.” I can absolutely picture the High Evolutionary learning about a tardigrade and being like “hell yeah i just came up with a GREAT and original idea”

- I also liked the organic planet. Very cool the meat was so gross and the eye motif was fun.

- I have mixed thoughts on Adam Warlock, but mainly positive. I think that with the amount of things that were happening in the movie some of the scenes that were necessary for his development made the runtime drag a little and lose some momentum, but I’d rather have them than not have them. He was funny, and the creation of Adam posing at the end was both fun, cool to look at, and kinda something to think about, seeing as he was the one taking the place of god, but he is also the one named Adam. Maybe the idea there was that the first good act he does is the birth of his own humanity, as in existence as a person or as anything more than a passive invention? Or maybe they just thought it would be fun haha. Regardless, the idea of the divine being the one who can gain something through contact with the human is a sentiment that fits in the movie about the dude who plays god via animal cruelty but lacks what his "lesser” creations have and can never get it due to his failure to recognize their personhood idk.

-The ending is how it should have been imo. I know it’s so so sad to see a found family leave each other and it bums us out, and I am bummed out best believe but particularly in the case of Peter, Drax, and Mantis, it seems like what the movie was going for (if you’re taking the latter two’s writing as anything past comic relief which, like, of course I am) is that being in the Guardians was keeping them from evolving into the people that they were meant to grow into, and stunting their potential. Again, very relevant with the High Evolutionary, evolving people against their will isn’t right but remaining frozen in time isn’t natural. It was nice to see them get unstuck.

- Speaking of evolution and the characters, Gamora seemed like she had a little divergent character evolution thing going on, with 2014 as her sorta common ancestor. The ravagers seemed a little out of nowhere but not the the extent that it was unbelievable. “I bet we were fun” was really sweet. It’s nice to see her gain some of the things that she had before the time travel death bullshit personality-wise, the idea that she would always end up kinder and happier when she was free of Thanos (who i hate btw, not even as a character although that too, there was just NOTHING interesting done with him the whole goddamn franchise) than when she was with him is not something it takes a genius to figure out, but it’s still good to see. It’s also worth considering that original Gamora had to choose to be free of Thanos everyday and work with the consequences of his actions while 2014 Gamora was brought into a world where Thanos was gone regardless of her feelings or actions. This is kinda explored in the movie, and neither Gamora is bad, but I feel like its very important characterization-wise to understand that she didn’t fight to leave and struggle in doing so the same way original Gamora did, and so their worldviews are different, too, not only their experiences. To original Gamora the Guardians were fundamental to her indepence, without Peter she wouldn’t have gotten the orb so easily and without Rocket and Groot she might not have survived the Kyln. To 2014 Gamora, Thanos is out of the way and now these other people are kinda just here.

- Gamora dying in Infinity War or Endgame or whichever it fucking was was bullshit and i won’t debate on that but it is funny to see the directors of the mcu doing the exact same thing comic writers have been doing forever coordination-wise. Trying to work with the absolute trash that’s going on in the concurrently-running title is a comic struggle that transcends medium. GOTG did pretty well with it.

- I loved the High Evolutionary! Of course, not as a person, he’s the worst, but he was consistently really interesting to watch and his actor did a really really good job with him! The religious-type traits were really interesting, and specifically his bit with the opera song and music and how he valued literature and art was really interesting and not to be too jojo in marvel but it kinda gave me Dio or Pucci vibes. That’s the type of weirdass tangent one of them would say (specifically their convos with each other or the Pucci Hallelujah moment.) Everyone has already said more than i could say about his weird evolution-genetics shit but it remains weird. 

- “There is no god, thats why i stepped in!!1!” and the bit wheres he’s scrambling to the cage where Rocket is to find out how he knew the filtration system thing were two particular highlights of his character for me. He is messy and emotional and all over the place, and he thinks he is perfection incarnate. His emotional outbursts add humor and are a big part of what makes him interesting and fun to watch, but he would ridicule them in any other being. This is proof that the High Evolutionary is a hypocrite with poor taste.

- Ayesha dead. She was a bitch but she slayed. she will be missed, for the comedy of those fucking gold lenses was a highlight of GOTG2 for me.

- Rocket is a creep. Rocket is a weirdo. What the hell is he doing here. The Radiohead singalong in the beginning was so fun. I loved it so much, genuinely. 

- Lylla, Teefs and Floor were. so much. Everyone says they’re sad, and of course they are, but the whole thing was offputting too. Not as in like “oh they’re so gross” the vibe was just horrifying and sorta nightmarish because it’s not like you think they’re gonna make it out, you see Rocket in GOTG the first and you know there’s absolutely nobody with him but Groot. The scream was, a lot, and very well voiced, I guess? It seems weird to say, it’s not like, oh wow cinema i loved the part where his friends died and he screamed as he watched them get shot in his face but i felt my stomach drop in that theater even though i fully knew it was coming so i guess what i’m saying is mission accomplished you did the thing the way the thing was meant to be and it gave me bone nausea.

- Also it has been pointed out before it is not original thought of mine but the cage death scream vs the dance party scream. I’m thinking about that. Similarly in the sense that i’ve seen it mentioned but I keep thinking about it, the Dog Days are Over was quite a choice, seeing the zune scroll to the most recent decade it has was, bittersweet, or cathartic i guess? They can finally just move through time, they get to be growing people again now. I love the Dog Days are Over. I love Florence.

- On the Lylla topic, everyone’s been saying this sad quote made them sad or that sad quote bummed them out but the thing that got me most was “We were right. The sky is beautiful, and it is forever.” in the final dream sequence. Idk why that one particularly got me like that, heaven and the sky as a pair is a pretty common concept, eternity is just hefty I guess. Compared to the cage though, I’m glad they get such a nice place to be.

- We got “vocabulistics” and now we have “emotionallistic problems.” In GOTG 1 I could give him the plausible deniability of smushing together “linguistics” and “vocabulary” but no, Rocket just likes putting “ballistics” inside words. As is his prerogative. 

- I like how weird and retro some of the sci-fi elements are. The movie isn’t just a rehashing of older sci-fi concepts of course, it implements the retro elements interestingly and makes them fresh, but mad scientist experiments and unnatural experiment beings in a slightly more horror/negative approach is like RETRO retro sci-fi, like heavy book Frankenstein original first-ever sci-fi, so it was interesting to see past sci-fi incorporated into story elements in addition to world aesthetics and soundtracks like we’ve already seen. It’s nothing new to say GOTG has a bit of a 70s vibe just as a franchise, which I absolutely adore, but particularly counter-earth has a kinda “wouldn’t it be fucked up if that happened” vibe to it that I think is really fun. We got meat planet. We got animal planet. Lets go. This is peak fiction.

- Speaking of GOTG being retro-esque this trilogy LOOOVES that fucking yellow slime. Every movie there is a prominent yellow slime feature, it’s the most consistent character in the mcu. Did they accidentally order too much on movie 1 and save the rest for later? It kills me. 

-Speaking of, it’s very funny to me that they end up living on Knowhere. Like in the grand scheme of things. They did well with it, they have lovely homes with nice tables and blankets and lamps and such but like. Imagine you break out of jail and you go to kill time at some shady weirdo planet because the guy who wants to buy your orb is there, and the guy who wants to buy your orb is also Spongebob. You call up the guy who killed your family while you’re there and he stabs you and throws you into the yellow goo to die. The weird guy you’re stuck with breaks down and gets in a fight with you and threatens to shoot you in the face after doing this weird venty monologue that you don’t get at all. This is all one night. Nine years pass and you’re besties and you live there. The goo vat you got thrown in is probably like two blocks away because the planet is kinda small. Idk it just doesn’t seem like that would give homey vibes to me but they made it work and i commend that!

- Overall it was a good movie. I definitely have some thoughts that I’m missing but the thing about situations like that is that I can’t remember them. I will be bummed that the trilogy has ended but things end and this is life. Oh well. It ended well.

- Oh one more thing but the High Evolutionary ultimately lacking creativity was really interesting. All he can ever do is use bits and pieces of things that already exist so he can’t ever achieve what he would consider true perfection, because he can’t appreciate anything that exists due to its inherent and unavoidable flawed nature, and since his “inventions” are based only on preexisting stuff the flaws aren’t going anywhere. When he does come up with something worthwhile he effectively discards it because he doesn’t understand what makes it special, he just knows that it has something that he doesn’t and he’ll destroy it and eventually ruin what was good about it in the first place in the pursuit of replication, so if he ever did achieve perfection he wouldn’t even be able to do anything with it. The one thing he makes that he values, the only thing he can think to do is copy it and ruin it. His mindset won’t allow ingenuity because his pursuit of something without flaws can only ever be informed of traits he’s already seen in flawed beings. He owes everything he ever did accomplish to the flawed. If he wants something perfect so bad he should have at least tried to start from scratch (it would have been a move of immense hubris but obviously he’s not above that) but he can’t, because not only is he uncreative but like Rocket points out, he doesn’t even want perfection, he just hates everything the way it is. 

[moinsbienquekaworu]

2024 edition of Analysing Ram's fanfic collection! 2022 and 2023 editions are there. A few days late but we're still going strong!

Same disclaimer as before, all the ships I've been into are in there under the readmore and some of them are weird, if you thinks some stuff is freaky (derogatory) you probably don't want to look (especially this year!!). Which is fine, see you another time :)

For those who don't mind freaky stuff, come have fun with me once again as I marry my passion for fandom and simple statistics.

(hopefully this is readable? I had to dezoom a little because I have So Much Fic)

... So this is kind of insane for me.

I got into Daredevil a little after last year's edition, and after a full year and about three intense phases of Being Really Into Daredevil (the TV show, I should say right now. I've been meaning to get into the comics but we're not there yet), you can see that I uh. I liked it! Almost 600 fics, jesus. That's more than any of my other fandoms, and by so far it's not even funny. Clearly it shows when I download every fic I read. To be clear most of that folder is Mattfoggy, self-explanatory and uncontroversial I think.

I also got into Baldur's Gate 3, which is probably my folder with the most gen stuff in it, maybe even including my gen folders. That's because 1) I played the game and romanced someone (I'll give you a guess. I'll give you one fucking guess.) so it felt a little strange reading ship fic for a game when you've played an active role in the story? and 2) because for once there isn't just one ship I'm into. All of these fuckers have so much potential chemistry with everyone else it's kind of wild. You could take any of the main six/eight companions, put them together, and I'd see it! So, genfic, and a fair bit of Bloodpact because I'm extra-compelled by Astarion and Wyll having Issues together and kissing about it. Once again, normal. Note that I did also buy merch for this, because there was cool merch I could actually get! So I have nice stickers and a portkey on top of 200 fics.

Then we enter the Zone Of Shame, the elephant in the room: why does Ram, who spent years of her life deliberately ignoring anything MCU related in any way, shape or form, who actively tried not to know who any of these people were when people told her about it, and who fell asleep before a few of the movies during family movie night, have three folders and about 350 MCU fics on her phone? Why indeed. Well, my best explanation is Daredevil snuck up on me and then I got overtaken by a fever. And now here I am. A changed woman. Scouring blogs from 2012 to get glimpses of what it was like back then.

The two main ships I've been really into are Stucky, because I watched Winter Soldier and I have eyes, though I did kind of hesitate with Stony because yeah I see it, and Thorki, because I watched Thor and I have eyes because I heard it was a thing, got curious, looked into it, and started Seeing It very fast. For about a week I'd watched Thor 1 and I thought, eh, I don't know why everyone was so into this, and then somehow something clicked in my brain I guess?? And then here I am, about three months later, coming out of AO3 searches bloodied and dizzy.

The rest of the changes are minor, I added a class folder for class stuff, a few fics here and there, kept going with Venom and doubled that folder, kept reading porn, planned to read (/actually read!) a few published books, etc. The last notable things are I found like 30 things to add to my misc folder, don't know where, and I somehow got rid of 4 Warrior Cats books? I'm guessing I had duplicates?

In conclusion, this year in fanfic, I read a lot of Mattfoggy, and got really into a beloved fandom classic (Stucky), the most obvious characters I could have gotten into (Astarion and Loki), and a truly "problematic ship" (Thorki). They grow up so fast... Absolutely crazy to me that when I log all the fics I read in a year (and I could have read more!) I end up almost doubling my fanfic folder. I was at 1.7k last year and I added like 1.4k, that was a huge shocker! So many good fics....

(BTW I knew the whoole time I would be insanely into Loki and Tony Stark, and I was Correct. Whatever that kind of character is they're like fucking catnip to me. Immediate blorbo. I need to read more Tony centric stuff but I've been trying not to be so so in love with that guy since I was like 13 so. Hard to break the habit. Astarion is also Like That and as soon as I saw his face I knew and I was once again Correct. I'm predictable.)

This was the 2024 edition of What's Ram Been Reading, it was a delight to have you this year again and it'll be a delight to have you in 2025! Bye bye :)

[seiya-starsniper]

10 fandoms/10 characters/10 tags

FUCK YEAH LET'S GO BLORBO LOVING HOURS

Tagged by the amazing @sans--seraph and @verminetroglodyte

Loki from MCU He is single-handedly responsible for my descent into madness with the MCU. None of my friends could get me to watch a single movie until the bestie one day said, "Hey you should come watch Thor with us, there's a character we think you'd like" and it was OVER after that.

The Corinthian from Sandman A lot of people probably think my favorite character must be Dream or Hob because of my ship but nope, it's The Corinthian. My beloved serial killing, eyeball eating, just needs a hug and some validation baby, I love you so. Also, it helps that he'd played by Boyd Holbrook, who I was OBSESSED with as a teen when he was a twinky model lmao.

Hawks from My Hero Academia I know Hawks is a pretty polarizing character in the fandom, and I think that's part of the reason why I love him so so much. He's technically one of the "good guys" as a hero yes, but he has done so many questionably things in the name of corrupt hero society. He's the type of character I'm not sure I'd like if he were a real person, but I think that's part of what makes him so interesting. Absolute sweetheart on the outside, but will gut you like a fish if he thinks it's for the greater good.

Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh MY OG BLORBO I LOVE YOU SO 💖💖💖 What else is there to say about this iconic boy? He's a dick. He's rich, screw the rules he has money. He's a meme. He is absolutely over the top and tries to insist he has no friends but he's been adopted by the heroes as a bestie. Love him forever.

Sara Lance from DCTV/Arrowverse I've GOTTA include my White Canary queen because she was my bisexual awakening. I had always known I had some attraction to women, and even had gone by pan for a little bit, but lord my attraction to women came alive with Sara. I may not longer care for Arrowverse, but Sara Lance will always have a special place in my heart.

Hiccup Haddock from How to Train Your Dragon Hiccup holds a special place in my heart for bucking the trend on traditional protagonists. He's a little weakling. People underestimate him. He doesn't always get things right! But he loves fiercely, he's determined, he's smart, and he believes the best in everyone. One of my favorite blorbos ever.

Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist Smarmy bastard with a heart of gold. He will go the distance to protect those he loves, and he's not afraid to burn people to a crisp to do it. He knows his weaknesses and tries to push past them anyways if he needs to protect someone he loves. Best boy, I love him so.

Harley Quinn from DC Comics Another important character in my bisexual development ahahha. I know Harley's kind of over saturated the market as a Strong Female Character but she's still so important to me for so many reasons. She came out on the other side of an abusive relationship. She's funny, she's silly, she loves life, no matter how many wrenches get thrown at her, literally and figuratively. And her relationship with Pam is SO IMPORTANT to me ahhhhhhhhh.

Jyn Erso from Rogue One Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I love her. She's a grump. She's a survivor. She's a tragic figure drawn into a war she never asked to be a part of and she dies for a cause that never knowing how important her impact truly was. I have read a million fix-it fics and AUs of her and the whole Rogue One crew and still love her to this day.

Q from James Bond (Daniel Craig Movies) My nerdy baby. He's so smart and so awkward and so endearing it hurts. I love him so. He has two cats and a mortgage. Bond takes too much advantage of his goodwill and Q lets him because he's in love a good friend.

Tagging: @rooftopwreck @virgo-dream @nygmobblepot-trash @lyriclorelei @gil212 @valeriianz @valiantstarlights @writing-for-life @two-hands-toward-the-sun @bazzybelle

[she-likesorchids]

10 Characters • 10 Fandoms • 10 Tags

Thank you so much for the tag @bellaxgiornata !!!!

These are in no particular order and I am about to absolutely GUSH about my little meow meows (some of them committed crimes so the fuck what) so, putting this under a cut.

1: Elektra Natchios

Alright, so I know most of the Daredevil fandom doesn't see eye to eye with me on this one, but HEAR ME OUT. Until I started reading the comics, I too thought she was just Matt's mean ex girlfriend that came to town to wreck shop, but she is so much more than that. She's an orphan. She's not seen as a human being, but a weapon. All she knows is to kill or be killed. She's a survivor, and she's incredibly self aware. One of my favorite arcs is when she becomes Daredevil in the Zdarsky run and she takes another orphan under her wing as a sort of apprentice, but the girl ends up running away, and Elektra thinks "maybe it's better this way because I'm poison". I didn't think I could cry at comic books, but Elektra just makes me feel all the feelings. Also, Elodie Yung is MY Elektra. I don't even recognize Jennifer Garner as Elektra.

2: Matt Murdock

My DARLING disaster Catholic lawyer vigilante. Oh, he's got a savior complex deeper than the Mariana Trench, but I just wanna cuddle him and stitch up his wounds and tell him it's gonna be okay.

3: Shiv Roy

SHIV DID NOTHING WRONG. She was never going to be given a seat at the table so she had to take it by force. She's just trying to play the game in the world her daddy created. Yeah she's a tough boss bitch on the outside, but she is deeply flawed and she feels just as deeply. I SOBBED at the scene when she reverted back to being a scared little girl when talking on the phone to her dying father. Give Sarah Snook all the Emmys.

4: Gwen Stacy

My blog handle isn't "theradioactivespidergwen" for nothing. Honestly, the Earth-65 Spider Gwen comics are my favorite. I love Gwen so much. She's a drummer, she's a superhero, she's a daddy's girl, she's deeply misunderstood, she's EVERYTHING. I could honestly talk about my dear "Gwenzelle" all day, but I shall refrain.

5: Kate Bishop

Y'all should have heard the SCREAM I scrumpt when I heard that they were bringing my girl Kate into the Hawkeye series! The Avengers' best annoying little sister. I hope to see more of her and I hope that she takes up the Hawkeye mantle from Clint in the MCU.

6: Amy Santiago

Yeah, ACAB and all that, but I have never been so seen in my life in a character. Just, the awkward nerdiness, the need to prove herself to the boys, and the absolute mega type A personality. I like to think I'm Rosa Diaz, but I'm actually Amy Santiago.

7: April Ludgate

"I only like dogs and sleeping late."

Same girl, SAME.

8: Tina Belcher

How can you not love Tina?! I will not hear any Tina slander, NONE.

9: Frank Castle

Another disaster vigilante. He's driven by revenge, but he's still got a soft side. He's a protector at heart, and he loves animals.

10: Lestat de Lioncourt

So, I fell in love with the 1994 movie adaptation, and I attempted to read the books at one point, but life happened. I recently finished the IWTV series on AMC, and Sam Reid's take is just SUPERB. I love that this version delved into the hurt he's endured over his long lifetime, and that there is a reason for his madness. There usually is, but this is nice to see.

No pressure tags and apologies if you have been tagged already: @acrossthesestars @withahappyrefrain @moongirldreamer @spiderispunk @virginiaisforvampires @chvoswxtch @castlesnchurches @peterman-spideyparker @magpie-to-the-morning

[olivieraa]

saw Deadpool 3 today!

god, I remember...

ok so I dont have a connection to superhero movies. superhero anything really. I can list it quite easily

I used to watch the 90s spiderman, xmen and batman as a kid. spiderman was my fave. get in from school, throw on spiderman. then the tobey maguire spideys came out and he was my first ever big crush. then the xmen movies came out and I saw all 3.

so that was before the MCU did its thing, and superheroes took over. I saw the first iron man and that's it all the way up until the first avengers. never saw the captain americas, never saw the thors, never saw the follow up iron mans. and pretty much any of them that have come after it UNTIL... Deadpool 1

and I was a Deadpool hater. I still am. I believe that characters are different per medium, and I do not like comic!Deadpool and I made that clear on tumblr back in the day before the movie came out. so I went to see the movie to see if it was gonna be... well, as misogynistic as comic!Deadpool was

and it wasn't.

I wasn't that big of a fan of the first movie. there's a scene that misogynistic fanboys take out of context all the fucking time. but I consider Deadpool 2 to be one of the best movies ever made. and... very feminist, honestly.

Deadpool 3 I was nervous about. would it be like 1 or 2.......

it was like 2!

I think... I think Ryan just knows. like, the women in his life are very important to him. he could have gone the gross cater to fanboys route with DP but he didn't. so I appreciate that he can be liked by everyone, not just those creeps.

and its saddened me that feminists have hated on Ryan saying its bc of him his wife doesn't have a career anymore and he's thriving. all the man does is praise her, say he's unworthy of her, give her all the credit for any writing she's done esp ON Deadpool. like, I don't care for straight couples, esp Hollywood couples. but I actually like these two. so yeah, I had a good time, I like Ryan and I'd give the movie an 8/10. The second to me was a 10/10

also just speaking of straight couples and women who should be breaking up with or divorcing their men, like ok, I get if you watch one "type" of video, the algorithm is like "here's 50 more", so bc I've seen one or two "useless boyfriend" videos, instagram keeps showing me more and more, but like................ how fucking many are there.

like I know its practically an epidemic of women dealing with their scrubby boyfriends instead of being single, but its goddamn everywhere

And then you have ugly fuckers who want a gf for the sake of having a gf, but will always try, on the sly, to cheat and get with someone hotter

Then there's the constant posts about "why men cheat" and the comment section is full of shit like "why have one meal for the rest of your life" or "bc she stopped trying to look good for me"

And then videos from strippers who say that men who try to cheat on their wives with them is not a here and there thing, its an every day thing, and their wives and gfs think they're the most loyal men out there absolutely INCAPABLE of cheating and yet, here they are!1!

And I dont even need videos to confirm this. My stripper friend says married men propose to her all the time

I know this went from Deadpool to being angry at the straight again, but I just thought I'd keep it to one post, since people have hated on Ryan but they're like the only straight couple I have faith in (aside from my straight friends, I love my straight friends, I wouldnt attend the weddings otherwise lmao)

Like I just... like, women... If you look at your man and dont think he's the one, if you look at your man and think there's a possibility he may cheat on you, if you look at your man and think that you wouldn't put your life on the line for him bc he's not your soulmate

Then leave

Be single or wait, patiently, until you find the one. The women posting these videos constantly make me so sad bc I know they're not leaving these useless ass men! That pregnant woman is just like :( when her bf is looking at other women, but she's like 'oh well! At least I'm the one that has him! ;)'

[twirlybumblevee]

I stole this from @bottleofchaos

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

71 right now! (man I've been here for a long time, haven't I...)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,077,321

3. What fandoms do you write for?

currently it's Dteam (adjacent) and Tolkien's Silmarillion, in the past most notably Marvel (plus various others)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Oh boy. First, and by a mile, we have Sign Dirty to me and its sequel As loud as our hearts (MCU, Steve/Bucky modern AU where Steve is deaf and they meet under... embarrassing circumstances), then the next with not even half as many kudos is No other version of me I'd rather be tonight (Larry famous/non-famous AU), then a fic called First Sons and Superheros (Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four meets troubled gay president's son TJ from Political Animals), and then Cross the Line which was just a silly little MCU RPF get together fic but yeah, everything MCU related went HARD back in the day.

Everything and many others found here.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always!! It sometimes takes me a while but I never ever leave comments without a response over - if you see them, I just haven't gotten around to them yet. I think it's only fair - if people take their time to leave comments, I should show just as much appreciation back by responding. (That's why I don't comment on fics where I see lots of comments that have never been responded to because I just think it's rude.)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh man that's got to be the Silmarillion stories. Nightfall ending with murder and the dying of the Light (of the Trees), Shards that goes to incredibly dark places (but all the stories in that series aren't happy).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Ever a surprise / Ever as before where DNF literally life in a fairytale and get a fairytale ending. :D (Taizi and I did our best. <3)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I remember once in an MCU Steve/Bucky fic there was a big discussion going on in the comments about an aspect of therapy in the story, but that was the height of it. It never went into hate territory.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Oh absolutely. XD Not sure I understand the question though, what kind. The sexy kind? Wholesome, sweet, kinky, dark, I've written it all.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have! The crasiest was probably First Sons and Superheroes (mentioned above) that sort of founded a whole new branch of fandom at the time. The premise was good though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

There have been several requests over the years, yes

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Constantly. XD I think 95% of fics on my account have been co-written. I don't know how to finish stuff by myself.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship

Mae/Fin and Tyelpe/Annatar (Silmarillion), but DNF is up there as well for sure :)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

The Holiday. It's a Remus/Sirius fic based on the movie and there's only ONE CHAPTER MISSING and I still get comments on it even years later and they're all so sweet and I always feel so bad about it and I wish I could finish it but I'm so out of the headspace. Maybe one day. Not giving up hope.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding. Picking things apart until everything makes sense. Believable character/relationship progression especially in adversary, I'd like to think.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Motivation and drive, for sure. I was never able to write big stories by myself, I always needed someone to do it with. I WISH I could, how cool would that be. But I just get too distracted too fast by other things.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I can only write in English. German, I guess, I am a native. XD But I haven't done that in forever and the thought of it just makes me cringe.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lord of the Rings

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

That's the meanest question. I have so many favourites, DNF ones as well, so many amazing ones that have never even seen the light of day on AO3 for one reason or another. I think overall I am the most proud of all the Silmarillion stories because they all belong in the same universe and span thousands upon thousands of years and so much worldbuilding and progression.

If you want to do this yourself, please feel tagged!! This was loads of fun. :)

[nightcoremoon]

people who legitimately think that marvel movies are the bottom of the cultural barrel have zero media literacy or knowledge and I can’t take anything that they say seriously

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that they’re the greatest movies ever made of all time but I will say they’re mostly fun so I don’t give a shit if scorsese nolan hitchcock kubrick etc are “better”. like nickelback. they’re not nearly the levels of talent and composition as dream theater, rush, king crimson, opeth, polyphia, deftones, loathe, sleep token, lady gaga, etc but they’re perfectly competent and listenable. you cannot sit there and tell me that the shitty myspacecore groups like brokencyde, blood on the dance floor, the medic droid, shitty drunk mom bands like hinder, saving abel, and buckcherry, shitty white girl pop like taylor swift, meg trainer, and katy perry, and shitty frat boy rap rock groups like crazy town, saliva, and kid rock, are in any way better than nickelback. you cannot tell me that you would rather listen to analcunt than nickelback even if you love analcunt because people who like grindcore know that it sounds like shit and that’s why they like it. and I’m gonna make a statement that’s so controversial in that the mcu movies are some of the best movies on the market these days because of one teeny tiny little detail.

every single american horror movie made in the last 20 years is so much worse than the most unpleasant and boring mcu film.

*except for jordan peele, who is the exception, not the rule.

paul ws anderson has not made a good movie since mortal kombat and the first resident evil AND EVEN THEN those are really cheesy, poorly edited, weirdly paced, and heavily flawed. michael bay’s writing sucks and relies solely on the spectacle of explosions. uwe boll. tommy fucking wiseau. every single shyamalan movie since unbreakable has been absolutely atrocious (aside from joaquin phoenix being the only one saving signs and the village from being NEARLY as fucking terrible as lady in the water, the happening, the last airbender, and so on, but they’re still stilted and awkward). nic cage is in a billion movies these days but we’re all just gonna forget about the late 90s and 2000s where he was in just as many movies and all of them are really really stupid? how about every superhero movie made prior to the mcu. did we forget that xmen 3 was so bad they literally fucking sent wolverine back in time to make it so that it never even happened? AND THEN HAD SANSA STARK MAKE A SILLY LITTLE JOKE ABOUT IT IN THE REBOOT TRILOGY??? but weirdly enough xmen 3 is still better then origins wolverine. oh and also green lantern, daredevil, catwoman, punisher warzone, all the batman movies where the suit has nipples, like you can’t tell me that the only good superhero movies are the worst ones because I HAVE SEEN WORSE BEFORE, sorry you were born after 2005 and you never bothered to engage media that wasn’t spoonfed to you by the algorithm.

but you know what I’d still rather watch The Room because sometimes things are bad in a way that’s still entertaining to see its incompetence, rather than Hulk. which is. fine I guess but I have no strong desire to ever watch that one again. but I still enjoyed watching it when I did. like yeah it’s not the best but it sure as fuck isn’t the worst and I’ll tell you why.

because the actual worst movies ever made of all time? dude. blumhouse’s cesspool. the conjuring is shit. annabelle is shit. sinister is shit. insidious is shit. paranormal activity is shit. the purge is shit. truth or dare is shit. unfriended is shit. oculus is shit. and night swim, that’s gonna be SOOO cringe. you’re fucking delusional at best, fucking ignorant at worst, if you think that this deluge of propaganda is better. you say that the story beats in every marvel movie are exactly the same even though they’re the same story beats that every single movie and novel has had for the past 150 years (well more like 1500 years), where you have the prologue and the inciting incident then act 2 then the midpoint then there’s a despair event horizon then a climax and a denounement at the end capping it off like a cherry on top of the sundae on an assembly line. they all copy the hero’s journey from greek storytelling. they’re all in the same boat so that’s literally the dumbest criticism you can make. you’re sitting there eating instant ramen while talking smack about hot pockets for not being made of healthy ingredients.

it’s hypocritical, and it’s telling that 90% of the people who do nothing but make a hundred posts every day about how bad marvel movies are, don’t actually do anything besides watch marvel movies just to find things to complain about. like, all you’re doing is the exact same thing that marvel fans do but you’re cultivating your own misery whereas the fans enjoy it and milk it for serotonin. it’s like when self identified anti-sjws didn’t realize that they were also SJWs, they were just on the other side of the battle lines. luckily they’re all so braindead and prone to follower mentality that they just say the word woke is bad because everyone else says that word is bad even though they have no solid definition for what the fuck woke even means anymore besides being a buzzword to help us intelligent people distinguish a bigoted asshole. point is you don’t know how to create your own opinions so you just copy whoever is spreading the most vitriol and hate.

it’s just honestly so sad to see but at the same time I envy the illusion. if I lived in a world where I thought that fried chicken was the worst food ever made expressly because everything else available to me was so much more yummy than fried chicken. imagine the privilege. imagine having champagne and caviar for breakfast, foie gras for lunch, and sushi for dinner with tiramisu for dessert, living in paradise because the worst thing in your life is fried chicken. you’ve never had to eat hot dogs. you’ve never had kale crammed down your throat. your mac and cheese doesn’t come in a box. you’re so goddamn lucky that the worst movies you’ve ever seen are still better than most movies period I’ve seen.

so I hope that when you inevitably are approached with the reality of video brinquiedo you aren’t fucking traumatized. because you’re basically the marie antoinette of cinema.

[clintbartonruinedmylife]

Why is yelena so popular for ? ( yeah I get Florence is a popular actress an all) I watched a few movies of her before I I even heard /watched yelena in black widow

but that shouldn't interfear with a character she plays

but when I go into the hawkeye tag

Or

Clint barton ( she's their too)

It's pretty much bombarred with yelena

Yelena gif sets

Yelena x kate

Yelena x Clint

( same goes for the natasha tag) too

I like natasha and most of her other ships too

Natasha x Clint

Including Natasha x bucky

Since endgame people been hating on Clint even more coz they think he's responsible for natasha death I see ( Clint should of died instead of nat )

Nat ( choose too ) because she ( LOVED ) Clint also they needed a to give a soul for the stone

.basically love is needed to have the stone

( also I see Clint should of died coz natasha had a life to lead MORE than Clint just because Clint has a family like) HE LED A LIFE should of been Clint

AGAIN

Natasha choose to nobody made her

Also yelena is ruining future marvel characters for me too ! Including bucky barnes

Now apparently yelena and bucky are gonna happen in thunderbolts like yuk 😳 alll coz fans want winterwidow to happen coz natasha x bucky didnt happen gues what neither natasha x Clint but I wouldn't want a

( rebond character) that's what yelena is a rebond character to fill in natasha place I felt like black widow was only made for natasha to be replaced with yelena

Yelena ruined hawkeye for me I really wanted to love hawkeye

( I'm hard of hearing myself )

and clints always been my favourite original 6 characters of the avengers)

but yelena ruined the show for me and black widow movie

Now thunderbolts too and probably other future mcu characters/movies is gonna be bombarded with yelena in the tags

That’s a good question. I have to admit, I had to look Florence Pugh up when it was announced she was playing Yelena. And I fount out I haven’t seen anything with her before, aside from Malevolent and I had no idea she was there.

There’s this thing... I really, really don’t like Chris Hemsworth. I think he’s absolutely overrated and NOT hot at all! And in all the movies I’ve seen with him, he was effin’ annoying.

So, Chris Hemsworth is playing Thor and we all know in how many Marvel movies he’s in (and he’s still annoying af!!). But I decided for myself, that I won’t let this ONE actor spoil the movies for me because I love them so much (yes, even if he’s in).

Sure, i’m more than happy to watch a Marvel movie without Thor, but if he’s in, so what? I still watch them.

Maybe you should try doing it with Yelena. You hate her? Okay, that’s fine, but don’t let her ruin the movies and TV shows because it’s not worth it. The Hawkeye TV show is so far the best of all of them and I will watch it over and over again.

People like Yelena. People like Thor. People like Florence Pugh. People like Chris Hemsworth. Let them! Tastes are different.. It’s not worth to be angry about things we can’t change.

And about the Clint hate... same thing. People want to hate Clint? So let them. It’s their loss, not ours.

[stokan]

Every 2022 Film Nominated for an Oscar Ranked

40. Tell It Like a Woman - It’s true, this “movie” actual exists. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and they haven’t stopped bleeding since. That this collection of sub-student-film level shorts is an absolute embarrassment for everyone involved is besides the point. What I really want you to know about this “movie” is that the Diane Warren song that is the entire reason for this project to exist plays in one of the shorts, then it plays again over the closing credits, then it plays a SECOND time over the closing credits, but then it ends and the credits are still going. And no new songs starts! So you’re just sitting there in the most uncomfortable interminable silence ever because I guess they couldn’t afford a second song (?) and at Academy screenings it’s considered incredibly rude to leave before the credits are done. But thank god you didn’t because then after the credits there is a MUSIC VIDEO FOR THE SONG! And that music video is longer and looks like it cost more than basically all of the shorts you just watched. And part of the music video is Diane Warren directing the music video you're currently watching?? And as a legitimate smile formed on my face while all of this was unfolding, it’s only then that I truly understood Stockholm Syndrome.

39. Blonde - Feels truly wild that this wasn’t the worst movie I saw this year. It’s hard to say if I hated this more than Andrew Dominick hates Marilyn Monroe, but regardless, I can’t imagine ever having a more unpleasant time at the movies than I did watching this three-hour-long Ana de Armas hostage video. Please don’t watch Blonde.

38. Bardo - More like BardNO. If you’re going to make a movie about you feel like you suck as an artist and are unworthy as a person, what you don't want is the end result to make the audience definitely agree with you. But other than the truly gorgeous cinematography, making Inarritu’s self-loathing an ACTUAL loathing is the only other thing this film successfully achieves. Well, that and single-handedly killing the idea of Netflix giving unlimited money to directors to make their passion projects unimpeded. Never thought I would say this, but after watching Bardo - please studios, give directors more notes.

37. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - “Yeah, but your scientists were so occupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should” - Dr. Ian Malcom, a character who would later appear in Jurassic Park: Dominion.

While watching this movie I kept trying to figure out what on earth the character of RiRi had to do with anything, only to get home and learn that her sole purpose in the movie was to set up a future TV series. At this point buying a ticket for an MCU movie is exactly like Ralphie in A Christmas Story sending off for Annie’s Secret Circle Decoder Ring, only you already know in advance the answer will always just ultimately be “don’t forget to drink your Ovaltine”.

36. EO - I’m sure when they were making this movie they thought “well, if nothing else, at least we’re definitely making the best artsy existential European donkey movie this year.” Nope! 

No human in this movie behaves like an actual human being, every major choice is contrived simply to keep the plot moving forward, and the donkey is the best actor in the cast. Nice try though.

35. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - When adults don't take animation seriously as an art form and write it off as essentially kids entertainment, this is the exact movie they’re thinking of - brightly colored, turbo-charged drivel, with broad characters, broader jokes, and nothing interesting to say. Not to yuck anyone’s yum, as I’m sure if I was 8 years old I would want all things Puss and Boots mainlined directly into my veins, but as a non-8-year-old, this was very much Not For Me. 

(Also, as a 40 year old man, if you’d like to almost certainly get put on some kind of list then I would really recommend going by yourself, in a heavy coat and sweatpants, to a 9:30pm Friday night screening of a Puss in Boots film.)

34. Navalny - Important story, one truly great scene, and a film that I know a lot of people seem to like, but as a piece of movie making, for me, well...are the kids still saying “mid”? If so, I’m gonna say the thing that I’m sure ALL the kids are saying - a sentence that you can hear as you walk down the halls of any school in America - "Navalny is mid”.

33. The Sea Beast - Less than a month after having seen it, here’s the grand total of what I remember about this movie: there was a sea beast.

32. The Whale - If you want to know why there are many different art forms used to tell stories a great example is that this script works beautifully as a play, and terribly as a movie. Theater and film are different mediums, and what works on stage often seems overwrought and overwritten on film. And as we learn more and more with each passing year, most movies don’t make good plays either. So just let plays be plays and movies be movies. And let whatever exactly Sadie Sink and Samatha Morton are doing in The Whale never be either ever again.

31. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - A beautiful looking trifle that tastes lovely and sweet but has absolutely no nutritional value because it’s mostly just air. A movie that feels like it should have premiered on British Airways’ in-flight entertainment network, if that can somehow be read as a semi-compliment.

30. Empire of Light - There’s a truly moving and interesting movie in here about the power of film and communal experience. The problem is that there are three other movies in here as well. Still, if you got Colman and you got Deakins, you got something. Just not any more than that though.

28. A House Made of Splinters - This year’s Oscar Doc Mad Libs entry. There’s always at least one nominee where the log line is: verite footage of a woman/group of women operating (an uplifting and important social service) in (country that’s currently in the news for being at war). in this case it’s (orphanage) and (Ukraine). Important story, truly heroic work, and further proof that if you point a camera at kids for long enough you’re always gonna wind up with some profound truths. But I watch a version of this exact movie every single year.

27. Argentina 1985 - Would seem difficult to take something as emotionally compelling as the true-life story of people being disappeared by a South American military dictatorship and make a movie about it that feels as conventional as an extra long Law and Oder episode, but here we are. That’s not to say it isn’t well made, important, and watchable - people love Law and Order! - just that it’s so by the numbers it feels more like a math equation than a film. If you’ve ever seen a movie before, you know where this one is going.

26. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - Everything listed before this movie I would not really recommend, and everything after it, at least on some level, I would. And this is the exact mid-point. A perfectly decent movie that I feel absolutely nothing about. See it, or don’t - I can’t imagine a world where I would possibly care one way or the other. it’s simply the blindfolded lady who holds up the scale.

25. The Quiet Girl - It’s hard to totally put my finger on why this movie feels like one that in a few years I’ll almost certainly forget ever having seen, when at the same time there are very stylistically and tonally similar movies much higher on my list, but if I had to try and sum it up, I’d say it’s this: the girl is too quiet.

24. To Leslie - Honestly, is Andrea Riseborough getting nominated for this movie that much different than Laura Dern getting nominated for Rambling Rose or Jessica Lange WINNING for Blue Sky? I have no idea, I’ve never seen those movies. But an actress getting nominated for a micro-budget film no one saw from a tiny distributor isn’t some sort of new scandal, it used to be an annual tradition. Hell, To Leslie is exactly the sort of pleasant feel-good elevated-middle-brow indie that the Oscars were practically built on in the 90s. Although Mark Maron is the least believable Texan in movie history, and the budget definitely shows, and the style is non-existent, as half of Hollywood has at this point tweeted - it’s a small movie with a big heart. And I didn’t even get paid to say that!

23. Living - Why did we need essentially a shot-for-shot remake of Ikiru only set in England instead of Japan? Seriously, who is this for? It feels almost radically, defiantly, inessential. But the performances, especially Bill Nighy, are pretty great. And hey, Ikiru is a classic for a reason. So, whatever. Ultimately it was worth seeing, but this is last time I will ever write about Living again for the rest of my life.

22. Causeway - “Brian Tyree Henry, Oscar Nominee” has nice ring to it. And Jennifer Lawrence - also good at acting. Out of the little run I’m on here of nice but slight character study dramas, this feels like the best of the bunch. That may not be saying a ton, but it’s something, which also feels like a solid summary of this film.

21. All The Beauty And The Bloodshed - Scalding hot take: Nan Golden seems like a bit of a tough hang. Take that’s not hot at all: the Sackler family are evil pieces of shit. And sure, getting you emotionally riled up about their awfulness is sort of a layup, but by combining it with Nan Golden’s incredible life story, tough hang though she may be, this movie 360 windmill dunks it.

20. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - Not a del Toro person, never going to be a del Toro person, just not my vibe, and truly baffled as to why he spent his time making the millionth adaptation of a story no one was asking to see remade, but damn if the result isn’t impressive. It may not be my thing, and it’s honestly  unclear who it’s audience exactly is supposed to be, but the level of care and craft on display is undeniably worthy of praise. Indifferent towards the player, but respect the hell out of the game.

19. Fire of Love - It’s almost impossible to watch this movie and not think the whole time about how you’re watching two Wes Anderson characters. Which is fitting because the style of this movie is more notable than the substance. But what stye it is. And although I said it’s somewhat lacking in substance, it does get at one very important and universal truth: don’t go chasing volcanoes.

18. Turning Red - As a massive Pixar fanboy it’s been a while since they’ve had a script that rose to the standards of their glory days, but I think this finally does the trick. The movie is visually a little too frantic and busy for my taste, but I’m also not its target audience, so that’s fine. It has something real and original to say to a demographic that I have aged out of and that’s more than valid. Teen and tween audiences need real art too, and not just pandering dreck. So while maybe this movie wasn’t one of my personal favorites of the year, it feels good to be able to roll up my sleeves and show my #TeamPixar tattoo with pride once again.

17. RRR - There’s a warning before this film that no actual animals were harmed because all the animals are CGI, which is hilarious because there’s no way anyone could possibly think anything in this movie was real, including the human beings. It’s definitely the first massive budget blockbuster action spectacular that also feels like they used non-union actors. Which is fitting because it’s as much video game as it is a movie. I absolutely admire the hell out of the craft, the ambition, originality, and fight choreography on display, but bottom line is that a movie where a guy punches a tiger in the face with a fist that’s on fire is just fundamentally never going to be My Thing. The musical numbers, especially Naatu Naatu, are truly electric though, and if you’re a 16-year-old boy bump this ranking up infinity places.

16. The Batman - This is why we can’t have nice things. You make a superhero movie that feels like it was done by an actual human rather than a committee, with great interesting acting choices, a real visual style, and a distinct dark aesthetic that feels like it enhances the specific story being told rather than the demands of some larger universe, and it makes money, but it leaves no cultural footprint. This coming and going without seeming to leave a mark shows that it’s not the Batman movie we deserved, but it was for sure the one I needed, and it deserved better.

15. Elvis - It’s important to preface this by saying that as a theater kid I’m a Baz Lurhman fan. R&J? Seminal movie of my adolescence and a huge reason I still love Shakespeare today. Moulin Rouge? Own it on a worn-out special edition DVD. The Great Gatsby? Underrated! Australia? Sure! So your milage may understandably vary, and I get that. I totally see all the flaws. But damn if Baz making a movie ABOUT music doesn’t just bypass all my critical facilities and go straight to my pleasure center. Is this movie what cocaine is like? Anyway, it’s not GOOD, but also, for me, it’s great. And if Austin Butler winds up winning the Oscar I’m gonna feel pretty proud of walking out of the theater after seeing Elvis back in the summer and calling my shot

14. All Quiet on the Western Front - I do firmly believe the famous Truffaut quote that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie. But this is the exception to that rule. Like West Side Story last year, it pulls off the miraculous task of remaking a movie that didn’t need remaking while yet also justifying its own existence. And while it now feels like we’ve officially reached the end point of war movie verisimilitude, what an exclamation point to cap off the journey. It’s truly insane WWI ever happened, and if only we could go back in time and show them this film, it never would have. It’s that powerful.

13. Avatar: The Way of Water - There’s nothing I’m more out on in movies than when one CGI thing is fighting another CGI thing. Yet when the whole movie is CGI things fighting CGI things? Apparently I’m all the way in.

Look the story is dumb, and the dialogue is stilted, and the mythology this world is trying to build feels pretty cringe, but by god is this movie gorgeous to look at and an absolute technical marvel. And the final third of this movie is some of the best action filmmaking I’ve seen in a very long time. James Cameron, incredible stager of action sequences, who knew? Strap on some 3D glasses, see this on an IMAX screen on a Friday night in a crowded theater, and try not to be entertained, I dare you.

12. All That Breathes - I do this insane project of watching every single Oscar nominee every year because without fail it exposes me to one or two or three movies I fall in love with that I wouldn’t have ever seen otherwise. Well that, and also because there’s something wrong with my brain. But most often these wonderful finds are documentaries, for example: Attica, Time, Minding the Gap, and my beloved Honeyland. Much like Honeyland, my find this year, All That Breathes, is about something simple - in this case its two brothers running a Mumbai bird hospital instead of Honeyland’s Macedonian beekeeper - but like with that film, as it slowly reveals itself, it turns out to really be about Everything All At Once. Family, geopolitics, the climate crisis, religion, interconnectedness - truly all that breathes. Great film, and can’t wait to see what subtly beautiful Senegalese goat herder documentary I fall in love with in 2023.

11. Top Gun: Maverick - The platonic ideal of a summer blockbuster. This is not my kind of movie at all, and yet I even I was won over. Resistance is impossible. Picking nits is pointless. Because sure it’s as by the numbers as they come yet, wow is that counting fun. It almost single handedly justifies the concept of just turning your brain off and having a good escapist time at the movies. But most importantly for me, it just makes me feel good about never wavering in one of my deepest held beliefs: Jennifer Connelly is the most attractive human being who has ever lived. 

10. Women Talking - Here’s to truth in advertising. No one who can read titles can say they didn’t know EXACTLY what they walking into with this film. But what great talking it is. And what great women! Although ::poking his head the slightest bit humanly possible out from behind the world’s largest bush:: the one truly transcendent performance in the film for me was Ben Wishaw. But everyone was great really. And fitting that the only great play adaptation of the year wasn’t a play adaptation at all. It was just a true ensemble working together to tell an important story in urgent and poetic language in a purposely claustrophobic setting. It’s a real shame then that this film seems to be evaporating from the collective consciousness before it ever even made its way in, because it’s actually the one thing we should all be doing more of: watching women talking.

9. TAR - As a card carrying elitist film snob it pains me as much to rank TAR this low as it does for you to see it here. And there was a point, maybe about two hours into the movie, where it seemed like it was ending, and I thought to myself “what a masterpiece!”. But the problem is it didn’t end there. It kept going. And the last part of this film, the part that some people online think is supposed to be a dream or whatever, just absolutely does not work for me. And wow oh wow does it feel like the absolute last scene isn’t just beamed in from a totally different movie but from a totally different planet. It’s the exact opposite of sticking the landing. That being said, Todd Field is an actual genius, the dialogue is in a league of its own, and it’s fitting Cate Blanchett is probably not going to win the Oscar because an Oscar feel almost beneath her performance. But still…that last 20 minutes. So please don’t tar me, but #9 it is.

8. Triangle of Sadness - I think all the time about Connor Oberst performing his anti-Bush song “When the President Talks to God” years ago on The Tonight Show. This dense, well-written song with no chorus and no hooks that got what can best be described as polite applause. And I remember thinking, good song, but what is the point of it? It will reach absolutely no one who doesn’t already hate Bush. You know what will? Green Day writing a song literally called “American Idiot” about how the president is, well, an American idiot, but it has a sing-along chorus that kicks ass. And I think about that when people criticize Triangle of Sadness for being too obvious, because you know what - it absolutely kicks ass. 

On paper, sure, people quoting Lenin and Reagan back at each other while rich people throw up on each other on a luxury cruise is embarrassingly on the nose, but in practice, watching it play out on screen in a movie theater full of people, I was laughing so hard I could barely feel my face, let alone my nose. And all the chatter about how this movie makes obvious points about how rich people are bad feels like it comes from people who wrote the movie off half-way thru, because it totally misses the third act, which is the complicated, thorny, and dark heart of the film. (Justice for Dolly de Leon!)

Look, maybe this wasn’t your cup of tea, but anecdotally, talking to people from all areas of my life, especially people younger than me, this is BY FAR the movie from this year that people bring up to me the most. And they always say how its themes were thought-provoking and important and worth watching. And to me that’s proof of my belief that what may on paper come off as obvious, is in fact the year’s catchiest chorus.

7. Babylon - Is it the best movie of the year? No. Would I personally give it my hypothetical Oscar vote? Definitely not. Should it win best picture? Don’t be absurd. But would I give up all my worldly possessions to a join a new religion where we move out to the woods and chant the name Babylon up to the heavens 12 hours a day? Absolutely! 

Babylon is like if one of Stephon’s clubs was a movie - this film has everything: an alligator attack, a guy eating a live mouse, a Jean Smart monologue about existentialism, Margot Robbie projectile vomiting on someone’s face, footage from the 1982 film Tron. It’s as though someone told Damien Chazelle this was going to be the final movie ever made and he somehow, miraculously, aced the assignment. It’s definitely one of the most movie movies ever to movie. It feels weird to not be typing about this movie strictly in all caps. And if you think this movie is majorly flawed, well, sure, probably, but you’re missing the point. MOVIES!!!!

My head knows I cant rank this any higher than #7, but in my heart? Well, what’s a ranking higher than #1? #-100? In my heart this was the -100th best movie of the year.

6. Close - A stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking movie from what feels like a major new voice in Lukas Dhont. A movie that pulls off the magic trick of somehow making you feel deeply sympathetic towards those trapped in the prison of masculinity, rather than angry about the toxicity of it. And speaking of magical - in the year of great child actor performances the two in this movie are the best of them all. Just an absolute gem of a movie. Go see Close.

5. Aftersun - If TAR botched its ending, then Aftersun is the gymnastics judges crossing out their 10s and writing in 11s of sticking your landing. Because, spoiler alert, but the final scene of this movie is maybe the best use of a pre-existing popular song in film history. That sounds like hyperbole, but I was literally shaking with emotion during “Under Pressure”. It’s my new go-to need-a-good-cry YouTube clip. And a quiet film about a childhood experience where nothing much happens and it’s all subtext until finally one incredible scene of intense emotion is so totally my shit that it feels like I excreted it from my own colon. Was it maybe a little TOO quiet in parts? Perhaps. And the framing device didn’t TOTALLY work. But still, Charlotte Wells being able to compete with this film in the best the First Feature category at awards shows feels unfair. It’s so confident and expertly crafted that I feel like she’s a future My Favorite Director just waiting to happen.

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once - Sure you can make the argument it’s a hat on an infinite number of hats, but HOLY SHIT LOOK AT ALL THOSE FUCKING HATS!!!! The inventiveness, originality, and utter chaos on display in a movie that’s about to win Best Picture is truly mind-blowing. It’s like a Jackson Pollock of ideas. When they say they don’t make em like that anymore, this is the exact opposite of what they’re talking about.

3. The Banshees of Inisherin - Barry Keoghan might be my favorite actor working today, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are the new dysfunctional Hepburn and Tracy, and Kerry Condon should win all the Oscars. But for me this movie is all about the script. That fecking script. Laugh out loud funny, endlessly quotable, and utterly heartbreaking. I mean, Martin McDonagh - good at writing things, who knew? Plays shouldn’t be movies, but maybe more movies should be by writers of plays.

2. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On - I want to have a genetic mutation causing me to have more thumbs just so I can give this more than two thumbs up. This movie is a miracle. How did a super twee one-joke YouTube short become the most moving and heartfelt mediation on family and connection and existentialism I’ve seen in a long time? It still doesn’t seem possible and yet I’ve seen it with my own tear-stained eyes. I can’t compare it to any movie I’ve ever seen before and I can’t imagine anything quite like it will ever come along again. And most miraculous of all, if it moves even a slight inch in any other direction it becomes cloying, or sappy, or obvious, or any multitude of other sins, yet it’s in such total control of its tone it’s like watching Lydia Tar conduct a tone orchestra. And finally, if the scene where Marcel finally finds his family didn’t totally turn you into a sobbing mess than you yourself might be a shell, or at least have one for a heart. I cried, I laughed uproariously, and I fell in love with an animated shell with shoes on - what more could you possibly want out of a film?

1. The Fabelmans - Is this the movie that I feel most passionate about from 2022? No. Read what I had to say about most of the past 10 entries for proof. I’m honestly surprised to see this here, and I’m the one making the list. But here’s the thing: my favorite film of 2017 was Lady Bird. Of 2018 was Eighth Grade. Of 2019 was Little Women. I’m nothing if not consistent in my total love of and weakness for a coming of age story. We all have our things. And one this well shot, and scored, and written, and acted, and DIRECTED - I dunno what to tell you. This was the movie that best combined quality of filmmaking with emotional connection for me personally. It had the most scenes I loved, the most performances I enjoyed, the most shots I marveled at. It seems like it wasn’t for everyone, and as the years pass I have a feeling this ranking might change, but for right now, thinking back on the year in film, I have a hot take to end things on: Steven Spielberg knows how to fucking make a great movie.

SHORTS

My Year of Dicks (animated)

Ice Merchants (animated)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (animated)

Haulout (doc)

An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake And I Think I Believe It (animated)

The Elephant Whisperers (doc)

How Do You Measure A Year? (doc)

The Red Suitcase (live action)

The Flying Sailor (animated)

Le Pupille (live action)

An Irish Goodbye (live action)

The Martha Mitchell Effect (doc)

Ivalu (live action)

Stranger at the Gate (doc)

Night Ride (live action)

[alpaca-clouds]

Musing about Dreamworks

I have recently rewatched a lot of old Dreamworks stuff and I realized something: The way a lot of Dreamworks stuff breaks with the hero'e's journey is actually a really good thing.

If you watch Dreamworks movies and compare it with Disney or even Pixar, there is the quite obvious difference that for the most part Dreamworks heroes and heroines are underdogs, while Disney heroes most of the times are not. It is also the reason I think that a lot of queer folks found themselves in a lot of the Dreamworks stuff early on. I for sure can say I did. It is super easy to read a queer subtext into quite a few Dreamworks movies.

Compared to Disney there is also the fact that Dreamworks seemingly never felt the need to use their protagonist's marginalizations, when there, as a way to advertise. It was simply something that was there...

But there is this other big thing.

Disney movies for the most part very clearly follow the Hero's Journey, but in a way that they are so very married to the Status Quo. You know, often in the Hero's the Hero returns home - which Disney usually takes as "the hero returns to the Status Quo". The hero changes, but the world around them doesn't. Because Disney usually says: "The world as it is, is alright."

I could probably go into the depth of the MCU here, but to stay with animation, let's talk about Disney's one real underdog story: Aladdin. The central conflict arises in the first place because Aladdin is of a much lower status and hence cannot court Jasmin. This is basically what leads to the inciting incident and everything. So, the solution in the end is? Well, Aladdin gets a free pass. But in general there is nothing much changed about the class structure of the world.

Meanwhile almost all Dreamworks movies involve the world around the heroes changing. In Shrek the world has to learn to accept ogers. In Kung Fu Panda more than anything it is Shifu who needs to learn the lesson. In Megamind the way that the populus of Metro City treated Megamind was the issue. And most notably probably How to Train Your Dragon, where the vikings needed to learn to work with the dragons.

One can almost make the argument that Dreamworks movies in general reject the status quo. In fact, heroes that want to re-establish the status quo will need to learn that it actually was not a good thing. Be it the animals in Madagascar returning to the zoo and finding it was not at all what they remembered, or be it Puss in The Last Wish learning that his status quo (him having the many lives) was not good for him.

I can very much say that starting in my teens, when I became more interested in animation, I always liked Dreamworks Animation better than the other animation studios in the west. And yes, I quite early learned about the queer readings of Shrek for example. And I was able to well realize that Dreamworks was better in a lot of their messages than Disney was (and clearer).

But I actually never pinned down, why Dreamworks felt so much more progressive until I started to think about this recently. That Dreamworks actually allows for the world around the heroes to change and in some cases address systematic oppression.

And don't get me wrong. Like from a production side and behind the scenes, there is still a lot wrong with Dreamworks as well. They absolutely tried their best together with Disney to keep down the pay for animators and stuff. There was definitely also some cases of discrimination and bad conduct. But just from the side of what the movies themselves say? Yeah, no, I see myself a lot more in the Dreamworks stuff than anything Disney ever made.

[ordinaryschmuck]

The writing really is that bad and I promise if you watch some better movies you'll understand

How did I already know this is about the MCU...?

Alright, look...I'm probably the one MCU apologist you'll find on this Hellsite (affectionate), and I want to make something clear: The MCU isn't awful.

Are they cinematic masterpieces that will be remembered forever? No.

Are they still fun movies that kept me sane in the dark times of my life? Absolutely.

Sure, Phase Four has been an undercooked bag of quality that Disney pushed out to make all the money quicker, but the good movies?

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame?

Guardians of the Galaxy?

Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

All the Spider-Man movies?

Iron Man? A movie I literally made an essay for my Mythology class and ACED it? All because I was passionate about this character and his hero's journey?

I'm sorry, but those movies are good. I can't stop you or anyone else from hating them, and I don't want to. You're allowed to hate something. EVERYONE is allowed to hate something for their own reason.

For example: I don't care for Star Wars. I spent two years watching every movie and show and I do not care for it. I like Clone Wars and Mandolorian, and considered Solo an underrated gem. Everything else? I could care less about it.

Yes, even the original trilogy.

But I don't mind people loving Star Wars. Because why the hell would I? It's a franchise that means a lot to people and they share their passion for it with friends, family, and maybe even their children. They're allowed to love it, even if I don't.

When I see a Star Wars post on my dashboard, I don't get mad. I don't go to that person's inbox and tell them to watch better movies. Because, yeah, there are better movies, but I don't need to tell them that. They already know it. They just love Star Wars because it means a lot to them.

And that's why Marvel and the MCU means a lot to me. It's my Star Wars.

It's a franchise that I adore despite its problems. A franchise I'll try to share with friends, family, and maybe even children one day if I'm lucky to have them.

I won't blame people for not liking them, but I do adore them.

And I'll defend them to my best ability if I can.

If you don't like it, that's fine. But don't tell me not to.

[puppetmaster55]

I posted 16,981 times in 2022

1,166 posts created (7%)

15,815 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sapphireswimming

@sockdooe

@yarrayora

@gentrychild

I tagged 13,661 of my posts in 2022

Only 20% of my posts had no tags

#voltron - 2,024 posts

#danny phantom - 1,421 posts

#bnha - 1,363 posts

#shance - 1,362 posts

#the owl house spoilers - 514 posts

#puppet liveblogs - 503 posts

#servamp - 493 posts

#bnha manga spoilers - 356 posts

#jujutsu kaisen - 278 posts

#puppet answers asks - 258 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#about irl stuff. it's just. yeah this is me getting annoyed bc i'm the one awake at 1am feeding them and getting them to sleep for the night

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Shiro: why are there rumours that we’re both in a romantic relationship? Lance: *laying in Shiro’s lap letting him play with his hair* Lance: i have no idea.

Shiro would be more suspicious but he likes playing with Lance's hair too much to self-examine

69 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

#4

Why would AFO's bird be a vulture? Obviously he's a goose.

I enjoy the comedy of visually his bird looks like a Chuck Jones vulture, but also the chaos of him being a goose is...

I'm gonna have to field this one to @gentrychild

86 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

#3

Lance fell first but Shiro fell harder

Lance: *fell first, but in a gentle way that allows him to not come off as a simp*

Shiro: *fell slower, but is a simp*

89 notes - Posted June 10, 2022

#2

Love that toh never tries to explain whatever the fuck is going on with Hooty, like everything we get to know just raises more questions. Eda just created him. He can swallow people whole and regurgitate them, he can skin himself and puts his skin like clothes to dry, he can get out of the house and the whole thing is horrifying and leaves behind still beating organs, he has several shark like teeth through out his throat. Is any of this explained? No n i love it, i hope he keeps getting worse❤

absolutely nothing about Hooty is explained and nothing about him should be explained

247 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Trying to figure out how to really explain it but god it’s so pathetic that it’s almost hilarious how hard the mcu is trying to make holland spidey into actual spidey when like. green goblin is just some homeless dude

they brought willem dafoe’s green goblin, his rich ceo of a huge science corporation, into the mcu and had him actually state that his company and the Osborne name just did not exist in the mcu. literally, he went looking for his company and found nothing, he went looking for his son and found nothing (he would’ve joined forces with his mcu counterpart if they existed but they canonically just Do Not Exist At All)

and this is meant to be The Big Villain of the movie! Peter Parker’s most famous foe and the mcu just could not make him into a rich ceo and like. Norman Osborne is Just Some Dude in the mcu. the one single villain that literally could not be reworked into “seems like they should be the villain of an iron man movie but go off I guess” and he’s Just Some Random Dude to Holland’s spidey and not the father of his very best friend or the ceo behind the company whose radioactive spider gave him spider powers

like, I know that Willem Dafoe is gonna knock his performance out the park when I finally watch the movie but goddamn this is so fucking pathetic that the mcu, that Mouse Corp, is so against having a villain be a rich dude that they obliterated one of marvel’s most iconic villains

and they want to take on Dr Victor Von Doom, who I’m gonna call will end up being some angry intern with vague beef that he got overlooked by Dr Reed Richards and make some weird iron man-like suit to make him on equal standing instead of the monarch of a country

718 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

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