#Not Iconic At All I think is also cool in a meta way. Like showed how he was done doing his own shit and just

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

Im never shutting up about Peacemaker showing up in BB2006 with a bunch of tattoos and shit after being dead for over 10 years real time. Amazing character work. Captain Jarhead gets freedom over his own body for the first time in like 20 years and immediately gives himself a awful haircut and gets a bunch of piercings and tattoos. And hes still in character. I can accept nobody realizing it was him because everyone expects Chris to wear his ugly costume forever it really is all worth it

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 3

Propaganda Under Cut

Kairi

kairi is the third protagonist of the kingdom hearts series and the third member of the destiny trio, alongside fan favorites sora and riku. sora/riku shippers HATE kairi, and will go out of their way to discount her at every turn. the hate for her ranges from typical "she's a boring bitch" to fans of soriku making five-hour long video essays reassuring their fellow shippers that the big bad kairi won't show up in the next installment – to quote one video, "she's in a box. she's on the shelf. four walls, no door." kairi is the greatest bogeyman the soriku fandom has ever known, to the point where most of said video essays and fanon meta posts focus not on why sora and riku should get together, but rather on why they don't like kairi.

Literally has a 100+ page Google doc fan theory writing her out of the narrative and putting all of her (few) canonical accomplishments onto half of the popular m/m ship (soriku). Don't even get me started on how her memory was completely written out of the canon plot of re:coded. KH is a nightmare to explain so dude trust me she is THE victim of yaoi

She is so fundamental to the plot and themes and narratives of game and yet it is near impossible to find anything about her thats not ship bashing pre-mlm with the other two characters. I dont even care if she ends up with one of the main characters i just want fans to see her as a cool character to love or like, anything other than “annoying comphet girl.” You can write your mlm but pleaae stop inventing comphet where it doesnt exist. She does not even get to spend time with sora ever?? Why does everyone see her as a threat and a thing to destroy?? Let her have friends so help me

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime.

[flownwrong]

dS rewatch shenanigans

So me and @mannequin3thereckoning rewatched 2.04 Bird in the Hand, 3.02 Eclipse and 4.03 The Ladies' Man (or 4.05, depending on the region; I like this ordering of the episodes better, it makes the season more equally paced to me). Somehow we picked a nice equal distribution between seasons 2-4 (sorry s1, I just did not have that much free time!)

It was fun to compare the impressions between us, a person who's fresh off a rewatch and one who didn't touch dS for some years :) Unlike my rigorous friend, I don't have it in me to do a separate post for each episode. It's all pretty chaotic, but here goes:

Bird in the Hand

It was funny to notice how much easier it is to judge the pacing of an episode while also chatting about it in real time compared to a regular watch. This one is pretty much perfect!

It's a great showcase for the side of Fraser that sometimes gets lost between screen and fic, or screen and meta—his lowkey permanent annoyance with his circumstances ("I'm not sulky. I don't sulk," he said. You know, like a liar!) and his masterfully contained intense anger. It's so funny how annoyed he gets with Turnbull! Finally, someone at the consulate who gets more shit than he does haha.

Also another great example of Ray consistently ready to both stir up shit and take shit for Fraser in a highly stressful situation where Fraser's hands are tied. “He’d shoot him for you if you asked"—even Dad knows <3 Linking this wonderful art to express my endless appreciation for how well-oiled Ray and Fraser's banter is. No one does put upon like Ray Vecchio. No one.

And, I mean, the emotional centerpiece of the episode is BRILLIANT. The tone balances on the usual dS edge between wacky and weighty juuust right for juuuuust long enough via Ghost Dad, and then it cannonballs right into heartbreaking because of the Ghost Dad in the span of two lines, sustains it for one of the most effective conversations in all of dS and eases out of it by—you guessed it—Ghost Dad diffusing the tension with continuous murderous overtures.

And I think Fraser's ✨Plan✨ in this one is a rare example of his speechifying that actually bares his underbelly as opposed to only expressing his beliefs illustrated by his experiences. He's very self-aware: he says to his father, "I'm no better", I, too, can't ask for help, I, too, can't express my love and my hurts—and then he goes and does exactly that—and then he immediately follows it by turning the tables on everyone and going "ah, but I stunned you all with my emotional openness on purpose so I could get the upper hand in the stand-off"—but it works both ways, and it's clearly also him using the excuse to actually be vulnerable for a second. Man, Fraser is a thing to behold in this episode.

But you can actually see how far he's come since the pilot, and how his partnership with Ray affected him—it's cool that this happens only two episodes after Ray bullies him into admitting his dissatisfaction with his circumstances. And here he's expressing grief, not the anger, not the desire for revenge, but grief, out loud, to everyone. "You broke my heart." Jesus.

10/10 episode, highly recommended.

Eclipse

This episode is like a favourite well-worn hoodie to me. Apart from the iconic "Do you find me attractive?" exchange it offers so many joys.

It's funny (The "now it's broken and it's working" exchange and "Mom, how you've changed—into cuban cigars" are both beautiful moments).

There's Fraser's "I'm acquainted with loss and, on occasion, loneliness" line which is I think a great thing to learn about him early in the season both if you tuned into the show without seeing s1-2 and if you're Ray Kowalski.

There's the great Ray intro, doubly so because we already had the intro, and were even given a lot of the info there that Eclipse reinforces (like Ray's compulsive need to express his vulnerabilities in hope of protecting himself from being judged too harshly, but also his competence—even if my man should really keep those glasses on—and his ability to think on his feet and his obsessive tendencies and his soft romantic underbelly and I could go on, we learn so. much. stuff. by the point we hear Fraser's exposition on Ray's professional record we're not even surprised).

I love that Fraser is immediately comfortable with his new position of being the more emotionally stable one in the duo, haha—while Ray Vecchio had his insecurities and great moments of learning to trust himself with Fraser's help, Fraser is clearly both fascinated by Ray Kowalski's openness and ready to offer his shoulder to lean on, with an added bonus of being in less danger of being perceived while near this dude who constantly makes himself available for perception.

Random little notes: I really love how Ray says his own name with so much disappointment when introducing himself: "I'm... *frustrated sigh* Kowalski." I love how he tentatively asks Fraser to repeat "friend" after his declaration of friendship. I love that he's a dork who throws the dreamcatcher like a frisbee. I love the b-plot letting us hang out with the station gang a little and see them stand up for each other. I love the insane angle on Ray's face while he's being interrogated (see: my eyelashes gifset). I love the birthday party. I love the crypt as a setting, and I love everyone in that impromptu holding cell.

And, in the words of my wiser friend, "ray finding out his imposter syndrome was caused by a guy who doesn’t even remember him is so very ray". I take my hat off to everyone involved in making this episode.

The Ladies' Man, which I'm very glad my friend suggested, bc otherwise I probably would've forced her to watch it anyway, and I'm not a fan of such cruelty.

Let's get some things out of the way:

Ray looks incredibly good in this episode. It's a crime to look this good AND suffer prettily on top of that. The fact that the camera that was already pretty obsessed with CKR these two seasons gets, like, terminally stuck on him here does Not hurt matters.

I have some Questions for the episode, and I'll get to them, but it's my top one dS episode on a pure viewing pleasure level because it pushes my buttons.

Can't say much about the cold open because it's pretty much perfect, tight and tense and we get the Homoerotic Calling Off Your Rabid Dog Partner When He's Losing It Before He Kills Someone, which is a timeless classic (complete with the obvious and iconic Look at me! Look! At! Me!), and Ray and Fraser are perfect characters to act it out. CKR is on fire, no notes.

One moment I somehow forgot from my many previous rewatches that really struck me during this one is Fraser's almost casual admission of imagining murdering his father's murderers—thinking again about Bird in the Hand up there. It's a great reminder late in the show, where we see this aspect of him less often, and it's cool that he can safely share it in the face of Ray's rawness, you know, as opposed to it being a great and painful admission when he's the vulnerable one.

A brief interlude to shake my fists at the sky and wail Why, o Paul Gross, did you have to add the singing—it's not just that the joke didn't age well, it didn't even land at the time, and I don't think it would in any episode, but especially here???— and the bark tea flirting—which is par for the course as far as dS goes and could be cute but it feels totally disconnected from the rest of the scene, let alone the episode, so, again, ???? It's not that I wanted a mournful monotony of an episode with no laughs—I would pick a different show then—but like, I think better jokes could've been made. Like later in the episode, where during a climactic scene they drop the "actually, all that exposition makes me feel a little thirsty" line, it works.

Back to the point: Dixie Seatle is fucking amazing??? Her and CKR work so well together that all the noise of failed gags and nonsensical continuity of Ray's cover and whatnot is super easy to wave away because they're the emotional core of the episode, and they deliver. They have such a fragile thing going on, with him being exhausted from all the guilt and her also being exhausted from his guilt on top of the, you know, the whole death penalty thing.

Which, speaking of, UM, that's one of Thee Darkest Premises in the whole show and encountering it for the first time was a trip, during a season I was not a fan of and considered dropping. And yes many rewatches later I'm still confused but grateful about it all. The world in this episode is brutal in the way it rarely is in the show; integrity and redemption and whatnot are big motives in dS, and the big point is usually that the world, imperfect and unfair as it is, can respond to kindness with kindness and this is worth upholding. It is Not So here; scenes like the whole precinct cheering away at the prospect of Beth's impending execution are just—wow, okay.

So, as far as dS goes, this is a super solipsistic episode. It's perfectly self-contained, and even though it could have, I don't know, implications for Ray the way some of Fraser's Bad Shit did for Fraser, it just isn't addressed in the end. And I don't think it should be. It's a character study, and whoever decided they needed a very heavy one for Ray is my hero. (Note: I think this is the reason I never read a coda for this episode that I enjoyed. Having your blorbo break down in tears right in front of his boyfriend right before the credits with no follow-up kind of begs for a coda, but—newp. It works so well because it cuts off with no big resolutions.)

And whoever wrote those two closing scenes deserves a medal; to have this much restraint is an achievement for late season dS. CKR and Dixie Seatle also deserve a medal each for creating something this excruciating with super precise line deliveries and body language.

Small things my mind always catches on:

Welsh and his pink duster, looking out for Ray

CKR's rolling over the car stunt (steam comes out of my ears)

tiny flashback Ray checking his hair in the mirror at the crime scene because of course he does

Ray casually fiddling with Fraser's hat as they walk around

Sam Franklin's whole deal. I mean, there's tension there. For god's sake he pats Ray's cheek like a proud mentor he played the whole time when Ray takes his gun during his arrest. I mean. Uh. Yeah.

the fact that truepenny quit her meta right before this episode is a human tragedy

Probably like 40% of what you've read above have been brought up or articulated by @mannequin3thereckoning, so thank her for all the fun. I hope we can do this again some time <3

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Top 100 Movies #100 - #76

For the longest time I've wanted to do something like this, but I never could find the right time to do it. It just seemed so daunting, and the website's image limit was a hindrance, and then my computer died and my wife's computer was all I could use... and then I went on my hiatus from doing major reviews. But I found some time, so here we go.

These are my hundred favorite films ever made, divided into fourths so each one can get an image and I can devote more time to gushing about them if I want to without feeling like I'm dragging things out.

Speaking if dragging things out, let us waste no more time! We have a hundred movies to go, so let's knock out the botom quarter!

100. Us

Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort gets a lot of shit that I feel is mostly undeserved. Sure, some of the over explaining at the climax is a bit clunky when taken at face value, but it almost feels like it’s by design, as if the movie is daring you to nitpick the premise so that you can ignore the message it’s trying to convey. For me, I find that the stellar themes, fantastic acting, and godly soundtrack manage to make up for any of this movie’s flaws.

99. Crimson Peak

Murder! Mystery! Ghosts! Incest! Leave it to Guillermo del Toro to craft a Gothic horror film this stylish and impressive! This might just be my favorite of his films, and I definitely think it is severely overlooked compared to the rest of his output.

98. Mandy

Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors of all time, because when he goes crazy it’s always fun, and when he’s dramatic he genuinely kills it. This film lets him do both,with the first half being a slow burn dramatic romance that ends in horrific tragedy, and the back half having him do demon drugs and get into a chainsaw duel while he murders an entire cult. Truly a beautifully insane film.

97. Scream

The film that both revitalized and ruined the slasher genre, with winking nods to the tropes that made those films what they are while also playing things just straight enough to be appealing. Only a genre master like Wes Craven could pull off a pitch-perfect satire like this, though none of it would be near as good if it didn’t have a great cast who were firing on all cylinders. Young Neve Campbell before she became a sellout, Matthew Lillard cementing his place in horror history, David Arquette and Courtney Cox in their prime, and Roger “Mojo Jojo” Jackson playing the iconic voice of Ghostface… They’re as crucial to this movie’s success as the meta winks and impressive kills are.

96. Jojo Rabbit

Taika Waititi made one bad superhero movie and then everyone turned on him as if he didn’t make the film that proves you absolutely could make Blazing Saddles in this day and age. While it’s neither as gut-bustingly funny nor as profane as Mel Brooks’ magnum opus, it’s still a very fun, funny, and heartbreaking satirization of Nazism. I think he’s allowed to make one Love and Thunder when he made something this good.

95. Akira

The movie with the coolest bike slide in cinematic history, and this is indisputable because every single movie and show with motorcycles in it borrowed that cool bike slide. This film does show its age a bit, but it’s still an awesome sci-fi showcase of animated action and body horror. Plus it’s just a lot of fun seeing Tetsuo and Kaneda spend at least half of their dialogue dramatically screaming each other’s names.

94. 300

I make fun of Zack Snyder a lot, but I do it out of love; the dude who made 300 has gotta be capable of doing better than his recent output, after all. Stylish, slick action and slow-mo put to good use showing an army of nearly naked macho men cutting down hordes of nasty bad guys… The fact I watched this movie so much as a teenager should’ve been the first hint I was bisexual.

93. Spider-Man: No Way Home

People are really fucking hard on the MCU Spidey, and not without reason, but sometimes it really comes off as disingenuous. Look at this film, for instance; it has gotten some flak for just being a cheap nostalgia circlejerk that uses cameos so you can clap and cheer and ignore the ‘plot holes.’ I cannot imagine being that miserable of a movie watcher. To me, this film is a tribute to the cinematic Spideys that came before while giving them some degree of closure that I never thought I’d see, while simultaneously bringing Holland’s take on the character closer to where he should be. It’s also really hard to hate a movie where Willem Dafoe gets to go Goblin Mode again and power bomb Tom Holland through several floors of an apartment, cementing him as comic book movie villain royalty once and for all. Are there cheesy moments, moments where things don’t make the most sense? Sure. But to focus on those bits instead of the core themes and how the characters are used is an awful way t do film criticism. The returning heroes and most of the returning villains are used very effectively to tell the story they wanted to tell, and most importantly they don’t overshadow Tom and his friends. The fact he stands toe-to-toe with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield is nothing short of amazing, spectacular even.

92. The Lost Boys

Joel Schumacher died with one of the most unfairly earned infamous reputations around. Man made one campy superhero movie where you can see George Clooney’s nips and hear Arnold Schwarzenegger make ice puns and suddenly everyone forgets he made one of the greatest and most homoerotic vampire films ever made. While the stuff with the kids is very hit or miss, the stuff with David and his vampire biker gang is awesome, and the climax is one hell of a good time.

91. Barbie

Want to introduce your kids to feminist concepts but really don’t think they’re ready for Poor Things? Greta Gerwig has got you covered, with this pink-hued intro to feminism that uses the world’s most popular doll in a meta-narrative about her impact as well as what it means to be a woman and how the patriarchy is detrimental to both men and women. Margot Robbie gives a great performance as the titular heroine, but it is Ryan Gosling as the well-meaning idiot turned antagonist Ken that steals the show. It helps that he sings one of the most incredible, sincere power ballads ever written.

90. Street Fighter

As a connoisseur of cheesy, “so bad it’s good” films, quite a few of them have made my top 100. Here’s the first of those, this goofy Saturday morning cartoon of a film where the most American character ever (Guile) is played by the least American guy imaginable (Jean-Claude Van Damme). While it undeniably fumbles a lot of the cast of the game it’s adapting, Chun-Li and especially M. Bison are done so well it’s hard to be too mad. It’s a fun, stupid, silly 90s action film and sometimes that’s all I need.

89. Knives Out

After polarizing sci-fi audiences with his Star Wars film, Rian Johnson subverted our expectations by delivering a whodunnit for the ages. After seeing them restrained by blockbuster franchises for the better part of a decade, seeing Daniel Craig and Chris Evans really let loose again is a real treat.

88. Everything Everywhere All at Once

Twitter tries to convince me every other week that this movie is dogshit, but I ain’t buying it. This is one of the best uses of the multiverse in recent memory, using it to tell a stylish, silly, and heartfelt story about family and trauma. The entire cast is amazing, but it’s Ke Huy Quan in his big return to the silver screen that really steals the show.

87. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

My favorite thing about this movie, this proto-slasher, is just how fucking unclean it makes me feel. It’s not overly violent or gory, but it is genuinely grimy and unsettling in a way few other horror films can match. The dinner scene near the end in particular is just so fucking unnerving. Just truly unmatched atmosphere with this movie.

86. Spaceballs

While I’m not going to argue that this is a better film than Blazing Saddles, I still enjoy it a lot more since I’m a bigger fan of Star Wars and sci-fi than I am of Westerns. It’s just a damn funny parody, and hoe can it not when it has some of the funniest people to ever live (Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Rick Moranis, John Candy) and a great heroic lead performance from Bill Pullman all delivering some of the silliest lines ever written?

85. RRR

This is basically live action historical fiction anime. These characters pull off some of the most insane feats of action I have ever seen, action that makes the average American action film look like Peppa Pig. But I would not give a shit if there wasn’t a strong emotional core; the two leads have a brotherly bond unlike anything I’ve ever, and it makes the action that much sweeter. Frankly, this movie would make the list just for the final battle alone, since it might be my favorite action scene of all time.

84. Strange Magic

This movie holds a very special place in my heart. I went to see this with my wife back when we first started dating, and at the time I was filled with anxiety and insecurity, worried that I wasn’t good enough and didn’t deserve a relationship among other things. I sat down to watch this, and when it got to the titular song, something clicked, and I felt secure. I felt like our relationship was the right thing, and all these years later it’s hard to deny I was right. So thank you to this cheesy jukebox musical inspired by Shakespeare and George Lucas’ desire to make a film for little girls. They will never convince me you’re a bad movie.

83. Princess Mononoke

Maybe Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is objectively better, but this is my favorite. I think it’s because this one is a lot more excitin and action-packed, with all sorts of thrilling setpieces interspersed with the quieter dramatic moments Miyazaki excels at.

82. Jurassic Park

One of Spielberg’s greatest achievements is bringing dinosaurs to life on the big screen. No matter how many times I sit down to watch this, I still feel the same awe the characters do when they lay their eyes on the dinosaurs—which really highlights how good the cast is, because they’re amazingly convincing even when they’re looking at dated 90s CGI.

81. Labyrinth

It’s David Bowie starring as the villain in a musical filled with puppets that’s directed by Jim Henson. How the fuck is it possible to not love this movie?

80. V for Vendetta

Yes, this does dumb down the politics of Alan Moore’s comic significantly and turns the story into a much more straightforward plot. But what it lacks in depth, it makes up for with Hugo Weaving and pyrotechnics. And it’s not like there’s no depth here; crucially, this film keeps the entirety of the prisoner’s letter sequence. If that was left out, I would not have liked this movie at all.

79. Wreck-It Ralph

It’s amazing how much Disney got right here that it would go on to get wrong over the next decade. We have a hidden twist villain, something that hampered later films… but he’s shown to be a dick, with the villain reveal being how evil he is. It’s a big crossover of nostalgic properties… but they’re more used as seasoning for a story about original characters. It’s just astonishing how Disney would end up dropping the ball, even in this film’s sequel, when they got everything right the first time.

78. Sin City

What’s black and white and red all over? This bloody brilliant adaptation of Frank Miller’s sleazy comics (and one of the last genuinely good things with his name attached to it). The visual style here is the real big selling point; it genuinely looks like the pages of a comic come to life. While the movie as a whole is fantastic and “The Big Fat Kill” segment is still really, “The Hard Goodbye” and “That Yellow Bastard” are the real highlights, the former because of a career highlight performance from Mickey Rourke and a terrifying villain turn from Elijah Wood of all people, the latter because of one of Bruce Willis’ finest performances of the 2000s and excellent use of slight splashes of color (yellow for the titular bastard).

77. Batman & Robin

As long as I live, this movie will have at least one defender. Joel Schumacher created a silly, campy comic book movie for the ages, and maybe back in the day people weren’t read for it… but I was. I love the ice puns, the nipples, the bat credit card, all of it! All of its silly, stupid corniness makes this as memorable as it is! It’s like the West show with a gigantic budget.

76. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

And speaking of camp, here is the cult classic. We can argue all day and all night whether this film has aged badly, but this was a huge step forward for queer cinema on top of being a damn good musical. If nothing else, this movie helped rocket Tim Curry into the stratosphere and made him the star we know him as.

[qqueenofhades]

i'm going feral about queer icon hob gadling thank you very much. I JUST CAN'T WITH HIM. i cry because in the comic in the 1989 panel there's a person at the inn talking about how "of course AIDS isn't a punishment from god." hob has to sit there and hear that and just. JUST. hob being visible! hob being vulnerable in his love! hob surviving all his friends. hob buying the fucking pub with the power of his queer money!!! committing the crime of graffiti to SPRAYPAINT A SIGN FOR HIS LOVE TO FIND

It is... probably because I am a queer historian and that is why I imprinted on Hob in the first place, but uh, yes, I have many feelings about this too, and the subtle way in which queer places and spaces work both in the show and in the Dreamling story specifically. Obviously there are many queer characters in Sandman (and we love it for that), but the White Horse, and then the New Inn, is one of the few physical locations I can think of that is a literal embodiment of queer devotion. Hob buys the old pub and builds the new one so Morpheus, if he does ever come back, can find him! He appropriated the spot where they met the first time, where their relationship was built over centuries, and he both saves the old one and builds a NEW one (new step in their relationship etc etc). And physically paints giant signs because his immortal boyfriend is very stupid! He makes it visible and explicit, he builds his devotion into every fiber of that pub, he does it especially so Dream can still come back and find him if he chooses, he waits patiently, and like... the New Inn is absolutely brimming with queer adoration, and ack.

Also, there was that tantalizing tidbit about the real, historical White Horse pub that the Sandman version was based on, being best known for being run by two women in the 18th century who called themselves "Mr. and Mrs. How." Granted, I found that in the IMDB trivia section and if I was writing an actual paper on it, I'd have to do a heck of a lot more research. However, happily, I am NOT writing a paper, and I say it's real because it feels right. In that case, the White Horse itself is embodied as a queer establishment, a place previously run by married lesbians in Hella Gay 18th-century London, and adds another layer to that being the place where Hob and Dream meet every century to conduct their careful, tentative, tender, unspoken romance.

But then! Tragedy! The pub has been bought and will be shut down, and with it, the physical and literal heart of Hob’s relationship with his "stranger!" As I wrote in my meta about the 1989 scene, everything is so careful, so subtextual, so unspoken, whether it is Hob saying he has been stood up and the bartender deliberately not assuming it was by a woman and offering oblique reassurance that Hob is safe here, as a queer man in violently homophobic 1989. So of course Hob can't stand to think of it going away, and has to save it both for himself and as a queer-friendly establishment! So he takes his queer money, as you say, and does something about it! Maybe bad people get to do whatever in this country with that money too, but so does Hob, and he can claw back a little of the place that has always most belonged to him (and him with Dream).

Hence the New Inn, where Hob absolutely hung Pride flags in the '90s long before it was cool or popularly accepted to do so, was able to use his status both as owner of the establishment and Queer Who Can Kick Your Ass to deal with anyone who had a problem with it, and otherwise keep it ready for the day when his love might get to show up again. It's beautiful! It's visible! It's symbolic! And then when Dream does walk in and make their relationship "visible," i.e. apologising and calling Hob his friend, they get to sit down together in that space that Hob has created and kept as an altar of queer devotion both private and public, they smile at each other adoringly, and then what scene/setting do we cut straight to??

THE GIANT BEATING HEART OF THE THRESHOLD OF DESIRE. FROM ONE BEATING HEART OF DESIRE MADE VISIBLE DIRECTLY TO THE OTHER.

They were insane for this, truly. Insane.

[feraliminal]

Actual episode 70 discussion before I vanish back into the aether to do coursework:

Obligatory meta bit: I’m in the process of reading Interaction Ritual Chains for a draft thesis chapter (which I need to be writing now) and just happened to be halfway through reading the section on remote/virtual rituals when the episode dropped. The book includes stuff like sports events and concerts as rituals, defined as community-building events where people share an experience and get meaningful symbols and stories out of it. But it has a whole section on why this needs to be in-person. I’ve never really done live premieres before because my fandoms tended to be old, but I’ve now got participation observation data to disprove that - it’s definitely a shared experience for the fan community, and we have plenty of stories. Fandom is folk culture!

The appearance of cam-ghosts and Plunger’s interaction with the secret agent was very cool as I love the “sufficiently advanced tech is indistinguishable from the supernatural” trope. The camghosts could have been hallucinations, but there was one peeking around a corner much earlier in the episode. I suspect that there’s some kind of remote connection/Alliance network going on (they’re able to share and broadcast footage, after all, even if they need to use tablets for long range comms), so these could be virtual encounters through the secret agent hacking or otherwise accessing Plunger’s brain - like he’s able to get into the skibidi computer to taunt the scientist. But why (other than exposition and dramatic effect)? Is he trolling because their death is part of his scheme (likely imho), or is he just an incorrigible dick who can’t say “good job” without being sinister?

Transmission error/recording error: is the secret agent signal jamming? And what was that stealth mode? Is it related to the secret agent and the camghosts? Probably.

Unless our two ex-main characters are fixed or downloaded (which I doubt but I did notice that the the tagline was “someone”, which is usually singular), ST is doing Anyone Can Die. If this was being approached as a lolrandom meme thing, that wouldn’t be surprising, and that has been the tone of much of the series so far. However, it’s ascended to the point that there’s an actual Skibidi Toilet store. The longevity of comparable meme horror/sci-fi series has seemed to rely on people getting attached to iconic characters, so I wonder if there’s a plan for avoiding Too Bleak, Stopped Caring? My guess is having the elites and titans consistent throughout the plot, but DFB may also be an incorrigible dick and kill everyone. I am a sucker for dramatic deaths though, so I can probably put up with it (just about, did that speaker squeak as they were dying? Oh no ;_;).

On the subject of trolls, one way of interpreting Titan Speaker putting out the fire before completely flattening the scientist was that they wanted to kill them themself, another interpretation was that they were fucking with the scientist by pretending they’d show mercy. Either way, A+++ revenge!

Polycephaly is also super interesting as they don’t really seem to be the TV equivalent of the others factions’ big combat units. There’s only one of them, they can fuck around with teleportation-stuff (nanites? weird science particles?) and swap out their extra bits. They might have a role that’s unique to the TV faction, I already wondered if it’s something like managing TV communications or information flows, and now I think that could include something to do with teleportation too. Maybe running the teleportation-navigation software? In the Dune series, there’s heavily mutated Guild Navigators who guide faster-than-light spaceships and to make sure no one crashes into a planet, and Warhammer 40k has a similar Navigator role to guide space traffic through the Warp using psychic beacons.

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Musical Retrospective: Vogue (The Power of Madonna)

Sung by: Sue Sylveester Original Artist(s): Madonna

Okay... one of the most pivotal moments of the show -- right here. Look, while we'll get into the lose story connection in a minute, let's be real for a moment... The purpose for doing this is entirely for Ryan Murphy to be indulgent. This song really has no purpose except for the fact that Murphy wanted to redo an iconic music video in his own way.

And you know what? That's not a criticism. Glee is shedding its need to have the music adhere so close to the narrative and push in on doing things for the fun of it. Is that indulgence good all the time? No, not really. But this was such a fun, inspired, and brilliant performance, you can't help but smile at the ridiculousness of it.

This music video is a delight, and I'm glad that Glee just gave in to its creator's whim.

Story Analysis

The definition of the word 'vogue' is as follows...

Noun. popular acceptation or favor; a period of popularity; the leading place in popularity or acceptance Verb. to strike poses in campy imitation of fashion models especially as a kind of dance

The whole thing about 'vogue' is to be at the height of admirable popularity in the moment. Madonna was when she created the song. And Sue Sylvester wants to be in the episode. I also think there's a big fourth wall break, too, where the show was coming into the height of its popularity. It was very in vogue to be a Glee fan back in 2010 -- the show knew it was cool, and this was kind of capitalizing on that.

So, while this performance doesn't necessarily move any story beats along, it does make commentary on Sue and on the show as a whole.

I love the lengths the show goes to make this performance seem like it's something being done in the Glee world. It's Kurt's vision (with the help of Mercedes) to do a multimedia project. He has Artie direct it -- and my god, why didn't Artie put this on his resume?

(Fun fact - legendary director David Fincher did Madonna's original video, so Artie being able to recreate this is kind of amazing.)

And... it speaks to Sue's character. She wants to be the one admired, feared, loved, respected, empowered, revered, and anything else that keeps her at the center of the conversation. She wants to be the one in vogue. And I think in this meta moment, she is.

I have a few questions though --

Who thought of this song? Was it Kurt or Sue? Or even Artie? I think this song speaks to Kurt's story, too. The beginning of the song speaks to pain and heartache -- and letting it all go to enjoy the moment. I think this speaks to his personality, what inspires him, and what his aspirations are.

What were the in universe reactions to this? That's the thing about the song, though. As neat as it is to see -- there really aren't any direct story tie ins. Sue's story gets played out in other ways. And yes, this lets Kurt and Mercedes have an opportunity to join the Cheerios. But it's a shame that no one in universe even makes a comment about this video. Ah well.

The thing about this one, overall, is that while it's a big set piece of the episode, and while it does speak to both Sue and Kurt's character (and the show as a whole) - there isn't a whole lot to break down? It's funny, because I think this song is one of those things that Glee might be remembered for - but it's so kind of detached from the narrative, it makes it this interesting little side beat.

But - something to note - because this was such a hit, the show does take a turn into this direction. The show is going to push more into the spectacle of the song they've picked for better or worse, whether it's important to the narrative or not.

Technical Thoughts

Just gonna bullet point all of this...

They went out of their way to recreate the music video as much as they could -- watching the original video as they shot.

Jane does an excellent job with the song. You have to give her some bonus points, too, for making it funny on top of being an homage.

(Though if you notice - they do not make Jane do the heavy lifting dancing that Madonna does in her video. Probably for the better.)

The line 'Will Schuester - I hate you' and Kurt's reactions might be one of my favorite comedy bits from the entire show.

Speaking of Kurt -- the kid was made for this kind of classic Hollywood look. He's so good in this. (Sorry Mercedes - she's great, too, but Kurt just pulls so much focus.)

Fun fact - apparently, Naya and Heather did hand work in this, and Heather was the one in the cone bra.

They used their usual group of dancers -- and everyone in this video is just so good.

Hats off the the editors - they did a phenomenal job cutting this to be nearly identical to the original video.

I honestly don't have a ton to say about it -- it's a great performance, and you can see just how much the entire team put into making it something special.

vs. The Studio Version : There's an added two minutes to this version, though it doesn't really feel like it? The beginning is much longer, and the chorus is repeated a few more times, but that's about it.

vs. The Original Version : Well... now is your chance to compare and contrast! How did they do? Really well actually. ;) (Also - if you put it into youtube, there is someone out there who did a side by side comparison.)

[lokittystuckinatree]

It’s my birthday, Pride is half over, and the Sylki fandom is half dead.

Here’s a useless meta proving Sylvie and Loki are closer to an Andrew Garfield vs. Tom Holland Spider-Man situation than “GeNdErBeNt SeLFcEsT”

🐍🐈‍⬛🐍🐈‍⬛🐍🐈‍⬛🐍🐈‍⬛🐍🐈‍⬛🐍🐈‍⬛

When Sylvie was introduced, all Loki variants presented so far resembled Tom Hiddleston. By episode five, we know the vast majority of Loki variants are not Tom Hiddleston clones, (like a Spider-Man, a Loki could be anybody,) so Sylvie likely isn’t his clone either. However, since they’re played by different actors, with vaguely similar facial features, it could still be argued that perhaps Loki and Sylvie are the same individual, just the “other sex.” (Insert iconic Loki eye roll). Today I’m demonstrating why that argument is stupid.

Skin ~ Loki’s skin tone is consistently cooler and paler than Sylvie’s, as demonstrated by earlier films. His skin is more neutral and saturated in the series, a decision by Tom Hiddleston to make Loki seem more alive and tangibly real. Still, his typical skin tone is best described as a creamy ghostly porcelain, whereas Sylvie’s is a light rosy beige. Sylvie has a rougher, less polished, more ‘human’ look, whereas sacred timeline Loki sometimes verges on the ethereal. These skin details suit their characters well.

Tom and Sophia filming season two

Note: Sylvie’s skin seems slightly tanned in this image, while Loki looks as deathly pale as he did in the movies. Likely a difference in lighting, but I think it does a good job showing how different the two characters can look at a glance.

Hair ~ this is the strongest argument. Loki’s natural hair color is visibly darker and deeper than Sylvie’s natural hair color. Loki’s hair is raven black, and Sylvie’s hair is dark brown. Sylvie dyes her hair a muted ash blonde.

Loki and Sylvie side by side.

This hair color difference is suspiciously intentional, and even carries over from final concept art, official merch, and their child actors. Baby Sylvie’s hair is dark ash/golden brown in better lighting. Baby Loki’s hair is always raven black.

Baby Sylki. (Look at these little squishies I want to boop their noses!)

The two variants also have noticeably different hair textures. Loki’s natural curl pattern seems messier and tighter than Sylvie’s fluffy waves, even with too much greasy hair product.

Contrast ~ Sophia and Tom’s eyes are similar shades of blue. Less is certain about the in character eye colors of Loki and Sylvie. The fandom is not in agreement whether Loki’s (and Sylvie’s) eyes are blue or green, so I tend to compromise on blue-green. Tom’s eyes appear slightly lighter than Sophia’s, so I headcanon that Loki’s eyes are lighter than Sylvie’s too. Combined with their hair and skin tone differences, Sylvie has a lower, softer, more muted contrast between her hair, skin, and eyes, compared to Loki, with their higher, clearer and more striking contrast.

Color Season Analysis ~ Going off of that, and taking this next part with a grain of salt, as I am in no way an expert on color analysis, I would guess Loki is a winter, and Sylvie is a summer. Sylvie could be a spring, but from what I’ve seen, her hair is more ashen than yellow, and it makes sense Sylvie would lean cooler then warmer since she, as a former Loki variant, is a frost giant.

Summers typically look best in sunny pastel colors, whereas Winters look best in jewel tones. Sure enough, when Loki and Sylvie venture outside their classic green, black, and gold, the costume department decided to dress Loki in deep jewel tones such as blue and purple (the guard turtleneck, some of their costumes in Ragnarok.)

Another costume department chose to put Sylvie in subtle pastels (her tie die shirt.)

Typically, cool seasons look better in silver (grey) than than gold (yellow). Coincidentally, Loki and Sylvie are both wearing gray in the pictures above. Obviously, Lokis are to gold as goths are to black. However, few people fit a color season perfectly (I’m ironically a winter in the winter and a summer in the summer,) Sylvie and Loki have fairly neutral pigmentation, and saying a Loki wouldn’t look good in gold is blasphemy.

In Summary ~ Sylki are not genderbent clones, they’re not identical twins, and though it’s near certain they don’t share much dna at all, because this is not Game of Thrones, the closest they could physically be is full siblings, and while it would be questionable, your siblings aren’t you, so it wouldn’t be selfcest.

If the multiverse was a cinematic universe, Loki and Sylvie would be two different actors playing two different adaptations of the same character by two different studios, at most. Loki and Sylvie have different personalities, different experiences, different bodies, and different lives. Honestly, they’ve lived such different lives, with Sylvie breaking away from her sacred timeline and Loki identity so young that she’s a different gender and mostly based on Sylvie Lushton, that they are possibly less the same character than any of the Spider Men variants, from Spiderverse through MCU. Likely, all the two share is a mind, heart, and soul. To me, that’s beautiful.

⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️💚⚔️

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s8

Here it is… honestly might be the best season.. idk 13 and 10 are up there too but g o d there is something special about 8. Fucking peak cinema.

DOC!!!!!!!!

Love how this opening scene parallels season 2

The thing you have to remember about this season is during the entirety of it Donut is just bleeding out in Valhalla… the entire time. And bro still survives. Fucking cockroach.

GRIF TUCKER FRIENDSHIP!!!!

“It’s not fair! I worship Church way before it was cool to worship him!”

I love that not being able to wear pants is the one thing that actually gets to Church

I AM THE BEST-

SARGE IS SO SMART!!!! Seriously his character is SO GOOD in the recollection I go FERAL

Shotgun

GOD the way my jaw still drops every time that warthog busts through the wall

Doc in the wall

WASHINGTON!!!!!!!

“Don’t do it you fuckeeeeeerrr”

They call Grif yellow so frequently how did I never notice it before 😂

DELTA!!!!!

LOVE this show letting its characters make bad jokes

I love how even as a villain Wash is still hilarious and fun to watch

DOC SAYS FUCK

Bad jokes my beloved

“Wash you can’t kill everyone you meet” // “why not?” Bro is so real for that

My beauty

My beloved

My queen

My goddess

AGENT TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun fact: Tex vs the reds and blues was the first thing I ever saw from Red vs Blue. My brother showed it to me when I was nine. I thought it was hilarious

“Buttons! Oh man I love buttons!” Quoted line

PROTECT ME CONE

“I feel defeated yet inexplicably rejuvenated!”

“Knock the black right off ya” // “that’s racist”

G O D

She so fucking sexy

Honestly I get Church. If I bagged a girl like Tex I too would commit war crimes

THE ICONIC CHEX MOMENT I LOVE THEMMMMMMM

DIVORCED VIBES MY BELOVED

Wash is so fed up… don’t worry babygirl you will rediscover your inner silly soon

“It not god dude, it’s church, he just thinks he’s god”

LOVE META AND WASH BEING A LITTLE SILLY

D I V O R C E D V I B E S

The whole scene between Church, Tex, and Tucker. It’s just so silly. I love them.

I feel like Wash still being a likable character is a big part of why him just switching sides at the end works so well

Washington used to wet the bed

Tucker getting frustrated with Tex and Church constantly getting themselves killed… taking notes…

Meta is just beating the shit out of a dead alien akdhkahsk

I love Sheila

I think we should rename the Chex ship name to divorced vibes

“I didn’t want to come back” damn Tex…

Here it comes… THE quintessential red team moment

MAYBE YOURE ALL HERE BECAUSE DEEP DOWN YOU WANT TO BE HERE

THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION THAT STARTED IT ALL IS THAT THEY ACTIVELY CHOOSE TO BE HERE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE HERE I AM FUCKING FERAL SEASON 8 MY BELOVED

RED TEAM HAS SUCH GOOD CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ITS SO SUBTLE YOU DONT EVEN REALIZE ITS HAPPENING AND THEN IT HITS YOU AND YOU REALIZE JUST HOW FAR THEYVE ALL COME AND I AKSHKAHSKSBAKHSKSBS

ICE FIGHT AISHKAHSK POSSIBLY MY FAVORITE FIGHT IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING SHOW F E R A L

Also love that despite everything Doc still helps Wash

HERE COMES THE CALVARY

God this moment between Church and Wash has so many layers I am frothing at the mouth

And here it comes… the moment they went from red vs blue to the reds and blues… one team with complete and total faith in one another

THE FACT THAT SARGE GRABS THE MEMORY UNIT OFF META SO IT WONT BE PULLED OFF THE CLIFF WITH HIM AHSKHAKSBAKHSKS FUCKING FERAL

Me when Church calls Caboose buddy and trusts him to remember him HAKSHAKSHSKSJJS F E R A L

AND THUS WASH IS FORCED INTO HIS REDEMPTION BY THIS GROUP OF MULTICOLORED IDIOTS AAAAHHHHH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

“We always seem to find each other for better or for worse” usually worse

“If you’ve gotta live the rest of your life in a memory… you might as well make it a good one” screaming crying throwing up

Foaming at the mouth over here bro I go so feral over this season HOLY SHIT THE HYPE IS SO REAL THROUGH THE ENTIRE THING god I fucking love this show so much. Also I think this might be the longest one of these posts has gotten

[dbphantom]

Just finished Skypiea with the bestie (not telling him G-8 is filler because I fucking love G-8) and damn I need to ramble about one piece. I'm gonna ramble about one piece. I love one piece.

Mild spoilers for most recent chapters below the cut just to address Things and Stuff

Mostly because I want the Cross Guild to reach it first so that Buggy will use it to declare himself PK. Marineford foreshadowing.

I know it is kind of being undermined rn but I still want to believe that either the OP (unlikely) or something with the OP (more likely, still unlikely) will allow whoever finds it to communicate with the entire world directly

But on a more serious note I think it would eventually be used to broadcast the true story of the Straw Hat Pirates (and probably also the Void Century, given Robin's dream + the Rio Poneglyph) to the entire world, kinda like the ending of TAZ.

I hope the reason Roger n his crew were too early wasn't solely because of a prophecy (poseidon not being born yet I can cope w/ yknow), but because they wanted to free the world from the WG and they knew if they told the truth to the entire world right then, too many people would die in the resulting uprisings and the movement would be smothered.

(I think this is also why Crocus is hanging at reverse mountain and Rayleigh is vibing on Sabaody. They are like 'check-in' points for pirates on the grand line, so they're just making sure things go smoothly. Also probably why Shanks was going after the Nika fruit bc if they are trying to weaken the WG's hold on people, having an old god of freedom and icon of hope running around would help. And why he showed up at Marineford. Also also I hope the man the burn scar is another of Roger's old crew. Scopper Gaban, I miss you every day...)

But the polical climate of the OP world is changing a lot in the current day, and I think the reason Roger chose to be executed instead of dying to the disease was to have a grand stage so he could set up the Great Pirate Era. Essentially his final words would kickstart a new world where people are more comfortable living and trading and exchanging information on the rising seas. They won't be stuck isolated on their islands and therefore easier to control by the WG.

I said in the above that recent chapters are kind of undermining this and that's bc obviously we already have the tech to broadcast to the entire world, so why tf would the OP or something as important to be included with the OP be that? But I personally think the den dens are too easily controlled/interfered with by the Marines. They were still able to cut off VP's message and (unintentionally) deflect the blame of his death onto the SHs despite his best efforts and he's probably the smartest person in the OP universe. So I think a way to 'directly' communicate (be it telepathically or via memory transfer or a comic book or whatever) so that the truth can come out would be neat. Fuck censorship. Stay silly. Uphold freedom. Or something.

Also the manga is named One Piece and I think the final broadcast reaching us through dimensions would be cool af. I'm sorry, I really just think it would be neat, that's the reason I am writing this. It'd be so cool and I love stories that get meta 🤩

Anyway yeah I just finished rewatching Skypiea and given just how many parallels are within it compared to the rest of the series I will continue to hold on to this belief that the one piece is the EOS equivalent of the golden bell. It guides lost souls home. And home is currently at the bottom the ocean so I think we are all lost souls

... That's so romantic 💙

(Also ngl the end of Skypiea is also why I believe in Space Piece so much... I want terraforming so fucking bad bro... Ship coating and knock-up streams and the space pirates and the kingdom on the moon HAVE to come back, right? Please please please please please please please please please-)

Anyway if you actually read this, thank you, here is my favorite panel of Hawkins

[ilikekidsshows]

I found your ML meta and analysis posts by accident (i think i saw ur latest post abt adrien) and just noticed you have changed your icon into something matching the current spooky month so that's really cool! 😀I didn't think June's hair could be used for more pokemon but it fits haha and it's cool to see a familiar blog on my dash change their icon like this ^^ I'm also curious - have u seen the recent "ML Paris" special or are you thinking of seeing it? I know everyone is now more and more experiencing multiverse fatique from so many franchises doing their own episodes/movies w this theme, but I just find it a curious way to do character exploration. No spoilers but the special was imo kinda fun and also brought new questions into the fore, especially abt the kwami. Anyway, just wanted 2 comment abt the icon but then realized I could ask somerhing about Miraculous as well.

Thank you! My mutuals noted the same thing about Juniper hair going well on a surprising amount of Pokémon, so now I actually have a collection of pink-striped Pokémon icons to choose from. I’m glad other people liked the change too.

I haven’t seen the Paris special and, before people started posting about it, I was pretty sure I was going to skip it. I’m very suspicious about anything the show crew puts out for this franchise with what they ended up doing with seasons 4 and 5. I even ended up losing enthusiasm for the parts of the franchise I do enjoy, like seasons 1-3, and so I haven’t even seen the Shanghai Special yet despite intending to do so while season 4 was still picking up steam.

However, based on what everyone has been saying, it seems that the special managed to avoid everything I was worried about. With the way the show’s been treating Adrien, I had a lot of concerns over how an EvilAdrien take was going to go, but it seems it's not used to villanize Adrien and Adrien actually gets to influence the story of the special and his feelings are brought up and validated? We haven’t seen that since the Christmas Special. If I ignore all the nods at the seasons I despise and pretend this special doesn’t take place in the same timeline, I might be able to make it through this special.

Basically, I'm on the fence about watching the Specials.

Multiverses have been a superhero staple since All-Star Comics issue 3, which came out in 1940. It’s just that companies have only recently gained enough confidence in the superhero genre to go with the more outlandish genre staples. I’m trying to say that, as a superhero connoisseur, I don’t know the meaning of the term multiverse fatigue.

[hello-nichya-here]

Aight so there is the Russian social media called "VKontakte" or "VK" for short, most people from CIS countries use it. There's an Azula-centric fan group translated one of your metas, namely "Azula - Double Standards And The Curse Of Being Gifted";

Here are the comments below that post. I'm not gonna show their names and pfps for non disclosure's sake bc I didn't actually ask them if I could use and translate their replies but since they're big fans of yours who apparantly vitis your blog quite often I'll take this risk;

Comment 1: "Ohhh Nichya from tumblr, an icon💗👀👀 Thanks for the translation"

Comment 2: "You're welcome🤗💘 From now I'll be translating more of her posts. She's got some very interesting metas."

Comment 3: "To me Nichya is a guiding star in this fandom party. I respect her for resilience and steadfastness in the face of the attacks from haters and competence when to comes to defending her position and the rights to engage in such wonderful work which is"not for everyone". For me, this is an ideological image, which, perhaps, has made the greatest contribution to the popularization and "decriminalization" of my favorite ship in the vastness of the Internet. I like what an original, sophisticated, inventive and honest circle of people she has gathered in the framework of her activities. She's so inspired and emotionally invested in it all of this.. it really means a lot to her. It warms my heart! (Or maybe I'm just a pervert who got to "the right place", but she certainly succeeded in this many times more than me. She's really good at this :) In any case, this is a comment of maximum incestuous respect and fiery-forbidden honor! She deserves it."

So yes, Nichya, you are p popular and we like you a whole bunch. Also you mentioned that "Torment" is translated in Russian?? Can you share the link?

Link: https://ficbook.net/readfic/10522416

(Do send the translator some love if you can)

Now, please excuse me while I cry and lose my mind because OH MY GOD! People not only know of my sinful existence and appreciate my takes, but also go through the trouble of translating and sharing my chaotic rambling?

"It warms my heart! (Or maybe I'm just a pervert who got to "the right place)" Why can't it be both? XD

And yes, I did manage to meet some pretty cool people, and I love them with all my heart.

In case some of my russian fans (can't believe that's an actual sentence I get to say now) are reading this, especially the one who translated my meta and the one who wrote such a lovely comment:

Привет! I'm very touched for your support, and if you ever want to chat on tumblr, feel free to do so! I hope all of you guys are having a great day, and that one day I stop being lazy and actually study russian instead of thinking that just listening to t.A.T.u. over and over again will magically make me fluent in the language. That way I may actually at least be able to form a complete sentence.

Either way, Спасибо!

[teddyedwards]

hi i loved your last list, wonderful picks, and i am back again to ask you for your top gerard swarm tour Looks

From this thing !

thank you for indulging me u are too kind 🥲 this probably changes by the hour lmao but for now ..

1. Joan .. always joan. For the costume itself and the fact it just felt like it was always building to joan, wasn't it?

2. The house !! Always Wins!! I'm just thoroughly obsessed with it, the look, the house always wins, the my way cover.

3. The military uniform was so fucking good and honestly underrated I feel. Idk if it was marina toybina's genuis or gerard themself who thought of red uniform to show up in b&w on the screen but it's one of the cleverest, coolest moves I can think of. I also just !! Love uniforms !

4. The Ghost !! One of my favourite things about like ... all of these is how much gerard didn't just wear an outfit he wore a whole fucking character. His movements and his silly jiggly, wobbly ghost moves were just soooo ... ghost from a betty boop cartoon. also the gloves meant everything to me ..

5. Nurse. The little details, the shoes, the hairclips. He is my bride to be inside a heart shaped locket etc.

6. The secretary. The sheer volume of cunt served on this one was astounding. The gloves the white eyes, amazing, iconic

7. META MAN ! Meta ! Man ! How fucking cool was meta man ??

8. Disproportionately obsessed with this specific look actually

9. Cheerleader. I will never forget how earth shattering it was to wake up at 5 am to check what was worn in nashville and see THIS. World has not been the same since.

10. Dracula. Because it's dracula !!

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 2

Well, here we are with issue 2! Funny thing about the cover mentioning a badge, my current icon is a Sonic the Comic badge, although I’m not certain if it’s the one given with this issue.

This issues continues with the kinda janky but charming marker artstyle of the previous issue. And it also appears that we’ll be introduced to Tails soon!

Sonic’s getting new kicks for seemingly no reason, his normal shoes did him just fine in the previous issue! Plus, where’d he get those sunglasses lol? Guess they manifest when he wants to look cool.

Oh my god they weren’t just a one-panel gag. He actually had a pair of sunglasses with him

This immediately makes me think of Sonic Lost World, except Tails is probably roboticized for real here rather than faking it

Well actually, from the looks of it this appears more of a situation of an exoskeleton thing with maybe some light brainwashing rather than actual roboticization? Guess Robotnik didn’t have any Tails sized motobugs so he cobbled together whatever that was. Although the parallels to roboticization are way too strong. Considering this was made in 1993, I wonder if this was influenced by SatAM at all, or if this is just two separate interpretations of the game’s animal-powered robots thing?

I’ve mentioned before that I know StC’s Sonic is infamous in the fandom for being a bit of prick, and I think maybe there’s some of that starting to show here, albeit to me it comes off a little more as light ribbing, especially since it was preceded by a compliment and concern. I think I might have an idea of the meta reason why StC’s Sonic’s personality is the way it is, particularly in regards to British comics, although I’m gonna hold off on sharing that until I read more of this comic plus done some more research.

On a lighter note, Robotnik mentions Eldorado, a British soap opera that ran between 92-93 that received poor critical reception, apparently due to poor quality acting and implausible story lines.

Again, that was a pretty basic story, but like I said last time, things are still being set up. It’s a nice way to establish Sonic and Tail’s friendship

Meanwhile, in the cheats and tips section, they list the level select code for Sonic 2 on Master System…. next to an image of Sonic 1 for Mega Drive????

Ace, huh? People with A-spec headcanons rejoice!

[romanadvora]

The Space Museum

season 002 : story 015 : episodes 068-071

24 APR - 15 MAY 1965 || 02 - 03 JUN 2023

The opening of everyone's 13th century clothes.. disappearing is a pretty funky hook for things going weird, and Vicki dropping a glass of water just for it to reverse itself and reform in her hand is a nice way of making things unnerving- the lack of footprints in the dust outside after they've been walking around also effectively builds on this.

There's also the great model shots of the spaceships.

"No Doctor, not seen. Its the silence. When we stop talking, there isn't a sound. Listen. It's the sort of silence you can almost hear" is a great line from Barbara, and Ian comparing it again to a graveyard just to get told off by the Doctor is pretty fun.

Vicki almost sneezing outside the museum doors as the gurads walk by is a good implementation of tension, and the guards not hearing adds to the mystery. 

Vicki seeing the Daleks as a historical force whist the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara fought them in the event she's recalling literally the story before meeting her is good worldbuilding as it shows the TARDIS crew's effect on "history" as Vicki would see it. Her calling it somewhat cute is also kinda fun, and Ian's response nicely foreshadows the serial's cliffhanger, and the next story.

"You wouldn't say that, young lady, if ever we meet them again. Which to say the least is very unlikely. I hope"

The reveal of them being exhibits, and technically being… ghosts? seeing a potential future is pretty eerie, and the notion this is a potential future where they're imprisoned and once they "arrive" they'll be in great danger, all establishes great stakes for the next 3 parts.

Now the first episode was good, the second is just funny. There is a decent amount of walking (not even running) down corridors, which is… unfortunate. That being said, the interactions between Ian & Barbara when they make a thread out of Barbara's cardi is great as Ian just takes it off her and immediately starts trying to shred it… with his teeth.

The curator's mental projector thingy is a cool way of getting involuntary information from someone which isn't just the boring torture solution, and the Doctor pictographically sassing him out is a joy to see. The Doctor mentally picturing himself suspended in a display case after the curator orders his processing, and getting the "so you take my meaning" response… It's a good cliffhanger that doesn't resort to a jumpscare or fight sequence. It's a slow moving fight between two intelligent matches, and the stinger is the cordial informing he'll be made an exhibit.

After Ian, Barbara and Vicki get split up, Vicki meets the rebels and does some hacking to loot the armoury "For revolution!" because she's an icon. Ian getting his way to the curator's office is also really good and he shows his willingness to use force, which is a good route for him in desperation to save the Doctor, and find Barbara and Vicki.

The Doctor getting defrosted just to reveal he was conscious the whole time is pretty funny with his giggling- and his description of thinking as fast as a mechanical computer (as a flex) is funny for completely separate reasons now.

The gang getting arrested again and having to rely on the rebels' success is a good angle to not only add stakes for the main four, but to also make you root for the rebels more than perhaps you were initially. And in saying that, this actually gets rather violent- like the guards ambushing Vicki's group.. no introduction, no standoff, they're not even on screen before the guys with Vicki & Barbara get smoked. Same goes to the museum director when the group eventually get rescued.

The quiet scene at the end with the Doctor explaining… the plot (somewhat) with all his sciency goofiness is nice, and Ian's thanks just feels like a meta "thank you for explaining this would-be plothole".

The cliffhanger of the Daleks tracking the TARDIS as it takes off is great, but the even better hook for next episode is the time-space visualiser. IAN DAD DANCING WILL COMMENCE SHORTLY.

★★★★☆

[chaos0pikachu]

Kinn’s Family Is Rich As Fuck - Tankhun Edition

I was gonna do Kinn’s costume meta post first but @moerusai​ requested Tankhun so here we are! 

Ok so we all know that Tankhun is a Fashion Icon in the show, I said in a joke post that his style was a combo of peak Elton John and Lady Gaga (monster era). I hold to that, partially. I think another influence in Tankhun’s fashion is Billy Porter: 

What’s cool about Tankhun’s costuming is that his styling is purposeful. It’s not just a bunch of mix-matched colorful items. There’s thought and purposeful to Tankhun’s style, without being overly complicated. Like, for example, Tankhun wears a lot of sets, patterned pieces, and textures. Which gives me a lot of Randid Rahm, Francis Libiran, and The Blondes influences. 

His style is flamboyant perhaps, but neither strictly what is considered masculine or feminine. He operates in a fashionable in between that resembles a lot of big couture collections. 

Tell me Tankhun wouldn’t rock one of these outfits with some modifications. The cape from Randid is actually similar to the one he wore in ep02 as well. 

Tankhun is supposed to look rich as fuck. 

And he does! And you can see from the following pictures, his outfits work as a unit. Whether they’re a set - like in image 4 - or just complementary pieces - images 1, and 2 especially - there’s thought being put into each outfit. 

What this is meant to instill to the audience is a couple things: 1) set him apart visually from his brothers Kinn and Kim, 2) showcase his wealth, 3) make him visually loud looking which enhances his personality

Tankhun is chaotic, he’s loud, and he’s very separate from the others in the estate. We know that he doesn’t leave the estate because he was kidnapped and as such as developed agoraphobia. This leaves him unfortunately very isolated, removed from much of society and other people. I believe @the-wayside​ had some really good meta on Tankhun and his agoraphobia. 

So what way does he choose to express himself? Via clothing. His clothing is a way to express himself in an otherwise cramped world of walls, suits, and glittering objects. It’s the one form of physical self-express we’ve seen that he can employ in narrative. 

Out of narrative - a Doylst view - his clothing signposts to the audience that this character is LOUD, he’s in your face, but he’s not unlikable. He’s not weird for the sake of being weird, or a punchline. Like his outfits, carefully put together and crafted, Tankhun has personality and character. He’s quite likable and his reasons for staying at the estate are understandable. It also says this character is RICH and places him visually above other characters - namely his bodyguards, Porsche etc as they are all presumably of a middle class to poor background. 

I think what I want to reiterate is Tankhun’s styling is, again, very purposeful. It has influences in couture/runway-esque fashion, it speaks to his personality and his personal self-expression, and it showcases his class status. 

Now, what I’m really curious about is if Tankhun’s costuming will change if his character changes in the show. His character poster was much more toned down in comparison to his in-show looks. 

His shirt and pants are all monochromatic, and he lacks any major embellishments save the fur coat which breaks up the outfit with a strong textural element. It gives a POP while still feeling overall cohesive with his character. But the lack of bright eye-catching colors (as seen above) make me wonder if his character also goes through a minor transformation as the show goes along. Perhaps he gets more comfortable going outside, or being a part of the family business, or begins to recover from his trauma(s). All speculation on my part - idk if he had any major role in the novel - but I’m curious!

When I breakdown Kinn’s costuming I’ll probably talk more about class status as his wardrobe is often directly compared to Porsche’s (especially in the dock scene!! Chucks vs Loafers!!). 

**disclaimer: I am not an expert in fashion, check out ModernGurlz and Mina Le on youtube for an experts breakdown of costuming, I’m just a simple puta that loves costumes and kinnporsche**