#even if I know a basic gist of the plot it’s still like meh

[no1ryomafan]

I’m in this phrase where I’m over being upset at imagawa for the 3rd G Gundam side story even if it will always be the stupidest fucking thing ever but also not motivated enough to watch the stuff of his I haven’t seen or finished being shin mazinger and shin tetsujin yet I find it funny how so far of all his stuff I have seen his eps of arma the ones I have the least problems of his work with despite arma might as well be barely considered one of his mechas since he left production so early.

G Gundam is his best work no doubt about it yet the flaws of it bothered me a lot, everything has flaws but the way certain plot points were executed/handled while didn’t enrage me since G is at least cohesive, still left me a bit disappointed. Giant Robo I wanna eventually rewatch cause I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it, the themes were compelling but the characters were not as developed in the story as they could be, especially with how many he introduced and the runtime didn’t help it. I will also just never understand why he had 5 sequels planned but made the 6th one like ??? Then shin mazinger I saw bits of and I didn’t like how the beginning was structured but I’ll spare the rant cause I’m not deep in enough to fully critic. (Tetsujin the one I haven’t seen shit of)

But then we have arma where pretty much the way the first 3 eps are structured is in the long run while the rest of the show has problems not to mention is a confusing as fuck opening cause at least giant robo easy to understand at first just loses it a bit after, yet I weirdly don’t feel spite towards the beginning of arma at all. On a rewatch despite they’re being so much shit never brought up again it’s still engaging to watch, and I also genuinely think Imagawa had a really good grasp of Ryoma because of how he’s characterized early arma is some of my favorite bits of him. (Even if we all find him fighting a army of dragons to be the most badass thing ever, the way he’s portrayed as ruthlessly angry is so fucking good)

I feel like I’m incredibly biased person even if I try to be critical but idk, this is one of those things where I wouldn’t be mad if someone called arma imagawas worst work yet it still manages to be the one that bothers me the least when you look at his individual eps and I’m someone who doesn’t mind the fact he never finished it cause I know it also come with just as many flaws that arma ended up having.

[fedonciadale]

I am unbelievably glad that my girl Arya killed the NK. I think GRRM said something to that extent... that Arya will be the one to save the world. But I’m also disappointed that I had to see it on screen first before reading it in ASOIAF. This episode was intense and good enough until I reached the end, then my reaction was ‘what that’s it? Meh I didn’t have to wake up at 4 am for this’ and I don’t have the urge to watch the episode again as I usually do. This episode confirmed to me that after

(2) Opportunity to adapt a remarkable book series. Harry Potter and LOTR were adapted MUCH better without missing any major plot twists and secrets ect. Let’s be honest This episode was written by D&D and they mucked it up bad, they are not up to par even with Peter Jackson. All the subtext, lack of Jon POV and lack of any Stark interactions (the family everyone has been waiting to reunite) is a fail cause I don’t think the remaining three episodes will be able to make up for it. I don’t have any

(3) Expectations for the remaining episodes, I’m basically just watching to make sure all the plots are ticked off in the end, Dark Dany, Pol Jon and maybe Jonsa. On a side note I think part of the reason why it was so lacking was the actual death of the NK. Even the witch kings death lasted longer on screen than the NK, and let’s not forget Voldemort. The NK was a human turned into a ice creature thousands of years ago, he served a better, more interesting send off. Instead he shattered on the

(4) spot like 2nd hand glass you’re not really that bothered about breaking.

Dear nonny,

I bunch this together with two other asks about the same thing:

(1) I’m really annoyed with the whole NK plot and how Jon is being treated.. D&D rushed along the whole episode and its full of unanswered questions and why did they make Jon out to be a joke? What about the prophocy? The Bran 3ER plot? It makes no sense? I thought we’d get some closure but it all seems like a bad writing. I knew they were going to end it by ep 3 but it wasn’t very clear. What are your thoughts on the episode? D&D didn’t originally have Arya kill the NK. They changed it to her.

(2) Ok, I don't think A is tptwp, J is, and this bc this prophecy is confused with AA. They are two different prophecies, but Mel confuses them, books and show. Tptwp is the one who unites the people against the threat, and that is J all over. A killing the NK is a repetition of LotR. AA is probably a weapon, meaning dragons. No nissanissa? Im disappointed. What's this spoiler in FF? I can't find it, lol. Thanks, F! 

So, I would like to answer all of these together, because the gist of it seems to me to be

a) Why Arya?

b) What about the prophecy?

c) What about Jon?

d) What about Bran?

e) General complaints about the execution of the whole sequence

More under the cut

First of all, to get this of my chest: There is no Night King in the books, at least not yet. Opinions differ on who is the big antagonist of the ice magic side. Melissandre (who as a fire priestess is somewhat unreliable) seems to think that there is a big great Other, a transcendent malevolent being. This seems to fit together with what Bran sees in the first book beyond the “curtain of light”. It might be though that we will never see that big malevolent being beyond the curtain, that we will just see what seems to be his agents on Planetos: The White Walkers, who have no leader for now (but might get one). I think that in the books it is possible, that there won’t be a Night King as a face of the ice threat but rather that the door through which ice magig reaches Planetos has to be closed. It might be, that the very sinister Bloodraven will be the face of ice magic in the books. I do think that there are still several possibilities in the books.

a) So, we don’t really know, if there will be someone who can be assassinated by Arya in the books.Therefore the foreshadowing for this is a show thing, and now, in hindsight, you can see it. Apparently D&D decided in season 3, that Arya would be the one to get the kill, and they prepared for that: She learned quickness, stealth, being no one, fighting while wounded etc. And to have a trained assassin killing a dangerous enemy makes sense. It was one of the few things I liked about the last episode to be honest. We were all looking in the wrong direction, we discussed if Arya would kill Cersei or someone else important (as her assassin training must lead somewhere), but she was never a serious candidate for the NK, because even the people who insisted that the prophecies about TPTWP and the myth of Azor Ahai were misleading (like I did), counted on Bran as the person with the magic learning story beyond the wall to be crucial in the fight against the WW (and in that we were right!). I freely admit that I, although I thought Bran would be crucial, absolutely counted on Jon - even though I think that TPTWP is a misleading prophecy. I am not cross about that. I just love it, that it was a Stark girl, Arya whom I have loved from book 1 onwards, and it was a good plot twist - even though the execution was lacking, but to that later.

b) So, the prophecy about TPTWP that made Rhaegar leave his wife and abduct a 14 year old girl was wrong after all - or at least it did not lead us to the hero who gets rid of the WW threat. I must admit that I love that. GRRM really messes with prophecies, and he openly tells his readers that prophecies can’t be trusted. We see Rhagar throwing a kingdom into chaos to ensure the fulfillment of prophecy, we see Cersei in paranoia trying to fight a prophecy and on the way only ensuring that it will be fullfilled, we see Dany getting paranoid about the treasons and misidentifying them (by the time she meets Jon in the books she will think the treasons are beyond her). Three reactions to prophecies, which show that trying to come up with a way to handle them is wrong. Rhaegar tries to enforce them, Cersei fights them, and Dany accepts them, but is mistaken about the interpretation. The best thing you can do in Planetos it so try to ignore prophecy, the sword which has no handle. So, the solution is not that Arya was The Princess who was promised or Azor Ahai or whatever, the solution is that there is no such person. Arya does not fulfill the prophecy, she subverts it. I really, really like that.

c) Or does she? I think you could argue that the task of TPTWP was never to kill the NK or to defeat the WW, but to set the conditions. Jon did a Mance on a much larger scale: Uniting people from all over the world to fight against an enemy to humanity. That is no small achievement, and I think that this unifying charisma/negotiation is his real skill (it is much more obvious in the books). So, Arya killing the NK was her own very heroic deed, but it was also prepared by others: By Jon who brough armies, by Sansa who fed them, by Bran who baited the NK to come to the place where he could be killed, by all the people who kept Arya alive. This might even include Jon himself. It has been argued that Jon distracted Wightserion and that he realised that Arya was sneaking to the Weirwood. This could be, but I would have to watch the episode again and I am not going to do that.... The prophecy about TPTWP might also be a parallel to LotR, where we have a prophecy about Aragorn becoming king, but it is not Aragorn who destroys Sauron. I’m a sucker for Tolkien parallels and therefore I like it that the hidden heir is not the same as the heroine that slays the creepy and mighty villain. Like Eowyn and Merry, Arya and Bran work together to kill the bad King. Eowyn and Arya are women and Merry is a small inconsequential hobbit and Bran a disabled person. So, never underestimate the seemingly weak persons. Still it is Jon/Aragorn who will get the throne.

d) So, Bran was rather crucial to the outcome. It is doubtful if any other bait had been good enough to lure the NK. It is interesting, that Bran with his 3eyed raven power seems to have set things up. He gave Theon words of encouragement (that scene really got me), although you can see how difficult it is for Bran to do emotions now, so that the NK would be distracted just one moment longer, he stared him in the eye, helpless, but unbent. I think that is quite an achievement and I think Isaac was really good in this episode. So, I don’t really have much beef with the persons involved. It was the Starks who did this and I’m very proud of my Starklings.

e) but the execution. I can only agree with everything that has been said. Secretiveness and suspense are not equal. I think it would have worked just as well, if Mel had said, that she was wrong about her interpretation of prophecies and that she finally understood what her vision about Arya closing eyes means. It could have been more explicit tbh, but I got it, the moment Mel told Arya that Arya would try to go in for the kill. Did they seriously think we would forget that? Did they make the whole sequence in the library to make us forget that Arya is an 1a expert in sneaking? Did they think the rest of the battle was so full of suspense that we would not wonder about Arya?

I think, if we had seen Arya sneaking to the godswood, dodging wights left and right, quietly making her way past the WW who might spot her any moment, climbing up the tree, etc. it could have been a really, really good sequence full of suspense. If you would have intercut with Dany trying to roast the NK and Jon trying to reach the weirwood as well, that could have been a very good action sequence. Let’s be honest, although they made every effort to show us how dire the situation was - with the mains miraculously surviving - we knew that the WW would be defeated. Still taking Jon, Dany and Arya simultaneously to the Weirwood intercut with Theon defending Bran would have left us in suspense as to how the NK would die. I think it would even have been better, if Bran had said in episode 2, that the weirwood was the only place where the NK can be killed. You could even argue that he was made at this exact place before Winterfell was built (and that might even be the reason Winterfell was built). This is probably how Peter Jackson would have done it....

And it would have had me on the edge of my seat: I would have wondered. OMG, will Arya make it, o no, there is another wight, o the dragonfire does not work, Theon dead, no, no, omg, Jon does not arrive in time, o Arya, if somebody sees you, o the NK is close, he is so close, o no, Arya where are you? Hurry on, Arya, hurry on!

I am disappointed, that I did not get that.

So, these are my thoughts on it. Thanks for all the asks!

[canaryatlaw]

okay, late, but today was really all around good. I woke up shortly after ten and got ready because my brother and I were meeting my cousin and her baby (my constructive nephew) at this tea place. so I got ready and we headed over, it was cold AF today so that’s always fun, but we made it there and it’s this cute little place, we’d never been there before but it was similar to the one closer to us that we go to. so my brother, being the extravagant person he is, wanted the full high tea experience, so we did that and it was all very nice. My nephew was sleeping at first, but then he woke up and he was just all smiles, just the cutest little baby and ahhh I love him so much. so we had a good lunch there, and then went back to my house for a bit and we all held the baby for a bit and took pictures and all that, I was finally able to give them the little outfit I bought for him in like, October, which has little penguins on it and says “mommy’s cool dude” because I mean, that’s just too adorable to pass up. eventually they had to go, and it was around 2:30 at this point, and I didn’t have plans until 5:30, so I basically killed some time and just relaxed (I could’ve gotten on the treadmill but meh I wasn’t feeling it). I finally finished Batman the animated series, which I think I’ll miss watching, lol. I was going to start the punisher next, but a comic book internet friend was basically like DON’T DO IT so I’ll put it off for now lol and instead watched the first episode of the fourth season of Mad Men, which I’d wanted to start for a while because Caity was in it, but she’s only in like 6 episodes and she doesn’t show up until the fourth season, so it’s not really worth watching all of seasons 1-3 for 6 episodes. I didn’t understand most of it, which is to be expected, but I got the general gist of things, and I think it’ll be enough to understand the context by the time her character shows up in 4x03. Not too long after that my friend picked me up (I know I gave him a nickname on these posts at some point but I don’t quite remember it, I think maybe childhood theatre friend? let’s go with that) and we went to the kosher deli for dinner. I was debating if I wanted to get matzoh ball soup (because when you’re at a kosher deli you get matzoh ball soup) being that I’d had it at the diner just yesterday, but decided I wanted it anyway, so I got that with a side of a potato pancake, because of course. so that was highly enjoyable, I love that place. then we went over to the movie theatre to go see The Greatest Showman. I don’t know if you’re aware but there’s two composers, Pasek and Paul, who have been behind a lot of the biggest hits in different music platforms lately, they were responsible for the music in La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen, and they wrote “Running Home to You” from the Flash/Supergirl musical crossover (and that song just makes my heart melt), but this was their latest project, so we knew it was gonna be good, and oh, it was so good. I’m not all that crazy about Hugh Jackman’s singing voice, it’s alright, I just don't think it’s necessarily leading man material, but I think he did a great job with the part and totally sold it, so I have no criticism for him there. but oh, it was so good. they start with him and his eventual wife as children and build up through their relationship until they have two little girls who are just the cutest things ever, and he eventually starts what is at first a “museum” that turns into a circus. Zac Efron plays this young aristocrat guy who ends up going into the business with him and kind of becoming his apprentice. Zac Efron has a fine singing voice, it’s nice, but I can’t look at him without thinking about how they let him lip sync in the first high school musical and only got the job for his pretty face, which feels unfair to all the incredible actors out there that could've really rocked the part, but all that aside, he did a really good job. IMO, the highlight of the movie was when the “freaks” of the circus have a bust out number called “This is Me” (a lyric from which I’ve already changed my blog title to) where they are just unapologetic and unashamed of who they are, lead by the “bearded lady” character who was just incredibly fierce and passionate, she was played so so well, and oh, it’s just so, so good. That was one song that I thought sounded a LOT like Dear Evan Hansen, but it was a great song in its own right, so that didn’t bother me at all, I loved it. Then there starts a plot where Barnum kind of takes a fascination with this European opera star and brings her to the US and starts touring with her, and the whole time he's looking at her wistfully and I just wanted be like “no! bad boy! don’t cheat on your wife!!” and in all fairness he didn’t really end up cheating on her (the opera star kind of grabbed him and forced a kiss on him, which of course got printed in the papers and was a huge scandal thing, but he didn’t really do it). Another interesting plot was the one between Zac Efron and Zendaya’s characters. my feeling about casting a male love interest that is 9 years older than the female aside, I am always somewhat hesitant when a big production like that does a story about something like an interracial relationship in a time period where that was definitely considered taboo (some would argue it’s still quite taboo now, though I bet those answers would differ drastically based on location), but I was pleasantly surprised by their plot, and I thought they actually did a really good job with it. of course I’m not an expert on the matter and may have missed things, but from what I could tell I think they did really well in not shying away from the societal forces pushing against them getting together and just how much it takes for them to be together. The climax of the movie is really when there’s a fight and their circus building gets set on fire, and everyone made it out, but they can’t find Zendaya’s character, and Zac Efron’s character rushes back into this fully engulfed in flames building to find her, only for her to come running out from a different direction a few seconds later, but of course Zac Efron’s character doesn’t know that, and there’s a moments hesitation, but then Barnum runs into the burning building after him, even with his two daughters screaming for him to come back. and shortly after he goes in a large part of the building collapses, and as much as we’re conditioned to know that in stories everything will be alright in the end and things will be okay, but there was definitely a solid few seconds there where you’re really thinking “holy shit, did they really just kill two male main characters? and they drag it out for a little bit longer before Barnum walks out with an injured but alive Zac Efron in his arms, and it was just such a powerful moment, and of course I’m crying at this point because why would I not be? And at that point they’re basically bankrupt and don’t know how to move forward without a building, and then they get the idea of a tent, and well, you know how it goes from there. but they show Zac Efron’s character in the hospital unconscious with Zendaya’s character waiting at his side and holding his hand, and he eventually wakes up, and she just kisses him unabashedly and unashamed of who was watching and yo, it was so fucking satisfying. so it ultimately ends with Barnum basically handing the reins over to Zac Efron’s character to lead the circus while he decides to focus on being there for his daughters, which was an incredibly sweet and well done ending. so yeah, lots of feelings there, and of course the music was great, I already bought the soundtrack and you should give it a listen if you get a chance. But, movie over, we decided to go to Friendly’s across the street for some ice cream despite it being frigid outside, then back to my house, things were fairly calm, I watched an episode of arrested development and then a comedy special of some sort on netflix with some family members before they haded to bed, and I got ready for bed but then got called downstairs by my brother who was trying out the weird foot peel mask things I got him for christmas, which will certainly prove to be interesting, lol. but yeah, from there I just continued in my routine and here we are. it’s almost 2 am though and I do have to wake up relatively early (at least compared to how late I’ve been sleeping in lately) so I will take my leave now. Goodnight my dears. Stay warm.

[rem-is-best-almond]

[Review] Dance with Devils PS Vita

Ritsuka Tachibana is a second year at Shikou Academy who lives with her mother and older brother in Shikou Town. She seemingly lives an ordinary life until the day she was summoned by her school’s mysterious student council for going against school rules and comes back home to find her mother kidnapped by strange men who are searching for the forbidden grimoire. Help comes in the form of the school’s student council, who all turn out to be devils who are searching for the Grimoire themselves. Following her brother’s return from England, Ritsuka soon discovers that she’s the forbidden grimoire that could grant anyone the power to take over the world and now Devils, Vampires and Exorcists are after her.

Honestly, I bought this a year ago and was only able to Complete it now WTF me.

P/S: This Post only contains my final thoughts on the game. The summaries and reviews for the individual routes are in the links provided. It also contains some spoilers and Screenshots from the game. 

Left Door routes:     Rem   Lindo  Roen

Right Door Routes:  Mage  Urie   Shiki 

Final thoughts :

This game has a grudge against blondes with Green eyes (You know which two I’m talking about).

Heroine: I really loved Ritsuka. It’s true that she doesn’t entirely break away from the “Sweet Girl” stereotype we see in most reverse harem heroines but this girl legit has guts of steel which is why I have to admit I was pretty disappointed in some of the endings where they gave her an inactive role.  She also doesn’t let the boys push her around with their bullshit so it was really great to see that. She definitely had the best development in Roen’s route as her backstory was more fleshed out in there. Would really love to see a family reunion with Maksis, Maria, Roen and her if there’s going to be a fandisc ;w;

Plot: As much as I loved the series, I have to admit that the plot needed improvement as it wasn’t as consistent as I had hoped for. Granted that the story is rather character specific so that’s probably why some things don’t really add up well with the other. I was hoping to see more worldbuilding in the game since I felt like the anime needed more of that but sadly, it didn’t really do much on that aspect either. I wished they hadn’t split the common routes into two cause that was probably the cause of the inconsistencies I find in the plot :/ Overall, I think the plot was decent but had potential to be great if they had only put the effort into keeping the rules of their universe consistent and expanding upon it in more detail.

Characters: The villains weren’t the most unique in particular but still decent enough to be antagonists of the story. The development for all the bachelors was a 50/50 for me as I felt like half of the cast had a great development while the other half the writer sort of flunked it in their route *stares at Rem, Lindo and Urie’s route*. I don’t know if Shiki’s route was a flunk or a good one cause to me his human route made up for his shitty devil route (at least for those who hate gore) lolololol.  Also, Azuna deserves a route of her own and I kinda wished she was also an option for a heroine TBH.  

Art and Sprites: Since Brain’s Base was in charge of the CGs, the art is pretty much the same as the anime. Some characters had better CGs overall while some had more average ones. I’m still really salty about Rem’s wedding CG given how they didn’t even bother to let him wear a tux so I was pretty meh with the wedding end :/  The fact that background characters had sprites while two of our main sub characters, Maksis and Glax didn’t kinda bugged me a lot as it made some of the fight scenes, particularly in Mage and Rem’s devil route, rather anti-climatic. I wished the producers had thought of making the game a little more unique with a little bit of animation given how they hired an animation studio to draw the art for the game but they probably did that because they had a tight budget and couldn’t afford a proper illustrator. And from some of the CGs, you could probably figure out that they didn’t have enough time to finish them much less animate some of the action scenes. Though CGs and Sprites aside, the background art for the scenarios are aesthetically pleasing and that’s enough for me lolol.  

Just look at them askjbkauhkll:

System/ Game Play: I have mixed feelings with the Devil vs Human system tbh, though I’m well aware they exist as a treat for your ears as it’s dummy head mic ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Some of the scenarios translated well into a current situation while others came out of nowhere so lolol. The Jump option helped me a lot and I don’t know how I’m going get use to not having such an option in games like Amnesia on my PC ;w; ( Does TaiAli / C:R have one? I’m not sure) . The card system is a piece of shit but I’m not really eager for platinum so eh.

Music / OST : As expected of Element Garden,  the background music was something that I enjoyed in the game , especially that one track that was often played in the devil ends,if only I could record it :”) . The music was definitely one of the stronger points of the game.

Overall, I’m really glad I got to play DwD in it’s original language as doing so has helped me improved My Japanese immensely considering how I was so eager to translate some of my favourite scenes XDD  If any of you would like to play an Otoge but are worried that you won’t be able to understand it because it’s in Japanese, I say just do it. Read Reviews to get a gist of it if you have to . I bought DwD BEFORE I even knew how to read Katakana and Hiragana (The two basic scriptures of Japanese)  and because of that, it also became sort of like My Japanese Textbook XD  So if you hate boring textbooks, this is more of an entertaining way to get exposed to the language. Granted, I have a headstart when it comes to learning Japanese because of my proficiency in Chinese (it’s my second language) but I promise you that once you’ve mastered your Hiragana and Katakana , learning Kanji would be a lot easier . Also, DO NOT ever think that you could Learn every Kanji character to ever exist in the Japanese dictionary, Kanji is something you’ll pick up as you learn the language and there is NO limit to how many Kanji you’ll have to learn because it’s an endless list. Try learning the more basic ones first before moving on to something more advanced. Ok , this ended up being a Japanese 101 LOLOL

Back on track, in Rejet terms , DwD is more on the fluffy spectrum but also has its equal share of dark moments so if you’re sensitive to abuse, mild gore and violence then this game isn’t really for you. Or at least, it’s best to avoid Lindo’s bad ends/ Devil route and Shiki’s devil route completely unless you want blood to be splattered all over your screen along with some HD sound effects :))))))))) 

Picture for reference

I would’ve said Rem’s bad end too cause that shit’s fucked up but it doesn’t have a gory CG so . But if you don’t mind all that blood and insanity than proceed on full speed ahead cause there’s fluff in the midst of despair lmao. Keep Roen’s route for last (at least, in the left door common route) as it contains spoilers.  My play order : Rem > Lindo > Roen > Mage > Urie > Shiki . Recommended play order: Urie > Lindo > Shiki > Mage > Rem > Roen .

Left Door routes:     Rem  Lindo  Roen

Right Door Routes:  Mage  Urie   Shiki

[lastcenturykindagirl]

Finished Defenders and it basically was what I figured it would be, which is a big bag of MEH.

Spoilers. Long.

Putting the characters all together required a sacrifice of some of the integrity of the character of their individual shows, even though they obviously went to a lot of effort to shoot scenes in the style (or interpretation of the style) in each of the other shows.

Danny is a white savior character, and even though he’s not the main (and still has no charisma), it’s all about him and his being Iron Fist and How Important That Is, which we know because they make Asian characters say things like, “You have the heart of a warrior” and “I also used to have masters”, and they never make fun of a white guy being the Iron Fist like everyone else gets to do. Nope. Not here for it.  Drinking game for every time Danny tells someone he’s the Iron Fist or mentions his “chi”.

The plot is terrible and the fight scenes all blur together.  Nobody ever knows exactly what is going on, take forever to trust each other (it’s mentioned a few times in show), they kind of connect the dots in places, but they’re always one step behind, and it doesn’t really do anything to amplify the supernatural twist ending in this, it just feels like hacky comic book schlock, to be honest?  There’s no deep dig for real knowledge, no real investigation. They obviously wanted to avoid showing real dragons, but the MacGuffin here are dragons. Talking about dragons and not showing them is beyond weak. 

I get what the Hand do, but who cares?  They are bored wealthy semi-eternal people who are afraid of death and crush up dragon bones so they can say they serve life by never dying. I mean, I get the gist of it, but it would’ve been nice if someone who could actually write dialogue had been able to explain why this mattered and How It Would Change Everything?  It felt like underneath all of this is a very spiritual vein about how Kun-Lun was heaven (even though that’s a hard sell), and the Hand were like fallen angels who got kicked out and wanted to get back in at any price, but they don’t explain it in a cool way and in fact all the members of the Hand seem pretty incompetent after ruling for centuries.

Which brings me to, the Hand has been lead for centuries by a white woman who got kicked out of Kun-Lun.  She’s like the evil version of the Ancient One, with all the same uncomfortable hallmarks of Asian appropriation and imperialism: her lieutenants are Chinese, Japanese, African, you get my point. They’re associated with ninjas (the joke is made repeatedly) but lead by a white woman for centuries. Whatever, Marvel.

Elektra gets done dirty again and obviously they are very comfortable with having her as a villain, not an anti-hero.  She is a tool for the leader of the Hand and the only way she gets her identity back is because she remembers how Matt made her have real feels.  Which, I guess is a thing, but it’s just reinforces how their relationship is all kinds of fucked up and irresponsible and that Matt is really a hot mess, too. I love the actress, I just wish she’d gotten a redemption arc instead of her entire journey boiling down to that she just wanted Matt for forever so they can play their fucked up cat-and-mouse-game.  But then, she did kill that bastard Stick, so, HIGH FIVE ELEKTRA!

High POC body count in this.  Decapitations and body parts being sliced off are a fav throughout the series. Lots of violence, as you would imagine.  Good guys losing their cool and doing torture as well.

I really enjoyed all the stuff with the female supporting characters helping each other out, but it would’ve been nice if they weren’t just insert scenes, like you have a cop, a nosy talk radio host, an investigative reporter, a doctor capable of doing forensic analysis, and a former member of the Hand all gathered together, but Jessica goes off to investigate alone.  Matt finds architectural plans inside a piano!  Brilliant!  Um, not really.  This is all because the Hand might find and hurt their friends/lovers and because of Matt’s secret identity the DD people can’t talk to the other people (even though they keep talking about how it’s not that hard to figure out Matt and DD are the same person). But it’s a superhero show and all the female love interests are not people that stay on the sidelines (again, they talk about this in-show) and eventually don’t.  But they could’ve found a way to have them help move the plot forward.  Claire, Colleen and Misty get a little bit more of this than most, but then get repeatedly sidelined.  It’s also annoying how  no one will every explain anything fully to Misty even though she helps them out?

Jessica finally apologized for the horrible thing she did to Luke, which was good, but it felt very convenient that only happened after they’d been forced to work together and went through hell?  It would’ve been better if they’d had that talk fairly early on to me, so they could get square, but Jessica is never shown feeling worried that she makes Luke uncomfortable and that he might have trust issues (!!!) but they cover over that by making Luke generally the most soft-hearted member of the team who easily forgives.

I hope all the Hand are dead now and we can stop talking about them? I hope we don’t have to see Danny anymore but that’s just wishful thinking?  Luke+Claire 4ever.

[fansonia]

The Ramblings of a Dork at Disneyland (well, technically California Adventure but STILL

Imma warn you all now: this is gonna be long and rambly and weird, buuuut idk what to do with all this brain info, so I'm just gonna put it all here. Long story short, my inner MCU fangirl is hereby more alive than ever and I'm slightly pissed at my phone. Oh, also I met Cap and Spider-Man, which is kinda the whole reason I wrote this whole thing. Yeah. If you're down for a bit of "light reading" *insert me cackling like a maniac here*, well.....buckle up and let me tell you a story.

(Tumblr mobile doesn't have the "read more" so I apologize for that, just pretend it's there until I edit it back in later. Curse you Tumblr mobile, curse you)

So I got to see Cap first, and he was super sweet and chill and thought I was a sorcerer. Why would he think that, you ask? Well, one, I had my Harry Potter merch, aaaand I may....or may not have.....messed with my flannel and turned it into a makeshift Cloak of Levitation. We talked and I explained my "magic" trinkets (dragon bracelet was a talisman that summoned an ethereal dragon for battle purposes, obsidian/dragonglass necklace, pizza necklace from a friendo (which he said could be my greatest weapon of all...who knows, he could be right), and....yeah. Also he was super confused about what Harry Potter was, and my dad and the staff told him it was like hair-covered pottery or soup or something. Explaining Ravenclaw was even harder, so I kinda simplified it and Mister 1940s kinda got it. Oh, and also we compared Voldemort to Redskull. That was cool. And we got a cool "pose 4 battle" picture.

Oh, side note, he asked me what powers I would have. He theorized maybe something like the Aether or Earth-based, I just....had no idea so I was open to his suggestions. Yeah. He was cool, I got his signature. I was probably super awkward and weird but hey, we still talked and my dad wondered if the dude had a possible crush on me. That's a dad thing, I think, thinking that maybe random dudes would actually like me. Meh, it's sorta reassuring I suppose, thinking that I may not die alone in this world.

OKAY ONTO RAMBLING LIKE AN IDIOT ABOUT SPIDER-MAN, BUCKLE UP MY DUDES

So, first time I went over there, HELLO NERVES MY OLD FRIEND!!! At least, while I was in line. Once I got up to meet him, he was super cool and awkward and sweet and I was totally cool just hanging out with him and talking about stuff. Like, we talked about me maybe being a part of the Avengers, we talked about some possible evil plot stuff involving Edna Mode (long story short: Spidey thought her 'no capes' philosophy was suspish and I was like 'eh you have a point there, there's more to the story that we don't know' and all that. God, I sound like a fangirling Peter Parker writing this. ANYWAYS, we took some pics together and I told him my friend Natalie said hi. Also side note: the suit was a little more Tobey-Maguire-Spidey-esque in design, which was kinda cool and stuff.

So the SECOND time around, I showed up because I realized I never got his signature. Thus, I was like "I gotta go back, that's an important thingy thing" and all that. I waited in line and hung out and sort of sang stuff to myself to keep my nerves from reappearing, because what if someone noticed I'd been there before and said "uh no ler other people get a chance"? Well, the staff up there (this one dude was cool, he was a Hufflepuff and we talked HP the first time I was there, and then this time he asked me what I did since I was last there, and talked and stuff and that was cool), he noticed. Probably since I was still wearing my lucky flannel/cape, but still, he understood and was super chill. And so was Spidey, heck, he even seemed happy I was back! I mean, I get it, how many people come back twice to see you at a Disney park? The chances for that are probably suuuuper slim. So anyways, I went back and got his signature (which my stupid fucking phone thought was the PEEEERFECT thing to DELETE.....THANKS A LOT LG IT'S NOT LIKE I WANTED TO KEEP SPIDEY'S SIGNATURE OR ANYTHING), and I told him some more info about the Edna conspiracy.

I think actually the Edna conspiracy needs its own paragraph. So it all started because Spidey liked my makeshift (short) cape. Going off of that, he told me he thought it was a bit suspicious that she was so hardcore against heroes having capes. I was like, I mean, I get chu, I just don't know if it's worth going evil for, but I get chu. So yeah, it started off of that. Well, to the surpise of many, the new Incredicoaster broke down! People were even STUCK on it! And lucky for me, I got to ride it earlier so it was nbd for me. BUT, I remembered my conversation with Spidey. That's when my inner "oh shit" siren began to wail. I knew I had to tell him. Sure, in terms of ridiculousness, or plausibility in this icky icky real world, totally wasn't the fault of one person. BUT, this was California Adventure and I was (technically) talking to a teenage superhero. So, who needs realism when you can have fun?

Alright, back to the thing with Spidey. So I told him that it was super suspish (like he said) that Edna was RIGHT THERE near the Incredicoaster, and it broke down. I mean, theoretically if Edna Mode ever WENT rogue, being the exclusive suit designer of a popular superhero family would be a PERFECT way to divert attention away from her! That, and she's short so she can hide, according to Spidey. So we basically talked about that, but then I told him I had a darker theory. He was all like "well it's dark out, so I don't mind," (it was nighttime so this actually worked), so I told him my theory. I tokd him that Seán....oh! I told Spidey that Seán loved him and said he was his favorite MCU character and I swear Spidey was so giddy and adorable about it, it was funny....yeah. So I told him Seán made a bunch of characters for his channel, and he may have inadvertently created a monster with glitch capacities to bring down YouTube AND Disneyland.....the one and only Antisepticeye. Immediately, Spidey was like "yep that's definitely who it is, that's our top suspect" and stuff. I mean, DUH, it's Anti. Unless Anti turns out to be being controlled by one of the other egos, or something like that...like he's GOTTA be the top suspect.

Not to mention that my phone MYSTERIOUSLY DELETED SPIDEY'S SIGNATURE, DOTH I SMELL SOME ANTI KERFUCKENING RIGHT THERE, I THINK I DOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Okay, I need to end the rambles soonish here. So last but not least, we took more pictures, I hugged him (both times I actually hugged him, he was sweet about that), and I said my goodbyes. I still REALLY wish my phone had saved the signature....but I have a lot of pictures and video so that's a good. Also both my parents think he had a crush on me. Like, that's TOTALLY a parent thing and I think he was probably just doing his job and stuff, but it's a nice thought to think that maybe people would like me. 'Ya know?

On a more realistic note though: to the guy in the Spidey suit on October 18th 2018, you is a good bean. I seriously loved being able to just talk and act as if I didn't have crippling social anxiety for a little while. Same goes for the guy dressed as Cap, you were cool too. I also seriously doubt either of you guys had crushes on me, so if you wanna help me explain to my parents that 'conversation does not equal romance', I'd be cool with that too. Or if by some weird chance either of you dudes liked me, I'm cool with that too (like I said, kind of a nice thought to be like "eyyy people like me, I may not die alone and stuff"). Yeah.

Okay yeah, that's mainly the gist of it all. Imma go and try to maybe rest and go through the fifty bazillion pictures of California Adventure I have, and the ones my dad has on his phone. I may have gone a bit overboard with memory capturing today. But yeah, anyways, overall it was fun!

If you got to the bottom of this....I don't even know what to call it, I commend you. I'm shocked you have the time and mental willpower/dedication to read though all of this (especially considering the run-ons and inconsistencies), but I'm still proud of you nonetheless. Besides, maybe if you all end up at Disney, you can find these dudes like I did and talk to them! I mean, if me, a hooman with some extremely rusty people skills and anxiety can feel like all was well and cool....I mean, that's gotta be a good sign you'd like hanging with them too, you know?

Anyways, thanks for reading, I'm gonna go and try not to limp a lot, because apparently I'm actually limping rn from walking so much XD. I'll see you lovelies sometime later or so!

💙fαnѕσníα💙

[graceivers]

Rreview #78 - Tangled Up in Tinsel

Tangled Up in Tinsel Author: Candis Terry Genre: Christmas, Contemporary Romance Rating: ★★★ Recommendation: it’s a toss-up; once was enough Summary: Gabriella Montani is looking for a job to prove herself as a real chef. Parker Kincade can’t quite think that far, though, when he’s just trying to get his restaurant open in time for his brother’s wedding. The two, however, end up being just what the other needs.

Female Lead: I’m on the fence about Gabi. She had visible strengths and flaws, which made her more or less a complete character. I liked that she was a decisive person and went after what she wanted. Yes, she was rather bold going to Parker for a job when he wasn’t even thinking about hiring at the moment, but at least she was taking charge of her life instead of watching it go by. And compared to Parker who couldn’t really decide anything, Gabi had a vision for his restaurant and the future, which I appreciated. On the other hand, for all that forwardness, Gabi sure wasn’t forthcoming about herself. Her past wasn’t even that bad. It was very unfortunate that she had such a poor relationship with her father who couldn’t seem to see how dedicated and talented she was, but that was hardly anything nasty to hide. And considering that she got Parker to open up about his not so great past and family issues, surely you would think that Gabi would give him something about herself. But no. She didn’t. And then she expected him to be completely and blindly on her side when she hadn’t opened up to him? Yeah, I don’t think so. That was where this character faltered for me. Male Lead: It took me a while to warm up to Parker. The first fifty pages or so, I did not like his character much. Terry wrote him too much like a stereotypical playboy who commits to no woman and kind of only objectifies them—or at least only cares about sleeping with them. I was not into it. I trudged on, though, and Parker did eventually become a better character. I liked that we got to see different sides of him—the protective older brother, the guy who opens up about his past and family issues with Gabi, the shedding of the playboy lifestyle. We clearly saw his flaw too; unfortunately, that might have been his downfall. Parker was so completely indecisive. He had no idea what to do about his restaurant—what kind of atmosphere it would have, how to decorate it, what kind of food he would serve. He seriously couldn’t make one firm decision. This flaw kind of bled into his relationship with Gabi. He just couldn’t make decisions, couldn’t figure out what to do when a curveball was thrown at him. It was a little disappointing… Plot & Writing: Tangled Up in Tinsel needed an extra dose of holiday cheer and maybe a more concrete plot. The writing was fine, but the book seemed to lack a little substance that would’ve given it the extra something to make it more attention-grabbing. As it stood, the book was a little bland.

First of all, where was the Christmas cheer? There was like one mention of tinsel when Terry buried the title phrase in the book somewhere so she could justify the story as one for the holidays. I didn’t really get any holiday feels while reading this. I did kind of skim here and there, but still. The cover and summary advertised Christmas, but Terry didn’t capitalize on such a theme. I didn’t need over the top; I just needed a little more Christmas symbols thrown in there.

The plot was a little dull. It didn’t help that Parker was so indecisive about what to do. It was basically stated in the book that had it not been for his brother’s wedding coming up, he probably would’ve dragged the renovations and opening for months and months. Parker seemingly was not motivated to work on this restaurant. He was, however motivated to keep his family in tact at least. The family theme was probably the driving force of the whole book regardless if it was Parker’s family or Gabi’s family. Still, the whole restaurant plot fell short and wasn’t captivating, so much that I skimmed parts of the book.

Likewise, Gabi and Parker’s relationship was not as exciting or interesting as I would’ve thought or hoped. Again, my main problem here was that Gabi refused to open up to Parker when he did so. This woman was sending so many mixed signals: she didn’t want to get involved with a guy, but then she wanted a serious relationship with Parker; she didn’t want to tell Parker about her family, but she wanted to know all about Parker’s. There was just an imbalance in this relationship, which made me disconnect from it. So, when the big conflict/climax came around, I didn’t care. I thought everyone involved overreacted over a not-so-big issue, and in the end, I didn’t believe in the strength of Gabi and Parker’s relationship. Favorite Part(s): Uh… Maybe Gabi standing up to her father and for herself. I get and empathize with the whole idea of wanting to prove herself to him even though she already knew that he would demean her and think she wasn’t good enough. I liked that Gabi got her ‘enough is enough’ moment and basically relinquished herself from that burden of desperately wanting the approval of someone who was never going to give it to her. Final Thoughts: The holidays books I’ve read recently have not lived up to my expectations. Tangled Up in Tinsel was… meh. Fine, but not great. Bland enough that I skimmed around and still got the gist of the story. If you like the series and author or want something simple (and maybe a little superficial/dull), you can try this one out. Otherwise, you can skip it.