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I really love the idea for giving them dragon tattoos🐉

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All these people saying ‘shut up that joe and nicky didn’t kiss! Let gay relationships just be wholesome! I’m gay and you don’t need to see them tongue to know they’re in a relationship! stop objectifying gay characters!’ you don’t get it. Youre entitled to your opinion but I don't think you get it. It’s about the Vietnamese antagonist being demoted to henchman so a well-known white blonde actress can be the main antagonist (an original character) instead. It’s about another original character being introduced whose only contribution is to be the wise asian man trope. It’s about the toning down of the two most disgustingly romantic characters to the point where they barely touch eachother, when they were previously on screen spooning in bed, holding eachothers faces, and yes, kissing. Specifically kissing in a van surrounded by homophobes that they then murder in some pretty top tier comedy. 

I’m not upset because i was wanting to get my rocks off. Im concerned because these were decisions that were made, and in the era of almost every movie needing corporate board approval, you need to question why these decisions are being made and who’s making them. Why can’t we show our two gay characters kissing in their only intentionally romantic scene together? Why can’t the vietnamese character be the main villain she was originally set up to be? Why has the new asian character presumably spent his immortality amassing knowledge, and not fighting like everyone else, with no explanation?

At the end of the day it was a bad movie. Plot holes everywhere, rough acting, Madame Webb style dubs. But I still think it’s important to acknowledge the slideback that’s happened here and it's okay to be upset about it.

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Ok, after doing a lot of thinking and having a quite insightful chat with someone who diagrees with me, i think I've finally figured out my issues with Joe and Nicky in TOG2, and it's the opposite of what I initially thought.

Initially, I thought my issue was that TOG2 Joe and Nicky don't act like TOG1 Joe and Nicky, but this is, as has been pointed out to me, not the case: they still act like a couple and they certainly argue like one too; they go to bed arm-in-arm; we get another forehead boop (and we loved the first one!). No, rather, my issue is the opposite - that TOG1 Joe and Nicky don't act like TOG2 Joe and Nicky. This may sound like the same thing but, let me explain why it is not:

Joe and Nicky in the first film do not act like 'bros', neither together nor individually, not in the slightest - they're soft and gentle, to quote a (probably very) old post, "the women in the old guard are 'I go first' and the men are 'I'm here'" In other words, the film blatantly disregards stereotypical gender roles. Andy is the battleworn and cold-but-secretly-good-at-heart hero. She's the masculine one here. And Joe and Nicky are not, not in the traditional sense, anyway, I mean, arguably they're, for most of the film, the damsels in distress - the ones who get kidnapped by the big bad and need rescuing (obviously it's not quite that but hopefully you can see what I'm saying - two men need saving by two women (and booker but he's not really relevant here) is not a common plot for an action flick) And that was one of our biggest praises of the film at the time - that the men could be unmasculine without being emasculated. I mean. immediately after being super gay in an armoured van filled with homophobes, Joe and Nicky murder them all. Their biggest appeal was being soft and gentle and still being action heros, the same as Nile and Andy and (maybe this is where he becomes relevant) Booker. In other words, their biggest appeal was being queer and still being action heros.

Joe and Nicky in TOG2, however, have had this thing added to them, and this thing is the traditional masculinity that they were so refreshingly lacking in the first film - that 'bro energy' they now have despite not necessarily being 'bros'. I mean, they argue over cars, like lets be real here, the only thing more masculine that is arguing over football.

I rewatched the first film a couple days ago and, I'm not sure I can really explain it but, they just feel more queer in that film. They're softer, not just in the way they speak and act with each other, but with everyone. Nicky likes to cook, Joe like to draw - both acts of creation, where your typical macho action hero tends to dabble only in acts of destruction (boxing, wresting, shooting, etc. etc.). The Joe and Nicky in the sequel just don't feel like that any more. I can't imagine them cooking or drawing. I can however, imagine them arguing over cars, because the film has, quite literally, told me that that is the kind of men that they are: masculine ones.

So yes, all the married people saying that Joe and Nicky acting more like friends is not an indicator of them being 'less in love' or 'less queer', 'less married' than they were in the first film (in fact, as many have argued, it's actually an indicator of the opposite) are right. However, them being written and portrayed as far more traditionally masculine than they were previously is. They argued over cars! Cars!! You're telling me those two gay dinosaurs from TOG1 know which breed of car is better?? Seriously??? Of course they didn't!! They're gay! And old! And definitely can't drive - in fact, in the comics i'm pretty sure it's andy or nile who ends up driving off the cliff. You know why? Cuz joe and nicky are so gay they'd crash a car that didn't even have an engine in it!! I'm so angry about the car thing!!!!

TLDR: To me it seems that while Joe and Nicky in TOG2 would still kiss and spoon and be romantic like they did in the first film, right after they'd make a joke 'no homo' style.

Their relationship may still be as tender and romantic, but now there's this extra bro-like masculinity added in that wasn't present in the first film, and it is this that makes them feel less tender, less romantic and, most importantly, less queer in the second film.

[bbchlow]

YIN and YANG, SUN and MOON… Sasuke and Naruto 💕

[ it’s actually a love story ]

[ID: Naruto fanart. The first shows Sasuke leaning over Naruto at the end of VOTE1; Naruto is unconscious, and Sasuke looks tired and miserable as rain pours around them. The second has the same composition, but now they're adults, and Naruto is leaning over Sasuke with a big grin as Sasuke smiles back sweetly, laying in a flowery field. End ID]

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If i am not like her as an old lady then i dont wanna be one

I freaking love her she’s the cutest sassiest old lady ever

I just now realized i forgor the snake tattoo just act like its there

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massive basilisk!voldemort curling his entire gigantic body around tiny little kid harry to protect his boy from any and all harm 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

yes i'm still writing the basilisk!voldemort story. shoot me

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someone say a yuri ship . first one u think of

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This Barbie is a cannibal! ✨

Ref pic:

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Hey so the earls of Essex and Suffolk wanted to fuck that Scottish twink right

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Omg I was so confused, like why are we hating on the roasted chicken?? 😭😭

This suicidal asshole.

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Did... did someone take a bite

Once again, Captain Kirk saves the day

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The English sub for the Vietnamese at this part is completely wrong. She 100% did not say "I curse you for all your lifetimes." That also has absolutely no emotional impact between them.

Instead what Quỳnh actually said was specifically a callback to their conversation earlier. At around 43 min mark, Quỳnh said, "You once told me the only thing you fear is being alone."

In the scene above, Quỳnh said, "Traitor. You will die alone and in darkness!" AND THE ENGLISH SUB COMPLETELY ELIMINATED THE INTRICACY OF HER DIALOGUE!

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Hugh Dancy reenacting The Ladder Scene™ at RDC7 2025

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[link]

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i know marwan speaks italian but I can't believe they didn't even give us a teeny tiny bit of nicky speaking arabic and I just do not understand why 😔

[bbchlow]

The English sub for the Vietnamese at this part is completely wrong. She 100% did not say "I curse you for all your lifetimes." That also has absolutely no emotional impact between them.

Instead what Quỳnh actually said was specifically a callback to their conversation earlier. At around 43 min mark, Quỳnh said, "You once told me the only thing you fear is being alone."

In the scene above, Quỳnh said, "Traitor. You will die alone and in darkness!" AND THE ENGLISH SUB COMPLETELY ELIMINATED THE INTRICACY OF HER DIALOGUE!

[bbchlow]

theres bikes around the city you can rent but you have to use an app that needs your drivers license. theres buses that drive right to your destination, but if you dont have change you need the app. you can wash your car here if you sign into the app. you can go to the bathroom here you just have to unlock it with the app that needs your location on. you can order at this restaurant if you scan the code and download the app. im losing my freaking mind