#(my favorite book series got recently got turned into a tv series)

[personinthepalace]

The 80s got adaptations right

I am specifically thinking about Granada Holmes and Sullivan Anne of Green Gables but I’m sure there’s other examples

[penelopepine]

‘Mini Me’ was the CUTEST thing ever!!! I’m also here to beg for more Graves x Reader content 🙏. Could you write about Graves saving Reader from a home invasion?

THANK YOU! I'm so glad you liked it, and I hope you like this. I had a blast writing it so thank you for the ask!!

Intruder Alert!

Phillip Graves x Fem Reader

Content: Home invasion, light angst, fluff, guns Word Count: 1930

It’s become something of a habit for you both to call each other whenever possible at this time. You’re already laying down in bed, your favorite show is on and a book lays in your lap, when Phillip calls you right on the dot as usual. 

You turn off the TV and answer before the first ring is even finished as you happily exclaim into the phone, “Phillip!” 

“Evening sweetheart, you doing ok?” He asked; his voice low but comforting. “You better be in bed at this hour.” 

With a slight huff you reply, “I am, I am don’t worry. Just reading the book you got me. You didn’t have to do that you know.” It had been a total surprise for you when you came home one day to a package on your doorstep knowing full well that you hadn’t ordered anything recently. Even more of a surprise when it had been the final book of a series you had been raving about to Phillip just a few days ago. You had also mentioned how the last book had just come out as well.

“Nonsense, I gotta spoil my girl even when I’m not there.” 

“You’re too good to me, baby. Thank you. I love it so much; I’ll have to show you some appreciation whenever you come home.” 

You hear through the phone Phillip take a sharp breath when he hears your words before chuckling to himself as he growls out, “is that so? What sort of … appreciation do you have in mind?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to give anything anyway.” 

“Sweetheart, it’s not nice to-.” 

Crash!

That was the sounds of glass shattering downstairs, but that's not all though - you can hear someone cursing and the sound of footsteps under glass. You're suddenly regretting having those big bag windows installed.

It takes you a few seconds to realize that Phillip is calling your name; there's actually a lot of noise coming from his side of the phone now.

"Philip, I think someone's in the house." 

"Sweetheart," his voice firm, but filled with concern, "You need to do exactly as I say; do you understand?"

"I- I understand." 

"Good good, everything is going to be alright. I'm on my way to you now." You can hear the sound of a car door slamming as he says that. It's a half an hour drive from the base to here; you've seen him make it in twenty though. "Get up - slowly, and lock the bedroom door." 

Shakily you do as he says; trying to calm your thundering heart as if whoever is here can hear it and will come barging into the room. The tiny click of the door lock sounds out like a church bell on Sunday.

"It's locked." You're honestly not even sure you spoke with how softly you whispered those words, but you must have because Phillip is giving you his next command as soon as you're finished speaking them. 

“Now in my night stand - bottom drawer, is a case grab it. Go to the bathroom and lock that door as well before doing anything else with it.” 

“Isn’t that your-?” 

“Yes. Grab it.” 

It was Phillip’s gun case. He’s shown you how to use the gun inside of it about every month. For emergencies he had always said; you’ve never thought about having to actually use it on another person though. 

Pushing that thought down though you quickly get yourself settled in the now locked bathroom. “I have it; the door is locked.” 

“You know what I’m going to ask next, sweetheart. Just … just keep it close and ready. I’m almost there.” You could tell that Phillip was trying to calm for your sake right now. This was something you two had talked about though being a possibility. It’s so different being in the real situation though. 

Sitting down on the cold floor you open the case, and pull out the gun. It feels so much heavier than it ever has in your hands. 

It was in that moment that you heard the unmistakable creak of third from the top step on the stairs - it was the only one that ever made any noise. Whoever was here was now on the second floor, and only a few steps away from you. 

Quickly you pull the phone away from your ear to check how long it’s been. Everything feels as if it’s been going a mile a minute surely Phillip is almost here - six minutes. It’s only been six minutes. It could easily take another twenty for your husband to get here. 

The intruder must be at your door now because the next thing you hear is the rattle of the locked bedroom door. It wouldn’t be something you would normally hear, but in the dead quiet it's the only thing you can hear. That and the sound of Phillip’s car speeding his way towards you over the phone. 

All you can do now is wait and hope that this is just some thief who is there to steal whatever they find valuable, and not for anything related to Phillip because if they are, you know a locked door is not going to stop them from getting to you. 

It’s silent for a few minutes after that, and you really think that the locked door has deterred whoever it is that entering is not worth the hassle. That is of course not true because the next thing you know is that the bedroom door is being kicked open with a loud bang as the door and wall collide with one another. 

You can’t help but gasp as you hear it, as you do Phillip is worryingly calling your name. When you don’t immediately reply he continues, “I’m almost there; hang in for a few more minutes for me. I’m-” 

Phillip’s voice suddenly cuts off from whatever he was going to say. Pulling your phone away from your ear again you see that your phone has died. Oh.

Meanwhile in the bedroom you can hear the person shuffling around; drawers being opened and closed with no consideration for noise. You pull the gun up and steady your aim to the door. It’s only a matter of time before they try and knock this door down as well after all. 

You know you're only going to have one real shot though. Whoever is on the other side is definitely more prepared for a confrontation than you are - probably a lot stronger than you are too. 

Looking to your side you debate going out the window. You’re on the second floor, but as long as you do a somewhat decent landing you’re not in any danger of dying from the fall. It’s the fear of breaking something though that stops you from just making a run for it. Breaking a wrist or arm would hurt like a bitch, but it’d be doable. A leg though would probably put you in a worse situation then the one you’re currently in. 

With minutes that feel like hours you wait for the inevitable to happen. Only that’s not what happens because all of a sudden you hear a loud pained grunt and what sounds like two people fighting. 

Phillip. 

It has to be him. You don’t think anyone else would be inside fighting the intruder. 

You don’t open the door though. During your talks about this kind of situation Phillip always told you to wait for him - he’d be the one to give you the signal that it was safe to leave whatever hiding space you managed to find. 

Just as quickly as it started though it’s over. You can’t hear anything anymore. That is until four knocks on the bathroom door sound out - the signal. 

Immediately you're running to unlock the door. When throw open the door Phillip pulls you into his arms, and guides you back into the bathroom. “Thank fuck you’re alright, sweetheart.” 

“I’m alright,” You’re more concerned about him right now though, “What about you though? Are you hurt anywhere?” 

Try as you might to pull away and check him over his grip on you does not loosen. “I’m fine. Just let me hold you right now.” 

You don’t know how long the two of you stand there just embracing one another, and frankly you don’t care to know. It would have been longer if not for Phillip’s phone suddenly ringing out. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to let go quite yet with how he gives you one more hard squeeze before letting go, and grabbing his phone. 

“Graves speaking … good, come inside and handle the trash. I’m heading back to base.” It’s fairly obvious who he was talking to, but you still have to ask.

“Are the shadows here? How are they here already?” 

“I called Erikson to get his ass here with a few boys after our call was cut out.” Phillip releases a deep breath and rests his forehead on yours, “You had me cursing up a storm when that happened, sweetheart. What have I told you about keeping your phone charged?” 

Of course he knew it was because your phone died. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to let it get below 50% after this.” 

“Probably for the best.” You watch as Phillip now pulls away fully and grabs the gun from where you had left it; hostlering it to his side. “Now let’s get out of here. You’re staying on base until I get a new security system installed.” 

He is then pressing you into his side as his hand comes up to cover your eyes. “Phillip?” 

“Don’t want you seeing anything, sweetheart. Let me guide you out of here for now.” 

You don’t put up anymore of a fuss at that, and you also don’t really want to see whatever lies in the bedroom right now. With that he’s quick to get you out of the bedroom, and out into the hallway. There he does finally let you see again as he continues to pull you down the stairs. 

As you get to the bottom a small group of shadows are entering the house. They give Phillip a nod before hurriedly passing him as they make their way up the stairs now. 

“Wait, I should pack something before we leave.” You say remembering how he had said that you’d be staying at the base. 

“Well come by in the morning, sweetheart. After the boys get things cleaned up.” He reassures you as he practically carries you out of the house to his car. The ride for the most part is silent besides the low singing from the radio. Philip also doesn’t let go of your hand once during the whole ride as if he let go you’d disappear. 

Once back at base the first thing he does is get you settled in his room and bed. He lays down next to you, having you flush against his chest. “I love you so much, sweetheart. I don’t know what I would do without you.” 

“I love you too; I’m here - I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Damn right you’re not.” You feel Phillip relax for the first time tonight as he gives your neck a small kiss. 

You can’t help but think how everything, despite what happened just about an hour ago, right now feels perfect. Being in Phillip’s arms will never not fix everything for you. With that thought you drift off into sleep knowing that everything tomorrow will be alright as long as you have him with you. 

[quincywillows]

a scattered and overall supportive review of percy jackson season 1

let me just say first of all, it's extremely fun to be enthused about a tv show like this again. the adaptation isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun, and you can tell there's plenty of heart and good intention behind what they're doing. i'm very much enjoying tuning in every couple of episodes and catching up -- and avoiding the relentless commentary of the internet while i do so lol.

but now it's time for MY commentary!! to preface, i was a huge fan of the books when i was younger, am a stalwart long-term advocate of the original five books as some of the best children's lit of our lifetime, but i also enjoyed the films a decade ago for what they were and think people (including cough rick cough) are way too harsh about them. justice for logan lerman. anyway

i'm not going to do like a play-by-play, but in summary, here are my takeaways from the first season -- what i thought worked, what did not, and things i'm optimistic about going into the future seasons.

the good

for an adaptation of the original series (which, to be fair, i have not reread in years), i felt this was honest and faithful. there were tweaks, obviously, but none that took me too out of it or felt irredeemable. there was a lot to like about this show, so i want to start right from the top with my highest highs.

the worldbuilding / production design. i absolutely loved getting to see how they imagined certain iconic characters, locations, and sequences from the books. it was so exciting to get to see camp halfblood for the first time on screen (at least, in this adaption) -- that moment in episode two definitely felt like a turning point where we picked up from the somewhat laggy pilot episode. i especially loved the design of mount olympus, aspects of the underworld (hades and his upside down castle were baller, though how did percy and grover get up there lol; and i absolutely loved the choice for asphodel and the ghosts being rooted like trees, i never would've thought of that myself but it was so chilling and unique... just wish i could see it better through the terrible lighting, but we'll come back to that), and of course, camp. even down to the small details, like the camp beads... it's just very cool to see it come to life.

the casting. i wasn't sure about some of the casting when the news was breaking, but i'm very happy to have been pleasantly surprised all around (and have majorly avoided people bitching about every single thing). there wasn't any role where i felt like someone was horribly miscast, and you could tell that everyone involved really wanted to be there and committed. i thought the casting of the gods was especially inspired at times. some of the highlights for me personally:

adam copeland as ares. i had no idea he was apparently a wrestler turned actor until my sister told me, but i thought he was absolutely spectacular. very charismatic, with just the right amount of cringefail that ares needed. i found him thoroughly enjoyable in all his scenes.

lance reddick as zeus. having just played horizon zero dawn recently, oh my lorde was this an inspired choice. he was absolutely brilliant. i'm so so sad about his passing, i don't know how they're going to recapture his performance, but i have faith now that they'll find a way.

timothy omundson as hephaestus. i love that they took a softer, more mad scientist approach to his role than like ugly basement blacksmith vibes... i just thought it was really refreshing. his scene with annabeth, where we got so much humanity from him in such a short span of time, was one of my favorite scenes of the season.

jason mantzoukas as dionysus. i mean. what else can be said. obvious choice, but he was so fun lol. i hope they give him more to do next season.

other standouts beyond the main youth cast for me were jay duplass as hades (his brief appearance in 107 was thoroughly enjoyable) and dior goodjohn as clarisse (she was by far the acting standout of the first couple episodes to me). also very happy to see jessica kennedy parker and sinclair from the 100 get work, lol.

walker as percy jackson. it was really wonderful watching walker grow as an actor even just through the first eight episodes. the difference from 101 to 108 is almost night and day. you can tell how much he cares about the project and percy as a character, and he upped his game with every episode. i cannot wait to see what he turns out in the coming seasons. to be fair, i thought all of the youth cast did a decent job, and i'm giving them a lot of leeway and room to grow since they are literally child actors -- it takes time to hone your craft, and im optimistic they're all going to do a great job as the series goes on. but walker was, definitively and thankfully as the protagonist, the standout.

charlie bushnell as luke. i was so excited when i heard he got cast because i loved him in diary of a future president, and he did not disappoint. i kind of wish he had more to do, but all of that was forgiven in the finale when he had his final confrontation with percy. oh, the acting popped off then -- i can't wait for him to get to chew up the scenery more in the coming seasons.

grover and percy's friendship. it was so sweet to see this come alive, and i thought walker and aryan had excellent natural chemistry together. they were so endearing, and i really believed their friendship basically from the start (them swapping their sandwich fillings is a tiny detail from the pilot that has stuck with me since; i just loved that choice so much). they definitely provided a lot of my favorite moments in the season, and i think evoked the most genuine "aw wow" moments from me.

percy's relationship with sally. since sally was, understandably, absent from the original novel, it was awesome to get the flashbacks here that allowed us to more deeply understand their bond. i thought walker and virginia did a great job with this, and the young actor who played little percy also did a surprisingly great job (he was actually one of the stronger youth actors in the pilot imo lol). you totally understood why percy was doing everything he was, because that mother-son bond felt believable. big shout-out to the absolutely baller line "i am sally jackson's son." one of the first writing moments where i was like oh snap!

the music. a good score really can't be understated, and this one did not disappoint. did just what it needed to do. i also loved the closing title sequence and the art direction there with the epic music -- just such a nice touch that i'm so glad they included.

some of the writing. i'll get more into some of my qualms with the writing below, but there were definitely some great moments that deserve their flowers. i thought they did a great job weaving in some early themes without being heavy-handed about it (percy having to define who he is for himself, mostly). there were some genuinely funny moments that made me laugh out loud, including "i am impertinent," annabeth's "i'm multitalented," and the entire exchange on the road side when the trio to ares are like no... we're fine... ahaha bye... oh and percy trying to drive the taxi out of the garage at the casino was absolutely hysterical.

pivotal scenes hitting their mark. when the show needed to deliver, i thought they really delivered. i absolutely loved the staging and acting in the final luke and percy confrontation -- the lighting of the fireworks was such a cinematic touch. percy's arrival at olympus and scene with zeus was also a big standout. i loved a lot of the st. louis arch episode, and thought the hephaestus golden chair sequence was really well done. overall, the episodes i thought were strongest were without a doubt 104, 105, and 108.

expansion where expansion was welcome. one of my favorite aspects of the series is how it's giving more nuance to the monsters and "villains" of the books. i loved that we got a little more motivation for alecto beyond evil -- that she clearly wanted to accomplish her own mission and retrieve the helm, whether out of loyalty or fear. i loved how medusa got much more depth and humanity, that we're sort of reexamining the fairness of how myths are told rather than just taking it all at face value. i'm really looking forward to seeing how that continues in the next seasons.

the decent

percy and annabeth. to be fair, i think my issue with this is more on the fan reaction than the show itself. i think the show is doing a decent, if somewhat awkwardly paced job, of building their friendship and offering small little hints of what could blossom in the future in classic youth awkward ways -- unexpected hugs, banter, etc. i think walker and leah are both doing a good job, and i look forward to seeing how it develops. but my god, people on the internet are really jumping the shark so hard here. i can't handle seeing more "uwu percy is in love" posts when it's like. y'all. THEY ARE 12. THEY JUST MET. LET THEM ORGANICALLY BECOME FRIENDS FIRST... i just hope the creators don't feed into that and also jump the shark. like yes, we all know where this is going, but can't we enjoy the actual journey to get there instead of forcing what isn't there yet? in any case, on the positive side, some of the moments between them i really enjoyed: the conversation on the train when grover was asleep, the hephaestus chair sequence, annabeth giving him her camp beads before going to olympus (that was a slay... that was a legendary slow burn start moment worth hyping up), the way percy smiled at her in their last scene... that's the good stuff. let's not rush through what we're getting folks. the water is fine.

lin manuel as hermes. here is the thing. i thought lin did a good job. i thought his casting was apt, and fun, and he did a great balance of hermes charisma and like, a darker edge. it's just... the thing about lin manuel is that he's lin manuel. and this is coming from someone who likes him, but it's like he shows up on screen and i'm just like. hey it's lin manuel. it's a bit of a "takes you out of the moment" stunt casting, but i'm not mad about it. i wouldn't call it a bad thing. hopefully it'll wear off (though i doubt it). i guess i'm just deciding that hermes is just lin manuel, which honestly, would kind of track.

the youth acting. mentioned this above, but again, some of that early delivery was rough. but i am giving a lot of grace, and i think they've already improved plenty in the first eight episodes. i felt the same way about shadowhunters back in the day when i thought kat mcnmara was hard to watch in season 1, but by season 3 she was my absolute favorite cast member and came so far. i have no doubt these kiddos will do the same. so very much looking forward to that.

the not so great

the pacing. this was definitely the weakest part of the story writing wise. it wasn't irredeemable, but it did hinder the first half of the show (which didn't lock in for me until about 104, when the stakes truly shot up at st. louis). and that also affected how dynamics and plot points were able to unravel. the biggest victim of this...

the luke reveal. from the start, i was worried about this. since luke was only really in episode 2, i had doubts about whether the reveal of his betrayal would be at all satisfying or earned. i don't know that i can speak on it for sure, since i knew what was going to happen as someone who read the books, but i still feel we should have gotten more of those luke-and-percy-bonding scenes and convos earlier in the series rather than tacked onto the finale as flashbacks. it worked there, but i think it could've been better. thankfully, all of that didn't hinder the delivery of the finale confrontation, which as i said, was a standout moment for me.

the fight scenes. with rare exception, i was pretty underwhelmed with many of the monster battles and confrontations this season. given that's such a huge gimmick of the novels, i hope they're able to revisit and polish up the pacing of these in the future... i just felt that scenes like the museum clash with dodds were so rushed and anticlimactic. or not even confrontations at all, like the scene with crusty. we got a bit more of this at the back half of the season, in the sword fights with ares and luke, but i wanted more of that epic feeling throughout. i'm hoping it's maybe just a budget concern and that it'll improve in the coming seasons -- especially as the bosses get bigger and the stakes get higher -- but i'm not sure i'm optimistic just yet.

some of the dialogue. it was... wooden, to say the least. i think the worst moments of this were when they were trying to force Kid Bants -- which just felt stilted in the earlier episodes -- and whenever they were explaining greek myths point blank to the audience. there were moments it worked, but many where it didn't, and i hope they flesh out how to better info dump in the future episodes. i didn't mind the change of having percy be more familiar with the myths and thus more aware, but they could afford to finesse how they relay that information to us in the audience without basically reading from wikipedia in percy's voice.

the ugly

oh my god i can't see. i can't SEE. this show went to the teen wolf academy of employing one lightbulb and it's actually criminal. there were so many scenes where i really wanted to see what was happening because the stakes were high or the scenery was so pivotal -- the entry into the underworld for the first time, the vastness of medusa's basement of stone, THE FIELDS OF ASPHODEL -- but the lighting was so god awful i legitimately couldn't see a thing. in asphodel i literally could barely see the trio's expressions, it was that bad / flat. the audience is smart, we understand it's dark out. we can suspend our disbelief so you can add some visibility to this thing. i was turning up my brightness constantly but it wouldn't go any higher. please, disney execs, rick, anyone -- GET ANOTHER LIGHTBULB. i'm losing key immersive aspects of the show to this and it's a bummer. when they were walking through waterland for the first time and annabeth was like "wow can you believe this craftsmanship" i was like i don't know, girl, I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT. begging on my knees that they fix this next season.

well, that ended up longer than expected, but oh my gods it is so nice to be writing paragraphs about a tv show again. all in all, i'd say 7.5/10 from me in this first season. there's so much to be keen for here, and i'm really happy with how it's going so far.

friends and fellow demigods, what did we all think?

[popculturebuffet]

Superhero Wedding Special III: The Wedding of Wally West and Linda Park

Happy belated valentine's day all you happy people! And it's time once again for my favorite tradition on this blog: the superhero wedding special.

For those just joining us I love a good wedding "episode", wether it be a good tv wedding like Adventure Time or Community, a good wedding movie like Father of the Bride or a good old fashiond superhero wedding. And since there are both so many comic book weddings and so many I haven't covered, for the past three years i've let my patreons each pick one, picked one myself, then put all four in a poll for you fine folks to choose from. First year was a tie between Rogue and Gambit's stolen wedding and Aunt Man and Doc Ock's near marriage that ended in a nuclear explosion off the coast of Canada, and last year Hulking and Wiccan had a quick wedding via mid crossover flashback among friends, then had another celebration for the whole superhero community post crossover.

Both races were tight: one was a tie and last years eeked out a win against the Batman/Catwoman wedding fiasco. So this year was a bit diffrent. Not only did I use Tumblr's minty fresh new poll system.. but the results.. weren't even remotely close.

Yeah Wally and Linda won HALF of the 18 votes for this poll, beating out Emma's choice of Lex Luthor's Space wedding, Kev's roulette wheel choice of the recent Emma Frost Tony Stark Wedding, and Brotoman.exe's runner up Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. All good choices.. but it's clear what the people wanted. Ya'll REALLY love Wally West on here, love him even more with Linda and I wholeheartedly agree. While I didn't see this landslide coming, I'm pleased as punch it happened.

So before we introduce our couple, as is tradition let's track how we got to these nuptials.

Wally was in a weird place when he met Linda, both in and out of universe. In universe.. he'd been turned into a porcupine man somehow and was being hunted by Captain Cold during his stint as a bounty hunter.

Point is he met Linda as a newswoman. Out of universe Wally had a bit of a creative rough patch in the 80's. Wally started the 80's in one of the most influental and important books of the decade and one of it's best, The New Teen Titans. And he was easily.. the weakest member of the team.

See while his teamates were either fresh new characters Wolfman and Perez refined as they went (Starfire, Raven, Cyborg) or ones who had long since needed a new coat of paint and got a second act out of the deal (Dick Grayson, Donna Troy and Beast Boy), Wally.. was the odd man out. The team tried to make him the token conservative and a reluctant hero: one who knows he has a duty but is just.. tired of it and wants to retire. NOthing wrong with that, it can be a good angle. The problem is Wally spends the book either whining about not wanting to be a hero instead of just being honest with his friends, who have plenty of power without him, or declaring raven evil out of hand. And he does have a leg to stand on in not liking her, she made him love her. But instead of focusing on that he just assumes any time she looses control slightly she's evil now and stops carring about her because of something that, unlike the brainwashing thing, was entirely out oc her control. You can read more about all this here in this mammoth I did on the series.

The takeaway is that Wally sucked. Then Crisis on Infinite Earths Happened and Barry died heroically sacrifcing himself. Wally swore at the end of that series he wouldn't become the flash... but one year later with the next crossover Legends he did.

So Wally got his own brand new solo written by Mike Baron who reworked Wally's character.. and somehow made him MORE insufferable, making him into an egotisticla impulsive ladies man who cheated on his girlfriend, let his mother walk all over his new girlfriend, a married woman he was having an affair with. He also was a giant dick to Chunk, a neurotypical genius with black hole powers and planned to exploit him. He also won the lottery, a thing that sure did happen and sure was necessary and not a cheap gimmick no one asked for yes sir.

THe baron run.. was a mess. With Wolfman and perez I can at least see what they were going for and tha tit simply failed. Here I don't know what the fuck Baron was thinking.

Thankfully soon after William Messner Loebs took over, and while i've only read a smidgen of his run and wish more was collected, it's an instant improvment: Wally looses his fortune and becomes more of a relatable every man, the "you could have a beer with him" sort whose just at home at a hockey game as he is fighting snake themed terrorists.

So with Wally's new personality came a stable love intrest in Linda. Linda was just what Wally needed: someone who saw through all his bullshit, that all the swaggering and screwing around was compensating for the mountain of issues he refused ot work through.

Linda ended up seeing enough of Wally's good nature to start dating him casually, which lasted into the Mark Waid run, where the two were truly fleshed out as a couple.. and which i've read a solid chunk of. Mark Waid is seen as the man who truly made wally the flash and it's hard to argue that as Wally grew as a person bit by bit over the run. He was still impulsive, down to earth and quippy as fuck, but the overcompensation, horn doggery and assholishness were gone. He also gave wally his full backstory, and helped him finally get over comparisons to barry, making his speed limit that internalized imposter syndrome I mentiond: he was scared of replacing Barry.. but more scared of letting THIS BASTARD DO IT.... god I gotta cover the Return of Bary Allen sometime.

So through all this growth for Wally, he and linda grew as a couple: When Linda asked just how serious they were Wally balked, then got caught up on a flash thing... before speeding his way on a train to ask her to stay. The two have great chemistry: Linda likes Wally's fun nature, down to earth stylez and the fact he dosen't treat her like she's made of glass.. most of the time (Some incidents shook him up a bit), while Wally loves her no nonsense atittude, the only thing that often cuts thorugh his bullshit when he hyperfixates on his latest problem. She's his rock, he's her roll, and they need that ballance. She keeps him grounded.. and not just in the speed force, as discovering it nearly caused wally to loose himself.. but her love anchored him back.

So their marriage was inevitible and while I coudln't find the proposal issue, it's no suprise it happened: the two loved each other deeply and there's a reason they got so much love in this poll, and it's nice the two are back solidly as a couple with no signs of more ediotial fuckery making one of them not exist or forget the other or whatever.

So with that we're at the wedding. It came towards the end of Mark waid's run, right before Geoff Johns also super special awesome run, with Johns getting to define their married life more. It also begins a bit of a weird arc i'll talk about when we get to the end of the issue btu for now it's a blessed day for a blessed couple under the cut.

Since the wedding itself is supervillain free, we open with a big action set piece. Said set piece is excellent: Waid really knows how to write a flash story and sneakily choose villians who were key to Wally and Linda's history: Kobra

I had to and Mark waid had to know what he was doing introdcuing a snake themed terroist group. Kobra is a cult/terriorst group ran by Kobra with a K. They nearly destroyed Keystone City during the Terminal Velocity arc, with Wally forced to go as fast as he possibly could to save Linda, nearly loosing himself in the process. This is where the anchor thing happened. What I really like is the story.. dosen't bring this up. He just mentions he's "tussled with them" before, so newer readers don't have to get an info dump, but people who've been reading a while get the continuity nod.

It's a fun opener too as Wally zooms around, interogates a guy by shaking him real hard, and finds out Kobra's hiding at Broome Plaza, a nice nod to Wally co-creator John Broome. Kobra can teleport so he nopes out, but wally uses a neat trick: since he's faster than sound, he can catch up to what their saying.. and thus evacuate city hall before their bomb goes off. Said attack annoys wally a little but he's able to catch his marriage certificate. It's a good cold open that gives us some flash action.. and allows the rest of the issue to just be a simple plain clothes wedding.

Granted no wedding is simple and Wally reacts to hearing the cake may be off.. is to kidnap a chef from paris.

I.. I want to know how Wally knows this guy, and why he can just kidnap Pierre at a moment's notice. Did he kindap a random chef or do they have a history? Who was he fighting in paris? he WAS part of Justice League Europe for quite some time so it's plausable but dammit I want this story told Mark.

Linda rather than overreacting.. is greatful she has a soon to be husband whose so kind and considerate he'd run al lthe way to paris to kidnap her a baker. The two get down on the floor but before they can get doooowwnwnnn on the floor Linda's parents walk in. Thankfully their quickly distracted though Wally notices something's off: while Linda's had nothing resembling cold feet she freezes up a bit when Wally brushes off his parents, not even having checked if their coming. As you'll soon se he has every reason not to give a shit.

What he does give a shit about is Linda making Bart, aka impulse the ring bearer. Impulse was Wally's equilvent to kid flash and eventually his kid flash, before Wally became Wally's kid flash more recently. That wasn't a typo, there are two of them, it's not important to any of this.

For those less familiar with my boy, Bart is a hyperactive mess, having been raised in virtual reality simulation in the future and thus having trouble slowing down, not helped by being a speedster whose all but said to have ADHD. Wally's relationship with bart's a contrast to Barry's with him: While Barry was a fair mentor and the father Wally needed, Wally.. simply dosen't have the patience to actually train his young ward. Wally and Bart are too much alike, both impulsive, both running a mile a minute, and thus Bart was trained instead by Wally's own secondary mentor Max Mecury, a golden age speedster who has nothing BUT patience and when Max went into comic limbo, the almost as patent first flash Jay Garrick took the reigns. It's a detail I like as it not only set up Bart's own series well but makes sense: Wally can help Bart in small doses and dosen't abandon him, but simply can't handle the kid. It's telling that noawadays while he's taken a roll in mentoring his cousin, Wallace is both way calmer and Wally's matured enough from being a parent to actually handle being a mentor.

Thankfully Linda has patience for both of them and takes care of bart in a really clever way

Sadly the good times can't last and Wally's parents arrive and we see WHY he was so aphrensive about them showing up.

Yeah besides the .. questionable gifts, Waid does a godo job showing WHY he dosen't like them without getting into their histories: Wally's dad gives him a cheap gift and brings a date younger than his own son, and Wally's Mom's every action towards him is some veiled crticisim. Their awful and waid has never sugacoated that, and their constant baggering may explain New Teen Titans era wally in canon: Wally was less himself at the time because he was BADLY trying to be what they wanted and once he got the freedom of being the flash, he snapped back into being who he truly was.

Wally gets them to go away by playing "LOOK A RELATIVE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THEIR INHERTIANCE" and linda tenses up again, not getting at WHY she keeps doing that. Wally is quickly distracted by this hair crime

Oh all the ways i'm going to have fun with this. Okay for starters Dick, your the son of the world's greatest detective. Bruce has taught you better wig game than that and you damn well know it. 80's metal hair is not Nightwing level disguise work Richard.

Second... how is the "Theodore Logan" look less conspcious than the adopted son of a millionare being friends with a public figure?

Third: All this is going to do is have papparzi asking "Whose Wally West's Best Man?". Does Dick have a cover identity all set up for this or did he only think of this plan the 5 minutes it took to buy a "babies first winger costume" wig.

Fourth: right after the rest of the titans show up, and Donna herself is a public figure, having taken pictures of starfire and being a high profile fashion photographer, Roy himself is ward of a billionare and Garth has no secret identity. how is "bruce wayne's son" any less conspcious.

And fifth WHY of all the wigs did he choose a perm that resembles their teammate jericho they watched get stabbed in front of them not a year ago probably in universe. Maybe two.

To my shock by the end Joey was apparently fronting whitesnake so what the hell dick. Why remind all your many friends present "oh yeah remember our friend who got stabbed in the chest in front of us".

So the rest of the titans arrive and somehow don't razz Dick for this hair crime, though even through that perm dick can sense somethin'gs off with linda. We get mor ehints why as Wally dosen't intorduce the titans to his family: Linda was the one to invite them and while he's glad they came he's not really.. close to any of them. The people he is make a bit more of an intrance, as the JLA arrive, with Superman worried about paparazzi. I mean dick will never live down that perm if they see it.

Wally kept the location on the DL.. which won't really stop paparazzi , even 90's paparazzi, and just makes Dick's hair somehow more rediculous. Any more and it'll become a force unto itself.

Thankfully more of Wally's REAL family shows up: Iris. for those wondering why this is a big deal at the time Iris was living in the future: she's from the 30th century, it's a long story, point is she stayed there after Barry's death both to raise her kids and to avoid spoiling the future. Ironically she'd come back full time during the next run as the future changed enough she had no idea what to expect, but for now Wally's worried she'll give her dad a heart attack.. only for her to explain she already went and saw her dad and explained stuff. Family is important.

This finally snaps Linda's bugging into focus for Wally: family. Wally's been icing his out and THAT'S what linda keeps being nervous about. So , not supposed to see the bride be dammned, he goes to iron this out in a beautiful scene that both explains WHY he's like this to his family, something we've clearly seen, and why Linda's in no danger

IT's really well done, and I like that Wally acknowledges his extended family.. did nothing wrong. He was just so determined to keep his parents away he accidently kept them away too and geninely wants to work on it. I don't think he DOES, but the comic both changes gears then changes writers after this, and I can't blame Geoff for not following up on this. He was never scared of her.. he just has bad parents.

I also like that the comic has the aseop that it's ENTIRELY okay Wally wants to push his parents away and wants nothing to do with them. There are far too many bits of media that ar elike "Oh your birth family is important, you shouldn't pusht hem away. Your parents mean something".. but forget that sometimes parents are abusive shit stains. I was lucky to get a wonderful mom and a dad I can at least talk to, but not everyone has a good relationship with their parents or wants to be around them. WE've seen how little they actually care about wally or his big day, and how much having them there throws him off. Yet we've also subtly seen.. wally HAS family. He's found family with the titans, with the League. You don't need blood to be a family. You just need love, to respect one another and to be there.. and Wally and LInda have that.

So it's time for the ceremony with the wedding party apparently only consisting of Beavis, Jesse Quick (Close ally of Wally's and fellow speedster) and Bart. It's then Wally realizes something and handles it like the responsible about to be married man he is.

Yeah the fastest man alive, who was hovering over his wife as she planned this ceremony... forgot his vows. it's so wally it hurts and i'm here for it. Thankfully he's the fastest man alive and after thinking back on their history, the good, the bad, and how she's always made him feel... he simply says his vows from the gut, which really is again the most wally west thing imaginable and i'm still here for it.

It's a beautiful speech that sums up their relationship, what they mean..and is also something Wally REALLY shoudl've thought through. You'd think after a decade as a superhero, at least he'd know not to tempt fate as suddenly.. Linda dosen't exisit. Wally finds something with her name, asks dick about it, Dick assumes wally horny Richard, and Dick dosen't even question the haunted wig in his apartment. Linda is trapped and yeah that's how the issue ends.

Yeah, the big milestone wedding.. ends with a fucking kidnapping and leads into an arc I haven't gotten to. And look i'll do a LOT for reasearch, I just covered 20 some issues of Transformers Robots in Disguise so I could cover the crossover with More than Meets the Eye next month, entirely so i'd do it right.. but even i'm not so through that i'd read 18 issues of the flash in an arc i'm eh about reading some day but will probably get to complete the mark waid run for a one and a half issue review.

So the short version of what you missed: Wally disappeared into time and space without LInda to anchor him. Replacing him was Wallace West, an angsty wally from another timeline who replaced him for a while, a storyline I mostly know about because it leaked into JLA for a bit, with Wally revealing his identity to a few people to get their trust. Wallace was the darker and edgier flash no one asked for, fought crime, fell in love... and then Wally came back and rescued LInda, who it turned out had been kidnapped by his old nemisis Abra Kadabra, a magician from the 60th century who as you can tell by how elaborate and dickish this plot is, has a flair for both trying to ruin wally's life and the dramatic. Hilaroiusly, as I read, Wally gets him to undo it.. by pointing out no one knew what he did. So Wallace was supposed to go back and go back miserable because fuck him for wanting to be happy I guess. Can you kinda.. see why I have no real intrest in this storyline outside of Wally and LInda? Maybe pick that up?

So for expediency's sake and to give us a better ending we WILL be covering the flash #159.. but just the wally and linda parts as we don't really need Wallace's dramatic exit.

We do start on it though as the League demands he go home and can't take his girlfriend with him. He picked up a girlfriend it's a thing. Superman is being an uncharactristic super ass while Wally is being less than helpful.. albeit given Wallace DIN'T have his memories of Linda erased and could've been helping them, I can't say I blam ehim.

So once Wallace leaves to have one last good day, Bart, having the tact of a tornado on roller skates, asks when the wedding resumes. Wally decides right the fuck now and speeds into actoin to get everything: catering, her parents farmhouse ready again, the lisence.

Wally spends the day even more hyperactive than usual... which is somehow indeed possible. The superheroes around Linda assure her it's fine, with Donna being the only one to make sure things haven't changed. Linda still LOVES wally.. but she can see something's wrong. And unlike with her on the previous wedding day, Wally's FAR less subtle about it so I don't know why no one else is like "okay maybe we shoudl check on him.

We get to the wedding itself.. and Linda holds it, not wanting to Marry wally while he's having what's clearly a barely supressed emotoinal breakdown.

I love this because it really.. boils down their dynamic: Linda loves wally, who he is and dosen't doubt that for a second.. but she's also 9/10 the one who pulls his head out of his ass. Wally's a good guy, we've seen it here.. but he acts first asks later, and LInda's one the remind him that you have to slow down every once in a while and have a conversation. Also yeah, between Dick's wig and Clark's super pope hat he's bummed he didn't get to wear to this because you bastards didn't ask him to officiate, they've seen weirder.

Wally agrees, yeah that's it. He saw a version of himself who went down a dark path.. and really wasn't THAT diffrent. All it took was loosing linda, which is WHY Walter is an edgelord for the record. Linda.. isn't amused, especially since Wally implies part of this is to widen the gap between them. Wally's friends are.. less than sympathetic. Well okay Roy is. It's just roy actually, Max is worried and Jay knows they just need to work it out and will. But roy well..

That is both a perfect exchange for those two.. and entirely why Roy isn't invited to weddings that much. I only think he got into this one as Donna's +1.

Wally however.. assures her that's not the case and once again gets a fantastic speech in

It's a heartfelt speech and get's linda to just.. skip to the i dos, the two kiss and one of the most solid marriages in all of comcis begins. It's a beautiful speech.

As for the issues themselves.. their okay. Yeah for such a great couple and with so many great moments, the first issue feels a bit short, like we needed more time for the wedding and the whole stupid kidnapping plot means we get cheated out of a reception, which as we've seen from both Rogue and Gambit and Teddy and Billy's nuptial's, is often some of the best stuff, allowing a bunch of characters to bounce off each other. Instead since the circumstances are dire after the intital wedding and dire right before the makeup, with our heroes recovering for it, we don't really get to have FUN with this. There's good moments, but these weddings are a bit of a disapointment and I don't know what Mark Waid or Ediotiral was thinking with this. It's still JUST good enough to not be a complete waste of your time, I recommend at least 142, but it still coudl've been SO much better and it's a shame this is the first wedding for this feature I just. .haven't been that jazzed about. I wanted to like it. the art for the first issue does not help, being all kinds of rediuclous and giving us the enternal shame that is Dick Grayson's perm.

So where did Wally and LInda go from here? Well honestly.. marital bliss at first. As I said Geoff Johns run, a brilliant followup to what Mark Waid did that brought back the Rogues after Waid wrote them out and redefined Captain Cold, follows them as newlyweds: they deal with space, moving, and LInda going back to college for a subplot that ultimately goes nowhere outside of one kidnapping by a prince from another dimension. Story for another time.

The two were solid for the most part and even had an unexpected suprise: TWINS. The two were happy to start their family... but unfortuantely Wally's freshly minted new arch enemy Zoom undid the babies out of his warped thinking tragedy makes better heroes. Which it often does, but feels like a critqiue on piling on tragedy because "that's what sueprheroes are". Granted Geoff Johns isn't innocent of this, but it's still a good lesson.

Afterwards Hal Jordan wiped everyone's memories of wally's identity and after re learning it Linda disappeared before coming back, the babies were restored, and the two had a happy marriage again with kids till infinite crisis. Then wally was put through the SHIT for nigh on a decade until a recent return, a wonderful run you should check out by Jeremey Whitley and a sci fi run I haven't that sounds neat by by my Boy Simon Spurrier. The two aren't without conflict. .but they have a love and understanding that makes them get past it. Wally and Linda have a beautiful relationship and I can't wait to see them again on this blog some day.

For now thanks for reading.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

hi ari!!!! hope you’re doing well!! 🐟🐟 these days the weather is so so nice and the sea is so tempting……………… i went ahead and took some days to swim like the fish i am! surprisingly the water wasn’t so cold and it seems i wasn’t the only one who thought of swimming because the beach was full of people 🙂‍↕️ it was really fun!

anyway!! i wanted to ask you, which films and/or cinematic universes you think your jjk favs would suit the most??? :33 if it is too restraining you can name tv series, of course!!

(p.s.: oh, i’m glad you liked my silly rant about statue!gojo TT 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼 it has been rotting in my mind for months now but i’m a procrastinator and i have too many wips… i think it might be that summer is near and i’m super inspired but i don’t know where to begin lmaooo. my notebook is overflowing with half-finished prompts and chapters that are waiting to be completed……. 😭😭) — 🐟 anon

HIIIII MY LITTLE 🐟 ANON!!!! :33

i’m so happy that it’s getting warmer where you are!!!!! the weather is starting to take a turn for the better here too hehe….. but wahhh!!!! beach trips!!!!!!! i miss them i do…. you’ll have to have double the fun for both of us!!! <3333

AND . GULP. that’s a super fun question and also super tough bc i don’t watch …. a lot of movies……… 😔😔 i’ve been watching more recently!!!! but honestly i have a lot of trouble remembering series and movies that i’ve watched….. my brain doesn’t store a lot of them. HOWEVER . yk what i do watch??? and adore????

……. musicals >:33

so here are some musicals that i associate w my jjk favs!!! I HOPE THAT’S OKAY… i got a little too into it i think 😭

gojo - legally blonde

I JUST THINK HE WOULD LOVE IT SO MUCH……….. i know him personally . honestly i would’ve given him the movie if i had followed your original assignment bc it just screams gojo to me either way!!!! i think he loves chickflicks. :3 and this is definitely one of his comfort movies…… the musical is also just SUCH a bop i knowwwww this man is terrorizing his coworkers by singing ”gay or european” in broad daylight (specifically to nanami)……

sugu - the phantom of the opera

THE PHANTOMMMMMMM OF THE OPERA IS HEREEEEEEEE 🎶🎶🎶🎶 …. <- sugu doesn’t sing along to musicals + doesn’t rlly like them that much in general but i know in my heart and soul that he would hum this part quietly to himself . what can i say….. this is just a very classy musical that i think would appeal to him <3333 he’d read the book beforehand too. he’s a lil pretentious but it’s okay :3 he’s veryyyy picky abt what musical renditions he enjoys tho…….

shoko - the guy who didn’t like musicals

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE MUSICAL OF ALL TIMEEEEE <333333 i just know she’d adore it. the blend between horror and comedy is soooo shoko and i feel like she wouldn’t like musicals at ALL lmao so she’d appreciate the meta commentary!!!! it’s just. suchhhh a good musical….. i love starkid so much it hurts………… AND THE WHOLE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE THINGGG she would eat that up!!!! pls watch this one if you haven’t 🐟 anon you can find the full thing on yt and it’s INCREDIBLE i’ve watched it like 10 times!!!! it’s my most beloved!!!!

kenny - beetlejuice

BEETLEJUICE 👏 BEETLEJUICE 👏👏 BEETLEJUICE 👏👏👏 okay so i actually lied this one is ALSO my absolute favorite . and i’m giving it to kenny solely based on vibes :3 HE REMINDS ME OF BEETLEJUICE OK…. and i think he’d love it a lot. the songs are so fucking good and i know he’d appreciate them. the theme of life/death is also very kenny obv !!!!

toji - black friday

ANOTHER STARKID MUSICAL. this one is just…… soooo good and funny and also . tragic. one of the characters reminds me a lot of toji :’3 former veteran w a dead wife…. who struggles to show his son how much he cares…… and the theme of capitalism and money and how it corrupts ppl also feels in line w toji’s character!! but above all else this musical is abt. Family. and that’s more toji than anything!!! :((( this is another musical that i rlly recommend checking out, it’s set in the same universe as the guy who didn’t like musicals but like . an alternate timeline. it’s not my favorite in the series but the songs slap and it made me cry so <3333 yeah.

nobara - heathers

was lowkey considering six the musical for my beloved nobara (bc of the gorgeous women and catchy fun songs) but . i think heathers fits her more!!!! i just feel like she’d ADORE it…… i know she’s singing along at the top of her lungs too LMAO especially to dead girl walking <3333 it’s just such a fun badass musical and i think she’d be obsessed. she does NOT like jd tho god bless 🙏🙏

[littencloud9]

Hello again....Do you mind if I ask your top 5 (or top 10) favorite moments from any media that you love (books, anime/manga, tv series, movies, games, etc)? Thanks if you want to answer. Sorry if I ask too much....

hihi!! oooh i'll see if i can narrow it down skdjfjhj. this isn't in any particular order i adore them all <3

moriarty the patriot - this scene i can't even begin to explain it. it was so well written and emotional. i think it captured the message of yuumori incredibly well. you did bad, you were wrong, now work to be better. a brand new start. you don't have to forgive yourself, you just have to to move on, and i'll do it with you. absolutely lovely scene :( <3

bungou stray dogs - ranpo's invitation to yosano fucking CINEMATIC okay. i cried. the way it was set up, with ranpo kneeling to yosano's level and promising her a place to stay. the lighting of this scene giving it such a hopeful look. the emotional impact. they are my favourite duo in bsd and their dynamic is sooo precious to me and i just. one of my fav scenes in bsd EVER!!!

haikyuu - tsukishima's block THIS WAS JUST PHENOMANAL KSFHJ. the POWER. the SCREAM. the perfect moment for his character arc, the 'it' moment. oh my god. i only very recently got into haikyuu and this scene lives in my head rent free

vanitas no carte - s2 finale fight THEY WERE INSANE FOR THIS. this entire fight had me on the edge of my seat. if it's one thing vnc is an expert in it's setting a scene. the rain the lighting the FEAR through the screen. this shit was RAW. when vanoé got into the 'ill kill you thatll shut you up' position i literally screamed. vanitas' turmoil vs noé's devastation oh my godddd. domi unlocking her powers. jeanne's entire role. there was so much happening and GOD it was amazing i loved it

jujutsu kaisen - so start by saving me sigh. LIFE GETS BETTER DONT GET INTO JUJUTSU KAISEN. this panel lives in my head rent free and i think if i ever see it animated i'd burst into tears. megumi saying this to yuuji means so much to their characters okayyy two people who have always been saving each other, megumi who watched yuuji die in front of him, IT MEANS SO MUCH. i would ramble more but alas i dont wanna turn this into an essay

link click - cheng xiaoshi and qiao ling vs xiao ma BANGERRRR SCENE they mean the absolute world to me and i love that they were clearly protecting each other throughout the whole fight. i love the insane team up. qiao ling grabbing xiao ma's leg so cxs could punch him. this damn stand thing she used. the fluidity of the scene etc etc. just an amazing fight sequence overall i feel

moriarty the patriot - james bonde's reveal INSANE PLOT TWIST. bonde is my favourite yuumori character and i just. this was so funny. fym he chose bonde because of the bonds he made with the lord of crime gang IT'S SO CUTE 😭 i have nothing to say i just adore bonde and this is thus one of my fav scenes ever

moriarty the patriot - the moriarty brothers reunite CRIED FR. i just. the EMOTIONS. the way they did everything for each other and had to separate for three years and how both albert and louis thought william was dead and how none of them really ever forgave themselves but they forgive each other, so thats all that matters, isn't it? and how soothing this hug was, like finally finding your home again, and how THEY ARE FAMILY ough im so ill. i adore this moment

bungou stray dogs - you are but a child this scene hurt me then healed me. i actually cried so hard. their dynamic is so important to meee and they're both learning to care and love for the first time and they found comfort in each other and ranpo is just a CHILD and fukuzawa helps him see that it's okay and and. sniffles. bring them back asagiri this is a threat

vanitas no carte - i've decided to stay by your side, vanitas this is just because i'm in love with noé and i think vanitas realised things about himself here too/j. but on a serious note i think this was one of the greatest turning points in their relationship. i like the vibe of them on the tower and the sun rise coming up when they swear to stay together. cinematic asf

[titleleaf]

Can you talk a bit about your introduction to the Hannibal Lecter tetralogy? Did you see any of the movies first or did you read the books and then watch the films? What drew you to the series initially?

Absolutely!

I was really really into Demme's Silence Of The Lambs as a preteen in the era where you could just turn on the TV and the same 20 movies would be playing on cable —it’s interesting to look back on those really naive viewings where I wasn’t really aware of the world enough to grasp the film’s themes around misogyny (or the turbo-problematic elements, never mind the literal edited-for-TV censorship) and also not really astute enough to grasp why Hannibal Lecter was supposed to be a frightening presence. Hopkins’ Hannibal is having so much fun in that movie and when you can’t really detect the layers of irony and cruelty at play it’s a really different film. (The big thing in hindsight that's strange is that I perceived the museum bug guys as much more threatening figures — and they certainly do represent an ambivalent part of Clarice’s experience moving through the world as a woman, including being flirted with when you're trying to investigate an active serial killer but Foster plays Clarice's responses to them very differently to me now. I also just took it as a given that Clarice and Ardelia were girlfriends, not in a “I ship it” way but where I didn’t understand how it would be intended otherwise. I do ship it now as an adult, ofc #clardeliahive.) Something about Hannibal's combination of prickly sparring and weird courtliness was a blast for me even at that young (and dumb) age. I watched the film Hannibal later, probably on one of the zillion illicit movie streaming sites that used to exist and only let you watch 45 minutes of video a day, pretty miffed at the actor change but enjoying the weird villain/heroine loyalty kink soooo much… cannot remember, for the life of me, when I picked up the film adaptation of Red Dragon but there's a nonzero chance it was because of a gifset of that stabbing scene back in, ugh, oh god, 2012? Still an absolutely delightful dynamic, ponytail and all. I'm meh on it as an adaptation of the novel RD now (the novel's grim ambivalent ending makes people so uncomfortable that it seems to be nerfed in every adaptation) but it really blew my little mind.

I was dubious of the NBC series when it was announced (as a big Clarice boi), then watched s1 and enjoyed it, then got as far in s2 as Beverly getting sliced up and bailed. I didn’t finish the series until some time last year, but I'm glad I came back when I did, having boned up on the books in the meantime. Some of my frustrations remain (short version, I do think the show’s writing has a sexism problem, and I'm never as enamored with Hannibal as the writing seems to be) but it’s still so compelling to me and it’s one of those things I can turn over and examine from a million angles. Also it is stacked with hotties from start to finish, and it introduced me to the finest wettest Will Graham. Brain chemistry-changing shit.

Books-wise, I think I read Hannibal Rising first, which is probably not the way people should engage with those books — I still think that book and its film adaptation have a lot of fun stuff going on with them, it’s just not necessarily… necessary. The rest of the books only came along for me after my most recent revival of interest in the NBC series. (Which… came about after I went completely off my shit about Primal Fear and joking with a buddy about Aaron Stampler's summer internship in Italy got me rewatching the 2002 Red Dragon film for the first time since college.) I think I was scared away by the way people talked about the book Hannibal, but it ended up being my second favorite of all four, it’s gonzo and turns up the Grand Guignol nastiness to 11 but it’s also terribly fun.

I was a latecomer to Manhunter also for similar reasons — people loved to call that movie cheesy or act like it was some strange early effort superceded by the obviously superior adaptation of a different book — but simply as cinema I think it’s the finest of all the film adaptations, and Demme's SOTL owes it a massive debt. Mann gives Dolarhyde a tragedy and a dignity that no adaptation is willing to give to Jame Gumb and I’m sore about that but also. Tom Noonan’s double-l Dollarhyde being the only blond Francis on film is so funny, and I love Will Graham's tiny purple shorts. I miss the things it cuts/changes, especially with the friction within Molly’s marriage and the location specificity of the book, but it also has such a wonderful encapsulation of what’s at the core of both Will and Clarice to me — you can’t save all of them, but you still have to try to save as many as you can. Brian Cox's Hannibal is his own beast, and really compelling.

The CBS Clarice procedural is such a fun idea but it gets so tangled up in rights issues and the CBS procedural-ness of it all that it really impedes things. Some of what it adds is brilliant imo (I love the character of Julia, a married trans lesbian in the 1990s corporate world who makes tough choices and brings a fun element of the novels’ boring RL forensics to the fore as well as exploring the in-universe consequences that Clarice's explosively well-televised confrontation with Gumb has for innocent people who have nothing else in common with a skin-stealing serial killer than being queer and societally despised) but other choices it makes are totally inexplicable. (Several questionable choices made wrt Catherine Martin, and also what the fuck are they doing with PAUL KRENDLER… it felt like a Mindhunter rehash, very much pejorative.) Other elements suffer from the absences dictated by the rights issues involved — not just no Hannibal Lecter but no Jack Crawford, no mention of Will Graham as the maimed and miserable failure-state for what Clarice is risking, no nothin'. I miss Jack! Also they just cannot commit to it being a full on 1990s period piece, which is a crying shame. If it were on another network, or made by a different team, it could have been really great, but it’s ultimately a frustrating watch for totally different reasons than NBC Hannibal is a frustrating watch.

I also listened to the musical parody of Silence Of The Lambs a lot in college and it's still major earworm material ten years later. I'm just trying to mind my own business and blammo, it's If I Could Smell Her Cunt on mental loop.

[citruscitrushope]

Hiiiii. I saw your responses on another users asks about Lalaloopsy lore and would LOVE to talk Lalaloopsies with you. Please info dump to me 🙏

I want to hear it all (if that’s okay with you obvi)

On it! Under a cut cuz it's so long

So Lalaloopsy was originally created in about 2009 as Bitty Buttons, but the same had some copyright disputes so it was changed about about 12 dolls? The original 8 and the four succeeding them have very rare versions with this packaging.

Dolls were released in waves of about eight every season or so, outside of limited editions and such.

Initially, the canon was limited to the descriptions on the backs of the boxes, some books, and a few web and DS games, before the first animated universe came about, consisting of web shorts and a movie.

Eventually Nick Jr. picked up the franchise for six more movies, more shorts, and a two season TV series. Like all of the VAs for the franchise were nobodies except in the Lalaloopsy Girls movie for some reason.

Then the Nick show caused a lawsuit since the company behind Lalaloopsy (MGA) didn't pay as much for it as they said it would, which I assume didn't help with the steady decline of the brand (cheaper dolls, less creative ideas, etc), before Netflix picked it up for a show.

The Netflix show sorta bombed, they only made five dolls and some minis and I don't think anyone really cared outside of existing fans, a lot of which were turned off by the more realistic direction taken for the dolls and changes to the story, with fan favorite characters being omitted such as Peanut and Cloud E.

Lalaloopsy sort of died after the Netflix show until the 10th anniversary re-released in 2021ish, old and new dolls just like the old ones coming out and old songs and movies getting YouTube uploads. Nothing's really happened since but hey.

Fun facts: the series was racist a lot, I think they've been getting better but c'mon, Mittens, Mango, Sahara, Yuki, Feather, the fact that Dot was the darkest character and got like no merchandise, the whitewashing of Cinder, I think they've been rectifying some of these things lately thankfully.

They've tried to ride the coattails of mlp (ponies) and monster and ever after high (girls) to eh results

The Babies Diaper and Potty Surprise dolls probably foreshadowed the oddly scatalogical direction MGA has taken in recent years

Like everyone is neurodivergent coded in the Netflix series

People thought Suzette La Sweet and Crumpet Hearts were getting married in the Sew Royal Tea Party bundle

I think Rosy's design had to get changed because of violating Red Cross guidelines at some point

For some reason Bundles is shown with a pacifier a lot even though she's never come with one outside of a mini, same with Rosy's hat and Misty's gloves

(My dad used to put my dolls up in trees and it made me sad, that's neither fun nor a fact but)

[nerdgatehobbit]

13 Books

Right, I was tagged by @old-man-ghost a few days ago and I'm finally getting around to doing this!

1: The last book I read: Disney Princess: Beyond the Tiara, which was an interesting look at the involved films and their impact. It was self-congratulatory at places, but I think that's the trade-off for it being an official book.

2: A Book I recommend: Dinotopia by James Gurney, between the gorgeous art, the inventive world-building, and the great characters. The franchise as a whole is one of my favorites, but this is the book that started it all.

3: A book that I couldn't put down: I read the first nine a while back, but I really enjoyed the first volume of Spy x Family. I need to get around to reading the tenth & eleventh volumes.

5: A book on my TBR: In addition to the aforementioned duo and quite a few other books, I'm waiting until I'm further into The Librarians as a show before I read the 3 tie-in novels.

6: A book I've put down: This isn't probably what's meant, but it's the only recent example. Over a month ago, I checked out The Secret Life of the American Musical from the library specifically to just skim it to get a clearer grasp of the different types of songs in Broadway musicals. Though I did spot its section acknowledging the issues of relying on star power for musicals, which seems relevant to what went on with the Sweeney Todd revival.

7: A book on my wish list: This one is kinda silly, but I am curious about Ash's Atlas, it's just that I've been reluctant to seriously look into getting it because I know it's very likely not be a pseudo-guidebook, and more likely just acts to recap anime events. I'd like a Pokémon book that does more with discussing the geography, history, man-built places, & notable people.

8: A favorite book from childhood: I'm going to go for Midnight for Charlie Bone, the first in the Children of the Red King series. I didn't get to read them all as a kid, but the first few I definitely did. I still have a soft spot for this series, though the older I get the more I wish for a perspective flip novel(s) showing what the adults were getting up to, as it's very clear that they're getting up to stuff off-page in addition to what Charlie and his friends see. I'm definitely anxious about how the potential upcoming TV adaptation will turn out.

9: A book you would give to a friend: Hmm, it would depend on the friend's tastes. Maybe I'd be selfish and give them the Project Gutenberg link to Once on a Time just so I'd have someone to talk about it with. It's one of my favorite books (it definitely can be seen as a precursor to The Princess Bride and Galavant).

10: The most books you own by a single author: It's probably a toss-up between Tamora Pierce and Rick Riordan. Both of them are well into the double digits.

11: A nonfiction book you own: I have Team of Rivals, which is a really interesting look at how Abraham Lincoln got elected and then turned the other candidates into his cabinet during the Civil War.

12: What are you currently reading: I've only read the prologue to the Belle Mirrorverse manga, but I liked it. I'm pretty much just here for the BATB content (as seen by me currently having Funko Belle as my icon), as I didn't play the game for long. This says more about my minimal gaming skills than the game itself (no, seriously, I struggle with LEGO & Pokémon at times). I am curious how this altered story will play out.

13: What are you planning on reading next: I still need to reread Sense and Sensibility, especially as I keep meaning to locate the new movie (I like the gifs I've seen, I just need to find the time/energy to figure out how to temporarily get Hallmark access so I can watch it).

I'm on desktop at the moment and don't have a readily accessible current photo of any of my bookshelves. I'll try to remember to do something later and add it in a reblog when I'm on my phone.

This was fun, thanks for tagging me!

I'll tag @asokatanos @magic-owl @jadelotusflower @mylittleredgirl

@ladytharen @bex-pendragon @fantasysci5 and anyone else who'd like to do it!

[tansyuduri]

Top Ten TV

Rules: Game: Add 10 gifs from your favorite shows and tag 10 people.

I was tagged by @godmerlin Thank ya so much! SOO

My love! My favorite! I adore you so much! Merlin until recently was a show I would rewatch every year. THEN one of my RP servers when down for months and my mind was like HEY YOU NEED DOPAMINE KNOW THAT SHOW? It's a special intrest now. Merlin and Arthur were always my favs. But I read two merthur fanfics, realized hey this actually worked, watched the show with new eyes, decided to write a small oneshot. And then It was not a one shot, And then there was a sequal and a prequal... then I was writing more stuff! This show showed me I could write again after a long time thinking I could not.

My second favoirite show is Avatar the Last Airbender I guess and my fav character is actually Aang. I like his nonconfrontationalness I kinda also have that trait and you do not often see it in fiction.

(Now from here on out they don't really have an order?

I really like the show The Tudors. I don't require historical accuricy in shows about the time period that is a special interst to me. I can enjoy the shows seperatly and be like that did not happen! But the tudors is weard because it is very much NOT historicaluy accurate as a whole but somtimes, Dialouge and scenes are pretty much ripped from the firsthand acounts of the period. This is also the show were both Natalie Dormer and Henry Cavill got their start. Fun fact Katie McGrath was actually working on costume design on this show and someone told her she should try acting. She got a very small role in the show then went on to land Morgana in Merlin. ALSO this show makes me cry so MUCH

I didn't get into Shadow and Bone on my first try. After season two aired I tried is again with a freind of mine and loved it. I'm so upset it was canceled!

With Brigerton I actually started with the Spin off Queen Charlotte (I'm counting spin offs and their original show as the same show usually so I can have more shoes listed here WHEEEE.) Anyhoo Queen Charlotte won me over with it having a romantic male lead with mental Ilness. and I enjoyed it! So I watched Brigerton too. Eloise is pretty much teenage me.

The boys and Gen V got me with its plot and commantary on American society. Alright it kinda helps that I've never really liked the idea of super heros. This is pretty much the only superhero media I consume along with one animated show my sister had me watch once. My favorite from the original Series is Hughie and my fav from Gev V is Jordan.

Okay so yeah! Dr Who. I stopped watching shortly after 11 left and came back for 14 and 15. My fav doctors are 11 and 15 so far! I adore Martha and Donna the best.

So The Last Kingdom was a show that my freind really liked and we watched together. I hated Uhtred in season 1 but came to enjoy him later. I LOVED These two in the gif, I WAS HERE FOR THEM SHIPPING THEM IN THE LAST SEASON. You know how that turned out if you watch the show. I have never hated on a character as much as I did on a certain king. THEM. <3

I am very much enjoying House Of The Dragon. I was a GOT fan until the end season even if it started going downhil before that. No I am not team black or team green. I can see both viewpoints. So I'm just here to watch people freak out over it. And enjoy it myself. And Cheer for Healana while waiting in dred due to having read the book it's based on. I'm upset the seem to have gotten rid of Nettles though.

Derry Girls is the show on this list I watched most recently. I did not really like the first episode but from there I adored them all. Clare and Orla are my Favs. But the entire cast is great.

@shana-rosee @tiny-and-witchyn @poisonedfate @theroundbartable @247merthur

@saurix5 @akelafang @kairenn-n @kadenemrys @pendragonsclotpole

[simplyclary]

Fan-Casting You As My Favorites

(Photo credits to Mekhi Turner)

As an avid reader and movie geek, there's always a point in time when I cast my favorite actor/actress as a character. It's just inevitable to do. And recently, I have imagined Taylor Zakhar Perez as many characters he can play in the future from books and animated movies alike.

Those listed below is just the most popular ones I have casted him as. Also note that other than the first one, the last three are just my personal fan-casts. So without further ado, here's the first one and by far the most popular one even TZP himself knows about this.

First Fan-Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez as Flynn Rider (Eugene Fitzherbert) in the upcoming live-action Tangled.

(Photos credits to London Fashion Week on Twitter/X and Disney)

I mean, what else can I say? As a Disney fan since the age of 3, I approve of this fancast. Like it's going to be so good to see Taylor play a scoundrel turned prince. Something like Han Solo vibes. He's got the looks, the voice (I'm also manifesting a solo song for him considering that the other princes in the other live-action remakes get a solo song).

To note at a lot of people also had a crush on Flynn Rider so why not cast one of the most handsome men alive to play him. I will definitely be seated for this movie if ever he is casted.

I also want to mention I have a lot of people whom I want to play Rapunzel (Florence Pugh, Sabrina Carpenter and Dove Cameron are among my candidates) but there's only one Flynn Rider for me and that is Taylor Zakhar Perez.

Here's a link to mycast.io where people can vote on their faves about a role: TZP as Flynn Rider Fancast. Good to see that TZP is the top choice for the role, as he should be.

Onto the next roles....I would again like to reiterate that these are just my personal fan-casts, especially as of recent times, when TZP decided to emotionally kill me by wearing all-black ensembles.

Second Fan-Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez as Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court

(Photo credits from TZP's Instagram; artwork credits from artworks-by-rokii from Instagram)

Ahhh, my High Lord of the Night Court and the most beautiful man I (and the main character Feyre) have ever seen.

For those who are unfamiliar with Rhysand's character, he is the High Lord of the Night Court in the A Court of Thorns and Roses book series by Sarah J. Maas. Physicality-wise, he is a tanned-tall and chiseled Fae man with black-blue hair and eyes that are so blue that they are the color of violets. Manner-wise, he is kind and is always willing to defend those he loves. He would rather let himself suffer than let his loved ones suffer. He may look so evil at first but once you get to know him, you'll see that underneath that dark exterior is a heart of gold.

Why am I fan-casting TZP as Rhysand, you ask? The answer is simple. Coz I love both of them! Also, I am not the first one to fancast Taylor as Rhysand. I merely saw a tweet and that one tweet was enough to end my fantasies afloat.

Also, to see him play a morally grey character would be a treat. It would be a good opportunity to cast him because Hulu is adapting ACOTAR into a TV series so at this point, I'm just hoping for the best.

He's also one of the many actors that people want to see play Rhysand. TZP as Rhysand fan-cast.

Third Fan-Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez as Azriel from A Court of Mist and Fury

(TZP Photo from Pinterest; Artwork credits by artworks-by-rokii on Instagram)

Another character from the ACOTAR series. Azriel is one of my most favorite characters in the story. Physicality, he is also tall and has black wings protruding from his back. Azriel is also known to be one of Rhysand's best friends. He is still a mysterious character to me and I have yet to read a book where he is the central character.

Getting Taylor to play a mysterious character like Azriel would be a joy because you will spend the whole time figuring out his goals.

I would also like to be honest here and say that TZP is not the first choice to play Azriel but I'm okay with that because Matthew Daddario is the main choice to play Azriel. Matt is also one of my favorite actors because of his amazing portrayal of Alec Lightwood in Shadowhunters.

This is the last of the fan-casts for the ACOTAR series but I would like to share another one.

Fourth Fan-Cast: Taylor Zakhar Perez as Xaden Riorson from Fourth Wing.

(TZP photo credits to Mekhi Turner; Artwork credits from booknuts_ on Instagram)

Xaden Riorson. One of the most exquisite men I (and Violet Sorrengail) have ever seen.

For those who are unaware, Xaden is the wingleader of the Fourth Wing. He has a dragon named Sgaeyl and is Violet's love interest. He is handsome and has dark eyes and dark hair.

I personally consider Xaden as the "Rhysand" of the Fourth Wing series but considering that the second book just came out, I'm a little scared for his future.

Similar to Rhysand, I'm not the first to cast TZP as Xaden because the media platform enews posted a TikTok not long ago that Taylor is their dream guy to play Xaden. Personally, I'm not mad about that because knowing that Taylor is a big fan of Harry Potter and this series has a Harry Potter mixed with Hunger Games vibe to it, so playing Xaden would be like entering a Harry Potter-esque world.

Taylor is one of the many actors people want as Xaden and here's a link for further proof: TZP as Xaden Riorson.

A Conclusion of a Fantasy

I'm a lover of the fantasy genre and these characters are just a selected few that are honestly, my personal favorites. I love these characters and to see Taylor play one of them in the future is a dream to see unfold on the big screen. Of course, I have also fan-casted him as some Marvel superheroes here and there and some rich billionaire CEO. My fancasts is honestly endless.

Feel free to share who you fan-casted Taylor as because now that the strike is over, productions are back in full swing. I would love to see TZP as any character and I would love for him to explore characters and genres. I will be watching every movie and series that will come out. That's a promise.

[askew-d]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

hello, there! thank you for following me, by the way. this ask’s a sweet surprise! i don’t mind at all, i’ve never answered this before :) i’ll make a list of all the characters i cherish. it’s not ranked over who i cherish more though (they’re all special for me). they’re all random nonetheless, but let’s see if you can catch a little bit of a ‘type’ here, haha.

1. kageyama tobio, from haikyuu!! — i first found him to be a very bothersome character in terms of background and personality. perhaps a little bit aggressive, unnecessarily so. however, i can see how much he’s changed after finding a team like karasuno and hinata especially, and over time we go unraveling his attitude to find an actually sweet person who probably only thinks about milk, cats, leaving his nails neat and other stupid things. he’s one of those tsundere characters and that’s nice. he’s overall a nice person who’s judged unfairly. and his awkwardness turns out to be adorable, so that’s a plus.

2. minato, from the film kaibutsu — this japanese show absolutely wrecked me. it seriously did. how the hell could they expect me to move on after it? i have no words for how much this story impacted me. this main character brings such a tender feeling of youth and fragile love towards another person that sweeps me off my feet. he’s got a repressed heart that slowly comes free and it made me feel very protective over him.

3. violet, from the anime violet evergarden — heartfelt letters aside, this anime felt to me like a coming of age show. or perhaps more like a coming of ‘human’. i love her because she’s truly intrigued about the world, the people, feelings as a whole and what it means to be a breathing creature. she’s just a child. she wants to see everything. to understand her heart. she’s a force of nature that beholds so much and doesn’t even know how to put into proper words, even if that’s her job.

4. lu guang, from shiguang daili ren —i just watched link click recently, but this boy surely made a way into my heart. i love how he’s ready to fight the world on behalf of cheng xiaoshi, and although he’s a hypocrite through and through, he’s real. he’s one of the realest people i’ve seen being portrayed. because who in heavens would choose someone unimportant to tou if you can choose someone you love? and how he hides his emotions? chef’s kiss. i love that he’s an ‘actions speak louder than words’ kind of guy; he’d call you an idiot in one moment, then burn the world for you in the following one.

5. the little prince, from the book the little prince — i cannot forget this book not even in a million years. changed me as a person. this vulnerable, free character makes me think he’s not just a hallucination from the author, he’s a magical shiny little person who’s discovering about life. i love him because he’d never change, you can’t change him, because he’ll always be a child at heart and mind. he’s everyone. he’s you, he’s me, he’s who we were. and that breaks me apart. he makes me cry, this one. he makes me remember that i’m a child too, regardless of how many time passes.

6. léon doré, from the film it’s not me, i swear! — i was a fifteen-year old watching this after having reconnected with my mother and that’s why it marvelled me. it’s a lot of what i’ve been through, of what i’ve been. i love him because i relate to him, and i wish i could’ve had that courage. i won’t spoil the story, but i really recommend it! my favorite film of all time. it has trigger warning for child abandonment, suicide attempts and child abuse though.

7. wei wuxian, from mo dao zu shi — oh, boy, i can’t relate to this one at all. i think he’s the only one from this list that doesn’t fall into the ‘introvert with hidden feelings and traumatised past’ type, not entirely. he only falls into the traumatised past. i think he’s the only extrovert character — besides hinata shouyou — that i actually like. i’m an introvert at heart, so at first he annoyed me too, lan wangji, i get you. but his strength? how he looks into the world that broke him and says ‘i’ll keep trying, i’ll keep smiling’? how he loves to the point of sacrifying himself? how he’s not attuned to his feelings because he’s more worried about being excited over little things? how he’s just overall so rebellious, but intelligent, sincere, witty, and does this all for the good, regardless if he’s being misjudged? how he’s been through hell but chooses to find reasons to keep going instead of looking back? oh, how i love him.

8. todoroki shouto, from my hero academia — i don’t enjoy boku no hero anymore, it has lost the entertaining bits for me. but i do expect the best for this boy right here, i love him for his cool nature, how he walks into life trying to let go of his resentment (after he befriends midoriya), and how he cares for his friends more than words can be let out to express. i wish the anime had grew to be better so i could watch more of him, but the feeling’s gone for me now. nevertheless, i still cherish him.

9. gin, from hotarubi no mori e — he’s a mystery, that’s for sure. he deserved so much more. he deserved life, he deserved a chance to live. i love the tenderness in him, and the sheer tenderness he showed our main character even if he didn’t even managed to be a real, normal boy! how can beings find the love in themselves and be so painfully alive even if they’re not in fact in the human spectrum? i love that he taught us this concept of love. i love this type of trope. i love and hate it at the same time.

10. dr. house, from house m.d — i had a hard time wondering if i should indeed add him here. because he’s an asshole. why do i like him? i don’t know. i see this flawed, asshole man and i see the pain in him and though it doesn’t justify anything at all, it’s what humans are all about. he judges everyone. he shames everyone. he shows people’s true intentions. he hides his true intentions. he’s repressed and lonely and he’s doomed. but he’s got this relationship with wilson, and women, and monster trucks games, and he lives. and he’s an awful man, but aren’t we all at core? i love to hate him.

bonus: nozomi fujisaki, from cherry magic, and nano, from girl from nowhere. they’re wonderful. they’re everything. love fujisaki’s view in life (it matches mine) and nano’s brilliance ✨

haha, well, this got longer than i thought, but wow, i enjoyed this a lot. thank you for asking me this, really! big hugs!!

[maester-of-spreadsheets]

Tagged by @vonlipvig and it's come around at a great time because I've actually been finishing media lately. Imagine that.

Last song/piece I listened to: Chor Bazari from Love Aaj Kal. AZAD HOON MAIN TUJHSE! AZAD HAI TU MUJHSE! wait i just noticed that the lyrics are saying "now i'm free from you, now you're free from me" but it's using the most informal 'you.' Which kinda implies they still have a degree of emotional intimacy despite being exes. Despite the whole song being about how they're exes who are handling this reunion super maturely even if they're bemused by it all lol. Interesting.

(also Deepika was still in her awkward rookie actress phase here but I can see the glimmers of the kind of stuff that would go on to make her really good at more naturalistic roles.)

(great now I want to rewatch it even though I remember it being the platonic ideal of a timepass hahah. If only to rewatch the sequence where early on they have a 'we're breaking up!' party because they dont want to do long distance and then later on she calls him from the airport and they have this lighthearted conversation talking about their gripes with one another that they never mentioned in the relationship in order to keep the peace.)

Last book I read: Diavola by Jennifer Thorne. Horror novel about the bisexual disaster black sheep of a family going to a family reunion in Italy and... oops [cocks gun] villa's haunted.

On one hand is it kind of a mess with weird pacing and some dropped plot threads and it has multiple themes that don't quite congeal? Yes.

On the other hand, did it FUCK MAJORLY?? Yep!! Probably my favorite book I've read this year so far. So cathartic.

Last film I watched: Piku, solely to look at several actors' faces and it delivered on that front.

Last TV series: I don't... know? I think it might have been that documentary series about Nickelodeon. And I'm glad survivors got to tell their stories, but like a lot of recent true crime documentaries about systemic crimes I felt like it didn't go deep enough. For every Dan Schneider, there are quite a few people above people him in the corporate ladder who have to sign off on their abuses. But that's all very bleak so let's move on. (Also it turned out I am still not far away enough from The Old Job to really be able to deal with this content.)

Last video game: Pentiment! I was playing a "choose the rudest option" round and was shocked every character hated me.

Last thing I googled: Diavola to remind myself of the author's name.

Last thing I ate: Pasta and broccoli.

Sweet, savory, or spicy: Spicy.

Amount of sleep: As usual I genuinely don't know how much was actual sleep and how much was lying around half awake.

Currently reading: Uhhhh so many things. My Lent resolution to only read things I own and/or have started didn't go too well (but better than I had been before because I actually finished some things.) I'm probably going to try and make an effort to return Emily Wilson's Iliad translation and/or the biography on J. Dilla.

Currently watching: Uhhh does watching the Murder on the Orient Express play all the way through every other night count?

Tagging @onetrueharem @ponydeathisland @amarguerite @invaders-forever @sickfreaksirkay aaaand honestly everyone who wants to do. And doesn't want to YOU LOT ESPECIALLY

[littlealeta]

The Remake/Sequel/Spin-off problem needs to be fixed

Many of us are tired of the remakes/sequels/spin-offs phase. Some of us might even be almost totally averse to them. But, I do want to get this off my chest in a proper blog, because I don’t think a lot of people have talked about how studios can scratch their franchise itch in a proper way. And also in a way that could’ve give them more respect than they get now.

Remake: Stuff That Actually Could've Been Better Or Expanded Upon

There are a lot of movies I’ve seen that have some clear potential underneath that never really got their chance to shine.

Examples being No Hard Feelings, The Boxtrolls, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. (They need to make another Thumbelina film anyway, it’s already been, what, at least 20 years at this point?) There’s also some anime that I think could use remakes, but Japan mostly keeps their paws off classics.

To explain why, I think these movies all have interesting premises and some kind of hook to them, but the execution turned out to be underwhelming. They're still fairly new, but maybe in another decade or so, they could be considered for a remake. But, really, I wouldn't mind hearing them being remade right now. As for expansion, something I’m thinking about is a TV show called Captain N: The Gamemaster.

I would like to see a remake or at least spin-off of that. It’s an 80s show about a guy who enters into a world of retro-gaming who can control stuff with a belt shaped like a NES controller. It’s been largely forgotten at this point, so bringing it back with newer games juxtaposed in with the retro games will also be a plus. The Great Mouse Detective also could’ve been made into a TV series.

Sequel: Stuff That Actually NEED A Sequel

I think a lot of people want sequels just to see their favorite characters again. But sometimes, that doesn’t always work, I mean look what we recently got.

All because of recent fan demand. The first movie, I believe, felt complete anyway.

There needs to be more sequels to anything that’s either ended on a cliffhanger, or could’ve used an expansion of the world and story.

Monsters vs. Aliens (another Dreamworks film and also highly underrated) ended off on a cliffhanger and could’ve used a sequel (the TV series unfortunately was underwhelming). Go back to the Madeline (Didn’t like the TV show for some reason, though but I did love the live-action one) or Eloise franchise (that had a ton of books that I don’t think got adapted). Bring those to the attention of the modern kids. Maybe go back to the Jumanji franchise WITH THE BOARD GAME and instead of being in a jungle, make it different like Zathura did where they’re like under the sea or in a desert or something.

For the spin-offs, I would kinda repeat the same things I’ve already said. Again, do spin-offs to expand the characters and/or the world. I can’t think of a movie or TV example that would work with this, so I’m just going to use a game example: Catherine.

A lot of the side characters in that one don’t get a lot of character development or depth and some of them had some interesting conflict and backstories that they were going through. I also would like to see the main character interacting with the other characters in more wholesome and complex ways outside of drinking, chatting and having conflict since we barely get any wholesomeness between them in the game. He can help out their problems and grow through each other. It would also show his bar posse as being more of friends than typical long-time acquaintances who just chill out in the bar every day.

I know studios won’t read this, but that’s what I wish would happen, even though a lot of it is most likely a pipe dream. But, you know me, it’s always fun to dream.

[humming-fly]

datasheet

Tagged by @hyrulianpirate ayy haven't done one of these in an Age haha

Last Song: I've been rewatching Arcane so last would've been Dynasties and Dystopia~

Favorite Color: I really love the turquoise shade of blue and pretty much every color the sky turns, pale pink is also a really nice one

Last Book: System Collapse! That one was sort of funny in that it was a christmas gift for my dad but I delivered it a few days late so I could finish it first lol (he owns all the other books and lent them to me when I first read 'em)

Last Movie: uhhhh wow legit can't remember that much. It might've been the Boy and the Heron?? I feel like I've seen something since then but maybe not!

Last TV Show: like i mentioned still rewatching Arcane haha, other than that really enjoying the new episodes of Dungeon Meshi as they come out! My sister also got me to watch some episodes of severance over the holidays so that was fun

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: prooobably sweet>savory>spicy? i def have a sweet tooth for better or worse

Relationship Status: (stealing this from prev lol) perfectly content ❀⸜(˶´ ˘ `˶)⸝❀

Last Thing I Googled: "murderbot diaries series in order" (i genuinely can never remember what the names for each book are XD)

Current Obsession: i mean ongoing obsessions are rather unchanged from the usual haha, still lots of fma and kirby stuff rattling around in my head, I also have some elden ring doodles I keep meaning to get back to. In terms of Really recent obsessions as of the past couple weeks have enjoyed diving into league of legend's lore lol, every time they release a cinematic i get curious and start dipping in and every time i'm Shocked how much stuff they have (though that might soon run out given how riot just laid off a lot of their creative team h a)

Looking Forward To: finishing my qualifying exam'll be nice!

Taggin: oh hmm, howsabout @alagaesia-overlord @aseuki @nymphofnovels @shubbabloggin @phantomrose96 @post-it-notes7 @angelfrost, in case any of you or anyone else wants to play!

[cchickki]

"About the Blogger" Meme

Thanks for tagging me @currymanganese! ❤️ sorry i'm doing this super late ugh

Star Sign(s):

virgo sun, pisces moon, capricorn rising (i can list my entire chart if anyone is interested lol)

Favorite Holidays:

i'm not religious but i absolutely love christmas. my favorite time of year and favorite holiday. i get depressed whenever it's over and i have to take the decorations down.

Last Meal:

i think a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. i was craving it lol

Current Favorite Musician:

lana del rey and kendrick lamar! i listen to a lot of music and all different genres, but those are my go to. there's something about fantastic writing/wordplay and production across both of their genres that just inspires me and transports me to a different place when i listen.

if anyone is interested, my spotify profile is here: (x)

When the Tigers Broke Free by Pink Floyd

The Wall is one of my favorite albums!

Last Movie Watched:

Everything Everywhere All At Once

i'm so glad i finally got to watch this movie, it was incredible. although watching it with my boomer dad at parts was awkward (aka the butt plug part lmaoooo)

Last TV Show Watched:

oh man, still trying to finish Succession, my husband is dragging his feet with it even though we both are enjoying it. finished The Boys almost 2 months ago, need to start Gen V soon. i'm bad at finishing shows, unless they're mini series.

Last Book/Fic Finished:

i recently reread Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas, the prequel to The Hate U Give. i haven't finished any of my fics in awhile, except for the two mini requests from my friend @chrissymodi-frost.

Last Book/Fic Abandoned:

oh boy... i've got quite a few i'm struggling to get through... just look at my ao3 and you can see how bad my writer's block has gotten lately :(

Currently Reading:

rereading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas <3

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation:

i graduated in may 2023 with my art history degree, so i was deep into ancient egyptian history and art, and had to write a hefty 20 page paper on german painter Albrecht Dürer. my most recent hyperfixation was the uncharted games again, so while writing i was researching the Hoysala empire

Favorite Online Fandom Memory:

first joining tumblr and meeting so many friends on here. but i'll tell you back in 2013 when the citadel dlc for mass effect launched, that was an incredible build up and very fun few months.

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence:

not really an "old" fandom, but i was HEAVY into spiderverse over the summer, met some great mutuals through it. i still spiderverse, but don't feel as fixated with it at the moment. the fandom was kind of annoying with some people's think pieces, not gonna lie, and kind of turned a few of us off from it. i'm sure it'll have another "resurgence" when the next movie Beyond the Spiderverse comes out!

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did:

most recently the movie The Creator! movie was so visually stunning, with great/powerful themes, and one of my favorite tropes: found family (kinda) with a father/daughter dynamic. not enough people liked it/saw it which sucks, so the fandom is pretty much non existent for it. i want more art and fanfics from it! i'm going to be buying it soon, that way i can get inspirited and hopefully create more for it!

Tempting Project You're Trying to Reign In/Don't Have Time For:

i was working on creating a real-life version of nate's notebook from uncharted 4. it's taking a lot of time, and is quite an undertaking so i had to take a break from it. i do want to continue it though!

no pressure tags (sorry if you were already tagged!): @mothertodaughters, @chrissymodi-frost. @malabadspice, @not-those-kids, @durrtydawg, @lilylavender, @lilsnatch, @libertatias, @xinamiguel, @georgieluz, @distantsonata, @soft-girl-musings (and anyone else who wants to! sorry i'm trying to remember all my moots tumblr names)