#Projecting my experiences onto wild so hard rn

[onyx-got-clowned]

eeeeee ok so i decided to write a lil oneshot of the chain as cryptids au, with a little bit of self projection onto wild- (i made him autistic and use they/them - slighting non binary coded on accident🙏 which i hope is ok, i just got carried away)

Gift giving

Cryptid!wild + Cryptid!hyrule bonding <3

Wild was, well- wild. He didn’t take kindly to being forced into a box, some would call them a man because he looked like it, when in reality wild was just wild. Not a ‘man’ or ‘woman’- just wild. He was also told by strangers, whenever in one of their brothers hyrules, they would get caught into conversations somehow and were told that they were rude for not making eye contact and moving around- when in reality that just meant they were paying attention! Hylians were just weird! When wild joined the chain of strange heroes, he felt like an outcast in some ways, these were all beings who knew how to interact with each other, wild liked cooking for them, it was wilds way of showing they cared and did want to be friends, which was not something he normally did, but you know- when your forced to travel with people Sometimes, they would find a stream, and practice facial expressions and giving eye contact, but they’d get lost focusing on the fish darting into their reflection. The stream was going at a slow pace, but the sounds of it rippling through itself was nice. The sounds of the forest creatures coming by to drink the cold water and leaving just as quick made the atmosphere just as good. Eventually sky had came by, probably to come get me to make dinner. 

“Everything alright?”

He chirped, crouching beside me. His wings folded in on himself as to not hit me into the river, since he did have past accidents of doing so. I nodded, my antennas swaying in the wind, i watched the stream carefully, picking out the patterns in the way it moved downstream, i think wind would’ve liked to sink into the water, it was deep enough to sit in. Sky was probably going to say something else, but i saw the sun hit something just right in the water that made it sparkle. I immediately dunked my hand in, making sky jump at my sudden movement, i got whatever it was, and tugged it out of the soil. I shook my hand dry, and found that i had grabbed a bracelet, with sea patterns, strange runes on it, and opal gemstones engraved into it.

“Ohh cool! I wonder what it does! We should ask legend! He might know since it seems ocean themed and he’s a merman of sorts”

Sky ecstatically ushered me to follow him back to camp, so when we got back, sky darted to legend. He had dragged him over, and legend carefully examined the metal bracelet.

“Looks like something to keep you from getting wet, the bracelet i assume is something that can absorb water into the opal gems that would originally get in your clothes or skin and keeps it dry.”

He explained, handing the bracelet back to me. I nodded, smiling softly. If there was one thing i knew, is that hyrule didn’t like getting wet in his fairy form, and he was the few people I’d yet to truly interact with for longer than a few conversations. I knew he was out and about, but i didn’t know where- i decided to wait, sitting patiently in a tree as i swung back and forth repeatedly by my legs on a sturdy branch. Hyrule came back a couple minutes later, with wood in his arms. He set them down and sat next to legend, sparking up a conversation. I didn’t want to interrupt, but hyrule needed to have it! Even if wild did really want it, hyrule would like it more and find better use for it. I hopped down, small bells and chimes sounding from no where as i basically bounced over to where hyrule was sitting. I stood near his field of view, trying to find a pause in their conversation to make movement and get his attention. For a couple seconds, it was quiet between them, and hyrule looked to me. 

“What’s up?”

He softly questioned me, raising a brow. My antennas flicked as i registered his question, and i remembered why I’d been standing there. I extended the bracelet to him, he was a bit taken aback, but smiled and took it. 

“Thank you wild! What is it?”

He tilted his head, looking to me again. I waved a hand to legend, trying to ask him to explain- which he got the memo. 

“Oh! Wild gave you a bracelet that helps keep you dry, it seems the opal and runes engraved on it give it magical properties to keep water off your skin and clothes.”

He explained once more, pointing to the engravings and opal gems he was talking about. Hyrules wings fluttered slightly, in which i hoped was joy, he turned to me and smiled even wider than before. 

“Thank you! This means a lot, since i know you like to hoard things like this, and you’re willingly giving it up for me.”

He sounded slightly guilty in his tone, which i managed to pick out based off his head bowing. I waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention, my antennae’s flattened as i scowled at him.

‘Give you, make me happy, you happy’

I signed to the best of my ability, getting my whole gesture across. He nodded, smiling again. 

“Thank you, again-“

He laughed softly, it sounded energetic, which meant he was happy. That cheered me up, Hyrule hopefully knew i wanted to be best friends now, maybe even brothers! Like how he would refer to legend or wind. Wild knew he would’ve liked the bracelet, but this was a better choice.

—————

This AU belongs to @sapphicseasapphire

I wanted to write somethin and this AU scratches the blupee coded part of my brain :3 i love the art you make and it always makes me happy stim seeing it!!!

[stonerbughead]

Maria watches friday night lights (#36)

5x13, the series finale i have heard nothing but good things about - I made it y’all! *wipes tear* this is a show i will definitely rewatch! It definitely feels like the kind of show that’s so layered that every time you go back you’ll pick up something new. I love shows like that.

i haven’t been on tumblr on my computer in a long time but im gonna go through and add “read more”s to all of these recaps! 

(thanks to anyone who read these nonsense recaps! if you enjoyed these...in addition to my currently-on-hiatus riverdale podcast @bodysuitsforbughead, I have another teen drama-centered podcast in the works, follow @LeftyTeenDrama on Twitter and @leftistteendrama on Instagram to get updates when it launches! I’m taking a break on working on it till i move but it’s gonna be a big part of my 2021 projects. I’ve already recorded one episode with two of my favorite people in the world and it’s gonna be amazing. It will be about a variety of teen dramas, but FNL will definitely be included.)

and without further ado, my final FNL ramblings under the cut:

And we open with one last montage of shots around Dillon from a car, with a “Christmas in Texas” song playing. Amazing. 

Oh wow, I love the “FIVE DAYS TILL THE CHAMPIONSHIP” vibe. The build-up is already here. A shot of Julie in the stands watching practice! 

It’s super uncomfortable that people are talking to Vince about his “future teammates” on the Panthers before the post-season is even over.  “I don’t really wanan talk about that. I want to talk about how the East Dillon Lions are gonna win State.” “Is that a promise?” These Texas sports journalists are WILD. this is a teenage boy whose school’s funding just got cut right before the biggest game of his life! Can we have some sympathy?!

“I hear they’re taking the cream of the crop for the Superteam so I’m gonna be honest with you, what are you gonna do?” EXCUSE ME SIR? I repeat, TEENAGE BOY. Tinker’s response of “you’re an asshole” and storming away was more than appropriate!!!

“No comment”ing his way out of there like a champ.

Ah, the age-old tradition of decorating a Christmas tree while arguing about a five-year football coach contract in Dillon or a dean of admissions job offer at a prestigious Philadelphia college. Julie’s just sitting there with Gracie like ooooh boy 

“Here is where we put our tree, not Philadelphia! It’s a Texas tree.” OMG STOP IT. Lol Julie putting her hands over her ears.

YAY MATT SARACEN IS AT THE DOOOOORRRRR im so excited

Wow I did not expect this proposal to come that quickly into the episode! Like i knew it was coming in this episode but aw. They’re so soft! Just like, oh i’ve been thinking about you nonstop since our perfect Chicago tryst and oh look here’s grandma’s ring let me casually get down on one knee in the town where we fell in love. And after she was just talking about how much she misses Matt to Tyra the episode before? That “yes” she gave feels so certain because of it. Aw.

The grandma’s ring really fucks me up because you know how close Julie and Grandma Saracen have gotten over the years. My heart!

“Oh my God, your dad must’ve flipped.” “...What do you mean?” OH NO Eric Taylor is totally the type to care. “...When you asked him to marry me.” Oh I knew this proposal was too early in the episode, im dying!

“You need to go man to man.” Ugh Julie i liked Matt’s plan of just going and telling them much better. His look of fear when he repeats “man to man.” dead. 

Wow no theme song??? That’s how you know it’s gonna be a long series finale!

Andddd here we are, a bickering Riggins “I may or may not be going to Alaska.” “Is it because you raw dogged Tyra last night?” i literally gasped.

LMAO Mindy trying to say Tim and Tyra are incest now that Mindy and Billy are married and then Tim and Billy immediately being like “nope, no blood lines, that’s not how incest works.” Someone should send that memo to all those anti bughead stans about bughead and falice

“What do you think about me taking Stevie for the day?” “I’m fine with that. There’s no going back, I’m going to get the bag.” LOL Mindy spoken like a true parent also YES to Tim and Stevie spending time together.

Poor Jess not realizing that asking Eric if she can follow him to the Panthers is a much bigger question than she thinks se’s asking.

AWW Tim and Stevie at Grandma Collette’s. How cute. 

“Seven’s back in town?” “Yeah, he and Julie got engaged!” 

Tim/Tyra and Matt/Julie double date?? Aw I love that Tyra knows that Matt and Julie got engaged. I really love Tyra and Julie’s friendship. 

I’m laughing really hard at Matt’s speech to Eric trying to ask permission. This is so funny. 

Eric’s like, “is this kid serious rn?” 

Not to be that northern bitch but don’t kids get married at 18/19 all the fucking time in Texas?? I feel like it’s more common in even more rural parts of like...any state.

“The answer to your question is gonna be no today, it’s gonna be no tomorrow, and it’s gonna be no until the sun burns out.” LMAO wow i didn’t see this coming

“This was really just a courtesy, we were hoping for your blessing.” YES MATT.

OH BOY Eric did not just try to speak FOR his daughter, im not about it. “My daughter’s answer to you is ‘no.’” That’s some patriarchal shit right there.

“We’ll never know if we’re East Coast people if we don’t try it!” “We have a MUCH BIGGER problem.” Dude, it’s Matt Saracen, the softest boy who has loved your daughter for years, i actually think the fundamental decision of where you and Tami continue your future might be slightly more pressing. 

“I don’t know why you’re yelling at me! I think we agree on this!” IM SCREAMINGGGG 

Aw, Tami getting teary-eyed at Grandma Saracen’s ring. “It’s just, y’all are so young.” I know but this is a TV show universe so we let teen marriage slide for the right couples, ok. 

Tami and Eric wanna take Matt and Julie to A CONVERSATION DINNER??? This is gonna be so funny. 

Aw, Vince got his dad a ticket to state? “I want you to be there.” if this fucker doesn’t just come and shut his mouth

Oh wow Becky’s mom is finally coming back? And yay Becky’s finally over her Tim crush. “So friends?” “I say family.” AWWW MY HEART.

“You guys were our age when you got married.” ARE YOU SERIOUS? “It was a different time.” Y’all have no leg to stand on here.

“Marriage requires maturity.” Says the man who won’t let his wife take a huge job offer. What, who said that? (Okay the way Tami’s watching Eric give this speech about compromise, thinking she’s thinking the same thing.)

“You guys got married when you were my age, and how many times did you move? How many different things you’ve gone through and look how you’ve made it work. You guys are my inspiration.” AW. I wish my parents had a stable enough marriage to be able to say that LOL but nope.

OH NO poor Tami getting up from the table because she’s emotional! Because she’s clearly always thought of her marriage that way too but maybe not lately AH

Eric, babe, that’s your cue to follow. 

Oh shit, Jess’s family is moving to Dallas? Well, damn.

Eric saw Vince not take a ticket for his dad and came to his watering hole to hand deliver it? “Young man gets a chance like that maybe once in a lifetime.” and mic drop, walk away.

Luke casuaklly meeting Becky’s mom for the first time while coming by to try to win Becky back. “I love you. I’m so sorry.” AWWW. growth!

YES cheers to Matt and Julie! “Here’s to Mr. and Mrs. Saracen.”

“Always thought you’d be the first person to say that.” AW

Yes halfway through college, go Tyra!

Awwww, Matt being like “let’s dance” and pulling Julie up. So cute. Yes, Tim asking Tyra to dance. 

“I got plans.” “I don’t.” OMG is Tim saying he’ll just follow Tyra? Damn.

Why tf is Buddy calling Eric first thing in the morning to tell him about Buddy Jr.’s cast and “staying here el permanente” and GETTING HIM TO SIGN A CONTRACT BEFORE THE GAME? Y’all are shady as fuck!

I love that seeing the Braemore papers made him stop, tell Buddy off, and not make a decision in that moment. What’s gonna happen???

“I won’t be a part of your Superteam after all.” Hopefully Eric won’t be either! Aw Jess thanking him “for the greatest experience of his life.” “I think it’s been mine too.” AW.

Eric’s gonna give a coach in Dallas a good word for Jess? So beautiful. Yesss!

AW Julie and Matt decorating the Saracen Christmas tree, and Grandma trying to get Julie to wear her old wedding dress!

Emotional at this hug between Julie and Mrs. Saracen. “I love you.” “I love you too.”

Awww Vince finally being glad that Jess is part of the team...at the moment when it’s about to end.

Yess Tyra and Tim picnicking on the land? 

And YES to Tyra going into politics, I could see it! “Along the lines of Mrs. T. Except bigger.” YES GURL.

“I’ve been in love with you since I was five years old.” AWWW that is so precious. 

“I’m gonna build a house exactly where we’re sitting. I’m gonna get a job. And I’m never gonna do anything illegal for the rest of my life.” Oh, Tim. my heart!!!

“Maybe one day, our dreams can merge together.” THAT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. What more does one really want? Oh, these beautiful life-filled shots of them drinking beer on the land where Tim wants to build a house. Art!

Oh shit, Eric’s racing to get to Santa in time to be there with Tami and Gracie?! “You scared me half to death. What’s going on?” 

“I turned the contract down. It’s your turn. I want to go to Philadelphia. Will you take me to Philadelphia with you, please?” YESSSSSSSSSSSSS what they deserve! What Tami deserves!!!! My heart!!!!

Ugh, the imagery as they get to State is amazing. The boys taking in the field, the players suited up praying and getting in the zone beforehand. The screaming in the stands waiting for them.

“You may never know how proud I am of you.” “You changed my life, coach.” AW.

Eric’s pre-game prayer overlaying the image of the Lions bursting out onto the field! Yes yes yes!

The way they slowed everything down with just music, and focused in on the faces of so many characters - Vince’s dad showing up, Eric and Tami saluting one another from stand to sideline, Becky cheering in the stands excitedly for Luke, Matt and Julie holding each other, Buddy on the sidelines screaming, Vince’s mom jumping up and down - just absolute perfection. 

And we’re back in, with actual in-scene sound at 26-21 with 3 seconds left on the clock??? Jesus!

AH and every single character watching the football fly in the air, WOW the DRAMA.

Holy shit, they fast-forwarded to one of Eric’s players in Philly catching a football eight months later in Philly??? THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD. WOW.

Tami looks like such a badass strutting around campus!

YES Tinker is on the Panthers! Take that, bullying reporter! 

Aw, the East Dillon Lions sign coming down. :( feels.

Nooo Luke don’t go to the military! Noooo I hate that. Poor Becky. They’re the exact type of couple who gets caught up in that really sad cycle - too poor to really have many other options, so the whole “free college when i get out!” thing starts to look really attractive. smh.

But i love how they used the championship ring he gave Becky as a way to signal that the East Dillon Lions did, indeed, win the state championship eight months earlier...and that Jess is wearing the ring on the sidelines of a new field where she’s working with the coaches! amazing!

Yay Matt and Julie live in Matt’s beautiful Chicago apartment? Perfection. They really look so good in that city together. 

New beginnings in a new city together for both Tami and Eric AND Matt and Julie? I’m living! It’s what they deserve!

Tim and Billy building Tim’s house and drinking beers! “Texas forever.” “Texas forever.” MY HEART.

“Clear eyes, full hearts.” SILENCE. “Ah, we’ll deal with that later.” LOL

Yesss Tami coming out to meet Eric on the field!!!

“Ready to go home?” “Yeah, let’s go.”

And the lights go off on the field. End show. AMAZING. Truly, an epic series finale! An epic show! I will definitely rewatch and i am so glad i finally did! Thanks to anyone who gave a shit about my ramblings.

[diarrheaworldstarhiphop]

I'm sorry to have come off the way I did. I know sending this doesn't help, but that's alright. It's the last one I'll ever send. Thanks for everything.

jesus christ verax, “…come off the way i did?”

you told me you wrote three chapters of the sci-fi book you have been eagerly working on and i went LITERALLY, SOLELY “that’s amazing! congrats!” and your immediate response was to tell me you wouldn’t show me it (fyi: i wasn’t asking) when it’s published because something something doxxing yourself to me AND THEN go on to verbosely wax poetic over the course of a few paragraphs about me as a perverse, doxxed spectacle entertainment de jour for KF and refer to my fucking parents’ careers in the midst of that (?>??>?THE FUCK??!?!!) and opine on whatever assumed neuroses i have, unprompted, like a complete maladjusted lunatic who doesn’t know how to properly engage with light conversation when it’s presented to you.Thought experiment: You approach your coworker at the winery you stress over and go “hey i did this thing with my darling GF” and they go “cool! sounds lovely!” but then you go on about how you shouldnt go into depth about it because you looked into your coworker’s life, telling him about his family tree you know about and how you don’t want to be similarly rendered an open book for telling him about that thing you did with the darling GF.” The coworker stares back at you with wide eyes like they just crossed paths with a psychopath. That’s how you often come across.

yes i may be a fucking virtual tranny this or that, one you have told that you want to save from that path (via harassment? oh, please), but at least I’m capable of responding to people online without flying into a vaguely threatening assessment of their undisclosed family details among other completely anti-social weird shit only people in the deepest sociopathic tesseract would. At least I converse like a normal, adjusted human being and not like every fucking interaction is some insane game of 4D chess you have to project your life’s stress and anger onto.

I hope you realize that me unblocking you and continuing on and off conversations with you after all that shit was something motivated by curiousity and pity towards you because it felt like you really lacked and needed someone to lean into and find solace in, given the way you had a meltdown over me blocking you in the first place. I actually ENJOY helping and massaging out people’s anxieties and you are no exception to that. Only now do i realize it is self harm to put myself out there for you, only for you to continuously harass me or dehumanize me. Jesus Christ.

Your zoomer christian saviour complex aside, you are antisocial to the core, perhaps sociopathic (as i mentioned) from your unability to separate the computer screen from the conscious beings responding to you on it. You being able to nonchalantly list doxx about me alongside unwarranted, ill informed psychological assessments to an unsettling degree of unprecedented privacy invasion – Least we all forget, that this is in response for telling you it was awesome to hear about your accomplishment – does not mean you know me as a friend, let alone me as a person.

Actually, you telling me you are 22 or whatever was quite illuminating as it explains your immaturity and inability to readily empathize or function as an full adult. Besides all that, the age gulf (not too hard for you to look up, im sure!) should indicate to you why I’m so fucking busy with wild work schedules while you leave literally 50 messages every time you come home to compulsively drink your unpacked, rammed down, issues away, begging for my attention, singing every time you see my activity go from online to away to the degree that you begin to fill my notifications with how you welcome and speak to the “green dot” as a substitute for me while im preoccupied.

I don’t want to be out being made your adoptive e>mother who you can berate and feel rest assured she won’t bite back out of unconditional love or whatever.

“ah, i knew to worry about you posting my doxx” you might be thinking rn. I hope you realize I only return the fucking favour, my guy. You speak to me as this spectacle you can freely taunt over, so here I am making a spectacle of you because you brought it to my inbox, your distress at me blocking you again.

If you are wondering why I resist calling you my friend, it’s because of annoying, disrespectful shit like this, that the level we have talked until tonight is predicated on me rolling my eyes and letting your dumb shit roll off my back. This friendship you have begged me to affirm and reassure to you as existing since you were so fraught over feeling that I was this unreciprocated friend to you… this is the absolute state of it.

However, aS yOuR mOtHeR I suppose i have to hold your hand thru explaining that friendships are built on trust and mutual respect. Guess which side of the mutual is to blame for my reluctance at hand. You actually have to put in effort to earn it, at least to a fraction of the degree you seem to put into discovering parts of my life I haven’t yielded to you like I’m some fucking viral marketing ARG.

You are so fucking exhausting. I truly hope you are not at all who you present yourself on the internet, for your and everyone’s sake. You probably also project your work stress onto everything and everyone else, it feels like. If not already, then once I’m out of your life as your negativity sponge.

Ah, and before I move on to more productive shit: Like you apologize after the fact here, but this is a pattern of yours. Only able to conceptualize you hurt others until after you are smacked upside the head.

Think about that.

[one-of-us-blog]

Nobody Does it Better – A James Bond Retrospective and Final Thoughts

In his final James Bond-related post, not to mention the final post for One of Us! period, Drew will reflect on his time spent covering the James Bond franchise at Eli’s behest, summarize his thoughts on the franchise as a whole and the various adventures Bond and company have gotten into along the way, and answer the most important question of all: has he been converted into a diehard Bond fan?

Keep reading to find out…

I can’t believe I’m typing this post right now! It feels like One of Us! has been part of my life for a very long time now, but it also feels like the experience has gone by in the blink of an eye. I know the point of this post is to reflect on my time spent specifically with James, but since this is the last post I’ll ever write for this blog I feel the need to take a moment and reflect on this wild experience. First of all, I enjoy pretty much anything I go through with Eli because he’s my best friend in the whole world and just a great guy in general. Hell, I can even look back somewhat fondly on the time I threw away watching Zardoz because I got to watch it with Eli, and knowing his company can make an experience like that even a little positive made me pretty confident that I could get through One of Us! relatively unscathed.

On my end, things had their ups and downs. By the time we got to the Tenth Doctor I was actually pretty much onboard with Doctor Who, but my time with the Eleventh Doctor was not entirely pleasant and I’m not sure I would have stuck with the show if I weren’t participating in this project. I’m so glad I did stick with it, though, because I had a great time with the Twelfth Doctor and I’m already loving my time with the Thirteenth Doctor. By the way, I know in my big Doctor Who retrospective I said I hadn’t turned into a full-blown fan of the show, but by this point I can throw that out the window because I absolutely loved this last series. And I never would have even watched it if Eli hadn’t made me start watching the show in the first place! Thanks to One of Us! Doctor Who went from a show I had to watch to crank out a few recaps a week to a show I genuinely enjoy, and I’m already dying for the next series to drop in 2020. If that’s not a positive impact, I don’t know what is! And don’t even get me started on how much of a joy it was to revisit The Golden Girls through Eli’s eyes. Reading his post gave me a chance to enjoy these episodes and spend time with these characters I’ve spent so much time with through fresh eyes, and knowing that he’s coming away from this blog with positive feelings for my favorite show has made this all worth it. There isn’t anyone else I would have rather gone on this journey with than you, Eli, so let me say with all sincerity: Thank you for being a friend.

But enough of that, we’re here to talk about my time with the spy who loved me himself, Commander James Bond RN. This has truly been a wild ride! I think the easiest way to break my thoughts down would be to talk about my impressions about the different iterations of Bond before talking about my thoughts on the franchise as a whole. So, to start off, things were pretty rough with ol’ Sean Connery. I could only really remember having seen a few of the newer Bond films when we started One of Us!, but I already had a perception that Connery’s Bond was everything that was wrong with the character. And, well, I wasn’t wrong. My specific problem was his treatment of virtually every woman he interacted with, though to be fair movies in general haven’t been great toward women for a while now. I know a lot of people love Connery’s Bond, but what they describe as suave charm I just see as dull smugness. I mainly enjoyed Dr. No for the novelty of it being the first 007 adventure, but to give credit where it’s due From Russia with Love is a genuinely good movie and I enjoyed Goldfinger for the most part, as well. From there it was all downhill, though, and to this day I think Thunderball is one of the worst films in the entire franchise. It’s like, what is this, Zardoz but underwater? I’m sorry to keep going back to Zardoz, but, man, I really hated that movie.

Anyway, I thought things got interesting with George Lazerbeams for a second there, but then we got slapped with yet another not-so-great Connery flick and I genuinely wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through this whole franchise. But then I was saved by an angel from heaven above named Roger Moore. What a delight those movies were! Yes, most of them were dumb as hell, but they were so much fun! Any forced gravitas went right out the window, and I was able to just enjoy watching this goofy old guy skiing around and blowing dudes up with shark bullets. I’ll go to my grave thinking A View to a Kill is one of the best James Bond movies ever made, and I’m so glad I got the chance to see it. Roger Moore’s Bond was fun and charming and lovable even when he was dropping wheelchair-bound villains into smokestacks, and his run was a definite highlight in the franchise for me. We took a hard turn when the franchise overcorrected for all that silly fun with the dark, humorless, unnecessarily grim Bond of the Timothy Dalton era, but we didn’t have to deal with that for long before we got to one of the best films of them all, GoldenEye. I guess when you start off on such a high note there’s kind of no where else to go but down, but I was seriously not prepared for the roller coaster ride that was Pierce Brosnan’s term as Bond. His last two movies had all of the silliness of the Moore era, but none of the campy, charming fun that made those movies so lovable to me.

But after that mess we got to our incumbent Bond, Daniel Craig. I’ll go ahead and say that Casino Royale is the best Bond film ever made in my opinion, and I would be down to watch it again on a moment’s notice. I enjoyed Quantum of Solace and loved Skyfall, and while SPECTRE was a bit of a stinker in the end I’m still absolutely going to see the next movie with Eli when it comes out. And that brings me to my thoughts on the franchise as a whole! My feelings about the entire franchise are complicated. It came from a very dark place in a lot of ways with Connery at its heart, but I think watching the movies in succession like this has helped me appreciate the way it’s evolved and tried to keep up with the times. I think in a lot of ways it hasn’t succeeded in doing that, but the Daniel Craig movies make me think they’re getting there and they give me hope for the future of the franchise (especially with Cary Joji Fukunaga directing Bond 25).

To be honest, I wouldn’t watch a lot of these movies again. If I had my way a Bond marathon would consist of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Roger Moore’s entire run, GoldenEye, Daniel Craig’s run and we’d leave it at that. But even then, cutting out a lot of the movies still leaves you with a some really fun stories, lots of cool explosions and plenty of neat gadgets. This franchise isn’t perfect by any means and there’s still a lot of room for growth, but I’m genuinely glad to have watched these movies and I’ll definitely be taking all of this newfound Bond knowledge with me when Eli and I go to see Bond 25 in 2020. I’m very glad that Eli gave me this task, and I’m even more glad that I had this platform to get my thoughts onto. This has been an amazing experience, and I’m so grateful to have taken part in it.

So, with a wistful tear in my eye, let me say one last time: Thank you for being One of Us!

 Also, seriously, fuck Zardoz.