#like either we're getting 3 seasons or some movies but. we're getting it

[raayllum]

so. like Arc 3 is happening right

[hermitcraftx]

Joel winning the Life Series where he centered his entire gimmick this season around Family under the guise of "Joel Toretto" makes me insane because he was alone for so long in the Life Series and it works out so perfectly that the guy who was allergic to allies for the start of the life series and had to be forced into it with soulmates wins the season he focuses on Family. Poetic cinema.

1. Third Life Joel. No friends. No allies. He joined up with Monopoly Mountain last minute and died out of sight of either of them, mostly alone. He had a house full of dogs, not full of friends (and where is that familiar?), and nobody really mourned him when he was gone, offhand comments and brief "Oh No!s" following his death. Being alone got him nothing.

2. Last Life Joel. No friends. He's alone again, for the most part. In Last Life there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of instability- people can get back in yellow or green, or they try, so Joel has temporary red alliances with the likes of Scar and Grian but they don't last. He's alone. Again. Joel laments it, in one of his videos, IIRC, that he's bad at making allies, and "look at where it got him". The closest person he had to an ally in Last Life was Grian when they were both red, Grian seeing first hand how insane and blood thirsty Joel becomes on red. They call themselves the Deadliest Duo, and they kill people, and they laugh when they die. But Joel dies, still, killed by Scott, shortly after Grian permadies.

3. Double Life. Now it's different. Now we're seeing some changes. Joel gets put with Etho, who off the bat immediately considers him a liability, a notion he rejects and fights against to get Etho to respect him. He builds Etho a ship to try and impress him. Etho purposefully takes fall damage to remind him of what's at stake. He's not just a lone wolf, anymore, Etho's life is in his hands and he's not happy about it. Joel hates it, being treated fragile and like a bomb to go off. Eventually, they find out they work together well, they get killed, they go red and Joel goes crazy. Red rage is a real, definable, re-occuring phenomenon for Joel, he IS angry and he DOES want to make people pay. Etho in the life series is usually more reserved, and he holds Joel back, yes, but Joel also helps Etho out of his shell and pushes him to do things he wouldn't normally do. The ship burns everything burns. And then they burned. And Joel's first real alliance goes up in flames, literally.

4. Now Joel has a taste of what it's like to not be alone the entire season. He teams up with Jimmy and Grian, his Bad Boys, and he's fiercely loyal to them, and then to him. (Even Grian by his standards is FIERCELY loyal to the Bad Boys- I mean, he doesn't even kill one of them! I think. Not permanently?) He changes his skin, matching leather jackets, these are his people. And he'd die for his people. Joel and Grian try their best to keep Jimmy alive, Joel going so far as to say he'd have sacrificed himself to keep Jim alive, but it wasn't enough, he wasn't quick enough, and he died right afterwards, leaving Grian alone. But he wasn't alone. And he didn't go out alone.

5. Secret Life is.... weird. He has allies, yes, but it's a bit of a strange situation, he allies with the Mounders and he lives a bit of a ways away from them, not quite in the group but not quite out of it. But he doesn't want to be alone again. He knows what happens when you're alone in this game, and he doesn't ever want that to happen to him again. Mumbo goes out almost immediately following Jimmy, the third to go out. Pearl IIRC betrays the Mounders and messes around with Gem, which is really funny given the events of Wild Life. It's only him and Bdubs at the end, both murdered by Scott.

6. Now. Wild Life. Again. Joel knows what happens if you're alone in this series, and he never wants it to happen to him again. So he bases his persona around a movie character, one that everyone knows and likes, he thinks. He makes himself someone that he thinks people will want to befriend, one where he won't have to be alone. He makes himself look strong, fake muscles clumsily attached to his arms, quoting about family and the importance of it, a vast difference from the lonely man in 3rd Life and Last Life who couldn't be assed to find allies. And it works. He has Gem- and everyone fears them, for once. Everyone already knows Joel is insane, but with Gem behind him, he's a significant threat. Gem keeps him grounded, and from doing stupid shit that gets him killed. They have Etho, and he comes and visits, which is nice. Everyone struggles a lot with the Wild Cards early game but them, neither of them losing lives for several sessions. Joel even comments that normally he's red by session 4, and he doesn't know what to do with himself without all that anger. He lives his best life, with Gem, with his car.

And then Grian's allies die, and isn't that familiar, and Joel lets him into the Family, because of course he would, allying with Grian is like second nature to him at this point. Maybe he feels guilty for leaving him in Limited Life, or maybe he just knows what it's like to be alone and doesn't want that for him. Who knows. He tries and fails at building traps. As soon as he's yellow he gets a double kill on Scott and Pearl, and Grian and Jimmy scream with him like old times. And it's okay, I mean it's stressful and it's like the end of the world but Joel's doing okay, he has his family, he's not alone.

And then the finale comes and it's so hectic and so many people are trying to kill him and Grian saves him, Grian tries so hard to save him, and isn't that something. Being worthy of being saved by Grian. And Gem goes out, not even to a player, to a vex, one of his family members is gone and it's so hectic Joel can't even stop to mourn or he, too, will die. And then he finds Grian and he stumbles to him screaming "Thank God you're alive!" because it had gotten so crazy, so wild that Joel didn't truly even know if Grian was alive, but he was, he still had Family, he wasn't alone again, not this time. And Grian says that he thinks Joel can win, Joel can win, that he'll give Joel his life, that it's about time he wins and Joel gets flashbacks to wanting to die for Jimmy, and Scar wanting to die for Grian and what that did to him, and he doesn't want that, but GOD he wants to win. So badly. And then Grian got knocked off the tower with Bdubs, ender pearling off, screaming how he refused to go like Mumbo, like Skizz, not on his tower and Joel's running, EVERYONE is targeting him, Grian takes out Pearl and Joel takes out Cleo and Ren.

And then it's just them, then it's just Joel and Grian, and Joel can't even find Grian, he just heard the arrows as Grian tries to shoot him, going back on his word as expected, which Joel-- Joel is glad for. Because he wanted to win this on his own terms, he wanted to win because he won, he would not be given anything. He's not alone this time. And he charges up the tree, and he kills Grian, kills his Family, his Bad Boy, his red friend, his ally in the sand, screaming that he's sorry, and Joel laughs.

Joel laughs, and laughs, and laughs.

[daisy-does-art-and-stuff]

I GATHERED ALLLLL MY EVIDENCE TOWARDS THERE BEING AN ACT THREE

ITS UNDER READ MORE BC THERES A LOT MORE SPOILERS THAN MY LAST COUPLE POSTS

every finale for every season had a panning shot of the sky with "the end" showing up in black text. we didnt get that in this episode (https://x.com/goblonglo/status/1845168766839046382)

all the plotholes?? the things left unfilled?? there is no way theyd leave it off so open-ended. even hfjones ending had more closure

most movies have 3 acts. the 2nd act is known for being the part where everything seems hopeless and theres no saving them. we're still in the "all is lost" portion yall!!

there was a member that said something along the lines of "keep an eye out for what mores to come" in a tweet that was deleted not long after it was made. this implies They werent meant to spoil that there was more coming (https://x.com/meepletism/status/1845164453970706672, https://x.com/eyewellduh/status/1845156100779180075)

no one has ever had a solid answer whether or not there was only act 1 and act 2. not anyone has said a word about it yet. sure, theres no confirmation, but theres also no denying

the entire "how bow got her tail" thing. every time they made her start talking about it, it cuts away. we dont now whats up with that yet, which implies that it spoils what its gonna be used for in the future

THEY JUST HIRED NEW ANIMATORS!!! like LITERALLY just hired a big batch of new animators. there is no way that they did it just for one last part of the series just to end it so soon.

in the post where they promoted the release of ii17 on twitter, it states the series CONTINUES, not CONCLUDES. if you look back on old posts, like the one from the iii finale, it states in big bold letters THIS IS THE END IT ENDS HERE but it doesnt do that (https://x.com/AnimationEpic/status/1845134881098961164, https://x.com/AnimationEpic/status/1764314840410021903)

kinda hand in hand with above but the description of this video compared to other finale episodes looks like just a normal episode. theres no "thanks for watching the series" or anything. the ii team wouldnt just Leave it off like that i dont think

adams account being deactivated over on twitter due to his whole "running away from mephoneX" thing has to be relevant right. they have to reactivate it at some important point. like when act 3 comes out? right??

i cant think of anything more if anyone else has something to add please do so. also if theres anything here that doesnt make sense i apologize my brain is in such a whirlwind

editting this for a few new reasons

11. every season so far has had 18 episodes (if you dont count the iii finale being broken into two separate episodes). we're currently at 17

12. brian asked to contact someone in regards to credit sequences which is Probably in relation to the ii finale. we havent seen that yet so either it wasnt for ii or theres Another Episode for us to See It In. proof in posts comments

13. in the last meetups, a suitcase plush was hinted at. theyve also talked about the plush on stream. we havent been advertised this plush yet so theyre likely saving it for the last episode

[aardvaark]

leverage rewatch: s1e6 "the miracle job"

its cute that they're all being invited to sophie's plays apparently, though clearly it's not so much as invitation as it is an obligation lol. but it's cute she wants them there and they all go and try to pretend it was good. i mean, parker says "it was like a horror movie" lmao but that seems to be her attempt at praising it.

eliot saying that sophie's play was THE worst night of his life, including times he was actually tortured, is always hilarious to me.

the first maggie mention!! she's the one who calls nate to tell him that his priest friend paul is in hospital.

nate thinking he has to convince the team to take the case (since it's kinda a personal favor to a friend after all), but they're all very much in already! they're well and truly past needing to be convinced. and we're only at ep 6. compare this to the wedding job, ep 3, when nate doesn't want to take the job and they all (besides sophie) want to bail partway through.

eliot being excited to take hardison to face a gang. "let's get you out in some fresh air. get you off the computer. come on!". love that his argument is that getting into a fight would be good for hardison's health.

hardison: i rappelled! did no one see me rappel?? sophie: i heard about it. on the one hand she's saying that to soothe him, which seems sweet, but on the other hand, she's likely only doing that to encourage him to leave with eliot to face that gang lol. this season especially, many of her nice gestures tend to be either a little manipulative or shallow. which just makes sense - she's spent her life looking out only for herself, ultimately alone no matter how many people are around her. her default mode is to manipulate people into what she wants them to do, without even thinking about whether that's necessary or hurtful. it's just her job. it's gonna take a lot more than six episodes to change a lifetime of ingrained beliefs about other people and the world.

hardison gets to punch someone!! not only does he notice the guy's shoulder being off, he also knows it's dislocated, where nate just sad it was "messed up". i love seeing hardison apply his intelligence to problems outside hacking, cause it really goes to show how he's so quick-thinking and a genius in any situation.

for the record, gina bellman spent her early childhood in aotearoa, so i can only assume she's doing a decent job of the kiwi accent.

also i love when sophie looks all offended when the marks don't immediately play into her con lol, even though she's well aware this mark would likely brush her off - that's the whole point of setting up the elevator con. but she still makes this face like "uh! wowww, rude," lol.

who let parker choose the drugs to give this guy lmao?? like of course she laced them with speed, that's on the rest of the team for assuming she'd stick to just caffeine. when has she ever done anything by halves?

and that pays off a few mins later when nate says "parker, i need you to go to the hospital and keep father paul there no matter what [pause] up to a point" lol. he's learning. doesn't help that she has the most evil grin ever when he says that lmao.

and THEN it immediately turns out that parker took his words as permission to poke the priest with needles and take his blood. i wonder what she did with his blood...

hardison being able to make those fake statues too! he is ridiculously talented.

sophie having to remind nate that he never actually cheated on maggie is a little funny to me. and he's saying he was tempted and acting like he did something terrible and she's just like "dude i was there". but that scene's also so very bittersweet cause at this point she really is just waiting for him and here she tells him not to take too long, and, well...

i like how the actor playing this week's mark really takes the comic evil to its logical extreme. he looks feverish almost, in a frenzy. and the team has psychologically destroyed him and he's STILL coming up with new plans for bibletopia, probably the most capitalist hellscape christian-flavored invention imaginable. on that note, i also liked the priest and his arguments with nate, which you can tell comes from frustration with wanting to help a grieving, depressed friend who won't help himself. good guests this episode.

"it's the vatican" *parker, hardison & eliot immediately disappear*. i love the little implication there that they've each wronged the holy see at some point, enough to run off.

okay 1) the team using the confessional as a hiding spot, love it, and 2) parker refers to the confessional as "that closet" lol. apparently she knows that zeus is a god who strikes people down with lightning, but she doesn't know what a confessional is. i love how it's pretty much impossible to predict what things are within her realm of knowledge.

parker as an angel!

i LOVE the arc that the mark's assistant, tomas, has over the course of this episode. yes, good, take down your boss!!

sophie dropping the accent! god that really makes her scary. it's like she's saying, "just to be clear, the last few days have been a complete and utter lie, and there's no one who's got your back".

i like the way the team all watch nate light a candle (something catholics do for the dead), sincerely sombre. probably partly feeling for nate, partly thinking of their own grief. parker watches especially carefully, and takes a big breath in like she's overwhelmed. makes me think of how she suppresses her grief over her brother and so much loss she's experienced in her life.

eliot seems to put a hand on nate's shoulder as they exit the church. he also knows a thing or two about grief.

[thesunshinebunny]

hello there! i hope you’re having a good day! ^^ if requests are still open, i would like to make a request! i read where jade, floyd and leona stay with the mc during the holidays; could i perhaps request the same thing but with riddle, ace and malleus? thanks in advance <3

We're getting sensitive for a moment. I hope you like it. As always, drink water, relax from time to time and enjoy.

Riddle

You might be wondering how Riddle managed to convince his mother to spend the winter break at school. Well, it wasn't a complete lie what he told her, rather it had a lot of truth in it.

He wanted to stay to prepare for the next semester with students from his own dorm who were going to stay… ignoring a tiny detail. He also wanted to stay with you.

Even during the winter break, Riddle keeps his routine meticulously organized, even with the school half deserted, and those few students who stayed to welcome the new year.

And speaking of the dorm, his is impeccably organized, Riddle doesn't take vacations to rest apparently.

Despite the low activity at school, our Queen of Hearts continues with his rigorous schedule. Tea time, sleep time, you name it.

The cold, the blizzards and the snow give you both the perfect excuse to stay within the warm walls of the library or, on some special occasions, his room, surrounded by books and essays for the next semester.

Riddle likes to make you multiple cups of tea during the day, keeping you from getting cold. If he see a tiny little shiver, he’s already in the kitchen boiling water.

During the freezing nights, Riddle prefers you to stay with him, either in his room or, if you require your own privacy, he has no problem setting up a room next to his for you.

He likes to spend time in front of the fireplace reading novels, listening to soft classical music, or simply watching the snow fall while holding your hand.

Something about the atmosphere makes him appreciate the warmth that his relatively new relationship with you brings him.

While the other students are reveling in the festivities, Riddle finds himself torn between his desire to uphold the rigid rules and his growing desires to hold you and never let go.

As the clock approaches midnight, Riddle would have meticulously planned a New Year’s Eve celebration within the dorm. The decorations would be elegant, yet restrained—nothing too extravagant or chaotic. He'd ensure that everyone adheres to his carefully crafted schedule for the evening.

However, seeing how much joy and excitement you and others are having, he'd start to loosen up a bit.

As the New Year rings in, he might even indulge in a little break from tradition, and pulled you towards him, hugging you with one arm and giving you a small kiss on the cheek.

“Happy New Year my heart”

Ace

A vacation to be away from his parents and brother? He's counting on it. And being by your side? Where does he have to sign?

He makes winter a vibrant season, despite the quietness of the campus. His inexhaustible energy and natural enthusiasm don't get dampened by the cold.

He likes spending time putting snow in the lockers of the students who stayed behind, even starting snow fights with them to lift their spirits.

He knows it's very cold, but that doesn't mean you've to have a sad face all the time.

He also likes to organize movie nights with you, from the most classic to the most current horror movies, preventing you from sleeping peacefully because of fear… including himself, even if he doesn't say it out loud.

During all the winter break, you can find him either in his room, playing video games or on his cell phone, or in the common room, drinking hot chocolate next to the roaring fireplace. He likes to keep a space next to him warm and comfortable for when you get to spend time with him.

He often insisted that you stay in his dorm, preferably his room, so that you wouldn’t be cold in yours. Unfortunately, some of his roommates stayed and he can’t have the room to himself, or rather, to just the two of you.

If you’re willing to stay sleeping on the couch or sharing the room with someone else, great.

Ace would be the life of the New Year’s celebration, full of energy. He’d be the one rallying everyone for impromptu games, pranks, and a raucous countdown to midnight.

He might organize a surprise “New Year’s Eve scavenger hunt” around the campus, with playful and quirky tasks that reflect the festive spirit. Of course, Ace would enlist your help in planning the event, ensuring they’re right in the middle of the action.

As midnight approaches, Ace would lead a noisy countdown, complete with confetti and noisemakers. Despite his usual bravado, he’d have a sincere moment where he holds your hand and kiss you oh so sweet.

“Happy New Year my darling”

Malleus

Malleus finds the quiet and pseudo solitude of campus as a perfect time to enjoy the beauty that winter and its snow bring to the land.

It didn't take much convincing for Lilia to let him spend time alone in his dorm, even Mama Bear likes the quiet of winter in his own room, without distractions. What it did take a lot of effort to convince Lilia not to stay, even more so Sebek.

Let's just say that the last few days of the school's course weren't the most peaceful for you. Sebek wanted to get under your skin, telling you straight up what his lord Malleus needed, when he needed it, and how it should be done.

A piece of advice… say yes to everything he says and then do whatever you want. Ignore him, for your sanity.

He insisted that you stay in his room, not accepting no for an answer. You stay with him at night, in the same bed, and during the day you do and go wherever you want; But a requirement to spend the holidays with him is to stay in his room at night.

His bedroom during the arrival of the New Year was filled with an atmosphere that reflected soft glows and an almost mystical calm.

The passing of the days consisted of long walks through the snowy grounds of the school, watching as the flakes gathered at every thousandth of an inch. His own presence almost merged with nature itself, ethereal and beautiful.

Malleus likes to create intricate patterns with his magic on the snowy paths, sometimes roses, sometimes small dancing sparkles above you. Patterns that always managed to take your breath away with how beautiful they were.

The nights are usually quiet in his bedroom, either reading or Malleus telling legends and rites of his homeland.

In general, winter days with him are full of serene and fascinating moments, where the cold seems to fade away before the warmth of his company and the enchantment of his presence.

He'd have arranged for a special New Year's Eve gathering in a beautifully decorated, magically enhanced space where you both could enjoy a tranquil and enchanting evening.

During the countdown, Malleus shares stories of past New Year's celebrations in his fae realms, captivating you with such wonders.

As the clock strikes midnight, he might create a stunning display of magical fireworks that light up the night sky. His gesture would be both grand and intimate, marking the start of the New Year with a touch of magic and love.

“It is an honor to start the new year with you, my rose.”

[gayofthefae]

Thinking about the little moments. The little unnecessary inclusions that tell us something. The little scripted moments in passing.

"Just please stop talking dude". So Lucas starts teasing about El. It doesn't lighten him like you'd think. He is not humored. "Yeah, real mature, Lucas".

It's reminiscent of season 1 to me, albeit Lucas' tone in it is different. Why doesn't he want to think about it?

He isn't even defensive in a being-teased way here, he just seems irritated and genuinely wanting to shut down the conversation. It's a contrasts from Lucas in season 1 that he's now trying to support and engage with their relationship, but Mike still isn't having it - so his irritability in season 1 then wasn't about Lucas' tone either. Here, it's like he comes here after making out with her and this is his time to not think about that. To distract from it. Don't bring that into this. I'm decompressing.

We know Mike's tone on the walkie while biking is weird. But we don't talk enough about how he shows up to the movies irritable.

"We're gonna miss the opening" "If you guys keep whining about it"

"Just please stop talking dude" "Real mature, Lucas"

The others have a reason to be grumpy, he left them waiting and they were anxious about missing it. He doesn't. He dismisses that anxiety and says 'Told you' when they make it. He was never worried they'd be late.

Another classic case of we have a point A, a point B, and one event in the middle. We can decipher what happen. Coming from making out with El made Mike irritable.

Which is especially odd, given we're directly shown how that exact event should have left a lovestruck teen:

(another case of matching energy. why does he match Will's romantic energy in season 4 in scenes but not even El's when they're dating? He's CONTRASTED even)

And it doesn't play as privacy. It doesn't play as "that's just between me and her <3". It plays as wanting to get his mind off it.

He's not annoyed by the teasing. He's irritable when he shows up and can't handle the additional reminder. This is where he goes to avoid that.

And it's also illogical given his other behavior this season that he not want to talk about her. His whole thing this season is that he pays attention to only El so much that it's a problem...but when she's not around he doesn't want to talk about her at all? It is a textbook smitten-sign to have someone talk non-stop about their partner. It's even a way in many shows that the friends will realize the character has feelings for someone. He doesn't feel that way. When he was grieving, it made sense, but now, he has no excuse. If he were smitten, he would want to talk about her. If the REASON he spends all his time with her and not the others were because he were smitten, he would want to talk about all his time with her. He would WANT to talk about *her*.

He should have shown up loopy like El was. Just like every time something in Mike about El is called out, we should have been shown it before it was mentioned. He should have shown up in a lovestruck daze to be commented on. He should have showed up how we last saw El.

He shows up in a lovestruck daze. They're irritated because it's clear exactly why he was late and that he wasn't worried about them being late while they were busy waiting. Lucas teases him about it. Mike responds with even just a much lighter delivery of the same line, some laughter to it. Instead?

He showed up irritable.

And we see the exact moment of shift. Because he found Hop's anger hilarious. We watched him laughing. He looks carefree.

She reminded him they'd do this all again tomorrow

His face hardened. And he showed up irritable. No events in between.

Looking through these gifs, actually, what used to seem like Mike wanting nothing to do with anyone but El now seems like irritability from her romantic presence. Especially given we see him be fine once they get into the movies with just the four of them.

The others beside him are both still interested and engaging to some extent. I'm making sure to emphasize that El, notably very smitten, is not behaving this way.

But look at the difference. It isn't the party he's irritable around. It isn't that he's irritated NOT to be alone with her. He's fine here.

it's quite the opposite. The idea of it is what MAKES him upset. Consistently throughout the season even. Here is him when Lucas takes action to get them back together and tells him he'll give him an opening to be alone with her.

He only relaxes once they actually talk and it's her to him again, not the concept of romance. He relaxes when they talk and it doesn't end in them getting back together. Because those are the two things he dreaded. Not being with her...and being with her. The m&m scene is sweet because he's in his perfect medium.

We need platonic Elmike because they deserve a relationship without resentment or anxiety. Because he doesn't resent her. He doesn't want to avoid seeing her. But there are associations to it that he dreads, and that's hurtful to both of them.

[cipheramnesia]

This is the process my brain goes through every time I see anything about Netflix Avatar The Last Airbender.

My first reaction is always: Why? The original, although not without flaws, doesn't leave a lot of room to improve. A good remake or adaptation usually involves an updated context or change in perspective that adds to the original work and gives it new meaning. It's a risky undertaking because it usually involves wanting to take on something established as iconic and make it your own. But Netflix is a corporation and seems very risk averse for the most part. Its only investment is in the name recognition of AtLA. It's hard to visualize Netflix deliberately taking a big risk on an expensive show.

My second reaction is: How? The original series is about 1400 minutes over 61 episodes, and it still had to rush the ending. We're looking at 8 episodes of roughly 45-60 minutes per episode for season 1, which would require Netflix to let it run more than 3 seasons, if the series has similar pacing. Historically however Netflix shows have glacial pacing, and rarely make three seasons. Not really sure how they plan to tell the story if the series is anything like the average Netflix series, meaning it either needs to undercut the story or let the series breathe for at least five seasons. But nothing Netflix has done makes me want to watch anything they make as an ongoing series? Why bother, they cancel everything I enjoy. So I wonder how. What's the hook to say "this will be able to provide something new and interesting compared to the original, and will be allowed to tell the complete story."

Which leads me to think, but you can't judge if something is good without seeing it. Except none of this is about whether it's good, I just find myself wondering what are the odds it's worth the effort? They're low, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it's even any good on its own merits.

Following this, I ask myself, what would a good version of this be. Imagine you are making a live action series with eight hour long episodes per season based on a children's cartoon with 20 thirty minute episodes per season. You are trying to encompass a story which was presented over three seasons as a cartoon, and you do not know if you will have more than those eight episodes. It's made for Netflix which, in terms of a company which will protect the hard earned fruits of your artistic labor, is the fox guarding the henhouse. What do you do?

If you are looking to make something good, that respects your audience investment and your own work, you make radical changes to the story. You change the pacing, the character arcs, the plot arcs. You make sure you deliver a complete story in those episodes with as much respect for the original work and as many new ideas as you can.

Except, at that point, what is even the point of a remake. The only way to work with it is either to trust Netflix allowing you to finish the story (which you'd need to be incredibly naive to do), or tell a story so different it may as well be wholly original. And that's where I always end up. Like, it'll probably be fine, but what's the point of it all? Another vanishing digital property to get canceled because of some undefinable failure to return on investment.

I think about it a lot because the two ends of the spectrum seem to be "dunk on every new piece of information" or "wait and see" but the only conclusion I can ever reach is "why even care?" That's been the lesson to take home from digital streaming in general when it comes to series, but Netflix in particular, and honestly for movie series too. If it can't be self contained, the companies who produce and release these kinds of series just cannot be trusted with it, and there are too many good original stories being put out to care anymore about big budget promises that one day they will definitely for sure deliver a finished story, this time for real.

I care enough to think about why I don't feel anything at all about Netflix Avatar. It'll be fine, whatever else. Just fine.

[khazadaimenu]

I did a sort of a hc post about Fili and Kili mere hours ago and that kinda opened the flood gates within me.

Cause I literally live some of my internal life in that world and have story lines I wanna share. But don't want to bother with a fic.

So I'm just gonna blather on about it here for a bit. Isn't it what this platform is for? i kinda want to talk about this one thing.

Warning: it's a long post and it has mature themes. As well as very specific hcs that develop into an evolved AU from my head. So read at your discretion.

In short: it's about Fili and love

I mentioned a hc in another post that Fili goes from awkward older teen to fully fledged young adult in the space of one season.

That summer, he spends all his time blacksmithing and building walls with other dwarves in a village suffering from frequent orc raids.

We're talking all day every day. And he gets strong.

Like one of those movie scenes, you know, the ones where a character gets thrown into water and reemerges seemingly years later, all grown up and shit. The one from The Last Kingdom lives forever in my head.

So imagine same but with Fili. He's no longer a scrawny kid, but broad and muscly. Cherry on top? He gets a peltful of chest hair. All in one go. Like, there was none to begin with and now it's all just fur.

Imagine him emerging from a swim in a lake after a long hard day of labour. Beads of water glistening, the last rays of the setting sun reflecting on his skin. And it becomes a habit as of late August that year. The change in his physique very apparent by now.

Naturally, all the lads and lasses in the vicinity are enamoured. Giggling. Whispering. And surreptitiously pointing.

Which Fili doesn't mind. In fact, he welcomes it. It's a sort of respite from all the princely duties. He wants to be young and live a little.

Here I have to clarify that personally (I know there's tons of variation here, so no hate, this is just my slutty corner of the universe) I hc Fili as pansexual. He's happy to love and share joy.

I think there's a particular type of pressure that only Fili feels and Kili doesn't. Where he knows he's loved, but Kili is the baby and Fili's the heir. And that's reflected in his relationship with his mother, with Thorin, with everyone. So he needs somewhere to just... be carefree. And that's either hanging out with Kili or... looking for adventure. And he's good at it so it gives him a confidence boost.

And no hearts broken. Cause dwarves only do this kinda stuff before they find their One. Or some dwarves aren't inclined romantically, but still go for it physically. And then there's the ace dwarves who choose their craft only. Either way, infidelity doesn't exist in dwarven culture. You either love someone and forget everyone else exists. Or you know you'll never have a One. Or you're not interested completely.

Fili is actually not sure about love. He's not sure it exists for him. He has long chats with Nori about it, who is 100% sure about his own standing: here just to f*k. But Fili's not so sure.

And when he miraculously gets saved before getting killed by Azog (I'm getting into my OC and AU here, so bear with me) he becomes even more convinced. Cause if he wasn't meant to live, why would Mahal make a One for him in the first place?

So when he falls in love with his human saviour, it all kinda gets too much.

1) The responsibility to his people. To uphold the culture.

2) Is he even capable of love?

3) Kili's in love with an elf. Everyone wants a happy ending for him. But dwarves as a group still hold quite a bit of prejudice. An elf in the royal bloodline? Not so fast!

So Fili has to take the fall. Kili will be alllowed to marry if he and any future heirs forsake their claim to the throne AND Fili provides said heirs as staunch 100% dwarves.

Fili tries to object - he doesn't think he can find a One (while internally wrestling with his existing feelings, denying them, burying them and gaslighting himself into oblivion). But then Dis digs up an old law about those in royal lineages marrying without love just to produce heirs (based on some earlier Tolkien drafts where only the dwarven kings married and nobody else among dwarves). And now Fili is well and truly f*ked stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He can't imagine his life without Kili, so the option where Kili is exiled hurts like hell.

In the meantime, his human leaves. They have their own duty to fulfill. That triggers the revelation in him that they are in fact his One.

Which means, by getting into arranged marriage he will forsake one of the most sacred laws of dwarves - he will betray his One.

The thought is unbearable. He considers briefly ending it all. Not a serious thought, just something that comes out of sheer exhaustion.

Kili remains unaware. Fili can't do this to his brother - he is giddy and talking excitedly about his own future happiness once Fili's wedding goes ahead.

Being an heir sucks sometimes. Sucks majorly.

Fili decides to go ahead with a union Dis chose for him. All the while keeping his feelings hidden from everyone.

He doesn't believe he'll ever see his person of choice ever again. And they're not a dwarf. So is it really a betrayal?..

I'll share what comes next in another post, hopefully. If I have a spurt of inspiration.

[hms-no-fun]

BLAUGUST 3: searching for a new show to watch / i can't stop thinking about space

i have a few topics written down for blaugust posts. movies and shows i've seen recently and could probably write about, various ideas for potential video scripts to maybe take this as an excuse to slam out a rough draft of. but i'm not really feeling that today. so i am just gonna straight up "blog" about what's on my mind now and see where it goes.

so my gf and i just finished Carnivale, and are shopping around for a new show to watch. this is always an intimidating proposition, because either you pick a modern show and might get invested just in time for it to get canceled, or you pick an older show and have a million episodes to work through. our most recent long watch was Person of Interest, a show i quite enjoyed but felt got a little long in the tooth by the end. after spending 24 episodes in the 1930s (it took us nearly 3/4 a year to get through the show because one mid-series episode basically ends on a promise that an extremely unlikeable character is going to rape one really likeable character, and we just didn't want to dive back in for a long while after that. the promise wasn't kept btw so lol), and because of the creative projects we're working on, i think we're both in the mood for something sci-fi inflected.

there's a few obvious options. neither of us has watched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and we intend to at some point, but it's a little daunting at 173 episodes. granted we wouldn't be watching *all* of them, we've got big trekkie friends eager to give us the essential viewing, but even still that's a Lot. there are other touchstones-- i've always wanted to watch Babylon 5, and i also want to revisit the 2000s Battlestar Galactica (especially because i think zoe would lose her fucking mind at how horny it is). but on some level these are known quantities, and i personally am trying to engage more with contemporary television to see what's good. one suggestion would be Foundation, but i'm not terribly interested. i read the book years ago and found it obnoxiously self-congratulating, and i struggle to imagine a series would fix it. i'd suggest The Expanse except we've both already seen large (but different) chunks of it and i haven't really heard great things about the bezos-era seasons. what i'd really like is something that isn't an adaptation, and something that is self-seriously speculating in the truly science-fictional sense.

i think the answer is gonna be For All Mankind. it's a show that is about to enter its fifth season, about an alternate history where the USSR put a man on the moon first. this has shown up on my radar a couple times over the years, but i've dismissed it for a few reasons. first, The Man in the High Castle left a bad taste in my mouth re: postwar alt-history shows. and on a separate perhaps controversial tack, HBO's Chernobyl left a bad taste in my mouth re: its portrayal of the Soviet Union. so you hear the premise of For All Mankind-- the russians beat us to the moon, thus accelerating the space race and the cold war-- and it's easy to imagine a numbskull jingoistic sort of approach. i guess i just don't want to spend my time watching a show in 2025 that sees fit to shit on the USSR.

but lately i've been trying to question my kneejerk reactions to things. there's probably a blog post in my feelings about "clickbait", and how people love to screenshot youtube videos with clickbait titles and thumbnails to make fun of them, and then i go and watch the video in question and it's like... fine, if not good, if not great. and how we all know that the attention market is such that you can't get clicks without resorting to clickbait, yet we simultaneously love to wholeheartedly dismiss anything clickbaity for sounding pedestrian, obvious, lowbrow, and stupid.

so what the fuck. i went and watched the trailer for season 1 of For All Mankind, then the trailers for seasons 2, 3, and 4. "but what about spoilers" you cry fruitlessly. i don't care. i want to get a sense of the vibes. my biggest turnoff, conceptually, would be a shot that was stuck in the 60s or 70s just spinning its wheels in the immediate aftermath of the initial hinge point for its alt history. well it turns out that season 2 is in the 80s, season 3 is in the 90s, and season 4 is in the 2000s. great! okay!! this alone did more to whet my curiosity than basically anything else could, because it now posits this show as genuinely trying to imagine an alternate history, speculating on how things might have progressed based on the material conditions. add to this the wikipedia's insistence that it envisions a world where both the US and USSR double down on their commitment to the space race and in the process kind of create a more utopian future is like... i dunno, it's refreshing? i'm very curious about the possibility of a show that thinks at the very least "the world would be better if the Soviet Union didn't fall," and maybe even thinks "the Soviet Union should have won the cold war." within this premise exist so many opportunities for wack ideology to show through, for USAmerican liberal cope to dance cringily before our eyes. but it's a far more interesting framework for something like that to happen in than what i was initially imagining. also Emily St. James, writer on the excellent third season of Yellowjackets as well as a notable LOST-liker (and fellow trans woman), gave it a glowing review.

i was a big space race kid. i knew all the missions and the astronauts and i watched shuttle launches on tv when i could. in my teen years, in the depths of self-identified misanthropy, it was a rerun of Carl Sagan's Cosmos that utterly changed my perspective on the world and gave me the humanist philosophy that i still have to this day. i find tremendous spiritual purpose in the stars, as well as the avenues for political radicalism that the search for extraterrestrial life can open up. i love thinking about space and learning about it, and it's an awesome time to be doing both of those things. the James Webb telescope has totally upended everything we thought we knew about the formation of galaxies, and we've discovered exponentially more exoplanets in the last decade than even our wildest calculations previously predicted. i mean, just take a glance at the COSMOS-Web, the deepest imaging we've ever of the universe, and tell me it means nothing to you. to my mind, there is no doubt that extraterrestrial life exists. it is quite likely to be plentiful beyond our ability to imagine. the question of why they haven't contacted us, or why we haven't been able to see them, has an i think relatively simple answer: the universe is unfathomably huge. our own galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years across, meaning that even if a space-faring civilization exists nearby "right now," they might be looking at us and seeing what was of earth when anatomically modern humans were still quite young. any message that either party might try to send to the other would undoubtedly travel much slower than the speed of light, only further exacerbating the gulf of invisible time between us.

and that's just in our own galaxy, which we now understand to be just one of one hundred billion in the known universe. our capacity to see, communicate, and travel beyond our own backyard is so monumentally limited it defies our ability to mentally conceptualize it. this is why i'm not overly bothered by the Fermi paradox, and why i especially don't care overmuch about the various nihilistic answers certain sci-fi writers proposed in the past. any scenario where space-faring species always wipe each other out or produce a homogenizing swarm or whatever is at least exactly as probable as any hopeful alternative. it says more about us than it does the universe when we are incapable of imagining ourselves as anything other that colonial subjects-in-waiting, projecting our own imperial insecurities out in the stars where they can safely fester without pushback. my belief is that for any species anywhere in the universe, contact with extraterrestrial life is the closest thing to a miracle that could ever happen. it is for that reason that we MUST stay alive, must fight climate change, abolish capital, and build an equitable society that takes care of its own. if we better ourselves and build towards sustainably stewarding our planet, and genuinely aspiring to a long-lasting future among the stars, we extend our chances of making or even being that first contact. it is only by ending the suffering and exploitation of the working classes and the surplus populations and the marginalized peoples of this earth that we can truly aspire to a purpose among the stars.

not that i expect For All Mankind to reflect that philosophy lmao but i am always curious to watch writers speculate about the progression of history in a space-faring narrative. and too many shows in that vein lately have been nihilistic if not outwardly regressive (don't ask me about Three Body Problem), so i'm enticed by the seeming optimism of this show's premise-- that losing the space race was a gut punch to the American psyche that galvanized it into making radically different (perhaps better) choices. i watched the first few minutes of the first episode as a taste test and liked what i saw. i dunno, i guess we'll see!

[ferhog]

My INSANE, out there predictions for Arcane's final Act:

Hello friends. As we approach the last 3 episodes of this show I come to you with the craziest predictions I've made in my efforts to understand the twisted machinations of Riot and Fortiche. I'm not 100% expecting most of these to happen but I'm not joking when I say these either.

Isha will be saved... and so will everyone else: Contrary to the opinions of some fans I think Isha is a good character with a good death, but it's undeniable that it was more predictable and heavy-handed than this show's usual standard. So I think she and Vander will blow up... and a distraught Jinx will go catatonic and do nothing as she's impaled by Noxian soldiers. Ambessa will close the distance on a distracted Caitlyn and slice her head off, and Vi will despairingly witness exactly what she feared she'd see in the season 1 finale, before being cut down herself... only for everything to rewind back to Echo's stopwatch in a parallel to season 1's seventh episode, and Echo and Heimerdinger will fly in (As deduced by some people analysing the trailers) and save everyone except Vander, who will still be mostly destroyed by the blast so he can be reconstituted fully as Warwick later.

CaitVi sex scene: My safest prediction that many have already made. I believe it will happen because we got to see Jayce and Mel go at it while Vi and Caitlyn is the show's lead romance. To my knowledge there has been no on-screen gay sex in western animation (Except maybe that threesome in Castlevania) and this show will cross that boundary and go all in. It's not gonna be Game of Thrones borderline pornographic stuff but it's gonna tiptoe on that teen rating. We're gonna see toes curl. We're gonna see O faces. We're gonna see Caitlyn try her best to defy nature and get her girl pregnant.

Future shows will be directly set up: Arcane has been a huge success and the Medarda plotline seems like it's setting up too much to be completed in just 3 episodes. So I think it's gonna directly tie into a whole other show all about Noxus. But maybe it won't stop there. Maybe a very confident Riot will have Arcane end on a tease for everything that is to come. A character like Ambessa, Heimerdinger, or Vi will narrate how everything that's happened is a sign that the world is changing, and this narration will play over Lux and Garen overlooking the kingdom of Demacia, Diana and Leona meeting on the battlefield, Miss Fortune breasting boobily on the high seas, and... whoever lives in the Freljord. My non-Arcane League knowledge comes entirely from TBskyen videos and rule34.

Someone will actually say "League of Legends": It's a big joke that this would happen, but y'know what, they made how Jinx got her name one of the most impactful moments in her show when in most other shows or movies it would have been hilariously stupid. So I think they should challenge themselves and actually do it just to show they can pull it off. Maybe have Vi seeing the good she's done for Piltover and Zaun and reflect on Maddie calling her "A legend amongst the enforcers" and say "Heh. Maybe I am in the league of legends". BOOM. Roll credits. Lincoln Park starts playing. Again.

Silco will return: My absolute craziest, never gonna happen theory is that Silco's body will be recovered from the river and revived by either Singed experimenting again or a straight up magic villain like the Black Rose 9If they can do that). But his mind will have deteriorated enough in death that he's brought back wrong, yet another parallel to Vander. He will remember almost nothing, not even his name, with his attempt resulting in only half success as the name... Shaco. That's right, the champion infamous for having no lore will suddenly have all the lore. Because they have a sorta similar nose and chin combo.

Loris will still do nothing: It would just be really funny if that happened. Actually you know what, it would be really funny if in the final battle Vi is about to be killed before she's suddenly saved by Loris throwing his shield in front of her. And then they give each other a knowing look like old friends who'll always have each-other's backs and he'll walk away, never to be seen again.

[spro-o]

So I’ve seen that you draw the sins and other’s characters with different ethnicity’s, I was wondering if you had any specific races for them? I just find your art style so beautiful, but I was curious if anyone was a specific race you head canon them as.

sorry for taking so long!! house md hyperfixation had me in a chokehold (binged all 8 seasons), but anyways!!

i've been think about this and here are my ideas :3 btw, these are for a modern!AU (in which i'd HC that all the events happen in England, since the likelihood of you encountering such a strange group is much higher in a city like London), since if i was sticking more closely to canon it'd be pretty boring since they'd all be Scottish 💀

Meliodas (+ Zeldris): BRASIL NÚMERO UM CARALHO ‼️‼️ sorry but there's just something about them,,, they'd def be Brazilian (and mixed, in terms of skin tone)

Diane: Scottish (and Black) - this one i don't really have proper reasoning for aside from the vibes that the giants' land has just fits best with where it is canon - rocky landscape with few trees, pretty cold, etc. and also i don't know where it started but the collective HC of Diane being Black has made it so that i genuinely forget she's real pale in the canon

King (+ Elaine): English - the royal vibes make me think posh English lads - they are absolutely the British stereotype and feed into it unknowingly (they'd be rather pale, with a tendency to get freckles)

Ban: Russian (or any other flavour Slavic) (i feel too guilty and self indulgent HCing him as Polish,,,, but i want to😭) - i also HC him as albino in the modern!AU, if we're being more realistic, which i should def do some fanart of sometime

Gowther: South Korean - methinks it just fits with their fashion sense and mannerisms - they absolutely indulge in all kinds of Korean and Japanese dramas/shows/movies (they'd be on the tanner side)

Merlin: Welsh - mage,,, wizard lady,,,, speaking niche languages,,, yeah, Welsh,, tho i do think she has somehow managed to learn like 7 different languages and visit close to every country on earth - something something endless pursuit of knowledge (i think she'd be pretty pale, as when she isn't out on the other side of the world, she's indoors, barely getting any sun)

Escanor: Spanish - also would have dark skin, since i HC one of his parents as being Moroccan. source? reason?? my beautiful brain

Elizabeth: French - same reason as King and Elaine, the typical royal vibes just drew me to these decisions (tho, alternatively, i do think she would also fit being from England) (either way, she'd also be pretty pale)

so yeah!! thats what i came up with, but id be very curious to hear any other ideas/HCs y'all have :3c

[rosemaryentombed]

January 8th - 14th, 2024

Monday, January 8th - Sins of the Family // Isolation

Tuesday, January 9th - Prophecies // Deadly Devotion

Wednesday, January 10th - Superman Cults // Possession

Thursday, January 11th - The Forgotten One // A Hole in the World

Friday, January 12th - A Parent Knows Best // Eldritch Horror

Saturday, January 13th - It Takes a Village // Inheritance

Sunday, January 14th - Mistakes Were Made // Horror Movie AU

Purpose?

Not enough horror-themed fanworks in the world about the Superfam. Got jealous of the Batfandom having all these horror-themed events and projects, so I decided to host one for the Superfam.

Why should we participate in this?

Because you like seeing the soupeyfam in ever-increasingly fucked up situations that elicit a deeply-rooted, ancient dread :3

So how does it work?

The release date for fanworks is from Monday, the 8th of January through Sunday, the 14th of January, 2024. 

This aint a Halloween-themed event! You have well over three months to write, draw, and create fanworks. However, use the spooky season to help generate some ideas and propel you forward! :3

This an opportunity for people who’d like to explore the Superfamily characters, dynamics, and relationships through a variety of prompts. Although romantic ships are nice, please make sure the Superfam are the focus of your fanwork.

Superfamily characters include, but are not limited to:

Clark Kent

Lois Lane

Kara Zor El

Jonathan and Martha Kent

Jon Kent

Osul Ra and Otho Ra

John Henry Irons

Natasha Irons

Kon El/Conner Kent

Chris Kent/Lor Zod

Karen Starr

Kong Kenan

Superfamily characters of ANY comic book universe are acceptable. If you want to spend the entire fanweek exploring Ultraman and Injustice!Superman because you love drama, then be my guest! If you want Ultraman to kidnap Lois this time instead of Jon, go for it!! Let that imagination run WILD!!!

Darkfic, horrorfic, genre-specific work, and other both safe and not-safe-for-tunglr dot hell tropes are welcome. Just make sure that you post any Mature content on a landing page that doesn't restrict Mature content (like AO3). I don’t want anyone getting their blog banned. We cannot defeat our capitalist overlords, but we can definitely work around them.

This fanweek will not have a dedicated blog. These prompts are free for anyone to use. Because it is a non-traditional, non-monetized, and free-to-opt-in casual event, there will be no mods but moi, no advertising of paid services, and no ratings or participant restrictions. I will open a collection on AO3 in January for anyone who wants their work collated for this event.

In order to ensure that both creators and the audience are making informed decisions about what they engage with, all creators are encouraged to include triggers, ships, and any other squick warnings. 

Please utilize the read-more function for fanworks that are longer than 250 words. We're tryna read yer stories, not get spammed with a wall of text. Please Be Courteous.

And last but not least - if you are engaging with any of the fanworks, reblog, reblog, reblog! Share the work with your followers. Send all the love to the creators for crafting their masterpieces!!

What can I contribute?

Fanart (standalones, comic strips, etc.), fanfiction (one-shots, multichapter, etc.), fanmixes, gifsets, graphics, meme collections, fanvids, whatever your heart desires! Go wild!!!

Can I create/write not-safe-for-tunglr dot hell content?

Yes!!! All creators are encouraged to include triggers warnings, sub-genre specifications, ships, and other warnings in their posts. I will not discourage you from writing your 16k Kara-goes-evil fic, but please... Be Courteous and tag your fanworks appropriately so people can make an informed decision on what they're comfortable with viewing.

What does (X) prompt mean?

Each day has two prompts!! You can either pick a prompt OR you can combine prompts in different ways. Let your imagination take you where you want to go with each prompt!! If you want to explore both in the same fanwork, then be my guest!!

Mainstream Canon, Elsewords, and AU content is acceptable! Just make sure to stay within the comicsverse. Creativity is key! Have fun!!!

Can I crackship/multiship/harem/OT3/polyam the characters?

Absolutely!!! Just please remember that this is the Soupeyfam horror week, not the Lois-Has-A-Harem-of-Elseworlds-Supermen week. We love ships and things, but this week is about the Superfamily. The characters can have their lovers, but their personal romantic dalliances shouldn't overtake the Soupeyfam dynamics (unless you're pulling a Cersei and Jaime, lmao, if that's the case, go wild).

Does this have a tag?

During release week, use the general “superfam” tag to share your work with the wider Superfam fandom on tunglr. You can use whatever other tags you fancy. The best way to share, however, is to directly @ me so that I may reblog it.

I didn’t read a damn thing before this, Ava.

TL;DR: Over three months until the fanweek!!! For all fanwork creators out there, now’s the time to start thinking about what prompts you want to utilize for your creations. There are no creative restrictions, but I do ask that you follow these posting tips:

All fanfiction should be under a read-more.  

Not-safe-for-tunglr fanwork should be LINKED to whatever landing site the content is being hosted on (Twitter, AO3, etc). This includes both fanfiction and fanart. I don’t want your blog getting flagged bc tunglr hates gay people.

Provide content warnings for all triggers, squicks, and sub-genres. Unfortunately, in my ten odd years away from DC Comics, the fandom's seen a resurgence in puritanical behavior and tons of censorship and self-censorship. Please list content warnings on your work but do not be discouraged in sharing your work. If a fancop gets on your ass, block them. Please block as MANY as you can. They're like pests, they're always gonna be there, but their influence can be diminished by staunch blocking and reporting.

You can participate as much as you want!! Maybe you only wanna create for one day? Cool! Maybe you’re an overachieving corporate clown insomniac like myself, and wanna create for every day of the week? Go for it!!! 

The most important thing is to have fun :)

Truth be told, this event is entirely selfish. I personally love to the horror genre, and would love to see the characters in the Superfamily get more canon content as seen through beloved horror tropes. Unfortunately, Status Quo often gets in the way, and the current fanworks are largely ambivalent to the Dreadful and Despairing. If you'd like to join me in creating deliciously dark fiction featuring our favorite DC clan, please do! I would love to read your 10k character study of Otho and Osul assimilating into human society after spending their formative years as slaves in Warworld.

We’re over three months away from release week, so take your time, look through the prompts, and get your creative juices flowing! I will be sending out reminders until the go-live date.

For the people who showed interest during the initial interest check, I hope you're able to participate. To the four people who hate me, your mom's a hoe. Thank you.

[expatesque]

Monthly Recap - May

Read

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. A friend recommended this one and I like it, but didn't love it. Compulsively readable, apparently vibe-wise quite similar to The Secret History (which I haven't read yet).

Watched

Ballet to Broadway at the Royal Opera House. Mixed bag, but overall good and I'll never complain about a night at the ROH.

Old movie: Sylvia Scarlett. A silly romcom starring Lauren Bacall and Cary Grant. Various annoying accents aside, this was quite cute, gender bendy fun ft an unexpected musical number and some great dancing from Cary.

Etoile. I LOVED this. Is it the strongest outing from Sherman-Palladino? Not yet, but we're only in season one, and I loved enough about it to heartily recommend. The dancing is genuinely really good and there's proper, contemporary ballet which is very fun to see. I really loved Cheyenne, which I was not expecting, and just really hope we get a season 2.

Star Trek Discovery. I really didn't love this when it first aired (and only made it about halfway through the second season) but I've been rewatching from the start and you know what, it's growing on me. I've got about a season left and it's very earnest and can be a little much but still, I'm having fun.

Did

Went to Walk The House at the Tate Modern. I was worried this would be Instagram bait but actually it was excellent, so so good. Strongly recommend, it's only £10 with a national art pass.

Went to the Handel and Hendrix House - I don't really care about either of them but the concept of the museum (Handel lived and composed in a house, 250 years later Hendrix lived in a flat next door) was really interesting (and it's free with a national art pass). Overall really impressed, the volunteers in particular were excellent and abundant and brought the place to life. Not a must see by any means but a fun jaunt!

Went to another dating event and met the IB boy. Despite that, cannot recommend this brand of event (the 'proprietary algorithm' put all the finance people at one table despite the detailed questionnaire we filled out 🙄).

Also handled some job search stuff.

Goals and monthly poll under the cut.

Just a note that next month (June) I've got guests for 3 weeks straight so essentially all goals are on pause except class pass, Russian note cards, and morning routine (my mom loves an early morning so she'll probably help with that one).

☑️Use all class pass classes: Yes, but I've gone down in credits while I'm playing so much tennis.

☑️Read a book: Yes see above.

☑️New Recipes x4: Spatchcocked chicken (used the NYT recipe but there's a million, will only be making chicken this way going forward, it's unreal), green pasta (very good), salmon bowls (really good, going into rotation), asian tuna salad (pretty good, but I still find tuna hard).

☑️Go to a new museum: Handel & Hendrix, see above.

☑️Go to an Exhibition: Walk the House at the Tate Modern.

☑️Go to a show: Ballet to Broadway, see above.

❌Write More: 🙄

🟧Lay morning foundation: Better actually! I've been getting up and walking.

☑️Budget: sick of this.

❌Memorize a poem: ugh.

🟧Russian flashcards: Yeah actually.

🟧Screen time: Better, still not good.

☑️Job prep: Yes, tick.

❌World of Interiors: Gotta get on it!

☑️ Nutrition: Good!

☑️Postcard: Yup!

[hyperfixated-homo]

ngl I feel like Ghost got shafted a bit. Like yeah she didn't die after two seconds like Taskmaster (kinda funny how one of the best MCU refonceptualized characters killed one of the worst ones), but of the main team, she got the least focus. For a lot of it she was just there, and she really didn't get enough of a chance to shine on her own, what with the constant use of sonic weaponry against her. She also was the only one in the basement who didn't get a flashback. Hell, could've done something with Bill Foster (Lawrence Fishburne), her adoptive dad. He's not been seen since 2018, and this movie is 2027. Did he die? Was he snapped? Did Ghost? Both? Neither?

Also, there's certain other characters that could've been good in this movie, thiugh they'd risk clogging it.

originally, I thought of Netflix heroes (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Cloak and Dagger, etc), but they might show up in the (hopefully much more interesting and connected-to-MCU) second season of Daredevil

Karl Mordo hasn't been seen since 2016. We know he's had run-ins with Strange, but that's it. He could've fit very well, maybe even explain that his own magic has gotten weaker from abusing it to steal magic from those he saw as abusing magic

Hercules was tasked by Zeus to attack Earth, but that was 2025. Where is he? Valentina could've made great use of a big strong kinda dumb guy who lives for the fight.

I honestly thought Sharon Carter would have some connection to the Sentry Serum, especially since she was the Power Broker who distributed the Super Soldier Serum to highest bidders.

G'iah could've been sent by Britain to ascertain whether Valentina was making America a threat to other countries. I know everyone besides me hated Secret Imvasion for whatever reason, but I like it.

Even Peter Quill could've fit. Maybe he'll be an Avenger (part of the real Avengers team), but he's also an outlaw. Either way, he's not just gonna sit still with his grandpa in Minnesota.

I do feel that Ghost got less attention than she deserved. She's one of my faves- especially for her abilities, and her actor is. So pretty. So lovely. Oh my god.

I would have loved to see more of an insight into her own mind, especially since (like you said) she was one of the four in the vault!! It would have been pretty easy to slip something in during their escape, but I suppose they didn't want to make the movie repetitive or give audiences too good of an understanding of what exactly was going on with Bob. It would have been fun to see a moment explaining her position on the team a bit better than just "shes a merc with nowhere else to go". Seriously, where is Bill Foster?

Either way, I'm filling that void (ha) with fanfics in the meantime. I try not to get too bogged down with what ifs- anything could have been different in this movie, but we got what we god, and I had fun with it! Questions about certain characters and their motivations and parts to play are always a part of marvel movies, especially ones focusing on multiple "main characters" rather than one specific hero. Half of the fun is coming up with our own justifications and filling in any parts of the story with what we, as the viewers, headcanon. And maybe replacing some parts of canon too. For funsies :3

Tangent aside, I do think it's fun to speculate on who could have shown up! I think it's very possible that these characters could work alongside or join the Thunderbolts in the future, especially if we're considering them to actually be filling some sort of role as the "New Avengers" (or like,,, second Avengers. Maybe. This whole thing with two Avengers is Interesting). You raise a lot of good points about people who could be included and why. Good for theorising, at the very least,,,

I'm just sort of imagining how each of them would interact with the Thunderbolts and it's. Interesting. Very fun. Might mess around with that later.

[horizon-verizon]

I don't think I've ever seen such a fandom activity drop-off following a season finale like I have here. I seriously wonder if the HotD writers managed the perfect kind of bad writing that kills a fandom, rather than fan the flames with controversy in a way Season 8 at least managed to do in the short-term. It actually gives post Rise of Skywalker vibes. What's that Jenny Nicholson quote that came out of it? "The worst thing a franchise ending can do is make you feel kind of stupid and embarrassed for being so excited about it in the first place." And we're not even at the end, yet... it kind of feels like it.

In my observations it is because a lot of the season brought up both many of the same arguments for why the last season didn't come up to some's (bk readers but also those who saw a lot of bad or out-of-touch writing there) expectations OR/AND a lot of locals just got really bored. Most of all, I think it has to do with how many fans have grown very tired of either strict book fans either spoiling events (some weren't even actual spoilers, but that's a digression) or unwilling to rehash the ol arguments about "reliability", "adaptation", and the showrunner's superior vision.

For me personally, it's the first (I ended up repeating myself at least twice before I just stopped and gave short answers to some asks, sometimes with links to past posts, here on Tumblr) AND because I am embroiled in an intense job search.

I only watched the first 3 (70s) and 3 prequel Star Movies (Hayden and Natalie) of the Star Wars franchise and I prefer the prequels but i also am not at all knowledgeable about the lore nor do I see myself really getting into it. So idk what the online fandom was like after RoS, but I'll take your word for it. It's crazy and kinda sad (even though I dislike this show and do not plan on watching its 3rd season just for its impact and encouragement for many people to think certain things about certain things, I won't get into it here you can see my tags in my pinned post) how some fans feel the way Nicholson describes.

But I also don't know since plenty of people still talk excitedly about some aspects of HotD or all of it, esp on TikTok.

[avelera]

I saw the IWTV finale early thanks to a kind soul sharing it with me!

A few (spoiler-y) thoughts:

Really interesting how they reimagined and framed the ending of this take on IWTV with Louis and Lestat mourning Claudia together. It feels like Justice For Claudia in many ways, it feels like a fitting homage to the origins of Claudia's character (the dead of Anne Rice's daughter from leukemia as a child), and in general was just a really interesting way to sort of give this closure the book never did and also use it to realistically allow them both to push forward past their toxic and abuse past into a somewhat plausible healed future.

It was also a decent reminder, to me, that these are vampires. These characters live forever. I would not condone Louis/Lestat in real life because life is too short to keep going back to an abusive ex. But these guys are vampires. Do not do as they do. But genuinely 70 years, a human lifetime, is realistically long enough to say, "Hey, we're new people now, we've learned and suffered a lot, we lost our daughter and it was fucked up. Maybe all we have is each other." And make peace with each other on that front.

BUT NOW I'M WONDERING HOW WE GET ROCKSTAR LESTAT - ok because Louis kind of got Lestat's book motivation for becoming a rockstar? The "Fuck you, come find me," to all the other vampires. Lestat I believe only speculates that as Louis' motivation, but they made it canon (or I could be wrong).

But that was Lestat's motivation for HIS book, making Louis and the others come find him. Since that's been solved with Louis coming to find him (lovely little homage to the IWTV movie with him playing the harpsichord) now I'm wondering if Louis is the one who encourages Lestat to become a rockstar and write down his book.

Thing is, it's not totally contradicted by the book. (SPOILERS) TVL does end with a beat where Louis and Lestat reunite and Louis is kind of his groupie for a bit. Moving that up so Louis is part of Lestat's rise is actually a really lovely touch, it gives them a bit more time together before shit goes down, and I could totally see this version of Louis as Lestat's agent since he's shown to have that business acumen.

Now that Daniel is a vampire (OMG OMG OMG MORE ON THAT IN A SECOND) the risk is no longer so bad for him to come interview Lestat and I'm sure he's salivating to do so and Louis would definitely invite Vampire Daniel to do the interview for Lestat's book, since there's no fear for his safety (or at least, not as much) anymore. And Daniel would jump at the chance. It would be a fabulous framing device, Rockstar Lestat with his agent, Louis, inviting Daniel to interview Lestat for his next book AND it means we get Daniel's snark throughout Lestat's story.

OK SO DANIEL BEING A VAMPIRE. Definitely leaves the door open for past AND present Devil's Minion WITH THE ADDED BONUS of Daniel not going insane after he's turned (likely owed to not being turned while still a drug addled young man so, hey, if there was past Devil's Minion where Armand said no, kudos to him for reading the situation correctly that vampirism would drive young Daniel insane but not Old Man Daniel).

I was SLIGHTLY, SLIGHTLY bummed to see Daniel as a vampire without getting to see the whole Daniel/Armand situation but only slightly. There wasn't enough room in the season, it would have been a distraction, and IMO we can now save it properly for its place in either TVL or QOTD, which I bet are going to be Seasons 3-4 or as many as 3-6 if we stick to 2 seasons per book.

A take on Devil's Minion where past and present Devil's Minion are intertwined would be AMAZING and I've got my fingers crossed that's how they do it. Maybe interweave a bit of Vampire Armand.

I don't think/know if we're going to get a full Vampire Armand season BUT I do believe the show is going to pivot its POV lens to say, hey, everyone's got a point of view, everyone's got a reason. At some point, we're going to get more of Armand's POV and why he did what he did because I imagine his version will be different from Louis', just as Lestat's is, that's the whole basis of the show. And in there maybe we'll get some past Daniel/Armand.

Ok this already got away from me but ANYWAY, those are my thoughts for now.