#“it’s character analysis evie you love that stuff”

[eenochian]

i know it’s stupid for me to be doubting my writing skills rn, like i’m literally getting more attention on my fics now than ever, but i’m just so unconfident in everything i’ve written lol. i’m putting out things that i’m happy with, but there’s always that voice telling me it’s shit and that i should just stop – and, it feels selfish, being insecure despite the support. like i’m not appreciative enough and i’m just being an attention whore. now i’m just sitting here, staring at a blank draft for the past 5 hours. i have the idea, i have people asking for the chapter, and yet i’m paralyzed trying to write.

[hunter-sylvester]

Hi! I’m the anon who wrote the ask about Hunter’s parental issues and about his attachment to Kevin. Thank you for answering my asks, I absolutely love the way you write and how you explain everything! You’re extremely talented!🫶

I honestly didn’t notice how in love Hunter was with Kevin until I watched the movie a second time. It’s crazy how you can literally see all feeling in Hunter’s eyes when he looks at Kevin. I also loved how you said that their relationship fits a BDSM bratting dynamic, because I totally see it.

[and as someone who has ADHD and deals with RSD on a regular, I completely understand him. It sucks.]

Hey 🤘 [prev ask for context] Yeah I obviously couldn’t be 100% sure they were from the same person but it definitely makes the most sense lol

Thank you so much! I’m really glad you enjoy my rambling thoughts about Hunter as a character <3

If you do like my writing, I’m tempted to sheepishly gesture over to my actual Metal Lords fics over on Ao3 if you haven’t checked them out, even tho it makes me feel like a bit of a dick to do so 😅 (They are mostly locked to registered users, blame AI data scraping. The only Metal Lords fic not locked rn is a tiny ficlet. An Ao3 account is free tho 👀)

In any case, I really appreciate that you pushed me to do a bit of analysis again. Because sometimes I tend to forget that all the stuff that lives in my head as “obvious” isn’t always stuff I’ve said out loud on here lmao

There’s a lot to pull from the film if you’re willing to be a bit mentally ill about it.

And you’re absolutely right about the way he looks at Kevin, I mean, it happened enough for me to make a whole ass gifset of it lmao

Look at him. The boy is smitten. Clueless, of course. But smitten.

Which I credit basically entirely to Adrian Greensmith, as it was a vision he had for the character. I really can’t imagine Hunter having been played by anyone else as he brought so much to the role. (Fun fact, if I remember correctly: Noah Urrea, who plays Clay, originally auditioned for Hunter. No harm but I'm very glad he didn't get that. He makes a good Clay and Hunter just needed to be played by Adrian.)

One of the key things Adrian brought to the role also being, probably accidentally, his anxiety.

"I spent a lot of Metal Lords feeling a bit anxious [...] and in hindsight I wonder if some of that was just a sign that Hunter was quite an anxious character [...] I mean his body's so tense all the time." - Adrian Greensmith.

I shortened that quite a bit so I'm including a slightly longer clip of the interview audio for more context. (I can upload a subtitled video clip if anyone wants that as well as link the video on yt but I'd have to do a bit of a search for that)

Aside: If I had to guess I'd say he's probably referring to Peter Sollett who directed Metal Lords when he mentions a 'Pete'.

And yeah the bratting thing was a little bit of a joke but mostly not a joke. Without going absolutely off the deep end, the mentality behind bratting is something I really see in Hunter.

Evie Lupine has a wonderful video about bratting and why people would be interested in it (and why some people hate it) but a short snippet that always spoke to me from that is the following:

"The motivations behind bratting are pretty varied. I think one of the main ones would be a sense of security and comfort. This is when the acting out is sort of a way to be reassured that even when you, break rules, even when you push at things, the partner that you're with is not going to abandon you." - Evie Lupine

Obviously, with Hunter's fear of abandonment, it's easy to see why this would appeal to him.

He also just...idk he has brat energy - sincerely, a brat.

And Kevin does just play out the counterpart to that. He doesn't always have Hunter under control but he tries to.

And he does mostly act as that safe person to brat against, which again amplifies the impact it has when Hunter starts to think he's actually losing Kevin, destroying that feeling of safety.

Aside: I obviously don't think that these characters, in universe, negotiated for a bratting dynamic. In universe it'd be something that just sort of organically developed within their friendship/relationship. But even more than that it's an archetype of a dynamic that we as the audience can easily read into their interactions if that makes sense.

Can you believe the shit they will accidentally put in movies? lmao

And yeah, I have ADHD as well. And RSD is something that affects me pretty fucking severely. I've only really become more aware of it in the past year or so as my partner has pointed it out more and more.

So it's definitely something that I then noticed more and more in Hunter too.

Obviously this is all just my take on the character, and other people might have totally different interpretations. That's the beauty of art, we all get to find what we need in it and read it in our own ways, influenced by our own life experiences.

Thank you again for asking, Anon 🤘 (if you want to use a nickname or smth to identify that you're the same Anon, let me know. If not, that's totally okay too, but I might not always know it's you)

[mobolanz]

For the OC wrapped ask game: 8, 18 and 20! I hope you have a good day. ♥

Thank you!! Hope yours is great as well ;w;

Who was your most popular OC in 2023?

Evelyn defienetly takes the cake with 3 layers whipped cream and flakes and cherry toppings for that one! And for good reasons!:D

Liek this if babydoll is blorbo tier for you by this point 🤧🤭

What were your biggest inspirations for developing your OCs in 2023?

The regular ones, songs, romance stories, aesthetic stuff on tumblr.com, fairytales and myths, my top 3 comfort animes I rewatched all this year (aot, fruits basket, & sailor moon s1-2)

But since I've also been more intrigued by the idea of finally putting them into a full story and writing (especially evy, with Carmine. Eventually I'll get to it with Mia in "wallflower and the diamond in the rough".) I'll give credit to media analysis videos of certain female characters /ships within canon media that I love for how to write arcs/dynamics/ themes that'd intrigue me. In that sense it also helps for "storytelling through art" with my ideas nowadays being more scenario-based and involve direct interaction than static solo character art, like my reinelyn artworks.

(Y'know maybe Em really was onto something when suggesting me to make Carmine a comic, I get intrigued by the idea everytime it hits me again 😆💞)

Technically this one is solo Evelyn but like,,, it's a reaction from her point of view to Reiner's return (and condition) when his mission on the island ended so I add it.

Early traces can be found in my Demia stuff from the beginning 🤧🤧 I was mostly on IG then.

Some good examples:

What was your favorite OC related memory of 2023?

Honestly the very fact that people show genuine interest and all the asks I get (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

A fairly recent specific one was Em @whatthefucksatan showing me on discord a small bit she wrote for them and I might as well started chewing on my cat head pillow after that. Like drawing them is one thing and I could swoon over that too. But writing is something I wouldn't have expected 🥹🤧💖

oc wrapped: 2023 edition!

[protectwoc]

The Problem with Mal (part 3/3)

The Solution

This part of the essay is where we’re going to get into more opinion based stuff rather than facts or actual analysis, so if this is where you check out I don’t blame you. But I believe that with a little reworking the Descendants franchise could have reached its full potential story-wise. This reworking centers around one general idea:

The movies would have been better if Mal had not been the protagonist. Specifically, Evie should have been the protagonist of D1, Uma should have been the protagonist of D2, and they should have co-lead D3.

To truly discuss this thesis, we’re going to have to turn some literary techniques on its head. Bear with me everybody.

To start, let’s look at one particular literary device which I find most relevant to this discussion, that of a foil. Wikipedia defines a foil as “a character who contrasts with another character, usually the protagonist, to highlight qualities of the other character… A foil usually either differs dramatically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart.” Essentially, a foil provides a “what-if?” to another character, usually the protagonist.

Evie and Uma are both foils to Mal, but of different types. Evie’s character is radically different from Mal’s on both superficial and significant levels. On the other hand, Uma’s character is very similar to Mal’s, with a few key differences that make Uma a more compelling POV character. Unfortunately, while foils are usually intended to highlight positive qualities of the protagonist, Mal’s foils serve to show us what a missed opportunity the Descendants writers had.

Let’s compare and contrast Mal with these other two characters. We’ll start with Evie.

Motivation

What is Mal’s motivation throughout D1? In part one we decided her over-arching motivation is self-interest, specifically power and opportunity. However, if we look simply at D1, we can also see a different, more charitable motivation for her: To make her mother proud.

This is particularly interesting because it is one of the few places where Mal’s character and Evie’s intersect. As we’ve already noted, Mal and Evie are starkly different characters. Evie is more traditionally feminine, more sensitive, and shows more generally positive emotions like kindness and compassion than Mal does. In the background of many scenes (such as Mal’s dragon fight with Hades on the bridge in D3), Evie can be seen checking up on the other characters and making sure they are okay. Strangely enough, even though Mal is ostensibly the protagonist/POV character, we know more about who Evie is than Mal. Evie is, for some reason, gifted a rich inner life that even the main character is not allowed. We know Evie is interested in science and fairly adept at it, she is proficient in many homemaking activities such as sewing and cooking, and she helps Ben with the legislation for the VK project. We also know that she has a strong, steady relationship with her boyfriend that does not stop her from becoming a successful businesswoman who runs her own fashion line. The viewers are not actually told much about who Mal is beside her relationship with Ben and her talent with graffiti. Oh, and her middle name is Bertha I guess.

But for all these differences between these characters, the one place that they align is their D1 goals. Mal and Evie both go into the wand-stealing plan with the intention of making their mothers proud, but even though these motivations are the same on paper, I would argue that this motivation is better handled with Evie’s storyline than Mal’s.

Consider the relationships between Mal and her mother and Evie and her mother throughout D1. Unlike Evie, Mal is actually shown as having a sometimes-positive relationship with her mother. Maleficent pays her “compliments” (see: “That’s my nasty little girl”). She tells Mal that she intends for them to rule Auradon together with “matching thrones” and “hers and hers crowns.” There is even a whole song in D1 that revolves around Mal receiving encouragement from her mother, albeit an imaginary one.

On the other hand, The Evil Queen instilled in Evie anxiety over her physical appearance and relationship status and an intense inferiority complex. The only time she pays Evie a compliment comes when they are video chatting in front of the Fairy Godmother and all of the parents are putting on a facade. In their first scene together, Grimhilda charges Evie with “just finding (herself) a prince with a big castle” and then reprimands her for laughing because it will cause wrinkles.

As a consequence of this difference in parenting styles, Evie has a much stronger motivation to impress her mother than Mal does. Every decision that Evie makes in D1 is a result of this motivation, most notably in her side plot with Chad and Doug, whereas gaining Maleficent’s approval does not factor as heavily into Mal’s decision-making process, as seen in her relationship with Ben.  

So it makes sense that given the two differing relationships between these daughters and mothers, Evie’s desire to impress her mother would be much stronger than Mal’s because she has never truly gotten it before. I’m not denying that Mal and Evie were both the victims of abusive parenting, and of course, in the real world, people respond to different levels of abuse in different but equally valid ways. However, in a Disney Channel Original Movie, a brand that is not known for its subtlety, it makes more sense that from a writing standpoint Evie has a much stronger motivation and a much higher stake in this wand-stealing plan.

Arc

If I were to ask a random Descendants fan what Mal’s arc in D1 was, what is the most likely answer I would receive? Probably that she learned to be good rather than evil, I imagine. What about Evie? Probably that she learned she didn’t need a prince to have value, or maybe not to change herself for a man. Now, based on D2 and D3, which of these characters actually fulfilled that arc?

We can’t say that Mal “learned to be good” because she never actually learned to be good. Whatever lesson Mal learned in D1 didn’t stop her from trying to magically manipulate Ben at the beginning of D2, or trying to permanently banish all the VKs to the Isle in D3. What’s the point of claiming to be on the side of good if your actions don’t corroborate that?

On the other hand, Evie experienced actual growth over the three movies. In D1, we saw her struggle to find validation somewhere other than the nearest available prince, but later learn that she could take pride in her academic capabilities and her aptitude for clothing design. In D2, she continued to build her business with support from her non-prince boyfriend, and later find a new purpose in the plights of the VKs who remained on the Isle. And finally in D3, although we saw more of her relationship with Doug, we also saw her continue to fight for the remaining VKs, building her relationship with Dizzy, and once again continuing to grow her fashion line.

Evie, unlike Mal, actually had one continuous arc with true upward growth. Now, imagine, if you will, what D1 would have looked like with the story shifted to center Evie instead of Mal. It would be a largely similar story, but with a few key changes that would enhance the overall quality.

Removing Mal as the main character of D1 would allow for some actual conflict within the group as well as outside of it. Imagine a core four, led by Evie, that features Mal as her questionably-aligned best friend/number two. Evie and the boys begin to experience doubts about the benefits of their plan, but throughout the movie, Mal remains strong, reminding them that they are “rotten to the core.” Evie is conflicted, with her innate desire to be good and love of the sanctuary Auradon provides warring with her desire to please her mother and her acknowledgment that Mal may have a point. At the finale, Evie, Carlos, and Jay make the decision to stand up for good, and Mal joins them begrudgingly but fondly. Wouldn’t that have been a better, richer conflict than the “Mal feels pulled between her evil habits and the boy she has a crush on” plotline that we got?

Evie is closer to Carlos and probably Jay than Mal is. We see this in all of her background actions, but wouldn’t it have been nice to see these relationships, and these characters, brought into the forefront of the story?

Evie’s general kindness, generosity, and dedication to doing the right thing make her a protagonist you can actually root for, but it also proves Ben’s original argument, and the argument of the whole movie, that the VKs are not predisposed to evil simply because of who their parents are. This argument rings a little hollow as the story stands because its main example is not actually a good person. With Evie in the center of this story, this theme is actually valid.

Positioning Evie as the main character also means that the next two villains of the movies are not direct results of the actions of the character who is supposed to be the protagonist.

Now let’s look at Uma, and how she compares to Mal. Uma’s character is particularly interesting because unlike Evie, she and Mal are very similar. There are, however, a few key differences that make her a more compelling protagonist than Mal

Motivation

This topic has been done to death in fandom, so I won’t dwell too deeply on it, but it’s no secret that Uma’s motivation was handled better than Mal’s at essentially every level. Uma’s story as it was shown in D2 was so well written, in fact, that I was surprised that it came out of a DCOM, and a sequel to boot. The writers did an excellent job of giving Uma a sympathetic, well-fleshed out, compelling character. The only place they fumbled was in remembering two-thirds of the way through that she was supposed to be the villain.

It is strange, however, that in a story that revolves around children finally being set free from an unfair life sentence of prison and poverty, that its villain’s motivation is to continue to liberate these children while its supposed main character actively works against this goal. It is even stranger that in D3, presumably after they saw the massive internet and fan reaction to Uma’s character and motivation, that they doubled down on this distinction instead of rectifying it.

Arc

This section was originally going to be on character arcs, but it is hard to analyze Uma’s

because she doesn’t really… have one. She doesn’t need one, because her character starts out from a place of moral superiority over Mal’s. It could be argued that in D3 she learns to work with others, but even that isn’t supported by the source material because she never actually had to learn that lesson. She already works fine with the rest of her pirate crew, the Sea Three, and even the original VKs, shown in her musical support of Evie during the “One Kiss” song, albeit with, again, a copious amount of eye-rolling. The only one she has a conflict with is Mal (for good reason) and she never truly had to learn to play nice with Mal or to amend her behavior at all because she was always in the right. That brings me to my true second point…

#umadeservedbetter/#umawasright, or, Actions

This is where we examine the actions of these two characters. On paper, Mal and Uma have very similar character traits, but the actions they take within those constraints prove them to be very different people.

Leadership

Mal and Uma are both hailed as leaders within their respective groups, to the point that there is an entire song in D3 that centers around them vying for leadership of their temporarily-combined groups. However, this comparison does not shine favorably on Mal’s leadership skills. Uma has followers because she fights for them. She works tirelessly to get them off the Isle, and then to get back to them when they are separated. Mal never shows this same care for Evie, Jay, or Carlos. When Harry struggles climbing out of the ocean during the big “It’s Goin’ Down” fight scene, Uma goes back to help him without a second thought, sacrificing her revenge in the process. Do we ever see any indication that Mal would make the same choice if it came down to her end goal vs. her friends?

2. Strategy

If you asked a random fan, they would probably say that Mal and Uma are pretty intelligent characters, and they would probably be right. Uma, however, is the only one with any tactical aptitude. In D2 Mal foolishly and callously rejects her friends’ help and goes to face Uma alone, where she is tricked into agreeing to trade Ben for the wand. Then later, Mal’s plan for how to trick Uma with the fake wand is to just “get him [Ben] out of there really fast,” which fails miserably. After that, her solution to every problem is “turn into a dragon,” which is only actually helpful one of the three times she does it. Uma on the other hand is a pretty efficient strategist. In D3 she captures Ben smoothly and only turns him back over after seeing a pretty convincing display of the fake wand’s power. In D3 every plan Uma suggests comes to fruition. In “Night Falls” she orders the group to hold the line in the back while she goes to the front, while Mal thinks they should take left and right sides, respectively. However, as the chorus and next verse start, you can clearly see that they ended up following Uma’s plan, albeit with her and Mal at the front instead of just Uma. Later she suggests that they split up and search Audrey’s dorm, which they do, and they end up finding her diary which leads them to her cottage. Mal herself acknowledges that this was a good idea. The only maybe strategically unsound decision that Uma makes (spelling Ben into falling in love with her which has historically not been successful) is a decision that Mal also made, so I can’t necessarily take points off of either one for that.

3. Choosing “Good”

We’ve already established that Mal has failed astronomically at actually, honestly, switching to the side of good, but Uma manages to start out at a higher ground than Mal and then grow from there. We see Mal pull stunts like taking candy from a baby, graffiting walls around the Isle, and kicking over the merchandise in the Isle’s bazaar/shopping center, but we never see Uma do anything like this, except maybe yell at a patron in the Chip Shoppe. She isn’t cruel to her crew for kicks; she doesn’t even throw Gil out when he calls her Shrimpy, Harry does that. Her motives have always been noble and inclusive of others besides herself. Then, we see her go through the only growth left to her in D3 when she puts her pride behind her to help Mal save Celia and defeat Audrey. We never see Mal go through this type of growth, with the possible exception of her deciding to free all the children and bring down the barrier at the end of D3… WHICH WAS UMA’S ENTIRE PLAN FROM THE JUMP OOOOOHHHH MY GOD WE HAD A WHOLE MOVIE TRYING TO PREVENT THIS VERY THING AND FOR WHAT? IS BRINGING DOWN THE BARRIER ONLY BAD WHEN UMA SUGGESTS IT? BUT NOW THAT IT’S MAL’S IDEA IT IS JUST A-OK I GUESS OOOOOHHH, MY GOD. #UMAWASRIGHT #UMADESERVESBETTER

Ahem. Anyway…

Were these movies framed differently, Evie and Uma would have been the protagonists from the start. Interestingly enough, Evie and Uma serve as foils to Mal both on a story level, and a real-world level. They serve not just as a what-if to Mal’s in-character decisions, but also as a “what if the writers had framed the story to match their writing?” Because here’s the thing, the writers knew what they were doing. They acknowledged Uma’s similarities to Mal as early as D2, with Ben’s “angry girl with a bad plan” comment, but then a few scenes later they chose to position her as a villain anyway. They knew that having Mal suggest closing the barrier permanently in D3 would position her against the rest of the VKs, particularly Evie, and they even wrote a beautiful disagreement for them that could have led to some actual growth for Evie and Mal’s characters. And then a few minutes later Evie, Jay, and Carlos have just… forgiven her, with basically no effort on Mal’s part. Most egregiously of all, they know that Mal did at the end of D3 exactly what Uma was trying to do for all of D2, and they treated Uma like a villain for it. They even have Uma’s character acknowledge this but have basically no problem with it!

This, I think, is why I had such a problem with Mal, and why it grew so aggressively. Bad writing is one thing, but bad writing that is self-aware and yet makes no motion to deal with itself is another. This is basically the end of this entirely-too-long meta/rant. I’ve never been good with conclusions, I just kind of… run out of things to talk about and deflate like a helium balloon. But if there are any points I missed, any other topics to discuss, feel free to let me know. I highly doubt anyone has actually finished this whole essay, but if you did, just know you’re my favorite person. Until next time I guess.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Imhotep

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

The Mummy movies are a lot of fun. Who could hate a young, charming Brendan Fraser having the time of his life fighting mummies and raiding tombs? Clearly this was a sign of a long, happy, trouble-free career for the man!

Oh, I’ve gone and made myself sad… let’s just cut right to it and talk about Imhotep.

Imhotep is the villain of the first two films of the series, and he really helps set the tone. Things get a lot less funny and a lot more darker whenever he’s on the scene, changing the tone from “fun, goofy Indiana Jones-esque romp” to a more overtly horror tone. This makes sense, seeing as he’s a soul-sucking undead monster based on one of the classic Universal monsters… but that’s really a very surface-level look at Imhotep. You see, unlike Ahmanet, the previous mummy covered on here, Imhotep has a real personality and motivations beyond being a simple villain hellbent on domination. In fact, Imhotep doesn’t want to conquer the world at all. He has a very simple, even sweet goal that makes him instantly relatable and tragic: all he wants is the woman he loves.

Actor: Arnold Vosloo plays Imhotep to perfection. He hits all the right villain notes whenever the scene calls for it: he can be scary, intimidating, badass, hammy, emotional, and even sexy. The last one’s a given when you spend a lot of the movie either shirtless or wearing a revealing robe, you know? I’m guessing one of the reasons the third movie failed so hard is because he wasn’t there to bring his own brand of awesomeness to the table, though I wouldn’t know because I’ve never watched the third film and like to pretend everything in the franchise ended happily after the first two films and there was nothing but Scorpion King spin-offs until the end of time.

Motivation/Goals: Imhotep is such an odd villain. Despite being a very powerful mystical being who could bring the world to its knees if he wished it, Imhotep is motivated solely by love. All he really wants is to be reunited with his lover Anck-Su-Namun, and he goes to great lengths to achieve this goal, lengths that do put him beyond the pale but also add a layer of tragedy to him.

The second film has him awakened by a cult to try and steal a supernatural army from Dwayne “The Scorpion King” Johnson, which ends up leading to him becoming far less sympathetic and a lot more cliche in terms of goals, though the romantic and sympathetic qualities are there still. They’re just now forced to share screentime with character traits that Imhotep didn’t really have in the first film, and while they don’t ruin him by any means and they help play into his ultimate tragedy, it just feels kind of sad they made Imhotep return and use him for a “take over the world” plot when his first outing had him really stand out as a villain in a big-budget action movie that didn’t have such a trite motive.

Personality: Imhotep is a pretty nice and friendly guy, for an ancient mummy. In the first film especially, he’s awful open about his plans to Beni and even keeps his word to him, and just in general he’s rather affable… unless, of course, you get in his way, in which case he will kill you without hesitation. He ends up dropping a lot of his more affable personality in the second film, which does come to bite him in the ass. It’s honestly pretty sad, because all that really ends up making him a villain is the manner in which he goes about his goals. Obviously bringing his loved one back would be a grim affair no matter what, but he goes way too far, with his desire to be with the woman he loves driving him to disturbing lengths to be back with her. In fact, the fact that he is such a loving man really plays into his ultimate tragedy, as he continuously suffers for love and in the end his suffering is rendered moot. Maybe villains who can’t comprehend love are better off after all.

Final Fate: In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep is clinging to a ledge and begs for his lover Anck-Su-Namun to save him. Instead, she flees, and Imhotep sees a similar situation happening with Rick and Evy; it ends exactly as you’d expect a dangerous situation with a protagonist couple to end in a cheesy adventure film. Imhotep looks to them with a look filled with jealousy and respect, and then lets go of the ledge, falling into the underworld. It’s a rather depressing and tragic fate that really highlights that for all the evil he did, Imhotep really only wanted to be with the woman he loved, and after all the pain and suffering he endured trying to make that happen, it ended up being all for nothing. It also ends up being ironic and karmic; throughout the film, he shows a lack of empathy for those serving under him, so it ends up being fitting the only person he cares about genuinely would leave him in his time of need.

Best Scene: Imhotep’s giant sandstorm from the first movie. It has become an iconic signature scene of the trilogy for a reason, after all.

Best Quote: So I didn’t exactly find a great quote from Imhotep himself on Wikiquote (my usual source), but I did find a quote from Arnold Vosloo himself that I think sums up Imhotep quite nicely:

“I’m so thankful that all that stuff made it to the screen, because a lot of the time studio executives say that there’s no time, or ask why we should feel sympathy for this bad guy. I joke that I’m the romantic lead in the movie, I just happened to pick the wrong girl. Imhotep is kind of the tragic villain, I guess, and a lot of people have come up to me and said I was hating you, but then I reach a point when I was feeling sorry for you too. It's those different facets that help explain why this film is such a success."

Final Thoughts & Score: For such a bunch of silly adventure films, they sure did go hard when it came to giving us a fantastic villain. Imhotep is, to be fair, not the most complex character in the world; I think being in a film like The Mummy kind of necessitates you being rather simple. But much like the movies he inhabits, he takes his simple concept and runs with it, elevating it into being something greater.

I love how he’s a villain not motivated by power, greed, or ambition, but a desperate desire to be with the person he loves most. In these sort of Indiana Jones-esque archaeological adventure films, you kind of expect to have the main villain or villains being motivated by greed, or power, or something to that effect, but here those motivations are relegated to side villains and our big bad is simply someone who really wants the girl he lived and died for in his arms again. It adds a layer of tragedy to Imhotep, which is only exacerbated in the sequel and then comes to his ultimate conclusion with his final death.

I think Imhotep really shines where a mummy like Princess Ahmanet ultimately failed: he has a clear, defined personality as well as a more relatable goal than “destroy the world.” As much as I enjoyed Princess Ahmanet from the reboot, my wife was right to point out in her guest spot on Psycho Analysis that her personality boils down to being ambitious and graceful, and not much else. Imhotep, on the other hand, shows a lot of emotion, even to his final look to Rick and Evy, which says so much without a single word being uttered. Ahmanet never really got moments like that, but that’s because she was stuck in a movie with an attention whore like Tom Cruise; Imhotep is in a movie with certified nice guy Brendan Fraser, so of course he’s gonna get his fair share of development.

IMHO Imhotep deserves nothing less than a 9/10. He’s the perfect villain for the cheesy fun of the first two Mummy movies, but he’s also something more, something richer than these movies deserved, and is emblematic of what made those movies so special and beloved: how, despite their flaws, there was just some magic there that allowed the films to rise above their simplistic popcorn action reimaginings of a classic monster movie to become something that even decades after the fact people still love and cherish to this day. The only thing holding him back from a perfect ten is the fact that the second film doesn’t do him quite as much justice; I have to say, the whole “world domination” thing looks better on an ambitious royal like Ahmanet than it does on a tragic romantic like Imhotep. Still, there’s no denying that Imhotep is a cool, fun villain for some cool, fun movies.

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 171

Honorable mentions:

Blyke smiling at the beginning was so endearing I love him

I have to admit to you guys, I did read this episode when it came out and at the time I still had yet to write the episode 170 thing. Didn't affect me though so it doesn’t really matter lol

I want Darren to bring up Blyke’s injuries to Isen because he obviously thinks that Blyke got his injuries while fighting Isen, but whenever I want things like this to happen, they never do :(

Isen’s reaction to confrontation is always to hide

I can’t see Sera’s eyebags in this one that's a good sign

Not a lot of actual things to say about Sera learning about John’s past because we already know it and she’s just repeating things that other people have said

Evie getting attacked by Joker? I’m torn between thinking this is some prank and thinking that we’re getting the Sera/John confrontation right now. The whole call was just presented in such a strange way, I have no clue what that’s about?

finally getting on track with updates, hopefully they won’t always be a week late now r.i.p.

is it analyse or analyze because google docs says 1, but tumblr says 2

Have low expectations for this one, friends. But there is 0.1% substance in this post, so still worth it ;)

Somehow this got kind of long? This isn’t read through or edited, I just typed and posted

The fucking bruise:

    I hope you don’t mind the obvious contrast in professionalism between this episode analysis and the one for 170, but the fuckkksufkhsk? Starting this off with Blyke’s confusion when he is significantly more healed than he was last night that it wouldn’t be possible for him to be so okay? You really gotta do me like that huh? Dropping a bomb like that so early on? But the thing about this is that I cannot think of a logical answer for this? I even considered that what he said just meant that doc got hella good at healing, especially because John has complimented doc on that a couple of times, but it was clear that that was not possible and not what was meant to be understood. 

    I’ve already apologized for lack of professionalism, so to hell with introductions and transitions: this implies one of two things:

Blyke has regenerative powers that are emerging from him now that he’s leveling up

Someone healed Blyke without him knowing

    Starting with #1, the possibility of Blyke having healing powers of some kind at first looks like the more likely answer until you realize that Blyke’s ability is deadass “energy beam” and that makes no contextual sense. But this is the first thing that I, and I’m positive most of you, thought. It’s the most logical reason as to why Blyke went to sleep with noticeably worse injuries than when he woke up. I’m kind of stupid regarding abilities in UnOrdinary, so I’m not sure if this blend of two totally different powers is something special or different, but could you imagine how overpowered Blyke would be? That would be insane. And would give him a total edge over John, or anyone for that matter, because he has both an offense and a defense. The thing about this though is that I’m almost positive that this is wrong purely because I do not think Blyke would have healing powers along with his laser powers. Like I cannot see that happening and that fact makes me sad. But there’s just no way. Right? ???

    But now #2: someone else did it. And, yes this looks a bit iffy at first, but that’s the second thing I thought of and I literally have nothing else so sit down. Anyway, this is also a very interesting option, so I’m hyped about that. Because if this is the case then that means it’s either Elaine, Tanner, John copying one of their abilities (this entire post is a bit of a stretch why can’t I include this huh), or an unknown character. But the thing is. However unlikely it is, I can’t help but wonder if this is Kuyo’s doing. We don’t actually know his ability yet and he was watching Blyke last night. I think this is probably the most possible thing I’ve said so far, and that’s saying something, but yeah. Otherwise, there’s really nothing I can think of because I can’t even imagine why someone would 1. Be able to find out Blyke was hurt and 2. Sneak into Isen’s room to heal him. Anyway, I’m just confused in general. Excited, but confused.

    Call me stupid in the comments if I missed something else that this could mean because sometimes I just forget things or don’t think of things lol. And right now I especially feel like I’m missing something?

Sera:

    Okay, it’s been weeks and I still get excited because Sera’s learning everything about John. For multiple reasons: one, because she’s known him since the beginning and everything she learns just hits that much harder and two, because she’s probably the character who is going the most in depth with her discovery. She’s for sure the character that has cared the most about knowing who John really is and I really think because of her investigation into John, we’re going to learn something new about him too, maybe if she goes online or something. Maybe she’ll remember something personal that John said and that Isen didn’t know about and she’s able to look online about it and finds something, wouldn’t that be heartbreaking because not only did John betray her, but he was very genuine about it if that makes sense (it doesn’t)? Ignore me, I like to imagine things though and I can really see just Sera’s whole process as a whole go somewhere emotional for both her and John.

    The thing about this, though, is that I do think she’s going to confront John really soon. Probably like in a few episodes or something based on how she’s talking in this one to Isen, so not really sure if what I just talked about is going to fit, but maybe that stuff can happen in their conversation. I don’t know. I just want a moment where Seraphina and John really realize that they’ve lost their friendship and both get sad about it, is that a bad thing to want? Probably. But who knows, John’s in a weird state right now, I don’t really think he’ll get all sad and stuff, he’ll likely get angry or something. Wait, now I want a build up when Sera confronts John where you think he’s going to blow up on her or something, but suddenly he breaks down, letting us see the person behind all of his decisions and actions because John knows he’s a monster (I’m using the fact that he pretended to be a cripple for literally a long ass time to prove this) and that he can’t hide from that. I want to see John confront himself with that and I want Sera to be there. And I know I sound like satan right now, but screw it, this is already very unprofessional. I'm not even analyzing I’m just typing anything that I think.

    On a genuine note, though, I was very happy with Sera explaining how she didn’t think that cripple John was ‘faking’ it. She said, “All the stuff he used to preach to me about… I don’t think he was faking it. He meant everything he said. He regretted his previous actions… and he tried to change.” This is probably the first time another character has really thought about John’s developing character over these events rather than just what he did. Sera is the only one who truly reflected on John and I’m grateful for that. I have to admit, when I first read this episode, I got excited because I thought it kind of supported the big and dramatic claims I’ve been making recently about John, but it doesn’t really. It, however, does nothing to harm it so that’s a win :).

    Anyway, something very interesting to me was Seraphina’s question regarding John’s decision to become a cripple. I don’t think I’ve considered this in depth before so this question was pretty surprising to me to see from Sera. She doesn’t understand why John enrolled as a cripple in Wellston as opposed to a mid-tier or someone who would have less chance of being singled out in general. And I’m going to answer this based on what fits with what I’ve been saying about John. If you haven’t read it, go to my page and either scroll or search for episode 167 because I really tried to be detailed there. Anyways, I think John decided to be a cripple just because he felt like the farther away from his bad self he was, the better off he’d be because what Sera doesn’t understand yet is that John wasn’t just trying to hide from other people when he transferred to Wellston, he was also trying to hide from himself. He probably felt distance was the best way to do that and I use the fact that he moved from a town relatively far away to Wellston (according to Isen’s early interrogation of John) as evidence. Anyway, Seraphina doesn’t think about this or maybe just doesn’t believe that and says that it was a bad idea for John to pose as a cripple purely because it forced him to place himself in a position similar to his before he gained his powers, and obviously it didn’t lead to the best place last time. 

    I do think Seraphina is wrong in one thing, however. She thinks that John doesn’t want to be put in the same situation as he was before New Bostin, she labels that as his downfall, but I personally believe that John might have done this on purpose to feel as least powerful as he could. But I don’t really have any reasoning behind that though so, dead end. But something else that I disagree with Seraphina on was how she said, “And just like before… He couldn’t handle the pain of being a cripple.” I read that for the first time and just thought damn. That was such a cold statement. And in response all I have to say is that John was handling the pain of being a cripple just fine, it was only when he was forced to shed that that he lost grip of his facade. Seraphina is completely wrong on this point, and I hope she learns that in the future. Like, I’m sorry, but that statement could literally not be more incorrect. I’m stunned at how much that contradicts reality.

[dxscxndxnts]

SIS have you read the summary for what Escape from the Isle of the Lost is about? Because I have some feelings! I won't say anything in here however in case you haven't. If you do wanna see the summary its on the JustJaredJr website.

Hi Anon! I have read the summary, but I haven’t, ya know, READ the Summary. However, I say now would be a good a time as any to go through it line by line :)

Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos may have once been the baddest of the bad, but their wicked ways are (mostly) behind them—and now graduation is almost here! But before the seniors can don their custom-designed caps and gowns, courtesy of Evie, they’ve got an epic plan to put into action.

I’m gonna start this by saying my Grammarly check told me ‘baddest’ is not a word…what the fuck Disney.

Onto the good stuff: Yay, these adult-lookin’ teens are finally gonna graduate! That means we can say safely that most of them are 18 by D3, which is probably gonna be about graduation. And of course, the custom caps and gowns are gonna be colorful and fun if they’re designed by Evie.

There are tons of villain kids on the Isle of the Lost who are eager for their chance to come to Auradon Prep – even Celia, Dr. Facilier’s trickster daughter, wants in on the deal! – and Mal’s crew is using their upcoming visit to the Isle to help make it happen. But Auradon’s biggest threat is still at large…

YAY! MORE VILLAIN KIDS TO BRING OVER! And I am SO here from Celia’s first impression being ‘trickster.’ I’m here to protect her at all costs!

The Core Four are making an UPCOMING visit to the Isle–possibly also build up for the visit to be in D3, especially with those promo clips we saw of them on the Isle.

Now for the biggest threat…*sigh*…I know who it’s gonna be, and I dunno why I hate it so much. Like yeah, she is the ONLY threat to Auradon at the moment, so it is the BIGGEST, but if they tryna make her the Big Bad in D3 imma throw hands bc she is JUSTIFIED!

Trapped on the other side of the barrier, Uma is more desperate than ever to get her long-awaited revenge against Mal. When she discovers an underground lair belonging to Hades, god of the underworld, Uma realizes she’s found the perfect partner in crime. Together, they can defeat Mal, bring down the barrier, and escape the Isle for good.

I may just be a biased Uma Stan that thinks she is less of a villain, more of an antagonist, but I just hate how they say here that she’s ‘desperate’ and that her revenge is just against Mal? Am I the only one who feels like her main grudge is against all of Auradon and her thing against Mal is additional? I wanna know what you guys think about that because I just don’t like the way that line reads.

Okay, I’ve read the “Trapped on the other side of the barrier” line like five times now and I still don’t know which side she is ACTUALLY TRAPPED ON! If she made it back onto the Isle, how? I’d like to know! But she could be trapped outside of the barrier, and honestly, that’s the only way she could still be a BIG threat to Auradon. By trapped, it’d be like being stuck between a rock (the barrier) and a hard place (Auradon out for her arrest). Uma could find an underground lair underwater because she’s Ursula daughter, so that’d be dope. How Hades has an Underground layer outside of the Isle, well, he’s a fucking god. I wouldn’t doubt it.

Uma and Hades Team Up can be good or bad. On one hand, I would love to see them reference Hades as Uma’s uncle. I know that the whole ‘Ursula and Triton are Poseidon’s kids’ thing is never fully acknowledged in The Little Mermaid Movie, but it isn’t refuted either, and since it’s canon in the musical and was in the original movie notes, I think it’d be cool.

However, I’m worried about a) Uma being corrupted into a mindset that it’s “One for all and all for me.” or be) Uma getting emotionally manipulated.

If Uma’s stuck alone with Hades for too long, hearing his ramblings of betrayal and how living alone is better and blah blah, Captain “My crew is the only real family I have” Uma might doubt her own beliefs. This is all kinda speculative, but we can all agree that Uma is a very crew-oriented person. She doesn’t like being the loner, but Hades’ ramblings of power in solitude might change her for the worse, and I ain’t tryna read a book where Uma frightfully questions her relationships with her crew like Gil and *ahem* HARRY!

On the other hand, Uma might go along with what Hades is doing for the common goal and because she’s at a low point (in which case, desperate is an appropriate word). Hades, however, is using his familial ties to a sea witch on the outside of the barrier for his own personal gain. This way, when Uma demands her split of the deal (probably freedom for the Isle), Hades, who really only wanted to free himself and dominate the world, is like “lmao u thought i was serious? silly niece, honesty is for heroes” in which case I will cry because I am SICK of people betraying Uma.

Also, Uma’s perfect partner-in-crime has and always will be Harry.

Mal and Uma have a score to settle, and they’ll come face to face in an explosive underwater battle that could determine the fates of Auradon and the Isle of the Lost once and for all.

If this is supposed to mean that dumb Under The Sea thing, that was a friggin dream. Also, if Uma and Mal are fighting in this book (not in a dream), we all know Mal is gonna either win or retreat since she’s the main character. If you’re tryna tell me that Mal would beat Uma underwater, Imma have some serious bones to pick.

Best case scenario: They fight and argue while they are fighting, and Mal is like “why do u hate me so much omg leave auradon alone if u just hate me” and Uma legit is just done with her and is all “Bish I’m fighting for the vks u abandoned, u just happen to be in my way (high key I also hate u)” and that just makes Mal question everything and then they both retreat after a dangerous stalemate, and that’ll build the foundation for their alliance in D3.

That’s all for my analysis of the Summary! Lemme know what you guys think, if you agree or disagree, or anything you wanna say about the upcoming book!

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 128

Such. A. Great. Episode

I mean it leaves me apologizing for a bunch of incorrect theories, but it was great

Honorable mentions:

The fact that Arlo is taller than literally everyone is great

Submissive Cecile.

First up:

New Girl:

    Okay so she isn’t Abby…;-;. Very disappointed and sad, but I won’t elaborate because probably no one here knows who that is.

    Evie is still the cutest character though ;).

    But in regard to the claims I made about her last week, the one that fits the most is that she’s scared of the mid-tiers and probably wanted to stay out of the drama. I’m tired though so I won’t explain it. Go read last week’s review/analysis thing.

The confrontation:

    We learn from Hower that the total number of students that have rallied together to beat up Seraphina is around eight or nine. He could be lying, but probably not. This discredits MANY of my earlier theories.

    I do have something to say about one of Arlo’s lines though. Usually I am the biggest fan of Arlo, but sometimes his morals and mindset make him say the douchiest stuff. The line I’m talking about is when Arlo is scolding Hower. He says, “You fools abducted a student and left her alone for the entire night?! HOW DARE YOU?” Without context, there’s no real issue with this outburst. He’s upset that students kidnapped another student and is trying to help. But, similarly to when he decided to look for Sera, Arlo wouldn’t do the same for just any student. Because of his beliefs that those who are powerful should be in charge, should be the most important, Arlo is trying to save Seraphina. It’s only because she once stood at the top that Arlo is risking his neck looking for her. This specific situation is a bit weird though, as Seraphina is currently a cripple. But nobody can deny Arlo’s blind obedience to the hierarchy and it’s not like Seraphina was ever best friends with Arlo. Not even last year, when she was “perfect.” the only other reason that I can think of that Arlo would try to save Seraphina other than order is because he is close to her. Though, as I just said, they were never the best of friends, Seraphina used to be a huge part of his life. They used to rule Wellston together and at the beginning of the comic, you could tell Arlo was invested in her well-being.

    Back to the quote. When Arlo is speaking, he says, “You fools abducted a student… HOW DARE YOU?” This makes it sound like he would drop everything and search when any student went missing. We know that Arlo wouldn’t do that. He would consider the fates of low-tiers beneath him. Evie even said that the high-tiers never paid much attention to what happened between any of the low or mid-tiers. Helping everyone and treating everyone equal sounds like something Rei would do, and though Arlo admired him, nobody could say that he has the same mindset. So basically, When Arlo got mad at Hower for kidnapping a student, he only reacted because that student is Seraphina. I want to be mad at Arlo for this like before, but I really can’t.

    After reading this line from Arlo, I thought about what kind of king that made him. We have always viewed Arlo as the example of what a king should be (or at least I have). He enforces the hierarchy that allows the school to run smoothly. His discipline keeps most of the students in line. And he has seemingly good judgement. I don’t know if his disregard for low-tiers makes him a weaker king, or a stronger one.

    One one hand, treating the students as unequal is just inviting a whole bunch of problems for any low-tier. They are subjected to hate and violence. And while the mid/high-tiers live a simple and safe life, anyone born less fortunate has no chance to be anything, to become anything at Wellston. They have no real chance at a future in a school that favors the powerful. I realize that Arlo isn’t the leader of the entire school, but by remaining ignorant, he isn’t doing all that he could be for the wellbeing of the low-tiers.

    On the other hand, school would be chaos is everyone was treated equally. Though Rei was a great brother and friend, I have to agree with Cecile that he wasn’t the best king. Treating everyone the same caused confusion and lets low-tiers believe that they can do what they cannot, hurting them in the long run. I am genuinely interested about how turf wars worked when Rei was king. The way Rei ran the school was sloppy and short-sighted.

    So the question now lies to morals. Is order better than equality? Is severity worse than chaos?

    Despite my initial thought process, I believe that in the end, Arlo’s love of the hierarchy makes him a better king. His respect for a system is how he keeps Wellston under control and he’s probably doing a better job than most. So my apologies to the low-tiers, but let the king’s reign continue.

This got pretty off-topic, but yeah.

John/Cecile:

    My favorite part of the episode… Cecile approaches John offering help. I was so excited when this happened. I had thought that we would have to wait another episode at least for this moment, but uru-chan has blessed us.

    I love how Cecile just had to convince John of her usefulness. For once we don’t see her confident aggressiveness. She is anxious and submissive around John. It’s such a change from the personality that she normally presents.

    I really enjoyed this, but I really have nothing to analyze. I’m just wondering how John views Cecile right now. She did say that he was the true king and was there to support him, so maybe he’s worried that she could reveal his identity or that she wants to put him on the throne.

    Also, did any of the students see this go down?

Leilah:

    We finally get to see Leilah in this chapter. This is exciting because I want to see how she and Darren are going to play into this, if they ever even do. But there’s something I noticed.

    Leilah seems really similar to how Sera is right now. She is relaxed, does her hair how she wants, and wears similar clothing to Seraphina. This could maybe symbolize how close Seraphina is to leaving her family, to following Leilah’s footprints. Maybe symbolizing the wedge forming between Sera and her family. I don’t know haha. I know this isn’t really much to go off of as this is just her appearance, but I really think that uru-chan did this on purpose. Character design 10/10.

    Another point that is kind of related to Leilah’s appearance. She has purple hair. We know that hair color in UnOrdinary works similarly to hair color in the real world. Children usually get the same color as one of their parents. We see this in John and Seraphina, who have the same color hair as one of their parents. Because Leilah has light purple, we can assume that her’s and Seraphina’s dad has light purple hair. I think there have been some adult males with the same color hair, but I’m not sure if we’ve seen their father yet. Probably not. Though from now on, I will be keeping an eye open for adults with light purple hair.

The Ending scene:

    Again, not much to say, but too important to make an honorable mention.

    Who is the couple that reached the house? Is it Arlo and Elaine? Or is it John and Cecile?

I personally think it’s Arlo and Elaine. They started first so it would make sense logically. Also, It would be weird if John and Cecile got there first and just went in there and beat everyone up and then saved Sera. It’s much better story telling to have Arlo and Elaine there and uru-chan is obviously a great story teller.

Comment who you think got to the house first and also if Arlo is a good king or not